From "Molly Miranda: Thick as Thieves" by Jillianne Hamilton

[tirepanted3]

So this is a very unusual case because this book features a USB scenario, and yet the woman who gets her uniform stolen doesn't really exist. To explain: the main character in the story is a henchwoman who secretly works for a bad guy wanted by the police. At one point, she is interrogated by the cops (who found her in a bunny girl costume), but they assume she's just a victim who had been kidnapped by the villain. She plays this to her advantage by coming up with an alibi in which she was indeed kidnapped, and managed to escape by mugging another woman for her clothes.

Like I said, it's technically not a USB scene, but it features a character concocting a story in which she's a USB, so certainly interesting.


---

"And so how did you escape from him?"

"Just luck, I guess," I said. Now was the time to flesh out the story I'd sketched in my head when we made our escape from Jimmy's secret escape tunnel. "They put me in a back office or something, but didn't bother to tie my feet, or tie me to a chair. I pulled off my blindfold, and managed to find a rough corner on a metal desk to saw through the rope on my hands."

"We found you in a costume," he said.

"Were you wearing that when you entered the club?"

"No," I said. "I was wearing plain old yoga pants and a T-shirt, the same thing I was abducted in. As soon as I got myself untied, I knew I'd have to sneak out. I peeked out of the office, and there was a blonde in that outfit, right near the door. I..." I swallowed. "I'm afraid I had to be violent," I said.

"You had to do what you needed to do to escape," Alpha said, waving his hand with a dismissive air. "What did you do?"

"I used the cut rope, and looped it around her neck, and pulled her back into the office. I'm pretty sure I just strangled her until she was unconscious. I hope I didn't kill her."

"We didn't find anyone dead at the scene," he said.

I sighed and slumped in my chair.

"Oh, thank goodness."

"And then?"

"So I took her clothes and put them on, figuring I could just sneak out the front in that disguise. Just as I peeked back out the office door, the whole place started going crazy out there, people screaming and running. So I looked around for another way out."

"How did you find that way out?" Alpha asked. He seemed really interested in this answer. I decided more truth couldn't hurt. They would have analyzed Jimmy's office thoroughly already.

"I figured, all those bookcases? Some sort of office in a club full of unsavory characters? There had to be a secret passageway, right? So I just started pulling and twisting things. Sure enough, there was some white spaceshippy thing that turned, and a bookcase opened. I hauled ass out of there, down a tunnel. Fell down a few times, got pretty dirty, and found a hatch at the end. I climbed out, and that's when I found the police and you guys."

"So you really didn't see anything," he said.

"I don't think I did," I said. "But I'll certainly think about it, go over everything in my mind."

"You do that," he said. "I'll be back to talk more later. You should get some rest."