Chapter 91

"So..."

We packed up and saw Victor and Misty off before reconvening on the wooden dock on folding chairs.

"...what are we gonna do?"

"Resolve the question..."

Judy shrugged.

"...dramatically."

"Are you sure about this?"

We all looked questioningly at our Clever Girl.

"Yeah, uh. I've given her enough chances to leave me alone. But she won't settle, so, uh."

Judy shrugged.

"...solve the issue dramatically."

"All right, well, Lucy, Kiwi, Parker gave me the meeting place, so let's get on the city grid and check it out. We need to get a sense of what's going on. I'm sure there's gonna be some kind of ambush. So, uh."

"Roger that."

Kiwi and Lucy went to the car, where they took their seats and plugged the cables into their neck jacks. We have a couple of lanes in town where the girls can plug in and find out what's what.

"Panam, you and the girls will have to stay away from the meeting place."

"Okay..."

Panam and Becca nodded their heads.

"Judy..."

"I'll be in the trunk. Pretending to be a girl in a blackout."

I nodded.

"Suit yourself..."

"And also. I'm the one who has to reset it."

I had a lot more doubts about her decision this time, as did all the other girls who were still around us.

"Judy..."

Apparently Becca decided to show her her doubts about her choice.

"What?"

She looked at Becca glumly.

"How about me or David? We're used to it."

"No..."

From Judy came a wave of a certain single-mindedness and fixation on the decision she had already made.

"Okay..."

I sighed.

"...I'll back you up anyway, so if you can't finish this story, I'll finish it for you."

"Uh-huh...

"All right, time to get to the car..."

We gathered up the chairs and quickly stashed them in the house, then walked to the car, where I removed a knife from my belt and held it out to Judy.

"This is for you. A last chance weapon, so to speak."

She nodded and immediately got a gun from Becky.

"Take care of yourself, we can't be around when they "pass" you, so be careful and pay attention. David's got your back, but don't get shot at."

"Okay..."

We opened the trunk, whereupon Judy climbed in and collapsed in it defiantly with her tongue out to the side.

"Judy..."

Hand-face was the only reaction I, and the girls, could demonstrate to this behavior.

"Judy..."

Panam looked at her friend with irritation.

"What's up? I'm kidding a bit...naturally I'll do a normal impersonation of me being out, it's just that you're all too stressed out."

"Judy, we're tense because we're sending you on a combat mission and you've never been on one before."

"I actually live in Knight City for quite a long time, so I had to deal with the gangsters myself with all the gangsters, and I was a member of the Helms, and they are a gang, no matter how hard they try to position themselves as a protector of girls..."

"I realize this as much as anyone else..."

I raised my hand stopping Judy's indignation, which she was clearly going to continue to express.

"But let's be honest, I've got two sentient beings on my team who could be involved in the hot phase of the operation. Me and Becca. I don't doubt your skills and your ability to stand up for yourself, but if you have to take up arms, I'm screwed."

"But that's not the point here..."

Judy wasn't going to give up.

"You're wrong. I could have calculated Parker's behavior, and what can I say, I did, but I didn't do anything. I figured she'd give up sooner or later. And the fact that she's trying to trick me into kidnapping your grandmother--

I shook my head.

"...that wasn't part of my calculations. And if it wasn't, she might take a chance and actually kidnap your grandmother or take someone else hostage... It's my fault for not doing the math."

"David, you shouldn't say that. you didn't know her, and I did. But even I didn't do the math, so it's not your fault."

I shrugged. It wasn't that I felt guilty, but I didn't consider Parker a threat. Not until she called and told me that Judy's grandmother was at her...

After this news, I realized that I had underestimated her for nothing, and this girl could cause a lot of trouble.

"Still, I wouldn't want you to get her blood on your hands."

"I... whatever. But I'd still like to deal with her personally, since she raised her hand against my grandmother, even if theoretically."

"Okay..."

I pulled a bag of chains from the trunk of the car and held one out to Judy.

"This one's empty, plug it in and pretend you're out. I think you might learn a little something before you act."

"You think she's gonna come pick me up?"

"I think so. with her team and maybe undercover, but she'll come to you."

"Well, uh. that's her style."

Judy nodded and plugged the splinter in, then sighed defiantly as she climbed into the trunk and made herself comfortable. I even covered her with a small blanket and tucked a pillow I'd found in the house under her head.

"Are you comfortable?"

"Yeah, uh. but it's kind of, uh."

"Well, I'm not gonna bring my girlfriend back like some junk that's not even fit to be dismantled. And if Parker doesn't like it, I'll just send her away."

"All right, let's get going. I don't really want to be in the trunk all day."

"All right, now we'll get a team liaison and we'll go..."

I slammed the trunk shut and immediately a call from Judy followed, and a couple seconds later all the other girls joined the line.

"Great. Let's go home."

"Why?"

The other girls were also surprised.

"It's just that if I'm going to be driving, I should get Panam her rifle so she can cover us, and Becca won't mind at least watching what's going on through the crosshairs."

"Well..."

The girls were clearly in agreement with what I said.

"By the way, Judy, we forgot something..."

"Break the connection?"

"Yeah..."

"Can we stay in it a little longer? I'm more comfortable."

"Of course we can, but how will it affect you if I have to use Sandi to the fullest?"

"I don't know... but you're the one who can cut off unity or stifle it... so I'm relying on you for that."

"Okay..."

I nodded and finally started the car, then pressed the gas pedal into first gear and we finally pulled into the Klan parking lot.

"Kiwi, Lucy?"

"So far, we're going through the city's networks, trying to find her, but it's harder than it looks. Even given that we've already figured out where she called you from, tracing her entire route, given that some parts of it were in places where there are no cameras..."

"Judy, could your ex have thought this through?"

"Well, uh. she's not stupid. So basically, yeah."

"You're not sure? It's just that your voice sounds extremely uncertain..."

"She can be overconfident... You know this because you know how she made preparations to storm that hotel..."

"To be fair, it wasn't an assault, but yes, you're right, Parker's training was abysmal. She relied too much on DeShawn and his team."

"Exactly..."

The car drove smoothly down the freeway and then exited the freeway, and ten minutes afterward found itself at the entrance to Camp Aldecaldo.

"Uh..."

"Yeah, Judy, what's wrong?"

"I was thinking, why am I driving from the picnic site to home in the trunk?"

"Because you got in there by yourself?"

"But, uh."

"You could have said no, but you just climbed in without complaint. So I thought I'd just seize the moment and pretend I'd kidnapped you from your father's house. You know, like in the not-so-distant past, some people had a tradition of kidnapping brides from their homes--

"Well..."

Judy was very embarrassed at the comparison, but at the same time she was pleased that I had said so calmly that I recognized her as my fiancée. Panam and Becca quickly returned to the car, bringing me a belt and scabbard for throwing knives, of course concealed, as well as a holster to fit under my jacket.

Unfortunately, wearing my costume now is not an option, it would be too suspicious, and hiding its presence would be unrealistic. So I had to make do with a minimal set of concealed carry. I fastened it all on myself and finally turned the car around and headed for the city.

But driving aimlessly around the city I didn't, instead finding myself on the edge of town I dropped Parker a message.

"I've got Judy and she's unconscious. What's next?"

I immediately got a reply with the meeting point and time, which I shared with the girls, and Panam was immediately ahead of the best place to cover us with her rifle. It has very good optics, and Panam herself shoots more than adequately.

Twenty minutes and I pulled up to the point where I was supposed to drop off the other girls...

"Go ahead and work, I'll stand around for another five or ten minutes and drive to the rendezvous point."

"Uh-huh...

The girls turned around and went to the point. To be more precise, they went to one of the Megabashes, where there were technical tunnels, which we knew about because of our profession. Of course we didn't know about the tunnels of this particular Megabuilding, but we knew that they were there, and on the way to the building Kiwi and Lucy, as well as Judy herself, had already found the plans of the building, so they knew where exactly they had to climb in order to take a favorable position.

"All right, beauties, from now on, all conversations are callsigns only."

"Eh..."

"Come on, Cherry, it's fun. at least it's good to share those moments when we're just socializing and when we're at work..."

"I get it... but Scribe, aren't you sick of it? Everyone already knows our identities. who's interested... and we all use our call signs..."

"I don't mind. I like my call sign."

"Well you bet, Mentor, you didn't like your call sign, however, I don't mind mine either..."

"Scribner, we don't have any at all who would be against their call signs..."

"Good girl?"

I raised my voice as she said the last sentence and her emotions were in turmoil.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm a little worried."

"Don't worry..."

I shrugged.

"...it's gonna be okay."

"I believe you, Tihonja, but I'm still worried..."

"And by the way, Smartypants."

"Uh-huh?

"Radio silence is being established for you. You're unconscious. so from now on, you can only listen."

Judy's image nodded and then disappeared, but I knew she was still with us, just completely absent from this conversation.

"Uh... Uh, folks."

"Yes, Cherry..."

"I see people meeting..."

"AND?"

"It's Maine's band."

"Fuck..."

Becca didn't hold back.

"Uh-huh. we're fucked, because I don't like Pilar, but I don't want to kill him.

"Yeah and we wouldn't want to zero in on Dorio or Maine..."

"We'll see. hopefully we won't have to do that, at least Cherry will shoot off a couple of limbs and we'll give them first aid so they don't die..."

"That'll do..."

It was a shared decision, after making which I did press the gas pedal and the car touched down...