Pursuit of Padma

She knew she was too late when the jury filed back into their box. Every chair in the courtroom was filled with people wanting to see how the so-called trial of the century came to the end. There had been many twists and turns throughout the trial, it came down to 12 people who could send her to jail or end her life.

She was Padma Chorpa, Indian mercenary. Her sole purpose for coming to the U.S. was to kill Rosie McQueen and her husband. Rosie had been a billionaire, and the frontrunner for the democratic Presidential nomination.

After the maid had discovered the corpses, the police looked for any kind of evidence that would lead them to a killer. A tip from Rosie's rival Max Roscoe led the police to arrest Padma.

"All rise!" The bailiff instructed the packed court room. Padma rose but kept her head down. Her long black hair covered her face. Her lawyer nudged her with his elbow to no avail, she did not look up.

"You may be seated." The Judge turned to the Jury, "Madam Foreman have you reached a unanimous verdict?"

"We have, Your Honor."

"What say you?"

"On the count of First Degree Murder, we find the defendant," The Foreman paused to build up the drama. "Not guilty."

Pandemonium swept throughout the courtroom. The Judge banged his gavel with no effect, everyone kept talking and trying to be overheard over of the noise. Once again the Judge banged his gavel yelling, "Order!"

After peace returned to the courtroom, the Judge dismissed the jury and let Padma go free. As everyone began leaving,
Padma began to look around. Her heart began pounding when she saw the behemoth man near the exit. "If I go near that door, not only will I die but so will a lot of other people."

"Not my problem." Her attorney huffed and walked away from her. Padma sucked in a deep breath and looked to find a cop to help her but most of them were busy trying to do crowd control. She approached one but someone pushed her into the throng of people. The Behemoth noticed her, his hand played with his gun.

Getting lost in the crowd wasn't an option that was available to her, Padma had to come up with another plan. An idea sparked in her head, she sucked in a deep breath and allowed herself to be pushed and pulled over to the man. When she reached him, she gave him a small smile. "Here I am. If you're going to shoot me with the gun you smuggled in, do it now."

"He's got a gun!" A woman shouted and the crowd exploded in shouts and screams. Padma used the confusion to slip out of the courthouse. The cool fall air hit her, but she only took a second to enjoy it before she began to run. She looked back and found the behemoth was behind her. She turned down an alley way, and picked up speed. The sound of his feet hitting the pavement told her that he was behind her, she turned a corner. To her astonishment, there was another person chasing her. This one was well dressed and had far fewer muscles than the other one chasing her.

Shots rang out, one of the bullets grazed her ear. She stopped to check for blood, which gave the new goon enough time to catch up to her. His cologne filled her nose and she wondered why he had put so much on. "Padma Chorpa, you can either come with me by choice or I can take you by force. Which will it be?"
Padma thought for a brief second, before she raised her leg and kicked the man's mid-section as hard as she could. When he hit the ground, she started to run again. She felt the breath go out of her body as she ran into a man.

"Director Chambers warned us that you would run, he's never wrong."

"Who are you?"

"I'm with the FBI, as is my friend back there. You did some damage to him."

"I still don't know who you are."

"Sorry, I'm Agent Smith and that man that you laid out is Agent Johnson." He smiled at Padma, she tried to return the facial expression but failed. There was something sinister about the agent that kept her from believing he had her best interest at heart. "We need to go before Roscoe sends more of his goons after you. We already took one to the local jail but there will be more."

Silently Padma followed Agent Smith, and kept a close eye on Agent Johnson who walked behind her. Her instincts told her that they meant her no harm but something kept her worried. She brushed the feeling to the side and took a deep breath.

In a matter of minutes, they arrived at a huge building, there was nothing distinctive about it. There was no sign to state what it was or what was happening on the inside. Her eyes darted around to see if there was any clue about where they were. Agent Smith noticed and addressed it, "We don't want anyone to know about this building. So we picked one that was out of the way and there is no way you will remember."

He thrust her inside. There was a large desk in the middle of the warehouse room, a portly gentleman sat behind the desk. "Miss Chorpa, let's make this meeting quick. I am Director Chambers, I run the FBI. I want you to join our ranks in a secret organization that helps eliminate problematic people."

"And if I say no?"

"Then you become one of those problematic people and I have you killed. It's as simple as that. Your current rate is $100,000 per kill right now. I am willing to double that and give you an expense account."

Understanding that she didn't have a choice she agreed, "I'm in."