DeniseZen

by Jamie Antonia Symonanis

  “Great,” Layla said.

  “It is a taste I could easily get used to,” Mari smiled, “especially alongside a delicious cup of coffee.”

  “Yes. The coffee is a must,” Trepa said.

  “May I ask a question?” Denise asked.

  “Yes,” Trepa said.

  “Who cleans the dirty dishes?”

  Mari laughed. “Apologies.”

  “No K.P. huh?” Layla said.

  “It is a system that recycles them into sterile clean utensils,” Trepa said.

  “Fascinating,” Denise said.

  “I must be going, much to do,” Mari said excusing herself from the table.

  Trepa followed her but not before helping clean the table.

  “Alone again,” Layla smiled.

  “How about a latte for the road?”

  “Sure.”

  They returned to Denise’s quarters. Nearly an hour passed before Cyn was at the door. “Nola requests your presence.”

  They both slid off the bed and pulled themselves together before following Cyn back to yet another part of the ship they had not had access to. The door opened to a large room, an obvious work area, in all likelihood the very space where the Mustang was created. Standing near a far wall was Nola and Artand, still dressed in a black suit.

  “Good morning,” Nola said.

  “Hello and good morning to you.” Denise and Layla said. Denise thought her cheeks had more color than they’d had in the past. Probably just from having Aren back and safe, she thought to herself.

  “I have been in discussion with Mari and Trepa about your plans. They, no, WE want to do all we can to help. Artand.”

  “From the measurements given me by Trepa, we have fashioned suits for you to wear,” Artand said. A door on the wall shimmered open to reveal two black suits that did not look too unlike what Artand and company were wearing the first time Denise and Layla saw them in the Student Center.

  “Basic black. Nice, but won’t they make us stand out in the remote reaches of Tennessee?” Layla asked.

  “Quite the contrary,” Artand said. When he was certain he had their attention, he vanished from sight.

  “Magic?” Denise smiled.

  “The suits afford you the ability of stealth.” The voice was Artand’s coming from behind them now.

  “I am impressed once again,” Denise said.

  Artand reappeared standing next to Nola.

  “Hopefully these will give you an advantage today,” Nola said.

  “Thank you.”

  “Oh yeah,” Layla laughed.

  “I suggest you meet with Mari and Senn to coordinate your plans. Cyn will be in a second craft if needed with Vido.”

  “Lead the way,” Denise said.

  Cyn led them back to the conference room where everyone else was already gathered.

  “We need to act before they have time to disappear with the information they might have,” Denise said.

  “We will be ready to move within the hour,” Cyn said.

  “Wonderful. The sooner the better,” Denise said, the image of a battered Myla still all to clear in her mind.

  Chapter 23

  Question

  Layla was so angry she was shaking. They stood right in front of Henry but he could not see her or Denise seething with anger at what they saw. Henry’s face was badly bruised from an obvious beating. He shifted his weight on the seat and stared out across the inlet at the crews cleaning up the mess there. They retreated up the road and materialized before calling his name.

  “Henry?” Denise said.

  He turned toward the familiar voice to see Denise and Layla walking towards his boat dressed in black. He shook his head and looked down at his feet.

  “Henry, what happened to you?” Layla said.

  “Never mind what happened to me, what happened to my boat?”

  “It’s hard to explain. We were on our way back to dock when the gunfire started erupting everywhere. They were shooting at each other from boats, from that airfield, and we got caught in the middle,” Denise said.

  “Really?”

  “Yep.”

  “Well now your version makes more sense than those two bikers that visited me late yesterday.”

  “Bikers?”

  “Yeah. They wanted to know who I rented the boat to? They did not believe me when I told them the truth. Told me I was full of shit, can you believe that?”

  “Did they do this to you?” Layla asked.

  “Yeah, it’s a bitch getting old, pardon my French.”

  “What did they look like?”

  “Ugly, that’s what they looked like, ugly.”

  Denise saw clear images of the biker’s faces in her head.

  “Here Henry, we want you to have this,” Layla said handing him an envelope filled with cash.

  “What’s this here?”

  “We feel really bad about what happened to your boat, and now seeing you, well, it isn’t like us to cheat anyone,” Denise said.

  “Fix your boat,” Layla smiled.

  “That is mighty generous of you.”

  “Yeah, well it just does not seem like enough,” Layla said.

  “You girls be careful. Those ugly bastards really want to find you bad. Not sure you’re safe sticking around here much longer.”

  “We’re going to be leaving today. Only hung around long enough to see you,” Layla said.

  “Take my advice and get lost.”

  “Thanks, we will,” Denise smiled.

  “How did you get here? Don’t see any car parked?”

  “We have someone picking us up.”

  “Bye Henry.”

  “Thanks again girls. Be careful.”

  As they walked away Denise whispered in Henry’s mind. Forget this meeting Henry. Forget what the two girls looked like.

  He looked down and opened the envelope to find it full of one hundred dollar bills. When he looked up to see where it came from Denise and Layla were nowhere to be seen.

  “Cyn reports that there are two somewhat damaged motorcycles at the complex. Three men left minutes ago in a silver truck.”

  “Any left inside?”

  “They believe the owners of the motorcycles are in the main building.”

  “Ok, we’re in your hands,” Layla said.

  “Your suits are functioning perfectly. Is the fit comfortable?”

  “Very comfortable, thanks,” Denise said.

  They approached from the southeast, Mari assessing the damage she did the day before as they flew past the airfield.

  “Such a waste. Some humans are pretty vile,” Layla said.

  “Yeah. That was actually a nice plane,” Denise said.

  “Was.”

  Denise did not want to waste time just in case that pickup truck returned soon.

  Denise and Layla took their place at the exit. “We’re getting pretty good at this,” Layla smiled.

  “Activating,” Denise said as she vanished from Layla’s view, only to come back into view when she activated her suit.

  “Downright amazing,” Layla said.

  “Ready when you are Mari.”

  “We are in position. We will be right here. We will not move.”

  “Okay.”

  They exited the shuttle and made their way to the side of the building. Both bikers were seated watching cartoons on the television.

  What a picture, just look at them. Denise said.

  Are they the ones that did Henry?

  Yeah, they’re the ones.

  Repeat after me handsome, Denise said.

  She planted the suggestion in the biker furthest from her sitting on the couch. Ask him if he thinks they know where the creature is being held?

  “Do you think they know where the female creature is being held?” he asked.

  “Quiet, I’m watching this. Who gives a fuck anyway? I’d like to meet up with those two broads who helped the real money get away.”

  Ask him wha
t the name of the place is she is being kept at.

  “What is the name of the place she is at again?”

  “I don’t know, something with an O,” he said before laughing at the cartoon he was watching. Something was getting beaten to the usual cartoon sound effects.

  Ask him what city she is in?

  “That’s in Houston ain’t it?”

  “What the fuck is your problem? What’s with all the questions? The bitch is in Texas, and that’s more than you should know, but she won’t be there long.”

  Repeat after me. What the fuck is your problem?

  “What the fuck is your problem?”

  The biker looked away from the television at the other biker. “What the fuck did you just say? It was your idiot friends who lost the big money, now shut the fuck up about it all.”

  You got a big fucking mouth you know that?

  “You got a big fucking mouth you know that?”

  “Sammy I’m warning ya.”

  You’re not warning me about shit. Kiss my ass.

  Layla was having a hard time keeping from laughing.

  “You’re not warning me about shit. Kiss my ass.”

  The biker got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen, stopping in front of the other to stick his extended middle finger in front of his face. “Fuck you.”

  You are NOT going to take that shit from him. Pick up that lamp and hit him in the head with it when he comes back in the room.

  The biker came walking back towards the living room with a bottle of beer in one hand and a pistol in the other. SMASH! The other biker broke the lamp over his head just as he walked into the room. He fell to the ground moaning.

  “A gun? You pull a fucking gun on me?” he said, bending over to pick up the pistol he dropped.

  Put the gun against his head and ask him again what the name of the company is in Texas.

  “I’m only going to ask you this one more time,” the biker said putting the gun to the others head. “What is the name of the company in Texas where the bitch is being kept?”

  “Omega something, that’s all I know I swear.”

  Go get yourself a beer and turn off his favorite cartoon show and watch what you want.

  He walked into the kitchen, returned with a beer and sat down to watch anything else but that cartoon show.

  Behind them, the pickup truck turned the corner approaching the house.

  Give your friends coming back this message. IF YOU PUT ANOTHER FINGER ON THE FEMALE YOU HAVE CAPTIVE WE WILL KILL YOU ALL. Now could you repeat that message back to me?

  “If you put another finger on the female you have captive we will kill you all.”

  Great. Now sit back and enjoy your beer.

  The biker took a long guzzle of beer and stopped at some movie where someone was killing someone else.

  Denise and Layla waited until the others got out of the truck and walked inside getting a good look at their faces.

  Let’s get out of here before I decide to stop being nice.

  Yes, let’s.

  They walked back to the ramp that was in the exact same spot it had been when they exited.

  “Are you ready to depart?” Mari asked.

  “Mari, could you repeat what you did at the airfield yesterday to the building they are in without killing all inside?”

  “Yes.”

  “They REALLY don’t deserve to have such a nice house after what they did, and may still be doing to Myla.”

  “I could not agree more,” Layla said.

  Mari moved the shuttle up and over the house with a smile on her face. A split second after a sound that reminded Denise of an intense and violent gust of wind was heard, the house beneath them exploded into pieces scattering in every direction, water spewing out of ruptured pipes.

  Denise directed one final message to the five men lying in the rubble below. IF YOU PUT ANOTHER FINGER ON THE FEMALE YOU HAVE CAPTIVE WE WILL KILL YOU ALL.

  “Ready to depart,” she grinned at Mari.

  “Back upstairs?”

  “Yes.”

  Chapter 24

  iPad

  “We need to pay in advance for a few months I think,” Denise said.

  “Good idea, just in case,” Layla said.

  After finishing up in Tennessee, they spent the rest of the day laying plans with the crew of the Tyrine on how to proceed in the recovery of Myla. It was going to be more difficult. After the events in Tennessee those responsible now knew that it was only a matter of time before she was found. Hopefully the warning given by Denise would make her captives think twice about harming her further, but the downside is that they would take greater precautions to keep her unable to communicate with those who searched for her. Since they did not know how that communication was even possible, it was going to be difficult for them to figure out how to keep her off the grid, completely concealed.

  When that was settled, Mari returned them with the Mustang and suits stored in the trunk to Southern Illinois.

  “Texas. What a cesspool of corporate greed and corruption. Why did it have to be Texas?” Denise asked, researching possibilities on her Macbook.

  “I know. I’ve been there before. Wasn’t the most pleasant experience. Austin is a good place for music but the rest of the place you can have.”

  Ex…8…b… dr…mer…186..fl…t…mem.

  Myla

  Phish…as.

  Myla. What is it? What is the meaning? MYLA.

  Silence.

  Denise quickly typed what she heard into an email and sent it to her own nine accounts and Layla.

  “We need to figure out what this means?”

  Layla studied the letters and numbers she’d typed. “Let’s try doing this on a full stomach.”

  “Great idea.”

  “Pagliai’s ok?”

  “Yep.”

  Denise printed out a copy of the letters and numbers and stuffed it in her bag.

  “Low profile Mustang or?” Layla asked.

  “Why burn gas and pollute? Let’s eat and get all the ‘have to’ stuff out of the way tonight.”

  “Yes,” Layla smiled before kissing her.

  “Well, if you put them together it would make one hell of a password to crack,” Layla said, looking at the letters and numbers.

  “What’s your best guess?”

  Layla studied the numbers as she took another bite of pizza.

  “It must be important, otherwise, why?”

  “Memphis,” Layla nearly shouted cutting Denise off. “Oops. Memphis,” she said softly. “Here. Mem then phish then as.”

  “So she is going to Memphis next?”

  Denise took out her iPhone to check a few incoming emails.

  “Let’s shoot over to Best Buy when we get out of here and pick up an iPad. Larger screen, easier to read a map,” Layla said.

  “So, my iPhone is not good enough for map reading?” Denise giggled.

  “No, it is not that. A larger screen is going to make it easier to get the picture on a map, cause my take on this message is it is broken driving, not flying directions TO Memphis.”

  “Really?”

  “Ex could mean exit. Mer could be merge. 186, well there is a 186 in Tennessee. I know cause I think I’ve been on it before, some friend I knew that I accompanied down there to buy a gun.”

  “You sold me.”

  “But why give us this message when we know she is in Texas somewhere?”

  “Let’s go shop for an iPad.”

  After finishing dinner they headed over to the Best Buy on Main Street. Layla parked the Mustang away from the crowd of cars under a pole in the lot, and then went into the store to make their purchase. What they did not notice was Phil and Johnny who had pulled over on Highway 13 to watch them park and head inside to shop, each on their still undamaged motorcycles.

  “Yeah, we’re going to have to activate the 4g with your cel provider,” Layla said as they paid for their iPad.

  “I’ll
take care of it when we get back to the trailer.”

  “Do we have enough water and stuff because I strongly suspect a road trip to Memphis?”

  “Let’s stop for more on the way back.”

  “Ok.”

  “Glad one of us is thinking.”

  They exited the store and walked back to the Mustang.

  “Oh oh, we’ve got company,” Layla said. “Here, you hold the bag.”

  “They must have seen us in Tennessee,” Denise sighed.

  “Let me try to handle this, for Myla,” Layla said.

  “Huh?”

  “Trust me.”

  “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the boat babes,” Johnny said.

  He and Phil stood between them and the Mustang.

  “You really are as stupid as you look,” Layla said.

  “You’re at the shopping mall in this car that everyone is looking for and you call me stupid? You’re the stupid bitch, bitch.”

  Who have you told about us so far? Denise asked Phil.

  “Lucky for you our phones are in a hundred little pieces after yesterday and we have not let anyone know where to find you yet.”

  “Stupid is as stupid does. I rest my case,” Layla said.

  “You have a real smart ass mouth for a little bitch you know that?”

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea to call her a bitch again,” Denise said.

  “I am sure you can see just how scared we are,” Johnny laughed.

  Layla’s first kick landed in Johnny’s groin knocking the air out of him forcing him to bend forward. With blinding speed her second kick was a roundhouse to his mid section that made him fly about thirty feet. Layla watched him fly through the air in disbelief.

  Phil lunged at Denise with a look of panic on his face. She quickly moved towards Layla who was already flying through the air with a kick when Phil flew through the air slamming into the light pole before collapsing in a groaning heap on the ground. “Did you do that? Layla asked.

  “No. You did.”

  Layla looked at her and smiled. “Really?”

  “You’re pretty amazing. I wouldn’t mess with you,” Denise laughed, looking at the two men lying on the ground in agony.

  Layla looked at their motorcycles, extended her arms and waved her hands slightly. When she did the two motorcycles wobbled. Denise smiled. “Stop being so nice,” she said.