Kit Dillon hated working the front of the pawn shop. It was boring as Hell, the customers were greasy and creepy, and she couldn’t tinker. But her father was out on a score and her mother was in bed with a hot-drop headache (again), so she had to do it.
Ignus Pawn was named after her dad. He’d owned the place for twenty years and it was a dump. It was also the place to come in Brooklyn for fenced gadgets. Her dad had been busted twice, but since Kit was able to hold a wrench, that had changed. She was a genius with mechanical bits, and could alter the hot items to make sure they couldn’t be identified. She was a living, breathing chop-shop.
Her usefulness to her family didn’t stop either of them from tossing her around. Whether it was her dad’s ‘discipline’ or her mother’s drug-addled rage, she rarely went a day without a cuff or a backhand or a few blows with a rubber wheel-belt. She’d gotten used to the bruises and the tears were hard to see against the axle-grease on her cheeks. It was a grimy, poor, ploughing existence and, at sixteen, Kit was already resigned to it.
Then something amazing happened. Lilan Dia walked through the door on the day Kit was at the counter.
Kit knew her instantly. Lilan had stopped making vids ten years ago, but they’d been good movies and Kit loved movies. She was all up-in-up in celebrity gossip – it was her one guilty pleasure. She took her mom’s discarded magazines and devoured them, cutting out pictures and hanging them up over her hammock. Her dream (though whenever she mentioned it to her father, she was laughed at nastily), was to design luxury cars and yachts for the rich and famous. Original vehicles unmatched in style or speed.
So, to see Lilan here…Kit thought she must’ve been slipped some of her mom’s hot-drop somehow. It couldn’t be real. It couldn’t be her.
“Miss Dillon?” Lilan asked. She was radiant inside the dark, cluttered dankness of the pawn shop. “Kit Dillon?”
“Wow,” Kit said softly. Then she nodded, once, firmly. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m Kit. You’re Lilan Dia…”
The actress smiled, and it was like turning on a dozen lights in the room. “My friends call me Lani or Lil. I hope you will too, Kit.”
“Uhm…well, I guess. Is there…something I can do for you? Did you come over to Brooklyn for a used toaster?”
Lilan laughed and Kit couldn’t help but grin along. “No, no. Actually, I came to see you. Buddy told me about you.”
“Buddy Watts?” Kit blinked. He was a mechanic down the road who fixed environmental units. “You know Buddy?”
“He came to the theater when our AC went out a month or so ago,” Lilan answered. “We got to talking. He told me about you – said you were a brilliant mechanic.”
“Well, you know, I’m not that good…” Kit hedged, already blushing to the tips of her ears.
“He also said no one knows more about Georgian-class ships than you.”
Kit blinked. “He did? Uhm, I guess maybe that’s true. ‘Cause, you know, they’re old ships. Not being manufactured. And we got one in about four years ago, stowed it at the dry-dock, and I spent almost three of those four learning it inside out. It was my dad’s biggest sco-…uh, find. And he didn’t know how to fix her up, so he made me learn.” She sighed, wistfully. “I loved that ship. Wish I could’ve kept it.”
“What was the name?” Lilan asked, curiously.
“The Baxley,” Kit replied. “She was military for a while. Anyway, Dad sold her last year. It sucked…but what you gonna do?”
“Well, I actually have an idea on what you could do,” Lilan said, her smile mysterious and delighted. “You could come be the engineer on my ship, the Embry-Riddle. She’s Georgian-class, too. And I could use a genius to keep her running.”
Kit’s mouth fell open. “You…you want me…to be the engineer on a Georgian? Your Georgian? Be mechanic on Lilan Dia’s ship?”
“That’s right,” Lilan asserted.
Kit closed her eyes rapturously. “It’s too good to be true…”
“What’s too good to be true?”
Kit’s eyes flew open. Behind Lilan stood her father, Ignus. He was a huge, powerfully-built man with dark hair and dark eyes, and he was carrying a case, likely full of more stolen gadgetry. “What’s goin’ on in here?” he asked roughly.
“Dad…” Kit began, stammeringly. “This is Lilan Dia. The actress. You know, from When The Whistle Blows and Freaks of Beauty?”
Ignus snorted, dropping the case. “Sure, sure. Famous bitch. Whatever.” His eyes narrowed at Lilan suspiciously. “You here to buy, or are you immersing yourself in squalor for a new role?” He thought that was particularly clever, and laughed snortingly at his own joke.
Lilan remained completely nonplussed. “Actually, I’m here to see about hiring your daughter as engineer of my ship. I’m taking a two-year sabbatical and I’d like to do some traveling. I recently acquired a ship and I need someone who knows Georgian-class vessels well.”
“No.” The word was as taciturn as Ignus’ expression.
Lilan blinked. “But,” she protested. “I’d take very good care of her. Not only would I pay her generously, but I’ve hired a private tutor to help her finish her primary education.”
“I don’t care if you’re gonna dip her in gold and feed her fucking diamonds,” Ignur bit sneeringly. “She’s not going.”
“But, Dad…!” Kit exclaimed, then cowered as she saw him curl his hand into a fist at his side.
“Surely this is unreasonable, from a business standpoint,” Lilan said, quickly catching on to just the kind of man Kit’s father was. “If it’s a financial issue, I’m sure Kit would be willing to send you part of her pay every week.”
“All of it!” Kit said quickly. “Dad, you can have every single credit.”
Ignus’ eyes narrowed and he advanced on Lilan, standing so close she had to lean back slightly to look up into his face. “Get the fuck out of my shop,” he said softly. “And don’t come back, or I’ll call the police.”
Lilan began to protest, but then stiffened, lifted her chin, and walked out.
Walked out, and took Kit’s salvation with her.
~*~
At the Majestic Theater, the doorman was surprised to see a shabby looking teen standing there, shivering and looking uncertainly at the brass-and-glass doors. He beckoned to her and, timidly, she approached. “Can I help you, miss?” he asked.
“I…I have to see Lilan Dia,” Kit said. “Please, it’s important.”
The doorman was about to chuckle, but he saw the black eye and the swollen lower lip, and the smile died away. “She’s just finishing the performance, miss. You’ll have to wait at the stage door with the other fans.”
Kit’s eyes welled with tears. “No, I don’t have time to wait, and I’m not a fan. Well, I mean, I am, but she…please, can you just send her a message that I’m here? My name is Kit Dillon. She knows me. She saw me earlier today.”
Something about the teen’s expression make the doorman nod, once, and pull out his comm.. unit, typing quickly. A moment later there was a beep, and he read the incoming message silently before looking to Kit. “She says to take you to her dressing room immediately, Miss Dillon.”
A few minutes later and she was in the warm confines of a spacious, flower-filled room and Lilan was pressing an ice-pack to her mouth. “God, Kit – what happened?” she asked, stunned.
“Nothing that hasn’t happened before,” Kit answered around the ice-pack. “He hit me a couple of times. But…I left, Miss Di-…Lani. I ran away. Snuck out as soon as they were both passed out and came here.”
“Kit…it’s illegal for me to take you away from your parents. I could be arrested, and you’d have to go back.”
“I have that all worked out,” Kit said earnestly. “I talked to Buddy. He’s going to say I came to him and borrowed credits, and told him I was going to L.A. to try and get a job in a car shop. Dad knows that’s my dream – he’ll buy it.
Lilan’s brow furrowed. “I don’t know, Kit. I’d love to have you as crew, but…this might not be the best way to go about it.”
“Please, Lani. Please. I don’t want to go back there. He might do something to me.”
Lilan looked at Kit for a long time, and then, suddenly, she smiled. “Actually, we might be safer than your realize, even if he does find out the truth. All right, Miss Dillon. Come home with me tonight, and tomorrow we’ll go see the Embry-Riddle.”
Kit gasped with joy and hugged Lilan ecstatically.
Ignus Pawn was named after her dad. He’d owned the place for twenty years and it was a dump. It was also the place to come in Brooklyn for fenced gadgets. Her dad had been busted twice, but since Kit was able to hold a wrench, that had changed. She was a genius with mechanical bits, and could alter the hot items to make sure they couldn’t be identified. She was a living, breathing chop-shop.
Her usefulness to her family didn’t stop either of them from tossing her around. Whether it was her dad’s ‘discipline’ or her mother’s drug-addled rage, she rarely went a day without a cuff or a backhand or a few blows with a rubber wheel-belt. She’d gotten used to the bruises and the tears were hard to see against the axle-grease on her cheeks. It was a grimy, poor, ploughing existence and, at sixteen, Kit was already resigned to it.
Then something amazing happened. Lilan Dia walked through the door on the day Kit was at the counter.
Kit knew her instantly. Lilan had stopped making vids ten years ago, but they’d been good movies and Kit loved movies. She was all up-in-up in celebrity gossip – it was her one guilty pleasure. She took her mom’s discarded magazines and devoured them, cutting out pictures and hanging them up over her hammock. Her dream (though whenever she mentioned it to her father, she was laughed at nastily), was to design luxury cars and yachts for the rich and famous. Original vehicles unmatched in style or speed.
So, to see Lilan here…Kit thought she must’ve been slipped some of her mom’s hot-drop somehow. It couldn’t be real. It couldn’t be her.
“Miss Dillon?” Lilan asked. She was radiant inside the dark, cluttered dankness of the pawn shop. “Kit Dillon?”
“Wow,” Kit said softly. Then she nodded, once, firmly. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m Kit. You’re Lilan Dia…”
The actress smiled, and it was like turning on a dozen lights in the room. “My friends call me Lani or Lil. I hope you will too, Kit.”
“Uhm…well, I guess. Is there…something I can do for you? Did you come over to Brooklyn for a used toaster?”
Lilan laughed and Kit couldn’t help but grin along. “No, no. Actually, I came to see you. Buddy told me about you.”
“Buddy Watts?” Kit blinked. He was a mechanic down the road who fixed environmental units. “You know Buddy?”
“He came to the theater when our AC went out a month or so ago,” Lilan answered. “We got to talking. He told me about you – said you were a brilliant mechanic.”
“Well, you know, I’m not that good…” Kit hedged, already blushing to the tips of her ears.
“He also said no one knows more about Georgian-class ships than you.”
Kit blinked. “He did? Uhm, I guess maybe that’s true. ‘Cause, you know, they’re old ships. Not being manufactured. And we got one in about four years ago, stowed it at the dry-dock, and I spent almost three of those four learning it inside out. It was my dad’s biggest sco-…uh, find. And he didn’t know how to fix her up, so he made me learn.” She sighed, wistfully. “I loved that ship. Wish I could’ve kept it.”
“What was the name?” Lilan asked, curiously.
“The Baxley,” Kit replied. “She was military for a while. Anyway, Dad sold her last year. It sucked…but what you gonna do?”
“Well, I actually have an idea on what you could do,” Lilan said, her smile mysterious and delighted. “You could come be the engineer on my ship, the Embry-Riddle. She’s Georgian-class, too. And I could use a genius to keep her running.”
Kit’s mouth fell open. “You…you want me…to be the engineer on a Georgian? Your Georgian? Be mechanic on Lilan Dia’s ship?”
“That’s right,” Lilan asserted.
Kit closed her eyes rapturously. “It’s too good to be true…”
“What’s too good to be true?”
Kit’s eyes flew open. Behind Lilan stood her father, Ignus. He was a huge, powerfully-built man with dark hair and dark eyes, and he was carrying a case, likely full of more stolen gadgetry. “What’s goin’ on in here?” he asked roughly.
“Dad…” Kit began, stammeringly. “This is Lilan Dia. The actress. You know, from When The Whistle Blows and Freaks of Beauty?”
Ignus snorted, dropping the case. “Sure, sure. Famous bitch. Whatever.” His eyes narrowed at Lilan suspiciously. “You here to buy, or are you immersing yourself in squalor for a new role?” He thought that was particularly clever, and laughed snortingly at his own joke.
Lilan remained completely nonplussed. “Actually, I’m here to see about hiring your daughter as engineer of my ship. I’m taking a two-year sabbatical and I’d like to do some traveling. I recently acquired a ship and I need someone who knows Georgian-class vessels well.”
“No.” The word was as taciturn as Ignus’ expression.
Lilan blinked. “But,” she protested. “I’d take very good care of her. Not only would I pay her generously, but I’ve hired a private tutor to help her finish her primary education.”
“I don’t care if you’re gonna dip her in gold and feed her fucking diamonds,” Ignur bit sneeringly. “She’s not going.”
“But, Dad…!” Kit exclaimed, then cowered as she saw him curl his hand into a fist at his side.
“Surely this is unreasonable, from a business standpoint,” Lilan said, quickly catching on to just the kind of man Kit’s father was. “If it’s a financial issue, I’m sure Kit would be willing to send you part of her pay every week.”
“All of it!” Kit said quickly. “Dad, you can have every single credit.”
Ignus’ eyes narrowed and he advanced on Lilan, standing so close she had to lean back slightly to look up into his face. “Get the fuck out of my shop,” he said softly. “And don’t come back, or I’ll call the police.”
Lilan began to protest, but then stiffened, lifted her chin, and walked out.
Walked out, and took Kit’s salvation with her.
~*~
At the Majestic Theater, the doorman was surprised to see a shabby looking teen standing there, shivering and looking uncertainly at the brass-and-glass doors. He beckoned to her and, timidly, she approached. “Can I help you, miss?” he asked.
“I…I have to see Lilan Dia,” Kit said. “Please, it’s important.”
The doorman was about to chuckle, but he saw the black eye and the swollen lower lip, and the smile died away. “She’s just finishing the performance, miss. You’ll have to wait at the stage door with the other fans.”
Kit’s eyes welled with tears. “No, I don’t have time to wait, and I’m not a fan. Well, I mean, I am, but she…please, can you just send her a message that I’m here? My name is Kit Dillon. She knows me. She saw me earlier today.”
Something about the teen’s expression make the doorman nod, once, and pull out his comm.. unit, typing quickly. A moment later there was a beep, and he read the incoming message silently before looking to Kit. “She says to take you to her dressing room immediately, Miss Dillon.”
A few minutes later and she was in the warm confines of a spacious, flower-filled room and Lilan was pressing an ice-pack to her mouth. “God, Kit – what happened?” she asked, stunned.
“Nothing that hasn’t happened before,” Kit answered around the ice-pack. “He hit me a couple of times. But…I left, Miss Di-…Lani. I ran away. Snuck out as soon as they were both passed out and came here.”
“Kit…it’s illegal for me to take you away from your parents. I could be arrested, and you’d have to go back.”
“I have that all worked out,” Kit said earnestly. “I talked to Buddy. He’s going to say I came to him and borrowed credits, and told him I was going to L.A. to try and get a job in a car shop. Dad knows that’s my dream – he’ll buy it.
Lilan’s brow furrowed. “I don’t know, Kit. I’d love to have you as crew, but…this might not be the best way to go about it.”
“Please, Lani. Please. I don’t want to go back there. He might do something to me.”
Lilan looked at Kit for a long time, and then, suddenly, she smiled. “Actually, we might be safer than your realize, even if he does find out the truth. All right, Miss Dillon. Come home with me tonight, and tomorrow we’ll go see the Embry-Riddle.”
Kit gasped with joy and hugged Lilan ecstatically.