The Life We Lead: Ascending (2 page)

James turned toward the bathroom. He had
taken a few steps when he heard the unmistakable sound of vomiting,
followed by a splattering sound on the floor. He paused a moment,
his eyes closed, as if praying for patience. Then a thud came.

Daen had fallen off the bed and was trying to
get up.

James helped him up and steered him to the
bathroom.

“I think I’m going to be sick again, man. Why
you putting me in the tub?” he groaned.

“It’s a lot easier to wash down a tub than a
floor and toilet and everything else if you miss,” said James.

“Okay, man,” said Daen weakly before passing
out.

James turned Daen’s head to the side so he
wouldn't choke if he threw up in his sleep, then cleaned up the
vomit near the bed. He thought he might be sick himself as the
smell of alcohol and that night’s dinner wafted up in the air. He
reminded himself that Daen rarely drank around him out of respect
for their friendship and decided that, in the big scheme of things,
it didn’t matter.

What did matter was figuring out how the
heroin was being channeled within Russia and how the Italians were
involved. It still didn’t make sense. Russia had its own mafia and
hated the Italians. But somehow they were connected and aiding each
other, according to the initial file they’d gotten from Tom at the
group.

The group was similar to a spy agency, but
with a few distinct differences. One of the major ones was that the
members tended to be in their late teens and early twenties. This
allowed others to overlook them, under the assumption that they
didn’t posses the skills to operate like they did. Age is often
used to gauge experience and wisdom. This mistake was a key that
the group capitalized on.

Another difference was that the members were
not employees, but more like volunteers. They were members because
of the skills they already possessed but wished to develop further.
Also they joined to expand their knowledge and abilities through
the challenges that came with being a member.

It also had a financial reward, since some
operations did give access to funds nobody could report
missing.

However, like all things in life, they had to
give up certain things that many of their peers enjoyed. Being able
to hold consistent relationships or even fully disclose their lives
to family and friends was not allowed. It also was dangerous if
they did tell people about the group as it diluted the ability of
the group to stay in the unknown shadows.

Daen and James found themselves in Russia
because they were at the beginning stages of investigating a major
drug cartel operation. This particular investigation was the
largest the group had undertaken.

James had been selected because of his
remarkable abilities. Among his skill set were strong observational
skills, intense logical thinking, tenacity and a rather high set of
morals.

In turn, James had selected Daen because they
always worked well together and because Daen spoke fluent Russian.
James preferred to work in small groups and had vigorously argued
that it should just be Daen and himself on this reconnaissance
trip.

This didn’t go over so smoothly, mainly
because Daen, who was black, would stand out like a sore thumb in
Russia. James actually felt this was an advantage, because it would
allow them to hide in plain sight. No one would suspect a black man
of being some sort of spy in Russia.

Tomorrow would be a light day, James decided,
as Daen wouldn’t be worth much in the morning. It would be a good
day to walk around and just observe, and James knew where to start.
He would start where he always did, at the bottom, and that meant
the subway system with the people living on the streets.

Just as James was climbing into bed, the
sound of fluids hitting porcelain rang out as his friend emptied
what little remained in his stomach. He shook his head and rolled
over to get some sleep.

***

The next day, after leaving Daen a note and
enough rubles for some food, James went down to the subway station
with his translation device in his pocket. To look more like a
tourist, he wore his camera around his neck. He didn’t really need
pictures, but the camera had a great zoom lens and helped him blend
in more innocently. This morning was more about getting a feel for
the environment, as he doubted many transactions took place this
early in the day.

The vast subway system was very busy. It had
clearly been beautiful at one point, but now the detailed tile work
showed signs of aging and dirt. The stained glass windows would fit
perfectly in a Catholic church in Rome if only they depicted
heavenly images, rather than the nature scenes that highlighted
Russia’s natural beauty.

The station was rather modern with vending
stations and ticket machines, though cart vendors pushed their
goods at everyone who walked by.

The cart vendors weren’t the only ones
commuters had to avoid. A few children were trying to sell candies
and such, or were just flat-out begging. James watched them for a
while and noticed a pattern. The kids never seemed to get too close
to the cart vendors who had taken space on the walls; they seemed
to have their own zones of operation. They also had the best zones
near the bottlenecks of the station.

A girl about six and a boy about the same age
were positioned toward the entrance. The girl seemed to target men
while the boy targeted women.

Then came two girls. One looked to be eight,
the other a little older. They crossed into the little kids’ area
and caught those people the little ones hadn’t yet spoken to.

Finally, a teenage boy with small objects and
trinkets for sale approached people the other four had not; he too
seemed to have an area.

It looked like they were working as a team
with zone coverage. More impressively, it seemed to be working.

A young girl, maybe twelve or thirteen,
suddenly came through the crowd. She grabbed the older looking of
the two girls selling candy and screamed at her in Russian. James
couldn’t see what the girl had done to offend the teenager, but the
girl suddenly began hitting the younger one. The crowd gave them
room, and no one made any motion to stop it.

James moved toward them, but before he’d
taken two steps, it was over. The older girl vanished while the
younger one lay crying on the floor. As James reached her, she
stood up, wiped her tears, and resumed her work. Looking down,
James suddenly understood.

A candy wrapper lay on the ground. The girl
had eaten a piece of candy, and the older teenage girl was the
boss, punishing her for it. Simple and swift. The older girl had
done what she’d felt she had to do, but hadn’t gone overboard. The
girl had accepted her punishment and returned to work. Perhaps this
wasn’t what would happen back home, but it was a system of justice
that allowed the kids to survive.

Walking away, James noticed a vendor watching
him, a man in his early twenties. He had a variety of objects on
his table, but wasn’t pushing them like the other vendors. James
walked over, curious as to why this man had locked eyes with him,
and pretended to look at the watches, pens, and handmade objects on
the table. Once or twice, he asked for a price.

The vendor answered curtly, but had lost
interest in James and was now watching the crowd, his eyes sweeping
back and forth. Finally, James selected a small pin and paid the
man, who spoke to him in English.

“Thank you for your purchase. But you should
know not to get involved in our business. It is lucky for you that
you did not stop what you saw with the girls.”

“Why is that?” James waited for his
change.

“Because our ways are not yours, and you
would have had to pay a lot more than she did,” he said, his eyes
coming to rest on James.

James knew at that moment that this man was
the real boss. He controlled what happened here, and the girl was
just his enforcer. Despite his youth, he had a hard look about
him.

“I see. Thank you for the advice,” James
replied in a measured voice. “Please, keep the change as a sign of
gratitude for your help.” He turned to walk away, but the vendor
grabbed his wrist.

“You should show more respect, American.”

James quickly twisted out of the grab and
locked onto the vendor’s wrist and elbow, exposing the under part
of his arm, which was covered in tattoos. They stared at each other
for a moment before James released him.

Smiling, James said, “Thanks again,” and
walked toward the exit.

As he climbed the steps, he realized he was
being followed. He thought to himself,
These guys are a bit
unhinged.

He let the boy, just a kid, follow him for a
short while and was surprised at the skill he had. He’d been
followed by CIA agents that this kid could teach a few lessons to,
but James had things to do, so he decided enough was enough. The
boy obviously was to report where James had gone.

James led the boy back to the shabby hotel.
When the boy followed him in, James made a split-second decision
and decided to go to the room directly below his.

Since his room was on the second floor, he
simply walked across the lobby and down the hall. Stopping at what
he hoped was the right door, James pretended to make a long search
for the key, giving the child plenty of time to see which room he
was attempting to enter.

This way, the boy succeeded and didn’t get
hurt, while James retained control of the situation.

Noticing the boy disappear through the
revolving door, James walked to the front desk. “Hello, Natalia,
how is your day?”

The receptionist was an older woman who loved
to converse in English whenever she could.

“Mr. Lewis, I am good. You are good, too?”
she asked.

“I am very good, yes, thank you. Can you tell
me if room nine is open to rent?”

With a frown on her face, the woman answered,
“Your room is bad? Everything wrong? I fix.”

“No, no. The room is fine. I just want an
extra room. Bryan snores very loudly,” James assured her.

“What is snorts?” she asked, her head
slightly to the side.

James figured it was easier just to
demonstrate, which made Natalia laugh.

“Very funny,” she said. “Yes, that room is
open. You would like, da?”

“Da,” answered James. He handed her enough
money to cover the room fees for the next few days and collected
the keys.

***

“Daen, how you feeling, buddy?” James asked
in a semi-soft voice as he entered their room a minute later.

A low “uggggghhh,” was all the reply he
got.

“We’re supposed to meet Petior in about
ninety minutes. Since you were so gung-ho on going out tonight,
you’d better shape up so we can go.”

James sat down on his bed as Daen stirred in
the other one. “I have some things to prep,” he told his groggy
friend, “but won’t be long, so if you could ...”

“How are you even functioning, man? You had
almost as many shots as me and you ain’t anything!” Daen spoke in
the loudest voice his head could take.

“I don’t know what to tell ya, but how about
you be in and out of the shower before I get back?” James grabbed
his clothes and suitcase.

“Where you goin’?” Daen’s head poked out from
the covers, looking a lot worse than James had expected.

“Long story short, I was followed today, and
we may have a visitor. I booked the room below this one and need to
make it look like I’m staying in it. I’m also hooking up some
sensors in there so need to run a cable. In fact, if you jump in
the shower now, I’ll drill while you’re showering so the sound
doesn’t kill you.”

“Gimme two minutes, and that is very
considerate, man.” Daen shuffled out of bed and toward the
bathroom.

James finished packing. When he heard the
shower running, he picked a spot about an inch from the interior
wall behind a dresser set. He was betting each of the rooms in the
hotel was set up in the same fashion, though after he started
drilling it occurred to him that he should have verified that
first. Even when his assumptions were logical, he liked to confirm
what he could.

He finished the hole and ran a length of
cable down before hooking the other end to a monitor that would
remain in the room he and Daen shared.

He grabbed his stuff and made his way
downstairs. He approached room nine, then stopped. “Check first,
genius,” he said to himself.

Walking up to Natalia, he asked, “Excuse me,
Natalia, has anyone else come in or out of the hotel since I left
you?”

“No, you are looking for someone?” she
asked.

“Bryan and I are meeting a friend for dinner
and want to make sure he hasn’t already arrived. Thank you,” said
James, giving her a smile as he walked away.

Entering room nine, James found he’d been
correct to think the rooms would all be set up the same. Only the
furniture differed. In this case, the dresser was long and flat,
though in the same spot as the one above. It was covered with a
thin layer of dust from the drilling.

James put his clothes and toiletries in their
proper places before installing the hardware. He then installed the
two-way split mini-camera that would allow him to see the room via
the monitor upstairs.

He could see the bathroom door as well as the
large window on the opposite wall of the main door. His blind spot
was the entrance, but a hallway remote camera would let him see the
door, hallway, and lobby.

He taped remote flash capsules inside the
bathroom door as well as near the window. This way, if he needed a
quick entrance or exit, he could blind his visitors for a few
moments.

He stepped into the hall and walked to the
fake plant one door down. He picked it up and moved it to the other
side of the hall to get a better view, then attached the
camera.