Quid Pro Quo

It was Christmas Eve when Lisbeth received a call from Donnie Lewes personal assistant, Amy. She picked up her vibrating phone still groggy from the night before, her breath lingering with a deep musky stench of acrid tobacco smoke and whisky.

"Amy?"

"Beth. Where are you?"

"I'm here at home, everything OK?"

"Great. I know this is a short notice but, I booked you a flight out of the Sacramento airport at 11:00 AM to meet our charter here in LAX. We need you on that flight, so go in a few hours early if you have to. I'll text you the details right now. The plane leaves to Buenos Aires at 9:00 PM. That won't be a problem, right?"

"I'll be there."

"Great. See you tonight."

Lisbeth had been disappointed, her flight to EZE should have been a few weeks out as promised but her high-rank security position made her obligated to accept their terms without question. She had found Amy particularly off putting, the way she spoke to her and treated her like an inferior servant.

She arrived early and watched as her plane taxied at the gate on time despite the holiday rush. Lisbeth was tired of the crowds, the festive decorations and Wham!'s "Last Christmas" playing for the sixth time since she had been sitting there.

After waiting patiently and getting inside the plane, the universe had other plans in the works for her. As if she was smitten for all the souls she'd sent to their early grave, an uptight airline representative wearing a santa hat and a badge around her neck announced they had a Federal Agent that needed to be on board their full flight. Lisbeth had been on first-class, but listened in as the representative asked one of the disgruntled and impatient passengers sitting in economy to volunteer their seats.

She had grown anxious to leave the city and her head was still throbbing from the copious drinking the night before. She had wanted so badly to chug a pill and gulp down a bottle of water, anything that would help. She called over to one of the bubbly attendants tending the first-class travelers by raising her hand.  

"Scuse me. Can I get a bottle of water and an aspirin?"

"Certainly, ma'am. I'll get one over to you right away!" the blonde stewardess said making her way to the galley to fetch her request.

Meanwhile, Lisbeth tuned in tentatively as the airline rep offered someone a hotel voucher and a generous compensation of money for their seat.

Relieved by the fact the plane would be moving soon, Lisbeth had gotten more comfortable as she stretched her legs and maneuvered her seat back. She pulled out her phone to put it on airplane mode in hopes of finally taking a much needed nap before her short flight. Meanwhile, another airline attendant, a taller gentleman handed her the packet of pills and the water bottle she had asked for.

Lisbeth noticed an unanswered message on her phone before taking the sip.

'Liz, watch out. There's a hit on you."

Lisbeth anxiously looked around the plane for anyone watching her. She wasn't keen on how serious the message was especially when the plane was so close to departing, but was on high alert regardless. She had gotten more cautious and observant with her surroundings. She grabbed the bottle and held it close to her face. After the attendant left, she watched it, and after waiting a few seconds, she noticed some residue drifting down. There was a white substance hovering below.

The female attendant came back and smiled at her.

"Everything alright, ma'am? Did your husband get you your bottle?" 

Lisbeth felt uneasy now, she couldn't shake the discomforting feeling. She watched as the Air marshal entered the cabin, he wore a distinguishing uniform ensemble, contrary from the casual wear they usually wore to be inconspicuous. He sat on the middle of the plane, also something out of the ordinary. A true Air Marshal would be vetting from the back end of the plane looking for anyone nervous. Lisbeth turned to him and tried to meet his gaze to see if there was a micro-expression she could catch to single him out. He turned over and stared briefly at her for a longer duration than most people did when caught staring. He was aware of her somehow, and she had a feeling she couldn't shake him. Lisbeth quickly planned her escape.

Before they closed the doors, she made her way to the baggage compartment and snuck in a phone she had pick pocketed from an unaware man. She played a video with an irritable sound on it and waited for the owner to discover it, creating a short distraction while she hurried out of the aircraft before the doors closed. She found a wheelchair to push and crossed the sky bridge, sneaking through the employees at the counter.

She figured someone wanted her dead or at best narcotized, and she wouldn't risk a felony conviction trying to defend herself in the air. She rushed to the designated arrival section of the airport and found a taxi waiting by with their roof marker's illuminated. She quickly opened the rear door and greeted the driver who was concentrated on his radio.

He was an old guy with a flat cap, wearing a buttoned down plaid shirt. He adjusted his rear mirrors with a Puerto Rican flag hanging around it and frog figurines decorating above the dashboard. He was startled to see Lisbeth appear in his backseat.

"¡Ay bendito! You scared me..." he turned to get a better look at her. "Oh, Merry Christmas, Miss. I didn't see you there. Where are you headed?" 

"Oakland."

He turned over again. "Oh boy, That's nearly two hours away."

She had a stern look on her face and kept her attention at the automated doors of the airport to make sure nobody was following behind. "I know." she said, reaffirming him by handing him ten crisp hundred-dollar bills.

"Wow! Are you serious?"

Lisbeth nodded. She had a hefty amount of money to spare for these such cases.

"I'll fill the gas tank too." she assured him in hopes of sweetening the deal. "Well? What do you say?"

The old man crinkled his forehead raising his eyebrows. "Yes!" He said enthusiastically, he couldn't believe his eyes, it had been the most money he'd receive for a single fare. "I'm so grateful, senorita. I guess Christmas came early, huh? Oaktown, it is."

While the car departed, Lisbeth scrolled through several airline websites, she planned to buy the ticket on her phone likely at an exuberant price hike. She figured OAK to MEX would do. There was a stop at the LAX airport before Mexico City, a last minute detour before heading to U.S. Customs. It would be a hidden-city ticketing plan. She'd get off before making it to the last leg, and changing her itinerary, something frowned upon when buying tickets but at this point, she'd try any trick in the book to deter whoever was looking for her. They would surely leak the passenger manifest again, but this would save her some time.

Either way, she felt she had some leeway, especially having her guardian angel to look after her. She checked her phone and checked if there was a response to the text message she had left the unknown person a half hour ago. The number could have belonged to any of the various suspicious characters she had met throughout her formidable and often troublesome career.

Finally, she received another notification on her phone.

"We met in Sao Paolo a few years ago, it's not important right now. Listen, someone on the Dark Web put a price on your head after what happened in Quito. You could probably guess who."

Lisbeth hastily responded tapping the keyboard touchpad almost aggressively.

"Yes, I have an idea. So why are you helping me?" she responded.

"If you make it to Argentina. I could use your help."

She left it at that, the quid pro quo the stranger had hinted at could be problematic, 

but she would need to focus on getting to meet her private flight as her utmost priority. She'd deal with the mystery person later on, figured she would get out of the area post haste first.

The taxi ride had been a long one, driving almost a steady quick pace the whole way through on Interstate 80. The driver finally lowered his salsa playlist blaring the classics from Oscar D'Leon followed by and Willie Colón and Benny Moré. The driver peered over to Lisbeth from his rear mirror to strike a conversation.

"So where you headed for Christmas, young lady?"

"Mexico."

"Ah, I hear it's nice during this time. I have a few friends who love to go every year." he said. Lisbeth was watching a dark SUV that had been driving behind them on the road for the last twenty minutes but couldn't confirm if they were being tailed.

"So traveling alone?"

"I'm visiting someone."

"Ah, that's good, I was afraid you were going to spend Christmas working. Do you have a friend out there or a boyfriend waiting for you?"

"Sure, something like that." Lisbeth said bluntly, in short sentences trying to keep the chit chat to a bare minimum.

The old man reached for his ornaments and handed her a bottomless frog wearing a tuxedo jacket dancing with another frog with a red dress draped over its body, holding a rose in her mouth.

"Here you go. You can gift him this for Christmas. Hey, guys like gifts too y'know. Besides you look like a hopeless romantic" he chuckled. "It'll motivate him to take you out for salsa dancing!"

Lisbeth reached over and grabbed the ornament and thanked him. Then asked the old man if he could pull over for some coffee. "I need a picker-upper", she said though she was really worried if the vehicle was still on their trail.

The cabdriver pulled over to a small town diner by a rest stop. Lisbeth got out and headed inside peeking out from the window for the vehicle. She waited cautiously after placing her order in to go. If she saw them approach she would take over the drive, leaving the old man to hide in the restaurant.

The SUV finally parked from another end of the street while Lisbeth had been turned to the cashier. It parked on the side of the cab. Three men well dressed in floral designed dress shirts and dark jackets were inside, they wasted no time in looking for their clandestine hit in the taxi cab. They only found the friendly driver waiting by and put a few discreet bullets into his stomach with their silencers.

Lisbeth turned and her heart sank watching the old man's reaction through the windows as he pressed down onto his wounds and his head fell back into his seat almost peacefully as if he was sleeping. Anxiety and anger seemed to fuse together in her head while she was caught dumbfounded.

She had nothing in her possession to defend herself either. She walked back and stumbled against one of the tables, then noticed the few utensils there and stuffed some in her pockets.

"Number 11. Two coffees and two ham and cheese croissants."

Lisbeth turned over to the teenager behind the counter and gestured her to duck.

Two men from the SUV walked in as she stood there and made eye contact with them. Without so much as a hesitance, they raised their hands up to her and pointed their automated Uzis and unloaded. The restaurant, windows, walls and cash register were all impaled with the hailing bullets.

"Ha! You're going to make me very rich, bitch. No sense of running now, pendeja."

Lisbeth ran into the kitchen and tackled the teenager slow reacting to the situation. She pulled her arm and shoved her into the freezer along with the rest of the kitchen staff. Lisbeth grabbed the handle of the tomato soup on a pan boiling on the grill and placed it on the floor for easy access. The two men were still shooting towards her in the kitchen and cautiously moving closer.

Lisbeth waited at the precise time for the reload. She launched the bubbling molten juice towards the closest Hitman in her vicinity and watched him yell in agony cupping his parched skin.

The other man pulled out another handgun he had snuck in his back and tried to lift it but Lisbeth had jabbed a steak knife into his wrist first, slicing a major artery.

"Shit!" he yelled "Ah, shit. You stupid bitch!"

She hit him with a forceful kick between his legs and in a cat-like swiping motion gauged his eyes with a technique she learned in her military defense training. The man was left blinded and in horrible pain cowering down on his knees. Lisbeth stole his handgun and held it to his head but the man drenched in tomato juiced grabbed her from the back and put his entire weight on her.

Lisbeth while subdued tossed her head back and head butted him as hard as she could muster. He stumbled back and tried to gain his composure while his nose leaked. He pulled out a large combat knife he had kept in his leg sheath and held it out with his hand like a gladiator. Lisbeth stood unarmed staring at the handgun by her feet. She wouldn't have time to grab it, but instead prepared to put her krav maga training to use. 

"Come on, make your move, Mamón." she said in a low-tone to taunt him. She smiled bloodied teeth and all.

"Oh yeah? You want to dance with me, bitch? I'm going to skin your scrawny ass." he said huffing and puffing.

He made the first move and swung his knife down in a jackhammer type way. Lisbeth grabbed his wielding hand with both of hers using all her strength and kneed him twice in the stomach in a simultaneous motion. Then she grabbed the knife from his hand and aimed it to his chest. She pierced him in a few quick motions before pivoting and jabbing him in the back of his head with the sharp point of her knife. He seemed to choke on his saliva falling face first on the shiny restaurant floor .

Her moment to catch her breath was cut short as the third man walked into the door and riddled the area with every bullet in his chamber.

Lisbeth launched herself under the dining room tables across and noticed blood pooling under her knees. It felt like something had bitten her but she couldn't pinpoint the feeling through the adrenaline rushing in her veins. If it were a vital wound, she felt maybe she deserved it, so many innocent people had died in her crosshairs attempting to harm her. She was scared and rolling around with her sweat dripping from her entire body and a bloodied and swollen leg in pain. 

She felt the vibration in her body from the fear and anxiety kicking into her system, but they weren't really, they were the text messages buzzing by her pant pocket.

She listened to the foot steps and sporadic gun shots from the man closing in. Then one of the kitchen staff had dropped a porcelain plate on the floor, the man trying to kill her turned over. Lisbeth mustered any ounce of strength she had and launched her body on the hard tiles for the handgun she had dropped earlier. She pulled the trigger to a bulls eye shot in the middle of his forehead. It was the way she'd practice for those long 50 hour pre-Olympic weeks with her old 5.6 caliber pistols diligently watching the 10 and 25 meter targets.

"Please, let me go...I can pay you whatever you want" whispered one of the men holding pressure on his wrist to stop his hemorrhaging. His face was red and his eyes drooping with heavy eyelids struggling to open. He had lost the light of day in his eyes, and Lisbeth felt nothing for him when she placed the cold barrel onto his forehead and let the bullets pierce through him. He would take the same fate he gave the poor old man they left dying like a dog.

"They're gone!" she said to whoever was left breathing and frightened in the vicinity in the corners. "Those bastards are all gone..."  

She walked back to the cab, and watched him there expressionless and stiff, a sadness overcame her. Tears formed in her eyes as they sprinkled down on his body, tears that she kept isolated from bottled up emotions remembering the man she had loved in Quito who suffered the same fate. She quickly wiped them away as if they were shameful for her to have. Then she patted his pockets and pulled out the wad of money he left him.

"I'll make sure your family will get your last fare, Mr. Rodriguez."

She walked over to the SUV and checked her missed messages. It was information that would lead her to find out who the men were attempting to kill her.

The strangers were part of a group of Marijuana dispensary owners operating in Northern California with illicit ties to the cartel. Not that it mattered, she wasn't sure she had a future in the Golden State anymore.

Lisbeth made her way to a truck stop several miles down and tended to her wounds, luckily only bullet fractures had penetrated her. She made a few more calls over to other contacts, to clean up the mess and pay off some of the witnesses. Her Public Relations team would handle the rest, and provide her with an alibi, mold the story the way they wanted to, like they usually did.

She'd be back in time for the flight to the city of Angels with no more interruptions and her own unattended demons to deal with, just in time for Christmas.