Jackson Humes is Not a Superhero

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Marv found a parking spot on the street behind the school bleachers. A few stragglers were running down the sidewalk towards the side gate onto the field, but most everyone else must have already been seated because I could hear the strange buzzing sound of hundreds of people all congregated in one area. On the opposite side of the street was a row of well-kept homes. The smell of freshly cut grass hung in the air.

Diego's cell phone rang almost as soon as we got out of the car. It couldn't have just been coincidence. I looked around to see if anyone was watching us, but there was no one around. His expression darkened as he listened and he glanced at Marv and me. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good.

"What is it?" Marv asked impatiently, when the call was finished.

"Doctor Norman wants us to hop into the white van that will be pulling up shortly—"

"A white van, seriously?" I interrupted. "That is literally the worst idea I've ever heard."

Diego scowled at me, making him look even more tired than usual. "He says the three of us are going to be injected with something that will knock us out but won't hurt us, and that his men will take us to him. That part is non-negotiable. He'll let Tanner go in return."

"What are we really going to do?" Marv asked. He gave me the impression that he was ready to kick some serious ass.

"Exactly as he asks," Diego said calmly. 

"There's no way I'm letting that lunatic or anyone else inject me." Marv said angrily.

Usually I wasn't one for confrontation, but Diego's plan sucked. "I say we take one of his guys hostage and make an exchange." Marv seconded my proposal.

Diego held up his hand for both of us to shut up. "Josh will be able to find me. He'll send the help we need."

"How is Josh going to find us?" Marv asked, not backing down. "You haven't even spoken to him."

Diego pulled something up on his phone and tossed it to Marv. "For years I've kept an email draft outlining what Josh should do if I was ever captured again. I sent it to him on our way here. Read it."

Marv handed me the phone when he was done. The email gave Josh specific instructions to follow and included a short list of people to contact. I checked the timestamp and saw it had been sent ten minutes ago.

"Why didn't you tell anyone sooner?" I asked.

"I needed to make sure I could deliver a bigger fish. Without Doctor Norman, the powers that be would've run their own experiments on me. Perhaps they wouldn't be as cruel as he was, but I decided a long time ago that I would rather die than spend one more day locked up."

"So you're going to use us as bait and throw us to the wolves?" Marv spat. "How does that make you any better than Doctor Norman?"

"I have waited too long for this. You do not have a choice." There was a hint of a threat in his tone. Perhaps leaving the officers behind had been a huge mistake.

"What are you going to do if we don't agree?" Marv got right up in his face until they were eye to eye. He was definitely the more menacing of the two, but Diego didn't flinch.

My vision went white. A searing pain like I'd never experienced knocked me to the ground. It's as if my intestines were being squeezed from the inside. It hurt so bad that I couldn't even cry out. Right when I wanted to die from the agony it vanished, but the phantom shockwaves continued to roll through my body. My vision slowly returned. Marv was kneeling beside me looking completely helpless.

"That was just a small amount of pressure," Diego said quietly. "I don't want to hurt either of you, but I also don't want you to underestimate what I am willing to do to capture Doctor Norman."