Chapter Ten:
Gertie, Ethel, and a Pizza Box
Logan was engrossed in the information on his computer screen when a door opened and closed in the distance. Jumping slightly at the sound, he reached over and flipped off the monitor, just to be safe, but when Max came around the corner carrying a pizza box, he smiled. "Chef Guevara has arrived. Dinner is served." She grinned, pulled off her coat, and opened the box.
"Great." Logan leaned over and glanced at what she had brought. The smells of pepperoni, sausage, and cheese filled his nostrils. Maybe it wasn't some gourmet meal, but he was still surprised and more than a little touched that Max had decided to feed him for a change. "It looks wonderful." She took a seat in the chair across from him, but she didn't make a move for the pizza. They sat in silence, both staring at the box in front of them, both waiting for the other to speak first.
She'd been thinking about Jondy's warning all day. Maybe that was why she was here with this ridiculous pizza, as if it could ever possibly compare to one of his gourmet miracles. She was about to speak when a knock sounded in the distance. Thankful for the chance to avoid saying something stupid, she jumped up. "I'll get it," she announced and went to answer the door, leaving Logan alone with the pizza. A moment later she returned with Jondy following behind. She gestured towards the open pizza box. "Hey, baby sister, you want some?"
"Me? Turn down free food? You're kidding, right?" The corner of Max's mouth lifted slightly in amusement as she reached over to grab a piece of her pizza. "I stopped by your place, but Original Cindy said you were coming over here to make dinner." Jondy raised an eyebrow and glanced down at the contents of the box.
"I'm always raiding Logan's fridge, so I figured I should feed him for a change." Max took a bite of the slice in her hand. "Unfortunately my culinary talents stop short at boiling water, so this is as good as it gets."
Jondy chuckled. "I stashed Milly back at your place. She got a little roughed up today, so she decided to stick around with Original Cindy. By now she probably knows more about Xena than any living creature ever possibly should." She paused to select a piece of the pizza. "Anyway, I thought I'd better pop over and let you two know that Perez is in bed with one of the local gangs, just in case you were interested."
"What?" both said in unison.
"He sent some goof-off to rough me up, which, needless to say, didn't go exactly as planned. When he came to, I followed him." She shook her head in disappointment. "What ever happened to the good old days when the bad guys were smart enough to keep it interesting?" She shrugged. "While I was there some guy showed up. Apparently Perez is bumping off Rydin' Forties in exchange for some information."
"What kind of information?" Jondy looked over at Logan and shrugged again.
"I have no idea," she mumbled around the piece of pizza in her mouth. She chewed and swallowed. "But that's what yesterday was all about. It was a setup. Perez was supposed to shoot some 'Ice' guy when he answered the door for the package, but when I showed up on the scene, he got a little distracted." She sighed in an exaggerated manner. "Must be my ravishing beauty," she added airily.
Logan set down his pizza slice. It occurred to Jondy that he looked rather odd eating pizza. It probably wasn't his usual style. He rolled his chair over to the computer, turned on the monitor, and began to type away. "Ice. He's Rydin' Forties, all right, and pretty high up in the chain of command, or so the word is on the street. They've been having a pretty high casualty rate lately. So far, at least three of the more powerful members have been gunned down within the last few months, Blunt Ryddim Kidz, apparently, although that's not their usual style."
"Well, they didn't do it alone. Perez was pulling the trigger." Jondy took a bite of the crust. "And things have stepped up between the gangs lately because of it. That's what Reggie was talking about the other day." Logan glanced at Max. She'd already filled him in on Jondy's connections to Normal and her past with Brian Dubetsky. He couldn't help but feel a little sympathy. He knew what it was to love someone and lose them, but Jondy couldn't live on the hope of Brian coming back. As if sensing Logan's gaze, Max turned to look at him. He averted his eyes so she wouldn't catch him watching her.
Max shook her head. "But what connection could Perez have with the Blunt Ryddim Kidz? Bronck didn't have anything to do with gangs. He was too busy being buddies with the Sector Police."
Logan was still typing away at his computer as he spoke. "There were a few unconfirmed reports that Bronck was storing something on the East side, over near Blunt Ryddim Kidz territory, but by the time they got to Eyes Only, the whole mess with Bronck was already over. Remember that warehouse you checked out over there Max?"
Max shook her head again. "Whatever was in it, it was empty by the time I got there."
Jondy finished her slice of pizza. "So you think the Blunt Ryddim Kidz know what was in that warehouse, or maybe where it went?"
"Maybe, or maybe they took it out themselves." Logan's brow furrowed as he sorted through possible explanations in his head.
"So they're selling that information to Perez in exchange for him bumping off Rydin' Forties?" It made sense to Max, yet something didn't sound right.
"Perez isn't the type to involve himself in that sort of thing," Jondy said, "so it must be something pretty big." She sighed and turned to face her sister. "Of course the two of us have a bigger problem than that at present."
"What's that?" Max was already two bites into another piece of pizza.
"Jam Pony." Max wrinkled her forehead. "Well, Perez was waiting for the package delivery to get a shot at Ice, so he knows how it was delivered, and since I was with you when you delivered it, he knows I've got some connection to Jam Pony." She sighed. Once again her past had endangered someone she cared about. And this time it has nothing to do with my DNA. "I'm going to have to do something about that. He'll probably be watching Jam Pony to see if he can find me, and I don't know how good of a look he got at you." She rubbed her eyes.
Max put down her slice of pizza. "So what are we going to do about that?"
Jondy grinned as she rose to grab the jacket she had flung into a nearby chair. "Oh, just leave that to me." She turned to leave. "Thanks for the pizza. I'll see you two later," she called back over her shoulder. Three's a crowd, she grinned to herself as she walked out the door.
From his place beside a trashcan, Fly watched the people walk by. To the world he looked like a harmless street bum, easily ignored on the streets of Seattle. Adjusting the moth-eaten coat around his shoulders, he scooted down lower against the building at his back. He'd had his eye on Jam Pony since people had first begun to arrive that morning, and so far there was no sign of the blonde, either with or without her friend. The place had opened for business hours ago, and he was starting to lose patience. He knew his boss would have even less of it than he did.
He glanced around the street once again and saw nothing of interest. A stray dog emerged from an alley and wandered along, sniffing his way from one trashcan to the next. A bald man got out of his truck with a package, entered Jam Pony, and then came back several moments later. Farther down the street, a wino in a tattered coat made his way down the sidewalk, a suggestively shaped brown bag in his hand. His path was anything but straight. On the other side, a male Jam Pony messenger was peddling away down the street, and a young woman with green hair was walking towards him. He paused to study her face for a moment before deciding that she couldn't be either of the women he was searching for. Two little old ladies stopped to pet the stray dog. His eyes followed them as one pulled a package from her large purse, and they both entered Jam Pony. Three more Jam Ponies returned from their runs, dismounting from their bicycles and pushing them inside. One was carrying a package, probably a pickup. Tires squealed out front, and he whipped his head around to see the dog narrowly miss being hit by a car.
He checked his watch. It was late, and there was nothing here for him to see. Frowning, he walked over to a phone booth, picked up the phone, and dialed his boss's number. He'd better let him know that they hadn't come in to work.
"I don't believe I'm doing this," Max muttered.
"I don't know. I kind of like the support hose," Jondy joked. She reached up to pick at the gray wig on her head. It was hot and annoying, but it was necessary. She'd spotted Perez's man in an instant, even in his pathetic disguise. Time hadn't changed Fly since she'd first watched him through an apartment window in LA. She smiled to herself at the way he'd fallen for the little old lady bit, especially when they'd stopped to pet the dog.
"Where the fire truck is Max?" Normal yelled through the racket of a busy workplace. No one answered. Spotting the two ladies walking towards him, he turned and put on a smile.
"Welcome to Jam Pony, ladies. How may I--"
"Would you can the speech, Reggie?" Jondy whispered. Normal squinted for a moment, then rolled his eyes.
"Do I want to ask?"
"Not out here. Office. Now." Shaking his head, he led the way into his office as Jondy and Max followed, doing their best to fake old-lady-hobbles. After they entered the office, he closed the door behind of them and raised an eyebrow.
"What is all this about?"
Jondy leaned back against his desk. "Actually, this is about keeping you in business and you and your employees alive." She crossed her arms in front of her.
"Yeah." He sounded skeptical. "And may I ask how you two coming in here dressed like Gertie and Ethel are going to help me do that?"
"Because we have reason to believe that our little friend from Clemson has an eye out for us. He sent the package as part of an attempted hit in gang territory, so he knows it was from Jam Pony, and now he's probably looking for us." Jondy cocked her head to the side for emphasis.
Normal shook his head for a moment. "Great. Just great." He had to admit that having Jondy in town certainly kept things interesting, though it usually wasn't quite so interesting as this. "And what makes you believe that he's after you?" He briefly remembered the cable hack which had interrupted his favorite TV show earlier that year. The mention of X5's by Eyes Only had surprised him at the time, but he figured that Max and Jondy must have friends in high places. "Nevermind." He held up a hand. "I don't want to know." He paced across the room and rubbed a hand over his face. Boss or no boss, Jondy and Max certainly knew more about this sort of thing than he did. He sighed. "So what am I supposed to do?"
Fly and MacIntyre waited patiently as the man finished speaking with two little old ladies. "Don't worry, Mrs. Niles," he spoke loudly into the first woman's ear. "These cookies will get to your grandson." Fly figured she must be deaf or something. Several more times the woman asked for reassurance, and when they finally left, the man rolled his eyes and sighed, as if glad to be rid of them. Fly figured he understood. Old people could be rather annoying. He and MacIntyre stepped forward, trying to look more reputable than they were.
"Excuse me, sir?" The man, whom one of the women had called Mr. Ronald, turned and briefly glanced up from his clipboard before looking back down and scribbling something on a form. "Mr. Ronald, we were wondering if you might be able to assist us." Fly figured he sounded convincing enough.
The man looked up from his clipboard. "How's that?"
"We are looking for one, possibly two, of your messengers. They delivered a package to 258 Clemson on the day before yesterday," MacIntyre explained. The man flipped back through the clipboard to check his records.
"Hmmph! Those two again, eh? Well, if you find them, feel free to tell them that they're fired. I don't need any more bums and slackers around here. The ones I have now are more than enough." He turned and shoved a package at a messenger as he walked by. "1209 Bowers."
"But I was about to go on br--"
"Beat it," his boss interrupted curtly. Head hung low, the young man walked to his bicycle and exited the door. Mr. Ronald returned his attention to his visitors. "Look, as I was saying, they didn't come in to work yesterday, and I haven't seen anything of them today. I called yesterday and got a message that the phone number had been disconnected. This morning I sent someone after them, but they only found an empty apartment, so I'm afraid I can't help you." Fly pulled out his wallet and removed a fifty. He held it out suggestively, watching Mr. Ronald's eyes follow the bill as he moved it from side to side. He hesitated, then grabbed the bill. "I can, however, give you their old address." Fly smiled. Perfect.