Do Or Die (Surreal Blue Rogue Agent 1) (12 page)

The man
lying in the grimy cell covered his ears harder with his hands. To his chagrin,
the sound intensified.

“What
the…”

“Yo,”
the officer at the gate called to him in Spanish. “Time to go,
gringo
.”

The
man perked up. “Huh?”

“Time
to go, you’re out of here.”

Ohh
yeah.

The
man rolled over, falling right off the side of the suspended wooden bench that
served as a cot and onto the floor. His head met dirt. The other occupants of
the cell snickered.

The
man brought himself up awkwardly, swaying on his feet. He shook his head
roughly.

“You
okay?” the policeman asked. “Come on.” He opened cell door. “Let’s go.”

The
man grunted. He exited the cell and started walking the short distance to the
entrance. Then someone caught his eye. He stopped, staring. Sitting on the cot
in the next cell, barely dressed, was a young girl. He figured she couldn’t be
more than eleven or twelve years old. The girl felt his stare, but didn’t meet
his eyes. The other occupants of the cell leered at her. Another man in the
cell came to him and told him frankly, in front of the policeman, “Special
order. You have money, we make it happen.”

The
young man, dressed in a wife-beater, open plaid shirt, and loose jeans shook
his head, averting his eyes. The policeman behind him shoved him to move
forward. He grunted his response and complied.

At the
front desk he collected his belongings: a wallet (now devoid of cash), a
cigarette box (with mysteriously vanishing cigarettes), and one cell phone. The
man seemed genuinely surprised that he got back his cell phone. And one
toothbrush which he made a mental note to throw away.

The
man saluted the officers, taking note of the one lounging in the corner whom he
was sure was wearing his pricey shades. Then he walked out of the dilapidated
jail house.

The
jailhouse was an outpost in the midst of obscure squalor on the outskirts of a
little-known Guatemalan city. The police there were not properly supervised,
and dished out their own brand of justice; namely the laws of the local crime
boss. Prostitution, money laundering, and human trafficking were their bread
and butter.

The
man sighed. He walked a little ways to the side of the small, grey-brick police
station stood in the middle of a dead end street. He lifted a stone and removed
a small device that resembled a car locator. Looking up, he stumbled backwards,
caught off-guard by the amazing fifty-foot tall magnolia tree in front of him.
The grey asphalt walk that led to his car was lined with the great beauties. He
walked a mile further down the road to his parked car.

He
raked his hand through his dark, curly hair. His mind went to the little girl
in the cell. No doubt she was a prostitute, sold or kidnapped into slavery. She
looked so sweet and innocent, and thin. He shook his head. A beauty among
savages.

The
evil that men do…

He
pushed the button on the device, and the jailhouse he had exited just minutes
before erupted in an explosion powerful enough that it rocked the ground as
though an earthquake had hit. The flames shot up ten feet in the sky. He nearly
collapsed from strong shaking of the earth.

Yeah,
death is hard for everybody,
, he thought as he sifted
through his keys for the one that matched his car. He then noticed the flashing
signal on his cell and decided to check his text messages. There was only one
worth merit.

“Mexico?”

Carlos
snickered. Using his thumb, he typed in a return text.

“I’m
all in.”

Atlanta,
Georgia

Audrianna Maxckmillian
examined the report on her screen, reevaluating the Critical Assumptions she
had concluded for the companies she had deemed would be successful takeovers
for the coming year. She sat at an antique armoire with the laptop in front of
her. She couldn’t help but glance at her reflection in the mirror. Her bald
head still irked her. She squeezed her head on either side and willed herself
not to be perturbed by it.

“Mommy! Mommy! Watch me! Watch
me!” Nathan, her four year old son appeared beside her.

Audrianna laughed, “What is it
baby.” She hugged him to her.

“I’m not a baby.” He declared
pushing her away.

She released him and he stood,
posing with his hands on his hips with a very serious look on his face. He
puffed out his chest and started to bob his body up and down. He started
singing the beginning of a popular children’s cartoon in Russian. Audrianna had
to hold her breath to keep from expressing her dismay at having to see her son
perform the same act for the fourth time for the morning.

“A!” Viktor walked in,
trailing behind their daughter. His hand secured a small, bushy brown teddy
bear to her shoulders. “I thought I told you to stay in your room and not to
disturb your mother.”

Nathan squealed as he climbed
on top the bed, rolling himself inside the comforter.

“Mommy! Mommy! Look it’s
Chubby!” Nadia, Nathan’s twin sister showed her the teddy bear Viktor kept from
falling.

“So, is daddy following you
around with that whole day?”

“No!” Viktor was adamant.

“Yes!” Nadia cheered.

“Off of that bed and go to
your room.” Viktor ordered Nathan.

“No Chunky Nasty!”

Viktor scowled. “What did you
just say?!”

Nathan giggled rolled up in
the covers like a pig in the blanket. Viktor pulled the sheet towards him.
Nathan wriggled.

“I want to poo poo.” He
screamed.

“I want to pee too.” Nadia
said.

Audrianna sighed. “No you
don’t.”

“Yes mommy I want to go to the
toilet too.” Nadia begged.

Audrianna sucked her teeth in
long, old fashioned, Trinidadian stupes.

“I’ll handle it.” Viktor said.
Though he knew Nathan only said he wanted to go to the bathroom to not get into
trouble for what he had just said, and Nadia only wanted to go because her
brother said that he wanted to.  “You continue what you are doing.” A small,
soiled  jockey came flying into Viktor’s chest from the direction of the
doorway. He made haste to catch it with his right hand. “Nathan! You don’t have
to undress to use the toilet.”

“Ah fool you!” Nathan laughed,
escaping the room.

Viktor scowled darkly as he
ran after his son. Nadia skipped behind them holding onto the legs of her teddy
around her shoulders. Chubby teddy hung upside down without daddy managing to
hold it in place.

Audrianna sighed, hanging her
head low in frustration before she looked back at the screen and focused on her
report. A loud
clash
could be heard and she got up once more to search
for the root of the sound. “What now?” She thought.

She entered Nikolai’s room to
find him laying on the floor holding his knee tangled in the sheets. The waiter
that held his breakfast was collapsed on the floor.

“Oh baby.” Audrianna scooped
him up and laid her on the bed. “Are you okay.”

Viktor loomed in the doorway,
assessing the damage. “Jumping on the bed again. I thought I told you not to
stop.” He turned in the doorway. “Arianna.” Her rasped for the maid. “I should
make you clean up your own mess..”

Tears welled up in Nikolai’s
eyes and streamed down his cheeks still clutching his kneed. Viktor looked none
too impressed.

“Are you okay.” Audrianna
cooed.

“Oh, there is obviously
nothing wrong with him Audrianna! Go to your room and finish up your work.”
Viktor barked.

Audrianna scoffed, hands on
her hips. “Don’t take that tone with me.”

Viktor looked miffed, he
sighed. “Look, you go and finish do your job. I’ll handle the kids today. The
sooner you complete your report, the sooner we can leave for the Carolinas. Now
go!”

Audrianna sighed, exasperated.
Nathan, fully dressed and Nadia, teddy in hand came running curious as to what
was causing all the commotion.

“Nikolai, you hurt?” Nathan
asked.

“Aww.” Nadia sympathized. “Let
me kiss it and make it all better.” She got up on the bed and kissed the
injured knee.

Nathan patted Nikolai’s knee.
“You need a plaster? I have a octopus plaster.”

“No no no! He doesn’t need a
plaster. All of you back to your rooms now!”

“No I want to stay here.
Chunky nasty!” Nathan hugged Nikolai.

“Me too,” Nadia whined. “I’m
staying too.” She hugged Nikolai across his stomach.

Nikolai, annoyed with the
attention started to push the twins off of him. “Get off me.” He said.

The twins looked at him before
they both started to push him down forcefully, hugging him mercilessly.

“No I’m not playing.” Nikolai
screamed.

The twins laughed, Audrianna
hugged him close too, kissing him on his cheeks. Nikolai squirmed.

Viktor walked over to the bed,
he hooked to deliriously happy Nadia and Nathan around their stomachs and
headed out the room. He caught Arianna at the door and filled her in on the
mess created by Nikolai to clean up. Viktor then yelled at Audrianna to get
back to work.

“Right.” Audrianna clapped her
hands above her head. “It’s over.” She said with glee. The glow of the laptop
illuminated her face. It was later that night when she watched the document
save and she closed her laptop shut. She glanced at the bed in the mirror. Her
husband was not there.

She got up and ventured
outside. The town house they occupied while in the city was both modern and
comfortable. Audrianna loved the style of the darkly polished Mahogany woodwork
and high ceilings. She walked down the spiral staircase with deep, red velvet
carpet to the foyer below. She turned towards her husband’s study.

She peeked inside. “Hey daddy.
What ’cha doin’ ?”

Viktor sat in his chair and
seemed engrossed in what was on his computer screen. Grigori stood behind him.
He looked up distractedly. “I’m almost done here.” He looked back at his
desktop. “I’ll be up in a minute.”

She smiled at them. “I’m
starving.  I’m just stepping into the kitchen and then I’ll be up myself.” She
left.

Viktor nodded, watching the
replay of the scene of Audrianna’s attack on the men in the clearing from
before. He was none too pleased with Grigori for recording the incident.

“Do you always think it best
to usurp my familiars to spy on me?”

“You forget yourself Viktor,”
Grigori was engrossed in reading the ancient text in his hands. “Golub is
Audrianna’s familiar now. It is only natural that one’s familiar would want to
put all else to task in favor of the life of their master.”

Viktor gritted his teeth in
displeasure at the ‘
dig’
.

“Always have to get one in,
right Grigori?”

Grigori snickered. “Nonsense,
my lord, it is all for you after all.” He pointed at the screen. “And do take
notice of what I had mentioned to you prior. The men there had clearly not been
disintegrated, their matter has not been scattered in the wind. They were not
destroyed, not in our totalitarian sense anyway. Neither were their bodies
converted into a more unseemly strain.”

The muscle in Viktor’s jaw
began to twitch. “Get to your point.”

“Ah, yes sir. I believe we are
seeing the return of the special power as documented in your Aunt’s text sir.”

Viktor shrugged. Standing, he
switched off the monitor. “One incident,
ever
, does not the end of the
world make.”

“Ah, well yes I suppose you
are right Sir. Less we become excited over one sure incident, mind we should
wait for things to escalate and become a proper burden before we make plans to
protect the world from absolute destruction, much like the
humans
do.”

Viktor looked at him unmoved
by Grigori’s words. “Goodnight Grigori” Viktor walked out the study.

“Goodnight dear Sir.”

Viktor left the study and
turned to the stairs.  Changing his mind he headed towards the kitchen. He
pushed open the doors. The multiple cupboards, huge stove and long table were
the trappings of cool steel.  Audrianna sat with her head bowed over the
container of ice-cream at the far end. Viktor found it odd that she was eating
straight from the container and had not transferred it into a bowl. “Save some
for the rest of us will you hon?”

Audrianna glanced up at
Viktor, a gleam in her eyes, she grinned without contrition. “Mmmmm, I forgot
how this stuff tastes.” Her voice was low, resembling that of a growl. She
dipped her whole hand in the container and scooped up the vanilla and shoveled
it in her mouth. She swallowed, hard, smearing the ice-cream all over her face
and dirtying her night gown. “Mmmm.”