Wright #1
By Frank Perseo
Smashwords Edition

ｩ Copyright Frank Perseo 2012


All rights reserved, including all rights to all fictional characters, locations, events and stories herein. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the author, with the exception of brief excerpts in reviews.


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Wright Tower looked out over Miami, Florida. Thomas Wright lived in the penthouse of the 50 storey building. On the lower floors were the headquarters of Wright Inc, a world class private detective agency. Thomas laid in his bed, recovering from many long nights of work. He rolled over to see his beautiful wife, Kate. Kate was more than his bestfriend, she was the anchor in his life and she had made Thomas the man he was today.
Kate was a successful lawyer, a very bold and outgoing woman. When Thomas met Kate in college she barely knew who he was. Thomas was so preoccupied with academics that he never took the time for social pleasantries, but meeting Kate changed that. Thomas always set out to win at whatever he did, so he decided to win her heart. That was more than seven years ago, but Kate was one of very few people who ever even heard Thomas talk.
Thomas kissed Kate and rolled out of bed. He opened the curtains and looked out over Miami. He had grown up here, and lived here most of his life. Although he grew up in the suburbs, he frequented the city when visiting his uncle, the finest police detective in the county. Thomas looked up to his uncle, and set out to be the best detective in the world. From a young age, his uncle noticed Thomas was gifted. He supplemented it by training Thomas in police work and the cutting edge sciences of crime-solving. Thomas graduated college and became a police detective, but he didn't stay there very long.

*****
Washington DC, Constitution Gardens
Saturday April 24, 2010; 1:00pm
Ryan Gates was in DC for the weekend, sceretly on business. He contacted his cousin, Thomas Wright, who was in town for a meeting at the DC satellite office of Wright Inc. Thomas and Ryan had decided to meet in the park for lunch to catch up. Thomas didn't know his kid cousin very well, in fact they had only met once before this year at a family reunion. They had recently reconnected online, and met again when Ryan was in DC a couple weeks ago (the day that superheroes were discovered by the public).
Ryan talked about current events, but Thomas tuned him out as his mind wandered. Thomas began to notice some things. His cousin was the same age as Zack Powers. Thomas had been studying Zack for a client. He took an hour to read a file on the hero, and the science that causes his powers, called parascience. Ryan didn't share any of the facial features of Zack, but Thomas knew Zack had the ability to alter his facial features between two forms. That way Zack had one appearance for his alter ego, and then could alter his appearance to become the superpowered Zack.
Thomas found one thing odd. Zack Powers stood about five-and-a-half feet tall, below average height. Thomas wondered, why would Zack choose that height?
After lunch, Ryan stood up and Thomas estimated he was about five-and-a-half feet tall.

*****
George Bush Center for Intelligence
McLean, Virginia 12:00pm
Thomas sat in a conference room with many individuals whom I am not at liberty to mention, and among them was the Director of the CIA. Thomas was surrounded by his only equals in the world, in terms of gathering intelligence, but Thomas was superior not only in his IQ but in his renowned deductive reasoning skills.
"This team has been formed to do recon work on America's superheroes and superhumans, particularly to find their weaknesses and their secret identities. We want to learn what we can about them in case they go rogue. This project will officially be seperate from the CIA, so I have chosen you to be in charge," the Director said to Thomas.
Thomas nodded. 
"All of the operatives will report to you, and you will pay them as independant contractors. You will recieve only hardcopy files. None of our discoveries will be recorded in digital form. I have many powerful friends who could benefit from that. Thomas will be in charge of storing the files. And we want you to do recon work on the highest profile heroes, starting with Zack Powers."

*****
Miami-Dade Police Headquarters in Doral, Florida
April 23, 2001 8:30am
Thomas sat outside the directors office, keeping his composure on the outside, but exploding on the inside. A rookie officer with an impressive record, he had recently been promoted to the newest homicide detective of the Miami-Dade Police Department. Detective Jim Walker walked out of the office and addressed Thomas. "Thomas Wright, my name is Detective James Walker, I'm your new partner."
Thomas stood up silently and shook Walker's extended hand, but did not say a word. He deduced, by the crew cut and posture, that Walker definitely had a military background. The darkness around his eyes signaled sleep deprivation, possibly on a current case. He smelt of a hotel, which drew Thomas' eyes to a trashcan nearby where a cup sat with the particular logo of a particular hotel. The hotel was in proximity of a case where a family required a security detail.
"So the Sheriff tells me your uncle is Harry Moore." 
Thomas nodded 
"Well, lets hope you're as sharp as your uncle." 
Even sharper. Walker showed the rookie to his desk. He realized that Thomas didn't talk much, but he liked that. Too many rookies were all talk, but their talk was nothing but a bag of wind.

*****
Miami
April 22, 1988 7:30pm
Detective Harry Moore walked into the appartment, which police had sealed off as a crime scene, with young Thomas in tow. As Harry headed for the living room, the actual crime scene, the Sheriff stopped him.
"You can't bring your kid in here! This is no place for him."
"Come on," Harry begged. "His mother wants me to watch him. I can't leave him in the car or in my appartment."
"Put him in the kitchen over there. A suicide is no place for a seven year old."
"He's not seven," Harry responded as he led Thomas to the kitchen.
"The man killed himself?" Thomas asked.
"Yes, remember we talked about this. Sometimes people get so sad that they don't want to live anymore. But I love you, and your parents love you so there is no reason to be sad."
"He hung himself?" 
Harry was shocked.
"Yes. How did you know that?"
"I saw a glimpse of the man when you were talking to the sheriff."
"Listen, I'm sorry you had to see that." Harry held his nephew.
"Uncle Harry, why was the chair pushed forward instead of backwards?"
At this moment three other police officers, who were checking the kitchen for clues, looked at the young boy. Everyone in the room was shocked, except for Thomas.

*****
April 25, 2010 11:30pm
Miami
Thomas Wright saw his life flash before his eyes, concluded by a flash of light, as he fell from a 11 storey building, but he didn't hit the ground. He was caught by an invisible force at the last second, which carried him back up to whence he fell from. He landed on the balcony, no sign of his anonymous angel, much to the suprise of the man who pushed him off the ledge. Thomas unholstered his gun, which he was licensed to carry, thanks to favors from people in high places. He fired a pefect shot at his opponent's shoulder.
The wounded man jumped off the balcony, released a parasail, and floated towards the ocean. Five minutes ago he had revealed himself to be a covert agent for-hire, looking for intel on American superheroes. Thomas fired at the parasail, hitting it after a few tries, and the agent fell to the ground.

*****
Zack landed outside of Wright Tower. He was consumed by a flash of light, as he transformed into Ryan Gates. Unbeknownst to him the tranformation was recorded on two devices: one was a security camera, the other was a device that measures sub-atomic anomallies like the one in the aforementioned transformation.
Ryan walked out of the alley to find Thomas Wright. 
"Good evening Mr. Powers." 
Ryan gave a perfectly acted puzzled look. 
"Sorry. My bad. Lets get you to the airport Ryan."
They got in the car and drove to the airport. Thomas and Ryan parted ways before the line to the metal detector. They shook hands. 
"You know, Zack Powers really ought to adjust his height," he said as he turned away, "It's a dead giveaway to his true identity."

###

If you enjoyed this or want to read more about Thomas, Zack, and similar characters like 'NOVUS Entertainment' on facebook, then go to the author page and get our other book "Dawn of the Superheroes".

ｩ Copyright Frank Perseo 2010