Flight of Fancy

It was 6AM in Slovenia when Dawson got a call from one of the agents he had met in Jacobs’ office. He couldn’t tell which by the voice. It didn’t really matter. They knew the password, so the line must have been secure.

Jacobs’ eyes widened as he was listening to what the man was saying. Although he decided on patience, he certainly preferred this plan of action, which would speed things up dramatically and perhaps get them a conclusion and him a promotion.

The explanation was very thorough and it didn’t take long because the speaker seemed well prepared and condensed his thoughts for minimum time on the telephone.

You have to love their efficiency.

While the agent didn’t explain precisely what kind of merchandise it was, it didn’t really matter as long as it got the job done. They would be able to incriminate David and put him away for at least a while.

Give him time to think about his action.

That’s what people of his calibre needed anyway – some time to think. Eventually, they will come to the conclusion that standing up to authority doesn’t pay off and they will fall in line and be good citizens. This wasn’t America, but it didn’t matter, the whole world was under America’s thumb and America probably controlled more than people could even imagine.

That’s a good thing. America has proven time and time again that without its protection the world would be very different.

The telephone ended with the basic telephone etiquette of saying goodbye and Dawson was able to put down the telephone.

It was finally action time. He would get his first success and after that… who knew. It didn’t matter. As long as they managed to get somewhere with this case, he would be happy because it would be in his favour.

He put on his coat and called the other three agents on his mobile telephone. They might have been in their rooms, but they also might have been somewhere else. All he knew was that one was watching the video feed, while the other two were free to do as they chose. He told them to come to his room as soon as they could.

Within a few minutes, the entire crew was in his room, awaiting his briefing and instruction.

He opened his mouth. He needed more time to prepare his speech.

Oh well.

Sometimes you had to wing it, even though it wasn’t his favourite thing in the world.

“Right,” he said. “We got some new orders from headquarters.”

None of them said anything, they were listening like good soldiers.

Good!

“We’ll be getting a delivery later today from a person familiar with our password. The delivery will be left in a van and the keys to the van handed over to us. Once our mission is complete, the van will be picked up by the same people.”

They were still listening and hopefully taking it all in. Dawson continued.

“At around 3AM local time, we will take the van and the merchandise within to the surveillance site. Once we arrive there, I will give you further instruction.”

Nobody had a questioning look.

Still listening like good soldiers.

“We will need some shovels and flashlights. I will let you all to deal with this. It shouldn’t take you long.”

He waited for a little while to see if there was anything in their eyes.

Still nothing.

“Is everything clear so far?”

“Yes, sir,” they said almost in unison.

“When we go there, we will be wearing camouflage, so wear your camouflage gear, not your best clothes.”

He took a deep breath and went on.

“Like I said, once we get there you will be given further instructions and once the mission is complete, you will all be given additional assignments. Okay?”

This time they all nodded their understanding.

“Good,” he said. “Now get everything ready and remember that we leave at 3AM. I don’t want to be calling anyone and find they’re sleeping.”

Again, they all nodded their understanding.

“We meet in my room. The van will be off limits until we leave and I will be the only one with the keys. Dismissed”

They all nodded again and vacated his room.

That went pretty well.

He was pleased with the briefing and the efficiency of his speech. You didn’t have to mince your words to get the message out. There was something to keeping it simple and concise.

************************

All was quiet at the dinner table as Ana and David sat for their meal. They had some world music as background, but other than that there appeared to be an oppressive silence hanging in the air.

Or maybe it’s just me.

Ana had seen David in the forest. Although she didn’t notice anything, there was still a nagging feeling in her head that something was wrong and he wasn’t telling her.

She had made a nice vegetable stew for them, with carrots, peppers, zucchini, onions, celery, chickpeas and plenty of herbs and spices. She knew David liked that and was hoping it would cheer him up. But he was still his miserable self of the past few days.

Was it just the visit from the agents or was it something else? All she knew was that she couldn’t stand this for too much longer.

Where is my David?

She put the pot on the table, however not even a glance at the delicious meal from David as he seemed to busy staring into nothingness.

“I made a nice stew for us,” she said. “I hope you like it.”

“That’s nice,” was the reply.

Even though the words were right, there wasn’t the usual warmness behind them and Ana’s heart sank again. David appeared to be somewhere far away from her. She either wanted to be there with him or wanted to bring him back to her. It couldn’t remain like this.

She took the ladle and put some in her plate and then David grabbed some stew and put it in his plate, as was their usual routine. Everything was on autopilot and from the outside looked like business as usual, but why was she so miserable and why did she feel something was terribly wrong.

They started eating, David breaking some bread in the soup, as was his usual way. She wasn’t going to say anything, at least not yet, but something stronger than her told her to do it.

“Is everything alright David?” she asked.

That’s good.

She wasn’t being confrontation and used a nice gentle tone. He would always get so defensive when you were too direct with him.

“Yes, everything’s fine,” he said.

He didn’t even look at her.

“It just seems,” she continued, “that you’ve been a bit absent lately.”

“No, everything is fine. There’s no need to worry.”

David gave her the slightest of glances, not because he was worried about her but because he felt she would pry even more if he didn’t give her at least some sign of recognition. Ana wasn’t happy. She knew there was something wrong.

“You usually tell me everything David,” Ana almost cried. “But now it’s like we’re two strangers. You hardly even look at me and we hardly talk.”

David merely gave her a blank stare.

“Well?” she pleaded.

“What do you want me to say?” he replied. “I don’t know how to reply to that.”

“God!” Ana raised her voice. “Men! Why can’t you ever express your emotions?! What’s going on in that head of yours?!”

Another silence from David and a blank stare. She hated his blank stares and she hated that he didn’t know how to argue. When they first started living together, it had been like that because of his introvert nature, however later they’d been communicating so well that most arguments had been eliminated.

“Don’t you have anything to say? Ana almost yelled. She didn’t want to be too loud because his parents were downstairs. Soon, though, she wouldn’t care even about that. That was if he pushed her far enough.

“I don’t even know what you want from me,” was his defence. “I didn’t do anything.”

“That’s exactly the problem,” she argued. “You haven’t been talking, looking at me. It’s like I don’t even exist. It’s like you don’t even exist.”

David looked at her as if she was crazy. At least it was getting a reaction from him. Anything was better than that lethargic shell she’d been looking at.

“I think you’re blowing this way out of proportion,” he said with a slightly raised voice. He hardly ever raised his voice and that was another thing that sometimes bugged her about him – he didn’t seem to be passionate about anything. Arguing with him always seemed to emphasize the negative aspects to his character and made her hate him. She loved him, of course, but at moments like this, she also hated him.

“I know there’s something wrong and I’m not going to stop until you tell me what it is,” she pressed on.

“I don’t understand,” David said. “I thought everything was fine. Why are you doing this? With everything that’s been going on…”

“Don’t give me that,” she raised her voice again. “I know you and I can tell when something is going on in that brain of yours. There’s something you’re not telling me and I don’t like it.”

David remained silent, which only confirmed her suspicions.

“What’s the point of us being partners?” was her rhetorical question. “If we can’t even talk to each other and tell each other important things?”

Again, David remained sitting in his chaired, looking stunned and slightly dazed, again at a loss for words.

“Anything?” she asked confrontationally.

David looked at her for a while, then stood up and stormed towards his room.

“Just leave me alone,” he said.

“I’ll leave you alone alright,” Ana almost shouted. “I’m not going to take this much longer.”

David closed the door of his room and she couldn’t hear what he was doing. She guessed he was probably on the Internet, looking at something stupid, like all men did. She took the plates from dinner and put them in the sink to wash up. After rolling up her sleeves, she put some detergent on the sponge and started scrubbing. As soon as she started, something happened inside her and she couldn’t control her anguish any longer. The tears started rolling down her cheeks. There was something cathartic about it all. Usually, when they had an argument, David could almost instinctively sense when she was upset and was crying and he came to her and they would make up. She didn’t expect anything of the sort this time and she was right.

David didn’t come to her at that time, he only came when it was time for bed. They didn’t even exchange a kiss goodnight, like they usually did. They were each on their side of the bed, turned away from each other. Ana already knew that the night wouldn’t bring her much rest, even though restless sleep did eventually take her into its clutches.

******************

It was in fact 2:55AM when Jack Dawson’s team showed up in his room. They were very efficient, he had to hand it to them.

In the afternoon, two men called him, gave him the van keys and left the van outside the hotel. As a conscientious mission leader, it was his duty to check the van and merchandise. The van was black with tinted windows, so the merchandise couldn’t be spotted from the outside and the merchandise itself was covered with a white sheet. After checking if the car worked alright, Dawson climbed in the back. There was a certain smell he couldn’t quite pinpoint emanating from underneath the sheets. Whatever it was, it was quite potent. He removed the sheet and examined the goods. Everything appeared as it should be. Although the product was illegal, he never for a second doubted the top brass’s decision. After all, it was for the greater good. They had to eliminate an imminent threat. Although nothing had been discovered on the land of the farmers, there were strange activities surrounding both David and his wife, especially in the way they expressed themselves on social media. You could tell they were anarchist and had to be dealt with.

Satisfied with the inspection, Dawson pulled the sheets back over the merchandise and locked the van, being careful to check all the doors – just in case.

You can never be too careful.

With a satisfied spring in his step, he went back to his hotel room and had a little nap. After all there wouldn’t be much sleep that night.

Looking at his team now, at 2:57AM, Jack Dawson realised he would miss this quiet and obedient group. After this night, their mission would most likely end and they would each go their separate ways.

God knows if I ever get a chance like this again!

He didn’t want to go back to his old job. That would be like buying your own house, then having to move back to your parents’ house. It would hurt. He liked people under him and he liked giving orders.

And I’m good at it!

He never imagined he would be, but he had risen up to the challenge. There were no arguments from the team and no disputes. He had handled everything like a seasoned pro.

Satisfied with himself and his team, Dawson felt it was time to move. It was only 2:59AM, but sometimes you had to go with the flow.

“Alright team,” he said. “Let’s go.”

He didn’t have to say anything else. His three agents marched out of the hotel in a tight formation, but still managed to look casual, so as not to attract attention in case anyone had been observing.

Once in the parking lot, Dawson unlocked the van and they all jumped in, Laura driving with Dawson riding shotgun and Jane and Glenn in the back. Laura eased the van on the road as if she’d been driving vans all her life and off they went, now merely a few minutes away from their destination.

The drive was very quiet. Dawson checked their faces because the van smelled quite strongly, but none of the agents showed any sign of… anything.

Strictly professionals!

Laura was approaching the turn onto the back road and Dawson said: “Once we get on to the forest road, turn the lights off.”

He wanted to conceal their approach, just in case somebody was watching. When the time came to dig, they would use the flashlight, but try to keep them on as low a beam as possible.

Nothing will be left to coincidence!

When they turned onto the narrow road, Laura switched the lights off and slowed the van down nearly to a crawl. There were a few bumps along the way as the van hit a bump in the road. They were slowly but surely coming to their destination. Luckily, the sky was clear, so the moon and stars offered them some light, which made Laura’s job much easier. As they came around the final bend, Laura slowed down even more and then sped up ever so slightly. Once they arrived at the spot he wanted, he said: “Stop here!”

Laura stopped and parked the van. The team sat in the dark, waiting for orders. Dawson cleared his mind and said: “Right. Everyone start unpacking the van.”

They jumped out and brought out the merchandise.

“You can remove the sheets,” said Dawson.

The team was busy unveiling the lush plants and Dawson was once more amazed at the simplicity and audacity of this plan. It was almost like child’s play, it was so stupid.

Yet, it will work!

“All right guys,” he said a bit less formally because the next part would involve physical labour and he wanted them to remain sweet. “Grab a shovel each and start digging. We have to put these babies in the ground.”

Without a remark, a word of complaint or even a sigh, the team got busy digging the holes for the large plants. It would probably take them over an hour. The soil seemed quite soft, however, and the work was progressing quickly. None of the agents took even as much as a second of a break and Dawson could only marvel at the robotic efficiency with which they both worked and obeyed commands. Life would be so much easier if all people were like that. There was a chain of command and you had to follow it.

Marvellous!

Once they finished, Dawson ordered the team to collect all the cameras they had left behind. Once the local police got involved, the cameras would pose too many questions and he didn’t want the police requesting their surveillance records, especially not after tonight.

The team finished shortly after 4AM, then put the tools into the van and drove home, again sitting quietly. As they arrived back at the hotel, Laura parked the van on the same spot and handed Dawson the keys. The agents then went to their separate rooms and got some rest, or so Dawson assumed. The same people would pick up the van at 7AM and get rid of the evidence. Then, it would be time to pay David and his family a visit.

***************************

David was having troubled dreams. It was all due to the fight with Ana. He hated fighting with her because he loved her so much. And it always hurt. Why did people have to fight? It was usually about some outside factors, like other people, jobs and so on. Sometimes it was about ego as well, as had been the case last night. For some reason, David’s ego still didn’t allow him to tell her about the forest and all its little and big secrets.

Is it a big secret?

He didn’t really know the answer to that? It might have just been hallucinations of a fucked up mind, battered for so long by the miserable society they were living in. In any case, Ana would understand and wouldn’t judge him.

So why can’t I tell her?

He was drifting into another dazed slumber when he was awoken by a soft knock on their front door.

Am I dreaming?

He put it down to his imagination and was attempting to go back to sleep, but the knock came again, this time louder and more persistent.

Definitely not my imagination.

He got out of bed and put his robe on. He noticed Ana’s breathing had changed and she was probably awake, but still didn’t want to look at him. He walked to the front door and opened it.

Here was the face of his always joyful and quiet mother, who appeared to be rather stark and sombre on this occasion.

“Hi mom,” he said. “Isn’t it a bit early?”

She shuffled nervously on the doorstep, then replied: “The police is here. They want to talk to all of us. And I think those Americans are with them.”

David’s look spoke volumes. All the colour drained from his face and he felt a bout of fainting coming on. Somehow he managed to steady himself.

“What do they want now?” he almost pleaded. “They were in the forest and didn’t find whatever they were looking for.”

“I don’t know,” she said with a hint of fear in her voice. “You and Ana better get dressed and come downstairs. They’re waiting.”

Although his legs and feet were wobbly and he could hardly walk, David managed to walk to the bedroom. Ana was already sitting up.

“What’s going on? I heard something about the police.” It appeared all the bad feelings had disappeared immediately.

“They’re here to talk to us,” he said. “We have to go downstairs straight away.

They both got dressed in silence, not looking at their naked figures. He enjoyed looking at her naked body, but sex was the last thing on his mind now. Something was going on.

In a few minutes, they were downstairs, in the living room, where one of the local police officers was sitting. He was drinking coffee. His mother was always the good hostess.

“Right, is everyone here?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

The family nodded anyway.

“It appears our American friends found something in your forest.”

“What?” asked Ana. “They had already been there and found nothing.”

“Well,” continued the officer. “It appears they found something hidden a bit deeper in the forest and you are in big trouble.”

David’s heart was doing cartwheels and his head was spinning. Could they have found the device?

“It appears one of you has been growing drugs in the forest, cannabis to be exact.”

Everyone had a shocked expression on their face. David couldn’t believe it. Although he had smoked at university, it had probably been fifteen years since his last puff. He knew that forest like the back of his hand and knew there was no cannabis there.

“What are you talking about?” he asked. “There’s nothing like that there. I know that forest.”

They all nodded.

“Well, if none of you know anything about it, then it’s the owner’s responsibility. And as far as we know, the owner of the land is you.”

He pointed at David’s mother and David felt a wave of anger come over him. They would take his mother to prison, even though she had never done anything against the law in her life.

“You’ll have to come with us,” said the officer to David’s mother. “We have to take you to the station.”

There was a wave of murmurs between the family members, but David’s mind was finally clear. He knew what he had to do. He couldn’t let his mom go to jail.

“I did it,” he said.

“What?” asked the officer.

“It’s my marijuana,” said David. “I planted it and it’s my responsibility.”

“In that case,” said the policeman. “You’re under arrest. You’ll have to come with us to the station for further questioning.”

He put David in handcuffs and took him outside, where David saw the American agent with a look of self-importance and satisfaction on his face. It was a look that said ‘I’ve won’.

The police officer put David in the police car and drove off, while the Americans followed in their car, leaving the family behind in complete bewilderment.