I shot him a lopsided grin, “So, are we good now, or do I have to beat you up some more?”He nodded back toward Charlene’s and we set off at a li...ttle faster clip than we did getting out here.We could have ‘popped’ back, but I wanted to give Charlie some more time to get things on his end smoothed out.Believe me, I had the easy end of this deal!When we got back in front of Charlene’s condo, we waited for Charlie to tell us it was time.Darren asked, “Oh, just where ARE we, anyway? If I had to. I felt like screaming, I was so worked up. Before I could I saw a flash of gold flying in the wind. Ellie was running at full speed toward the van. She hopped into the passenger seat and slammed the door shut. Her eyes were wide, her pupils dilated; her cheeks flushed a deep crimson. “Go now before the old bat figures out what happened! Go, go, go!” she screeched. I backed out of the lot and made a b-line for the highway. As soon as the shop was well out of sight I erupted into maniacal. ‘The faucet’s leaking and sometimes the water runs over the side of the sink and leaves puddles on the floor,’ I say, gesturing toward the sink. He strokes the faucet slowly, thoughtfully, with one hand. I am turning into a puddle on the floor myself. ‘Have you checked the caps underneath?’ he asks. I shake my head. He crouches down and opens the cabinet doors beneath the sink. I think of the boxes of condoms and organic cotton tampons in the cabinet and am embarrassed, but he does not seem to. He started to hit more buttons and flip more switches in a panic, but nothing worked, nothing responded.He froze as he heard heavy footsteps behind him, claws clicking on the landing ramp as a shadow was cast over him. Nazka blocked the door to the cockpit as she loomed over him, then he felt her claws sink into the padding on his seat, the alien slowly rotating the chair to face her.“You can’t fly it,” she said, lifting her hand and wiggling her fingers. “It’s locked to my pad-print.”Eriksen.