The photo was clear. Andre stood wrapped in LJ’s arms in the middle of the room, his hands at her waist. He looked at the phone one last time and hit send.
The phone was lowered and stashed into a back pocket. “Perfect,” the man said. He headed for Neb’s exit and tried to leave as quietly as he’d entered.
Andre opened his eyes and tracked the person walking out. Easing LJ to the side, he reached into his jacket. He grabbed a small tracker and tossed it at the man. It landed on the man and camouflaged itself just as the door closed.
As the city lights blurred past the window, LJ’s thoughts slipped back to earlier that night. Andre held her face after their kiss. He said he thought they needed to talk about her finding another job. “Ah’ve been putting in applications, sugah.” She was going to tell him she was an ex con. Before she could get the words out he said, “Want a job at the Beacon? I can hire you. We could take late lunches,” he suggested.
“Anyone ever tell y’all business and pleasure don’t mix, Andre?”
“No.”
She remembered Andre staying there almost all night. Going to his booth every chance she got. Sitting in his arms until her boss complained. Andre left an hour before closing.
LJ closed her eyes.
“LJ,” Michelle shouted. “Earth to LJ. The Uber is here.”
She opened her eyes and walked out the door. Andre pre-paid for their ride home. “Thanks, Michelle. Ah forgot where Ah was there for a minute.”
“You can’t fool me, LJ,” she smiled. “You are falling hard for that man.” LJ smiled and they both got into the car.
“You’ve got it bad, LJ,” she teased.
Fallin’ without a safety net, she thought, replaying the moment Andre kissed her.
***
Andre leaned over the edge, watching LJ and Michelle’s ride disappear into the street below.
Andre pulled out his phone, a map of the city lit up on the screen.
A blip headed west, moving slow, caught his attention. “All right mystery photographer, why were you watching LJ? Does she know you were there?”
He stood over the edge, still watching the blip. “Her heart rate only spiked once… when I kissed her,” he said, pulling Spant’s mask over his face. “If she didn’t know she was being watched, then who are you and who are you working for?” He placed the phone in his pocket.
Spant leapt.
***
A phone rang. The man who Spant was following stopped walking and answered the call. “I made a stop.” The man looked at his watch. It was 2:30 am. “I will be there shortly.”
Spant landed in a crouch on the ledge above him. His boot loosened a piece of dirt and it fell into the man’s hair. The man looked up, brushing his head but saw nothing.
Spant had blended in with stones of the building.
“No one noticed me?” the man hissed. “She was distracted by that brute boyfriend of hers.”
Spant’s eyes narrowed beneath his mask.
He rose to his full height, eyes locked on the man, watching him rent a bike and ride off. He checked his phone. The tracer he placed on LJ’s ride had just stopped in front of their building. That meant they had made it home safely.
He moved along rooftops and walls like a shadow, keeping the man in sight.
“Same direction as the black mailer. He’s going there, Spant thought.
The man parked the bike and walked up the stairs into the building.
Spant was already there.
He was perched on the rooftop waiting.
He smiled.
Spant threw out his wrist and black filament shot out. The man’s feet were glued to the ground. Another shot. His mouth sealed before a breath could escape. The man reached for his mouth but more filament hit him, sticking his arms to his sides. Spant landed on the step. He froze.
“Let’s talk,” Spant said grabbing the man by his collar. He launched himself with the man in his arms.
***
In a dark room not far away, LJ rolled over in her bed clutching her pillow. She had just drifted off when a tap sounded at her window. She opened one eye, then ignored it. LJ mumbled, “Ah just got home from work. Go away.”
She closed her eyes and pulled the pillow over her head. The tap came again. She grabbed the blanket and slung it off of her. “Ah swear if there’s a bug at mah window,” she whispered reaching for the clawed gloves under her mattress. “Ah’m slashin’ first and askin’ questions nevah,” she hissed as she slid the gloves over her hands.
There was another tap.
LJ went to the window. She slid the curtain open quickly, ready to kill whatever it was on the other side.
Spant stood against the window pane, looking down at her. “What took you so long?” he asked.
LJ frowned. “Why are you here, hero?” she hissed. “Ah’m tryin’ to sleep.”
Spant looked at her dressed in her silk two-piece sleepwear. He held out the phone. The image of Andre and her kissing was on the screen. “Leave the whistle. Get dressed,” he said.
She looked at the image. Her in Andre’s arms. He was kissing her. The picture was from earlier tonight. “You jealous?” she sneered.
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He smiled, back flipping from the window. You do have fire, LJ, he thought.
Spant landed on the outside wall. LJ stood raising her gloved hand. He opened the window and stepped inside.
“Who’s the man and why are you paying someone to tail him?” he asked, as he stepped in front of her.
“I thought you said you were going straight,” he looked at her. “Your word means nothing, huh?”
LJ glared up at him. She raised her arm and slashed his chest. “How dare you!”
Spant fell back on the wall grabbing his chest. “Hurts, doesn’t it?” he taunted. What are those claws made of? Until recently, nothing could tear my skin. First Swarn, now those gloves, he thought.
“Wasn’t expectin’ that were you, hero?” LJ said standing over him. She lunged but looked around the room. This was Michelle’s home. She was a guest. Michelle had taken her in and trusted her to be around her son. She stopped. “Ah...Ah’m sorry. Please go away. Ah just got off work and would like to get some sleep,” she said, pulling off the gloves.
He grunted through the pain pulling himself upright. “I didn’t come here to fight you, LJ.”
“Then get out b’fore y’all cause me to lose another home,” she snapped.
He watched her walk away from him. He flicked the phone toward her. She caught it. “Which is it? Are you playing him or are you the target?”
She turned and caught the phone. She zoomed in on Andre’s face and stared it longer than she intended. “Who did you get this from?”
“Get dressed and I will tell you,” he said. “If you prefer, I don’t mind the scenery.”
LJ scowled at him. “Ah always knew you were a pervert.”
***
A few minutes later, LJ exited the bathroom attached to her room. Spant was leaning against a wall, rubbing his chest with a rag when she reentered the room. His eyes settled on her. She had changed into a shirt and jeans.
She grabbed the rag and pressed it to his chest— then stopped.
“Ah’m sorry, Ah didn’t mean to hurt you. Ah mean Ah did but...”
Stunned, he watched her.
She paused. Her hand lingered.
She stiffened and pulled back.
“What am Ah doin’?” she asked, remembering the contempt she had for him. LJ stepped back and handed the bloody rag to him. “Why are you here?”
He dabbed his chest with it. “Have your powers returned?”
She raised her hand, trying to cast a shadow. A small weak shadow formed in the palm of her hand but quickly dissipated. “Not fully. Why?”
Spant took a step towards her and wrapped an arm around her waist.
“What are y’all doin’?” She slapped his hand. “Don’t touch me!” she whispered.
He jumped out of the window. LJ grabbed his chest with one arm and draped the other around his neck.
“Don’t scream,” he said. “We don’t want to wake your roommates.”
LJ’s eyes widened. “Don’t you dare drop me!” she growled. “Mah boyfriend will kill you.”
“He can try,” Spant said with a smile. “Hold on.”
Spant shifted LJ to his back. He landed in a crouch on a street lamp briefly and launched himself upward. “Are you okay?” he asked, watching her eyes.
LJ looked away. “Why am Ah bein’ kidnapped?”
He landed on a wall and climbed to the top of the building. At the roof’s edge, he set her down. Reaching into his jacket, he pulled out the same phone from earlier.
“You have not been kidnapped.” He selected a photo on the phone. “But you are being set up, LJ.”
“By those two men.”
Her hands flew up to snag the phone he’d just thrown.
“Do Ah even want to know?”
“Look at it.”
Before she closed her eyes, she glanced at him. “Please don’t let it be Andre,” she whispered. Her finger hesitated before tapping the screen.
He heard her but said nothing.
When her eyes opened, her expression hardened. “No.”
She stared at Spant then took a closer look at the men. “This is the man who blackmailed me into stealin’ the bio tech. He. He’s with my father?” The phone fell to the rooftop. “Why? What does that mean?”
Her hand shook as she reached for it. “Daddy. He was standin’ in the picture, unassisted.” She sank to her knees. “He…he’s not sick, hero…Spant?”
Spant helped her to her feet. Her hands trembled against his chest. “Ah...Ah went to prison for him.”
The words hit her hard.
The courtroom. The sentence. The bars.
It all slammed back into place.
She pushed him away and hissed. “YOU. Sent me there!”
“Stop blaming me for your past actions, LJ,” he said, looking at her. “You chose to steal.”
“You bastard.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Why did they do this?”
Spant stepped toward her and stopped. “You can ask him yourself.”
LJ stared as he walked to an AC unit and disappeared behind it. “Where are y’all goin’?”
Spant stepped out of the shadows with the man who photographed her and Andre earlier. The man’s arms were webbed together behind his back. His mouth was still covered with black filament. Spant shoved the man and he fell at her feet with a hard thud.
“Who is he?”
Spant’s eyes flicked to the man and back to her. “He is the man they paid to watch you.”
Yanking him upright, Spant grabbed the man by the collar. “Tell her,” he growled. “Tell her what you told me.”
LJ’s hands trembled as they became fists. Her eyes flashed black as she stepped closer. “Tell me what?”
The man crawled backward, screaming through the filament. His body trembled beneath Spant’s grip. Spant grabbed him by the arms, lifting him from the rooftop.
LJ stalked forward. “Tell. Me. What?”
Spant snatched the filament from the man’s mouth. “You heard her.”
I’m sorry, LJ. You need to hear this, he thought.
Spant shook the man.
The man began to talk. “I…I was told to follow you. Report your every move.”
“Why?” LJ asked.
“They knew you were getting close to someone. Knew you had a boyfriend.”
Spant squeezed the man’s shoulder. A muscle popped. The man’s scream tore across the rooftop. He inhaled deeply before continuing.
“They wanted more leverage to use against you. In case you discovered who they were, they would have something else to hold over you,” the man blurted out.
LJ stopped.
The picture of her and Andre. Andre was going to be leverage.His life was in danger because of her. She frowned. “They were goin’ to kidnap mah boyfriend, weren’t they?” she asked, flicking her hand, trying to call a shadow. “He’s in danger because of me, isn’t he? What else do Ah not know? Why did mah daddy do this?”
He said nothing.
Spant lifted him by his wounded shoulder. The man screamed out. LJ tilted her head. “Answer her,” he said. “Tell her everything.”
“Your father,” he began. “The information you stole over the years. The money was your choice. Everything else was them. They have plans, plans for you.”
“What kinda plans?” she hissed. “What about Andre?”
“Collateral damage.”
The image of Andre’s son crying over his grave flashed before her eyes.
LJ stilled. She stared at the man. “Collateral damage. You were goin’ to kill him?”
She took a step closer.
“You were goin’ to kill him?!” she yelled, lunging at the man.
Spant stepped into her path and shoved the man to the ground. LJ didn’t hesitate. She vaulted over both of them, twisting midair as she tried to call a shadow. Spant turned, tracking her as she landed behind him. He caught one of her arms, and pulled her into him. “I can’t let you kill him.”
The man laid on the rooftop cowering behind Spant, pleading for his life.
“Let go of me,” she hissed, trying to pry herself free from Spant’s grip.
LJ stilled. The hairs on the back of her neck raised. Spant felt it too. He snapped his head upward in time to see a biter land on the man.
It clicked once. LJ’s eyes grew wide. Spant’s grip on her tightened.
“LJ,” he said, yanking her back. He shifted his body in front of hers, burying her head in his chest. “Get back.”
The man opened his mouth to scream—the biter exploded before a sound could escape.
The blast knocked them backwards. Debris shot up around them. LJ’s ears popped.
Spant landed on top of her as her head hit the rooftop hard. Debris fell around them.
He looked down at her, she was semi-conscious, moaning. “LJ?” he whispered.
Clicking began all around them. Spant knew what that meant. “Flea,” he growled. “He’s close.”
LJ lifted her head, rubbing it. A high pitched ringing filled her head.
Her face was dangerously close to his.
“Ah knew you were a pervert,” she said, looking down at her chest.
Spant followed her eyes. His hand was on her breast. He jerked it back. “That was an accident,” he said.
She looked at him. “Get offa me. What have you gotten me into now?” she snapped.
A second biter landed near them. It began clicking.
“What is that?”
Spant scooped LJ up in his arms and launched himself forward.
“Spant,” Flea’s voice echoed. “Where are you?” he sang.
Two other biters landed, hopped into the air behind him and exploded.
Spant lost grip of LJ. “LJ!”
The blast sent him through a brick wall.
LJ fell through a skylight, glass shattering all around her.
Below her, something moved.... and it was already looking up.