“Are you sure?” Roxie asked. She took hishand and turned it over, palm-side up, to look at the price tag.“God, Matt. Can you afford it?”
“I want this one.” He dug out his wallet forthe coupon and his credit card. “This is it. Vic always said I’dknow it when I saw it and this is it, I’m telling you.”
Suddenly there was a scuffle behind him.Roxie and Matt turned in time to see one of the hoodie-wearing menshove the college kid facedown onto the counter. The other guypushed one of the women trying on necklaces—she grabbed the jewelrystand and dragged it down to the ground with a crash as her friendcried out. The bell above the door jangled as the third guy enteredthe store brandishing a gun. “Get down!” he shouted, firing a roundat the ceiling. “Now, now, now!”
The report was deafening. Grabbing Roxie’shand in his, Matt dropped to the floor, Vic’s ring closed tightlyin his fist. “Matt!” Roxie shrieked as the gun went off a secondtime. “Oh, my God!”
“Quiet!” the gunman shouted. He turned on hisheel, leveling the gun around the store as he locked the doorbehind him. “Next person who says shit dies.”
Heart pounding in his chest, Matt wrapped anarm around Roxie’s shoulders and clamped his empty hand over hermouth to silence her. Pulling her close, he hissed in her ear,“Shh.”
Her wide, black-rimmed eyes stared at him infear. Now he really wished Vic were here.
* * * *
Even though Vic managed to get the strangecloning power under some semblance of control, it still cropped upunexpectedly from time to time. Like when he had pulled his emptybus out of the garage to start his route…a glance in the mirrorabove him turned into a double-take that almost caused him toswerve off the road when he saw himself sitting in the back of thebus, staring back. “Oh, hell no,” Vic growled, but hecouldn’t stop on the interstate to disperse his doppelganger. Hesettled for hitting the brakes hard once he reached the stop signat the end of the exit ramp. The motion threw him forward, but itthrew his passenger forward, as well. Once it connected with theseat in front of it, the clone disappeared.
Slowly, Vic shook his head. This was turningout to be a long day, he thought.
He didn’t know how right he was.
Shortly after his shift started, he had a busfull of shoppers and students and was heading downtown along hisprescribed route when he heard an intermittent noise from the panelbeside him. The flat surface held a small, battery-operated FMradio, which Vic kept on low while he drove. Under the radio was aclipboard with paperwork he had to fill out during hisday—passenger counts, mostly, though there were forms to report anyproblems that might arise, and a log he had to maintain as proof hehadn’t taken any joy rides or made many unauthorized stops alongthe way. The clipboard also held his driver’s license, which he hadto have handy in case anyone on his bus requested it at any time,and his city employee badge, as well.
Somewhere mixed in with all that nonsense,Vic had tossed his cell phone and personal key ring before leavingthe garage. If he wasn’t mistaken, the noise he heard sounded likehis phone vibrating with an incoming call.
He didn’t rush to answer it. Matt nevercalled him at work, so Vic suspected it was his boss, wanting tosee if he could pick up an extra shift to cover for someone who hadcalled in sick. Vic knew himself well enough to know he wouldn’tsay no, but that didn’t mean he had to like working doubles. Thoughif Matty had reached the point where he knew what rings he wantedto buy, Vic should probably work all the overtime he could toafford them. After all the catalogs and advertisements he’d seen inthe past few months, it would be a relief to see what Matt finallypicked out.
The phone stopped its infernal buzz just asVic slowed in front of his next stop. Amid the bustle of passengerscoming and going, he didn’t get a chance to dig out the phone untilafter he had eased back into the flow of traffic. Then he flippedopen the cell, glanced at the missed call, and almost hit thebrakes in surprise.
It wasn’t the office calling him to workover. It was Kendra, an officer with the Richmond police force. Vicfelt dread curl into the pit of his stomach as he hit the SENDbutton to return the call.
The phone barely rang once before Kendra’sbright voice filled his ear. “Vic, hey.”
“Kendra.” Vic glanced in the mirror above himto make sure none of his passengers were paying much attention tohim. He wasn’t supposed to drive while on the phone—hell, he wasn’teven supposed to have it on him in the bus, but none of the driversbothered with that rule. “What’s up?”
He expected her to say she needed backup in away only he could provide. Maybe there was an accident on theinterstate, or a raging fire at the mall, or a broken gas pipepoisoning the old folks’ home. She didn’t call him often, but whenshe did, the first thing she usually asked was, “What’s your powertoday?” He’d told her again and again he didn’t want to join theforce, that he wasn’t cut out for police work, but just like hecouldn’t tell his boss no when asked to work over, he couldn’t tellKendra no when she asked for help. Whatever it was today, though,he hoped it could wait until his lunch break.
But she surprised him. Instead of the usual,she asked, “Where’s Matt?”
Unconsciously Vic took his foot off the gaspedal, causing the bus to slow. “Matt? I don’t know, work maybe?Why?” Kendra took a deep breath, and Vic asked again, “Why?”
“We got a call about a robbery in progress,”she told him, “and Matt’s car is in the parking lot. I remember itfrom the night it was vandalized. Now, I don’t know if he’s in thestore or not, but things took a turn for the worse once we got hereand now we have a hostage
