Waking Up

I woke to the ominous bum-bum-bum bump-babum bump-babum of the Imperial March.

I fumbled to reach my phone on the night stand and failed to get it before it went to voicemail. Annoyingly, they called back a few seconds later. I groaned at the aching pain in my jaw that had manifested since last night and answered, "Hey, boss."

In a patient tone, he said, "Alexandra, I'm going to put this simply, what have you gotten yourself into?"

The way Andrew could calmly ask the question was a little reassuring, despite the fact that he was on the other side of the continent.

"Uh, where to start? Um, so basically I arrived in Mexico yesterday morning and went to the place my sister was starting with her friends. They weren't home and the place was a mess, so I cleaned up, then lay outside getting a sunburn. There was a note saying that they were going sailing with some guys they met and they'd meet me at a club that night. I went into town and ate at a restaurant that didn't taste anything like that taco cart near the office. Can you believe that?"

"Focus, Alexandra."

With a sigh, I continued, "Then, I got a text from my sister's phone saying that I should meet her at this lot surrounded by industrial buildings. I went there and a guy greeted me. He asked for money to enter the club, so I paid him. Then, he pointed me in the direction of the supposed club and I began that way. He grabbed me from behind and I {if@ carCrash < 1} bit him. We fought and I kept biting him. I obviously hit an artery or something and he... he bled to ****. After the adrenaline wore off and I collected myself,{else} I screamed, but it didn't matter. The man cooked me ****. I woke in the back seat of his car with my hands zip-tied as he drove out of town. Deciding my best choice was to try and escape, I caused a car accident. When I woke, I found my captor was dead, I was alive, if a little worse for wear, and no sign of the other vehicle. Once my head stopped spinning,{endif} I found his phone and called the office. I talked to the new girl, Kate. She transferred me to someone in Tech, who said he'd copy the guy's phone. Then, I drove the guy's car back to the place in staying, showered off all the blood, and went to sleep."

My boss didn't say anything, undoubtedly running through the implications of everything I told him.

"Uh, boss, are you there?" I asked nearly two minutes later.

"Yes, Alexandra," he replied.

I inferred that he was thinking and didn't want to be disturbed, so I waited.

"Alexandra, what is your current location?"

I gave him the address.

"Are you armed?"

"Yeah, left and right."

"If that's a joke, it isn't funny."

"Sorry, sir. And, no, I don't have a gun."

"I'm sending a taxi to collect you. I'll text you the plate number. Take the taxi to Los Cabos International Airport and pick up the ticket from the concierge. You'll be flying to San Diego where you'll meet the local agents. I'll text you that address."

"Should I just leave everything here?"

"Leave it all. Get to San Diego," he said and hung up.

Wondering what sort of bureaucratic nightmare must be taking place that would have my boss telling me to leave the country, and seriously considering disobeying so that I could pursue my sister... with my only lead being the mention of some guys at the yacht club, but it was a start.

The text said the taxi was forty minutes out, so I headed to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

The sight that was reflected in the mirror surprised me enough that I had to do a double take at my own appearance. Gone was the cherry red skin of yesterday, instead replaced by undamaged skin so light it made my usual office worker pallor seem downright colorful. Furthermore, I looked for the bruises that I got during last night's attempted abduction{if carCrash > 0} and car crash{endif}, but they were gone. There wasn't even so much as an ache where they'd been, though head and jaw throbbed enough to make up for it.

I said a reflexive, "Thank you," Heavenward to a god I hadn't really followed since I moved away to college, and got dressed for the day in a pair of shorts, a nondescript tee-shirt and my jogging shoes, choosing to forego makeup, save for a layer of lip gloss.