That weekend
Fusion Warehouse
Mindy had leased a large, open-plan, warehouse.
Marty had checked it out, to make sure that it was secure and had installed his own security systems, the previous weekend. The warehouse was enormous, about ninety-five thousand square feet and would provide a large space for anonymous training. We arrived onsite about six in the morning, for an early start. Dave and I had been down at the warehouse yesterday, to get things set up.
Dave and I drove straight into the warehouse, before closing the remote roller door. We then got out of the SUV and I opened the rear door. Chloe and Josh were fast asleep, with Chloe cuddling into Josh. I poked them in their kidney's and they both bolted awake.
"Fucking, ow!" Josh groaned, holding his side.
"Ouch!" Chloe moaned, rubbing her side.
"Wakey, wakey, kiddies!" I yelled.
"Why the hell are we here at this time in the morning, for God's sake?" Josh moaned.
"Okay you two, listen up!" I said, loudly. "You both know about the Russians. This week was hell! This is nothing like Ralph D'Amico. Now, if you think I'm normally a bitch, you ain't seen nothing yet; ask Dave! I'm gonna come down hard on both of you, to get you trained; yeah, I enjoy being a complete cast iron bitch and I enjoy making people miserable, but in this case, I'm doing it to keep you both alive; I didn't get this bruise on my face giving Dave a fucking blowjob! Understand?"
Chloe and Josh looked a little but shocked at my outburst, but both nodded, suddenly waking up.
"I have an intensive two days planned for us all, but especially for you two. Now, if you want out, just say so and you can leave Fusion, till this all blows over. I give you both this chance, as you are the youngest. Otherwise I intend to work you both to the point of passing out. If I think either of you can't hack it, then I'll tell you," I explained, seriously. "I shit you not, this is fucking serious. Ralph D'Amico was nothing compared to what we now face. I know you are both only fourteen and Josh is still healing inside, but I need you both and I believe in both of you. Please take this training seriously, as it will keep you alive, trust me!"
"I'll do whatever you say Mindy," Josh said, looking worried.
"Me too, Mindy," Chloe said.
"I don't mean to scare you both, but I promise I will do everything I can to keep you both alive," I finished.
"Please tell me this doesn't mean 'Super Bitch' is back!" Dave whined.
"In all her glory!" I quipped, in reply.
"Oh, you two don't know what hell is coming your way!" I smiled, darkly.
..._...
"What are those doing here?" Chloe asked, pointing at two cars, parked beside a large black, twin-axle, box trailer.
"Those are part of your training, young lady!" I said cryptically and walked over towards the trailer.
Dave dropped open the back of the trailer. Secured inside were the two Honda CRF250L motorcycles, with the 'SHADOW' and 'JACKAL' registration plates and my Ducati, plus some other equipment.
"You two little dears, are gonna learn some driving skills, both two wheeled and four!" I explained. "By the end of this weekend, you will both be able to ride your road-legal motorcycles and drive a car, with both manual and automatic gearboxes."
"But, we're only fourteen!" Chloe moaned.
"Chloe, when I first met Little Miss Psycho, over there, she was able to drive Speedy, with a stick shift, at eleven years-old!" Dave said. "How the hell she reached the pedals, I'll never know!"
"Funny cunt!" I growled, with a laugh. "You saying I was short?"
"Well you were only about three foot tall!" Dave replied.
"Four feet and nine inches, thank you, ass!" I replied, indignantly.
"Still kinda short!" Dave insisted.
I ignored him.
"If I could do it at eleven, then two teenagers like you, should have no problems! I bought those two cars, so that you don't fuck up anything decent, like Beast or the SUV, plus only Speedy has a stick shift and you are not fucking those gears up! The Ford Focus, in black, has a manual gearbox, the other Focus, in silver, has an automatic gearbox," I explained, before continuing. "Okay! Why do I want you both to learn to drive a car? Because if something happened to Dave, myself or the others, then you may have no choice! I want to know that you could jump into any vehicle: Speedy, Beast, Lucille or even a fucking Jaguar and be able to get out of harms way! I would have to be dead before I would let it happen; but I would also expect you to be able to ride my Ducati, too!"
I noticed that Josh winced at my pronunciation of 'Jaguar'! I was just digging for a reaction and got it.
"Problem, Josh?" I asked, innocently.
"Do you really have to massacre that word? It's Jag-you-ar, not Jag-wahr; there's a bloody 'u' in it!" Josh exclaimed, looking very serious. "Damn yanks!"
Chloe actually burst out laughing and so did I.
"Josh, don't take life so seriously!" Dave said, chuckling. "Mindy said that on purpose, just to wind you up!"
Josh blushed a little, before responding.
"If you say so, Kick-Arse!" Josh replied, smirking.
"Okay cocky cunt!" I said, unlocked the black Ford Focus then drove it away from the wall and into the centre of the warehouse, well away from any supporting pillars. I stopped, left the car in gear, pulled up on the parking brake and turned off the ignition, then removed the key and got out, slamming the door.
"Show us what you can do!" I said, throwing the key at Josh.
I caught the key and just stared at it!
Now what?
I walked over to the car.
At least I went to the correct side; always a good start! I opened the door, got in and pulled the door closed. Okay! I stuck the key in the ignition and turned it... I got the shock of my life, as the car tried to bolt forward, so I let go of the key. I looked up and Mindy was almost pissing herself with laughter! Chloe looked shocked, while Dave was smirking and trying not to laugh.
Okay, think this one through!
This car has a manual gearbox... I thought back to my Dad's car in the UK. It was a Ford Mondeo and when my Dad got in the first thing he did was wiggle the gear lever, with his left hand. This would be different because the yanks drive on the wrong side of the bloody road, so I would need to operate the gears with my right hand. My Dad would also push his left foot down, on the left most pedal. Are the pedals the same in the US, as in the UK? I pressed the pedal furthest to the left and I heard a small thunk, as something released. I moved the gear lever around, or tried to, but it would only move backwards, but then I could 'wiggle' the lever. Now, the car should be out of gear! I turned the key again, the engine started and I let the key go.
I looked up again and Mindy was smiling approvingly; she walked over, opened the passenger door and got in, pulling the door closed.
"Well done Joshua, you worked that out a lot quicker than I expected!" Mindy said, and she sounded genuinely impressed and I felt my cheeks warming up.
"Thanks!"
"Okay Josh, the engine is running. Now, in this car we have six gears, five forward and one reverse. Currently the car is in neutral; to change gear you need to use the clutch, which I think you found earlier, yes?"
"This pedal, on the left?" I asked.
"Yes, the pedals are the same, no matter which side of the road you drive on. From the left, clutch, brake, accelerator or gas. Happy?"
I nodded.
"Okay. The gear arrangement is generally the same on most cars, using an 'H' format, although reverse tends to move around a bit! So, initially we want first gear, which is left and then forward, but before you do that, you need to push down firmly on the clutch, yes, all the way to the floor. Now hold it there!" Mindy explained.
"With your right hand, move the stick to the left and then forward, you'll feel it slot into place. Keep your foot on the clutch. This is the same as the motorcycle, except it's a pedal instead of a lever, okay?"
"Yes," I responded, concentrating.
"Normally you would operate this lever here, which is the parking brake; you would probably know it better as the handbrake. For now, I will operate it, so you can concentrate on the clutch, okay?"
"Okay," I said, sounding nervous.
"You remember how you let in the clutch slowly, while applying a little gas? Do the same here; don't worry, it's not an easy technique to master!" Mindy advised, encouragingly.
I let off the parking brake and Josh pushed down on the accelerator a small amount, then gently eased off the clutch, but also eased off the accelerator, too and stalled.
"No problem. Turn off the ignition... Put yourself in neutral... Good... Now start the car... First gear... Okay, clutch out slowly, while pressing down on the gas, just a bit more..."
We started to move forward, slowly and very jerkily, but we moved!
"Okay, take your foot off the gas and at the same time, press both feet down on the clutch and the brake pedals... Gently with the brake, but all the way to the floor with both pedals... Now!"
We stopped gently...Ish. I pulled up on the emergency brake.
"Ready to go again?" I asked, smiling as encouragingly as I could.
"Yeah, this is cool!"
We repeated this another half dozen times, with Josh getting better, each time.
I kicked Josh out and reversed the car back to where we had started.
..._...
"Okay, young lady, your turn!" I said, with an evil smirk.
A very nervous Chloe got in the car.
This time, though, I showed her the gears and how not to do what Josh had done! A little while later, Chloe had managed to move off half a dozen times, improving at each attempt. Chloe was grinning wildly, by the time she had finished.
It was approaching breakfast time and we were all hungry, so Dave vanished out to get something for us all to eat.
"You two enjoy that?" I asked, knowing that they had.
"It was cool Mindy, thanks!" Both replied.
"Well, that was a bit of fun to get you both started. Next you will need to learn all the controls in the car, what the gauges and warning lights mean, how to check the oil, washer fluid etcetera. You will also learn how to change a tyre. Driving is all about knowing how to maintain the car, too," I explained.
I spent the time, till Dave got back with food, going through the basic controls inside the cars, as well as a brief look at the warning lights. Once Dave got back, we sat down on some fold-up chairs, at a trestle table and ate breakfast.
After breakfast, I had Chloe and Josh change into their combat suits, minus masks and weapons.
The reason behind this, was that I wanted them to learn to ride their Fusion motorcycles. Unlike going off-road, if they came off here, it was concrete and their combat suits would protect them. See, I could be caring and considerate when required! These motorcycles were very similar to those that they rode last weekend. Once they were changed, I had them group around Chloe's motorcycle, which Dave had pulled out of the trailer and the motorcycle was now leaning on it's stand.
"Okay, these are similar to those you rode at the weekend. Obvious differences are: instruments, lights and some extra switchgear," I explained. "These motorcycles also have an extra gear. Which means how many, Chloe?"
"Six?" Chloe responded, a little unsure.
"Not bad; five plus one equals six! Okay let's start with the instruments: speedometer..."
"Which Mindy's motorcycles have, but may as well not, considering that Mindy ignores them completely!" Dave quipped.
I glared at him before continuing.
"The speedometer, odometer, a clock and the all important fuel gauge!" I finished.
"Yeah, very important, because you drink fuel faster, when you go faster, eh, Hit Girl!" Dave added.
Chloe and Josh both laughed.
"Ignore Ass-Kick!" I said, calmly. "You also have some warning lights: neutral, coolant, turn signals and high beam. All happy?"
"Yeah!" Both kids answered, enthusiastically.
"The ignition switch is up here, plus you have a battery and therefore a starter button, here on the right along with a stop switch. On the other side, you have the turn signals and headlight switch, plus a horn!"
I turned on the ignition, checked the motorcycle was in neutral and set the stop switch to 'RUN', before pressing the start button. The motorcycle jumped to life. Chloe's eyes lit up in excitement.
"Just don't soak the seat straight away, Chloe!" I teased and got a nasty look in return. I ignored her and went over to Jackal's motorcycle and watched as Josh did the same things, starting his motorcycle.
I sent them both off to pull on their masks, comms and helmets. Due to Jackal's mask, he had an open face helmet and I deactivated the voice module, as we kinda preferred his real voice, for some strange reason! Dave and I both pulled on our comms, as with both motorcycles running it would get loud in here. I was already in my leathers, so I pulled on a helmet and started my Ducati, before riding a few figure of eights, to warm up my tyres. My Ducati sounded kinda cool inside the warehouse, too!
"Okay, kiddies, follow me!" I said.
Dave stayed near the SUV watching and acting as overall guard, watching for anything happening that I might miss, such as somebody falling off!
"Use whatever gear you feel comfortable in, but cover your brakes and try not to bounce off anything!"
I led them on a tour of the warehouse, with a few figure of eights, around pillars. Once we had done three successful laps, I gave them further instructions.
"Next, you need to start using your turn signals, watch for my signals and copy me, remembering to cancel them afterwards!" I instructed and continued riding around my circuit, with Chloe and Josh following.
"You both okay?" I asked.
"Perfect thanks, Hit Girl!" Chloe replied.
"Doing great, Hit Girl!" Josh replied.
I had to admit Josh was right, they were doing well. Dave was constantly updating me on how they were doing, using a discrete second channel, that only I could hear; I was pleased. We continued riding around the warehouse, in and out of the pillars, for another hour, before I stopped, with Josh and Chloe pulling up on either side of me.
"Cut your engines!" I said, turning mine off, too. It was useful that this warehouse had powerful extractor fans to remove the engine exhaust!
"Okay, you two can ride in a straight line and you can ride around corners and you can stop. Next we need an emergency stop. This needs to be controlled, otherwise you will either be sliding across the black top, along with your motorcycles, badly injured or you will go flying over the front of the motorcycle with the same result! Ideally you should be keeping an eye on the road ahead, so you can predict and adjust your speed accordingly. Now, as you both know, shit happens, without warning!" I explained.
"Emergency stops are difficult, as I've already mentioned. As you know, you have two brakes, front and rear. Now, if you use the rear brake too heavily, in an emergency, the back wheel can slide and overtake the front, which is not a good idea! Just use the front brake, the spinning rear wheel will help resist a slide. This will take practice and experience and to make matters worse, the surface is a huge factor in stopping. This includes loose gravel, water, ice and oil; you don't want your wheels locking up! The best solution for you guys is don't drive too fast for the conditions! Me, I'm a lunatic, as Dave will tell you, so follow my advice and ignore what I do!" I said, seriously.
"Okay, let's start slow and practice," I said.
I let Chloe and Josh, practice on there own, at first, as they gained experience. They didn't come off which was good, neither were they going very fast! Next, I had them ride up the warehouse one at a time and then randomly shouted: "Stop!", to see their reactions. They weren't too bad and managed to stop each time, the skill would build up the more they went out on the motorcycles! The warehouse floor had also gained some nice black tyre marks!
Once we had finished the emergency stops, I had Chloe and Josh park their motorcycles and get out of their combat suits. Josh enjoyed helping Chloe with this task and Chloe seemed to enjoy the help!
..._...
After a lunch of pizzas, we went back to the cars.
Once the main floor of the warehouse was clear of obstacles, I put Josh back in the manual Ford Focus, with me and Chloe in the automatic Ford Focus, with Dave. With a shaky start we managed to start driving, slowly, in circles, in and out of the pillars. After about forty minutes, we swapped over, so Chloe could gain experience with the manual gearbox. Neither got past third gear, but that was okay and it was very good progress, especially when you considered that they had never driven a car before this morning!
Today was totally awesome!
I really couldn't believe what I had accomplished so far. I had driven a car and a real road-legal motorcycle! I wasn't expecting to be able to learn to drive a car till I was at least fifteen! This was so cool and to be learning to drive a stick shift, was even cooler! I couldn't wait to tell Mom and when Dad was home, I hoped he would be impressed too.
Some of my excitement was tempered by the knowledge of why Mindy was teaching all this to us. She did scare me a bit, with her initial lecture about the Russians. We would be in harms way, so all this training was necessary to help us stay alive! I wouldn't let Mindy and Dave down. They needed me, so I was going to to do everything possible to help them! I was also very sure that Josh thought the same way.
For the next hour I put them both to work, figuring out how to jack up the cars, to change a wheel!
I will admit that Dave's assistance was required to loosen the wheel nuts! Both of them managed to figure things out and change the wheel, putting on the spare. I then had them take the spare off and put the original wheel back on! Josh grumbled a lot, but still got the job done. Neither of them had realised how heavy a fifteen-inch alloy wheel and tyre were, till they tried to pick one up!
Following this I left them for ten minutes, to work out how to open the hood (or bonnet for Josh)!
When I returned Josh was smiling smugly, with an open hood, while Chloe was looking very grumpy and with a closed hood. Chloe had found the handle to release the catch, but couldn't manage to release the catch under the hood! I showed her where this was and how to operate it and prop the hood open. I then guided them around the engine, identifying key components: coolant, brake fluid, battery, fuse/relay box, air filter, oil cap and dipstick, plus the windshield (or windscreen, as Josh insisted it was called) wash. I promised them that I would test them on everything that they had learned, tomorrow!
..._...
It was now getting close to four in the afternoon and we had had a very long day, so far.
We secured the motorcycles, back in the trailer and parked the two cars, before gathering up our equipment, including Josh's and Chloe's combat suits. We then took the SUV to Safehouse A.
Safehouse A
We sat down to a quick meal, once we got back.
"So, did you enjoy today?" Dave asked, during the meal.
"That was the most awesome Saturday, in a long time!" Chloe replied, with a big grin on her face.
"I learnt a lot!" Josh admitted.
"Well that's a good start!" Dave laughed.
"Okay, after you've finished I want both of you to go and get some sleep, in you own rooms! We will be going out tonight, so you will need to get some rest. If you do not get enough rest, then I will not take you, understood?" I asked.
"Yes, Mindy," Chloe and Josh replied, together.