Superhero by Victor Methos Read Free Book Online Page B

or didn’t recognize, the pain.
    He kept coming at Jack. Swinging wildly or kicking, grunting like an animal as he did. Jack ducked and parried and spun, waiting for the moment when his attacker opened himself up.
    The dreadlocked man finally grabbed for Jack’s throat with both hands. Jack came up with his hands together as if in prayer and then spread them out, knocking the other man’s hands down. He grabbed the man’s face with his palms and stuck his thumbs into his eyes, sweeping out his legs from under him. As the man fell, Jack flew on top of him, the weight from his body causing the thumbs to bury deep into his eyes, popping them out of the sockets.
    The man howled in pain and thrashed wildly as Jack stood and picked the weapon up from the ground. He held it as he came out into the sunlight, his eyes sweeping the crowd for any more men with dreadlocks. And then he saw something that made his blood cold.
    Nicole and Hank, covered in blood, hunched over Autumn. The young girl had a large wound in her chest and the blood was quickly flowing out of her. Jack dropped the weapon and sprinted toward her. He placed his hands over the wound and pressed as hard as he could. He shouted for an ambulance but there was hardly anyone around to get help.
    “Damn you!” Nicole was shouting as she hit him in the face. “Damn you!”
     

 
    CHAPTER 10
     
     
    The hospital was filled with nurses running around catering to patients, beeping machines, and squeaking gurneys. Moments of quiet would interlace with the chaos and it was the quiet that was most disturbing to Jack. It forced him to be in his own head and the only thing running through it was the broken and bleeding body of a little girl that had trusted him.
    Jack saw his sister and Hank step out of a room with a doctor. The doctor was explaining cerebral edema to them. He wasn’t smiling and had a grave look on his face as Hank asked him, “What are the chances?”
    “Touch and go right now,” he said. “But she’s strong. She’s fighting really hard.”
    Hank thanked the doctor as he embraced his wife. Nicole was weeping, repeating, “My baby. My baby.”
    Jack’s heart felt like it had torn in half. He stared at the floor, unable to look them in the eyes. He heard their footsteps nearing. He glanced up at his sister and the rage and hatred in her eyes. She lunged at him and he got to his knees and lowered his head, submitting to whatever it was she wanted to do to him. Hoping that it was something. He felt so dead inside; maybe pain could make him feel something.
    His sister never did anything but stare. Hank pulled her away and they went to the waiting room across the hall. Jack got to his feet, watching them as they sat down and gazed blankly at a television up on the wall. He heard footsteps behind him and turned to see William walking up, his badge gleaming brightly from a clip on his belt.
    “How you holdin’ up?”
    Jack shook his head but didn’t respond.
    “We ID’d the body in the morgue. Definitely Myrs. His name was Mark DeMaria, if you’re interested. The eyeless wonder is Michael Brant. One of the park’s cameras caught a third Myr. Reese Stillman. He took off. We got a BOLO call out for him right now.”
    “Why would they do this?”
    “The bar, Jack. This is how they operate. You took out two of their men and got ‘em arrested. Murder’s the only retaliation they know.”
    “I want to find them, William. I want you to take me to them.”
    “And then what? Jack, this isn’t some street gang of thirteen-year-olds. These guys are well funded, well trained, and there’s a lot of ‘em. Not as many as the bloods or Crips or Tres Locos but they’re increasing their numbers every day. The FBI wants in on this. Let them handle it.”
    Jack stepped close to him, looking him in the eyes. “That little girl might die because of me. Because I chose to come back here.”
    “Bullshit. That little girl might die because there’s a war