A-Cup Angst Ch. 12

Minutes after the cargo plane had lifted off and headed towards the Caribbean, Jamie realized the flaw in his plan. He had chartered a cargo plane from his home town. It was something he had done frequently before and it was like a bright, neon sign that said to Section and the French, "Jamie Jacobs is here!" He grimaced at his own stupidity and thoughtlessness and made his way to the cockpit as soon as they attained cruising altitude. He had the captain divert to Cuba. He hoped that would delay the efforts of his pursuers.

The rest of the flight was, thankfully, uneventful. His mother and sister were silent and sullen. Jamie looked long and hard at the enchanted BMW X5 and Subaru. The cars were great assets to have, but, at the moment, they were millstones around his neck. He debated with himself over whether or not to ditch them or even have them flown elsewhere to throw the hounds off the scent.

Just before landing, he decided he would keep them. He needed any advantage he could get and, besides, the damage was already done. Everyone with two brain cells to rub together knew he had flown to Cuba. He needed to get creative and escape the island unnoticed in order to lose his pursuit. He decided to charter the plane to fly on a tour of South America, empty, in order to throw off the inevitable pursuit. He hired a new crew, one that wouldn't mind not being able to contact their loved ones for a week, and plotted out a path for them that would look like someone was trying to shake off pursuit while still staying within the bounds of the laws and regulations regarding air travel. As the plane was being fueled, Jamie felt good about his chances.

When he approached the passport control desk, he sensed that the man at the counter was malleable to large amounts of cash and was currently in need of some cash, for whatever reason. Just as Jamie smiled thinking the man was potentially the answer to his troubles, he sensed the man feel the same way about Jamie. Jamie handed over his passport and the man duly ran it through the machine. His mother and sister hanged back and waited.

Jamie sensed the man's pleasure at what the machine read, even though his face gave no indication of it. "Problems, officer," Jamie asked.

"Well, that depends," drawled the man in a thick, hispanic accent, "the machine reads you as a wanted criminal, but it could just be mistaken." Jamie bit back a grimace. He guessed Cyrus had his people flag the backup identities they had provided for Jamie and his family. "It is a bit old and temperamental, you know. Not like the shiny, new computers you use in America."

"Maybe it's something to do with the passport," Jamie offered. "May I rub it for good luck?" The official put Jamie's passport into his outstretched hand and Jamie discreetly placed a thousand dollars in fifties into it and handed it back. "Try it now!"

The official took the money, his jaw dropping at the amount, and palmed it. "Your passport seems to be in order, sir," he said.

"Thank you," Jamie said. "I'd really like it if I didn't have any such trouble with my passport in the future. Could you direct me to anyone that could help me with that?"

The official grinned as he caught the gist of Jamie's request. He told Jamie to be at a café tomorrow afternoon in order to meet a contact that would guide him to the people that could whip up a fake passport for him. Jamie grinned right back as he managed to follow the man's trail of thought. He felt happy at diverting more money to his brother in law, who was the guy that made the fake passports.

Jamie put more money into his mother's passport and told the official he needed to unload two cars from the cargo plane without anyone taking note of them. The trunks were full of guns and ammo, among other things, but Jamie didn't tell the man that. The most important part of his cargo plane diversion was that no one know there were two cars unloaded at the airport tonight. The official just nodded and made the necessary arrangements and used the opportunity to get more cash from Jamie. Jamie handed it over with a glad grin. They drove away from the airport while the plane took off to, hopefully, lead his pursuit on a wild goose chase around South America.

He took his sister and mother to a hotel and checked them all in. The girls took showers and then went downstairs to get something to eat, while Jamie went out. Time was of the essence and he needed to make arrangements to get them off the island as soon as possible. He wandered around Havana for a few hours until he recognized the street whose image he had seen in the official's mind for an instant. He found the house where the official's brother in law lived and kept the things needed to make passports. Jamie sat on the terrace of a cafe at the end of the street and staked the place out. He didn't want to have someone else make the new passports for him and his family as that would leave a trail for someone to follow.

He had brought his laptop and some of the programs his A.I. had sent him. His intention was to sneak into the house and make the new passports himself. He sat and sipped on non alcoholic drinks for an hour and a half. He took the time to enjoy the sunset. Just as the Sun had set, the official's brother in law left his house and walked down the street towards the cafe where Jamie was sitting. The man passed him and Jamie couldn't sense anything he was thinking. Jamie had no idea where the man was going or how long he was going to stay out of the house. He could also not glean any information on where the equipment was hidden or whether the house was empty or not.

Jamie heaved a great big sigh of disappointment. It seemed he could only read the thoughts that were first and foremost in a person's mind, like the official back at the airport that had vividly visualized his brother in law getting more money and giving him his cut. Jamie tossed some money on the table and got up. He slowly walked down the street and slipped into the house unnoticed.

The house itself was split into six apartments, all accessible by the central staircase. Jamie walked up to the doors on the ground floor and concentrated. After a few seconds, he could sense the apartments were occupied at the moment. He climbed the stairs and checked the apartments there. One was empty, his senses told him, so he focused his attention on the lock and made it open with a flick of his finger. He went in and closed the door behind himself.

He let his Jedi instincts guide him in his search of the apartment but felt nothing. He checked the underwear drawers and saw that they only contained women's underwear. Jamie winced and softly cursed at himself. He was in the wrong apartment. He went to the door and checked for any presence on the staircase. Feeling none, he exited the apartment and locked it with a flick of his finger.

On the top floor, he again sensed an empty apartment and flicked his fingers to undo the lock. He went in and quickly sensed what he was searching for. He found blank passports from many countries taped to the underside of every drawer in the apartment. In the bathroom, he found the machines and tools he'd need to forge a passport, cleverly concealed in holes behind the very large tiles on the wall.

Jamie wasted no time and got to work, guided by his Jedi instincts. He made canadian passports for the three of them and used his laptop, and the programs his A.I. had left him, to program the biometric chips properly. He stamped the passports to make it look like they had left from Canada. He left the date of departure empty with the idea that he'd fill it in when he figured out how to get off the island.

Once he was done, he put everything back where it belonged and left the house, wary of anyone's attention on him. When he turned off the street where the house was, he heaved a great big sigh of relief. The pressure of sneaking into someone's house, not knowing if they'd be back at any moment and always keeping an eye on the door, had left him a soaking wet, sweaty mess. His hands started shaking in relief. One half of his escape was completed, but now he needed to figure out how to leave Cuba without leaving a trace. His options consisted of either ship or airplane. "Well, ships aren't tracked on radar so much," he thought to himself.

He went down towards the harbor and found a crowded bar. He went in and downed a few shots of rum to steady his hands and nerves. After that, he leaned backwards against the bar and took a long, hard look at the patrons. Most were not hispanic, he realized, and they were leaving the bar with young, local women, intent on getting their fuck on. Jamie put two and two together and realized he was in a sailor friendly bar. He spent an hour looking around, trying to spot a ship's captain that might be amenable to a bit of honest smuggling.

Jamie spotted several men that gave off an air of authority amidst their groups of sailors. He paid special attention to them, determining that they were really captains of their respective ships. He tried his level best to get a sense of which one to approach, but not a one of them was dwelling on the possibility of smuggling, so he was plum out of luck. Jamie decided on a different tack. He turned to the bartender and asked him, "Where can I find out about ships' departures?"

The skinny barkeep smiled, revealing crooked, yellow teeth and said, "Right here, señor." He bent down and retrieved a shabby looking notebook. He flipped it open and Jamie saw that it contained the names of ships and their captains, arranged by dates of departure. "We keep a ledger so we know if any sailors plan to leave without paying." The barkeep laughed and Jamie laughed alongside him as he perused the list. He saw that a ukrainian ship was scheduled to depart early tomorrow morning. Jamie slid the barkeep another note and the man smiled and thanked him.

If there was any captain who could be persuaded to smuggle, it had to be someone from the ex-Soviet Union. Jamie couldn't speak a word of Russian, but he could tell who the Ukrainians were, just by listening. He sat down at their table and said, "Hi, guys! Who's captain Zaposhenko?"

The sailors shut up and looked at Jamie with suspicion and hostility. He sighed as he sensed their happy mood turn sour by his addition to the table. He raised a hand to get the barkeep's attention and called for another bottle of rum for the table. The sailors waited until they had gotten the bottle and he had paid for it, before they began to shove him away from the table. He could tell that they didn't want to cause any trouble by beating him up, but that they also didn't want to have anything to do with him.

Jamie went outside and took in some fresh, sea air to clear his head. He was rubbing his sore neck and stretching it this way and that when a short, stocky man came out of the bar and said, "Why you looking for Zaposhenko?"

Jamie could tell by the man's accent that he was from the ukrainian crew. "I have a business proposition for him," he said as he turned to look the man over, up and down.

"If you giving me proposition, I give to Zaposhenko," the man said, before lighting a cigarillo.

Jamie's senses told him that the man standing before him was Zaposhenko. "Captain, I don't have the time or the inclination for games. If you want to make a lot of money without any trouble, then we can talk. If you don't, then we can go our separate ways."

The captain took a long drag on his cigarillo and then slowly let the smoke pour out of his mouth. Finally, just as Jamie was about to roll his eyes at the man and walk away, he said, "Ol' write. We talk."

The captain agreed to take Jamie and his family and their two cars on board and take them to their next port of call, which was in Morocco. He had insisted that the cars had to be stowed into a cargo container and that Jamie and his mother and sister had to be in another container. He then made Jamie pay for each container separately and began citing all sorts of costs to get as much money out of Jamie as he could. Jamie forked over the cash as he could sense that the man intended to deliver him safely to the destination, he was only looking to make as much cash as possible. Jamie wasn't happy with the way the captain was shaking him down and he certainly wasn't happy that they were sailing to a French-speaking country like Morocco, but he was out of options. He was keenly aware of the fact that a Section grab team, or the french spec ops boys, could show up at any moment. Besides, he had loved the movie Casablanca, why not see the city, too?

In the morning, a truck hauling a shipping container drove past the hotel and Jamie and his mom drove the two cars to follow the truck. They drove the cars into the container and it was then driven to the port and loaded on the ship.

The first day of sailing to Morocco was uneventful. On the second day, Jamie didn't need any Jedi senses to tell what three sailors, assembled on deck and watching his mother, had been thinking. Jamie walked over to them and intimated his displeasure with their intentions. The captain blew a gasket and demanded more money as recompense for the fear Jamie had put into his crewmen. Jamie forked over some more cash, now having next to none left, and walked away smiling. He could sense the dread in every sailor and knew they wouldn't have the guts to even look at his mom any more.

The rest of the trip was boring. Suzie amused herself by exploring every nook and cranny of the ship and their mother simply stood near the bow and looked out at the water most of the time. The crew kept well away from them at all times.

Off the coast of Morocco, Jamie went online and transferred some cash from one of his coded accounts to await for him ashore. Once they disembarked the ship, Jamie dated their passports and pulled a mind trick on the passport control officer to make him believe everything was in order. He led his mother and sister past the checkpoint and into a nearby hotel. After that, he went to a bank and withdrew enough money to get his cars out of port.

The city itself was nothing Jamie had imagined. He had expected to find a small, quaint town filled with kasbahs and the like and found himself face to face with a metropolis the size of New York. Casablanca was bristling with skyscrapers and Jamie was particularly surprised by seeing trams, that were chock full of people, running over tracks built into the city streets.

He joined his family for lunch and his mother then surprised him by actually speaking to him, in place of the perfunctory conversations they had had since they had left the cabin in the woods. She insisted on exploring Casablanca. Suzie joined in and Jamie found himself chaperoning them as they visited the sights and bought trinkets and whatnots at every other stand they stopped at. At first, Jamie handed over the asked for amounts, but then he sensed he was doing wrong and began to haggle with the sellers. He was shocked when he realized he could haggle them down to less than a quarter of the asking price. He shook his head to himself and let the people at the first stands they had visited enjoy their windfall.

Pretty soon, the girls heard of a huge mall and decided to go there. The three of them gaped at the humungous mall and the aquarium that was so big, people could go diving in it. As Jamie watched the divers in the huge aqarium, he realized just how sheltered his life had been and just how little he knew of this "pale blue dot" he was living on. He had thought he knew about the world, but now it seemed to him that he merely had prejudice in place of actual knowledge. He resolved to fix that in the near future.

The tour of the humungous mall quickly exhausted his mother and sister, so they sat in a cafe. Jamie sipped tea and his mother smoked a hookah. Suzie was munching on some kind of aromatic confectionary they had bought in the market. Jamie's mom hung her head back, let out a long trail of smoke and said, "We're going to Tuscany."

"What," Jamie said.

"I've always wanted to go to Tuscany," she said. "You're taking us there."

Jamie watched his mother take another long drag on the hookah and nodded. "Tuscany it is, then," he said. "Are you going to live there, or is this just a tourist visit?"

His mother shrugged. "Haven't decided yet."

Jamie nodded again and began to hatch a plan to get there. He decided against flying there so that only left taking a ship to Italy. Jamie didn't feel comfortable taking a ship from the same port that they had disembarked in so he decided they'd drive along the coast for a bit until they came to another port where they could find passage to Italy. The three of them retired to their hotel and enjoyed the simple comfort of sleeping on dry land after all that time at sea.

They drove east, along the coast of the Mediterranean, until they came across another port city. It was a very picturesque city called Tétouan and it was surrounded by high mountains with perilous looking roads. The city had a very small port that did not see much traffic and that, combined with the difficult approach by land, made it a very unlikely choice of outgoing port. Which was the exact reason why Jamie took them there. It took Jamie two days to find a ship that was willing to take on three passengers and two cars. It was even sailing to Livorno, on the coast of Tuscany. Jamie smiled at his good fortune and booked passage on it.

Once they disembarked in Livorno, Jamie's mother completely transformed. Gone was the moping woman whose previous life had ended ignominiously. Everything she saw brought a smile to her face. The old buildings awed her, the museum exhibits fascinated her, the fields and forests made her giddy with their beauty. Pretty soon, her enthusiasm infected Suzie and the two of them would run around and gape at everything from Sunup to Sundown, prompting Jamie to trot along and pay for their shopping. While the girls shopped and explored, Jamie walked behind them, deep in thought.

He didn't mind paying for their shopping, as they raided their way through every haute couture shop in the region, but he was taking the time to brood. Questions that he had been avoiding for weeks had taken the opportunity to rear their heads up and demand Jamie's attention. Questions like what was he going to do after he found a nice, safe place for the two of them to live? Where was he going to go and what was he going to do with his life? He had no idea and that lack of any kind of direction in life left him down in the dumps.

He had been a regular high school student that was eager to go off to college and there make some, hopefully informed, decisions about the direction of his life. Then he had gotten mixed up with magic. The experiences he had gathered during his year of magic did nothing to improve his mood. He had lost so much power and so many abilities that being a Jedi seemed like a very weak consolation prize. And he had done so much.

He had hunted down vampires and criminals and saved so many lives, not just the ones that those bad guys would have doubtlessly ended, but also the hostages he had released from every Syndicate base he had taken out. As misguided as it was, taking down the Syndicate was a huge accomplishment. He was never going to do anything that big in his whole life. He knew that.

On the other hand, Jamie reminded himself that he had killed The Suit. That was another mind-blowing accomplishment. "Too bad it was the dumbest thing I had ever done," Jamie thought. Murdering Harris had changed pretty much nothing, as far as Jamie could tell, except to turn him into a fugitive from justice. Jamie's lips tightened and his head shook a little as he silently berated himself for that stupidity. He had The Suit at his mercy and could have had the man dismissed in shame and ensured his family's safety, if only he had thought of coaxing a confession out of the man and presenting it to the President, or the magical community at large. Instead, he had gone for the fatal solution. Jamie sighed. He hoped that was the dumbest thing he'd ever do, but a small voice in the back of his mind jeered him that he'd top it some day.