Reckoners 01 - Steelheart

for the fight.”
    “He usually does that,” I said, staring into my oatmeal. “He let Faultline choose. He thinks it sends a message—this city is his, and he doesn’t care if you try to find a place that gives you the better ground. He’ll kill you anyway.”
    “I just wish I didn’t feel blind,” Tia said. She was sitting in the far corner with her datapad. It had her mobile stuck to the back so its display expanded what was on the mobile’s screen. “It’s baffling. How did they find out that I’d hacked their camera system? I’m locked out on all sides, every hole plugged. I can’t see a thing of what’s going on in the city.”
    “We’ll pick a place where we can set up our own cameras,” Prof said. “You won’t be blind when we face him, Tia. It—”
    Abraham’s mobile beeped. He raised it up. “Proximity alarms say that our prisoner is stirring, Prof.”
    “Good,” Prof said, standing up and looking toward the entrance to the smaller room that held our captive. “That mystery has been itching at me all day.” As he turned, his eyes fell on me, and I caught a flash of guilt from him.
    He moved past me quickly and began giving orders. We’d interrogate the prisoner with a light shining directly on him, Cody standing behind him with a gun to the Epic’s head. Everyone was to wear their jackets. They’d replaced mine with a spare. It was black leather, too large for me by a size or two.
    The Reckoners began moving to set things up. Cody and Tia entered the prisoner’s room, eventually followed by Prof. I shoved a spoonful of oatmeal in my mouth, then noticed Abraham, who was lingering in the main room.
    He walked over to me and knelt on one knee. “Live, David,” he said softly. “Live your life.”
    “I’m doing that,” I grumbled.
    “No. You are letting Steelheart live your life for you. He controls it, each step of the way. Live your own life.” He patted my shoulder, as if that made everything all right, then waved for me to come with him into the next room.
    I sighed, climbed to my feet, and followed.
    The captive was a spindly older man—perhaps in his sixties—balding and dark skinned. He was turning his head about, trying to figure out where he was, though he was still blindfolded and gagged. He certainly didn’t look threatening, strapped into his chair as he was. Of course many an “unthreatening” Epic could kill with little more than a thought.
    Conflux wasn’t supposed to have powers like that. But then,Fortuity wasn’t supposed to have had heightened dexterity. Besides, we didn’t even know if this
was
Conflux. I found myself pondering the situation, which was good. At least it kept me from thinking about her.
    Abraham aimed a large floodlight right at the captive’s face. Many Epics needed line of sight to use their powers on someone, so keeping the man disoriented had a very real and useful purpose. Prof nodded to Cody, who cut off the prisoner’s blindfold and gag, then stepped back and leveled a wicked .357 at the man’s head.
    The prisoner blinked against the light, then looked about. He cringed in his chair.
    “Who are you?” Prof asked, standing by the light where the prisoner wouldn’t be able to make out his features.
    “Edmund Sense,” the prisoner said. He paused. “And you?”
    “That is not important to you.”
    “Well, seeing as to how you have me captive, I suspect it’s of
utmost
importance to me.” Edmund had a pleasant voice, with a faint Indian accent. He seemed nervous—his eyes kept darting from side to side.
    “You’re an Epic,” Prof said.
    “Yes,” Edmund answered. “They call me Conflux.”
    “Head of Steelheart’s Enforcement troops,” Prof said. The rest of us remained quiet, as instructed, to not give the man an indication of how many were in the room.
    Edmund chuckled. “Head? Yes, I suppose you could call me that.” He leaned back, closing his eyes. “Though, more appropriately, I might be the heart. Or maybe just the battery.”
    “Why were you in the trunk of that car?” Prof asked.
    “Because I was being transported.”
    “And you suspected your limo might be attacked, so you hid yourself in the trunk?”
    “Young man,” Edmund said pleasantly, “if I had wanted to hide, would I have had myself tied up, gagged, and blindfolded?”
    Prof was silent.
    “You wish for proof that I am who I say,” Edmund said with a sigh. “Well, I’d rather not force you to beat it out of me. Do you have