Mei-Li had never needed to pee so badly in all her life.

 

"I don't know about this, guys." As she crouched in the back of their ominous black van, her legs shook inside her black leather boots.

 

"It's a little late to back out now," Madame Dartmore said from the driver's seat. "If you had trepidations about our plan, you should have brought them up during the meeting."

 

"That's right," said Mistress Josephine, Madame's second-in-command. "You know this needs to happen."

 

"But kidnapping Mayor Pigman?" Mei-Li looked around to see if she could garner any support from the other girls in their woman-run sex workers' co-op. "Come on, guys, is it really such a good idea? Imagine how much trouble we could get in."

 

"You agree he deserves it, don't you?" Madame Dartmore asked as she parked outside City Hall.

 

"Yeah," Mei-Li said, reluctantly. "He deserves way worse than what we're gonna do to him."

 

"So quit your yapping," Mistress Josephine grumbled.

 

The van went quiet as all the girls pulled on their black balaclavas. Not that the mayor would remember a thing after happy hour, but they wanted to be extra-careful not to let any outside witnesses see their faces.

 

"How long do you think we'll have to wait?" Mei-Li asked.

 

"Would you shut up for five seconds?" Mistress Josephine snapped.

 

"That's so disrespectful," Dolly said. "Don't tell us to shut up."

 

Madame Dartmore came down like a bolt of lightning. "Girls! The last thing we need is to be distracted by internal squabbles. Charming? Jing-Fei? Are you two ready with the rope?"

 

"Yes, Madame," they both said.

 

"Does anybody else have to pee?" Mei-Li asked, and somebody kicked her in the shin. She couldn't see who, not that she'd have retaliated. Violence wasn't in her nature. "I know, I know. Save it for Mayor Pigman. It's just hard, with the van humming, you know? The vibrations make me have to go even..."

 

"There he is!" Madame Dartmore cried. "There he is! There he is!"

 

Mistress Josephine turned around from the passenger seat and said, "On your marks, get set, go go GO!"