Galilee Rising(5)

But tonight is all about helping old friends. My old squad, Priority Homicide, caught a triple last night, a drive-by in Diablo's Ward, my old neighborhood. Two dead bangers and one civilian, Dorothea Clarke, grandmother to one of the dead men. They know it was the men's rival gang, the 3-4's, but have no proof or witnesses. Since crime in the Ward is mostly poor bangers killing bangers, and the press could give a shit, CCTV cameras are sparse there. Must be why Justice installed a few of his own, one of which is right around the corner from the crime scene. I pull up the file from that area. Seconds before the shots, a black SUV turns the corner onto the victim's street. The same car speeds away a few seconds later on the next available camera. No other cars turn on that street at the same time. I enhance the license plate, click a button, and Doris automatically starts her magic. Thirty seconds later I have the owner's name, Duquan Harris. Another click and I get his criminal history. Big shock, he's a known 3-4 member. Gotcha. I package the info together and send it to Harry. He's smart enough to know how to make it look legally obtained. C.I. #794 sure is in a lot of places at the right time. I just saved my old friends days of legwork.

I'm reviewing the footage from Oleg's strip club when hurried footsteps on the ramp cause me to swivel around. Dobbs rushes in unnerved. "What is it?" I ask.

"Visitors." I glimpse up at the red light that's supposed to flash when someone's at the gate, but it's still. "They didn't come through the gate."

"Who--"

"Hope we're not disturbing you," a man says as he strolls into sight. My mouth slacks open. "Just popped by to borrow a cup of sugar."

"They insisted, Miss Joanna," Dobbs says.

Of course. Because my life isn't complicated enough.

As if he owned the place, King Tempest leads his compatriots past my apprehensive butler. I scowl at the threesome, but only Lord Nightingale seems to be looking at me. The other two survey the room. "Smaller than I pictured," King Tempest says. "Comfy looking couch." The most famous crime fighting group is in my secret lair commenting on the décor. O-Kay. Tempest strides toward me, extending his gloved hand. "You must be Joanna. Pleased to finally meet you."

He's tall, easily a foot taller than me and big, though not fat. I'll bet those muscles under his costume are all him. Everything but his mouth is covered by a cowl. The only decorations on his costume are the K.T. on his cape, tornado on his chest, and crown with R.T. on his left arm. The other two heroes are less physically formidable but still intimidating. To his right, Lady Liberty stands up straight in her black suit, long blonde hair cascading around her shoulders. She's tall too, near six foot, but thin. The contours on her suit are probably tailored that way. Like the others only her mouth is visible. Right over her small chest in pink are the initials L.L. and in white on her arm is the same crown and R.T. Next to her waits Lord Nightingale. He's an inch or two shorter than her, medium build but how much of that is the dark purple costume I don't know. There's a bird, I assume a nightingale, on his chest and the crown on his arm. For some reason out of all of them he makes me the edgiest. His gaze hasn't left me since he walked in. Studying me. Creep. Wish I could see his eyes under those tinted plastic slits.

I glance at Tempest's hand then up to his hidden eyes. "What do you want?"

The hero pulls his arm away with a chuckle. "We just came to introduce ourselves."

"Why?" I ask, folding my arms across my chest.

Tempest glances at his friends. "Friendly town, huh?" Liberty smiles but Nightingale remains impassive. Tempest turns back around. "We're here to stay. To get this city back in order. To do that, we need your help."

"More accurately, we need that computer," Liberty says. "It's got the whole city wired, right? Cameras, all of it? We need it, and you need to let us use it."

"How the hell did you even know it was here?"

"Justice," Tempest says. "I showed him ours, and he told us about his. He add those additional cameras?"

My back straightens. "How did you know it was here? In this house?"

"He told us," Liberty says.

And the hits keep coming. Just when I think I've gotten over the years of betrayal and lies, some assholes show up uninvited, and the feelings come back. "He told you who he was," I say with a scoff. Me, who knows him for twenty years he keeps half of his existence from but spills to three people he knew for a week.

"And we told him," Tempest says. As if that makes it okay.

I glance at Nightingale, whose head is hung a little. Even without seeing his face I know he's feeling sorry for me. This pisses me off even more. "Good for you. Look, I'm too busy right now to play welcome wagon lady. I'll take your request under advisement, okay? You know the way out." I turn around in my chair.