Just a Small Favor

There was an agonizing scream from an alleyway. Kendra felt her stomach fall as she recognized the shriek as none other than her boss's, Sherry. Kendra froze. She was stuck between running to Sherry to help her and driving away to find help.

"I'll be right back," she said as she jumped out of the car, throwing Kendra her purse to hold on to. This wasn't the only time Sherry had her go to some run down side of town to meet "someone". There were never any names.

Kendra was fumbling the phone, trying to dial 9-1-1, when she saw a man covered in blood running towards the car. Kendra didn't have anymore time to think. She threw the car in gear and floored it away. She didn't see the man pull a gun, but she heard the bullets hit the car, luckily not doing enough damage to slow her down.

She was shaking when she pulled into the parking garage at the office- the only place she knew to go. The garage was only accessible by a gate opener that only certain people had access too. It was about the only place she could think of that would be safe.

She opened the door and began vomiting as all the nerves and fears flooded her mind. What if I left her there with that man and she was still alive? What if she needed my help?

Kendra never liked her boss. Her boss never could get her name straight, "Kendall, I have a small favor to ask, can you go get my coffee", "I have a small favor to ask, can you get my dry cleaning, Kelly?", "Just a small favor to ask Kimberly, please make sure all calls are forwarded to my voicemail." If a name started with a K, she had called Kendra by it for one of her "small favor" requests. But despite her opinion of Sherry, she never imagined she would be in this position.

Kendra took in some deep breaths, and got back in the car and reached into her purse to find her phone. The bag that was usually packed with all the necessities a woman could ever need, was empty besides a thick envelope and a nicely bound little black notebook. That's when she realized it was Sherry's purse, not hers. Curious, Kendra opened the notebook, as if she was looking for an answer to what happened. As she flipped through the pages, she saw names, then foreign bank names, and a series of numbers, which Kendra could only assume to be routing and account numbers. She started glancing at the names, and she recognized them. They were all celebrities and other influential billionaires.

The information felt wrong to be looking at, so she quickly shut the little back notebook and threw it back into Sherry's purse. Kendra picked up the thick envelope and before she could open it, she froze when she saw the front of the envelope. In perfect handwriting, her name, Kendra, was written in big letters across the envelope. K-E-N-D-R-A. Not Kendall, Kelly, or Kimberly, just Kendra. She slowly opened the envelope to find a large sum of money and a piece of paper that looked like it had been ripped from the little black notebook. She unfolded the paper and saw a letter to her:

Kendra,

If you're reading this, I can only assume my transaction did not go as planned. I hired you for a reason specifically. You have no family, no connections to the area. Please take this $20,000 and go. Jump on the next plane out of the country. Fly to wherever your heart is content. I think you mentioned wanting to visit Paris, go there. Buy a cell phone with a new number and call Darren Hardey at the number in the little black notebook. Tell him everything you know. He'll handle it from there. I'm sorry I brought you into this mess. I hope the $20,000 is sufficient to set you up for a while. Don't worry about the police, I never kept records of your employment and no one knew your correct name. Oh and Kendra, just a small favor, don't come back. I don't want them to find you.

*Sherry*