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SUZANNE VERASSING IGNORED the muffled cries from an industrial sized dryer at the New Mexico Correctional Facility and nonchalantly walked out of the laundry and down the hall to the kitchen. That will teach that bitch to cut in front of me at the cafeteria. Now to whip up a batch of brownies for my dear friend, the Warden.
In the kitchen as Suzanne began to make, her get out of jail faster, brownies for the warden, an explosion rocked the building. The far wall suddenly had a massive opening the size of a one-car garage door, through which a masked man in black, toting an AR15 rifle, now entered. He ran toward Suzanne and told her, “Come with me if you want freedom.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Suzanne replied as she dropped her bowl of batter. Anything to get out of this hole.”
Amongst more explosions at different areas around the prison, Suzanne and the masked man ducked through a newly made hole in the fencing surrounding Suzanne’s latest home, and ran toward a minivan parked by an access road to the penitentiary. When Suzanne hopped in the van, she saw there was another passenger.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Suzanne asked, and then turned to the masked man now seated in the driver’s seat. “Who are you and why are you doing this?”
“You can call me Joe. You have inside knowledge of Lexi Corp, their formulas, and their employees, correct?”
“Yes, but...?”
“Yes, well, he’s a consultant like you. We need specialized people to recognize the formula in all forms written and physical. Need to cover all bases.”
“But, he’s a fucking...”
“Noo, noo ah aye thought we git alang famously. Ah aye admired ye fae afar 'n' now...”
“Shut it Conner, or I will throw you out of this van. God of all the idiots to be teamed up with and I get stuck with a second-rate chemist who thinks he’s a leprechaun.”
“What? That’s not. What do you mean, second- rate? You twisted Betty Crocker.” Conner shouted in his normal voice.
“Quiet. You two will play nice. When I stop, we are going to change vehicles and” looking at Susan, Joe said, “You need to change out of your prison clothes.”
He drove a few miles then turned down an alley and parked behind a black SUV (Audi Q7). Joe exited the van checked the area and then waved them over to the Audi. Inside the SUV he stripped out of his black BDUs and into a polo shirt and khakis. He handed a bag containing clothes and a wig to Suzanne and told her to change as well.
After they were newly outfitted, Joe turned to Suzanne. “How would you like to finish the job that you started at Lexi? That is, finding the people that started this formula mess and make them pay for this worldwide disaster?”
“You had me at finish the job, but go on. Where are our targets?”
Joe turned in his seat and pointed at a map of the state. “We are just leaving here,” and pointed to a spot on the map.”
“Yes, Grants, lovely little town, I may just come back and retire if I turn senile. So where are we headed?” She followed his finger to a spot on the map just south of Grants. “Mother...” and turned to Joe who nodded. “You mean I’ve been practically in sniping distance of those, those...” as Suzanne was searching for an appropriate word she had grabbed an edge of the map and was slowly squeezing it toward her.
“Hey watch it.” Joe snapped and snatched his slightly crumpled map away from Suzanne.
“What’s with the old school map? You stuck in the twentieth century?”
“It’s hard to clone a paper map. We’re a little over two hours from target house.”
Suzanne put her hand over her heart and sighed, “My Prince Charming has finally arrived.” She pushed a hovering Conner away from her and snapped, “What are we waiting for? Let’s get going.”