The Night's Legacy (20 page)

We stayed on a professional level for about seven years.  The mob was up for grabs after Bolchenzo died, but there was always someone to fill the void.  It was like that old whack-a-mole game at the arcade; we get rid of one crime boss and another would pop right up.

The latest was named Bykov, a Russian.  I’d heard from some sources that he had himself set up in an old factory like this.  I went over to check it out.  If it were true then I’d meet Jessie and we’d figure out a way to take it down.

But it was an ambush.  Bykov knew enough about me that he’d planted information for me to find and lead me to the factory.  There were a dozen of them there, all with machine guns and not afraid to use them.  I took one in the stomach, not far from where Bolchenzo’s guys hit me. 

I figured I was a goner, but then your mom showed up like an avenging angel.  She took them all down in about two minutes flat.  Then she scooped me up and carried me out of there.

Just like now I didn’t want to go back to a hospital, but your mom insisted.  I’d never seen her lie before.  She was good at it.  She went in as herself and said she’d found me on the street and felt obligated to bring me in. 

I gave them a fake name and they didn’t bother looking into it, figuring I was just another pathetic hobo.  This time your mom made sure I got quality care.  She was there every day to visit, bring me balloons and cards and such that made me feel like a real person for the first time in twelve years.

One night when no one was around, it was dark and someone had left a radio on an oldies station.  A sappy old love song came on and we kissed.  That was all we did then.  Your mom acted embarrassed about it and I tried to play it cool, like it didn’t mean anything.  We were both lying to ourselves.

When they decided I was fit enough to leave, Jessie took me back to her place.  She said she didn’t want me living on the streets anymore.  One thing led to another—you can probably guess what.

“You made me,” Lois said.

That’s right.  I didn’t know about it for a while.  That night I slipped out while Jessie slept.  I decided right then not to see her anymore.  I didn’t want her getting mixed up with someone like me.  And I knew I still couldn’t go back to my old life; the mob might have changed hands but some of the old guard remained and had long memories.

I avoided her for about five months.  When I finally did see her during a bust, I couldn’t help noticing her stomach.  I knew your mom wasn’t the sort to let herself go, which could only mean one thing:  she had something else in there. 

After we’d finished off the mob goons that night, we went somewhere quiet.  She put my hand on her belly and said it was a little girl in there.  You know your mom well enough to know there wasn’t any other possibility except that I was the father.  She wanted me to come clean, to start a new life with her.  I told her I couldn’t.

What you have to understand about the mob is that they’re thorough.  Remember Schulman?  They didn’t just kill him.  Eventually they got everyone in that picture:  his wife and his two kids.  If Sam Rivers showed up with a wife and child, they’d make damned sure it wasn’t just me eating lead.

“Mom could have protected you,”
Lois said.  “She was the Silver Seraph.  She could have kept us safe from a few mob goons.”

That’s what she said.  I told her it wasn’t worth risking your life.  I was a lost cause.  I had been for years.  You see me now, just a broken-down old hobo.  What could I do for you except get you killed?

Your mom came around to see things my way.  I think it hurt her terribly inside, but she was smart enough to understand.  So we made a devil’s bargain.  I would never see you or have any contact with you.  After I died, she could tell you everything.  Those were my terms, not hers.  I think she went along with it hoping that I’d cave in eventually.  For my part, I still didn’t think I’d go on living very long.  Certainly not twenty-three years.  But I did and here we are.

* * *

Lois tightened the makeshift sling she had fashioned from one of the rags on Sam’s bed.  She refused to think of him as “Daddy” or “Dad” or “Father,” not after what he had done to her.  That he winced as she tightened it made her smile.  “You’ll probably go on living another twenty-three years,” she said.  “You dumb son of a bitch.”

“I never wanted you to find out.  You were better off not knowing.”

“I’ll say.”

“It doesn’t mean much now, but your mom did a good job of raising you.”

“A lot of people wouldn’t agree with that.”

He snorted at this.  “Look at you.  You’re the goddamned Silver Seraph.  How much better can you be?”

“But I still work in a gift shop.  I still don’t have my PhD.  I’m still not Mom.”

“You know your mom doesn’t want her to be you any more than I want you to be me.”

“I have been you for the last seven years.”  She shook her head, thinking of Red and Blue T-shirts back in Texas.  “I even fought crime, inadvertently.”

“I know things have been hard on you—”

“You don’t know anything!  You were never there.  Richard was more of a real father than you’ll ever be.”

She hated him for nodding at this.  “You’re right.  Dr. Johnson was a good man.  He was the kind of man you deserved for a father.  The kind of man your mother deserved.”

“Then why didn’t she marry him?  Why did she have to fuck you?”

This time he managed a Glare to rival any of Mom’s.  “I may only have one hand right now, but you say something like that about your mom again and I’ll knock some fucking sense into you, magic armor or no.  Your mother is a good woman.  The kindest, sweetest woman ever put on this earth.  I didn’t want her to love me any more than you do.  I did everything I could to keep that from happening.”

“Maybe that’s what turned her on.”

“Maybe.  You’d have to ask her about it.  Just try not to be too hard on her.  This is all my fault.”

“Sure, because you swept her off her feet with your style and charm.  She was powerless to stop it.”

He shook his head.  “You spent more time with her than I have and you still don’t know her.  You ever think about how lonely her life is?  How much she’s given up for you and that cursed armor?”

Lois looked down at her feet, Mom’s feet.  “I’m starting to find out.”

“You keep that in mind when you pay her a visit.
”

“I’ll try.”

He motioned to her with his injured arm.  “You did a good job with this splint.  Your mom couldn’t have done any better.”

“Thanks,
Sam
.”

“I won’t be much good to you in a fight, but I can still help you catch that bastard who hurt your mom and killed Dr. Johnson.  You come see me in a couple of days and I’ll show you around this city, show you how to do some real detective work.”

“Why would I need to do that?  I’ll just wait for Set’s next big heist and jump him.”

“He’s going to be more careful now that he knows you’re around.  And like they say, the best way to kill a bear is to get it in its lair.”

“I’ll take your word for that.”

He sighed and suddenly looked very tired.  “My point is that the easiest way to kill him is to find out who’s behind the mask.  Get him when he’s vulnerable.  That’s the smart way to go about it, unless you want to wind up six feet under.”

“Thanks for the advice.  I’ll consider it.”

“In the meantime, knock off that hot dog stuff.  The armor isn’t invincible.  Look at your mom if you don’t believe me.  You aren’t going to get this son of a bitch by treating him like one of Rahnasto’s thugs.  He’s a lot more dangerous.”

“I get it, Sam.”  She found her helmet and then opened the makeshift door.  “I’ll see you around.”

Before she left, he said, “It won’t mean anything now, but I do love you,
Lois.  You and your mom are all I got left in this world.”

“Then maybe you should act more like it,” she said and then stomped out to her bike.

* * *

Rahnasto didn’t usually partake of the liquor sold in the Brass Drum.  Even one glass of wine and he’d end up with a throat full of acid that night.  At times like this he needed a good stiff belt of something much stronger than wine.  He downed a shot of tequila, followed by another. 

He turned to the only other person in the bar at the moment.   “I thought you’d taken care of her.  I thought that old woman was the do-gooder.  You promised to take care of her!”

“I did take care of her.  Another has taken her place.  It’s no matter.  This one is young and inexperienced.  She’ll be even easier to destroy.”

“Sure.  In the meantime your little stunt at the Fed is going to have Washington so far up my ass you’ll be able to see them when I open my mouth!”  Rahnasto hurled the empty tequila glass at Set.  It missed by a wide margin, shattering on the floor.

“If the government tries to interfere, they will be destroyed as well.”

“Just like you destroyed the SWAT team tonight?”

“The time was not right to strike.”

Rahnasto snorted and poured himself some tequila straight from the bottle.  He would probably end up with a lightning bolt in the chest before much longer, but he didn’t care.  It was better than continuing to follow this madman around.  “I think the time was right and you were too scared to do it!  That
woman
frightened you off.”

“The girl is of no consequence.  My plan is continuing to move smoothly.  We have taken the wealth of forty-nine banks.”

“Money insured by the Federal government.”

“That will not matter.  The people of this city will still tremble with fear.  They’ll take to hiding money under their mattresses, in coffee cans buried in their yards.  They’ll trade their feeble paper money for gold or precious gems, something with a more permanent value.  And now they know their pathetic leaders can’t protect them.  Nor can this Silver Seraph.”

“What good does that do me?  I already had a sweet deal.  The do-gooders mucked things up, but even they were under control.”  Rahnasto finished off the bottle.  “I got too greedy.  I thought I could have them gone and make even more money.  Instead I wind up in bed with some goddamned
revolutionary
.  A goddamned lunatic who thinks he’s an Egyptian god.  You’ve ruined me, you son of a bitch!”

Rahnasto threw the bottle at Set, but again it missed.  For his part the “god” showed no signs of discomfort.  He hadn’t even leveled his staff to threaten Rahnasto.  That probably meant a lightning bolt was due at any moment.

Set glared at him with those glowing red eyes.  “The plan will continue.  In the meantime, I will take my leave to devise a way of dealing with this new hero.”

“Go on, run and hide, you bastard!” Rahnasto shouted, but there was no one there.

Chapter 18

Lois
couldn’t sleep and it was too early for visiting hours at the hospital, so after changing out of the armor, she found a diner near the hospital to get some coffee.  The waitress was older than her, but had the same bored look on her face as she sauntered over to Lois’s table.  Before the waitress could say anything, Lois said, “I’ll just have a black coffee.  Bring the cup and leave the pot.”

“Rough night?”

“Pretty much.”

Like when she had been the one in the uniform, the waitress just nodded and went to fetch the coffee.  The sociable types generally didn’t work at four in the morning; they preferred the busier hours.  It would get busier in an hour or two as the workaholics rose and the first commuters began showing up.  By the time the place really got hopping, she could go over to the hospital and check on Mom.

She gulped down the first cup in one long pull.  The caffeine didn’t help her already jangled nerves.  She poured another cup to savor a bit more while she thought about the last few hours.  When she closed her eyes it all seemed like a dream, like something from a movie.  It was certainly the kind of twist reserved for the movies or soap operas.  In less than two weeks she had found out that her mother was a superhero and her father a vigilante bum.  What next, a long-lost evil twin?

She tried to put these thoughts out of her mind to concentrate on the real problem:  Set.  What Sam had said did make some sense; it would be easier to stop Set if they could catch him without that magic stick of his.  She couldn’t imagine who would go around in such a getup, pretending he was an Egyptian god.  She wished she could ask Dr. Johnson about it, but he was dead.  Had he known Set’s real identity?  If so, it would explain why he’d been murdered and his office trashed.  She ought to pay a visit to Dr. Johnson’s house later and see if he had left behind any notes on Set that might be helpful.

She didn’t realize she’d fallen asleep until she heard glass breaking.  Opening her eyes, she saw another waitress had dropped a stack of plates.  The diner was almost full now of men and women in work clothes, reading newspapers, chatting with each other, or checking their phones.  She found the bill tucked beneath her saucer, probably left by the waitress hours ago.  Looking at her watch, Lois saw it was already ten o’clock.  She dropped some money on the counter and then hurried out the door.

Dr. Pavelski looked a little better rested but still concerned.  She stopped
Lois before she could go inside to see Mom.  “I’m not sure it’s a good idea for you to go in there,” Dr. Pavelski said.

“She giving you more trouble?”

“Not really.  She’s just not talking.  Not a word since you left.”

“Is she catatonic?”

“No, but something’s eating her.”

“Other than that she’s paralyzed?”

“Yes.  What did you two talk about yesterday?”

“Just the usual:  how much of a disappointment I am.”

“Lois—”

“I need to see her.  There’s something important I need to tell her.”

“She doesn’t need any shocks to her system right now.”

“Don’t worry, this is going to take some of that weight off her shoulders.” 

The doctor relented, letting Lois into the room.  She found Mom awake for once, not that she seemed very awake from the way she stared at the wall.  Lois bent down so that her eyes were level with her mother’s.  “Hi, Mom.”  When Mom didn’t say anything, Lois added, “The silent treatment?  That’s pretty juvenile.  You’re fifty years old for Christ’s sake.”

“Language,” Mom whispered.

“So you can still talk after all.”

Mom Glared at her and said, “I told you not to come back.  I’m very upset with you.”

“I know, but this is important.  I ran into someone last night.  A Mr. Sam Rivers.  That name ring a bell?”

The way Mom’s face paled and her eyes began to tear up, it meant a lot to her.  “How did he die?”

“He’s not dead, Mom.  He’s just got a broken arm.  Some rubble fell on him and I pulled him out of it and took him back to his place.  I pulled off his mask and figured out who he was.”

“You were always too smart for your own good,” the way Mom said this was not a compliment.  “What did he say?”

“He told me everything:  how he played dead after the mob tried to whack him, how he met you on that don’s boat, and how a certain museum director fell madly in love with him.”

“I wasn’t the director when I fell in love with him,” Mom said.  Then she sighed and said, “I guess now you want an explanation.”

Lois sat down on the chair, pulling it close to the bed.  She didn’t want to risk Dr. Pavelski or anyone else overhearing them.  “How could you let him do that?  How could you keep that secret for so long?”

“To protect you.  And
Betty and Richard and the museum.  They would have tried to take everything from Sam if they knew he was still alive.  That’s why we had to keep the secret.”

“You could have told me.  I could have kept the secret too.”

“You were just a little girl.  It was too much of a risk.”

“What about when I came back here?  Wasn’t I mature enough then?”

Mom smiled at this.  “I didn’t want to risk that you’d try to leave again.  I know he’s not what you hoped for in a father.  You must be terribly disappointed in both of us.”

“Did you really love him, Mom, or was it just a schoolgirl crush?”

“I love him.”  She reached out to take Lois’s hand and squeeze it.  “I know it’s hard for you to understand.  Sam understands me better than anyone except your Aunt Betty when she was still alive.”

“Even better than Dr. Johnson?”

“Yes.  There were things about me Richard could never know, let alone understand.  That’s why it never worked out with us.  When your father was in the hospital, we spent a lot of time talking in a way Richard and I never could.  He filled the hole in my heart that had been there since your grandparents died.  Do you understand now?”

Lois
wiped tears from her eyes and nodded.  She had always thought of Mom as just Mom, the wise, patient authority figure telling her to clean her room, do her homework, and not use such bad language.  She had never seen her mother as a woman before, a woman who needed someone who understood her loneliness and heartache, someone to comfort her in the bad times.  “I understand, Mom.”

“I’m so sorry about how all of this turned out.  I would have given anything for you to have a normal family, a normal life.”

“I know, Mom,” she whispered.  Lois was careful when she hugged her mother not to undo any of the tubes or wires connected to Mom at the moment.

“And I’m sorry I got so angry with you yesterday.  You were only doing what you thought was right.”

“It’s fine.  You’re just trying to protect me like you always have, but I don’t need you to worry about me so much.  I’m not a kid anymore.”

“I know, but old habits die hard.”  Mom let out another sigh and then smiled.  “I think I’ve had enough excitement for one day.”

“Goodnight, Mom.”

“Goodnight, sweetheart.”  With that Mom closed her eyes and fell asleep again. 
Lois sat there, head buried in her hands and she cried.

* * *

When Lois had gathered herself enough to leave the room, she found herself immediately ensnared in a crushing hug.  “Oh my God, I’ve missed you so much,” Melanie said.  “I wanted to come visit you sooner, but there’s been so much going on with the museum and all that.  How’s your mom feeling?”

“She’s a little better,”
Lois said into Melanie’s shoulder.  She managed to wriggle free of Melanie’s grasp and force a smile to her face.  “How are you doing?  The police weren’t too rough on you, were they?”

“No, they just ran Tony and me off.” 
Melanie looked down at her feet as if suddenly embarrassed.  “I’m sorry about Dr. Johnson.  He was a good guy.”

“He was.” 
Lois looked down at the floor as well, feeling her face turn warm.  Melanie was a nice girl, but they weren’t exactly BFFs yet; she couldn’t confess to Melanie yet just how much Dr. Johnson had meant to her.

Melanie
was the first to break the awkward silence.  “Hey, how about we get some lunch?  I’m starving.”

“That sounds good.”

They went down to the hospital cafeteria, Lois never liking to stray too far from Mom during visiting hours.  The cafeteria food was wretched, but not as bad as some things she’d eaten, or some things her father had probably eaten.  She didn’t want to imagine what he was having for lunch in that crummy shack of his.

After buying a dry turkey sandwich and some stale cookies,
Lois took her tray over to where Melanie was picking at what passed for a salad, trying to find some lettuce that hadn’t wilted yet.  “It’s not exactly
Couere de Mer
,” Melanie said.

“You get used to it after a while,”
Lois said, looking around at the doctors and nurses who had long ago adjusted their palettes for this slop.

“Do they know anything more about your mom yet?”

“Not much.  Dr. Pavelski says that with some therapy, Mom should be able to move her arms and upper body around like normal.”

“That’s great.”

Another awkward silence fell over them.  It didn’t bother Lois as much as Melanie; from the way the other girl’s cheek kept twitching, she was desperate to say
something
.  Lois took a bite of her sandwich and then said, “Any idea yet when the store is going to reopen?”

“Tony said in a couple of days, once the police have finished their investigation.  I’m not sure I want to go back.  Thinking about what happened to your mom and Dr. Johnson, it’d kind of give me the willies being there, you know?”

“Me too.”

“Are you going to come back?  Tony and I would totally understand if you didn’t.  I mean, your mom probably needs you here for moral support and stuff like that, right?”

“She’s asleep most of the day.  When she’s awake, she’s usually telling me that I should leave town again, find somewhere safe.”  Lois sighed and tossed the sandwich aside.  “In a way it would be nice to go back to work, to have something to
do
, you know?  Most of the time I’m here I’m just sitting around, doing nothing.  At least at the gift shop I’d have something to occupy my mind.”

She didn’t mention most of the thoughts occupying her mind at the moment concerned her father and how to avenge her mother and Dr. Johnson. 
Melanie was one of the last people Lois would entrust with a secret like her dual identity as the new Silver Seraph.  Half the city would probably know an hour later.

“If I come back, I hope you’re there too,”
Melanie said.  “Tony’s a nice guy, but it’s more fun having another girl there, you know?  Someone I can talk to and stuff.”

The way
Melanie looked down at her salad as she said this and the softness of her voice, told Lois that something was going on.  “Is something wrong?” Lois asked.

Melanie
shrugged.  “I have problems with my mom too.  Only she’s way meaner than your mom.  She just won’t let it go about Ollie.  I mean, hello, I get it that you think he was a jerk and everything, but that doesn’t do me any good now, you know?  Not unless someone builds a time machine or something.  Is that possible yet?”

“No.”  If time travel were possible,
Lois would have a lot of things to fix, starting with running away from that diner seven years ago.  She knew that wasn’t what Melanie needed to hear at the moment, though.  “Look, sometimes mothers can be hard on you, but it’s because they care about you.”

“I don’t think my mom’s ever cared about me.  Not since Daddy left.  All she ever does is pick, pick, pick.”  As
Melanie said the latter she stabbed at the salad with her plastic fork.  Lois figured Melanie was imagining the brown lettuce as her mother.  “Why didn’t I get better grades in high school?  Why did I go to community college instead of a real school?  Why did I take that job working for Ollie?  Why did I marry him when he was so clearly a jerk?  She’s like that every single time I talk to her.  Nothing I can do is right to her, you know?”

“She’s probably just worried about you.  She wants you to be happy.”

“Maybe.”  Melanie pushed her salad away.  “I think if my mom were in here I’d let her lie around all day by herself.”

“Come on, you don’t mean that.”

“I might.”

“Hey guys, got room for one more?” Tony asked.

“Sure,” Lois said, glad to have someone else around to help break the gloomy mood.  She pushed aside a chair for him to sit down.  “How’d you know we were down here?”

“I went upstairs and they said you two had left, so I thought you might come down here for lunch,” he said.  He had bought a greasy slice of pizza that looked far from appetizing.  “Oh, I brought you a message from upstairs.”

“A message?”

He nodded and then reached into his pocket.  He unfolded a piece of pink stationary.  “The nurse gave it to me.  She said someone called there trying to find you.”

“Any idea who?”