Chapter 11. Andy Parker sat in his darkened apartment. The ice pack in his hands pressed against his temples.

The entire evening it seemed like a dream and he didn't know what to make of it. There was little doubt in his

mind that Satchel Braun and his mysterious henchman had entered the grocery store with murder on their

minds.

Seemed just as certain that the shopkeeper and Mr. Northcott would have gone up in flames with his shop were it not for the intervention of the Red Panda and the flying squirrel.

But given the destruction he had witnessed, there was little doubt in his mind that Chief

O'Malley was right about the need for leverage over these mysterious figures.

He took the pack away from his temples and dropped it in the kitchen sink.

He looked down on the counter to his left.

There, barely visible in the light spilled from the neon sign across the street,

was the grapple gun the flying squirrel had used to pull him to safety.

He looked at the device with admiration, trying to understand its operation.

He supposed that the department had people qualified to study it,

perhaps even reverse engineer it to produce more.

He arched an eyebrow with a thought.

It even seemed possible that within this device there might be found some clue in its construction

that could provide the solution to his quest and reveal the identities of the mysterious figures.

Parker paused at the thought that he might have emerged from this seemingly disastrous outing victorious.

Somehow it didn't seem right.

To his way of thinking, if the motives of the masked vigilantes were less than pure,

they wouldn't have bothered to save his life.

To use the very device they had achieved this with to uncover their secrets felt wrong.

...