The Unmasking

Part 7

Jay POV - Ten minutes earlier

Aw hell, Derrick was such an idiot.

Sang had gotten too damn close and he let her. Let her get up close and personal without thinking of the ramifications. Did Sang ever do anything without some ulterior purpose behind her actions? Nooooo. Did Derrick catch on when normally timid, introverted little Sang decided to get all confident and bold? Of course not. Now we have a broken egg of a situation, and it's all over Derrick's face. One guess on who get's to clean it up?

Asshole needs to have his head examined. With a two by four. By an angry gorilla.

Our leader informs me a distraction is needed like, sooner than now, and I stare at the wall searching for an electrical outlet.

Bingo.

I pull out the screwdriver I keep handy for times like these, and I jam it into the slot. Boom. Lights out. I just hope Derrick doesn't fuck this up even more and get himself caught by the little lady's guard dogs themselves. Yeah, that would be bad.

I pound the gravel outside and reach our get away vehicle aka the teacher's rust bucket, slamming myself into the drivers seat. I jam the key into the ignition and tap a finger against the steering wheel erratically. I hate waiting. Derrick finally shows up in a spray of gravel and slams into the side of the car. I check the side mirror to see if he managed to grab Sang, and smile to myself when I watch her take a bite out of crime, right on the shoulder.

Best thing that I've seen today, that. Fitting too.

Derrick manages to kick the door open and wrestles a mussed Sang into the back seat. He'd better not be hurting her, or he's going to have a lot more than a bit shoulder to be looking after. I start her up and gun it, checking the rear view mirror. No tails. So far.

The shit is about to hit the fan. We HAVE to pick Karen up, and Sang is already hyperventilating. She and Derrick thrash around the back seat for a minute before she cries out and settles down. I roll my shoulders and crack my neck. If he so much as bruises her I swear I'm gonna fix that bastard so that he never...

“You're hurting me.”

Her small trembling voice nearly undoes me. I take control of my rage, pushing it down for later, when I have Derrick alone, and when I'm not driving the fucking getaway vehicle. For now though, I had to get him to let go of her before he could do any more damage to her tiny form.

“Let her loose Derrick. The child locks are engaged.”

I glanced back with the promise of future pain if he didn't comply, and then turned back to the road. He seemed to mull this over and then cursed, wrestling with Sang again. If that idiot didn't get his goddamn hands off of Sang this instant he would regret it. I checked the side mirrors again, still looking for the little lady's bloodhounds. The sounds of scuffling in the back increased, and then I was ordered to open the window. I got it down just in time to watch a pink object fly by my peripheral vision, and then Sang wailed the question neither Derrick or I were prepared to answer.

“Why?”

I gripped the wheel tightly and rubbed at my face in frustration. I wanted to explain, but I didn't know where to start. We were doing this for her own good, we truly were. If only...no. Our fearless leader would be able to explain better than I could. He would know what to...CRACK.

My eyes widened and I stared into the back where Sang was lifting her foot for another date with the back door window. I swerved sharply when I realized I was veering off the lines of the road. I over corrected and had to swerve back. Damn, if Derrick didn't get control over the little wildcat we would have to replace more shit in this boat than we could afford. The abused car rocked some as Derrick tried to restrain her, and then it finally quieted in the back. I smirked as I checked out her handiwork. The little hellcat was stronger than she looked.

Derrick, being the idiot he is, asked her if she was finished, and of course she responded in the negative. That guy really had no clue. Her sniffles confirmed his absolute lack of experience in dealing with the female of the species. I let out a low growl, speaking of such, I was not looking forward to the little meeting we were going to have in three, two, one...

I stopped the rust bucket and Karen threw open the door. She gaped at Derrick and our obviously reluctant passenger, and then looked at me with hell-fire in her eyes. What could I do? The mission had escalated to shit. The door was slammed and I kept my eyes forward. Awkward didn't even begin to explain how truly fucked up this night was.

“You too Karen?”

I almost laughed and quoted “et tu, Brutus?”. God, how do we get out of this mess? This was a disaster. A fucked up, neanderthal-inspired shit of massive proportions. How the hell were we going to get Sang to understand what was actually going on here? Goddamn, hell-if-I-know what the fu...

“Who's your boss?”

Well, she figured that out quick. I growled under my breath, she was smart, too damn smart. Maybe this would work if she would just listen to what we had to say. So I told her she was on her way to meet the big tamale. She thought about that for a minute before she got a faraway look in her eyes. I watched her in the rear view mirror and watched resolve replace the fear in her eyes.

“Good, because I have a few things I want to set straight with him.”

Ah. Good. At least she was now open to some kind of communication. We could take that and work with it. I turned down the business district and drove through the nicer buildings, pushing our way through to the rough part of town. Run down warehouses replaced convenience stores, and then buildings came few and far in between. I turned into a pitted dirt parking lot and drove behind the metal aircraft hangar that made up base 7. I flipped the lights on and off four times, and then shut the engine off. The car was awkwardly silent. I twisted around in my seat, finally able to look fully into the back.

Son of a Bitch.

Derrick had his fucking legs over the top of hers. Was that really necessary? Karen yelled at the idiot to let her go and continued to lathe verbal assaults on to his sorry ass as we exited the car. Derrick had the brains to at least look sheepish as he unwrapped himself and stepped out of the door I was holding open for Sang. She emerged looking...angry, and very tussled. I tensed for the possibility that she may take the opportunity to run for it, but she looked around and then crossed her arms and glared at all of us. So easy to read. Let's get this over with.

I turned towards the hangar, sweeping my arm in that direction in an “after you” gesture. She moved forward, keeping a wary eye on me, and moved under the spotlight that lit the entrance. I banged on the sheet metal three times, making her jump. The loft door groaned open above us, and the ladder descended. Derrick moved to the front and climbed up, Karen right after him. Sang watched them both, eyes wide, hesitating. She was rethinking an escape, maybe due to fear of what she might find at the top of that door. I put a hand as gently as I could on her shoulder, feeling her slight flinch and her nervous perspiration dampening her blouse. She turned her frightened eyes to mine and I almost caved, almost gave in and put her back in the car to take her back to those dogs that had given us and her so much trouble.

No, this had to be done.

I nodded to the ladder and gave her a empathetic nod of my head. She looked at me long and hard before she finally turned toward that ladder and scaled it, me right behind her.