It was a Friday and the mall has setup a children's playground for the weekend. The young princess was drinking her milkshake, looking down at the atrium, admiring the happy children playing on slides and bouncy castles.
"When was the last time you were on a playground?" Chloe read her thoughts.
"Not ever. The closest I had was at my birthday party, when I was five."
"Do you ever get to play?"
"Yes, I get to play the piano and violin, get to play poetry and painting, and I got a part in my school drama play."
"That wasn't what I meant..."
"I'm kidding, Chloe." the young princess chuckled. "But most my time are on extra curriculums. I don't have much private time."
"Everything to shape you a princess." Kalani said. She didn't touch her shake, her eyes were scanning at all time. "You should come to El Centro, at least we have a slide!" if you don't mind the bullet holes and used needles, which she didn't mention.
Brooke arrived shortly after her sister, responding to Vicky's farewell.
"Did Abby approve that?" she looked at Vicky wearing the black and pink studio jacket. "You know she's gonna kill you. Right?"
"Who's gonna kill you?" Kalani turned to her protectee.
"It's just an expression." Chloe calmed her down.
"Oh My God! What are you wearing??" Kendall showed up all freaked out. "Miss Abby is going to kill you!"
"Yeah, we heard that before!" Paige sucking on her straw.
"PLEASE take a picture of her when she finds out. I'll give anything to see that face!" Brooke laughed.
The afternoon passed as the girls exchanged their lives in a reality show, for the live of a princess in the palace.
"Guys. I think it's time to go." Kalani said.
"So soon? We haven't got a present for Vicky yet." Kendall whined.
"She's right. It's time." Chloe said.
Vicky saw a familiar face on her friend, one that was tense and alert. At the far end, two men in suit were watching them, she spotted two more behind them.
"How do you want to do this?" Kalani asked, already planning a hundred strategies in her head.
"Let's heard them out. I want to know why they are doing this." Chloe narrowed her eyes.
Kalani waved a waitress over, pointed at the display cabinet and ordered a big birthday cake.
"Would you like it cut?" the waitress asked.
"No. Give us a knife."
The waitress went to get the cake, everyone looked at Kalani with questionable eyes.
"What? We need a cake, to celebrate farewell!" Kalani shrugged.
They ate and ordered more desserts, waiting for the men to approach, but they seem to just standing there.
"They are going to take us on our way out." Brooke observed. "I counted six."
Chloe studied the floor plan. They were on the third floor looking down the atrium. There were three paths, front, back and a bridge extending across the atrium, all blocked by a two men post.
"Uh, should we just sit here and eat?" Vicky grew nervous by the minute, seeing the girls enjoying their desserts like nothing happens.
The waitress came placing a check on the table. Kalani looked up and pointed at the men closest to them.
"My Dad is over there!" seeing the waitress walking up to them, Kalani shook her head. "She must be new at the job!"
"What are you doing?" Vicky asked.
"Ever heard of eat and run?" Kalani showed a grin across her face, exchanged eyes with other girls. "NOW!"
As if coordinated, everyone darted to the opposite direction, heading for the two men guarding the back.
Caught in the sudden event, the men tried to block everyone from escaping. Kalani took the front, ducking the man's grab, pulled out the kitchen knife she used to cut the cake, sliced both side of his inner thigh. The man fell on the ground, holding his bleeding artery for dear life.
Brooke leaped and slammed her knee into the other man's chest, struck her elbow to the top of his head at the same time, the double strike sent him five feet back and out cold.
The two older girls broke the human barricade and let their friends through. The two men engaging the waitress shoved her aside, pushing through the tables of customers to pursue their target. Across the atrium, the pair of men was running parallel to the girls, toward the end where their paths meet.
"Jump!" Chloe shouted.
Paige and Kendall jumped over the railing without second thought, fell thirty feet into the atrium, landed on the inflated castle.
"I can't!" Vicky staring down the sheer depth.
"Trust me." Chloe said, taking the young princess' hand.
Seeing men approaching from both sides, Kalani tossed the kitchen knife to Brooke, she caught it and moved into a combat position, blade under fist, the other hand ready to grab.
"What're you gonna use?"
Standing back to back, Kalani guarded her arms across her face, in each hand was a cold steel talon blade.
"Jump! I'll hold them!" Kalani shouted.
"I can't!" Vicky cried, her fists tight on the railing, refusing to let go.
"Come on! Jump!" Paige and Kendall waving from below.
Kalani slashed out her talons like a wild cat, blocking the two attackers. Brooke took on the opposite end, swung out her knife and kicks, buying time for her friends to escape.
Seeing Vicky so terrified of height, Chloe said.
"Please don't hate me!"
"For what?"
Before Vicky could understand, Chloe embraced her legs and stood, threw her over the railing and into the empty space. Vicky screamed at the long seconds of freefall, but found herself cushioned by the softness of the inflated castle.
"You do realize that you've just threw a royal princess off a three story building. Right?" Brooke asked while fighting the men.
"She can have me beheaded when we get out of this!" Chloe already had her feet on the railing, balancing like a gymnast. "You guys coming?"
"Right after I kiss my date goodbye!" Brooke slammed a back fist into a man's mouth, cracking his teeth.
Without a second delay, Chloe leaped into the air, arms reached out for the closest section of the giant balloon castle, breaking her fall and landed in a graceful manner.
Seeing the protectee safe, Kalani and Brooke made their jump, caught the inflated wall with their blades, cutting two big gaps with their descent.
One man followed, jumping over the railing, but by now the inflated castle has lost its structure, he landed on the hard ground breaking both his legs.
"Did you drive here?" Kalani asked Kendall.
"Yes, Brad lent me his car."
"Take them! I may need you to back me up!"
They broke separate ways to their cars. Chloe and Vicky jumped into the black Toyota, Kalani slipped behind the wheel, started the engine and waited.
"What are we waiting for?" Vicky asked anxiously.
"That!"
Kalani pointed at the men storming out the door, stepped on the accelerator, sending the car towards them.
Caught by surprise, two men jumped aside, the last man caught the impact of the heavy vehicle, spun and fell on the ground. His two partners quickly ran to get their car, leaving their injured associate behind.
Kalani shifted to reverse, steering backward, the whole car bounced as it wheeled over the injured man's leg, he cried in pain.
"Help me!" Kalani got out the car, Chloe followed.
Vicky turned from the backseat, saw them opened the trunk and shoved the injured man inside, slammed it shut and reentered the car, hit gas and sped away.
"Did we just hit and run?" the young princess asked trembling.
"Don't like the way I drive? Get out!" Kalani steered the car down slope, crashed through the paying booth and out the street.
Chloe took out her phone and put on speaker. Brooke's voice already shouting, exchanging coordinates.
"We have incoming!" Kalani looked at the rear view mirror. "One black SUV!"
"Why do they always drive SUVs?" Chloe complained. "And always black!"
From the side of the advancing vehicle, the door slide open, out came a man with a gun in his hand.
"He's got a gun!" Vicky warned from the back.
"They would have killed us when they have the chance!"
"They're going to shoot the tires!" Chloe looked out the window.
"Not on my car they're not!"
Kalani pulled the hand break, dragged the car into a skipping slow, slammed its rear against the SUV front, sending it off course. The man at the side door caught off balance, holding the door frame for safety. Vicky felt someone kicking her from behind the seat, the man locked inside the trunk began screaming and yelling.
"He sounds pretty fit for someone who just got run over!" Kalani said.
"He's breaking through the seat!" Vicky yelled, putting her weight down and wrestling with jerking backseat.
"No he is not!" Kalani slammed the rear to the SUV again, knocking their captive back to sleep.
The SUV steered back on track, this time pulling to the Toyota's left, one man was aiming at the Toyota, the other man was yelling.
"Shoot the driver! But careful with the princess!"
"Great! Waste the Latino driver but don't hurt the white girls! How typical!" Kalani cursed.
"Would you stop that already!!" Chloe yelled next to her.
Kalani accelerated, catching ahead and putting their car directly in front of the SUV, leaving the gunmen no choice but to shoot through the windscreen, which they usually won't.
The SUV sped up also, ramming its front into the black Toyota, trying to knock it off course.
Kalani steered left and right, but every time she shifted to the side, she exposed herself into the line of fire. She tried the breaks, but had no effect against the heavy SUV.
A heavy impact knocked the SUV aside, men looked back and realized they were hit by a large pickup truck. They raised their guns to fire, but not before the truck slammed into them again. The right side gunman lost his footing, fell out the door and left tumbling on the road.
With the SUV off their tail, Kalani swung free and spotted an exit not far ahead. She yanked the steering wheel clockwise, pulling out of the highway.
The SUV chased after, but as it was making the turn, the heavy pickup truck rammed its head from the side, sending the SUV off road and rolling down a hill.
The pickup truck caught up to the Toyota's right, rolling down the side window. Kendall looked tiny sitting in the big truck, barely visible from the Toyota.
"Kendall?" Chloe gasped. "That's Brad's car??"
"His dad's really! His dad got a new car so he lent this one to me!"
"It's call a TRUCK!" one could hear Paige yelling from the passenger seat.
"Chole!" Brooke yelled behind Kendall. "We need to get off the road! Kendall is driving without a license!"
"Do you have a place where we can interrogate a prisoner?" Kalani asked.
Chloe shaking her head. Why would I have any such place to interrogate anyone??
"I don't, but I may know someone who does!" she picked up her phone and dialed.
"Ask to have car battery and gasoline ready! We're gonna have some sweet home fun!"