Princessa

Chapter 8 The Getaway

Andy speeds the car down the road trying hard not to go too fast. Zoltep crawls over the seat and gets in front beside the girl. “It was dark back there, scary.” “Hey!” “Oh, sorry, thought that was my leg.” “Yeah right.” “So, Jori” says Andy, trying to think and talk and drive all at the same time “what was all that about.” “I didn’t touch her man, I swear.” “You know what I mean.”

“Oh, yeah…uh, hey, you got a cigarette?” “Don’t smoke in the car” says the girl. Both the young men look at the girl like they can’t believe she’s saying that. “Okay” she says “go ahead, but give me one too.” They light the cigarettes as the cold air blows in on them through the broken windows.

Zoltep takes a deep drag like he hasn’t had one for awhile, then starts in with the same fast rambling talk, trying to say everything all at once. “I been into some deep shit, man. You wouldn’t believe it.” “Well, gimme the believable version.”

“Damn, you’re a good looking girl” says Zoltep, looking at Maria as they pass under a light. “What was that stuff on the train” she says to him in a dead serious tone, coming down from the rush “we coulda all been killed.” “Ah nah...I put those charges way back in the back, nobody back there. I checked. And even  made sure we’d be at…just crawlin along when they went off.”

“Why did you want to blow up the train?” she asks, trying to keep things simple for him. “Well, Princessa, uh…you’re a target of opportunity. Sorry about that, but…when we got word from the cabbie…well..” “Jori works for us” says Andy, trying to get things straight. “Who’s Jori” asks the girl. “I am” says the kid “and, well, we were gonna hit the palace tonight. That is, at least, you know if everything went like it ‘sposed to. And then, the guy calls and says you’re bookin out on a train, right? So, you know, plans change, right bro…sir.” “They always do” says Andy.

“So, okay…we chase down the train. Man that takes some doing, goddamn express, doesn’t make many stops. But I get on, at Dravalek, and…look all over hell, every goddamn car ‘uh, excuse me’ you know; but can’t find you. So, now we’re gettin close to the border; gotta do sumpin. Don’t want no fuckin terrorist attack goin down in Iran; them motherfuckers don’t like that shit, you know.”

“They got no sense a humor” says Andy. “Yeah, and anyway…so, hey I figure, little explosion; create a diversion, right. Maybe the trains stops. But no, motherfucker jumps right off the goddamn tracks; scares the shit outta me, that does.” “Me too” says Maria.

“So” he continues “guessin you’re maybe in one of the compartments with the doors all locked, curtains drawn…smoochin or something.” “Maybe not!” says the girl. “Well I dunno” says the kid “if it’d a been me.” “I don’t think so” says Maria. “Kids” says Andy “just …tell us what’s goin on, okay.” “Well” says Jori “the rest is history. Princessa invites me to come with, so here I am.”

“You were pointing a gun at us” says Maria “a big gun.” “Yeah, sorry, usually keep that in my pants.” The girl laughs at him “you’re a funny boy.” Then she looks at his face, so young, so childlike. “How old are you, anyway? And who are you, huh?” “Oh, I’m about…uh, seventeen or so; and I’m…your new bodyguard.” “Seventeen, huh?” she says.

“I don’t think” says Andy “Jori’s gonna get to see fifteen, the way he’s goin at it.” “Ah geez, Andy, gimme a break, I’m workin here. Got the girl all askin about my personal profile an stuff.” “Who were the guys you were with” she asks, like sticking a knife into a balloon. Zoltep starts to speak but then doesn’t say anything, lost for the moment, feeling all the blood drain out of his face.

Finally he says in a slow quiet voice “friends of mine…good people.” “I’m sorry” says Andy and then thinking about it adds, with nothing else to say “maybe you shoulda said somethin.” “Yeah…like what” asks the kid, all serious now “like you put me in a squeeze here, Captain. So…I gotta go kidnap princessa here…or my pals gonna waste my worthless little ass for bein a stoolie, y’know.

“These people…they take this shit pretty seriously, you know. You’re either with them, all the way with them; or they fuckin leave you dead on the doorstep.” Nobody says anything, so Zoltep continues. “And man… you can’t fake that shit, you know. After… after you spend all that time, tryin t’get…to get into, that…bubble, and it’s so hard t’do that. But, once you’re in, man, when you’re finally in…y’start, y’really start t’start thinkin like they do, y’know. Y’start t’believe what they believe. An y’know, those guys, those two guys, Mkmar and Sehroz; man, I lived with them, like brothers, at their homes, man; and, I ate with them, and all that kinda shit.”

“Which side are you on” asks Andy. “Fuck if I know, man; who’s on my side, huh?” “I’m on your side” says Maria. “Well, hey girl” he says, tryin t’be upbeat again “then there’s two of us, and against…a whole lot more of the others.” And then not wanting to think about it anymore, he adds “where we goin, anyway.” “America” says the girl. “Fuck me” says Jori, all enthused now “I aint never been to America before.”