Tags or no tags, something tells Y.T. Rife will not be easily swayed. But perhaps Uncle Enzo's gift will distract Rife just enough to look for a way out...
"You know who I am?" Rife asks.
"Yeah, I know. You know who I am?"
"Y.T. A fifteen year-old Kourier." "And personal buddy of Uncle Enzo," she says, whipping off the string of dog tags and tossing them...
Perhaps not impressed, simple reflexes nevertheless cause Rife (and his men) to watch the tags as they arc through the air towards him, covering the ten foot distance between the pair in less than five seconds. But a few seconds are more than enough for a seasoned Kourier like Y.T. to spot a moving target.
As she was
throwing the tags, Y.T. had noticed a small motorboat leaving the Raft from just below the
flight deck area. Reaching inside her coveralls for her only spare poon (used only in the
most dire of emergencies), she makes an immediate break for the edge of the flight deck,
hoping to cut off the motorboat before it goes out of range.
Rife is still watching the tags floating magestically through the air when out of the corner of his eye he notices Y.T. darting for the water. As he turns to yell at his men to stop her, his voice is muffled by the "clank!" of the tags smaking him squarely on his front teeth, noticably chipping his choppers.
Y.T. leaps off the deck while simultaneously firing the poon out toward the steel casing of the outboard motor. With the poon fully extended, and Y.T. enjoying the last few milliseconds of being horizontally airborn before the sea breaks her fall, she scores a direct hit. She goes under at first, swallowing way too much water in the process, but soon rights herself, half-barefoot skiing as she reels herself in towards the boat.
Once Y.T. climbs aboard, she discovers the boat is driven by a couple of wireheads, who, already programmed with instructions and well out of the range of Rife's pentecostal broadcasts, pay Y.T. no attention whatsoever. She's cruising to California. Rife will no doubt be following soon in his chopper, but for now she sits back to enjoy the ride.
I liked it better with Raven.
Hmmm, I wonder what Hiro is up to?