FSE

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Sledge perched on the window sill, twisted the cap off a bottle of Viso Vigor, and let his gaze wander around randomly as he waited for Boiler and Quentin to return from their shopping trip. His eyes drifted from his parents' former apartment across the street to the vehicles passing by and then to the small trees planted along the street. Then he yawned suddenly and grumbled something that sounded like, "Blargh."

He still wasn't sleeping well, though last night he'd managed to get a couple hours more than usual. He used to be able to sleep straight through the night, until a few months ago; he'd been an insomniac ever since--

Don't start thinking about it again. He sighed and shifted his position, bracing his left foot against the inside of the window frame. He cast around for something to distract himself from the memories that wouldn't stop haunting him.

He looked down at the pedestrians again, checking out the females. Many of them were dressed for the hot weather, but a few people insisted on wearing lots of leather and chains and whatever else they thought would make them look badass. Sledge paid them little attention, focusing instead on the women who were wearing tank tops, belly shirts and other revealing attire.

Sledge grinned. Can't go wrong with a sight like that. Though it did make him wish that he could do more than just stare at them.

Not that he had a place in his life for a relationship, now. He needed to stay focused on helping his sister and Quentin prevent the disaster that was coming. And if anyone had pursued them through the Timegate...

We'll have to keep looking over our shoulders for a while longer. As if he, Boiler and Quentin hadn't done enough of that when they were on the run in 2075. They had no way of knowing if anyone had followed them--and since travel through the Timegate was one-way, if someone had come after them, their orders would probably be to kill them all.

He couldn't get too close to anyone here. At least not until he was sure that no one from the future was hunting them. He didn't want to put anyone else in the kind of danger he was living with. Always running, settling somewhere only to be forced to move on. That was no way to live.

He sighed. At least Boiler had Quentin. They weren't quite there yet, but Sledge could see them falling for each other. He'd seen it starting even before they traveled to 2046, though neither of them had realized it, themselves.

It would be nice to have that. Sledge wasn't one of those whiny, "I need a girlfriend!" types, but it would be nice to have someone special to hold in his arms. But for now, at least, it just wasn't in the cards.

He shrugged. Well, just because I'm on a diet, it doesn't mean I can't look at the menu. He took a long sip of his Viso, hoping the caffeine would kick in quickly, and kept watching the people below. A human would've found it difficult to see them at this distance, but Sledge could make out everyone as if they were right in front of him.

One of the people below drew his attention, a Chinese woman in tight black pants and a funky chrome, form-fitting vest that covered her sides and part of her breasts but left the middle of her chest and abs bare. She had no shirt or bra underneath. She was standing on the sidewalk, staring up at the building across the street.

Sledge frowned. He couldn't be certain, but she appeared to be looking in the general direction of his parents' former apartment. He flicked his gaze up to its plastic-covered front window and returned his attention to the woman.

She hadn't moved. She was still staring at the window.

Sledge kept watching. He wondered if she knew that the apartment was empty. Moms and Dad had been forced to move out after a shootout with a corporate security team. Now they were staying in a safe house arranged by their new boss.

The woman finally turned and continued on her way. Sledge let himself relax, hoping that she was simply curious about the sheet of plastic where the window used to be, maybe wondering what had happened there. He checked her out for a moment longer and noticed a big red tattoo of a dragon on her chest and belly, starting under her neck and stretching down into her pants; Sledge guessed that its tail probably ran down at least to her thigh.

She's cute. Athletic, boobs just the right size, long, straight black hair flowing down her back. He couldn't guess her age, though. She could've been twenty or forty; her face was smooth with a faint line on either side of her mouth...but there was something about her eyes that made her seem older, as if her soul had aged far more than the body surrounding it.

He'd seen the same look in Otto's eyes many times.

He shrugged. It wasn't like he'd ever have an opportunity to meet her, but for the brief moment her path crossed his, she was nice to look at.

She reached under her vest and took out a pair of pince-nez mirrorshades, put them on and kept walking--until a canine anthro walking in the opposite direction bumped into her. Oddly, the woman barely budged, but the much larger anthro spun and lost his balance. Her hand went up to her vest, a frown flickered over her face, and she whirled around and clamped a hand onto the dog's arm. He was holding something in his hand, maybe a wallet, which he'd picked from a pocket inside her vest.

Uh-oh. Sledge tensed, knowing that the woman had just gotten herself into serious trouble. He put his drink down and started to move away from the window, preparing to run for the door.

The woman swiped the wallet from the dog's hand, grabbed the front of his shirt and gave him a casual toss that sent him flying across the street.

Sledge froze and his mouth fell open.

The chimera hit the pavement on the other side of the street, rolled and thumped into the curb. He sat up, shook his head, stood and swayed for a moment.

Sledge picked up the Viso and sipped, letting himself relax again, and kept watching.

The would-be pickpocket snarled and charged across the street, his body entering its combat mode and turning into a blur. He reached the woman and his face connected with her fist, and Sledge's jaw dropped again. He'd barely seen her move; one instant she'd been walking along as if nothing had happened, and the next, her fist had smashed into her attacker's face, and now he was sprawled on the pavement with his hands clutching his nose.

Ah-hah. Sledge nodded slowly. Cyborg. Gotta be. He grinned. That's hot. He chuckled and had another swig.

The woman stopped and looked up into the air. Staring...

Staring straight at me_,_ he realized. He froze and his heart pounded. Something about the way she was looking at him was...unnerving.

Uh-oh. Maybe she thinks I'm surveilling her. Think fast, dude.

He leaned out the window, cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted the first thing that popped into his mind. "Nice tits!"

She arched an eyebrow, but didn't change her expression otherwise. After staring at him long enough to make him shiver, she smirked. Then she flipped him off and resumed her course down the street.

He slumped against the window frame and let a long breath rush out. That sucked. But it's better to let her think I'm an asshole than assume I'm spying on her. He turned away from the window and headed for the couch.

His omnitool beeped softly from his pocket, alerting him to the presence of someone in the hallway outside. He listened for a few seconds and relaxed when he heard Boiler's voice on the other side of the door. She unlocked the door and ducked through, carrying a half-dozen plastic grocery bags in her right hand. She grinned.

"Hey, Sledge. Finally awake, huh?"

"Mostly. I don't like oversleeping, though."

"Well, you needed it," Quentin said, following Boiler in with another plastic sack. He closed the door and locked it, paused to adjust his glasses, and put the sack down on the coffee table. "We picked up something for breakfast on the way back."

Sledge grinned and watched Quentin unload the cartons in the bag. "Thanks. I didn't even realize I was hungry until now." He took a deep breath in through his nose. "Oh, that smells good. Crab puffs?"

"Yep." Boiler placed her bags on the kitchen counter, returned to the front room, and ticked the items off on her talons. "Crab puffs, mar far chicken, pork fried rice, some egg rolls, red sauce and sweet-and-sour sauce. We dropped by Dad's favorite Chinese take-out on the way home."

"That place is here now?" Sledge whistled softly. "Wow. It was around a long time, then."

"Yeah, I didn't realize just how long it'd been in business. I asked the owner when it opened, and he said it was in 2037."

"And it was still running in 2075. Wow." Quentin shook his head slowly. "Amazing that such a small restaurant managed to compete with all the huge chains for so long."

"There's definitely something to be said for sheer tenacity." Boiler's smile faltered and she let out a little sigh. "There have been days when tenacity was all that kept me going."

Quentin started to reach out to her, hesitated, and took her hand in his. "Well, hopefully you have more reasons to keep going now."

"Yeah, I do." She smiled and brushed his long, brown hair away from his face, then caressed his cheek. "A lot more, now."

Sledge smiled and let them have a moment, then his inner smartass got the better of him. "And what am I? Chopped flarn?"

Boiler rolled her eyes, but couldn't stop her scales from turning dark purple.

"I wasn't excluding you. And you can't throw me off with old TV show references, either." She chuckled and leaned over to pat him on the shoulder. "You both have been my support system for the last few months. Without you, I wouldn't have made it."

Quentin's blush darkened and he grinned one of those dorky grins that never failed to cheer her up. He regained his composure and added, "And now you've got your parents back."

"Yeah. We'll make sure nothing happens to them, this time." Boiler's red eyes glowed brighter as her emotions grew stronger, then she shook it off and kept her smile in place. She gave Quentin's hand a gentle squeeze. "Don't worry, you'll have your own parents back soon."

"Yeah. In twenty-nine years, I guess." His smile faded.

"Well, sooner than that. Technically, we shouldn't interact with our parents until 2075, but there's no way we can leave that void in our lives for so many years. Sooner or later, we'll have to fill them in on what's going on, anyway, so we might as well tell them all of it and try to have some kind of relationship with them. It won't be a parent-children one like it used to be, but at least we can have something." She smiled at Quentin and added, "Sooner or later, you could meet your own parents. If nothing else, you could have them as friends."

He nodded slowly. "Yeah. I'd rather have them as parents, but you're right, it couldn't be like that anymore. But it'd be nice to have them in my life." His sighed and turned to stare out the window. "It'll be quite a while, though. They're only, like, a year old now. Mom's still in Japan."

Sledge nodded. "Yeah, it really screws with your head, doesn't it? Our parents...well, Dad's only a couple years older than I am now, and our moms are a few years younger, physically." He picked up one of the cartons and opened it.

Boiler returned to the kitchen and began taking stuff out of the sacks she'd brought in. "I didn't even notice it when we first arrived--I mean, they didn't look much different then than the way we remember them. I didn't give it any thought until we found out just how far we'd overshot the time we wanted to arrive."

"Same here. Dad still has his original, flesh and blood body." Sledge found some plastic sporks in the bag and placed them on the coffee table, keeping one for himself. He dug into his pork fried rice and said, "This is just as good as I remember it."

Boiler finished in the kitchen and returned to the front room. Quentin sat on the couch and Boiler sat on the floor, right next to him, and leaned against the end of the couch. Sledge unpacked the rest of the stuff from the bag and divided it among them.

Boiler ate some rice before speaking again. "Say, have you been able to find out any more about the shit that was going down with our parents a few days ago?"

"The Weisser Corporation?" Sledge frowned and let out a slow breath. "I've been checking into it. Couldn't sleep last night, so I did some extra digging. Somebody at WeisserCorp detected my intrusion and tried to trace me."

Boiler and Quentin looked up sharply. Sledge shook his head.

"No, relax, they didn't get near me. They got through about half of the relays I was using, but I disconnected before they could get any farther. Fuckers were fast, though." He sighed. "They know somebody's investigating them, so they'll tighten their security now."

"Shit." Boiler shrugged. "Well, at least they didn't identify you. That's the important thing."

"I underestimated their ICE. Figured it wouldn't be as sophisticated as what I'm used to because it was written decades before I was born. They caught me by surprise, though." He picked up a crab puff. "I'll keep investigating them; I'll just have to be more careful from now on, that's all."

"Yeah, it's not worth risking jail time--or worse," Quentin said. "We've already seen what that company's agents are capable of."

"Right." Sledge tried not to shudder at the thought. "Anyway, I didn't learn much that we didn't already know. Saw a few bits of info on various projects they recently stole from other companies and are planning to take credit for, and a few little things like that. But I did get a glimpse of something related to our parents--seems the company is keeping an eye on them but is leaving them alone for the moment."

"I guess that's because they told those two WeisserCorp agents who was really responsible for all the shit that happened last week." Boiler frowned and tapped her spork on the table. "Well, they said they'd leave our parents alone for the time being, and I'm relieved that they're keeping their word, but..."

"I know. It's only a matter of time before our parents become a 'threat' to them."

"Yeah." She looked thoughtful for a moment and then sighed. "I know we can't protect them from everything, but we can still keep an eye on WeisserCorp and be there to help 'em when the shit hits the fan. I'm not gonna stay out of it now that we have a chance to make a difference."

Sledge nodded. "And maybe they can help us with our 'mission.' I figure we'll need all the help we can get, anyway."

"Right. My first impulse is to avoid telling them about it for as long as possible, protect them as much as I can." Boiler shook her head. "But they wouldn't want the truth held back from them; I wouldn't, either, if I were in their position. Sooner or later, we'll have to fill them in, and they'll want to jump right into it. But I think we can wait a little longer before we drop all this crap on them. Let them just live their lives for a while."

"Can't argue with that." He kept eating for a moment. "I also managed to find a bit of info about the company's investigation of us."

Boiler nodded and waited for him to continue.

"More to the point," Sledge said after a moment, "they're investigating you. Trying to find out who you are, keeping tabs on you--which isn't difficult, since you're not exactly inconspicuous."

"I killed two of their agents, so I figured they'd be out to get me."

"From what little I saw, I think they're just keeping you under observation for now. Tracking you through security cameras around the city, probably have an agent following you around."

"Can't say I wasn't expecting that." Boiler shrugged and continued eating. "If I catch any of their spooks following me, I'll force the bastard into an early retirement."

Sledge and Quentin exchanged a glance. Quentin raised an eyebrow at Boiler.

"Um...look, if they're keeping you under surveillance, that could mean they're watching us--through the windows, I mean. And they could have the apartment bugged."

"I don't think so," Sledge said. "I've been sweeping the apartment for bugs every morning and evening. And I've been scanning for remote listening devices. So far, I haven't picked up anything."

"Still," Quentin muttered, "all somebody would need to spy on us is a set of binoculars and a window straight across from us."

"Marvelous." Boiler snorted. "Well, if that's the case, all they'd see is us having breakfast or watching TV. And since the curtains are closed at night, there isn't a whole lot else they'd see."

Sledge nodded. Then he thought for a moment and grinned.

"They could be using thermo sensors. Aimed at your bedroom."

Boiler snorted. "Yeah, a big, red and orange splotch making indistinct motions on a little monitor. Hot stuff."

Sledge and Quentin laughed. Quentin flicked a quick glance at Boiler and blushed. Sledge noticed and was about to comment, but before he could say anything, Boiler reached over and snapped the handle of her spork against his snout.

"What about you? They'd be watching your room, too. Maybe even tapping into your Net connection to see what kind of porn you're downloading."

"Oh, right, like you've never looked at porn before." He laughed. "You're just giving me crap because you don't like the name I put on your fake ID."

"Well, seriously, couldn't you have done better? I mean, Bertilla? What kind of name is that?"

"You gotta admit, I did a better job than our parents. It doesn't sound as funny as Beornia, right?"

She shrugged. "Marginally better. Still, I would've appreciated something a little more normal."

"Yeah, right. 'Normal' doesn't run in our family. If it did, Dad never would've been named Jack Hammer."

"Okay, okay. Can't argue with that, I guess." She grumbled and scooped up a spoonful of rice.

Sledge chuckled, picked up a piece of chicken and flicked it at her, bouncing it off her forehead. "Bitch."

She caught the piece of chicken and ate it. "Beefsteak." She stuck her tongue out at him, the way she used to when they were children, and Quentin laughed.

"Turd sniffer," Sledge responded, and Boiler slumped against the couch and shook with laughter.

"Dingleberry!"

Quentin flopped over and shook his head, and Sledge grinned. It was good to have things almost back to the way they used to be, even if it was only for a moment.

They would need all the little moments that they could get.

#

"Charming place." Taura stared out the passenger-side window at the nightclub across the street. The building had once been an airplane hangar at a small, abandoned airport on the edge of the city, until Cassie Maxwell's father bought it two years ago. Bernard Maxwell owned more than a dozen of these clubs all over the city, which had been warehouses and other large buildings until he converted them, plus two casinos. If the guy hadn't been rich before, he sure as hell was now.

"Yeah." Jack shrugged. "Luckily, there's not much going on here during the day."

"Good. I'm going to be uncomfortable enough as it is, once we go in there." After Jack gave her a questioning look, she added, "According to the info I found on this place, it has both male and female strippers. Given my...condition...the male ones will probably prove very distracting."

"Ah. You're overstimulated enough, already, I guess?"

"To phrase it lightly, yes." She glanced at him and her pulse increased sharply. She looked away quickly and waited out another wave of trembling.

"Shit," Jack muttered. "It's gotten a lot worse."

"It's happening much faster than I thought it would." She fought to keep her breathing steady. "I thought I'd have time to find a medicine for the symptoms, but now..."

"I wonder what could be making it happen so fast."

"Stress, probably. Nearly being killed so many times a few days ago, and everything else accompanying that whole mess. I'd be able to handle it any other time, but being in heat makes everything so much worse."

"I'm sorry. I wish there was something I could do."

There is something you can do, damn it! She managed to keep her mouth shut, though she didn't know how.

"Look, uh..." Jack reached out to touch her arm, then thought better of it and waved at his car instead. "You don't have to go in there. You can wait here. Maybe you can do some more digging with your omnitool, try to track down Mitch--"

"No, it's better if I go with you. Maxwell doesn't like chimeras, but he uses quite a few as bouncers in that club. They could put you in the hospital, or worse."

"I can handle myself."

"Against one of us, yes, but not six. I'm going with you." She strode across the street without another word.

Jack caught up with her and sighed. "Okay, let's get this over with."

She nodded and held the door open for him, then followed him into a room illuminated solely by neon on the walls and ceiling and soft lighting from under the surface of each table. Taura took a quick look around, trying to locate Maxwell, but her gaze caught the strippers and stopped. All of them were human, the rational part of her mind noted, but the rest of her locked on to the nearest male. She slowed, turning to watch him gyrate his hips on one of the raised platforms, sliding his shorts down with agonizing slowness. Her heart pounded and her whole body trembled.

Jack cleared his throat and she twitched and turned to face him. He gave her a lopsided grin and said, "Hey, you're making me jealous."

"I am?" she said softly, barely audible over the music pounding from the speakers in the ceiling.

Jack raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "That was a joke."

"Oh." A surge of disappointment rushed through her and she looked away. "Sorry."

"I'm sorry. I didn't think you'd take me seriously." He smiled and gave her shoulder a quick pat. Then he nodded at something across the room. "I've found Maxwell. Over in that corner. The guy surrounded by the three bimbos with huge breast implants."

Taura turned, looked around slowly, and spotted three young women in skimpy metallic bikinis at a table in the far corner. Two were blond and the third was a redhead. Sitting at the table, between one of the blonds and the firehead, was a dark-haired man in a charcoal suit and tie. He glanced at the dancers, but paid them little attention, keeping his eyes on the media sheet in front of him and his hand on the blond's thigh.

"Fantastic," Jack muttered, grinning and opening his black eyes a bit wider. "I've just taken a few photos of him and the bimbos. If necessary, we can slip copies of 'em to his wife."

Taura chuckled and headed for Maxwell's table. "You recording this?"

"Started as soon as I finished taking the stills."

Taura nodded--then a huge, leather-clad chimera appeared out of nowhere and blocked her path before she got within ten feet of Maxwell's table. He looked like a Rottweiler and appeared to be one of the earlier models, far bigger and less humanoid than the newer ones like Andraste and Adonis. This guy was a few inches taller than Taura, and that was something she wasn't used to seeing at all.

Beside him, another Rottie emerged from the crowd and stopped in front of Jack. Jack arched an eyebrow and moved his right hand closer to the front of his duster.

"You're getting too close to the boss," the one in front of Taura growled.

"We just want to ask him a few questions," Jack said, but the other Rot gave him a shove.

"You're not asking him anything."

"You're not gettin' anywhere near him," the first one snarled. "Turn around and walk out of here while you still can."

"Really, asshole?" Jack dug his badge out of his pocket and held it up to the Rottie. "We're gonna talk to him whether you like it or not."

"I don't fuckin' think so." The Rottie grabbed the front of Jack's duster and yanked him toward the back of the room. "You're goin' outside to learn some manners."

Jack rammed his knee into the Rottie's crotch, then drove his fist straight into his nose. The first impact doubled the bouncer over and the second laid him out flat on his back.

The other Rotweiller launched at Jack, but Taura intercepted him with a forearm across his chest. His legs slid out from under him and he dropped, slamming the back of his head against the floor.

"I do fuckin' think so," Jack snapped, and resumed his course toward Maxwell's table.

Taura turned to follow him, but footsteps approaching rapidly from behind stopped her before she'd taken more than two steps. She turned and found four other anthros charging toward her. Two lions, a reptilian type who looked like a wingless draconid, and one that appeared to be a humanoid shark.

Well, that's...different. Taura hadn't seen any shark types before.

The Rottweiler she'd clotheslined picked himself up and faced her, snarling. Fortunately, the one Jack had kicked in the nuts remained where he'd fallen.

Taura risked a quick glance at Jack, who'd stopped and turned back to her. She waved him off and faced the bouncers again.

"Go have a talk with Maxwell. I'll handle these guys."

"All of 'em?"

"Given how irritable I am right now, it's better if you question Maxwell. I may not be able to hold my temper if he gets mouthy." She sneered at the bouncers as they surrounded her. "Besides, I've been needing to take my aggravation out on someone, and these guys aren't as fragile as humans."

"Damn right, we're not," the shark hissed.

"You sure?" Jack said.

"Yes. Besides, Maxwell could slip away while we're distracted. Make sure that doesn't happen."

Jack sighed. "Alright. Just be careful."

Taura nodded, turning to keep all the bouncers in sight, and waited for them to make the first move.

#

"Hi," Corona said with a smile when the door opened.

Ramirez let a quick breath rush out and moved aside so Corona could enter. "Come on in."

Corona ducked and stepped into Ramirez's front room. "Sorry I didn't get here sooner; had a meeting with our new boss, and we're not exactly in a position to blow it off."

"I understand. Pease, have a seat." Ramirez turned and called over her shoulder. "Kim? She's here."

Corona lowered herself carefully onto the couch, draping her tail over the side to prevent the spikes on the end from gouging the cushions. She smiled at Ramirez, being careful to avoid opening her mouth and baring her fangs.

"I was thinking about hiring you to look after my daughter yesterday, but I didn't expect to need you so soon. Things have gotten pretty fucked-up all of a sudden." Ramirez rubbed a hand over her face and waved the other hand behind her. "First of all, I'd like you to meet Hiro."

Corona looked past her and saw a draconid standing near the desk. He resembled Andraste enough to be her twin, aside from being male and having different hair and skin colors. Corona smiled and waved. "Hi."

"Hi." Hiro walked up beside Ramirez and chuckled. "I guess you could say that I'm part of the fuckedupness."

"Ah?" Corona raised a brow ridge and cocked her head to the side. "How so?"

"Corrie! Hi!" Kim entered the front room with a grin. "How are you guys?"

"We're doing okay, under the circumstances. Still adjusting to our new jobs." Corona leaned forward. "Are you okay? Your mom thinks you need a bodyguard."

"She told me a little of what happened, so I guess she's right, as much as I like to think I can take care of myself." Kim sat on the other end of the couch, tucking her left leg under her and toying nervously with her hair.

"What happened?" Corona aimed a worried look at Ramirez. "Has that stalker been harassing you again?"

"No, I haven't seen him since you and Jack scared him off last week. Apparently, this is a whole different thing my mom's gotten into."

"Are you all okay?"

"For the moment." Ramirez sighed and plopped onto the armchair beside the couch. Hiro glanced around as if wondering what he should do, shrugged and sat on the floor beside her chair, legs crossed under him.

Ramirez fidgeted and looked as if she were trying to figure out what to say.

Corona waited, raising her brow ridge again. After a few moments, she laughed uneasily and said, "The suspense is killing me."

"Sorry. I just...this is weird, to say the least." Ramirez took a breath and tapped her hands on her knees. "Okay. I'm not sure how to explain this. It sounds so crazy."

"Don't worry about that. Jack, Taura and I have seen plenty of crazy shit, ourselves. So, just let 'er rip."

"Okay. I don't know if this is connected to a case I'm working on or if I pissed someone off, or if it's totally random. But...when my shift ended last night and I went to my car in the garage under the station...someone was waiting for me. I never got a good look at him--all I remember is looking into his eyes, then I spent the next few hours in a daze. I...wasn't in control of myself. Couldn't stop myself." She trailed off and, grimaced and rubbed her forehead.

"Same thing happened to me," Hiro said. "I was taking a walk yesterday afternoon and this guy came up to me. He looked me in the eyes and everything went all foggy. I'm not sure how long I stood there, just staring at nothing. It was like I was waiting for something, but didn't know what. I couldn't even think. Then Lola drove up and stopped her car next to me. She opened the door and I got in. I was confused and frightened, but I couldn't stop myself."

Ramirez nodded slowly and her face turned red. "I took him home and...and...uh, shit."

"We had sex," Hiro finished for her.

Corona's muzzle fell open. "Ah."

Ramirez's face turned a few shades redder. "Whoever that guy was, he must've been...I dunno, psychic or something. He apparently ordered us to do it, somehow. I'm not in the habit of picking up random guys on the street and screwing 'em--especially if they're not human." She glanced at Hiro and added, "Uh, no offense."

"It's okay." He patted her hand. "I've never done that, either. I'd prefer to get to know someone before I'd consider sleeping with them."

"Right. And I hadn't even thought about trying since my husband died." Ramirez shook her head and continued in a rush, obviously not wanting to dwell on that subject. "Anyway, when we regained control of ourselves, I hadn't even started to recover from the shock when I heard someone going out the front door. I ran downstairs and out the door in time to see him getting into a van parked across the street."

"She tried to stop him," Hiro said. "But the guy just looked at her, and she turned around and walked back to the house while he got into the van. I tried to pull him out of the van, but he did the same thing to me, and the next thing I knew, I was standing there and the van was gone."

"Holy shit," Corona said softly. She glanced at Kim and saw that her friend was every bit as unnerved as she was, herself.

"Mom only told me part of it before you got here," Kim muttered. "Sorry, I'm just a little freaked out by this."

"Imagine how we feel." Ramirez snorted. She leaned forward and took a slow breath to calm herself. "I intend to get to the bottom of this, but I need to know that Kim is protected. I don't want her getting hurt because of something I'm investigating. I don't know which cops I can trust aside from Enrique. So I need you to look after her. I don't know what you charged when you were a freelancer, but I'll pay any price you name."

Corona held a hand up. "Don't worry about that. Kim's my friend; I'd be happy to guard her." She smiled at Kim and reached over to pat her hand. "Besides, it'd give us an excuse to spend some time together."

"I'd like that." Kim took a shaky breath. "It won't interfere with your job, though, will it?"

"Nah. My boss okayed it before I came over here. Jack and Taura are working on our current assignment." Corona smiled and looked at Ramirez. "I hope your investigation turns something up soon."

"So do I. I have a couple leads, but nothing really solid yet." She stood and picked up her jacket. "I need to get down to the station and talk to Enrique, then dive right into it."

"Okay." Corona stood and shook Ramirez's hand. "Don't worry, I'll keep your daughter safe."

"Thank you." Ramirez hugged Kim, holding on for a long moment, then stepped back with a sigh. "Okay, you'd better get going. I'll talk to you soon."

"Okay. Take care of yourself, Mom."

"You, too."

Corona gave Ramirez's shoulder a reassuring pat, stepped outside and glanced behind her to be sure that Kim was following. Kim hurried out the door and looked around uncertainly.

"Damn, this is fucked up," she muttered.

"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you."

"I know. I'm just worried about Mom. If this guy can do what she just told us, who knows what else he can do."

"Yeah. But from what I've seen of her, she can take care of herself."

"Yeah." Kim chuckled nervously. "Oh, I could tell you some stories."

"Good." Corona grinned. "That'll give us something to talk about when we get you to a secure location."

Running footsteps caught her attention and she turned, reaching for her gun. She relaxed when she saw two people, one carrying a camera, rushing toward her from a news van parked across the street. Corona frowned and planted herself between them and Kim.

They must've followed me. Great.

"Excuse me!" the dark-haired woman called as the guy beside her aimed his camera at Corona. "Sierra Doyle, Channel 23. May I ask you a few questions?"

"Uh, actually, this isn't a good time. I'm on a job, and I can't have anyone following me."

"It'll just take a moment. People are curious about--"

Grr. "Not. Now."

Kim chuckled. "Hey, I didn't know you were famous."

"It's..." Corona trailed off and raised a brow ridge. She could practically feel a light bulb appear over her head. The best way to keep Kim safe is to make sure thousands of people are watching her. It's even better than staying in a public place. She grinned and slipped her arm around Kim's shoulders, muttering, "Let's see if we can turn this to our advantage."

"Uh...sure." Kim smiled into the camera and waved.

Corona headed for the van, keeping her arm around Kim. "So, what can I do for you?"