Chapter Four

 The flight from South Carolina to Dallas, and on to Los Angeles was uneventful, and being in the first-class section of the airplane was a new experience for Sabra. A folding panel door separated first class from coach. The pilot announced they were inbound to LAX, She craned her head to see out the window, but she could not really tell anything at all. It was hazy and looked like every other sprawling airport she had ever seen. The man she sat next to worked on his laptop and wore a headset that canceled the noise of the plane engines and the rumble of voices all around. He finally put everything away and glanced over at her. "This your last leg of your trip?"

 "No," she answered. "It's just beginning."

 He nodded. 

 As soon as the plane pulled into the terminal, people began to hurriedly gather their belongings. Sabra pulled her backpack from under the seat in front of her and the flight attendant swung down her carry-on. "You have a Korean Air transport waiting for you. They'll take you over to their terminal."

 "Really? That's great!" 

 The flight attendant walked with her off the plane, and up the ramp to the ticket counter. She pointed to the transport. There were already three men and one woman waiting with the driver. As she took a seat, another young man swung up next to her. He had a similar carry-on and a backpack. He was dressed expensively shabby. He shook his brown bleached-tipped bangs back from his face and angled hazel eyes at her. "Where you coming from?"

 "South Carolina by way of Dallas." She answered and raised a questioning brow at him, "You?"

 "Los Angeles by way of the suburbs," he returned. From the way his jaw set, he was unimpressed with his origins and equally unimpressed with hers. He settled comfortably into his seat and glanced over at her again. Sabra felt his eyes on her and saw him purposefully claim more of the bench seat, his knee coming in contact with her leg. She held her territory and looked around ignoring his attempt to make her give way. 

 The transport moved off, the driver maneuvering into the flow of people and other transport. He steered with one hand and tapped the horn, sending pedestrians stepping out of the way. The man-boy draped an arm casually over the back of the bench seat. The collection of woven leather and bead bracelets he wore rattled against the metal bar behind her head. "You remind me of the babe," he said leaning in closer toward her. 

 A movie quote! She frowned in thought. His smirking smile challenged her. He did not think she knew what he was talking about or would be able to respond. 

 She angled toward him and tilted her head slightly, meeting his moss-green eyes with a cool ocean-grey look. Challenge accepted! "What babe?"

 He grinned at her. "The babe with the power!"

 "What power?" she returned. 

 "The power of voodoo!"

 "Who do?" 

 "You do!" 

 "Do what?" 

 "Remind me of the babe." The sparring was just about done, and he grudgingly admitted she had held her own. "Movie?"

 "Hmm, That would be the Labyrinth," Sabra said smugly, "Jim Henson was the director. The date was ---1986."

 "Very good, Reb!" he said taking his arm away and patting her shoulder and then resting it there, "You remember who said it?"

 "I'll do you one better," Sabra said, reaching up to brush his hand off her shoulder, "You are on the way to South Korea."

 He shook his hand as if it had been burnt and laughed lightly. "Looks like we're going to be great adversaries, Reb."

 "Jareth, the Goblin King," Sabra said as she remembered, "David Bowie. Only I can't remember the actress's name, Jennifer something."

 "I am indeed on the way to South Korea. My name is Warren Grisham." He said angling a critical look at her. "My Spidey sense tells me you're also heading to the Eagle's Nest."

 "I am." She answered. "Sabra Chandler."

 He studied her seriously then held a fist toward her, "Truce?"

 She let her cool blue eyes fall on his offered fist, then bumped his fist with hers. "Truce."

 Warren nodded. He glanced over at her again, she was older than him, but he could not tell just how old she was. Until he could "Google" her at his leisure, they faced forward and rode the rest of the way in silence.

 The Customs Security checkpoint was an incredibly humiliating experience. The agents had waved the metal detector wand from head to toe. Then a woman with a stoic expression, except for her eyes continued to look apologetic as she patted Sabra down looking for whatever the wand seemingly missed. The female security agent nodded to the men behind the counter – she had found nothing. "I will need you to take your hair down, ma'am." 

 Complying, Sabra pulled loose the hair tie, and her near waist-length golden hair unrolled in waves. Warren, who was about to go through the same process, sent her a thumbs-up, "You should leave it that way you're just gonna have to do it all over again when we get there."

 Sabra raked her fingers through her hair and slicked it back, twisting it quickly into a bun at the nape of her neck. He shrugged. "It looks better down, Reb."

 She clucked her tongue at him, and he grinned triumphantly that he had annoyed her yet again. He appraised her openly. For an older woman, she was downright attractive! It was going to be a fun trip for him especially since they were heading in the same direction and likely to be allies once they reached their destination.

 Sabra was led down a short corridor to the ticket counter just outside the VIP lounge. A young Korean flight attendant came up and sketched a quick bow. "Come this way, ma'am, I will check you in. I will need your passport and identification, please."

 Sabra unzipped the pocket of her backpack and handed her passport to the young woman. She took her wallet from an inner pocket and found her driver's license. The ticket was printed, and the attendant had confirmed her identification, she handed everything back to Sabra. "I will take your carry-on, ma'am, and store it for safekeeping."

 Sabra rolled the silver hard-sided case toward the attendant and slipped her wallet back into the pocket of her backpack. "Everything is in order, ma'am, please go into the VIP lounge and make yourself comfortable."

 Sabra looked at the frosted double glass doors with large lettering in both English and Korean that pronounced the space as the VIP lounge. The doors slid silently back as she approached, and she stepped into another world of opulence! Another attendant came up, smiled pleasantly, and bowed smartly, "Welcome to Korean Air, ma'am. I will be your attendant on your flight. Would you care for something to drink?"

 "No thank you," Sabra said returning the slight bow. "I would like to freshen up, if possible."

 The young woman beamed. "Of course, come this way." She said and lifted a perfectly manicured hand toward a set of wooden doors. The series of Korean block printing was large with "Ladies Room" in small lettering underneath. Sabra went in and yet another young woman was waiting with a basket of toiletries and a hand towel draped over her arm. Sabra was shown to a private bathroom, and she stepped in and closed the door. She washed up and brushed her hair, making sure it was in a neat bun at the nape of her neck. She applied moisturizer, a little mascara, and a lip stain. When she emerged, she felt human again.

 Back out in the main VIP lounge, she spotted Warren. He had also cleaned up and was sipping what looked like iced tea. He gestured to the cubicle next to him, "Looks like we're assigned seats that match the seats on board the plane."

 She settled into the seat and pointed to Warren's drink, "Regular iced tea or something more potent?"

 He swirled the ice cubes in the glass with the straw, "Just iced tea, Reb. It's a bit early for even me to start on alcohol."

 "So, what are you working on?" She asked as she got comfortable in the seat across from Warren.

 "A sort of NCIS type of storyline, only my MC is an American cop in Korea working on a case to find who killed his brother," Warren replied and sipped his tea. He looked over at her, "You?" he asked, speaking around his straw.

 "It's a story about an American female martial arts competitor coming to Korea to compete but she never makes it because she gets caught up trying to save a temple priest and his bodyguard from an attack by bad guys."

 "The bodyguard is the love interest?" Warren asked.

 "No, the temple priest," She replied. 

 His eyebrows disappeared into the fringe of bangs, and he grinned. "Never expected that Reb, interesting."

 She nodded toward the doors that led to the plane, "Before we board, I'm leaving my old life here and stepping into a new life. That means I'm not going to be Sabra Chandler anymore."

 "Okay, who are you going to be?" He asked.

 "Shin SooYun," She replied.

 He grinned in recognition. "I've seen that name before!" Warren declared, "You're always first in the sessions and on the boards."

 "SooYun," she repeated.

 "Yeah, okay," Warren returned as he appraised her from under the fringe of hair that fell over one eye. "But you'll always be Reb to me!"

 The far doors of the lounge opened, and the crew of flight attendants flowed into the lounge. One of the attendants came up to them, "We are ready to board, please follow me."

 Warren got up and shook his bangs back from his face, "Our chariot awaits Reb!"

 She got up and shouldered her backpack, "The A-Team, the remake, Howling Mad Murdock to Hannibal. Are you going to do this all the way to Korea?"

 Warren was gleeful as he stepped up beside her. He nudged her with his shoulder, "We do have a deal, Reb! I expect you to honor it."

 She rolled her eyes, and he stabbed an accusing finger at her, "I saw that, Reb! Don't think I didn't see that eye roll!"

 "Come on Warren, we're off to see the Wizard!" She said. They walked down the corridor to where the door of the big jet yawned open. They stepped into a section of the aircraft that had similar cubicles in the VIP Lounge. The flight attendant indicated the right seat in the center aisle and faced the large LED screen. Warren was placed on the left by a window and slightly positioned up from SooYun. The privacy screens were folded back so he could still see her. 

 "How long a flight is it?" He asked, "Like twelve hours?"

 "More like sixteen maybe seventeen hours," SooYun replied, "We're yesterday traveling to tomorrow." 

 "Damn Reb, could you be any weirder?" Warren muttered at her. 

 "I could," She said. "It's already Wednesday there. They're sixteen hours ahead, so we'll probably get there Thursday late afternoon around four or five."

 "So, we should be eating dinner instead of brunch," Warren said to himself, "Everything is all out of whack."

 "I hardly slept at all," She told him, "I was too anxious about pulling up stakes and going flying off into an unknown future. Being out of whack is my new normal."

 Warren glanced over at her. "Reb, We're off to see the Wizard."

 SooYun smiled and it made his heart flutter to see someone look so genuinely happy. She was sharing the experience with him, and that made him feel good.