Paranormals (Book 2): We Are Not Alone by Christopher Andrews Read Free Book Online Page A

held back her laughter — Dead God, that’s so true! — which earned her a glare from Alan. He pressed on, “Another rogue is on the loose, tearing up a low-income apartment complex a few miles from here. The regular police are already on the scene, but they’re not having any luck. The PCA’s been notified, but ... I knew you’d want to know.”
    Steve considered this; he also considered his injuries. For a moment, it looked to Alan and Ardette as though he might actually let this one slide ...
    Vortex hopped off the table. “Get my uniform.”
     
     
     

SHOCKWAVE AND TAKAYASU
     
    “Pull up ... come on, you asshole, pull up ... if you hit that billboard, I swear to God, I’m gonna kick your ass ...”
    Mark Westmore, known to the greater public as Shockwave of the PCA, continued his whispered rant, nagging and cajoling but usually berating. And the recipient never talked back, because the target of his harangue was himself.
    Mark had been flying for a year now, a trick he’d figured out by shooting his kinetic shockwaves from his feet. But his flying was erratic back then, and he would guess he’d gotten maybe, oh ... ten percent better since. It drove him nuts! Other paranormals could fly without zig-zagging like a drunken fly, so why couldn’t he?
    Flying isn’t your native ability, Michael Takayasu, his partner, had told him more than once. You’ve taken one paranormal gift and figured out a way to use it for something else entirely. That’s awesome and rare. So don’t be too hard on yourself.
    Shockwave had his share of fans, and even the haters were just jealous of what he could do. So he’d cut himself slack for a while ... until some asshole at work forwarded him a link to a blog, wherein some dumbass geek compared his flying to that blond guy’s from the old TV series, The Greatest American Hero .
    “The character on the show lost the instructions to his power suit,” the blogger commented. “That’s why Ralph Hinkley couldn’t fly straight. Does Shockwave have the same excuse, or does he just suck at it?”
    After that, Mark was bound and determined to figure this flying shit out, and it irked him that he hadn’t made more progress.
    The point illustrated itself when he careened so far to the left, he nearly lost his shoes. He couldn’t fire shockwaves through his feet without shredding his socks and knocking his shoes off, so when possible, he’d tie his sneakers’ laces together and sling them around his neck. He’d been left red-faced more than once having to fetch the dropped sneakers out of traffic or someone’s tree or ...
    Blessedly, he reached the PCA regional headquarters before he could ponder those moments further. He was supposed to have the afternoon off, but he’d gotten bored, so ... here he was to brighten everyone’s day!
    After signing into the building — “signing” these days entailing a retina scan, a voice-print verification, and some weird sci-fi doodad from Davison Electronics  that read frontal brainwaves, to try and catch shapeshifters (he hadn’t paid too much attention during the briefing about that one) — Mark made his way upstairs to the office he shared with Michael. He popped his head inside with a simultaneous knock and quipped with a mischievous smile, “Company computers ain’t for porn, young’n.”
    His wit, sadly, was wasted on an empty room. He glanced at the wall clock to confirm the time; Michael would normally still be here. Weird. If he’d gone off rogue-hunting, he would’ve called ...
    As he was turning to leave, something caught his eye. By his own admission, Mark wasn’t normally the most observant fellow in the world, but a lone, unopened envelope addressed to his partner in an otherwise empty wastepaper basket was hard to miss. Cocking a curious eyebrow, he bent to retrieve the envelope, but he already had a gut feeling about what he would find.
    He checked the return address. His gut was right.
    Shit ... Christine