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  “Oh,” the man said as Emil thought, I didn’t see a Taser!

  Shan said, “Where are we going now?”

  Ell grinned up at him, “Back to drink my Coke. I wouldn’t want them to think we ran out on our order. Didn’t you want your coffee?”

  Shan laughed, “My coffee order kind of left my mind. You aren’t feeling freaked out?”

  Ell put an arm around him and leaned her head on his shoulder. She quietly said, “This kind of stuff has happened to me so much as ‘Ell’ that it doesn’t distress me all that much anymore. But it’s certainly one of the reasons I think we should live our lives with me as Raquel.” Ell looked at him a moment “Are you feeling ‘freaked’? We could just take our drinks to go and head back to our apartment.”

  “No, no it’s OK.” He glanced around, “You don’t think those guys will be looking for us?”

  She snorted, “I think they’re suitably chastened.”

  They sat back at the table they’d left. This time Shan leaned the box against their own table so they’d notice if anyone touched it. He saw their waitress staring wide eyed at them. She came over, saying in English, “You here again? What happened?”

  “Someone snatched our package here,” Ell said.

  This time the girl spoke Italian. Allan translated, “You got it back?!”

  Ell nodded, “Do you have our order?”

  “Oh!” she said, startled that they would still be thinking about their order. “Just a moment, please.” She turned went to busy herself behind the counter, occasionally throwing a disbelieving glance their way.

  Shan leaned forward, “Where’s the Taser?” he asked quietly.

  Ell said, “I installed it in my finger.”

  Shan’s eyes shot wide. “No shit?! How can it be in your finger?”

  “Actually, just the port the darts are shot through is in my finger. The port itself is pretty small.”

  “You’re kidding!”

  She shook her head and looked up to take her Coke from the waitress. “We could put one in your finger if you like. I have to warn you though,” she grinned ruefully, “installation hurts like a bitch.”

  ***

  Eating their dinner at an outside table on Piazza San Marco, Shan and Ell studied the Basilica and watched the passersby. Shan said, “I’m thinking we should go somewhere else. See a different part of Italy or something. Maybe rent a car?”

  Ell blinked at him wide eyed, “But, we’ve already paid for our apartment here for another week!”

  Shan leaned forward to whisper conspiratorially to her, “It’s no problem… my wife she ees veddy reech. We’ll just spend some of her money.”

  “Oooh! That sounds like fun.” Ell said, washing her hands together. She raised an eyebrow, “How about a different country?”

  Shan pursed his lips, “For instance.”

  “I don’t know… how about India?”

  “India?” he narrowed his eyes, “What part?”

  Ell’s eyes twinkled, “Delhi?”

  “The Olympics?! Could you get tickets?”

  “Mmmm… I can do better than tickets.”

  “You’re going to participate?!”

  Ell shrugged. “Well… I’ve been thinking about it.”

  “But you haven’t been practicing! You can’t expect to be able to just go back to it without getting in shape!”

  She tilted her head and narrowed an eye, “I do a lot of stuff after you go to bed sleepyhead.”

  “You’ve been practicing?!”

  “Well… no. I’ve just tried a couple of routines to make sure I can still do them.”

  Eyes round, Shan breathed, “And you can. Without even working on them.”

  Ell glanced to the side, “I… can do a lot of things… that other people can’t.” In a whisper she said, “I’m not sure why. Sometimes it makes me kind of uncomfortable.”

  “Will they let you enter this late, without qualifying or anything?”

  “Yeah, I’ve already asked.”

  “What events?”

  “The gymnastics team competition, the sprints and the long jump.”

  “Wait!” Shan leaned forward, eyes ablaze. “You’re entering track and field events?!”

  She shrugged, “Maybe? I talked to the coach about it when I was kinda pissed at Michael Fentis. But… I’m not sure I really ought to enter those races just because he irritated me…” Ell looked up at Shan, “What do you think?”

  “Can you really run fast enough to compete?”

  Ell shrugged again, “Yeah.”

  Shan’s eyes sparkled, “Hell yes you should! Fentis is an ass! I can’t stand the jerk and I’d love for you to put him in his place. Make him wish he’d never said, ‘she can’t really run or she would have entered a meet.’”

  “I don’t know. You don’t think it seems kind of childish to let him goad me into doing this?”

  Shan closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair a beatific smile on his face. “Well yeah, but, be childish for me. I’m a man and men love to see jerks get what’s coming to them.”

  Ell stood up and stretched. “I kinda do too, and Fentis has been getting under my skin for eight years now. Shall we go tonight? It’s gonna take days for you to get over another three hours of jet lag you know.”

  “Tonight?! But we’ve got to make reservations and…” Shan trailed off at her smirk.

  “You’ve got to get used to being married to a rich girl. I’ve got a Gulfstream waiting at the airport in case I’m needed somewhere urgently. It can fly us to India.”

  “But… why did we fly commercial to Italy then?”

  “Because I didn’t want Raquel leaving on her honeymoon in a private jet, it’d blow our cover. But over here, no one knows who we are. We just show up, get on the jet and take off. No one’ll be the wiser.” She frowned, “In India though, once the Olympics start and I’m using my Ell identity, you’ll have to sneak around, especially to go to any events. We don’t want anyone recognizing you and wondering what you’re doing out of Italy where you’re supposed to be honeymooning in Venice on my gram’s dime.”

  “Oh… yeah. How are we going to do that?”

  Ell’s eyes crinkled with mirth, “I’m gonna put makeup on you.”

  “Really?” Shan asked, wide eyed.

  “Yup. We’ll cut your hair, change its color, darken your skin and puff up your cheeks a little. Voila—no one’ll recognize you. I’ll have to disguise myself when I’m away from the Olympics and hanging out with you,” she shrugged, “but I’m used to disguises.”

  Chapter Eight

  Natya Kolmenya opened the door and peered out. No one was really looking her way so she waved to Donsaii and they both stepped out to join the crowd of Team USA athletes and coaches waiting to march into Delhi’s new Olympic stadium. She reflected that it was a good thing the stadium was covered. A typical August storm had started pouring rain about ten minutes ago. For a moment she wondered what would happen with truly outdoor events like the marathon if extended rains struck, then decided not to worry about something that wasn’t her problem.

  For a while no one noticed Donsaii, in good part because she kept the hoodie up on her team sweats. But then Sylvie Jensen, Team USA’s best contender in the all-around turned and said, “Coach…”

  Natya saw Sylvie’s eye’s bob over to Ell momentarily, then back to Natya, then back to Ell where they stuck. Her eyes widened, her mouth dropped open and her hands shot to her face. She stopped walking and other athletes piled up around her. After another stunned moment, Sylvie let out a piercing shriek.

  Natya had feared this moment. She worried about the possibility that the other athletes would be angry to have Donsaii there, immediately relegating them to secondary status.

  But Sylvie appeared to be euphoric. After the shriek she started bouncing up and down in excitement, yelling, “Donsaii, Donsaii, Donsaii!”

  By then all the athletes in their immediate vicinity had turned their
way. At first curious, then startled, then excited. Soon Natya saw ripples of excitement spreading away with them as the epicenter.

  Sylvie, so excited she could barely speak, held her hands out to Ell and jittered out, “Oh, Ms. Donsaii. You’re my hero! Watching you and dreaming of being you… that’s why I’ve worked so hard to be an Olympian! Are you going to compete?!?! Please, please, please say you are! No one will be able to touch us if you’re on our team!”

  Giving up on her anonymity, Donsaii dropped her hoodie and winked at Sylvie. “I thought I might enter a few events, which ones do you think I should try?”

  Round eyed with excitement, Sylvie exclaimed, “All of them! Oh my God, we are so gonna kick ass!”

  With the hoodie down, Donsaii’s short strawberry blond locks tipped off people farther away as to what had generated the excitement. The ripples spread faster and wider…

  ***

  Delhi, India—The Olympics in general, and the gymnastics world in particular erupted in an absolute frenzy when Ell Donsaii appeared with the Team USA athletes at the opening ceremony. As of right now no one seems to be sure whether she’s appearing as a coach or might actually be subbed in to participate. Her coaches have been tight lipped about exactly what’s going to happen…

  Natya stepped into the room where the gymnastic team had agreed to meet. Stony silence met her. Her team stood angrily, arms folded over their chests in more or less two groups. Natya quickly recognized that the best members of her team were in the group on her right and the weaker members on the left. Donsaii sat cross-legged on the floor off to one side. “What’s going on?” Natya asked.

  Vanessa, her assistant coach, said disgustedly, “Some of the girls are having a snit…”

  Tanaya, their vault specialist and one of the weakest members of the team, exploded. “She’s too old! She can’t compete at this level anymore! You’re going to be giving her spot to someone who could compete!”

  Sylvie responded vehemently, “You’ve seen the vid from Christmastime! She can still do those elements!”

  “Floor exercise, maybe,” someone else said, “but not beam, bars or vault!”

  Tanaya turned to Natya, “She’s admitted she hasn’t even been practicing!”

  Natya felt her notoriously short temper begin to boil, “Just who do you think is coach on this team! I’m going to use the best gymnasts we have, no matter how much you bitch and complain! If any of you don’t want to be on this team…” She ran down when she realized that Donsaii had raised her hand. “Yes?”

  Donsaii stood and quietly said, “It might ease everyone’s stress to know that I can only participate in the first two days of the gymnastics part of the Olympics. So the way things are scheduled. I’ll only be in the ‘team’ part of the competition. Not in the ‘all-around’ or the individual competitions. I’ve already got individual gold medals from the Dallas Olympics, but I’d love to help you guys win the team medal here…”

  Natya and Vanessa were sorely disappointed. Sylvie and a few other members of the team proclaimed disappointment too, but Natya suspected that even they were secretly relieved to have some chance at gold themselves.

  Vanessa didn’t know what to make of Donsaii’s practice session on the actual Olympic equipment in the stadium. She always wanted to be last or nearly last on the apparatus. This meant she stood watching, apparently fascinated, as the other members of the team did their routines. When she took her turns on the apparatus she performed flawless and highly difficult routines that would have won gold at any meet in the world. Despite the beauty of those routines, everyone was disappointed because they contained none of Donsaii’s own astonishing elements.

  The ones that no one else could do at all, much less perfectly like she’d done them in the Dallas Olympics.

  The ones named “Donsaii.”

  After Donsaii finished a routine on the uneven bars, Vanessa stepped over to her. “What happened to your back triple dismount? Or your other ‘Donsaiis’?” she asked in a low voice, referring to the elements that Ell had been the first to do and that were therefore named after her.

  Donsaii widened her eyes. “You think I should do those too?”

  “Yes! Of course.”

  “Well, probably I should practice them then. But I’d like to do that out of the public eye. Could you spot me for an off hours session in the practice room?”

  “Okaay…”

  Vanessa turned to head off Natya who she could see stalking their way, probably to ask Donsaii the same questions she had just asked. Then she went to check on availability of the practice room in the evenings.

  Vanessa couldn’t believe she had a gymnast wanting to practice at 1 o’clock in the morning! She’d initially reserved a time at 7 PM but Donsaii had wanted to practice after midnight instead! Certainly, the room was empty in the middle of the night—the night before the qualification rounds. Vanessa had argued that staying up that late at night would throw her off before the meet but Donsaii had insisted. Entering the empty room with Donsaii, Vanessa headed down to spot Ell for a vault…

  At 2:30AM Vanessa headed back to bed, head whirling with what she’d just witnessed. Somehow she didn’t feel tired anymore…

  ***

  Delhi, India—August 2: Gymnastics fans were ecstatic yesterday when Ell Donsaii appeared with Team USA for the qualification round, dressed out to compete. The crowd gave her a standing ovation when she stepped up to the vault runway, however they were clearly disappointed when she performed a Tsukahara two and a half. The vault was beautifully performed but the audience obviously had wanted to see the “Donsaii,” which no one has even attempted to perform in competition since Donsaii first performed it herself at the Dallas Olympics eight years ago. Ms. Donsaii continued in this vein for the remainder of the qualifying round, performing difficult routines flawlessly and scoring significantly higher than any other gymnast at the competition. Her performance certainly ensured Team USA’s spot in the team finals but left the crowd hungering for her feats of yore…

  A bus arrived and Viveka boarded for a ride out to the new Olympic venues. Many temporary jobs could be had there. She really liked her new home and, of course, not paying rent helped tremendously. Her mother had denounced Moman to her and all their relatives back home for taking advantage of them. Nonetheless, Moman hadn’t returned any of the money she’d collected over the years. Even with school, room and board covered, Viveka did need some additional money. She’d found a job that didn’t conflict with her class schedule selling Olympic paraphernalia at one of the stands. Today, it being a weekend she would work a full day.

  What she would do for work after the Olympics were done she didn’t know.

  She sighed. Men crowded the bus. She thought about trying to get off and wait for a “women’s bus,” but the bus had begun moving while she’d daydreamed. The driver likely wouldn’t return her money, the next bus would probably be much the same and waiting for the next women’s bus might make her late. The man at the front of the aisle ran his eyes over Viveka. She hesitated to move back into the crush, but the driver roughly said, “Move back, I can’t see.”

  As she’d feared when she’d moved into the aisle and stood next to the man he moved so his thigh touched her hip. Viveka moved an inch away, but in a moment the man’s leg contacted her again.

  Viveka had been walking almost everywhere, but the Olympic venues were too far. She considered forcefully telling the man to stop and hoping it didn’t make the problem worse. Today… she just didn’t have the fortitude. Staring blindly at the advertisement behind the driver’s head Viveka numbly rode on as the man rubbed against her. To her relief he didn’t bring his hands into play.

  ***

  On the vid Radin Venta turned to Eva Escanescue as the Olympic gymnastics teams warmed up for the team finals, “Well, Eva, yesterday I had hoped for a repeat of our thrilling experience at the Dallas Olympics back when Donsaii first exploded onto the gymnastic scene. Frankly, I’ve been d
isappointed. What’s your take on what we witnessed at the qualifications yesterday?”

  “Well many will be hoping that Donsaii is just holding back until the individual events. Their take will be that she is avoiding the risk of injury during the team events where, with her flawless though mundane performances, Team USA is almost guaranteed the gold. You must remember that the performances she submitted yesterday would, for any other gymnast, have us very excited. She undertook the most difficult routines that are being performed by other gymnasts nowadays and her execution was impeccable. She achieved the highest scores of any gymnast in each qualification event by comfortable margins. Others will say that, Donsaii, now twenty four years old, is too old to replicate the astonishing feats she performed in Dallas. They will say she should not have returned eight years later to tarnish the image she left when she was at the top of her game.”

  Venta said, “Well, I for one was on tenterhooks when she appeared yesterday. Then, I found myself terribly disappointed that she didn’t perform a single Donsaii. I’m hoping against hope that we might still see some of those astonishing elements in the individual events. I’m telling myself that I should enjoy the amazing perfection she can still bring to some quite difficult routines. I’m telling myself that I should be grateful to have been there in Dallas when she was at the top of her game. But, in my heart of hearts I’m still sorely disappointed. Oh well, for now let’s settle in to watch the team finals.”

  “Donsaii is approaching the runway for the vault” Venta said quietly. “Yesterday, the crowd gave her a standing ovation just for showing up, but today they’ve stayed seated. Probably because they were so disappointed when she only performed a Tsukahara two and a half. That’s a very respectable vault of high difficulty and she performed it so perfectly that she got the high vault score in the qualifications round by a comfortable margin. However, that Tsukahara couldn’t compare to the ‘Donsaii’ that she performed eight years ago in Dallas. No one really expects her to do anything other than that same excellent Tsukahara today, but hope springs eternal.