Helen's Hi-jinks Part V
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Intermission V
For a while, the rather overcrowded minivan just raced through the streets, splashing puddles and spraying fountains of mud over the sidewalks. However, nothing lasts forever without undergoing some sort of a change, and in this particular instance, the change was the sudden stop of the car, as Nick finally felt that they were safe from the pursuers in the impromptu labyrinth of small London streets and alleys.
"In the name of – of Fidel Castro, that was some ride," Jenny exhaled, after it became obvious that they were not going to crash into a street light or an innocent tree. "Nick Cutter, just what had come over you?"
"Jenny, not now!" Nick groaned, as he slumped in the driver's seat away from the steering wheel. "This – this was or is the-the most..."
"He's in shock," Connor spoke-up in a matter-of-fact voice from the back seat. "Ah, Ms. Lewis, could you please unlock the doors of the van. Abby and Caroline need to get out."
"What? Oh! Here," Jenny hurriedly pressed on the lock button. "I am, uh, sorry about this?"
"Don't mention it," Connor said graciously, as the younger women crawled out of the car to the nearest street post, wherein they began to vomit profusely everything that they ate for the last 24 hours. "They just are not in the best of health or something, you see?"
"What had happened to them," Nick managed to ask, feeling rather sickly himself.
"Well, Caroline got choked while Abby received a nasty blow on the ear, causing her some vertigo – make that a lot of vertigo due to your driving," Connor explained reproachfully.
"You don't say," Nick said sarcastically. "Well, if the two of them are finished, though, maybe we can have something done."
"Well, if you don't have any better ideas, then how about getting out of the car to stretch our legs a little?" Jenny spoke up, only somewhat sarcastic.
Nick paused, thought it over, and then shrugged. "Well, why not? I could get out of this seat myself. Jenny, help me out, please. I think my back has gone to sleep."
As Jenny and Connor helped Nick get out of his seat, Michael bounded out of the van by itself and trotted over to Caroline and Abby, who by now had stopped vomiting and just sat with their backs to the street post, ignoring the coldness of the wet metal. However, as the big dog trotted over to the two of them, the young women began to mechanically scratch it, each under the ears closest to her.
"Girls, can you talk?" Nick spoke up, as he and the others also made their way over to the sitting pair, feeling a bit unsteady himself.
Caroline nodded, followed closely by Abby.
"Good. Now, Caroline, what had happened?"
"Didn't Connor explain it to you?"
"Yes, but he didn't explain how they took over your place!"
"They came through one of these holes in time and space, if you would believe it," Caroline's voice was a hoarse monotone. "As soon as I saw them, I called in sick and surrendered. Sometime later, fortunately after Eugene had left to go after you and Ms. Lewis, Connor and Abby showed up and were captured as well. Connor can explain the rest now."
Nick rubbed his forehead, as he realized that Caroline was not going to go into lengthy explanations just now, and the others were not in the mood to pressure her for them either. "The keys," he continued gamely. "How come you had the keys the remote controls?"
"I put them into my pocket when I got out for my morning rounds," Caroline explained, "so that I wouldn't forget as to where I had put them."
"What about the keys to your other car?"
"I didn't have them in my pocket. Eugene took them without me knowing about that." Caroline paused. "How did you start the car without them?"
"We hotwired it," Jenny spoke up helpfully from behind Nick.
"Hotwired it. Oh great," Caroline leaned back, seemingly exhausted by this short conversation.
Nick's face flushed from embarrassment, but then Abby spoke up to save the day:
"So, what do we do now?" she said, sounding rather pale and drawn-out than her usual self.
"Well, we were planning on saving Lester," Jenny admitted weakly, "so maybe that should be our game plan."
"What about your cousin?" Abby frowned. "Is she a part of this?"
Jenny paused, obviously blindsided by the younger woman's question. "I think I'll give her a call," she said quietly. "Just in case, you know?"
As Jenny walked to the side to call her cousin, the remaining people locked gazes with each other, none wanting to be the first speak up right now.
"So, why do we want to rescue Lester?" Connor spoke up. "I mean the man-"
"The man is one of us," Nick admitted, "even if only so-so. Besides, it is the right thing to do, and those men behaved no better than Leek's thugs."
"Nick," Connor spoke up after exchanging a glance with Abby. "Those people were Leek's crew, starting with The Cleaner himself."
"What?" Now it was Nick's time to goggle. "But that man – I thought... well, why not? He survived being eaten by a giant scorpion when Stephen and I were stuck back than with that 10-year-old girl. Why not now? Especially since ARC's efficiency has been found wanting recently."
"So, we're rescuing Lester because of our moral superiority over The Cleaner, Eugene and others?" Connor apparently felt like specifying the obvious.
Caroline coughed, rubbed her throat and spoke up. "Who here got my keys with the remote controls?"
"Ah, that would be me," Connor said, turning to her.
"Good. Can you see two rather small keys alongside my car keys?"
"Yeah?"
"They open two containers in the back of the van. Can you go and open them?"
Connor and Nick exchanged confused looks and then Connor proceeded to do that. "Great gobs of fire!" his voice came from down the street few moments later. "That's a shotgun with at least ten or twelve rounds and a flare gun with several flares!"
Abby and Nick stared at Caroline, who shrugged. "What? I am a young woman living on my own. Have to be protected somehow at least. And consequently, if I was to help you people to confront giant scorpions and centipedes, I had to have some serious firepower close and at hand."
"We try not to kill the prehistoric animals," Nick explained with a sigh. "Not unless it's absolutely unavoidable."
"Well, now we're not dealing with prehistoric animals – and neither Eugene nor Phil nor Cyra nor any others will hesitate to shoot us," Caroline replied.
"Who's Cyra?"
"The woman who clubbed me in the ear – apparently Eugene's girlfriend," Abby said flatly. "I daresay it would be interesting to have her on the receiving end of a weapon the next time or so we meet, don't you agree?"
Before Nick could reply to this rather loaded question, Jenny came back, her conversation with Claudia over. "My cousin is alright," she said conversationally, "she's at that place we were yesterday, eating a chicken stuffed with plums."
"I've tasted it before," Caroline replied before anyone else could. "It's not exactly my favourite – but I ate it."
"Right," Jenny nodded carefully, "but what you were talking about?"
"We apparently have a shotgun and a flare gun, both with ammunition," Connor helpfully replied.
"Good! I would have preferred something a bit more modern, but beggars cannot be choosers. Let's do it!"
Nick stared at Jenny in the same way the younger people present had looked at her when during their escape from Leek she managed to drop one of the mercenaries. Now, of course, they knew better, but were kept their silence altogether.
"Don't give me that look, Nick Cutter," Jenny said sternly. "As you said before, we got to gain the initiative from them, and so far we do not have many options!"
"Tell you what," Nick finally spoke up. "We'll drive there, but someone got to think of a strategy. I do not think we will be as lucky with Lester as we were here. And by the way, how's Claudia?"
"She's fine," Jenny's voice suggested that inquiring about her cousin right now was not a good idea. "She's out of harm's way."
"Now let's call Lester and see how he is doing," Caroline shrugged, as she and Abby began to get off the ground.
"I don't know. The Cleaner and others may have him bugged or something," Connor finally replied, as the others thought this over. "His phone system and what-not, I mean, not him personally."
"And?"
"And wouldn't that give us away?"
"Eugene finished a military school in the States; Phil probably finished one here; who's to say that they won't figure out what we're up to by themselves?"
"Still, giving ourselves away like that won't do," Nick spoke up, interrupting the argument. "Everybody get back into the car. I think I figured out what we're going to do."
"What is it, then?" Jenny inquired, as the van started moving again."
"I'll explain on the way there."
To be continued...