Origin of the Emerald Avenger, Part Twelve

Continued from Part Eleven

The next morning, Captain Welch stood in the Seattle chief of police’s office with his seated boss.

“We’ve got a vigilante on the loose, sir.” Captain Welch handed the chief a picture of the drug dealer’s injuries. “This is the shape the hospital found an ex-con in. I warned you something like this would happen.”

The chief turned green and covered his mouth. “Powerhouse didn’t do this.”

“That’s what the guy said. He said it was somebody more frightening.”

“But who?”

Good question. “I don’t know.”

“Look here.” The chief tapped the photo. “On his back, there’s a Z.”

Welch took the picture. “But, look there, there’s also a  V.”

“The perp is imitating Zorro, except with a whip. The V probably means five, so to start, we can label the perp Zorro V.”

“What does that tell us?”

“Nothing. I just like to label things.”

“Of course.” Welch added a curse under his breath.

 

 

Frank Ross leaned across the board room table. “Marcos, what have you learn-ed about the guy who put our dealer in the hospital?”

That I don’t want to meet this guy in a dark alley. “Code name is The Emerald Avenger.”

Ross laughed. “Ooh, that’s original.”

“He’s scared Night Lord’s organiza-tion. A third of his dealers quit. Night Lord’s afraid the ship’s not done leaking people, either.”

Ross sighed. “What’s it coming to in this world, when it’s not safe to deal drugs?”

“I’ve asked myself the same question.”

“Powerhouse might have put me in jail, but this Avenger would kill me. Put a contract out for $1.7 million.”

“Consider it done.”

Continued Next Tuesday

Tales of the Dim Knight is coming out as book September 1st.