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Back To School Chapter 3

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“I think she's waking up, Miss Ridgeway,” I heard a girlish voice saying.


“So soon?” I would have thought the sedative would have worked better.”


I cracked an eye and looked around a bit. I was in an office somewhere. My hands were limp and my costume felt odd on my body. I jumped as I felt a rap against my gloved knuckles. I sat up straight, eyes focusing on a severe woman with platinum hair. Her face was one of fading beauty with just a hint of age around the eyes. I knew who she was immediately.


“Charity Ridgeway, I presume?” I said with more than a hint of sarcasm. “Or should I say Gina Amorana? “


“So you've heard of me?” she said, nonplussed by my revelation. “I should have realized the Wisdom of Athena was in there somewhere.” She tapped the side of my head with her ruler.


I looked down, and saw my costume had been replaced with a white uniform; one the students at Ridgeway Academy wore. Additionally two heavy bracelets hung on my wrists As I pulled one arm up, I felt the other bracelet move on its own. Frightened, I put my hand to my face.


“Calm down, White Owl,” purred Ridgeway. You may have penetrated MY double life, but yours is still safe...for now. Your little adhesive is proving too strong for our solvents, but I'm assured we'll crack it by the end of the day. I TOLD YOU I WAS NOT TO BE DISTURBED!” She glanced over my shoulder, and I followed her gaze.


Behind me, I saw Monique with a look of obedient fear on her face. “Yes ma'am,” she said, stepping out of the office, her demeanor subservient. The door shut behind her and I heard a click as the lock set. I turned back to Miss Ridgeway.


“Why?” I asked.


“Why what?” asked Ridgeway.


“This elaborate setup, a school, these thefts. Why all that?”


Ridgeway smiled, then caught herself, masking her face in cool indifference. “Because I was cast off White Owl. Gina Amorana was once an important woman in Queen City; the lover of Giovanni Cafazo. But when the Mancaris moved in, when they took over the rackets here in Queen City, I was pushed aside. My poor Giovanni was relegated to Meadowbrook with his family and I wasn't a part of his life any more. The Mancaris had their own ideas how things should be run, and again I was pushed aside. I'd gone from being somebody to being a nobody. And I didn't like how that felt.


“But it was when I learned Aldo Mancari had put a contract on my life that I decided to fight back. I was born in the streets White Owl, a poor little girl with nothing more than looks and brains. I made my move, breaking into Cafazzo's offices, and impressing him by stealing his ring, and a few thousand dollars. He didn't catch me, but made me an offer when I returned his items to him.


“I didn't work for his vice ring; he made me an office assistant. I tagged along after him everywhere, like a glorified secretary. But I also listened, and learned the workings of his entire empire—I knew where his money was hidden, where the bodies were, and who ran what—which businesses he controlled. And when that Empire was toppled, I was there. I scooped up what I could and ran. I knew that I would be no match for the Mancaris. But I also swore I would never be poor again.


“I took what money I could scrape together and took title to this old orphanage. I started to recruit young girls from the street, from the system and and from juvenile. And I taught them all the street skills, the glamour skills and more. They were going to be well trained, polite, high society everything I wasn't. But they were also going to be so much more. My first class was trained and placed into the work force.”


“As call girls,” I said.


Ridgeway laughed mirthlessly. “No no/ I knew what corporations support the community. Which ones manage the computer infrastructures, which security firms cover the best jewelry stores, the banks, and so on.


“Some of my young ladies are placed into these companies—in positions where they have access to information. How the police are dispatched, what the access codes are for the traffic lights, the alarm codes, the cameras, the ATMs. My organization is small, but strong, and untraceable. “


She slammed her fists onto the desk. “Until YOU came along! You see things differently. If we stayed beneath the radar, we'd still be safe. But you found Monique. Then you nearly stopped my girls at the pawn shop. You became a liability. But one I thought we could turn into an asset.”


Ridgeway moved to a small refrigerator beside her desk and removed a syringe and small vial. She pushed up the sleeve on my jumper and exposed an arm. “So you're going back to school, White Owl. You're going to give up all your secrets, and allow us to remold you into a proper graduate of the Ridgeway Academy. She jabbed the needle into my arm and I winced in pain.


To be continued






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BlueBirdSuperheroine's avatar
why you not continued this story? or may be this is final?