Chapter 6: An Old Friend

Elsa clutched her boarding pass as she walked towards the gate. Next to her was her sister and sister's boyfriend. A slight eye roll mixed with a scowl appeared on her face. How did she end up in this situation? Oh right, the second Anna found out what flight she was on, she had changed her tickets. Elsa had to hide the grudgingly look that was on her face. Not only were they sharing the same flight but the same hotel. This was going to be a nightmare. How was she supposed to do her job if her sister was constantly going to be around them?

Her phone buzzed and Elsa saw it was a message from Frosty. Goddammit, what did that boy want now?

Wishing you a safe flight

Elsa gazed at the text with a puzzled expression. Frosty didn't usually send her these kinds of messages. Surely there had some kind of double meaning? Elsa shook her head as she looked at the newest message that appeared. It was from North. To any person looking at the message, it would look like a string of random numbers but to Elsa, it was very important. They were coordinates to her rendezvous with the operative she was supposed to meet.

"Watcha looking at sis?" Anna appeared suddenly at her shoulder looking down at her phone.

"Nothing," Elsa quickly put her phone away so that Anna wouldn't start questioning the message.

"Next!" the lady behind the counter called them up.

Normally Elsa would fly under an alias but since she was flying alongside Anna and Kristoff, she was forced to fly under her own passport. At least if she was questioned about it, she would have a decent excuse. After skimming over the details of their tickets and looking at their passport, the lady waved them through.

Elsa took her seat on the plane next to the window while Anna took the middle seat and Kristoff the aisle. According to the flight plan, it should take about four hours and thirty minutes before they touched down in Austin. This would have been the perfect time to try and work out any kinks in her plan in the Senator's assassination but how could she when Anna was literally less than ten centimetres from her?

Once the plane was in the air, Elsa started to settle into her seat. Next to her, Anna and Kristoff were discussing their plans for sightseeing. Hmm, maybe she would be able to get something done? They seemed pretty distracted. Quickly getting out her laptop, she started skimming over the Senator's schedule for the day. It looked pretty straightforward to her. Nothing unusual there. Her eyes flicked to the important part – the details surrounding the ball. That was when she thought would be the best time to strike. If they can lure him out, she could take him out at a distance. She was a pretty decent marksman.

"What do you think Elsa?" Anna's voice snapped her back to reality. Suddenly, she was very aware of where she was; she was on a plane next to her sister. Snapping her laptop shut as so not to show Anna what she was working at, Elsa turned to look at her companions with a smile on her face.

"Sorry, was working," she said, extending the smile over her face, "what are we talking about?"

"About what museum we should go to first," Anna had her phone pulled out – connected to the plane's Wi-Fi – and was flicking between two websites. "I really want to go to The Blanton Museum of Art but Kristoff wants to go to Bullock Texas State History Museum. So, this makes you the tiebreaker. Where do you want to go first?"

"Anna, this isn't a holiday for me," Elsa surveyed her younger sister for a second. "The second we land; I have to meet my associate. You're just gonna have to go to these places without me."

"Elsa, when have you ever had fun?" Anna gave her sister a mocking look.

"Just the other day!" Elsa said, trying to get across how offensive she found this.

"Uh-ha," Anna raised an eyebrow, "what were you doing?"

Elsa squirmed in her seat. "Okay fine! I was arranging my photo albums!"

"As predicted!" Anna raised her hands in victory before leaning back in her seat.

The rest of the flight passed in reasonable comfort. Elsa didn't get any work done – well how could she when Anna basically asked her her what they should do when they all got free time together every four to five seconds. The three of them soon found themselves getting off the planer soon than they thought and walking down towards the main exit of the airport. Two phones went off at the same time; Kristoff's and Elsa's. Elsa got a text from North saying where she could meet her associate and that she should expect a surprise. This puzzled the young assassin. The identity of who she was helping wasn't something she had been enlightened to and now she was to expect a surprise? It better not be Frosty boy! A second text buzzed on her phone with a car's number plate. Nice, North had a car waiting for her. It might have been a little awkward hailing a taxi.

"Ugh, work is asking me to go to the station as soon as possible," Kristoff groaned. "They have a lead for me and need me down there."

"I am also needed straight away," Elsa said, tucking her work phone away into her pocket. "My associate is waiting for me."

Anna scowled. "Why are your works ruining our holiday time?"

"I know babe," Kristoff gave her a small kiss. "I hate this too. Work can be so annoying, right Elsa?"

"I don't know, I rather enjoy my job," Elsa shrugged.

"You need serious help if working in sales is fun," her sister responded. "Okay, guess I am on check-in duty. I'll go to the hotel and get set up but we all meet at the bar there for drinks and dinner – no exceptions!" Her eyes fell on her older sister. "That means you sister!"

"Sheesh, you miss one dinner three years ago and you pay for it for the rest of your life," Elsa muttered.

"You're damn right!" Anna called at her as she walked towards a taxi with their luggage.

Two policemen were waiting for them and signalled over at Kristoff when they arrived. After some quick introductions, the three of them left the airport leaving Elsa alone. The second they left; Elsa exited the airport in a different direction and soon found what she was looking for – a black sedan car with the number plate she had been texted. The keys were strapped to the front tire and soon she was in the car. The GPS was already preprogrammed to take her to a hotel that was a good forty minutes away.

Easing out of the carpark, Elsa smoothly drove the car down the Texan highways, keeping one eye on the GPS. The radio had been preprogrammed to a certain radio station and one of Rihanna's old hits – Don't Stop The Music – was already playing.

"I wanna take you away, let's escape into the music, DJ, let it play," sang Elsa as she tapped the steering wheel. "I just can't refuse it, like the way you do this."

The car speed down the highway towards her destination.

Kristoff was led into Captain Donavan's office at the Austin's homicide police department. Inside were two other detectives; a Detective McClain and a Detective Jones. The three of them were going over a case file that was in front of them. It was a murder of a local man, late fifties, found in his kitchen. There was no blood, no DNA, nothing. It looked eerily similar to the cases he had back in Burgess. It looked like the same too efficient of a clean-up job with the body being positioned in exactly the same way as his three victims. However, without any physical evidence, there wasn't anything distinctive linking the case to his ones expect maybe his gut.

"What do you think Detective?" the captain asked.

Kristoff continued to ponder before he placed the file down.

"Looks like a professional hit to me," he stated very calmly, "but I don't know if that links it to the ones I have."

"We thought it was a professional hit too," Detective Jones took the file in her hands and looked over it. "The clean up job just looked too damn good to me."

"Any motives?" Kristoff asked.

"The wife had recently found out the husband was having multiple affairs," Detective McClain said as she also looked over at the case file. "In the days prior to the murder, she had also taken out a fifty-thousand-dollar life insurance on him."

"Let me guess, she has an airtight alibi though?"

"Extremely," Detective Jones grimaced. "She was in Fiji at the time visiting her aunt at the time. Flights and witnessed confirmed this."

"Any money transfers?" Kristoff asked. "If this was a hit, she would have to pay it somehow."

"Several bank withdrawals of a thousand dollars in the weeks leading up to it," Detective McClain produced the wife's bank account and placed it front of Kristoff. "She claimed that they were for paying off a car loan that she had with her uncle which he confirmed but…"

"You don't buy it?" Kristoff raised his eyebrows.

"No, I don't," Detective McClain looked solemn. "The uncle also had a few similar withdrawals – six withdrawals of a thousand dollars each – five years ago but we couldn't link them to anything."

"So, we're thinking the uncle had a hit done five years ago and he advised his niece to do the same?" Kristoff couldn't believe this. It all sounded so crazy to him.

"That is what we are thinking," Detective Jones nodded. "The only death that we could link him to is the death of his business partner but the coroner ruled that death as natural causes – the man had brain cancer – so we came up with nothing."

Kristoff looked back at the file that was in front of him.

"These guys sound smart," he said as he looked at the picture of the victim. "I don't like that one bit." He handed the photo to the captain. "My three cases also had similar bank withdrawals and airtight alibis. I think it's the same hitman who is operating in two different states. Do you have any other similar crimes in the area?"

"Not that we could find," Captain Donavan stated, leaning back in his chair. "The only link between these four cases is the money trail."

"Also, the crime scene itself," Kristoff said. "The bodies are always positioned the same way. Not to mention the clean-up job."

"That is true," Detective McClain looked over the crime scene photos of all four cases. "Always the same way; face down, hands behind the back as if they are tied. This is very interesting." She gave Kristoff a long stare as if she was trying to read his soul. "Thank you, Detective, you have been very helpful. We will follow up with the wife. Who knows? Maybe she will give up the name of the hitman she hired."

"Thank you for inviting me," Kristoff shook all three policemen's hands. "I'll be in the area for a few more days so feel free to contact me should you need me."

"Will do," the captain held open the door and allowed Kristoff to exit his office.

Kristoff left the office with his head spinning. Whoever this hitman was, they sounded smart and if there was something he hated more than anything, it was a smart criminal.

The forty minutes soon found themselves passing by and Elsa found herself at relatively modest motel.

"Your destination is on the left," her GPS said.

"Thank you, Lola," Elsa said, as she turned into the motel's carpark which a small chuckle as she referenced one of her favourite movies.

Shutting the engine off, she checked her phone again as another text came through. All it said was 'Room 206'. Guess that is where she is meeting her contact. Grabbing her bag and hoisting it over her shoulder, she made her way towards room two hundred and six. It was on the upper level and faced towards the street. Although there wasn't really much of a view from any room. Elsa knocked three times and a voice that sounded oddly familiar called out 'enter'.

Elsa barely had time to take in the small room – one double bed opposite small TV – before the sound of a click was right next to her ear. It was the unmistakable sign of a gun's safety catch being removed.

"Don't move," said a voice – seriously why did it sound so familiar – to her.

Elsa only grinned. In one swoop – so quickly that it caught the other person off guard – she managed to grab the wrist of her attack and slam her to the ground. The gun was forced from the hand and she kicked it across the floor.

"Still as good as ever, eh Elsa?" the other person said with a smirk.

"Merida!" Elsa exclaimed with a grin coming over her face. Helping her old friend up, she looked at her and took in everything about her. "I haven't seen you in ages! I didn't know you were my contact!"

"I asked North to keep it a secret," Merida grinned at her old friend and continued to speak in her strong Scottish accent. Merida took a seat at the table in the room and put her feet up. "Wanted it to be like old times huh?"

"Basic training was a long time ago," laughed Elsa, also taking a seat opposite Merida. "But if I remember correctly, I still kicked your ass."

Merida scowled but still looked amused. "Fun times," a look of comfort came over her as she went on a trip down memory lane. "But we are not here to discuss old times, are we?"

"Why are we here? North didn't give me much."

For an answer, Merida showed Elsa her tablet that had an image of a man on it. The man looked around to be in his thirties or forties with a clean-cut and a tan jacket on. Elsa recognised him straight away.

"That's Doctor Ralph Reinsturt," Merida said,

"Doesn't he own some huge pharmaceutical company?" Elsa enquired, handing back the tablet. "Build a brighter future or something, that's all I remember."

"Loizer Pharmaceuticals," Merida nodded. "He is the current CEO of the company and our client wants to take him out."

"Does the client give a reason?"

For an answer, Merida flicked to the next page on her tablet. It was the headline of a local newspaper; "Loizer Pharmaceuticals In Yet Another Fraud Scandal". Elsa took the newspaper and skimmed the first paragraph. Ah yes, now she remembered how she knew the name. Loizer Pharmaceuticals were often in hot water regarding fraud and bribery scandals. However, they would always slip out of trouble at every turn. The amount of people who were aggravated by this probably lay in the millions. Any one of them could be their client who was paying them for this job.

"Oh yes, I remember reading about this," Elsa said as she continued to scan the first paragraph. "Weren't they accused of stealing millions from their customers and shareholders and providing half-baked pills that actually didn't do what they said they did?"

"It was never proven though," Merida sighed as she put away her tablet. "All the evidence the police had was very circumstantial. A criminal case couldn't be made." Merida paused for a moment as she surveyed her friend for a reaction.

Elsa didn't respond. She just continued to read the newspaper article.

"So why do you need help?" Elsa asked her old friend as she looked up from the newspaper article. "You are a formidable assassin yourself. I've seen you with a bow and arrow and may I say there is no one better."

"Flattery will get you everywhere," Merida said with a chuckle and a wink. "Unfortunately, because of this guy," Merida opened her tablet again. It showed a boy about their age looking quite dapper with picture-perfect blonde hair and in a handsome suit and bowtie. He looked oddly familiar to her. Where had she seen him before? "Meet the heir to the pharmaceutical company, Alexei Reinsturt."

"Why does that name sound familiar?"

"Remember Jessie?" Merida had a small glint in her eyes while Elsa nodded. Jessie was in their basic training and she was quite good but she recently gave it up to become a Broadway star – it was not going well for the young actress. "She may have dated Alexei and may have accidentally told him about her previous employment and may have given him some details on other assassins including yours truly." Merida finished with some finger guns and a sarcastic grin. Elsa rolled her eyes and tried to resist smirking. "So as soon as I would get close, Alexei would alert security and believe me when I say that Reinsturt has major, major security. So, I wouldn't be able to get anywhere near the target or even near the location without a cavity search. This is why I will need an extra pair of hands and I picked yours!" Merida wiggled her eyebrows at her friend and did more finger guns at her which only made Elsa laugh. "So, you ready for this?"

"Absolutely," there was a glint in her eyes as the idea of a super dangerous and filled with the extreme likelihood of getting caught at every turn, "when do we start? Do we have any plans in motion?"

"This weekend," Merida's eyes lit up at Elsa's response. "He is a special guest speaker at the Nurse's Conference and I just happened to score us both VIP passes."

A/N: Guess who's back with a brand new chapter! Hope you guys enjoy it!

Collington: IKR she is in for such a ride! Aw thank you! I accept this headcannon.