by Sandra Elsa
"You come up with a way to do it, I'm there with you." She tossed a couple packets of pepper sauce toward me.
I opened my food, poured the pepper sauce on and mixed it up. "Sure, let me do the heavy lifting."
"Girlfriend, the gods blessed me with a gorgeous body. You got body and brains. It's not fair since you don't use the body, but who am I to argue with the gods."
"I use the body. Just not the same way you do. Or maybe it's similar. Shake these" I jiggled my chest, "and a man tells me what I want to know, or forgets what he wants to know." I reached behind and slapped my firm rounded ass. "Shake this and they get in line to do my bidding." I shoved a chunk of broccoli in my mouth.
"Yeah but you're missing the best part of all those lovely attributes. Bid one of those men to give you a night of pleasure you'll never forget."
Heat grew in my cheeks as I considered her words and the recent unusual feelings I had anytime Harrison was near. I finished chewing the broccoli, then said, "I suppose I’ll get around to that sooner or later. Growing up listening to Mom tell me how unpleasant it was and how she was always glad I came along because it gave her incentive to do something else with her life…I have a hard time thinking of it as fun."
"You just haven't met the right man yet." She gave me a sly sideways look. "Or maybe you have, and you're in denial."
"I'm not in love with Harrison. And I'm definitely not in lust with him."
"Tell me that a month from now."
"I will."
"Uh-huh." She put as much sarcasm into that sound as I ever mastered.
But she was wrong. She had to be. But if she was, why did he get under my skin. One minute I wanted to kill him, the next I-- Oh god, I wanted to submit to his desire. "He makes me crazy."
"Why?"
I speared some turkey, the pepper sauce wasn't quite as hot as I liked it, but it was good. "He doesn't respect my boundaries."
"Maybe you should consider bending them before he kills himself trying to get through them."
"But I've nearly got him trained now."
She looked like she wasn’t sure if she should laugh or cry at that statement. "You don't need a trained monkey, Frankie. You need a man."
"I'm going to marry him. What more could he want?"
"A warm and loving wife."
"He's got a long way to prove himself before that happens. Besides, I want my unicorn."
She snorted and shoveled some snap peas in her mouth, talking around the food. "Since they'd have to grow it from scratch, maybe they could just turn off the gene that makes it prefer virgins. And you're assuming any genetic material from a unicorn remains."
"Not really. I'm not sure they were ever real. They turn up in a lot of fiction but I haven't yet found a biology book that featured them."
"So while you develop plans to recreate the world, figure out how to stick a horn on a horse."
"It wouldn't be the same. In all the books they're magical and intelligent."
"So amp up its intelligence and zap it some magic."
"Considering I'm just a private investigator with no scientific background, I doubt that will happen."
"So find you a boyfriend with the right smarts and tell him once you've seen your unicorn you'll sleep with him."
"Right…" It had intriguing possibilities. I did know someone with the right smarts. And he claimed he wanted what I had to offer. Not likely he wanted to sleep with me bad enough to create a whole new species.
"You'd be surprised what a man will do if he wants something bad enough."
I looked at her sideways wondering if she could read my mind, then continued eating as I contemplated my response.
"I think we're getting a little carried away with maybes and ifs. Once I setup my new world you'll be the first one invited to join us, Dee."
She snorted and grinned. "There's that 'us'. Is the president's son invited to your new world?"
"It's all hypothetical anyway so sure, he can ride along."
"I dunno Frankie-girl. This world's getting a little hot for you. I can believe you're having thoughts about moving to a new one. Are you sure it's all hypothetical?"
"I know I'm wonderful, but world building is a bit beyond my scope."
She scraped the last water chestnut from her carton. "But the president wants his son back really bad for some reason. That man doesn't do anything without a purpose. Have you figured out why your Harrison is so valuable to him?"
I pursed my lips. Dee had a sharper mind than even I gave her credit for. "OK. So maybe it's not all hypothetical. His daddy's been planning a new world since Harrison made it rain when he was twelve. They're reasonably sure he can convert the salt water of the ocean to pure clean rain and gently soften the ground enough they can convince something to grow. Harrison has been the centerpiece of his father's plans to expand his realm for years."
Dee sat up and stared at me. "No shit? Damn it. I thought this was sleepover babble. No wonder you dove in the deep-end head-first. Frankie's giving up saving the world one person at a time. All or nothing for you isn't it?"
"I'm still debating with myself, but yeah, it has been seriously discussed. My life here is trashed. The man who trashed it, is president of every district in the world, by unanimous vote. What else is left for me?"
"New ident. New District. Move to the west coast. A rebreather only lasts twenty-four hours without a recharge. You can't even last outside more than a day."
"That's something else the president hasn't bothered to share with the world." I dug in my tote and tossed my rebreather to her. "How depleted is that?"
She looked at the chrome and glass counter on the rubber cheekpiece. Her eyes widened. "I was back here watching for him to show up longer than that."
"I took it off right about the time he arrived. Couldn't see worth a damn. Sand got under the edges, and I wanted to be able to shoot him if he tried to do anything to you. Harrison said his father went for walks outside the domes. Figured I’d test it. Thin as all get out. But you can live out there. Didn't burn my lungs with toxins anyway."
"Wow…Oh wow! You're seriously going to try this."
"I'm in possession of the man who can make it happen. Besides his magic, he's also a bio-geneticist."
"Girlfriend if you're going to do this, you need this marriage to be more than in-name-only. I know you like him. If it's nothing but paper, it cuts him free just as easily as it does you if his father catches up to you and he decides Daddy's a better bet for changing the world."
I sighed and shoved food in my mouth. "Dee, I've watched too many committed partners trounce each other’s love for a fling. Sleeping with him won't bind him to me any more than a signed document."
She raised one shoulder and winked. "But it'd be fun while it lasted. And unless you were fighting, he'd be far more likely to stand by the side of his wife than the man who's kept him a prisoner for thirty years. All right." She stared me down and slurped the last of her watermelon flavored water from the bottom of her cup. "I'm done, but it's something to think about. You know a lot of the pros aren't in it for the money. Most of us really and truly enjoy sex. I know your mom disillusioned you of that possibility from day one, but don't you think it's time to form your own opinions based on experience. Geeze Frankie, I love ya, but I don't think I know any other thirty year old virgins. Maybe some women that have never been with a man, but that's their preference. They've had sex. Been in a relationship. OK I'm done. I swear, this time."
She lay back down and fluffed her pillow then lay on her side looking at me. And that's when her phone rang.
"Don't answer it."
She pulled it out of her bra. "It's Cyn. I did take her car today."
I tossed the cardboard box from my dinner at the recycle bin and the plastic water bottle at the one right besui=ide the cardboard, scoring two successful dunks. "She was willing to sell me out. They can track our location from a phone call and I want to get some sleep tonight. Send her a message. Tell her the car's fin
e and you'll have it back in the morning."
"Good idea." The phone quit ringing. Thirty seconds later it beeped. She looked down then asked, "Want to listen to the rant?"
"Sure." I was always up for a good laugh. She pushed the button to review messages then hit speakerphone. The message was pure vitriol. "David you're a bitch, you stupid faggot. That was my car and my reward you ran out of here with. If my car's not back here in good condition tomorrow morning, I'm going to report you for theft." She was screeching. "Pick up the goddamn phone!"
Dee pressed the delete key. And started typing in a message. Before she sent it she turned it around so I could see it.
**Cynthia dearest, Some of us have more character than others. Someone who would turn in somebody who's done as much for our community as Frankie has, for a paltry ten thousand dollars doesn't have very much character at all. Frankie's good people. I'll thank you and your pimp to move the hell out of my apartment tonight. I'll park your car by Minale's in the morning, and don't bother alerting the mage patrol, Frankie's already been picked up by her fiancé, the president’s son. Have a good night packing your shit."
Your Landlord and ex-friend, you stinking skank,
Dee.
#
"Don't you need her money to cover rent?"
"Girlfriend, I've been trying to come up with a reason to get that bitch out of my place. Tom-Tom's looking for a place to crash. Me and Tom-Tom have a lot more in common than me and Cyn. You keep doing me favors. This has been fun today."
"All right then, push send."
She did.
"Now can we get some sleep?" I tried to sound grumpy, but failed. She was right, today had been fun. Would have been more fun without a broken leg, but I did everything I came to do. "Thank you, Dee."
"I should thank you. I know I'm damn sure gonna give Gyros a big hug when I get back, for recommending me for this little venture. You sure you want to give me your car? Because it doesn't seem like I did anything worth that much."
"That damn thing's a little hot just now. You might want to paint it. Although you put it in your name, you should be good. Which reminds me," I turned to the tote again and took out my handheld and asked, "What name do I transfer it to?"
"Better make it David. I never went the legal route on changing my name."
"Well David, she's all yours." I finished the transfer then tossed her the key.
"Where am I dropping you in the morning?"
"Let me make sure Harrison got home safely from his mission. See if he can pick me up somewhere." I messaged him.
**Heard you succeeded in gaining your father's attention. Any problems?"
#
His response was too rapid for him to have been doing anything but staring at his handheld.
**Smooth as the silk I want to wrap you in. You?
**I'm good. Friend borrowed her roommate's car and needs to get it back early. I gave her my car for helping me today. Can you pick me up?
**Where?
**Drive toward District Nine until you see me. I'll be the one sitting on the side of the road in a wheelchair with six big boxes.
**Got everything you went for?
**And then some.
**What time?
**Make it seven.
**I'll be there
**Good-night.
**Night.
#
I put the handheld down and Dee asked, "All set?"
"He'll pick me up on the road. You just need to take me out of sight of the dome then you can get Cynthia's car back to her."
"What was the silly grin for?"
"What silly grin?"
"When he replied the first time."
"Just something stupid he said."
"Stupid sweet by your expression."
"A witty turn of phrase."
A sly smile crossed her face. "And Frankie appreciates witty."
"Go to sleep." I sighed.
"You go to sleep. It's still early. I'll read quietly and let you be."
No sleep the night before, after the action of the day I was ready to pass out. Dee lay quietly with her handheld and in something close to no time, I lost consciousness."
Chapter 27
The first golden rays of dawn oozing through the dome awakened me. According to my handheld it was six-ten. The District was stirring. The smell of breakfast cooking, wafted on manmade air currents. It was an advertising technique. Scent sells. Turkey bacon and onions drifted near. A burned odor…the breeze from that corner rushed to gale force for about five seconds and then it settled back to a citrusy smell, somebody was pulping oranges. They were a rarity and I turned to look that way, wondering how far I’d have to wheel myself and if there would really be fresh squeezed orange juice when I got there. Probably a canned scent; a diversionary tactic to cover the charred smell they swept away. I didn't have time to follow my nose unless I wanted Harrison to venture all the way here. Sighing after lost opportunities, I woke Dee.
She stretched and yawned then turned her nose in the direction of the aroma of oranges. "Do we have time?"
"Put yourself together. We might have time to drive there. Get something to go. But it might not be real." I explained about the burned stench.
"If I get there, they better have orange juice, or at least a pitcher they can show me fresh squeezed pulp in." She stood up and we rolled the sleeping bags and shoved them in the boxes on the back seat along with everything else we'd taken out last night.
With a final glance around our campsite, we got in the car and drove in the direction the scent had arrived from. Several blue Tauruses in the parking lot made us change our mind. They might belong to citizens of Nine, but we'd seen too many the day before to actually believe that.
We stopped at a small diner closer to the gate and Dee ran in to grab breakfast while I sat lookout. A Taurus passed, slowing down as though it would turn in the parking lot, then continued toward the gate. When Dee reappeared she carried two immense boxes. And two large cups of, I hoped, either orange juice or coffee. She handed them to me through the window, then went around the driver's side.
After she backed out in the road I said, "Want yours now?"
"I'll wait until we stop." The drinks were coffee.
I decided to wait until we weren't bumping along as well. We left the dome behind and traveled another ten minutes before Dee pulled off on the side of the road just over the top of a small hill among the jutting crystalline remains of a forest.
"What time was that man of yours supposed to get you?"
"I told him seven o'clock, but I don't know if he'll leave at seven or plan to be here at seven. We should have time to eat." I looked at my handheld. Six-forty-five. On the road ahead of us, dust rose up. I grabbed a pair of binoculars from one of the boxes I took from my office.
It wasn't the dark green Forester but a blue Taurus coming at us. I slid down in my seat and gestured to Dee to start the car. She put her coffee between her legs and pulled out. As the car approached, I said, "Hold your egg sandwich up to your mouth so it looks like you were just pulled off to get your food out. I stayed low and she managed not to look at them as they flew past.
She watched in the rearview mirror. "Damn it."
"Slowing down?"
"Slowing down hell, they just spun a one-eighty."
"What does the driver look like?"
"Male, brown hair, mid-twenties"
"How many passengers?"
One. Older woman."
"Same as yesterday? From the parking lot."
She glanced up again. "Now that you mention it…yeah.
"She's Harrison's mother. Damn it. Would he have told her he was meeting me?"
"I never met him. Don't know what he'd do."
The question had been rhetorical. I ignored her response and sat up to peer over the top of the boxes. The driver looked familiar. They were closing on us rapidly. Dee started to speed up, and I said, "Don't. Just pull over."
The young
driver pulled up behind us and the woman donned a rebreather. I opened the car door and hopped back to her window, nine-mil firmly in hand. I tapped their window with the barrel. "What do you want?"
She stared at me for a moment before removing the rebreather and opening the door. Discomfort crossed her face as she sucked in a lungful of thin air, then surprise. As though I surely had to be using some trick to be able to breathe outside.
Only an inch shorter than me, she stared at me defiantly. A perfect coif of honey blonde hair wilted rapidly in the heat of outside. Sweat trickled down her face as she immediately tried to defuse my temper. "I contacted Harrison last night to ask for help."
I felt beads of sweat rising on my own forehead as I trained the pistol on the driver. "With what?"
"Jerry needs to disappear." I hopped back a step and looked through the windshield at the young man behind the wheel. Red eyes returned my steady regard. He looked much better than he had when I last saw him.
"Why?"
"Jordan's talking about charging him with treason for giving the siphon Harrison's name and an idea where she might run into him outside District Seven."
I cut my eyes away from Jerry’s emotionless face and examined Nan. "Sounds like Jordan might be right."
"Jerry was out of his mind, ill with the predations of the siphon. He claims he believed she planned to get Harrison to help him."
"And you believe him?"
Her hesitation was minute. "I do." She wanted to believe him anyway.
"So what the hell am I supposed to do with him?” I grumbled. “I have enough trouble with Harrison."
She wrung her hands. "Help him. How much different can it be than what you're doing with Harrison? Get him a new name and a ticket out of here. Jordan won't be as desperate to find him as he is his own son."
"I told you once, I don't do charity work."
Scenting victory her tension eased. "Of course. His mother transferred thirty thousand dollars to my chip last night so I could pay you whatever you need. Take it all."
Emotion slid through Jerry’s blasé demeanor. His hands tightened on the steering wheel, knuckles white, jaw set, as we discussed his future. I asked, "Whose idea was this? He doesn't look particularly thrilled."
