The Lone Knight (Under The Cowl Book #1)

CHAPTER 25

     Before thinking about taking chase after Daria and Bruce, Stephanie stopped herself and looked back towards the room where she remembered Mike had taken Rachel to hide.

It's inside the bedroom where Stephanie turned and found a foot sticking out of the closet.

She feared the worse.

Opening the door all the way and pushing aside the cloths hanging on the hangers in the closet, Stephanie grabbed Mike by the foot to pull him out only to discover it was not Mike at all, but Rachel.

Unconscious and dressed in Mike's cloths, Mike must have used a shape shifting spell to look like Rachel before Bruce had grabbed her.

Turning Rachel over on her back and checking her pulse, Stephanie sighed heavily with relief quick to blow the weight of her fears from her shoulders.

She alive.

Stephanie dropped down beside Rachel and pulled her cell phone from her utility belt. Luckily still in good shape.

There was only one person she could call and one other place she knew where Rachel will be safe. "Renee, where are you?"

Sirens echoed in the background.

"I think I'm headed your way with a few patrolmen. There was a report of an explosion in a high rise."

"Yeah, that was me. About Bruce-"

"I think I found a way to save him?

"What, how?"

"First I need to know if you brought the gun that was with the rest of the gear I gave you?"

"Yeah, I brought it."

"Good. I need you to use it and lay out a square pattern in the middle of the street with the canister that came with. And until I get there...," Renee paused.

Stephanie didn't like the pause. Anyone with half a brain could tell by Renee's hesitation what she wanted may very well be a cause for concern. "I didn't quite take you for one to hold your tongue."

"... I'm going to need you to keep him in the square."

"That's not going to be as easy as it sounds."

"I know, I'm asking for almost the impossible. But you shouldn't have to hold him there for long."

Against her better judgment, Stephanie sighed heavily and replied, "Yeah, you can count on me."

With the use of her grappling gun Stephanie flew up across the high rise until she reached the roof, but this time it was with her cowl back over her face.

She raced in the direction where she watched Daria take Bruce and vanished into the night.

Not too far away, Stephanie zoomed in on their position with her increased optical sights on her cowl. She could hear the shattering of glass and the crashing of bodies from building to building thrust in combat.

In mid-run, Stephanie reached her hand into the air duct without stopping and pulled out a duffel she kept stashed away.

Smaller and definitely lighter than the one that carried her bat gear, unzipped and pulled out the rather large handheld pump-action grenade launcher equipped with large canisters the size of spray bottles.

Stephanie moved to stand on the edge of the roof and loaded her gun with the canister.

On one knee, Stephanie took aim.

She searched in the darkness and shifted the settings to night vision.

In the sky crashing through buildings then on the ground crashing into parked cars and asphalt. Stephanie chased Daria and Bruce through her scope. 

Neither of them stayed in her line of sight for long.

"Come on, just stay in one place for a second?" 

She tightened her grip while bouncing her knee. With each passing second making it harder to perfect what may be her one chance to get right, Stephanie pulled the trigger where through the wide barrel a light blue gel exited and flew across the sky until landing on the sidewalk. Away from both Daria and Bruce.

"That's one."

Stephanie pumped the launcher again and fired a second shot.

She altered the range to fire a little further out, remaining aligned with the first. It's with two more shots fired, landing across the street from the others and perfectly lined up with the rest when Stephanie found herself with a dotted outline of a square in the middle of the street. 

"Now I have to get him inside."

Latching her gun to the back of her utility belt and scooping her duffel over her shoulder, Stephanie backed away from the edge of the roof. 

Giving herself a running start, Stephanie dove off the roof to spread her wings and descend into the chaos.