Being Invisible (22 page)

 
It isn’t until my eyes wander over the article
that I notice it.

The byline. Circled in red.

Ruth Paige
.

I hear Rob’s voice, and it sounds
like he’s arguing with Delores. “Well if you would have told us in the first
place that you weren’t open, we would have left, and she wouldn’t have to spend
all evening in your bathroom.”

Delores must be talking, but I
can’t hear her.

“No, that won’t be necessary, I’ll
go get her myself.”

I take that as my cue to leave, so
I lock up the drawer, and run to the bathroom just as Delores and Rob are
coming back to check on me.

“I don’t think there’s anything
else in me, honey. Can we just leave? I don’t want to spend another minute
puking in this disgusting bathroom.” I think my acting is getting better.

“This bathroom is not disgusting.
I clean it every night.” Sweet Delores looks like she’s about to throw down
over her cleaning skills. But I’m still not in the mood.

“Next time, try using cleaner,” I
yell, while Rob pulls me away. I’m starting to get a little too into character.
But I’m pissed. And if she is a part of whatever this doctor is doing, then her
pee stained floors will be the least of her problems.

“So how does Ruth Paige fit into
all this?” Rob and I have come back to my apartment to try to piece everything
I found at the doctor’s office together.

“I don’t know. She sometimes does
freelance work for the paper. Her name was on it, and her picture was beside
the byline. Maybe they found her, and… I don’t know. You’re the detective. And
speaking of which, next time you want to find information through covert means,
maybe you should be the sick one.”

“Hindsight, Luce. Great acting by
the way. I thought maybe you had a hairball.”

“Thanks. I was going for wounded
seal.”

“So what do you know about Ruth?
Do you trust her?”

“She hasn’t given me any reason
not to. She really wanted to get an interview with Vapor, but she always kept
me in the loop. It wasn’t like she was trying to hide anything.”

“Do you think you could talk to
her? Find out what’s going on?”

“Well right now she’s either not
speaking to me, or she’s yelling obscenities at me. So...maybe?”

“Oh, that’s right. You scooped
her. That’s cold.”

“Thanks Rob. Really not helping
right now.”

“You go talk to Ruth. I’ll see
what I can find out about this doctor.”

The call to Ruth is awkward at
best. I practically beg her stop by my apartment, and after about five minutes
of my promising her everything short of my firstborn child, she agrees- but not
before checking to see if I plan to steal anything of hers, and asking my
permission to record everything I say.

I call Liz and fill her in. Within
twenty minutes, she’s home, with Drew following close behind. Just knowing
they’re here gives me strength.

I’m not letting anything get in
the way of finding Colin, including my own feelings. But every once in awhile I
find myself imagining the possibilities, and I start to crumble. I just can’t
allow that to happen. So having Liz and Drew with me helps me more than they
could ever know.

When Ruth arrives, Drew leaves the
room to call Rob and see what he has found, while Liz stays with me.

“So, Lucy, what’s this big
important thing you need to talk to me about? I’m sure it must be good since
you dragged me all the way here. I had to leave work early, which just about
gave Alex a conniption since you already left.” Even angry, Ruth can’t seem to
stop to catch her breath.

“I know and I’m sorry.
 
Thanks for coming.” I take a breath
before saying more. This is one of those situations where it would be best to
tread lightly, but I really don’t have time.

“Ruth, I have to ask you a
question. I know you don’t want to answer it, but I am asking you to
please
tell me.” I choke up on the last
part of my sentence, then breath through the pain.

“What?” Ruth seems more concerned
than angry right now, so I have a little hope.

“I need to know your source.”
Before I have even finished my sentence, she starts to protest.

“Are you kidding me? This is what
I came here for?” Ruth begins to head to the door.

Liz starts to talk, but I shake my
head no. The Liz interrogation may be necessary, but not yet.

“Ruth, wait. This isn’t because I
want to take your job, or steal from you. I need to know this.
Please, Ruth. Please.
I am begging you.
Whatever you want I will give you, I just need to know your source.” I try to
choke back the tears again, but this time they have a mind of their own.

Ruth looks at me for a minute, probably
trying to figure out what the hell is going on.

“His name is Edward Miller. Doctor
Edward Miller. I think he practices somewhere near Logan. I didn’t even need to
find him. He came to me just when I was losing hope. He seemed to know a lot
about the guy. He said that he works with the police to help superheroes when
they need it. I didn’t even know there were other superheroes.”

I nod, letting her know I am
following her, but I can’t speak yet. So this guy says he “helps” superheroes.
He also apparently “treats” a lot of people in the drug trade. Nothing about
this can be good.

“I am going to ask you this once,
and I just want you to tell me the truth.” Ruth nods, so I continue.

“Have you ever worked with, for or
near Dr. Miller, or anyone else he knows?”

Ruth seems to be confused by my
question. “Of course not. I didn’t even know who he was until he came to me.”

I look at Liz, who nods her head
once to let me know that she agrees with what I am about to do.

“Ruth, if I tell you something, do
you promise me you won’t freak out?”

“When do I ever freak out?”

My look answers her question for
me.

“Okay. I won’t freak out.”

“Promise me. Because this is a
matter of life or death, and I need your help. I
need
you to be with me, okay?”

Ruth sits up a little, anxious to
hear what I say.

I take a deep breath, and then I
blurt it out. “Colin is Vapor.”

“I’m sorry. Who is what
?
”

“You heard me right.”

“He’s...wait. So that means…You’re
telling me that this whole time I was looking for Vapor, you knew right where
he was? Who he was? Hell, you even knew how the guy kissed. You must think I am
a complete idiot.”

“No. It’s not like that. I
couldn’t tell you. It isn’t safe for people to know about him.”

 
She nods in understanding, still trying
to take it all in. “I sang ‘We Are Never Getting Back Together’ in front of The
Vapor. I talked about how hot he must be in front of his girlfriend.”

I understand her shock, but I’m
feeling impatient.

“I couldn’t let you interview him,
because there are people who can’t find out who he is, or where he’s at.”

I get it.” Ruth’s voice has
softened, and her words are laced with concern.

“But, Ruth...”

“What?”

I have to take a second for
another deep breath, so Liz takes over for me.

“No one can get reach Colin. The
last time someone saw him was when he was going to a doctor for an extreme
headache that this guy Nagy gave him. Turns out, the doctor is the same guy who
sought you out.”

“Holy shit, guys, I had no idea. I
was just trying to score an interview. This is...wow… I don’t know what this
is.”

“I know. But we need to find him
soon. I’m afraid that Dr. Miller has Colin, and I don’t know what he’s going to
do with him.

“What can I do to help?”

“What can you tell me about Dr. Miller?
Anything you remember?”

“He smelled like cigar smoke.” She
pauses trying to remember anything else of relevance. “He met me at a
Starbucks, came in a cab, I don’t know. When I asked him about how he knew
where Vapor was, he said that his grandson is on the force. He mentioned that
he was really curious about what Vapor looks like.

“If Colin was invisible at the
restaurant, and Dr. Miller knew he was there, then all he had to do was get
Colin to come to the doctor’s office as himself and he would know he’s Vapor.”

“So he set Colin up from the
beginning.” Liz adds.

We sit in silence, trying to
figure it all out, when Drew walks in.

“Rob texted me. They looked into
Dr. Miller, and they found out his name’s not Miller. It’s Lerwick. Samuel
Lerwick. He’s in the system because he did a stint for selling drugs.
Interesting thing, his specialty is Genetics. He’s actually done papers on how
DNA affects physical abilities.”

“That might explain all the
formulas I found. Do you think he knows how to create superheroes?”

“Maybe.” Drew sits on the couch
beside Liz and leans back, deep in thought.

 
“He didn’t create Colin. I wonder if
that’s why he wants him. To figure out how to get his power.”

I picture what he could be doing
to get that information from Colin. None of it’s good. I need to find him. Just
then my phone rings.

   
 
“Lucy, it’s Rob. We arrested a drug
dealer last week that worked under Lerwick. He agreed to talk in exchange for
immunity. He said that Nagy works for Lerwick. Our informant was hired by
Lerwick to help Nagy get Vapor.” I grab a pen and paper to write down what Rob’s
telling me.

“Our witness said his instructions
were to bring Colin in hurt, but not dead. They were planning on taking him to
a lab about twenty-five minutes away. He was supposed to find Colin and take
him there, but we arrested him before he could finish the job. We got him to
tell us everything.
 
We’re on our
way to the lab now.”

“Where’s the lab? I’ll meet you
there.”

“Lucy, I really don’t think…”

“What did I tell you, Rob? Tell me
where the lab is, or I will find out myself. Either way, I’m finding out.
You’re just making it easier for me.

Drew walks over and grabs the
phone from me. “Don’t worry, we’ll all go together, Liz, Lucy and me. I’ll make
sure they’re okay. Believe me, Colin would kill me with his bare hands if I let
anything happen to Lucy.” He hangs up the phone and turns to us. “Ruth, I need
you to hang out here, just in case you hear from anyone.” Ruth nods, and he
turns his attention to Liz and me. “Come on ladies. Colin needs our help.” We
grab our things and head out.

Please let it all be over tonight.

“And, Liz? Lucy?” Drew turns
around to look at us.

“Yes?”

“Please, don’t do anything you’ve
seen on
Law and Order
. Okay?”

Liz and I look at each other in
confusion.

How else are we going to know what to do?

The lab is in a small building
that is part of a cluster of larger buildings, all of which are completely made
out of brick. It looks like a legitimate testing facility, which makes me
wonder if the owners of the building know they rent space out for illegal
superhero testing run by heroin distributors.

By the time we get to the lab, the
police already have it surrounded. Rob and his team head into the building
first. He promises me that he will let me know what he finds out about Colin as
soon as he can. So right now we wait.

We’re waiting in an outdoor sitting
area across from the lab. It feels a lot like the night Liz and I watched Lee’s
from across the street. I’m just as freaked out and stressed as I was that
night. The only difference is that tonight there are no barbeque wings.

Suddenly, about twenty officers
rush into the building. Drew, Liz and I all look at each other, the same
thought written on all of our faces.

That can’t be good.

Within seconds, we hear shots. I
immediately jump up and start to run into the building. Before I get too far,
Drew grabs me around the waist to stop me.

“I know you want to help Colin,
but we have to keep our heads on straight.” Drew talks directly into my ear,
trying to calm me. I nod, and he lets me go.

“What do we do?” I ask, panic
pulling at my core.

“For now, let’s just get a little
closer. Maybe we can see what’s going on.”

Liz grabs my hand and squeezes it as
we work our way to the building. I glance her way, and our eyes meet. Her look
tells me that it’s going to be okay. I nod in return.

We sneak up to where the back of
the lab is lined with several small windows. Liz and I keep watch while Drew
looks inside.

“I can’t see much from here.
There’s a cop standing in front of a door, but that’s about it.” Drew says. “I
think we need to head to the other side of the building.”

Right about the time we start to
head to another spot, someone flees the building, knocking Liz down in the process.
Drew looks at Liz in panic, then at the man running, clearly torn.

“Go. I’ll stay with her.” I say.

Drew nods before running to catch
up to the guy. Before the other man even realizes Drew is there, Drew punches
him. Even though he punches the guy hard enough to give him a bloody nose, the
man recovers and attacks Drew. After a struggle, Drew finally pulls the guy
down. As soon as they are both on the ground, I can see the other man’s face. It’s
Ex.

Shit.

I look down at Liz. I can tell she
has had the wind knocked out of her. After a few seconds she takes a deep
breath. “Where’s Drew?” She asks while struggling to get up.

“Just stay there, Liz. You don’t
want to hurt yourself more than you already have. Can you breathe okay?”

Liz frantically looks around until
she sees Drew. Realization dawns on her and she takes off running.

Shit.

I chase after her and catch up
just in time to see her jump on Nagy’s back. He pushes her off with ease, but
she immediately jumps up and kicks him in the face. That gives Drew enough time
to get in a good position over top of him. He starts punching him over and
over, but stops suddenly, falling over in pain.

Liz looks at Drew, panic on her
face. She knows what Ex is capable of. What chance do we have to stop it?

The police, who up until now were
busy inside the building, see Ex and come over to try to help. They are within
a couple feet of us when everyone, including me, stops.

I’m choking. I can’t breathe
.

I look at Liz who is grabbing her
neck like me. She sees Drew, now unconscious. That seems to fuel her panic and
her anger. Everything feels like it slows down in that moment. Liz looks like
she’s turning blue, but she still manages to pull something out from her waist.

With one swift move, she points a
gun at Nagy and shoots him in his chest.

Don’t mess with a hero when his girlfriend’s around.

Nagy falls to the ground, and I
immediately feel my breath coming back. The police run forward and cuff Nagy.

Liz begins crying uncontrollably.
She drops the gun and crawls over to Drew. He’s still unconscious, but at least
he’s breathing.

Seconds later, we hear sirens.
Several ambulances, more police cars and a fire truck show up.

A group of medics come over and
start helping Drew. Eventually, they put him in the back of the ambulance, and
Liz follows.

“Lucy, Drew needs me. Will you be
ok if I go?”

“Don’t worry about me. Go with
Drew. I’m going to find Colin.”

Liz nods, jumps in the ambulance
and it speeds away.

For the first time since Ex fled
the building, I take in my surroundings. There are police everywhere. I breath
a sigh of relief when I notice two of the officers have Lerwick. At least I
assume that it’s him, since he’s the same guy holding the fish in the picture
on his desk.

He looks like someone did a number
on him. His face is bloodied and swollen, and he has a noticeable limp.

In every direction I look, people
are either being questioned, seeking medical care or taking statements.
Everyone is acting like it’s over. But the whole reason we are here is to save
Colin, and he is nowhere to be seen. I need to find Rob.

I run to the building and open the
door, only to have a police officer stop me.

“This is a crime scene ma'am. No
one allowed in.” I am seized by panic. Why is it a crime scene?

“ My name is Lucy Paige. I need to
see Robert Sunderland. I’m working on the investigation with him. I don’t have
official identification, but I can show you my license.”

The officer looks at my ID, and eyes
me warily before pulling out his radio. “I have a Lucy Paige here who says that
she knows Rob Sunderland.” He listens for a moment before nodding.

“Go ahead. Just be careful. It’s a
mess in there.”

I try to walk as fast as I can on
unsteady feet. I don’t know what to expect. As much as I want to see Colin, I’m
afraid of what I am going to see.

Finally, I reach the door to the
lab, and slowly open it.

The police officer was right. It’s
a mess. There’s glass all over the floor. Something is spilled everywhere.
Chairs are overturned, a table is upside down and something that looks a lot
like blood is splattered all over the floor.

I see a few people milling about,
taking pictures and collecting samples. Finally, I see Rob. I practically
sprint to him.

As soon as he sees me, Rob pulls
me into a hug. “Lucy, I’m so sorry. I was just coming to find you. I heard Nagy
was out there. You don’t know how happy I am to see you. Thanks to your help,
we caught Lerwick and a handful of his men. One was shot trying to flee, and the
rest are going away for a long time.”

 
As happy as I am about their arrests, I
feel like I can barely stand. I can’t take another second of this feeling. “What
about Colin? Did you find him? Is he okay?”

“He’s in that room over there.” I
start to move toward where he is pointing, but he stops me. “Before you go in,
you should know he’s pretty out of it. They drugged him then tried to figure
out what chemicals made him invisible. The whole time he was here, Nagy gave
him crushing headaches. The medics gave him something in his IV that helped a lot.
But, Lucy when we found him, he didn’t seem to care if we saved him or not.
They told him…” he pauses, pain in his eyes. “They told him that Nagy killed
you.”

“What? No! Did you tell him I’m
okay?”

“Of course, but they had a picture
of you. They must have somehow made you look like you were dead. I don’t know
how they found it, or what they did with it, but he’s sure you’re gone. He
thinks that we’re just telling him what he wants to hear so that he’ll calm
down. You know Colin beat up Lerwick?“

“He did? Why”

“He thought that Dr. Lerwick had
you killed. We had him in custody, but as soon as Colin saw him, he attacked.
Even though Colin was drugged, we couldn’t stop him. I think he would have
killed him if a few of our officers hadn’t pulled him off.”

“I saw Lerwick. He didn’t look
good.”

“No kidding. I’m really worried
about Colin. I think he will be much better after he sees you. I pulled strings
to get you back here to see him. I wanted to get you sooner, but we had to wait
until they cleared the crime scene.”

“Can I go see him now?”

“Sure. They’re going to take him
to the hospital soon, but they want to make sure his headache is under control.
The medics are worried that moving him might make him sick. Please go put him
out of his misery.”

I take a deep breath and let it
out. I’m finally going to see Colin.

The room looks kind of like a large
storage area has been made into a makeshift ER. I see Colin right away, lying
on a stretcher, a bag of fluids attached to an IV in his hand.

A young guy, probably in his mid
twenties, is taking his blood pressure, while a woman in her early forties
writes numbers off of a monitor that’s measuring his vital signs.

His eyes are closed, but when the
woman asks Colin if his headache is any better, he nods. When I walk up to the
stretcher, the medic smiles at me.

“Hey, I think you have a visitor,
buddy.”

Colin opens his eyes and looks at
me. It takes him a second to focus. Slowly, realization creeps over his face.
Without saying a word, he takes my hand, and tears immediately fall down his
face.

“Lucy, they said… I saw it. You
were…”

“I don’t know what they showed
you, but it wasn’t me. I’m okay. I’m here, Colin. I’m okay.” I’m crying now,
but it’s good. My tears are full of relief and happiness. They’re long overdue.

He pulls himself up and turns on
his side so that he’s facing me. “I thought I was never going to see you
again.” His tears are flowing freely, slipping down his face and landing on my
hand, which is clasped in his.

I lean down so that he can see me
up close and press gentle kisses on his face and hands, reminding him that I’m
here.

“I was so scared, Colin. I didn’t
know where you were. I missed you so much.”

“Hey, why were you scared? You
know you don’t have to worry about me. I don’t take chances, remember?” He
gives me a half-hearted attempt at a smile.

“Right. Who knows where you’d be
if you
did
.”

“Okay, Colin. We’re going to take
you to the hospital now, you think you’re feeling up to it?” The young guy puts
his hand out to fist bump Colin, who gives a pathetic attempt to return the
bump.

“Dude, I’m a superhero, I’m ready
for anything.” We all laugh, and I grab his hand and give it a kiss.

“You weren’t saying that twenty
minutes ago,” the medic teases.

“Twenty minutes ago, she wasn’t
here.” He nods toward me and smiles. “Don’t tell anyone, but she’s the one that
gives me my power.”

“Your secret’s safe with me.” The
medics pull up the rails on the stretcher and start to head to the front of the
building. Rob joins us, and we follow Colin outside.

As soon as we open the doors,
everyone who is still outside turns and looks at us. Suddenly it occurs to me.
They just figured out who he is. He’s not Vapor anymore...he’s Colin.

I have never been around so many
people at one time who are
not
talking.
I look at Colin, who looks like he has no idea what to do either.

At that moment, something strange happens.

One of the police officer starts
clapping. Shortly after he starts, a few others follow suit.

Eventually, every police officer,
fireman and medic is clapping. I look at Colin, who can’t seem to figure out
what’s going on.

I mouth the words, ‘it’s for you,’
which seems to confuse him more. By the time we get to the ambulance, people
are cheering.

Colin looks at me and mouths the
words ‘what the hell?’ He still has the same look of confusion, but a small
smile creeps across his face.

He really doesn’t get it. Their
hero… the one that helps the police take down drug dealers, the same one that
saves children when everyone else’s hands are tied, the one that protects old
ladies’ purses everywhere… is just a person like the rest of us. The only
difference is that you can’t see him do it. And they, like me, are happy that
their hero is okay.

Our relief is short lived though.
Just as the medics slide Colin into the ambulance, news crews start to show up.

Oh shit. Everyone knows Colin is Vapor.

Just when I thought we could
finally breathe, we have to deal with this. It seems like we can’t catch a
break.

I can tell Colin is thinking the
same thing. He looks at me from the ambulance, and he’s worried. Really
worried. He manages to disappear, but at this point it doesn’t matter. Enough
people have seen him that there’s no way he’s getting out of this.