Lindsey sat at the bar in the garage the next morning at around 11 am.
Catie was lying flat on the bar, staring up at the high ceiling above her.
Jenny and Sabriena were playing video games on the big screen TV, while
Leelee, Lia and Kristen were trying to spin empty bottles around like the
girls from Coyote Ugly.
"Ya know, I was thinking about opening a bar like that when I'm older," Lindsey said, watching the girls.
"I wanna work there!" Kristen cried and threw a bottle into the air. She spun in a circle and attempted to catch it, but missed and the bottle shattered all over the floor. She cringed. "Is that number eight?"
"Nine," Catie answered boredly, twisting a piece of her hair around her finger.
Kristen shrugged and pulled another bottle from under the counter.
"So when do we get to learn how to boost?" Catie asked.
Lindsey shrugged and sipped her ice water. "As soon as Bryson and Xander get their butts awake and down here."
"Does everyone always stay here?" Leelee asked, spinning a bottle with one hand. She was actually quite good.
"Nah," Lindsey answered. "We all have our own houses, but we just tend to crash here after a party."
"This place is awesome," Catie said, rolling over onto her stomach and propping herself up on her elbows. She continued to play with a piece of her hair, holding it in front of herself, twisting it and examining it.
"When do we get to go to your house?" Lia asked.
"Later today maybe," Lindsey answered.
"Cool."
"Can we ride horses?" Catie asked.
"Sure," Lindsey grinned. "I can show you Thundering Glory."
"Evil horse!" Sabriena shouted from her spot on the floor, never removing her eyes from the TV. She and Jenny pounded on the buttons of the controllers.
"He is not evil," Lindsey argued. "He's just misunderstood. If you want evil, mess with Double J."
"I'm not touching that horse!"
"Good."
"Why?" Catie asked. "Who's Double J?"
"One of my brothers' horses. A buckskin. He bites everything he sees."
Catie nodded.
Suddenly, the garage door opened and a black Mercedes rolled in. It slammed on its brakes and a tall girl with black hair jumped out.
Catie propped herself up a little more to see who it was.
"Where's Yorgi?" Yelena asked. She sounded almost frantic.
"I think he's still sleeping," Lindsey answered. "Why?"
Yelena shook her head and ran up the stairs.
"She's spastic," Catie mumbled and lowered herself back to her elbows.
Lindsey shrugged. "She's, like, in charge of all the financial things around here."
"So how much money does Yorgi have?" Kristen asked.
Lindsey shook her head. "I dunno."
The door at the top of the stairs opened and Xander and Bryson appeared.
"Ah, the thing I love to see most in the morning!" Xander cried as he walked down the steps. "Beautiful women."
"It's a shame we have to look at your ugly mug," Lindsey teased.
Xander clamped a hand over his heart. "That one hurt."
Lindsey rolled her eyes and stood.
"Mustang Sally! How ya been?" Xander called.
Sabriena waved him off.
He laughed and shook his head.
"Why do they call her Mustang Sally?" Lia asked.
Xander leaned on the bar, staring into her eyes. "Cause nobody knows Mustangs like Subbie knows Mustangs."
Lia nodded.
Xander winked at her, then stood. "All right. So who do I gotta show how to boost? Who am I teaching?"
Lindsey nodded towards the four girls at the bar. "Them."
"Man, what's with all the chicks doin' this stuff?" Bryson asked. "This is a man's job."
"Too bad there aren't any men around here to do it," Catie snapped.
Xander blinked, then smiled. "I like her. She's quick. I like that."
"You always did," Lindsey sighed.
Xander chuckled. "All right ladies. Step out here and lemme take a look at ya."
Leelee, Lia and Kristen stepped out from behind the counter and Catie rolled to the side and stood.
Xander shook his head. "I dunno, Lins. They look too clean cut for this."
"Just teach 'em," Lindsey ordered.
Xander sighed. "Fine. I'll take her," he pointed at Leelee. "And the fast one over here," he pointed at Catie. "Let's go."
Catie and Leelee followed Xander over to a Corvette. "The first thing you have to learn is how to get into the car." He opened his jacket to reveal a vest that was lined with tools.
Bryson took Lia and Kristen over to one of the other cars.
Lindsey's cell phone rang. "Hello?"
"Lindsey, it's Toby."
"Hey kid. What's up?"
"We've got a problem. Yorgi wanted me to talk to you about it."
"What's wrong?"
"Where can I find you?" Toby asked. "I need to show this to you."
"I'm in the garage."
"I'll be there in a sec." And with that, he hung up.
"Who was that?" Jenny asked.
"Toby," Lindsey answered. "I wonder what got into him."
A few minutes later, Toby ran down the stairs with his notebook computer in hand and a few pieces of what looked to be fresh white paper.
"What's up?" Lindsey asked again.
Toby was gasping for breath. He leaned on the counter, took a drink of her water, then swallowed and was fine. "Okay, you know that boost for next week?"
Lindsey nodded.
"And how there's only twenty cars and they were paying three hundred thousand?"
She nodded again.
"They changed their mind."
"What?" Lindsey cried, thinking they had backed out. "Why?"
"Not like that," Toby said. "They added more to the list."
Lindsey studied Toby for a minute. If it had been a small amount, he wouldn't have cared. This was big. "How many?"
Toby took a deep breath. "Forty. That's forty extra, not total. We're talking about a 60 car one night boost."
Lindsey fell back into her seat. That amount was inconceivable. "In one night?"
Toby nodded slowly.
"How much are they paying?"
"Retail value of all the cars combined. They said they were going to sell them for even more, so they could afford retail price."
"How much is that?"
"Five million, six hundred thirteen thousand, twelve dollars," Toby recited.
Lindsey's jaw dropped. "Five mil?"
Toby nodded.
"You think we can do it?"
"I don't know," Toby answered, staring at Xander and the two girls he was working with. "If they can be trained by next week."
"With my brother and Xander doing it, they'll be trained by three."
Toby managed a smile and nodded. "Yeah."
"So how much are we getting apiece?" Lindsey asked.
"Yorgi said that the amount will be raised considerably," Toby said. "He didn't say how much."
"And who's going to boost?"
"I don't know. I know Kirill won't. And Yelena probably won't. They have enough money as it is. They don't care about anything."
"And Kolya?"
"He'll do it. He needs spending money, as always."
Lindsey grinned. "That's our Kolya."
Toby nodded. He was glad to have this kind of interaction with someone who was definitely "in" with the others. Maybe he would finally move up a bit in the ranks . . .
"Lemme see the list of ladies," Lindsey said, reaching for the paper.
Toby handed it to her. It was three pages long.
Lindsey scanned it. "Five Ferraris. That's a heck of a lot more than one." She continued to scan the list. Her eyes locked on two names. "Eleanor? Azalea? Man, we're in trouble with those cars."
"I know," Toby said. "The Saleen S7 is near impossible to find anywhere. And everyone knows about Eleanor."
Lindsey nodded. "I'm not messing with Eleanor."
"I'll do it!" Sabriena cried. "I got dibs on Eleanor!"
"You can have her!" Lindsey shouted back. "I got dibs on Natalie and Gina."
"A Porsche and a Lamborghini?" Toby grinned. "That sounds like you."
"And of course, Elizabeth," Lindsey said, staring at the name.
"Elizabeth is on the list?" Xander called.
Lindsey nodded.
"Who's Elizabeth?" Catie asked.
"A Viper," Xander answered. "Lindsey named the car after her mom."
Catie nodded, then went back to concentrating on the car. She sparked the wires together and the car roared to life. "Yesssss!"
Xander looked impressed. "Not bad."
Catie grinned.
"If there were twenty people boosting," Lindsey started, "And it was divided equally among them, that would be . . ."
"Two hundred eighty thousand six hundred fifty dollars and sixty cents," Toby answered.
Lindsey blinked. "You're good."
Toby shrugged.
"I want to you to get me the addresses of these by seven tonight," Lindsey said. "Me and the girls will scout 'em." Then with that, she headed for the doors that led outside.
"Where are you going?"
"To buy some throw-away cameras!"
Toby shook his head, then sat down at the bar and began looking up the cars.
*~*~*~*~
"Man, I'm bored," Leelee said as she and Catie walked along the street downtown that evening.
"Sabriena wasn't joking when she told us that this town sucked," Catie said.
Leelee nodded.
"You know what?"
"What?"
"I'm half tempted to try out our new skills," Catie said.
"Don't you dare," Leelee said, pulling her suede leather and fur coat tighter around herself. The sun was setting and the sky was tinged in orange, pink and purple.
"Why not?" Catie asked. "Xander said that we learned faster than anybody he'd ever seen before."
Leelee sighed. "What are you going to boost?"
Catie stopped walking and looked around for a target. "You think we could boost that motorcycle?"
"Do you even know how to ride a motorcycle?"
Catie cocked an eyebrow. "Wouldn't you like to know?" With that, she knelt next to the bike and pulled out some tools. She studied some wires for a moment, and then cut some of them.
Leelee glanced nervously around, keeping her arms wrapped around herself and bouncing on the balls of her feet.
The motorcycle's engine roared to life and Catie mounted it. "Come on!"
Leelee glanced nervously around again, and then hopped onto the back. Catie turned the bike towards the road and sped away.
Catie's heart was racing. She grinned to herself as they rode along. Her hands gripped the handlebars tightly.
*~*~*~*~*~
"Toby, you're a genius," Lindsey said, staring at the list of addresses in her hands. A Wal-Mart bag hung from her right elbow, holding several throw- away cameras.
A motor roared outside and Tumbler jumped up from the bar to answer the door.
"Who da hell is that?" Mirror Man asked, setting his drink on the counter.
Samantha shook her head.
The motorcycle flew into the garage and the door shut behind it.
Catie put the kickstand down, then turned the machine off and she and Leelee dismounted.
"They're gonna kill us," Leelee whispered.
"What the crap is that?" Lindsey shrieked.
"We were bored," Catie answered timidly.
Tumbler blinked. "Well, at least we know they can do it now."
Lindsey shook her head and laughed. "Tumbler, strip that thing and give it a new number," she ordered. Then she turned to her new partners in crime. "You did it."
Catie grinned and Leelee heaved a sigh of relief.
"I don't feel like going to Columbia tonight," Lindsey said. "Let's go home. We can scout the ladies tomorrow."
The other Z-Girls nodded. They said their goodbyes and headed for Lindsey's house.
"Ya know, I was thinking about opening a bar like that when I'm older," Lindsey said, watching the girls.
"I wanna work there!" Kristen cried and threw a bottle into the air. She spun in a circle and attempted to catch it, but missed and the bottle shattered all over the floor. She cringed. "Is that number eight?"
"Nine," Catie answered boredly, twisting a piece of her hair around her finger.
Kristen shrugged and pulled another bottle from under the counter.
"So when do we get to learn how to boost?" Catie asked.
Lindsey shrugged and sipped her ice water. "As soon as Bryson and Xander get their butts awake and down here."
"Does everyone always stay here?" Leelee asked, spinning a bottle with one hand. She was actually quite good.
"Nah," Lindsey answered. "We all have our own houses, but we just tend to crash here after a party."
"This place is awesome," Catie said, rolling over onto her stomach and propping herself up on her elbows. She continued to play with a piece of her hair, holding it in front of herself, twisting it and examining it.
"When do we get to go to your house?" Lia asked.
"Later today maybe," Lindsey answered.
"Cool."
"Can we ride horses?" Catie asked.
"Sure," Lindsey grinned. "I can show you Thundering Glory."
"Evil horse!" Sabriena shouted from her spot on the floor, never removing her eyes from the TV. She and Jenny pounded on the buttons of the controllers.
"He is not evil," Lindsey argued. "He's just misunderstood. If you want evil, mess with Double J."
"I'm not touching that horse!"
"Good."
"Why?" Catie asked. "Who's Double J?"
"One of my brothers' horses. A buckskin. He bites everything he sees."
Catie nodded.
Suddenly, the garage door opened and a black Mercedes rolled in. It slammed on its brakes and a tall girl with black hair jumped out.
Catie propped herself up a little more to see who it was.
"Where's Yorgi?" Yelena asked. She sounded almost frantic.
"I think he's still sleeping," Lindsey answered. "Why?"
Yelena shook her head and ran up the stairs.
"She's spastic," Catie mumbled and lowered herself back to her elbows.
Lindsey shrugged. "She's, like, in charge of all the financial things around here."
"So how much money does Yorgi have?" Kristen asked.
Lindsey shook her head. "I dunno."
The door at the top of the stairs opened and Xander and Bryson appeared.
"Ah, the thing I love to see most in the morning!" Xander cried as he walked down the steps. "Beautiful women."
"It's a shame we have to look at your ugly mug," Lindsey teased.
Xander clamped a hand over his heart. "That one hurt."
Lindsey rolled her eyes and stood.
"Mustang Sally! How ya been?" Xander called.
Sabriena waved him off.
He laughed and shook his head.
"Why do they call her Mustang Sally?" Lia asked.
Xander leaned on the bar, staring into her eyes. "Cause nobody knows Mustangs like Subbie knows Mustangs."
Lia nodded.
Xander winked at her, then stood. "All right. So who do I gotta show how to boost? Who am I teaching?"
Lindsey nodded towards the four girls at the bar. "Them."
"Man, what's with all the chicks doin' this stuff?" Bryson asked. "This is a man's job."
"Too bad there aren't any men around here to do it," Catie snapped.
Xander blinked, then smiled. "I like her. She's quick. I like that."
"You always did," Lindsey sighed.
Xander chuckled. "All right ladies. Step out here and lemme take a look at ya."
Leelee, Lia and Kristen stepped out from behind the counter and Catie rolled to the side and stood.
Xander shook his head. "I dunno, Lins. They look too clean cut for this."
"Just teach 'em," Lindsey ordered.
Xander sighed. "Fine. I'll take her," he pointed at Leelee. "And the fast one over here," he pointed at Catie. "Let's go."
Catie and Leelee followed Xander over to a Corvette. "The first thing you have to learn is how to get into the car." He opened his jacket to reveal a vest that was lined with tools.
Bryson took Lia and Kristen over to one of the other cars.
Lindsey's cell phone rang. "Hello?"
"Lindsey, it's Toby."
"Hey kid. What's up?"
"We've got a problem. Yorgi wanted me to talk to you about it."
"What's wrong?"
"Where can I find you?" Toby asked. "I need to show this to you."
"I'm in the garage."
"I'll be there in a sec." And with that, he hung up.
"Who was that?" Jenny asked.
"Toby," Lindsey answered. "I wonder what got into him."
A few minutes later, Toby ran down the stairs with his notebook computer in hand and a few pieces of what looked to be fresh white paper.
"What's up?" Lindsey asked again.
Toby was gasping for breath. He leaned on the counter, took a drink of her water, then swallowed and was fine. "Okay, you know that boost for next week?"
Lindsey nodded.
"And how there's only twenty cars and they were paying three hundred thousand?"
She nodded again.
"They changed their mind."
"What?" Lindsey cried, thinking they had backed out. "Why?"
"Not like that," Toby said. "They added more to the list."
Lindsey studied Toby for a minute. If it had been a small amount, he wouldn't have cared. This was big. "How many?"
Toby took a deep breath. "Forty. That's forty extra, not total. We're talking about a 60 car one night boost."
Lindsey fell back into her seat. That amount was inconceivable. "In one night?"
Toby nodded slowly.
"How much are they paying?"
"Retail value of all the cars combined. They said they were going to sell them for even more, so they could afford retail price."
"How much is that?"
"Five million, six hundred thirteen thousand, twelve dollars," Toby recited.
Lindsey's jaw dropped. "Five mil?"
Toby nodded.
"You think we can do it?"
"I don't know," Toby answered, staring at Xander and the two girls he was working with. "If they can be trained by next week."
"With my brother and Xander doing it, they'll be trained by three."
Toby managed a smile and nodded. "Yeah."
"So how much are we getting apiece?" Lindsey asked.
"Yorgi said that the amount will be raised considerably," Toby said. "He didn't say how much."
"And who's going to boost?"
"I don't know. I know Kirill won't. And Yelena probably won't. They have enough money as it is. They don't care about anything."
"And Kolya?"
"He'll do it. He needs spending money, as always."
Lindsey grinned. "That's our Kolya."
Toby nodded. He was glad to have this kind of interaction with someone who was definitely "in" with the others. Maybe he would finally move up a bit in the ranks . . .
"Lemme see the list of ladies," Lindsey said, reaching for the paper.
Toby handed it to her. It was three pages long.
Lindsey scanned it. "Five Ferraris. That's a heck of a lot more than one." She continued to scan the list. Her eyes locked on two names. "Eleanor? Azalea? Man, we're in trouble with those cars."
"I know," Toby said. "The Saleen S7 is near impossible to find anywhere. And everyone knows about Eleanor."
Lindsey nodded. "I'm not messing with Eleanor."
"I'll do it!" Sabriena cried. "I got dibs on Eleanor!"
"You can have her!" Lindsey shouted back. "I got dibs on Natalie and Gina."
"A Porsche and a Lamborghini?" Toby grinned. "That sounds like you."
"And of course, Elizabeth," Lindsey said, staring at the name.
"Elizabeth is on the list?" Xander called.
Lindsey nodded.
"Who's Elizabeth?" Catie asked.
"A Viper," Xander answered. "Lindsey named the car after her mom."
Catie nodded, then went back to concentrating on the car. She sparked the wires together and the car roared to life. "Yesssss!"
Xander looked impressed. "Not bad."
Catie grinned.
"If there were twenty people boosting," Lindsey started, "And it was divided equally among them, that would be . . ."
"Two hundred eighty thousand six hundred fifty dollars and sixty cents," Toby answered.
Lindsey blinked. "You're good."
Toby shrugged.
"I want to you to get me the addresses of these by seven tonight," Lindsey said. "Me and the girls will scout 'em." Then with that, she headed for the doors that led outside.
"Where are you going?"
"To buy some throw-away cameras!"
Toby shook his head, then sat down at the bar and began looking up the cars.
*~*~*~*~
"Man, I'm bored," Leelee said as she and Catie walked along the street downtown that evening.
"Sabriena wasn't joking when she told us that this town sucked," Catie said.
Leelee nodded.
"You know what?"
"What?"
"I'm half tempted to try out our new skills," Catie said.
"Don't you dare," Leelee said, pulling her suede leather and fur coat tighter around herself. The sun was setting and the sky was tinged in orange, pink and purple.
"Why not?" Catie asked. "Xander said that we learned faster than anybody he'd ever seen before."
Leelee sighed. "What are you going to boost?"
Catie stopped walking and looked around for a target. "You think we could boost that motorcycle?"
"Do you even know how to ride a motorcycle?"
Catie cocked an eyebrow. "Wouldn't you like to know?" With that, she knelt next to the bike and pulled out some tools. She studied some wires for a moment, and then cut some of them.
Leelee glanced nervously around, keeping her arms wrapped around herself and bouncing on the balls of her feet.
The motorcycle's engine roared to life and Catie mounted it. "Come on!"
Leelee glanced nervously around again, and then hopped onto the back. Catie turned the bike towards the road and sped away.
Catie's heart was racing. She grinned to herself as they rode along. Her hands gripped the handlebars tightly.
*~*~*~*~*~
"Toby, you're a genius," Lindsey said, staring at the list of addresses in her hands. A Wal-Mart bag hung from her right elbow, holding several throw- away cameras.
A motor roared outside and Tumbler jumped up from the bar to answer the door.
"Who da hell is that?" Mirror Man asked, setting his drink on the counter.
Samantha shook her head.
The motorcycle flew into the garage and the door shut behind it.
Catie put the kickstand down, then turned the machine off and she and Leelee dismounted.
"They're gonna kill us," Leelee whispered.
"What the crap is that?" Lindsey shrieked.
"We were bored," Catie answered timidly.
Tumbler blinked. "Well, at least we know they can do it now."
Lindsey shook her head and laughed. "Tumbler, strip that thing and give it a new number," she ordered. Then she turned to her new partners in crime. "You did it."
Catie grinned and Leelee heaved a sigh of relief.
"I don't feel like going to Columbia tonight," Lindsey said. "Let's go home. We can scout the ladies tomorrow."
The other Z-Girls nodded. They said their goodbyes and headed for Lindsey's house.