A huge grin broke out on Ms. Houng’s face. “Hi, Benji, better to hang on. Here we go.”
We shot out of the warehouse area and onto a freeway, then slowed to a normal pace. “Go too fast, attract too much attention. Go speed limit, better,” Ms. Houng murmured, her eyes darting around, looking for any signs of trouble.
“Benji, shouldn’t we contact my dad, make sure everything is ok?”
“Sorry, mate, can’t… bloody government can intercept any kind of communications, so we have to rely on our planning. Your daddy knows what he’s doing. He’ll meet us at point six, no worries.”
Easy for you to say…
We continued down the freeway, which for some reason I knew was going north- northwest, and after a few minutes turned off the freeway. After a series of careening turns, we entered a neighborhood that… well, it looked like it had seen better days. Most of the tiny, disheveled houses had boarded-up windows and chain link fences around the front, and there was trash all over the street and in many of the small, grassless yards. In fact, the street was full of cracks and potholes, and we bounced as much as rolled along. Many of the houses were dark, and the ones that weren’t had people peering furtively out the windows that were not covered with sheets of faded chipboard. Benji glanced at me, and my eyes must have been wide, as he said, “Relax, boyo. This is the new normal, as the dags say. Looks scary, but’s how it is, eh? We’re nearing point six, just up ahead.”
7
W e approached a house with a green light on in the front porch, and the garage opened as we pulled into the driveway. To my right I saw another small black car approaching, and it pulled right in behind us. The garage had obviously been extended at some point, as both cars fit in front to back, and the garage door quickly swung closed. “See? I told you your daddy would be ok. Stick with me, mate. I won’t steer you wrong.”
Benji went to slap me on the back again, but stopped himself, instead patting me gently on the shoulder. “Don’t want to make that mistake again. Might bounce back and punch me own self in the noggin, eh?” Benji laughed.
Dad jumped out of the driver’s seat of the other car and called, follow me!”
We went through a weathered door and into the small, darkened house; I smelled dust and the carpet felt old under my feet. We sped through another aged door and down a flight of rickety wooden stairs. “Took us a long time to find a house in this area with a basement,” dad whispered out of the corner of his mouth as we descended. Someone closed the door above, and a light went on, revealing an immaculately clean, spacious room that appeared to be set up for meetings of some kind. There was a large, black, round table in the center of the room with ten chairs of various types around it, and a computer monitor sitting in the middle of the table.
“Welcome to the Tactical Room, Lukey. This is where we developed our plans to get us to this point, and I think things have worked as well as could be expected thus far. You know Ms. Houng, of course. This is Mardig Harutyunyan. A brilliant technologist, he heard of our plight via collaboration with Benji, and came to join us all the way from Armenia.”
I think he’s the biggest person I’ve ever seen… he must be over two meters tall, and I bet he weighs over three hundred pounds, but he seems to be pure muscle… he looks like he doesn’t have a neck, his head just comes straight out of his shoulders… and look at that beard, it looks like he’s growing black shrubbery on his face… “So, John, is him? Everything is work?”
Dad grinned and patted the big man on his arms, which were crossed in front of his massive chest. “Better than we could have hoped, thanks to you, Mard. Let’s all sit, I don’t think we’ll have long before we need to disband. Seems strange, we have been working toward this moment for so long, and now that it’s here, I think it will be a bit bittersweet to say we are done. No, that’s not correct… we may be done with this phase, but there are many more to come. Sit, sit.”
Benji rubbed his hands together vigorously, and said, “Oi, John, I think we earned a few coldies, eh?”
“Well, I suppose one would be ok, but we need our wits about us. We still have far to go.”
Benji went to an ice chest underneath the stairs and pulled out a brown bottle, twisted it open, and downed the contents in one long guzzle. He then expelled an equally long burp, and said, “Ahh, that’s better. Ok, time for business.”
“Is drink too fast, will get sick,” Mr. Harutyunyan offered.
“Aww, don’t worry, mate. I’m a professional,” Benji replied.
We all took a seat around the table and dad said, “On to phase four. I assume you all know your parts, and remember, after we’ve completed phase four, it will be time to fade into the background. We’ll reconvene at some point, but we’ll need to lay low for a significant period to give the government time to forget about us and move on to other things. Sorry, Lukey, but we’ll have to get you back into your disguise for this next phase. We have a long way to go, and we’ll have to travel via the normal methods. There aren’t many flights anymore since the economies crashed, but there are still boats that we can get passage on. We’ve managed to stockpile enough money and other items of value to bribe and barter our way there, and once we arrive, we can disappear long enough to get set up to continue our research and projects in relative peace. We need to go quickly, though, because they’ll be here soon enough. As we know, they have been surveilling this house, and they obviously know now that we have reached the culmination of our project, so it’s time to bid adieu to our meeting place. Are we ready?”
There were grim, serious faces all around, even Benji, who was uncharacteristically quiet. “Umm, dad, sorry, but where are we going?”
Dad glanced around the room, and said, “We won’t say right now, Lukey, just in case they have listening devices that they’ve planted nearby. I have a feeling you’ll like it, though. Ok, time for phase four.” We all stood and charged up the stairs, spilling out into the kitchen area of the little house. Dad reached over and flicked on a light switch, and there was a small pop in the living room area to our left. Flames began leaping up into the curtains and it was obvious that the whole place would soon be engulfed. We went through the door into the garage, piled into the two small cars, Benji, dad and me in one and Ms. Houng and Mr. Harutyunyan in the other, and the back of the garage slid up to reveal an exit into an alley behind the house. “Whoa, there’s no way you could tell that was a door. How did you guys do all of this?”
Dad turned to me and smiled once again. “Desperation is a powerful motivator, Lukey. Hit it, Benji!”
Benji revved the car and we flew out of the garage as it filled with smoke and roared down the dark, trash-filled alley toward our unknown destination. At least, unknown to me.
8
W e headed south-southwest (again, somehow, I knew the direction of travel, as if I had a compass in my head), down toward what is left of San Diego, and as we rolled, I got back into my disguise, including a new pink hoodie to cover the hole in the back of my shirt. Despite our concerns, we didn’t see any more of the government type people on the drive down, and a hazy morning was dawning as we approached. It was bizarre to see the tops of the skyline of San Diego jutting out of the Pacific Ocean; the buildings had been left as a sort of tribute to all the people who were lost in the tsunami. The new Port of San Diego essentially butted up to Balboa Park; the park and famous zoo were spared by the tsunami due to it being the high point in the city.
Despite all the tension and excitement of the last day, I felt sleepy, and I wondered how my new body would affect things like that. Would I need to rest? What about eating, going to the bathroom, that kind of stuff? I need more answers… it’s not a good time to ask right now, but as soon as we get clear, these guys are going to need to fill me in…
I glanced at dad, and he was out like a light, snoring softly. No wonder… he’s been up probably more than twenty-four hours… “So, boyo, you’ve had a corker of a day, eh? One to put in the diary, this!
Did you think you would ever get out of that bloody hospital?”
“Well, I really didn’t know I was there until yesterday morning, so I don’t think of it that way. You’re right, though, this has definitely been a corker, whatever that is.”
Benji cackled and smacked his thigh. “Oi, you’re a larrikin, you are. We’ll be at the port in just a minute or two, better wake your daddy.”
I tapped dad on the shoulder, and he bolted upright, his eyes darting in all directions. “Are you ok, Lukey? What… oh, man, I guess I dozed off. We’re here already? Benji, any problems along the way?”
“No, clear sailing. A little strange, that. I thought we’d have the whole military-industrial complex breathing down our necks, but there’s been no sign of those drongos. What ya make of that, John-o?”
“Hmmm… well, you’ll remember that one of the possibilities we discussed was that, if they didn’t apprehend us right away, they would wait until we settled somewhere. It would be much less messy for them if they caught us in some foreign land and could keep it quiet.”
“You don’t think they’ll try to take us at sea?”
“They would have to stop all the ships going out, and that’s unlikely. If we do a good job of laying low on the way, we should be ok.”
We pulled up to the hilltop from the east, the docks extending out to the south and west. We parked the blue compact car, and after checking to make sure that we were not being observed, Benji reached under the front bumper and in five seconds had peeled off a blue coating to reveal that the car was actually… the faded tan car from the day before. “We’ve been camouflaging these bloody cars for years, seems to have worked so far,” Benji explained.
We walked casually down the waterfront, me in my girl disguise, dad in a bulky jacket, hat and sunglasses, and Benji with a hood up to cover his black mane. The early morning sky was a cloudless haze, and the high humidity had dad and Benji already slick with sweat; although I could feel the warmth in the atmosphere, I wasn’t perspiring at all. Ships of all shapes and sizes jutted out from the docks as far as I could see, including many that were obviously military. Although the whole harbor couldn’t have been more than about fifteen years old, it seemed to be crumbling around the edges, the walkway lined with garbage and desperately sad homeless people. We turned a corner, and a large cargo ship loomed into view. “That’s it,” dad whispered. “Let’s see if Alexy is ready for us.”
Alexy? How did they make all these connections?
We walked down one of the many piers jutting out from the Balboa Docks, and there was a short, rotund man standing at the end of a ramp leading up to the aging ship. He had a long, blond ponytail hanging down his back, a patchy, graying beard dotting his face, and wore a black leather vest. He looked to me like the leader of an unhealthy motorcycle gang. When he noticed us approaching, his eyes darted around, but, seeing no one else in the vicinity, broke out in a huge grin. In a distinctly low, guttural Russian accent, he said, “Ahh, Mr. Johnson, so nice to see you! You have associates, I see.”
They shook hands warmly, and dad said, “Yes, thank you, Alexy. This is Mr. Smith, and this is my daughter, Lucinda.”
Lucinda? Come on, you could come up with something better than that…
“Ahh, yes, Mr. Smith, hello, and such a beautiful young lady, miss Lucinda.” He reached out, took my hand, and brought it to his lips, which seemed old-fashioned and creepy at the same time, but I wasn’t sure what to do so I let him kiss it. Does he really think I’m a girl? This disguise is better than I thought… “I assume you have the proper… ahh, credentials?”
“Yes, of course.” Dad reached into his backpack, removed a bulging envelope, and carefully handed it over. Alexy opened it, peered greedily at the contents, and the scent of money hit my nose.
“Ahh, yes, everything appears to be in order. Please to follow me.”
We proceeded up the long ramp to the ship. I had never been this close to a real ocean-going vessel before, and I was surprised by the immensity of it, although it was definitely not the biggest boat in the area. It seemed to me to be a hundred meters long, with a wide, flat deck and a two-story structure jutting up out of the middle. The scent of vegetation was strong, and I whispered, “Dad, what kind of ship is this?”
“It carries cargo of various types, but I believe on this trip it is filled with produce bound for our eventual destination.”
Things have been happening so fast that I haven’t had time to notice, but my senses seem enhanced… sight, hearing, smell, all seem stronger than before…
“Watch out for this fella, mate,” Benji whispered, pointing at Alexy’s back as we walked across the worn wooden deck toward the central structure. “I think he’s sweet on ya.”
Oh, great. Am I going to have to wear this disguise all the way to… wherever we’re going?
“But I’m not a…”
Benji held up both hands with his index fingers against his lips in a “shhh!” motion. “Hang on, boyo. Got to maintain for now,” he mouthed.
Large nets full of corn cobs were being hoisted over the side and onto the ship as we walked, and the sweetness in the air was almost overwhelming. Despite being thirty meters distant, the voices of the crew assaulted my ears. I hope there is some way to adjust my senses, otherwise I may go crazy…
“So, my friends, allow me to show you your quarters. Just through here,” said Alexy, ushering us into the central structure. Everything was made of thick, dull gray metal plates, rusty patches here and there. A bank of yellowed windows ran all the way around the square room, with a stereotypical captain’s wheel in the front center. Two crewmembers in gray sailor uniforms busied themselves cleaning the windows as we passed, but I caught them sneaking sidelong glances at me. They think I’m a girl too… I’m not sure this is a good idea…
We proceeded down a circular metal staircase through one floor that appeared to be meant for cargo and into the second floor below the deck. Down a narrow, dimly lit hallway were a number of small doors, and it reeked of fish, body odor, and something else I couldn’t identify; about twenty meters down we stopped at one of the doors. Alexy produced an immense key ring, shuffled through the keys, and slid one into the door, pushing it aside to reveal a room about the size of a large closet. With a flourish of his hand, and in an overly jolly tone, he pronounced, “I hope you will be satisfied with the amenities.”
There were two small bunks in the room, one above the other, and about an equal amount of floor space next to the bunks. A tiny closet completed the interior, all painted the same flat gray. As Benji rolled his eyes, dad said, “Yes, very nice. Thank you, Alexy.”
“We will be underway soon. Your duties will begin promptly at eight a.m. I trust you will enjoy your trip.” He gave an exaggerated salute, which dad returned, and left us to our cabin.
“What will we do with all this space, John-o?” said Benji.
“Alright, I know it’s not great, but we need to keep a low profile, and it would be hard to go much lower than this.”
“That’s a bloody oath, mate.”
“Dad, he said our duties begin at eight. What did he mean?”
“In order to get this passage to our destination, we had to agree to work our way there.”
“Just a second, mate. We paid to work? Isn’t that upside downie?”
Dad chuckled ruefully. “If we are to remain incognito, we need to look like part of the crew. Sorry, but we will have duties to fulfill.”
“You shoulda told me, I woulda stayed back at the lab, taken me chances.”
“Dad, am I going to have to wear this disguise the whole time?”
“Sorry, Lukey… it would be a bit suspicious if all of a sudden there was a fourteen-year-old boy where a girl had been, so until we reach our destination, yes you will.”
“Well, are there at least some other clothes to wear? Pink shorts and rhinestone flip flops are not going work if it gets cold out.”
“Yeah, and it might be
a bit too tempting for the rest of the crew,” Benji added.
“You might be right, but the good news is Lukey, I mean Lucinda, can certainly protect himself. In fact, he may be more capable of self-defense than anyone else in the world at this point. You’ll remember what happened when you tried to pat him on the back. If something as innocuous as that produced the reaction it did from the autonomic programming, imagine what would happen if there was a real threat.”
Benji’s face rumpled with humor. “I want to be a fly on the wall when someone tries to fuss with our boyo. They’d bail on any plans on gettin’ fresh right quick, I reckon.”
“Dad, what happened to Ms. Houng and Mr. Harutyunyan?”
“They were to find their own passage to our destination and meet us there. They are very resourceful, and we thought it best if we made our connections independently so there would be less chance of all of us being apprehended.”
Outside the door to our quarters, Alexy’s voice reverberated off the plate metal of the slender hallway. “Ahh, yes, right this way, Mr. and Ms. Jones.”
A familiarly deep, gruff voice said, “Is very narrow, I can barely fit.”
“Dad, is that…”
“Sshhh… hang on… wait ‘til Alexy leaves,” he whispered, simultaneously putting his hand over Benji’s mouth.
He pushed dad’s hand aside and hissed, “What are the chances they picked the same bloody boat?”
“One in about two thousand, I’d say. Quiet now.”
Again, from the hall we heard, “I hope you will be satisfied with the amenities.”
Then a voice that was obviously Ms. Houng: “Do we have a choice?”
After a brief pause, Alexy laughed heartily. “Very good. I like this one, Mr. Jones. She has spirit. Your duties begin promptly at eight a.m. Any other questions?”
There was no reply, and Alexy could be heard bustling back down the hall and up the metal stairs.
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