Mom, I'm Bulletproof

Chapter 16.4: In Pursuit

"Hold still now," he heard History Girl say. He felt her leather gloved fingers squeeze in between the clamps in his neck. After a few seconds, she managed to wrest the machine's clamps off of the Ergosphere's neck.

He exhaled first, then breathed in fresh air. After a few more breaths, he turned to History Girl and said, "Thanks."

"S'nothing," she said. "Helping folk is what I do."

"You freaks," Sittman shouted. "This one job was all it was going to be. I was going to retire to Haiti after this, and let the casino's insurance make up the difference."

"Retire to where?" History Girl asked.

"Never mind. Everything would have worked out just fine if you hadn't interfered."

"You're pointing guns at unarmed folks, asshole!" History Girl said.

The Ergosphere looked at her. "Aren't you kind of young for kind of language?"

"You wouldn't be asking that if you'd seen the things that I've seen."

"I don't doubt it. What say we take this guy out?"

History Girl nodded and ran toward Sittman. The gold-suited man fell to his knees and started whimpering.

"Please," he said. "I was just going to take the money and disappear. No one will ever hear from me again. That's all."

History Girl pressed one of her gleaming silver guns against the underside of the man's chin. "Nobody'll ever hear from you again once yer in prison."

Then the girl leaned forward and pressed her mouth right against the man's left ear.

"Now tell me everything you know about the Temple," she said.

With this, the Ergosphere became much more interested in the girl. In his mind, she had gone from an amusing novelty to something genuinely important.

"What?" Sittman said. "No. I only want the money."

"I heard some Temple sonofabitch was gonna be in this here building tonight. If it ain't you, then who is it?"

"I don't know anything about any Temple,"Sittman said. "Please believe me."

History Girl turned her head away from Sittman, distracted by a sound outside. Then the Ergosphere heard it too. Police sirens.

"Damn!" History Girl said. "The sheriff's done found us!"

She turned her gun around in her until she held it backwards with the handle and hilt facing Sittman. She hit him in the face and he fell to the floor. Blood trickled down his face from inside his nose.

"Have fun in prison," History Girl said. She then turned and ran toward the front entrance of the casino.

The Ergosphere ran after her, catching up to her outside, in the bright desert heat.

Once outside, History Girl placed two leather-clad fingers against her bottom lip and whistled the two familiar notes of a classic cowboy calling for his horse. The Ergosphere saw what appeared to be a trash can fly down from sky hovering perpendicular to the ground. He then saw that it had motorcycle-like handlebars and an Old West style saddle. History Girl hopped aboard the device, after which she and it shot into the air.

As the girl's craft became a dot in sky, the Ergosphere pulled out his phone and clicked it on.

"Lazlo," he said. "We're in pursuit."

The Ergosphere was temporarily distracted by the five or six police cars screeching to a halt in front of him.

"I said," the Ergosphere said, anticipating Lazlo's confusion. "Pick me up in front of the casino."

"It's the middle of the day," Lazlo said. "There are cops all around you."

"Since when do I care about local law enforcement? There's a flying cowgirl out here who knows things about the Temple we don't. Now get down here. We're in pursuit."

"Drop the phone and get down on the ground," a cop said, practically leaping out of the nearest car and aiming his gun at the Ergosphere. The other cops did the same.

"Get me out of here," the Ergosphere said into the phone.

"In front of everyone? Whatever happened to secrecy?"

"Calamity Jane is getting away!"

A loud boom filled the air above the Ergosphere. It appeared as if green flames exploded out of nowhere contrasting blindingly against the blue Vegas sky.

The fire burned out in a few seconds, and in its place hovered the Ergosphere's ship, a classic flying saucer. A small port opened on the craft's underside.

Seeing the cops distracted by the sight of the craft, the Ergosphere squatted down and then jumped up as high as he could, reaching for the open port. He made it, gripping both sides of the opening and pulling himself inside.

The Ergosphere caught one last glimpse of the cops staring in bewilderment as the ship blasted straight up into the sky. He couldn't savor the feeling for long, though. 

He had a cowgirl to catch. 

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Next: A strange life.