by Mike Kraus
“You mean all the guys in uniforms carrying big guns?” Nate nodded with a quizzical expression. “Yeah, I’d call them different.”
“No, no.” Linda smiled. “I mean anyone not part of the security and guard details. Maybe someone working administration who you don’t recognize or who seems a bit off to you.” Linda made a show of glancing around before sliding back into her chair and lowering her voice. “We have reason to suspect that the impersonator may be working with some bad folks. Ones who could put this operation here at the port in jeopardy.” The more Linda spoke the paler Nate’s face became. “If you’ve seen anyone around here who arouses any suspicions in you then we’d appreciate it if you helped us out by telling us about it.”
Nate sat quietly for several seconds. Linda started to think that she might have gone slightly too far in her attempt to get his help when he finally replied. “There’s this one guy. He’s… odd.”
“How do you mean?” Frank sat down next to Linda.
“He’s got on the same clothing as the other guys who are working here but I never see him doing anything but wandering around. And his shoes are really nice.”
“His… shoes?” Frank repeated.
“Yeah. He wears dress shoes and slacks along with a big camo coat.”
“What’s his name?”
Nate shrugged. “I have no idea. He sounds and looks foreign but I don’t know where from. He only comes around every other day or so, usually for an hour or two. He talks to a few people and then he leaves.”
“Where does he go?”
“How would I know?” Nate got up from the table, taking his empty food tray with him and dumping it in the trash can. “I live here at the docks. Which is a good thing, otherwise I’d be out there on the streets or jammed into a survivor city like everybody else.” He started sounding more agitated the longer he talked. “I don’t make waves, I do my job and I try not to ask any questions. If you guys want to go around asking questions then be my guest but don’t ask me to participate, okay?”
Linda smiled and stood up. “Don’t worry, Nate. We appreciate your help. You won’t be mentioned anywhere in this.” Linda held out her hand and Nate grasped it tentatively.
“Thank you.”
“No, thank you.” Frank stood up and shook Nate’s hand. The worker nodded to both of them and hurried out of the room, going back to his duties as he tried to forget his conversation with the pair. Frank and Linda were quiet for a moment as they were lost in their own thoughts until, finally, Linda spoke.
“Poor bastard.”
“Hm?” Frank looked at her.
“Just… wow. The guy’s at the center of the smuggling, then he’s left homeless and now he’s living here while working day and night with this supply operation. Talk about a rough time he’s had.”
Frank shrugged. “Yeah, but he’s still better off than most. He could be dead, living on the streets or trying to find enough space to lie down inside a survivor city.”
“True.”
“Where do we go from here?”
“Our best lead seems to be this foreigner with the fancy shoes who comes around once in a while.” Linda opened her notebook and looked through what she had written down. “I haven’t seen anyone matching that description since we’ve been here.”
“Does that mean a stakeout?”
“Unfortunately I think it does.”
Frank let out a groan. “Great. Think we can do it from in here somewhere? Or should we get outside to a building nearby?”
“Outside, for sure. If this guy comes and goes at odd times then we’ll be able to follow him and grab him for a little talk when he arrives or leaves next.”
“All right. Let’s get going.”
Chapter 9
Frank sat motionless in a chair by the second story window, his body partially turned as he watched one of the world’s greatest survivors crawl across the ceiling. The cockroach’s antennae twitched as it felt the air currents in the drafty building, skittering along in sudden bursts as it searched for any trace of sustenance. Frank wasn’t a fan of insects in general and while he wouldn’t admit to it publicly cockroaches made him feel particularly squeamish. He didn’t want to wake Linda, though, so he kept still and eyed the roach cautiously until it disappeared through a hole in the wall into the next room.
With his nemesis gone from sight Frank rubbed his bleary eyes and turned his gaze back out onto the street below. After leaving the port he and Linda parked their SUV in a nearby alley and walked back to the edge of the street separating a small group of apartment buildings from the port itself. The apartments hadn’t been lived in for several years and they were filled with holes, mold, stray animals and—Frank suspected—at least a few thousand roaches. Linda chose the building due to its proximity to the port as well as how easy it was to get up and down the stairs without being noticed from the other side of the street.
After using a few emergency blankets to set up a sleeping area in a corner of the floor Frank had insisted that Linda get some rest. She had only argued for a moment or two before giving in and it didn’t take her much longer to fall asleep. Frank pulled in a chair from another room and put it near the window before easing into it. After taking some time to get comfortable he began the hours-long tedium of watching out over the port and road nearby, both wanting and not wanting to see any signs of abnormal activity.
The long night eventually ended and Linda woke with the dawn, giving Frank a few hours of rest before he got back up and they both ate breakfast. The rest of the day was spent in quiet conversation as they took turns sitting near the window. Linda was careful to avoid any movement directly in front of it and made sure that neither of them made any noise that would give away their location in the structure.
The rest of the first day spent on watch revealed no sign of anyone matching Nate’s description but it did offer a fascinating overview of what life at the port was like for those working there. The Army and National Guard lived inside the complex along with the workers, though each group was segregated into different quarters. The Army and National Guard each had their own groups of tents while the workers appeared to live inside one of the buildings previously used for storing goods.
None of the workers left or entered the port during the first day. The only movement was a convoy of twelve trucks that headed in the direction of the airport under the protection of six heavily armored and armed Humvees and one APC. On the night of the second day a helicopter with Coast Guard markings landed just inside the edge of the port complex and three people who turned out to be additional workers got out.
The second day was a mirror of the first, with nearly nothing interesting going on. Frank and Linda found themselves memorizing the individual traits of each of the “regulars” they could see from their position in the building. They began making up humorous stories about the people in an attempt to entertain themselves as the morning stretched into the afternoon, evening and night yet again.
When Frank took over for Linda just before dawn on the third day he thought that it was going to be uneventful and that they would have another day of nothing to report back to Sarah. Activity along the road in front of the docks was sparse, with emergency and military vehicles being the chief source of traffic. They had seen around a dozen civilian cars total since starting their stakeout but none of the vehicles loitered or even slowed down around the area.
Thirty minutes after taking over for Linda, though, Frank realized that the day was about to get a lot more interesting. A dark green four-door car came down the road, driving unusually slowly until it stopped near the gate. The guards at the gate—in contrast to how they had acted toward Frank and Linda—didn’t seem to be bothered by the vehicle. A man with slicked-back black hair, dark slacks and a camo-patterned jacket stepped out of his vehicle and walked towards the gate. He waved at the guards and one of them waved back, allowing him through without the slightest delay.
“Hello. What have w
e here?” Frank’s eyes widened and the fog of exhaustion on his mind evaporated instantly. Linda, who hadn’t quite fallen asleep, heard him mumbling to himself and sat up in the corner of the room.
“What’s going on? Something wrong?”
Frank turned to her and put a finger to his lips. “Shh.” He continued talking quietly despite the fact that there was no chance anyone across the street could hear him. “Come look. This might be our guy.”
The pair watched as the man slowly walked through the compound, stopping every so often to pull out a piece of paper from his pocket, jot notes down onto it and then carry on. Linda tried in vain to get a glimpse of what was on the paper but the distance was too far for her to make anything out through her binoculars. She did, however, note that the man took great care in avoiding any puddles or piles of dirt and debris and his shoes glistened brightly with the reflection of the rising sun.
“Oh yeah.” Linda nodded. “That’s got to be him. Foreign, nice shoes, wandering around making notes on the shipments going through. Yeah. Without a doubt.”
“What do you want to do?”
Linda looked around at the small piles of her and Frank’s belongings that they had scattered about the room. “You get everything packed up and ready to go. I’m going to head downstairs and make sure his car can’t go anywhere.”
Frank raised an eyebrow. “By yourself? Are you sure?”
Linda double-checked that there was a round chambered in her pistol and nodded. “As soon as you’re done getting everything ready to go, meet me down at the bottom floor. I should be done by then.”
While Frank got all of their things back into their packs Linda hurried down the stairs, trying to ignore the pain in her thigh. It wasn’t enough to induce a limp but it was a constant, nagging reminder of her wound. When she got to the bottom of the building she looked outside, checking to see if the man or the guards across the road were looking in her direction. The bend of the road and the trees in the median were arranged such that she was shielded from anyone near the main gate, though, so she hurried across the street to the man’s car.
Linda considered stealing the vehicle, but driving it around near the gate would most likely be both loud and attract a large amount of unwanted attention. If she waited in ambush near the vehicle she would likely be spotted and, even if she wasn’t, all the man would have to do is shout and the guards would come running. Need something better… something smarter. She stared at the vehicle for a few seconds before her eyes opened wide with the thought of a particularly risky idea.
With their bags ready to go and a few extra magazines for their pistols in his pockets, Frank hurried back around the building to the front lobby. “Linda?” Frank whispered as he stalked through the open lobby, looking for any sign of his companion. “Where the hell’d you go?”
As he walked by the entrance to the building Frank glanced out at the car parked across the street and saw the back of the SUV open. He stopped short in surprise at the sight of Linda as she started to climb into the rear of the vehicle. What the hell? Frank dropped their bags in the lobby and darted out the door and went across the street, looking both ways out of force of habit. He reached the vehicle and crouched behind it just as Linda started reaching for the strap to pull the door back down.
“Linda!” Frank looked up at her with wide eyes as he hissed at her. “What are you doing?!”
Linda’s eyes had a glimmer of madness in them that Frank had seen a time or two prior. “New plan, Frank. I need you to head down the street a couple blocks. I’m going to force him off the road, then we’ll drag him out of the car and kick his ass.”
“But—”
“Don’t argue. We can’t do anything here or we’ll be in some deep shit. Just trust me, okay?”
Frank hesitated for only a moment before nodding at her. “Okay. I’ll be waiting three streets down, on the left.”
“Good. Oh, and make sure you’re not standing in the street when we pull in. Find an alcove or something. Just in case.”
Frank nodded slowly as he stood up and ran back to the other side of the road, not fully understanding Linda’s instruction. He grabbed their bags from the front of the building and headed down the direction Linda had indicated. Once he reached the third street he turned in and waited at the corner. He could just barely see the gate to the docks but the man’s SUV was out of sight so he had no idea when it would start driving his way. The minutes ticked by agonizingly slowly until a flash of light near the gate attracted his attention.
Sunlight reflected off the windshield of the car as it drove forward down the road in Frank’s direction. He almost turned and ran farther down the street but the thought of Linda alone in the vehicle with the man they were pursuing spurred him to pause and wait to see what happened.
The SUV continued driving normally until it was about thirty feet from the street where Frank was waiting. Out of nowhere the vehicle surged forward and to the left, thumping over the median and careening directly toward the side of the cross-street where Frank was standing. He leapt backward and pulled himself inside the closest doorway just as the SUV drove past him, made a sharp right turn and collided with the side of a building.
Frank pulled himself up from where he had fallen and ran towards the SUV, arriving there just as the driver’s side door started to open. He drew his pistol and circled around in front of the door, keeping it trained on the man who was trying to pull himself out of the vehicle. “Get down! Now!” Frank tried to keep the volume of his shouting to a minimum even though anyone within hearing range would be drawn to the scene by the sound of the crash.
The man getting out of the SUV looked up at Frank and tried to say something in a language Frank didn’t understand. The man’s face was covered in blood and his speech was slightly slurred. He shook his head as he stumbled forward, eventually falling to the ground in a heap. Before Frank could reach down to grab the man Linda was out of the SUV and sitting on top of the stranger. She grabbed his arms and pulled them behind his back before using a length of wire to tie the man’s wrists together.
“Help me get him up, quick!” Linda didn’t look at Frank as she spoke and only got off of the man once Frank leaned down to loop his arm under the man’s shoulder. Together he and Linda pulled the man up onto his feet and he started speaking again, though this time it was in English.
“United States… State Department… you’re assaulting a… government official.” The man gasped for air as he spoke, and though his face was still soaked in blood his eyes looked like new life had sprung into them since he got out of the SUV.
“Shut the hell up.” Linda pushed the man’s back and nodded to Frank. “Get him in the back of the SUV.”
Frank opened his mouth to ask Linda what they were doing with the man but the look she shot him told him that he needed to continue following her lead. Frank and Linda both shoved the man into the back of the SUV, and she slammed the door closed. Frank pulled on her arm before she could walk around to the passenger door. “What the hell are we doing with him?” He whispered to her, not wanting the man to overhear.
Linda growled in response, sounding more like a caged animal than a human. “I know him. He’s one of Omar’s lieutenants.”
Frank could feel the color draining from his face. “Are you serious?”
“Very. Now get in and drive. We’re going to head inland, find a cozy little corner and see if we can’t extract some information from him.”
***
It took just under twenty minutes for Linda’s patience to run thin. She had originally wanted them to get clear of the city before stopping to interrogate Omar’s lieutenant but once they got past the Long Beach Airport she abruptly told Frank to pull over into a small shopping center. The buildings in the center had been looted shortly after the attacks and the glass from their windows was scattered across the sidewalk and parking lot. They appeared deserted, though, and there hadn’t been any sign of anyone in the area they we
re driving through.
“Pull up to that café. Park right by the entrance, back of the SUV up against the building. I want to get him inside fast.”
Frank dutifully turned the vehicle around while Linda watched the man squirm in the back of the vehicle. His bonds around his wrists were tight enough and his clothes restrictive enough that he hadn’t been able to maneuver his arms around under his body to free himself. Once Frank parked the SUV he and Linda jumped out. “You grab our stuff.” He called out to her across the vehicle. “I’ll get him inside.”
“Don’t be gentle.” She growled again and Frank felt a chill run up his spine. He opened the back of the SUV and grabbed the man by the arm. His face had changed from one of confusion and defiance to one of abject fear and he whispered at Frank, pleading with him.
“Please, no. Don’t do this! You have the wrong man! That woman is a monster! She’s a monster!”
“If we have the wrong man,” Frank said as he pulled Omar’s lieutenant out of the vehicle, “then how do you know who she is?”
The man struggled against Frank’s grip but he held firm, pulling the man along into the café. Linda was already inside setting up a pair of lights in the back of the building, far out of sight of the main entrance. She brushed dirt and debris off of a booth and motioned towards it. “Sit him down back there.” Frank pushed the man into the far edge of the booth so that it would be nearly impossible for him to escape without an immense struggle. Linda then ensured that escape was a complete impossibility by taking out a length of rope and lashing his feet together around the center leg of the table.
“Are you done yet?” The man sneered at Linda, trying to feign bravery but Frank could tell that the man was still scared of what might happen to him.
“Aref Hawrami.” Linda smiled at him as she sat down in a chair next to the booth. “It’s been far too long.”
Aref stared at her for several seconds, contemplating whether he should try to keep up his act or not. In the end, though, he decided on the latter. His body sagged slightly and he glared at her. “Linda Rollins. Omar always said you’d come back.”
