by Jade White
She laughed at their sheer stupidity. They could have just cut her access to the network, but for some odd reason, couldn’t figure out how. The IT guy was off sick that day, so he was of little use. Maybe it was the ricin she slipped in his coffee the day before. Yeah probably was the ricin.
She closed out the browser that motioned Nicolai on over. “Alright, work your magic. Get me a ticket to Honolulu with the least amount of stopovers. Preferably going west over North America. The less time I spend in Russian air space the better.”
“I agree.” Nicolai replied. “I’ll see what I can do.” He began to type in the addresses of various websites to track down what he needed. He then went to work to procure the airline tickets Sonja required.
“How long will it take for your friends to get me my exit papers?” she asked.
“If I break a few arms, three days tops.” Nicolai replied.
“It’s cutting it close. I might have to move to another safe house before too long.” Sonja worried.
“Don’t worry. I’ve done this plenty of times. You’ll be able to go to your tropical American paradise and swoon into the arms of your knight in shining armor in no time.” He teased.
“Oh, do shut up. This is just for practical purposes only. He is good looking, though, so I might sleep with him once or twice, just to give it a sense of legitimacy, but once I have my asylum guaranteed, I will be dropping him like a hot potato.” Sonja scoffed.
Nicolai laughed as he rubbed his balding head. “You know, if you’re not careful you might actually fall in love some day. Cupid really loves people like you.”
“Not this chick.” She replied. “Don’t have time for that kind of bullshit. Now, get me out of here, will you?”
“Alright, alright, let me call my contact. I need to find the right phone first.” Nicolai replied as he searched the dingy white kitchen drawers for his encrypted cell phone. “To keep the KGB from cracking our encryption we change phones every three days. Sometimes I lose it, ah here it is.” He opened the archaic flip phone and punched in a sequence of numbers, waited a minute while listening intently and punched in a few more. He then hustled to the bathroom to conduct his conversation in relative secrecy.
Sonja stared after him and sighed. She wished she could be kept in the loop regarding this, but Nicolai was good at what he did and she trusted him explicitly, he was one of the very few people who held that coveted status in her life. She sat down at the kitchen table and opened the laptop once again.
She went back to Russell’s secret profile and studied it intently. She studied the photos and details of his life. She noticed he was pretty outdoorsy, enjoyed beer, but was a loner by nature. She liked that. Fewer people in his life, the fewer complications down the road. She thought.
Sonja also noticed that there was a heavily censored and redacted medical file locked behind a very tightly encrypted file system. She attempted to crack the encryption to access the full file, but was met with resistance. She didn’t try too hard so as not to alert the US Military of the incursion any more than they probably already were. She needed to close the connection before they traced her. She hastily severed the laptop’s connection by turning off the Wi-Fi antenna before entering the kill code for the VPN. That way she knew for sure the transmission couldn’t be traced back.
Nicolai came out of the bathroom after a few minutes. “Okay, your papers will be ready tomorrow. I’ll go pick them up at the place I have arranged. It’s going to be a dead drop so no one will see my contact and I together.”
“You’re going to need to access another VPN. Russell’s medical file was behind a heavy firewall.”
“Well isn’t that wonderful.” Nicolai spat. “Luckily, I have thousands I can access at any time, as well as the TOR network if we’re feeling really reckless.”
Sonja ran her fingers through her tousled red hair. “Just get me the tickets. I don’t need to know the particulars.” She said softly.
“Da. One-way to Hawaii coming up.” Nicolai worked his electronic magic to procure it without having to pay a penny. “Don’t ask how I do that. It’s top secret.” He laughed.
“That’s how you keep your costs down.” Sonja replied.
“Anyway, you have a ticket to Honolulu Hawaii leaving tomorrow at five pm. There is one switch over at DeGaulle airport and one at LaGuardia and one in Los Angeles. No swapping planes, just fuel stops.”
“Great and the papers?”
“I scheduled the flight after I picked them up from the dead drop location. We’ll be fine.” Nicolai replied to the worried woman. “I also just sent the man a message over Skype pretending to be you to tell him that you ran into some complications and have to leave tomorrow. He seemed pretty excited.”
Sonja nodded. “Do you have my bag handy?”
“Yes, I picked it up as soon as I got your text. It’s in my bedroom, let me go get it.” Nicolai said as he shuffled off to the bedroom.
Sonja pulled the micro SD card out of her bra and looked at it intently as Nicolai brought a full duffel bag out of his bedroom. “Open it up for me? I need to hide this in something.”
He gave her an odd look as he unzipped the bag after setting it down. “You sure you want to have this on you?”
“It’s a carry on so it won’t get searched so badly. I have a way to hide it anyway.” She reached into the side pocket of the bag and pulled out a small anti static pouch and dropped the card inside. She then taped it up with a roll of duct tape that Nicolai had sitting on the counter after he fixed the leaky faucet. Sonja then reached in and pulled out a tin of short bread cookies and opened it up. “See, I thought of everything.” She lifted the top layer of cookies and placed the taped micro SD Card underneath. “Now all they’ll see is cookies when I open the tin!”
“Genius.” Nicolai said dryly. “Now we wait and see what tomorrow brings shall we?” He raised a glass of freshly poured vodka. “To new beginnings!”
*
Russell waited nervously at the door of his CO’s office. What on earth could he want? The door opened and the secretary popped her head out. “Colonel Bankes will see you now, Sir.” Russell got up and winked at the statuesque brunette clerk as he entered the office. She blushed prettily and sat down behind her desk to continue on with her filing.
He opened the next door, ushered himself into his CO’s office and sat down in one of the plain brown chairs across from the mahogany desk.
“You aren’t in uniform.” A stern voice snapped from the other side of the desk.
“Well, sir, I’m on leave. I didn’t think this was official business.” Russell replied.
The colonel turned around in his high-backed leather chair and looked at Russell with piercing blue eyes. His grey hair was shorn in a buzz cut and his face was wrinkled and weathered. Crusty was the only way to describe him. “No, it isn’t really official business. You’re here because there has been someone poking around your personnel file without proper authorization.”
“Really?” Russell replied, surprised. “Who do you think it would be?”
“We don’t know. The IP came from Romania, but it could be a proxy. Our IT guys are looking into it. I just thought I would give you a heads up. Keep your cards close to your chest. If anyone found out what you are, and how you got that way, the United Nations Human Rights Commission will be all over our asses before we could say Tony.”
“Yes, sir.” Russell replied. “Can I go now? I need to clean my house up a bit, I’m expecting someone tomorrow.”
“Yes you may. Your leave is up in two weeks?” Colonel Bankes asked.
“Yes, give or take. It was a really harsh trip, and I need the extra to decompress.” Russell replied.
“Yes, I know. We need to keep you as calm as possible so you can be on your A-game in the field. You were a credit to your rank out there, just to let you know. You’ll be getting a medal. None of your men died and you got your target.”
“I always do.” Russell repli
ed meekly as he stood up. “Dismissed, sir?” He asked.
“Dismissed.” The colonel said as he pushed a button on his desk when Russell turned around. He noticed the blinking light at the base of Russell’s skull blinking red, not a good sign. He was still tense and irritated. After Bankes pushed the button, the light changed to green and tension flowed out of Russell’s body.
“Thank you, sir.” Russell said as he opened the door to leave. He felt a cool rush from the base of his skull as he stepped out of the door. He smiled at the secretary as he left the office and headed down the Spartan hallway to the exit.
He opened the building door and was blinded by the dazzling mid-afternoon sun. He quickly put on his sunglasses and hurried to his car. He unlocked and hopped in the small black sports coupe and started the engine. He had a bit of a drive to get to his home, but didn’t mind one bit. He put the car into first gear and quickly shifted up as he zoomed through the road going through the massive cesspool back to the main island.
He moved through the busy streets and on to the twisty back way towards the back of the island. He slowed down because the scenic route was just one lane and sometimes tourists came barrelling through without regard for the locals. Just last week a couple plummeted off the cliff into the bay during a rainstorm and left two young girls behind.
He saw his driveway and turned in. He drove up the hill a little ways and opened the garage with the touch of the button on his sun visor. He pulled into his garage and closed the door behind him. His eyes needed no time to adjust to the dim light that filtered through the small window in the side. Russell silently moved up the stairs, his lithe, muscular body rippling under his white cotton shirt.
He opened the fridge and grabbed a beer as he buzzed through the kitchen on the way to his laptop. Sonja should have departed Moscow by now and on her way to Hawaii. He turned on his laptop to check to see if she had left a message letting him know she had left.
He saw the Skype notification flashing in the corner of the screen and breathed a sigh of relief. He clicked it and read the message. She was due to board at 5 pm Moscow time and she had her visa and other paperwork cleared by the US Embassy. 5 pm Moscow time was 4 am that morning for him, so he had plenty of time to get things ready for her. He knew she would be completely exhausted when she arrived so he didn’t want to come on too strongly. Hell, they did not even have time to discuss sex or do any webcaming.
He replied to the chat: “Hey I can’t wait to meet you. This is going pretty fast, but I’m okay with that. If you want to wait for things I’m okay with that, too.”
“Oh don’t worry. Things will work out. I just really need to leave now. The mafia has gotten wind of my inheritance and will probably send enforcers soon. Its best I jet out of here. Hawaii is far enough, I hope.”
“Oh, it should be.” He replied. This definitely was triggering his protective instincts. He wanted to help this woman if at all possible. “Hey, maybe if we don’t really hit it off, I can try to get you a refugee card?” he typed in.
“I think we’ll get along quite fine.” Sonja replied. “You filled in your profile pretty well. I can’t wait to see the view from your house.”
Russell smiled. He put up a photo taken from his front bay window to entice any potential ladies. He really wanted to settle down. There was an urge to find a suitable wife buried deep inside of him. It was almost as if a timer went off in him. Maybe that was it. It was a timer and he needed to do it at this point in his life. Hopefully, they would like each other at least, because this call had been growing more and more urgent as the years ticked by. He had no idea why he had to settle down at twenty-five, but he just rolled with it.
He knew he was a genetically engineered super soldier. His ‘mother’ for lack of a better term, died while giving birth to him. She was kidnapped from the slums of New Delhi by the CIA and had cruel experiments performed on her. She was one of five women covertly kidnapped from around the world from disenfranchised populations so they wouldn’t be missed. He was the only subject of the Moreau Project to survive infancy.
Russell knew what he was capable of and if he didn’t have the implant in him to control it, he would shape shift into a tiger whenever he got severely agitated. The implant prevented that by stimulating the soothing hormones that cancelled out the adrenal surge, in effect, cancelling out the fight or flight response, so maybe this urge to mate was also part of that control.
He also knew he couldn’t tell Sonja. Not now, probably not ever. Luckily, the government kept his ability under strict control so it only can be used in the theater, when absolutely needed; he was their ace in the hole.
“So what do you like to eat?” he asked her. “I need to go pick up some groceries anyway, so it’s best I get something you’d like.”
He waited while Sonja typed out her reply. “Well, I like many things. Pizza, eggs, bacon, sausage, pierogis, but not beets. If I hear a borscht joke I’ll be pissed.” She ended it with a smiley emoticon.
“Well we have lots of great food around here. I’ll take you out to try the local seafood, since there are tons of that.” Russell typed.
“Oh I love seafood!” she typed. He could practically feel her enthusiasm through the computer.
“Great! When you’re recovered from your flight we can go out to a small local joint I like, It’s one of the area’s best kept secrets. Not a tourist trap either.” Russell replied.
“Man, I can’t wait. My mouth is watering just thinking of it. Seafood was a rare treat when I was growing up. Even when I lived in the Crimea, it was still only a luxury the high ranking officials could afford.”
“Gotta love communism.” Russell replied dryly.
“And it’s making a comeback.” Sonja typed. “Putin has given the KGB new powers and there have been people taken to black houses everywhere. It’s insane now. He doesn’t just control the KGB but also the Mafia. That’s why I need to get out of here. They’re going to sell me to some whore house in Dubai if I don’t sneak out tomorrow.”
Russell felt a larger pang of sympathy for this woman. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe, I promise.” He replied. “Look, I really got to go get some groceries, I’ll probably be back online before you go, well definitely before you go.”
“Da, I know you will. You know, even though this seems to be a very businesslike deal, I hope we can get to know each other and become more.” She typed.
“I hope so too.” Russell replied. “I’ll talk to you later.” With that, he shut down his laptop and got up, grabbing his car keys to go get some food to replenish his bare looking pantry.
CHAPTER TWO
Russell paced nervously at the baggage claim in the airport. He had no idea what to expect with Sonja, only having talked to her online for a few brief conversations. He ran his hair through his short black hair as he looked at the sealed off door for international arrivals. He hoped she wouldn’t get held up too badly by the border guards.
He nervously clutched the bouquet of flowers in his hand as he moved his gaze from the door to his feet and back again. He had a feeling he was taking a huge security risk by doing this, but he didn’t want his CO or his other handlers to know. This was something he felt was deeply personal and if they found out, they would probably neuter him.
The automatic doors swooshed open and Russell’s eyes were transfixed as a tall redhead strode out of the clearance area. She wore thigh high, black leather platform boots, a black overcoat and black and white leggings. Over her shoulder was slung a drab olive duffel bag, which he assumed carried all her possessions.
Russell’s jaw hit the floor. Sonja’s profile picture did not do her justice. At a good six feet three inches tall without the heels, she was Amazonian. He swallowed hard and walked up to her with his hand extended for a handshake and holding the pink carnations close.
“Sonja?” he asked, “It’s me, Russell.” he announced as she turned towards him. He smiled broadly revealing his bright white teeth an
d slightly elongated canines.
Sonja was taken slightly aback by the man’s disarming, Cheshire like smile. She looked at his tall, lithe frame, which was clothed in loose fitting khaki pants and a white cotton shirt. She felt an immediate attraction to Russell as she laid eyes on him in reality for the first time. He was tall, taller than most Indian men, and taller than she was. His face was also very handsome. His jaw was strong and square, his eyes were the color of light amber, and his skin was a deep tan. Sonja smiled to herself and thought that Russell looked like one of the top stars in Bollywood, but wouldn’t dare say it to him. She chose wisely, she thought.
“You must be Russell.” She said in an obvious Russian accent. “My apologies for rushing this whole affair, but the mafia are nothing to be trifled with. My parents’ debt was rather hefty and I really didn’t wish to have all my assets taken and then sold to a sex ring in Dubai.” The way she spoke so matter of fact about it broke Russell’s heart.
“Is that a normal thing?” he asked
“Da, it is, unfortunately. The poor gamble, they lose money, they take loans to pay off the money, eventually, they can’t get any more loans so they go to the mafia. They don’t know that everywhere they’ve been getting the loans from, are also owned by the mafia. So by the time they get there, it’s way too late and they get all their possessions taken, and their children, regardless of age and gender get sold to sex rings across the world. Though sometimes with older boys they sell as slave labor to farms or other places.” She explained as they walked to the car.
“You might want to take off your jacket before we leave the airport.” He explained. “It’s really hot out there and you’ll melt.”
