Chapter 12: Through Europe With Hate, Part 2
Manchester Airport– the next day
"So, where're we supposed to meet Miss Spoiled, Rotten and Bratty?" Grif muttered under his breath as he and Donut made it past Customs, the latter putting away some paperwork.
"Didn't say," came his comrade's reply. "Though if I had to guess, she'd be somewhere over…"
"Hey, you in the pink suit!" a shrill, feminine voice exclaimed from the direction of a nearby coffee shop. "Get over here!"
"There."
Grif rolled his eyes as he turned his gaze towards the source of the voice– in this case, a young woman who was a dead ringer for their VIP. "Maybe being taken prisoner wouldn't have been so bad after all," he grumbled before following Donut towards the coffee shop.
"Are you sure those're the right guys?" a brunette about Phyllis's age asked as she watched a blond-haired man in a pink suit and a stouter, scruffy-looking man in military fatigues walk up to them.
"Considering that they look like the pictures of the guys I saw in that text Dad sent me after our call last night, yes," Phyllis replied. "Don't see why he couldn't have hired ones with better fashion sense, though."
The one in the pink suit briefly gave her a hurt look as he sat down. "Miss Gabor, I presume?" he said.
"You were expecting, maybe, Cherise Jubilee?" came the retort.
"Be a step up from dealing with you," the stout one complained. "At least she's got nice tits to balance out her bad attitude."
Phyllis's eye twitched. "You wanna rethink that one, buster?" she snarled.
"As a matter of fa–"
"Phyllis," the brunette butted in, "do you really want to risk getting cut off before we get back home? Because that's what's going to happen if you keep going down this road." She then turned towards the men she presumed to be the new bodyguards, eyes focusing on the stout one. "As for you," she icily said, "the least you could do is…oh, I don't know, not act like a complete and utter tool?"
"She does have a point, Grif," the one in the pink suit said. "I mean, we do have to keep up appearances if we want to stay in business." He turned to the brunette. "So, what's your name?"
"Mary. Mary Phillips," she replied, her voice warming up a fair bit. "What's yours?"
"Well, last I checked, it was Franklin D. Godwin, but everyone just calls me Donut."
Mary blinked. "Did you use to be a cop or something?"
"It's not important," Grif replied. "Though if you just have to know, it's because he's got one hell of a sweet tooth."
"Look, are we just going to hang around here all day, or are we going to actually do something fun?" Phyllis snapped.
Mary bit her lip. "Well, I have a few ideas…"
That afternoon
"Out of all the places we could go, you had to choose Wales?" Phyllis griped as she looked at her rental car's GPS.
Mary sighed as she continued down the highway. "I was thinking that maybe– just maybe– we needed to get away from the nightlife and the paparazzi constantly hounding us for a little while. Besides, what's the point of touring Europe if we aren't going to see anything we can't get at home?"
"Like what?" Grif replied from the back seat.
"The Talyllyn Railway, the Eagle and Child up in Oxford, all the major museums, cathedrals, and art galleries–"
"So basically anything you'd see in a travel agency catalog." He paused. "What the hell's a 'Talyllyn', though?"
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
If you, like Grif, are wondering what the Talyllyn Railway is, it's a narrow gauge heritage railroad in Wales that is best known for being the first of its kind in the world. Additionally, I'd like to announce that in addition to my three current fics (this one, A New Breed in the Neighborhood, and a new Jem fic), I've got two more waiting in the wings. Of those, the first is going to be for G.I. Joe, while the second (and my 100th published fic overall) is…well, let's just say that it's going to be another crack at the evil that lies within. And yes, both of those are going to share a universe with The MECH Chronicles and On The Cutting Edge of Rock (the aforementioned new Jem fic).
Finally, happy holidays to anyone reading this at the time it goes up. Your readership is appreciated.
