Heroic Measures (continued)

“Yes, sir,” he answered sheepishly.

From the corner of his eye, he thought he saw Vivian staring proudly at him. He forced himself not to notice.

“Is it that bad?” Red asked; sounding much concerned than his expression indicated.

Raynes turned and met Red’s gaze. “We don’t know yet,” he said. “But, based on what we’ve seen so far, I am deeply concerned.”

“Why?” Walter asked, without quite meaning to.

On each side of Raynes, Westin and Harrison exchanged a look that Walter knew too well. He had seen it often when doubted the intelligence of someone who had spoken. A slight change in Raynes’ expression told Walter that he had seen it, but was choosing, for the moment, to deliberately let it pass.

Raynes’ lips tightened into a grim line.

“Of the four of you,” he explained, “two of you were deeply affected—let’s be frank: incapacitated—by whatever energy this device is throwing off. One of you,” he nodded toward Isabel, “felt it enough to become mildly disoriented. From what I understand,” Raynes continued, looking at Red, “even you were not entirely unaffected.”

Red’s expression went still. Walter stared at him in surprise.

He never said anything . . .

Raynes and Red locked gazes for a moment before Raynes, almost casually, looked away.

“The reports from the other sections near the lab report similar results.” He leaned forward, resting his arms on the table, looking to Walter like every president in every movie who had to deliver bad news. “Consider the implications.”

Before Walter could do so, he heard Isabel gasp with realization. Red’s jaw tightened and his eyes, normally bright and mischievous, went cold.

“That’s right,” Raynes agreed, confirming some conclusion that Walter had not yet reached. “Imagine if these are widespread across the city—or anywhere—and our enemies decided to launch a full-scale assault. What kind of defense could we offer if half of our forces are incapacitated, and another fourth of them are distracted, operating below their abilities?”

Walter’s mind threatened to seize up at the very notion. If the effectiveness of any group of heroes could be cut to about one-quarter of its true strength through the use of this device, then any attacking force would need only a fraction of the same number of people in order to defeat the defender. Walter had a great deal of pride and confidence in his fellow heroes, but he also understood the mathematical realities of such a conflict.

“I guess we’d better find the rest of those devices . . .” he whispered.

Raynes nodded gravely in agreement.

#

“They could be hidden anywhere,” Vivian complained.

There was just enough of a whine in her voice to get Walter’s teeth on edge. To judge from Isabel’s expression, she was considering options to deal with it. Red remained surprisingly silent; even his expression maintained its stony demeanor.

The four of them were gliding above the rooftops of the city, joining the search, census, and removal of any of the antenna-like devices. So far, like the other teams scouring the city, they had located none.

“It must have been an accident,” Walter suggested. “All of the others ones got removed, but they were in a hurry and forgot that one.”

Red and Isabel both looked doubtful.

“Maybe it was a prototype?” Vivian offered.

Red shook his head. “The manufacturing was too finished, too refined,” he said. “They made others—maybe a lot of them.”

“Then where are they?” Vivian countered, sounding just a bit surly.

“Maybe it’s a message,” Walter suggested, interrupting any possibly snide retorts to Vivian.

“What do you mean?” Isabel asked, clearly interested.

Walter felt a small swell of pride. He had managed to suggest a theory that had not yet occurred to anyone else present.

“It’s a signal,” he explained. “They did make a lot of them, like Red said, but they left this one behind for us to find.”

“Why?” Vivian asked.

“So we would know they had them,” Walter replied. “To throw us off-balance,” he said. “To make us afraid—knowing that, at any time, they could knock half of the heroes of this city out of action.”

“I think it worked,” Isabel mused sourly.

“How many people know?” Walter asked.

Red shrugged. “Right now,” he said, “it’s probably one of the worst-kept secrets of our alliance. There wasn’t any kind of general announcement, but by now, anyone who knows anybody else surely knows—or has at least heard a rumor.”

Walter grimaced.