Surge (38 page)

Dinner goes off without a hitch. Olivia prepared another delicious dish, this one a squirrel casserole. Don’t knock it until you’ve had to eat plain uncooked oatmeal for three months straight. You tend to acquire a new set of taste buds that are appreciative of any and all pleasant flavors, regardless of what is responsible for creating them.

Whitney, Marissa and Chelsea insisted on doing the dishes, leaving Olivia free to start packing the cars. She pulls the twins, Cory, John and I aside to carry everyone’s packs to the attached garage through the back. She unlocks three doors to get there, and uses a flashlight to see since it’s now dusk and we refuse to use the electricity.

Olivia’s carrying her own pack and a bat in her hand, maybe for her own protection with so many guys near her, or maybe just in case someone broke into Fort Knox without leaving any evidence to prove it. Whatever the reason, she’s being extremely cautious until we make it through to the garage without any hiccups.

Walking over to a dust cover on a vehicle, she grabs an end and yanks the tarp off. Revealed is a gorgeous black, 2013 Jaguar XK with a convertible top and leather seats, which is in pristine condition. Cory immediately goes over and runs a hand from the hood to the trunk with reverent eyes. I’m guessing that he’s been dying to take this for a spin for a while, and now he finally has the chance to do so.

Olivia approaches the next covered vehicle and pulls the tarp off of a cherry red, 2013 BMW 335i coupe with black leather interior and a moon roof. It’s a pretty car; not one that I would have personally chosen for myself, but I would definitely drive it. Especially with the pickup that has to be under the hood.

Finally, Olivia walks over to the uncovered beast that I will be driving. She didn’t say that the thing was a monster truck sized Mercedes. It’s also black with bucket seats throughout to seat twelve passengers as Cory said earlier. The TVs are located in each headrest so everyone has their own. What the fuck would someone need all this shit for if they only planned to drive it to and from bingo? Seems like a waste of cake to me. But Olivia did call her a greedy bitch, so I guess this is just more evidence to add to the pile.

“Hey, Jared,” Olivia calls out. I look in time to see a set of keys being hurled in my direction. I snatch them with my right hand, before I get assaulted by them. “Start her up to see if she purrs. I’m pretty sure that they’re in perfect condition, since Aunt Crystal had them detailed and tuned every month. Plus, she had a chauffeur, so they’ve only had one driver each.”

I walk around to the driver’s side and hop in. It’s pretty high off the ground, but I don’t need to use the boards to climb since I’m taller, but most of our group will have to use them to climb in. Closing the door behind me, I put the key and give it a twist. The engine starts immediately, and doesn’t as much as purr because it’s so silent. I check the gas gage and the dash for any lights, but the tank is full, and everything looks alright otherwise. Satisfied, I kill the engine and hop out.

“Works fine,” I tell her. Olivia nods as she leans into the opened door of the BMW. As soon as the engine starts, the radio blasts and wouldn’t you know it, but it’s Beenie Man’s “Who Am I.” Olivia barks out a laugh.

“Fucking Juan,” she says with a fond smile. “Always did like to piss the old bird off.” Olivia turns the music down, but not off. She just sits in the seat, taps her fingers to the beat on the wheel and mouths the words.

John must have heard it, because I hear him shouting out the chorus from near the Jaguar. Olivia’s in her own little world, with her eyes closed, she starts dancing in her seat and actually singing the words. I see two identical pairs of startled eyes turn and stare at the tiny Tomb Raider singing and dancing to reggae in the BMW. Their look says it all. It’s the
‘this white girl is fucking nuts’
look. Cory did say that she likes all kinds of music, and he wasn’t kidding. It’s a schizophrenic mix of classic, rock, pop, reggae and anything else that reaches her ears.

When the song’s over, she opens her eyes and looks around the silent room. Noticing that she’s attracted an audience, her face burns and she sinks into her seat, before ducking her head to use the collar of her jacket to reach her ears. Carlos and Oscar just start laughing. I frown, since I thought it was cute.

“Don’t be shy now,” Carlos says.

“Yeah, you’ve shown you got flavor,” Oscar adds. “What else you got?”

Peeking out slightly, Olivia observes them to see if their serious. Once she stares them down and sees that they are, she reaches into the glove box and starts digging. Olivia pulls out several cd cases and reads them off.

“A few mixed CDs, Otis Redding, Freddy Fender, Selena, Elvis and Cutty Ranks,” she answers.

“Put Cutty in,” Oscar says and Carlos nods.

Olivia shrugs and switches the discs. She presses a few buttons before a song I’ve never heard comes through the speakers. Olivia hops out and starts stuffing bags in her trunk as she sings another song. From what I pick up, it’s talking about getting a hacksaw to take out a tongue and chop limbs off one at a time. Not the most pleasant lyrics, but she seems to like it. She’s even doing motions with the words. But when Olivia sings a line about cutting out eyes if a guy tries something, we all get back to work.

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It takes about half an hour to get everything packed in the trunks. The group’s backpacks are in the van, first aid kits in all cars, duffels, gas tanks and hoses for siphoning are also packed. After checking for spare tires, we also put in a tool kit, jack, tire iron, extra oil and fluids to be prepared for anything that may come our way.

Olivia lets us keep the keys since I’ll be driving, but she warned that anyone who loses them will have to hitchhike since she doesn’t have a spare and she
‘sure as fuck’
 wasn’t giving up her spot. After that comment, I immediately placed the keys back into the ignition and left them there. Locking up the few doors behind us, Olivia walks into the living room where there are only a few people still lounging about.

“Anyone who wants to learn something, come meet me downstairs,” she says and leaves the room.

Chelsea and Marissa look up from their magazines, glance at each other, shrug and continue what they were doing. Sarah hops up and follows Olivia with Danny trailing after her. The only person left is Tommy and he does
‘sure whatever’
shrug, but follows along. The twins join John, Cory and I downstairs. We head toward the area with voices, and find a finished basement that’s carpeted and completely empty. I don’t know if it was empty to begin with or if Danny cleared it out when he was down here. Whatever it was, now it’s a training area for a day.

“Okay,” Olivia says as she glances at the eight of us. “I know that the majority of you can shoot. Some can throw knives, and others have a variety of skills due to their backgrounds. What I plan on teaching you are a few basic defensive maneuvers for hand to hand combat.” She motions for John to come forward. “You wanted me to show you how I took you down in Hal’s, right?”

“Fuck yeah!” John exclaims excitedly. “It was freaking awesome.”

“Alright, I want you to try and grab me like when you went for my gun.”

John peers at her since it goes directly against her no touching policy, but she stares him down until he shakes his head and reaches for her. Before John can lay a finger on her, Olivia grabs his wrist, twists her body and flips him over her back. John lands with an
‘oof’
on the ground as Olivia holds him down with a knee on his chest. Standing quickly, she dusts her gloved hands off and looks at the wide eyed troops.

“What?”

“How the hell did you do that?” Danny asks. “John has at least sixty pounds on you, not to mention over a foot in height.”

“Leverage,” she answers simply. “I used his weight against him.” After Olivia shoos John back in line, she motions for Cory to come up next to her. “I’ll do it again, but slower this time.”

Olivia turns to face Cory and he reaches forward without waiting for her. She grabs his wrist same as she did with John and turns to place her back to his front. Pausing so that everyone can see, she shows how she holds Cory’s wrist with her right hand and pulls it across her chest before gripping his forearm with her left hand. Bending forward, she tugs Cory’s arm down and he flips over due to his own weight being unbalanced. He hits the ground like John did, but pops right back up since she didn’t hold him down.

“Pair off so that you can try and I’ll adjust anyone who needs a little help,” she orders.

Sarah pairs with Danny, the twins with each other, Tommy with Cory, and John with me. I know, real shocker with these pairings, but it’s what we do. I let John try to flip me first, since he’s pretty much bouncing on his toes with excitement. Waiting for his signal, I reach forward to grab his arm, but he follows Olivia’s example. Grabbing hold of my arm, John turns and nearly pulls my shoulder out of its socket when he tugs me over his back. Landing with air rushing out of my lungs and staring at the ceiling, I stay where I am for a minute to catch my breath.

“That was so not cool, you asshole,” I mutter and John laughs. Pushing to my feet, I decide it’s my turn. Using the same amount of force he did, I grab his wrist, twist and pull him over to land on the ground with a bounce.

“Too much force!” Olivia shouts as she jogs over. “You’re trying to take him down, not rip his arm off.” She reaches down and tugs John to his feet, actually Olivia just pulls until he stands since he still outweighs her regardless of her ability of using leverage. “You too, John. Use your opponent’s weight against them, not your strength. You’ll tire too quickly and won’t be able to finish.” Without warning, she grabs my wrist and flips me before I blink. Kneeing on my chest, she swipes a hand across my throat. Meeting my eyes, she continues. “Take him down and finish with a weapon. It uses much less energy and still gets the job done.”

Olivia climbs off me quickly, and I don’t even register most of what she’s said. My feeble brain fried upon the up close and personal physical contact with the gorgeous woman who both mentally and physically downed me. All blood has flown south, so I remain on the floor with my eyes closed and trying to get the fluids rushing to go in reverse. I’m still unsuccessfully trying, when I feel a foot tap my leg.

“You alright?” Olivia’s concerned voice asks. I just nod with my eyes still closed. If I look at her now, I’ll never settle down and that would be not only embarrassing to me, but rather traumatizing to an abuse victim. “Jared?”

“I’m fine,” I answer and open my eyes to meet hers. “Just a little headache. I’ll be alright in a second.”

“Maybe you should call it a day?” Olivia proposes and worries her bottom lip, which is so not helping my predicament. “I don’t think you got much sleep last night. Don’t worry about watch, we can handle it.”

“No, no,” I refuse and sit up. “I’m fine.”

“I don’t think so,” she counters. “You’re flushed and sweating. Go to bed, and that’s an order.” Olivia crosses her arms and taps her foot as she waits for me to comply with her demand.

“Really, I’m fine,” I insist. I hear John start laughing, the bastard is obviously enjoying this.

“Cut it out,” Olivia says and glares at John. “He has a headache.”

“I’m sure he does,” John mutters, but I hear it and discreetly flip him off.

“Fine, if you insist that I need to call it a day and take the night off, who am I to turn down such a simple request?” I ask and hear John groan. “Just make sure John takes my shift.”

“Don’t worry about that,” she says. “Go shower and sleep. We’ll handle the rest.” Olivia cocks her head to the side. “You didn’t drink any coffee this morning. Maybe you’re detoxing.” The guys all start laughing, but Sarah looks as lost as Olivia and if Cory had laser vision, I’m sure I would be no more than a pair of melted boots.

“I’ll make sure you get a pot in the morning,” Olivia adds. “Now, off to bed.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I run out as fast as a guy can with a third appendage in his pants.