Chapter Fifteen
Ralph flew back to Culdero's condo, landing his invisible head against the metal sliding gate which was the entry into the ground floor parking lot for the residents of the building. The gate seemed to shake on its own as Ralph emitted a notable "OOOF!" and flopped down onto the driveway. Coincidentally, the woman who had mentioned that Bill was leaning on his "guardian angel Ralph" was walking right passed the gate at that moment.
Stopping and leaning in to the nothingness she heard but didn't see, she asked, meekly, "Ralph?"
Ralph, caught by surprise, stood up holding his invisible head and said, "What?"
At that, the woman fell to her knees on the sidewalk, dropping her purse and putting her hands in front of her in prayer. "Bless me, angel," she implored.
"Uh-oh," Ralph mumbled, beginning to tiptoe away from her. Then he stopped, watching her deep in contemplation in public on the sidewalk. A couple of people looked at her as if she was a lunatic as they walked by her snickering. Ralph felt unaccountably responsible for her acting like a harebrained, foolish woman.
Ralph found himself raising his right arm in a solemn stance when he and the woman were alone again. "Uh, you're blessed…uh…my child…" Ralph said, hoping that sounded reasonable and not too over the top. Immediately uncomfortable with his charade, he added a curt, "Gotta go."
He leapt up to the open window hole in the condo and entered into the devastated apartment. He glanced back down to the woman who burst into tears of joy exclaiming, "Thank you! Thank you!". She picked up her purse, and strode away quickly, repeating her heartfelt "Thank you!"s.
For the first time in three years, Ralph Hinkley didn't know if he had abused his suit powers or used them correctly.
He'd let the green guys decide.
He turned into the room and became visible again. Lifting his feet high over the debris littering the floor, he walked around the apartment, trying to find something to vibe and get a link to Culdero. Bad memories flooded his thoughts and he had to concentrate to keep images of Bill lying helplessly in the street out of his mind.
Ralph felt a vibe and looked down seeing some of the bomb mechanism lying by his feet. He picked it up, stared at the remnant of a wall, and saw numerous boxes of detonation materials stacked up in a warehouse, "US Air Force" stamped on them. It was then the whole scene switched to Bill's hospital room. A man dressed as an orderly had entered Bill's room, while Bill slept in his bed, and Pam dozed in a chair. He attached something square under the frame of Bill's bed—Oh my God! He was attaching a bomb to Bill's hospital bed! And Pam was in the room as well!
It was hard to take three steps in the condo, because the floor was so uneven. Ralph danced over the rubble as best he could and then leapt up through the window, but he hadn't gotten good momentum and so instead of launching airborne, he fell hard to the sidewalk two floors below. It stung smacking his hip against the hard ground in the suit; it must have really pained Bill.
"Jesus! Are you okay, fellow?" asked a man who had been walking his dog near where Ralph landed.
"Oh, yeah, I do this all the time," Ralph assured him and then stood, ran, leapt and flew off before the confused man had time to realize what he had just seen.
Ralph flew back to the hospital, landing ungallantly on his stomach on the roof. He pulled open the locked metal door leading to the stairs, ripping it off its hinges, and putting it down on the roof.
Closing his eyes and tensing his body, he turned invisible again, and then began zipping down the stairs at super speed, much quicker than the elevator could descend. At the sixth floor he opened the door and step out into the corridor, slowing his pace enough he had control and wouldn't slam into any person or cart, but quick enough to whiz down the hall and get to Bill's room.
He got there just as visiting hours were ending. Bill was awake and was conversing with Pam, who stood by his bed. Ralph made himself visible next to Pam which caused both her and Bill to startle.
"Ralph! Why can't you just come in with flowers like everyone else?" Bill protested.
"Pam, move back," Ralph said, pushing her away hard enough she stumbled back against the wall and had to catch herself from falling.
"Ralph!" she grumbled.
"Sorry! But there's a bomb in the room!" Ralph said, in explanation. "Under Bill's bed!"
"What?" Bill asked. "Under the bed? How did it get there?"
"Culdero had one of his criminals plant it there while you and Pam were sleeping."
"Ralph, get rid of it!" Pam said, terrified.
Ralph bend down and saw the bomb mechanism attached by tape to the bed frame. Grabbing hold of it, he ripped apart the tape and pulled the mechanism off, clutching it to his chest and covering it with his cape, to contain any explosion. Ralph's vibe of the bomb told him it was minutes from detonating.
"Get out of here, Kid! Get up on the roof and fly off with it!" Bill said.
That was exactly the idea Ralph had in mind. Without another word he turned invisible again, ran out of the room, back up the corridor, to the staircase, up to the roof where he flew off into the darkening sky. At five thousand feet he through the bomb up even higher, seeing no helicopters or planes near him. The bomb exploded and even though Ralph was prepared for it, the shock blast was strong enough to make him visible and throw off his flight control. He still had not mastered how to recover from a total disorienting nosedive and so he descended emitting muffled screams of fear in an ungainly, awkward and noisy manner, eventually landing on a Mercedes Benz in the hospital parking lot, crushing the roof entirely.
He slid off the car, and crouched low, recovering his wits. "Sorry," he said to no one, hoping the doctor who owned the car had good insurance. But, he really wasn't that repentant. He had saved the life of his wife and best friend. If a car was totaled as a result, Ralph justifiably felt little remorse.
The scored was now tied one to one, bomber to magic jammies guy.