The Trinity Sitch - Book 4: Heart of the Fury
Chapter 4: Kids Say the Darnedest Things
"Drakken!" Sherry bellowed as she let herself into their rented chalet. She looked around her home, wondering exactly where he still was. Moments later she heard the car pulling up. Kim had been right, there was no way in the world her Ducati would carry even a tenth of the stuff she'd purchased, so that meant heading back to Stoppable Manor to retrieve it and Kim following her home with the car. Unfortunately that also meant a two hour drive, which would put her home well after dark. Kim thought about calling Ron but he was supposed to go play golf with her father and Monique's dad. The thought of her husband playing a game of skill like golf made her smile inwardly, though it really had much more to do with his job. Up and coming district managers were expected to hobnob with the executives, especially when they were apparently on the fast track to the corporate offices and that meant playing golf. Somehow or another Ron managed to learn just enough of the game not to embarrass himself…too much. (He didn't have to worry about making his bosses look bad at least.)
Kim's dad suddenly found it much easier to make up a foursome, dragging his son-in-law out to play at every opportunity.
As Kim followed Sherry into the house, she was struck by how much she still looked like Shego as she stomped around the house looking for her missing husband and child. She put the first load of packages on the kitchen table.
"Maybe he forgot his cell-phone." Kim offered. "When we went off missions and put away our Kimmunicators, it took Ron a month to remember his regular cell again."
"If that was all, I'd kick his hairy blue butt anyway." Sherry raged, stomping from the downstairs bedroom into the den.
"Hairy…blue…okay, there's a mental image I could have gone without…forever. What's the big ish? I mean, his mother lives in Upperton now, doesn't she? That's at least two hours away from here."
"The 'ish,'" Sherry growled, "is that Mama Lipsky said when I called they hadn't been there all day. I don't give a flip what he does during the day, but when it comes to my daughter…"
"Sherry, you said he loves her like his own. They're probably on the road somewhere. See, there's a cell-phone sitting in the charger." She pointed to what must have been Drakken's desk, considering the piles of paper and other junk. What was it about hyper-intelligent men who couldn't keep a clean desk anyway?
With a harrumph, she grabbed the phone from the cradle and scrolled through the caller ID. "Moron doesn't even know to turn it off while it's in the cradle so people will know it's turned off. Has to have the latest model of the blasted thing, even one that can tie into the satellite networks so it can work at the freakin North Pole yet he's too cheap to spring for voicemail!" She continued her rant as Kim brought the last of her purchases in.
About that time a blur of violet with brown pigtails attached itself to Kim's leg.
"Aunt Kimmie!" the child screamed in obvious glee.
"Ammie! You're getting bigger every time I see you!" She tried, unsuccessfully to pry the toddler from her leg. "Stronger too!"
"Daddy took me for ice cream and he took me to see Grandma and he let me play video games with the funny lady on the TV and then we went to see the Happy Puff people at…"
"DREW THEODORE P. LIPSKY!" Sherry roared, cutting her daughter's review of her day off.
Drakken stood in the foyer, wearing a silly 'me busted' grin. "Ah, hello, Shego, dear. How was your shopping spree?" he asked sheepishly. If it wasn't for the raging spouse about to rip into him she would have thought the scene to be absolutely hilarious, especially with her former arch-enemy standing there wearing blue jeans and a plaid shirt like he was trying out for the Monty Python lumberjack song.
"Why don't we go see what Mommy and I got for you at the mall while she has a little talk with Daddy." Kim said, easily slipping into babysitter mode. She led her out of the living room and into the kitchen where the bags were stacked. It was her fervent hope the shouting coming from the other room (which was mostly being done by Sherry) wasn't something the beautiful little girl had to listen to on a regular basis.
Something Amethyst said tugged at her mind. "What did you mean about playing video games with a woman on TV?" She asked, squatting so she would be at eye level with her.
"Did you buy me a new dress? In purple? She started climbing onto a chair, trying to see what was in the bags. Spying something in her favorite color she reached for it, pulling a shiny purple silk camisole from a bag. "This is a funny dress!" She modeled the flimsy silk nightie as if it were meant to be worn that way.
Kim turned a shade of red not to far off from the 'sleepwear,' carefully taking it from the girl's hands and putting it back into the 'Alexandria's Confession' bag. "I think that's part of Mommy's pajamas, not a dress." She said, searching desperately for the things that had been bought for her.
"I don't think so. Mommy doesn't wear pajamas." She said as if it were the most normal thing in the world to discuss her parent's bedroom habits. For a moment Kim was frozen in shock, not knowing how to steer the conversation away. "She likes to wear old sweaty shirts and pants and stuff since she's always complaining Daddy keeps it too cold in here."
Kim silently sighed in relief. The blue butt comment was going to cause her enough nightmares.
Suddenly it got extremely quiet outside. Horrible images of Drakken, his entrails spread out across the living room sprang to mind. Powers or no, Sherry was still an extremely dangerous woman and Drakken, well, without one of his whack inventions, was not. She poked her head out the door, instantly wishing she had not. The sight was, shall we say, immensely more disturbing.
She had seen the old comedy bit many times where a man and woman would fight, verbally ripping each other's heads off until it reached a raging crescendo, only to suddenly end up in each other's arms. The sight of Sherry and Drakken making out like that, his hands on her backside, well, it was disturbing to say the least.
"Wrongsick." Kim said to herself, not once considering a scene much like she was witnessing had led to her first time with Ron. She felt a tugging at the bottom hem of her tank top.
"Does Uncle Ron like to kiss you like that, Aunt Kimmie?"
Not knowing what else to say she simply agreed. "Uh, sure. Ron likes to kiss a lot."
"I'm going to pre-K next week and I'm going to find me a boy to kiss like that!" She grabbed her own rump and started dancing around the room making exaggerated kissing noises.
Kim swallowed hard, knowing the next thing she said was likely to come out ferociously wrong, but something had to be said at this point. "Ammie, I don't think it would be a good idea for you to grab a boy that way. That's a married people kiss."
Amethyst's eyes got huge as she processed Kim's statement. "Oooooh! Like the married people hugs Mommy told me about."
Kim buried her face in her hands, knowing the hole was getting deeper and deeper as she went.
About that moment Sherry stuck her head into the kitchen. "Oh, Kimmie! I'm glad you're still here. Would you do me an teensy little favor and put Ammie to bed for me."
"I…uh…"
"Thanks, I owe you a big one!" She smiled as Drakken's voice drifted from the top of the stairs.
"Sheeeeee….gooooooooo!" he singsonged.
I sure hope Ron isn't feeling romantic tonight, 'cause I'm sure not going to be in the mood with these images fresh in my mind! She thought, sitting down at the kitchen table to sort out the little girl's gifts.
Kim drove home thanking God for small favors. For instance that, despite how much she and Sherry were alike, they didn't share one trait. Apparently in bed her old nemesis was quiet as a church mouse. Maybe that was the result of having a child in the house. Whatever the reason, she was glad not to have another disturbing image of the evening. The rest was really just old-hat for her, getting the child her bath and putting her down for bed. Unfortunately that was going to put her home far later than she wanted to be. To top it off, Ron apparently forgot his cell-phone again. After the fifth call going to voice mail she gave up. It was probably sitting in the charging cradle just as Drakken's had been.
I'm going to have to make him start wearing his Kimmunicator again if he's going to be this bad about remembering. She knew what was best for him, even if he didn't agree. Well, except for haircuts. She wondered how people had gotten along before cell-phones and pagers and such. How did people talk to each other?
She was still a half-hour from Middleton. It was dark out, the road was quiet and she was bored. She hit the speed-dial on her hands-free, hoping to find somebody – anybody to talk to.
Loud music assailed her ears, with an indistinct "Hello" between the loud beats.
"Monique!"
"Hello?" Repeated Monique's voice, almost completely drowned out by the music.
"Monique, turn that down!" Kim shouted over the pickup.
The music came to a halt. "Okay, you've just been played. I'm not really here, just leave a message at the beep!"
Kim growled, digging her fingernails into her steering wheel. She punched out the call, then hit another number.
"Kim?" said a familiar voice with a serious western twang.
"Joss? Were you asleep?"
"Um, yeah." She yawned. "I'm in Bermuda…just went to bed…few hours ahead here."
"Bermuda?"
"Mission stuff Kim. Can I call you back in the morning."
"Sure, no big. Sleep tight cousin."
"Nite!" Joss said as she signed off.
Mission ending in Bermuda? Kim wondered if that mission had anything to do with her cousin's latest boyfriend, who once again, was a few years older than her.
Nah! A 'mission' was a sacred trust. To use it as an excuse for a romantic getaway? Not even her peculiarly rebellious cousin would do that. If their parents, friends and benefactors were to have complete faith in them, that could never happen.
Monique out and not answering her cell. Probably on a date. Knowing Monique, that could mean being incommunicado until Monday. Joss away on a mission. That could mean the Tweebs were with her as well, or perhaps on their own mission somewhere else in the world. Even though she loved her little brothers, she really didn't want to attempt a conversation with them, no matter how boring the drive was.
Who did that leave?
It was getting late enough she didn't want to disturb her parents. Tara was in Michigan with her fiancé. That left Bonnie.
Hard-core evil and High-School evil, both trying to be her friends now. How awk-weird was that?
Still, Bonnie's apparent turnabout or not, she wasn't quite willing to call her, beep her, or otherwise want to reach her just to yap on the phone. That would quickly turn into a one-way conversation as the tan brunette unloaded possibly a week's worth of gossip on her.
Something drew her thoughts back to Sherry's daughter.
Playing video games with a woman on TV? What did that mean?
Thinking furiously, she hit the speed dial for yet another number. This time a small screen in her dash came to life.
"Hi Kim!" Wade said, waving at his webcam.
"Wade, did Drakken just happen to bring his little girl to the space center to see Trinity?"
"No, the place has been closed all weekend. There weren't any tests scheduled so most of the folks have been gone. Besides, there's no way in the world we'd let him near that ship, even if he knew it was there."
"Just to be on the safe side, can you check Trin's access logs?"
"You got it. I'll have to get back to you."
"Please and thank you." She said as he signed off. It wouldn't be as quick looking into her logs from his home. Ever since the ship had been taken over by a tiny sabotage device, they had been afraid somebody else would be able to hack into her systems. It wasn't likely, but to be on the safe side they disconnected the T1 lines and shut down her communications array when nobody was aboard. Trin herself protested for a while, but Wade was able to mollify her, if only by a bit.
Something made Kim wish she had thought to take a look through Drakken's things at his desk.
She smacked her forehead, partly to keep herself alert, but mostly trying to dispel the mental image of a hairy blue butt.
Kim was surprised the lights were off at home. Not even the porch light was on. That was strange. Ron was usually very considerate about the light, to the point of leaving it on all night sometimes, thinking it was better to burn a little electricity than to have a guest or a late-arriving spouse have to fumble in the dark for keys or for the doorbell.
He was still asleep when she left that morning with Sherry. Certainly he hadn't already gone to bed! Not this early! Sure it was around ten, but he only had to check in at Bueno Nacho #582, mainly to sign off on the payroll sheets from the previous week. Even if he had nothing else to do he would either be watching TV or playing video games.
No lights came on, either upstairs or down as she unlocked the door. It only took her a few minutes to come to the conclusion he wasn't in their townhouse condo at all. Sure enough, his phone sat in its charging cradle on the hall table.
She let out a low growl as she stepped into the kitchen. The plates from last night's dinner were still sitting on the counter unwashed. True, they had been licked nearly clean by Rufus, as had the foil pan dinner had come from, but she still liked the kitchen to be neat and clean. Shaking her head, she went up to their bedroom.
Oh, this is too much! She grumbled even louder at the condition of the bedroom. Their clothes from the night before were still sitting in a pile on her dresser chair, her little black dress in a wad with his work clothes. Her dry-cleaner was going to have a fit getting all the wrinkles out of it! Mumbling to herself she gathered the clothes up, putting Ron's in the hamper, her dress over the shower rod, hoping to hang some of the wrinkles out of it. At least looking at it chased some of the images from earlier in the evening away, replacing them with memories of the night before.
Most definitely Ron's favorite dress of hers!
But where was he?
Despite the late hour she dialed her parent's house.
"Daddy?...Hi!...uh, what? No, I was calling to…he never made it? You missed your Tee time…no, I just got home…no, he's not here…yes he did, it's right here on the table. No, I'm just going to call Wade…goodnight Daddy."
Her worries growing, she closed her cell and went to her jewelry box, pulling out a certain bracelet, one she hadn't worn since early in her senior year at college.
"Hi Kim, I was just about to call you back." Wade's holographic image said. "Why are you using the Kimmunicator?"
"Wade, can you get a fix on Ron?"
"He's not there with you?"
"No, he's not home. He was supposed to spend part of the day with Dad and he never showed up. I can't reach him since he forgot his cell phone." She also realized his car was there in its spot as she pulled up.
Her heart was slowing climbing into her throat. Something was wrong, definitely wrong!
"It'll take me a moment." He said. "Ron had me deactivate your tracking chips back about a month after you two started your leave-of-absence. Okay, got it. There's yours and, uh, Kim, he's just downstairs!"
Memories of nearly nineteen months earlier rushed back to her as she bolted down the stairs. She didn't even think to ask if Wade was getting any telemetry off of the chip, though she thought she could hear the answer in his voice.
She didn't see it when she came in since most of the lights had been off, but now it was clear as day. Sitting in the middle of the entry hall, clearly visible against the light tan carpet was a tiny black object about the size of a grain of rice. Not far away was a swatch of some material.
Kim picked up tracking chip. Unlike the last time there was no blood on it, but there was no mistake. Somebody had removed it from the back of Ron's neck.
Panic growing, she bent down to examine the swatch of material. It was silk. Black silk. Kim didn't own anything black made of that most particular material. All of her silk tended to be much brighter in color and her underwear, at least what she wore when she wasn't doing so to please Ron, was of the more comfortable and practical cotton variety. Basically, it wasn't hers!
If memory served her correctly, there was one person she knew to wear black silk. Specifically a black silk ninja gi!
"Wade," She said as she snapped the Kimmunicator onto her wrist. "Fire up the Blue Fox and get on the horn with the rest of the team. I'm going to Japan!" She mounted the stairs, hoping at least one of her battle suits had a full charge.