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"Forgive you for what?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. I'm just trying to be sympathetic. You sounded a little frustrated there."
She chuckled and swatted my back. "I was frustrated, dammit, but I'm not frustrated at the moment."
"Ah. Well, sorry again, then, for misreading things. You women are mysterious critters, y'know. I get confused easily."
Laughing again, Vicky suddenly yawned with what appeared to be genuine surprise and apologized.
"Sorry. It isn't the company, I promise you. What time is it?"
Checking with my core, I replied, "Two-twenty-nine."
"Damn," she said, "I thought I'd make it to three." As she started to sip, she stopped and looked at me. "Wait. You aren't wearing a watch. Mine's over there with my clothes. The bedside clock is facing away from us, the TV isn't on, and you never took your eyes off me. Was that just a guess?"
Leaning to reach the TV remote on the night table, I flicked it on and she read the channel guide. It said '2:29:23' and the seconds changed a few times as she stared at it.
Her gaze switched to me and she asked almost warily, "What haven't you told me, Ed?"
"Many things, milady. I couldn't begin to cover them all. Is it time for that shower?"
She nodded and I stood up so she could swing her legs off the bed. As she carefully stood up, she said, "I was afraid they wouldn't work right."
"Well, they certainly look wonderful."
Grinning, Vicky grabbed my dick and squeezed gently. She then grabbed some tissues to blot the stuff she'd squeezed out of me.
Making a wrinkly face, she laughed, "Sex is so messy, isn't it?"
"Yes'm. Always has been, I think."
Kissing me, she said, "I'd like a few minutes in the bathroom first, okay?"
"It's all yours, ma'am."
Chapter Thirty-one
She stepped away and I waited for my turn. As I waited, I used a probe to check her purse. One gun. Handcuffs. No spares of either. On general principles, I used the probe to tack-weld the ratchet mechanisms in the cuffs. I didn't mess with her gun or her pepper spray. There were a few tightly-rolled plastic handcuffs in there, too. I sliced through the roll and the cut sections spread out.
At the bathroom door, I asked, "Are you sure you want to get up at seven, Vicky?"
"Yes, why?"
"Just wanted to be sure. I'm going to have Galatea get me up."
"Okay."
I spoke to Galatea just as the bathroom door opened. Vicky stepped out and kissed me warmly, then went to her purse. I saw her notice the cut plastic cuffs, but she said nothing. She rooted and found some individually wrapped yellow candies and put two in her mouth as she came to offer two more to me. They were lemon drops.
"Nah. Thanks, but I'm not big on candy."
"Quick energy."
"Got my coffee. I'm good."
Putting the candies on the sink, she gave me a lemony-sweet kiss and went to turn on the shower as I took a leak. Watching her lean into the tub to reach the faucets made her muscles stand out gently as she moved. I felt a stirring and stopped watching so I could finish peeing.
In the shower, my dick came up again while I washed her hair. Vicky gave a low, throaty chuckle and played with it until it was time to rinse. Washing her was almost like washing Toni, but she wasn't quite as solid. Close, but not quite. Understandable. Toni was a gym rat, always on the machines or trotting around the indoor track.
Vicky said, "You're very good at this. Lots of practice?"
"Oh, yeah. Lots. I did my internship with an actual teacher. She never let me overlook anything."
"Your internship, huh? I like that." She kissed me, then said, "I've had some practice, too. Back in college I found out what other people really think of cops of any kind. It was hard to get or keep boyfriends who weren't in some form of law enforcement and it was hard to stand some of the ones who were in law enforcement."
"Clash of egos, ma'am. Driven people can be like that."
Nodding, she said, "You've got that right. At some point I decided that there was only one person I had to please."
She paused there and I realized she expected a response.
"Yourself," I said, "You're the only one who knows exactly what you need and why."
"Exactly. I stopped looking for potential husbands and started looking for distractions and entertainment."
"How's that working out?"
She chuckled, "Pretty well, actually. You're here, aren't you?"
"Yes, but I meant as a whole. No desire to have kids?"
"Not all women want to be mothers, Ed."
Washing her shoulders again as an excuse to pull her to me, I said, "And not all know it, Vicky. Remember when you asked me about having some before I die or leaving a deposit at a sperm bank? The same question would be asked of any woman who asked to have a PFM implanted."
She shook her head as she washed my back in our embrace.
"No," she said, "When I finally discovered how to be happy as an individual, I started noticing all the ways others aren't happy. Then I thought about all the things that pregnancy would interrupt and how it would affect my body. My body, the one I'd worked so hard for. My career. My life. My sister was like me until she had my nephew, then she turned soft and became too dependent on Grant."
"Is that how she sees things?"
"Oh, hell, no. She thinks she's got the dream. Home and family and all that. But it wouldn't take anything much to tear it all down. It's like she's living in a sand castle."
I shrugged. "Chocolate. Vanilla, strawberry."
She stopped washing and leaned back to ask, "What?"
"Why are there so many flavors of ice cream? Which one is the only real right flavor for everybody?"
Giving me a droll look, she said, "Yeah. I know. My view only. Okay." Kissing me, she returned to our embrace and simply held me for a time, rocking slightly to rub her belly against my upright dick and humming a soft tune I didn't recognize.
"How about," she began softly, "How about if I take a couple of weeks off between the NIA and the NSA?"
Kissing her cheek, I said, "I hope you intend to spend them with me."
Nodding, she said, "That's what I had in mind."
"Make it a month, ma'am. I'll have friends do our shopping. We'll never have to leave the house."
She laughed and kissed my shoulder, then said, "You were a good decision tonight. Thank you."
"Oh, no, thank you, Agent Vicky, ma'am. I was all alone in the cold dark night until you saved me."
Vicky chuckled softly, then said, "Yeah, I know that feeling." She kissed my neck and leaned back again to say, "Bedtime. Let's dry off and hit the sack. Morning comes early."
And so it was. We were soon under the covers and nodding off, entwined like sleepy kittens.
What seemed like too short a time later, Galatea sent her chimes to wake me. I very quietly got out of bed and hit the bathroom, washed up a bit, and put the room coffee pot on, then went back to the bed.
Agent Vicky lay sleeping soundly, lying on her left side all rumpled and rustled and as lovely as ever. I eased back into the bed and snuggled up next to her. My dick rose quickly and poked her thigh. Vicky moved slightly in her sleep and reached back to run a hand over my hip, then the hand dropped to find my dick and froze in place.
Though she didn't move or speak, I knew Vicky had snapped awake and was reviewing her situation. Then she relaxed and rolled over on her back, never releasing my dick.
With a grin, she squeezed it and said, "I've got you now, you fugitive." The coffee pot blurped and she looked at it as she said, "Good. I'll need most of that pot, I think."
"No sweat. I drink instant. You know, you look just as magnificent the morning after. I really like that."
She grinned and squeezed me again, then ran her tongue around her teeth and said, "Kisses later, okay?"
"No problem. Same here."
"Good. Back in a minute."
She got up and padded to the bathroom, snagging her watch with a finger en route. In what seemed like only seconds, she came back out of the bathroom, hurried to the bed, and climbed in on my right. Planting a kiss on my belly, hip, and then on my dick made it stand tall. Vicky then straddled me and aimed it, then descended onto it.
"Mmmmm," she said as she reached bottom, "It feels just as good as it did last night. I'm stealing ten minutes or so for this, Ed. We can get breakfast to go, okay?"
"That's absolutely fine with me. Skip breakfast. Hell, skip everything. It'll be there when we get there, right?"
"Probably so, but we aren't going to be any later than we have to be."
She rode me for a time, then a few nice little rollers bolted through her and she groaned softly. Riding me a bit faster built them up until she had a nice one that buckled her and laid her out on my chest. I kissed and fondled what I could reach of her and licked her shoulder to make my dick throb hard.
Vicky hissed a chuckle and kissed my shoulder. After another minute like that, she made a little wistful noise and rolled off me.
Sitting up, she sighed, "I hate feeling it slide out," then she went to pour herself some coffee.
"Me, too, ma'am. Me, too." I sipped a bit from my mug while I located my toilet kit, then headed for the sink.
A few minutes later I topped up my mug with what was left of the coffee and Tea covered our exit. Once Vicky and our stuff were on the flitter, I hiked to the office to turn in the key card and get my deposit back. The dummy at the register wanted to put it on my credit card.
I said, "I don't have time for this shit. I paid cash. I want cash back. It's only fifty bucks. Do it."
When he started a spiel about being unable to refund cash, I very quietly asked how he'd like to spend the next hour out cold on the floor over money that wasn't even his.
"I won't rob you," I said, "I won't even take my fifty out of the drawer. I'll just leave you unconscious in the middle of the floor, lock the doors, and leave. They'll probably have to break in to see if you're okay. There won't be a mark on you and you'll probably get fired."
He glanced at his monitor and saw only darkness. Tea was still blocking cameras in my proximity.
"Ten seconds," I said, "Nine. Eight. Seven."
He said, "Okay, okay. But it's against policy. I'll get in trouble."
"Not as much trouble as if they have to bust the door in."
Refund in hand, I headed to the parking lot and let him watch me disappear into Tea's field. I'm sure that made his day.
Instead of a fast food place, I looked for a breakfast buffet restaurant I used to see when Toni and I visited Gainesville. Found it. We hurried in and ate quickly, then got underway to Ocala.
As we descended to Vicky's motel's courtyard, she asked, "Sure you won't change your mind and give yourself up today?"
"Nah. I'm more useful out here monitoring 911 calls."
Nodding, she said, "I'll call you later... oh. No, I won't, will I?"
"I'll call you, if you want. This afternoon or evening?"
"This evening. Wait until I'm back in my room unless it's urgent or case-related. Can they see us in here?"
"Nope."
"Good." She kissed me firmly and said, "Thanks again. I had a great time. As soon as we can put all this other crap on the shelf, I want you all to myself for a while, okay?"
"I've never heard a better plan in my life, ma'am."
She kissed me again, then I dropped the hull field. I made a show of handing her the DVD bag and the flash drive, then I hopped down and handed her to the pavement. Hopping back aboard Tea, I had her lift away from the motel and watched as half a dozen people rushed out to gather around Vicky and stare upward. One of them was Fullbright.
I sent a probe to listen and there was gabble about the DVDs and how she'd been gone all night, then an unhappy big guy came marching up to loom over Vicky and rant about how he'd do this and that and make a report that would screw up her world. He was a Larcon-type as noisy and nasty as Larcon had been when I'd first met him.
As he started to say something else, I sent my sim to appear beside Vicky and had the sim reach to touch big guy's arm. He dropped like a sack of feed and lay motionless. With a long, critical look around at people who were either frozen in place or retreating quickly, I had my silent sim give Vicky a nod and a respectful little two-fingered salute before he vanished. Let them figure that trick out. They'll probably think I'm watching her all the time.
After a time some of them went to rooms as the rest entered the motel's small restaurant the others rejoined them with laptops and soon four tables were in use as people watched the DVDs. I noted that Vicky never gave the flash drive to anyone or even showed it.
Reason for watching; I wanted to see how regular people would react. Marjory represented something the world had never seen outside a science fiction movie. The gathered agents -- even though NIA -- were people a bit tougher of mind and spirit than Joe and Jane Average.
Most sat in silence. A few muttered expletives at certain events. All seemed thoughtful when the show ended. The first to speak was Fullbright; she stood and surveyed the gathering as someone rapped a spoon on the table for attention.
"As far as I've been able to determine," she began, "We have the only copies of this footage thanks to the efforts of Agent Elgin."
There were a few smiles. Someone snickered and someone else coughed. Fullbright pounced on the guy who'd snickered with, "Nelson. On your feet. She managed to acquire this footage while none of the rest of this gathering turned up diddly-squat. If you think anything about this is funny, I can remedy that right now with a great deal of extra work nobody else wants to do."
Nelson fidgeted like a kid in school and said, "Understood, ma'am."
Scanning the room, Fullbright said, "If I hear of anyone giving Agent Elgin any trouble at all... Just go ahead and test me, people. This isn't a frat-house and I won't stand for it."
One woman stood up and said, "I'm sorry, but I didn't sign up to prostitute myself for the government. I think what she did was altogether immoral."
Vicky stood up and asked, "Exactly what did I do? The man talked. I listened. There was no 'trade' as you seem to want to infer. He won't allow himself to be arrested, so he insisted on meeting aboard the flitter. He bought the DVDs used to make copies of his flitter's recordings and he put me back where he found me unharmed. Maybe you haven't realized this yet, but he didn't do all that for me or us. He did it so someone else would have a factual record of what happened at that nursing home. Homeland would slam a lid on this if they could, just like the Canadians did. We all know that. Now they can't and it's a damned good thing, because native field users have apparently been popping up for years. He said his stuns and fields were like throwing pebbles at a bear. A supercomputer AI couldn't stop her. In other words, you can stick your prissy attitude and your filthy suspicions right up your... where the sun doesn't shine, Agent Lee, because there are far more important things to worry about."
Some guy actually applauded a few claps before he stood up and said, "Damned right. Now I have a question. What are we supposed to do? The girl turned herself in for her own reasons and there's no point in even trying to tail him. Even if we did manage to catch up with him, how the hell would we capture him?"
Agent Lee said, "Wait 'til he comes back for her. If he puts up a struggle, shoot him like any other fugitive."
Fullbright said firmly, "Sit down and be quiet. We'll talk later."
Lee sat down with some real attitude showing.
Fullbright said, "Agent Reed has a good point. He can stun anyone who tries to take him down and I doubt our service weapons would have much success." She chuckled, "Besides, from what's on record, one of his hobbies is answering 911 calls. Even if we got a good chance to arrest him, we could be doing more harm than good."
That was it for Lee. She stood up, said, "That's called 'dereliction of duty', Agent Fullbright. I'm not listening to any more of this," and strode for the door. Nobody tried to stop her.
Reed remained seated as he said, "No, I believe it's actually called 'recognizing your limitations'. We can't arrest him. Can't, not won't. And he's not a dangerous criminal, so as I see it, we're wasting our time and resources on him when we could be working other cases."
Fullbright said, "I agree, but that isn't our call to make. We have to continue to try, even if we're wasting our time. I have, however, instituted a quiet investigation into the motives and methods by which our lawmakers were motivated to draft and pass laws against Amaran medical devices." She grinned and added, "Strictly as a means of gaining a better understanding of the motivations of our quarry, of course. To better enable us to try to capture him, also of course."
Reed snorted a laugh and said, "Sign me up for that task force!"
Fullbright said, "How gracious of you to volunteer, Agent Reed. I'll assume you were serious and find you a few other volunteers to fill out your team."
Several hands went up. A few people stood up, as well. Fullbright pointed at four of them in turn and said, "All of you report to me at three this afternoon. We're going hog hunting."
Chapter Thirty-two
A woman pointed and said, "Oh, God," as she got to her feet. I turned the probe to face the room's big east window and saw she'd been watching an accident in progress about two hundred feet away on I-75. Tea reported a 911 call about it even as I watched a rental truck fail to stop and climb up the back of a car at the tail of the four-vehicle crash.
Splitting Tea into three neon-red flitters, we flew to the scene. I sent two flits ahead to block the exit ramp and warn other traffic away from it, then hopped on my board and flew off Tea's deck as I parked her above and to one side of the crash.
Apparently a car had drastically slowed or stopped halfway down the ramp for some reason and a car behind it hadn't, slamming into the first car. Another car had hit them and spun away to roll into the ditch on the right. Then the rental truck had climbed almost fully on top of the rear car and crushed the roof. My core said two dead, five injured.
I called Athena and she appeared, then split into five sims to begin working on the survivors. The truck would be a problem. My probe showed it to be fully loaded with bolt-together metal patio furniture and bench kits in boxes, which could explain why it hadn't been able to stop in time. Adding that to the truck's weight, it didn't seem to me that a flitter would be able to lift it.
