Page 9 of Gem Warfare

“Not my fault. Here, help me with this.”

A bigger thump this time followed by several more. “What are you doing?” asked the man angrily. A light flashed on, illuminating the ceiling hatch and a stack of products now tumbling between the rafters where the makeshift floor panels didn’t quite meet. “Grab them.”

“I can’t see.”

“I’m using the flipping light! Are you blind?”

“I’m not… off!” A hand landed on my sneaker, stilled and squeezed. “Where did you get sneakers from?”

My hand closed around the canister, feeling for the nozzle.

“What kind of question is that? You know where I got them from.”

“No, I mean…” A scramble, then a light flashed in my eyes. I squeezed them shut, suddenly blinded. “Oh, my god!” screamed the girl. “There’re people! There’s…” The grip loosened on my foot.

Maddox and I launched forwards, but I wasn’t sure if we were aiming for the hatch or the people. We all seemed to be caught up together, the flashlight shining all over until it blinked outinto darkness.

All attempts at quiet were lost. A man shouted and I heard an “Oof!” and a loud thud. I grabbed an ankle, clad in leggings. Definitely a woman’s leg. She kicked and flailed and a can bounced off my forehead. Then, more products were falling and a bottle hit me in the chest. I scrambled for something, found a canister, pressed the nozzle and fired. The woman squealed and fell against me. She kicked and clawed at the ground, dislodging the hatch. I wrestled, trying to turn her away from the hatch, uncertain if I could drop through even if I got clear access. I couldn’t leave Maddox behind to the mercy of the thieves!

The woman grabbed my arms, we grappled, and then I tripped, losing my footing. We hit the floor, crumpling between the rafters.

A terrible crack sounded below us.

Then we were falling.

Chapter Three

Cans, tubes and shards of the ceiling hurtled past as the floor rushed up to greet me and the woman flailed beneath me, her eyes wide with fear. A scream accompanied us as we landed with a crunch and a squish.

Foam squirted from beneath us, billowing in a cloud of marshmallowey fluff.

A moment later, Maddox crashed through the ceiling, hanging onto a leg.

Lights flicked on, illuminating Jord and several uniformed police officers pointing their weapons at us. Beyond, standing just outside the salon was Solomon, his arms crossed, his face expressionless.

I pushed off the woman, flipping myself onto my back and landed like a starfish, another puff of foam shooting from under my shoulder. A small jar dropped through the ceiling and smashed open, leaking sundried tomatoes.

“Hey,” I said, lifting a hand to limply wave.

“I wondered when you’d drop in,” said Jord, a small smile playing on his lips.

“Ha ha.”

“My eyes!” cried the woman next to me. She curled up into a ball and the tubes under her squirted gel in every direction.

“Found a thief,” I said, limply flapping a finger towards her.

“Yep, got that,” said Jord. A can of olives rolled towards him and he stopped it with his toe. “I don’t think I’ve arrested anyone for stealing olives before.”

“Wait until you see everything else,” I said as several packets of imported pasta dropped to land at Jord’s feet.

“Let go!” shrieked the leg. Its pair kicked at Maddox. Maddox renewed his grip and glanced down. The legs’ pants began to slipuntil they were hanging around the knees, revealing Superman boxers.

Guns swung from us to them.

Maddox, clinging onto the man’s lower body, gave a hard tug. The ceiling cracked and whoomph! The two men fell through, landing in a heap on the floor.

“This can’t be the real caped crusader,” said Jord. “Someone cuff him before he flies outta here. I’ll take the sidekick.”

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