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Sue sat on a stool and yawned. The gas station was
another dead end job. It paid minimum wage but the money
came as cash in hand and she had no other options. She
had learned what to do in just five minutes and even
she found it hard to see how anything could go wrong.
It was not a big fancy sort of gas station with lots
of products. It sold gasoline, bottles of engine oil,
candy bars and cigarettes. That was all.
She signed up for the graveyard shift though she knew
she would regret it. The first two hours were tranquil.
Taxi cabs called by every few minutes. Cops came by
from time to time. For a while a hooker hung around,
trying to get some trade. She looked anxiously at Sue
a few times but Sue simply smiled back. She felt sorry
for the girl. Sue had few choices. How much worse could
it be for the girl, that she should treat herself with
such a lack of concern?
Shortly before 11 o'clock the owner called by to check
that she was comfortable. He was a kind, gruff man,
with a strong Brooklyn accent. He drove a beaten Oldsmobile
Cutlass.
He collected most of the cash from the register and
took it into the back office. Sue yawned. The time was
already dragging. A priest climbed out of a German sports
car and walked towards the store without filling the
tank. A was carrying a scrap of paper. Something about
him bothered Sue but she could not say exactly what
it was.
She watched him carefully, her nerves beginning to
tingle. She could not decide what the danger was but
she knew it was profound. He was about to leave when
a Cadillac screamed onto the forecourt. She watched
it screech to a halt. When she looked back at the priest
he was pointing a gun at her.
She raised her hands and told him that everything was
OK. Four men outside ran towards the door. Sue waited
until the priest turned towards the door as they kicked
it open. Then she turned herself invisible, rose swiftly
into the air, and landed lightly in the far corner of
the room, the place she calculated was least likely
to attract gunfire.
"Where did she go?" the priest shouted. "Where
in good God damn did she go?" He didn't talk much
like a priest.
"It doesn't matter," shouted one of the other
men. "Get the cash. Come on."
The priest ran forward and tried to open the cash register.
Sue looked carefully at the other men. They were probably
armed too. As quietly as she could she rose into the
air and drifted towards the priest. Taking care not
to get in the line of sight of the gun she hovered above
him and brought her foot sharply down, breaking his
jaw and snatching up the weapon in one fluid movement.
He screamed.
She retreated to her corner to work out what to do
next. One down, four to go. Their attention was focused
on the priest so she had a little time to think. Seizing
the opportunity she rushed them, flying a couple of
feet below the ceiling and then swooping down to kick
one of them in the groin. He fell immediately. Another
turned, and she had the perfect angle to fell him. It
was not as clean a kick as the first, but it was enough
to leave him on the floor, clutching his face and moaning.
She guessed his nose was broken.
One of the remaining men drew a gun. The other just
stared, not moving. He was an easy target but Sue was
cautious of the gun. She went for the gunman first,
approaching from behind, grabbing his ankles, and flipping
him forward. His face hit the floor with a thud and
he was unconscious before he stopped rolling.
She dived into the air over the remaining man to make
sure that he didn't catch her with a random shot. This
was going remarkably well. Normally Sue found armed
men hard to deal with. Guns were dangerous things. They
hit invisible people just as readily as anyone else,
but this was going to be a breeze, she could just feel
it.
From the office her manager emerged, rushing towards
the man. "Leave her alone," he shouted.
The man drew a pistol and Sue rushed forwards, hoping
somehow to stop him, but time was on his side. He aimed
carefully and shot the manager in the thigh just a moment
before Sue punched him.
Sue turned herself visible and rushed to her manager
from behind, hoping somehow that he might imagine she
was hiding behind the counter all along. He looked up
at her through tear-streaked eyes.
"You're fired," he gasped.
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