Chapter SEVEN

Lisha was half-awake and half-asleep on the old mattress in the cheap old motel across the road from the men's shop. She had spent hours watching them and calculating their possible plans and in the process, she had learned a lot. They had no idea where she was: that she was just across the street, watching their every move from the second floor where the room she had taken was located. She was sure they were preparing another surprise for her, but what exactly, she had no idea. Yet, she was confident that she had them exactly where she wanted them. If everything went according to plan, they would walk right into her trap without knowing and she would make them pay for having the audacity to attack her family and kill her mother. The thought of that incident alone made her chest heave rapidly and brought tears to her eyes. She was not her mother's favorite daughter... in fact, she was nobody's favorite and she had never sought to be, but she had no doubt in her mind that her mother loved her dearly and she loved her too. Then these bastards went and killed her. Uggh! She squeezed the TV remote control in her hand, determined to crush it to bits just as she wished to crush the life out of those bastards, Thansa's men. But all of a sudden, her phone started ringing. Throwing the remote control away, she grabbed the phone and picked the call immediately. Again, the instructions were brief: "Diamond Palace. First table to the right from the front. In an hour." And the call was disconnected. Lisha grinned in satisfaction. The hunt had entered its final stage! But first, she had two calls to make. ***** Lisha arrived at the hotel 20 minutes early and the first thing she did was keep her eyes constantly alert. Even though she knew that the first part of this last phase of her mission was an ongoing success, she still felt that there was no disadvantage in being careful. When she felt that there was no sign of anything that needs to be worried about, at least on the outside, she made straight for the restaurant proper. As she stepped into view, Thansa was shocked to see her so early! Obviously, his men had not told him about her mode of visitation. He tried to mask his surprise, but Lisha's quick eye had already caught it and as she sat down across the table from him, she also noticed that he was anxious about something else and she believed she could guess what that was. "Thansa, I'm..." "Last I checked, I was still a Lord," he growled, fixing her with angry eyes. But Lisha simply shrugged. Silence reigned for a few seconds as they stared at each other, one in anger, the other with a blank face, until Lisha broke it. "So, Thansa..." "You seem to have a death wish, girl!", Thansa barked, slamming his huge fist on the table and attracting the attention of people in the neighboring tables. But all Lisha did was shrug again. Then she got up to her feet. "Before we quarrel, let's get some drinks first." So saying, she sashayed over to the bar and soon returned with a bottle of wine and two glasses. She then proceeded to set one glass for herself and one for him. In order to appease his greed and ego, she filled his glass first and only filled hers halfway. "Hmmm," Thansa grunted in approval and took a few large gulps from his glass. After serving the drinks, Lisha went back to her place and crossed her legs. "I'm curious, where are your men?" After a quick involuntary glance at his phone, Thansa coughed, took another gulp of his drink, and did everything he could to hide his anxiety before answering. "Why do you care?" "Oh no. I really don't care. It's just that... I heard that their shop or house or whatever it is was raided by police for stealing... or rather, illegally digging up and carting away archaeological treasures from a private land and a government reserved area too. Some of the exhibits, including the spade used in the crime and some of the stolen pieces were found in their shop." "Curse them! The fools!", Thansa swore angrily. He was breathing hard and fast and running his hands through his hair and trying to organize his scattered thoughts. But he soon caught sight of Lisha's smiling face and suddenly, light dawned on him! "It was you, wasn't it?", he said, pointing at Lisha. "You framed them up, eh?" But to his consternation, Lisha only smiled and shrugged. "I swear I will strangle you right now!", he roared, jumping to his feet and looking ready to carry out his threat. "Come on, I don't see how that will help them," Lisha shrugged dismissively, waving off one of the hotel's security men who was coming to investigate the situation. "But you just helped them and put yourself in big trouble, dear little girl," Thansa chuckled, leering over her. "You just made a full confession of your crimes. All I need to do is make sure you repeat what you said before the police authorities and then free my men." "That's the point, Thansa. I don't think you'll be able to do that." Thansa stared at her in surprise, wondering what she meant. His first thought was that she had brought some people to capture him and he quickly looked around, but he felt a searing pain in his chest and an uncontrollable cough began immediately. "You're dying, Thansa," Lisha informed him as she got to her feet. "That wine I brought, did you notice I never tasted it? It contains hurica." Hearing the word, Thansa gasped in shock and he stared at her, his eyes wide and his jaw slack. Truly, he was a dead man! Already, blood was flowing from the corner of his mouth. Hurica was the worst poison ever known to the merpeople, and not only did it cause an extremely painful death, it also had no known antidote! "Goodbye Thansa," Lisha said, pushing back her chair and leaving the table. "I do hope you regret killing my mother."