Page 88 (2/2)

Now that he had a target, the guy with the crowbar punched hi to cheek The kid’s head whipped around, and he stu to catch his breath Still visible—he hadn’t pulled hiether

Celia had a sinking feeling about how the rest of this was going to go, but the kid turned out to be smarter than she expected He picked up the bat and shoved it through the bars of the security grating to smash theof the jewelry store Celia could tell the alarm went off by the way the crooks flinched The two still standing hauled up their fallen partner and ran The kid hesitated ahis head as if to clear it He looked down the street—at the approaching police sirens, Celia guessed He disappeared, turning invisible again before presu his secret identity

As a first outing for a vigilante went, it wasn’t an unated success, but it wasn’t a disaster, either More interesting to her, though—he was a new guy She didn’t knoho he was But she had a good guess

Celia kept a file folder in a locked safe that lived underneath her desk Inside the folder was a list of a dozen naed to were all dead, but most of them had descendants who lived on, and she kept a list of those na up If she traced down the fainal list of names, she’d find the invisible kid She wondered what he called himself—not the Invisible Kid, she was pretty sure

And there it was—several teenage boys on the list, all but one of who one had a question mark by his name: Theodore Donaldson Grandson of Lawrence Donaldson, whose son hadn’t exhibited any sign of superhu The trait often skipped generations, as she very well knew But his son …

She crossed out the question mark, wrote a note, and put the file back in the safe Then she picked up her phone and made a call A standard receptionist voice answered

“I’d like to speak to Captain Paulson, please,” Celia said

“I’ now”

“Tell him it’s Celia West”

The receptionist didn’t say anything to that, which made Celia sht, soain? Once upon a time, she’d just wanted to stay anonymous

“Captain Paulson will speak to you now,” the receptionist said curtly, maybe even offended Gatekeeper duties overridden Sorry, honey

Mark’s voice came on the line “Celia?”