Detective John Masters ran a hand impatiently through his short black hair and scrolled through the screens on his laptop, searching for the news image that had caught his attention. His partner, Alison Durbin, waited silently, peering over his shoulder at the screen. She had learnt from experience that there was no point trying to distract John when he was focussed on something.
"Here it is!" John froze the image and pointed at a slightly blurry figure on the screen. The man, Alison thought it was a man, was holding one arm out in front of his body—from this angle it looked like beams of light were shooting out of his fingers.
"Neat!" Alison said admiringly. "How is he doing that? A torch tucked up his sleeve?"
John frowned impatiently. "No! Can't you see? The light's coming out of his fingers!"
Alison shot a dubious glance at her partner. He sounded serious, but he had to be joking, right?
"I can see it looks like that, John, but obviously it's just an illusion, a trick. He's probably some sort of performer. Heavens, the last magician I saw had some tricks you wouldn't believe! He had this woman lying—"
"I don't think he's a magician, Ali," interrupted John. "I think he's for real. This isn't the first time I've seen someone like this—someone with... special powers, I mean. I had one of them cornered once, trapped in a dead end alley, but when I came round the side of the building, he just disappeared, right into thin air."
"You're kidding, right?" Alison stared at him.
John shook his head, determinedly. "No, I'm not. I tell you, these people are out there, hiding amongst us in plain sight." A determined expression crossed his face. "I'm going to catch one if it's the last thing I do. Don't you see? We need to know if these people are for us or against us. Just think, if they're on our side they could be a valuable asset, especially to our organisation, or even Homeland Security. But if they're not... We need to take steps before it's too late."
Alison tried to keep a neutral expression on her face. It sounded unbelievable—too much like X-men and the other sci-fi shows her nieces and nephews liked to watch. She knew how hard John had been working lately... had he finally lost the plot?
~~~
Hunched down out of sight in the front seat of his car, John peered over the top of the steering wheel as a slender shape left the After Dark Club. The light spilling from the doorway shone on his face for an instant and John stiffened in his seat. His lips thinned triumphantly. He was certain this was his target, the very man who had disappeared in front of his eyes a couple of months ago. John had his image engraved in his head but despite looking through hundreds of police records, he hadn't been able to identify him.
And then he'd found him quite by accident, attending a jazz performance in the After Dark Club. A discreet question to the staff and he had a name. Guy Travers. After that, it was easy. To his surprise, Guy was a teacher at the local high school, living a quiet life except for Friday and Saturday nights when he went to the After Dark Club. It all seemed harmless enough. Except, John knew better—he'd seen him in action.
John had been keeping the Club under surveillance for a week or so now, waiting for just this opportunity. Usually Guy was accompanied by a friend or two but this time he was on his own.
Silently, John slipped out of the car and followed on foot. He was cautious, never losing sight of his target but never getting too close either.
