FEAR

 

I was still quiet in the taxi. The adrenaline was still in my blood but it was a different sensation from the chase. It was fear. While the chase was linked to the smell of a Ferrari, this one, I was afraid, would be remembered by the smell of curry and sweat. Although I liked Indian food, I was afraid that I would get sick of it now. I was initially concerned about the car that symbolized my new beginning, but now I was struck with something even more concerning. I was afraid that I was in the game again - the game that I had hoped was finally over.

"Sir, is that your car?" Ashok broke the silence.

On the side of the road, there standing, a brown Chevrolet Impala with the D.C. Flyer Radio Taxi sign.

"Yes, it is!" I couldn't hide my excitement. "Did somebody try to steal it? Are any windows smashed?"

"It looks all right to me, sir," Ashok said indifferently.

"It's where they picked us up, Zoran," Daniel said with a mix of authority and tiredness. "We must have missed it while we had that argument on our way to Baltimore."

The taxi driver slowed down and stopped. Daniel and I got out of the cab.

"Hey, who's gonna pay this fare?" Ashok asked, now worried.

"Wait until we see that everything is OK with the car."

"No, no, no, no. I told you I am late. Who will pay me, guys?" Ashok lost Indian politeness and switched to arguing mode.

"You got us stopped by the cops. You pay it," Daniel said, annoyed by everything.

"Me?" I couldn't believe it.

"I already gave him fifty bucks," Daniel said in his defense.

I was astounded. I had met many rich people who were stingy, but this was unreal.

"Me to pay it? You are fully loaded and now I have to pay another cabbie? You must be insane." I had to control myself very hard not to punch Daniel in the face. Fortunately, Daniel seemed to read my body language and he went back to Ashok.

I ignored Daniel and tried to calm down so I began inspecting my cab. Everything seemed to be as we had left it. But for some reason, I had a sneaking suspicion that something had changed. I couldn't say what or even where, but I suspected that now they had some bugs planted. It wouldn't be the first time.

***

It was a couple of days after the red Ferrari chase. Everything settled down nicely. We were even mentioned on television, but a fifteen-minute drive was too short for a TV chopper to get there in time. They just said that the owner wanted to stay anonymous and that he was lucky that his luxury car had been found undamaged, so he wouldn't be pressing charges against anybody. The funniest thing was that the police had described the thieves as two young African-Americans. How typical.

I still couldn't explain Linda's behavior from that day, but I started suspecting that she was on drugs, probably speed or snow. I never caught her in the act, but I have seen enough junkies in my career that I could tell by somebody's pupils. And Linda was a candidate, especially since she was borrowing more and more money from us. She used to offer us her expensive jewelry as a bond, but still, that definitely indicated weird spending habits. However, heavy spending could also be explained by her shopping lists that included Prosciutto di Parma, South Australian Shiraz and oyster mushrooms - stuff that Selma had never heard of before. Linda apparently had special dietary needs which reflected in her expensive eating habits. On the other hand, her plan was developing well. She could be out of trouble in the next couple of weeks if everything went right. I could also become rich and famous as Linda's helper, but only if things went wrong. If everything ended as planned, I would be just rich and have some powerful friends, but without celebrity status.

Linda was out again, preparing things for the final disclosure. As the government in the world's first free county controls media better than some dictators do, she had to plan her steps carefully. She came around at eight that night.

"Hey Linda, is everything OK?" After a month of living together, I was addressing her like she was my sister, or even like she was one of my girlfriends.

"The plan is going fine, but I have a feeling somebody is following me."

"Following you?" I became instantly worried.

"I don't know. I have a feeling. I didn't notice anybody in particular. I'm just saying, pay attention if anybody is following your cab, please." Linda tried to calm me down.

"Me? Why me?" I didn't understand why I would be followed.

"Come on, Zoran. Don't be naïve. If they follow me, they know we live together. They may think that you are also my messenger or something. I just don't want to put you in any danger because of me. That's all." Linda was warm and protective, like a mum, while I was silent. "Also, I am afraid that something strange is going on with my computer. I don't know if they caught me that way. I use anonymizers and other identity protection software, but you never know how good the NSA is."

"You mean we are busted?" I was really getting seriously worried, although at the time I didn't know who the NSA was.

"I don't know," Linda said calmly. "Just pay attention to any prank calls you may get as that may be the way for them to check on us." Linda was trying to explain the seriousness of the situation.

"Bugs? You mean they are wiretapping us?" I was disturbed by this possibility.

"I don't know, Zoran. You know, it's also a very sensitive game for them. They don't know if I have put some stuff in a secret vault, programmed something to be automatically emailed to journos. They have to play it safe. We have to do that too."

"So what should I do?" I now asked, confused, looking for advice and some reassurance.

"Nothing special. Just open your eyes and ears," Linda said and put her hand on mine to show her appreciation for all the help I had given her, and to calm me down. I thought I was getting some additional signals too.

It was only less than ten minutes after the conversation when the telephone rang. I picked up the receiver still thinking about what Linda had just told me.

"Hello... Yes, I am home owner… Blinds? Yes, our blinds are OK." I wanted to hang up, but then realized that this may be one of the prank calls Linda was talking about. I wanted to play along. "Actually, do you have any special offer today? ...I knew you would. ...Very good. ...So would you send your salesman to measure windows? But if you have to send your salesman, why do you call in first place? ...I see... You see, I don't really know how you do business. Don't send anybody. I mean anybody, as I will shoot bastard. Is that clear? And don't call us. Understand. Don't call me ever again!" By the end of the phone call, I was yelling at the jerk.

Linda came from another room. "What's going on, Zoran?"

"They started already. First they were checking me by phone, then, they wanted to come." I was angry and nervous at the same time.

"Calm down. Do you have to be so loud? You're probably just paranoid." Linda sounded patronizing. "I am getting ready for bed. Can you go without yelling please?"

Some half an hour later, the phone rang again. I picked it up again.

"Yes? ...Peter? There is no Peter on this number. Where did you get it from? ...Oh, you don't know," I said sarcastically. "Then it may be that you got the right man. I know you are looking for me. …You don't understand? I am sure you do. I know that. But it will be much better to arrest real criminals than to bother me, honest and law-abiding citizen. Good night," I said and slammed the receiver.

The day after when I came home from my shift, Linda was home.

"What happened last night when I went to bed?" Linda asked me.

"They called us again. Like, wrong number... I talked to Selma today; she had Salvation Army and Jehovah's Witnesses on our doorstep. Two of them in one day." I was really distressed so my heavy Serbian accent surfaced. I sighed at the heavy burden of being under surveillance. They were coming closer and closer. I also thought somebody was following me at work.

"Calm down, Zoran. I'm sorry if I scared you. I told you to be cautious, but not paranoid. Some of them may be genuine people."

"Two of them in a day? And those two ladies in Ford."

"Ladies in a Ford?" Linda didn't understand.

"Today, while I was driving. I was driving all around city, and you know that I can memorize car's number plates. Anyway, I noticed a nice looking redhead in white Ford driven by other masculine lady. I wondered if they were lesbians. Later today I saw them two more times. What do you say about that?" I was making my point.

"You might be right. I'm afraid this means that we should make changes to our plan." Linda sounded distant.

"So, what will we do?"

"Just be careful with what you are saying over the phone, but make sure not to repeat episodes from last night, I will think about what is best for all of us to do. But from now on, we will have to talk outside. You know why. We need more fresh air," Linda made a signal with her eyes, like she was speaking in code.

"You mean Selma?" I didn't understand it.

"Not Selma, you silly. Look how dirty this place is." While Linda continued talking, I still couldn't understand. "It's full of bugs." Now I got it!

***

Ashok drove off as soon as he got his money from Daniel. I was trying to find any sign of break-in on the car, but I couldn't. In the meantime, Daniel was picking up his cracked cell phone from the ground and getting in the car, while I was still checking things out.

"Shall we go?" Daniel asked while removing the SIM card from his phone.

"Sure." I started the engine, carefully changed the transmission into drive and slowly pressed the gas pedal, like I was expecting a bomb or something of that sort.

Luckily, nothing happened...

...Nothing yet.

***

The phone rang again. I was getting sick of it. This time it was my cell phone. I answered it and a guy told me that he was interested in my Porsche and that he would like to take it for a spin. Normally, the whole thing would be perfectly normal as my cell number and 'for sale' sign were on the rear window of my Carrera. However, I wasn't at ease. Especially when I saw a black guy in his early twenties with a shaved head and a thick gold chain hanging from his neck. He was wearing a black leather jacket, despite it being summer, with black pants and white Nikes.

"Hey, man? I like your ride," he said with a big smile.

"Thanks. It is nice car."

"Can we go for a spin?"

I didn't really want to go driving with this guy. I wouldn't be surprised if he pulled out a gun and kicked me out of the car. Yet, all I said was, "Sure."

I gave him the keys and the guy sat inside with a huge grin. I joined him in the passenger seat. I was expecting another crazy ride. The guy turned on the engine and from the expression on his face I realized this guy had never driven a manual. Luckily, he knew the theory behind it, so he pressed the clutch, but he released it too quickly and the car stalled, so he stepped on the brake and the engine died.

He was embarrassed and it was obvious that this guy wasn't a secret agent. So he turned it on again and stepped on the gas a couple of time while still in neutral. He went full throttle like he was evaluating if the car sounded OK. Then unexpectedly he turned the engine off, stepped out of the car and started looking at the bodywork for traces of any damages or repairs. It looked to me like he had given up on the test drive. The guy was making faces like he knew what he was doing and then he took a cell phone out of his pocket and called somebody. He stepped back a couple of steps, but I was still able to hear him talking.

"Hey, Chief. I stumbled across a car you might like. …A Porsche. It's powerful shit. Yeah! Oh, yeah... Drives like crazy. …The proper one, 911. Yes."

Then he turned to me and shouted, "Hey, man, how old is this baby?"

"1987."

The guy repeated it over the phone. "1987. …I know. It's like an old-timer. But it's really cool, Chief. … Yeah. I'll check."

The guy again took the phone off his ear and shouted at me, "How much are you asking for it?"

"Twelve thousand dollars."

"Twelve grand? Fuck you, man! That's a bloody rip-off!" he yelled at me and quickly attended back to the handset. "Twelve grand, man!"

Again he addressed me. "The Chief says to fuck you and that he will blow off your white ass!"

I was shocked at how surreal this all was. If I weren't so intimidated by this guy, I would have cracked up laughing. Still, I tried to do some business. "It's fine machinery. It's certainly worth it."

"Fuck you, man!" The boy didn't even want to talk to me.

"Listen, I have another Porsche for sale. Very nice, same age, just 944. Only two and half grand."

"Oh, that's much better man. Much better. Now we are talking." The boy was obviously pleased with the price, so he went back to consult his boss, but a moment later he was again angry with me. "Fuck you! The Chief says it's too cheap. I should still kick your white ass."

"Who is your chief?"

"Doesn't matter."

"Well then tell your chief to fuck off." I was really annoyed with this crazy boy.

The next thing I know, the boy was relaying everything I said on the phone. "He told me to tell you to fuck off. Not nice. Yeah, he's a rude little bastard. Don't worry. I will take care of him."

I didn't feel safe anymore. The moment he hung up he glared straight in my direction.

"I am not happy man. That's not nice. You should show some respect, you know."

"I just want to do business, but I don't know what you want. It's either too expensive or too cheap."

"Don't screw me around, man. I asked you nicely and you go and tell the Chief to fuck off. He's a mean guy. You don't want to fuck with him. Catch my drift? I am tired of your shit, what's the best price I could get for this puppy." He pointed at the Carrera.

I was afraid. I wanted to get rid of both cars, but not just at any lousy price.

"Listen, if your chief buys Carrera for twelve thousand, I will throw 944 in for just fifteen hundred for you."

"Oh, you are full of crap. What kind of discount is that?"

"I am already losing money on this car, I can't sell it cheaper."

"Fuck you, man. Fuck you!"

"Listen, think about it and give me your cell number so if I don't get any good offer in next couple of weeks, I will call you back."

The guy gave me his number reluctantly and left angrily. I was at least glad that this guy was a genuine buyer. At least I hoped he was.

***