Marcie stirred as the plane's wheels touched down onto the landing strip, causing her to bump into the man sitting next to her.
"Are you awake?" Agent Lester asked. Marcie noticed how the color and flushed back into his pallid face and his hands no longer clutched onto the arm rests now that he was back on ground. It made her giggle that such a large man could be weakened to a puddle of sweat just by a little airplane ride.
"Did you sleep at all?" she asked him, looking at the digital time that blinked on a screen that read, "Destination arrival: 1:34." She herself had slept through most of the 14 hour flight.
"No." Agent Lester said plainly, attempting to straighten his sweat stained suit.
After some time passengers were allowed to begin to gathering their luggage out of the overhead carriers and leave the plane. Marcie made to get up but Agent Lester shook his head.
It had taken quite a while for Marcie to get used to the fact that she was invisible and even now she had her slip ups. Of course it would be alarming for a green army style backpack to go floating off the plane, and through the airport. Annoyed, Marcie had to watch as everyone exited the plane. Most of those who had shared the ride to Addis Abba, the capital to the eastern African country of Ethiopia, had been people on business with a few fanny pack tourists thrown in. The last to get off was an elderly couple who struggled with their heavy carry-on. Once they were out of vision Marcie looked back up to her companion but his stoic face stared straight forward. She slumped down into her seat.
She was never told anything, apparently for security reasons but really, it was ridiculous. She had left Sunnydale (though, she admitted that wasn't exactly her choice), She had trained two years for her first important over-seas mission, she had worked her body to new limits, she had learned how to control her invisibility and she had to complete this mission. It wasn't the pressure of how everything resided on her shoulders that frustrated her immensely, it was the fact that no one would trust her enough to actually tell her exactly she was here to do.
One forty five rolled by and Marcie and Agent Lester sat alone in the plane until nearly ten minutes after two. She looked up from sulking just in time to see a flight attendant walk out of the plane bathroom and towards them. Marcie recognized her as the women who had brought two servings of dinner and peanuts to Agent Lester, one of which Marcie ate in the bathroom. It should have occurred to her then the flight attendant was somehow in on it. As she approached, Marcie noticed that she was considerably younger than she had first appeared to be. Without the blue hat and scarf she had been wearing before, she could have 20, maybe even Marcie's age.
"Agent Lester?" she inquired, with a light accent, and then added "Marcie?" with a look to the empty seat.
"And where does the dove fly?" Agent Lester asked without getting up.
"Through the nest of the kookaburra."
"Alright, Marcie. We don't have much time, Fatima here was late." He gave her a chastising look as they shuffled from their seats.
Marcie could hear Fatima grumble something under her breath as she popped the overhead luggage carrier and unloaded Marcie's backpack, which she swung over her own back. Agent Lester found his sleek black briefcase, and they disembarked from the plane. They weaved through the crowds, Marcie wishing she hadn't needed to be invisible as she had to be extra careful not to brush up against anyone. She had taken this up on the plane with Agent Lester only to be told, "Confidentiality is key, they mustn't know we have sent anyone." And when she had questioned further asking who "they" were, and he had replied, "It will all be explained once you are stationed." Whatever that meant.
They made it out of the plane boarding area and as they passed the conveyer belt bringing larger checked in luggage Marcie asked if they were forgetting her bags.
Looking to his watch Agent Lester muttered, "It's been taken care of."
Continuing through the food court and outside to where taxi's lined the street, Marcie looked around. There was so much to take in. Not only the people, the smell, but also the heat. She felt her clothes sticking to her with sweat and cursed the invisibility accessory specialists who had made her visibility-altered clothes. Making a mental note to ask for something made of lighter material, Marcie made do with tying back her hair and rolling up the sleeves of her tight fitting shirt.
Agent Lester and Fatima, who had been walking slightly ahead of Marcie, stopped quite suddenly and she ran into them. They ignored her muffled squeak as she massaged the spot where her nose had collided with Agent Lester's muscular shoulder.
"They are waiting in that red van over there." Fatima said and as if confirming this, the old red Volkswagen shuddered giving a large clunk.
Agent Lester nodded and then turned around; looking around until Marcie cleared her throat. "I'm right here."
"Ah, very good. Marcie this is where I leave you. All the necessary information will be waiting for you at your destination, along with the rest of your luggage. If you need to contact me, or you need counsel from the invisibility specialists, you can reach us through Fatima. If it is more… urgent, there are directions waiting for you at your new home as well." He gave an awkward pause as he switched his brief case from one hand to the other and looked to his watch.
"I have to catch another plane in fifteen minutes." He nodded to Fatima and then to Marcie before turning and walking away.
As Marcie watched him leave she felt somewhat abandoned. No, she had never been close to Agent Lester but, she had become accustom to his concise manner. She felt silly for expecting something more from his good bye but at the same time felt he could have at least told her "Good Luck". She had known him for the last two years after all. Marcie ripped her glance from Agent Lester's back and to the red van. Her stomach flipped, her nerves hitting her for the first time.
Fatima touched her hand gently as if sensing Marcie's apprehension.
"Come, Marcie."
They crossed the street, Marcie sticking close to Fatima as cars were zipping inches from them, honking and yelling at each other from their windows.
Once the two made it to the van the rusty door slid open to reveal an interior very unlike it's exterior.
"Be quick about it then." A deep voiced bristled while strong dark arms helped pull them inside. Immediately after the door slide shut they lurched forward and joined the crazy mass of cars, weaving in and out.
Marcie looked around, taking in where she was. Two men who, she presumed to be Ethiopians and the ones who had pulled her into the car, sat in the seat behind the one she shared with Fatima. Both looked to be in their mid-thirties and tapped away at laptops quietly. Screens lined the walls not consumed by the long tinted windows and showed diagrams and maps.
Fatima was arguing with the driver. He barely could see over the dashboard but it didn't seem to worry him. He laughed as he cut off a blue taxi, and then yelled, "Eff you, Bastard!" when the same was done to him.
"Mary, stop him! He's going to kill us all!" Fatima screeched as he turned a corner so fast that they momentarily left the ground on the right side of the car.
The woman, Mary, who sat in the passenger seat ignored Fatima and put her feet up on the dashboard. Her greying hair and lined face reminded Marcie of her own mother. She quickly pushed these thoughts from her head.
They came to a red light.
"Don't be such a wuss Fatima!" the driver said, turning around. His pale face, only colored by his peeling sunburned nose and an array of freckles, portrayed pure delight at seeing Fatima's annoyance and fear.
"I'm the driver, deal with it." He concluded, turning back and stepping full on the gas.
Fatima let out a large sigh of exasperation and string of words Marcie couldn't understand. Titters from the backseat gave her a pretty good idea of what they meant though.
Mary turned around in her seat, nodding to the only empty space in the van.
"Welcome to the crew, Marcie."