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

shoulders. He had a gap between his two gold front teeth that you could drive a truck through. Jennifer first met Billy Bourbon through Trisha about a couple of months after she got off the bus. She wasn’t making the kind of money she thought she could and knew better than to work for a pimp, but desperate times . . .

“Lookie at you.” He circled her, looking at her up and down. “I heard you gone freelance but damn girl! You done good for yourself.”

“Well, I couldn’t get ahead with the percentage you were taking,” Jennifer said. “And besides, I’m not working anymore.”

“Oh, com' on now! You kidd'n ol’ Billy. You was my best earner, what did you do? Go and get yourself a Sugar Daddy?”

“No,” Jennifer replied, getting tired of his questioning. “I decided that I didn’t want to do it anymore, so I quit.”

“You quit!” Billy Bourbon laughed, flailing his arms while producing a little theatrical hop. “Shit girl! Who you fool'n? Com’ on, Twinkie, com’ on! Once a whore always a whore.”

All the hatred she’d bottled up for Billy came flooding back, like a bad cork in an old champagne bottle about to rupture. He had always run his business with intimidation and threats. When he finally got arrested one night for selling heroin to an undercover police officer and was sent to prison for five-to-eight years, Jennifer, Trisha, Pimples, and a couple of the other girls were all free to go off on their own. Without Billy Bourbon watching their every move.

“Well, you haven’t changed a damn bit, have you, Billy!” She stepped away and turned from him. “Still an asshole! Like I said, I’ve quit. Well over two months now.”

Billy stood there and watched as she walked away from him. “You just can’t quit Twink! No one quits on Billy. You still owe me, girl.”

Jennifer stopped in her tracks. “What?” She turned to face him. “I don’t owe you shit, Billy!”

“Oh, but you do.” Billy slowly walked toward her, “Yah see, it’s something called retroactive. Even though I been away for so long I still get my cut.” He again looked her up and down. “Mm Hmm, and you done real good.” He grinned and shook his head. “Damn girl! Yah know I been thinkin', now that I’m back. I wanna get the ol’ gang back together and get my business up and going again.” He reached up and ran a finger through her hair. “So, tell me, Twink. Where can I find Trisha, Suzie Q, Brittany and Pimples?”

Jennifer pulled away from his reach and thought how she wasn’t about to get involved with Billy Bourbon again and wasn’t about to give up her friends either. “Suzie Q left and went back home. Brittany moved to Westberry with her boyfriend, and Trisha and Pimples, I haven’t seen them in over two years.” She was hoping the lie about Trisha and Pimples was working until Billy responded.

“Well, I know Pimples is still here. I saw him just yesterday right there across the street,” he pointed. “He got in a car with some faggot and drove off.”

“Still as eloquent as ever, Billy.” She again turned and started to walk away from him, but Billy was persistent.

“Well, hold on, girl, wait up.” He reached out and touched her shoulder. “Since I’m here with you, we should discuss my compensation for the time I been gone.”

Jennifer turned to face him, “Like I said, Billy, I don’t owe you shit!”

“Oh, but you do, Twink,” Billy said. “Once you work for Billy, you always work for Billy.”

Jennifer was about to ram her knee into Billy’s groin when she glanced over his shoulder and saw the Thunderbird coming up Grant Street from Seventh Avenue. “Get this through your head Billy, I don’t owe you anything. So, fuck off!” She started to walk past him. “My ride's here.” Jeff brought the Thunderbird to the curb as Jennifer approached.

Billy stood and watched her as she walked toward the vintage car. “Oh, yeah! A Sugar Daddy. She done real good for herself.” Then he called out to her. “Don’t worry, sweetheart! We’ll catch up soon.”

Genghis jumped into the back bench seat as Jennifer opened the passenger door and got in. As Trent pulled from the curb and slowly passed Billy, he and Genghis both made eye contact with Billy who just gave them a sly smirk in return.

Jeff glanced over at Jennifer, who was being uncharacteristically quiet, and asked, “Ah, Twinkie? Who was that man you were speaking to?”

Jennifer just watched the road ahead of her. “That was Billy Bourbon. He was kind of ...” She paused for a moment. “He was my old boss.”

Jeff and Genghis both understood. Genghis looked over his shoulder and watched Billy slowly walk across the street, still staring at the cruiser. Hope he gets hit by an auto-mo-bile, Genghis thought.

“Twinkie, did he hurt you?”

“No, no, no he just wanted to talk,” she said, still looking ahead.

“About what?” Jeff asked.

“Oh, he says I owe him money, which I don’t!”

Genghis was still watching Billy as he made it safely across the street to the other side. Damn it!

“Well, don’t worry about him, Twinkie. If he bothers you again, Genghis and I will talk to him.”

She looked at Trent. “You don’t have to Jeff. I can take care of myself.”

“Oh! that, I have no doubt!” Then to change the subject, “So, let’s see your new telecommun . . . Ah . . . phone, tele-phone you purchased?”

“It’s so cool!” She took it out of the pink-and-black case that was hooked to her belt. “I can get online and search the web, play games! It’s got GPS, I can check my email, send texts, get on FaceBook and Twitter. I can watch TV and movies and oh, yeah,” she slightly waved it in the air, “I can make phone calls on it too!”

She then reached into her pocket and pulled something out. “Here,” she held it out for Trent to take, which