Chapter 16: Another Lady in the Night

"Man, I can't believe this is happening to us," Wendy Branch said to Sarah Mitchell, someone she'd only known for a couple of hours but already felt was closer to her than her own sister.

"I know what you mean," Sarah responded. "My whole life was changed in a single moment, in just the amount of time it takes to make eye contact with an angel."

Alex had asked Wendy about her name after they'd met earlier, and she'd sighed. "My father was always a practical joker, he wanted to name me 'Windy', but my mother compromised on a 'standard girl's name'. At least they didn't name me 'Broken' or 'Twisted'."

The two women encountered Alex at the Diane Washington concert at the Cardinal's Stadium just outside Phoenix. He'd knocked their world askew and they felt honored to have been boosted. They knew what it entailed and had no problems with it. In fact, they were not only looking forward to it, they would have traded almost anything they had for the honor.

Cate dropped back a bit, moving close enough to the two girls to whisper. "I think you're making Alex nervous. He's uncomfortable enough with this, if you could ease back on the whole adoration thing; I think he'd appreciate it."

"Oh, absolutely," Sarah said with an effervescent enthusiasm which belied her promise to tone her attitude down.

Sarah was naturally bubbly. A young, positive individual with short dark hair and facial features which marked her Semitic roots, even her muted pink blouse and shorts marked her outlook on life, so Cate didn't think she'd be able to dissuade her for long. She'd been hoping she could keep it under control until they reached the room at least.

Wendy, on the other hand was a bit mousey, with clear pale skin, wavy brownish, almost oily, hair, and the wide eyes of those Alex had recently won over. That was fine, but she tended to echo Sarah's enthusiasm, which only compounded the problem.

Returning from the concert late at night, they parked at a parking lot a short distance from the hotel so Cate could stop at a convenience store to pick up some food for Alex. It had been an interesting day. Despite the news reports about him, so far no one had linked the activity to Alex, nor to the famed Angel of New Orleans. Alex had been right in his perception of the area around the hotel, there hadn't been a lot of activity around it, and while the various sports and arts venues were nearby, their limited access prevented anyone attending from seeking Alex out. Thus they hadn't met many followers. They'd picked up a few Seekers, but hadn't met any Seers.

The concert had been different, though, as many people were drawn both by Patricia's growing reputation and also due to her appearance on the morning news program. It hadn't taken the Seekers and Seers in the audience long to find him, as they'd been told by Patricia to 'trust your feelings and seek out what you feel you can trust'. Wendy and Sarah were two of those; the two Alex selected to share his bed for the night.

He'd chosen Sarah because of her attitude, figuring her happy persona would make the others in the community feel welcomed. Wendy he'd chosen because, although she was very shy and reticent, she was connected to several social organizations and had contacts with a great many people, groups and services she could call on to help the others in the community, and to help temper any negative reactions to Alex which might pop up in the future. Sarah was a Seer, while Wendy was a Seeker.

Coming around the corner, after Cate had finished purchasing her supplies for her brother, a young blonde woman standing on the corner noticed them and approached Alex specifically.

"Uh oh," was Gail's only comment.

"Hey, there, looks like a party. Need any company?" the woman, hardly more than a girl, asked, mistaking Cate's bag of cookies for an alcohol stash.

The woman, while pretty, looked a bit world weary. She was extremely thin, with bags under her eyes her makeup tried vainly to hide, and looked a bit like life had driven over her with a Mack truck. She was wearing a light olive halter top with the straps to her black bra showing, along with a combination black miniskirt and matching black hosiery. It didn't take much to figure out why she was interested in them.

"Look, if you knew who he really was, you wouldn't be propositioning him," Gail cautioned her, though it was probably too cautious of a warning for her to understand.

"Why, is he famous or something?" she asked, her eyes growing brighter as she thought she might have hit a good mark.

"No, he's a friggin' angel, bitch," Sarah hissed, growing defensive of Alex and marching up to face the woman down. "Now back away, he's feeling stressed enough. He doesn't need a common street whore making his life more difficult."

"An angel, huh? I figured he must have something going for him to be trailing so many beautiful women," the woman responded. "Personally, I think we should let him decide himself," she said as she sidled up to him, slipping her hand into his pocket, though whether it was to grab any bills Alex had there or to grab his junk, Alex wasn't sure.

"He's not a John," Wendy said, betraying her mousey image by sticking up for Alex. "He's a religious figure that's going to change the world."

"Hell, I've done plenty of 'religious figures' before. I don't discriminate on the basis of either blasphemy or hypocrisy," the woman responded, showing she was brighter than they'd anticipated, even if she wasn't exactly aiming to achieve a lot in life on the basis of her intelligence.

Gail was moving towards the woman when Alex held up his hand, waving her off. "What's your name, honey?" Alex asked, putting on a southern persona with the unusual endearment.

"It's Suzy," she answered in a deep melodious voice, while grabbing Alex's cock via his pocket. He gently pressed her back, not taking his eyes off her face the entire time.

"No, I mean your real name."

She seemed stunned he'd ask her that, but was even more surprised when she answered him. "It's Sasha. Sasha Gorev."

"Wait," Cate interjected, "isn't Sasha a shortened version of the Russian name Aleksandra?"

"Da," Sasha answered without thinking about it, stepping back and glancing at the people around her in some confusion.

"Man, this just gets weirder and weirder," Cate commented to no one in particular. "Out of all the people in the world to run into, we encounter a random hooker, and she ends up somehow tied to Alex through some spiritual relationship we can't understand."

Alex ignored Cate's ramblings, not wanting to get sidetracked. "Do you really want to be doing this?" Alex asked her in a carefully measured tone, ignoring everyone else. Sasha couldn't help it, she felt pulled in by the caring expression in his eyes. For some odd reason she felt she could trust him, even though she didn't know him from any other John who'd use her without any concern for her feelings or safety.

"I ... I no know," she responded, struggling for a response.

"Do you want to get out of the life you find yourself in?" Alex pressed. "Or are you happy with your position?"

Sasha, in a moment of weakness, felt her eyes grow damp. "I want to. I feel trapped. I no have green card and I have no options."

"We can take care of that, but only if you're serious. I'm not going to help you if you're not fully committed to this. That means no going back to your pimp. If you so much as return for a few possessions, he'll try to talk you out of it. Quite persuasively, too, I'm sure, as he'll likely question my motives and whether you can trust me or not."

"I..." she started, again hesitating before seemingly making up her mind. "I have a young son. I can't leave him behind," she said, suddenly looking very worried.

"OK. We'll take care of him. I want you to go with Sarah and Wendy. You're going to buy a bus ticket to New Orleans and wait for us. You're going to have to renounce this lifestyle, because I won't have you taking advantage of my people there. If you backslide, it'll be your soul you're putting in jeopardy here and not just your life. Do you understand?" Alex asked her, laying it on a bit thick, but it was a conscious choice on his part, because he wanted her to know just how serious this decision was. He didn't want her getting cold feet in a couple of hours.

"I understand," she said, looking him directly in the eyes in honesty for the first time since meeting him. "You'll get my son, Jason, for me though, won't you?"

"Yes, we will."

"I've also stashed some money away, in case I ever needed it. The rest of my possessions don't amount to much, so I won't worry if I lose them, but the money could ensure Jason and I survive for a little while."

"Don't worry. You'll need to give us some detailed information, but—"

"Uh, Alex, I hate to interrupt, but don't you think we should discuss this before you commit us to it?" Gail asked him.

"I'm not turning my back on her. I'm sure it's going to be dangerous, but I'm also confident you'll be able to think of a way of handling it for me," he answered her, effectively shutting her up.

"All right, everyone, we've got a new item on the agenda. Let's see how quickly we can handle it," Alex announced, hoping to get everyone moving on an issue he felt queasy about undertaking himself.

Alex walked right into the sleazy dive like he lived there, and while the occupants of the boarding house stared at him, no one tried to stop him. Actually, that isn't quite true, he walked in like he owned the place, since most of the inhabitants lived in constant fear of the place. Even if they wanted to say something, the look in Gail's eyes as she marched behind him would have made them back down.

Alex hurried upstairs, showing an energy and enthusiasm the other occupants seemed to be lacking. They reached apartment 312B without anyone questioning them. Alex already had the key in the lock before anyone did.

"What the hell are you doing?" someone called out. Alex didn't even bother looking up, concentrating on opening the door, but Gail backed up as if surprised, pressing herself against the far wall, where she could measure who was responding. He was a large man, tall but thin, with a grizzled look, a stubby unshaven jawline, and a conniving gleam in his eyes, as if he knew he could control anyone stupid enough to backtalk him.

"Hey, I'm talking to you. Get away from Suzy's door before I break your fucking leg!" the man shouted.

Gail seemed to shrink even further into the wall, backing away from Alex, which meant the man ignored her as immaterial as he closed on Alex.

"I'm sorry, but we don't know any Suzy. We're here to pick up Sasha's things," Alex told him, finally turning to face him now that he had the door opened.

"Sasha Gorev no longer exists," the man sneered as he neared Alex, reaching out and grasping his wrist. However, before either one could say anything, Gail walked up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. When he spun around to confront her, she simply stepped back. Letting go of Alex, he turned on her, reaching out to grab her, however she spun around grasping his hand, flipping him over using his own momentum in a Ju-Jitsu move that ended with him flat on his back with Gail's forearm against his throat.

He glanced up into Gail's eyes with a panicky expression.

"We aren't here to dick around, jerk." Gail spoke in a low pitched whisper, forcing the man to strain to understand her. The effect was intimidating. "We just offed Sasha. She's buried out in the desert where her body will never be found, so don't worry about her coming back. But we wanted to take care of her kid to make sure no one bothers to investigate. I figure it's safe to assume you won't be 'investigating', am I right in that assumption?"

Even though he couldn't breathe and was having trouble fighting off the panicked response to continue breathing, he managed to nod yes.

"That's what I thought. Now you just be a good boy and wait here patiently, or I might feel the need to cut you a new asshole in your throat so I can shit down it. It that understood?"

He again nodded, still clutching at her arm.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? That you'd like to breathe? You really should have thought of that before you tried to grab me, now, shouldn't you? No, don't bother to answer. It was a purely rhetorical question. I'll give you enough air to survive, but just enough. You try to pull anything, though, and you'll be breathing through a hole in your forehead, got it?"

She didn't wait for a response as she pulled back slightly so the guy could breathe, even though he had to struggle to do so. While the two of them were conversing, Alex had quietly slipped inside the apartment. He managed to find Sasha's son, Jason, cowering behind his bed in his tiny room.

"Hey, Jason, don't worry. I'm here to rescue you from this terrible place. Your mother is waiting for you, but you'll have to grab your stuff so we can get away from here. We've got to leave quickly, so you can't pack much. The people here have been hurting your mom, so she can't stay here anymore. But we'll take you to a new home where your friends will be real, and not the types living here."

When Jason didn't respond immediately, Alex said, "Your mom said to trust me, Litl lyudyna. I'm here to help."

That seemed enough to convince him. He still didn't say anything, but Alex was able to get him out from behind his bed, and he set him to packing his stuff into his school bag while Alex set about checking out the apartment on his own. He could hear gasping breaths coming from the hall, so he figured Gail had things well in hand. She'd let him know if anyone else showed up. He quickly found a heavy dresser in Sasha's bedroom. Moving it away from the wall he found the covered hole in the back, where he found a handful of bills. It was a decent sized bundle, but Alex didn't bother to look, not even enough to see if the bills were singles or hundreds. Instead he simply pocketed it, then moved the dresser back and grabbed a handful of clothing which he shoved into an empty pillowcase.

When he was finished, he returned to Jason's room to get him.

"You'll have to carry this," he explained. "I'll probably need to keep my hands free." With that, he led the young boy out of his room and out of the apartment for the final time.

The young lad was cute. While he didn't have the bleach blonde looks of his mother, his hair was still light, and he bore enough similarity to his mother for Alex to see they were both related. Jason had a short haircut and was healthy, certainly healthier than his mother was. Alex took that to mean she had her priorities straight, and that hopefully she cared enough about her son to make a serious go of this one chance she had at turning their lives around.

When they entered the hallway Jason stopped to gape at Gail holding the man, still gasping for breath, against the floor. Alex quietly relocked the door, ignoring the looks of the neighbors peeking through their partially opened doors, then approached the man. He carefully took the man's right hand which had been grasping Gail's arm, no longer struggling with her, but ready for a chance to ease his breathing if she offered it.

"Grigori, just to ensure you're not going to cause us any trouble, I'm disabling your hand," Alex said, calling him by his Russian name as he released the one hand and picked up the other. "You won't be able to hold anything for some hours, so I'd be careful about picking up things like, say, telephones or weapons. After all, we don't want you to shoot yourself when you fumble and drop whatever you pick up."

"Should I disable his vocal cords?" he asked Gail.

"Nah, I'll take care of it the old fashioned way," she told him, making Grigori glance at her nervously.

Finished, Alex stood, held out his hand for Jason, and when he took it led him down the hall away from the man and Gail.

"Uh, is she coming with us?" Jason asked.

"She'll be along shortly. I suspect she didn't want to hurt him while you were still looking," Alex casually told him. The little boy glanced back, then turned and followed along, not bothering to question Alex's assertion. Gail caught up to them when they reached the street, and they took off at a quick trot, hoping to escape before anyone else tried to stop them. Alex realized they were really lucky there wasn't anyone else trying to stop them, potentially someone with a gun and a couple of friends. But Alex wasn't completely sure that luck alone could account for it, even though he hated to consider the alternatives.

Alex and Jason approached the waiting women, who were sitting around a little table drinking coffee and discussing their options.

"I have someone who'd like to say hello," Alex said by way of greeting.

Sasha, who hadn't been expecting him to approach from that direction, spun around.

"Mommy!"

"Jason! Thank God you're OK. Thank you, whoever you are. I know the other girls think you're someone important, but I never even got your name."

"Don't worry about it, it wasn't anything. And don't fret about who I am, but when you get to New Orleans, head to the French Quarter and ask any of the locals there for help and mention that Alex sent you. It may take a few tries before you find someone who'll know what you're talking about, but when you do they'll take care of you. But just remember, if you screw up, it'll be on you. I won't give you another chance. This is your last shot at a new life. Grab onto it with both hands. I'll arrange for someone to meet you to discuss citizenship issues. Hopefully you can work out an asylum deal with the government. But if you so much as make a single phone call, all bets are off. No one in New Orleans will have anything to do with you, and you won't hear from me again. Got it?"

"Da, I understand. I'll do my best. I've been praying we could get away, but they always say we have no options and police would only arrest me, beat me and ship me back home to the Russian mob. I never knew how to get away. After having lived here for years, I still don't know much about the country. They kept us pretty tightly controlled."

"You seem to be pretty well educated. I'm guessing you weren't a high-school dropout?"

"We call it 'secondary school'," she explained. "But no, I had a good university education in business outside of Moscow, but someone with some prestige offered me a chance to sign a modeling career in America, and I took it with the blessings of my family. Only when I got here, I found myself in a brothel against my will. When I fought, I was raped and beaten. That's where Jason came from. Once he was born I lost most of my will to fight. They've used him to control me ever since."

"Grigori sends this, and his love. He wanted me to convey that he hopes you do well in your new life," Alex said, as he pressed the wad of cash into her hand.

"Really? Grigori said that?" she asked disbelievingly.

"Well, he really couldn't say much at the time, but that seemed to be his intent. He didn't seem to be terribly interested in coming after you at the time."

"I have no idea how you pulled this off. Any one of those men would have killed you, and the rest of us, without having a second thought as easily as they would have taken out the garbage. But I want to thank you, and I promise I won't let you down."

"Well, excuse me, but this is no place to be talking about this. After all, you never know who may be listening. How long until the bus leaves?"

"Not long, only another half an hour."

"Good, now be careful. Don't talk to anyone until you leave the state, and don't go with anyone who tries to talk to you. If anyone tries to force you, stay on the bus and scream as loudly as you can. There's no way we can be sure someone didn't follow you, so you'll need to be cautious. Once you've left the state you should be safe to strike up normal conversations, but I'd suggest changing buses along the way to make sure you aren't being followed. Since we bought your ticket with cash they can't trace your bus tickets, but still..."

She nodded and gave him a big hug. When she finished, Jason did the same. "Thank you, mister. I'm glad to get away from all those bad men."

"Hey, there are always bad men around. That's why it's important for good men like us to stand up to them whenever we have the chance." With that Alex said his goodbyes and they left, hoping to draw off anyone who might be watching.

Cate gave her brother a knowing look. "You know just how irresponsible that was, don't you?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I'm perfectly aware of it."

"Good, I'm just checking," she answered. "By the way, where's Gail?"

"She's maintaining a watch for anyone keeping track of our little family. She'll be along shortly. Let's just duck into this late night coffee shop. That should allow anyone trailing us to show up. If no one does by the time her bus takes off, we should be clear to leave."

Cate eyed her brother oddly. "You certainly take all this subterfuge in stride, don't you?"

"Ha, you don't think an angel is afraid of a petty criminal, do you?" Wendy asked, suddenly brave in the knowledge that she was under the protection of someone with connections.

"Don't mention that word too casually," Alex quietly told her. "So far, no one has made the connection here, and I'd like to keep it that way."

"And don't think they don't get hurt either. Al ... he's been hurt plenty of times. However, he always manages to slink away by the skin of his teeth. However, I'm afraid that skin is beginning to get a little long in the tooth, as they say," Cate concluded with a smile, grinning at her bad pun. However, it was just the right touch for the overwrought crew, and they laughed.

"Actually, I had plans if anything happened, so I wasn't completely unprepared," he explained, not giving any details. "Actually, I was almost hoping something would happen, just so I could try a few things. But you never know what'll happen when you try something for the first time."

Cate knew better than to respond, but she gave her brother a dubious look. Perhaps being so close to death and staring it in the face daily, gave him a false sense of confidence. He just didn't seem to realize how much everything depended on his sticking around and on his staying out of danger. But she knew she couldn't convince him of that.