by Jade White
“Almost there, just have to snip the wire...” She cut it and the man’s ragged breathing returned to a normal pace. “There we go. We can’t be traced now.” She said as she put the medication plate back on the base.
“Thanks.” Russell said. Let’s leave the RFID chip there, and splice it to the microphone. I have a feeling that’s what was transmitting the audio as well.”
“We’ll do that right before we leave. I’ll hook it up to the clock on the stove and have it count down.” Sonja grabbed the equipment and went to work.
Russell went into his room and grabbed his bag. “Alright, we need to get moving before they send someone to come check on me. There’s a 20-minute timer for dead zones built in to it so it won’t alert anyone unless it’s been out of communication for 20 minutes. We have that long to get it going again after we leave.”
“Roger that,” Sonja replied as she tinkered with the timer. “So, we have ten minutes to get on that boat and out into open water.” She said as she hit the button.
“Alright,” Russell said as he put on the backpack. “Let’s get moving. The dock isn’t too far from here.”
Sonja zipped up her bag, tossed it over her shoulder and hustled out of the house. “Got any guns?”
“They’re stashed in the boat and I have a few 9mm’s in my backpack. Don’t worry I’m prepared.” He said as he hit the button to open the garage door.” Russell blinked as the bright Hawaiian mid-morning sun filled his sensitive eyes. He put on his sunglasses and motioned to Sonja to stay back as he peeked around the corners.
Russell saw nobody as he surveyed the area, and motioned for Sonja to follow him. “There’s a trail leading from here to the bay. I have a dock and my speedboat is there. We’ll rip the GPS out of it and use the stars like the old days.” He said with a smile.
The pair followed the short trail through the Hawaiian rain forest to a white sandy beach. Off to their right was an old wooden floating pier with a white speedboat tied up to it. “Oh we’re gonna have to wade to the dock.” He said sheepishly.
“Not a problem. At least this water is warm.” Sonja replied with a grin. “Hey, thanks for this,” she said, meaning it. “You are throwing everything away, for me.”
“Yeah, I know.” Russell said as he trudged through the water. “To be honest, I was getting sick of being handled like some crazy science experiment, without thought to my feelings or desires. This was a long time coming and you’re the one who catalyzed it.”
Sonja smiled as they reached the dock and climbed up the rope ladder and into the boat. She untied the boat while Russell removed the GPS and threw it out into the middle of the bay. He turned the key in the ignition and the boat’s engine sputtered to life. At the aft of the light fibreglass pleasure craft there was an emergency outboard motor in case the main one cut out for any reason. Russell was one prepared individual.
“Do they know about the boat?” She asked.
“Yes, but they don’t know why I got it.” He said as he turned towards the mouth of the bay.
Sonja sat on one of the small benches as the small craft motored though the calm waters between the isolated Pacific island chain. “You know, I was hoping to make a new life here in America. If I had known Russia and the USA were partners in the Crimea deal, I wouldn’t have come here. I might have gone to Canada or something. Guess I’m not that much of a spy after all.”
“Don’t be too hard on yourself.” Russell comforted her. “We all make mistakes. Just that in our line of work, mistakes usually cost lives, we’re lucky that it’s just our own that’s on the line this time and nothing in the way of collateral damage.”
“You do have a point. I’m just so tired of being hunted.” She sighed.
“Well get used to it. I’ll do my best to keep you safe, at least.”
“You mean we’ll keep each other safe? We’re in this together, you know. I’m not any mere damsel in distress.” Sonja scoffed.
“True. You are fully capable. We need to work together, that’s for sure. I’ll protect you, and you protect me. There will be times where I can’t really do much of anything. I only have ten boxes of adrenal suppressant, so when those run out, I’m going to need some hands on help in keeping calm.”
“Hopefully we don’t need to go through all those by the time we get to Brazil.” She said.
“Same, it’s just trying to steal one of those planes and hope that there is fuel in it and, there are just so many variables.” Russell said. He hoped that they wouldn’t be stuck on one of the smaller islands for very long. The longer they stay in Hawaii, the easier it would be for the Navy to track him down and euthanize him.
*
Russell pulled the boat up alongside a rickety old dock in an isolated cove on the island of Niihau. It was near midnight and Sonja was covered with a wool blanket, snoozing on the bench. He cut the engine and walked down to her. “Hey, we’re here.” He said softly as he shook her awake.
Sonja yawned and stretched out. “Hey. Since I slept, and you haven’t, when we get to the plane you can let me fly. I’ve done it plenty of times.”
“That works for me, I’m beat.” Russell pulled out a map of the area. “Alright, the airport isn’t too far from here if we cut through the scrub. Watch out though, there are real nasty wild boars around.”
“At night?” Sonja said incredulously.
“If we wake one up, it won’t matter.”
“Where are we anyway? Sonja asked.
“Niihau. It’s largely uninhabited except for a few native Hawaiians and the owners, the Robinson’s. They have a private airstrip not too far from here. They keep a couple of private jets here so they can get off the island when they need to, and sometimes they need to medivac an injured local.”
“Makes sense.” Sonja replied as they jogged along the sandy dune. “How far away is it?”
“Not far, maybe an hour or two walk from this cove. Oh, be prepared for resistance, just in case. I know we did well at keeping the microphone transmitting but they’ve probably caught on by now and are searching for me.”
“More than likely, yes. One question,” Sonja interjected.
“What is it?”
“What if the planes are gone?”
Russell scanned the horizon and saw a bunch of twinkling lights slowly growing brighter. “Then we head to Kauai and stow away on that.” He said pointing at the cruise ship in the distance.
Sonja liked that plan. “Let’s go see if the planes are there first.”
They trekked through the dry scrub of the sparsely inhabited island. Nothing stirred at that time of night except a few small bats that feasted on the mosquitoes that bred in the stagnant pools that were left behind during the summer drought. The air was cool as the breeze from the North Pacific Ocean softly blew over the nearly barren island.
“So back to the boat, huh?” Sonja asked.
“Sure looks like it.” Russell replied. “We have barely enough gas to get us to Kauai, after that we abandon it and hope for the best.”
“Yeah let’s hope that ship isn’t going to the Big Island.” Sonja said. “That would suck.”
“That it would. We’ll be lucky to talk to the captain and get a ‘no questions asked’ job on there. That’s if you don’t mind cleaning up after people.”
“Not my cup of tea, but I’ve done worse while under cover.” She replied. “Anyway, let’s get going.”
“You’re not going anywhere, you two.” A Romanian male voice announced in the darkness.
Sonja and Russell both drew the 9mm pistols that were holstered at their waists. “Who is that?” Russell called out.
“Sonja knows me.” He said stepping out of the shadows and into the pale moonlight. “Don’t you, dear?”
“Nicolai!” she exclaimed, relieved. “Why are you even here?”
“Well,” the greasy Romanian began to explain, “I was made an offer I couldn’t really refuse.” He said sadly as he pulled out a handgun of his o
wn. “The KGB took my wife and children into custody after I helped you escape. They told me they would torture and kill them unless I brought you back, alive.” He said, his voice trembling as he stood in the cool night air. “They told me, if I brought you back, my family would live, and I would get a cool million dollars and a house by the Caspian Sea.”
“You traitor!” Sonja spat.
“Your government gave me the green light to fly with you at least, back to Russia. They told me it was okay to kill the man. He is too dangerous now, that’s all they told me.” Nicolai explained.
Russell felt the rage building deep inside him. He was not going to die; he was not going back to his cage. He was finished with the US Navy and the rest of his country’s government, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to stand by and watch Sonja get taken back to Russia just to be tortured and executed, or worse, reprogrammed. He decided it was time to unleash the animal.
He screamed a feral scream as his muscles and bones shifted within his body. He dropped to all fours and started growling as his body hair grew longer and his clothes ripped off of his growing bulk. His face changed into a feline shape and his ears moved up on his head.
Nicolai and Sonja both stood there, awestruck. Sonja was the first to get her wits about her and dove for cover as Russell, in his tiger form pounced on the terrified Nicolai.
A roar escaped Russell’s muzzle before he tore into the soft greasy neck of the human he had marked as prey. The salty tang of blood filled his mouth as he nearly decapitated Nicolai with one bite, swiftly ending his life. Russell then shredded the Romanian’s clothes off and began to gorge himself on the man who had betrayed his mate and wanted to harm her.
Sonja discreetly vomited in the bush in which she was hiding from the combination of the grizzly spectacle and the utter shock and disappointment that Nicolai had betrayed her. She remained concealed for a little while longer to make sure Russell was finished his horrific feast.
After about twenty minutes, she peeked out of the hibiscus bush and saw a bunch of scattered bones and Russell cleaning his orange and black fur with his raspy tongue. She had a little bit of an idea on how to get him back to his human form, but it would be tricky.
Usually, Splicer handlers had a remote control to give them their adrenal suppressants, which she didn’t have. She needed to walk up behind him and deliver the dose manually without getting mauled herself.
She slowly approached the massive animal with her hands extended in a non-threatening manner. “Shh, Russell, it’s me, Sonja, you don’t have to worry about me hurting you. I just want to help. We need to get off of this island.” She cooed at the large cat.
Russell snarled at her and lunged, swiping the air in front of her as her super reflexes took hold and she danced backwards.
“Look, I need to give you your medication or you’ll be like that forever and they will be sure to kill you then.” She tried to reason with him. “We need to be safe, the bad man is dead now, so let’s get going.”
Russell growled at her once more, turned his back to her, curled up and put his massive head down to go to sleep.
“Oh no you don’t.” She said as she sprang forward, pushing the button on his implant and ran off. Thanks to her lightning fast reflexes, the large tiger had no idea what just happened. She looked back and saw Russell lying naked on the ground breathing heavily and pressing his implant three more times.
Sonja walked up to the prone man and extended her hand to help him up. He looked up at her with fear in his eyes and was surprised to be the recipient of a warm, loving stare. He clasped Sonja’s outstretched hand and hauled himself out of the dry dirt. “Thanks.” He said as he caught his breath. “And sorry about that. That guy was your friend, wasn’t he?”
“Not anymore. The moment he betrayed my trust was the moment we ceased being friends. I was a fool to trust him.” She sighed. “Let’s get some clothes on you and head to the boat, we don’t want to miss the cruise ship tomorrow.” She said. “Not that I mind looking at you, but it might get a little chilly on the trip to Kauai.” She concluded with a smirk.
Russell laughed as he opened his discarded backpack and pulled on some clothes. “You’re incorrigible, you know that?”
“Yes, I do, but I don’t really care. We’re both about to fly free from all this bullshit and that’s making me feel kind of giddy.” She replied.
They made their way back to the beach and found the boat still tied up to the pontoon pier. “So, what made you get into spying?” Russell asked as he started the boat up once more.
“I had no choice, just like you had no choice but to be what you are. After Chernobyl, people started getting sick and dying. My mother developed cancer, but survived. My brothers they all died, as well as my father. We had the KGB over all the time during my childhood to keep an eye on me. One day, I was around twelve and one of the KGB agents threw a knife at me. I caught it in mid-air without looking at it. That was the last normal day of my life. I was sent to this place called the ballet school. All the girls there were gifted in one way or another. I had the reflexes so they put me in the physical training program. It was not pleasant.” She trailed off, looking towards the cruise ship lights. “So how was your childhood?
“Not much different. My mom died, or was killed, after I was born. With the military, it could go either way to be honest. I was raised by nannies hired by the scientists. They were impersonal and they just did what they had to do to make sure I didn’t die. Never really had any warm contact. Bankes was the only one that had been a constant in my entire life, actually. I had painful experiments done on me. I was taught how to regulate my anger when I needed to. I think I killed a few of my nannies, to be honest. It sucks when you’re raised to be nothing but a weapon.” He said glumly. “They kind of forget we’re people as well.”
“Tell me about it.” She said as she lounged on the deck. “I had to kill my first when I was twelve. Just a week after I got to the ballet school.” Sonja said quietly. “It still haunts me...”
“I guess I’m lucky, I don’t remember my first. I think I was about the same age. Splicers start to be able to change...”
“At puberty, I know.” She finished for him. “I was one of the people assigned to be a handler in Russia. My charge died after an unfortunate accident. So the KGB brought me back into espionage.”
“Well at least I won’t be left unattended, so to speak.” He said. He knew deep down he couldn’t live his life as a normal human. He needed someone who could understand what he was and how to help him minimize fatalities. At least Sonja had all the knowledge to help him wrangle his tiger self.
Sonja got up and walked to the wheel. “Hey, how about you snooze and I’ll get us to the island. I’ll make sure we pull into the main pier and as soon as the tourists leave the ship we’ll go on and talk to the captain, sound good? Tourists usually spend a day at a stopover so we have time to get in and get hidden before any of them come back.”
Russell smiled and yawned. “Thanks,” he said as he stepped away from the controls. “Changing always wipes me out, especially if I...”
“Yeah...” Sonja said uncomfortably, “Let’s not talk about that part, okay?”
“Okay.” Russell replied as he spread out on the fibreglass bench. He pulled the wool blanket over him, closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep.
CHAPTER FOUR
Russell startled as he felt a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, we’re here.” Sonja said, as the sun crept over the eastern horizon.
He sat up and rubbed his bleary eyes and looked around. He saw the cruise ship moored at the pier. No one had woken up yet so the area was deserted. Russell tied the boat to the dock and hopped off, followed by Sonja.
“So, should we make a beeline directly to the ship and see if we can sneak on before the locals wake up?” She asked.
“Sounds like a plan to me. I see one of the deck hands about to lower the gangway.” He replied as he casually strolled down the
boardwalk. As much as he wanted to jog towards freedom, he didn’t want to attract any unwanted attention.
They reached the gangway and walked up to the man who was standing at the top. “Excuse me, sir,” Russell greeted, “I was wondering if you guys needed any more help, my lady friend here is a good housekeeper and I’m no slacker in the kitchen. I can definitely wash dishes and chop up stuff for the chef.”
“We had a couple of people ditch us at our last stop.” The man said, looking around to see if anyone was listening. “We could use you, for sure, how much are you wanting to be paid, just so I can let the captain know, I’m one of the chief stewards, so I’m the one who hires the new folk”
“Nothing except a bed and food for each of us.” Sonja replied. “We don’t even care if we get tips.”
“The way it works is, all tips get put in a pool and divided up among the crew at each stop. You’ll get some cash, regardless.” The steward said as he ushered them into the belly of the ship. “The crew sleeps down here. We have the racks for men and racks for women, it’s kind of set up like the navy. Shared quarters. There is always someone sleeping in here at all times, so be quiet and respectful and you won’t make any enemies.” He looked pointedly at Sonja, “and you, miss, if you have any special friends that buzz, don’t use them, we’ve had a few complaints about other women being kept awake at night.”
Sonja looked at the steward with an arched eyebrow and nodded.
“Alright, I’ll go to the main office and get you your contracts while you two get settled in. After you sign, I’ll bring each of you to your assignments and you can get to work. We do most of our work while the guests are ashore. It’s just more efficient that way.”
Sonja and Russell nodded as they went to their respective bunks to put their stuff away. Sonja took a bit longer to put her things away and Russell grew worried. He breathed a sigh of relief as she exited the women’s quarters. “What took you so long?” he asked.
