Project Sabertooth Read online

was sitting on the bench engrossed in some kind of book, and a young girl who was playing with her cell phone with the headphones stuck in her ears a little farther down the platform. It all kind of played out in slow motion. I seen the freight train come barreling towards us on track 4, for he had priority and didn't have to even slow down through the towns. I seen Hasan still staring at something far away, the young girl still staring at her phone, and the lady was too busy with her book to be bothersome. I turned and ran. As I passed behind Hasan I did a football body check, and he toppled over onto the tracks. I didn't even stop and take the time to make sure of where he fell, I put everything I had into my legs and got down the stairs and out of the station. I was a long ways down the main street before I stopped to catch my breath. An old man stopped and asked; “Are you alright son?” “Sure am!” I answered. “My buddy and I are playing GPS Tag, and he is still trying to catch me!” I laughed so that he would see that my running was simply harmless fun. Would also be a good alibi if I needed it? Hopefully, if he still has all his screws tight upstairs! I then walked to the bus station and caught the next bus heading in the direction of home. It would be a long trip home!

  The next morning the doorbell woke me, and I was having a wonderful dream. One with a standing ovation under the blanket, and ignoring the bell, I looked around for Sabertooth. Wouldn't be much fun getting out of bed and having him attack the big Boa! The bell just kept on ringing so I got up and walked over to the door with my blanket wrapped around me. I looked through the peephole and seen nothing, but opened it anyways. Of course there was nothing to see through the peephole, for it was conceived for the height of normal people. And the mean little old man was not up to par as far as normal height is concerned. That thought in mind as I looked down at him, made me smile and giggle. It must have really pissed him off more than his normal attitude level already was, for he started right in at me; “What you laughing at you ##### Ami?” It surprised me that I had never heard that word before and made a mental note to look it up. “What you want now?” I asked. “Stupid Turk gave me another twenty Euro to come up and tell you something. But I just realized that it will cost you another twenty Euro if you want to hear it! Teach you to make fun of my height!” I stayed calm and reached over to the counter where my wallet was and pulled out a twenty. I rolled it up into a ball and then asked what the message was. “Check your damn mailbox more than once a month, is what the Turk said. And I add Asshole on the end of the sentence!” “Thanks a lot and same to you!” I said and tossed the balled up twenty down the hallway. As he was walking for it, I called after him as if he was a dog; “Fetch the money Fido! Good Fido!” Then I slammed the door as hard as I could. Which made the picture I had taken of Sabertooth when he still had all four of his legs intact, before bringing him to the Veterinarian and his Operation, fall to the floor and thereby cracking the glass cover as it landed. “Shit!”

  I got my jeans and t-shirt on and walked downstairs in my flip-flops, making sure that they slapped hard on every stone step going down. Then I made my way back up, pissed at myself for forgetting the mailbox key. Mailbox key in hand, I almost pulled the apartment door shut before remembering that I had laid the door key on the counter. One, two, three. This was not a good morning for me! I decided to take the elevator, although I tend to avoid it at all cost. But I was now in a hurry with my curiosity of just what could possibly be in my mailbox. I had made it to the ground floor without having a panic attack and walked again to the big rows of mailboxes. I pulled out a newspaper and a brown envelope, which I was sure contained something from Ishmael's uncle. Turning around, I looked at the elevator, and decided the stairs were the best choice. Back in my apartment, the first thing I did was to feed my feline friend, not that he would suddenly get the crazies again due to hunger! I sat on my bed and looked at the newspaper where there was a big arrow drawn to a teaser telling me the rest of the article could be found on page three.

  “Man dies after falling onto train tracks as freight train approaches!” The headline said it all, but I read on anyways. The article was pretty thin for it mentioned that a man had fallen onto the tracks without any chance of escaping the oncoming train. The only witnesses were two women who had not seen him fall and had only realized something was wrong when the train had locked his emergency brakes. They remember seeing another person long before the train came, but could not describe him and he was anyways not on the platform when the train attempted to stop. By the time the train had come to a full stop, it was already clear of the platform where the body was found. Identification of the deceased has been made but was being withheld prior to contacting family members.

  “Cat, I was really lucky not to get nabbed on this one! And contacting family? Family members my ass!” Marcus said and let the paper fall to the floor. Sabertooth looked over at him, demanding that he open the balcony door. Marcus grabbed the envelope and went with him out in the cool fresh morning air. Before opening the brown envelope he hoped that it wouldn't contain any more photographs of no-good doers, for he had hoped that he could winnow the list down just a little bit more. But it was only a one page note from Gunéy's brother and a photo. On the back of the photo was an address by Backnang He had to read it twice before it could set in, just exactly what was happening with this 'Project Sabertooth'. The note was in perfectly written German, but was most definitely from the ex secret service man. “You take advantage of good situations after considering the risk, and my ex colleagues would be proud of how professionally you act, as I am proud of you. For Abdulwadud was the main weapons supplier in this area. I wonder though if you would have still done it if Hasan was not standing right next to the stairs going to town? Another tip for a fellow associate! At this address you will find the small Mosque. Take an educated guess who has meetings at this place? It's not exactly next to the train station, but I have faith in you that you will be resourceful in the completion of your quest.

  I was totally perplexed for he could only have known that if he or one of his friends was following me around, and I had to think that over. Was that a good thing or not? I took picture number two and threw it in the direction of the cat, but he didn't seem to show no reaction. Then I remember what happened the last time with the first picture, so I tried it again and said; “Kill him boy!” Slowly, after he was finished with cleaning his paw, he lowered his head, and then all hell broke loose. With pieces of Kodak photo-paper flying around I started to laugh.

  I decided to walk across the street to the shopping mall. After living here for almost three years, it was the first time. What surprised me was finding a Subway restaurant! I'm not sure if my brain or my growling stomach turned my feet in that direction, but after one and a half subs, both were satisfied. And it's food that keeps you healthy! Ha-Ha! I meandered along the little shops and found one that handled in sewing products, so in I went. The saleslady surely thought I was deranged buying a simple package of curtain bands. “We have lots of different varieties and colors.” She proclaimed. “It's not important what color they are.” I answered. Then I took a long walk with a full stomach to the airfield and tied one of the ribbons to the metal rails. When I returned home I remembered that I had not fed my lovable Sabertooth today. So I got some more bologna rings and a six-pack of beer from the store downstairs and then walked up to my apartment, in the hopes that not all was clawed to pieces.

  I had set my alarm clock, after finding it shoved way underneath the couch, for five AM. I haven't used an alarm clock since I had stopped all of my traveling around the countryside and was glad that it was still functional! I dressed, threw a small piece of meat into the kitchen for the cat, and made a mental note to myself that the floor needs to be mopped. I used to be proud that my place was always so tidy, but lately it's becoming a pigpen! I did a leisurely jog out to the airfield and waited, and waited, and waited some more. Make another mental note to buy a cheap wristwatch, I thought. Time went by so slow and I was just about to jog home, when Ishmael popp
ed around the corner of the scrap metal pile. “Sorry that it took me so long!” He said. “I was getting ready to leave. I figured that you wouldn't show up.” I answered, shaking his hand. “I need a favor from you if it isn't too much hassle!” “Stop!” He said and touched the fingers of both hands against the side of his head. Made me think of Spock from Star Trek and I hoped he wasn't having a brain hemorrhage. He said; “My mind reading ability tells me that you want to borrow Moby Dick! Am I correct?” “What is a Moby Dick?” I asked looking dumbfounded. “My VW Beetle!” Now I was truly perplexed and asked; “And why is it called Moby Dick? What kind of name is that for an auto?” He slapped my arm and asked; “Come on! You never read Herman Melville's Moby Dick? The first line is “Call me Ishmael.” “I'm not into literature at the moment. And how did you know what kind of favor I needed?” I asked. “My uncle said you would be asking to use my car, for what I don't know. But it's a good deal because I get to drive his BMW, till