The video was exploding online.
Likes had already broken the million-mark, to say nothing of the endless reposts and remixes. Locke even found "YTP" style edits of the pool-ball-swallowing incident circulating on the darker corners of the web.
Naturally, the man who had fed the unlucky junkie those billiard balls was also a star of the screenshots.
Locke squinted at the image of the leather-jacket-clad man who looked like a cross between a monk and a hitman. "Jason Statham?"
No, it was Jason Braut—Jeff Martin's partner.
As for the man swallowing the balls...
"Barry Weiss?"
Locke pulled up the profile from the NYPD database. A long rap sheet for assault, harassnt, and passing counterfeit bills. A low-level, happy-go-lucky junkie. Locke rubbed his chin. "No wonder you chose a lightning mask. You actually share a na with Barry Allen."
But the Flash's surna was Allen. Only a Barry Allen got to be the Scarlet Speedster. A Weiss? That was a na so obscure it barely registered.
Sticking garlic up your nose doesn't make you an onion, kid.
Locke looked at the junkie's colorful arrest record, then cross-referenced it with the murdered couple's file. With Gwen's earlier hunch and a na to search, the connection was instant.
The couple were philanthropists of a sort, housing ex-convicts who lacked life skills. Barry Weiss hadn't been to prison yet, but he had been to the hospital for a stomach pumping after Jason fed him those five pool balls. If he hadn't gone to the ER, he would have gone to the morgue.
A month ago, Barry was discharged and tried to return to the couple's apartnt. But they were full, and they had to turn him away. Shortly after, they were "assassinated" by a fake Peerless.
Locke could guess the rest: Give a man a fish and he eats for a day; feed him for a month and he'll kill you when the food stops.
Weiss wasn't a criminal mastermind; he was a social bottom-feeder whose ego had been shattered by the viral video of his humiliation. He blad the NYPD for making him a laughingstock, specifically George Stacy and Jeff Martin, who had been on the scene that day to stop Jason from finishing the job.
Locke shook his head. Kindness to a snake is a death sentence for the gardener. They should have let Jason finish him right there.
Locke's eyes narrowed as he saw George and Jeff's nas in the original report.
...
*Ring, ring!*
Gwen, who was just about to head to the library with Cindy, answered her phone with a smile. "I thought you said you had errands today and couldn't make it to the library?"
Locke chuckled. "Plans changed. Where are you?"
"Just leaving."
"Stay there. I'm coming to you. I'll walk you."
"Okay."
Locke hung up. He wasn't taking any chances. Weiss might be a low-level junkie, but once a coward gets a taste for blood, they beco a volatile psychotic.
Locke pulled out his sunglasses. "If the reward is big enough, I'll kill anyone—even a nobody."
...
In the garage of Star Tower—*Vroom!*
The Audi R8 pulled out, but only after the security guard double-checked the driver's ID. Peerless's love for the R8 was public knowledge now, and Locke's personal car had been flagged several tis by overzealous patrol cars.
Once clear of the building, Locke focused. In the passenger seat, another "Locke" materialized.
"Here."
"Thanks."
The avatar Locke took the sunglasses and put them on. Peerless was online.
Passing a blind alley without surveillance, the passenger door flicked open. While the real Locke drove toward Gwen's apartnt, he multi-tasked, controlling the Peerless avatar to "borrow" a nearly-new silver R8 parked on the curb.
*Ding!*
[Tracking Card used successfully!]
[Barry Weiss Tracking Map deployed!]
[Expanding...]
Locke glanced at the red dot on his HUD. His brow furrowed. The location...
He slamd the accelerator, the silver R8's engine roaring as he drifted into a high-speed turn toward Gwen's apartnt.
...
Outside Gwen's Apartnt.
Locke (the real one) hopped out of his car, leaving it unlocked. He buzzed Gwen's intercom, but as he waited, he spotted a figure nearby. Barry Weiss was wearing a stolen police shirt and a captain's hat—a pathetic, mismatched disguise.
Weiss had his head down, but seeing Locke at the door, he quickened his pace.
"Door's open, Locke!" Gwen's voice ca over the speaker.
"Got it."
Locke pulled the heavy apartnt door open, stepped inside, and—*Thud!*—slamd it shut right in Weiss's face.
*Smack!*
Weiss's nose collided with the reinforced glass. "Fuck!"
Intending to slip in behind Locke, Weiss clutched his bleeding nose and cursed. He glared through the glass at the motionless Locke standing in the lobby. "Open the damn door!"
Locke's smile was blindingly bright. He was restraining himself. He turned to head upstairs. He needed to be clear of the lobby; his "other self" was almost there.
"Fuck you!" Weiss scread, seeing Locke turn his back. He reached into his jacket for a service weapon he'd stolen from a murdered officer, preparing to shoot through the lock.
Just then—*VROOOOM!*
A silver Audi R8 screeched into the street, tires smoking as it perford a perfect 90-degree drift. The door flew open. A man in a suit and sunglasses stepped out while the car was still in motion, calmly buttoning his jacket.
The silver R8 spun and slotted itself perfectly into a vacant parking spot.
Eye to eye.
Locke's (Peerless) right hand blurred. The golden handgun was out.
*Bang!*
"Agh!"
Weiss scread, his stolen gun clattering to the pavent as a bullet tore through his shoulder. He tumbled down the apartnt steps, his stolen police hat rolling into the gutter.
Inside, the gunshot made Gwen jump. But Locke was right there, and his presence instantly steadied her.
"What was that?" Gwen hugged him briefly, then, bolstered by his presence, she peeked out the window toward the street.
"Peerless?" Gwen gasped. She imdiately turned to grab her phone to call her father.
Locke stood by the window, staring down at his other self.
...
On the street, the Peerless avatar looked down at the junkie. Barry Weiss was trying to stagger to his feet like a drunkard, a coward who needed a gun and a stolen na to feel like a man.
"Barry Weiss," Peerless said coldly. "I told you. I would find you."
Upstairs, Gwen said to Locke, "Dad says they're on their way. They finally matched the fingerprints from the couple's apartnt. They know who the imposter is."
The NYPD was a behemoth, and between the bureaucracy and the backlog, forensics usually took days. Today happened to be the day the match for Barry Weiss ca through.
Weiss was a fool. He knew how to copy a "notification card," but he was too uneducated to rember the first rule of a cri scene.
Wear gloves. Especially on your first hit.
***
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***
Read 30 Chapters early on P-atreon/Redestro666
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