CH 90

James Horton, or rather, James Hatten now, sat and compiled what he knew about this Joan Connor. The metal terminator who'd come back from the future to take over their world was her mother. It amazed him that a machine could duplicate humans so well, not just in shape but in function also. That meant they could multiply. They made them a worse threat than immortals. At least immortals were sterile. What surprise him also was the speed and ferocity of their reactions against him. That was surprising. It also meant he had to be very careful with each move he made.

Although it was difficult finding the original machines, he did find a news item about a Jackie Connor winning a fencing tournament up in New England. The news item showed her with her trophy. Yes, of course she would win, being stronger and faster than any human. That was two now he identified. Both females, both most likely able to keep producing more mutants to challenge humanity for world domination.

He had to wonder how many if these things were running around that no one knew about. The thought made him shudder. This Jackie needed to be watched, and if possible, a trap set up for her. He was sure sooner or later, his mermaid fin store trap would catch one. The people working there for him had metal detector wands and he had figured out how to immobilize them. Strength and speed both required one thing to be effective - the ability to move. Take that away, and they'd be helpless.

Once he had one, it would be easier to get recruits, for he could show them the danger of what humanity faced before he disassembled it to sent it off to his sponsors in China.

.

Coming back to Austin after a great game against Chicago, they won 62 - 31, other girls saw and like the idea of swimming with mermaid tails. Carla, Berry, Patty and Misty found a 'soon to be open' store that was going to sell mermaid tails from cheaper less realistic to the expensive ones like Joan and Allison used. They couldn't wait for the store to open!

Misty who had seen the TED talk Dana gave, also was sure that if she had a tail and learned how to use it, she might be able to discover a mermaid pod at some remote beach or inlet. That would be so cool!

.

Misty wasn't the only one who saw the TED talk. A billionaire who saw it called his enforcer and showed it to him. The old man who was used to getting his own way told his enforcer ,"That woman, Dana McGregor. Find her and do whatever you need to to get me one of those mermaids."

"Anything sir?"

"Anything. Just cover it up if you need to. Open account."

"Yes, sir."

.

Dana was packed for her trip home. She called the front desk and asked for a cab. The man assured her he would have one for her within ten minutes. Toting her bag and Chomper following along, she took the elevator down to the lobby. Passing the desk, she gave the man her key card on the way out.

The man said "I hope you had a pleasant stay. Another man is headed for the airport, so he held the cab so you two can share the fare, if that's all right with you?"

"Sure! Have a good day," he said brightly. Going out the cab was right there, two men in the front seat. She opened th back door. "Going to the airport?" she asked.

"We are," the driver said, "Fare share between you?"

"Sounds good to me," she agreed. She lifted Chomper up and in, then got in herself.

The cabby started the meter and pulled out into traffic.

The ride was quiet but not bad. Chomper got up against the other door to look out the window. Dana grinned at his curiousness, then noticed they passed the highway exit and were heading into a area with old factories.

"Where we going?" she asked.

"Shortcut, less traffic," the driver told her.

He was right. In fact, she didn't see any other traffic. Ahead was a river. He turned and went down an old road along the river and stopped under the highway bridge. The man on the right got out.

Dana felt a spark of fear, the spark grew quickly as the man opened her door and pointed a gun at her. "Out," he commanded.

"I don't have any money!" Dana cried.

He reached in grabbed a handful of her shirt and dragged her out. Dana screamed as she was dragged from the cab.

Chomper jumped out and clamped down on the arm the man had Dana by. He screamed and let Dana go. He put his gun to Chomper's head and put two shots into his head. Seeing Dana get up to run, he shot her in the right butt cheek She fell. He still had to pry his arm out of the dead gator's mouth.

"Fuckin thing!" The man growled. His forearm was bleeding and it hurt like hell. He went over to Dana. She was struggling to get up. He kicked her in the face. Pointing the gun at her head he growled, "Where are those mermaids!"

In pain and staring down the barrel of that gun, she cried, "I don't know!"

He shot her left arm. She howled in pain and tried to turn over. He kicked her flat. Tell me or you are dead!"

Dana shook her head, "Please stop, I don't.." she shifted his aim to her right shoulder.

BANG

Dana was in too much pain to even scream, Her eyes and mouth were wide open as she moaned out her agony.

"Listen, bitch, I'm not gonna kill you, but take you to some guys who LOVE sexual torture if you don't tell me what I want to know! You wanna be a crack house whore? If not, you better tell me where those mermaids are!"

"You fucknut!" the driver spat as he approached. "We question her, not kill her! Talk about low rent help."

"That thing of hers bit me!"

The driver shook his head. "Get her in the car, we gotta get out of here and get some answered before she dies."

The men got Dana in the back seat and left. The driver got them to a mob doctor, but his 'help' was passed out and Dana had died. With all the blood in the back, the cab was a loss also. The boss wasn't going to be happy. He drove to the junkyard to dispose of the evidence.

.

Not long after they had left the underside of the bridge, a patrol car came along and saw the dead alligator and the blood on the ground. They called for blood samples t be taken, all that blood didn't come from that samll alligator.

.

This was harder that Jackie thought it would be. Daniel and Louise came with her, carrying tools a piece of plywood and a fiberglass repair kit. The tide was lower so the whole boat was out of the water. Daniel began working at the hole, Jackie and Louise looked down inside at the engine.

Jackie frowned. There were pipes, hoses and wires running all over it. It was like the engine itself was buried.

"How are we going to get that out?" Louise asked.

"Take everything apart," Jackie said. She also had no idea how to start.

Daniel peek up. "How about this, we get the hull patched, then tow it to someplace to get the engine fixed instead of trying to do it here."

"Yeah, that might be better," Louise agreed.

"We need another boat," Jackie said sourly.

The marina the Waylands used was 15 miles away. at the end of his bay, only a couple miles away thee were some docks and a few boats. They went there looking for a tow.

This marina was owned by a family. The older boy agreed to rent them an outboard speedboat , so long as he drove. They got rope for towing and set off to to being the cabin cruiser back. Getting to the beach, the boy said, "Guys, I can't pull that thing off the beach with this."

"Just tow it after we get it off," Daniel told him.

The boy grinned. "OK, this should be fun to watch." He got them close to shore. In the couple feet of water, they got out and waded over to the boat.

Jackie saw the propeller was digging into the sand. So was the rudder."This is gonna suck," she grumbled.

Daniel looked underneath. "Hey, get the rope, we can put it under here and lift it that way."

With the rope doubled up and over their shoulders for more leverage, and Daniel at the bow to push, They did lift and moved it back so the screw and rudder now sank into the sand in the surf. Two more lift and pushes, and they got the back floating. A quick check on the inside, and the oily bottom of the boat wasn't taking on any water.

Re-positioning to the bow, they did lift/push the boat back in so it was floating. Daniel climbed up on with one end of the rope, Jackie got back in the speedboat to tie the rope onto cleats there. Louise got on the cabin cruiser to steer.

The boy slowly applied power, the rope tightened up and they began to move. At an easy pace, the little boat pulled the cabin cruiser along. As they headed for the end of the bay, Louise had a question. She asked Daniel.

Daniel called over, "We're going good, but where's the brakes to stop?"

The boy called back, "Boats don't have brakes. Reversing the engine stops the boat."

"But this one doesn't work!" Daniel called back.

"Uh oh," Jackie grumbled.

.

Luckily, the boy knew what he was doing. Out from the docks he told Louise to just follow, and lowered his engine to an idle. They kept moving towards the docks, but they we slowing down.

"Jackie, right?" the boy called. "The rope is slack, untie it. When we get close to the dock, jump over. On the big boat, untie the rope from the front cleats and put it on the back on the side by the dock. You're going to have to pull to stop your boat."

Daniel nodded, untied the rope and got ready to move to the back. They were creeping along, not even at a walking speed. Jackie jumped off the speedboat and ran to the end of the dock. Daniel got the rope tied into a rear cleat, as their boat drifted close, he jumped over. Seeing this, Louise did too. The three of them hauled back on the rope. The boat dragged them a dozen feet, but hauling back hard, they got it stopped. A jump back over onto the boat and they tied the front to the dock.

Yes! They did it! Now to get the engine dealt with.

The boy's father, a rugged looking bearded man had come home. Coming out onto the dock He saw Jackie pay the boy and asked, "What's going on here?"

The boy beamed and said, "Dad, I made a hundred bucks to help them get their boat off a beach!"

The man nodded. "So, why is it here?"

Jackie explained. "This boat belongs to a family, we saw them sinking and went out to help them. A piece of the engine punched a hole in it. We got it over to the beach and fixed the hole. Where that beach was, we can't get anything down the cliff to fix the engine, so we brought it here to see if we can fix it here."

"Dad, they picked it up and put it back in the water, that was pretty awesome to watch."

The man stroked his long beard and asked, "How bad's this engine?"

"It put a piston right through the side of the boat," Jackie explained as she pointed.

The man got up on the boat and opened the engine space cover. He went down in, then came back up out to sit in the edge. "That motor's blow, no fix to it," he told them. "This boat needs a drydock to put a new engine in and properly fix that patch you put in the hull. Know why those folks didn't call for help?"

"They said everything ran off the engine. They had no emergency battery," Jackie said.

"This thing shouldn't have even been out on the water," the man told them. "No life raft, no emergency beacon I can see, no radar... it's not up to maritime code."

"It can be fixed though, can't it?" Jackie asked.

"Pour enough money into it sure. Just from what I'm seeing, you're talking 20, 25 grand to fix an old boat. Add labor and docking fees, add another ten on top of that. You tell those folks that. See what they want to do. My bet is, they'll want to just buy another boat."

"But all repaired, won't it be worth selling?' Daniel asked.

The man snorted. "If you want to get back the repairs you put into it. 40 grands will get you a new one and those come with a warranty and usually a year's worth of insurance."

Jackie called Ron Wayland and let him talk to the man, Richard Hackel. Hackel explained everything then told him where they lived. He gave the phone back when they were done and said, "Kids, he's coming to get their stuff out of the boat. He only paid 12 grand for it, and doesn't want to fix it. Since you saved their lives, it's yours if you want it."

"Ours?" Jackie asked.

He nodded. "If you don't want it, I'll pull everything useful off it, then take it out and sink it."

"After we saved it?" Louise asked.

"You saved that family. This boat is trash without some major work," he stated.

Daniel winced. "Ahh Jackie? If you want, I'll help fix this boat up, but Mr. Haskel does have a good point."

Jackie looked a the boat and frowned. "It seems a waste just to let it sink."

"It does look like a nice boat ... if it worked," Louise added.

Mr. Haskel got up and came back over to the dock. "Tell you what kids, If you do decide you want this boat, I got that barn over there I'm not using and that boat ramp over there with a platform to get it up and into the barn. I'll rent you the space and find the most cost effective parts to put on it, if you want a project to work on. It will be less expensive if you do much of the work yourselves."

Jackie asked Daniel, "Do you want a boat? I don't know how much longer we're going to be here."

Daniel got a mental image of Jackie lying on the front deck in a bikini, laid out enjoying the sun. "Jackie, if you want to go for rides with me, I'll keep it for you."

Mr. Haskel spoke up and said, "Well, think about it. When Mr. Wayland gets here he's going to want an answer."

Jackie said, "Let's go on and check it out."

They had only been on top, and Louise had been in the wheelhouse. They went below and found a kitchen, two bedrooms, and a small bathroom with a shower. There were storage lockers all over the place, and finding a lift plate on the floor in the store room back near the engine compartment was a 'basement' where tanks, pipes and a couple pumps were. It was also half full of water. They got the hand pump down here and ran the hose up over the side and began pumping the water out.

Watching Jackie take her turn to pump, Louise looked out at the small lounge/ dinning room by the kitchen. "You know, this isn't a bad boat. I just think it hasn't been kept up properly."

Daniel came in from the engine room. I found an oil tank, it's empty. The patch is still holding."

"We're going to have to learn how to fix a boat if we do this," Jackie reminded them.

Daniel cracked a grin, "You were ready to do that, weren't you? Now you'll be just fixing it for yourself."

"And you too."

"Guys? I think it would be neat if we have our own boat," Louise offered, "But, where would we keep it?"

"Here?" Daniel guessed. "There is a marina not that far away."

"I can afford it, but I wonder how much time we'll have to actually use it," Jackie said in a musing tone.

"We're finishing school with Daniel's teacher, aren't we?" Louise asked.

"We're going to need jobs, too," Daniel said. "And we seriously need to find income for Barnabas' factory."

"That means we'll be here a while." Jackie concluded.

"I'll stay to fix the boat, but I want to get home after," Louise said. "I still got the music group I was with."

They pondered enough that Jackie saw the level of water below was now only a few inches deep. She also saw the leaking pipe that was putting out a dribble. OK, that's where the water came from. "We got a leak down here, too."

"Super," Daniel grumbled.

Coming down inside, Mr. Wayland and Mr. Haskel appeared. "Hello?" Mr. Wayland asked.

"Back here," Louise said with a wave.

They came back. Mr. Wayland looked down into the tank - basement. "I didn't even know that was down there," he said.

Yup, he knew his boat, Jackie thought and coughed.

"So you kids want this boat?" he asked.

"I can't see letting it go to waste, " Jackie replied.

"It is a nice boat, it just needs work," Daniel agreed.

"Well come on up into the lounge, I'll sign it over to you," Mr. Wayland said.

"I'll take over here," Louise told Jackie.

Gina had come along. Coming down the stairs into the cabin, she said, "I didn't think this boat ever sat that high out of the water.

"The bottom was full, we've been pumping it out," Jackie told her.

Gina looked at Ron with a frown, but didn't say anything.

.

While the Waylands got their things off the boat, Mr. Haskel got a patch kit and went down in the bilge area and showed Jackie how to fix the leaking pipe. Once it was sealed, he pointed to the side by side pumps.

"Were they under?"

Jackie nodded. "They were, everything was. There was about three feet of water down here. What are these tanks for?"

Mr. Haskel showed her the fuel tank, 'gray' water tank, black water (sewer) tank, fresh water tank and the puffed up and corroded battery set that had been under water. Jackie hung her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. Yes, this boat needed someone to take care of it.

Thankfully, the circuit breaker box had been above the water. It just had a few tripped breakers in it. Mr. Haskel turned them all off until the boat's electrical system could be checked out.

.

In the evening, Barnabas listened to the three kids complain about the lack of care Mr. Wayland had with his boat.

"Mr. Haskel said it wasn't even fit to be IN the water," Jackie told him.

"Yeah, beside the blown engine, there was three feet of water in the bottom from another leak, and Mr. Wayland didn't even know that space was there!"

Daniel let out a snort. "They had batteries, but being under water, they were ruined."

"If the engine didn't have it's own battery, they wouldn't have been able to even start it. That boat is a mess of neglect!" Jackie stated.

Trying to hide his smirk, Barnabas asked, "So where is it now?"

"Mr. Haskel's barn. We got it to his place at the end of the bay and got it mostly pumped out and up into the barn." Jackie told him. "It's going to be there a while. The barn has electricity to it so we can use power tools in there. We're going to need them."

"Why you? Mr. Wayland is going to pay you to fix his boat?" Barnabas asked.

"Mr. Wayland gave it to me," Jackie said.

"I think he gave you a headache to contend with," Barnabas told her.

Jackie shrugged. "Even so, it's our boat now, and we'll take care of it."

Barnabas cleared his throat. "I once heard that a boat is a hole in the water that you pour money into. That certainly sounds like it in this case."

"Yeah," Daniel agreed as he gazed off at nothing. "But, we'll get it back in shape."

"Barnabas, when we get it fixed up, will you take a ride with us?" Jackie asked.

"Sure, just make sure there's a lifeboat on board."

.

Mr. Haskel had a gantry with a hoist. Getting the engine out wasn't as bad as Jackie thought it would be. The batteries had to be pried out of the brackets, but they came out also. Daniel took out the waterlogged pumps. Jackie ordered and paid for the new parts. The long work was scrubbing and cleaning of the lower deck and using a wet vac to clean the last bits of water out of the bottom and in the engine room.

Paint was another thing Jackie hadn't counted on. The outside hull needed to be scraped and repainted, as did in the bottom where the tanks were. To do a good job at this, they needed to take out the piping and tanks. They also needed to use epoxy paint, which required a face mask fed by air so you didn't choke on the fumes.

It took all week just to get the boat ready for the new parts coming. They did as Mr. Haskel suggested, work up from the bottom up to make sure they got everything.

One thing the boat didn't have, and Jackie wanted was a bilge alarm system. Finding the wire runs, Daniel and Jackie ran wires and put in the probes. Two for the engine room an two for the Tank 'hold'. The system was simple. When water hit the probes, it shorted the wires out and the alarm box they put above the windows in the wheelhouse would turn red lights on and an alarm would sound until someone silenced it, but the light would stay on as long as the probes were wet. Jackie also added an automatic bilge sump pump that kicked on near each probe when the alarm sounded.

That would prevent three feet of water in the bottom of the boat that no one knew about.

John and Delilah came to visit when they were ready to put new equipment into the tank hold. The engine room was also cleaned up, freshly painted and ready for the new engine. Jackie showed them around the inside of the boat with Daniel.

"Once we get done, this is going to be a nice boat. It'll stay here, Mr. Haskel is going to let us use his dock on the left side as you're walking on," Jackie explained. "Once we get all the new stuff in down below, then we're starting work on the living areas. It's mostly clean, polish, new bedding, curtains, stuff like that."

John looked around and said, "This does look nice. Let us know when it's ready for the water. Planing any trips?"

"No, right now it's just fixing things up, then making sure everything works."

"You're going to want to take a trip," Delilah said. "After all this work, you're going to want a payoff."

"You are," John agreed. "So learn your navigation."

The new engine, a gas powered 300 HP engine came when John and Delilah were there so they helped put it in, the new tank pumps also came, so all the tanks, new piping and pumps were put in place. The gas they had put in barrels, all 30 gallons, was pumped back into the fuel tank and water was added to the other tanks to make sure the new tank pumps worked and didn't leak.

One thing John insisted on was diagrams for the boat. Everything from how and where the piping ran to the electrical system. was drawn out and stored in the wheelhouse so if they ever had any problems or needed to know, they could look up what went where. Moving up to the living areas, Delilah helped Jackie and Louise pick out curtains and bedding. Jackie and Daniel's room was on the right towards the front, Louise got the left side bedroom. John and Daniel went and got the new mattresses and couch cushions.

By the time John and Delilah left, they were up to the wheelhouse, and workers installed the GPS system, the new upgraded navigation table and monitors, radar and radios, which also had their own emergency batteries. With the boat all but done, Louise went home with John and Delilah.

Even though it was still up on the rolling platform on blocks, Daniel and Jackie spent a night in their new bedroom on the boat. Although they didn't actually have baby making sex, they did a lot of playing and making out.

.

In Austin, the 'Happy fin' store finally opened. The counter person there and his helper found they ran into a problem. The metal detectors in the doorways meant to detect metal boned cyborgs were going off on over half the people coming in because they carried guns. They did some business and a few girls used the pool in back to try them on before they bought the cheaper stock tails, but they didn't find a single cyborg yet. They decided to change the metal detectors to the changing rooms.

Ten days after they opened, Joan Connor and Allison Young came in with a group. Both of them were here! The counter person pushed his alert button under the counter and saw to the pack looking at tails. Down below, the men there watched the camera monitors closely for their chance to bag the two known cyborgs. They waited and were ready and watched. A couple girls wanted to try out tails, but neither of the cyborgs did.

It was frustrating when the whole pack left, two girls toting their new mermaid tails over their shoulders.

.

James picked up the phone when it rang. "Yes?"

"Boss, it's Tod. we had both the cyborg girls in here today."

"And you have them?"he asked.

"No, they didn't go in the changing room, and they stayed with the others."

Irritated at the man, James asked, "What is to the purpose of that store?"

"To catch the cyborgs."

"And you had them in the store, with hostages and you didn't act? Why the hell NOT?"

"Besides them there there were seven witnesses."

"You moron," James growled. "Can you shoot cyborgs, or over power them?"

"No..."

"THAT is where the hostages can be of use! Put a gun to the hostage's heads and if the cyborgs don't to what you tell them to, you SHOOT the hostage and aim at the next one! You kill until they comply!"

A short silence then, "We didn't think of that."

"Listen carefully, They come back in, you get our men up there, pull guns and if the cyborgs don't walk down to get hung up, you kill the others one at a time until they comply! DO. NOT. Let them walk out of there if they return! Do I make myself clear? We're fighting a war here, this is not fun and games!"

James then closed his phone up and tossed it on the desk. What good was a trap if the idiots working for him didn't spring it? That was one reason he liked to be there to be sure everything went as planned. To do so, he was going to have to put himself in danger. If he was going to be there, he also had to have a good escape plan with he captured cyborg. They had evaded him long enough.

.

The sheriff returned to his office to find his cousin, Duncan, sitting and talking to his secretary. 'Hey, Duncan, what brings you here?"

Duncan turned his dark eyes to the sheriff. "Horton's back, He killed Joe Dawson. I think to draw me out. He has, this time I want to make sure he'd dead. Whatever you can do to help, I appreciate."

'Good luck, the sheriff told him. "My secretary ripped him to pieces in Dallas. Turns out, it was body double named Fred Noonan she scattered all over. We aren't the only ones after him. He also shot Cameron Connor's daughter on the football field. She has a hefty reward out for him, dead or alive. I think she prefers dead." He went over to his desk and drew a chair to the end of Aliana's desk. "Right now, Horton has dropped off the radar. I know Cameron has many contacts and influence. If she can't find him, he's found a hole to hide in and he's not coming out. If he pops his head up, we're set to take it off for him."

"He must be someplace."

The sheriff nodded. "A few days ago a marine biologist named Dana McGregor who was working for Cameron was killed in LA. All was found was her blood, her dead alligator and and the third blood stain that has yet to be identified. People are watching the area, including the traffic and street cameras. We're fairly sure Horton was behind it, trying to get information on where the Connors live. Horton was working with the Chinese to get one of their bodies for research."

"Why is he after the Connors?" Duncan asked.

"One, it's profitable if he can give them a cyborg body. The Chinese badly want one to do research on. The other, Horton hates all non humans. He killed some people just up the road here. Innocent farmers. He's crafty, but if he comes within five miles of this town, we'll know. For the moment, all we can do is keep a lookout for him or his cronies."

"These Connors? they can spot him?" Duncan asked.

Aliana grinned and said, "They called me and told me you were on the way. That's why had fresh coffee made."

Duncan nodded, then in a heavy tone, "Horton's constant killing spree must be stopped."

"True, but we have to find him first," the sheriff said. He then thought for a moment then said, "Possibly Cameron can use your help. Let me call first. You'll never get close to the place unless she knows you're coming."

.

After practice, Allison talked to Carla and Betty. They decided they wanted to buy mermaid tails too, and since Allison knew so much about them, they wanted her help in selecting which ones to get. Allison found Joan and told her where they were going.

"Want me to come too?" Joan asked.

"Naw, it's just a couple blocks down and I think Bob is wanting some attention," Allison said with a smirk.

Joan told her, "Just be careful and and take our side arms with you."

"Always do," Allison replied. "We should be back in a couple hours."

"See you then, we'll be in the lounge or up in our room."

Allison met Betty and Carla and they walked down to the Happy Tail store. They went in, Carla announced, "We're going in to look at the catalogs."

"Feel free," the counter man said.

Allison took his slightly elevated heart rate as seeing three pretty girls coming in the store. The went in the display room and opened up the catalogs.

"Usually, beginners like the cheaper tails so they can find out they like using fins before they put real money into it," Allison reminded them.

"I already tried one. I'm thinking this mid range tails here. with the number five stiffness fins," Batty said.

"Yeah, Allie, your fin is too stiff to move," Carla added.

They didn't pay attention when the counter attendant came in, until he shut the door and produced a silenced pistol that he pointed right at Carla.

"Keep your hands on the table, anyone move, and I shoot that one!" he said in a hard tone.

"What did I do?" Carla asked.

Two more men came in from a back room, another also with a gun. The one without a gun came over and patted them down. He tossed their guns, phones an purses on the floor then took out tie wraps and bound Carla, then Betty's hands behind their backs.

"Stop this now and I won't kill you!" Allison said in a hard tone.

"You move muscles unless we tell you and one of them dies!" the counter man spat back.

Carl and Betty were pulled by the back of their collars around the table. The counter man waved his gun at the back door. "Walk through that doorway, follow him."

Allison wondered why she didn't have her hands bound. "What's this about?"

"Move your ass or watch her die!" he spat , pointing his gun at Carla's head.

The man was serious. Allison walked to the door.

"You're not getting away with this!" Carla spat.

Allison went in and stopped when told to. An overhead door was opened. Beyond was the box of a moving van.

"Get in."

Allison did. Thre was a sturdy steel frame in the middle of the box that lined the edges of the walls and floor. Chains and cuffs were hanging from the ceiling. Another pair were on the floor in each side of the floor.

"Turn around."

She did seeing Carla and Betty there, a gun still to Carla's head.

"Chain her up," the counter man stated.

The unarmed man came close. Allison snapped a hand up and punched him. He flew into the wall and fell, out cold.

A loud pop sounded. Carla fell to the floor, blood pumped a few times out of the bullet hole in her head. The counter man quickly aimed at Betty, who stood in shock.

"Do you want to kill her too?" he asked in a hard tone.

Alison stared at Carla's body. Slowly she looked up at the man. "You are dead, you son of a bitch!"

"She is unless you cooperate!" He nodded to the other man. He came close.

Allison so badly wanted to race over and kill that bastard. He'd kill Betty too before she got to him. She let the man chain her in place, arms over her head. He then cuffed her feet. Going over by the wall, he pushed up on a switch. Her arm chains rose her up off the floor as it separated her arms. Her legs were held partially spread also.

Glaring at the gunman, Allison stated in a hard tone. "I will see you die."

"Keep believing that." he replied in a lighter tone. He pulled Betty back and said, "I'll be watching. You resist or do anything you're not told to do, she dies." He then pulled Betty back and into another room.

The man by her pulled the unconscious one out of the truck. Another man walked in, with a smile on his face. "By the look on your face, you really want to kill someone right now, don't you?" he asked. "Shame isn't it that you can't. Look up above me. There's a camera watching you, and the man who holds a gun to your other friend's head is watching. You misbehave, she dies. You could give her up for dead and try to break free." he smiled again.

"What do you want!"Allison snapped.

"Why, you. You are worth a gold mine to me in many ways. You see, the ones I am delivering you to are paying very handsomely to get your body. I also can find out what it will take to kill you. They don't mind if you're dead when I hand you over. After all, that elephant gun I shot the other one with didn't quite do the job, did it? Don't worry, once I find out how to kill you, she's next."

"Horton!" Allison spat.

He smiled. "Not any more. Name change you know. See you at our next destination."

"Enjoy your little victory, you will die," Allison said firmly.

He only shut the roll down door on the truck. Shortly she felt the truck move. Allison knew she had to so something, but had no idea what.

Following Horton's orders, Carla and all their guns and possessions were picked up and bagged to go in a garbage truck, the place was cleaned of blood, the timers on the gasoline charges set and the store vacated.

.