The Ascension: A Super Human Clash Read Free Page A

know. He’s disappeared.”
    â€œFrom where? What happened to him after his family were killed?”
    â€œWe had him holed up in a former prison called Hawksley. It’s been decommissioned, currently undergoing major structural renovations. We had Lance secured in one of the cell blocks that’s not scheduled for work for another three months. None of the workers on the site had even the slightest clue that he was there.”
    â€œYou were keeping him in a prison ?”
    â€œWe had to make sure he couldn’t be found. We’re setting him up with a new identity, a whole new past. But last night he went on the run. We still don’t know how he got out without anyone seeing him. It’s possible he’ll try to contact you or one of the others. If he does, you tell me immediately.”
    â€œOf course. Let me know when you find him.” Roz said good-bye and disconnected the call. She put the phone on top of the wall beside her, then closed her eyes and basked for a moment in the warm sunlight. Poor Lance. He talks too much and he’s a bit of an idiot, but he’s not a bad guy. No one deserves to have their whole family taken away from them like that.
    There was a light, warm breeze coming from the west, but aside from that it was an almost perfect summer day. The constant rumble of the Manhattan traffic swamped all other sounds, but Roz always liked to imagine that she could hear children playing in the park.
    She loved the park, but hadn’t visited it in more than a year. Have to get out there soon , she thought. Just me and Josh. We’ll bring a Frisbee and a picnic basket and just spend the afternoon having fun.
    But she knew that Max wouldn’t approve. The Daltons were too well known to go out in public without a team of bodyguards. Max had even installed some of his people in Josh’s school to make sure he was protected at all times.
    As she looked east over the park, she saw that the sky was darkening—thick clouds were rolling in, fast and low and heavy. Rats. And it started out such a nice day. But something about the darkening sky felt wrong, out of place.
    It took her a moment to realize what it was: The breeze was coming from the west, but the clouds were approaching from the east.
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    In the cluttered and dusty workshop tucked into the corner of the old barn beside his father’s farmhouse, James Klaus sat back and looked with some pride at his creation.
    He’d risen just before dawn, when he heard his dad and Faith—his father’s second wife—getting up, but they’d told him there was no work for him today. “First day here,” his dad had said. “Take it easy. Do what you want. Explore or something.”
    James had wavered between going back to bed and heading out to the workshop, but it was a short-lived battle. He’d spent the morning working with scraps of metal and discarded strips of leather and tough plastic, and now, on the bench before him, was a pair of heavily modified builder’s gloves.
    He pulled them on and formed his hands into fists. The gloves were heavy and tight, but felt good. All right! I’ll have to show Dad later—tell him they’re for skateboarding or something.
    James was sixteen years old, tall and thin, with deep brown skin and close-cropped hair, and he was happy because he wouldn’t have to go back home for another six weeks. Forty-two days without Rufus getting on my case about every little thing.
    Over the past eight years, James had become an expert at avoiding his stepfather. He’d learned when it was safe to speak and what not to say, learned to never bring friends home or to touch any of Rufus’s things without permission.
    After his parents divorced, James’s mother had received full custody. James still didn’t understand how that had happened. His father, Darrien, was a gentle, good-natured, hardworking man who never hurt anyone.