Page 99 of Back in the Saddle

Since the diner was maybe a five-minute drive from the encampment, and I was all in for any information I could get, not to mention, I hadn’t taken bite one of my bagel and I was starved, we swung by there first.

We trooped in to see Persia, Skyla and Divinity were with Jinx.

This extra company was nothing to worry about.

Persia was sporting an electric blue wig today, and although she worked it, I preferred the pink.

They shared the same occupation as Jinx, and since our last case, we’d all grown tight.

Seats were taken and greetings were exchanged (these centered around a bunch of cheek touches and “Yo, bitches”).

They already had sodas.

After we sat, the server came, and I ordered a Diet Coke and the perfect accouterment to a said beverage: a double, bacon cheeseburger with cheesy tots, and I asked her to bring my chocolate malt up the rear.

The rest of them put their orders in and the server walked away.

“Shit, bitch, how do you stay so skinny eating like that?” Persia asked.

Jeff looked like dad, though we both had Mom’s healthy, thick, chestnut hair and blue eyes, and I got Mom’s body, which was no tits, long legs, and lots of ass. My flat belly was impervious to what I fed it, except for the occasional overconsumption that required me to unbutton my pants. And trust me, as the unbuttoning corroborated, I’d tested it.

Nevertheless, for understandable reasons, I didn’t want to answer “good genes.”

“Mad luck?’ I asked as answer.

Persia rolled her eyes.

“Not to dispense with the pleasantries,” Luna said, then she dispensed with the pleasantries. “But Nat is a little freaked about this sitch, and we have another errand to run, so can we get down to it?”

Important note: They had street names, we had code names. I was Natalie (as in Natalie Cook, next generationCharlie’s Angels). Harlow was Dylan (ditto next gen). And Raye and Luna were Kelly and Jill, respectively (they were named after OG Angels).

Persia looked to Jinx. Jinx looked to Skyla. Skyla looked to Divinity.

Divinity had eyes on me, a straw between her lips, and she was slurping on her drink.

“Can somebody start?” I requested.

“Okay, just to be sure, you bitches aren’t gonna try to shut Mountain down or anything like that, right?” Skyla asked.

Persia snorted. “Like this crew could shut him down.”

“I’d take a shot at shuttin’ him down,” Jinx muttered.

“Mm-hmm,” Divinity hummed around her straw.

“No, we’re not shutting him down,” I said. “I just want to talk to my brother, and we think he’s working with them.”

“Ooo, is he the new one?” Skyla asked.

My blood pressure ticked up a notch.

Persia eyed me. “I see it. The hair.”

“And eyes,” Divinity put in around her straw. “They both got the same pretty blue eyes.”

And again.

Confirmation.

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