I nspector Connor stood at the crime scene with Danielle. He had sent the injured attacker in restraints to be taken care of at a security medical facility. The attacker that had been killed remained where he had fallen. “Who was it that said, this looks like deja vu all over again?” Inspector Connor thought. He glanced around and saw Danielle Ash talking with John Sinclair. He observed that she seemed to be holding up pretty well. “Let’s get this over with,” he said to himself, and walked over to where John and Danielle were standing.
“Good evening, Miss Ash, and hello, John.”
“Good evening sir,” they both said.
“Miss Ash, I have some questions.”
Danielle interrupted by saying, “Yes sir, I’m sure you do, but before you ask them I would like to tell you a few things first.”
Esa Connor was not accustomed to being interrupted and he started to shut her down, but then he remembered that without her insights they would have never uncovered their Superman. “I don’t want to lose this employee,” he thought. Then he said, “Go ahead Miss Ash.”
“Sir, I had decided three weeks ago that I was wrong about Thomas Gardner being our Superman. I could not find anything that tied him to the events that happened. Now I feel that perhaps I was eliminating him because I liked him. As I spent more time with him, I’m afraid it became more than just liking him. I became and am now emotionally attached to him.”
Inspector Connor interrupted, “Then you should have removed yourself from the case, Miss Ash.”
“It’s not as simple as that, Inspector. Remember, I had decided that he was not our suspect; however, by going out with him he gave me the opportunity to observe other students to see if one of them might be the one we were looking for. We were always going places that the other students would frequent. We would play games and I would look for someone who had outstanding coordination and eye-hand skills. Tonight I found someone that has those skills. I only discovered they existed because Thomas Gardner’s friend, Eric McAnn, announced that he had seen them. I then observed some of those skills in some games we played. I invited Mr. Gardner outside to talk with him in private about my observations, and it was during this discussion that we were attacked. The results of the attack only confirmed that he was the one we have been looking for all along.”
“Miss Ash, you made a serious mistake getting personally involved with Mr. Gardner.”
“Yes sir, I did. I realize that you should fire me and I’ll take whatever other action you think is appropriate.”
“Did you tell him you were with enforcement?”
“Yes, sir, I did, and I told him that I had called for help and that when they arrived we were going to arrest him.”
“What did he do then?”
Danielle turned beet red but looked Inspector Connor in the eye and said, “He kissed me and showed me that he loved me, and then he disappeared.”
“Miss Ash, do you love him?”
“Yes, sir, I do.”
“Is he the love of your life, or will you forget him and move on?”
“Sir, I wish I could explain what happened during those last few moments, but I saw into his soul, and I felt something that I’ll probably never experience again. There will never be another for me.”
“Are you sure about that, Miss Ash?”
“Absolutely.”
“I guess that means you will be immune to all of our future suspects so you shouldn’t repeat the same mistake,” he said and then smiled.
“Yes sir, I mean no sir, no one else will hold any interest for me.”
“I’ll just have to make sure you don’t work on his particular case then. You know we will do all we can to capture him?”
“Yes, I do. But there’s one thing I can tell you for certain, sir. He will never hurt anyone unless they force him to, and he will never contact me from this day forward.”
“Why not?”
“He loves me and he’ll feel that he’s hurting me.”
“How do you feel about that?”
“It breaks my heart. But maybe you’ll catch him, and then I’ll see him again, if it meets with your approval.”
“We’ll see, Miss Ash. Besides, if I fired you, I think Julie would leave me; she thinks quite a lot of you. I can’t afford to have her leave. But your training begins in the morning. I can’t hold you totally responsible when you’ve had no training on how to handle relationships while undercover. I have to accept part of the responsibility for this, so you get a free pass this time. There better not be another next time.”
“Yes sir,” Danielle said meekly.
“By the way, Miss Ash, could he have done what Colonel Ortiz said he did during the first attack?”
Danielle looked at the body lying on the ground and said, “Inspector Connor, I could not follow him he was moving so fast. I wish I could describe what he did, but he moved faster than my eyes could follow and it was over in less than three seconds. To answer your question, yes, he could do what Colonel Ortiz described, and quite frankly, it would be incredibly risky for anyone to try and attack him even with a hand weapon. However, I know that he would not attack anyone unless he or others around him were threatened.”
Inspector Connor thought for a moment and then said, “So you don’t think he represents a danger.”
“Only to someone foolish enough to trap him where he could not escape. His first effort would be to try and avoid harming anyone.”
“I hope you’re right, Miss Ash. We are going to have to apprehend him someday. Do you think he would attack us?”
Danielle thought for a moment and then said, “I know he won’t attack us; however, he will do all he can to avoid capture. Quite honestly, I don’t think you’ll find him unless he makes a mistake or drops his guard. He’ll know when you’re coming and I think as he learns more and more about his abilities, he’ll be extremely difficult to find.”
“Well, let’s hope we do find him,” Esa said and smiled, “otherwise, how do you intend to see him again? He might allow us to capture him just so he can see you again.”
Danielle wasn’t sure how she felt about that, but she knew she was already missing him terribly.