Learning To Fly Read online

“He can track you?”

  “Yep.”

  A few minutes later, the van stopped, and they heard the door open and close, but the driver didn’t come to the back door. Franklin waited another minute and opened the back door carefully and peered out.

  “Coast is clear, dude must have gone inside,” he said.

  Kendra hopped out, and they closed the door.

  “He came to Walmart?” Kendra asked.

  “Looks like it. Western Hills. That explains the rough ride. Must have come up Queen City.”

  “Well, we can’t stay here. We don’t know how long he’s gonna be in there.”

  “You hungry?”

  “You can think about food at a time like this?”

  “Always. There’s a LaRosa’s not far, maybe a ten-minute walk. We can grab a bite and wait for Walter there.”

  “I didn’t realize I was that hungry,” Kendra said as she finished the last slice of pizza, “How long do you thin it will take Walter to get here?”

  “Depends on when he got the message,” Franklin said.

  “Doesn’t he usually get your messages pretty fast?”

  “Normally, unless he was out of cell range. Happens when he flies too high. He’ll be here.”

  “What if the van driver comes by here?”

  “He doesn’t even know we hitched a ride.”

  “But when they find us missing—”

  “I wouldn’t worry about that. They really don’t know which way we went or how we got out.”

  “But that super woman…she can scour the city pretty fast.”

  “Yes, she can, and there’s nothing we can do to hide if that’s the case, so we best hope Walter gets here first.”

  Their server came by and Franklin asked for more drink refills and ordered dessert.

  “After all that pizza, you can eat dessert?” Kendra asked.

  “I’m a growing boy…and you didn’t look like you were struggling there.”

  “Good point. I do feel like a pig, though.”

  “You don’t look like one.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You keep fiddling with your pocket. What you got in there?”

  Kendra pulled her hand out of her pocket and showed him three sets of the ear buds they had found when they were locked up.

  “Whoa, there were more of them? Where’d you find them?”

  “In that cabinet where I found the pins you picked the lock with.”

  “You could have said something.”

  “Didn’t want to announce it, in case there was anyone listening.”

  “If someone was listening, don’t you think I would have gotten caught picking the lock?”

  “Uh…maybe. Well, taking them seemed like a good idea. Who knows if we might put them to good use.”

  “You kids save any pizza for me?” Walter said, pulling up a chair and joining them at their table.

  “I was wondering when you were gonna get my message,” Franklin said.

  “Yeah, sorry about that. Had to land a 747. Darn thing hit a flock of birds and messed up an engine. So, what’s up?”

  “I don’t know where to start, but I don’t think we can talk here, and your place might not be safe either.”

  “I have to go to my place to feed Otis and let him out to do his business.”

  “Might want to make sure that Mike dude isn’t anywhere around there.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “That’s what we have to talk to you about,” Kendra said.

  “Where’s your car?” Walter asked.

  “That’s the problem. I’m not sure.”

  “When the super lady lifted us off the road, I didn’t get a good look where she was taking us, but I’m pretty sure we came up Queen City to get here. It didn’t feel like we ever got on a highway. From the time it took us to get here, probably somewhere in South Fairmount. We were in the basement of what looked like an old warehouse,” Franklin said.

  “I’ll tell you what. I’ll drop you kids at the police station and I’ll have a look around that area.”

  Walter did a flyover of South Fairmount and North Fairmount, checking every abandoned warehouse for signs of recent activity.

  “You’d think they could do something better with the property, instead of just letting these sit here,” he said to himself.

  Several did show signs of activity, groups of homeless people grabbing whatever shelter they could.

  “Hey, Walter, what brings you to our fine neighborhood?” one of the homeless men asked.

  “Well, I’m looking for something, but I’m not rightly sure what I’m looking for.”

  “How can you find what you’re looking for if you don’t know what you’re looking for? I might not be overly smart, but that don’t make a lick of sense to me.”

  “You’ve heard about a woman with powers like mine?”

  “Yeah sure, haven’t seen her yet, but hearing a lot of stories. Right nasty bitch, from what people are saying.”

  “That’s no way to talk about a lady.”

  “If the stories are true, she ain’t no lady.”

  “That might be true. I heard she might be operating around here in an abandoned warehouse.”

  “So, the super villain lady has a secret lair in an old warehouse? Don’t that beat all. You’d think she’d come up with something cooler than that.”

  “It’s not like the comic books. I just got an apartment in Clifton.”

  “Man, dude, you gotta up your game. Superman can’t operate out of no apartment.”

  “Hey, you do what you can, right?”

  “Yeah, just look at me.”

  “Maybe we can talk about that too, but I need to ask if you and your friends have seen anything suspicious.”

  “Clarence is the one to talk to. Clarence don’t miss anything. Hey Bart, you seen Clarence?”

  Another man ambled over and dropped a cigarette on the ground, crushing it under his heel.

  “Clarence got a bit of cash. Went to get beer,” the man said, “Hey, ain’t you Walter?”

  “Yes I am,” Walter replied, “and who might you be?”

  “Name’s Bartholomew, but you can call me Bart.”

  “Okay, Bart, nice to meet you.” Walter stuck out his hand.

  Bart shook Walter’s hand and said, “So, what brings you down to our humble abode? Don’t get many visitors around here.”

  “I told your friend here—”

  “Joe, name’s Joe,” the first man said.

  “Well, I was just telling Joe that I’ve heard reports about that powered woman being around here a lot, maybe using one of these buildings, and I was wondering if any of you had seen anything. Joe here tells me that Clarence is the one to talk to.”

  “He’d be the one to talk to when he’s sober. He gets a couple nickels to rub together, and he’s off to the UDF to buy as much beer as he can get.”

  “UDF? The closest one is up on Queen City. He walks all the way up there to get beer?”

  “He likes beer.”

  “So do I, but it’s not cheap. You’d think he could save up…ah hell…I’m about to put my foot in my mouth.”

  “Go ahead and say it. It’s not like we haven’t heard it before. Bart smokes, Clarence drinks beer…we all spend a bit of money on stuff and folks always say that that’s why we’re street folk, ‘cause we waste money. Folks with houses spend way too much on Starbucks, and nobody says nothing about them.”

  Walter disappeared and showed back up three minutes later, passing out beers to the men.

  “Accept my apology?” he asked.

  “When you put it that way,” Joe said.

  “Well, to be honest, I’ve never really put much thought into guys like you. You see folks on the street every day and it just becomes part of the background of the city. Then you have the fake beggars downtown…you know the ones.”

  “Yeah, drives me crazy,” Bart said.

  “Well, speak of the devil. He
y Clarence, got somebody wants to have a word with you,” Joe said.

  “Who in hell would want to talk to old Clarence?” Clarence asked, approaching the group, “Well, if it isn’t Walter. What brings you here?”

  Walter handed Clarence a beer.

  “Walter, you sure know a way to a guy’s heart.”

  “Your friends here say you are an observant guy, that you notice things,” Walter said.

  “Just keep my eyes open, is all. You live on the streets as long as I do, you learn to do that.”

  “I hear that some unsavory people might be operating out of one of the other abandoned building around here. Maybe you’ve noticed something?”

  Clarence pointed down the street.

  “‘Bout three buildings down, seen a lot of vans in and out, but ain’t no company been there for darn near ten years. Don’t rightly know what’s going on there. Can’t be folks like us, on account of them having vehicles and that.”

  “Thanks, Clarence, I’ll check it out. You guys take care, okay?”

  “Wow, never thought I’d meet him,” Bart said as Walter flew off.

  “Yeah,” Clarence said, holding up his can, “wasn’t that something, and he didn’t buy us cheap beer either.”

  21

  Walter flew over the warehouse Clarence had pointed out and didn’t see anything unusual at first until he saw the tire tracks.

  ‘People have been coming and going quite a bit, from the looks of it,’ he thought to himself.

  He flew around the building, looking for security cameras, and not finding any, dropped down to walk around on foot. The main floor of the warehouse was like every other abandoned building on the area, broken windows, parts of broken pallets on the ground, some old 55-gallon drums against one wall, and an office against one wall that looked like it hadn’t been used in years. The metal desk was still there and an old office chair with two of the wheels broken off. There were tire tracks leading toward the far wall where they ended abruptly in front of what looked like a large elevator door.

  Walter opened the door and saw a large freight elevator, at least 25 feet deep and ten feet wide.

  “Vehicle elevator?” he said

  He checked out the rest of the warehouse and found another elevator, cleverly hidden behind some old shelves, and a staircase hidden behind a soft drink machine. He went down the stairs, careful not to make any sound, and came into the underground part of the facility. There were two white vans parked against one wall, and a Chevy Equinox parked against the other wall. He inspected the open area and found stacks of money on pallets against one wall, how much he had no idea. There was a small office with a desk, two file cabinets, and a wardrobe. Nothing of interest in there. He walked around to the other side of the open area and saw something that sent chills up his spine. There were handcuffs dangling from a pipe about a foot above eye level, some discarded car batteries lying on the floor, and some drops of what appeared to be dried blood. He took out his phone and photographed everything he saw, loaded the Equinox into the elevator, and went up.

  A minute later he entered Larry Wilkins’ office at the police station, to find Franklin and Kendra sitting there drinking soft drinks. He retrieved a set of keys from his pocket and handed them to Kendra.

  “Parked outside. I won’t tell your parents,” he said.

  “Thanks. What else did you find there?”

  “Nobody was there. There was a lot of cash there, a couple vans…and I think I found where Handley was killed.”

  “Handley?”

  “Yeah, cop that was killed. Where’s Wilkins?”

  “Went to take a pee.”

  “I guess I’ll wait right here. I got some photos he might want to see, and the location of that warehouse. They might want to make a move on it, but I’ll need to talk to Wilkins.”

  “And we have information on this phone you’ll all want to see,” Franklin said.

  “Get you kids another soda?” Wilkins asked, entering the room, “Oh, hey Walter, what’s up?”

  “The kids don’t need more soda and I have some photos you might want to see,” Walter said, handing his phone to Larry.

  Wilkins leaned back in his chair and let out a whistle after he had viewed the photos.

  “Where is this?” he asked.

  “Abandoned warehouse just over the viaduct, not far off Queen City.”

  “How much money you figure on those pallets?”

  “Didn’t take time to count it. Has to be millions.”

  “They’re probably laundering it a little at a time. And these cuffs on the pipe? I take it that’s blood on the floor?”

  “Could be where Handley was killed.”

  “Could be, but we’d need to get DNA on those blood splatters.”

  “Yeah, figured you’d want to to make a move on this place.”

  “We could, but it would be good to catch someone there. We could go in there and clean it out, but if we don’t catch whoever’s running the operation, we’d just be back to square one if they relocate.”

  “It’s that super woman,” Kendra said, “She scooped my car right off the road and flew us there.”

  “Might be, but we don’t have any idea who she is,” Wilkins said, “Did you get a good look at her?”

  “Not much of one,” Franklin said, “blonde, maybe 40ish, not bad looking for someone her age.”

  “Watch it buddy,” Walter said.

  “Sorry Pops.”

  Kendra cleared her throat.

  “You got something?” Wilkins asked.

  “Yeah, something on Franklin’s phone. Go ahead, play the video,” Kendra said.

  Franklin laid his phone on the desk and started the video. Two men could be seen, but what they were saying was gibberish.

  “Wait a sec,” Kendra said, fishing the ear buds out of her pocket, “you can understand them if you’re wearing these.”

  Wilkins put the ear buds in and listened for a few seconds, then took them out.

  “How many pairs of these do you have?”

  “Just one more.”

  “That won’t do for all of us. Give me a minute.”

  He came back in the room a few minutes later with a small microphone and a digital recorder. He placed the ear buds next to the recorder, started recording, and played the video again, but no sound was coming out of the ear buds. He put them back in his ears and he could hear the talking.

  “So much for that brilliant idea. They only work if they’re in your ears.”

  “Maybe they just require contact,” Franklin said, “Maybe try touching them with your fingers or something.”

  Wilkins set them back down on the table and tried again with the recorder, this time placing a finger on each ear bud. He played the entire video and he could hear sounds coming out of the ear buds. When it was done, he played back the recording and they could hear the voices speaking in English. He turned up the volume so they could all hear.

  “Why did you give the woman powers as well? It’s bad enough we have one of them.”

  “It had to be done. It’s your fault we have the one. You never should have zapped the old man.”

  “I told you, it was an accident.”

  “An accident brought on by your weakness for the intoxicating drinks on this planet.”

  “I know, I know. So, why did you power the woman as well?”

  “Balance. One of them is bound to cause us problems. With another one, especially one as morally compromised as her, they can keep each other busy.”

  “Great theory, except she’s staging diversions to keep him tied up while she does her own thing.”

  “That’s all fine and well, as far as I’m concerned. Keeps him away from us.”

  “Well, enough of them. If they keep doing their thing, we should be able to operate without much interference, but what are the numbers? How many more do we need?”

  “Have you seen the latest casualty rates? Another million should do, if we have the equipm
ent for that many.”

  “I’ve seen the numbers, and it’s unacceptable. Do you think a million will do?”

  “If the new suits are up to spec, that should be enough. I think our casualties should drop off appreciably with the new batch.”

  “I hope so. We can hardly sustain those numbers for too much longer, unless we up our efforts here and get more bodies into the field.”

  “We can always do that, but we must be careful. We can continue taking folks in small amounts from the less desirable parts of the population and nobody will ever notice, but if we go big and start nabbing larger numbers from other population segments, it might get noticed, and we really don’t want that happening around here.”

  “Sooner or later, people are going to notice. We really should stage them somewhere else.”

  “I’m working on that. The new facility is almost done, but it will take some doing getting them there without being noticed. We’ll have to bring in transports.”

  “Transports? Are you kidding? How do you think we’ll pull that off without being noticed?”

  “Park them in orbit and use shuttles. The shuttles can run dark, and from that part of this planet, nobody will take note of them, and if they do, it will be passed off as superstition.”

  “Won’t the transports be noticed? These people have telescopes pointing all over space.”

  “They’ll be cloaked.”

  “How effective is that tech? Isn’t it kind of new?”

  “The Varengarians never saw us, and they’re more advanced than these people.”

  “I’ll take your word for it. How soon should we move them?”

  “It will take the transports a while to get here. They’re on the outer rim. If we send the message, and have the shuttles sent, everything should be ready in about…let’s say…two weeks.”

  “Should we continue collecting more people?”

  “By all means. The street people, of course, and maybe try a couple prisons. Incite a riot and they’re ripe for the picking.”

  “That sounds risky.”

  “It can be, but I got a good haul out of a small prison in Texas. Don’t try the big ones, and by no means can you take too many.”

  “And the prison didn’t notice the missing inmates?”