Free Super Human by Michael Carroll Page A

She slowly looked around the cavernous room. The gray men were still watching her from the shadows. Max and the Rangers were still on the floor. Max was curled up into a ball, quietly shivering. Ox was almost motionless, the only sign of life the gentle rise and fall of his chest. Ollie and Lash were both flat on their backs. Ollie’s eyes were open, flicking rapidly back and forth, his breath rasping and uneven.
    How long have we been here now? Three hours? Four? Why hasn’t anyone come for us?
    That was when she realized what was different: The constant sound of the helicopters was gone.
    They can’t have abandoned us. . . . They must be planning something.
    Roz stretched out her legs and arms as much as the cuffs would allow her. With some difficulty, she got onto her knees, then pushed herself back onto her feet.
    The gray men immediately raised their weapons.
    “Just stretching,” Roz said, rolling her head from side to side. If something is going to happen, I have to be ready to go into action. She began to shift from one foot to the other. “I need to use the bathroom. Badly.”
    If Titan is out there working on a way to get to us, he might be listening in. He’s supposed to have really good hearing. “Look, what harm can it do? There’s five of you guarding five of us, and I’m the only one conscious. Two of you can take me to the bathroom and the rest will be more than capable of guarding Max and the others.”
    One of the gray men took out a radio and muttered something into it. A minute later, she heard footsteps in the corridor outside the room.
    “Do not turn around,” the woman’s voice said. “Eyes closed, head down.”
    Roz did as she was told, and a leather bag was dropped over her head. But it wasn’t pulled tight: Looking down, she could see a woman’s hand unlocking the cuffs around her ankles.
    “Try anything and we’ll kill your brother.”
    “I understand,” Roz said.
    She felt a hand grab her arm and she was led toward the door. She couldn’t see much as she walked, other than her feet. She was brought into a bathroom and led to a stall.
    “Go, and be quick about it,” the woman said.
    “I need my hands free to get out of my uniform.”
    There was a pause, then the woman reached for the handcuffs. Roz took a chance: She telekinetically lifted the bottom of the leather bag enough to see that the woman stored the handcuff key on a loop on her belt.
    After Roz was done, she was handcuffed once more and led back to the center of the large room. She was ordered to sit down, and then the cuffs were placed on her ankles. Roz used her power to raise the bag again, just in time to see the woman clipping the key on to her belt.
    She tried not to smile: Anything she could see, she could control. She quickly unclipped the key, allowed it to drop to an inch above the ground. After the woman pulled the bag from her head and walked away, Roz jumped the key into the lock on her handcuffs, and turned it.
    There was a slight click .
    She checked the gray men—they didn’t seem to have noticed. She used the key to unlock the cuffs around her ankles.
    All right. . . . I’m ready. If someone outside is planning to get in, I’ll be able to help.

CHAPTER 9

    Lance didn’t know how far he’d gone—the road signs were streaking by too fast. A bug slammed into his forehead. That’s sixteen.
    He was amazed that the bike had held together, but knew that it was only a matter of time before it had a puncture or hit a bump and one of the wheels buckled. When that happened, it was all over.
    His whole body ached from the constant pressure of the jetpack on his back, and he thanked his younger self for spending all that time wrapping SureGrip Friction Tape around the handlebars.
    He zoomed past a camper and then there was nothing ahead of him for as far as he could see. The freeway was straight and flat. Maybe it’s worth trying the brakes now. . . . Might slow me down a little. He slid his fingers