Anyplace, Anywhere, Anytime

Donovan Lewinsky was one of the most well known influential names in the last decade, at least according to the music world where he had established himself as a pop icon with international recognition. His face would be plastered on every magazine outlet, television and trending social media app. Everyone knew exactly where he would be, even his mundane decisions would have consequential impacts on trends. For example, Don had taken a trip to Quito and the world's eyes were on Ecuador for the few weeks he was there, scrutinizing every aspect of his vacation. He flew from the LAX airport with his private customized Boeing 767 plane filled with his sizeable entourage which included his security team, personal chefs, stylists, doctors and friends.

Lisbeth had been in charge of his security team involved with keeping him safe during the travel excursions; ensuring the safeguarding of his assets, his name, and members of his family which were her top priority. It had been a difficult job that often dwindled into her own private affairs, but she accepted the contract promising them her full commitment. She was well qualified for the position as a leader, she kept her team compliant like a drill sergeant while ensuring they protected the entourage's actions discreetly. Every men and women in the security detail were well uniformed, wearing a buttoned up dress shirt and black slacks.

They all stayed in the same mansion as Don Lewinsky who had frequently rented out large lavish estates to house his entire group. Each of the security team rotated between a 24 hour shift guarding the front door, the security gate and the surrounding areas. One person would secure the vehicles coming in with a thorough search while others ensured Don didn't reveal any compromising information online. To the media they were in Ecuador for a cultural exchange and branding deal, but secretly Donnie had no interest and was planning one of the most expensive private parties in Latin America. This business meeting had been coordinated with a popular clothing company in which the Zambrano brothers had subsidized, it would be held tomorrow afternoon at a public high-end restaurant by the famous Metropolitan park.

Lisbeth had been out for a moment the day before the meeting would take place she went to visit a friend when she received a call from Don's secretary, Amy. Leaving at any point in time would have been considered a mishap on her part which was evidently discovered. She quickly picked up the phone while in bed with Alvaro, an Ecuadorian man she had spent the night with.

"Where the hell are you Beth?" shouted Amy from the other end.

"I'm close"

"¿Quién es, Liz?" whispered Alvaro. Lisbeth had nudged him with her elbow to shut up.

"Do you realize what just happened? Is that a goddamn man in the background?"

"Yes it is. Tell me where's Don, is he safe?".

"I think we're in trouble, it's the damn Zambrano men... they're outside of the mansion asking for a ransom. They have one of your men captive...You really have some nerve to be on a booty call right now!" barked Amy.

"Give me thirty" Lisbeth hung up right away. She sighed and jumped out of bed letting go of Alvaro's locking hands from her grip. He had been lying naked besides her when she got the call, he shifted to the edge of the bed to watch her speedily dress. Alvaro examined the tattoos on Lisbeth bare back while she looked around the room impatiently balancing on one foot . There was a symbol with two arrows crossing with a dagger in the center and a small one of five rings overlapping. Alvaro reached over to hand her the black boot he found under the bed. Lisbeth snatched it from his hands and continued getting ready. She walked over to the dresser and picked out her two GLOCK Gen5 pistols she hid. Then headed towards the front door of the small bricked home.

"Wait!" called Alvaro in his thick Ecuadorian accent.

"I gotta go" said Lisbeth trying to fix her short brown hair with long strokes of her fingers.

She grabbed her keys from an end-table by the door and stormed out to the car leaving Alvaro running closely behind in his towel. He rushed out to Lisbeth who had already entered her car before noticing he had dropped the towel by the front door. Lisbeth turned to find Alvaro nude facing her in a compromising manner. She rolled her eyes, smiled and shook her head.

"Oh!" Alvaro said looking down and smiled then quickly reached over to hand her a joint before heading back to the front door, she grabbed it and tossed it to her cup holder.

"Find somewhere safe." she said. 

"...Okay, pero cuidate, Liz..." he called out worriedly. She had already sped off to a small dirt road towards the main street. 

She had found the road that lead to Don's rented mansion and drove at full throttle, leaving the trees and other residential houses she passed to a blur. She finally confronted a blocked street from two black SUVs parked horizontally against the main road. 

"Shit!" she yelled slamming her foot on the break.

She reversed and made a quick U-turn before they could spot her, she turned heading towards the opposite direction screeching her tires and staining the pavement. She found a short detour on a private road and followed it over, a dead end. She turned back again onto the main road and noticed several cars now hauling towards her blocking the two intersecting roads. She did another U-turn speedily headed towards the cars that had created the road block. She rested one of her pistols out to her lap for quick access and continued on. A couple guys are standing by their vehicle puffing a cigarette and hanging their assault carbines rifles by their hips. They noticed Lisbeth speeding again while she closed in. They immediately drew their weapons out to face her.

"Ey Ey Ey, tsk tsk!" shouted one of the men through a megaphone.

Lisbeth paused her car for a moment while she analyzed her options.

"Detente ahora mismo o dispararemos!" the man yelled through the loud speaker.

Lisbeth stood there waiting in her vehicle and began to rev her engine.

"Pendeja! No somos chapas me escuchas? La mataremos sin remordimiento!" they warned.

She revved her engine again and continued driving at full force colliding towards the back end of the SUV spinning it back and knocking one of the men out to the floor.

"Es la pinche gringa!" one of the man called out, they began shooting their assault weapons to her vehicle but it had been layered with bulletproof polycarbonate. Lisbeth while breathing heavily and slightly disoriented from the collision opened the window. She extended one of her pistols out to the small opening and returned fire, shooting one of the men in the shoulder. The other man still collapsed holding onto his knees.

At least three other dark vehicles continued behind her, fully occupied by men inside. She continued on driving her wrecked vehicle at high speed scraping the road with a dented piece of front bumper. She reached to her phone that had been buzzing repeatedly to find a couple missed calls and text messages.

..."Chief, should we engage?"...

..."Beth CALL ME!!!"...

..."Sé que no hablamos el mismo dialecto pero..."

She tossed her phone and continued driving forward. Lisbeth is then joined by the vehicles that had been following her behind, they riddle her vehicle with bullets, denting the body of the body. The other bullets ricochet from the glass shooting back towards their own cars. She opened her windows again to try and reciprocate the bullets but they're able to shoot inside shattering the interior of the window.

"This is bad!" Lisbeth clenched her jaw driving erratically.

She drops one her pistols outside of the window when they rammed her car. She speeds ahead of them as they continue following so close she could make out the details of the men's faces from her rear mirror. They began to shoot the back tires of the vehicle until they burst and cause the vehicle to spin around. Lisbeth runs over to a private business building holding onto one of her pistols.

The men park by her totaled car and followed the drips of blood she ushered behind. The secretary in the building had ran out after seeing first sight of a bloodied beat-up woman limping with a pistol at her hip. Lisbeth ran in searching for a place to hide and stumbled into the office lunch room and hid below a cabinet under the sink. 

The men after her had walked in making a raucous kicking down doors and opening closets. Lisbeth had been sweating copiously in the hot condensed space trying best to not make a sound. Then her phone rang on vibrating mode, Amy, showing on the caller I.D. One of the men runs over to the sink holding out his gun and yanks the cabinet door open. Lisbeth quickly kicked his foot back and tripped him against the counter at the center. She then dives out at the other side of the room behind the other side of the counter dropping her weapon behind. The man empties the clip of his weapon uncoordinatedly. Another man is rushing down the hallway towards the gun shots with his weapon drawn. Lisbeth bursts through the hallway into another door.

"¿A dónde crees que vas princesa?" yells the guy who had ran in to the conference room to look for her.

"La tenemos!" yells another gunman following behind.

They barged into the meeting room in search for her. The men ransack the rooms searching cabinets, closets and the other spaces in the room. They had found no signs of Lisbeth anywhere. Lisbeth had been holding onto the ledge outside of the long horizontal window. She peaked through to find all of the men facing away then jumped up again from the window over to a man holding out his pistol. Lisbeth grabbed the man's arm to try and wrestle the gun away but the man out-powers her. Before he is able to point his gun to her, she slams a stapler down at his wielding hand. The pistol goes off, alerting the other man in the room who had been in the bathroom. The pistol falls under the table.

"¿Qué paso?!"

She slides under the conference table to try and grab the loose gun while the wounded man is holding onto his bloody hand and scavenging for it too.

Lisbeth shoots a bullet through the mahogany table and hits the man coming from the bathroom. The man holding his wounded hand punches Lisbeth with his bloody knuckles knocking her to the other end of the room. Lisbeth gains composure and shoots him on his chest as he loses his balance and falls out through the window. She continues onto the hallway where other men meet the same fate.

Lisbeth is now at the receptionist desk delicately moving against the walls back to the front where the other cars are parked. She continues on and executes each of the scattered gunman around the vicinity, she then walks back to find her phone. Initially she had planned to take out some of the men outside of Donnies mansion but was far too depleted so she opted for another option that would cost her.

She then dials a number under "UNASSIGNED". 

"What's your favorite pizza?" says a young man through the other line.

"I don't eat pizza" Lisbeth says.

"What can I help you with?"

"Victor and Santiago".

Lisbeth picks up her phone and sends funds to the unknown phone number, her phone then buzzes back and receives a message of PDF files. She scrolls through them and finds a list of government documents and two passport copies showing a photo of a Victor and Santiago Zambrano. She then drives over to a wealthy country house and sneaks inside between a few men guarding. She snaps a photo of the Zambrano's elderly father sleeping at a large bed watching television through the window. She sends it to two phone numbers then receives a message back. Beth had called shortly after.

"Beth, the men left, they must have had a change of mind" said Amy.

"Good" said Lisbeth breathing in heavily.  

"One more thing... "

"Do you think you can pass by and pick up a few things for Donnie. I'll text you the list."

"Of course" said Lisbeth.

"And uh, Liz".

"Yes?"

"You're fired", Liz pauses and takes a calm deep breath and hangs up.

She then calls Alvaro but he doesn't pick up.

Lisbeth returned to the mansion with a trunk full of alcoholic bottles of the country's signature spirit, aguardiente. .

*****

Few days later...

Lisbeth is sitting on a hammock outside of her Sacramento home scrolling through the international news app on her phone.

"Mayhem in Quito leaves several unidentified suspected members of the Zambrano cartel dead at a local business park. Police believe they are also connected with an alleged drug-dealers body found several miles out and an American who is allegedly a member of famous former child star Donnie Lewes security team. Police investigate if the alleged murders are connected as they struggle to find a correlation between Donnie's recent visit to the country".

The story continued on but Lisbeth kept scrolling to the other media articles, she finds a blog offering prayers for Donnie's well-being and other news stories from his public relations team already pivoting the story to their favor.

She tosses her phone down on a table and sighs.

Then pulls out the joint Alvaro had given her and lights it and lays back on her hammock with her wounds now treated. She had pondered about Alvaro and how well he treated her during her short duration in Quito. She closes her eyes while images of dead bodies slide through her memories, they ultimately lead to an image of her own corpse lying on an empty unmarked grave.

She took another deep breath and continued smoking as her phone kept buzzing, the notifications show a wire transfer of $75,000 from Amy and a confirmation number for a flight bound to E.Z.E. airport in three days.