Wandering

The sky was dark and dotted with tiny winks of light that were almost out shined by the building and street lights in the Russian city known as Novosibirsk. The air was chilled and snow covered most surfaces, hiding the ice underneath. The Ob River that ran around the edge of the city was sparkling with reflections of the lights. The city was bustling, but the young angel was deaf to the sounds.

Trance walked along the pier taking in the beauty of the reflections in the water. Headphones were placed over her head and spilled music through her hat and into her ears. She was dressed in a black wool trench coat with dark blue pants that were made from a material she didn't really know; all she cared was that they were comfortable. A pair of winter boots adorned her feet and a bright blue cashmere scarf and hat protected her from the cold. Trance rested her hands by her pocket as she stopped to turn fully towards the water.

She tapped the treble clef notes of Debussy's First Arabesque with her right hand on the front of her coat absentmindedly. She had originally came to Russia in hopes of finding her brother, but that seemed to be a lost cause. She had lost him somewhere in western Europe, but decided to take her time looking for him. She had actually stopped in this city because of the notable Opera and Ballet Houses as well as the Orchestras. Finding Tyrant could wait; it's not like he was in actual trouble...well not life-threatening trouble...well not his life. She rolled her eyes at the thought.

Her stomach rumbled and Trance felt it rather than heard it, but as the piano piece ended and the beginnings of one of Chopin's nocturnes began, she figured she could stay just a bit longer before finding something to eat. Though she didn't like cold places as she couldn't wear her beloved shorts, Trance did appreciate the beauty of the Russian city. Maybe she would stay for a bit. After all, she had yet to run into trouble and the people seemed nice enough to mind their own business while not being rude.

It was Jacqueline’s last job as a single agent. It was her last job before she was sent to the special branch to be given a new task and a partner to work with. She had not been told what she was going into, but had been told by her boss that she had been specially chosen for the task. Before then she had one more thing to do. Jacqueline had been sent to Russia to bring in a U.S fugitive. A man who had flown out of the country without a VISA and enough background information on the structures of the Whitehouse than anyone would like him to have.

Jak had followed him here, but had lost the trail for the evening. It was okay, the man did not know she was following him and he would probably continue his routine as he had for the last four nights. Every night he went to the local tavern and got absolutely soaked in alcohol. If her instructions had been to kill him, this task would have been completely days ago and she would be back on the warm lands. But that was not what she was being asked to do and Jak was still following the burly man around. He was not an attractive man to look at, he was balding, and looked to be glistening with a sheen of sweat always- even in the below zero temperatures of icy Russia.

Kicking a boot through the light dusting of snow she wandered alongside the river side. It was nice out here tonight, peaceful in its busy sort of way. It reminded her of New York and any small reminder of home that she could get was welcomed by Jak. She loved her job, she loved the work she got to do and the exciting placed she got to go, but Jak did love her home the most.

Pausing for a moment as a car hurtled passed her, she crossed the street and stood under one of the many Opera Houses in this city. Her dark eyes trailed over the signs, taking a moment longer than she would have normally liked to read the information boards. Jacqueline was faced with two decisions; the first- go home to her four star hotel room and hit the hotel swimming pool to train a little before bed, or the second – enjoy an evening performance of something she would not understand…but may enjoy on a emotional level….or not. She could always laugh at how ridiculous it was.

Turning away, without really looking, Jak knocked into a dark haired girl. “Oh shit, sorry-“ Then she cringed slightly; the girl probably spoke Russian, what was the point in her speaking in her American way?

Just as the crescendo of Dvorak's New World 3rd Movement, a wall hit Trance and her headphones slid down and fell around her neck. A little dazed at the suddenness, Trance looked at her wall and realized it was another girl, who in fact spoke English. The girl resembled a very pretty boy, but it was also very clear that she wasn't to Trance; she also looked a couple years older than her. She apologized, cutting herself off before she finished, and Trance nodded.

"It's fine. I speak English." Trance said in a soft, almost bored voice, reassuring the girl.

She stared at the girl openly at the girl assessing her quickly. She was apparently a native English speaker with the way she immediately responded when bumping into Trance. She didn't seem lost though, so the angel concluded she must be visiting. She seemed human. Trance wasn't really into getting into anybody's business, but it would hurt her conscious if she let this girl wander around without knowing how to talk and use basic communication with people.

"Do you speak Russian? You might get a little lost without knowing the language." Trance said and switched off her headphones to focus her attention onto the woman, ignoring the bite of the chilly wind.

Jacqueline was a rough looking woman, she was tall, with broad shoulders and in her heavy winter coat she looked to be thick skinned and rather firm. The fact of the matter was she had trained, both in the infantry school and in her physically demanding job with the CIA for over 8 years…she was no longer a doll looking girl, she was not pretty or feminine but she was a force to be reckoned with and a fierce one at that. She had short, cropped hair that she often wore spiked as if she had just gotten out of bed; not that the stranger would see this- Jak wore a dark woolly hat to keep her head warm. She also wore a dark green parker coat, again, for warmth and thick snow boots.

She appraised the slip of a girl before her and was amused by the girl’s reaction to their bumping into each other. It would have been easy for Jak to blame the girl, easy for her to point out that if the girl hadn’t had her headphones in then she would have been watching where she was going. But Jacqueline wasn’t that sort of arrogant arse. She just smiled, wolf-like and nodded. “Then I apologise.” She said, rather formally.

”Do you speak Russian?”

Jak did, in fact she spoke several languages rather well and could do the basics in others. It was part of her job, to travel, to communicate, to capture and to interrogate people. Sometimes this happened in English, sometimes this did not. Sometimes, but the time she was finished with her ‘associates’ they could speak English very well. But she answered kindly, not mentioning her secret life; “Yes, a little, enough to know that this-“ She pointed to the building that stood behind them in its theatrical grandeur “-is not a bar but a music house.”

She played it down, played it dumb, interested to see where this would go. “It’s my first time in Russia, actually…and I’m really not loving the cold.” Her clean New Yorker accent lacing her words as she smiled again. Intelligence was her job, she wondered enough about this girl to continue with the tourist/ traveller façade.

"Were you looking for a bar?" Trance asked bluntly when the woman mentioned the opera house was indeed an opera house. Trance looked over the opera house in a quick scan; it did not look like any type of bar so congrats to the tourist for deducing that.

The girl mentioned it was her first time in Russia and Trance wondered if it was true. It wasn't that the girl came off as a liar or anything; she just had a rather intelligent air coming from around her. Also she seemed to be very prepared when it came to clothing. She seemed like a very capable women nonetheless and the young angel decided that whatever or whoever the girl was, was none of her business. However she pointed down at the street behind her, glistening with lights and a lively looking people.

"Any bars- most bars will be within that street or the street over." Trance said, correcting her 'any bar' statement. "If you're a gambler or into any type of illegal business or other, there are a chain of underground gatherings beneath some back alley bars a couple of streets over. Will you need directions to any of those? It can be a little confusing." Trance added.

Trance wasn't a gambler, she didn't drink, and she wasn't into anything illegal as it was too troubling. However, she did make sure to learn the inside and outside of every place she traveled to so as nothing could surprise her and or become a disadvantage point. Also, she wasn't sure exactly what her brother was up to, so it was good to check everywhere. As for telling the woman about the chain of illegal businesses in the surrounding area, Trance was just a very honest person and saw no harm in telling her; the woman could take it as a warning for all she cared. The woman didn't seem like she was into anything illegal, but the angel couldn't say if the woman was into anything dangerous. The tourist carried off more of a I'm-more-than-what-I-appear air about her. However, Trance still found herself thinking that it was none of her business. Even if she was curious.

Had she been looking for a bar? Jak wasn’t sure. She hadn’t really been looking for anything, she was just killing time. Losing herself in the evening until she caught up with her mark again tomorrow. It was important to observe him for a few days, after all, she had to catch him doing something illegal in order to arrest him and return him to the states where he belonged. So maybe a bar would be a nice idea? On the other hand, she might end up getting drunk and in a bar-fight and then she would be in no condition to stalk her mark tomorrow. No…no maybe a bar was the wrong thing to be looking for.

After this moment’s consideration she shook her head, answering with; “Not really, not specifically. I’m just looking for something to do, something to say ‘I went to Russia and I did something Russian’, all my friends back home are expecting me to come back having embalmed myself in vodka and I want to be able to say that there is more to Russia than that.”

Privately she was proud of herself; she played the preppy tourist card rather sufficiently.

The comment about something illegal surprised her, and Jak found herself frowning. “Oh..” She said, dumbly for a moment. Well now, that was interesting. Perhaps she could kill two birds with one stone here. If her mark was in one of these places…well then, that would be interesting, very interesting indeed. “…I don’t know-“ She said, smiling somewhat innocently. “-I mean, I’ve heard awful stories about travellers getting sold to sex trades and things…I don’t want to do anything that isn’t safe.”

The woman seemed to genuinely looking for a place to just be a tourist at-- that was until Trance had said something about illegal businesses. It wasn't the fact that the woman's demeanor changed, anyone's would at the mention of law-breaking. However, when she had heard Trance's proposal to give her directions the woman didn't seemed opposed. She said something about worrying about her well-being, but Trance saw through it. The woman was interested, but the angel couldn't figure out for what reasons-- personal vs. business.

"If you lack basic common sense, instincts, and can't handle situations under pressure, then maybe they're not the places you should be going. Obviously they don't just sell people off into sex trades; it would be bad for businesses if rumors of customers being randomly selected to 'disappear' started going around. Being roped into something as dangerous as that would take a little bit of trouble-making and debt build-ups from the 'customer'. Or any other assortment of reasons. It is quite an easy way to make quick cash if you disregard the dangers." Trance reasoned with the girl. Not that she was persuading the girl to go to the places, but if her well-being was all that was stopping her, then she should go.

Most people would see this situation and convince the brunette to stay away from the underground businesses at all costs. Because that's just what good people did; it was the right thing to do. Trance preferred to stay neutral. She decided that the choices people make should be totally up to them and they deserved to know the good and bad of each situations. Besides Trance was interested in seeing the true nature of people and how much they were willing to show-- especially in front of a mere stranger such as herself. this brunette was more than she seemed and it interested Trance, though she was careful not to show it. She was very nonchalant.

"Or if you want to take the safe tourist route, there are a variety of opera and ballet houses as well as numerous historic monuments. This place is really full of some amazing history. Alexandre Nevsky Cathedral is a main tourist thing; very beautiful." Trance said almost like a tourist guide. "I can provide directions for those too. i guess it really depends on what you want; underground business or cathedrals and opera houses?" Trance added, waiting to hear the answer.