The South American Incident-01

Bogota, Columbia.

Ken waited until the very end to get off the flight he took from Moscow. As he walked into the terminal, he saw the woman who summoned him waiting there, holding a sign that bore his full name. He smiled, walked up to the woman and embraced her in a mighty hug.

"Marisol!" he said, "It's good to see you!"

Marisol, a head shorter than the American, had to stand on her toes to reach him. She kissed him on the cheeks.

"I am glad that I reached you. You are so hard to find."

Ken smiled. "I move around a lot."

Marisol took Ken in one arm and lead him down the terminal towards the baggage claim area. She nodded to one of the nearby uniformed men, and he spoke into a walkie-talkie.

"My security detail will join us shortly." she said.

"Detail? I heard that you married well, but I had no idea-"

"My husband is one of the bravest men in Columbia, a judge known to resist the cartels."

Ken chuckled. "That has to be why you couldn't talk on the phone."

"Indeed, it is. Our old friends said that you hadn't changed since university, so I knew that if I could find you-"

"-I would come to your aide. True."

The two of them soon found themselves flanked by plain-clothed men with the gait and demeanor of bodyguards.

"Let us wait until we get into the car before I explain further why I need your help. For now, just tell me why you were in Russia. For a woman? For a friend?"

Marisol stared into Ken's eyes.

"Or was it something...more personal?"

Ken sighed. "Gregor. I tracked him down to St. Petersburg. I finally got him in Moscow. I got my ring back when you called. It's good that you called when you did because it gave me the cover I needed to escape his family."

Marisol gasped. She noticed a string around Ken's neck, and a ring under his shirt.

"I remember." she said, "Gregor just laughed when the police arrested him for Keiko's murder."

"Diplomatic status means nothing to a Kalashnikov rifle in my hands."

Marisol nodded. This was the Ken she remembered from her university days all right.