Free SECRET IDENTITY by Linda Mooney Page B

dissipate, Lorne lowered his defensive
shield until it snuffed out the remaining fire. Explosions could be contained,
but they couldn’t be avoided. The laws of physics were indisputable. As long as
he let the force expend itself first, the rest would be a cake walk.
    Nice going, Luke praised.
    Honest praise. Lorne wondered if he had surprised the guy.
    I needed to get above the explosion and make sure I had
it all within my reach.
    Either way, nice going. Can you go back in?
    Yeah. Let me cover myself.
    He rewrapped himself within his own powers, like a natural HAZMAT
suit, and descended back into the building. The eerie feeling he’d gotten a
second before the blast was gone, but he remained on the lookout. If another
such event happened, he would be protected, but that wouldn’t mean everyone else
would be. He had to be alert to another possible dangerous reaction.
    That second blast could have taken out any clues there
were regarding the first, he informed his brother.
    Still, keep looking. You never know, Luke answered.
    His decision to use his abilities to defend others, rather
than to use them as a covert weapon, was what had helped him decide to go
public. That, and the urging of his two brothers, who said their father would
have wanted one of his sons to take over his legacy, the same way Logan had
taken over for their grandfather. And their grandfather from their
great-grandfather. And so on.
    The world needed a defender of good, they’d argued. A
Defender of Good.
    The choice of his pseudonym was a given.
    Brenda’s worried.
    I don’t doubt it.
    You know, you really should give her an interview.
    Lorne chuckled as he hovered above the smoking ruins. And
then what, Luke?
    She’s very interested in you.
    Tell me something I don’t know. She’s interested in The
Defender, not Lorne Palmer.
    But she loves you as Lorne.
    Just like she loves you and Lee. We’re family.
    I agree, but you’re not getting the vibes I’m getting.
The Defender is pushing her buttons. You should have felt the spike I got when
that little whatever-it-was went off.
    Lorne knew he had a silly grin on his face at that moment,
but he didn’t care.
    Let’s leave Brenda out of this so I can concentrate on
the factory. I’m not getting anything now.
    Forget that little room. Go back to the main site of the
original explosion.
    Mentally nodding, Lorne eased back into the main area. The
place smelled of scorched wood and metal. Taking a deeper breath, Lorne tried
to decipher anything that seemed suspicious. What he hit upon was entirely new
to him, and therefore possibly dangerous.
    Luke?
    Way ahead of you, bro. Let me check my records first to
be sure.
    To be sure? That was the first time Lorne had heard his
brother comment about needing to do a bit of research.
    What? The great Mr. Mental doesn’t know everything?
    Screw you, Lorne. At least once I learn something, I don’t
forget it. Give me some more feedback on that scent so I can be certain.
    Closing his eyes, Lorne concentrated on the elusive, barely
perceptible smell. It’s oily. Almost like something’s rotten or decomposing,
but with a metallic whang.
    Okay! Got it! You’re smelling unguindene.
    The protective powers wrapping around him would keep out any
dangerous microbes or organisms which could harm him, but the scents could
still penetrate it. And this scent had “Warning!” written all over it. Requesting
a definition of ‘unguindene’.
    The byproduct of acetal-diphilate prorestilyme,
bicamphorate sulfide, and biphuromethanene.
    Easy for you to say. How about some one syllable words,
bro?
    You just found the smoking gun. Literally.
    That’s it?
    We need a sample to test and tag as evidence.
    What am I looking for, then?
    If you can smell it, then trace amounts are still present.
Hold on. Let me check on something real quick.
    He had reached the epicenter of the original blast. The
heart of the factory.
    Are the rumors true? Did they really use this place