Free Pacific Station Vigilante (Book 1): The Negative Man (City of Chaos) by Jeremy Croston Page B

Diamonds.”
    I saw from the background he got up.  A heard the doors open that led to the secret computer lab.  “What task does he want you to do?”
    “I have a program, one that I already rewrote to work properly, and it’s designed to steal money from Wonder-Tech.”
    He gave a short, sharp laugh.  “They’re trying to steal my money?  How pathetic.”
    I continued on.  “All I have to do is put the flash drive on one of the network linked computers and it’ll do the rest.  I guess once The Aces start getting deposits, they’ll reach out to me.”
    “How soon can you get in here and get on their good side?”
    The excitement of the mission had rendered the pain almost nonexistent.  “If I can convince Heather I’m fine, I’ll get it uploaded tomorrow when I come in.”
    He dropped out of view for a second, but when his face came back, John Wonderton was gone and The Dark Lion was staring back at me.  “We all have our missions for tonight it seems.  You make sure that girl thinks you’re the most miraculous healer alive.”
    “Will do.”  Curiosity about his mission crept up.  “What’re you doing tonight?”
    “Remember our conversation about supply and demand?  Tonight, the supply of thugs is going to go down by a lot.”  He flashed an evil grin before cutting off.

Chapter 14 –
Tuesday Morning; Heather’s Car
     
    “A gruesome scene downtown is unfolding as the city’s waking up this morning.  At least fifteen members of The Station Shadows are dead, with potentially another eight to ten on life support at Heights General.  Police are on scene and with limited details released, be sure to stay tuned to 105.6 for all the latest.”
    As the news release ended, Heather pulled up to a red light.  “What’s wrong with this city?”
    “Well, gangs tend to take each other out, so I imagine that’s what happened here.”  I was lying through my teeth.  I knew exactly what happened; The Dark Lion eliminated supply.
    I think she was tempted to respond, but the commercial that was playing was cut off and the radio host broke back in.  “Sorry for the interruption listeners, but we have just received word that Chief Grimes is about to give a statement regarding the breaking story developing this morning.”
    I looked over at another car right before they cut away to Grimes.  It was obvious that every person in the city this morning was listening and wondering just what the hell happened last night.  I was equally curious to see how Grimes would respond.
    His voice was sharp and angry as it echoed throughout the car.  “Last night’s action against The Station Shadows was an official operation approved by everyone from the mayor on down.  In conjunction with The Dark Lion, we eliminated most of the thugs that had been plaguing our streets.  Let this serve as a warning shot to the rest of the no good sons of bitches running around out there.  You mess with the city; you don’t need to worry about jail time.  No, you need to worry about showing up at the morgue in a body bag.”
    Heather turned the radio off.  “He’s declared war on all the gangs…”
    “Can he legally authorize lethal force like that?”
    “He just did.”
    A shiver went down my spine.  What can of worms had DL opened?  It made me think of what Jenkins told me, that Grimes was as corrupt as the rest of them.  “How is what The Dark Lion and the PSPD are authorizing any better than what The Negative Man did to the city?”  More to me than her, “Maybe it’s time…”
    “Time for what?”
    “Huh?”  She startled me with her rising voice.  “Oh, I meant maybe it’s time to leave.  I didn’t move out here to worry about being caught in a gang war.”
    “Oh.”  Apparently that wasn’t what she’d been expecting.  “You’d leave Pacific Station?”
    “I don’t want to, but things back east aren’t like this.  Maybe it’s because supers aren’t as welcomed in major cities and