Max Collins - Before the Dawn

Max and Original Cindy bumped fists and the blond woman laughed out loud.

The counter guy turned on her. “You know what’s really funny? A skank like you lookin’ for a new job in this market, is what’s really funny.”

The blonde fell silent.

“Hey,” Max said, taking a step toward the counter.

“Butt out,” the counter man said. “This ain’t no concern of yours. And you...” He turned to the blonde. “... you’re movin’ on to bigger and better things. Get your fat butt outa here!”

Max leapt the counter, landing between the blonde and the counter guy, who was startled and a little afraid by this sudden impressive move. “Hire her back.”

“What do you—”

Max lifted him up by the throat; his eyes were bulging as he stared down at her, too afraid and in too much discomfort to be properly amazed by the petite woman lifting him gently off the ground, a fact neither Original Cindy nor the put-upon blonde picked up on.

The blonde touched Max’s arm. “It’s all right... he can’t fire me, ’cause I quit... I’m tired of workin’ for this sexual-harasshole.”

“Good call,” Original Cindy said.

Max shrugged and put the guy down.

He was leaning over the counter, red-faced, choking, when the three women strolled out onto the street together. They stood at the curb, near Max’s bike, and chatted.

“My name’s Kendra Maibaum,” the blonde said, extending her hand.

Max shook it. “Max Guevera — and this lovely lady is Original Cindy.”

“Pleased,” Original Cindy said and shook hands with Kendra too.

“How did you do that?” Kendra asked. “Handle Morty like that, I mean.”

Original Cindy raised her eyebrows, smirking. “Girl had training.”

Max at that moment realized she would have to watch herself, from now on — she had been entirely too careless around Original Cindy.

“Training but no coffee,” Max said. Her X5 skills would have to be better concealed. “And we haven’t even started talkin’ about findin’ a place to crash.”

Kendra asked, “You guys need a place to crash?”

“We’re kind of new in town,” Original Cindy explained.

“Like five minutes new,” Max added.

The blonde shrugged. “If you don’t need a lot of space, you can stay with me. I’ve got a place. Room enough for two, maybe three.”

Original Cindy glanced at Max, who shrugged, asking, “Why would you do that for us? You don’t know us from nobody.”

Kendra gestured toward the coffee shop. “You stood up for me with Morty.”

“Cost you your job, you mean,” Max reminded her.

Laughing, Kendra said, “Yeah, but it was worth it, seein’ Morty, scared shitless... and, anyway, that job sucked. Besides, it wasn’t my only means of income.”

“Workin’ girl?” Original Cindy asked, again glancing at the pink top filled to the brim and the postage-stamp miniskirt.

Kendra’s hands went to her hips. “Why would you ask that?” She didn’t sound hurt, exactly — more surprised.

Original Cindy’s eyes widened. Max frowned at her friend, who said nothing about the former waitress’s provocative attire, merely saying. “Uh... uh, don’t know, girl, it just sounded like maybe you, uh...”

“Oh, I work a lot... but not at that. I do some translating, language training, transcription work. I’ve done a buncha things, but never that.”

“Sorry — Original Cindy didn’t mean no offense.”

Kendra shook her head. “Not to worry. Anyway, ’fyou guys need a place to crash, I’ve got room.”

“Sweet,” Max said. “Where?”

“Not far.”

“Walking distance? I hope so, ’cause it’s gonna be a bitch gettin’ three of us on my bike.”

“Oh yeah,” Kendra said, with a dismissive wave, “easy walking distance.”

They wound up walking for most of the next hour, Max pushing the Ninja, Original Cindy lugging her backpack, but they didn’t complain — after all, a roof was a roof. But Max didn’t know quite what to make of Kendra. For a woman who knew languages well enough to work as a translator, the blonde seemed remarkably like a clueless airhead.

Nice one, though.

Finally, when Original Cindy gave Max a rolling-eyed look, signaling she was sure she was about to drop, Kendra said, “That’s it over there! Told ya it was close.” And pointed to an apartment building two doors up and across the street.

The building didn’t look like much, six stories, most of the windows plywood-covered; and, as they got closer, a piece of paper tacked to the front door became all too evident.

“The place is condemned? ” Original Cindy asked.

Kendra shrugged a little. “Not really condemned — more like... abandoned.”

They got to the door and Original Cindy studied the notice on the door. “Original Cindy ain’t no translator, but she reads English... and this says ‘condemned.’ ”

Shaking her head dismissively, Kendra said, “That’s just to keep out the, you know, riffraff.”

Max asked, “How many people live here?”

Kendra shrugged. “Fifty or so.”

“Fifty?” Original Cindy blurted. “Fifty people live in a condemned building? Thank God you’re keepin’ out the riffraff!”

“Come on in, girls,” Kendra said. “You’ll see — it’s not that bad. Really.”

When the trio got to the fourth floor — up a freight-style elevator, Max walking her Ninja along — Max and Original Cindy discovered that Kendra was right. Like the building itself, the apartment was unfinished, a study in taped drywall and plastic-tarp room dividers; but the place had running water, two bedrooms, and some decent secondhand furniture. They all crashed in the tiny living room area, Kendra in a chair covered with a blue sheet, and the other two on a swayback couch covered with a paisley sheet.

“Kendra, you right,” Original Cindy said, leaning back, getting comfy. “Kickin’ crib.”

“And nobody bothers you in here?” Max asked.

Kendra made a small face. “Well... there’s Eastep.”

“What’s an Eastep?” Max asked.

“He’s a cop. Who collects from all us squatters.”

“He’s crooked?”

Kendra smiled a little. “I said he was a cop.”

“They all bent in Seattle, honey,” Original Cindy said to Max; then to Kendra, she asked, “What’s the goin’ rate?”

“Too much,” Kendra said, and proved it by telling them.

“Ouch,” Max said, but asked, “Are there any empty apartments left in this building?”

With a shake of her blond mane, Kendra said, “None fit for humans. Hot and cold running rats... holes in the walls, missing ceilings... no water, no electricity... you name it, they’ve got the problems. All the habitable apartments have been taken.”

“Great,” Max muttered. She turned to Original Cindy. “Any ideas?”

“Original Cindy’s got a friend she could stay with for a while.” She shrugged regretfully. “But girlfriend’s only got room for one more... We got to think of somethin’ else, Boo.”

“No you don’t,” Kendra said. “You two have to live together?”

The two women looked at each other.

“Not really,” they said in unison.

“You aren’t a couple?”

“We friends,” Original Cindy said.

“Just friends,” Max said, overlapping Cindy’s answer.

“Fine,” Kendra said. “Max, if Original Cindy’s got a place to crash, why don’t you move in here? I could seriously use some help payin’ Eastep’s rent... and it’d be nice to have somebody to talk to. But I just don’t have enough room for all three of us.”

“Sounds prime,” Original Cindy said. “My friend’s place ain’t that far from here; she was sort of expectin’ me, anyway. We can still hang, Boo. No big dealio.”