The Fish and The Lure Side Story: The Spiny Dogfish and The Dolphin

The Spiny Dogfish Part 1

I never imagined that two years after I went back to Europe that I would be sitting in a car outside a dive bar in Montreal. It wasn't anything to complain about. After I returned to Ukraine the war had continued and my work had found me having to escape Putin's lap dogs to the point where I could not make a living. Truth is…I was just worrying about living…period.

I did not expect to ever hear from Steve Harrison again because of Ellis Jackson. I was told that Ellis had disappeared shortly after me though and was probably in South America working with his half-brother.  Of course, it wasn't Steve that reached out anyway…

–

The Dolphin Part 1

I made a promise to keep Steve out of trouble.

The night Chaz miraculously had smelling salts to make sure Steve was alive was the night I didn't trust him. It was odd though, because Steve had always been one of the more distrustful people I knew. After he came back from being unconscious, he ignored the dubiousness of Chaz, thinking that Jack having a new friend would be good for him.

Ever since that day on August 24th he had changed ever so slightly. I know he was drugged but I was never able to determine what it was. I couldn't find anything wrong with his health, but he seemed to have changed mentally. There would be times he would stare into space, but his eyes would be moving and then there was how he handled Jack and Chaz’s relationship.

I don't know if he didn’t see it or if he just ignored it but by the beginning of September, I saw what Jack had become: an addict.

It was clear to see but Harrison never once remarked on it.

It was then I knew I had to do something right away before it was too late to save Jack and protect Harrison from going down that hole, he had tried so hard to escape.

Towards the end of September, I made the phone call that Steve would tell me to make two months later. I was hesitant on doing this without his ‘OK’ but I felt it was my responsibility to shoulder some of this weight he continually attracts like a moth to a flame. Before long…I worried Steve would be burned by what he accepts on to himself. That fire though would burn away his redemption and bring him back to the plague he once was.

I felt that for him to continue to evolve into who he wanted to be he needed closure. Of course, closure is not what I expected nor what I think he needed when SHE visited him at that horrid Motel in Long Beach.

It was a distraction.

–

The Spiny Dogfish Part 2

I had been searching Montreal and the surrounding areas for over a month. It took a bit longer to get into Canada then I had hoped but any former Special Forces member worth a damn can go anywhere they please.

As soon as I landed and contacted Doc, he sent me a picture of the man in question that he must have taken with his own cell phone. He had said he just wanted information on him because he did not trust him. He had a first name but no last name but knew he had to be staying around Montreal.

It wasn't until a week before Halloween that I got my break. I had been doing periodical apartment checks on Jack in Burlington, Vermont to see if I could find Chaz but it seemed like every time, I came around nobody was there. I honestly never even saw Jack which made me question the information that Doc had given me.

Then came the call from Doc who said Steve had gone by to find Jack and nobody was there and then he got a phone call from the person he owed money to in Montreal. With that this had taken another step up to not just mere obtaining information but to a life-or-death game with Marley the one on the line.

Doc sent me his location and I compared it with the address I had been given originally and they were different. I shook my head, “He messed up da strrreet number,” I said to myself.

The next week I found footage of them from cameras around the apartment. A nearby gas station was very helpful in showing me all their tapes from that day. When escaping people with little experience always find themselves at places they know.

The gas station manager and I came to an understanding, and I spent the next day in my hotel room with the security footage on a flash drive that I had used to download the last few days from their computer.

My finger was heavy on the fast forward button until I finally saw something that caught my eye. “zat someone thrrroving up?”

I paused and zoomed in on the person. It looked like he had opened the passenger door and hung himself outside the door with his seatbelt still on to throw up. “Zat Jack?” I said befuddled as I squinted my eyes. I know it had been over two years since I had seen him but…but this looked like a skinsuit with one long crumbling dreadlock swaying with his heaves.

I paused it and rubbed my eyes, “He looks like he on death's doorrr.”

I fast forwarded a bit and then paused as the car began to move again. I zoomed in and got the license plate number. With that I was able to find out everything I needed to know about Chaz.

All that time later and I was sitting outside the dive bar once again and Chaz had finally cracked. I took my phone out and made the call.

–

The Dolphin Part 2

Every time I looked at my phone I could feel Steve’s eyes on me. It had been like that for a few weeks but when we were in Long Beach, I realized he was being self-conscious about the roach Motel and being that the only place he could afford.

Never one to skimp on pleasures, it had been a rough year or so for him as he attempted to climb out from debt and the failure of Miracle Enterprise to bring him the funds when he tried to make a Pit into a Pool Resort. I tried to explain to him that it wasn't his fault. If the pit's owner only cared about himself, it would be impossible to bring something new to it. It was stuck on an edge and its lord constantly held people down to only lift himself up.

He had finally learned and no “happy holidays,” would make him think differently.

The responsibility I feel towards Steve isn't something I take for granted. There are things that someday he will understand but that time hasn't been delegated to me nor will I be the one doing the talking.

It was then my phone went off again and SHE was at the Airport so I I became thirsty and left the Motel Room. While driving the rental car I made sure to rent no matter how much Steve complained about me paying for it my phone rang.

“Damn, I forgot to set up the Bluetooth,” I fumbled the phone in my hand, probably swerving a little bit as I heard the honking of someone's horn. I saw the name and I could feel the blood leaving my face. I looked around and saw the parking lot of a CVS and I turned sharply and put it in park. I had missed the call but called it back as soon as the car stopped moving, my hand shaking in the process from excitement.

The phone rang.

I was excited. I felt ashamed for that, but life isn't forever.

“Zought you verrre ignorrring me, doc.”

My face puckered at the sound of his strong western block accent. I shook my head to snap out of it and responded, “No sir, do you have an update?”

“I found him.”

I froze as I heard those words. As time had progressed, I had begun to doubt we would find this slime ball. But those words should have made me yell with glee towards Dmytro, but it more less just left me speechless.

“Hello? Did you hearrr me, Doc?”

I shook my head, “Oh…yea, sorry. I was just in shock that we have good news for once.”

“Zis isnt over yet, what do you vant me to do?”

It's then I realized I really didn't have a lot of experience in something like this. I mean…not many people do but it seems like if you are in the orbit of Steve Harrison this is nothing new. The truth is that the last time someone followed someone for Steve they had ended up being killed. That is a story I know of as I was brought into the fold after the man stole what I needed to help Rebecca Hines defeat the brainwashing. It isn't a story I hear from Steve though. We just know that when he disappears on June 14th, he is visiting the grave of his former bodyguard.

I had to make a decision though, so I just stammered, “oh…uh, follow him home and get me the address of where he is.”

“OK, talk to you later zen.”

We hung up at about the same time and I stared at the Car Clock, “Oh shit, I have to get her from the airport!”

–

The Spiny Dogfish Part 3

After the call I sighed and unlocked my phone again. I began typing a text message and sent it.

As I waited, I watched for Chaz to leave the bar so I could begin my pursuit of him. He had been in there for about twenty minutes at this time and I expected him to be there for a while. This is the first time he had visited a bar he used to stop by at least once a week just six months ago.

I was sure he would be inside for at least another hour as he socialized with other scumbags like him and drank his guilt away.

My phone went off finally and I grabbed it quickly and looked at the response. I was surprised with what I read but if there was one person I would not question it was this person.

I opened the car to my rental, put my phone back into my pocket and opened the back seat of my car. I found my backpack and took what I needed out of it and also grabbed a purposely worn-out Montreal Expos throwback hat. I put it on, so it covered my eyes a bit and began to walk across the street towards the bar.

I opened the door and was greeted with darkness, lights flickered above an old pool table. I nodded at the bartender and took a seat close to the exit/entrance door. I scanned the bar for my target and found him laughing at the other end of the bar as he talked with what I could only guess was a friend of his.

I drank a Kiev Mule, but when I ordered I just said Vodka with some limes and made my own. I leaned back in the chair and slowly sipped at my drink. I ignored the discomfort of the chair as I kept one eye on Chaz and the other on any issues that might come up in this bar.

Everything would be known soon, and WE would be whole again.

–

Go here.

Do what needs to be done.

Bring him here.

Destroy this afterwards.