swallow while her stomach tied itself in knots, and she shivered in the warmth of the loft. She couldn’t do this. She wasn’t built for constantly looking over her shoulder and waiting to be a victim. That was no way to live. If she wanted to save her sanity, the only option she had left was to dig into the truth behind what really happened the night before, and face it head-on.
Zeke Reece wasn’t the only source who could help her make sense of it all, she decided, her hands visibly shaking as she reached for the last of her coffee. There was one other who knew even more than the fantasy-inspiring paramedic.
If she wanted to stay alive, she had to find the masked man.
Chapter Three
“If I were a masked man, where would I be? Fortress of Solitude or the Xavier Mansion?”
The apartment was quiet as Kendall munched on the sinfully salty fries she’d gotten from the diner across the street, before letting her fingers do the walking on her laptop. She didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to know finding someone who wore a mask was going to be tough. Obviously he had no desire to be found, but if she had to use up her lifetime’s allotment of research mojo, she’d find him. Whether Zeke believed her or not, her life depended on it.
After linking to KPOW’s research databases, her jaw dropped at the number of masked-man sightings there were throughout the city. Apparently her savior was a bit of a local celebrity, with his very own superhero name—The Guardian Angel. Not exactly the most inventive moniker the world had ever seen, but people clearly didn’t know what else to call a guy whose primary hobby was swooping in to save the day. The first article she clicked on was proof enough of that.
Feral Animal Attack in Alamo Square Park, Two Teens Wounded
Eureka Creek High School students Kia Kagawa and Orlando Boatwright were attacked around ten o’clock last night as they crossed Alamo Square Park. The magic of their first date came to an end when Boatwright, sixteen, suffered injuries to his head and neck as an unidentified animal attacked him. Kagawa broke her wrist while trying to pull the animal from Boatwright.
According to authorities, the teens were saved by a man dressed in black. This unidentified man tackled the beast with such ferocity they flew into the darkness and seemed to vanish. In pain and in shock, Kagawa and Boatwright were unable to describe their black-clad savior, as the teens thought he may have been wearing some sort of mask. Toxicology and blood alcohol levels on the teens came back negative, and while authorities won’t officially confirm this as a sighting of San Francisco’s urban legend, The Guardian Angel, unofficially they believe it was yet another event involving the mysterious crusader. Meanwhile, area residents have been told to be on the lookout for stray animals.
Kendall rubbed at the tension gathering at the base of her neck before she scrolled down to another headline that made her do a double take.
Guardian Angel Saves Man Who Claims Dead Wife Tried to Kill Him
When police responded late last night to a possible jumper on the Golden Gate Bridge, they were in for a surprise. According to witnesses, tractor-trailer driver Virgil T. Smoot was screaming for help. Yet when officers approached to pull the burly truck driver from the edge, he informed them his wife was trying to make him jump. His dead wife.
If that wasn’t strange enough, while they waited for crisis counselors to arrive, something described as “fast and black” zoomed up from the unlikely direction of the water. The teetering Smoot was then snatched from the edge as if he weighed no more than a toddler, only to be flung back into the closed-off roadway. A black-masked figure, described by witnesses as The Guardian Angel, then landed on the stunned trucker and reached down to Smoot’s chest. Though the officers on scene have conflicting accounts as to whether or not Smoot was physically