mirror, failure, stream, punch, resign, cooperate, convince, reproduction, coup, behavior

April 8

As portals go, this one was impressive–swirling blue with a stream of pale gray flowing from the center like a conveyor belt. The thieves had formed a bucket brigade and fed boxes into the portal at speed.

At times like this, I resign myself to the role of sidekick. Jas flew at the two closest. A punch and a kick took both down. I scurried behind, snapping on handcuffs. Amazingly, we hadn’t been noticed. The lightshow and the crackling buzz masked the sound of the scuffle. Until one of the downed crooks lashed out and kicked me into a pile of boxes.

“Club ’em!” The leader screamed and two men whirled to take on Jasmine. The other four shoveled boxes into the gray stream as fast as they could. Unusual behavior for thieves. Ordinarily, they’d all attack intruders. There must be something awfully special in those boxes.

Jasmine dropped into another gear, swinging a staff and a mace.

“Where did you hide those?” I asked and lurched back into the fight. I’d wrapped my legs around my next target. Jas had a man in each hand, shaking them like ragdolls.

I hoped she’d remember not to kill them. We needed to get as many as we could back to our interrogation room. That we had one was a coup. We’d done some shifty service for a neighbor who’d paid by giving us his garden shed. It didn’t have a fancy two-way mirror, but it did have one marvelous weapon that we could use to convince our captives to cooperate.

A sudden sucking pop and the portal winked out, taking with it the other thieves. But we had four! This mission wasn’t a failure. While Jas crammed our trussed-up captives into the car, I took a look in a box.

The latest Half Light craze–Curry Kobe Jordan sneakers! Not reproductions, these were the real deal.