The Hero and the Hidden Royal - Renae Kaye Page 0,47

he looked at the men who had taken him off the street. He needed to identify them to the police later. He stared at one, and then another. The third man was outside of his vision but eventually sat up and looked toward the driver of the van. Derek got a good look at his face.

It was the man from the alley who’d had a gun and had stolen Sam’s moped. These men were from the gang Sam said was threatening his customers.

Suddenly chaos reigned as the men in the van shouted and the driver swerved dangerously. Derek stared at the black sky above and realized he’d turned the car invisible and now the men could be seen by anyone outside the car.

“Fuck. Stop him!” screamed the driver as the buildings and paving raced past.

“Where’s the chloroform?” another cried out. Derek’s anxiety ramped a notch. Then they were pushing at the suffocating invisible blanket and Derek’s head was at last free. He screamed as loud as he could, hoping someone would hear and notice four odd men “flying” down the street. Hands covered his eyes and then, as he drew breath to scream again, a cloth covered his mouth. Putrid fumes filled his lungs and Derek knew no more.

~~~~~~~~

HE AWOKE SHIVERING AND COLD. He was groggy but memory came swiftly—the men in the alley, the blanket over his head, the van he’d turned invisible. One of the men had been the one to pull a gun on Sam. Was he waiting to threaten Derek with that same weapon? With trepidation Derek looked around. He was horrified to find himself in some sort of large dog cage with sturdy wire walls were bolted to the concrete floor. It was about eight foot long but not high enough for him to stand up in.

With slow and cautious movements, he got to his knees and looked beyond the cage. There was a concrete floor and concrete walls, but no windows. The room was bigger than his whole apartment and filled with various things. Archive boxes were stacked in one corner, a moped was stashed in the opposite corner, and a long wooden bench filled up the length of one wall. Hanging from the wall above the bench was an assortment of tools—hammers, pliers, screwdrivers all neatly lined up—some of them discarded on the bench as if someone had recently been working on something there. The chill in the air was quite definite.

He was in someone’s basement, in a dog cage.

Derek could see the stairs leading up, but no other entry or exit. To escape he had to get up those stairs and who knew what was at the top. Was he even still in Dulibre? Opposite the bench was a wall of shelves stacked with what you would expect to find in someone’s home—boxes labeled “Christmas,” a pair of hiking boots, a suitcase, an old sewing machine—and in front of the shelving, a man lounged on a plastic chair while he read a newspaper. A rifle lay idly across his lap and Derek blanched. What did the man need that for? Was he planning on using it on Derek? Derek stared hard at him, trying to work out if he’d ever seen him before. Had he been into the Municipal? Is that how he knew Derek? How he knew Derek was invisible?

The man glanced up at Derek and nearly fell out of his chair in his scramble to pick up something off the floor while grabbing the rifle in his hand at the same time. Reflexively Derek ducked, assuming the bullets were about to start flying. He didn’t look like the most competent of thugs. The man swore as dropped the rifle then accidentally kicked it out of reach. But the man didn’t dive for the rifle. Instead he fumbled to get some sort of face mask up to his eyes. Derek realized it was thermal night-vision goggles and waved sarcastically at the man.

“Yep. I’m here.”

Derek had probably been completely visible while he was passed out, but the minute he woke he’d gone invisible again. It must’ve been a shock for the man to look up and see an empty cage. It was a pity that shock was all Derek could do to him. He would have liked to have some sort of krav maga skills and take the man. Making him unconscious would be lovely.

Derek knelt and took stock of things. He’d been kidnapped. Why? Who would do that? What time was