The Interstellar Police Force, Book One: The Historic Mission by Raymond Klein (ebook reader 7 inch txt) 📕

“Oh, that’s something called peanut butter,” Colus said, quite pleased. He reached into his other pocket and produced a small jar of Skippy peanut butter. “It’s very tasty.” Then he took a spoon from his shirt pocket. “Want some?” The spoon had dry streaks of peanut butter on it.

“Ah, no . . . no, thank you.”

Colus opened the jar and scooped out a spoonful. “Okay, but you don’t know what you're missing.”

Bollar watched as Valda disgustingly licked the spoon. He never liked Colus Valda. Bollar thought how his life on this planet would be a lot simpler if Colus wasn’t always asking for his help, constantly asking for currency, and hanging on to the Interrupter for as long as he had. Bollar knew that the IPF agent was tracking Colus’s every move. But Bollar was fairly certain that the agent was not tracking him. Maybe he didn’t even know he was in the area. Bollar started to think how Colus knew nothing of him. Not where he lived, not what he did during the day and definitely not what his next robbery would be. Nothing! And if the agent did catch Colus, all Colus could provide was a description of what he looked like. He looked around the bar at the other patrons, and reassured himself that there must be many human males in the area that fit his description.

Bollar was a violent person, and had done horrible things in his past, but didn’t want to go through the trouble of killing Valda. That would be too dangerous for him. One mistake and he could very easily get caught doing something like that. Colus might think that the local police force was inept, but Bollar wouldn’t underestimate them. He liked this planet. The jobs here were easy to pull off, and he was not about to screw that up. And besides, where would he dump the body? Hell! How could he even transport that rotund mass of flesh anyway? Colus was too heavy for just Bollar himself to hoist into the trunk of his vehicle. Yes, what if Colus Valda got caught?

Jeff Trent, Jennifer Winkles, and Genghis Khan walked through the main entrance of the Riverside Mall and into the large vestibule that was a small museum. Items of the shipping warehouse’s past were under glass, along with framed photographs displaying its forty-plus years of service to the community. They walked through the museum and into the mall.

During the building's renovation, the owners wanted to keep as much of the original architecture as possible. The walls were the same brownish-red masonry bricks that were first laid in early 1923. The double-hung picture windows were still in their original casings. Large steel load-bearing I beams from floor to roof were painted a glossy white. Great sections of the first floor's ceiling were open, giving visitors who entered a view of the second floor’s shops, restaurants, club, and movie theater. Looking further up, past the second floor, one could see the thick wooden trusses supporting the roof.

Jeff and Genghis were amazed. It was brightly lit with shiny white-and-black marble floors. Shops lined both sides of the long wide structure. In the center was a large fountain and on the very far end were two escalators, one up, one down, for all those who didn’t feel like trekking the original grand staircase or using the modern elevators.

“Com’on,” Jennifer said excitingly, while leading the way. “It’s at the other end. It’s one of my favorite stores. They have the cutest clothes, and I hear they have a fifty-percent-off sale going on!”

Genghis could smell the aromas from all the restaurants. Jeff stopped occasionally to look through the large picture windows of the retail shops. There were electronic stores, athletic stores, and shoe stores. Jeff tried his best to keep up, but could not help himself from stopping every few steps. Then he saw Victoria's Secret and stood and stared with his mouth open. He couldn’t take his eyes off of the scantily clad mannequins. Genghis realized Jeff had stopped, calmly walked to his side, and looked in the same direction. Then quietly uttered, “What the hell!”

Jennifer had stopped almost twenty feet away from them, turned, and called out. “Ah! Hello? Haven’t you ever seen lingerie before? Put your tongue back in your face and come on!”

Genghis and Jeff caught up with her, and they all continued to walk through the mall. When they got to the centerpiece fountain they found Trisha and Pimples sitting on the small fountain wall. Trisha had her hand in the water and when she pulled it out, she watched as the water dripped off her fingers and back into the fountain. Pimples had his head down looking at the floor. Then slowly looked up and saw them approaching. Jennifer waved to them. “Hey, Trisha. Hey, Pimples. How yah guys doing?”

Trisha turned and blankly looked at her, and then they both said in unison, “Hey, Twink.”

Pimples looked past Jennifer and stared for a few seconds at Jeff and Genghis before turning back to Jennifer. “Hey, Twinkie . . . glad you're not dead.”

“Yeah, me too.” She paused for a second, then said, “Well, we’re going to do some shopping. I’ll see you guys later, okay.” She waited a second, got no response, and then the three of them continued walking through the mall. Jeff looked back at the two. Trisha went back to the water in the fountain, and Pimples resumed his staring at the floor. “Ah, Twinkie, did they live in the same building with you?”

“No, they didn’t.” She stopped and paused, then said, “You know? I don’t know where they live.” She thought for a moment, then looked up at Trent, shrugged her shoulders, making a “Hmm” sound, and continued walking.

They shopped for several hours, and visited a number of stores. Trent purchased the majority of what Jennifer picked out, not listening to her protests, so she insisted on buying dinner. They proceeded up to one of