Zondra's tale. No apologies for the Chondra, I blame Mercedes Masohn.

Chapter 3

Late that evening Zondra logged into a private account on the galoismedia site. She sent a message that she had news for Charles and soon an uncharacteristically disheveled face appeared in video chat. "Good morning my deadly stone bullet," Chuck said with a smile, then glanced at something slightly off camera and added, "or should I say, good evening. It looks like you're in Singapore?"

"That's right," Zondra confirmed. "You'll never guess who I ran into here."

"JeeJa Yanin?" Chuck guessed with a smile. "I've heard she's got a new project in the works. Have you had a chance to spar with her?"

"Not even close," Zondra laughed. "No, it's your old friend Sarah Walker."

"Really? You're right, I never would have guessed," Chuck was genuinely surprised. "Is she still working for the Gentle Hand?"

"No, I honestly don't think she ever was," Zondra replied, pleased her news had managed to ruffle her frustratingly unflappable friend. "I'm here with the fourth member of a team that used to hunt Gentle Hand. They had turned one of us and the traitor claimed she had been recruited by Sarah. Carina and I got a tip that Sarah was here and we came to take her down."

"It looks like there is still a reward for her capture," Chuck said glancing aside again. "What makes you think she's innocent?"

"She spent a year working for an Indonesian gang before she got a job working for the Shang family. What we know fits her story that she was burned by Shaw in an unauthorized decapitation strike on the Ring a lot better than her being a double agent for Gentle Hand," Zondra explained.

"Does your friend Carina agree with your analysis?" Chuck asked thoughtfully.

"She's the one who convinced ME," Zondra admitted.

"Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention, Zondra," Chunk said warmly. "How can I ever repay you?"

"Mix me a double batch of 'The Harder They Fall'?" Zondra replied with a smile. "And a TRIPLE batch of 'The Harder They Come'. I'll be at Raffles for another five or six days. Bring my scents and I'll throw in a free introduction to Sarah and Carina."

"It will be my pleasure," Chuck's smile was warm, but Zondra caught the slight retraction of his lips around the canines that suggested an underlying hint of aggression.

The next day Zondra started with some laps in the pool. She invited Sarah but her old friend was still shy about appearing in public as she still had a price on her head. They had lunch in Carina's suite and Zondra decided that an afternoon of lingerie shopping might be fun. She tried telling herself it was just another way to relax but that lie wore thin quickly as she found herself having to pass up the most expensive items as too big a hit on her sadly depleted bank account. She settled on an affordable set she thought Charles would appreciate and double checked her balance.

"What the actual fuck?" Zondra stared at her balance in disbelief. As she scrolled through recent transactions she verified that her $250,000 payment to the Shang family had been reversed. She rebooted her phone and checked again but the mysterious reversal was still there. She set the lingerie aside and made her way to Sarah as quickly as possible.

"Sarah, something went wrong with my payment to the Shang," she said nervously. "I don't want them to think I'm trying to scam them. Who should I call to straighten this out?"

Sarah paused for thought, then scrolled through her phone, staring intently. She gave Zondra the number of an executive secretary. Zondra quickly dialed and said, in her meekest tone, "I'm sorry to bother you but I'm afraid there may have been a problem with a recent payment I made to the family to apologize for a personal indiscretion. I am anxious not to compound my original error by poorly executing my apology. I assure you I am truly sorry and will do whatever it takes to make it right."

After getting the name and the amount, the secretary put her on hold. Zondra was sweating as the minutes ticked by. Finally the secretary came back on the line, "Thank you for your patience, miss. The error was entirely on the side of Family Shang. We were unaware of your affiliation when the fine was imposed. Please accept our sincere apologies and consider the family completely satisfied."

"I'm terribly sorry sir," Zondra replied. "I truly regret continuing to take up your time but it is only out of the deepest respect for your illustrious family that I ask who informed you of my affiliation?" She was dripping with sweat now. This was NOT a Company authorized mission.

"Why, Signore Galois himself had a most cordial conversation with Grandmother Shang earlier today. He assured her that you are a friend of his?" the secretary prompted.

"Oh, YES," Zondra heaved a huge sigh of relief. "Charles is a dear friend. Thank you so much for your time and your patience with my childish fears."

"Not at all. Please assure your dear friend that any friend of his is a friend of Family Shang," the secretary finished. After a brief pause he hung up.

"What was THAT all about?" Sarah asked incredulously. "It sounded like they returned your fine because you're a friend of Chuck?"

Zondra nodded slowly, "I'm not quite sure what to make of it myself. There IS an informal network of women who have presented original works at Charles' sanctuary. We call ourselves the 'Sanctuary Sisters.' I had no idea it meant anything to Family Shang though."

There was a silence leaving both women alone with their thoughts. It was broken by Zondra realizing she could smell the body odor left behind by her flop sweat. "Damn, I've been sweating like a pig. I'd better grab a shower," she said and made her way back to her room.

After dinner they hung out in Carina's suite for some time, remembering the adventures they had working as a team. Whenever Amy came up it was awkward but Zondra actually felt happier remembering their time than she had since the day Sarah discovered the transmitter in her boot. Her suspicion that Sarah was the traitor had poisoned those memories and she realized how much it meant to have Sarah as a friend again. They toasted their renewed friendship with a round of snake venom.

She was a bit tipsy as she returned to her room and she slept hard. When she finally opened her eyes, cursing her lack of foresight in leaving her room open to the sun, she noticed a message indicator. She was pleasantly surprised to find it was from Charles. He told her he had her scents and had rented a suite. She called him immediately.

"Charles! I had no idea you'd get here so soon," Zondra gushed.

"No? I'll have to work a little harder on my reputation for paying my debts in a timely manner then," Chuck laughed. "It sounds like you're recovering from a night of celebration."

"Yeah, Sarah, Carina, and I were talking about old times. Old times for us included the consumption of plenty of exotic alcohol," she admitted. "By the way, thanks for squaring my debt with the Shang Family. You really didn't have to do that."

"Nonsense, allowing me to share in the creation of your art is priceless. Don't you EVER forget to drop my name if find yourself in a difficult situation," he scolded.

"Sanctuary Sister forever," she assured him. "I'm just getting up, can you swing by my room in an hour?"

"Certainly," Charles agreed. "I'll bring your scents."

Zondra spent most of the next hour primping. She mentally cursed herself for the failure of her mission to acquire new lingerie. She decided to stay casual with workout clothes and a sports bra, grateful she had a bright new set on hand.

Charles was punctual, as usual. He held out a beautiful stone container with 'The Harder They Fall' etched into it. "The stone was cut from a quarry in the valley of Elah," he explained. "I acquired it with you in mind."

Next he produced a large art glass bottle. "This is as much of 'The Harder They Come' as I was able to mix from my supplies on hand," he apologized.

Zondra carefully set the stone container aside and made a show of opening the bottle and dabbing the perfume on her pulse points, between her breasts and finally between her legs. Charles pulled out his cell phone and she posed for a picture. Instead of using the camera, he set it down and music poured forth. It was the song in 7/8 they had sparred to. "You get the even beats and I'll take the 7," he challenged her.

Zondra gave him her most ferocious smile and started punching. Unlike their last encounter, Charles took a piece of most of her punches and almost missed on his 7 beat, just grazing her shoulder. She gave no quarter, hitting on every even beat again and he grazed the other shoulder. It was only when she launched her next flurry of punches she realized her top was starting to slide down. Predictably his next strike brought her top below her breasts. She shifted her target to his shirt and managed to put a nice tear into it. As they continued attacking each other's clothing she pressed her advantage and managed to shred his briefs right after he had done to same to her sports bra.

"To the victor goes the spoils," Zondra snarled with savage joy. She pushed him back onto her bed, tore off her panties and scooped up a condom. Then she planted herself on his face and rolled the condom onto him but otherwise ignored his member, letting her fingers and lips tease him elsewhere until he brought her to climax twice. Then she straddled him cowgirl style and was a bit confused at his inability to stay in sync with her. When she realized he was thrusting in 7/8 she grinned and followed his lead. "This is SO much more fun than laps," she said to herself.

Their romp was short but satisfying. Charles was working a pressure point in her lower back and she was thinking about lunch when an unfamiliar ring tone chirped from the wreck of his pants. With a sigh he got up and answered it. He spent a minute listening and looking annoyed.

"No it's OK, Vincenzo and I can handle it. We'll need Hu's crew for clean up though," he nodded, looking resigned. "Yeah, we're gonna have to take her off the board."

"Take who off the board?" Zondra asked after Charles hung up.

"Sarah," he said grimly, confirming her suspicions. "It looks like you and Carina were only the first to notice her here. Unfortunately, the people who snatched her and Carina have more of an agenda than revenge or bounty hunting."

"Are you saying someone abducted Carina and Sarah?" Zondra struggled to come out of afterglow and get her head back to mission ready.

"Affirmative, but you can stand down. These people are working off the books but they're members of the Company in good standing. Tangling with them will have political repercussions," Charles explained.

"You can't expect me to just sit here and do nothing!" Zondra wasn't about to let Charles push her around no matter how good he was in bed.

"You can do as you like," Charles shrugged. "I'm just letting you know my team is on it to give you a little peace of mind." He gave her an affectionate kiss, then efficiently collected his personal effects, threw on a hotel robe and was out the door.

Zondra threw herself together and hurried to Carina's suite. She let herself in with the key Carina had given her and surveyed the signs of a struggle. As she sifted through the room for clues she found a couple stray trank darts, standard CIA issue. She also found some fresh blood. "Looks like Sarah still carries knives, good girl," she told herself with grim satisfaction. She scooped up a DNA sample and heard someone at the door.

Ducking into a hiding spot she weighed her options. It was probably a three man cleaning crew but they'd sweep the place thoroughly before getting to work. Faking innocence wasn't going to get her out of it. Her best bet was to let them spread out a little and take the guy at the door. She waited for her opening and charged. Her target got off a trank dart that missed her and she came down on him like a ton of bricks. As she burst through the door, ready to sprint for freedom she saw another cleaner and felt a sting in her back.

"Damn," she said to herself just before she lost consciousness. "What kind of off the books op springs for a full five man cleaning team?"