The Ordinary World

         It all happened so fast. One minute I was wondering the streets of Mexico, minding my own business, and the next I am sprawling on the floor in severe pain, clenching my teeth and dragging my fingers across the cracked pavement. Doing that, only to drown out the fire pulsing through my veins, originating in my lower abdomen. I've never felt such a sensation before and I still couldn't quite figure out what had happened. I cringe as I try to maneuver myself to see the cause of my agony. Down below on my stomach, is a graze from a bullet, it seems, that had skid off of me missing its original target.
        

The air was thick and I found myself desperately trying to breathe. It was a result of panic, the shortness of breath I mean. I had never been shot before. I only heard stories of what it felt like, and from my research it's supposed to suck. A lot. And right now, it does.  If you can believe it, I have never been out in the field. Sebastian Wood, my administrator had never seen it fit to put a big, burly southerner like myself out where all the action was. He thought that I was "a target you can't miss", because of my size. All of the tiny, agile agents of the CIA got to do all the exciting stuff like capturing bad guys and fighting for our country, while all I got to do was sit and do their research before they went out on their next mission. That's actually why I ended up here in the first place.
        

One of my colleagues, Oliver Harris was supposed to meet me somewhere near here to talk about his latest mission and what I could do to help. It's kind of sketch if you think about it. Meeting one of your colleagues in an alley. In the middle of the night. In Mexico. But considering the fact that he isn't very well liked by the residents of this neighborhood, maybe he was right to only come out of his shell in the most closed off places, like an alley. In the middle of the night. My asthmatic tendencies were really starting to take a toll on me and my vision started to blur. But right before my eyes did their final flutter I caught a glimpse of a man limping towards me (very zombie-like) from the other end of the dark path. "BOOM!" Another gunshot sounds and the man comes tumbling down to the ground just barely grasping my ankles. Startled I try to reach out but my wound stings in response and I fall back down into my small pool of blood, seeing black blotches until finally, I black out.

Chapter 2
The Call to Adventure
       

  I woke up completely discombobulated. I felt numb and had a headache and a ringing in my ears. I open my eyes and see myself laying in an almost dry pool of blood, just where I left it. I guess that proves that that wasn't a dream. I lay there contemplating what had happened here. I don’t remember details, but the last thing I remember, I was strolling through the street, on my way to a curb in the far corner of the town. Oliver and I had planned on meeting not far from here. I only came to Mexico to visit him. He had moved here after receiving directions that he was to be relocated back here to track down the whereabouts of a massive drug cartel leader, Dominic Taylor. Dominic’s clan had been involved in recent crimes all related to the deaths of past accomplices. According to the files I "borrowed" from my bosses' cabinet, Dominic was a ruthless, money-hungry murderer, and Oliver Harris was the only agent sent to Mexico to find, and arrest him. Oliver had been assigned to Dominic's case two years ago and all he could gather is that Dominic sold narcotics all across South America, and was the hot shot of the mafia down there. He also has a strong temper, and when his men don't follow by his rules, they end up a splatter on the pavement.
        

Suddenly the man that lay motionless next to my feet, that I had originally thought was dead, shuddered and spoke in a hushed, struggling tone," Mr. Gray... It's me Oliver...I ca--"
         "Oliver! What are you doing here?”, I could not contain myself I was so relieved he was alive, and slightly ashamed that I blacked out on him. I mean he's over here dying at my feet, and I just fall asleep on him, that's very thoughtful of you Elijah.
         "Elijah, I came to tell you that I was being hunted by--"
         "Hunted by who? Oh my god this is so exciting I've never been a part of a mission before!", I was so excited I was actually sitting up.
         "God damn it Elijah, I'm dying will you just listen up? I am or shall I say was being hunted by Dominic and his accomplices, they found out that I was hot on their trail and here I am. (Gasp) I need you to find him and bring him to justice. Dominic and his whole operation they've got going. Can you promise (gasp) me?", Oliver breathed.
         "Ye-yeah, of course. Anything. Can I get you some water of something you don't look so good?"
         He chuckled, "Well neither do you hot stuff, water would be nice...”, his hazel eyes started to close, and his breathing became very rigid and short.
         "Oh no, don't die on me now Harris! We can get you to a hospital there's got to be one somewhere right?" He took one last hopeless look at me and his eyes closed.
         "No no no! Not good! Come on Oliver stay with me", I started shaking him rapidly from side to side, checking his breathing and pushing on his chest," I don't even know where to find Dominic!", blood was seeping on to the pavement, like there was no tomorrow. And then he stopped breathing. Just like that Oliver was gone from the world. Now only a memory. I'm acting as if I knew the guy, but that pleading last look he gave me was enough to know him a lifetime.
         Ugh this thing is really starting to hurt! I looked down at my graze and it was wasn’t looking so good. There was white and clear puss emerging through the corners and it seemed as if my platelets took the day off. The graze wasn’t scabbing over at all, and I don’t even know how long I was laying here. Minutes, hours, maybe…
         I heaved myself off of the pavement and protectively rested my arm on my open wound. Strangely enough I was numb there and only feeling little surges of pain here and there. I walked through the dimly lit street, and what looked to be a stray, straggly grey cat skittered across the drive. It stopped only to sniff my foot and affectionately rub against it, before she continued on her way. I wandered past the exit of the alley onto a more crowded avenue and called for a taxi.





 

Chapter 3
Meeting the Mentor
        

“There you are sir, your all stitched up and ready to go.”, the doctor proclaimed as I exposed my tired ridden eyes.
         “Thank you. Would you mind telling me the time…and the day?”
         “It’s is half past four in the afternoon,” she chuckled, her eyes scrunching up with delight,” April 5th, 2010. Gosh you really are something you know. You come in here with a gunshot wound and blood soaked clothing, and you don’t even know the date?”
         “What can I say I am one of a kind.”
         “Huh, surely! Have a good one, and try to stay out of trouble for a while. Don’t forget to come back in a two months to get your stitches out.”
         “Thanks Doc, you too.”
         I left the hospital and as I was leaving I caught a glimpse of the television screen in the lobby that was broadcasting news that read,” Hit and Run! Man’s Body found in an Alley! If You Have Any Information about the Occurrence Last Night, Please Contact (213)-554-1608, or the Police”. Wow and here I thought things like that happened all the time here. I guess not, they are making such a big deal out of it.
“Would you look at that, you’re famous now princess, can I have your autograph?”. I turned to see my advisor, Sebastian Wood, standing directly behind me, with a smirk reaching across his face from both ears and his hands in his jean pockets. He was never one for the fancy work attire, like me. He resembles a southern Hill Billy while I look like a CIA advisor.  “Come on we got to get you to the station,” he pointed with his head towards the door,” we think we might have someone that can help with your case.”
         “My case?”, I gulped.
         “Don’t be stupid Goldilocks. Oliver is dead, so that means you have to take over from here on his mission.”
         “How did you find him? He was shot in some random alley—“
         “The civilians heard gunshots and they called the police. And since Oliver got relocated here, and so did you, we thought that we might connect forces with the law enforcement. Then, when we got the call, the sheriff sent us in to investigate."
         “Wait so the police are helping us?”
         “Yeah most of the elite agents have been sent down here and we are now stationed in the police headquarters. They are really happy to have our help.”
         I took one last glance at the television screen and a graphic picture appeared across the monitor of Oliver, all bloody and whatnot . It read “If You Have any Information on This Man Please Contact  (213)-554-1608." I looked over to Sebastian but he was gone. He had a bad habit of doing that.

 

Chapter 4
Crossing the First Threshold/ Refusing the Call
         I've never been to the station here before, and one of the first things that caught my eye was the large group of protesters that were yelling in the parking lot holding up signs that said things like, "Get Out of Our City Gringos!" Not very welcoming.
         In front of all the commotion was a man dressed in ripped, blue levis and a farmer's hat that covered his golden brown, shoulder length hair, and I pushed my way past all of the protesters and scurried over to him.
         "Is the suspect ready to talk?"
         "No, but he will, they always talk", answered Sebastian, fanning himself with his hat.
I giggled like a thirteen year old girl at a Justin Bieber concert, "That's what people say in all of those cop movies, we're like, the real deal aren't we?"
He rolled his eyes, "Come on Goldy, they're expected us."
         When we finally got to the interrogation room, the suspect by the name of Francisco Gomez was spotted in the car on the scene of the hit and run last night, with the help of the street cameras. He had a scruffy look to him, and it was as if  he hadn't sleep in a week. According to Sebastian they had tried to crack him all afternoon, and this wasn't the first time he got arrested. They had spotted him before, selling marijuana to some local users, so this was his second strike. The only reason he's not locked up is because they pledged that it was "medical marijuana."
          I walked into the room and it reeked of mold and dust, and Francisco was just death staring me into the soul, I'm telling you. I sat down trying to act as professional as possible trying to hide the little girl inside of me freaking out and jumping up and down, and I folded my hands together and starred right back at him. I think I over did it because right then and there he broke down sobbing, and saying some stuff in Spanish that I couldn't understand. Something like "Dios mío, por favor sácame de aquí les diré, cualquier cosa que quieran saber", whatever that means.
          Fast forwarding two hours , I found out that the last place the drug dealers were making their goods, was an old abandoned warehouse in La Ciudad Juarez. But then all of it took a turn for the interesting when I decided to show him a picture of Oliver, I don't know what I'm doing I'm just testing the waters here. But it turned out he did recognize him. Oliver apparently worked for Dominic Taylor . He only took the job as a CIA agent because he wanted to sweep up the tracks of the dealers. Smart. It's a good thing I didn't take the job, imagine how that would have gone down. Hah! I laughed to myself. So he wasn't only in Mexico for research on Dominic, he worked for him too. What if  he was a double agent and faked working for Dominic, only to get information to further plan his demise? Oh this is so exhilarating I feel like a spy!
         "So what'd ya find out? You were in there a while," inquired Sebastian
         "Only the most important clues in the history of clues!" I threw my hands up into the air for a better effect.
         "Oh really? What'd ya got?"
        

When I finished explaining the news I had got from Francisco, Sebastian then told me that I couldn't wait any longer to take down those rascals, because there was a high chance they were already planning on a way to  get me. So I hopped on the next bus to La Cuidad Juarez, and just when I was about to climb the last step of the bus, I looked back and thought, "I could totally die" and that worried me. I mean I'm only 38, I'm too young to die! But then again if you're going to go what better way to go than by being killed by some drug dealer in Mexico after trying to stop their whole operation? So I shrugged and took the last step



Chapter 5
Approach to the Inmost Cave/ Enemies
Are warehouses supposed to look like this? I mean I pictured it being white and ten stories high, filled to the brim with crates and boxes, but it’s rusty, brown and falling apart with nothing inside of it. I heaved the unlocked doors open and as I took my first steps a wave of dust flew around my body. The warehouse was completely empty. Maybe he gave me the wrong address. Then out of nowhere a man jumped from behind a thick metal pole and started running towards me yielding a knife and as an instinct or maybe from what we learned in training, I pulled out my gun and yelled “Freeze, or I’ll shoot!”. The man kept running like a madmen and just as his rigid bladed knife was about to make contact with my flesh I shot. Right into his abdomen, and he fell to the floor like clockwork. I was shocked by how fast it all happened, I mean in the movies blood is spraying everywhere and the person's guts are spilling out and they are yelling and screaming. But he just died, no ifs and buts about it. After checking his pulse to make sure he wouldn’t come after me when I turned my back, I wandered over to the place where he came from and I saw a trap door coming from the ground. The door was unlocked like the one in the front of the warehouse. These people really need to be more secretive. I mean if you’re running an operation like this you can at least lock the door. Make it a bit harder, come on. As I crept down the stairs, I saw two men working on what looked like a chemistry project, with knobs and glass bottles filled with smoke then  I heard those voices saying, “Where did Jose go he was supposed to back by now.”
                              

“Maybe he’s dead”, then the man chuckled,” he was useless anyway”
                   “Shh, be quiet. I think I heard something”. Then both of the men looked up and made direct eye contact with me. And just like in a karate movie I leapt down, over the railing of the stairs and started throwing punches left and right. Fast forward after those guys were on the ground, and some more came in from the other room. I was exhausted, sweat pouring down my face and my lungs were burning. It was like I just did a full body exercise, that lasted hours.
         I decided to start investigating the table they were working at and as I lifted the cap off of one of the bottles labeled “Fume”, I blacked out. Again.
         When I woke up I was tied to a chair with my hands, feet and mouth tied and covered in grey duct tape and there was a group of scrawny, young men, that looked much like high school to 20 something year olds and one man in the middle standing, who seemed like the top dog. There was a lamp tilted to be shining directly onto my face, and the rest of the room was dark. All I could make out where the people silently staring at me. The man in the middle had black, thin rimmed glasses, a golden cane with a snake head sculpted on the tip with a long tail looping on it to the end. And he had a white haired beard, thick and covering his mouth, resembling a Mexican Santa Clause. I assumed that was Dominic. Finally after a good five minutes of uncomfortable staring back and forth, Dominic spoke.
         “So, juw think juw can just come into MY domain and kill one of MY men and get away with it gringo? Well juw thought wrong amigo. What is your name?”
         I looked down on the tape stuck to my mouth and tried to make a sound to indicate that I can’t talk with my mouth covered. He sighed then motioned to one of his men to take the tape off of me. He walked over and maliciously ripped it off.
         “Oh! The hell did you do that for? You couldn’t have done it easier? Jesus Christ..."
         "Your name!"
         "Gosh, okay calm down bro. My name is Elijah Gray."
         "Oh, si you are the one Rod- um Oliver told me about, you do still call him Oliver Harris right?"
         "What kind of question is that? Do you Mexicans call him something else? Like Jose or Pedro?", I laughed, sometimes I'm just too funny.
         "Hah, so juw don't know then! Oliver never worked for me, I worked for Oliver. Or shall I say, Rodrigo Ruiz!"
         My jaw dropped. We had a mole/drug gang leader/ agent infesting our corporation and he fooled us all! Dominic then had my complete attention.
         "He was born into a family consisting of him and his dirt poor mother. He tried to make something of himself and went to art school. But juw know in this day's economy, being an artist doesn't really pay the bills. And in his case, the medical bills for his mother, who became a drug addict after having him. After some time  he thought "hey I already know how to make narcotics and I already have connections to drug dealers everywhere, why not use them?" Then he started dis business and joined the CIA to cover his tracks. He hired me as his right hand man, but the problem was he was putting us further and further into debt, so he had to go. Compredes? But Rodrigo resisted and threatened to tell on us to his coworkers. And when he found out we were coming for him, he told the press that I was the leader of the drug cartel! That's why he brought you here. He wanted juw to get enough research on me so that I would be out of the picture, but we got that c***roach before he could even say one word to juw gringo!"
         "That bastard! He could've got me killed!"
        

"On another note, I saw your fighting skills", Dominic then started taking the tape off of my hands," how would you like to work for us? It seems they don't appreciate jur skills down were juw work now. What do juw say?"











 

Chapter 6
Ordeal

         The next day I came back to the warehouse, to tell Dominic that I thought about his proposition and that I agree. I opened the front door, the same one that was left unlocked and I saw him standing with one of the men that was in the warehouse the night before.
         "How is that gringo still alive?", Dominic snarled, "Juw said juw hit both of them that night, if you did then why is he still alive and the whole city knows about what happened? Wasn't Francisco supposed to clean up that whole mess after you left? Where is that skunk?".
         The other man replied in a smaller voice, trying to make himself invisible," Francisco was arrested that same day, the gringo must have spoken to him and got the information."
         I quickly jumped to the side and hid behind the closest crate silently eavesdropping.
         "Juw knew about dis and didn't think of telling me? Que tonto!" then Dominic pulled out a gun from his right pocket and aimed it straight at his head and asked," Where is the white man now?"
         "I don't know, how am I supposed to know that!" The man dropped on to his hands and knees and pleaded Dominic for mercy, "Por favor senor, I have a wife and kids how will they support themselves without me?"
         "Juw should have thought of that before juw let him get away, estupido". I turned around and covered my eyes. "BOOM" Dominic pulled the trigger and the whole warehouse shook. The henchman was now only a splatter on the ground.

         I pulled my head out from behind the crate and made direct eye contact with Dominic. At first he was surprised then he did that famous smirk of his and started slowly walking towards me.

         "Ah, Elijah did you consider my offer? I suppose you did if you came back. Welcome to the team, it's just a bit unfortunate because at the moment we are firing unwanted employees. And you are unwanted."He aimed his gun at me and I started backing up with my hands in the air.

         "Come on Dominic don't be like this, we just got to get to know each other. I on the other hand think I can be a great addition to the team. I mean, I'm helpful, responsible and ", at this moment I quickly pulled out my pocket knife ( the same one I used on that other unfortunate soul yesterday) and charged at Dominic with full speed," I'm always prepared." The sad sack of a man was too dull witted to respond quickly, as I punctured his wrinkly old skin with my blade. He didn't have a spare second to blink before the tip of my knife ran deep into his body. He fell to the ground, hands grasping the knife and mustered his last words ," Esto es no que yo firmé para".
        

I found it kind of interesting how in only the span of three days I had managed to kill and witness the murders of so many people. This was definitely more than they teach you in basic training. As I pulled my knife out of Dominic Taylor's corpse, I found a match box they used for making the crystal meth I suppose, lying behind one of the metal beams holding up the second floor of the warehouse, and I thought to myself, what do they always do in the movies as a grand finale before the end? They walk casually away from an exploding building. I grabbed the matchbox with my blood stained hands and lit the stick. I took one last look at the warehouse, empty and rotten with sin and bad deeds, and threw the match on Dominic. Then I ran for dear life.

 

Chapter 7
Return with the Elixir
         As I was running like a gazelle from a hungry cheetah (a less graceful version) which was the raging fire quickly catching up with me. Suddenly I decided to stay. Not in the burning warehouse, Mexico. This town maybe crime ridden, and it might be seriously dangerous and I will probably die in less than a week with the pace that I'm going at, but it felt like where I belonged. Plus someone's going to need to call that number on the news broadcasting, and tell them about all of this nonsense that went down about a gringo and his drug cartel.