A Year of Stories (Collection Two)

Hero For Hire

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

"Uh-huh."

"Is this ... Helios?"

"Maybe."

"Thank god!"

"Which one?"

"I don't know, all of them! Listen, I'm in a little trouble. Actually, I'm in a lot of trouble."

"How did you get this number?"

"Alexi and Sullivan. I was told that if things ever went tits up, you were the woman to call."

"Of course. Ralph put you up to this, didn't he?"

"Ye...yea, I'm an outside consultant for A&S, I'm in recruitment. Sometimes things get a little...hairy. Ralph and I were talking about it over drinks one night, and he just handed me a card with your number on it."

"Are you blonde?"

"Yes..."

"Right, this all makes sense now. Ralph does that sometimes when he's drunk, especially when he's trying to get into someone's pants – doesn't really matter who, as long as they're blonde. Thanks for letting me know by the way – you have a nice day now!"

"Please, don't hang up!"

"Why...not?"

"I need your help!"

"I'm sure you do."

"OK...thank you, I'm at..."

"Sssh...I'm not coming to help you, if I haven't made that clear yet."

"And why the Hell not? There are people here with guns!"

"There are always people with guns somewhere darling...Wait, what's your name again?"

"My name is...Amanda. If you're not going to help me, why do you even care?"

"I don't know, I thought it would be polite to ask. That and when I go cut Ralph's head from his shoulders, I figure he would want to know who narked him out."

"Is this some kind of joke to you? I'm in serious trouble here – I'm stuck in the basement of Ashfert Partners, hiding inside of a supply closet. They have an attack drone hunting me, I think its locked onto my scent!"

"Is it an HG-27 or 29? You can tell the difference because the 29's have three rear exhaust ports instead of two."