Waiting for a Miracle

Chapter 22

I know this may not be much of a news flash for some of you, but hangovers suck. On a day as important as today, I didn’t need one, but I had a doozy of a headache thumping my poor noggin as I looked over my “troops.”

Resisting the urge to rub my head, I said, “Alright, Morgan will be manning the broadcast van parked at the garage. Morgan, you’ve got six cameras to work with, so I’ll be expecting something damned close to a movie of the week. Things probably will go wrong, but here’s basically what I think will happen. We’ll go live with Vicky, who will publicly ask Miracle Man to save her. I will then ask him to come out of retirement for the sake of the city, and since we’re broadcasting on most every major station, it won’t be long before we’re surrounded by criminals of every rank.

“Now Morgan, you need to make sure you send that footage above all else. Miracle Man needs to see the sheer numbers of villains in his city, or this is never going to work. After thirty minutes, I will assume our hero isn’t showing. At that point, I will issue a final warning to the criminals to leave. If they don’t, I’ll kill anyone who won’t retreat.”

“So will I,” Wallace said.

“I will too,” Leona agreed in a low voice.

I kept my tone gentle as I reminded her, “This has to be done to save the city. Miracle Man may not show up, and I’m supposed to wake up tomorrow and retire. To do that, I might have to be a hero for one day, even if I play the role as a rogue hero. If the criminals won’t retreat, then I’ll kill them to the very last one.”

Wallace and Leona nodded their silent agreement, but both looked like they were feeling ill.

Still, I had to press on with my plans. “I’ve given everyone radios, and you all know what to do.”

“I don’t,” Wally said. “No one told me what I was doing.”

“Yes, I did,” I said. “You’re my gopher. You can drive, I assume?”

“Yeah.”

“Even with redundant power supplies and circuits, Wallace could still theoretically burn out his suit during the fight. If that happens, we’ll be calling you to bring a backup collar and then get back here as fast as you can.”

“I can do that,” Wally said.

“Doing it is one thing. Doing it without getting yourself killed is the main priority I want you to focus on.” I offered Wally a strained smile. “If you have to leave the lab, be careful.”

“I will,” Wally promised.

Clapping my hands, I winced as the sound unsettled the bowling ball in my head. “Okay, is everyone else ready to take positions?”

“Oh, can I be on top?” Wallace and Leona said in unison.

“Nut cases!” I groaned, perhaps a bit melodramatically. “This is why my plots keep failing! I swear, this is a support group for utter nut bags!”

Wallace and Leona exchanged an amused smirk before Wallace said, “Well, technically, it—”

Cutting him off, Vicky huffed and asked, “Can we go now, before I lose faith in this plot?”

“Yeah, move out,” I said.

Leona and I took one decoy car while Vicky and Wallace went in the other. Morgan left in yet another, which he would use as his getaway car if his broadcast location was compromised. The plan was supposed to be simple. Wallace and Vicky would meet us in the restaurant at the top of the LeVeaux tower. Morgan would radio us when he was in position and had linked up with all of the motor-mounted cameras, at which point the four of us would go to the roof for the final phase of my plan.