The Devil Within (The Viral Superhero Series Book 5) Read online

  The Devil Within

  Bryan Cohen

  Casey Lane

  Contents

  Introduction

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Epilogue

  Co-Authors’ Note

  Legal Business & Acknowledgements

  The story of every Chosen One begins with a choice…

  And Ted Finley wasn't always the top pick for the job…

  Discover the story BEFORE the story.

  Click here and register on the next page to get the free prequel to The Viral Superhero Series.

  Prologue

  President Blake awoke with a start as his phone buzzed on the bedside table. A nearby clock displayed the time of 3 a.m. in blinking red lights. It didn't take long into his first term in the Presidency for him to turn from a deep sleeper into an extremely light napper. After nearly four years in the office, he could tell this late-night interruption wasn't an emergency, but he knew it warranted enough effort to hop out of bed and slip on his lightweight walking shoes. He noticed his wife stirring to his left, but he was relieved when she didn't fully wake up. He would've gotten an earful in the morning for that. He pressed the necessary button to take the call as he stepped into another room and quietly closed the door behind him.

  His scratchy voice pierced through the silence. "This better be good."

  The man on the other line stammered for a beat before he composed himself. "I–I–I wouldn't have called you so late, sir, if it wasn't of extreme–"

  Blake sighed. "Just let me take a leak first."

  Walking down the marble staircase of the ancient-for-America building used to give Blake great pride. Now, with Ridley, his up-all-night Secret Serviceman by his side, the history of the place seemed to fall away.

  Their footsteps weren't echoing in a museum; it was more like a prison. And he was the head warden, tasked only with making sure the inmates didn't escape. Like all Presidents before him, Blake's temples were graying, and he was showing the signs of incredible stress in all the typical health indicators. And yet, he won the responsibility to govern his country twice in the last five years. He likely would've lost and learned to sleep again, if Senator Kable hadn't been a bloodthirsty psychopath all along. Blake pictured the uncensored DHS footage of his opponent with the outstretched arm of a metal statue sticking through his stomach.

  Hell of a way to go. That bastard'll be more remembered than I will, he thought.

  Ridley opened the door to a room Blake had only been inside once, to his recollection. As the neurons started to fire and bring him out of his sleepy state, he realized that the person on the phone hadn't been the Secretary of Defense. These days, that usually meant it was a Homeland Security thing. Which, of course, meant that nobody knew what the hell was going on. The organization had assumed responsibility early on for anything Ted– or other-world-related, and they'd been trying to get rid of the responsibility ever since. It never looked good when half of your top officers had their minds wiped by an insane and power-hungry presidential candidate.

  I'm the only one who should be allowed to do that.

  Blake rubbed the sleep and gunk away from his eyes and looked up to see freshly-minted DHS Secretary Ken Roberts attempt to stand up straight. Blake wondered how long the silver-haired new appointee had been awake. He also wondered if the official had any chance to handle even a tenth of these insane situations the other worlds were putting on their radar.

  Roberts suppressed a yawn. "Sir, there's something you need to see here."

  Blake nodded so he didn't have to hide his own grogginess with a reply. Roberts gestured to another door, and Blake and his sentinel walked through. Wall-to-wall technology that Blake's pen had approved covered the walls and ran down to a system of what he assumed were information-age computers powered by a team of nerds clacking away on their crumb-laden keyboards. He was half-surprised not to see a garbage can filled with Mountain Dew bottles anywhere in the room.

  Roberts cleared his throat and two out of three of the nerds stood at attention in response. "Mr. President, I'd like to introduce you to our team of Ted Trackers."

  Blake squinted. These were the technological experts who exposed Erica LaPlante and later his electoral counterpart as beings with great power. They also looked like the kind of kids Blake punched in the face back in middle school.

  It's a shame those days are over.

  Blake grunted. "Gentlemen, you woke me up from a pretty sexy dream, so I hope you have something good."

  Of course, he hadn't been dreaming at all, but he wanted to see the dorks squirm a bit. He wasn't disappointed.

  The Ted Tracker with the largest glasses stepped forward. He attempted to straighten his spine, but it looked as though thousands of hours hunched in front of the screen prevented him from being able to do so with any kind of success. "Sir, we apologize for the late hour." He took off his glasses and wiped them with his sleeve. "As you know, we've been tracking Erica LaPlante and Ted Finley since this program began. As a result, we know what they look like on our monitors when they're using their powers."

  Blake let the growl stay lodged in his throat. "I'm well aware. Tell me something that makes this trip to the Geek Squad worth my while."

  The head nerd shifted uncomfortably once again. "Well, we've noticed an anomaly."

  After several minutes of walking Blake through the system, the nerd on high finally got to the good stuff. He pointed to a particular spot on the color-coded graphs that filled one of the largest computer monitors the President had ever seen.

  "If you look at Ted's energy signature here, this is the moment he crossed through the portal in Philadelphia and left... uh, our world for a few weeks."

  The regular pattern dipped up and down with few peaks or valleys of any kind. The president traced the line to get a better understanding, before nodding at his tour guide to continue.

  The nerd took a deep, phlegm-filled inhalation. "But if you look here, ever since he returned, his pattern is completely different."

  The dork was right. Instead of the even pattern that had occurred beforehand, there were large jumps up and down that hardly resembled the former graph.

  Blake took a deep breath to stave off another yawn. "And none of the others who went through the portal experienced the same thing?"

  The Nerd King shook his head.

  Blake peered into the genius' eyes through his thick spectacles. "You're a scientist. What's your hypothesis?"

  The nerd took a deep breath. He looked to his fellow geeks for support, but their eyes remained downturned. He r
eturned the President's glare. "Sir, we don't think it's Ted."

  Blake stared back for a second before turning and beginning a presidential pace. Even through the tiredness, a name he'd been scared to utter trickled to the front of his mind.

  His voice came out in a whisper. "The General."

  Secretary Roberts took a few steps toward him. "Who?"

  Blake raised one eyebrow. "You tap enough phones, you learn about hell of a lot of suspects." He stood up tall and smiled. "Thank you, gentlemen. I appreciate you bringing this to my attention."

  The head nerd's face scrunched up in confusion. "We thought you should know about this as soon as possible. Especially with the Summit coming up."

  Blake walked over as Presidentially as he could muster. He put a hand on the dork's shoulder. "Thank you for that. Now, go home and get some sleep. I'm sure you've got some n00bs to frag in the morning or something."

  Blake turned on a dime and walked out of the room with Roberts and his Secret Serviceman shadow in tow.

  He waited until the door was closed and they'd taken at least 10 paces before speaking again. "I want them all promoted and reassigned."

  Roberts blinked a few times in response. "Sure thing, Sir. But shouldn't we be worried that Ted isn't who he says he is?"

  Blake smiled for the first time that day. "Mr. Secretary, when you find out that someone is playing dirty, you don't stop them." He firmly cuffed Roberts on the shoulder. "You simply join the game."

  1

  Dhiraj watched the dark and stormy alley displayed on the monitor before him. Even though he was sitting in a room filled with FBI agents that had significantly more experience than he did, he was essentially in charge of this mission. He smiled slyly to himself.

  It always helps to be best friends with the man in charge.

  Dhiraj watched as a camera worn by Ted moved further into the abandoned central Philadelphia alleyway. Dhiraj's mother had always told him to appreciate the little things in life. While Jennifer and Natalie were at home finishing their schoolwork on Sunday night, he was helping to take down a human trafficking ring. There was nothing like handing a teacher an excuse note written by a seasoned FBI veteran. It was well known that Dhiraj was money's biggest fan, but there was something about power that appealed to him right about now.

  "I don't see anything outside." Ted's camera scanned from left to right. "Permission to approach the door, Goose?"

  Dhiraj smirked. "That's a 10-4 there, Maverick."

  The senior agent who would normally be in control of this operation stewed audibly. "Knock it off with the code names, you two."

  Dhiraj made a fake pouty face. "Agent Dempster, are you feeling left out of the nickname game? How about Sunshine?"

  A few of the other agents giggled until Agent Sunshine scowled them into silence.

  Ted got within a foot of the door before he stopped in his tracks. Even though Dhiraj wasn't the one with the ability to read minds, he felt like all his years by Ted's side had given him a certain insight into the brain of his bestie.

  "Anybody in there, Mav?"

  Dhiraj listened to Ted's measured breaths through the microphone.

  Ted let out a small sigh. "We've got three guards on the inside. I don't think they're near their walkies. May be able to neutralize them before they alert the others."

  When Ted found his way back from the Realm of Souls, his powers seemed completely wiped out, aside from some enhanced strength, which showed up when he helped toss Kable off the Treasure High roof. He hadn't even been able to fly. Within a few days, however, his abilities returned stronger than ever. Dhiraj had gone from worried to wowed in a hurry.

  Agent Dempster gave Goose a nudge. "Does he need backup?"

  Dhiraj put up one hand. "I'll ask, I'll ask. Patience, Sunshine."

  The chuckles began anew.

  Dhiraj barely held himself back from joining in. "Ted, do you want some FBI buddies on your side?"

  He could hear Ted's smile through the communicator. "I'll let you guys know when to send in the cleanup crew."

  With that, Dhiraj watched as Ted used his mind to turn the bolt until the door was completely unlocked. The door creaked open. The crack was just large enough for Dhiraj's small, customized optics to float into the room under Ted's control. Two additional monitors came to life on either side of Dhiraj in the control room as the cameras stuck themselves to the top corners of the hideout's grungy foyer. In the dimness, Dhiraj could see that Ted was right. Three lackadaisical guards chatted away in their own kind of personal sewing circle.

  The show is about to begin.

  Dhiraj felt a twitch of excitement at the back of his neck. "You're right about the guards. Think you can mind-control all three uglies?"

  Ted's voice was barely audible. "Piece of cake."

  As his abilities seemed to grow stronger every week, Ted started to neglect his training. Erica said it was making him raw and sloppy. Dhiraj couldn't remember the last time his best friend and the protector spent the morning working up a sweat in the lair.

  Ted reached out to take hold of the goons' minds. Dhiraj watched as one of the criminals collapsed to the ground in a heap. The other two leapt to their feet and saw the open door.

  Dhiraj gripped the desk in front of him. "You missed, Maverick!"

  Ted didn't need to respond to take action. He flung open the door with his powers and immediately grabbed the guards' guns and phones with his mind, tossing the objects into the wall from afar. Dhiraj watched through the monitor as Ted ducked a punch from the thicker of the two guards and spun around with a roundhouse kick to the face. The way the attacker clutched at his neck as he crumpled to the floor seemed to indicate he'd be down for much longer than the duration of this mission. The other guard leapt onto Ted's back and locked a chokehold around the hero's chin and throat. Ted gripped the man's wrist and appeared to squeeze with such force that the bones literally disintegrated in his hand. The sound of cracks and pops made the agents flanking Dhiraj wince. Even Agent Sunshine seemed to push down some bile that had crept up his esophagus.

  The guard screamed so loud that Dhiraj had to momentarily yank out his earpiece. Ted quickly silenced the man by spinning him around and punching him straight in the temple. The guard joined his choking friend on the ground.

  Ted's heavy breathing covered up the room's sounds of pain. "Think they heard me?"

  Dhiraj chewed at his cheek. "I think the whole city of Philadelphia heard you, buddy."

  Almost as if on cue, they heard a young girl scream and the sound of a gunshot. As Ted's camera moved to take in the scene, Dhiraj put his hand on his chest. Three men with guns had their weapons pointed at three girls who couldn't be older than 12. The traffickers looked to be in much better shape than their grimy, crying captives.

  The man with the biggest gun, the one Dhiraj assumed was the de facto leader, pressed his weapon into the side of one hostage's head.

  He spit as he talked. "I promise you we will kill these girls if you take one step forward."

  Agent Sunshine pushed Dhiraj to the side and grabbed hold of his microphone. "Finley, do not engage with these people. If they shoot, everybody loses."

  Dhiraj knew better than to try to take back his rightful spot. Instead, he sat back and watched the monitor as his fight-or-flight response kicked into high gear.

  Ted's breathing slowed down. "You're not going to use my codename, Sunshine?"

  Nobody in the room laughed at that one. The girl who was under the lead gunman's control whimpered. Dhiraj felt the urgent need to reach through the monitor and strangle the man himself.

  The main trafficker snarled the girl into submission. "You've got the FBI on the line? Tell them I want a helicopter and one million in cash and I'll just take one of the girls as insurance. They're all worthless anyway."

  Through one of the bird's-eye view monitors, Dhiraj watched Ted clench his fist. "You'll get nothing and like it."

  Even through the blurry, dim cam
era view, everyone in the room could see the fire in the man's eyes. His words came out in a violent scream. "You don't want to take me seriously? Then you don't get the girls."

  Agent Sunshine gripped the microphone so hard, Dhiraj thought it would snap in two. "Finley!"

  The head gunmen pulled the trigger, only nothing happened. The other gunmen pulled their triggers as well, causing their hostages to wail, but there were no gunshots.

  One of the men examined his gun more closely. "Boss, they're all locked."

  Ted floated three feet into the air. "Safety first."

  As the girls escaped into the far corner of the room, Ted put his powers to work. Each gun came out of its user's grip and pointed directly at his nether regions. Dhiraj heard a satisfying click of the safeties disengaging.

  Ted let out a chuckle. "They appear to be working now. Wanna test them out?"

  The lead henchmen didn't hesitate. Neither did Ted. A shot rang out and the man collapsed to the ground clutching at the area where his zipper used to be. Dhiraj's eyes grew wide.

  Holy crap.

  As the injured leader cursed and twisted on the floor in agony, the other two men dropped to their knees and put their hands behind their heads.

  Dhiraj sat next to Ted on the nearby curb, and the two of them sipped delicious cups of spicy hot chocolate. All in all, their night's effort had recovered two-dozen girls. Agent Sunshine and the rest of the gang were currently working overtime to send the tortured children home.

  Ted seemed to struggle with the beverage and he licked his lips. "I think you made this one too spicy, Goose."

  Dhiraj shook his head. "You're so white sometimes. Can't take even a little bit of heat."

  Ted rubbed at one eye. "I thought I was an honorary Indian?"

  Dhiraj laughed. "That apparently doesn't make you less of a wuss." He took a deep sip of the tingly beverage and let the warmth trickle down his throat. Then Dhiraj took a long look at his friend. "You were pretty violent with those guys."

  Ted nodded. "You saw what they did. They deserved worse than I gave 'em."