Chapter 17

“Mom, you’re going to get me killed. This car is in my name, not yours. You can’t get away. I’m calling the police to report you. I love you, but I can’t get caught helping you.”

“Sarah, don’t! Please! Sarah! Put the phone down!”

“Yes, 9-1-1? My mother is trying to get away from a selection notice, and she took my car. I am trying to get her to stop and just turn herself in, but she won’t do it,” Sarah started crying. “I’m love her and I’m going to miss her, but I’m eighteen, and I need to survive. I need to have a future. And I have to take care of my two younger sisters. Can you please come and get her, so I don’t get killed? I’m not helping her, I swear!”

A brief conversation about where they were and where they were headed made Naomi even more fearful, but her daughter was buckled in the back seat and against the far side of the car, out of reach. Naomi focused on driving, hoping she could somehow get away.

“Thank you, ma’am. I see the police car coming now. Mom, if you run and wreck my car, I’ll kill you myself! I need this car! Mom, stop! Shit!”

The police car rammed into the driver’s side of the car just hard enough to push it off the road and into the slight ditch while killing the engine. Jane’s head hit the side impact airbag as everything went off at once from the impact, and she sat there, dazed, as she tried to figure out what just happened.

“Don’t move!”

“Wha...?”

“I said don’t move, driver! You okay, girl?”

“Yes, ma’am. I am sore from the impact, but I am alright.”

“Okay, sit tight while we get your mother out of the car.”

“Sure. Mom, don’t fight them! Mom!”

Sarah saw that her mother was going to try to fight, and she leaned forward over the seat, turned her body, and punched her mother in the side of her jaw at an upward angle. The punch worked like magic, and the older woman slumped over the wheel, unconscious from the impact that traveled through the nerves and up into her brain, shutting her mind off.

“Nice punch, kid. Thanks for that.”

Moments later, Jane was out of the car in arm and leg restraints as smelling salts were used to bring her back around.

She came to, and the first thing she saw when her eyes opened was her daughter’s tear-streaked face. “Why did you run, mom? Now they are going to be nasty to you, and you’re just going to die anyway!”

“I’m sorry, honey! I was just so scared that I couldn’t help it!” Jane started to sob as well.

“Officer, I had nothing to do with this. I was the one that called her in for this. Please don’t think I helped her!”

“No, we have that in the report. There should be a deferment reward for you turning her in. We will have to see if there are any funds available to fix your car, too. Sorry about that, but she had to be stopped.”

“I understand. I can get another car. I have a job. It’ll be okay.”

“What do you do for a living, kid?”

“I’m a high-end escort. It pays well, and it will get me through college.”

“Oh, nice. Okay. Really, how well does it pay?”

Naomi turned away and tried not to listen. She never approved of her daughter’s ‘job’ but had never really asked for details. Now curiosity got the best of her as she strained to hear.

“Well, an average night is about a thousand, and can be a lot more if I stay overnight. A weekend from Friday evening through Monday morning is around twenty thousand. I get booked for one of those a month on average. It takes a while to get a clientele list together unless you know someone. I had help, so I got up to good money in the seventeen months since I turned eighteen.”

“Damn,” Officer Forsythe said as she put the runaway in the back of her squad car. “That’s way more than I can make in this job. Can anyone get into it?”

“You have to pass the psych eval the civil service people run in order to get the permit to work for a mentor and later to get the license to work alone, but I understand it’s about the same as the peace officer’s eval. If you are a cop, it should be a no-brainer. And you look pretty hot under that uniform, so you should have no problems getting a client list together. I can help you if you want. I would get ten percent of your billings for the first six months as your mentor, more if you want me to go along and advise. Kind of like a training period. Just remember to always verify STD vaccine and test status, and make sure your birth control implant is always up to date, unless you want to get pregnant. That’s a whole other set of issues to deal with.”

“Let me think about it. Here’s my sergeant. After your mother’s ID and status are verified, do you want to come along and be with her? It’s allowed. And it will keep her calmer, I’m sure, to have a family member nearby. That’s important for everyone.”

“Mom, do you want me to come with?”

“Yes! Please! Unless you are in danger! Officer, she’s not in trouble, is she?”

“No, she actually got a deferment put into her PMB file for reporting you. That will buy her five additional years before she is eligible to be selected. She is in the clear.”

“Okay, then yes. Please.”

“Sergeant, this is Sarah, sorry, I don’t have your last name yet.”

“Sarah Jane Lowell.”

“Sarah Jane Lowell, and the runner in the car is...?” Officer Forsythe looked at Sarah again.

“Jane Alice Lowell. She got a notice last, and this morning she decided to try to get away. I jumped in the car and tried to talk her out of it, but she wouldn’t listen, so, I called 9-1-1 and reported her. I’m sorry, Mom, but I couldn’t help you. It would make me get termed and butchered.”

“I know, sweetie. I’m so sorry.”

“Ma’am,” the sergeant said as she leaned over and looked into the back of the patrol car. “Are you Jane Alice Lowell?”

The sergeant held up her cell, and the app caught the reply as well as the image of the woman.

“Alright, the facial recognition comes back positive, and her status is confirmed as a runaway. Here, Sarah, I need to scan you as well.”

Sarah stood calmly and waited while the police app on the sergeant’s phone submitted her face for ID. Within moments, it came back.

“Sarah Jane Lowell, status not selected, five-year additional deferment on file from today’s date for service to the PMB regarding runaway Jane Alice Lowell, in addition to your initial five-year deferment for your mother being selected and having minor children you have accepted responsible for raising. Current occupation listed as high-end escort. Huh. Well, you’re definitely beautiful enough to be successful at that. Do you do same sex or just opposite? And do you do parties?”

“It all depends on the situation. I am allowed to pick and choose my engagements, and I pull full background checks and STD vaccine status on every and all potential customers. Groups require that full name and vax status be submitted in advance for all attendees even if they are not planning on joining in. No offense intended, but the laws permit it. My mentor had an apprentice get beat up and slashed because she took a gig with a woman uptown that she didn’t check out before hand.”

Sarah pulled two cards from her phone case and handed one to each officer and shrugged. “We can talk if you’re interested.”

“Alright. Sarah, you can ride up front with Officer Forsythe. Meghan, head straight to the courthouse. They are getting the platform ready.”

“Got it, Sarge. See you there?”

“Yeah, I have to be there as part of the arrest, and as the one who ran the facial recognition.”