Free New Markets - 02 by Kevin Rau Page B

“Black Tiger.”
    The voice said, “Hey, Tiger.  It’s me.”  I let out a breath, and felt my shoulders relax just hearing her voice.  I couldn’t believe how glad I was just to hear Stephanie’s voice.  Dunsworth’s eyes flicking toward my fingers made me realize my claws had receded.
    “I’m glad to hear from you.  Everything okay?”
    “It is now.  I’ve got a location, and some names that Agent Willman will look into.  We can handle the grunt work while they handle the intel activities.”
    “Kick ass.  We’re at the kidnap victim’s house, want to meet us here?”
    “Sure, I’ll be there in a minute or two.”  I heard her ask someone else, “Are you headed back to the house, or to your office?”
    I heard Agent Willman answer Stephanie in the background.  “My office is in Metrocity.  I’ll make some calls here, and then head over to the location you found with some other agents.”
    “Sounds good.  You there, Tiger?  I’ll be there in a few.”
    “Yeah, still here.  See you when you get here.”
    “Okay, see you soon.”  She hung up.
    Hmph, the agents didn’t lie after all.  Which means I was being an asshole to this guy, I suppose.  I decided to suck up my pride and make good with the agent.  “Agent Dunsworth?”
    Agent Dunsworth looked eager for any news.  “Yeah?”
    “I, uhh, I’m sorry for getting on your case earlier.  Psystar’s on her way here, Agent Willman’s going to meet us at the kidnappers location.”
    He looked surprised.  “Well ... sure thing.  It could have gone better, I suppose.”
    I asked, “Do they have a photograph of the victim here?”
    “Yeah, come in.”  He led the way into the house.  Once inside, he introduced us to Mr. and Mrs. Lieberman.   He explained to them, “Spartan and Black Tiger will be working with us on the extraction of your daughter.”  We shook hands with them.  Mr. Lieberman appeared very impressed by Lance’s size.
    I caught movement outside the window, and saw Stephanie standing up from a crouched position on the lawn.  I see you, babe!
    She glanced quickly at the window and grinned at me, and then walked to the front door.
    I slapped Spartan’s chest with the back of my hand.  “She’s here.  Let’s go kick some kidnapper ass.”  We met her outside.
    She hugged me and said, “What an awful morning so far.”
    I wonder what the feds avoided telling us?
    She held up her hand.  “I’ll tell you later.  It’ll just make you mad.”
    She stepped back after the hug, and I noticed that her costume had traces of red mixed in with it.  There was a faint smell of blood around her, almost overwhelmed by her natural fragrance.
    She put a hand on my chest and said, “Later.  Not now.  Here’s the address they brought Zena to.”  She held out her H.E.R.O. phone with the address displayed.  Lance and I entered it into our phones to display a map of the location.  I wonder if these have any games on them….
    Lance said, “I’ll meet you guys there.”  He turned, scanned the street and leaped away.
    I watched after him and joked, “Ribbit!”
    Stephanie grinned again as she slid her arm around my waist.  She winked at me as she gave me a squeeze.  I followed suit on her, and then watched her leg as she appeared to step up onto some kind of invisible step and pushed off.  We floated up into the air.  We coasted upwards slowly for a minute while she looked at her H.E.R.O. phone for the direction to fly.
    We flew over a suburban business district for a few minutes before hovering over a building near a defunct oil change business.
    She pointed, “That’s where they’re at.  As soon as Spartan shows we can hit it.”
    I asked, “How many kidnappers are there?”
    “There ought to be four in there.  The other guy was supposed to pick up some food and such before they left for Metrocity.  He had the van.”
    “Metrocity?  This wasn’t a kidnapping for money from the