Charla glanced at me and I shrugged. That put the stunner in my hand. I went in ahead of Charla and the two men followed us in. As soon as the door closed, I turned and stunned them both twice.
"How the hell did you do that?” she asked.
"Magic,” I said.
I checked for guns and found three. One guy had a .32 in an ankle holster. Both had badges, too, from a town near DC. I handcuffed them together, each man's wrist to the other man's ankle, put their guns on one of the beds, and asked Charla what she wanted to do next.
"Leave,” she said, “But first I want to pack and call the Senator."
I put her six bags by the door when they were ready. The two guys were slowly waking up and discovering their predicament. The sight of Charla dialing the room phone seemed to wake them more quickly. When they saw their guns on the bed, one of them looked at his holster. The other didn't bother.
Charla's voice behind me said, “Hello, Senator. Your goons will be just fine in a little while. No, you listen, sport. I have tapes and I have pictures. Your wife knows you fool around, but your adoring public doesn't. Leave me alone or my friends mail copies of everything to the media. Yes, friends, as in more than one. I told you I didn't want anything from you that I didn't already have. That's right. Nothing. Just let me alone. If you send anyone else or anything happens to me, you're going to be a cheesy footnote in American history."
I tossed a cuff key to them and said, “Tonight, you're redcaps. On your feet and grab those bags. We're going downstairs. No talking, guys. You've got nothing to say that I want to hear."
One of them moved at me as soon as he was halfway onto his feet. I stunned him lightly and his legs gave out in mid-lunge.
"Look, guys, I could knock you out and leave you naked in the hall, chained together like good buddies, and turn your guns and badges in at the front desk on our way out. How would that look in the news? You can cooperate and save yourselves some trouble. We just want to leave and we want some help with her luggage, okay? The guns and badges stay here, but we'll give you the room key when we let you go."
Charla was on the phone again, but this time it was a cell phone.
"Hi, it's me! I'm back at the room and two of the Senator's men were here to meet me. I don't know. Probably just to scare me and get rid of my new friend. No, we're fine. We're leaving now. I just wanted to let you know what was going on. Yes. I'll call you every day and you know what to do if I don't. Okay! Bye, sweetie!"
I thought a moment. Linda was always in need of political pressure points.
"Charla, dial a number for me and bring me that phone, please."
I gave her the number and waited three rings until Linda answered.
"The Senator,” I said. “Goons with guns. Interested?"
Linda said, “Talk."
I told her what had happened in the room and asked if the Senator had been kind to her and the factory project as a whole. Linda said she'd send some people over and that we should wait in the room. Before I could agree, she hung up.
"Change of plans,” I said to Charla. “We wait a few minutes, then leave."
Fifteen minutes later, Linda showed up with four people; three men and a woman. They bagged the hardware on the bed and took charge of the Senator's men, then Linda had each of us dictate a quick report. Charla didn't mention calling anyone other than the Senator, so I didn't, either.
When Linda asked whether or not Charla wanted protective custody, Charla said she thought she probably already had some of that and indicated me.
Linda didn't bat an eye at that.
She said, “Sitreps daily as long as she's with you, Ed. Let us know if she needs cover. This is business. We'll leave watchers in case the Senator sends anyone else tonight when he doesn't hear from his people. Are you staying or going?"
I looked at Charla. She looked around, shuddered, and said, “Going."
Linda nodded, then herded her crowd out of the room.
Charla said, “I knew it. You work for her, don't you?"
"Nope. Used to. That's why she's helping us. I did her a favor just now by calling and she's doing us a favor by offering backup. She's got enough with those two goons and our statements to work the Senator. We aren't really necessary."
That's when Charla surprised me. She tossed her light jacket on one of the beds, turned around, and said, “Unzip me."
I did so while asking, “We're staying?"
"Sure. The room's paid for and people are watching the halls. I only said 'going' so she wouldn't bother bugging the room. I don't perform for strangers."
Charla grinned up at me as she slipped out of her shoes, then her dress.
"This has all been very exciting, don't you think, Ed? I know I'm excited."
I looked at her trim, athletic body and her bright smile and said, “Oh, yes. Very exciting, ma'am. Here, let me help you with the rest of it, too."
Epilogue
Charla wound up spending a couple of weeks in Florida with me while the situation with the Senator was quietly resolved. I'd expected her to be packed and ready to go the day after receiving the news that the problem was over, but that wasn't the case.
She opted for another week, timing her departure with some impending social event in DC that seemed to me to be mostly an opportunity for her to get back in the saddle up there.
Linda let someone else in her office handle all my communications about Charla during that time, and when Charla left for Washington, that person handled my final call to let them know she was gone, as well.
That left Bear and me as the only flesh-and-blood denizens of the house in Spring Hill, and there really wasn't much to demand chunks of my time, so I was able to get to know Stephanie's flight characteristics and other capabilities pretty well over the next few months.
Elkor had split himself into two separate entities; a partial copy to remain on Earth and his original matrix to take the ship core back to Amara. He said that he'd been allowed to inform only three people of his actions and that none of those people were allowed to know where his second self was based.
He said, “It would be too big a risk, Ed. I'm not invulnerable and I lack many of the protective capabilities that were part of me when the ship was here."
"Do the Amarans know you're here?"
"Only one Amaran on Earth knows at present, although I'd expect him to let some of the others know as a safety measure. In order to acquire permissions to split myself, I had to agree to some stipulations. One of them was to self-destruct if my location was discovered or if anyone found a way to bypass any of my security protocols. It's an embedded feature that I'd prefer not to have, but because of it I'm allowed to stay here."
The field hardware that had been installed in my house remained. One day I realized that it was time for termite retreatment and was about to call to have it done, but Elkor told me it really wasn't necessary. No bugs of any sort had been allowed into the house since the day the field generators had been installed.
I thanked him and told him to keep up the good work, but I also told him that a regular treatment record would be easier to explain if I ever wanted to sell the place, then I called the exterminators anyway.
It's been quiet enough that I've been able to get another book to E-press and take care of some trivia like running a garage sale and cleaning house really well for the first time in years. I don't expect the quiet to last long, though. It never does.
—End 3rd World Products, Inc., Book 1—
Other titles from Abintra Press:
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SCIENCE FICTION
"3rd World Products, Inc., Book 1"
"3rd World Products, Inc., Book 2"
"3rd World Products, Inc., Book 3"
"3rd World Products, Inc., Book 4"
"An Encounter in Atlanta"
"Assignment: ATLANTA"
(A Sandy Shield Novel!)
"Bitten and Smitten” (Vampires!)
"HUNT CLUB” (Vampires!)
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"In Service to a Goddess, Book 1"
"In Service to a Goddess, Book 2"
"In Service to a Goddess, Book 3"
"In Service to a Goddess, Book 4"
"STARDANCER"
* * * *
FICTION-EROTICA-ROMANCE
"Anne"
"Dragonfly Run"
"Field Decision"
"Kim"
"Mindy"
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COMING SOON:
"3rd World Products, Inc., Book 5"
"ANSEN"
"Crystal River Witch"
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Book 1: 3rd World Products, Inc. Page 34
