It was at least in this knowledge that Nelson felt confident and secure when he disembarked from his plane and followed all the other passengers out into the common area of the airport. His leg had been patched up at a Brazilian hospital just before leaving, and he still walked with a limp, but for the most part he blended in with the other passengers.
Now all he had to do was find someone with a cellphone so he could call up Travis to come get him. But little did Nelson know he was being closely watched ever since his arrival, and it was determined before he even stepped out of the plane that he wasn’t leaving that airport—at least not alive. As soon as he got off the plane, U.S. based members of Amigos dos Amigos were shadowing his every move.
And soon enough they found their opportunity to strike. Brian Nelson who had been previously half starved and severely dehydrated in the wilderness of the Amazon, gluttonously drank all the beer and soda that he could consume on the flight. This massive influx of beverages had taken their toll however, and so he was heading to the bathroom to relieve his bladder.
A member of Amigos Dos Amigos was sure to follow him to the bathroom stalls. Nelson noticed the man behind him, but when he sidled up at the urinal next to the one Nelson was using, he didn’t pay it any mind. He figured it was just another guy like him who needed to use the bathroom. But as Brian Nelson was minding his own business, relieving his own bladder, the man startled him by asking, “You have a nice flight?”
Nelson, like most of us would, didn’t take to kindly to small talk with strangers while he was trying to pee. But thinking maybe the man was just trying to be friendly he obliged him, “Yeah—it was alright.” The man then asked the odd question, “Are you happy to be home?”
For one thing, how did he even know that Brian Nelson was home? Not sure how to answer, Nelson shrugged, “I guess so…”
If Brian Nelson wasn’t staring down at the urinal in his attempt to finish emptying his bladder, he would have noticed that the guy standing next to him had pulled out a pistol with a long silencer attached. He put it right up to Nelson’s head as he remarked, “Well congratulations amigo—you now get the privilege to be buried in your homeland.”
Nelson finally turned his head to see the barrel of the gun pointed right at him. He shouted, “What? No!” right when the gunman pulled the trigger. These were his last words. His body would be found in an exceedingly awkward position crumpled up in front of the urinal by a fellow passenger just moments later.
As for the gunman, due to corrupt ties Amigos dos Amigos had obtained with airport security, he would walk out of that airport on his own volition, the same way he came in—right through the front door. As Mason had already predicted, although the drug cartel of Amigos dos Amigos was down, it most certainly was not out.
Chapter 10: A Tired Mind in Need of a Helping Hand
BACK AT BALTIMORE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. JUST A FEW MINUTES LATER, OUTSIDE THE AIRPORT TERMINAL. Mason and Raina were getting ready to requisition a means of transportation to get home from the airport. Ever since self-driving cars became common in the mid-2020’s, much of the previous hassles of the airport of yesteryear had been eliminated.
There was no longer the struggle of searching through football field sized parking garages for cars that may or may not have parking tickets attached to them. There was no need for an underpaid, crotchety old security guard to scream at anyone who dared park in front of the terminal to pick up a passenger. And there was also no need to call for unreliable and high charging human taxi drivers.
All Mason had to do was talk to the AI on his phone and a fair priced ride would be on its way. As he and Raina stood just outside the main doors of the arrival terminal, he spoke into his phone’s receiver, “Hey, we need a ride.”
And sure enough, moments later a voice came on, informing them, “Okay, we have a car available, located just 2 minutes from your location—proceed?”
Mason staring up at a plane roaring overhead and slightly distracted by his own tumultuous thoughts nodded, “Uh-huh.”
The AI was seeking a yes or no answer however, and glitched up as it protested, “I’m sorry sir, but I didn’t quite get that. Do you want to proceed?”
Mason impatiently glaring at his phone shouted, “Yes!!”
The AI then acknowledged, “Very good. We will have a car for you in just a few minutes.”
Raina seeking to assuage his agitation, put her arm around Mason’s waist and looking down at his phone remarked, “Just a few minutes? We’re in luck. There must have just been a cancelled pickup.”
Raina’s intuition was correct, an order had just been cancelled by a fellow passenger and the car was just getting ready to leave the airport and return to its nearby hub right when Mason had called in. This then was enough to direct the AI driver to come right back to pick up Mason and Raina instead.
A human taxi driver told to double back to a place they had just left might have cursed his dispatcher, but when it comes to computerized AI—you’ll get no such complaints from Mr. Roboto.
Mason shoving his phone back into his pocket owned up to the convenience they had been granted as he muttered in agreement, “Yeah, I guess we’re in luck.”
As he prepared his bags for their
