Chapter 8

Tom was so gung ho that Genie gave him the full treatment all at once. That was quite a physical shock for any human body to take, so it laid Tom out for a couple of hours. As soon as he was back in circulation, Genie and Mom fitted him out with a uniform and the special gun. Tom had been in the Marines, so he had a head start on the muscle memory that we all had to work on. Within 24 hours we figured that Salamander was ready to be a regular team member. (By the way, the Salamander of mythology was a fire starter and nobody to mess with.)

Genie had added another row of seats to our special SUV. It made no difference to the appearance on the outside, but it did enlarge the vehicle a little on the inside.

We piled in, with Basilisk driving, as usual. This time, we headed south, for no particular reason, we just did. We still weren't sure that we were rid of that Mexican gang, but we needed to give Salamander a little taste of how we operated, so we put those bastards on the back burner for a little while. I had told him to follow along and do as we did, but not to initiate action until he was well integrated into the team.

Our first hit was a service station robbery. It was just one robber, but he had a shotgun trained on the clerk. Basilisk pulled in as if we were customers so as not to arouse suspicion. Stealth mode, Salamander. You're with me. Komodo, distraction, please. We three were practically invisible as we transported close to the perp. Komodo, go ahead. The sudden appearance of an eight-foot-tall demon was bound to get anybody's attention. Komodo roared at the perp, and the guy panicked. He switched his aim from the clerk to the demon, and pulled the trigger. The mechanism had been frozen so nothing happened. Before we could do anything else, the bandit fainted.

We all, including the clerk, broke up laughing. She dialed 911, and we waited the few minutes before the cops arrived. We had a nice conversation with the clerk and left her with a full set of figurines. She also asked for Komodo's autograph. Two cops arrived and we left to continue our patrol.

I did assure Salamander that we usually had more action than that. The directional microphones on the outside of our SUV were set to high sensitivity and filtered for the sound of gunshots. We were not surprised when the alarm went off and the GPS showed Basilisk where to drive to reach the source.

The display in front of Gecko announced that the shots had been fired by a .38 caliber Police Special, nowadays not considered a particularly potent round, but still capable of inflicting a fatal wound. We were there almost before the analysis had been posted. The three shots had come from an apartment on the second floor, just over a Laundromat.

Basilisk parked and we all dashed for the outside stairs leading to that floor. Full stealth, everybody. Let's see what we are facing before we go busting in.

We paused on the landing, and Genie scanned the place. I don't detect anyone at the door or in the hallway. It is safe to enter.

We went inside and listened at each of the four doors opening off the hall. We tried the doors and found that three were locked, but the fourth opened easily. I ducked into the room and did a quick search. This was a typical efficiency apartment with the bed folded into the wall. The others checked the closets, etc., while I pulled the bed down. When I did, a body fell out and rolled on the floor.

Salamander made a quick check and said, She's still alive, but I don't know how long she can last. She has three bullets in the chest.

Gecko immediately called 911 and gave a full report. She agreed to stay with the victim while the rest of us looked for the shooter. Basilisk, Salamander, and Komodo went to knock on the other doors to see if there was anything there that we should know about. Meanwhile, I found the ladder and went up on the roof. Just as my head cleared the opening, I felt a tremendous thud on the back of my head and I heard a pistol fired at the same time. Obviously I had been shot.

I found the perp. It's a man pointing a pistol at me and trying to fire, but I have frozen the mechanism. He put one bullet on my head, but all I have to show for it is one hell of a headache. I'm taking him out, now. I grabbed him by the wrist of the hand holding the pistol and squeezed. I didn't stop until I heard bones fracture. He could be put back together, but he was going to hurt a while. I took the gun from him and unfroze the mechanism.

We were getting reasonably fast service. I could hear sirens headed our way, and an ambulance with EMTs pulled up, followed in seconds by two cop cars and four cops who ran up the steps behind the EMTs. We were told that the woman would survive because of our quick action, and that made us feel good.

I presented the cops with the perp with the broken wrist. They dropped the gun into an evidence bag and took our statements. We had established a contact number to one of Genie's special telephones, so the police department could contact us at any time. In only a few minutes, we were free to leave. We were getting a routine established with the police department which was saving us and them a lot of time and aggravation.

There were three more similar small adventures that night. Things were pretty quiet, and we did not have a big case to work on with Salamander. Oh, well, maybe next time...

We kept a bank of TVs turned on to all of the local stations and monitored by a special "dumb" avatar that Genie rigged up. This was a very simple device, so it did not count against Genie's ability to handle the complexity of something like Komodo. Anyway, Newsy, as we called the device, was set to notify us if something noteworthy showed up on the TV at any time. We wanted to be ready and proactive on any sort of emergency.

Tom was anxious to bring his girlfriend aboard, so we set out to meet her. Tom had set the meeting up for a public park normally vacant at about 10:00 AM on a weekday. There were enough trees and bushes there that we should have a reasonable chance at privacy, so it looked like a good choice.

We walked up as a woman dressed in shorts, a halter, and running shoes was just finishing up a fight with two hulking men who were laid out on the ground. OK, she was breathing hard, but what do you expect after a vigorous workout. She turned and was about to attack us when she recognized Tom. She ran up and grabbed him in an embrace that squeezed the air from his lungs. Then she began to cry, but it was obviously in relief.

Babs asked, "Do you want me to call 911?"

"Yes, please. They said that they were going to rob and rape me, so I'd like to see them get what they deserve. Somewhere around here should be the knives they used to threaten me with."

I looked at Tom and he winked. Shit, it didn't look like she needed much from us! After a few minutes and she'd had time to cool down, Tom introduced Abby to us. She was 5'-9" tall and probably weighed 125 pounds. She was built like the proverbial brick chicken house, blond, and smart as a whip.

She had picked the meeting place, so she was not pissed at Tom, and I could tell that he was happy about that. The cops finally showed up and arrested the two still groggy would-be rapists. They took our statements, shook their heads, and left with the goons. We returned to our house for a detailed conversation with Abby.

She was ready to join as soon as she found out who we were and that Tom was a member of our team. Genie checked over her mind and assured me that she was serious, so we invited her in. Genie gave her the treatment and she had to rest for two hours after that, the way Tom had. When she returned, she was fitted for a uniform, and we discussed her working name. The only remaining lizard names we could come up with were iguana, tegu, and agama. Abby decided on tegu for no particular reason.

Abby moved into the bedroom that Tom had been using. She had no family to worry about, since she was living on her own and not with her parents. She planned to keep up the pattern of contact with them that had developed over the last eight months.

She and Tom went through the muscle memory training together, led by Genie. She was in such good physical shape that she caught up to us in no time. We were now the "Fabulous Six" and figured that was enough for now.

We spent a few more nights of general patrol to get Salamander and Tegu integrated into the team. Our intervention into a bank robbery got our new team the local TV publicity we were looking for. Tom pointed out that we needed to copyright our costumes before somebody started making cheep knockoffs to get a few bucks. He suggested that we contact Sue Sharp of Quality Wear (see Dual Writer's "Vacation - Two") to manufacture and distribute the costumes. In fact, maybe her outfit could just do everything and pay us a royalty. The royalty could go to charity, whatever one she might pick out.