The Crisis

By: T.O. Paine

Narrated by: Marni Penning, Timothy Andrés Pabon

She wants to quit smoking.

He wants to start a nuclear war.

They both want the girl with the cryptic tattoo.

Stuck working at a backwater convenience store in the middle of northern Florida, Mattie longs for a cigarette. She longs for her days as a marine biologist at the Queen Aquarium down south. She longs for her best friend Hank the Manatee. Her colleagues blamed her for his death, and now, she blames herself. She should have done something sooner.

Today, a nervous couple enters the convenience store. The man is big, bald, and has a tight grip on the girl's arm. The girl is small, young, and has a number tattooed on her leg. It looks like a brand.

When they leave, Mattie finds a note on the floor.

". . . Blue Honda mini-van going to Salt Springs. Someone named Stanley."

A similar thing happened to Mattie's cousin. This girl is being kidnapped. Trafficked. The note isn't enough for the police to care, but Mattie does. She jumps into her decrepit Toyota wagon and flies onto the highway, wasting no time. She's got to stop that mini-van before it reaches Salt Springs. She's got to save that girl before she's sold to the highest bidder.

Meanwhile, in Cuba, a militant rebel has sent his men to the US. He's been searching for a young woman with a cryptic tattoo on her leg for over ten years. When his men bring her to him, he'll finally have the negotiating power he needs to overthrow the Cuban government. He'll have the power to make the United States listen to Cuba for once.

It's only a matter of time.

His men are already in Salt Springs, waiting for her.

©2025 T.O. Paine (P)2025 T.O. Paine