Free Sidekick by Auralee Wallace Page B

raised her hand again. I stopped talking.
    “Explain to me why you do not already have a job?”
    My eyes widened as I cocked my head. I was expecting her first word to be no . This was going better than expected.
    “I do have job. It’s just not a very good one. And I owe my boss money, and I think he might be cataloguing me in a mail order bride system. And I’d get a better job, but I don’t really have any skills. And—”
    “And you naturally thought of crime fighting,” she said dryly.
    Whoops.
    “No! I mean, you have lots of skills, way more skills than most people. That’s why I want you to teach me. I just…I don’t know…this seems right. I need to fix my karma. I have been the beneficiary of bad things. I need to…give back.”
    “And why would I do this?” she asked, pinning me in her gaze. “As they say, what’s in it for me?”
    Still not a no.
    “Well, lots of things. Obviously, you can’t be everywhere at once. I mean we really could have used you at the bank the other day, and you kind of let us down. I’m sure you had a good reason, I’m just saying. And when’s the last time you went on vacation? You know, went to the beach. Got a tan. Well you probably don’t tan much. Is that racist? I babble when I’m nervous. Anyway, I bet you’d like a vacation.”
    “At this moment, very much so,” she said.
    “Huh? Oh. That was good. Very funny,” I said laughing nervously. “So what do you think?
    Ryder tapped the side of her mug with a very long fingernail.
    “I will give you one chance.”
    “Really? Holy crap! Suddenly my feet were screaming…probably because I was jumping up and down. I stopped quickly. Not cool. Wait. Why?”
    “I have a number of reasons,” she said slowly. “But most importantly, I saw the footage of you at the bank.”
    “You did? You own a TV?” I scanned the walls. I wondered if there was a super-cool techno-room somewhere. I bet there was. I bet—
    “There is little I don’t know about this city,” she said dismissively. “But more to the point, when a deadly situation arose, you took the attention away from someone less able to defend herself, which is quite remarkable.”
    “Yeah…I mean, yes, my bravery was quite remarkable that day.” I had originally been thinking stupid, but I was liking her analysis much better.
    “I was impressed with your bravery…although your judgement remains in question. You were obviously unprepared to face the threat,” she said face still impassive. “Regardless, again today, when that little boy was in great danger, out of the hundreds of people on the street, you were the only one who came to his aid.”
    Well, I had thought the guns were fake, but I wasn’t about to look a superhero in the mouth. “This is awesome Ryder. I swear I won’t let you down. I’ll—”
    “I said I would give you a chance,” she said arching her perfect eyebrow. “I should have, perhaps, called it a test.”
    “Oh, a test. I’m not very good at tests. That’s kind of my sister’s thing.”
    Ryder narrowed her gaze.
    “Right a test. No problem. Yes sir. Thank you sir—I mean Ryder. Er, by test, what exactly do you mean?”
    “You will fight crime.”
    “Oookay.”
    “I will call you when it is time for your test. I will expect you to come to whatever location I give you, immediately.” She rose to her feet in one fluid motion. “You will have one chance to stop a crime and apprehend the criminal.”
    I chewed my lip then said, “Now by crime, are we talking petty larceny, or eating people’s kidneys type of crime?”
    Again she just looked at me.
    “Okay, you surprise me.”
    We stayed staring at each other for a few moments.
    “You may go now.”
    “Wait. That’s it?”
    “That is it.”
    “No training? No suggestions? No tips?”
    “Wear shoes.”
    “Anything else?”
    “I have always found that a well-tailored outfit intimidates criminals.”
    I waited for more, but nothing seemed to be coming.