Chapter 9

 

THE NEXT MORNING, I bounced over to the main offices of CIG, casting a happy wave at the lady behind the desk. She gave me a look that said, “I ain’t got a clue who you are so why you waving at me?”

I widened my smile, answering her look with my best, “why do you have to know me? It’s a beautiful day.”

She didn’t seem full of the joys and eyed me like I might kidnap her.

“Is the boss in?” I asked, not caring that she was glaring at me.

“You mean General Frei?” A bit hoity-toity but I’d go with it.

“Yeah, the one with the blonde spiky hair and the coolest shades you’ve ever seen.”

Now she was curious. Funny how I could still read her body language even when I couldn’t read her emotions. “Do you have an appointment?”

You’d think the CIG uniform would have given her a clue. “I don’t need one. She in or not?”

“Look, I think you’ll have to—”

“Lorelei,” I grunted. “You want to see my birth certificate or what?” I pointed to my face. “You can’t miss the resemblance.”

The woman eyed me for a moment and two guards appeared behind me. A second later Frei strode down a staircase off to the left.

“You got the bikes ready?” she asked the receptionist, ignoring the fact the guards looked about ready to haul me off someplace.

If they thought they were getting me anywhere near a cell, they were gonna find it painful trying.

“She’s Lilia’s daughter.” Frei’s curt tone made everybody relax, apart from me. “Bikes?”

The receptionist cocked her head then shook it like I was some naughty child. “Yes, they are outside. Try wearing your name badge next time.”

I scowled down at her. “I told you my name.”

“Then try writing your mother’s name on it. At least it would be useful then.” She flicked her hair back as if to say, “deal with it.”

Like I was putting up with that. “You mean like you, sitting punching numbers into a computer all day?”

Frei shoved me by the arm out of the door. “You have a great way of making friends.”

“She started it.”

“She’s a Harvard graduate with three degrees, math, medical sciences, and engineering.” Frei strode on down the road. I followed after her. “She lost both legs in an automobile accident and her own promising military career.” She rounded a corner, leading us down an alley. “She also lost her husband in the same accident.”

Okay, so I wasn’t so mad at her anymore. “All I did was grin at her and say hi.”

“And I’m saying that you could have gone in there with a million dollars and chocolate but she would still act the same.” Frei led us over to two very cool-looking motorcycles. “You’re not going to win the bitch of the year contest with her. She’s had fifteen years to perfect it.”

“You tried?”

Frei shot me a grin, sliding on her trademark aviators. “One competition I was happy to lose.”

She tapped the bikes. “These are Harley Davidson Breakouts. Pure perfection on wheels. A twin cam 110B engine. An Electronic Sequential Port Fuel Injection and Electronic Throttle Control. It has a 6-speed Cruise Drive transition.”

She’d lost me. To me it looked like a cool bike, big black with chrome on it.

“It’s a soft tail,” she said as if that would clear things up.

It didn’t. I couldn’t even see a tail.

“In other words, it rides like it looks.”

Why that made me drool, I had no idea.

“Good, you’re with me.” Frei slung her leg over one and slipped on her full face helmet. She pulled a leather jacket from the seat behind her and slid it on. “You getting on or drooling at me, Lorelei.”

“Kinda a bit of both,” I mumbled, attempting to get on the second bike with some kind of grace. I’d ridden dirt bikes before but never anything like this. Frei handed me a helmet and tapped the seat behind me to alert me to the leather jacket.

“Am I getting lessons in how to look cool or somethin’?”

Frei pressed the side of her helmet and the glass slid up. “You’re getting lessons in how to ride. Both cold and hot weather. We’ll head out down the mountain so you can learn to handle any condition.” She held my gaze with an unyielding one. “You know bikes pretty well. You look better on a bike. So this week, I’m teaching you how to act like you look.”

“Which is?”

Frei pressed the button again and her visor slid back down. “Badass, Lorelei. Badass.”

I heard her voice in my ear and jumped. It was crackly just like when Renee had talked to me on the helicopter. I listened as she ran me through how to ride the thing. A dirt bike didn’t have this kind of power. I turned the key and felt it rumble into life.

I was in love.

“You’ll thank me even more when we hit the open road.” Frei led us out of the parking lot and onto the street. Folks cast admiring glances as we roared past. I made the decision that I could get used to travelling on a bike everywhere.

“How come Renee ain’t with us?” I asked. When we did anything, it was the three of us.

“She doesn’t like bikes.”

“This another of those perspective things again?”

Frei kept alongside me. It felt kinda good to know she was taking the time out to help me. She was head of the whole base, a general, she had better things to do.

“Renee gets freaked out. If she catches you riding one, she’ll more than likely lecture you.” Frei’s bored tone told me that Renee had lectured her a fair amount.

“Why does that make me like it even more?” I asked. It was a dumb reaction, I was sure. A rebellion maybe, I didn’t know.

“Because you get it.” Frei roared her bike as we left the main drag. I opened the throttle, rumbling off after her. “When you’re on the road, you’re free.”

I’d not felt like this since I was a kid. Free. I did get that.

Yeah, free.