“Excuse me,” Kim told Ron and Monique, “I'm taking this call in the hallway. I don't, uh, want to risk Bonnie listening in.”
Monique and Ron looked at each other, then looked around for Bonnie after Kim left the table. Bonnie was nowhere close to them.
Out in the hall Kim quickly got back in touch with Wade, “Okay, what's happening?”
“Kim, Shego is in Cuba.”
“You sure?”
“Positive, once she started talking with a lawyer she started leaving a trail. I've got two possible addresses for her.”
“Got a ride for me?”
“Yeah, but you're not going to like it.”
“Is there room for Ron?”
“Do you really want him going with you?”
Kim chewed her lip nervously, “Would you think I was an awful person if I said no?”
“Nah, I'm not sure Ron wants to ride with them anyway.”
“All right, Miss, we need to drop our tracts and New Testaments now.” He shouted over the noise in the small plane's cabin. “I'll make a second pass and you can jump. Oh, I never did get a name for you.”
“Kim, Kim Possible.”
“Kim Possible? Why don't you just jump first Miss. I don't want you handling my tracts.”
“Like I want to handle his tracts,” Kim grumbled as she floated to earth under the canopy of her parachute. She could see a couple jeeps with soldiers on the road below, but steered her chute into a dense section of foliage and eluded them before starting the long walk into Havana.
“How am I doing, Wade?” the footsore Kim asked a couple hours later.
“According to the GPS you're about a mile from a possible location. I can guide you in.”
A half hour later Kim was casing a dilapidated Russian era apartment block. It was depressing to think that Shego could have been reduced to staying in such a place. Kim hoped the pale woman would be at the other location, it had to be better than this.
She got in the building without any trouble. Only half the lights worked in the hallway, and neither of the elevators. Wade said an apartment on the fourth floor had been rented at the right time. Kim tried to ignore the smell in the stairwell as she climbed to the fourth floor, “Please, don't let Shego be living here,” she repeated over and over as she went up.
The lighting wasn't any better on the forth floor, but a bulb near one door at the middle of the long hall still worked. It allowed Kim to see the name card on the door, with the single word “Go” written on it.
Kim stared at the door for a minute, then summoned up enough courage to knock timidly.
“Who is it?” a familiar voice called from inside.
“It's Kim… Can we talk?”
“Princess? Always time for you… Give me a minute, I'm not moving very fast these days.” After what seemed like hours Kim heard Shego unbolt the lock and slide back the chain, “Welcome to my humble abode.”
Humble was a more noble term than the apartment deserved. “You live here?” Kim asked.
“Yeah, I was lucky to get an apartment with a private bathroom. It even has a toilet seat on the john. Those are in short supply in Cuba.” She shuffled back to the dilapidated couch. Kim took in the little there was to see in the apartment with a glance. Mostly she stared at Shego. Her pregnancy had taken off some of the harsher edges, she seemed softer, more vulnerable. Kim felt a wave of guilt if she had done this, she still had trouble believing it was true. “If you're here for a fight I apologize, but you've left me in no condition to defend myself.”
“Why here? There have got to be better places you could have gone.”
“Yeah, it's a dump, isn't it,” Shego remarked as she glanced around. “But Cuba has no extradition treaty with the US. And, as you can tell, I'm not in shape for either fight or flight at the moment. Hey, I've got some fruit juice in the ‘fridge. Help yourself to anything then sit down,” Shego said, gesturing to a chair so rickety Kim feared it might be a death trap.
Kim was glad to find lots of juice and no beer or wine in the refrigerator, but shocked at how little food there was in the apartment. “Are you eating all right?”
“Usually. I don't cook much these days, don't like standing for long periods and they don't have microwaves. I sit down when I teach.”
“You teach?”
“Yeah, some English classes. They want to speak good like me do.”
As Kim went towards the chair Shego grimaced in pain and Kim moved towards her, “Are you all right?”
“Your little present to me is going to be a kick boxer or a soccer player,” Shego said, pushing Kim's offered hand away.
“So you're really pregnant?”
Shego stared at Kim in amazement, then pointed to her belly, “No, I swallowed a watermelon whole for breakfast this morning,” she answered sarcastically.
“But you said that I couldn't--”
“I was wrong,” Shego snarled. “I was wrong about a lot of things. I thought you were going to express your real feelings about--”
“STOP!” Kim commanded. “You confuse me.”
“I confuse you?” Shego asked in a mocking tone, “God almighty, you confuse me Possible. Now get out if that's all you have to say.”
“The lawsuit, I wanted to know about that.”
Another spasm of pain seemed to wrack Shego. She took a minute to regain her composure, then laughed at Kim's question, “Oh yeah, you need to take some responsibility for your actions. See you in court. Or, more accurately, my lawyers will see you in court.”
Shego struggled to get off the couch. Kim's heart went out to her and she went over to help the pale woman to her feet, “Get away from me,” Shego snarled, ignoring Kim. After she finally rose she shuffled to the door and pointed to the hall. “Out!”
Kim hesitated, wishing she knew what to say, “Out, now!” Shego ordered again.
The red haired woman left. Wade had already given her directions to the Canadian Embassy. She would leave on a flight to Toronto, then take a flight from Canada home later that evening.
In the dingy apartment Shego leaned back against the door and smiled. During Kim's visit a dozen concealed cameras had taken hundreds of pictures, some of which could be used in an incriminating way. Now that Kim had been here she could move back to the luxury hotel where she usually stayed. She looked the place over, the American media would soon be clamoring for interviews, and this place would definitely earn a lot of sympathy for her back home.
As she prepared to leave she suddenly doubled over in pain. “Couldn't manage it while your daddy was here,” she gasped to the child in her womb, “but as soon as she goes out the door you have to kick for real. You're just like her.”