The Life We Lead: Ascending (21 page)

“I want to go home now, please. I want to go
home,” Tim said, almost crying.

“We are. We are going home.” James grabbed
Tim on the side of his head and looked him in the eyes. He could
smell the rancid smell from the fruit mixed with stomach fluids and
almost vomited himself.

“Here,” Joe said, handing Tim his own thermos
of water.

Tim took it and rinsed out his mouth. James
turned and said, “Thank you, that was very kind.”

Joe nodded and climbed back into the
Suburban. After one more rinse, so did Tim and James.

The rest of the ride back was uneventful. Tim
curled up against the door and wiggled his toes in his shoes. James
assumed this was a relaxation technique and did not question it. He
was trying to keep his focus on all that had transpired so he could
write it down, running everything through his head to keep it
fresh.

Noi greeted them, holding open the back
passenger door with his high-strung, crackling voice. “Hello, sirs.
I am glad to see you again. I trust all is well with your
business?”

“No,” said Tim, clearly impatient and
grouchy. “I want to go home now.”

“Sir, is there anything I …” Noi said,
clearly offended.

James stepped between Noi and the doorway to
the vehicle. “Everything is fine; my cousin is just sick. We need
to get back as quickly as possible, please.” He climbed in and Noi
shut the door.

Joe came up to Noi, handed him the small
carrier, and walked back.

James opened the window just in time to say
“Thank you” to Joe. The man paused and gave James a small smile and
wave.

Noi climbed in and they were off. Noi turned
to strike up a conversation, but Tim had already turned on his
music and moved to the back to lie down.

“Sir, are you sure he is okay? No disrespect,
sir, but it would be most bad if he sick in here,” Noi said.

James adopted his pompous tone. “He is fine.
Just let us be.”

“Oh, yes, sir.” Noi turned back around,
looking very put out.

James opened some sparkling water and poured
a small amount into a glass. He moved to the back and gave it to
Tim, whose face was pressed into the seat.

“Jim … Jim … hey.” He gently touched Tim’s
shoulder.

Tim just shook his head.

James took off Tim’s right headphone. “Jim,
please drink this. It will help your tummy. Here now,” James
said.

Tim didn’t move.

“Please. We are almost done, and you have
been the best field partner,” James whispered.

Tim turned. He looked miserable and had puffy
eyes. He sat up, drank the water, made a face of disgust, and lay
back down without a word.

On the journey back, Tim did not want to stop
to eat. He used the bathroom when they got fuel and came back a
little shaky. He told James he had “the poopies,” but he thought it
would be just that once.

About an hour later, Tim sat up. “You know,
Grant, she was saying some odd things,” he said quietly out of the
blue.

James glanced toward the front of the car.
Noi made no response; he clearly hadn’t heard Tim.

“Not now, but I’m glad you remember. Let’s
talk later,” James said with a wink.

“Okay,” Tim winked back, looking as though
someone had hit him in the eye.

He now seemed perfectly fine. Must have just
been way too much fruit, James decided.

***

After dinner, James confirmed that Noi would
take them to the airport at about 10 a.m. the next morning for
their flight and that breakfast would be at “07:30, sirs.”

James waited in Tim’s room until he was fast
asleep before leaving him. He had to hand it to Tim—he had pulled
off some really difficult things. James was proud of him and
looking forward to what he had to say, when it suddenly struck him:
Tim could draw everything he saw. He could make a perfect map of
the place.

James turned to wake Tim but then thought
better of it. Tim would remember, and he deserved a restful
sleep.

James returned to his room, picked up his
phone, and called Carissa. Even hearing her voice on the recording
would be fantastic.

“... ello?” came a female voice. The line had
a bad connection.

“Um, hi Carissa,” James started.

“Oh, nae, one mo’, t’is Judy.
Carissa,
it’s John!
Her’ she comes now,” Judy said.

“Hi,” came the sweetest voice in the world,
slightly out of breath. “How’s you?”

“At this moment, I couldn’t be better,” said
James, and he meant it. For the first time in the last few days, he
was only thinking about one thing, and it was the one thing he most
wanted to think about.

“Long day? … t …me,” Carissa said in a
garbled way.

“Sorry, can you repeat that?” James said.

“What’d ya say?” came Carissa’s reply.

James quickly made his way to the window,
hoping that would improve the quality of the call connection. “I
asked what you said?” James said.

“Love, I can’t get all of what you are saying
tae me. We must have …”

“I was just calling to say hello. I’ll ring
you back when I have a better connection. I hope you hear me say
this.” A bit sad, James enunciated each word slowly and
clearly.

“Yer, alright. Talk tomorrow, Love,” came
Carissa’s reply before the phone went silent.

James sighed. He wasn’t sure what he’d been
going to talk to Carissa about, but he felt disappointed anyway.
Besides, he was starting to get a headache. It was time to call it
a day.

***

The journey home went smoothly. Their flights
were on time, and they had plans to debrief the next day with Tom
and a few others.

They were able to get a direct flight home
without stopping in New York for a night. James knew the Tan family
wasn’t tracking them closely. They didn’t have to, as they had
video, pictures, and copies of documents to keep them in line.

The first thing Tim did when he got home was
check the schedule. He then walked back to James and said, “I think
I like being Tim better than Jim. You can be Jim or Grant, but I
think you should just be James from now on. I’m going to go watch
Discovery Channel now. See you tomorrow.” He stuck out his hand
with a huge grin.

James immediately shook it and said, “Well
done.”

Tim gave him another long wink and was off to
join Byron and Dan.

It wasn’t like Tim to initiate a handshake.
Tim had learned how to do another “normal” thing. James was
proud.

James stayed
in a hotel near the group in order to get a good night’s sleep
before returning to his family and the chaos that reigned in a home
with two small children. He was planning on moving the following
weekend to Pittsburgh for his internship, as a two-hour commute was
less than ideal, but first he wanted to help his dad with a few
things.

At 4 a.m., James was wide awake. He wanted to
go back to sleep, but he knew that was about as likely as sitting
next to a quiet toddler on a plane. With a deep sigh, he threw his
legs out from under the covers and sat up before falling back down
on the bed again. It was going to be a long day if he continued
feeling this sluggish.

After taking a shower, he felt better and
thought he’d try giving Carissa a call.

“Good morning, Love,” she said in
greeting.

James felt a tingle in his toes. “Good
morning there, Ms. Risa. How’s you?”

“Brilliant, thanks. What time is it there?
Why are you up so early? Everything all right?” Her questions came
in quick succession.

James chuckled. “Well, it’s clear, then,
isn’t it, why I am up at half past 4? It’s to talk to you, and that
always makes everything perfect.” He hoped that didn’t sound too
cheesy. He’d always scoffed at the illogical fluff so many couples
spewed at each other.

Carissa loved it. “You are always so sweet. I
was telling Judy that the other day, and she said it was just a
ploy tae get a little some’thin’ some’thin’. I told her tae stop
being so jealous and go for a soak. She had gotten pure bleezn, you
know, the night before and was a bit turned out to start. Well,
after that she gone and got a bug up her ...”

James took in each word and eagerly awaited
the next. He didn’t have to think, process, or act on anything.
Just listen to her sweet voice with that rather sexy Scots
accent.

“Here I am, rambling on and on. You must be
bored silly. Tell me about your days,” Carissa said a good while
later.

James’s brain, which had kind of just been
idling, slipped abruptly back into gear. “It’s been a lot of
travel. Switching hotel rooms each night is rather wearing, to be
honest. Not sure why I thought traveling for business would be fun.
It really isn’t, you know. Nothing like personal travel. I get to
see a lot of offices, airports, and hotels. After a bit, they all
run together. Get to spend a bit of time in the same place in the
States for about a month for training, then back to Aberdeen.”

“Wow, that is a bit of time away.” Her voice
held a soft hint of disappointment.

“Aye, I didn’t find out about the training
until recently. Very sorry on that, truly. But when I get back, I
would love to see you and go out to dinner and a movie and to the
club if you would?”

Carissa’s voice was normal again. “All in one
night?” She laughed. “Well, I like tae hear that you want tae make
up for lost time, but one thing at a time, John, or I’ll start
having tae call you Jack Flash, eh?”

James laughed. He wished every day could
start off like this.

***

Later that day, James was at group
headquarters when Tim and Tom came in.

“Hi, Tim,” James said with a smile. “Hey,
Tom.”

“Hi ya, James,” said Tim, grinning. He was
excited to be debriefed. Usually he was just called in to examine
various puzzles that others couldn’t decipher.

“I was just informing Tim how we’ll be
proceeding today,” Tom said.

“Which was completely unneeded, obviously. I
know how these things go, Tom. I am not dumb,” Tim said in an
incredulous tone.

James decided to act on that. After all, this
was why Tim got so annoyed around here. He felt like he was treated
like a little kid.

“Tim, I am interested in knowing a few
things.” James stood up. He walked over to the white board and
wrote three questions:

1. What did the individuals say when they
were not speaking English

2. Can you draw the fortress, its rooms, and
passages

3. How did you feel about the trip

Tom sat back, aware that James had taken
control, even though he was technically being debriefed, too.

Tim studied the list. “Do you want me to do
them in that order?” he asked. “And why didn’t you use
punctuation?”

James laughed and corrected the punctuation.
“You can do them as you want, but how about we do the drawing
last?”

“Oh, good. That will take a long time ... And
just the stone fortress? I can do the airports, hotel, Noi’s house,
and the office too.” Tim tried to mask his excitement. He did it
poorly, as it just made him look like he was sitting on a bottle
shaker.

“Well, how about the whole fortress and Noi’s
office?” James suggested.

Tim made a fast transition to the last
question. “Right, well I feel that it was long. Very tiring. My
sleep is off and I have this weird feeling at the top of my head.
On my brain.” He touched the upper part of his forehead as he
spoke.

“It’s called jet lag,” Tom said.

“Obviously, but he asked me to describe how I
feel, not define things, Tom,” Tim fired back.

James interjected, “You can also say what you
thought about everything, too.”

Tim paused. He had a rather reserved look on
his face. “It was exciting, but very scary sometimes. I think I
like doing my work here more and not so much in the field. Though
the kids looked like they were having fun. That made me smile. Oh,
and drinking all the Coke was good too. The tummy ache was
horrible. And I think some of those people were bad and said weird
things. I am happy to be home and see my shows. That’s it,” he
ended, looking at James and then over to Tom as if to ask if that
was okay.

“Got it, Tim. I think you did great. I know
it was a rough trip and you did as well as anyone could have.”

Tim smiled from ear to ear as James went on.
“What were people saying that you thought didn’t make sense?”

“Oh, that. Well, it was just Jie and Yan.
They kept switching languages, obviously, but they didn’t even
answer each other in the same language. They used Mandarin and
Cantonese and Thai and ...”

“Why were they switching languages like
that?” Tom asked, interrupting him.

With a dramatic flare, Tim stood up, shaking.
He seemed to be expressing a lot more emotion since the trip, but
like a six year old who didn’t yet know how to do it properly. “I
was talking, Tom!”

“Sorry, sorry. I’ll be quiet.” Tom motioned
with his hands to get Tim to sit back down.

“Tim, I thought they were switching
languages, too. I’m glad you could understand all of them. That is
excellent. What were they saying back and forth?” James asked
calmly.

Like flipping on a light switch, Tim was calm
again. “Well, at first it was just making fun of someone over
paying. They said they would have given the information for free
and they didn’t even have to negotiate. They never said who that
was, but it couldn’t have been us because we didn’t give them any
dollars.” He paused and blinked away a puzzled expression.

“What else?” James asked.

“Well, it didn’t make sense. Jie was the
boss, but she kept saying things like she was suggesting them to
Yan. Once she said,” Tim tried to mimic her voice, “‘Do you think
we can take
his
spot? Maybe you can get the fields going.
The kids are worth more in the field, don’t you think?’ Then she
said something about if they got far enough, they could take all
the operation over by replacing the top. Yan liked that,” Tim
recalled. “He got excited and then got more excited when he was
talking to you.”