As she slow grilled two thick sirloin steaks, Tasìa was beginning to get worried. The aroma should have wakened Leeza up from her tranquilizer induced slumbers. But there the ex-executive lay, bottoms up, in the back seat of her own Volvo.

Frowning at the thought she may have put the woman in life-threatening danger, Tasìa paused the PalmEx PA in its on-going search for the massive hover-hauler that snatched-up her Alfa Romeo HybrClydis, and reset the device to ping Leeza Donada with an IR laser burst once more.

Donada's vitals were still steady. Slow heart rate at seventy-five beats per minute. Body temperature at ninety-eight point fifty-one Fahrenheit.

Was it a bad idea to hit the woman with a tranquilizer; one that was meant for a genetically modified kangaroo? A roo that was only ninety percent of the petite execs body mass at best?

Tasìa shook off her concern.

Unless there we're physiologically based resistances accounted for in the tranquilizer formula it should not matter all that much.

Until the liquid vellocet Tasìa ordered from the QM boutique arrived, she was stuck waiting for Donada to wake up on her own.

The drug was coming all the way from Asunción. Though much had changed in Tasìa's mentality over the previous few months - for one, she no longer created indexes of every little factoid of the world around her like she did back when she needed a competitive edge in both the Vida Escondida underworld and the IMCQ worker's collective.

But she did so happen to remember the physical street address for the House of Javierra. The shipment for the highly specialized Eastern European methamphetamine vellocet was being shipped from a mere three doors down from the mafiaso crime family's residence.

Gray market activity that close by to their homestead? It couldn't be a coincidence. No rival criminal organization would be so bold as to operate that close in proximity to the Javierra base of operations.

Tasìa sent Annebél a text message conveying her suspicions that the residence might be worth checking out in her search for Sal. Within seconds they exchanged confirmation emojis.

-Thanx, mon petite demón, now back to 💤.

To which Tasìa replied:

💤 What is that like?

- Don't try to get everything done in one night, Wee One. Get Some Sleep!

Tasìa shook her head. Her advantage over her opposition was her focused drive, to which the vellocet would prove most helpful.

But for now, there was little for her to do.

She watched the scene around her. As she waited, Tasìa put on music. Several minutes into listening to an old anime soundtrack, the PalmEx PA AI returned with a report on the search results - they bore a positive match.

Great news, she had a new assignment, but Tasìa was stuck in place until she was certain Leeza was alright.

Tasìa shook her head with impatient annoyance, blaming herself, but wondering what she could have done differently.

Then a bright idea occurred to her.

We haven't tried smelling salts?

To be honest with herself, Tasìa had no idea what smelling salts consisted of. Her only familiarity came from a telenova series set in 19th century California about early settlers in Napa Valley. Where all the dainty rich damsels when not getting to know the rough hands of their daddy's farmhands were beset with fainting spells induced by the silliest excuses for trauma one could imagine.

But that was their escapist appeal, a nod, a wink towards absurdity.

Tasìa checked her watch. The vellocet order was in flight. It's cargo drop over Vida Escondida was less than ten minutes out.

To search for an answer to the question concerning the composition of smelling salts, she would have to pause the PalmEx, or reset the watch to receive its boosted processing from another source like the Katy Lieds.

Tasìa was ready to settle on the notion that it was best to wait for nature to take its course when another idea struck her.

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She recalled seeing airgun fly zappers on display inside the Quick Mart. A fun little toy that one could load with salt and hunt insects.

She turned and faced Leeza.

Tasìa could hold Leeza's head back and shoot her up the nostril with a salt and pepper mixture to induce sneezing which would wake her up.

Weary that her previous actions brought her to the current predicament, Tasìa mulled over the idea for a moment. What could go wrong?

A lot of things could screw up, but she needed to keep moving forward so it was worth a try!

Tasìa hopped up. She took the steaks off the grill, and placed them on the top rack, lowered the temperature and increased the smoke gradient ratio between the two tree blends.

One mesquite scrub, and the other native to Paraguay, hard quebrancho wood. The Quick Mart grill was set to replicate the smokey texture of a traditional asado criollo, but in a fraction of the time that creating a feast from a variety of meats on a parilla grill would take.

When she went back in the Quick Mart, Tasìa bought a case of beer, and a VoraTora Fly Zap shaped like a sci-fi movie bullpup carbine. How she resisted the urge to get one before she would never know.

The little cutie of a gun was a polymer cast detailed in a purple and pink leopard design.

She quickly read through the instructions, tore off the packaging, decided a mixture would be best of simple black pepper and salt.

Tasìa had ground chillies on hand if she needed to take the matter up a notch.

She poured the two packs of salt and two packs of pepper into the air gun's internal receiver, pumped the air lock manually four good swipes until the toy-like PSI gauge read full.

Tasìa locked the pump back in place but decided a full blast to Leeza Donada's face might not be a good idea. She opened the gauge pin to reset it to one tenth strength. Satisfied, Tasìa gave it a try with her left hand out as far as she could reach it, and she shot herself in the palm.

The sensation was nothing more than a gritty tickle at best. Definitely safe enough to shoot someone in the face with, Tasìa decided.

Tasìa crawled over Leeza to get in a proper position. The woman's torso was sprawled with her chin planted against her own sternum. Carefully, she tilted Leeza's head back, took aim, pulled her hand back a good six inches, re-aimed, and just as she moved her finger to the trigger, Leeza's eyes shot wide open.

Leeza screamed, and with a burst of sudden onset adrenaline, she mule kicked Tasìa off the top of her with both legs. Tasìa went flying out of the Volvo, tumbling butt first onto the pavement.

The kick was straight in the gut, and Tasìa lost her breath completely.

She looked around as she helplessly dry heaved. Patrons who dined at the other grills and gathered at the tables on the patio stared at her.

A group of middle aged males looked most alarmed and they began to move forward. Tasìa waved them off, signaling she was fine.

She was not fine, and the VoraTora Fly Zap received curious glances.

She shrugged with embarrassment, caught sight of a mosquito hanging near the light fixture over the grill. Tasìa took quick aim and ended it's mortal existence.

Bemused, the men turned back to what they were doing.

With that out of the way, Tasìa had some explaining to do.

But when she turned around, Tasìa was looking into the barrel of a 9mm Glock 19, in the grip of unsteady, shaking hands.

Thoughts raced through Tasìa's head.

Well just fuck me already and take ALL my money! What a dumbass! Didn't even think to check Leeza out for any hidden weapons.

It so obvious if you paid any attention!

That is why you caught her in a prone position. She was opening up that middle box to stash her gun.

"Hey! Hey, sister," Tasìa began her spiel. "This in my hand is a toy, see?"

Tasìa shot a few times in the air.

She continued. "See? What you have looks mighty, mighty real. In fact the way you are shaking right now, please keep your finger exactly where it currently resides away from the trigger."

Leeza cleared her throat, and she spoke matter-of-factly.

"Shut up, you condescending little bitch. I've got the adrenaline shakes. You better understand though, I'm very much confident with this tool, and I have no qualms about using it."

Tasìa's eyes darted from side to side to see if they aroused any more curiosity from the nearby crowd.

"Would you please put that gun away, Leeza? Before someone calls VEAA Security on us?"

Leeza gritted her teeth, a visible pulse throbbed in her neck. Quite evidently, she could barely contain a desire to put a bullet in Tasìa's face.

"Not until you tell me why you were just a split second away from shooting me in the face with that toy."

"Okay," Tasìa's own voice grew shrill.

She was becoming more apoplectic with the situation Tasìa found herself in. Though the little rogue had been on the wrong side, even the losing side on occasion, of duel confrontations, it had never occurred against someone who was such a normal civilian before.

Bounty hunters, mob enforcers, Tier 1 operatives, secret agents, sure, but not fucking Leeza from corporate middle management!

"Okay. I was going to shoot you up in your nostril with the fly zapper to wake you. You have been unconscious for nearly two hours, and no poking or prodding seemed to work. And the vellocet I ordered is taking its sweet-ass time getting here."

Leeza's aim was growing more steady. She made a stop-motion maneuver with her free hand waving in protest.

"Hold up. You were going to try to wake me up with a shot in the ass comprised of vellocet? Lady, you're the worst care giver on the entire planet. Did you give any consideration at all towards the possibility thay I may have adverse reactions to something as controversial as vellocet?"

Tasìa shrugged. "Not really."

Leeza glared at her even harder as something else evidently crossed the ex-exec's mind.

"Wait," she said as she felt her own bum with her free hand. Her eyes narrowed.

"There is a welt on my left ass cheek."

Tasìa nodded.

"How about you put the gun down, and I can explain everything over a steak dinner?."

Leeza looked around, absorbing the atmospherics of the back lot Quick Mart scene; she sniffed the air, and her face perceptively lightened up.

Even so, her tone remained suspicious.

"You made a steak dinner. For the both of us? Why?"

Tasìa glanced up into Leeza's eyes with her head tilted away.

"Because I have a lot of explaining to do."

Leeza put the Glock away into a holster just above her boot.

"This better be good, then."