The usual legal sounding crap about original story, strictly fiction, consenting adults. Blah, blah, blah...
The following events took place about two years prior to the incident at Club Phantom in Marseille.
Rita Ch. 02.3: Angels Take Wing
The Chrissy Woodhill Incident
Agent Miguel "Toro" Martin-Garcia sat in his pickup at the end of a long straight road of broken pavement. After a short wait, his GMRS radio beeped on channel five. He turned on his lights and flashed high beams.
"Eres tu, Toro?"
"Si amigo. Halfway down the road, bad potholes. Do a hop over them." Toro said.
He got nervous when he saw the familiar Cessna 172 on a low approach to the old road. The pilot dropped the flaps, throttled back and flared. The plane was equipped with big tires for landing on grass or dirt and bounced a few times. The pilot kept the ground speed up until he saw the washed-out gully that Toro called a pothole. He pulled back sharply on the yoke. The plane had just enough velocity to lift up and glide over the obstacle. A short taxi into braking near Toro's truck and kill the engine. The pilot and female partner hopped out and quickly pushed the Cessna off the road tail first.
"Hola, Toro. I am Charlie Brown. This is Lucy."
"The Peanuts Gang, funny. Welcome to Mierda de Perro. I'm sorry about the washed-out road, best around."
"It's OK. That is why I got here before dark. Now we wait." The pilot put out his hand. "Tony, call sign Charlie Brown. Thank you for the intel getting us here."
"Mierda de Perro? The town is called Dog Shit?" Rita asked.
Long ago it was named for a little desert flower. Now the town is occupied by packs of stray dogs and smells like "Mierda", so they call it that way."
"Dogs will be barking at us." Tony said in a thoughtful tone.
"Just promise me that you will not leave a blood bath to be cleaned up." Toro said. "If that is the case, I could have shot these assholes yesterday. They have made us all angry. They kidnap a girl and bring her into Mexico to make it look like Mexicans did it."
"If we do this fast, nobody gets hurt, and everyone walks away. Only, we will be walking in Texas with the girl."
"Tony, I'm going to set the lights out." Rita said. Rita pulled a box of cheap solar yard lights they had charged, from the plane.
"OK, Put two about ten meters this side of "Toro's Canyon." Tony said. "Then some at the end." Rita walked back up the road.
"I know this plane, Senor Brown. It has been here before with a pilot called Lord Byron. He works for 'The Company'."
"We are not CIA. We are private security. I got some help from a friend in that company." Tony said.
"Your partner is very pretty. This would be a great distraction to me." Toro said and took out a sheet of paper and spread on his truck hood. "Let me show you a map I made for you. This is a ghost town. The wells dried up and everyone moved away except two families and they are packed to leave. Keep a stick with you; hungry stray dogs are everywhere." Toro pointed out features on the map. "This is where my little duck blind is, I watch this area. This is the house where they are holding the girl. They have some twelve-volt lights and fans rigged, charging a battery with a solar rig. One of the men will be at this corner standing watch. He can see both the street and alley."
"If I want to get the man away from the corner, I need a great distraction." Tony said and smiled.
....
"Gatotito-tito-tito! Gatotito-tito-tito! Kitty, kitty, kitty." Rita worked her way up the street by the light of a half-moon. She moved randomly pretending to look under abandoned cars and in garbage cans. "Gatotito-tito-tito! Gatotito-tito-tito! Kitty, kitty." Rita kept the stray dogs barking. She did not carry a cudgel to fend off dogs so that she would appear more vulnerable. The lookout must surely have seen her by now.
Rita heard dogs barking loudly behind a nearby building. She took steps toward the ones following her to get them going. The street outside the house was a cacophony of barking dogs. 'That should be enough cover noise for you de Palma.' She thought. Rita turned and looked behind a car as a cover for checking her watch. Two minutes. "Gatotito-tito-tito! Kitty, kitty, kitty." She was almost there.
Suddenly a big heavy man with a beard stepped out of the front door. "What the fuck is with these shitty dogs?"
"Some bitch on the street looking for her cat." The lookout stepped out from behind an old refrigerator.
'There you are motherfucker.' Rita thought.
"Run her ass off. Somebody needs to shoot all these mangy cur." The big man grumbled as he went back inside.
Rita walked quickly to a spot near the cars used by the crew. "Gatotito-tito-tito! Gatotito-tito-tito! Kitty, kitty, kitty."
The lookout walked up to Rita. "Look lady there is no cat here. No gato! If there was a cat here the dogs would kill each other over it."
Rita saw Tony move behind the fridge where the lookout had been hiding. "Gatotito-tito-tito! Kitty, kitty, kitty. Mimi, mimi, mimi!" She called out.
Mimi was the name of Isabella Renard's prized Siberian cat. "Mimi" also started a ten second countdown in Tony's brain. He eased out from hiding. Seven... six... Tony stepped quietly. Five...
"Kitty, kitty, kitty." Rita called again.
"Fuck off, bitch, there is no cat."
"I know that..." In a flash, Rita's hand was at his throat and her double-edged boot knife was reflecting moonlight in his eyes.
The man tried to take a step back and reach for his gun, but he backed into Tony and found that another hand was already on his holstered pistol.
"Buy your life with silence." Rita said and continued to menace the man's eye with her blade.
"The lady means that if you make a sound that we don't approve of her knife will go in your chest. Now I need you to silently get in the boot of that Chevy. Your friends will get you out in a while. We only want the girl." Tony whispered and zip tied the man's hands behind him. He guided the man to the back of a Chevy Caprice and opened the trunk. He was not surprised to see it was set up for transporting the girl. There were cushions and a pillow and blanket. The emergency release was gone. "Looks comfy." Tony said putting the man in and gently pushing the deck lid shut.
Rita and Tony knelt in the dirt behind the car and whispered. "The door is not locked. I didn't hear it latch when the big man closed it." Rita sheathed her boot knife and slipped on a tennis visor she would need later. She also took a small, bright flashlight from her small pack.
"I was thinking you could run in naked and distract them." Tony said and gave her a quick kiss. He unloaded the lookout's pistol and discarded it. He put on a baseball cap with a mega-bright headlight affixed to it and drew his Glock 23 from a holster behind his hip. "We look like we are going frog gigging."
"Your nude ass would really blow their minds." Rita kissed him back. "Do the knock anyway and open it. I will go low and find the female abductor. The big man is more your type."
"OK, Two rooms to the left. The client is in the first. If that door is closed, pass it and clear the back bedroom. Front door is into a big room, couch on the right. Ready? Ten... nine..." Tony started a countdown.
"Sharpen your mind, eyes wide, Sara-Dina. Think fast. Move faster"
Rita's bare feet were silent on the front steps. Tony's sneakers provided the proper sound of one man. He used the 'secret knock' that Toro showed him. They did it so loudly that everyone around knew it. Rap... Rap-rap... Rap...
"It's open, dumbass." Came the voice from inside.
Rita nodded and opened the door as Tony turned on his headlight. Rita darted in staying low. Tony entered, 'slicing the pie' from right to left. He scanned the whole room in a second then focused his attention upon the portly felon on the couch rolling a marijuana cigarette.
"Woah, big fellow. Don't move and we will all see the sunrise." Without looking away from the man, Tony plucked his pistol from the coffee table. He punched the mag release and the magazine fell away. He braced the grip-frame against his hip and racked the slide with his palm. He shook the open gun and heard the live round hit the floor. Tony tossed the weapon aside having never looked away from the man and the front sight of his weapon. "Son, I am a professional. You are an amateur. Go for the shotgun and I will end you."
Eighteen seconds earlier...
Rita moved in quickly with caution. She saw the big man blinded by Tony's light. She used her visor to keep the light from her eyes. Look left, door closed, go on. Chair is empty. Light on, kitchen clear. Deep breath. Bedroom door...
"Hey! What the fuck?" A skinny girl with greasy black hair rolled off the bed. She looked away from Rita's light and made a move for the bedside table.
Back with Tony...
"You just keep holding that rolling paper with both hands. I'm going to move your shotgun, so you won't have to worry about it..."
"Gun!" Tony heard from the back room. He didn't flinch. A couple of thuds and a rumble, then click, click, thud. "Gun is clear, Charlie Brown." Some more thuds. "Stop it! Stop, I do not want to hurt you! Stop it!" Rita led the girl through the door. "Sit!"
But the girl ran past the kitchen chair and to the kitchen sink. She turned back with a boning knife in her hand.
"Calm down, silly bitch! Charlie Brown, she pulled a gun on me, now she has a knife. I might have to hit her." Rita said.
Tony nodded to the man. "Is that your girlfriend?" Tony dragged the shotgun away from the big guy.
"No, She's with the other guy. She's a pain."
"Lucy, greenlight on use of force. Start wrapping things up in there."
Rita had the girls knife wielding arm pinned, but she refused to drop the knife. "Drop it. Drop it. Drop it. Don't make me break your arm!" Rita barked and released her right hand and slapped the girl's cheek. "Drop the knife or I will hurt you."
There was a clattering sound when the knife fell into the sink, followed by a soft "oof" and some moaning.
"Good grief, Charlie Brown. Knife is clear."
"Lucy, I'm sure you ladies are having a grand time. I need a status on the girl, ASAP. But first I need you to help with 'big red's' situation." Tony kept his handgun pointed at the big man's face, where it had been since he entered the room. "Just chill, dude. Tension levels in this room are about to drop."
"Charlie Brown, you blockhead!" Rita said and laughed. She made quick work of lashing the girl to a kitchen chair with zip ties.
"She's been waiting to say that all day." Tony said.
"There has been this guy poking around. I think he's with the cartel." The large said.
"He is a cop. He felt sorry for you idiots. His attitude will change when we leave with the Woodhill girl." Tony said, fighting the temptation to look at his watch.
"Our guy outside, where is he?" The man asked.
