Read Heels and Heroes for Free Online

him. Don’t let yourself get hurt. If you feel like it’s not going your way, run. That in itself might be just the distraction we need.” He frowned. “You are trained to fight, right?”
    “Of course I am,” she said. All superheroes were. Just because she didn’t have the most impressive power in the world didn’t make her a slacker. She’d trained her butt off. Except, the instructors in pads and gloves hadn’t really wanted to hurt her, and who knew what this Howler was capable of?
    “Okay, okay. Sorry.” He pulled her into a quick hug and she stiffened, surprised at how much she longed to melt against him. This wasn’t her; she was stronger than this. She didn’t need to snuggle up to him and for even a moment feel like he was going to make everything okay. This was her day. Her job. Her villain.
    After a few seconds he released her and nodded toward the dark street in front of them. “Couple blocks down, you’ll see the store. Lights will be on inside, briefcase is to the right. Pick it up before you let him see you.” Justice gave her one last smile and then jogged down the way they’d come, turning into an alley half a block away.
    And she stood alone.
    “You can do this,” she whispered to herself, and then grimaced. Talking to herself now? Nice.
    With a quick glance over her shoulder at the alley Justice had disappeared down, she shifted her focus to the task at hand. One step after another, she forced herself forward.
    Lights pierced the darkness around a building that was, as Justice said, only two blocks from where he’d left her. The store sold antiques according to the sign in the window. Clear glass, uncovered by the gates that had been pulled down over neighboring buildings’ windows, was all that stood between her and the villain. How long had they been in there? Had the Howler kidnapped the mayor before the store closed for the day?
    The briefcase sat near the front entrance, only feet away and drenched in shadows. Brenda grabbed it, almost dropping the metallic case as she pulled it from the ground, startled by the weight. Money didn’t fill it—she’d gathered that much from Justice—but something did. Yet another trick, an added bonus to make the briefcase a better decoy.
    Here goes nothing , she thought to herself, and then stepped forward to face the Howler.

 
     
    Chapter Four
     
     
    A bell dinged as she pushed the door open, announcing her presence as clearly as it had signaled customers entering over the years. Startled by the sound, she paused and glanced around. No one was there, not in this room anyway. A door leading to a back room—an office maybe, or storage—sat clearly visible from the entryway. How did the superheroes expect to sneak up on anyone in here? If they came through the back, Howler would have them even more quickly than he’d pick her off in the front.
    The door slipped from her grip and shut firmly behind her.
    The super villain didn’t spring from the shadows, didn’t appear so fast her eyes couldn’t follow him, didn’t teleport from parts unknown. He opened the backdoor and walked into view. Though his entrance struck her as anticlimactic, her breath came faster and her heart threatened to beat itself from her chest.
    Howler stood around five feet seven inches tall, and had gone old school with his outfit. Tan and brown spandex covered his body from head to toe, and for a moment images of Violet flashed in her mind. The cut of his uniform was similar, spandex from neck to calf in a light tan color, with darker brown boots, briefs, and gloves. A mask hid his head and the top of his round face. An image of what appeared to be a wolf head was emblazoned in the middle of his chest, mouth open and looking almost straight up. It was howling. Funny .
    His body was as ill-suited to wearing spandex as Violet’s, but for a different reason. Where hers was a touch too round, Howler was more than a touch too scrawny. No one would mistake him for a