Read Online Don't Be a Hero: A Superhero Novel by Chris Strange - Free Book Online

hostage and gestured to the apartment building they were using for shade. “Into the stairwell.”
    He hesitated at that.
    “I could’ve shot both of you already,” she said. “And I really, really wanted to. Don’t make it any more tempting.”
    He backed away and opened the stairwell door. Niobe held her hostage tight and followed.
    “Cuffs,” she said. “Get them out.”
    Officer Moustache’s frown deepened, but he pulled the handcuffs from his belt and made to toss them to her.
    “No,” she said. “Cuff yourself to the rail.”
    He did so.
    Keeping one eye on him, she took the other set of cuffs from her hostage, put one bracelet around his wrist, and cuffed him opposite his partner. She took both their sidearms, unloaded them, and tossed them as far up the stairs as she could reach.
    “Why do you hide behind that mask, eh?” The moustachioed man sneered as she turned to leave. “To hide your identity? Or do you just get scared when you look in the mirror and see a freak?”
    She holstered her revolver and turned her back on the cape coppers. “I don’t cream my pants beating a widowed woman senseless. Tell me again who’s the freak.”
    She went back to the officers’ car and ripped a handful of wires out of the police radio. Just in case.
    Mrs McClellan hadn’t moved from the bench. Her sobs had quietened, but her freckled face still ran with tears. Niobe wordlessly put an arm under her shoulders and helped her to her feet. Her cheek was red and angry where she’d been hit, and she’d probably have a black eye. But Niobe knew her real hurts ran deeper.
    Most of the coppers must have already pulled out, because Niobe didn’t see anyone as she made her way to the museum. She’d move faster if she could envelop the woman in shadow and slip through the shaded areas, but subjecting the poor woman to that would do nothing but traumatise her further. A few curtains moved as they walked, but the streets were deserted, and no one came to help them.
    It took her half an hour to get to the museum. The edges of the obelisk-shaped war memorial were worn and rounded. Dead trees and bracken surrounded the hill, and what little grass remained was mostly brown. The Carpenter was waiting there, leaning against the bonnet of the car. When he spotted them, he ran down through the abandoned car park and took the woman’s other side.
    Niobe nodded her thanks. “Did you get the…?”
    She could already see the answer from the shape of his mouth.
    “Too many coppers,” he said. “Most of the convoy went with the kid. I trailed them as far as the checkpoint, but there were no openings. If there were more of us, maybe, like the old days….” He shrugged.
    She felt deflated, empty. It had been a long shot. The coppers were always going to take more care with a high tier meta baby than some woman whose powers weren’t worth a damn. Solomon was right. The Wardens, as a team, would’ve got that baby back no problem. But the Wardens didn’t exist anymore. It was just the two of them now, doing what they could to scrape a few bucks together.
    Frank Julius wanted them to save his kid. He thought they were worth fifty grand. But they couldn’t even rescue a goddamn baby. What the hell use were they anymore?
    The two of them got Mrs McClellan into the back seat of the car. She didn’t say a word. Niobe used the corner of her coat to wipe the blood from the woman’s mouth.
    “You said most of the convoy went with the baby.” Niobe slipped a hand under her goggles to rub her eyes. “What about the rest?”
    He shrugged. “I think the boss man left eight or ten coppers to take doors in the apartment building. I guess they figured other people in the building knew. Maybe some helped with the birth. So they went cracking heads.”
    Niobe’s guts turned to ice. Gabby.
    “Spook?” Solomon said. “What’d I say?”
    “Can you get her somewhere safe?” she said, nodding at Mrs McClellan.
    “You’re running off