"Last call for fight 1273 Petropolis-Asuncion." An irritated tinny sounding voice screamed through the speakers of the almost empty baggage claim hall. And like it sounded was the person behind this voice was already in the last throes of a 12 hour shift.
But maybe it was just an angry rebel against the tiring job itself that made the voice sound like that. Whatever it was, Kitty didn´t really cared about it. "Not my flight." She thought weary. With long heavy steps she shuffled towards the baggage conveyor belt on which one suitcase last suitcase made bored its circles.
Kitty had yielded to the swarm of locusts that rushed besides her as soon as the "fasten seatbelt" signs have been turned off. It was a miracle that this crowed hadn´t stomped her to death. Kitty was always amazed how impatient the people were.
Didn´t they know that if everybody went with the same pace, slowly but steady, down the halls that they would get faster to their aim? It seemed like the answer to that was no. Rather ten people try to squash through a door for two. Was that stupidity or just the nature of the people? Or is stupidity the nature of the people?
Whatever it was, it wasn´t part of Kitty´s nature. Of course she also wasn´t the most patient person but while working as a secret agent she gained more patience. She lifted the suitcase from the conveyor and put it on the integrated wheels. She wanted to leave the airport and finally take care of the damn Scratch-problem but, as always, the wheels of the suitcase packed up.
"Of course" laughed Kitty resigning and then continues with a facial expression of disbelieve. "Of course! What else should happen? Only one time, why can´t just one time everything work properly?! Do I want too much?" Her resignation turned slowly into anger that was fueled by her indicting the suitcase.
"Why do you hate me?! What have I ever done to you? I bought you, gave you a nice place in my closet, I treated you right and you still do that to me! Why?!" Kitty really gazed for a short while at the case waiting for an answer until the regrowing voice of rationality in her head reminded her of the essential. She was talking with a piece of luggage! Luckily for her, the hall was totally empty.
Otherwise the whole thing would have been pretty embarrassing. A grown up trying to talk sense into container for her laundry… that was more Dudley´s style.
Taking deep breathes Kitty grabbed the suitcase by its handle and carried it not willing to give the wheels another chance.
She schlepped the thing through the hall just to arrive in the next hall. Calm and again a bit tired, so actually in the state in which she was before she got worked up, Kitty gazed around in the arrival hall. There should be someone to fetch her, but the hall was as empty as the last one.
"Right… why should that work?" shaking her head she was about to leave the airport and take one of the taxi that parked in front of the entrance. But as she pulled at the handle of the suitcase the exerted force wasn´t transmitted to the rest of it and made it move, no, the force more or less detached the handle from the suitcase.
"Really?!" Kitty stared stunned at the handle in her hand. "You got to be kidding me! YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" That was enough for her. Furiously she started to kick the luggage. Again and again with all her strength. A good suitcase hadn´t survived this maltreatment very long and this one was far beyond good quality.
It was no big surprise that this one did what it did and almost exploded. Dozens of pieces of clothing flew through the air, like some kind of clothing volcano erupted. The negative part of that, besides the obviously negative part that clothes flew around, was that it was mostly her underwear that her suitcase emitted. So the ground was now covered with selection of underwear that would have driven a smile on the face of every lecher.
"Shit!" she cursed at the sight of her lingerie on the floor. Fast she pulled her boot out of the defiled suitcase and began even faster to pick up her clothes.
"Excuse me…" a male voice from behind her startled Kitty while picking up her clothes and let her face went bright red. A few quiet curses went over her lips as she turned around.
These swears became immediately louder as she recognized the face of the stranger. A trained defensive reflex switched on and took control of her body for just a few seconds that were enough for her to pull her gun out and press it into the face of the white dog with the big black nose and the blue eyes.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" she shouted at the dog and tried to suppress the shivering of her hand. But in a contrary he hands, the hands of the dog trembled like aspen leave as he put them up. "Nothing! Really nothing! Some of my luggage is still missing after my flight and I just wanted ask if they finally found it. Please don´t shoot me!"
"DON´T FUCK WITH ME, YOUNG! HOW DID YOU ESCAPED OUT OF PRISON?"
"Young?" asked the dog terrified. "I´m not Young! You must mistaking me for someone else. My name is Stan…"
"Yeah sure!" interrupted him Kitty. "I don´t give you the chance to fool me again." Her index finger clasped the trigger of the gun.
"NO NO PLEASE NO!" begged the dog falling onto his knees. "PLEASE I HAVE A DAUGHTER! DON´T KILL ME!"
"You never stop lying, right?"
"I´M NOT LYING!" cried the dog. "Here in the pocket of my jacket is the proof. Look into my wallet and you´ll find pictures of here. BUT DON´T SHOOT ME!"
Suspiciously and not willing to let her gun down Kitty reached in the pocket of so called Stan and fished the wallet out of it. She opened it and indeed, there were a lot of photos of a little girl. Also an ID-card was there. As Kitty read the dogs full name it was like someone packed lead on her arm. She holstered her gun and handed the wallet back to its owner.
"Thanks" breathed the dog released as the gun was out of his sight.
"Sorry… I´ve really mistaken you." replied Kitty eying Stan. She knew that Dudley had a brother. As they were still together he often told her about his older brother Stan. Dudley had really looked up to him. If that´s still the fact after his transformation to Scratch was unknown to Kitty.
However, Kitty never had the pleasure to meet Stan. He really looked like Dudley maybe he was a bit taller than him but apart from this the brothers looked like twins.
It was somehow peculiar that after a so long relationship Kitty knew no one from Dudley´s family besides his mother.
And she didn´t know if that really counts because Peg was dead. Dudley had visited his brother a few times but never took her with him. So she began to wonder if it was maybe embarrassing for Dudley to have a relationship with her. But as she told him her reservations he answered with the sentence:
"You embarrassing for me? Kitty, how could you ever think that? I would like to show you around everywhere if I could… I sometimes also do that, I have this lovely photo of you in my wallet. No, if someone is embarrassing for the other one, I would be the one who is embarrassing for you." Kitty laughed back then. All her self-doubts were wiped away with these few words. Dudley just knew what to say to calm her.
"Yeah but is that a reason to put a gun at my forehead!" meant Stan with the courage of somebody who knew that he wouldn´t get shot. "Dammit what´s wrong with this city? This once was a wonderful place! And now you just have to go around a corner to get a gun pressed tightly to your forehead. I mean, how likely is it that this happens twice?"
"Again, sorry I… wait, twice?"
"Yes." He hissed. "My little brother Dudley fooled me. He pressed his gun at my forehead and pretended that he want to shoot me."
"Yeah that´s his new prevent humor." Sighed Kitty.
"So you know Dudley?" Stan seemed surprised what maybe came from the fact that a random person on the airport knew his brother. "Oh, by the way, I haven´t introduced myself yet. Stan Puppy." He offered her his hand to shake it.
"I know, I saw your name on your ID-card" smirked Kitty shaking his hand "Kitty Katwell."
"Really? You are Kitty Katswell?" Again Stan was surprised. The random person that collected underwear from the ground was the ex of his brother.
"So you know me?"
"Of course." Laughed Stan. "The three times Dudley visited me, while you two were in a relationship, he just talked about you as I asked him something about him. It was always Kitty here and Kitty there. It was almost annoying… but also it was wonderful to see him so happy. It´s pity that you two broke up. Besides do you know what happened to his face? He didn´t want to tell me as I asked him."
"I know it but… I think you should ask him. It´s part of his vendetta."
"Uhm… pardon?" asked Stan confused.
"Nothing" meant Kitty and changed the subject. "So you´re searching for your missing luggage?"
"Yes, and you´re collecting underwear from the ground?"
Kitty blushed a bit but confirmed the question with "Yes".
"I have an idea." Meant Stan folding his arms. "We both don´t want to spend more time than necessary with our suitcases, right?"
"Right."
"Then why don´t we help each other? Look, I get a new suitcase for you, I bet somewhere here you can buy one, while you gather your clothing. Then we pack the stuff into the new suitcase and search together for my luggage. How does that sound?"
"Like a plan." Nodded Kitty grinning and searched for her wallet but Stan stopped her
"No, the first suitcase for a lady is always for free." Winked Stand smiling.
"I can´t accept that."
"You have to. It´s not that you have a choice."
"Then let me at least invite you to a coffee after that, to make it up to you." suggested Kitty.
"Wonderful, that also sounds like a plan." Beamed Stan "Okay then, I better get moving. See you in a minute." Full of enthusiasm the dog ran towards one of these totally overpriced airport stores where instant coffee has the price level of Beluga caviar.
Smiling watched Kitty him running. She felt like she watched Dudley. Also the whole conversation she felt like she had talked to Dudley. A good familiar feeling spread in her chest. Stan looked similar to his brother and his whole attitude was similar to Dudley´s pre-Scratch attitude. And that was just… wonderful.
Still smiling she averted her gaze from Stan and started to pick up her stuff again, not knowing that she had a second watcher. A hidden watcher that observed the whole scene from the distance. Even if hidden was a bit exaggerated because that would mean Scratch had watched the scene from some kind of cover like a wall or column. That was of course not the case.
His real cover was his disguise as an old man with a white wig and one of these hated false beards in the same color. And to make the whole disguise perfect he used a special makeup that made his face look like it was full of wrinkles. Also he used green contact lenses, actually the same he used the whole time before he revealed his true identity to Kitty.
The outfit he wore would fit for a sixty year old. A conservative brown suit with patches on the elbows. A walking cane with which aid he walk gave the impression of physical weakness. And last he changed the shape of the glasses he usually wore. From square to round ones. Scratch was sure, with this disguise he wouldn´t get recognized by anyone.
That neither Kitty nor Stan did that was a little proof for him. Even if they probably hadn´t seen him, actually he stood pretty far away from them. But that was enough for him. He felt safe and that made the whole thing easier for him. Slowly, playing his role as senior citizen as good as possible, he dragged himself forward with the cane.
The lady on the counter, a young vixen wearing the light blue uniform of the airline she was working for, gave him this pitying look. Scratch knew immediately as he saw her big brown eyes that he could get almost anything from her with that disguise.
"Excuse me madam." He coughed using his best old man voice. "I´d like to book a flight."
"Of course Sir. Where do you want to go?" asked him the vixen friendly.
"I need an economy flight to New York. I want to visit my grandchildren. You know, I just became a great-grandfather."
"That´s fantastic, congratulations!" Scratch could see honest joy in her eyes. Others would maybe get a feeling of guilt on that point but perversely the fun just began here for Scratch.
"Thank you." he said and started to shiver a bit. Not much, just enough that the vixen would recognize it.
"Is everything okay Sir?"
"Yes yes. It´s just…" Scratch broke-off his answer and started a heavy coughing fit what was a simple thing for him because of his chronicle lung-illness. The only thing he had to look out for was that he wouldn´t start a real coughing fit through the faked one. The girl would definitely call an ambulance and his cover would be blown.
"Sir, are you really okay?"
"Yes. That´s just what happens when you get old. Everything deteriorates. Especially your health. Well, that´s life I think."
"Sorry to hear that Sir. The ticked costs…" Scratch cut the vixen short by moaning loudly and holding his left hand on his back. "Sir, are you okay?"
"Just my back. My spinal disks always slip out. It´s really annoying." Scratch kept on holding his hand on his back and contorted his face as heavy in non-existing pains as he could. That was a key moment now. If he played his role good enough the vixen had swallowed the bait and he would get what he wanted any second now.
"I can´t let you fly economy in this condition." She meant saying the expected words. "Sir, let´s do this, the plane is almost empty, I will upgrade you to the first class for free."
"Thank you madam." With still a painful look Scratch handed the vixen the money for an economy class ticket and received a first class ticket.
"No problem Sir." She smiled. "Have a good flight and greet your great-grandchildren."
"I will do that." Laughed Scratch and walked away waving goodbye with his back to the counter.
"That worked excellent." Scratch laughed in his sleeve. "I´m still the best."
Usually it would be easy for Scratch to buy this ticket from his money. The ticket and also maybe the whole airline. This little theater play was just for him. Over the last days he became a bit unsure if still had talent to manipulate and fool people. Obviously he still had it.
The boarding went smoothly. For a short time Scratch was worried that maybe some kind of face recognition software would be able to look through is mascaraed. Through his false wrinkles directly into his reconstructed face. But apparently he did his job so good that not even the high-performance computers were able to rip the mask of his face.
And as he finally sunk down in his comfortable first class seat he thrust aside his worries. What was less because of the fact that he was save now. No, there was no place he could call save anymore, no place to hide for him at least not in this country.
The execution of this FBI agent, at least that was his opinion, was just too obvious and because of that something he wouldn´t get out so easy. Of course there were ways and means to get his neck out of the noose. He could bribe some people.
Together with one of these expensive lawyers he was sure that he could make a death sentence to a fine of maybe 10,000 Dollar. In his mind he laughed bitterly about this fact. These days financial crime was sentenced stricter than bodily harm or even murder.
Also Seneca often said that he would handle that. Scratch had no idea what the lion meant with that. Maybe his old friend still had a trick up his sleeve. That wasn´t impossible, Seneca was may rather nondescript but he was a sly old guy. Just like him.
Anyway, the actually reason for the relaxation that spread in him was the even for the first class unbelievably comfortable seat in which he let himself sank down. It was like he was sitting on a cloud while actually flying above them. It was so good that he decided to close his eyes for a moment and sleep a bit.
"Excuse me Sir, would you please fasten your seatbelt? We´ll take off in a minute." He heard a voice from the side addressing him. That was peculiar. Of course the stewardesses checked right before the start if everyone was strapped but Scratch always did that in the moment he sat down, exactly to prevent this conversation. The less conspicuous he was the better.
"I am…" the words came to a standstill in his throat and began to expand there so that he couldn´t get a single word out of it. The stewardess was no one else than Kitty who gave him a friendly grin. But here appearance there and the kindness in her face weren´t the strangest thing about her.
That was a big crimson stain on her chest which had a big combat knife in its center right where the heart was. And it was rammed until the hilt into her. Now, together with that, the grin looked more manically then friendly.
"Here for you." With this spooky stare Kitty passed a tablet with a knife on it to him. "I think it´s time for the final stab."
Scratch gazed at her in disbelieve. What did she just demand?
"Come on, it´s time. You know that the it´s necessary." It was something urging in her voice. Like she wanted to do that quick because she running out of time. Scratch was too confused to do something but unfortunately he was no longer in control of his senses or his actions.
What happened then was for him like he was just a specter in his own body. His fingers embraced the handle of the knife on the tablet, he took a swing and drilled the knife deep into her flesh.
No noise of pain came from Kitty, she kept silent.
As Scratch let the knife go the only thing that came from her was a cold whisper "Finally." Then she collapsed on the narrow aisle. And Scratch just looked at the body, watched how slowly a pool of blood dyed the blue carpet red. The muscles in his face pulled his lips to a smile. "Yes, finally" he mumbled and even started to laugh.
Dripping with sweat the dog woke up with a start. He leaned forward in his seat and began to breathe heavily. What was that? What had he just dreamt? And especially what was that at the end? In shock he continued breathing. In and out. Cool air to hot breath.
Why did he dream that? Weren´t dreams not kind of manifestations of secret wishes? So why did he want to kill Kitty? The clutter of questions turned in his head and he felt like he was in a carousel. Everything began to spin. To be on a safe side Scratch reached his hand out for the sick back.
"Are you okay, Sir?" one of the Stewardesses must have seen him in his condition and stepped helpful to him.
Blinking he looked into her face and calmed a bit down as he saw that it had not even a similarity to Kitty´s. "No… I´m just a bit… you know the flight…" he lied coughing and tried to keep the content of his stomach in his stomach.
"Okay. But please, if it deteriorates, don´t hesitate to call me or my co-workers. Just push the button above your seat." She pointed at a small red button above his head.
"Thanks… uhm Madam?" Because of this weird dream he almost forgot the most important thing and that wasn´t the weird dream just had.
"Yes Sir?"
"When will we arrive at our destination? I have to do an important call soon." He patted against his breast pocket to show and to assure himself that his cellphone was there.
"We´ll be in New York in about two hours."
"Excellent, thank you."
The Stewardess nodded and left with the words. "You´re welcome Sir."
Scratch gazed after tired after her just to recheck that she didn´t transform into Kitty. Not for all the world he wanted to go back in this dream or recognize that he still dreamt it. Even if he was tired to death he decided now to stay awake now.
He would do something else now, maybe watching a movie would be not so bad? Everything was better than concerning with this dream now. Really, everything.