Maxine's New Life Ch. 13a

"You aren't spy grade material, but you are damn good for what you are," Martin said.

"All that just because I will do a threesome with you and your new girlfriend?" I asked. "Or is it because I offered you coffee while you toss my place."

"It is because you are a world class trouble shooter. Whether it is calling the cops at the right time, or shooting a Russian in the face, you know what is the most efficient thing to do." Martin said it as I slipped from the bed.

I expected that I would wake Kate, when I went to rummage through the stack of cardboard boxes for a long tee shirt to slip into. I was using the boxes in place of a dresser at that moment. Kate was obviously much better at sleeping in strange beds, than I was having strangers sleep in mine. I didn't shower before I put the coffee on, but I did brush my teeth. I had really bad breath and a terrible taste in my mouth. I even took time to run a brush through my thin stringy hair. Without a butt load of moose, it just lay like paint on my scalp.

"So did you find anything interesting?" I asked when I returned from the shower.

"I found that you own this place outright and that you don't need money. I even know a couple of things you don't?"

"Oh and what might that be?" I asked

"I know where your friend Mosby is." he said.

"That, my friend, is information of no value whatsoever." I replied.

"But, I also know what she is going to be up to next." Martin was smug, thinking I would care no doubt.

"Not interested," I replied.

"Are you sure, it involves you," he said with a huge grin.

"If it involves me hon, I will find out eventually." I said.

"Why wait?" he asked.

"Oh alright, what does the little nymph have in store for me next?" I asked.

"She is part of the group trying to sell their little show to a cable TV network." he said.

"That is going to be a problem, since i am not about to sign on for that," I replied.

"Swamp Thing, as you call it, would like for you to do the show," he said.

"What makes you think I care what Swamp Thing wants?" I asked.

"Come on Max, your life is like about people and situations like us. You go along being an average citizen for a couple of months, then you find shit to get into." he demanded

"Come on that's crap," I said "I'm one of those people to whom things just happen."

" Max, listen to me and try to be objective, okay?" he asked. We were sitting at the old registration desk drinking coffee as he tried to give me, his take on me.

"Sure, but let me see how you explain the kid trying to hold up the convenience store. How was that me looking for trouble?" I asked.

"Sure, first of all you had a pistol. I know it wasn't for that exact occasion, and I know that it's legal, but nobody else in this town would have strapped on a pistol to go out for pizza. You were more than just in the right place at the right time. You were prepared for something like that because you wanted it to happen."

"What crap," I said, but there was something in what he said.

"Even with the pistol, you could have just let it happen. Then gone home to your pizza or whatever it was. But no, not you, you have to take the thug down." Martin explained.

"I explained that to the cops," I replied.

"And they knew it was bullshit as well. The after action bullshit, to justify the action." Martin actually laughed quietly. "You aren't talking to the plumber on the grand jury here Maxine."

"Everything you do that gets you into trouble, you could have walked away from and still had a nice life. No sweetie you need your terror fix, just like the rest of us."

"Even if that is true, what's in the TV show for Swamp Thing?" I asked.

"The same as for Marty, the bike peddler, positive exposure. The kinds of people we want to work for might not watch Maxine the super hero, but their wives and girlfriends might."

"Okay, I think it is bullshit, but even so, why should I do it?" I asked.

"You wanted the option to turn down jobs. The ones you thought weren't worthy of your ideals, well this is it. The kinds of jobs you want to do, are the kinds that will clean up the company's image. It's a true win/win. We give you the chance to run around playing a real life Charlie's angel, In exchange you say good things about us, plus you get paid twice for it. What more could an out of work operative want?" he asked laughing.

"I will think about it, if they come calling." I replied.

"Try to see it honestly, not through your rose colored glasses," Martin suggested. He stood to leave, since those appeared to be his final words on the subject. "One more thing, you helped turn Kate because it was a rush pure and simple. You don't really need more of a reason that that."

He turned to the door and I was glad to see him go. He was hitting a little too close to home. "I'll call," was his parting shot.

I did give it some thought as he walked to the gate. I couldn't help but see the humor possible in the show. We could call it the gun thug slut, I thought. Once I was sure the gate was closed and locked behind Martin, I went back to bed. The sun hadn't even risen yet, I thought.

I slept better with the extra room in the bed. It also didn't hurt that Kate was harmless compared to Martin. She did snore a bit, but I could deal with that. I only dozed in bits and pieces, but it was something.

"I wish you weren't so damn small," Kate voice cut through my bit of sleep.

"Huh?" I replied.

"I said, I wish you weren't so small. I sure would like a shower and some clean clothes." Kate said not at all friendly.

"Sorry, you could always leave some clean panties here," I said with a smile, because I knew it would start a firestorm.

"What the hell makes you think I will ever be back here?" she asked.

"Oh, it was just a suggestion. If not that, then put a pair of panties in your purse. Wrap them in a little plastic bag, if you don't want people to know you what you are." What I didn't say was, "Honey, if you are going to be a slut, get used to it, or be inventive."

"Will you give me a ride home?" she asked being a little nicer, but it was very little.

"Since I have clean clothes, you are going to have to wait until I take a shower and dress. After that sure, I will take you anywhere you want to go."

That's exactly how it went down. After my shower I filled the Delta coffee cup, and off I went to take the fallen princess home. She did not say anther word to me, not even thank you for the ride. Kate, I decided at the moment the cruiser's door slammed, was not going to be a lifelong friend.

I would have taken Kate to breakfast with me, if she had been about half pleasant. Since she wasn't, I rode to the Hardee's for my breakfast alone. At almost 10AM it was a different crowd, but still they seemed to know each other. It was a bit of a shock for me to see that.

I had thought that it was one group, at one time of day, but it seemed as though the whole breakfast meal had its regulars. I knew that it had to do with price for the older ones, and I supposed that it was true for the young families as well. The children at 10AM were all younger than school age. A couple of hash-browns and a bit of egg off mom's biscuit was enough for them, I supposed. I was still trying to figure it all out, when I finished my meal and left.

Since I had the Swamp Thing's offer, after breakfast I went by Ed's office to pick up my tools. Ed was at his desk as he usually was around lunchtime. "Hey big guy," I said to him. "How are things working out with the forced labor?"

"You mean Lucas? He threw himself into the work once that Gwen person left."

"She has gone already?" I asked.

"Yes, but Lucas said she would be back soon. She and Mike have kind of deal cooking."

"Ah, lots of people have things cooking these days. I came to pick up my tools," I suggested.

"This doesn't mean you are going to stop coming to see me does it?" he asked.

"Of course not," I replied. "It does mean, I need to go buy a gun safe though. I guess for now, I'll put them under the bed." Might as well spread a little disinformation, I thought.

"There is no hurry, you can leave them here," Ed suggested.

"I know, but I feel better with them within reach," I admitted.

"Yes, with your lifestyle, I can see that," he agreed.

I loaded up the guns, ammunition, and vests rather quickly. It was going to make for a big pile at the apartment. Fortunately I had a lot of empty space, since the rooms were large and I hadn't filled them with furniture as of yet.

At the apartment I made several trips from the cruiser to the apartment just to get all the equipment inside. Once I got it inside and on the bed, I realized that when I got it organized, it wouldn't be so much. I had two trench length shotguns, an assault rifle made in china, a .22 magnum sniper rifle, and several pistols of various caliber. Lots of ammunition, two stun-guns, two vests. One of them was the replacement for the one damaged in the Russian shootout. All in all, it was not that much.

I had the plan in the back of my mind from the first day that I bought the apartment building. It came as no shock to me that I was ready. First of all you have to remember that my bedroom had once been an old style motel room. As such it was wider than a normal bedroom, and it was much longer. The length was for the bathroom at the rear.

The bathroom was small with only a tiny tub and shower along with a toilet of course. Just outside the small bathroom was an open area. That little dressing area was about four feet by ten feet. The wall nearest to the bathroom had a vanity with sink and mirror for dressing and makeup. There was counter space that took up about four of those ten feet to the common wall shared with my living room and kitchen area, The original use of the space, from the end of the counter to the wall, was for a clothes bar and other storage for the guest.

In the final plans the space got turned into a much larger closet. The vanity became part of the bathroom, but the concrete block wall at the end of the vanity remained. To make a long story short there was a tiny space two feet wide and four feet long at the rear of the new, but less sturdy, closet. I had the Laboring Few turn it into dead space simply by placing the clothes bar two and a half feet from the rear wall. A lightweight false wall made it my hidden compartment to store the tools of my trade. It would require a lot of work to gain access to the space, but that was the idea.

Once everything was inside the hidden storage space, I settled in for a day of pure relaxation. I began it with a nap.

Most of the weekdays passed easily. I had not realized how much I needed to build up my reserve energy. After three days of doing nothing more than showing the two vacant apartments, I felt as good as I had in years. Not better, but I was back at my highest level of energy. In those three days I had also established a routine that I enjoyed.

Every one of those three mornings, I dressed like an Eskimo, started Gus's bike, then rode to breakfast at the local Hardee's. On the morning after Kate and Martin left my apartment I picked up aTryon paper there. In it I found a story about middle aged and older, men and women who walked at the two malls in Tryon. After that I began a new part of my morning routine. I rode the bike five miles out to the mall located between Aster and Tryon. It wasn't a large mall, but it did have two enclosed stories which made it ideal for walking.

I wasn't sure how far I wanted to walk, but I did my math calculations before I left the restaurant. If I walked 3 miles an hour, which Google informed me was the average idle walking speed for an adult woman my age, then every twenty minutes I walked one mile. That very morning I stopped by the Wa- Mart store which, wasn't too far out of the way, there I bought a cheap digital watch.

Once I arrived at the lower level of the mall, I stripped off most of my clothes. It was not at all sexy I can assure you. Then I looked at my watch and began to walk. I tried to walk normally as I began the first lap of the bottom floor. I walked by stores mostly filled with boutique type businesses. I did find two large department store chains represented. I had no idea that they were in the mall. Obviously I am not much of a shopper.

There were also three empty stores on the bottom level of the mall. Christmas had come and gone with no more than a turkey dinner at Jen's house for me. Followed by passing out of a few boxes of very expensive cookies. It looked as though for at least three retail shop it hadn't had a better Christmas than it had for me. All the stores in the mall seemed to have suffered to some extent during the season of giving. In the present economy I was told that it was typical.

I walked steady for the complete lap and then checked the watch. I had walked eight minutes. I did a rough calculation and figured that I needed to do two and a half laps of the down stairs area for a mile. So five laps was two miles. That seemed about right, so off I went for four more laps. I rode the escalator up to the top floor after one more lap of the bottom floor. I timed upper floor lat as well and found that it was pretty close to the same.

Right or wrong, I set five laps as my baseline. I began to walk and my mind began to drift. As I walked I began to notice the people that I passed. I realized that I had instinctively turned right off the escalator which set me to walking clockwise while everyone else walked counter clockwise. There had to be something significant in it. The herd going in the same direction and me going backwards, I mean.

The direction I chose to walk had me confronting each of them every lap. I guess I might claim it kept people from walking up behind me, so maybe there was a reason after all. I mean other than me being out of step with everyone else in the whole world.

I was pleasantly surprised to find how friendly the mall walkers were. They were mostly older retired folks. Yes most even older than my forty something years. They seemed to be a reasonably fit bunch as well. Some were couples obviously husband and wife types, some were couples, like women who came to walked together regularly, and some couples looked to be mall pickup couples. Probably one walk stands, I thought.

There was also a very few singles like me walking as well. All that I noticed before I walked into the food court. In the food court I found another twenty or so people. Some looked as though they might be walkers on a scheduled break and some looked as though they might be mall employees waiting to start work. The workers being only marginally better dressed.

For the first time since I left the sandbox, I had a routine at least part of the day. For must of a week, I had walked at the mall after breakfast at Hardee's. I knew that if I was in a high risk environment, any routine would have been totally stupid. Since I really wasn't in an imminent threat situation, it was only mildly stupid. The morning walk gave me a little exercise, and it gave me a little structure. I decided that I needed both.

The final reinforcement for the continuation of the walk was at the food bar. No I would never eat there, but there was a cookie shop. I tried to avoid sugar like the plague, because for me it was. I would have tried to pretend that the cookie shop didn't exit, except that all the people, waiting for the stores to open, had coffee cups with their logo. Since I love coffee, I bought a cup on my last lap. I was only half a lap from finishing, so I waited until I reached the bike to try it. The coffee was delicious. It was just a little stronger than what most restaurants served, and just a little weaker than my own. Not only that, the girl behind the counter was gorgeous and sweet as well. I was hooked.

Before I left for breakfast that morning, I realized that Friday had slipped up on me again. At the Hardee's I realized that I had finally been around long enough to recognize the people there. I could wave at most of them, and they would wave back. Since over the years, I had learned the art of eavesdropping without being obvious about it, I knew enough about most of them to speak. It was a skill that came from working undercover investigating thefts from military installations.

I was into my socializing mode, when the phone rang. It was embarrassing to hear Mag7 come from my purse. I had to remember to stop by the phone store and have that changed, thought yet again.

"Hello Jen, what the hell are you doing awake this time of the morning"

"It almost 9AM of course I'm awake. Where the hell are you?"

"Hardee's of course, so what's the emergency this time?" I asked.

"I'm not real sure, guess who called me at home?" she demanded.

"If you want me to guess, I can and I can even get it right, but wouldn't you rather just tell me what he said?" I asked.

"Okay wise ass, Marty wants a meeting again. But he insist you be patted down for weapons first." Jen said with a chuckle.

"I don't blame him, I might well want to pop his ass for the Mosby thing." I said.

"He knows that, but he still has an offer to put on the table," Jen replied.

"Actually, I know what his offer is already. I have been giving it some thought." I admitted. "These bacon, egg and cheese biscuits aren't free you know."

"You are kidding me. They almost got you killed with that damn online shit. Surely you aren't really considering a new gig?"

"I thought you wanted me to do it. To make your life a little more exciting?" I asked.

"I don't want you to get yourself killed for my entertainment," Jen said seriously.

"Don't worry, neither do I," I admitted. "But I'll listen to the offer. When do they want to talk."

"Monday morning at 10AM."

"Okay Jen, Monday at 10 it is," I agreed.

"Bye the way if you have an apartment left, save it till after the meeting." she suggested.

"Fair enough," I replied. I hadn't rushed to rent the last two apartments because of Irish Martin's visit. I had a feeling someone would want at least one of them. That is, if I decided to do it again. I still hadn't made a final decision.

I left hardee's with my delta coffee cup full. I had a lid for it, so that I could ride with it in the handlebar basket without sloshing it around. I took it into the mall with me. I began my walk at the downstairs entrance away from the food court. I walked two laps on the bottom floor and sipped my coffee as I went. It was actually quite pleasant. The coffee had cooled off significantly before I rode the escalator upstairs. I walked one more lap including in and out of the food court before I felt the coffee had cooled enough to need help.

I stopped at Cookie land for a cop of their coffee. I poured it from their cup into my cup, then tasted it. It was still a little cooler than I liked to start. I noticed that they had a microwave oven.

"Miss, could I get you to put this in the microwave for a minute. I would really appreciate it." I said.

"Sure I have time. I don't have any customers this early." she said.

She stood in front of me while the coffee nuked. "So you come here often?" I asked.

"I work here," she said seriously. "Oh, that was a joke?"

"I guess it wasn't much of one. Just my poor attempt at humor and conversation." I said. "Since I will probably be seeing you a lot, I thought I would try to make friends."

"Oh do you work in the mall?" she asked.

"No, but I have started walking with the other old guys," I said.

"Oh you aren't near as old as the others," she said it, not realizing how it sounded.

"Oh good," I said as the buzzer on the microwave went off. It was a good thing, since I had decided that the chick was as dumb as a post. Too bad because she was young and gorgeous, just my type. Okay, I liked to pretend that her type, was my type.