stopped, she noticed it felt a bit warm under her feet.
"Well?"
"Well, if you did that on the I-10, you'd get pulled over,"
Grady replied. "You topped out at a hundred and eighty eight
miles an hour. I've run faster, but not much. Normally at that point
I just decide to fly instead, it's less wear and tear on my shoes."
"Speaking of which....." Renee said, pulling off her
Reeboks. The soles were warm to the touch, and the rubber looked worn
out and partially melted. "I do hope you have some super
material you've invented that's better than plain old rubber for my
shoes, because I'm not going out to buy new shoes every time I want
to go for a jog."
"I use a variation on steel belted radials for my Horseman
suit," Grady replied. "Sadly, my inventions have not
exactly produced a wear resistant material for running shoes yet.
However, if you notice something else, you won't be worried."
"What's that?"
"You just ran close to eight miles, and you're not even winded.
Regardless of the amount of time it took, you think you could have
run eight miles when we met without being winded?"
Renee laughed and rubbed her feet. "I couldn't have run eight
miles at all when we met. You want any more tests."
Grady shook his head. "No, but I was thinking it's a lovely day
for a lunch picnic by the beach. Would you like to join me?"
At the base of the cliff which Grady's lab was built on, there was a
lovely small private cove. Surrounded on both sides by almost sheer
rock face, the only two ways to get to the beach were to either take
a narrow, rickety set of stairs, or to fly. Renee held the basket in
her arms while Grady floated them down to settle on the sand below.
They were about halfway through a tube of Ritz crackers and cheese
when Grady's phone rang with a tone Renee had never heard before.
Grady dropped his half eaten cracker and snatched the phone.
"Dammit!"
"What is it?" she asked, thinking it was some sort of
office emergency. Grady glanced at the screen, his face tightening.
"What?"
He handed her the phone. On it, a video feed from Action Five news
played. Maria Mendoza was standing in front of two police cars, with
their lights flashing. ".....the gunmen broke into the preschool
about fifteen minutes ago, according to police," she said,
indicating the building behind her. Renee knew that school, it was
the Little Acorn Grove School, a small preschool in the Heights that
was run by a local church. Most of the kids were in single family
households, and the school operated only through donations. Maria
continued. "The gunmen are in communication with police, stating
that they have taken the children hostages and are willing to kill
them if their demands are not met. At this time, the police are not
saying what the demands of the gunmen are, but we are trying to get a
statement as soon as we can. Again, a group of seven gunmen have
taken the Little Acorn Grove School hostage, and are currently holed
up in some of the classrooms."
Grady took the phone back and stood up, brushing off his pants. He
bent his legs to jump and start to fly, when he paused and looked
over at Renee. "You want in?"
She didn't have to even think about her answer. "Damn right.
Hold on buddy, I'm riding piggy back."
They streaked up to the top of Grady's lab building, going in
through a roof top entrance and down to his lab. Grady pulled open
the doors to the cabinets and started stripping out of his clothes,
pulling on The Horseman's uniform. "Next time I'll get something
made for you, but do you have anything that can conceal your
identity?" he asked, pulling on the pale and blood red tights.
Renee thought, then nodded. "In the trunk of the Jeep. I was
going to wear it tonight for work, but I think that's been delayed."
Renee ran to the window and opened it, looking out. The side of the
building faced empty dirt, so before Grady could say anything she
jumped out, landing three floors below like she had just dropped a
few feet. Grady's head appeared
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