That means she likes the smart, quiet, ugly ones. One can never account for a woman’s opinion of beauty. I mean, I was standing right there. How could she have possibly even seen you? By the way, speaking of smart, what did Leila mean by second in our class?”
“She’s crazy too,” Tag said while laughing at Eric’s running account. Then he said, “Ego, thy name is Eric McAnn.”
Eric winked and said, “Duh. You just now figured that out? Just be thankful I don’t make you pay big money to hang around with me.” Then they both laughed and continued their lunch.
Leila left Danielle to meet with the school administrator to receive an award for her test results. Danielle pressed the button on her communicator. “Go ahead,” Colonel Ortiz said.
“Eddie, I want you to look into the records of one of the students here that everyone calls Tag. I don’t know what his real name is but the school administrator should know.”
“Do you think he might be Superman?”
She said, “I don’t know, but Leila said he was as smart as she is, and you know how smart that is. Have you had any luck with the boys that have had relationships with Leila?”
“No. We’ve turned up nothing. I think we’re going to start questioning the smart ones like you suggested. If this what’s his name, Tag, is as smart as you were told he is, then he’ll go into interrogation tomorrow.”
“Well, let me know what’s in his records.”
“Certainly. I’ll get back to you.”
Danielle sat down at an empty lunch table and looked back across the lunchroom at Tag and Eric sitting there laughing. “When he shook my hand I felt a kind of shock,” she remembered. “I wonder if he’s Superman. He’s not great looking at a distance, but those eyes make him gorgeous up close. I don’t think he has any fat on him either. I want to see those eyes again. If Leila is right and he’s as smart as she says he is, he would be interesting to talk with.”
Tag sensed that Danielle was staring at him from across the lunchroom. “When I took her hand I felt something electric happen in the psychic field. I have no idea what it was and I’ve never felt it before,” Tag thought. When he looked into her eyes, he saw that this girl had more depth than anyone he’d ever encountered, other than Leila, of course. Well, maybe even more than Leila. One thing this girl had in abundance that Leila didn’t was a quick sense of humor and a quick genuine laugh. “Wait a minute,” he thought. “Leila is the one I’m crazy about.” After several seconds he said to himself, “Aren’t I?” Then he felt Danielle’s gaze leave him and he glanced over to see her get up and leave the lunchroom.
Danielle’s com buzzed and she got up to go outside and take the call. “Go ahead,” she said.
Colonel Ortiz said, “Thomas Anglo Gardner is the official name of Tag. I guess they call him that because of his initials.”
“No, Leila told me that they called him that because as a little boy when they played tag no one could catch him. It fits him perfectly, especially since it matches his initials. What else did you find out?”
“The boy is brilliant. He has a perfect math score on all his tests. The only reason that Leila is ahead of him is that he missed a test two years ago because he was sick. When he retook it, they deducted thirty points for not taking it on time to teach him responsibility. He is actually number one in grades. He made a perfect score on the test they reduced. His score should be 99.7.”
“Wow,” Danielle thought.
“I think you’ll find his self-defense reports interesting. I know his instructors and they’re good at what they do. Both of them rated him very low in his skills. They say he had no affinity or desire for hand-to-hand combat.”
“What do you think about that, Eddie?”
“I was starting to get excited that he might be who we’re looking for, but this dampens my enthusiasm.”
Danielle was reluctant to say what she thought because Eddie might think she was crazy, but her job made her push those feelings aside and say, “Eddie, think with me a moment. What do we know about what kind of person Superman is?”
“Well, he’s deadly in hand-to-hand combat and he’s capable of breaking the law.”
“What law did he break?”
“Well, he stole the test booklet.”
“And if he were to be tried for that, what would they charge him with?”
“I see what you’re saying. Only a minor misdemeanor and probably not even that since he’s a student.”
“Now I know this is going to get philosophical, but please be patient with me. If he had not taken the test would a greater wrong have occurred?”
“I want to say no, but I’ve gotten to know Leila, and it would be a crime against society to have that girl placed in a low-station job. I really believe she will be a difference-maker when she gets older. Unfortunately, Superman would be punished for the theft, but the reality is he should be rewarded for rectifying a mistake that was going to be made.”
“So, if you were going to say what kind of person our Superman is, how would you respond?”
There was a long pause, and then Colonel Ortiz said, “It’s just like you said earlier, this Superman has a heart. However, he killed four people.”
“Alright, let’s look at that, Eddie.”
“Oh no, you’re going to prove me wrong there, too.”
“Well, think about it. Have you seen the video information that Major Daniels has put together on the number of people that little band of five has killed?”
Colonel Ortiz had seen the report and it had made him angry. He wanted to find the one that escaped and kill him with his bare hands. “Yes, I’ve seen it.”
“Did you notice on the recordings that none of their victims were given a chance even when they tried to hand everything they had to them? What do you think would have happened to our Superman if he had not fought back?”
“He’d be dead.”
“Right, so what does this say about how aggressive Superman is?”
“I’m not sure I know what you’re saying.”
“Prior to his being attacked, had there been anything to happen in this school that even remotely looked like someone had beaten up other students?”
“No.”
“So let’s say our Superman discovers by accident that he has these combat skills, and if he is someone with a good spirit and heart, what would he do during hand-to-hand training?”
“He would deliberately lose,” Eddie said. “He would try to avoid hurting anyone.”
“Exactly. Look at Tag’s records again and see what he did in his first hand-to-hand match.”
Eddie looked through the papers, found what he was looking for, and then read to Danielle, “In his first hand-to-hand match Tag accidentally broke the arm of his opponent. They said he was greatly upset and insisted on going to the hospital with the injured student, who was Eric McAnn.”
“Eric McAnn is his best friend. He hurt him and I can imagine how he felt about that; then what?”
“He never won another match. The instructors say that the accident caused him to lose his desire to even try. Danielle, you’re beginning to scare me. How do you put all these things together?”
“Honestly, Eddie, I don’t know. Sometimes I just sense things. There’s one thing that feels right to me. Our Superman would never hurt anyone unless it was forced on him.”
“So it looks like Tag is our best candidate so far.”
“Yes, I think you’re right. But Eddie, don’t interrogate him first. Give him a chance for the pressure to build up while others are being interrogated. Also, make sure when he goes into the room that there are a couple of marines outside the door. I honestly don’t think that he would hurt anyone, but he may try to escape.”
“We’ll do it that way. I’ll inform Inspector Connor of our discussion and let him know that the interrogation is taking place in the morning. He may want to be here.”
“Probably,” Danielle said, but in her heart there was nothing but sadness for the young boy with the startling green eyes.
