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Hero
Hero
Hero
Ebook327 pages4 hours

Hero

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this ebook

A hacking group kidnaps an artificial intelligence expert in order to help the hackers use social media to influence a presidential election. The hackers set out to kidnap a brilliant, world-class scientist whose expertise would shape their army of computer programs.

They got the wrong guy.

Dudley Lockwood has been kidnapped by hackers, forcing him to build an army of computer programs to influence the presidential election through social media. But there’s just one problem. Dudley isn’t the artificial intelligence expert they meant to grab. He’s just a software engineer with a fondness for Big Gulps and Cheetos. Can straight-arrow FBI Agent Michelle Woods and her partner, the floundering Special Agent Dale Cooper, stop the cyber-terror and bring down the hackers before the make one of their own the next President of the United States?

PRAISE(?) FOR HERO

"One day I will get around to finishing the book." -A friend

"It's the best book I've read that was written by someone I know. That's like five people." -My former boss

"I started it." -Another friend

"Honestly I didn't know what it was talking about" -My uncle

LanguageEnglish
PublisherGary Moore
Release dateMar 15, 2015
ISBN9781310807442
Hero

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Reviews for Hero

Rating: 3.7728395397530865 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Terrific premise, very interestingly different version of the lives of superheroes, convincing characters, very good execution; listened to it on Audible.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Entertaining YA tale about a teenage boy whose father is a disgraced superhero. Thom is keeping many secrets from his father. He's realized he can heal people with a touch of his hands. He's just been invited to tryouts for the League of Heroes, the same organization that disowned his father. And he's gay. The writing and development of the characters could have used a little work, but the story was imaginative and entertaining, was easy and fast to read. Recommended for teenagers, especially those who enjoy superhero comic books.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a great YA book with a gay hero. In more than one sense of the word, the main character, Thom, has to grow up in this story.

    There are secrets that need solving on a personal level (his powers and how to deal with his sexual orientation), with his family (both his mother and his father have something to hide, it seems), and society at large (what exactly DID happen at the Wilson Towers all those years ago?). I liked the pacing and the tone of voice, which were both appropriate to how a teenager sees the world. I liked the plot twists and the tension, as well as the group of "misfits" Thom hangs out with. Not to forget the parody and humor around the author's interpretation of the world of superheros.

    I thought this was a very interesting and fun YA read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really liked this book. It is unusual to see a book have a gay protagonist and one that so closely follows what it feels like growing up gay in today's society. The message that the book focuses on is that our choices are what we control in our life. No matter what our situation, its how we choose to act (whether good or bad) that define us as people. Throughout the book we see young Thom struggle not only with his homophobic father, but with the shadow of his father's shame that put his father out of the superhero business for good. As young Thom begins to develop super powers, he now must hide them from his father in addition to his sexuality. Why I love this book is that while Thom's sexuality plays a big part in the story as a whole, it is not the main focus of the book. Thom gradually allows his decisions to define him rather than what happened to his father. What makes this book so worthwhile is the fact that Thom is not a caricature of a gay man. He is the protagonist of the book who has a life of his own and problems that every young teenager has. The story could have been written with a heterosexual protagonist and been quite similar. The book gives young LGBT people everywhere someone to look up to and relate to. Many LGBT people have to look far and wide to find someone that they can relate to in books and it was very refreshing to read a story that I am sure will help expand the small library that is LGBT literature. In the end, what makes this book great is that it is not Thom's sexuality that makes him a hero, but the tough decisions that he has the courage and fortitude to make do.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I found this to be an engaging, fantastical tale, part super hero fantasy, part gay coming of age story. This one has it all, parental estrangement, worry about acceptance among peers, egotistical Supermen and a group of unlikely misfits foiling a global conspiracy. Some of the mysteries were a bit transparent and some of the wording seemed a little clunky in parts, particularly near the end, but overall very enjoyable.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    it started out good enough to keep me reading. the end was rather awesome but the beginning and the middle were missing something. i got bored and started skimming and skipping until the final battle at the end of the book. i guess there was not enough of a mystery feel to it. it just felt like the characters were being typical miscommunicaters and keeping secrets unnecessarily. also didn't really care too much for themain cahrcter. ididn't hate him but i dind't feel too sorry for him either since again some of his problems were just because of poor communication.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In a world where superheroes exist (they have different names, but you'll recognize some of your comic book favorites by description), Thom is the son of this world's Batman-equivalent Major Might. His dad had no superpowers, and during a particularly vicious alien attack, a building was vaporized and Major Might was the scapegoat blamed for the deaths. As if growing up with an embittered former superhero isn't enough, Thom's mom abandoned the family, and Thom has realized that he's gay. Nicely done story with a lot of humor and some interesting things to say about heroes, family, and loneliness.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Perry Moore's Hero was actually kind of disappointing. Quite a few people I know had fangirled about it, so maybe I just expected too much from it. It's not a bad story, and I have absolutely no objections to young adult lit with gay characters -- my thoughts are yes please on that score. Writing-wise, though, the book just isn't that good. To me, it went by very very fast, despite the four hundred pages, and it didn't give me all that much to grab onto. That was kind of good when it came to the action scenes, but... Stuff like Ruth's death almost slipped by me because the story hurtles along at breakneck speed. The casualness with which Scarlett announces she might be pregnant makes me wince. Serious, important things just get skipped over.

    It wasn't all that original, really: all the superhero characters were basically the ones we all know, but with their names changed; I've read the same situations when it comes to coming out and being gay in a million stories online; and saving the world is saving the world is saving the world. The only really new thing was that Thom Creed is gay. That part actually kind of bothered me. Everyone in this book seems to know about Thom's sexuality even before he admits it aloud, and nearly everyone hates him for it. Neither of those things are even remotely realistic. I mean, I've known for five years at least that I'm bisexual, but in all that time, no one has ever just guessed my sexuality. It's not like we have it stencilled on our foreheads. And, strangely enough, not everyone in the world is homophobic. Okay, it's a book, it's fiction, it's not meant to be realistic, but... Perry Moore is gay himself, right? I can imagine that since he's openly so, he's had some of that experience, but I can't imagine that everyone in his world immediately condemned him because he's gay, because that's just not what happens.

    It also kind of made me wince when Thom's mother said that her career didn't matter because she had the man she wanted, and also at the way she dismissed any idea that Hal might be biased in thinking that she should give up her career because she's the woman and "second rate". I have no idea if Perry Moore realised how that scene would come across, but ouch.

    One thing I did like a lot was the relationship between Hal and Thom. I had no trouble believing in the way Hal treated his son and reacted to his various secrets, and I actually hurt for them both in a lot of their interactions.

    All in all, though, I wasn't really impressed. It's fun enough to read, and I hope it sets a precedent for books about gay characters, but I really didn't enjoy it as much as I was hoping to. I'm giving it three stars ("liked it") on goodreads, but I don't think, if I was basing that purely on how good the book is, it should get that much.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book took on a little more than it could handle, perhaps, but I enjoyed it. I'd love to read more about the MCs though!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The author of this lovely book died far too soon. The young hero is here coming-out in so many ways, making clear the parallels we've always known about with secret lives.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Despite being fairly predictable and mining most of the usual superhero archetypes, this was an enjoyable little story. I liked the idea that the main character's superpower was healing, and I wish that the book's conclusion hadn't strayed so far from that, making the resolution rely more on superstrength and brawling than saving the world using what is usually seen as only a defensive power.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A wonderful story with truly unique characters. The backstory is great as is the build up. I like that it deals with a homosexual protagonist, but doesn't focus on it; it's just part of who he is, not WHO he is. It's also nice that it doesn't blatantly advertise itself as LGBT literature; it makes it more approachable to teens.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    One word - Awesome!!! A friend passed this to me saying it was a great superhero novel with a twist. I read the back and thought it sounded cheesy. I then chunked it in my trunk where it lay dormant. Imagine my surprise when I couldn't sleep and saw it peeking under my gym shoes. I thought it would put me to sleep, but instead I spent the night zipping through this fast-paced, action-packed, gay, super hero novel. There's some great fanboy homage throughout!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Basically I was very excited to read this book. And it definitely did not disappoint. Anyways, imagine a motley group of superheroes. One is gay, with the power of healing. Another is old and psychic, and a third has the power to make you really sick. Then there is extremely touchy Scarlett, who is angry all the time, and the team leader Golden boy, who has been put on probation from the League because of one teensy mistake. Imagine that, and you have Thom Creed's team. Thom is the son of an ex-superhero(who never had powers) who is fighting the secrets that he hides from his father. It doesn't exactly help that he is gay, has a thing for superheroes, and a dad who is the social outcast of the town(and really judgemental just FYI) because of a catastrophic event in the past. Thom's life changes when he starts to develop superpowers and is invited to try out for the League, a prestigious league of superheroes. And the others that have tried out are every bit as much of a misfit as he is. You will fall in love with this cast of D list superheroes that are unorganized yet miraculously save the day. I personally loved Typhoid Larry and Ruth (the person who makes people sick and the psychic.) Typhoid Larry was just adorable in all of his insecurities, and Ruth was the cool but crazy Grandma who knew the answer to everything (if not because she's wise, then because of her psychicness.) Moore wove a beautiful story with characters dancing (and sometimes stumbling) in and out of conflict throughout the whole thing. He also wrote a wonderful love interest, and I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of love in this story. What shocked me the most, was how I reacted to all the superheroes. Read this book and go to Geeky heaven, because even if they aren't real superheroes, I like them better than your basic Spiderman or Batman. (Too many "mans", luckily there was only the one Uberman in this book.) The writing in this book was was a perfect blend of witty and hearfelt at all the right moments. A choice quote? "And Golden Boy, if you weren't so busy trying to be a one man rescue machine... Well, there may be no 'I' in team, but apparently there's a real big one in 'Kevin.'" And the ending, the ending had me on the edge of my seat! You find out who the villain is (a surprise, but not really if you paid attention like me), who the mysterious 'Dark Hero' (a possibly bad, possibly good mystery guy) is, and everyone resolves their character vs. character issues! The ending was beautiful, the characters were beautiful, the writing was beautiful, this whole freaking book was beautiful. I might use this for my July Challenge, not sure yet. Anyways, go read this freaking fantastical book!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I really love the premise for Perry Moore's Hero: teenager Thom Creed has just discovered he has superpowers, but his father, a former masked crime-fighter, was involved in a tragedy that left him maimed, reviled in the eyes of the public, and disowned from the League of Superheroes - now he hates anyone with superpowers. On top of that little dilemma is the fact that Thom is also struggling with his sexual identity and how to tell his homophobic father that he's gay. As a protagonist, Thom is easy to sympathize with. Moore has a good handle on his voice, and the strongest parts of the novel are those that focus on Thom's fledgling relationship with a boy named Goran. The romance is nicely written, but most of the book is taken up with a rather standard-fair superhero plot that doesn't hold together very well.Thom tries to join the League of Heroes, and is teamed up with other wannabes: Scarlett, a fiery-tempered girl with a painful secret, Ruth, an old lady who can predict the future, Larry, a kid who can make people sick, and Golden Boy, a teenager with superspeed, who was the sidekick to a major hero before he got demoted. Moore's treatment of the team is a little uneven - there's an obvious attempt to give Ruth and Scarlett some depth, whereas Golden Boy and Larry are ignored and largely irrelevant. The A-List heroes in the league are all cheap, one-dimensional rip-offs of DC heroes: Uberman for Superman, Warrior Woman for Wonder Woman, etc. The "heroes" are never portrayed in a very good light, but they are simply cardboard cut-outs, not even fleshed out enough to be parodies of the comic book heroes they are obviously meant to represent. When Thom begins to learn more about his family's history, and to resent the League, he finds himself drawn to the mysterious masked vigilante known as Dark Hero. When the villain is revealed and makes his move to destroy the earth, it's up to Thom and Dark Hero to stop him, with some help from Thom's disgraced father and estranged invisible-girl mother. Although both Thom and Dark Hero are fantastic characters, easy to love, easy to root for, the plot itself doesn't really hold together. At first superheroes are being killed off in a Watchmen-like scenario, but that doesn't actually seem to have anything to do with the villain's actual plan. If Moore had put more thought into the heroes, world building and plot, the book would have felt much stronger. As it is, Hero is far from perfect - but it is fun, I'm glad I read it, and I would happily read a sequel, because I definitely want to see more of Thom and Dark Hero.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Thom is keeping two big secrets from his father: first, he is gay; second, he has a superhuman ability to heal people and is trying out to join the League superheroes. Thom does not need to keep his abilities secret because the would wouldn't accept his powers-- in this book's universe, super abilities are fairly common and superheroes are often in the spotlight. The conflict with his father instead stems from his father's own shadowy past as Major Might, a hero without any extraordinary powers, who became shunned and disgraced. Major Might's backstory is hinted at early in the novel, and revealed slowly, hooking the reader and compelling them to read on. Suspense builds around whether Thom's father will learn his secrets and how he will respond, whether Thom can join the league, and the identity of the mysterious Dark Hero. Thom narrates like a typical teen and his struggles with his superpower and sexual identity and his relationship with his father and absent mother, are paired with exciting scenes of heroes battling villains, and an epic battle at the end. Sometimes, however, the plot does not quite stack up. For instance, the murder of several superheroes drove the story until the evil mastermind was revealed, at which point the murder subplot was dropped, and while most observant readers would realize that murdering superheroes is actually counterproductive to the villain's master plan, the murders were never satisfactorily reconciled with the book's climax. However, Thom and his story are interesting enough that plot flaws don't ruin the story. Scenes of fairly graphic violence and strong language make this book appropriate for older teens.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Delightfully fresh. Takes on stereotypes and melts them away with laser vision or heat waves. Topics are ones often shied away from: homosexuality, cancer, poverty, etc. Very enjoyable and fun to read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Think this is a good book for a young guy in the closet to read. There is sexuality, but what 17 guy isn't sexual? I found the situations refreshing and believable. They weren't extremely explicit. I liked the happy ending.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I read it but really the best I can say about it is "meh". It's based on the type of comic book I find inane - the perfect costumed superhero. *Kapow* *Bash* *Yawn* etc.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Thank you Mr Moore, you satisfied my comic book geek inside of me and the woman I have become.Thom is great as a main character, he is human. In that I mean that he has insecurities, at times tends to think he is the only one that has problems and I can go on but I won't. I think that the fact that Thom is so human helps to make this book as good as it is. And he is like so many teenagers and doesn't realize that no matter what your parents love you unconditionally.I also applaud Mr Moore because the character of Dark Hero was a mystery to me until near the end and I figured it out and I think I was even late on that. So honestly I think that there is a future for you in writing mysteries if you should so decided to write them.The character interaction is good, and watching Thom grow and in the end learn to trust other people is good. I felt so sorry for Thom and what I think was his own embarrassment at his sexuality. He was sure that his father would hate him and by the end of the book he was surprised when his Dad didn't.His friendship with Ruth was his salvation in so many ways, she helped him to become the man he was able to be. She taught him to look a little deeper, first in her and then in Scarlett, and then everyone else.There is so much more that I would like to write down but, I am not doing a book report and I want people to enjoy it as much as I did
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I'm bummed to admit it, but this book just didn't hold my attention - I read a little over a half of it and then just put it down and every time I tried to pick it up again I'd give up after a few pages. I hate when that happens! I liked the concept but the execution just didn't grab me past the initial setup.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Thom Creed's father is a disgraced superhero. There's a lot Thom can't talk to his father about--like how he's developing superpowers, that the superhero League wants him to join them, and especially not that he's gay.I read the whole book in one day. 428 pages, only breaking for food and the water closet. It was just that good. It's *sob* *pause* *gasp* over and over the whole way.Thom is a totally relatable character that I loved to cheer on, especially speaking as a teenager. He makes mistakes, and he doesn't always have a very realistic image of himself, but he never gives up. He goes after what he wants, and he doesn't mind working for it. The other characters mostly made me want to tackle them and hug them to death, but even the characters I didn't like were fascinating. Most of the established heroes are thinly veiled versions of DC heroes--Uberman, Warrior Woman-- but they became archetypes to work from and ideas to explore, rather than the parodies I was worried about.The plot was intricate, 428 pages is long for a YA novel, but it was easy to follow, one event flowing naturally into the next. Perry Moore slammed right to the heart of what superheroes mean, both the fantastic and the terrible but mostly the amazing.I highly recommend this book to anyone. YA, otherwise, superhero fan, otherwise, GLBT, otherwise, whatever. I hear there's a TV series in the works and I can't wait... I'm sure I'll be mentioning this book in other reviews, but as yet I don't have anything I can recommend that wouldn't fall flat after reading this. Maybe go read the classic graphic novels.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Thom's had a difficult go of things - his father's previous career has ended in shame, his mother disappeared, he has an unexplained seizure disorder and any respect that he may have gained in basketball has been negated by the homophobic jeers and taunts that are only masking what he can't talk to anyone about just yet. One would think burgeoning super powers might help the situation. But if there's anything that Thom knows would disappoint his father more than a gay son, it's the thought of a son with superpowers after what happened with the League all those years ago...And so Perry Moore lays the foundation for a novel that proves to be more than a quick gimmick. Thom's story is, very simply, about finding out who you are under difficult circumstances. Except the story reveals that Thom's circumstances may not be the most difficult, nor the hardest to resolve when it comes to the search for true self. And isn't this the truth in any good coming-of-age tale? There is terrific attention paid to the heroes and the League that protect the city. The supervillians and heroes with their varying powers and objectives are reminiscent of Kurt Busiek's Astro City graphic novel series - a series that aimed to make more adult stories of the superhero set. I look forward to further adventures with Thom an the League, as Perry Moore has indicated in interviews that he's planned a sequel.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Good story, but some clunky writing and underdeveloped characters.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I didn't want to put this down after I got just a little ways into it, but I expected more depth. I felt Moore put too many conflicts into the story and not enough character development. I would recommend it, however.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Thom Creed’s father is a disgraced superhero and they live together in shabby circumstances after the disappearance of Thom’s mother. When Thom realizes that he has superpowers of his own, he doesn’t dare tell his father, so he sneaks behind his father’s back to try out for the League. Meanwhile there are other secrets floating around in the Creed family, secrets to Thom’s parents’ pasts, and Thom’s homosexuality.There is a lot to like about Hero. Thom is a great narrator, just the right amount of humour, determination, and teenage embarrassment. The scenes where he trips over himself trying to impress the League are hilarious. But where there is humour there is also heartache, and Hero is particularly good at portraying the lives of superheroes especially when they fall from fame. Thom’s father is probably the best realized character in the book. Even when he’s being aggressive or homophobic, he tugs at your heartstrings.There is a lot about this book that made it poignant. Seeing Thom and his father struggle for money and respect felt very real, as did Thom’s situation with his sexuality. Or the stories of Thom’s superhero comrades like Scarlett or Ruth. This isn’t your typical wham-bam adventure. These are real people that the reader can understand.However, the second half of the book wasn’t as good as the first half. Thom’s romance with a fellow basketball player, while thrilling to start with, was resolved unconvincingly. The plot twist about the bad guy also came too quickly, and I would have liked to have seen more about Thom’s mother and her motives. But even as Hero left me feeling frustrating in some areas, it is still an overwhelmingly excellent novel.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Thom Creed is a teen with problems. His dad is an ex-superhero, now factory worker. His mom left them and dad won't talk about any of it. And Thom's superpowers are asserting themselves. The League asks him to try-outs. He's trying not to think too much about Uberman, because he's gay. A very normal kid, Thom is a great superhero. Hero is a great book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I first added this to my TBR list a few months ago after reading a review (in PW or maybe Booklist), but I didn't remember what it was about when I picked it up. I just remembered that the premise sounded interesting. Hero turned out to be so much more that interesting. It's a fantasy tale (superheroes existing in our world kind of thing) that is really more than that. It's the story of Thom, a boy trying to find himself in a world where he doesn't fit in. I've read a lot of criticism of the book, and I can see where people are coming from, but I don't agree. Hero is, first and foremost, a YA book. It's written clearly for a YA audience, but not in such a way that you feel (as an adult) like the story is being dumbed down for you. It's clear that Moore respects his YA readers, though if you start reading the expected it to be a thesis on gay young adults, you're reading the wrong book. Instead, it's the story of Thom, as I've said, trying to find himself. Of course, unlike most gay teens, Thom has an extra set of worries -- his father is a washed up superhero. Of course, like so many teens, Thom has a secret -- only in his case it's two. He thinks he might be a superhero, but even more importantly, he knows he's gay. Perry Moore does covers a lot of topics in this book -- dealing with bigots (against both homosexuals and superheroes), with being a child in a single parent household (Thom's mother left Thom and his father), and with being seen as an outsider. Though the sometimes the plot was a bit too predictable (especially at the very end) I thought this did not take away from the storyline. It ended exactly the way I wanted, and that was more than good enough for me. There's something to be said for finding oneself, and Moore certainly has a way with words.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is the story of Thom, a gay teen superhero, or at least a gay teen in the process of becoming a superhero. He has the power to heal and is accepted into a superhero training program. He hides this fact, along with his homosexuality, from his dad, who is a retired superhero with a flawed reputation. His mother disappeared years ago. Amidst a crisis in the superhero community (heroes are being murdered) which escalates into a crisis for the world, Thom must come to grips with himself, his relationships (friends and love interests alike), and his relationships with his parents, whose history is revealed to him along the way. An interesting read!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    One part Geography Club, one part Teen Titans, and one part wholly original. Moore deftly blends these distinct genres into a masterpiece capable of moving both young and old alike.

Book preview

Hero - Gary Moore

PART ONE

1

Dudley Lockwood was no hero.

This issue of being or not being a hero is not his fault and it isn’t something you should hold against him. Lots of people aren’t heroes. Lots of people find themselves at the right place at the right time. Lots of those people turn out to be the wrong man for the job. So many people out there in the world just are the way they are. That is how Dudley is. He just is. I point all this out because, by the end of this story, we're going to need a hero. Dudley Lockwood, I'm afraid, is not that man.

Dudley Lockwood, all two hundred and ninety-two pounds of him, sat in a worn-out office chair hunched over a refurbished desk in a nearly forgotten wing of a corporate office park. Each time his enormous posterior landed in the chair its pneumatic column strained to respond to the force. It was in this chair that he did his job, flanked by Hostess cupcake wrappers and 7-11 Big Gulp cups. The awkward glow of his LCD screen cast his pale, fat face in alarming clown colors: his double chin, his bald head, his big neck that forced his necktie to hang lucid and pale in front of his computer.

Dudley licked his fingers to clean off the Cheetos residue, then reached for a National Geographic issue from a stack of fifty. The yellow, nonstandard-sized magazines were piled around his office in irregular stacks ready to topple at any moment. Several issues were left strewn all over the floor, used up and waiting to be discarded. Dudley selected an issue from December 1980 and flipped through the worn, yellowed pages until he found what he was looking for: a feature story about an African named Patrice Lumumba. Lumumba was the leader of the Congo for a brief period in the early 1960s. In 1961, a Belgian-led force swooped in and executed him, leaving the Congo to an endless succession of failed governments.

Dudley’s job today was to defend Lumumba's Wikipedia page. Wikipedia is somewhat of a communal encyclopedia that anyone can edit. If a user sees a line that is inaccurate or a sentence that has improper grammar, then that user can click the EDIT button and make his changes. The changes are immediate and don’t even need to pass muster to a review board of people who know better. Lots of people think that because anyone can edit that this makes Wikipedia subject to wild stories and foolish stunts of stupidity. As Wikipedia achieved critical mass, though, that was not the case. The site actually became more accurate as it became part of people's lives. There is now an army of people casing the site, monitoring changes, and shaking out falsehoods.

Even though it wasn’t outlined explicitly in his job description, Dudley was a member of the army casing the site, monitoring changes, and shaking out falsehoods.

Someone on the Internet was editing articles about the Congo so that they took on a positive slant. Dudley opened a Word file on his desktop and scanned for a username that he hadn’t yet used today. The file had a list of at least forty accounts at Wikipedia, all used on a random basis by Dudley and his colleagues. After picking a username and logging in, Dudley searched for Patrice Lumumba’s Wikipedia entry and read the new information about Lumumba's death. The entry read, Lumumba, at the behest of his advisors, stepped down from his position of leadership in the Congo in early 1961. He lived a life of philanthropy and died peacefully in the city of his birth surrounded by his wife, his children, and the orphans he taught to read.

A nice ending but quite untrue. Dudley thought the last bit about orphans and reading was a nice touch. He clicked EDIT and made his revisions.

Now came the most important part: Dudley cited his entry with the National Geographic issue number and date. A mass-media citation was as good as gold to the army of Wikipedia editors. It meant that this fact had been already reported elsewhere by people who were respected journalists. Dudley clicked SAVE and the edits were posted to Wikipedia. Dudley rescanned his change once, twice, and a third time for good measure. It was perfect. None of the spelling errors Dudley was prone to making. Dudley had a hard time with words. Even in an era of online dictionaries and spell check, he managed to misspell one out of every ten words he typed. Proofreading his own work merely brought that number down to one in fifteen. It wasn’t his fault. He was trying. To be frank, the man just didn’t have it all upstairs.

For the first time in an hour Dudley looked away from his monitor and around the long narrow office. Dudley sat at the back, facing the door, so he could see the six other employees who were there with him. They all sat along the wall in front of computers and did the exact same thing he did, defended Wikipedia entries with fact-based citations from old magazines. Dudley was the project manager, something he took pride in, even as it became clear that there was no managing to be done on this project. His pride would be cut down if he knew that his subordinates weren’t software engineers like himself but instead were $9 per hour riffraff that were pulled out of community college. All of them, Dudley included, used old magazines to enhance Wikipedia’s content. They used a rotating list of accounts to make their edits. Occasionally, the account list would be updated by someone higher up in the company and emailed to Dudley to replace the old list. To what purpose, Dudley didn’t know.

An instant message window popped up on Dudley’s screen.

EleanorEllicott: @~-hi-~@

Dudley: Hello Eleanor

Eleanor, an Internet friend that Dudley had never actually met, messaged him around the same time every day. Eleanor said that she worked weird hours, got off early in the afternoon, watched Oprah, then hopped online to see what was going on.

Dudley reached for his Big Gulp and took a big pull. His fat cheeks sucked and sucked until the low gurgle of an empty cup rang out. Dudley sucked a few more times to be sure. His Coke was done.

Dudley: I'll be back in a few minutes. I need to get more Coke.

EleanorEllicott: wait did u check the lottery today

Dudley checked the Mega Millions lottery numbers twice per week from his desk. He said he looked forward to checking rather than just watching on TV when the drawing happened live.

Dudley: Yeah. Not a winner this week

EleanorEllicott: :(((((((

Dudley: Someday

EleanorEllicott: u should play different numbers sometime. The ones u use don’t work.

Dudley: 4 7 16 19 34 42. All of my favoreites.

Dudley: favorites I mean

EleanorEllicott: well maybe sumday. will u buy me a plane when u win????

Dudley: Definately

EleanorEllicott: enjoy ur walk to get your coke. hot out today so b careful.

Dudley used his arms to push himself up from his suffering office chair.

I’m walking to 7-11. Anyone need anything? Dudley asked his coworkers. Two looked up and shook their heads. One, a nineteen year old Asian girl took off her headphones and asked Dudley why he would go all the way to 7-11 when their corporate campus had two different cafeterias, each with fountain Coke machines.

I like the exercise and fresh air, Dudley said.

The Asian girl smiled and put her headphones back on. If the fat man wanted to lose weight, she thought, he should stop drinking thirty-two ounce sodas.

The nearest 7-11 was half a mile from Centersoft’s corporate campus. In the California heat, the half a mile would take Dudley’s large body over 25 minutes to walk. It was true that it wasn’t necessary for Dudley to walk all this way for a Coke. Centersoft had a spacious and well-appointed watering hole for its employees to eat lunch and often dinner too. It took these sorts of perks to compete with other software engineering firms in Silicon Valley. Google, Yahoo, and Apple got first run at top talent. Somewhere much further down the list was Centersoft. They got their pick of the tenth rounders, the free agents, and the rejects. Dudley was in the last pile. He was, frankly speaking, lucky to even be at Centersoft.

Dudley arrived at 7-11 sweaty and winded thirty minutes later. He basked in the air conditioning and shuffled around the store slowly trying to cool off. He checked the comics section but stopped when his sweaty fingers caused the pages to stick together. At the checkout he paid for his Coke and ordered another lottery ticket for next week’s drawing.

Nobody won this week, the clerk said. $200 million jackpot coming up.

Well that will go a long way for my wife and kids, Dudley said. His jowls jiggled as he spoke.

The walk back to Centersoft’s campus was as hot and uncomfortable as the walk to 7-11. Dudley put in his headphones and played Shout by Tears For Fears. Tears For Fears was his favorite band.

Dudley’s heavy corduroy pants zipped and zopped with each step, the sweat from his thighs causing the pants to stick to his skin. At this temperature, the black pavement baked up to twenty to thirty degrees hotter than the air temperature. It was like being cooked from below while being broiled from above. Dudley’s shirt, now completely soaked with sweat, clung to his back. His breathing was labored and heavy. Just as he reached the edge of Centersoft’s campus, Dudley’s vision became hazy.

Dudley’s impending heat stroke caused his mind to bend. He thought back to the comic books in 7-11, all of them filled with stories of villains and heroes. Batman was someone Dudley looked up to. Other superheroes all had super powers. The X-Men were mutants. Spiderman was radioactive. Iron Man had a power plant in his heart. Superman was invincible and he could fly.

Batman was just a man. Sure, he had contraptions and a big budget. All things considered, though, all things being well and good and equal, he was just a man. A man who could do things. A man who could save the day. Batman was a hero.

Dudley’s senses were so compromised by the heat that he didn’t even notice the black conversion van that rolled up behind him and screeched to a halt. Three men threw open the side door of the van, hopped out, and grabbed Dudley around the shoulders and waist. Dudley didn’t struggle as the men threw him, face first, onto the shag carpeting of the van.

Dudley’s thoughts were deadlocked by a paralyzing fear. A patient man would have calmed his breathing and began thinking about why he was kidnapped. A more physically fit man would have caused enough commotion out on the street to fend off his attackers long enough to attract attention. A hero would have laid waste to these evildoers.

The door slammed shut and the driver stamped on the gas. As quickly as it arrived, the van was gone.

What’s a hero, anyway?

2

Randall Prentice was no hero.

Randall was the type of guy that embodied the term middle management in its most pejorative of forms. He was the kind of employee who was good enough to be promoted but not good enough to get a job anywhere else. He failed upward into his glass ceiling.

The problem that plagued corporate America was apparent at Centersoft. The engineers were promoted to middle management, where they were told to do less of what they knew (engineering) and more of what they didn’t know (managing engineers). It was a recipe for failure and the only way Centersoft kept the lights on was to keep bringing in more federal contracting dollars. The best managers at Centersoft were retained and rewarded not for their performance, but instead for the federal dollars they brought in. Once the money was spent, well, results didn't matter much.

Randall drove his two-year-old BMW into Centersoft’s parking lot. Phil Collins was playing on the adult rock station of his satellite radio. All of the parking spots by the door were reserved for upper management. No spots were reserved for middle management, so Randall drove four rows back and pulled into a spot next to a brand spanking new silver Mercedes Benz.

Randall glued his eyes to the car. Every curve magnificent. Every detail was waxed and brilliant in the California sun. It was so beautiful and so... new. Randall’s BMW may as well have been a cement mixer. Whose car was it? Hank in Operations? Phil from Development? Please God, he thought, don’t let it be Michael from the Sonar program. Michael was always talking about Mercedes Benz, but Randall knew his salary wouldn’t justify the purchase. If it was Michael who bought the Mercedes, that meant he’d probably gotten a raise too. This was going to be a long Monday.

It wasn’t long before Randall’s worst fears were realized. The new Mercedes did indeed belong to Michael from down the hall and was indeed purchased as a celebration of his new raise and promotion to a Level 3. Michael told Randall all of this while Randall sat captive at his desk, smiling outwardly but inwardly steaming to a boil.

I didn’t think it was a smart play, financially speaking of course. But Shelly just insisted we splurge on the new car. Love that woman, Michael said before returning down the hall to his office.

As if Randall wasn’t already jealous of the Mercedes, he was now barraged with thoughts of Michael’s knockout of a wife. It was already a long morning for our spineless weasel of a middle manager, and it was about to get worse.

Randall’s phone rang. He mashed the speaker button as if to punish the phone for his awful morning.

Randall Prentice. He said with authority.

Mr. Prentice, this is the front desk. It was the receptionist. There are two people here to see you.

Randall brought his calendar up onto his desktop. He had no meetings scheduled for this morning. The only meeting on his schedule today was a 3 p.m. training session on a new enterprise software package that Centersoft had just bought.

Who is it? Randall asked.

The receptionist stammered as if stressed by something. It is Agent Michelle Woods.… What? I’m sorry, Special Agent Michelle Woods and…Agent Cooper. I’m sorry? Special Agent Cooper. What? Special Agent Dale Cooper…of the United States FBI.

This was interesting, Randall thought. What did the FBI want with him?

* * *

Special Agent Dale Cooper was no hero.

Cooper was a good man. Sure, he drank too much and played fast and loose with women, but those were both deep character flaws that were part of him as much as your hair or your waistline are parts of you. Taking it all in stride, Cooper was a good man. No hero, though. He knew that. He joined the FBI six years ago to kick down doors and catch bad guys. Six years later he had only managed to kick water coolers and catch toner cartridges. The FBI just wasn't that glamorous. It wasn't what he wanted out of life. He knew this and didn't act. That's not a hero.

While Randall Prentice was in the parking lot coveting the new Mercedes, Dale Cooper was on the other side of Centersoft’s campus piloting a gigantic Ford Crown Victoria with a worn out suspension around the parking lot.

You don’t drive something like this. You tack, like a sailboat, Cooper said to his partner, Special Agent Michelle Woods. Woods didn’t bother to look up from her Blackberry. Four months of being partnered with Dale Cooper had conditioned her to ignore virtually everything he said

Cooper piloted the beast in big circles around the parking lot in an attempt to make the tires squeal in surrender. You see, this fine automobile is rear-wheel drive, which means when you lift off the gas the weight transfers to the front, off of the rear wheels. The rear wheels lose contact with the ground and you get what is known as a fishtail. Cooper demonstrated by lifting off the gas in the middle of a turn. The Crown Victoria spun around in a half circle and skidded to a stop.

Woods clicked off her Blackberry and smoothed her hair in the visor mirror. Would you please park? she said.

Do that again with your hair, Cooper said. Woods ignored him.

Cooper hit the gas and cruised into a parking spot at well above the recommended speed for parking. He looked back at the gigantic navy blue colored Crown Victoria as the agents walked toward Centersoft's main building. The glass was tinted, the plain alloy wheels were surrounded with big whitewall tires. Four enormous antennas shot into the air from the trunk.

Why don't they just paint UNDERCOVER on the side of our cars? Cooper asked sarcastically.

We're not undercover, Woods said without taking her eyes off the mirror.

Woods reminded herself: head up, shoulders back, eye contact, and smile. Those were her rules no matter how big or small the interaction. This upcoming interaction with the receptionist at Centersoft may be considered small, but it was still the fifth biggest technology company in the world. She wanted to be on her game all day. This was a good time to start.

Cooper was a few steps behind as Woods arrived at the desk and addressed the young woman behind the desk.

Hi. Can you page Randall Prentice please? We're here to see him, Woods asked the receptionist.

Sure. The woman got Randall on the phone and said, Mr. Prentice, this is the front desk. There are two people here to see you.

The receptionist looked up at Cooper and Woods. And you are? she asked.

Special Agent Michelle Woods of the FBI, Woods said.

It’s Agent Michelle Woods, the receptionist started into the phone.

Special Agent, Cooper said.

What? I'm sorry. Special Agent Michelle Woods and…? She looked at Cooper for his name.

Agent Cooper, Cooper said.

Agent Cooper, the receptionist said into the phone.

Special Agent.

I'm sorry. Special Agent Cooper, the receptionist said.

Special Agent Dale Cooper, Cooper said.

The receptionist was entirely flustered at this point. Special Agent Dale Cooper of the… She looked up to Cooper to throw her a lifeline.

United States FBI.

United States FBI, she said into the phone.

Nice job, sweetie, Cooper said. Take a break or something. Get some tea and take a ‘me’ break. Big morning.

Cooper and Woods sat on a couch and waited for Randall to come to meet them.

You’re such an asshole, Woods said to Cooper.

It's protocol, Woods. If they don't know we’re special agents they won't respect us, Cooper said.

Woods knew as well as anyone that all FBI agents are special agents. She didn't bother to point it out, lest Cooper go on some other nonsensical riff about ranks and chain of command. She had heard it all already. Cooper thumbed through an issue of The Economist in the meantime.

Look at this, he said, indicating an article in the magazine. My cousin does this. The new sweatshops in China don't make clothes—they just pump data into computers. Some of them farm virtual currency for online games.

Your cousin does this? Woods said.

Yeah. My third cousin or something. Only met him once. He's half Chinese. Looks full Chinese though. Sounds like it too. Lived here and went to college, somewhere smart. Dartmouth or something. Anyway, he moved over there to get in on this stuff. Great talk over the Thanksgiving dinner table. Huge money in it.

Not for the workers, Woods said.

Well, obviously.

Randall came through the double doors and into the lobby. Hello, Special Agent Cooper, Special Agent Woods. What can I do for you?

We’re interested in a project you oversee, Mr. Prentice, Cooper said. He leaned in and looked Randall right in the eyes. It’s a matter of national security.

Randall laughed uncomfortably and looked around like he had something to hide. Let’s go get a conference room. The three headed for the door of the lobby with Randall in the lead.

Woods leaned into Cooper and said under her breath, Do you have to use that line every time?

3

Reid Barnhardt may in fact be considered a hero.

Sadly, Reid didn’t think of himself as a hero. He would never allow someone to think of him as a hero. Reid was born, raised, and schooled in Sugar Land, Texas. At eighteen, he joined the Army and served for twenty-one years performing two separate tours of duty in Vietnam during his final year of service. During his final tour, well, there was an incident that Reid doesn’t ever like to talk about. The short version is that his unit was in trouble and if Reid could have made a thirty yard run to get a new battery for the radio, some of his friends might have made it out that day. As it happened, the twenty-year veteran of the Army sat paralyzed with fear as gunfire and shells exploded all around him. He was so close to the end of his service. To make it all that way and go out on one of your final days, that'll freeze a man solid. For all of his service and medals, when it came down to it, Reid couldn’t save lives when he needed to.

Decades had passed since the incident and Reid still thought about it every day. His inability to act when necessary haunted him. Now he sat in a corner-office in Building 4 of Centersoft’s corporate campus and managed managers who managed engineers. He used his Army connections to win new business for the company. He shook hands and got deals done with the Department of Defense. He was a decorated combat veteran who went on to a successful career in business. Deep down inside, though, the man wanted to die.

Live grenades lined the bookshelves in his office. Every morning when he arrived at his desk, he looked at the grenades and seriously considered pulling a pin and holding on until everything went boom. Grenades of course aren’t legal in populated places like offices but everyone assumed that they were disarmed. An old army guy like Reid would certainly have some relics lying around. Reid never bothered to explain any different to anyone. In recent years he’d taken to painting the grenades with hobby paints to spruce up the office a bit.

The only thing the stopped Reid from ending it all while he sat in his office was his dog, Gunner. The twelve-year-old yellow labrador didn’t deserve to go out at the hand of an old man with a grudge against himself. That’s why Gunner came to work with him every day. Corporate leaders thought it gave an aura of free-spirit and whimsy to an

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