The Life We Lead: Ascending (18 page)

James pulled the stack to him and began
reading each of the documents.

“Please, sir, they are standard agreements
that I am sure you have signed before,” Noi said, noticing James
was taking the time to read them.

“I understand, but I read everything before I
sign it,” James answered.

“Oh yes, sir, of course. I mean no
disrespect, sir. I know you must be very tired from the journey.”
Noi was taken aback.

“Yes, you have said that,” James said,
slightly impatiently. He was taking Tim’s lead on acting pompous.
Noi became quiet and began entering some information into a
computer. Tim absentmindedly hummed some Michael Jackson music to
himself, mixing the songs.

The documents were all in English and truly
were documents for a car sale. James quickly got through them.

“Very good, Mr. Mathers, sir. Very good.
Would you or Mr. Ferguson care to use the restroom before we
depart?” Noi placed several documents in a small carrier with a
picture of the bond he had taken as James finished signing.

“No, we are ...” James began.

“Yes,” Tim said. He stood up and began doing
what looked like the pee dance.

“Have to pee, cousin?” James asked.

“Obviously,” Tim said as Noi unlocked the
door and they walked into the hallway.

***

Twenty minutes later, after Tim had relieved
his bladder and they’d enjoyed another comfortable car ride, they
pulled up to a rather beautiful home.

“Welcome, please, to my home, sirs. I trust
you will be happy in your stay. We have Jacuzzi and sauna if you
like. The cook will make you any foods you would like. My wife and
mother will be happy to greet you. Your rooms share a bathroom if
that is acceptable, but all the plumbing works,” Noi stated,
turning in his seat to face them.

The night went well. They enjoyed a nice
dinner before heading upstairs for a good night’s sleep. Noi
reminded them that they needed to leave at 6 a.m. and asked if they
would like to join him for breakfast at 5:30. They agreed and
headed to bed.

When they got to Tim’s room, James noticed
Tim was rather quiet and looked a bit put out.

“Jim, are you okay?” James asked.

“Very tired, Grant, very tired. I miss my bed
and want my pajamas,” Tim replied. He was doing his best to stay in
proper character.

“Let’s get to bed, then,” James said, and
they did just that following quick showers and all of the rest of
the normal habits that gave Tim a sense of normalcy.

When Tim was settled, James returned to his
room and checked his voicemail messages.

The first message was from his buddy and
former roommate, Mark. “Dude, when are you off third shift? Want to
play some basketball with everyone tonight? Call me back.”

The second was from his mother wanting to
know when he had a day off because his dad needed some help. James
felt a twinge of guilt at not being able to help them out
immediately.

The third message was from Carissa. James
listened to this message three times, letting her words roll over
him.

“Hey, saw that you called me, then. Not sure
where you are, or what time it is, but I hope you are happy and
doing well. Can’t wait tae speak with ya. Oh, and I told Judy about
us. Anyway, talk soon, Love. Bye.”

James called Mark and his mom, telling them
nothing of importance but assuring them he was fine. When he called
Carissa, he was slightly sad to get her recording. He didn’t leave
a message; he always felt he sounded like an idiot. She would at
least see that he’d tried to call, and that counted, or at least he
hoped it did.

***

The next morning was rough when the knock
came at the door. James was exhausted but got up. It was Noi
himself.

“Sorry sir, but it is 05:00. I thought you
may want time to prepare, sir,” he said with his stained grin.

“Yes, thank you. Have you woken Jim?” James
asked.

“He is awake already, sir. His light is on
and there are noises from the room he is in,” Noi said.

“Okay. Thank you. We will join you for
breakfast.” James shut the door and went to check on Tim through
the adjoining bathroom.

“Good morning!” Tim said when James peered
into his room. He had just finished dressing and was putting away
his pajamas.

“Hey, Jim. You are up and ready today, I
see,” James yawned.

“Yes, well, it is obviously five and time to
be up. Plus, the bed is very soft and it was great to sleep in. I
will have to try to get one like it when we are home. I mean, we
can afford it.” He said the last part again as if he’d just
remembered to be extra flashy.

“Okay, please finish getting everything set
and we will go eat and start the day. Remember, I’m not sure what
will happen today. The only scheduled thing I know is the flight
back. So far, things have been very good and we need to keep it
that way. Noi said we will drive a long time today. It’s fine to
bring your music, but please leave the coloring books and stuff
here in your bag,” James said, setting some expectations.

Tim nodded and went back to his packing.

***

They departed on time and headed south. Four
hours after their departure in the black SUV, they made a sharp
turn while going around a bend. It looked like they were going over
the edge of the road into a sudden drop off. Noi warned them a
minute before they took the turn, but that didn’t prevent the
feeling of shock as it happened. Tim started to shake, but the
transition was remarkably smooth, aside from that little drop in
the stomach.

James was fairly certain Tim would have wet
his pants if he hadn’t gone to the bathroom when they’d made a
brief stop to refuel and have a small snack. He leaned over and
asked if he was all right. Tim merely nodded and went back to his
music.

Two hours later, they stopped in the middle
of a road in the middle of what appeared to be nothing but a
wasteland.

“We are just waiting for the next vehicle,
sirs. It should be here any moment as we are right on schedule,”
Noi said, and the driver nodded.

“Sirs, if you might wait in the vehicle here
until I ask you to step out once the other arrives, I would be most
happy. Look, here it is now.” Noi pointed.

An old green Suburban, probably from the
1960s, was coming towards them. It stopped alongside the black SUV
and Noi got out. The driver of the black SUV stayed put, but locked
the doors with Tim and James inside.

Noi approached the new driver and gave him
the carrier he’d placed the documents in the day before. They spoke
for a moment, and then Noi walked toward the SUV. The driver
unlocked the doors and got out, and James and Tim followed.

“Please, sirs, right this way. This is Joe.
He speaks some English, but we ask you don’t speak too much as he
is not supposed to. If you do need to stop to make toilet, he
understands. From here you have about one hour drive. We will see
you here when you return, sirs.” Noi was giving that yellow smile
he had. The driver was carrying two very large gas tanks from the
back of the luxury SUV to the Suburban.

Joe was a short man, but very muscular. He
had a Chinese look to him mixed with something else, perhaps
Italian. The hair and eye color certainly spoke to this, as did the
skin tone. He looked very young, possibly in his late teens.

After a quick glance at James, Tim made his
way to the green vehicle with his headphone on over his hat.

“Oh, sirs, I forgot. Very sorry. The
electronics. If you have them, you may wish to leave them with us
here. You can take them if you want, but only if they truly can be
shut off and maybe the batteries come out. Same for electric
watch,” Noi called.

“But my music,” Tim said, looking like a
child.

“I agree, but it sounds like it might get
broken, and I didn’t see a store in the airport that could fix it,
did you? I mean, this place, ugh,” James said, conveying their rich
snob outlook.

“Seriously,” Tim said, winking at James in a
rather obvious way that the others fortunately didn’t notice.

They removed the electronics and left them
inside the SUV. As they did this, Joe came up behind them and said,
“Must search.”

“Oh, yes, sirs. If he can quickly search ...
Just for safety on weapons,” Noi said from the front seat.

“Whatever,” Tim said, throwing his head
back.

After a quick pat down, Noi and the driver of
the SUV waved goodbye and the Suburban was off. They drove for
about sixty minutes, but it seemed much longer. The wasteland
seemed endless, with little change in the scenery. Suddenly, Joe
came to a stop.

Tim leaned over to James and whispered, “Why
are we stopping?”

James shrugged and whispered back, “Maybe he
has to pee.”

Tim giggled.

Joe removed the battery from his satellite
phone. When he finished, they set off again.

Suddenly, Joe hit the gas hard. His foot was
down as far as it could go and there was a slight incline to the
land. Just before they passed a large rock on either side of the
Suburban, Joe took his foot off the gas, shifted to neutral, and
turned off the ignition.

Tim started to violently shake.

“What the hell are you doing?” James
demanded, taking off his seat belt and reaching over the seat.

Joe pushed him back easily. “It okay. Sit. We
start in minute. We pass shut off place,” he said in his broken
English.

Joe made no motion to jump out of the vehicle
and seemed rather calm. There was no visible sign of danger, so
James went with it.

Tim, on the other hand, did not handle the
extreme disruption well. He was shaking very badly and didn’t seem
to know what to do. James placed his left hand on Tim’s right knee
to see if the contact would help. It didn’t.

A few moments later, as the Suburban was
starting to lose speed, they passed another set of rocks. Joe
applied the breaks until they stopped, popped the battery back into
his satellite phone, started the engine, and they continued driving
for a few moments before cresting a ridge that opened up to show a
magnificent stone building built into the side of a cliff.

Based on the land layout, James did not
expect to see a cliff, much less this building. It looked like a
fortress with an exterior wall and battlements. A tower seemed to
come from about the center and reach upward, almost touching the
underside of the overhanging cliff slope.

The sharpness of the angle of the slope
seemed unrealistic, but that wasn’t the only remarkable thing about
it. It seemed to hug the fortress and hang over the top. James
suspected that if you were on top of the ridge, you could peer down
and the fortress would be invisible.

As they approached, the stratification of
layers became more and more pronounced. James’s eyes scanned them
as Tim commented, “That is very pretty how the layers look!”

James tapped him on his leg and he quieted
down.

A metallic line made a large, upside down “U”
shape. The top of the tower seemed to be designed to be at the peak
of the crown of the upside down “U.” James wondered if it was made
of lead, but that didn’t seem likely.

They pulled up to a gate. Someone on top of
the wall could be heard calling out, and the gateway lifted with a
rattling sound of a chain being drawn. They proceeded through to
find another layer of wall, but this seemed wider, as if hollow
inside, given the size of the stones. The stones were more like
bricks, and the wall was only about three meters high. Several
doorways were visible.

They drove right as they entered, and James
could see an Indian man, or perhaps a tall boy, on top of the
exterior wall. Two other teens, a boy and a girl, both with dark
skin, seemed to be controlling the gate. All wore ragged clothing
that didn’t quite fit.

Looking up, James saw two other vehicles
parked in various stages of disrepair. One was a military truck and
the other another Suburban. They showed rather extensive signs of
rust and seemed to sink a good two inches into the ground.

Joe stopped the truck, got out, and opened
the door for Tim. The dark-skinned girl rushed to open the door for
James. As James exited, he looked at her and said, “Thank you.”

She dropped her eyes, and James saw what
looked like scaring on her neck and parts of her visible back.
Strangely enough, now that he could see her properly, she appeared
to be more indigenous to the Amazon region than Asian.

“Come,” came Joe’s voice, and James and Tim
followed him to a door in the inner wall.

James had been right that it was hollow
inside. It seemed to be about fifteen feet wide and used for
storage. The light inside was poor, and the open doors cast odd
shadows down the length on both sides as far as they could see into
the curves.

Exiting the other side, they found a large
area with several small, shack-like buildings in front of the main
building. They touched the inner wall at the end of the circle-like
curvature.

Standing at the main door was a man wearing a
suit and white shirt. He smiled as he walked down the three long
steps that led to the door to greet them.

If there was any doubt that this man was
Chinese, it was dismissed the moment he spoke.

“Oh, wercome wercome. I am Tan Lien. Very
prease to meet such fine men. Prease, come, come.” He was motioning
them inside.

James knew he wouldn’t have to explain to Tim
that the man’s first name was actually Lien since introductions
began with the family name in Asian cultures.

Tim and James passed through the doorway and
heard an exchange of words between Joe and Lien. Lien seemed to be
yelling at Joe, who was trying to explain something until Lien
struck him in the head. Joe just stood there, eyes down, and
listened as Lien yelled some more.