Fixer #12

It was time to back up and think it all through. Emily sat down on the tan sofa because her legs were just about to give way. She closed her eyes and let all the myriad thoughts run through her brain. Sometimes she could quickly delineate a problem, but not today. The frustration rose as she did. Emily went over to the bar in the small living room. "What would she drink?" she trying thought, trying to put her mind at peace. She reached for the ice bucket and the martini shaker almost simultaneously. She put some ice in the shaker, followed by two ounces of Rangpur lime gin and one ounce of vermouth. After she shook the drink, she poured it into a chilled martini glass that she had graced with a lovely green Spanish olive and a splash of brine. What an extraordinary way to calm her mind! Perhaps she should call The Fixer and see if he wanted a drink. Hmm... she wondered. What was she going to do with the cross-drawing former partner? She really needed to discuss this with someone and the Fixer was it. The only one. She took out her portable comm.-portal and punched in the code for Mr. Black. He answered on the second ring. "I need you," she said. "Not now, I have two important meetings," he said. "Now! Meetings be damned. I need to go over all that's happened and figure out what to do next. It can't wait," she said. "I'll be there in 20. Make me one of those martinis. I'll be ready for it," and he signed off. Emily wasn't sure what she thought about Mr. Black, but he certainly piqued her curiosity. Thirty minutes later Mr. Black appeared at her door, but he wasn't alone. Damn, it was that Juneau look-alike. Emily flung the door wide and started to berate Mr. Black, but before she could get out even a syllable, Black hit the Juneau look-alike at the base of his skull and knocked him out cold. "Well that wasn't quite what I expected," Emily said. "I could really use that martini now," Mr Black grunted as he pulled the Juneau look-alike into the room. He left him by the door as Emily walked over to the bar to concoct the martini. "This idiot has been on my tail all day. He seemed to think that I was so dumb I wouldn't notice him in the background." "He's been following you all day?" she asked as she made a double martini for Mr. Black. "All bloody day. I finally had to come here, pretend to be surprised when he accosted me in the lobby, and then of course, I had to knock him on the head when we got here." "What are we going to do with this guy?" Emily asked, "We can't very well leave him here, I'd like to sleep easy tonight. That does pose a bit of a problem. He can't stay here and he can't stay upstairs in my room. Shall we dump him in a snowbank? I saw a great one about a mile from here, it's got a trash bin that would be ideal. I would like him to be further away though. Should we take him over to the jump station and hump him to the other side of the planet? That would give us a little lead time. "Sounds like a plan. Let me get my coat." Emily and Mr. Black picked up the body between them like you would a friend who had passed out after drinking too many dirty martinis. They hailed a cab, stopped at the jump station, and bought a ticket for the furthest possible point from the resort. It would take him at least a day to get back and hopefully by then both of them would be long gone. Back in her hotel room, Emily and Mr. Black finally had that martini they had both so badly wanted. "I almost fainted when I got your note about the woman, Avisha. Are you certain? I'm still having trouble processing it all."