Babs’ New Year’s Resolution 79. © Copyright, Beverly Taff 2021

List of Characters.

Lola Smith Bab’s adopted trans daughter.
Callista Denton (Callie). Transgendered Duchess of Denton.
Margaret Denton (Maggie). Callie’s wife.
Molly Denton Callie’s grandmother
Ellie Denton Callie’s mother.
Bab’s Barbara Smith. Lola’s adoptive ‘Nana’
Olivia Smith Bab’s adopted daughter. (Excellent Artist.)
Angela Smith Bab’s newly adopted daughter
Erica Bab’s foster daughter.
Sergeant Bridie Davies Lady Police detective protecting the girls.
Sergeant Brian Davies. Bridie’s twin brother.
Inspector John, Heading up the anti-rape-gang operation.
Gareth Jenkins, Police office trained in firearms and protection.
Belinda Harrington Lola’s university girlfriend.
Aaron Talbot Surgical registrar – married to –
Shirley Talbot Lecturer at Local university.
Mickey Talbot Aaron and Shirley’s oldest son.
Jessica Talbot Aaron & Shirley’s middle daughter.
Bianca Talbot Aaron & Shirley’s youngest daughter.
Henry Denton Callie’s only son.
Charlotte Denton Callie’s only daughter.
Beverly Callie’s maternal great aunt (Ellie’s paternal aunt)
Wendy Smith Beverly’s Operations Manager for Hull
Louisa Wendy’s Daughter
Griselda & Mia Wendy’s younger twin daughters.
Susan Harvey Prosecution counsel advocating for Erica in court.
Han’s The German policeman’s son whom Erica really fancies.
Uncle Phillip CIA Agent.

Chapter 79

By noon everything was going back to normal and after the girls had a decent lunch, Uncle Phillip appeared with several Texan lawyers in tow. Erica was also pleased to see Susan amongst the entourage. The first things the lawyers wanted was statements from each of the girls until Babs’ explained that Lola had nothing to offer because she had not been involved with the gang’s kidnapping and rapes. It took two whole days of simply questioning each of the victims Erica, Angela and Olivia. During this interval, Lola took it upon herself to occasionally take walks around the airfield whilst keeping her eyes and ears wide open. It was remarkable how much information one could gather from snatches of gossip and huddled groups in conversation. It was these forays that Brought Lola the first inkling that there were people on the airfield who were more than just interested in Erica.

Fortunately, because she took great care to avoid being seen with the other girls during the day, those same people did not realise that Lola was connected. Each evening she would collate from memory any snippet of interest she might have heard and slip them to Callie who forwarded them on to her Uncle Phillip.

“Where are you getting this info?” Phillip asked his niece.

“That girl in the shorts and halter top who’s keen on aircraft.”

“You mean Lola.”

Callie smiled and nodded imperceptibly.

“Some of the aircraft maintenance crew in the private flying section, are beginning to notice her. She using the old feminine wiles strategy.”

“Tell her to be careful and not to accept any offers of a free flight. If there are gang members active around here, they might be checking her out.”

“For kidnap, you mean?” Callie asked.

“Phillip nodded as he left hangar to go to his FBI apartment.”

The warning was duly handed on to Lola who frowned as she received it.

“I’ve already had an offer from the owner of the Blue and gold Cessna. Thanks for the tell. I’ll keep an eye out.”

“Don’t do anything stupid now, and watch your back.” Callie warned her.

That evening Lola approached Babs’.

“How old d’ you have to be to hire a car in Texas?”

“Dunno darling I suppose you can do it on line.”

“If I can, would you agree?”

“You’re over eighteen darling, you can do as you please; just be careful.”

A brief search of the internet confirmed that Lola was ineligible to hire and she was forced to buy a used beat-up motor for the duration of her stay.

“It looks like I’ll have to buy one for cash Nana, or use my debit card.”

“Your choice girl. Check with our hosts first and make sure they’re happy about it.”

The conclusion was that although Lola was not directly connected to the sex-trafficking case, there was a strong possibility that the gang might try to kidnap her and hold her as a hostage. The FBI were very much agin’ the idea and Lola was asked to drop the plan.

The idea of being in the US and not being able to drive in a society built around the car, seemed ludicrous to Lola so she decided to sneak away and buy a ‘runner’ anyway. Babs’ did not forbid the idea but she decided not to advise the FBI and a couple of days later, a scruffy but serviceable Ute appeared in the commercial carpark where the private planes were handled. To disguise herself, Lola dressed in boys jeans and a loose chequered shirt that hid her nascent breasts. Finally she tied her hair in a low boy-style pony-tail.

It was to be two weeks before Uncle Phillip learned of her escapade and by then Lola had proved that provided nobody revealed her identity to the airport authorities, her ruse could work. An eighteen year old kid driving a beat-up pickup was a typical Texan image. The only thing she had to be careful about was keeping a low profile when leaving or entering the accommodation block. She had a pass but she left it on a chord around her neck and once the gate-keepers got used to the skinny little English kid, they rarely checked it.

ooo000ooo

It took another month before the American authorities had prepared a watertight case against the kidnap gang and the girls finally learned the date of the hearings. Lola had no connection to the case so she agreed not to attend the courthouse to avoid being identified as a connection to Erica, Olivia and Angela. In the interim Lola had struck up a sort of loose friendship with one of the aircraft maintenance engineers named Andy. He also test flighted the planes after completion to renew airworthiness certificates. Her mathematical mind had impressed Andy and her preparedness to get her hands dirty had caused him to let her assist him.

“D’ you know kid you’ve got the brains to do this for a living.”

“I’m only here for a short while. I don’t have the time.”

“Well I’m pleased your keen to get stuck in. Those slender fingers can reach where I’m too big. Pass me the eight mil and the torque wrench please.”

As he took the wrench off her he reached into the cabin well and dropped the eight millimetre socket down into the cabin well. He cursed softly as he realised he could not get it out without removing the floor panel and the passenger seat. Fortunately, Lola’s slender fingers coupled with her long slender arms easily recovered it. As she groped blindly under the floor panel, her fingers fetched up against a pistol and unthinkingly she recovered that as well.

“Dammit kid. Where was that?”

“Under the floor panel with the eight mil socket.”

She handed it to him and he studied it thoughtfully before dialling his phone. Lola looked slightly askance but kept quiet. Guns were common-place in Texas and the engineer probably knew the owner but to her surprise a police car came into the repair area and the engineer chatted out of earshot. Finally the police approached Lola as she was tightening some other floor panel screws.

“Hey kid. You have to come to the station.”

“Why? All I did was recover the gun.”

“Yeah but we need to eliminate your finger-prints.”

“Oh!” She said as her eyes widened, “why’s that?”

“We suspect there’s been some drug smuggling and people trafficking from this airport and this might give us a clue as to which plane might have been used. Any prints on the gun could help us identify. We eliminate yours and Andy’s first.”

“Okay.” Lola readily agreed. A trip downtown was a welcome diversion and she joined Andy in the police car.

On the journey they naturally chatted and the police asked Lola about her accent. Lola simply stated that she was from Britain and staying with friends by the airfield. She also learned a lot about the suspected people trafficking. When she returned to the airfield she and Andy finished up for the day and shared a coffee in the workshop as they cleaned up.

“Is that your beat-up pick-up?” Andy asked.

“Yeah. It’s just an old wreck to run around in while I’m here.”

“If you need to fix anything on it. Park it in that corner of my shed and use my tools, just don’t touch any of the instruments, they’re to check the planes. Here’s the key to my shed.”

“Thanks Andy.”

The engineer watched the agile Lola slip easily into her pickup and mused.

‘The boy looked pretty enough to be a girl with that hair.’

The following morning as Andy took the plane out for its certification flight, Lola was working on her pick-up in the shed. She was tucked down in the footwell checking the throttle linkage when two different police returned in a forensics van.. They heard Lola muttering as she struggled in the cramped space and promptly asked where Andy was.

“Taking the twin piper up for its certification flight.”

“Damn. We need to check the plane for prints.”

“He’ll be back soon, d’ you wanna coffee?”

“Thanks kid, that’s right friendly.”

They were leaning against Lola’s pick-up as they watched Andy land and taxi back to the repair shed. The following hour Lola watched with interest as the pair checked out the plane thoroughly and finally re-joined her and Andy in his shop.

“If you guys see any interest in that Plane, can you alert us please?”

“Sure,” Andy agreed, “it’s used pretty frequently though. There’s a fuelling chitty against its account even as we speak. Is it under arrest?”

“No, we don’t have sufficient evidence. The gun’s gone for forensics and we expect a ballistic report in two days.”

“Two days!” Lola remarked with surprise, “I thought –.”

“Nah that’s in the movies kid. The ballistics lab it pretty busy in Houston.”

“That figures.” Lola chuckled. “Can I have your phone numbers? If I see anything.”

Numbers were duly exchanged and the police left while warning both Andy and Lola to take care. Later that same morning, Andy taxied the plane to the refuelling bay and a bowser appeared to commence refuelling. Under Andy’s tutelage, Lola was excited to taxi the plane back to its apron slot then she resumed fixing her pick-up. Andy had left to collect some spares preparatory to his next maintenance job.

At noon, when the private flying area was quiet, three men and a girl appeared from a van and approached the piper twin. They did not see Lola in the footwell but she distinctly heard the girl whimpering. Immediately, she whipped out her phone and dialled the number then resumed innocently fixing the throttle pedal. As she made a show of grunting and straining her efforts attracted the attention of the group.

“Hey Kid. D’ you know where Andy is?”

“He’s gone to the other field at George Bush to get some parts.”

“Dammit! How long’s he gonna be?”

“’Bout an hour or two I suppose. He’ll probably stop for lunch.”

“Fuck. D’ you know where the log book is for the piper twin.”

“He’s taken that to sort out the certification at George Bush.” Lola lied then asked. “Was he expecting you?”

“He knows we turn up at any time. Tell him we needed the plane, he’ll understand.”

ooo000ooo