SS Undercover Ch 13

“OK, let’s check it out.” Cassie puts the car in drive and eases forward, and reality comes back, reminding her what she and her companions are wearing. Blushing, she eases to another stop.

Two rows of bikes face each other, and there are two small crews of women. On the left, they wear denim vests. On the right, leather.

Cassie is not a Gurlberg local, and she’s heard about the biker chicks, but she doesn’t know them.

“Are these your bikers?” she murmurs to Kylie.

“Dunno,” the blonde replies.

“It’s them on the left. Free Gurls,” Elsa confirms. “Not sure about the other ones.”

Cassie peers through the windshield. The leader of the denim chicks is kind of scrawny and tomboyish. The one out in front of the leather chicks is busty, theatrical goth straight out of the imagination of a 13-year-old boy. Her black lipstick gleams and her eye makeup is to die for.

Bathed in the headlights, the biker chicks are all staring at them.

“What do we do?” Cassie asks.

Kylie looks oddly serious. “I’m not sure why they’d want our undies.”

“Yeah. Does seem kinda weird,” Elsa agrees.

Colby looks at her in disgust. “Are you down so bad for Kayla Jameson that it has not even occurred to you that she probably fucking lied to get us to let her go?”

Elsa takes that in, looking troubled. “Um,” she says.

“Oh dear,” Apple murmurs.

“Shut up, Apple.” Elsa clears her throat. “I mean, we still have her phone.”

Cassie sighs. “You really think that’ll still be there when we get back? She already broke in once.”

“Oh. Right.” Elsa sucks her breath in through her teeth.

“Maybe they’re going to have a fight,” Apple says hopefully. “Like in the Michael Jackson video.”

“Mm.” Kylie lights up. “A sexy catfight in the mud.”

“What mud?” Colby asks. “Let’s get out of here!”

“Hold on.” Kylie lowers her window and sticks her head out. “Oi! You lot paying big-titted ginger ninjas to steal our knickers?”

The women stare.

“No? Then are you gonna have a fight like the Michael Jackson video?” Kylie calls out.

The two leaders exchange a look. The busty one places her hand on the grip of a pistol in her waistband that Cassie didn’t notice earlier.

“Oh! Jesus fuck!” Cassie yanks Kylie back into the car and puts it in reverse. “Just kidding! Wrong address! Good luck with your obvious **** deal!” Tires squeal as she backs away, and everyone screams as she spins the wheel to get them turned around.

“OK. OK, yeah,” Elsa says, peering out the back with wide eyes. “I don’t think they wanted underwear.”

“Kayla almost just got us human trafficked,” Colby is saying.

“That slag,” Kylie says.

A light blinds them all. It’s a headlight on the road behind.

Colby fumbles with her seatbelt. “Oh shit! They’re coming! Cassie, drive!”

“Perhaps we should call 911?” Apple says hesitantly.

“Wait! Wait!” Kylie snatches her phone from the cupholder. “Good idea, Apple!”

Cassie looks over in alarm. “What? What are we waiting for?”

“I had to get synced. Siri, play Florrie, Call 911. OK, Cas. Now go.” Kylie reaches over and twists the volume knob.

“What the fuck?” Cassie says, both confused and upset as music crashes against her eardrums.

“It’s my jaaam!” Kylie dances in her seat, snapping her fingers.

Cassie eyes the headlight in the rearview mirror, cringes, and puts her foot down. The tires spin, and the car shoots forward.

“Oh god, my car!” Colby wails as Apple clutches her.

“It’s fine, it’s fine, I got it,” Cassie squeaks, barely keeping it on the road as they go into a turn. Nobody can hear her over the music. She doesn’t dare take a hand off the wheel to turn it down. The Kia howls through the curve, picking up speed on the way out. There’s glare from the pursuing motorcycle, and the swamp gleams wetly in Cassie’s headlights.

The light vanishes. Cassie turns the music down. “Are we good?”

“Dunno,” Colby says uncertainly. “Were they really chasing us?”

“Probably just wanted to make sure we got home safe,” Elsa says.

“OK. OK.” Cassie needs to slow down. She takes a deep breath, and suddenly there’s red and blue flashing in the rearview. “Ah, fuck me!”

“Oh shit,” Kylie laughs.

Colby looks accusingly at Elsa. “What did you give her?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh shit.” Trying not to puke, Cassie pulls over. The swamp seems… very dark. “Guys, buckle up if you’re not. Oh god. We are so fucked.”

Kylie wipes away a tear of mirth. Cassie realizes she isn’t just drunk, and this isn’t just an edible. She twists in her seat to glare at Elsa. “Did you give her real ****?”

“I don’t know why everyone keeps asking me that. Seems racist. I want my lawyer,” Elsa says, avoiding eye contact.

“Oh god.” Cassie moans into her hand as a figure approaches. She lowers the window.

The officer leans on the car and peers inside.

“Um,” Cassie says nervously. “For what it’s worth, if this doesn’t make me sound drunk, we were getting chased by a chick on a motorcycle. There were two biker gangs meeting at the skate park. One of them had a gun.”

The woman is about as old as Cassie’s mother. She’s lean and looks tired. Her businesslike bun and cursory makeup indicate some measure of having given up on life. The cop rubs her eyes, then leans in to survey the occupants of the car.

“Kylie,” she says.

“Hiya,” Kylie replies.

The cop’s gaze lingers on Kylie’s eyes. “Elsa.”

“I want a lawyer,” Elsa says from the backseat.

The cop grimaces and looks down at Cassie’s outfit. She sighs. “License and registration, please.”

“It’s in the glove box,” Colby squeaks.

Cassie doesn’t have anything but her phone, which is wedged in her cleavage because there’s nowhere else to put it. She smiles hesitantly. “About that.”

Kylie opens the glove box and paws through it. “How many tampons and ChapSticks does one woman need?”

Colby glares. Kylie hands the documents to the cop, who glances at them, then hands them back.

“Out. All of you,” she says, patting the roof of the car.

Sick with dread, Cassie unbuckles and climbs out. The others do the same, and Colby and Kylie totter around to join Apple, Elsa, and Cassie in the road. They’re lit up brightly by the lights of the patrol car.

A long, miserable moment goes by.

“You,” the cop says to Cassie. “Count backwards from a hundred.”

Cassie takes a deep breath and complies. The cop stops her at eighty.

“Alphabet. Backward.”

Cassie does her best.

“Walk this line.”

“Yup,” Cassie replies, fighting back tears.

“OK, I’m gonna have you blow here.”

It’s Cassie’s first sobriety test.

“It’s your lucky night,” the cop says. “This isn’t a DUI. But you were doing twenty over without a license. You’re gonna eat a fat ticket.”

Cassie sighs.

“As for all this,” the cop goes on, gesturing at the five of them in their costumes. “I thought you guys had chilled out with this stuff now that Leni’s in charge. I guess not. I got enough morons doing moron things.”

“Hey,” Colby says, interrupting. “Did you hear us about the biker chicks?”

“What about them?”

“There were a bunch of them,” Cassie says, pointing. “You should check it out.”

“Even if that were true, is that something one officer would want to do alone?” the cop asks.

Cassie frowns. “I guess not.”

“They were obviously doing a **** deal,” Colby says helpfully.

“Did you see ****?” the cop asks sharply.

“Well, no.”

“Were they hurting someone?”

“They were just talking.”

“That’s not against the law. What’s it going to be? Do I book you all for drunk and disorderly and a peace disturbance? You want to spend the night in jail?”

She lets it hang. Cassie blinks, unsure what to think. She’s upset and afraid. Apple is bawling, and Colby’s barely holding it together. Kylie is glazed. Elsa looks pissed. The cops seem to know Elsa and Kylie already. They aren’t happy, but they don’t seem scared of her.

Take full responsibility and accept consequences?

Or ask about the implied alternative?

[ Open - there's also yet another new blog post. It's mostly about VFU By Night stuff, but it's also about the stuff that will get posted when our main story is paused for a vote. Nothing essential. My spring break is ending! If you did a commission earlier this week, you'll receive it soon, and then we'll slow down again while I finish RFRequiem. www.vfuniverse.org ]