The Code To A Don's Heart

s e v e n

Kat sent me to the showers first, complaining I smelt like people. She gave me new clothes, brown cargo pants and a big washed out green tee. She also let me stay in her guest room where I slept for a couple of hours. It was nice to enter a comfortable bed and sleep without worry. I woke up late in the evening and Kat sat me down at her small dining.

Her house was simple. A master bedroom, a spare room, a guest room, two bathrooms, a living room and kitchen where the dining was set up. Her walls were beige and plain, her ceiling a bland white. She had no pictures around the house. No paintings or nicknacks. All that was there was useful and in bland colours. Everything about this house was dull except for the person who lived in it.

Kat was covered in more tattoos than Viktor. Her brunette hair was kept in an 80's style bob and the white streaks in it were the only indicators of her old age. She looked young just tough and worn. Her lips were painted red though, the boldest colour in her house and she always had a cigarette between them.

"So..." she begun blowing out smoke from the drag she'd taken. "Kay sent you."

I nodded. "She said you make fake IDs. I need one to get as far from here as possible."

"Where do you want to go?" Kat asked. European and Russian countries were death traps. South America was a minefield and the North wasn't any better if my recent encounters said anything. I needed to go far.

"Australia, Rockhampton," I told her.

"Fake passport?"

"If you can do it," I sighed. "I would prefer to have a way to travel on the DL though. It's dangerous for me to be in more public places."

"I know a coyote if you're interested but he travels by sea. It may take time but he can get you to Australia without anyone the wiser. I can prepare a few documents for you to use once you get there."

"How am I supposed to get to the coast?" I asked her. "That's an even longer journey than the two months I'd spend on the sea."

"My friend will come and pick you up from here. He had friends in high places. They can get you on a cargo plane to the coast then you'll get on a boat to Australia then you're on your own."

I sighed, leaning back in my seat to think it through. I could die at sea. I hadn't really been a huge fan of the water. I could swim, I loved it but the ocean was not a swimming pool. The large mass of water scared and mesmerized me at the same time. Those two things never went well together. Thinking of the vast blue ocean had me remembering Viktor's soft eyes.

"Fine. Sounds good enough," I told her. "What do you need from me?"

"A picture," Kat said and then pulled out her phone, leaving her smoking cigarette to hang in her mouth. She held her phone up and I straightened as she told me to and take a picture.

"How long will making this stuff take?" I asked her.

"I'm mostly done. I just needed your picture," she said waving the phone in her hand.

"Oh."

"I'd love to get you out of my house as soon as possible," Kat told me and got up from the table. She opened up a pot on the stove and the smell of food waffled around the kitchen. This was heaven itself.

"Dinner will be ready around seven," she said stirring what was in the pot before closing the lid and coming back to sit with me.

"Anything else you want to know?" she asked settling in the chair.

"When will your coyote get here?" Coyotes usually helped immigrants on the Mexico–United States border crossing but with the world expanding, so did their business.