Maxine's New Life Ch. 09

He made a motion and another large car's doors opened. Out they all came. "Now get my envelop."

"Of course, send them over and I'll get it." One gunman, with a nasty looking thing that could have been an Uzi, walked behind them. He had to know there was a camera on him, but he showed the pistol anyway. That worried me.

I returned to Luke's car and got the envelop. "This is going to go sideways. I'm sorry Archer. It's the chinese restaurant again. Make sure the safety is off the tea cup."

"Then we will have to let God sort it out." Archer replied with a shake of his head. I nodded my understanding.

When I got back to the parking lot, I put my hand in the envelop quickly and shot the Russian in the face with his own pistol. I know it was not the honorable thing to do, but hell I never said I was a good girl. I turned at the sound of four small explosions from the Hyundai. Obviously the shots came through the side window. I had no idea which shot hit the second gunman, but something did. The shots from the car were just meant to distract him, so that he wouldn't shoot the hostages, before I could get to him.

Something hit me like a baseball thrown at 90mph into my chest. I heard the sound of the shot as I went down hard. Before I could react there was the sound of gunfire all around me. I managed to crawl to the hostages. "Stay down." I said. By the time I got to the second badly wounded gunman, both cars were burning rubbler leaving the parking lot.

I picked up another Russian firearm from the ground beside the badly bleeding Russian mobster. I didn't bother with first aid. I figured the EMTs would be along soon enough for him. We were damn lucky that no hostage got hit in all that shooting, I thought. I found out later that no one in the hostage car fired a single shot. All the shots, after I went down, were from either the Buick or the Hyundai.

I had to force myself to remain calm so that I could make it back to the Hyundai. The three hostages were hugging each other when I looked back.

"This is going to take some real explaining," Mopsy said, as he handed me the AK47 with shaky hands.

"I never shot one of those things," Archer added as if to explain why the kid had the AK47.

"Shit," was all I could manage as my knees gave way and I fell into the passenger seat. I wasn't worried about calling the cops, I was sure the bank employees had done that.

chapter 38

They came at us like a swarm of bumble bees. The sound wasn't right for bees. I knew that sound, but I could not for the live of me remember what it was.

"Max are you alright?"

I sorta recognized the voice, but I couldn't quite place it. It took me several minutes to remember where I was even. I heard the voice calling my name, but I didn't know what to say. I just wasn't in the same world as the voice. I was lost and had no idea where I was.

"Max where are you?" A different female voice asked.

I couldn't answe. I just stared at her. She looked familiar, but I couldn't place her. I just looked at the flashing red and blue lights all around me. If it had been dark, I might have gone mad from the sight. It was fascinating even if it was almost noon.

"She's in shock. Get her on a stretcher and under a blanket." The female voice said.

I felt hands guide me to the bed on wheels. Once I had the blanket on me, I was warm. I hadn't realized that I was cold, until I was warm again. My mind seemed to be working but not quite working. It just all seemed so unreal.

What seems unreal? I asked myself. I struggled but I couldn't remember the question.

"Maxine, stay with me." A voice said. The same voice said to someone else, "I know you said she had been shot, but she isn't bleeding. She seems to be in shock."

I was warm and very tired so I just shut down.

I awoke to the touch of a soft hand in my hair. I saw the beautiful face of my friend Jennifer. She looked like a visiting angel but I was glad that she wasn't. She probably was glad as well. "Good morning sweetie. How are you?" she asked.

I looked around the room before I answered, "It looks like a hospital room, what happened?"

"Whatever you paid for that vest, it was worth every penny," she said smiling. That was the lawyer in her never give a straight answer.

"It depends on what the meaning of Penny is, I suppose." I answered to play along. "So I assume some asshole finally shot me." I said calmly.

"They tell me you didn't get the asshole who shot you, but you got at least one of his friends."

"Yeah I remember that fucking Buick and wishing I had a hand grenade," I said it as the memory of the firefight returned in bits and pieces.

"It was only fair I guess. Someone said that there was a lot of fire coming from Luke's Hyundai. I had no idea they were armored cars. Those Koreans are tricky." Jen said,

"So where are the policemen guarding me?" I asked.

"Out in the hall, I'm your shyster lawyer remember. I get to talk to you alone."

"Any suggestions on how to get me out of this mess?"

Jennifer, pulled the rolling bed tray over. On it she placed a digital recorder. "It's press statement time hon. But one thing I would advise is to stay as close to the facts as possible. You don't want them proving you lied. Also don't go into detailed as to the whys of it all. Leave me something to deal with. Start with the kidnapping, not what led up to it. I hear the FBI might be looking for witnesses."

"Let me try to remember before I start." I played it all back in my mind a few times until I thought I had a plausible story. Then I motioned for her to start the recording. I knew Jen was smart enough to put the recording in context, so I just started.

"I'm not sure how long I have been out Jen?" I said.

Jen turned off the tape then said to me. You have been in here over night. It all came down yesterday early in the morning."

I nodded and she started the tape again. "Yesterday, we had a couple of TV people from Boston doing a ride along. There were there just to see, if there was anything of interest going on in our office. My partner Lucas left to start on the day's routine work, one of the TV producers rode along. There was nothing special in the plan at all. It was just another day at the office for us.

The other producer planned to ride along with me. He and I were planning to tour Reverend Archer's mission facilities. Luke had been gone about fifteen minutes, when the call came in.

The kidnapper had taken my two employees, and a woman, not connected to my company in any way, as hostages. The third kidnap victim is a personal friend of mine. The kidnapper wanted to trade his victims for a piece of property in my possession. I came by the property as part of an interaction with one of his employees, I had no idea that the property had any significance at the time I took possession of it,

He also stated at the time that he wished to trade his hostages for me. His purpose was clear, he intended to murder me. Actually he said he would enjoy making it last for days. To be honest I was terrified, Even so I knew that if I didn't act quickly, he would kill my friends.

I removed some firearms from my legal collection, which I do keep at the office. I pressed the male TV producer into service to help me load the car. He decided on his own that he would go with me. I did not have a plan at that time. As I drove toward the place agreed upon for the exchange, the parking lot of the Wells Fargo Bank, my mind raced trying to think of a way to save the most lives. I did not have time to call the police and have them take half an hour to get into place. I had been told any interference or delay would result in the hostages execution. I knew I could never live with that, so I had no choice except to go to the meeting immediately. On the way I called the Reverend Archer. It was a huge coincidence, that the Reverend was visiting a building just a block from the meeting. No one believes in them, but if they didn't exist, the word coincidence would not exist either. He agreed to help, without me having to give him a long explanation, which is also a miracle, which none of us believe in either.

The plan came to my mind based on his actions at the Chinese restaurant, a week or so ago. It was a simple confront, confuse, and defuse plan. I can't say it went as well as I had hoped. Even though I wore a vest, I did not plan to get shot. I also didn't plan to kill anyone. When I tried to deliver the item in question, the kidnapper made a move toward what I thought was his hidden weapon. I had every reason to believe that he was armed. I shot him instinctively, then I heard gunfire. I have no idea where it came from. The firing from the Hyundai was meant to confuse the hostage holder, so that I could confront him. It was not meant to injure or kill him. Somehow a stray bullet must have struck him. I think he might have survived, but I really do not know for sure what his status is at the moment.

That is the sum total of my knowledge of what happened yesterday. I am making this statement to the press to get the facts out before someone tries to confuse the facts from yesterday's incident."

I nodded for Jen to turn off the recorder. "That's the best I can do Jen," I admitted.

"Sweetie, when I get through spinning this, the cops will be pinning a medal on you."

"I don't need a medal, I need clean clothes. I'm ready to go home and I expect mine are covered in all kinds of nasty things."

"Yeah, blow back of blood and brain tissue," she admitted.

"Not to mention the mess in my panties." I said with a smile.

"I didn't ask about that," she admitted. "What sizes are you these days."

"Blouse 8 for my small boobs and pants 10 for my wide ass," I replied.

"How about a bra and panties."

"Come on Jen the panties are the same as he pants. The bra don't bother, trust me I am not going to be turned on before I get home to dress in my own clothes. I think there is some cash in my pocketbook," I suggested.

"Don't bother, it's my donation to the hero fund. Do you have any idea how much the publicity from being your mouthpiece is worth." I shook my head. "You just added twenty bucks an hour to my billing rate."

"Good, if we do this every hospital visit, you might be rich by the time someone gets lucky," I said with a smile.

"Yeah, you just got to love Obama Care." she smiled back at me.

"I had one more thought, Jen buy the clothes at the consignment shop on main. It's about a block south of the bank."

"Why, I'm paying and you sure don't need to buy used," she said. "Remember I gave you a check for 75k."

"Just do it, and buy something expensive."

"Can we come in?" Blevins asked from the doorway. He and Bostic were both standing outside the door.

"Sure join the party," I suggested.

"But, if you want to talk to my client, make sure I'm always in the room."

"Understood Jen," Blevins said. There was a look that passed between them. It was a look that only another woman would have noticed. They had slept together, I would bet my sore ass on it. Why not? It was a very small town, and Jen had been single off and on over the years. Besides when it came to getting an advantage, I would put nothing past Jen. She was ambitious and not any more scrupulous than any other attorney at law.

I retold the story just as I had on the tape. Of course they wanted to know more. I had to explain about the gun. I looked at Bostic now and then as I told the story of the party at the Hazelwood Inn.

"Damn Max, that sounds like a first rate porno, if they filmed it. You could win an award." Blevins said.

"I expect that there are others, who would win the award. There was a chick there who play the Dominant Female. She played fifteen beautifully." I looked right at Bostic when I said that.

"Well the FBI is into this now, so I expect there will be immunity for everyone," Blevins said looking at Jennifer. He had as much as told her that if we testified in the federal racketeering trial, there would be immunity for us all. "Besides, I can't for the life of me see that you did more than what needed to be done. You saved some lives and put some mad dog Russian Gangsters down in the process. That sounds like hero time to me."

"I'm not sure the Mad Dogs see it that way," Jennifer replied.

"Well we can keep a lid on this for a while and of course give you protection." Bostic added, just to get into the conversation.

"I don't need it," I replied. "I expect that the man I took the pistol from is dead by now. These guys are in cleanup mode. If anyone can tie them to any of this, it is Marge. She is going to need to get the fuck out of town and stay out. None of the rest of us can do anything more than tie the dead thugs to kidnap. Dead men tell no tales."

"But one of them isn't dead yet. He might even survive." Blevins added. "And there are the drivers of the cars still unaccounted for."

"Come on Blevins, once the feds take over, he is dead as hell. Even if he isn't. As for the drivers of the cars, I have a hundred bucks that says Buick driver who no one ever saw has already iced the other driver who the victims saw."

"All good points, so there is no case?" he said with a smile. "Then I don't have to lock you up, and as a bonus, I get another attaboy for doing nothing. Some days being a cop is good."

"Everyday being alive is good," I added.

"If I had a drink, I would drink to that," Bostic said.

They all left. Jen went to deliver the recording to the press. There had been only a handful of reporters camped out at the hospital over night, she told me. She was also sure that Mopsy and Flopsy would have wound them up by that time. By the time Jen got to the exit the number had tripled in only the hour she has spent with me.

While Jen played the recorded statement, Mopsy and Flopsy worked the press to make it national news. If it kept me from being prison raped with a mop handle, they had my blessings. I expected that the preacher felt the same. Neither of us was Martha Stewart, it would be real prison, with real cons for us.

I expected the Reverend to cash in as well. I had absolutely no problem with that either. He surely did some good, even if it was just his senior citizen ministry. I knew that he did more than that though.

My next visitors were Luke and Ed. Luke had a box of chocolates in his hand. "God, I'm glad you put that vest on," Luke said leaning over to hug me.

"Luke, if you get any closer, you are going to be in bed with me." I laughed. I almost groped him, but I caught myself in time.

He stepped back a little flushed then handed me the chocolates. "I thought you might like these."

I really didn't feel like eating but I reached for the box. When I felt the weight, I said, "I do love chocolate." I knew without a doubt, that yet another weapon had left our little safe room.

"Please be careful, there are lots people making lots of noise outside. I have no idea who the good guys are," Ed said quietly.

"Do we ever know?" I asked.

"Okay more than usual this time," he replied.

I nodded, since I had no idea what the results of the press stories would be. It might just tell the Russians that they missed, or it might just tell them to forget it. No sense trying again, since I had already turned everything over to the FBI. I hoped that they realized that it would be a waste of resources to come for me. I didn't know anything to cause them a problem. Marge however was another matter entirely.

chapter 40

A nurse I recognized from the Cop Out came into my room. "Hey Maxine how you doing hon?" She was one of the nurses who had tried to ice me out after Sarah was killed.

"I'm doing fine. I am ready to leave as a matter of fact."

"Trust me the nursing staff is ready to see you leave," she said it smiling one of those smiles that looked painted on.

"Oh why is that?"

"The phone won't stop ringing. Everybody in the worlds wants to know how you are doing. The nurses don't have time for that. We have other patents to deal with."

"Then get on the fucking phone and call your hospital doctor. Tell him to discharge me. I will be more than happy to sign any release forms you have. If you don't want to do that, then get the fuck out of my room."

"God you are such a bitch," she said. It was unfortunate that she didn't look behind her before she got all redneck.

"Nurse Ames, wait for me in my office, and do it right this minute. We need to talk." It was an older nurse, who looked like she had the authority to boss Ames around, that made the tough sounding statement.

After Ames had gone, she said to me. "Would you like to file a complaint."

"She's an idiot, why would I want to file a complaint? There is nothing you can do that will make her less of an idiot."

"You are probably right. I will tell her she still has a job thanks to you."

"Please don't do that. I would just as soon she stay pissed at me. I really don't want her as a friend."

"I really came to tell you that the hospitalist has signed your release form. You can leave as soon as the business office clears you. That should be within the hour. I'll have someone come for you just as soon as you are cleared."

"Thank you, could you get my cell phone please. I need to call for some clothes and a ride home."

"Of course," she said leaving my room.

I didn't need the cell phone after all, Jen was in my room, when the head nurse returned with it. "Jennifer did I ever tell you that we have totally different taste in clothes."

"What? you don't like frilly things?"

"You know that I would never buy such a top. That thing looks like a fairy princess's wet dream."

"Oh bullshit, I know it is a little more femme than you usually wear, but you need the image boost. When we leave, you are going to be on TV."

"Well at least it isn't see through. That would really be embarrassing, since I don't have a bra."

"Well I still think you should have let me get you one," Jen said. "I'm too old to go braless and you are the same age as me."

"Yes, but I'm not nearly as grownup," I replied.

"True."

I put on the jeans she brought, even though it was painful. The waist was loose, but the hips were tight. It was the best I could hope for. The damn cops had even taken my belt into evidence. I was going to need one quick, since the waist was always loose, even while the ass was tight.

Jen was right as usual. When the nurse's aide rolled me out, we were immediately surrounded by flashing lights. There were so many questions I had no idea which ones to answer first, so I didn't answer any.

The aide deposited me beside the door of Jen's Mercedes. I stood while she wheeled the chair away. I managed to open the heavy door without any help. For the next long minute I squirmed trying to find a position, which did not hurt my ribs. I just gave up in disgust.

"Where too?" Jen asked.

"To my van, if you know where the hell it is?"

"Police impound yard, they took it there to process for evidence. Why I have no idea, since the bad guys never got inside."

"Call Blevins and have him release it please?" I asked.

"Oh that was done earlier. I didn't want them to try to charge you for the tow or the storage."

"Good, then lets go get the damn thing."

"You sure are using a lot of salty language," Jen observed.

"Jen, I killed a man and was shot, I think God will overlook me saying fuck and damn a few times."

"Yeah probably." she agreed.

The van was fine. No damage and no blood, I was fortunate and so where Luke and Gwen. "Okay, give me the keys?" I demanded of the cashier.

"I can't do that Ma'am you don't have a receipt from the Police Department."

"Don't you have a note from the police department to release my car?" I asked it getting angry.

"I got a call, but I told the detective I had to have a receipt. He never called back."