Dorsai - Taxi

I was working out in the gym one evening when I saw someone that looked familiar. It took a little time for me to realize that it was Bonnie because I'd really only ever seen her in karate class – the face-and-place connection was missing in the gym. I watched her for a little bit as I was doing my routine, and quickly saw that she was as committed to getting herself fit as she was to learning to defend herself. When I finally finished up, I had to walk by where she was working out on one of the machines so that I could get to the men's locker room; as I passed by, I saw from the corner of my eye that she did a double-take when she recognized me.

The next karate class, she surprised the hell out of me by all but demanding to know what I was doing in the same gym she went to. I calmly pointed out to her that it was just a few doors down from the dojo, and reminded her that I needed the extended hours it offered because of the varying hours of my cabbie gig. She didn't seem all that receptive to what I was saying, so I offered to show her that I'd joined the gym about the same time I'd started taking karate. That apparently made her realize that she just might be suspicious of an innocent coincidence, and she was appreciably calmer when she said she'd appreciate that.

I was waiting for her to emerge from the ladies locker room after class, and when she appeared, I didn't hesitate to pull out my wallet and show her my gym membership card. The "Member since " clearly showed that my own membership predated hers by nearly a month. When she handed me the card back, she was clearly embarrassed when she told me "I'm sorry, Jim. You know I'm divorced, but I never told you that my ex-husband was a bit… possessive. When we separated, he essentially stalked me for months, and when I finally got a restraining order against him, he got some of his friends to do it for him. So sometimes I get a little paranoid when something like that happens. I hope you understand, and you're not upset with me."

"No, I'm not upset. Now that I know what the problem was, I can appreciate how it must have looked to you. We're cool again, now?"

With a smile, she answered "Yeah, we're cool again."

I didn't figure she wanted to hang around and chat, so I just told her "Glad to hear that. I'll catch you next time, then" before moving to put my gym membership card away. She simply told me "Next time", and headed for the door.

I didn't hurry about getting my card and wallet put away, or getting out to where my car was parked; I was just unlocking the door when I saw Bonnie pull out into traffic.

It was a few months later, and I was on my way home after a late shift one Friday evening when I saw a bunch of cop cars coming up on me from behind. They were all in full "Hollywood" mode – lights, sirens, and moving fast – and I quickly found a spot at the curb to hug until they'd all gone by. I had just put my rig back into gear when a figure appeared from between a couple of bushes and quickly jumped into the back, then told me "Could we get moving, please? I need to get out of here…"

It took me only a moment to recognize Bonnie; she didn't seem to realize who I was mostly because she was hunkered down in the back seat and trying to look in all directions at once. Only when I asked "It would help if I knew where to, Bonnie" that she stopped to look at who was driving.

When she saw that it was me, the look of surprise on her face was priceless – but didn't compensate for the feelings I got when she told me "I don't know if I should ride with you, or not, Jim. I got myself into something that I wouldn't want you to get dragged into. Maybe I should wait for another ride."

"If you wait, it'll be a while – this isn't what you could call a high-traffic area for cabs. What you got yourself into… would it be what all the cop cars were all about?"

She stayed quiet for a few moments before silently nodding her head. "Suppose you give me a little idea of what's going on, and let ME decide if or how much I'm willing to get involved. If I don't help you, I won't turn you in, either", I suggested.

She hesitated a bit before finally telling me "I got started with an animal rights group some months ago. At first, it was just helping at their facility, but then they started asking me to join them for other things. Each time, it was a little more… unofficial. Tonight, we got into a research place a few blocks from here to rescue some of their lab animals – dogs and cats. I was pretty much okay with that until some of the people I was with started trashing the place, and a couple of others started hiding some kind of devices around the place. That was when I bailed on them. I guess they weren't as good with the alarms as they thought they were, either, because I barely got away from the building when a bunch of security people turned up. After that, I started hearing the sirens and everything, and got as far away as fast as I could."

I nodded my head and told her, "Okay. You were doing something illegal, but you stopped before it got too serious. I can live with that,", before getting us moving.

I'd gone only a few blocks when we came up on what could only be called a police roadblock: a couple of cruisers parked diagonally across the street, nose-to-nose, with only enough room for a single vehicle to pass between them. I could see Bonnie starting to get scared in the back seat, and quickly told her "Just stay calm, and pretend you're tired and sleepy – look out the window, and don't pay any attention to what's going on."

She nodded her understanding, and was ready when I stopped next to the cop with a lighted wand signaling me to do just that. I recognized him, and asked "What's the deal, Sarge? Somebody just rob a doughnut shop, or something?"

He recognized me, too, and laughed before answering "Nah, not that bad. That medical research outfit over on Figueroa had a breakin, and we're trying to catch some of the ones that got past their security. What're you doing here, Jim?"

"Just getting the lady home from work."

He gestured to where I hadn't dropped the meter flag and asked "Picking up a little money off the books?"

"Nah, just doing a favor for a friend of a friend. She just got off a late shift over by Helms and Industrial. Her old man has a broke leg and their car is tits-up until she can get a leak in the radiator fixed tomorrow. Instead of making someone else get out of a warm bed, I said I'd get her home when she had to work overtime tonight."

Nodding, he asked "Where you headed?"

"Olive and Elm. You said it was that medical place?"

"Yup."

"Figure it might have been some of those animal liberation types?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Way I hear it, sometimes they leave little 'presents' behind to screw things up when they hit some place. Hope your guys are watching out."

He considered that for a moment before telling me "Y'know, you're right. Might not hurt to remind 'em. Go ahead, Jim. Catch you later."

As I put my hack in gear, I answered "Catch a bad guy for me, Sarge", then carefully eased my way between the two patrol cars. As I was pulling away, I could see him talking to someone on his radio.

A block later, I asked Bonnie "Okay, now where am I really taking you?"

The address she gave me wasn't drastically off course from the direction I was headed, but I still gave it several more blocks before turning off the street I was on. As I was driving, Bonnie asked me "What's at those places you told him?"

"Helms and Industrial has a lot of small manufacturing outfits. That suit you're wearing doesn't have any loose cloth or anything to get sucked into a machine." She looked at the dark blue jumpsuit she was wearing, and nodded her understanding before I continued "The area around Olive and Elm is ass-deep to a tall giraffe in apartment complexes, and the street we were on was a perfectly reasonable way to get from your 'work' to 'home'."