3rd World Products, Inc., Book 5

by Ed Howdershelt

  Glancing out the window, she asked, "You came here on that thing?"

  "Yes, we did, and it's called a flitter. Our friend Sue is likely to be stuck here for a little while, Loren. Would you like to step aboard for a closer look?"

  She looked me over in an assessing manner and drawlingly asked, "You're saying it belongs to you?"

  Nodding, I answered, "Yup. Need proof?"

  Shrugging, she grinningly said, "I wouldn't mind."

  Keying my implant, I softly told the flitter to glow neon blue, which it instantly did, lighting the entire block.

  "Now glow white, please," I said, and it was like daylight out there. Loren had to shield her eyes to look out the window.

  When her startlement wore off a bit, she canted her head slightly and asked, "Now, why, I wonder, would you be inviting me to go out and see your uh... flitter?"

  "Not just see it, Loren. Go for a ride. Sue's gonna be busy for half an hour or more with the cops and medics."

  Glancing at the table, she grinned. "In return for what? Tearing up your hundred-dollar dinner tab? And if I couldn't do that, would your offer still stand?"

  Nodding again, I said, "Yup. It isn't about the tab."

  "Then why?"

  "Maybe I'm just a sucker for a beautiful blonde."

  Laughing, she said, "Gee, thanks. Join the crowd. You don't want to tell me, do you? Are you in some kind of trouble?"

  "No trouble. And maybe no stops or questions, either, if we head out the door with the manager."

  Joan spoke up with, "Ed, we aren't in any hurry, are we?"

  "Well, I still have to run you two back to North Dakota. I figured to do that while Sue's chatting with the local PTB's."

  "The what?"

  "The 'Powers That Be'."

  Loren's mouth fell open. "North Dakota?!"

  Dick raised a calming hand and said, "It's only about fifteen minutes away by flitter."

  "But it's half an hour, round-trip," I said, "Sue ought to have things pretty much squared away by then."

  Remembering my promise to Tiger, I used a napkin to contain some steak scraps, then said, "I'll give the napkin back after set this stuff down for my cat."

  Continuing her general state of surprise rather well, Loren asked, "Your cat? You have a cat aboard that thing?"

  "His name's Tiger. He might surprise you, too."

  Snorting a sharp laugh, Loren asked, "Yeah? Why's that? Because he's a real tiger?"

  Holding my hands apart about three feet, I replied, "Nah. He's only about like this, nose to tail. He's got stripes, though. How long are we gonna stand here talking?"

  Loren looked around the three of us for a moment, then said, "Give me a minute," and headed for the other blonde, then waved for our waitress, Brittany, to join the conference.

  A few minutes later she returned and said, "I'd like Brittany to come with us. Is that okay?"

  Joan's left eyebrow went up as if something had been more or less confirmed in her mind, but she said nothing.

  "No problem," I said with a shrug. "Six seats."

  Loren turned and nodded. The other blonde nodded in return and Brittany hurried to the restrooms. A few minutes later, she came striding out of the alcove in a dark blue version of Loren's outfit.

  She was simply stunning. Dick's mouth fell open slightly, and I felt that it was probably a good thing that he was standing behind Joan at that particular moment.

  "Okay," said Loren, "We'll be going out the back way."

  Leading us through the kitchen, Loren took us to a freight elevator that took us to the ground floor, then led us past shelves of restaurant equipment, condiments, and packaged foods to a door that opened on the street behind the building.

  We walked around the corner into the melange of cops and civilians on the sidewalk and found that members of the media had arrived. Only two of them were interviewing cops; the other dozen or so were focused on the flitter.

  Four TV news trucks and vans and a number of cars littered the street without regard to parking issues. Three more cars arrived and disgorged eager newsies as we watched. I looked around for Sue, but didn't see her.

  Holding up a hand to stop our group, I said, "Flitter, drop your canopy field, please, establish a barrier field, and lower to ground level. Those accompanying me are to be allowed aboard, and I'd like you to extend your field to create a six-foot-wide corridor for us."

  Albeit through what appeared to be a grey-tinted shell, the flitter's flat deck and interior became instantly visible, to include the striped cat sitting on the console dash. Cameras flashed and various exclamations came from the crowd as the flitter lowered to the street.

  An unoccupied police car that partially blocked our path to the flitter slid and turned sideways enough to allow the grey translucent field corridor to form and I felt my implant tingle as I saw the field surround us.

  Loren had taken hold of my right arm and Brittany had my left. Both shied away from the barrier, which rather made me the center of their sandwich.

  "It's just a field," I said, freeing my left arm to reach through it and waving my hand. "No sweat."

  Neither of the ladies looked altogether convinced, but Loren reached to try to touch the field. She couldn't, of course, but she readily noticed the way it kept the newsies out of the path defined by the field.

  "Ready," I said to Joan and Dick, "Take the lead."

  Brittany breathed, "Oh, my God..." as we moved forward.

  Much of the crowd moved to try to get closer to the flitter, but they found themselves abruptly halted six feet from the flitter's deck.

  A few tried to push their way through, anyway, and it bugged me a bit, but when one of the camera guys yelled, "Gimme some room!" and tried to bull his way through the field with a short running start, I sent a tendril to stun him as he hit the barrier field.

  He flattened against the barrier, then crumplingly slid down the side of it to the pavement, where he lay unconscious. That made most the others back away from him -- and the flitter -- rather quickly.

  As we walked to the flitter, more cameras flashed and some guy who seemed to be seeing the world only through his videocamera's viewfinder walked smack into the corridor field.

  He rebounded with a harsh exclamation as he rubbed his eye and stared at it, ignoring the snickers and laughs of some of his fellow newsies.

  People were yelling, "Who are you?" and more at us.

  Loren surprised me by reaching into her purse and smilingly handing business cards to people beyond the barrier. Brittany saw what she was doing and began doing the same on her side of the corridor.

  When Brittany reached for a second handful of cards, I took one and read it as we walked. It was a restaurant business card with her name and the title 'Associate Manager'.

  "That's some dedication to the job," I said.

  "Never pass up an opportunity," she replied, waving and smiling for the cameras. "We do some modeling, too."

  "Then maybe I ought to let everyone know we'll be back in half an hour."

  I hopped up to the flitter's deck and handed Loren and Brittany aboard as Dick did the same for Joan, then waved my arms to get the attention of the crowd.

  As Loren and Brittany grinned and waved at the crowd, I picked up Tiger and announced, "We have to make a quick trip to North Dakota. I'll bring these ladies back to you in about half an hour. Have a drink and stick around."

  Someone yelled, "Half an hour?!" and someone else yelled, "What's in North Dakota?"

  "Carrington," I answered, "Don't be so nosy."

  Turning to Loren, I asked, "Good enough?" as Tiger discovered the napkin full of steak bits and lost all interest in anything else.

  Some woman with a camera yelled, "Who are you?", but I ignored her in favor of setting Tiger on one of the seats and telling the flitter to take us back to North Dakota.

  Flicking open my belt knife, I began cutting the steak chunks into Tiger-sized pieces as we lifted into the night sky. The usu
al first-flight squeaks and screeches preceded the others hurrying to seat themselves.

  "What about Sue?" asked Dick. "Aren't you going to tell her we're leaving?"

  "You think she doesn't know where I am every minute? Flitter, go to stealth mode, please."

  Joan glanced at Brittany and Loren and somewhat tightly asked, "Does she also know you brought them aboard?"

  "Sue?" I asked.

  Giving me an irritated 'Who the hell else?' look, Joan opened her mouth to retort as Sue popped into being by the console and asked, "Yes, Ed?"

  Loren and Brittany shrieked and Brittany slipped and nearly fell as she powered out of her seat and backed away. Loren simply sat there staring at Sue. Joan only gasped and breathed rather rapidly for some moments.

  "Joan, here," I said, thumbing at her, "Is concerned that you may not be aware that I brought two gorgeous young women aboard the flitter, milady."

  Sue grinned at Joan, then disappeared and rematerialized beside Brittany, who shrieked again. I felt my implant tingle sympathetically as Sue fed her theta waves.

  "Brittany," I said, finishing the job of dicing up Tiger's steak, "Have a seat and relax. That's just how Sue gets around when she wants to be seen."

  As wide-eyed Brittany hesitantly eased around Sue to return to her seat, I wiped my knife on one of my paper towel hankies, ran a searing heat field over the blade to sterilize it, then closed the knife and put it back in my belt sheath.

  "Good stuff, huh, Tiger?"

  Looking up at me, he replied, "Yes. Very good. Thank you," then he looked around at the others.

  Focusing on Loren, he said, "Hello. I am Tiger." He then looked at Brittany and repeated his greeting.

  Both women stared at him fixedly and Brittany looked as if she might get out of her seat again.

  "Sorry, Tiger," I said, "Most people just aren't used to cats who speak as well as you. Give them a minute or so."

  If he'd been human, he'd have probably shrugged as he looked at me, said, "Okay," and went back to his steak bits.

  Almost inaudibly, Loren muttered, "You gotta be kidding."

  "Nope. His collar translates for him. What kind of story are you going to tell the reporters when we get back?"

  Brittany blinked at me and asked, "Story?"

  "Yeah. Are you just gonna tell 'em we dropped some people off in North Dakota, turned around, and came back? Or will you clam up and make it look like some kind of secret mission?"

  Loren grinned at that. Brittany didn't.

  She asked, "Why tell them anything?"

  "If you don't, some of 'em'll prob'ly try real hard to figure we had an orgy or worse. That's how they are, y'know. Anything to sell a few papers."

  Joan and Loren thought it was funny. Brittany stiffened and looked at them before looking at Dick. He happened to be intently eyeballing her chest at the time and rather self-consciously dragged his gaze to her face.

  That seemed to polarize Brittany's opinions. She turned to Loren and asked, "So, what'll we tell them?"

  "Call it an advertising junket," I said. "That's how you'd have to write off our dinner anyway, since we aren't food critics. When our pictures appear on TV and in the papers tomorrow, 3rd World's Dallas office will probably want to ask you what we were up to. Maybe you can milk some publicity."

  Nodding, Loren said, "Sounds good enough for now."

  "Something else," I said. "Dallas is about fifteen minutes from my house in Florida. If I went to a local restaurant, I'd have to wait that long for food, so I might as well visit Dallas. Feed me when I'm in town and I'll park the flitter above the street in visible mode."

  "Visible mode?" echoed Brittany, looking a bit confused.

  "Yup. It was out there all during our dinner. Did you see it before I turned it blue?"

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Sue raised a hand slightly and said, "Ed, an attempted robbery in Sioux City has turned into a hostage situation."

  Making a hands-off-the-controls gesture, I said, "You have the ship, milady."

  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."r />
  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?"