by James Cage
The guard says, “Welcome to WFD.”
I exit the building and get into my car. Now, I have to find my apartment. Woburn is two towns over, about five miles away. I have to key my travel position on the map. The main highway is Highway 128. That is Interstate 95. The other roads are labyrinthine. It will take me a couple of weeks to learn the back roads.
It is almost a half hour before I find the apartment complex. If I knew where I was going, the ride would have taken ten minutes. I find the apartment manager’s office. It is a big office with four large desks, with four women, one at each desk. I ask the girl at the front desk for the manager. She points toward the woman at the largest desk in the back of the room. The three women at the front desks are young, in their late twenties. The manager is about ten years older.
I say, “I represent L&J Incorporated and I am here for the apartment.”
She pulls out the lease and I sign it. The lease is made out to L&J Incorporated. I am controller of the company and have power of attorney to sign for all financial activities. The rent is thirteen hundred dollars per month which includes: heat, electricity and cable television with HBO. I write out a company check for twenty-six hundred dollars. The payment is for the first month’s rent and a month’s security deposit. I will only have to pay October and November rent. December is covered with the security deposit. This seems to be a very good deal.
She says, “How are Danny and Louis doing?”
I answer, “They are doing fine.”
“Do they like being in army?”
“Yes, I think they do.”
Then she says, “I got an email from them last week and arranged the apartment for you.” She hands me the keys and calls the superintendent.
I follow him through the apartment complex. The complex includes: a swimming pool, gym, tennis courts and basketball courts. A parking lot is in front of each of the four apartment buildings. Every building has three sections or entrances. All buildings have a ground, middle and upper floor. Each floor has two apartments.
So, I think, “Four buildings, times three sections, times three floors, times two apartments, equals seventy-two individual apartments. The set up reminds me of the apartment complexes I saw in California, February of 2001.
My apartment is a ground floor apartment. There is a front door entrance and an entrance from the street side. Therefore, I can pull my car around to the back entrance of the apartment on the side street and easily unload it.
The living room is very large but sparsely furnished with one couch and two large chairs. There is a fair sized television set. A small dining area with a table and four chairs is set between the living room and kitchen. The kitchen has a dishwasher, four burner electric stove, large oven and microwave oven. Dishes, cups, saucers and utensils are supplied for four people. There is a frying pan and spatula, a couple of pots and a soup ladle. The bedroom is large with a queen size bed, dresser and lamp. There also is an alarm clock radio. The bathroom has a normal bath and shower. This apartment is four times the size of my old apartment on East Seventy-Eighth Street. It is half the size of Louis’s East Eighty-Third Street apartment.
In the hallway between my apartment and the next one is a room with a washing machine and dryer. That specific washer is for the six apartments in this section.
The superintendent asks, “Is the apartment OK?”
“It is fine,” I answer.
I offer him a ten-dollar tip, but he does not take it. This place is not like New York City.
I move my car to the back street behind the apartment. I have some stuff to unload. The stuff includes: a combined CD, tape and radio set, a laptop computer and L&J Incorporated files. There is one good suit, four pairs of pants, seven shirts and twelve pairs of socks, a dozen undergarments, six tee shirts, gym shorts, and a sweat suit. I brought one extra pair of black dress shoes and two pairs of sneakers. A few towels, a set of sheets and a couple of blankets are the final items I bring into the apartment. I shall need to go shopping to purchase a few more things.
I return to the manager’s office and ask the girl at the front desk. “Where are a department store and the Woburn train station?”
She says, “There is the Woburn Mall and there is a Target store farther up the highway. The train station is up the road from the Target store. You just head north on Highway 128 and get off at the next exit. Then make a left and another left and you will see the Woburn Mall. After the mall, make a quick right turn onto Commerce Way. Go straight for a mile and you will see the Target Store. You can’t miss it. If you continue on Commerce Way for another couple of miles, you will see a sign for the Woburn Train Station. Make a left at the sign and you will be there. Oh, there is also a post office if you bear left at Exit 36 on Washington Street.”
“Is that the exit I take from Highway 128, Exit 36 Washington Street?”
“Yes,” she answers.
When I get into my car, I check my map. Her directions look good. There are back roads to Commerce Way through Mishawum Road. I will have to figure those roads out later.
When I get to the Target store and leave my car, I check around. I am looking for unmarked white vans. I don’t see any. During the summer in New Jersey, I would occasionally see unmarked white vans pass my house. A van would pass in the middle of the night or the middle of the day. I don’t see any of them now. Most of the white vans in New York City are usually for small business. They have the company name on the sides of the van. Unmarked white vans make me nervous.
In the Target store, I purchase an extra set of sheets, towels, shower curtain and a can opener.
Next I drive a couple miles north on Commerce Way and turn left at the train station sign onto Atlantic Avenue. The Woburn Station is named the Anderson-Woburn Station. It is a good size transportation center. The center has both long and short-term parking lots. I park in the commuter lot, check the parking space number and pay a buck at a machine. There is a bus leaving for Logan Airport outside the terminal.
Inside the train terminal there is a large board that lists departing flights from Logan Airport. Two customer service windows are open. These windows are where you pay for the Logan Bus shuttle, commuter train tickets, Amtrak train tickets, and long-term parking. I notice that the long-term parking rates are four dollars per day. I feel that rate is expensive. I pick up a commuter train schedule for the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority. This commuter line is the Lowell line. Lowell is a town north of here. A round trip ticket to Boston is six dollars and fifty cents. I walk over to the Dunkin Donuts counter and order a large cup of coffee. Finally, I sit down and count the people in the station.
It is two thirty in the afternoon. There are thirteen people in the station that include: two Dunkin Donuts workers, two train terminal ticket employees and one male custodian, who just cleaned the men’s room. There are a mother and daughter that appear to have just missed the bus to Logan Airport. A businessman and woman are standing while they sip coffee. Two males and one female, all of college age, are sitting down on a bench drinking bottled water. I am the thirteenth person in the terminal. Upstairs there are train tracks for the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority and Amtrak Trains. I will go upstairs tomorrow.
It is Thursday, the fifth of September, 2002. I am at the Woburn Train Station. I stand on the upstairs platform between the two tracks for the southbound trains. On the opposite side, the northbound platform has the same two tracks setup. I and twenty other passengers get on board the 7:44 AM commuter transit train to Boston. The train is a little crowded and I have to stand. It makes stops at Winchester Center, Wedgemere and West Milford. We pass Bunker Hill Community College, before crossing the Charles River into North Station, Boston. Bunker Hill Community College is familiar to me because I saw it in the movie Good Will Hunting. The train ride takes twenty-seven minutes.
Inside North Station, Boston, I see
the orange colored subway line directions on a far wall. I follow the crowd out of the building and cross the street. I walk up some stairs and enter the subway station. At the token booth I buy six tokens for a buck apiece. The subway platforms are cleaner here than in New York City. The subway train arrives in a few minutes. The car is crowded and I stand. I get off this train at the Downtown Crossing Station.
I have a subway map and a map for downtown Boston. I walk a block and see the Arch Street sign. After walking a few more blocks, I enter a tall building. The second Boston firm is Manchester Automated Robotics. This is their business office in downtown Boston. The main plant for Manchester Automated Robotics is located in New Hampshire. The priority area of study at Automated Robotics is to develop systems for drug screening and vaccine production.
Mr. Seghar Bangalore is speaking to me now. He is a young version of my uncle in California. He is the same height and structure as my uncle. The facial features, small nose and good ears are similar on both men. Their skin color is tan and hair color black. The eye color is different. My uncle has blue eyes and Seghar has brown eyes. Both have the same hard working, aggressive personality. Seghar is not wearing a wedding band. A picture of a pretty, blue-eyed blond is on his desk.
Seghar says, “I, Scotty, Danny, Louis, and Mario Francolone are forming a new corporation. Do you know that Mario is located in Memphis, Tennessee?”
“Yes,” I answer.
“Do you have all the documents from Danny and Louis?”
“Yes, I do.”
Then he says, “How do Danny and Louis like the army?”
“They actually enjoy being in the army,” I answer.
“When will you see them again?”
“They will have leave around Christmas.”
Seghar continues speaking, “As the agent for L&J incorporated, you will have to sign the new corporate papers for Danny and Louis.”
I ask. “When will I have to do that?”
Seghar answers, “In one month. The lawyer is drawing up the contracts now. His office is near the courthouse. Are you familiar with Boston?”
“No, this is a foreign city to me.”
“Why don’t you walk around Boston today and get a feel for the town. When you come to work here, you will be working in the next office.” He points through the door into a medium sized room with a laptop computer on the desk.
I say, “I shall be working with Scotty on Mondays and Tuesdays. Would it be OK, if I work with you on Thursdays and Fridays?”
“Sure, that will be good. Come to the office at nine in the morning. You can leave early in the afternoon or later a night. Make up your own schedule.”
“Do I need an identification tag to work in this building?”
“No,” says Seghar. “Next time you enter the building, you will not have to sign in and out as a visitor. Just give them your name at the ground floor main desk. Tell them you are working for Manchester Automated Robotics. You will be listed on the computer as a consultant to the company. You will be allowed to walk into the building without any problem.”
After leaving the edifice, I check my watch. It is now 10:00 AM. I start to amble around Boston. It is another beautiful day with the temperature near seventy degrees Fahrenheit. Leaving Arch Street, I cross Summer Street. I walk through a shopping area, pass a hotel and turn onto Essex Street. I continue walking on Boylston Street and circumvent the Boston Common. I see a couple of theaters, pass two large hotels and turn right on Arlington Street. There is another large hotel, The Ritz Carlton. I go straight up Newbury Street and look at the fancy shops and the rich young women. I make a right hand turn on Dartmouth Street, walk past Commonwealth Avenue and cross a highway. I arrive at the park on the Charles River.
I can see the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with the Dome Building. Danny, Louis, Scotty, Sehgar, and the guy in Tennessee, Mario Francolone all graduated from this superior university. The MIT side of the river is Cambridge.
I am sitting on a bench next to the river, reading a Boston area map. The Harvard Bridge is the next bridge west. Harvard University is over the bridge and two plus miles down the road into Cambridge.
After a brief rest, I continue walking west. Student joggers pass by, as do middle-aged walkers, cyclists and mothers’ with baby strollers. The river has sailboats floating upon it. At the Harvard Bridge, I turn around and head east toward the North Train Station. There is one tall building, which stands out, on the Boston side of the river. It has a strange geometrical shape.
Now walking eastward, I see the concert shell in the park, pass a boathouse, another bridge and cross the street near the Eye and Ear Infirmary. I walk around Massachusetts General Hospital to the train station and Fleet Center.
It is 12:45 PM. I decide to have lunch at an Irish Pub. I notice they have Bass ale on tap, so I order it with my hamburger and French fries. The Irish Pubs in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen do not carry Bass Ale. I always order a pint of Guinness in the Hell’s Kitchen pubs or whatever Irish beer is on tap.
The Boston pub, I am lunching in, has a sports atmosphere. There are pictures on the wall of Bobby Ore and Phil Esposito. They were great hockey players from the 1970’s. Boston Bruin fans and Celtics fans must frequent this place before and after games at Fleet Center. The food is good. Boston is famous for the seafood restaurants. However, I am allergic to shellfish so I will not be able to eat any of the famous lobster and crab dishes.
On the train ride back to Woburn, I plan my strategy for the next few months. I will not drive into Boston. They are finishing a construction project within the city. This project is called the Big Dig. It is road and tunnel construction on Interstate Highway 93 that cuts through the middle of downtown Boston. There are new tunnels and a bridge that have just been built. There is heavy traffic in the downtown area and I do not like city driving. I would have to pay for parking, which is more expensive in the city then in the suburb of Woburn. The train commute is easy and cheap. I like to walk in cities. Boston is a historic city and there will be plenty of sites to see. When the weather gets cold, I will take the subway more and walk less. I have not noticed any watcher, observing me. However, I will be careful of the germ spreaders on the trains.
Up in Woburn, I must learn to drive the back roads near the new apartment. I also need to find a local supermarket, gas station and inexpensive restaurants. I do not intend to do much cooking. However, it will be necessary to buy food stables like: coffee, tea, milk, sugar, bread, eggs, ketchup, salt, and pepper.
On my drive back from the Woburn train station, I follow a map, take a back road and find a Super Stop and Shop food market. In the parking lot, a car passes playing loud rock music. It is Joan Jett on the radio. I hear the words, “With the stereo on.”
At the apartment in the evening, I turn on the television. There are seven HBO channels. The cable television schedule shows the same movies repeated, over and over again, on each of the channels. The comedy channel is different and has some of the original HBO comedy half hour shows.
I am watching an Arnold movie, Kindergarten Cop. The heroine of the movie is hiding in a small town. I say to myself, “This is a big mistake.” A person should never hide out in a small town. The town’s people always know who is a new resident.
The best place to disappear is a big city. It is easy to get lost in any city with a large public transportation system. New York and Boston are examples of cities that are great places to hide. When you know what to do, it is extremely difficult to be followed in these cities.
In New York City; Penn Station, the Port Authority Bus Terminal and Grand Central Station are good places to go when you are being followed. You can jump onto a train, subway, bus or taxi almost immediately. Department stores like Macys and Bloomingdale’s are good places too. Any location with lots of exits and people, are areas where you can become lost in a crowd. You should wea
r sunglasses and a hat. You should travel with a backpack. The contents of the backpack should include: a toothbrush, toothpaste, Swiss Army knife, bottled water, change of undergarments, a book, a nylon carry bag, a different style colored jacket, another type of hat, and sneakers. You can quickly change, your hat and jacket and place the backpack into the carry bag. You need to carry cash to purchase a ticket for a train or a bus. Because there are cameras at most bus and train terminals, it is best to wear a baseball cap and sunglasses to cover your face. A real desperado should have other identification. If you show a ticket clerk a driver’s license with your picture on it, with a false name and address, they are not going to know if the license is real or fake.
You must always pay cash. Credit cards are traced easily. A book is necessary for a long train or bus ride to another state. You will need something to read to occupy your mind. If you have a cell phone, turn it off and do not use it. Cell phones contain global positioning devices and you can be tracked within fifty meters. The World Trade Center was a good place to get lost in but it is not there anymore.
I watch the Arnold movie a while longer, lose interest and fall asleep.
Friday morning, the sixth of September, at 9:00 AM, I return to the Best Western Hotel and park in the lot. Lake Quannapowitt is nearby and I run around the lake. The circumference of the lake is a little more than three miles. It takes me thirty- three minutes to complete the run. The running path is the sidewalk and there are parked cars and moving vehicles on the street. I must be careful running around this lake. I will check the hilly area near my apartment and see if I can run there.
I now drive the back streets from the town of Wakefield to Woburn. I am looking for a diner. I cannot find any. There are a number of coffee and donut shops, including Dunkin Donuts. There is a McDonald’s in the Woburn Mall. There are decent appearing, Chinese, Mexican, American, and Italian restaurants. These restaurants are open for lunch and dinner. Driving through the towns, I realize that these roads go on a diagonal. Some of the streets crisscross the main highway. There are plenty of gasoline stations, Fleet Banks, a Staples store, Toyota Dealership, a movie complex and Gold’s Gym. I grab a cup of coffee and a jelly donut at Dunkin Donuts and go home.