It's My Party

Time: 7:14 AM

Ricardo paced nervously back and forth in front of Jacob's Bar and Grill. Uno's orders to the teams on guard duty were extremely clear. Stay on the first floor of Jacob's, or you could be in the corridor directly outside Jacob's door, but you could absolutely not wander away without first alerting Uno that something unusual needed investigating.

Amber had never seen Ricardo so nervous. It was so bizarre. He was even petting her occasionally as he made his jerky little paces around her. It was nothing like their horrible encounter in Herman's. Here it was just a hand on her shoulder, a light pet of her hair, once he lightly held her ear as he stared with his binoculars in the direction of Rabbies Dram. Amber didn't know what to make of it. Was he even aware he was touching her? He didn't seem to be.

And then his hand came to her throat. Amber gulped and tried to remain motionless, the memories of his iron finger bruising the flesh on her butt cheek playing out in her mind. His fingers were close to her windpipe, not quite there but close, and then they pushed in, firmly but not fiercely.

"My God," thought Amber. "I know what he's doing. He's taking my pulse. I can feel my artery beating against his fingertips." Amber breathed slowly and tried to remain calm. A moment later the hand left her neck.

Ricardo glanced at his watch. He started to walk back into Jacob's but then pivoted in the doorway and rapidly returned to the outside arc for another look with the binoculars. He glanced at the watch again and frowned. He still had another forty-six minutes before A-team relieved them and Ricardo would be free to explore the mall. Ricardo's problem was that he was feeling a desperate urge to explore now. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing up, he felt on knife edge, and he couldn't figure out why.

He took another long look through his binoculars. Everything appeared the same. Still, why the hell was he so nervous? Was he smelling something, a few molecules of another person's perspiration, something below his conscious understanding but still something his brain could detect? Was he catching stray reflections off the diffuse surfaces of the mall? Were his eyes getting just enough of a signal to send him an alert? Almost unconsciously, he walked a few meters in the direction of Rabbies Dram.

"Huh?" said Hernando who got up out of his chair. "Hey Ricardo, what the fuck?"

"I want to check out the mall," the muchacho whispered in reply. He took another two steps.

"Yeah, well, just wait a bit. You'll get your chance."

"I need to go now."

"Ricardo! No fucking way! Uno will have my balls if I…" Hernando froze in shock. Ricardo had spun around and was pointing his pistol at him, right at his face.

"Go!" whispered Jada over the Leophone to Charles group. She had no audio of the activity at Jacob's, but was guessing what was happening and decided to gamble and take Lynn's advice and push the issue. Ricardo was starting to approach her team and Jada wanted no part of a gun battle between Ricardo and her mission team. Besides, Hernando was a perfect distraction for Ricardo now. You don't take your eyes off someone you're pointing a gun at.

Hernando stared down the barrel of the pistol as Ricardo sneered at him. The muchacho's eyes were cold points of light, and he spoke with derision. "You're worried about your balls? I'll shoot out both your eyeballs if you don't shut the fuck up."

Hernando stared back and forth at the gun and at Ricardo, furious at Ricardo's behavior but then deciding it just wasn't worth the effort to challenge him, at least not now. He made a hand gesture to try to calm the muchacho down, and Ricardo dismissed the compadre and turned around to look down the corridor again after tucking the gun in his waistband. He frowned deeply and a second later brought up his binoculars for a closer look, pressing himself against the wall of the outside arc for the best view.

Emily had already sprinted across to the inside arc, but Fatima had remained on the outside arc to lock the door, and from 945 meters away, Ricardo saw Fatima snap the last mushroom home and then disappear from view along the inside arc.

"Pussy in the mall!" Ricardo screamed. "She's locking the fucking doors!" Ricardo took the bare minimum of time to whip the heavy binoculars from his head and place them on the floor. He then pulled out his gun again and started to sprint along the spiral with all the speed he had. Hernando stared at him in shock for a moment and then shouted a warning to Amber to stay where she was. He then ran back into the home complex to summon Uno.

Time: 7:29 AM

Charles' team had dropped into their long-distance cruising mode with Fatima at the point, then Emily, Tom, and finally Charles. They were biking home single file, running about halfway between the black centerline and the wall of the inside arc. Back near the Black Mall home complex, Fatima had done an admirable job of jumping on her bike in one fluid motion and quickly accelerating to 30 kph, faster than anyone on foot could keep up with.

Over the last ten minutes, Fatima had slowed down a bit, but Charles was certain they had opened up a gap of at least two kilometers with any possible pursuit. He thought they were trouble-free as long as trouble didn't come looking for them. A flat tire or a bad fall right now would present a nightmarish set of alternatives. Best just to maintain a steady pace, he thought. What they had going now was working. So don't fuck with it, he decided.

"Charles?" It was Jada's voice on the Leophone clipped to his shoulder. He could talk hands-free.

"Yo Jada!" he answered. "Are we still being pursued?"

"Yes. What you're doing is marginally okay, but can you pick up the pace a bit, or at least don't let it drop any lower?"

Charles paused for a moment. "What's our situation?"

"Ricardo is armed and is attempting to run you down. The man may be many things, but he is very fast. I'll give him credit for that. Right now he is at… mark! 64.8 kilometers. And you've just passed 62.3 kilometers."

"Oh, I know it. We just passed Rabbies Dram a moment ago. Wait a minute. Two and half kilometer difference, that's all?"

"Hold on… 2,490 meters right at this second. You're still gaining on him. Ricardo had a fantastic initial sprint, and has dropped back to an even 20 kph for last several kilometers. Still a remarkable speed considering he's carrying a pistol. You're between 25 and 26 kph right now. That's okay, but don't drop it any lower. Let's open up a buffer."

Charles panted modestly and nodded as he biked. "Did he see our bikes?"

"I'm certain the answer is no. He managed to close within 830 meters before your speed exceeded his, but he wasn't hugging the outside arc at the time. By the time he thought of running there, you were more than a kilometer out in front."

Charles nodded thoughtfully. "Jada, I guess Tom and I could bike a bit faster, and Emily could put us all to shame, but I've talked with Fatima. She never had the opportunity to learn how to ride a bike in Kuwait. She taught herself just two years ago. As long as we're still gaining on Ricardo, I don't want to press her. She knows the situation. And Ricardo has to be exhausting himself faster than we are."

There was a short pause and then Jada said, "Yes, those are good points. And I agree, time is on our side. I won't bring up the issue again unless he starts to gain on you. Wait a minute. Charles, something else has come up, nothing to do with your group. Jada out."

And with that terse goodbye, the Leophone went silent. Charles continued to bike along the quiet mall, thinking about their situation. Having a side-car would be wonderful insurance if they had an accident, but all twelve of the precious cars were in use transporting the six kayaks. And something had distracted Jada. Charles began to wonder what else could be going on.

Chapter 43.

Time: Friday, February 1, 2019 7:33 AM

Jada, Lynn, and Akiko were in an intense discussion on whether to send Kiyoko the go code for seizing the Black Mall lounge. The scene outside Jacob's Bar and Grill was chaotic and it seemed a perfect opportunity, except for the fact that there was still one compadre and one taskmistress missing.

At 7:17 AM, Uno and the two men of A-team had come charging into Jacob's with Hernando to check out Ricardo's initial warning cry. Uno was horrified to see that Jacob's door to the entrance to the Mall had been lowered, and his first thought was that an armed enemy might be in the Bar and Grill with them. Ducking low behind a dining table, he yelled at Diego to go get more help. Uno, Alfredo, and Hernando then began checking out the first floor.

Diego returned with Alfonso, and the two slipped up the stairs and searched the second floor of Jacob's. Satisfied the place was empty, they carefully made their way back down the stairs, where Uno waved a sign to them that the store was clear. Diego walked over to the door and pushed the access button. Ten seconds later the door completed its four-meter rise.

Diego peered outside left and right down the corridor. The time was now 7:27 AM, and by closing the door before she fled, Amber had provided herself a critical extra few minutes to run out of sight. She was now panting in a large drug store at spiral-mark 69,360 along the inside arc, just three stores away from the locked door of Puppets Galore!

It had taken a lot of guts to follow the sprinting Ricardo rather than running away from him, but Amber correctly reasoned her best chances were on the side of Black Mall's home complex where Uno's adversaries had appeared. She had risked her life that Ricardo wouldn't turn around and see her running after him, and the risk had paid off.

What she would do now was unclear. Just hiding for a while and letting things develop seemed the most reasonable plan she could think of. Perhaps she would look around the drug store for some sort of weapon. Amber was convinced that she had signed her death warrant by escaping from Uno's group, and she had no intention to submit meekly to Ricardo's tender mercies if she were caught.

Time: 7:33 AM

Uno and four compadres were plainly visible hanging around the entrance of Jacob's Bar and Grill. There was no audio for Jada or her team to hear, but they could guess what he was yelling about. He was livid that Amber had disappeared. Lynn spoke and broke the silence in the observation room. "If we're going to risk extracting Mark, we need to decide right now."

Jada nodded, her mind racing so fast it almost hurt. Mark and his group had already been notified a few minutes previously, and they were abandoning their sanctuary as quickly as they could.

Hell, thought Jada. How could she have been so stupid?! Mark and Toshi and Frida should have been positioned at the start of the mission! But the success of the lockdown mission was based on the assumption that everything would be unobserved. It just didn't occur to anybody that failure from one perspective would open up an opportunity for success in another.

Jada reviewed her reasoning with Lynn and Akiko one final time. "We're assuming the stairwell entrance into Jacob's is critical. Jenaro must be there guarding it. He has to be. Otherwise someone could lock the door and trap Uno in the Mall. Okay! Send Kiyoko the go code!" Two seconds later the Matrix sensors in Esau's Bar and Grill started flashing repeating bursts of three quick yellow flashes. Jada silently prayed she wasn't sending two people to their deaths.

Flashback: Time: Forty minutes previously, in the bee sanctuary of Black Mall diamond array

Mark, Frida, and Toshi had spent the last several hours monitoring the progress of the Black Mall operation, and then shortly before 7 AM Mark and Frida started feeling restless. The sun was up and it was a beautiful if fake day outside, and Toshi suggested the two go outside and stay nearby but also get some exercise. Toshi would continue to monitor mission progress on the Leophone and would call them if they were needed.

About a hundred meters from their home, Mark and Frida started martial arts training that quickly turned into full-speed sparring. Frida tried some fairly advanced maneuvers and Mark was thrilled for a moment with her rapidly improving skills, but then she did something insanely aggressive, attempting a takedown by sweeping Mark's legs. If the movement were successful, she'd have a commanding position on him, but the setup left her horribly exposed and Mark scored two potentially crippling blows, a knuckle-punch to her throat and a powerful backhand directly to her solar-plexus. Both times he carefully pulled the punches and made just feather-light taps against her body.

And then his legs were swept and he hit the ground with a thud with Frida straddling him and landing on top of his groin. Mark gave a soft "umph" from the impact.

They both stopped and looked at each other. "Frida," said Mark, "that maneuver was absolutely absurd."

"No it wasn't. I have you just where I want you."

"But…" Mark gasped. Frida had lifted most of her weight off him and was rubbing the bottom of her pubis up and down, pressing lightly against his groin and penis. Mark's mind seemed to flash as it attempted an extraordinary shift in perspective. The attacking opponent pinning him had transformed into a lovely and aroused woman wearing only a bathrobe, and the bottom of the robe was open and she was rubbing her sex against his. The soft cotton of his own bathrobe was only barrier between their genitals.

"Frida," he whispered.

"Mark," she whispered back, and then she stared at him, pleading for him to lock eyes with her.

There were no words, just infinitely complex constructions of emotions from both their minds, meeting and entwining and building something faster than either could comprehend. They saw the entirety of each other's lives, the intimate understanding of each other's childhoods, the hopes, the fears, the dreams, the desires, and how each child had become the person before them.

Frida started to cry, and in the slowness of accelerated time, she removed her bathrobe from her shoulders and let it fall insanely slowly to her waist. Then she began to arch her body over Mark, eventually so far over that the eye contact was broken. Both their minds returned to normal time.

Frida completed her maneuver. She had positioned her left breast over Mark's face and she thrust her chest forward, offering herself to her beloved. Mark stared at the tit before his eyes. It was so incredibly beautiful, fuller than Jada's breasts or even pregnant Toshi's. But beyond the sexual attractiveness lay the deep meaning from Frida's mind. Directly behind her left breast lay her heart, and that was the true gift Frida was offering now. Frida was asking Mark to take her as his wife.

"It is February, you know," she whispered above him as she waited to be suckled. "Aren't women allowed to ask men to marry them in February?"

"Uh…" Mark laughed. "Something like that I guess. But I thought it was at the end of the month on leap-years."

"There are no leap-years anymore," whispered Frida. "Besides, Februaries are a lot shorter now. We have to make allowances." She paused and added, "Please Mark."

It was never his intention to refuse her. His tongue came up and licked the nipple, and then his lips kissed and pulled the offered flesh into his mouth. Frida petted his head as he suckled her, crying and whispering the word, "husband…"

Toshi came running towards them from their home. "Hey guys! So sorry to break this up, but we have to evacuate! Now!"

Time: 7:35 AM

A shivering Whitney was being held prisoner in the lounge by an annoyed looking Jessica who was armed with a wicked looking Bowie knife. Whitney had been rudely pulled out of her shower a few minutes ago. She had been up for the last hour and was preparing for her daily shift with A-team when Jessica had burst into her shower area with the knife and ordered her out. Whitney barely had time to grab her bathrobe as she was hustled into the lounge. It was a drill Uno had forced her to practice several times, but one look at Jessica's wild eyes told her this wasn't a drill. So Whitney sat meekly in a chair, her hair dripping wet. She was shivering and trying to look harmless.

Both Jessica and Whitney gasped in shock as the lounge elevator door began to open. Brandi! And Kiyoko!!! Jessica's jaw dropped, and then she raised her knife and growled an order for Kiyoko to obey her.

Kiyoko laughed and displayed her gun and an even larger kitchen knife from Esau's. "Not today Baby Jessica!" she shouted. "You want to rumble with me?! I'm ready!"

And then Brandi pulled out their group's fifth and final pistol. Brandi and Kiyoko had never fired a weapon in their lives, but Jessica didn't know that. Brandi flashed Jessica the most wild, gleefully evil smile she could manage, and then she and Kiyoko fanned out with the obvious intent of attacking Jessica from two sides simultaneously.

"Drop your pants Baby Jessica!" Kiyoko howled insanely as she waved and twisted her long slicing knife. "It's time for your rectal exam!" Jessica's lips quivered in horror, and Kiyoko continued, "Don't worry, this knife might look sharp, but I promise, this'll be the last rectal exam you'll ever get! Hee Hee!"

Jessica quickly decided she wanted no part of this insanity and she made a dash to escape through the kitchen. Brandi and Kiyoko allowed the maneuver but pursued her from five meters distant. Kiyoko kept giving fake maniacal laughs and calling out derisions and how she was going to disembowel the Baby and then slice her intestines into pieces for little sausages.

They chased a screaming Jessica through the kitchen, the pantry, the bathroom, and then finally down the long corridor along the bedrooms, stopping at the top of the stairwell as Jessica ran crazed with fear around the annulus and then stumbled and half fell down the spiral staircase.

"Oh boy, that felt good!" Kiyoko hissed in a whisper. "Brandi, don't cut this too close! Interface, I'm ordering test diagnostics. Enable all door closings on this level. Enable audio test response. Set volume to maximum."

There was an infinitely satisfying chirp that signified her janitorial command had been accepted. Then Kiyoko spun around and ran for the lounge elevator, and after a second of working with the beeping door, Brandi slowly followed, taking the time to leave all the bedroom doors ajar.

Time: 7:37 AM

Uno was standing in the Mall outside Jacob's arguing with Alfredo about priorities when a commotion inside Jacob's caught his eye. Jessica! It was her job to be guarding Whitney, and here was Jessica with Whitney nowhere in sight. What the fucking hell?!

It took only a moment for Jessica to describe what had happened upstairs. They were being attacked from the rear! The sighting down here must have been a diversion! Uno screamed and ordered Diego, Hernando, and Jessica to guard Jacob's while he and the others raced into the bottom of the stairwell, hugging the sides to avoid being shot.

Time: 7:43 AM

Uno and three of his compadres were standing on the second-floor annulus outside the bedroom corridor. They had spent the last five minutes slowly making their way up the exposed steps, expecting any moment to be ambushed. But the stairwell had proved to be deserted.

Except for Jenaro whose gun was currently with Ricardo, they were all armed, and their guns were out with the safeties off. Uno reached for the door, and as his hand touched the doorknob, there was a totally unexpected and semi-loud blat of sound. Uno jerked his hand away and stared at the doorknob. It had never made a noise before.