Mark Young - Off the grid

“David Marshall? I’ll have to get used to it.” He opened up the package and saw a wallet inside among other things. In the wallet, a California driver’s license with that name. He also found a U. S passport and several major credit cards. “So…David Marshall, huh? Are these credit cards any good?”

“You bet. Up to twenty-five thousand dollar limit on each card and a work history I’ll have to go over with you.” He examined the wallet and pulled out the driver’s license, looking at her for a moment. Alena smiled. “You knew already I like the name David. And Marshall, well I am a fan of that John Wayne movie True Grit. You are not like that old lawman, but I think you have the same traits.”

“You mean I eat too much, and I have a nasty disposition?”

She laughed. “No. That you are willing to take chances, not afraid of risks.”

“How would you know?”

“Remember, I have been watching. Like that incident you got involved with down in San Diego this month.”

That shootout in La Jolla seemed years ago in a different life. “I’ve been meaning to ask you. How soon after my parents’ deaths did you get involved with all this? With me?”

“When your dad…” She stopped, her eyes widening for a moment as if she forgot and spilled something she never intended. “I mean-”

“What about my dad, Alena? Do you know something about him? About my folks?”

She turned away. “Ask Joe about all that. He’ll tell you.”

“He can’t tell me anything about my dad prior to the bombing. I mean, they were brothers and all, but they were never that close. I never understood the trouble between Joe and Dad, but they went their separate ways after working together at MIT for years. My uncle would visit me every few years when he happened to be in town. And then that scare in Chicago… I guess they never got a chance to work things out. What can you tell me?”

“I am not the one, Gerrit. You must ask Joe.”

“I’m asking you.” Anger made his request rather curt. He tried to tone it down. “I mean, what’s the big secret? After all this time and everything that has happened, certainly all this can be out in the open. Right?”

“Not everything,” she said, quietly.

His cell phone vibrated. He withdrew it and saw a text message had been sent. He punched in the connection and scrolled down to the message. It was from his uncle. His jaw tightened as he read it. He handed the phone to Alena. “You better read this.”

She grabbed it and read aloud. “Tell Al danger. Alert. Move quick. Compromised. PU at birdcage midnight. “ She lowered the phone. “This is tsuris…bad trouble.”

He stared at her. “What does it mean?”

She glanced up, frowning. “A breach in our security. We’re to meet Joe and the others at the airport at midnight tonight. Bring your new identification and leave everything else behind. Old ID, clothes, everything that’s not new. I’ll lock them up in the safe here until we know we can retrieve them.”

“My old ID? What are you talking about?”

“I mean…everything…can be tracked.”

“Aren’t you a bit paranoid?”

“That’s what keeps us alive,” she snapped. “I don’t have time to explain everything right now. Use your brain, Gerrit. You know what tracking capabilities are out there. Oy vey! All your scientific background should be good for something. Right?” She turned toward him, angry. “I don’t have time to hold your hand.”

“I never asked you to hold my hand.” He drew himself up.

She ripped Gerrit’s cell phone apart, tossed the parts on the ground, and stomped on each one. “If I had not been watching your butt, they’d be fishing out parts of you from the lake. Who knows, maybe they would have whacked you before you even got home.” She shook with rage.

He had never seen this side of her. She looked like she could take his head off. “Cool down, Alena. I only meant-”

“Save your excuses. Right now, we need to move.” She wheeled around and withdrew a small gym bag from a closet. She carried it over to him and opened it. “I’m waiting, Gerrit.”

He handed her his old wallet and felt the pocket watch in his pocket. Hesitating, he slowly withdrew it, rubbing his thumb over the smooth finish. Reluctantly he placed it in the gym bag. He had carried that watch every day since his father first gave it to him. Just clutching it would give him a feeling of connection, a link to his past. Now, that link must be severed. Just like everything else in his life.

She took the bag and flung it into the safe. “Anything else? Watch, jewelry, clothing? Anything we did not give you after the explosion.”

He thought back and shook his head.

“Okay, let’s get moving.” She pushed the safe door closed and locked it. “We need to leave this place and never return until we know it is safe.”

“Safe from what?”

“From surveillance, tracking devices, you name it. Until we know no one can link us and this place together. Same with my place in the Haight.”

“Just like that. Up and leave everything behind?”

Her expression seemed to soften for a moment. “Look, I am sorry for being so uptight, but Mr. J’s message is serious. It means something is really, really wrong. And until we know what the danger is, we have to run and leave everything behind. It is hard, but you will get used to this.”

“Have you gotten used to it?”

Alena’s eyes tightened. “It seems I have been running my whole life. It is just the way things are. Now, let’s move.”

Shop till you drop-or die. Gerrit smiled as he watched Alena eyeing Macy’s. They climbed out of a cab in San Francisco’s Union Square and entered the large department store, searching for clothing they might need on the run-coats, jeans, shirts and blouses, even shoes. He watched her trying on a black, sporty leather jacket.

“So, this is what you do every time Joe says to run? You go shopping?”

Once they put some distance between them and the office, Alena seemed to relax, although he could see she was as vigilant as a lioness catching the scent of danger. Alena glanced around for the millionth time. “This is the upside of our kind of life. You get to do a lot of shopping.” She took off the jacket and tucked it under her arm.

“I have to wonder why you leave everything behind. Kane and the others got close enough to put trackers on us? I mean, I know I met him face-to-face overseas, but don’t you think you’re a bit dramatic?”

Her face flushed. “Dramatic? You’re kidding, right?”

“Look, I’d already be dead if they are tracking me. The fact they didn’t find me in Idaho after the bombing tells me they did not have RFID and GPS trackers in place. Otherwise, I would be sucking up dirt right now.”

“But they could have tracked us in any number of ways-satellite surveillance, location sensors, you name it.”

“I know all that, Alena. My point, they haven’t come yet. We might be going through all this for nothing.”

“I…Joe and the others can’t take that chance. And right now, Joe’s calling the shots.”

“Maybe he is too careful. Look, Alena, we have to look at this practically. There are endless possibilities for them to track us, but we must look at the percentages. Right now, I’d say the odds are slim they have locked in on us. I think they’re just fishing. The net they cast is so broad, going back all those years.”

“You may be right, but I trust Joe’s instincts.” She ran her fingers over an alpaca off-the-shoulder sweater displayed on a faceless mannequin in the aisle. “So, smart guy, dazzle me with your science.”

“Dazzle you, huh?” He smiled. “Okay, say I was your husband-”