by Gini Koch
“Fine, fine, yes, I noticed everything and yes, I’ll stop complaining about Jamie being here.” Stood up and hugged my mother-in-law. “I just don’t want either one of you getting hurt, that’s all.”
She hugged me back. “I know. I may have been a housewife more than a career woman, but trust me—no one will touch a hair on one of my grandchildren’s heads and live to talk about it.”
“So,” Claudia said as she took Jamie from Serene, “do we think Adriana made it without getting nabbed, or do you think she’s in a different arrest vehicle?”
“And, since we have two who were out of the Embassy against orders,” I gave Lucinda the hairy eyeball, “where’s Mahin?”
Before anyone could reply, the back doors opened once again. Two more men joined us—Len and Kyle, my official driver and bodyguard. They’d both played football for USC, but they weren’t causing the cops any problems. “Thanks,” Kyle said as the cops once again closed our doors. He stayed by the doors, blocking both entrance and exit.
Len nodded to everyone as he worked his way forward. As he reached the front of the holding area, car doors slammed—they were clearly the doors to our particular car. “Everyone, please keep your seats,” Len said. He took Jamie from Lorraine, and handed her to me.
“Hey, I just got her,” Lorraine said.
“Sorry.” He didn’t sound sorry. Len pounded twice on the metal separating the cab from the rest of us, and the paddy wagon lurched off. We drove for about thirty seconds and came to a screeching halt.
The doors opened yet again, and two more people joined us. Tito Hernandez, our Embassy doctor, and Mahin Sherazi, who’d joined up with us during Operation Infiltration. Tito was literally dragging Mahin aboard.
“A little help?” he asked Kyle, who reached down, grabbed the back of Mahin’s shirt, and lifted her into the back.
She was shouting in Farsi. I didn’t speak her native tongue, but it was pretty clear that she wasn’t saying nice things.
Kyle and Tito got the doors closed, Len did his hand slam on metal thing, and we took off, this time at a much faster rate of speed. Sirens were going off around us—clearly we had at least one police car as an escort, maybe two. Maybe more.
“So, what’s going on?” I asked Len. “And I’d really like an answer. Starting with what you, Kyle, and Tito are doing here in the first place. And why you all happily leaped into the paddy wagon with us instead of, oh, I’m just spitballing here, getting us out.”
He sighed. “You weren’t supposed to go to this thing without me and Kyle.”
“It was, despite us having four men in here, supposed to be a women only thing. Hence why we left the men at home. Or thought we did. Mahin, you were supposed to stay home, too.”
She tossed her hair out of her face. “I went with Lucinda and Jamie.”
“Shocker.”
“Mahin is part of our family, too,” Lucinda said calmly. “And I brought Doctor Hernandez, Len, and Kyle along with us to protect Jamie.”
“Wow, check and mate. Good one. Look, I appreciate the arrest solidarity, but didn’t it occur to anyone that some of you staying out of jail might be helpful?”
Culver cleared her throat. “Ah, Kitty? I don’t think we’re actually being arrested.”
“No? Then why are we in a police riot van?”
“For our safety,” Lucinda said. “That’s what the nice officers said.”
Got a bad feeling. “Look, you all realize that we’ve been herded into a metal van and are being taken God knows where by God knows who, right? And that the local police have been infiltrated and impersonated before, usually by people wanting to perpetrate a great deal of malice aforethought on us? Remember? Anyone?”
The car came to a stop, the doors to the cab opened and closed, then the doors to our section opened yet again.
Had to admit—I really wasn’t expecting to be where we were or see who was standing there, though it shouldn’t have surprised me all that much.
Gini Koch lives in Hell’s Orientation Area (aka Phoenix, Arizona), works her butt off (sadly, not literally) by day, and writes by night with the rest of the beautiful people. She lives with her awesome husband, three dogs (aka The Canine Death Squad), and two cats (aka The Killer Kitties). She has one very wonderful and spoiled daughter, who will still tell you she’s not as spoiled as the pets (and she’d be right).
When she’s not writing, Gini spends her time cracking wise, staring at pictures of good-looking leading men for “inspiration,” teaching her pets to “bring it,” and driving her husband insane asking, “Have I told you about this story idea yet?” She listens to every kind of music 24/7 (from Lifehouse to Pitbull and everything in between, particularly Aerosmith) and is a proud comics geek-girl willing to discuss at any time why Wolverine is the best superhero ever (even if Deadpool does get all the best lines). Because she wasn’t busy enough, she’s added on featured guest columnist and reviewer for Slice of SciFi and It’s Comic Book Day.
You can reach Gini via her website (www.ginikoch.com), email ([email protected]), Twitter (@GiniKoch), Facebook (facebook.com/Gini.Koch), Facebook Fan Page (Hairspray and Rock ‘n’ Roll), or her Official Fan Site, the Alien Collective Virtual HQ (http://aliencollectivehq.com/).
