Michael Carroll - Absolute Power

The first thing Colin Wagner did when he arrived at the hotel room was to fill the bath with hot, foamy water, strip off his clothes and lower himself in.

Now, two hours later, he was still in the bath, eyes closed, listening to Alphaville on his new MP3 player.

The last track on the album came to an end and Colin popped out the earphones and set the player down on the floor.

I could get used to this.

The phone beside the bath rang. Colin grabbed for it with a damp hand. “Hello?”

“Colin? It’s Harriet. Mr Kinsella has just arrived, and he’d like to talk to you. When you’re ready.”

“Sure. I’ll be down in a couple of minutes.”

Colin hung up the phone and stepped out of the bath. He didn’t bother using a towel to dry himself; he just increased his body temperature until all the water evaporated from his skin.

In the bedroom, Colin looked through the spare clothes the two Trutopians had given him, and chose a plain black T-shirt and a pair of jeans.

So what do I tell this guy? I could string him along for a while, make him think that I might just change my mind. Then I get to stay here.

He dismissed this idea almost immediately. Better not. For one thing, it’d be wrong. For another, I’ve got things of my own to do.

He sat on the edge of the bed and pulled on one of his new pairs of socks. Should thank him for all the stuff at least.

Colin looked at the mobile phone that he’d left on the bedside table. I could phone my parents…No. They’d only try to persuade me to go back to Sakkara, and that’s something I’m not going to do as long as Max Dalton is still there.

Once he’d put on his new boots and tied the laces, Colin grabbed the room’s keycard and made his way down to the lobby.

The red-haired woman – Harriet – was waiting for him. “All clean and shiny?”

Colin nodded. “Yeah. Thanks. I’d nearly forgotten what it felt like to not be covered in dirt.”

“Mr Kinsella’s in the restaurant, if you’re ready to meet him.”

“I’m ready.”

Even though it was now lunchtime, the hotel’s restaurant was almost completely empty. At the only occupied table, Byron was talking to a tall, slightly overweight bearded man.

So that’s him, Reginald Kinsella , Colin said to himself. The leader of the Trutopians and one of the most famous men in the world and he came all the way here just to see me.

Harriet said, “Mr Kinsella? This is…”

Kinsella stood up, and offered his hand to Colin, a big cheesy grin on his face. “Oh, I know who it is! You two take a break…I want to talk to this young man alone.”

Byron and Harriet nodded and left the table.

“Sit,” Kinsella said to Colin. “You must be hungry.”

“I’m OK. I ate in the car. I don’t need to eat very much anyway.”

Kinsella dropped down into his own chair. “Is that one of your superhuman abilities?”

“I suppose so.”

Kinsella nodded. “I read something about you developing necessary powers from your mother. I’ll tell you, that caught everyone out. We all expected you to take after your father.”

“So did I.”

A waiter darted over and placed a menu in front of Colin. “The special today is—”

Kinsella interrupted him. “The special today is whatever this young man wants. Anything he wants. Do you understand me?”

Colin felt the blood rush to his cheeks. He glanced quickly at the menu. “The vegetable lasagne looks nice.”

The waiter nodded. “Certainly, sir.” He bowed and darted away.

Kinsella sighed. “I hate that. I hate it when people think I need special treatment just because of what I do, or that I’m going to fire them for dropping the bread rolls.” He glanced at Colin. “What about you? Is that why you left the New Heroes? Didn’t want the fame and fortune?”

“There’s fortune?” Colin shrugged. “No, I just…There were reasons.”

“Understood. You don’t want to talk about it.” Kinsella placed his elbows on the table and rubbed his temples with his fingers. “Colin…Let’s be blunt here. You and I are probably the two most influential people in the world. You do realise that, don’t you?”

“I don’t see myself like that.” Colin picked up a breadstick and began munching on it.

“No, you don’t. And that’s one of the things I like about you. You’ve got extraordinary abilities, but you’re still just an ordinary kid. My people compiled a very detailed report on Sakkara. Butler Redmond is an ass. Daniel Cooper…Between you and me, I think he’s dangerous.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because of his father. His real father, not Façade. If what I’ve heard is true, then Quantum had visions of the future. Visions that eventually drove him mad. And Danny’s inherited Quantum’s speed, so it stands to reason that he might also inherit his visions.” Kinsella paused. “That worries me.”

Colin didn’t know how to respond to that.

“And Renata Soliz…I met her, did you know that? I offered her a chance to join us, but she turned me down. So that leaves you.”

“I’m sorry, Mr Kinsella, but I’m not going to join the Trutopians.”

“Right. I don’t suppose you’ve been following the news over the past four months?”

“It’s not really been possible.”

“Dioxin’s reappearance scared the hell out of a lot of people. If you hadn’t stopped him in Topeka…” Kinsella shuddered. “I don’t even like to think about that. But a lot of people realised that they needed greater protection than the police or the military could provide. They joined the Trutopians. Now…We’re not perfect, and we’ve never claimed to be. But our people know that they can trust us, because we believe in one thing above all: the truth. There are no secrets among the Trutopians. If anyone wants to find out anything about me, all they have to do is ask. If there are no lies, there are no secrets. Without secrets, no one can deceive the people. The details of everything we do are available to the public.”

“Don’t you need to hide the truth sometimes?” Colin asked.

Kinsella shook his head. “No, you don’t.”

“What if my parents had told everyone that they were Energy and Titan? Their enemies would have known how to get to them! By keeping the secret they weren’t just protecting themselves, they were protecting me and everyone else they knew.”

“Right. But suppose the Trutopians are successful, and we do manage to – for want of a better way of putting it – take over the world. No superhero would need to keep a secret identity, because if everyone always told the truth, then no one would be able to hurt them. In an ideal world—”

“But we don’t live in an ideal world, Mr Kinsella.”

Kinsella smiled. “Not yet.”

SHORTLY AFTER DAWN, Renata, Butler and Danny walked into Sakkara’s infirmary to find Warren Wagner – Colin’s father – waiting for them. A former paramedic, Warren was currently filling the role of Sakkara’s chief medical technician.

In one corner of the large room, Max Dalton was working at a computer station.

Only one other person was in the room: in the bed closest to the window, Mina looked as though she was asleep.

“So how’d it go?” Warren asked.

“Fine,” Danny said. He and Renata had agreed not to mention what they’d found on the island. “Any word from the people in Hungary?”

“Nothing yet,” Warren replied. “We’re not even certain that the sighting is reliable.”

“We should be trying to find him,” Renata said.

“We are. ”