Day 192 - So Many Questions

 So Many Questions

Matthew Ryan Fischer

 

Maliq had no answers; it was a blur as he tried hard to remember. His bosses of course wanted more. If asked, no one would have ever thought Maliq would make a spy. A brawler, yes. A pain in the ass, of course. Arrogant for no reason, abrasive, demanding, but also fiercely loyal. But he wasn’t subtle or sneaky and no one thought of his as clever or introspective or aware. Rama had been a deep thinker. Maliq often hated giving him any credit at all, but Maliq knew for sure that Rama would have better answers in this moment. But Maliq’s future depended on his ability to impress his bosses so he tried as hard as he could.

“Why did you follow them?” “Where did they go?” “Who told you to do this?”

Yaz and Junko were suspicious. He was trying to help his bosses. Naxis seemed like they had secret plans. They spoke in languages Maliq didn’t know. Didn’t that mean they were hiding something? No one had seen The Foreigner in weeks. No one had seen Rama in a month. Everything seemed to be falling apart. He was trying to do the right thing.

Maliq didn’t know who the old woman in the photos was, but they didn’t ask him much about that. He guessed they already knew about her. But if they knew about her, then might have known about all of it. But if they knew about all of it, then why were they asking him so many questions?

Maliq wondered what sort of trouble he might have made for himself.

But a day later he was back driving Yaz and Junko around. Of course, the car was now full of recording equipment. Maybe the bosses thought it would be more suspicious of Maliq were suddenly gone. If nothing else, he had a reprieve until these two were confirmed as betrayers, or simply ready to leave town. Either way Maliq breathed a sigh of relief as it meant he got to live long enough to try and prove he was worth sparing.

He wasn’t supposed to start conversations, but he wasn’t supposed to ignore chances to talk and probe for more information. Maliq knew he was not clever or sneaky. There was no way he was going to talk them into revealing anything and all he could do now would really be to say the wrong thing and tip them off that they were under surveillance.

He didn’t know much, but he heard names and “Queen” more than once. It was easy to guess that was the older woman. He could ask around on his own and find out who that was. Even if the bosses already knew, they weren’t telling him, and the more he could learn now, the better his chances of survival were.

Yaz and Junko started going downtown more and more. They visited bankers and stock brokers in the financial district. They began having lunches at the fancier hotels across from the banks from Germany and Switzerland. Whatever they were up to, it was international. He had his gang were being used but he didn’t know how.

One afternoon, while sitting in the car, he watched the Queen arrive with her entourage of younger women. They headed inside where Yaz and Junko already were. Maliq thought it was worth the risk and he followed them inside the hotel. The Queen took her people to one of the conference rooms where a lot of men and women in suits were waiting. Big business, thought Maliq. Probably lawyers and bankers and maybe even some politicians. They really were up to something big. He couldn’t get close or get a photo, but he took note of the room number. His bosses could surely do some digging and find out more from the hotel staff who rented the room and why.

Yaz and Junko were mostly silent on the ride back to their hotel. Maliq asked if they wanted music or to stop anywhere, but they mostly ignored him. Traffic was bad and they were delayed several times over. Maliq could tell Yaz was growing impatient. Eventually he turned to Junko and said it was time to talk to his father. Junko remained silent, but nodded. Maliq did his best to pretend like he wasn’t paying attention.