Maggie Lee (Book 7): The Hitwoman and the 7 Cops by JB Lynn Page A

too hot, and burned the roof of my mouth.
    Susan weakly sank into the nearest chair moaning, “This is all Archie’s fault.”
    “About that message?” Brian Griswald said in a tone that indicated he was just about out of patience.
    Armani shrugged and looked me in the eye. “He wanted me to tell you he forgives you.”
    He forgave me ? What the hell had I ever done to him except save his ungrateful butt? I sucked in an outraged gasp and choked on the eggroll.
    “What do you mean he forgives her?” Brian asked Armani.
    Coughing, spluttering, and spraying a mouthful of food onto the floor, I clutched my throat, unable to breathe.
    Mike eyed me suspiciously, probably thinking that anyone who subscribes to Piggy Magazine isn’t going to choke on a mere mouthful of food.
    “The Heimlich!” God shouted, pounding on my shoulder with his little feet, because it was the only place he could reach. “She needs the Heimlich maneuver.”
    “Oh my God, she’s choking!” Marlene screamed.
    “Are you choking?” the detective and Zeke asked simultaneously.
    Griswald pounded on my back, but whatever was lodged in my airway stayed in place.
    The room dimmed as I stumbled backward, trying to breathe.
    “She’s choking!” Marlene screamed again. “Somebody help her!”
    Actually, I was suffocating, but I couldn’t speak to tell her that.
    Leaping from his chair, Zeke caught me before I fell. He too banged on the spot between my shoulder blades to no avail.
    “Thrust!” God shouted. “Don’t you morons know anything? You need to thrust. Thrust!”
    “Maggie?” Zeke shouted, holding me upright against him. “Maggie stay—”
    Before I knew what was happening, I was ripped from his arms.
    “Aaaah,” God screamed as he lost his grip on my shirt and fell.
    I felt a sharp pain in my belly as something was driven into it with considerable force. The second jab dislodged the piece of food that had blocked my windpipe. I gasped for air, greedily sucking it into my lungs as tears streamed from my eyes.
    “Ewwwwww!” God shrieked.
    I looked down and saw DeeDee prone on the floor and the lizard balanced on the dog’s outstretched tongue.
    “Of all the repulsive, abhorrent, foul, nasty, loathsome, disgusting things,” God wailed, sliding off her tongue onto the ground. “I shall never recover from the trauma.”
    DeeDee grinned up at me. “Him caught.”
    Dry-heaving, God scurried away.
    “Are you okay?” Leslie and Brian Griswald asked simultaneously.
    “This never would have happened if you’d sat down to eat,” Susan lectured.
    “You gave us a scare, Maggie,” Zeke chided from beside me.
    Marlene though, stayed silent. Staring past and above me with eyes as big as silver dollars.
    It was then I realized there was someone else in the room and that whoever it was had their hands on my arms, making certain I didn’t pitch over.
    I turned slowly to see my savior.
    The blond, blue-eyed man with bulging biceps peered closely at me. “Feel better?”
    I nodded dumbly at the man who’d saved me twice that day. This time instead of his uniform, he wore a tight T-shirt that showed off his defined physique.
    Sergeant Victor grinned. “Cool.”
    “Who the hell are you, cutie?” Armani asked.
    “Ben Atwood.” He waved a greeting at everyone around the table.
    “I thought you were Sergeant Victor,” I managed to choke out.
    He chuckled. “Nah, that’s just part of my act.”
    “Act?”  I gave Zeke a weak grin as he helped me sit down on a chair.
    He shrugged apologetically. “I’m a stripper.”
    “A stripper!” Susan gasped, burying her head in her hands.
    “There is a god,” Armani rejoiced triumphantly.
    Zeke bent and whispered in my ear. “Do you have any idea of what’s going on?”
    I shook my head. “Not really.”
    “I’m not going to be a stripper forever,” Ben Atwood explained. “But it’s a good way to pay the bills while I go through paramedic training.”
    “That’s why you’re