Chapter 27
“Ishould be out there,” the Germinator lamented. “I mean, I’m a superhero. I should be out there, not waiting for the cats to do whatever it is they do.”
“They’re locating Odelia,” said Mercedes. “And when they’ve found her, they will tell us, and we can go in. Isn’t that right, Vesta?”
Vesta nodded. “That is exactly right. Better to make good use of the cats while we have them. Let them sniff out Odelia and lead us straight to her.”
“I hate this,” said the Germinator as he shook his head.
It was still a little weird staring at a grown man dressed in a bumblebee suit, but Vesta had to say that she was gradually getting more and more used to it. A little longer and the Germinator would be a full-fledged part of the team.
“We will be good to go any second now,” she told the man—if he was a man, of course.
Maybe he really was a superhero from a distant planet populated by bumblebees.
Though if he was, would he really be hanging out with three senior citizens as they staked out a police academy so they could prevent one woman from falling in love with another man?
She didn’t think so.
“I think you’re such a great person for doing this,” said Scarlett, deciding to lay on the charm.
She had placed a hand on the man’s arm and moved a little closer.
“I mean, any other superhero would prefer to go off to fight some evil alien overlord. But you are right here, in the thick of it. Making it count. And I think that’s just swell, Mr. Germinator. ”
The guy seemed to respond well to her treatment, for he stopped fidgeting and leaned against the BearCat for a moment.
“Well, as a superhero, I feel it’s my duty to look after people.
And you know what? Superheroes have forgotten that it’s all about the people.
Not about flying off into space or battling monsters.
Our job is to look after the little people. ”
“And I salute you for it,” said Scarlett, pressing parts of her ample frontage against the man’s upper arm. “So what made you decide to become a superhero, Mr. Germinator?”
“You can call me Germie,” said the man as he suppressed a nervous giggle. He might be a superhero, but clearly he wasn’t all that used to being around women.
“Well, Germie? Tell us your life story.”
“It all started when I was six,” said Germie, “and our planet was attacked by badgers?—”
All of a sudden, there was a loud explosion, and they all jumped up. And so Vesta yelled, “Into the truck! Now!”
They all hurried into the vehicle, and as she started up the engine, her trusty old BearCat rumbled to life with a loud grumbling sound.
“Odelia is in danger,” she said through gritted teeth. “We need to save her!”
And so she steered her vehicle straight at the chain-link fence that surrounded the compound and drove right through it.
“Are you sure this is a good idea, Vesta?” asked Scarlett.
“I don’t care!” she yelled. “My granddaughter is in danger. We need to act! Now!”
“Terrorists, most likely,” said Mercedes tersely. “They are attacking the police academy, trying to take as many casualties as they can.” She glanced around. “How many people fit into one of these things, would you say, Vesta?”
“Easily a dozen,” she said.
“Okay, so we can save a dozen,” said Mercedes.
“How about these doors? Reinforced?” asked Scarlett.
“Bulletproof,” said Vesta. “They can even withstand a direct hit from an RPG!”
“God, I hope that won’t be necessary,” said Scarlett.
“Make sure those gun ports are closed!” said Vesta. “That’s where they might be able to penetrate!”
She had been steering in the general direction of where the loud explosion had come from, and as she suddenly burst out of the bushes she had been coursing through, she saw that a line of people stood aiming their guns at her.
“It’s them!” she yelled. “It’s the terrorists! Batten down the hatches! Here we go!”
She aimed for the biggest terrorist first, hoping to mow him down. Unfortunately for her, the guy jumped out of the way before she could hit him, and so did the second. As she went down the line, suddenly she saw a familiar face. It was none other than her granddaughter!
“Oh, joy!” she yelled. “It’s Odelia! She’s alive!”
“Let’s drag her in,” said Scarlett, and opened one of the reinforced steel doors. As she did, she accidentally whacked one of the terrorists in the face. The man went down hard, which was a good thing, as far as Vesta was concerned. That would teach him a lesson!
“Odelia, get in!” Scarlett yelled at the stupefied-looking young woman. “Before they start again!”
And since Odelia seemed too stunned to move, Scarlett and Mercedes worked together to drag her physically into the safety of the reinforced steel-plated vehicle, safe from harm.
Moments later, they were off again, and that’s when another explosion sounded.
“They’re shooting at us!” Vesta yelled. “Let’s get the bastards!”
And so she simply turned her vehicle around and started going down the line again.
The terrorists had popped up from where they had jumped, but when they saw the armored truck heading their way, they once more jumped out of the way to safety.
“Where are those explosions coming from?” Vesta yelled. She was determined to put a stop to this nonsense once and for all.
“Gran, what are you doing?” Odelia yelled. She had sufficiently recovered from her ordeal of being used as target practice by those terrorists.
“I’m taking names and taking no prisoners,” she said as she steered the vehicle toward where she thought those explosions were coming from.
“You almost hit those people back there!” said Odelia.
“I’m sorry I missed them,” she said ruefully. “They jumped faster than I could drive.”
“But…”
“Not now, honey,” said Vesta. “We need to focus on completing our mission first!”
“Let me out,” said the Germinator suddenly.
“It’s fine, Germie,” said Scarlett. “You can get out once we arrive at the terrorists’ lair, so you can fight them in close quarters. Use those special superpowers of yours.”
“No, I want to get out now!” said Germie.
Vesta felt a surge of admiration for the tall superhero. He was so eager to fight that he couldn’t wait.
“Okay, let’s get you out,” she said as she pulled the vehicle to a full stop. “Thump that big red button,” she told the man.
The guy did as she said and hurried out of the vehicle, eager to take the fight to these terrorists.
But as they all watched, instead of going to where the explosions had come from, he went the other way and quickly vanished into the bushes.
“Probably taking a detour,” said Scarlett. “To ambush them from the side.”
“What a guy,” said Vesta. “A real hero.”
“I need to interview him for the paper,” said Odelia. “Dan wants this guy on the front page.”
“Okay, let’s find out where these bastards are hiding,” said Vesta.
“It is unusual that those explosions would go off like that,” Odelia agreed. “Do you really think this is a terrorist attack, Gran?”
“Of course. And it wouldn’t surprise me if the guy you’re in love with has something to do with it.”
“What guy? What are you talking about?”
“The guy you want to leave your husband for,” said Scarlett. “You know, the other recruit?”
“There is no other guy,” said Odelia, but Vesta could tell that she was taken aback. Probably hadn’t thought that they would find out.
“Oh, honey,” she said. “These men are only after one thing, and it’s not your wallet. Don’t you see that you’ve got a good thing going with Chase?”
“Yeah, you need to drop this idea that there is a better man out there for you, Odelia,” said Scarlett. “Trust me, there isn’t. Chase is the best thing that ever happened to you.”
“Hear, hear,” said Vesta.
“I have no idea what you guys are talking about,” said Odelia. “Honest.”
They had reached the location where the explosions had originated from, and just as she was looking frantically around, trying to determine where the terrorist lair might be, all of a sudden another explosion sounded and ripped through the wall of one of the low-slung brick buildings.
“That’s our classrooms,” said Odelia. “And they’re blowing them up!”
“I’m going in,” said Gran, and steered the vehicle directly toward the school building that had just been ripped open by that explosion. And as she put her foot down, she emitted a loud yell, just like she imagined a true warrior would do.
True to its reputation, the BearCat smashed straight through the side of the small building. As the dust settled and the rubble cleared, she realized they had landed in some kind of storage room, stacked from floor to ceiling with ammunition and explosives.
“Christ,” she said. “Looks like we’ve arrived in the right place. Or the wrong one.”
“This is not my classroom,” said Odelia. “This is something else entirely.”
“Are those… grenades?” asked Mercedes as she pointed to a crate full of the things.
“We need to get out of here,” said Gran. “Now!”
The problem was, there were so many explosives that even the BearCat’s steel armor might not be enough to protect them. If the whole lot went up at once, they’d all be toast.
And so she quickly put the BearCat in reverse, and in the process demolished the rest of the building she had just crashed into.
“I didn’t see any terrorists in there,” said Scarlett.
“They’re probably hiding in a different part of the compound,” said Mercedes. She held out her hand. “My name is Mercedes, by the way. Pleased to meet you.”
“Pleased to meet you,” said Odelia.
They had managed to extricate themselves from the building, and as they did, Vesta searched around for the terrorists she was convinced were holed up close by.
Then all of a sudden, she saw it: a man was running full tilt away from them.
“Hey, that’s Zeke Hunkoff,” said Odelia. “My instructor.”
The guy was being chased by no fewer than five cats, Vesta saw, and clearly he didn’t like it, for he kept shouting something at them.
“Look, it’s the cats,” said Scarlett.
“Odd,” said Vesta. “Why would the cats engage with a terrorist?”
“Zeke is not a terrorist,” said Odelia. “I’m telling you, he’s my instructor.”
Vesta gave her granddaughter a suspicious look. “Is he the man you’re having an affair with?” she asked.
Odelia’s face colored, and that told her all she needed to know.
“He is,” she said, and immediately put the BearCat in higher gear and went after the guy.
Forgotten were the terrorists she had come to hunt, and now all of her attention was on the guy who was trying to rip apart her beloved family and make Grace the daughter of divorced parents.
“I’ll get him for this,” she grunted as she set her eyes on the back of the man’s head.
“Watch out for the cats, Vesta,” said Scarlett. “Make sure you don’t run them over.”
“I won’t run them over,” she assured her friend and co-Watch commander.
“Gran, what are you doing?” Odelia cried. “You’re going to hit Zeke!”
“I’m not going to hit him,” said Gran. “I’m just going to nudge him a little.”
She pressed a button on the dashboard, and from the roof of the BearCat, a suspension arm started to move, powered by a hydraulic system, and swung out before them, extending farther and farther out. Mostly it was used to ram through doors.
“Gran!” Odelia cried, as she saw that her lover was about to be hit. “Stop!”
But Vesta was not the kind of person who did as she was told.
Quite the contrary. When people told her to stop, it acted on her like a red rag on a bull.
And so she pressed down a little more on the accelerator, until the suspended battering ram that extended from the roof of the steel tank ever so gently tapped the fleeing lover on the back of the head.
The man went down hard, and immediately she stopped the vehicle.
As they all got out, Odelia was the first to reach the man. Much to her elation, he was still alive, but as Vesta could see, Odelia was far too emotionally involved with the man for her own good.
As she and Mercedes and Scarlett watched on, their arms crossed in front of their collective chests, with Odelia fussing over the fallen instructor, Vesta knew that their work wasn’t done.
“We need to dig up dirt on this guy,” she said under her breath.
“And we will,” Mercedes returned, also under her breath.
And then they’d make short shrift of this fatal attraction once and for all.