Read Siren's Garter: Issue One August 2016 for Free Online

You didn’t answer my
question.”
    “ I don’t have answers. That’s why
I over-reacted. Again, sorry.”
    “ Stop apologizing and tell me
what’s going on.”
    “ Biggins is after me, too.”
Gertrude bit her bottom lip. “And I don’t owe money.”

 
    Chapter
Five
     
    Molly was a tall woman, easily had
six inches on Elsie, and the blond woman wore flat patent leather
loafers. She had on a tailored white pantsuit with an open-collar
pink sateen blouse. Her breasts were big as ripe cantaloupes,
pushed up together so they spilled out a little more than a hint.
The button on her suit jacket barely held the ensemble
together.
    A man came into the kitchen behind
Molly. He was plain looking, crew cut, big shoulders, gigantic
hands wrapped around a pistol as if it were a toy. The suit he wore
didn’t quite fit right, the pants too baggy, the jacket sleeves too
long.
    He had a sexy scar on one cheek.
Otherwise, he could blend into a crowd.
    “ What kind of Russian name is
Molly?” said Elsie, hands in the air, heart pounding. She’d been
held up before on the losing side of gunfights. Some things never
really got easier, just blander each time. She took a deep breath,
to calm her pulse and clear her head.
    Molly lowered her gun, eyes
flicking up and down Elsie’s body. Assessed her with a cold stare
and a tight curled grin. Elsie resisted the urge to cross her arms
over her chest, to cover her breasts. Better to play along, play
nice, and not get shot while being too cocky.
    “ Is this the latest American
fashion?” said Molly. Her accent was thick, but more relaxed now,
more bland and less Russian. The bitch sneered, upper lip raised
stiff, crinkling the otherwise perfectly smooth skin. “Au
natural?”
    The big man with the scar shrugged,
gun focused on Elsie, but pretending not to stare directly at her
rack. She pegged him as a goon, but not a cold blooded one. Just a
guy who liked to look, but knew how to use a gun.
    “ I like to surprise my house
guests,” Elsie shrugged.
    “ Surprise?” said Molly, choking on
a laugh. “You’re house guests? You entertain often, da?”
    “ I’m kind of a homebody,
actually.”
    “ Elsie, you I like.” Molly lowered
her gun and released the thumb trigger. “But I’m not here for you.
I suggest you leave, now.”
    “ And how do you know my name?”
Elsie couldn’t just leave. Not when her mother’s house was broken
into by Russians. Where was her mother? Apparently Molly didn’t
know either. Or she was bluffing, but Elsie didn’t think so. Molly
was too cool and too calm, in control.
    “ You ask entirely too many
questions,” said Molly.
    “ One of my many faults, you
think?”
    The blond woman opened her jacket,
revealing a shiny leather shoulder holster, and put away the gun.
The tight suit didn’t do much to conceal the weapon. She crossed
her hands in front.
    “ You have two options,” she
said.
    “ Only two?” said Elsie.
    “ You can turn and go back the way
you came, and forget we ever met.”
    “ Shucks. What’s option
two?”
    “ Nikolai and I can take you
hostage until we get what we came for.”
    “ And if I run, what stops you from
putting a bullet in my back?”
    “ You’ll just have to trust me,
darling.”
    “ And you trust me not to go to the
authorities?”
    Molly smiled like a reptile about
to swallow a still live mouse. She stepped closer to Elsie, so that
Molly’s boobs were right in Elsie’s face. The Russian woman had on
a strong perfume that smelled of lilacs, which made Elsie want to
sneeze.
    Elsie resisted the urge to back
away. Getting killed now wouldn’t help her mother. Worse, Kevin
wouldn’t understand why Elsie got shot. Better to play it safe,
rescue Mom, and stay in one piece to keep Kevin in the
dark.
    “ Option two,”
said Elsie. She couldn’t say I’m
your hostage, please handcuff me to the bathroom radiator. Too much pride.
    “ Smart girl, da,” said Molly. “I
knew you’d make the right