Book 5: 3rd World Products, Inc.

by Ed Howdershelt

  We abruptly began descending on a bit of an angle at a barely subsonic speed that caused our passengers some trepidation. Our plummet ended a hundred feet above the parking lot of a grocery store.

  There were half a dozen cop cars near the front doors and two ambulances were parked near the lot exit.

  "Four robbers are holding five people in the office,” said Sue, “Negotiations apparently haven't gone well. Should I use stun probes, or do you want to go in?"

  "Both,” I said. “In fact, I think you should discuss matters with the cops while I go in, since they don't seem to have stun wands here yet. Keep them busy for me."

  Joan piped up with, “Aren't you going to let them know you're here? Shouldn't you tell them..."

  "Waste of time,” I interrupted. “I'll fly in and it'll be over before the head cop can be convinced and get clearance to use me. Sue can tell ‘em where to get stun wands."

  Standing in the middle of the deck, I said, “Flitter, go visible, please, and soundproof, ‘cause the ladies may scream. Five suit on, three suit on, glider on,” and with that I launched off the deck toward the store's front doors.

  When I turned invisible, someone muttered, “Oh, my God!” and someone else—Brittany, I think—yelled, “Oh, Jesus! He's gone!"

  I landed ten feet or so from the doors, turned off my glider, and headed for the non-automatic door on the right. It moved at my push and I slipped into the store through as narrow an opening as possible.

  One guy in a ski mask was hunkered behind checkout register number four. He stared at the door I'd come through as if trying to decide whether the wind had caused it to open. I sent a tendril to stun him hard and stopped to pick up his gun on my way past the register.

  The gun was an inexpensive .380 automatic that didn't fit my hand particularly well, but it was small enough that my three suit's field covered all but the last inch of barrel.

  Another ski-masked guy was lurking behind a display of soft drinks, apparently watching the cops to the exclusion of all else, since he hadn't yet noticed his buddy's absence.

  I sent a tendril to stun him and found him holding another gun like the one in my hand. After putting both guns in the wastebasket at register seven, I continued toward the rear of the store.

  The double doors to the rear storage area by the deli section were open. I stayed close to the wall on general principles as I passed through them looking for the office, which I found to be the second door past the rest rooms.

  Two armed guys in ski masks were on their feet and holding guns on three women and two men who were on their knees between a desk and a big metal office safe.

  As the guy on his knees cringed away from another of the .380's that was aimed at his head, the guy holding it said, “I ain't tellin’ you again, motherfucker. You open that goddamn safe or I blow your goddamn brains out right here and now!"

  The man by the safe looked altogether lost and helpless and it seemed likely to me that he flatly didn't know the combination. As if to confirm that, one of the women wailed, “He can't! Don't you understand?! He doesn't know how!"

  When the guy with the gun began a hard backhand swipe at her, I stunned him while the gun was pointed at the ceiling. He dropped like a sack of potatoes and the other guy's gun wavered from aiming at another woman's face.

  I dropped him, too, then stepped over to pick up both guns and said, “Three suit off."

  One woman fainted instantly when I appeared. Everyone else simply stared at me as I called Sue.

  "Four baddies down, milady. No casualties. I'm visible, so I'll stay where I am until the cops clear the place. There are two guns in the wastebasket at register seven and the other two will be on the floor here in the office."

  As I put the guns in the doorway, she replied, “Okay, Ed."

  To the still-shocked people in the room, I said, “We'll all stay put until the cops get here."

  A woman in a deli smock said, “Uh ... But, I, uh ... I really have to go to the bathroom."

  Pulling the rolling desk chair around front, I sat down as I said, “No, ma'am. You really have to try to hold it another few minutes ‘cause you don't want to get shot by mistake."

  Soft shuffling footsteps outside the office announced the cops’ arrival. A mirror on a staff extended into the doorway and I said, “All clear. Come on in,” to a helmeted reflection.

  One of the cops dashed to the other side of the door, used his rifle's muzzle to sweep the handguns out of the doorway and into the corridor, and covered the others as three more of them rushed into the office, surveying the situation over the tops of their gunsights.

  Handcuffs were applied to the two baddies on the floor and there was some radio chatter as other small groups checked in from other parts of the store, then somebody called an “all clear” and the cops in the room seemed to relax considerably.

  "How'd you get here?” asked the cop in front of me.

  "I came on that flitter outside."

  "I mean in here, dammit. In the store."

  "I walked in, same as you."

  He seemed to take a dim view of my answer. A guy in a suit appeared at the door, surveyed matters for a moment, then entered and came toward us as he said, “I'll take him, Bill."

  Extending a hand to me, he said, “Ben Geary,” and added, “Detective,” as if it were an afterthought.

  Shaking his hand, I said my name and added, “Civilian."

  "Hardly,” he replied. “I've been in contact with 3rd World. They confirmed you work for them, but wouldn't tell me what you do, which likely means you're anything but a civilian."

  I shrugged. “Oh, well. Sue let you watch through a probe?"

  Nodding, he said, “Yes, she did. That's why you aren't under arrest. May I see that wand thing you used on them?"

  Handing him my stun wand, I said, “It only works for the owner,” as he examined it.

  "How does it work?"

  Thumbing at the front of the store, I said, “Better ask Sue; she knows more about that stuff. I just use them."

  Geary looked at me peeringly for a moment, then said, “You really don't want to discuss much, do you?"

  "Not really. I just stopped to help."

  "Who are those women with you?"

  "Friends. Just along for the ride."

  Examining me for a moment, he handed back my wand as he said, “Interesting friends. I'd like a word with them before you leave,” then he gestured at the door and said, “Let's go outside."

  On the way down the beverage aisle I grabbed six packs of Ice House, canned dr pepper, and canned lemon tea. When we reached the line of registers, I asked the guy who'd been on his knees by the safe if any of the registers were open.

  He looked at the drinks I was carrying, laughed, and said, “Just take them, sir. I'll take care of it. Thank you. Thank you very much."

  "You sure?"

  Laughing again, he said, “Yes, sir. I'm very sure. Don't worry about it."

  "Okay, thanks. My cooler was just about dry."

  As we walked out to the parking lot, Geary asked, “You got a cooler aboard that thing, huh?"

  "Oh, yeah. It's a real party boat."

  "Looks like it. Those ladies of yours are some kind of good looking, too. Where'd you find them?"

  "Dallas. But they aren't exactly ‘my ladies'. Feel free to cast a line or two."

  "Lotta good it'll do if they're from Dallas."

  Sue was in conference with half a dozen cops to one side of the flitter as we approached. She gave us a smile and a little wave as the image on the field screen in front of her panned the store and followed me to the back.

  Someone in the group around the screen called, “Come see this, Ben!” and Geary replied, “Already seen it, Jerry,” as he followed me aboard the flitter.

  Everyone was standing near the console as we boarded. Except for Tiger, they all seemed to be in various states of anxiety. I set the drinks on the deck and stood up.

  Indicating peo
ple in turn, I said, “Loren—the lovely blonde—and Brittany—the beautiful brunette—meet Ben Geary, the detective who wishes you didn't live so far away. Over here we have Joan and Richard, who work for 3rd World. The furry guy on the dash is Tiger."

  Tiger said, “Hello, I am Tiger,” and Geary stopped in his tracks. He'd been moving to shake hands with the ladies, but now he was staring at Tiger, the ladies forgotten.

  The others aboard snickered and giggled as I said, “Say hello, Ben. It's the polite thing to do."

  Seeing the others’ amusement, Geary asked, “Is this some kind of trick?"

  "No, and don't hurt his feelings, please. Say hello."

  Geary turned to face Tiger and seemed to have to come to a decision about whether to go along with what he obviously thought was a joke. Tiger stood up and repeated his greeting, his tail switching with amusement at Geary's consternation.

  "Hello. I am Tiger."

  The mix of cat vocals and the collar's translation seemed to make up Geary's mind. He reached to pet Tiger as he answered, “Hello, Tiger. I'm Ben. You're for real, aren't you?"

  Tiger's collar buzzed a translation and Tiger replied, “Yes. I am real. I am Tiger. I talk to people."

  He sounded very proud of himself. I asked if anyone wanted a cold drink. Dick asked for a beer, Joan took a dr pepper, and the others opted for tea. I grabbed an Ice House.

  "Flitter,” I said, “Give us a translucent canopy, please."

  A grey shell snapped into being around the flitter. Geary sort of stopped breathing for a moment, then reached to touch it. His hand went through the ‘hull’ and he drew it back rather hurriedly, then looked at me.

  Raising the beer, I said, “Didn't know if we could drink in public here. Now we aren't so public. We can see out, but they can't see in. Back to introductions. You're Ben Geary.” Tilting my beer at each person in turn, I said, “She's Loren and she's Brittany. This is Joan and Dick."

  Geary seemed slightly dazed as he said, “Nice to meet you all,” and chose a seat near Brittany. “Uh, were you ladies involved in what happened as more than passengers?"

  "No,” said Loren. “We were just along for the ride. Will we have to fill out statements or whatever?"

  "Only as witnesses."

  Brittany snickered, “Witnesses? To what? We didn't really see anything. We stayed out here."

  Shrugging, Geary replied, “Yeah, I know, but we like to be thorough. I'll just take down your ID info and we'll call you if we need you, how's that?"

  Loren pulled a business card from her purse, as did Brittany, which they handed to him with their driver's licenses. Geary wrote the info on the backs of the cards and asked for home phone numbers, which they gave, then he handed back their licenses and looked at me. “Now yours?"

  I fished out my driver's license and when he asked for my home phone number, I told him to contact 3rd World's legal staff for it.

  He looked at me oddly and asked, “Why?"

  "Because if you decide you have reason enough to call me back up here, I'll probably need a lawyer. Right?"

  "I may need a few more details."

  "Uh, huh. There aren't any more details. I went in and zapped them, then told Sue to call you in. That's all there is. You think all this police stuff will take long? I'm supposed to have these ladies back in Dallas shortly."

  Staring at me, Ben asked, “Shortly? Dallas is..."

  "Dallas is about ten minutes from here in this flitter. The word ‘shortly’ fits just fine."

  He took a moment to wrap his mind around that, then said, “Uh ... well ... We need the incident report..."

  "Sue can stick around to handle that. She can catch up with me later."

  With unconcealed surprise, Ben gestured at the deck and asked, “She can catch up with this?"

  Nodding, I firmly said, “Yup. No problem."

  Shaking his head, Ben said, “But you were the one who went into the store."

  I shrugged. “So write it up that way. Say I zapped the bad guys, then left."

  "Ah ... but ... That's not really much of a report."

  "Maybe not, but it's what happened and will happen. The incident's over. Joan and Dick need to get back to Carrington and these ladies have to get back to work. Sue?"

  She appeared by the console even as she continued with the conference outside. Geary nearly choked on his tea.

  Smiling at him, Sue asked, “Yes, Ed?"

  "Would you be so kind as to reassure Detective Geary that you can catch up with me later, then make a copy of things that these guys? In a video camera or whatever?"

  Looking at Geary, she smilingly said, “No problem."

  "Are they showing any interest in stun wands?"

  "Oh, yes. More than a little, in fact."

  "Good deal. We're about to run off and leave you, ma'am."

  Grinning, she said, “Okay, see you later,” and vanished.

  "Oh, holy shit..!” muttered Geary, switching his gaze to the Sue outside. “I thought...” he looked at me and finished, “I thought she was real!"

  Laughing, I said, “She's as real as anyone else, Ben. Just a little different, that's all. You've seen what happened, you'll have a copy for the records, and I can always drop back by if my lawyers okay it. Good enough? We need to get underway."

  He looked around the flitter at the others, then at me, seemed to consider things for a second, then got to his feet and said, “Aw, hell. Yeah. Sure. If anyone says anything, I'll just say something happened somewhere else and you had to go. After what happened here tonight, they'll believe it."

  We shook hands and he hopped off the flitter, turned and held up his tea as he grinningly said, “Next time you're in town, the drinks are on me,” then he headed toward Sue.

  "Flitter, let's take Joan and Dick back to their car, please."

  The flitter lifted away from the parking lot at about the same speed it had arrived, which didn't allow us much time to notice the reactions of those in the parking lot.

  "Ed,” said Brittany, “You aren't ... whatever Sue is. I want to know how you made yourself disappear."

  Shaking my head, I sipped my beer and said, “Nope. You don't work for 3rd World, ma'am."

  I reclined my seat and put my feet on the console. Tiger carefully walked down my legs to settle on my lap. I took another sip of beer and rubbed his chin.

  "My Tiger,” I said.

  "My Ed,” he replied, rubbing his face on my hand.

  Brittany bit her lip and grinned as she said in a slightly choked voice, “Oh, God! That is just so sweet!"

  Loren rolled her eyes and snickered.

  "WELL?!” asked Brittany, “It IS!"

  Quickly patting her hand as if comforting a child, Loren grinningly agreed, “Yes, Britty. It was very cute."

  'Britty’ gave her a tense look, shook her hand as if to remove cooties, then snootily returned her gaze to Tiger. Loren snickered again, but ‘Britty’ refused to acknowledge her.

  Leaning to shoulder her lightly, Loren grinningly said, “Okay! Okay! You're right, it was cute!"

  Relaxing somewhat, Brittany cast a rather skeptical eye at Loren as she brushingly reached across Loren's front to pet Tiger. Little things can mean a lot, sometimes.

  Brittany's move wasn't the invasion of space it might have been had she been sitting next to Joan or Dick, who likely would have sat bolt upright.

  Loren remained as she was, slightly inclined, her breasts in firm contact with Brittany's shoulder. Her nostrils flared slightly and she seemed to take a quiet whiff of Brittany's hair before she stiffened slightly and looked at me.

  I shrugged a tiny shrug and sipped my beer, then looked at ‘Britty', who was scuffling Tiger's upraised cheeks and bathing him in ‘good-little-itty-bitty-kitty'-type blather. She glanced up at me and smiled, then sat back upright, apparently completely unaware of the galvanizing effect she'd had on Loren.

  Hm. Maybe she really didn't know? Maybe Loren hadn't let her know yet? I glanced at
Loren, whose eyes narrowed to slits for a moment as she grimaced slightly with gritted teeth. Ah-hah. Okay, then. Brittany didn't know. You got it, ma'am.

  Sipping my beer, I let my gaze sweep Joan and Dick. They'd apparently been more interested in the scenery below the flitter. Dick pointed at something and Joan looked that direction as he said we must be getting close.

  In fact, we were getting close; our descent had begun a few moments earlier. Another plummeting subsonic dive later, we hovered just above the restaurant's parking lot next to a green car Joan said was hers. Dick said nothing about the white car parked next to it, but it seemed likely to be his.

  After a round of goodbyes, they disembarked and headed for their cars, but Joan stopped after a few paces and turned to face us as she spoke.

  "I guess we'll have to make some kind of report to someone tomorrow, won't we?"

  Laughing, I said, “Yeah, prob'ly so. Stuff happened that'll make the papers."

  "What about you?"

  "I don't talk to reporters."

  Giving me an exasperated roll of her eyes and a sighing slouch, she replied, “I meant ... uhm ... will you be back here tomorrow? At Carrington, I mean?"

  Wexler had stopped, too. He seemed to be wondering why she was asking me such questions in those tentative tones and showed slight signs of alarm.

  "Doubtful,” I said, “I usually just call things in unless something special happens."

  Looking moderately incredulous, she asked, “Everything that happened this evening wasn't special?"

  Shrugging, I said, “Well, I guess we'll know that if they call me back up here tomorrow, won't we?” Waving to both of them, I said, “Bye, all. Gotta get these ladies back to Dallas. Flitter, it's time to leave. Back to Nick's."

  The flitter rose quickly into the night sky as I returned to my seat and flipped open the lid of the cooler by the console. Loren and Brittany stared hard at the layer of ice that seemed to be suspended in mid-air.

  I began stuffing drink bottles and cans into the ice as I explained, “You can't see the cooler because there's a field around it that bends light. Either of you want another drink?"

  Loren took her eyes off the airborne ice and answered, “Uh, no, thanks. In fact, I was wondering where to put this.” She held up her tea can.