Lady, Part VII

“Jenna, who is that?” Dane asked slowly.

            “Oh crap.  This is not good.  Dane, put this on.”

            Jenna shoved a bag onto his lap.

            “Ummm, Jen?”

            She didn’t bother looking at him.  “Just put it on!  When you finish grab the blue backpack behind you.”

            Jenna sped up, feeling hunted as the bright red Porsche drove behind her.

            “What do you want me to do with this?”

            She turned on the cruise control and unclipped her seatbelt.  “Take the wheel while I put this stuff on.”

            Jenna put Lady’s costume over her dark dress.  “Okay, I’m good now.”

            “Why are you dressing as Lady?” Dane asked slowly, as though he knew the answer.

            “Because I have to.  Do you know who’s behind us now?  Why you’re dressed in Butler’s padded suit?” Lady spoke with a flawless British accent.

            Dane nodded.  “Stay quiet?”

            Lady nodded.  “Butler’s voice is much deeper than yours.  If you talk you’ll give yourself away.”

            She gradually slowed the car, finally stopping in the middle of the narrow road.  Ringleader’s Porsche stopped behind her.

            Lady and Dane got out, facing Ringleader.

            Ringleader, dressed in the red coat and tan breeches of his namesake, seemed to loom over her as he asked, “So what brings you here, dear Lady?”

            “A challenge,” she said simply.  “All the police are here.”

            “Ahhh,” he replied.

            Strong Man got out of the car and stood solidly behind Ringleader.  A warning.

            “Now, Butler and I have to go, so if you wouldn’t mind, you’ll need to move your car.”

            “Lady, why would you stop if that was all you wanted to say?”

            “You were following too close.  I can’t turn around with you behind me.”

            Ringleader smiled maliciously.  “I don’t think I’ll just let you go, though.”

            Panic surged through Lady, and she swallowed several times to suppress it.  “Why not?  What harm can Butler and I cause you?”

            “You and Butler?  Not much.  But you and young Daniel Waite could cause a bit.”

            “What does Dane have to do with anything?  I don’t even know where he is!”

            Ringleader nodded at Strong Man, his slicked-back dark hair beginning to slip forward.  “We know exactly where Dane is.”

            There was a resounding crack through the silent woods, then Dane grabbed his shoulder.

            “Look at that,” Ringleader said coolly.  “I found him.”

Lady, Part VI

Butler swung the car to the front steps Jenna was sitting on.  She jumped up and opened the driver’s door.  “Butler, I can’t ask you to go with me.  If I…get caught in the crossfire I don’t want you to be involved.”

            Butler smiled.  “I know.  I’m coming anyway.  It’s not like anyone other than you cares about me, or even knows who I am.  My lot’s with you.”

            Jenna embraced the older man and gently turned him around.  “Sorry, Butler.  I still can’t ask you to put your life on the line like that.  Dane’s in trouble, and I have to help him.  You stay here and protect these people.  The man said something about three rings, and only one of them is in the forest.  I’ll take care of that one if you see if you can find the bombs and disable them or something.”

            “You can rely on me,” he said simply. 

            “Be careful!”

            Jenna got into the car and sped away.

            What do I know?  Dane is in the forest to the left of the mansion. What can I do? Find him.  How am I supposed to find him?

            She didn’t know the answer to the last question, just followed the road around the trees.  If she could just find one officer, they could radio for Dane.

            A siren blared from behind her, it’s lights flashing through the dark forest.

            Darn it.  I don’t have time for this right now!

            Jenna laughed at her reaction, slowing the car down and pulling to the side of the road. 

            “Do you know how fast—Jenna?” Dane stared at her in disbelief.

            Jenna felt her whole body collapse in relief.  “Oh good.  I was trying to find you.”

            “By…speeding.” He rubbed his face.  “Jenna, this is why I say you do stupid things!  What are you even doing here?  And why on earth are you wearing that dress?”

            “Dane, there’s no time for that.  Get in the car.  I think someone’s planted a bomb here.”

            Dane stared at her.  “Where is it?”

            Jenna shrugged.  “I overheard someone saying they’ll detonate something in the forest.  Hurry, get in!”

            He didn’t move.  “Did he say anything else?  Any clue that could help me find it?”

            “Dane, you’re not on the bomb squad.  Get in, use the radio to call them in.  Just get in the car!”

            He got in, reporting on his radio.  “Take it easy on the speed, ok?”

            Jenna started the car again, looking for some place to turn around on the narrow road. 

            She glanced around, the odd feeling that someone was watching her setting in, giving her goosebumps.  Then, to her horror, a car began to come up behind her.  Fast.

Music

I know, I've talked about music and writing and how they and very interconnected before, but really, when I hear this song or any song from the Final Fantasy XIII (yup, my secret's out, I LOVE playing FF!!!) I can't help but want to invoke these kinds of moods in my writing.

Amazing, no?

Lady, Part V

Sorry for the late update, guys!!!

Lady slipped through the trees leading up to the mansion.  Light poured outside through the huge windows, forcing Lady to cling to the trunk of the tree. 

            “Patrol three, search the woods!”

            Several policemen ran off behind the house, Dane among them.  Lady stifled a sigh of relief at his retreating back and slipped onto the roof.

            Wedging herself behind the chimney, Lady changed into a dark blue sheath dress.  She shoved her usual costume in her bag and placed it in the nearby tree.  Silently, she slinked across the branch over to the window she had prepared earlier.  She took out a stiff bit of wire, threaded it through the small hole and caught it on the latch.

            A tug, a slid of the window, and Lady was in.

            “What’re you doin’ behind the curtains?”

            A very drunk older man blinked at her owlishly, trying to focus.

            Lady smiled, covering her cheeks as if to hide a blush and stepped away from the gauzy fabric.  “My dad took me here, but I ran into my ex.”

            The drunk peered nearsightedly around the room.  “Who’s your ex?” he asked.

            But Lady wasn’t listening anymore.  Her complete attention was on the man behind her and the woman he was escorting.

            “…finished setting everything up,” she finished.

            The man was silent, and Lady cursed that she couldn’t turn around to see his face.

            “All three rings?  Around the forest too?”

            “Of course,” she responded haughtily.

            “Good.  When we leave give the order for the detonation.”

            “Where’s your ex?” the man repeated.

            Lady smiled charmingly at him, and whispered, “You’ll have to excuse me, he’s coming this way.”

            With that, she swept behind the curtains again, opened the window and leapt into the tree.

            Dane.  Dane’s in the forest.  I have to warn him!  The only thing anyone detonates is…bombs.

            She prepared to jump down the tree when common sense took over.  Running into danger won’t help anyone, she chided herself.

            Flipping open her phone, she pushed the seventh speed dial.  For luck.

            “Jenna?  You’re out all ready?” Butler answered, surprised. 

            There was a click and the acid rock turned off.  “Sorry, I wasn’t expecting you yet.”

            “Butler, we have a problem.  Please tell me something other than bombs detonate!”

            “Jen, calm down.  Did you meet Ringleader or something?  I told you not to steal in the place Ringleader’s marked as his next victim! But no, you had to run off and ‘run circles around the boys in blue’!”

            Lady laughed, despite the situation. “I’m pretty sure I never called them the ‘boys in’,” she froze.

            “Blue,” she whispered.  “That’s who Ringleader meant, not bluebloods, but police officers.”

Lady, Part III (and IV)

Hooray for Labor Day!  In honor of having no school or work I'm posting TWO (that's right TWO) parts!

“Jenna!  You’re finally home!” Austin said, looking up from the old TV.

            Jenna smiled at her brother.  Austin was the stereotypical All-American Boy.  He was the football quarterback in high school, valedictorian and was now a police officer working in traffic.  He had always been her idol growing up, protecting her from everything he could.

            “What cha’ watching?”

            Austin grinned broadly, running a hand through thick blond hair.  “Lady!  There’s a bit of footage from her run tonight!”

            “Only a bit?” Jenna replied, perching herself next to him on the arm of the beat-up sofa.

            “Yeah, one of the police officers had a camera in his car.  It’s not very clear, though.”

            Thank goodness, she thought.  Austin would have recognized her way too fast.

            “Was Dane on duty?”

            “Of course I was.”

            Dane walked through the door, shaking his head at Jenna.  “You shouldn’t leave the door open when you come home.”

            Daniel Waite was the opposite of Austin.  While Austin was very muscular, Dane had a corded look.  Austin had blond hair and blue eyes, while Dane was dark.  But when it came to personality, they were practically identical.  He had been their next-door neighbor all their lives, even now that they had moved away from home.

            “I just barely walked in.”

            “You do stupid things, Jenna. Someone could have come inside, shot you two and robbed the place.”

            “It wouldn’t be that easy,” Austin replied.  “I wouldn’t just let them come in.  But sit down and tell us about the case!”

            “Don’t tell me you’re a Lady fan too,” groaned Dane. 

            “Too?” Austin and Jenna echoed.

            “Quotes, pictures, stories-- you name it, it’s up on the web.”  He sighed and stretched out his long legs, looking tired.  “We don’t need Lady causing trouble.”

            “To be fair, she’s only stealing once in a while.  The police aren’t that busy, right?” Jenna said.

            “We’re always busy.  Rumor is that Ringleader is coming.  If it’s true things are going to get really bad, really fast.”

            “Who’s Ringleader?” Austin asked.

            Dane raised his eyebrows.  “Don’t you watch the news?”

            “Only when Lady’s on,” he grinned.

            “Another Lady fan.  Great.  Ringleader’s a leader of a syndicate called the Circus.   He’s got his hand in just about anything illegal.  Human trafficking, drugs, you name it. He practically owns the black market.”

            He reached into his pocket and dropped a small red and yellow can in Jenna’s hand.  Pepper spray.  “Be careful, ok Jen?” He ruffled her hair.

            Jenna stared at the can.  “Don’t worry about me, Dane,” she whispered.

            “What’s wrong, Lady?” Butler asked.  “Did Austin or Dane figure it out?”

            “No,” Jenna hissed into the phone.  “Do you know what Dane gave me tonight?  Pepper spray.  I’ve taken karate since I was a kid, I’ve tackled both him and Austin to the ground three times each, I’ve avoided the police for almost two years, and he gives me pepper spray and tells me to stay inside like a good girl!”

            Silence, then, “Jenna, I’m not really a therapist.  Can’t you just tell Dane all this?”

            Jenna sat on her bed, resigned.  “No, because he’ll know who both of us are. He’s not an idiot.  He’ll figure that my part-time job is a lie and that my boss is actually my accomplice and you’ll be in trouble too.”

            “Jenna, I trust you.  If you think Dane should be told, then go ahead.  I’m old and bored and don’t care too much what happens to me.  You’re an adult, decide what you’re going to do.”

            Anger flared up in her again.  “At least you admit I’m an adult, that’s more than Dane!” she paused, then, “get me a target for tomorrow after I sell the gem.”

            “That’s not a good idea, Jenna.  Ringleader’s just given the police a warning.”

            “A warning?  What kind of warning?”

“He calls it an invitation, but it’s a notice of who he’s going to target.”

“What does it say?  Do you know?”

Butler laughed.  “Of course I know.  Yellow and red make a nice canopy, don’t you think? I need to take out the blue and my Circus will look great.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?  Take out the blue?”

“Tomorrow’s the reunion for the alumni of an old prep school.  In other words, a gathering of—”

           “Bluebloods. Get me a target anyway.  The police will figure out the riddle and protect them.”