Chapter 13

Michael Valles Point of View (POV) New York

I was sitting at my desk going over some numbers when Al knocked politely at my door.

“Come in,” I said loudly.

Al entered quietly. “Hi, boss. I've got some good news for you. It's definite the Feds have lost our miracle boy. They have had to drop the case. You can't prosecute someone for kidnapping someone they can't prove exists.”

I sighed. “It's not that great, actually. If the Feds had him, I was pretty sure we could get him back. How do you find somebody who could look like anybody? Sit down Al, I could do with some brainstorming.”

“What have we done so far?” Al asked.

“As soon as we heard he could be missing we sent out a reward for 100 million dollars for any information that leads to his capture in the next six months.”

“Why only the next six months?” Al queried.

“Our experts have warned that if we don't get him back soon, it may be too dangerous to deal with him anymore. We've messed this up six ways from Sunday. We had an opportunity to be his friend, make him trust us and want to work with us. Instead, we made him feel like a prisoner. His carers were tasked with bonding with him, but they had to say no to all his requests. We even had one of them cane him when one of his patients complained. I've reviewed the footage and investigated the client. A hand that was out of view may have touched David inappropriately, and the man is a known lover of young boys.”

“That's bad,” Al admitted.

“No, it's worse than bad. The chances are that David didn't insult the man, he issued a threat. That means he has already worked out that he has the ability to harm as well as heal. We have kept him ignorant for a reason and now he is in the outside world, he could realise what else he is capable of. And we have given him too many reasons to hate us.”

“Yeah, but it takes four weeks to work,” Al said, unconcerned.

“You're right, it does now. Our experts think that limitation is based on his present knowledge. He thinks it will take four weeks, so it takes four weeks. If he thinks blocking a nerve signal to the heart is instantaneous, he could kill us with a look. As I said, we have six months to find him and bring him back and we don't even know what he looks like.”

“How are we going to find him then?” Al asked.

“He is abnormally small and has an issue with his height and yet has never corrected it. The suggestion is that he is unsure either how to do it or has a mental block about it. So we think he is going to stay short. We are looking for a short boy with no identity. He can play the piano, is fluent in Spanish, Italian and Russian and will probably create miracles wherever he goes. Since he hasn't got an official identity, it would be hard for him to leave the country. Still, I feel like I am looking for a needle in a haystack. And even if we have a possible candidate, how do we know it is him?”

“I can answer that one, boss. Check his DNA,” Al said confidently.

“I thought the same. Here is a frightening thought for you. Because he doesn't know what is impossible, he has done miracles, and some of those miracles are beyond what science can explain. He treated a couple for infertility. The mother-to-be wanted a bit of a facelift, altered nose and different coloured eyes at the same time. She chose purple eyes. He gave her purple eyes. Purple eye colour is outside of human DNA and what is interesting is her daughter who is now seven months old, also has purple eyes.”

“So he changed their DNA when he worked on them?” Al asked incredulously.

“That is not the frightening thought. He can change people to something beyond human. Hell, he can change himself. If he realises that, he could make himself super-strong, superfast, create skin that can't be cut, bones that can't be broken. There are all kinds of nightmare scenarios. What if he gives himself superpowers? But yes, if he has changed himself, he has inadvertently changed his DNA.”

“I'm not sure we should be looking for him,” Al whispered.

“Now imagine that he wanted to help us and what he could do for our organisation. That is why we are still searching for him. Personally, I sort of hope we don't find him. Not my call though.”