PHENOMENAL GIRL 5 Read online

  I smiled. “Nah. Only with a man old enough to be my father. I think her math skills leave something to be desired, unless you’ve been fathering kids at the tender age of fourteen.”

  “Unlikely, since I have not been fourteen since my first time around. And every woman on this planet is young enough to be my daughter. Including the woman right over there.”

  I turned to look where he was pointing, at a grand woman dressed to the nines who had to be pushing ninety.

  We both started laughing again.

  “We’d better get out of here before the second act begins,” I said.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  When I descended to Robert’s lair the next morning, after a quick gulp of breakfast, he was already surrounded by mountains of files. Did the man ever sleep?

  “Good morning,” I said, taking the chair across the table from him. “Anything I can do to help?”

  He gave me the barest acknowledgment. “No, it is my usual busywork from the Elite Hands of Justice. Time to run the magic-level estimates again.”

  “Pardon me?”

  “Every year, the Elite Hands of Justice takes all the intelligence they have on every magic-user in the country, from students to villains, and has me work up a profile on each to estimate how powerful their magic ability is or will be, and then enter it into our shared database.” He gestured to the large computer screen behind him.

  “That sounds a bit intrusive and paranoid.”

  He gave a slight shrug. “Magic-users are the most dangerous of all powers. Our abilities are only limited by our knowledge and strength of will. There is more potential to become drunk on power and take advantage.”

  “So they depend on your expertise to single out who’s the most likely to become a threat?”

  “Something like that, yes.” He tossed me a newspaper. “Take a look.”

  I caught it. “Is this a broadening-my-horizons thing or something important?”

  “There is something inside you should take a look at.”

  “Uh-oh.” I spread the newspaper out on the nearest table not covered in books.

  “Page Twelve,” he suggested, riffling through the contents of another file and scribbling down a note.

  I flipped through the pages, expecting to see a celebrity or a member of the EHJ in the famous gossip column. Instead there was a photo of Robert leaning in to whisper something into a glamorous blonde woman’s perfect shell of an ear. She was laughing, and they looked like they were sharing an intimate moment. The caption under the photo read: “The infamous Robert Elliot was seen out canoodling with a hot blonde at the über-hot Tuscani’s.”

  “Holy hell!” I shrieked. “That’s me! I’m the hot blonde!”

  He grinned, glancing up at me from the files. “I thought you would get a kick out of that.”

  I read the rest of the caption out loud. “Sources close to Elliot say the blonde is a colleague, but they’re looking a little too cozy at the intimate nightspot to be only friends.”

  What would he say to the obvious chemistry the photo captured?

  He shrugged. “You will get that on occasion. The paparazzi like to take a photo out of context.”

  So much for chemistry.

  “Everyone on the Power Squad is going to freak out, even though I’m unidentified,” I said.

  “You will not be unidentified for long. The paparazzi have caught wind of you; now it is only a matter of time before they identify you. Might as well get used to it.”

  I folded the paper, tucking it under my arm, intending to clip the photo later. “So I’m a star now, huh?”

  “To those that read Page Twelve, yes, you are.”

  “Sir, you’re wanted on the phone,” Mayhew’s disembodied voice interrupted from an unseen speaker.

  Robert dug a cordless phone out from under a stack of files. “Robert Elliot. Good morning, Detective Pendergast.” He paused, listening, and then looked troubled. My heart sped up. Something was going on. “Yes, I understand. We will be there shortly.” He hung up and looked at me. “Syn is gone.”

  A spike of fear shot through me, echoing phantom pains of Syn tearing at my soul. “What do you mean, ‘gone’?”

  “As in no longer in his cell. He just disappeared. Pendergast wants us downtown to investigate.” He was already heading toward the door.

  “I thought you said you wiped out his magic,” I said, rising to follow him.

  “I did.”

  “So how did he get away?” I struggled to keep up with Robert’s long, purposeful strides down the hallway and up the stairs to the main floor.

  “I do not know. That is the purpose of our investigation, is it not?” He stopped walking and looked at me. “Can you work this case, Lainey, or is it too personal?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, after what happened with Syn, will you be able to investigate this case with a clear head? Not allow emotions to cloud your thinking?”

  I frowned. “I’m a professional, Robert. I can do this.”

  He gave me a nod and a slight smile. “Let us go, then.”

  “Should I change into my costume?”

  “To see the police? I think not. They already have differing opinions of our work, and we do not want to stand out further. In the future, I think you should save the costume-wearing for patrol situations.”

  I shrugged. “Leather chafes after awhile anyway.”

  Robert glanced at me. “Indeed.”

  We stepped outside and I watched as he prepared the teleportation spell.

  “Are you okay now to do this?” I asked.

  “I am fine, Lainey,” he said, in a tone indicating that I wasn’t to question his health, magic-wise, again.

  “Do you always do this outside?”

  “Yes. It would damage the carpets otherwise.”

  I smiled. “Can’t argue with that logic.”

  “And I thought you could argue with anything.”

  Before I could retort, the spell took effect and we were transported into the police station.

  The room spun, and I grabbed hold of a nearby desk, breathing deep and closing my eyes in an attempt to ward off the nausea. At least I wasn’t throwing up. I was making progress.

  When I opened my eyes, I noticed the entire squad staring at us, open-mouthed.

  Robert looked bored by the attention. “Can you direct me to Detective Pendergast, please?” he said to the nearest officer, a woman with cropped red hair and freckles.

  “He’s back by the holding cells,” she said, pointing in the appropriate direction.

  “Thank you very much.” He headed off without hesitation, causing me to scramble along between desks and the officers who were now over the shock of our arrival. I heard one of them mumble, “Capes,” as we passed.

  “You take the lead on this,” Robert said as we walked down an industrial gray hallway that led to the cells.

  “Me? Why?”

  “You are supposed to be training with me, are you not? I need to see how you handle this type of thing.”

  “Alright.” I tried to not look nervous as we entered the room and Pendergast noticed us.

  “That was fast,” he said, moving to shake hands.

  “We teleported down,” Robert explained. “I assumed time was of the essence.”

  “Correct. We dusted for prints already, but considering the cell was still locked, I don’t think you’ll find anything. It’s as if he just disappeared into thin air.”

  I peered inside the cell. It was standard, nothing out of the ordinary. Except for the fact that it was missing its inmate.

  I checked the lock to see if there were any physical signs it had been tampered with. There were none. I glanced up at Robert.

  “Is there any way you can do a spell to see if the lock was magically altered?”

  He nodded. “Good thinking. Keep going.”

  I looked around in the cell for a clue, anything to explain how Syn just vanished. As I turned
to look back at Robert, who was running a hand over the lock and whispering some words in Italian, I noticed a security camera.

  I pointed to it. “Was the camera on?”

  Pendergast nodded. “We already checked. One minute he’s there, the next he’s gone.”

  “Could someone have tampered with the tape?”

  “We don’t use tapes anymore; the footage is downloaded onto a hard drive.”

  “The lock was not altered,” Robert said to me.

  I frowned, biting my lip. There had to be something to lead us to him.

  “Can we see the footage?” I asked.

  Pendergast nodded. “Follow me.”

  Moments later, seated around a computer monitor, we watched as the prerecorded Syn stalked around his cell like a caged animal, soundlessly ranting to himself. I shivered, remembering the searing pain he had inflicted. Unconsciously, my hand moved to rest over my heart, where he had taken an eternal piece of me.

  On camera, Syn raised his head to look up, as if hearing someone approach. Then, in an eye-blink, he was gone.

  “Can you slow it down?” I asked the detective who was manning the computer.

  “Sure thing.” He typed something and the footage started over again, running a bit slower this time.

  “Can you do frame by frame?”

  This time, as Syn looked up, a blur appeared in front of him. Then he was gone.

  “Freeze it!” I pointed to the blur. “There, what’s that?”

  “Someone teleported him out of the cell,” Robert said from behind me. He leaned over and tapped the screen. “That is a teleportation signature.”

  “He couldn’t have done it himself?”

  Robert shook his head. “I took away his magic ability.”

  “So it was someone working for him.”

  “Or someone he was working for.” Robert gave me a faint smile. “Excellent work, Lainey.”

  I grinned at his praise. “I don’t suppose you can trace where the signature came from? Or who it belongs to?”

  “Not entirely. I do not recognize the genetic signature, so it is someone new. Teleportation spells leave a residue, at both the entrance and the exit. I can do a spell to search for residue within a certain radius from this building. It fades the further from the two points you travel.”

  “So let’s try it.”

  As we walked back to the cell, I couldn’t help but be proud of how I was handling myself, showing Robert I was more than just blonde hair and a physical power house. I had a sharp mind, too.

  Maybe he’d want to keep me around…

  I shook those thoughts from my head as I watched him enter the cell and hold out some sort of amulet, dangling it from a chain. He spun it in a slow circle, and as its arc widened, I began to see a glow form in its wake. A faint ball of light appeared along the outer edge of the path.

  “It is there, but barely,” Robert said. “Outskirts of the city, probably near the dump.”

  “Tell Bob to send a squad out to the dump,” Pendergast said to the detective next to him. “Move.”

  As the police force snapped into action, I whispered to Robert, “If they find him, will they be able to handle him?”

  “He is powerless, but that does not make him less dangerous.”

  “Maybe we should tag along?”

  “You do not want to let go of this case, do you?”

  I shook my head. “I want to see it through to the end.”

  He studied me and then gave a slight nod. “Then we shall.”

  We appeared just a short distance away from the dump. The police still hadn’t arrived on the scene, but then again, they didn’t have teleportation access.

  Of course, they didn’t have to suffer the aftereffects either. I swore and fell to my knees, stomach roiling and head pounding.

  “Your body will get used to teleportation travel soon,” Robert promised.

  “Good to know.” I got to my feet and nearly fell over again. He reached out to steady me. I held on to his arm and breathed deep, realized that was a bad idea outside of a dump, and shuddered.

  “Do not worry, soon this will be second nature to you,” he said, tone light. “You will be wondering how you ever got around before.”

  I smiled at his attempt to make me feel better. “Do we wait for the cops?”

  “This is your show, Lainey. Tell me how you want to run it.”

  “What we’re dealing with is magic, and that’s a bit out of the police’s league, so I say we go in.”

  “Then we go.”

  The stench from the dump was overwhelming. I tried holding my breath for as long as I could, and finally gave up. There was nothing to do but try to find some way to bear it.

  “Here,” Robert said, passing me a small jar. “Dab it under your nose. The police use a similar trick, except this is magic and neutralizes the smell instead of covering it up.”

  I did as I was told and found that it worked. “Thanks. So can you pinpoint where the teleportation spell came out?”

  He nodded. “This way.” With a few mumbled breaths, he rose up to float in the air, above the garbage. I followed, glad I didn’t have to step in God knows what.

  I glanced at our surroundings. “Whoever teleported him isn’t still hanging around?”

  “Could be, but they would have likely attacked by now. Still, it is a good idea to keep your guard up. It should be right over…” He trailed off. “There.” He pointed to the flagpole next to the fence. Instead of a flag flying in the breeze on top, there was an impaled body.

  I knew my mouth was hanging open, but couldn’t stop myself. “He didn’t do that to himself by messing up the teleportation spell, right?”

  “The spells will not let you teleport into a solid object, no. Someone did that to him.” Robert floated up higher. “Let us take a closer look, shall we?”

  I couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit vindicated that Syn had met an untimely and painful end. But whoever or what ever had done this to him was probably much worse.

  Robert studied the body with a professional, detached gaze. “No sign of a struggle. Someone took him by surprise.”

  “But why go through the trouble of getting him out of police custody only to kill him? Seems like a lot of unnecessary work to me.”

  “So he would not reveal information to the police.”

  I studied the body. “Any idea who did this?”

  “You tell me. You are the one in training.”

  I bit my lip and tried to focus on the details. “Well, I would think you’d have to be pretty powerful to do a teleportation spell from a remote distance.”

  He nodded. “A level seven magic-user at least.” Seeing my confusion, he continued, “This is where my leveling work from this morning comes into play. One is low, ten is apocalyptic.”

  “Okay.” I’m sure it was a helpful system, but it sounded really silly aloud, like a video game or something. “Well, there’s not that many magic-using villains.”

  “Not many that are so powerful,” Robert agreed. “Or running loose.”

  I had to laugh at that. “Brag much?” The Reincarnist had an arrest ratio that was almost unheard of.

  “I do my job the correct way. Once they go down, they stay down.”

  I heard sirens. “Police are here.”

  “We will probably have to help them get the body down once they have finished taking note of the crime scene,” Robert said. “Once we get home, I will help you run the statistics into the database to search for villains that fit the profile. Assuming whoever did this is not a first-timer.”

  “Villains do tend to be like a hydra,” I said. “Take one down and two more spring up in his place.” Something on the body caught my eye. “Wait, what’s that?”

  I floated up to inspect Syn’s wrist. I started to reach out and heard Robert’s curt “Gloves!”

  I moved my hand back quickly. “I didn’t touch anything.”

  “You need to start carrying a pair
of exam gloves.” He floated up to meet me, extending a pair of latex gloves that he had taken out of his trench coat pocket.

  “How much stuff do you have stashed away in there?” I slipped the gloves on and reached out for Syn’s wrist. Just touching him made me shiver. He was long gone, but I half expected him to come to life and start draining me, like this had all been some elaborate trap.

  I turned his wrist over to see a strange burn mark, and the angry red skin made a pattern. It made a dragon.

  “Robert, take a look at this,” I said.

  He floated up behind me. “Now that bears more investigation.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  “Any luck?”

  I tore my eyes away from the computer monitors I had been staring at for hours to glance at Robert. “I got some hits, but I haven’t been able to narrow them down much.”

  “So what are their profiles?” He sat down in the chair next to me.

  I worked the mouse and a series of mug shots popped up. “All of these magic users are level seven and above.” I clicked to scroll through the pictures. “Some are heroes, some are criminals.”

  “Start narrowing down the suspects.”

  “These are the ones who are in jail or have had their magic neutralized.”

  He nodded. “Go on.”

  “None of them have been known to brand anyone or leave dragon symbols at crime scenes. They haven’t gone by the alias ‘Dragon’ or any variations thereof. They haven’t been known to work with Syn. You magic-users tend to stick to yourselves.” I’d noticed that as I read through several files.

  “You need to lump yourself into that category as well, now.”

  “Oh yeah.” I had forgotten about that spark of power in me. I wondered if it meant there would be a file on me soon. “There are a few, however, who have worked in close proximity to Syn, and I’ve marked them for possible investigation. What about your old archnemesis, Jihad?”

  “He is always a possibility, but he disappeared after our last battle five years ago.”

  He looked at the screens. “Do you want to eliminate the heroes?”

  I shook my head. “Not yet. We’ve had too many of our own play turncoat, and it was a villain who was killed, so his murder could be seen as justice by the suspect.”