Meet Waffle 📱🥞

Part Sixteen

 What a girl couldn't get used to was her maybe girls' secret lair, my bad passageway. Katherine and I took a seat across from each other in the little room above the underground pool.

"What I am about to tell you is a lot, so all you have to do is listen. If at any time things start to sound too, not okay, just tell me." Katherine said, slowly shaking her head up and down to see if I understood. I know her voice was meant to sound soothing and comforting, but it was anything but. It was like a shark reassuring a seal pup that all it had to do was come home with it to find its mom and dad—no big deal.

"Okay, then before we begin, just please tell me. Are you a murderer, a rapist, a drug dealer, a sex trafficker, or anything along those lines? Because that's what you sound like."

Katherine smiled at me and gently squeezed my hands, "No, none of those."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Then whatever you have to say. I can handle it."

"Can I see your phone?" Katherine asked with her hand held out. I pulled it out of my gray pants and handed it to her. She flipped the phone over and pointed at my Waffle. "You know what this is."

"Yeah. A Waffle. It charges my phone."

"Exactly. It also tells me your location at all times, your name, your pictures, your contacts, messages, web browser and whatever else is on your phone and what you do on it. Those pictures I leak online I get two ways. There either already on your phone or I follow you and take them. I know whose bad and who's going to do what because they're dumb enough to text about or to write it in their memos or call someone and tell them or take pictures. More than a billion people have Waffles. They're cheap enough, plain, and easy to use. The three things any good salesperson should know to sell to a large audience. The technology inside them that's what makes them valuable to me. Any questions?" Katherine asked, leaning back in her seat.

The only thing I could do was scratch the back of my head in Goku style. "It's illegal. What your doing is illegal. I've never taken law in school. I don't know a lot about it, but I know somehow that this is illegal." I said, standing up, making my chair topple over.

"I know, but I'm not hurting anybody. I'm saving bodies."

"Can you tell that to the cops and not be arrested? Is that how that Detective knew you? She suspects you, and I'm involved with you. You got me involved, and I didn't even know. Wait, so your source is you." I said, pointing at her accusingly. I couldn't imagine standing still. I was walking back and forth and back and forth across the little room—my thoughts in a jumble.

"She suspects something, but she doesn't even know what she suspects. My source is Waffle, which is me, and you're not involved, not yet." Katherine reassured me.

"How do you know what she knows?" I asked, throwing my arms in the air.

"Because she has a Waffle. If she knew anything, she would have trashed it. She knows nothing. She's harmless. I do her work for her, and she's mad she's not as good." Katherine boasted.

"Well, in her defense, she's not using illegal means to solve her cases." I pointed out, leaning against the wall.

"Maybe she should. The criminals she arrests are."

"Then what would be the difference between her and the people she arrests?"

Katherine stood up and placed her hands down gently on the table. "She would be doing what she's doing to help people."

"I'm sure some people who do bad things think they're doing it for good reasons. Doesn't mean they are?" I say, shaking my hands in her direction.

"Just the other day, you were praising my actions. What changed? How I get my info? Please don't be so naive, Victoria."

I ran across the room in five steps. "Do not call me naive. You are invading people's right to privacy. They want a charger, not a device that'll give away all their lives. Their private information."

"They have a charger. Waffle is a charger. I'm not using this for personal gain. I don't care who watches porn or sexts their boo. I just want the bad people the cops can't catch. I don't sit at this table reading messages between people. If you're not doing anything wrong I slide your information to the side and move on. That's it." Katherine said, sitting back down.

"Why? Why do this? What's in it for you? I hardly doubt you woke up one day and decided that this was your life goal. So tell me why and make it good." I stated.

I could go on and on with Katherine. She believed what she was doing was justifying the means. I thought that what she was doing was a justifiable act, but if people knew what she was doing, they would not think so. I hated confrontation but my stomach wasn't hurting as it did a couple of days ago. I needed to know why Katherine was doing this. What did she hope to gain? What did she care about? Was it really the people? So many people say they care about people but that's just an easy excuse anyone can use. It's convenient.

"I want bad people to pay. The cops follow the rules but with Waffle, I don't have to. That's why. There's not much more to it other than that."

And there we were two people, two women, two girls looking at each other waiting for the other to make a move. The only question left was who was going to be able to say checkmate.

All my life I've lived life the simple way without taking any risks. I went to college instead of taking a break and deciding what I really wanted to do. I dated guys because I didn't want to be anything but the norm. I let my grandma move in because yes, I love her, but also because it was the right thing to do. I did the right thing because what was the alternative? Living with Mia forever was not an option. A life filled with a bunch of cats didn't sound all too pleasing either. When was I ever going to get the chance to be a part of something bigger than myself?

Ha! That really was a cheesy thing to say. I always thought it sounded dumb on television when the loser said it, but it did work for the moment.

"I only have one more question," I said, sitting back down.

"What is it?"

"How much is the pay, and is it weekly or biweekly?" I said, grinning.

"That's two questions, and the pay is weekly, and you'll get a five hundred a week. You get medical benefits, 401k, time paid off, and a new laptop. Do we need to debate on the pay?"

"Mhmm well. . . I mean, I guess that'll have to do. I am in high demand right now." I teased as Katherine nodded her head.

"Oh yeah, anything my competitors are offering you. I can do better." Katherine announced kissing me on the lips. "So, are you in?"

"One more, one more question," I whispered.

"What is it one more, one more time?" Katherine whispered back.

"Why me? Seriously. You can find plenty of people with my credentials. Why me?"

Katherine sat up and took hold of my hands, pulling me up. She looked me dead in my eyes and breathed out. "You were a virgin, and your dimples are hot as hell," Katherine stated so seriously that for a second, I imagined she said all that.

I pushed her away as she laughed in my face. "Are you ever serious?"

"I just told you that I use Waffle as a spying device. It can't get any more serious than that. I can officially introduce you to my B team, however."

"Don't you mean A team?"

"No," Katherine said, opening the door that leads to the underground pool. "I'm the A-team."

"Well then," I said, rolling my eyes as I followed her down a flight of solid rock steps.