[SPEAKER_00]: The American Chapter forty-seven, a short-hand missile tail by Matthew C. McLean.
[SPEAKER_00]: The trouble with idiots, part two.
[SPEAKER_00]: By a miracle of whatever saint watches over decrepit French housing, tenement elevator was still working.
[SPEAKER_00]: A bang and rattled its ancient conveyor of so much though, I wish I had taken the stairs.
[SPEAKER_00]: In the apartment, Sophia had found something to replace the coffee table that her dead pimp had destroyed.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was approximately the same height, but it was a mystery other than that, as it was covered with a wide sheet of paper,
[SPEAKER_00]: in an open notebook, a glass of white wine holding it all down.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever her latest project was, it engrossed her enough that she didn't acknowledge me when I came in.
[SPEAKER_00]: Examining the table I recognized the rectangular paper covering it as a city map.
[SPEAKER_00]: Blue grids laying out the river to the west, and the ocean to the south.
[SPEAKER_00]: Brown ones capturing the hills and mountains to the north and east.
[SPEAKER_00]: In different colors, Sophie had marked locations throughout town,
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of bright pink and others of cool blue.
[SPEAKER_00]: What's this?
[SPEAKER_00]: Sophie's swivel their head to me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Quick enough that I think I may have taken her by surprise.
[SPEAKER_00]: Perched on the end of her nose were a pair of granny glasses.
[SPEAKER_00]: I hadn't realized she had needed readings, back to goals, and I found that surprise allowed me to suppress a titer.
[SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't that she looked silly with the glasses, but they were very cute, which wasn't a word I typically applied to Sophie.
[SPEAKER_00]: Testifying to that, an earpiece of the glasses brushed against a scar on her neck.
[SPEAKER_00]: Emerging from her concentration in surprise, Sophie smiled and greeted me.
[SPEAKER_00]: She must have been hunched over the map for a while because she paused a class for hands above her head and stretched.
[SPEAKER_00]: I admired the action, her back arching, the move, producing an exhalation that squeaked near the end in a way that matched the emptiness of her glasses.
[SPEAKER_00]: Finish she asked me if I wanted any food.
[SPEAKER_00]: I politely declined and repeated my question pointing to the maps in no book.
[SPEAKER_00]: She smiled, seemingly pleased at how much she accomplished and swept a hand over the paper.
[SPEAKER_00]: Resetta, she answered.
[SPEAKER_00]: Even with the Italian Sophia taught me the word escaped me, I conferred this with a blank stare.
[SPEAKER_00]: Research, she clarified, which only earned her a cocked eyebrow for how much that left out.
[SPEAKER_00]: She quickly pointed to various dots in the map, most of which were located outside of Old Town or even the city proper.
[SPEAKER_00]: Bodelli, she answered her index finger floating over three dots one after the other.
[SPEAKER_00]: After making that short circuit, she pointed a finger to a pink dot, close to the river, and just north of the stadium.
[SPEAKER_00]: Rosa is clean, a house that is run by the Lichelli.
[SPEAKER_00]: The finger now flowed her over a blue dot, located in the mountains north of Old Town where we had visited.
[SPEAKER_00]: These are run by men who keep the wind.
[SPEAKER_00]: She landed her digit on a colorless circle.
[SPEAKER_00]: In this, I do not know.
[SPEAKER_00]: Those dots, I noted, made up most of the markings.
[SPEAKER_00]: I stepped close to Sophie, but remained standing.
[SPEAKER_00]: My apparently superior eyesight, allowing me to view the markings from further away.
[SPEAKER_00]: While the idea of Sophie digging around alone in such matters made me nervous, I had to appreciate her work.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had seen intelligence briefings in the core that didn't have this kind of thoroughness.
[SPEAKER_00]: I said as much.
[SPEAKER_00]: She replied, I still on the map.
[SPEAKER_00]: I continued to hover over her wondering, so why are you collecting this information?
[SPEAKER_00]: Sophie leaned back into the couch, watching her come up with an answer.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wasn't sure she knew herself.
[SPEAKER_00]: It may have utility.
[SPEAKER_00]: She was her dubious reply.
[SPEAKER_00]: To the police, maybe I said, my mind still on the encounter with Inspector Rotella.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not so much to us.
[SPEAKER_00]: I said this mainly because of my concern around Sophie investigating this kind of thing alone.
[SPEAKER_00]: Another part of my brain was already thinking on how the information might be used.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not privy to my competing thoughts.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you found chewing on the number of reglasses, considering what I said, no see, Mesa, to your applied.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I suppose she was right.
[SPEAKER_00]: You never can't tell.
[SPEAKER_00]: Still, her use of an idiom struck me as an attempt to avoid a real answer.
[SPEAKER_00]: Knowing that I would annoy her, I sat down in the couch to take off my shoes.
[SPEAKER_00]: My bulk cratered the old sofa causing Sophie to bounce into me for which she punched me in the shoulder, teasingly.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was grateful for that as it made the feel of her body against mine easier to ignore.
[SPEAKER_00]: Especially since you hit me on one of my bruises.
[SPEAKER_00]: That only made me realize how much my feet hurt and how much I'd been on them in the last few days.
[SPEAKER_00]: With the work tracking down the boardellows, that must have been true for Sophie as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: I slid over to give her more room.
[SPEAKER_00]: I continued to stare at the map as I peeled off my shoes.
[SPEAKER_00]: As if it were a change of subject, I said, if we're going to do something about this Nika, I think they will have to be soon.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not disagreeing, but unsure of what I meant, Sophie swept her blonde hair out of her green eyes and tilted her headed me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mittenix, um, I started then paused, unsure of how to describe the ever-tet.
[SPEAKER_00]: Was it Mittenix's organization?
[SPEAKER_00]: Does it look like Lakosa and Ostra?
[SPEAKER_00]: His bosses?
[SPEAKER_00]: Did I bother to explain to Sophie that we might be going up against the entire cropped heart of a new Russian Empire?
[SPEAKER_00]: Which he care?
[SPEAKER_00]: It seemed unlikely she would, but it didn't mean she should know.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mittenick has many works with, or maybe four, they call themselves the Avertette.
[SPEAKER_00]: Criminals, but corruptive government officials as well, mostly former Soviets.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're coming to town, and I think the girl, Nika, her safety is somehow important all of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: unsure why, I restated what Soviet said after leaving the Russians brothel.
[SPEAKER_00]: If we get her out, maybe it can cause enough trouble for it in midnight in his pals to disrupt their operation here.
[SPEAKER_00]: It occurred to me that kind of trouble would probably cause problems or satire as well, but I can't say that upset me too much.
[SPEAKER_00]: Soviet gazed at the maps sweeping over the city as if planning a bank heist.
[SPEAKER_00]: how she asked her English defaulting to mono-syllabic questions.
[SPEAKER_00]: Lanzo, the course again, so if you nodded, might continue.
[SPEAKER_00]: His friends, the idiots, want to kidnap her for ransom.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm back to midnight.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sophie spit on the floor, a hostility in her eyes that made me fear for my own life, and testicles.
[SPEAKER_00]: She launched into a fuselage, so loaded with anger that I couldn't tell her Italian tirade was made up of questions or accusations.
[SPEAKER_00]: I held up my hands as much defensively as to implore her to give me a moment to explain.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not saying we actually let them do it.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if he did pause at this, her anger barely restrained.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm saying we let Nick think they kidnapped her.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then she's got a chance to disappear with one so if she wants.
[SPEAKER_00]: That settled Sophie and she paused, returning to stare at the map.
[SPEAKER_00]: Back to me, she expounded on her question and by adding a few words, how do we do this?
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus, I don't know, I'm making this up as I go.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if he laughed then, laughed at the danger and desperation, at the plan that lacked so many details that could hardly be called a plan.
[SPEAKER_00]: I couldn't help but wonder in that moment, not for the first time.
[SPEAKER_00]: If her deities bladed, excise something from her, I could cut out some piece of self-preservation that she really didn't miss anyway.
[SPEAKER_00]: Her laugh still made me smile, well, that made it easier to think.
[SPEAKER_00]: I pointed at the map and asked, can you make a copy of that?
[SPEAKER_00]: When did this finish?
[SPEAKER_00]: See?
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, do that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I pulled to her cello's card out of my pocket and showed it to Sophie.
[SPEAKER_00]: This number belongs to a cop already investigating midnight.
[SPEAKER_00]: I said it down on the table and tapped it with a four finger.
[SPEAKER_00]: My common handy.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sophie took the card long enough to scroll down its information on one of the scraps of paper lying around.
[SPEAKER_00]: I put it back in my pocket when she was done.
[SPEAKER_00]: I stood up again, reconsidering the offer of food, despite having just eaten breakfast.
[SPEAKER_00]: Instead, I thought out loud, I need to get hold of the idiots and see what kind of plan they have for Nika.
[SPEAKER_00]: We need to figure out how to get her and lawns out of town when she's out from under midnight.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, I consider it all the unknown variables, the biggest one being Nika herself.
[SPEAKER_00]: I looked at Sophie.
[SPEAKER_00]: What if she doesn't want to leave?
[SPEAKER_00]: She is a kept woman, so if he said, repeating what she had learned at Mittenek's party.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, but people in abuse of relationships don't always want out.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought about Sophie and Verdichi again, and decided that was better left unmentioned.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sophie reclined, giving this some thought, after a moment she shrugged and replied, we shall see.
[SPEAKER_00]: Watching her length relaxed along the couch, I remember getting naked out was a goal for Sophie, but it wasn't the only goal.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sophie enjoyed killing monsters.
[SPEAKER_00]: We had that in common.
[SPEAKER_00]: Instead, I tapped the map again and told her, next time you go out for this kind of recon, call ALON and have him drive you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wasn't sure why that was an improvement of her, however, so if you had been getting around.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I decided I trusted a lot, trying to find an explanation for Sophie.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had on my own choice of idioms.
[SPEAKER_00]: Pros at Tente and La Qualca and Volca.
[SPEAKER_00]: I said and winked.
[SPEAKER_00]: He can keep the secret.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sophie smiled, either happy at how my Italian had advanced, or at the prospect of seeing a lawn again.
[SPEAKER_00]: Either way, she put her glasses back on and returned to relaying notes under a mat.
[SPEAKER_00]: I couldn't remember if I was supposed to work at the casino that evening, then recalled such as words and decided that at least for tonight I didn't care.
[SPEAKER_00]: I chose an app instead.
[SPEAKER_00]: I laid down there and slept, lulled by the occasional humming from Sophie.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was kept mostly awake though by the fact that I didn't know what I was going to do next.
[SPEAKER_00]: Eventually, I heard Sophie get up and fix herself some food, then come into the bedroom to plan to kiss on my forehead and leave.
[SPEAKER_00]: This early in the day, she wouldn't be able to call her on and he works nights, but the charms were running and those were probably just as safe.
[SPEAKER_00]: Eventually, unable to sleep, I got up and went into the kitchen.
[SPEAKER_00]: So on a custom, the same daylight that I was surprised at, it's streaming through the windows.
[SPEAKER_00]: I made myself a sandwich, consumed it in slow bites with a cold, cup of coffee, and thought about what to do next.
[SPEAKER_00]: The factory seemed to be a kind of neutral territory, owned by Satra, but a playground for a mitt next crew as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: As the idiot's stomping ground, it seemed to the next logical place to go.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was still too early for the night club though, so I tracked my thoughts back to Lanzo's uncle with a moto shop.
[SPEAKER_00]: That might be a good place to start.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was on the way to the factory anyway.
[SPEAKER_00]: The tram I took out West stopped at the Grenoble Station.
[SPEAKER_00]: One of the facilities that formed the puddle, between the luxury of Old Town and the outer bannos, beyond the river.
[SPEAKER_00]: The tram didn't cross into the outer neighborhood, instead dumping all of the passengers onto an open square, where the jundammery watch everyone through the visors of the black helmets, scanning for the next separatist terrorist or bomber.
[SPEAKER_00]: I hunched in the trench coat and hustled through trying to avoid any attention.
[SPEAKER_00]: Grenoble might have been less maintained and cedar than old town, but I guess that was part of its charm.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was still early enough in the day that tourists weren't afraid of the neighborhood yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: Despite the ubiquitous graffiti and numerous shuttered shops, I stopped in the convenience store where the Sikh with his brightly colored turban ruled over his tiny domain.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wasn't sure what kind of cigarettes Maro smoked, but I picked up a pack of marbles.
[SPEAKER_00]: While he might prefer a French brand, I hadn't met a French man yet that would turn down a visit to cowboy country.
[SPEAKER_00]: I found petite motos Maro, just as I had left it, two stories of crumbling cinder blocks surrounded by scooters in various states of repair or salvage.
[SPEAKER_00]: One of the twin-relip doors was open, so I waited by the corner and listened and watched.
[SPEAKER_00]: A few tourists and pairs or groups went by me, picking up the paces they did, reminded by my presence that this wasn't the best part of town.
[SPEAKER_00]: After a time, when I was certain that all I heard from inside was the faint tinkering of tools against a backdrop of the city's usual murmurings, I strolled over to the open garage door.
[SPEAKER_00]: At a workbench on the opposite side of the entrance, not far from the back door, stood Merrow, still wearing grease stained overalls.
[SPEAKER_00]: I hovered in the threshold and cleared my throat.
[SPEAKER_00]: Merrow is hand still not visible turned to me, one bloodshot, I appraising me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I said, hello again, and seeing he didn't have a cigarette, pulled out the pack of marble rolls.
[SPEAKER_00]: I packed them lightly, making a display of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Moro rotated to face me, leaning on the bench with his hands behind him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever his hard life hinted at, Moro apparently didn't drink enough to blow out the memory of me.
[SPEAKER_00]: His suspicions bordering on the hostility, or maybe I just bring that out in people.
[SPEAKER_00]: Uncertain of how to proceed, I asked a formal French, how are you?
[SPEAKER_00]: I was good.
[SPEAKER_00]: He adjusted with the hand that I was happy to see come around from the bench with nothing but a dirty rag.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then you appeared.
[SPEAKER_00]: I attempted to grin but only managed to grimace.
[SPEAKER_00]: I flipped the lid of the Marboros open and offered the box, the cigarettes in a lined and orderly formation.
[SPEAKER_00]: To his credit, Maro only glanced at the weak attempt at a bribe with animosity, then said to me, you have something in need of repair.
[SPEAKER_00]: You walked over to a Honda, he had mostly disassembled on the other side of the room.
[SPEAKER_00]: I noted it wasn't far from the back exit, but I didn't think Moro's age in physical maladies would let him get far.
[SPEAKER_00]: He pointed at the scooter.
[SPEAKER_00]: These are not really built for a man of your.
[SPEAKER_00]: He waited for me to me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I kept the cigarettes out, let my hand drop.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm still looking for Lanzo.
[SPEAKER_00]: I told you what I know.
[SPEAKER_00]: I tried to remember how many days it had been since we spoke and found that I couldn't a week to... No, that last one was too long.
[SPEAKER_00]: Either way, not much a change from a row in that time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Where is he now?
[SPEAKER_00]: Rose's expression changed as something that I thought was belligerence, but I realized it was just contempt.
[SPEAKER_00]: He eyed me as if I were stupid and repeated.
[SPEAKER_00]: I told you what I know.
[SPEAKER_00]: I fiddled with a cigarette pack and breathed deeply, feeling my feet continued to hurt.
[SPEAKER_00]: I tried to fake some patience with a… I told you.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm trying to help him.
[SPEAKER_00]: He might be in trouble with the night governor.
[SPEAKER_00]: I used the same implied threat that I had in our last conversation, hoping that it would work again.
[SPEAKER_00]: This time though, Maro replied, Saturai takes no issue with the boy.
[SPEAKER_00]: The statement left me wondering how well connected this repairman was.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if he was that mobbed up that he was talking to Saturai, what was he doing in a scooter shop?
[SPEAKER_00]: Satray takes no issue with him, but you know there was trouble with the Xenoh, with my opening gambit failed, I veered closer to the truth.
[SPEAKER_00]: Remembering the old man's bitter laughter from the last encounter I added, you know he's mixed up with the girl.
[SPEAKER_00]: That was enough to cause Muro to sigh, shifting from knee to knee, one or the other unable to take his weight for long.
[SPEAKER_00]: He raised his eyes to further praise me, then slapped his rag against a thigh and limp over.
[SPEAKER_00]: Without a word, he gestured for the cigarettes and plucked one from the profit pack.
[SPEAKER_00]: He put it between his lips and hitched back towards the scooter, considering the reliable simplicity of its mechanisms.
[SPEAKER_00]: He reflected on the complexities of his nephew's situation.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever he was about to say was cut off by a loud thud, like somebody kicked a child out of a bunk bed.
[SPEAKER_00]: I glanced towards the ceiling, which is a little more than a series of wooden planks separating the first and second floors of the cinder block shop.
[SPEAKER_00]: There were other sounds, but they were quite phantoms of the first one.
[SPEAKER_00]: I lowered my eyes to Moro.
[SPEAKER_00]: You live alone?