A Learning Experience Ch. 07

Somehow they figured it out... I had been discovered... wait, think Josie... what did they know? Everything... or had someone been following me. Yeah, that made the most sense... they knew I came back here every night, but I was willing to make the bet of my life that they didn't know WHY. Because if they did, I wouldn't be here right now, no... they thought I came here for my alter ego's sexual pleasure, they couldn't know we were one in the same... not yet, I'd have been exposed to my boss and any number of other things, probably even dead by now. I needed to get into that building by another door, and all there was left... was the front.

I did a quick 180 and headed back down the little alley that ran out to the main drag and the front entrance of the warehouse/garage. Carefully walking around the building across the street, I found a spot where I could observe Jeffery Rothschild's office and main entrance. I had a small pair of opera-style binoculars in my purse that let me see into his office. And there she was, big as life, I just about laughed out loud as I saw Simone and her fire engine red hair, pacing in his office. Not dying from exposure in some trunk. Waves of emotion hit, along with my shakes, and I once again felt feint. I quickly grabbed two of the last three sugar cubes and one after the other let them melt under my tongue and swallowed... Yuck! So bitter it drew tears, but I knew I had to have my senses working perfectly if Simone and I were going to live through this. I decided to keep one in reserve for keeping the withdrawals away.

I guess because I let them melt under my tongue, the effects hit much faster and more dramatically than when I took them with food, suddenly my eyesight was much improved and time actually seemed to slow down. As I watched what was going on in Jeff's office, I noticed a huge man walk in... no... he strutted in, it was Maxy. He seemed somewhat agitated, and when Simone said something, he immediately turned and slapped her. She went down hard, as my anger reflex forced me to I stand. Jeff moved around his desk to help her get back up onto a chair, and it looked like Maxy was now yelling at both of them. Somehow Jeff was involved in all of this now, acting as his usual chivalrous self, yet he was definitely in the middle of it.

That was when I noticed a flash of bright color behind the downstairs front entrance's double glass doors... there was someone in a white shirt on guard there as well. I would HAVE to find another way into this place, but how? I looked up, it was only two stories, could I climb it somehow? Yeah, in a miniskirt? ...Shit! That was when I saw the usual eyesore above the garage, some bullies had thrown the sneakers of some poor kid over the power lines, just because they could... but then I noticed the building next door was a few feet taller and right next to those poor lost sneakers... hmm.

I walked back down the street, crossed at the next light and came up on its main entrance. No one seemed to be coming or going here, so I just acted like I owned the place, or perhaps was on my way to see whoever owned it. Slipping past the first story, I kept going up into the dark access stairs until I reached the roof. There was a padlock on a bar keeping the door shut, so feeling into my purse, I found my skeleton key set and went to work on it, popping its padlock in about 3 minutes. I pulled the bar away, opened the door, and there I was, on the roof of the building next to my garage.

I sat on the wall overlooking the roof of the garage and concentrated on what I was about to do. First I threw my backpack over onto the garage's roof. Then I stepped about 30 feet back from the wall and breathed as hard as I could to get my oxygen levels up. Between that breathing and the 'Meth' sugar cubes, my heart felt like it was running a race all by itself. I now hooked the handle of my black patent clutch through my belt, to keep it, and my weapon, from disappearing on me.

As soon as I felt my pulse had reached its maximum, I started running towards the wall, once there, I jumped... hopefully just enough to clear it, and as the roof of the garage came rushing at me, I tucked into a ball and rolled onto the rough pea gravel that covered it. The whole roof was hot enough to literally fry an egg, and after coming to a stop, I looked around but couldn't see anyone. I jumped up and started manically brushing what felt like red-hot charcoal off of myself. Once I was a little cooler I went to retrieve my backpack from where I'd flung it. I now pulled my primary weapon from my purse, and began working my way around the edge of the roof.

Almost at once as I leaned over the back edge of the building's roof, I saw Maxy, along with two of his minions, both armed with large caliber revolvers... and a couple of his girls as well, they all seemed to simply be waiting, and I thought it likely, they were waiting for me. The really good part was they weren't anywhere near the garage door for the Chrysler, and the two vehicles that seemed to have brought them were parked in the back lot, and both were pointed in the wrong direction to give any kind of real chase, as both would have to turn around to get after me in time. Of course, I hoped that one quick look at my ugly tank probably didn't give Maxy much of a good impression, but its motor had a few happy changes by yours truly, pushing it close to 600hp. Something even the original 413ci NASCAR wedge motors couldn't claim. Those fools had no idea what that big beast could do, I shook my head in wonder, we just might... we really might be able to drive out of this!

Taking carefully metered steps across the roof, I was making sure no one was waiting for me inside the access doorway. The door here was locked with the inside deadbolt, and I knew the alarm system could not be tripped before 7pm. In this particular case... no lock picking was necessary, I had everything I needed... so I took another long breath and slipped my key into the big CASE deadbolt and carefully opened the steel access door. With an extremely loud screech of the hinge joint, I found myself wishing I had lube... wait! After dumping my clutch's contents for about the fifteenth time, I pulled out the KY and spread it over each of the big door's hinges, and worked it into the hinge pins. Now a couple small movements demonstrated that lube was lube, as the door opened enough for me to pass through... silently.

Once again, step-by-step down the stairs, I was constantly using Smitty's PAM (point, aim, and move) method, not that it was 'his' per se. But from the first day he hauled me out onto the pistol range to humiliate me and my pathetic abilities with a hand held weapon like this Beretta, he told me it was his. He had drilled it into my head that its purpose was to give me two 'presents' to keep me alive. It would present my enemy with the worst possible target, one that was constantly moving, and present my weapon with the best possible targets, ones that were surprised. As he taught me this method, I couldn't imagine how this would help me defend myself. Hmm, still not sure.

Now that I'd reached the second floor, I began moving towards Jeff's offices. As I came around the corner to the elevators, I saw Jeff's bodyguard in one of the plush conference rooms off the main hall. As I crept over to the doorway, I could see into the room via the door's glass window and realized another of Maxy's tough guys had fallen asleep next to the door. A minute more of observation showed Jeff's bodyguard was handcuffed to one of the conference room chairs, and a single finger to my lips got a quick nod back. It looked like Maxy's friends were getting bored and seemed over confident in what they could do... and I could not.

This door's hinges were on the inside... I'd have to hope they were VERY quiet indeed. One shout would be the end of us, so I very carefully turned the knob and opened the conference room door. As soon as I could get my whole body in I attacked, and a single open handed stroke to his throat left him barely able to breathe, and gave me plenty of time to find the handcuff keys and free the bodyguard... although it turned out it was just his limo driver, apparently all the big talk about a bodyguard was to frighten anyone looking to do him any harm. In any case he was more than happy to tie up his tormentor and gag him. I asked him if he would be able to use the pimp's revolver and that got a positive response, so I showed him where the safety was and how to turn it off. Then I got down to business, and asked what happened here.

The driver's name was Lou, and apparently Jeff had been lured back to the office after leaving that afternoon by Maxy who claimed he had found something Jeff would be interested in knowing about. When they got inside, Maxy's men were already there and easily tackled Lou, and were keeping Jeff as some kind of hostage 'in case', but he had no idea what that was all about. I explained that I might, but that we better get his boss free and out of this place as soon as possible. Of course... he initially wanted to contact local police, but I took a chance and told him that because of Jeff's gambling activities we'd better just get him away from the bullets, and deal with everything else later. So I told him to go down and get Jeff's Pantera warmed up, and I'd be sending Jeff down shortly. The Pantera Jeff owned was a racing edition, which meant it had a dry sump oiling system. So the 351 Cleveland's oil was held in a separate reservoir that could be plugged into an AC extension cord and warmed up that way. So Maxy and his boys would never hear the big Ford V8 until Lou and Jeff were leaving the garage that it was stored in, and by then it would be too late for them to get a good shot off.

The thought of driving Jeff's 175+ mph exotic, seemed to end all his arguments and Lou began to walk to the door, but then suddenly turned.

"Look lady, I... um... it seems like I can trust you," Lou was trying to figure this mess out, and frankly we just didn't have the time, "but, like... wot da HELL is this?!"

"Yes. On both counts," I smiled.

"W-wh-what?" he asked with a confused squint?

"Yes, trust that I am a lady," I said cryptically, "and yes, HELL is on it's way."

"Oh... my..." he softly began to mutter that three worded phrase.

"God?" I asked, finishing for him, "No... I wouldn't count on him... not today... we aren't on very good terms anymore."

I stared back blankly and apparently it was finally enough for Lou to understand that my thinking was no longer terribly rational. And that the best thing might be to get both his Boss and himself out of there... FAST. He turned on his heel and ran out the conference room's door. I wasn't sure how far I was intending to take this, then again, I hadn't started it... but my, oh my... I had every intention of finishing it.

I continued my PAM maneuver down the office hallway. Finally I reached Jeff's outer office where his secretary usually sat, only this afternoon she had already been sent home, and I slowly side-stepped up to Jeff's office door and carefully listened. I heard voices talking at low volume, but thought I should move carefully until I really knew what Jeff's role had been in all of this.

I brought one hand away from my weapon, and encircled the doorknob, twisting very slowly until I felt the bolt give, then counted down from three to zero, and on one I shoved the door open, and by zero, I was inside and between Simone and Jeff in less than a second. With the barrel of my Beretta less than 3 feet from Jeff's forehead, I now took the opportunity pull back the slide to load the initial bullet from the magazine, making its familiar slack-slick sound as that first round was chambered, letting anyone nearby know I was ready to shoot.

"Josie!!" Simone jumped into the air and danced over next me.

I took one hand away from my weapon and put a finger to my lips indicating we needed quiet at the moment. I quickly smiled over at her though, but it was then that I saw she had been handcuffed. My eyebrows knitted into a single brow at that point and I gave Jeff the nastiest look I had.

"Where are the keys Jeff?" I queried, as Jeff's tanned complexion faded to a pure white.

"I-I... h-honestly dunno," eyes dashing from Simone back to the barrel of my gun.

"Josie?" Simone quietly wanted my attention, "Jeff has been hurt as much or more than I have honey... he's been really trying to keep that monster off of me."

I had been looking Jeff over carefully and she was correct, the fresh scars were everywhere, small blood trails were visible on his neck, arms and face. I pulled the Beretta up and stuck it into my belt at the small of my back, pulling Simone over to me, as all I wanted right then was to hug her. Now that the gun was away, Jeff and I made full eye contact and I said just loud enough he could hear over Simone's crying and laughing... 'Thank You'!

"Oh my God, no... but... it can't be... you're... I'll be DAMNED! ...JACK?!"

I sighed and again put my finger to my lips and pulled my clutch around on my belt so I could rummage through it and find my skeleton key set. Once I had it, I slipped out one of the handcuff sized frames and then grabbed the pick and nodded for Simone to come over closer to the light. I pushed in the frame, and rotated the pick around and she was free for the first time all afternoon. While I popped the cuffs and skeleton keys back into my clutch purse, Jeff had moved closer and was staring up and down while shaking his head from left to right, watching my body intently. It was a body he thought that he knew, but knew now he didn't really know at all.

"Jack? What the hell's going on here? Maxy said he was after someone named Josie and I had no idea who he was talking about, was this... is this... you?"

"Do you know this thug 'Maxy'?" I asked, "Is he someone you do business with?"

"Well, hell... everyone in Philly... at least in the underworld, knows OF him," he explained, "and he gambles here on the weekends, but that's as much as I really know about Maxy... what's incredible... is I don't think he knows who actually owns this building."

"Yeah, he does seem like he's a powerful player around here," I replied and then saw that Jeff had paused to deliver something big, "Y-you... you mean its not you?"

"Ha! Not hardly, I owed 'em so much money that they finally 'allowed' me to open a place of my own here to pay them back, plus my family connections didn't hurt," Jeff continued after nervously looking around once more, "Does the name 'Testa' mean anything to ya?"

"Holy shit... The Chicken Man himself owns this place Jeff?" I said quietly, "Oh wow... and so then you work for him?"

"Not in any way anyone would know," he laughed, "but yes, I was just finishing a delivery of booking receipts to his Bank Street Restaurant over in the old city, when Maxy called. My secretary transferred the call and luckily I told her to go home."

"So Lou said Maxy told you about some kind of information he had?"

"Exactly," he continued, "And while I thought it strange, I get these kinds of 'middleman' offers all the time, where someone wants me to relay information in exchange for some favor or other. When I tried to explain this to Maxy after he ambushed me, he called me a liar, and hasn't talked to me since, now what I think he's doing is talking to his connections to see if I am, or I'm not who I claim to be."

"Pfft... I doubt it would matter," I said, "He's like a pit bull, all he wants is me."

"But Jack... who are you?" Jeff wondered, "Thought you were gay, but anybody that can turn a wrench like you... well, who the fuck cares, ya know... ha... um... sorry."

Suddenly realizing I might take offence at such a remark, Jeff sat back on the edge of his desk and decided that silence might be the best idea from this point.

"Jeff," I sighed, looking at Simone with a smirk, "I just don't have the time right now to give you my whole transgender, bisexual awakening spiel, but the short answer is no, I'm not gay, however I AM transsexual. I'm a woman Jeff... but a woman born as a man... Also a somewhat Dominant woman that enjoys bondage, drives a two thousand horsepower fuel funny car, and packs a street prepped nine millimeter pistol."

"Jesus... I think I'm in love," he grinned, then shook his head to get his reason back, "but... um... Josie, how did you get so involved with a Pim... oh... you're a..."

"A whore? Is that the word you're looking for?" I sighed as I tried to explain, "I'm sorry Jeff. Sorry you got involved. This 'Maxy' is seriously mental, apparently thinking I'm some kind of competition... all I've been trying to do is make a living between working for you during the day, and for myself in the afternoons and evenings. Suddenly today he attacked poor Simone here, and threatened me!"

"Actually Josie," Simone was speaking, "Maxy told me that the drug dealer that tried to rip you off last week, that guy named... Spoofy I think? Well apparently Maxy's been trying to break into the drug trade and that guy was working for him. After you used your karate or whatever to get our money back, he complained to Maxy. Plus he's been hearing you're a Dom and all... so that's where this all started honey."

"Shit," I replied, "Figures... if they can't kidnap ya, they'll just kill ya."

"Well... not to create a panic here," Jeff said, "but how do we get out of this?"

"Okay... Jeff?" I said, now speaking quickly, "Lou's warming up your Pantera, so take the far stairs down to your garage bay, and get the hell out of here, they'll never be able to keep up, and on a Saturday you should have good streets to get lost on. Then that distraction should help Simone and I get my Chrysler started and we'll do the same, out run them, and they'll never know where the hell we went..."

Suddenly I swooned a bit, I couldn't be feeling feint damnit... I gotta keep going... why was this happening? Think... I gotta think... I hadn't used the Meth very much since getting to the city, maybe I'd exposed it to the air too much and it had lost its potency. I reached into my clutch once again and slipped the last cube under my tongue. Simone watched with curiosity, but I needed to get us out of there right now, I would try to explain later.

"I-I'm sorry... I'll be alright now," I explained to their concerned faces, "Jeff... get down to Lou and get the hell out of here... and don't come back for at least a week!"

Watching him go, I again hugged Simone and a tear rolled down my cheek, as I was suddenly so tired... tired of constantly fighting everyone and everything. My right ankle buckled and I sat down into Jeff's chair hard, but at least I hadn't hit the floor.

"Maybe I should drive, huh?" Simone finally asked, causing me to laugh for the first time in a while, "what's funny about that, I can drive, I used ta be a guy too?!"

"Honey... its ok... really, just gimme a minute," I sighed, "You see, I started driving at 12, raced dirt track for money purses at 15 on a fake license. The next year I had qualified for an SCCA racing license for racing showroom stock at Pocono raceway. The summer I turned 18 I was hired to drive a quarter million dollar fuel funny car that went a quarter mile in 6 seconds, and I eventually made it do it in 5... so even as tired as I am, and wearing a skirt, I can still drive better than... just about anyone."

"Simone I wasn't laughing at you," I said as I watched her jaw drop listening to my little driving resume, "I knew you'd want me to drive if you knew what I just explained, but this whole situation is just so crazy... I'm probably gonna have to crash that Chrysler through a metal garage door and who knows what all... but, if we're gonna live through this, then I WILL need your help sweetie... you ready?"