The Adventures of FireFox and BlackDog
Episode 3: The Jungle Road
Karasuma rested her shoulder against the wall beside her. Her hands were curled around a hot coffee mug which sat on the table in front of her. Her usual seat at Harry's gave her a good view of the other patrons. Robin sat across the table from her, sipping her espresso as calmly as ever. The shuffling sound of paper flew as the man at the next table opened his newspaper. Karasuma scanned the headlines she could make out at that angle and her face darkened.
"What's wrong?" Robin asked, looking up from her drink.
"Nothing really," Karasuma replied. "It just makes me sad… when bad things happen in the world."
"What bad things?" Robin asked.
"Well, just look," Karasuma said, tossing her hand towards the open newspaper. The big headline read, "Tourists held for Ransom in Korea."
"That happened to me once," Robin said a little excitedly.
"What? What are you talking about?" Karasuma asked suddenly incredulous. "You were never kidnapped."
"I almost was."
"Okay, tell me about it then."
Robin took another sip of her espresso and began her story.
"We were in Cancun. We'd had enough of the beach in Hawaii, so we decided to go inland and see the rainforest. There was a tourist bus that would take us to some ancient ruins. It was a nice ride until the truck with the soldiers blocked the road. Well, they weren't exactly soldiers. They were just boys wearing green fatigues. They thought they were a rebel faction or something. But they were really just thieves. Anyway, they all jumped out of the truck and surrounded the bus. I suppose they were planning to kidnap all of us and hold us for ransom like those people in Korea. And they might have actually done it if I hadn't been there." Robin paused for dramatic effect and took another sip of her espresso.
"So what did you do?" Karasuma asked.
"I lit up the gas tank of their truck."
"You didn't."
"I did. It blew sky high."
"Jeez, was anybody hurt?"
"No. In fact, it made the other bus passengers bolder."
"So what did the thieves do?" Karasuma asked, leaning forward.
"They were all scared witless. I even heard one of them say something about evil spirits. I hadn't seen anyone run so fast since the last Olympics."
Karasuma smiled in her gentle way. "You really are something, you know that."
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Well, that was episode 3. I know that this kind of story normally comes out of unstable countries in Central or South America. But I didn't want to complicate my timeline by taking Amon and Robin that far south. So I broke from historical fact and had the story take place in Mexico instead. I know that at least a few of you will be disappointed in me for doing this, and to those people I am truly sorry. But trust me. It's for the good of the series. Thank you to all the reviewers.
