SIX YEARS AGO

Fred held his stomach with a look of pain on his face. “Why do you have to be a cheap shot artist?”

“Oh shut up and be a man about it. Now, explain yourself before I hit you again.”

Fred shook his head. “The Bali mission, it’s an exchange op, yes?”

“Yeah. Basically, a bribe exchange. I’ll be there, or would’ve been there, for two days to meet the Kavanese Minister of Tourism. We give him a million dollars in gold in exchange for his vote on us getting a hundred percent of the oil rights. We pretty much have every one of their twelve ministers sewn up except this one. It would’ve been a diplomatic mission, except we’re not friends with them. So, any public business would draw a massive outrage everywhere, not that I care, but country needs. What say do I have in any of it anyway?”

“Lexi, have you ever seen a mission that simple before? Diplomatic-looking mission, exchange mission, looks like a simple vacation? In this agency?”

“Well, it’s a spy op of sorts too. There will be another team doing some investigating at the guy’s house while we’re with him.”

Fred turned and faced her. “Lexi. The Kavanese Minister of Tourism? We put him there.”

Lexi furrowed her brow. “What do you mean?”

Fred continued. “Ever hear about Operation Sunflower?”

“Who didn’t? It was the gold standard of ops at the agency for a long time until I came along with Operation Milk The Cow. Boom!”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re a star, whatever. One of the keys to our victory was to get an inside man who could smooth our way through the area. In exchange, we would get him into the new government with whoever we chose as president. We wanted to put him in defence, but he was too loose of a man to be taken seriously anywhere. So we chose tourism. All he does is fuck whores, fuck the other ministers’ wives, and party like an animal, but he serves his purpose for us, so we keep him happy.”

Lexi now looked lost. “Wait. If we own the guy, then why the hell was there going to be a mission to bribe him? Did he forget his purpose?”

“Quite the contrary, actually. He’s been instrumental in our business interests in that region of the world. The agency only sets up missions like that to take out trash. It was a setup, Lex.”

*****

PRESENT DAY

The sound of the pilot’s announcement woke Sena up. From what she could piece together, they had to return because they’d been in the air too long and landing was not going to happen anytime soon.

She would have been bummed, but for reasons she had yet to fully grasp, she was extremely horny. She tried to control herself, but she couldn’t resist rubbing her own hands over her neck and her chest.

Linda was watching on the monitor and saw her reacting. She smiled.

“Spanish fly and apple juice. Marica, you genius.”

******

Mansura walked over to the bar to fix a drink. “Single malt on the rocks for you, red wine with a shot of tequila for me. Just like old times.”

She brought Fred’s over to him, clinked her glass against it, and drank hers. She looked at him, as though waiting for him to lift his glass, and then she walked over and picked it up. “Good. I needed to make sure Linda’s potion was as effective as she said. She’s prone to overselling sometimes.” She drank his as well, and then slammed the glass on the drink stand in front of him.

“So, Agent Lucius, how the hell have you been? It’s been, what, five, six years now since we last saw each other? The way I remember it, we were just about to jump into a jungle together. The guy who was our handler, what was his name again? Charles…Charlie…Carlson! Yes, Carlson gave us our final instructions and then wished me luck. He didn’t say anything to you, but then you and him tended to fight a lot, so I didn’t make anything of it.

“And then I jumped, and then you jumped, but then only one of our parachutes worked, and guess what? We were going in separate directions! Would you look at that plan.”

*****

SIX YEARS AGO

“Lucius. You’re not making any sense. Why the hell would they send me there on a cleanup mission?”

Fred got up and went to grab two beers from the hotel fridge. He opened both and handed one to Mansura. “Not a cleanup mission. An execution. Think about it. The minister is our guy, the president is our guy, we pretty much run everything over there. What better place is there to get rid of one of your own?”

Mansura sipped on her beer while she sat in thought. Fred went on. “You would never have found that mission in the official logs because it was code grey. Only two people ever know the details of a trash day mission: The executer and the executed.”

“That’s both of us, Lucius.”

“No, its not. I only knew because I’ve done one of those before. Its always the same pattern, unless you know what to look for. Who told you about the mission?”

Lexi started to shake her head. “No, it can’t be that person. I’ve known him since my first day of training. He’s how I even got to this stage of my career.”

“Well, if it’s Carlson, you should know that he’s good with you until it no longer serves his plans.”

“I know you and him have this massive thing going on.”

“I promise you, Lexi, it’s not personal. I just don’t trust a man who would go to the lengths that he does.”

“Well, I trust him.”

“Like I said, only two people ever know about a trash mission. You’re one, he’s the other. So which one of you was supposed to be killed?”

*****

PRESENT DAY

Linda walked over to a fully repressed Sena, who was literally pinching herself to try to resist the strong urge to do something crazy. “Would you like anything?”

Sena barely turned her head and quickly answered, “No thanks.”

Linda was done playing pretend. She took Sena’s hand and gripped it firmly enough to withstand Sena’s attempt to pull it away. “I know what you need. Come with me.”

Sena tried to resist but something about Linda’s presence was melting her entire mind. Linda just stood there, holding her hand and waiting with a smile. She watched as Sena’s resistance melted faster than paper that had just been exposed to a flame. As soon as Sena’s eyes glazed over, she knew she had her.

She leaned in close to the nape of Sena’s neck and whispered behind her ears, “I got you.”

They walked the length of the plane into first class, where there was a giant screen waiting. “What’s that for?” Sena asked.

Linda turned to her with a smile. “Don’t worry, dear. That’s for later. Right now, I just want you to relax.” She handed Sena a drink.

“There was never anyone else on this flight, was there?”

“There were, but we had to make a special exception for you for your anniversary. Drink up.”

Sena obeyed like a zombie and drank Linda’s concoction, which put her in a trance. The entire world around her became a blur, even her hearing.

She could feel it when multiple hands started to hold her, but it all felt like a dream. Even as the hands lifted her and started to carry her, she felt like she was on a bumpy cloud. She was absolutely unconscious but somehow also just awake enough.

*****

SIX YEARS AGO

Fred put down his beer and took both of Mansura’s hands. “This new mission is complex. Its an infil/exfil. You know how it goes, things get heavy, explosions happen, people are lost in the line of duty, that sort of thing. I’m not going to lie, it’s a lot more dangerous than all the other ones. Its not a finesse mission; its guerrilla warfare and anything could happen. But, I know a few people in the region. If we play it well, we could get you retired and set for life.”

Mansura held Fred’s hands while she pondered what he’d just said. “Lucius, that sounds very tempting. You know how much I’ve wanted to leave the agency. Their no-exit policy sucks all kinds of ass, but I can’t leave like a coward. If I choose to leave, I have to do it on my own terms. You need to get me off this mission.”

“Lexi, think about what you just said. This agency has been around for more than fifty years. No one has been able to buck the system all this time, and you think you’re going to be the first?”

Mansura snatched her hands away. “So you’re saying you don’t believe in me?”

It was now Fred’s turn to be surprised. “You think I would recommend you for a high-stakes mission if I didn’t trust you?”

Mansura was now on her feet and finding her clothes. “So because I let you blow my back out, you now want to decide for me what I can and cannot do? So disappointing. I thought you’d be different. ”

She furiously put on her pants and picked up her shirt. Fred tried to take her hand but she yanked it and gave him a deathly look, “Don’t touch me.”

He tried again.

“Don’t touch me! Such a goddamn man.”

As she put on her shirt, Fred slumped into the chair. “Lexi, I don’t know how you got that from anything I said. My point is that you have much better odds of escaping jungle warfare alive than you do trying to change this system.”

Lexi picked up her shoes. “So you’d rather see me fighting for my freedom in a warzone rather than a boardroom? Fuck you.”

She stormed towards the door.

Fred got up and went over to try to stop her, and ended up being rocked by a fiery slap which rung around the room. She slammed the door in his face.

*****

PRESENT DAY

Mansura fixed herself another drink at the bar and picked up a remote control which was behind the counter. “You know, you would have gotten away with it too, had it not been for the trees of the jungle. But, I digress. You gave me a big surprise that day. Allow me to return the favor.”

She hit the button on the remote, which opened up yet another hidden door.

Six men walked in, carrying Sena, and dropped her gently onto the bed.

Fred was immobile, but his heart rate was visible through his chest as it tripled, and his mind screamed.

While two of the men held her down, the other four systematically stripped her down to the bone. Fred began to scream, fearing the worst, which made Mansura burst out laughing.

“I wish I were that cliché, Lucius. Good for me that I’m not.”

Once they were done, the two men who had held Sena down handcuffed her to the bed. Then they all walked out with Sena’s clothes while Linda walked in with a small bag. She took out what looked like a red thong and slipped it onto Sena. Then she took off the cuffs and handed them to Mansura on her way out.

Well, well, well! It is really bad. And she’s going all out. Damn!