Lost in the Maze

by Gary William Ramsey

  I guess I’ve been in the water now more than 12 hours and the sweltering sun is scorching my face. I knew that I was getting dehydrated. I kept swimming and resting until the sun set. At least now I realized which direction was west in the never-ending water. Soon I was so exhausted that I stopped again, and put the length of driftwood under my armpits to rest. I unintentionally drifted off to sleep.

  I was awakened when something nipped my left leg. The only light was the moon reflecting on the water. I looked down and saw a stream of red water. It was my blood. My fears were coming true. I yelled at the top of my lungs and trashed the water with the driftwood and my hands and feet. I didn’t see what bit me, and I prayed that I had scared it away. After a few minutes, I calmed down and surveyed the water around me. I saw nothing moving. I put the driftwood in front of me and began swimming again. Whatever bit me may be anticipating a second shot. I felt no pain in my leg, and after about thirty minutes of swimming, I stopped to rest for a moment. I reached down and felt the area where I got bit. I couldn’t feel any gash so a jellyfish may have stung me, but there was blood. I attempted to clear my chaotic mind.

  A crash of thunder fractured the silence, and I felt a few drops of rain. The sky was filled with clouds and lightning bolts crashed in the distance. When the clouds blocked the moon I couldn’t see anything. Soon the light rain turned into a torrid downpour. The intensity of the rain pelted my face as I struggled to hold on to the piece of driftwood. I felt myself being thrown about in the enormous waves generated by the thunderstorm. Rainwater was running down my face and at least I was able to hydrate a little.

  An enormous wave forced me under water, and I lost my grip on the driftwood. I struggled to get back to the surface. At that moment I knew that my chances of surviving this ordeal were slim and none. I never imagined that I would die this way. A strange fog crashed my consciousness and my world went to black.

  Chapter 2

  Fifteen hours earlier

  Vladimir Anosov and Alexie Bobr stood outside of Senator Michael Edward Roberts’ stateroom, listening.

  Vladimir glanced at his watch, “It’s a few minutes after one,” he said to the other Russian in broken English. “Maybe it’s time.”

  Alexie grabbed the arm of the heavily muscled Vladimir; “We need to be sure that we take them by surprise.” Both men put on rubber gloves.

  The two Russians were an impressive sight. Vladimir stood 6 ft. 4 inches and weighted about 340 lbs. His shaved head glistened with sweat. His nose had been broken twice and had a scar on the bridge. Alexie looked like a midget next to the huge man. He had short black hair, slender, and walked with a slight limp. A member of a rival Russian mafia family had broken his leg in four places several years ago.

  “I don’t hear anything coming from inside,” Vladimir whispered. “It’s too quiet for my comfort level.”

  “Let’s just go inside and get this handled,” Alexie murmured. “This is the best time of night with hardly anyone roaming around.”

  Alexie slipped the passkey into the lock. He was carrying a small satchel in his other hand. Alexie had stolen the key from the Polish maid who clean his room the day before. She was rather taken with his Russian accent and charm. Alexie planned to nail her before the cruise was over.

  The Russians quietly open the door and went inside. They heard music coming from the balcony area. Vladimir grabbed the slapjack from his back pocket as they crept forward. When they entered the living area, it was dark with only a lamp illuminating the balcony where the Senator and his wife sat.

  The Senator was cutting the seal on a bottle of wine with a small penknife. He pealed the plastic seal, removed the cork with a corkscrew, poured two glasses and handed one to his wife. The Senator laughed, pulled a lighter out of his pocket and lit a candle. He turned off the lamp and sat with his wife in the candlelight. The full moon sent shimmering spheres of light on the calm water. They were involved in a quiet conversation, and Alexi heard the Senator’s wife laugh softly.

  Alexie gripped the stiletto knife firmly in his right hand, preparing for the attack. He placed the satchel on the floor. It was apparent that neither the Senator nor his wife were paying much attention to anything but each other, as they sat in the moonlight with the only noise being the soft sounds of the waves hitting the side of the cruise ship, and a Dean Martin love song, Goodnight Sweetheart, playing on the CD player.

  With the Russians less than two feet away, Vladimir grunted, “Go.” He stepped forward and delivered a crashing blow to the back of Senator Roberts’s head with the slapjack. Simultaneously, Alexie grabbed his wife in a chokehold and plunge the knife between the base of the skull and the first vertebrae. She died instantly. He turned her around and stabbed her four additional times in the chest.

  They dragged both the dead body of the woman, and the unconscious body of the Senator into the living area.

  “Let’s get this done and get out of here,” Alexi muttered, removing the knife from the crumbled dead body of Susan Roberts after the final slash. He placed it in Senator Roberts’s left hand. He closed the unconscious man’s hand around the knife grip, ensuring that the fingerprints were firmly imprinted on the handle. Removing it from the limp hand, he dropped the knife on the floor.

  Vladimir moved Mrs. Roberts’ body adjacent to her unconscious husband, opened her hand and scraped her nails deeply into his face. He made sure that particles of the Senator’s skin were under her fingernails. He then closed Roberts’s hand into a fist, and beat Mrs. Roberts in the face until he heard the crack of her nose as it fractured.

  Alexie retrieved the satchel and pulled out a large envelope, and a plastic bag filled with Magic Mushrooms, commonly called Liberty Caps (Psilocybe Semilanceata).

  The effects of these mushrooms are very similar to acid, although some report a more ‘natural’ high, sometimes with a feeling of being detached. Small doses can bring on excitement and euphoria, while bigger doses can bring on shape and color distortions and vivid hallucinations.

  Alexie opened the plastic bag, removed three mushrooms, and placed the remainder on the end table beside the bottle of wine on the balcony. It would appear that the Senator and his wife were partaking of the hallucination drug while drinking wine.

  He returned to the body of the Senator’s wife, opened her mouth and stuffed the three mushrooms in her mouth. He grabbed what looked like a long thin wooden skewer from the satchel and used it to push the mushrooms as deeply as possible down the throat of the dead woman.

  The bacteria inside your gut doesn’t die just because you do. While plenty of the bacteria are parasitic, some of them are great aids to digestion. They keep right on chugging for a period even when you’re dead.

  When the police investigation takes place, Alexie knew that the authorities would determine that she had consumed the mushrooms.

  He opened the envelope that he had removed from the satchel, and pulled out two pictures and a letter. The pictures were of a naked woman’s body. The face was not visible. Alexie took an extra few seconds to look at the magnificent breasts and the sexy curves of the body.

  “I would love to have some of that,” he said to Vladimir, and laughed. He crumpled up the two pictures and tossed them to the floor.

  He quickly read the letter.

  Dear Mike,

  I hope these pictures turn you on and remind you of the fantastic times we had in Vegas when you were there for the fundraiser for your campaign. There is more of this ready to service you anytime you want it.

  Love, Valerie

  He threw the letter on the floor beside the pictures. Now the scene was set.

  The police investigation would speculate that Senator and Mrs. Roberts were enjoying wine and mushrooms on the balcony. Somehow Mrs. Roberts discovered the letter and pictures exposing the Senator’s infidelity. An argument and physical confrontation followed. She became furious and violent and dug her nails into his face. Because of the hallucination elements of the drugs t
aking over, the situation escalated and Senator beat his wife and killed her. Realizing what he had done, apparently he committed suicide by jumping overboard the cruise ship.

  “Time is short,” Alexie grumbled.

  Vladimir grabbed Senator Roberts’ arms and Alexie grasp his feet, and they hurled him off the balcony into the dark water below. They did not want the body at the scene to undergo forensic examinations.

  Vladimir observed the battered body of Mrs. Roberts. “It’s an open and shut case of murder and suicide after a violent fight, which included alcohol and drugs,” he said. “The boss will be very happy with us. We will be many miles from here before this is discovered and they will never find Roberts’ body. The sharks will have a fine meal of a United States Senator,” he said, and sniggered.

  Alexie hung the do not disturb sign on the door as they left the stateroom and made their way to their cabins. They were situated next to each other, but they went into Alexie’s cabin to phone Ivan Dubov. Dubov was a Russian Mafia Brigadier who answered to the Pakhan, Maxin Nevsky. Before making the call they poured large shots of Raykan Vodka and saluted the success of the mission.

  The Russian Mafia in the USA has a similar structure as the Italian Mafia.

  Pakhan - is the Boss or Krestnii Otets “Godfather” and controls everything. The Pakhan controls four criminal cells in the working unit through an intermediary called a “Brigadier.”

  Two Spies - watch over the action of the Brigadiers to ensure loyalty and none become too powerful.

  Sovietnik - (“Councilor”), is the advisor and most close trusted individual to the Pakhan, similar to the Consigliore in Italian-American Mafia crime families and Sicilian Mafia clans.

  Obshchak - the bookmaker, collects all money from Brigadiers and bribes the government, similar to the underboss position in Italian-American Mafia crime families.

  Brigadier – or Avtorityet (“Authority”) is like a captain in charge of a small group of men, similar to Caporegime in Italian-American Mafia crime families and Sicilian Mafia clans. He gives out jobs to Boyeviks (“warriors”) and pays tribute to Pakhan. He runs a crew, which is called a Brigade (Bratva). A Brigade is made up of 5-6 Boyeviks and Shestyorkas. There are four Brigadiers running criminal activity in the Russian Bratva. Boyevik - literally “warrior” works for a Brigadier having a special criminal activity to run, similar to soldiers in in the Italian mafia. Boyevik is also the main strike force of a brigade.

  Vladimir and Alexie were warriors held in the highest esteem by the Brigadier Dubov.

  After downing another shot of Vodka, Alexie placed the call to Ivan Dubov.

  “Have you completed the task?” Dubov asked.

  “Yes Sir,” replied Alexie. “The woman is dead and we tossed the Senator’s body into the sea as planned. It will be determined a murder and suicide after a fight.”

  “The Pakhan will be very pleased,” Dubov replied. “What about the girl?”

  “What girl, the wife is dead.”

  “The daughter—the eighteen-year-old, you fool. What did you do with her?”

  “I know nothing about a daughter. Our orders concerned only the Senator and his wife.”

  “Don’t you dare contradict me! I’ll have your tongue cut out. The Pakhan wanted you to capture the daughter. Young American girls bring big money in the sex slave trade. Also, we don’t want her to be a witness testifying that her parents were loving and never had disagreements or taken drugs.”

  Alexie was stunned. He knew that Dubov was a heavy drinker and probably forgot to mention the daughter. However, he also knew that if he disputed his word that he was a dead man. “I am so sorry Sir, just tell me what to do.”

  “The girl’s name is Lisa. She’s staying in the adjoining cabin next to the Senator’s stateroom. You better hope she doesn’t go in and discover her mother’s body. Go get her now. Drug her and bring her to your cabin. You can smuggle her out when the ship comes into port at Galveston tomorrow. Take her out in a trunk. If you don’t have one, purchase it at one of the ships luggage stores.”

  “We have one that we can use Sir. We will handle this now and I apologize for the delay and the misunderstanding,” Alexie said, and heard the phone abruptly disconnect at the other end.

  “That son of a bitch never said anything about a girl,” Alexie grumbled. “But you know that asshole. We’d better do as he says.”

  “Chloroform and Desflurane, I have whichever you want,” Vladimir said.

  “The chloroform will make it easier to contain her. We’ll keep her tied up and gagged until the time comes to take her off the ship. We can use the Desflurane to keep her unconscious when we transport her in the trunk,” Alexie replied. “Let’s go.”

  After placing the chloroform and cloths in the satchel, the two Russians left their cabin and walked back to the Robert’s stateroom. Everything was still quiet. At this hour the morning there was no one in the hallways. Alexie slipped the passkey into the slot of the room next door to the Roberts’ stateroom.

  “Dubov better be right about the room the girl’s in,” Alexis said. “If we enter and this is the wrong room, everything will explode on us.”

  The room was dark and silent as they made their way past the living area. A small partition divided off the bedroom area. This cabin didn’t have a balcony. They calmly walked up to the partition and looked around it. The eighteen-year-old girl was sleeping quietly in the bed. Vladimir grabbed the chloroform and saturated a small cloth. The girl was lying on her side as he walked up behind her. She turned just as he placed the chloroform-saturated cloth on her nose. Alexie held her arms down while Vladimir kept the cloth pressed to her nose until there was no movement. He wrapped her body in the blanket.

  “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do,” Alexie whispered. “We don’t have far to go to get back to the cabin, but still it’s possible to encounter a crew member on the way back. We simply can’t just throw her over our shoulder and go. I’ll run interference and you follow my lead. First I’ll check the hall to make sure that no one is there and give you the clearance to come out. Just follow my signals.”

  Alexie opened the door, looked down the hall, walked down about five feet and stopped. He motioned to Vladimir to move forward. Vladimir strode out the door and began walking slowly behind Alexie with the young girl concealed in the blanket over his shoulder. Just as Alexie turned the corner about ten feet from the cabin, he spotted a steward coming down the hall with a tray. He assumed that some idiot had ordered room service at this ridiculous hour of the morning. He quickly held up his hand around the corner indicating for Vladimir to halt. It appeared that the steward was going to turn the corner and if he did, he would surely be suspicious of Vladimir with the object on his shoulder. Alexie knew that he needed to fake some sort of problem, so he staggered forward, pretending to be drunk.

  “I mussss be lossss,” he mumbled in slurred words. “Can you hesss me get bokced to my cabennnn?”

  The steward stopped, not understanding what the man was saying. The drunken man was mumbling incoherently. He realized that this passenger probably wouldn’t be able to make it back to his cabin in his drunken stupor.

  “Sir, if you would just allow me to deliver this room service order, then I’ll be most happy to assist you in getting back to your cabin. The passenger will be very upset if I’m late with the order.”

  Alexie staggered toward the steward. “Waitttt,” he stammered.

  “I told you I’ll be right back after I deliver this order.”

  Alexie stood still as the steward walked past him. He pulled the stiletto knife from his pocket and snapped it open. He knew if the man saw Vladimir carrying the girl, he would be required to kill him and heave him overboard. He realized also that a missing steward would instigate a search of the entire ship.

  “Shit!’ he whispered as he turned the corner behind the man. He raised the knife to drive it into the steward’s neck, but hesitated. The corridor was empty. Vladimir ha
d disappeared with the unconscious girl. He quickly closed the knife and jammed it into his pocket. He stood motionless as the steward rounded another corner.

  Alexie walked down the hall checking every door. About half way down the hall he spotted what appeared to be a storage closet for cleaning supplies. He proceeded to the area and jerked open the door. Vladimir stood there with the girl over his shoulder, stiletto drawn, and ready to stab anyone who opened the door. He grunted when he saw it was Alexie.

  “Let’s get out of here fast before the steward comes back,” Alexie murmured.

  They quickly made their way back to the cabin without further incident. Vladimir tossed the captive on the bed. The girl emitted a choking sound. Apparently the chloroform was wearing off. Vladmir taped her hands and feet and jammed a large piece of duct tape over her mouth.

  Her eyes flew open wide and tears formed. She was terrified. “You be quiet and nothing will happen to you,” Alexie said. She began trembling and her eyes rolled back in her head as she passed out.

  “She must be in shock,” Vladimir said. “Dubov will take it out of our ass if she dies.”

  Vladimir scampered to the bathroom and wet a towel. She grabbed some ice from the small fridge, and crammed the cubes inside the towel. He rushed back and placed it on her forehead. Within a few minutes her eyes opened. She appeared bewildered.

  “Alexie get her some water.” He turned to the girl. “I’m going to take off the tape and give you some water. If you scream, I will hurt you. Do you understand me?”

  The girl nodded. “What are you doing to me? Where is my mother and father?” she whimpered.

  “Just be quiet and you will see them soon.”

  Alexie returned with the water and she drank about half a glass. Vladimir put the tape back on her mouth. “Lay down and be quiet,” he ordered. Alexie snatched a handful of tissues and stuffed them in her ears.

  “All we need to do is to keep her quiet for the rest of the night,” Vladimir said. “Tomorrow we’ll drug her and take her off the ship in the trunk. She’s a cute little thing. Dubov will give her to the Pakhan, Nevsky, if he doesn’t keep her for his own pleasure. Do you think he would be angry if we played with her tonight?”