The cold war 01

Chapter 1 – Infiltration

Benjamin Quinn exited Central Park, walked along the sidewalk past the American museum of natural history, before turning up west 81ststreet.

The weather was definitely starting to turn as the days were becoming shorter and the leaves on the trees were starting to change colour. Feeling the chill from a gust of wind, Ben pulled the hood of his favourite hoodie over his head and turned his music up a notch to drown out the noise of the busy city around him. He would soon be home after another boring shift, at the pretzel stand, not exactly his dream job, but it didn’t need to be, it was only temporary, just until he could save up enough money to start a new life.

He hadn’t always lived in New York City; he had actually grown up in a small town in Nebraska. He had fond memories of growing up there, with a group of close friends, he did everything with, and a loving family, even if his father, a military man, was away for long stretches of time.

Ben had lived a typical if not remarkable life up until he was twelve years old but coming home, from a normal day at school one day, he was unaware that the first of three major events in his young life was waiting for him beyond the front porch of his three-bedroom country home.

He had entered the house to find it empty, which was odd, as with his mother, being a housewife, was usually there to greet him by the door. She hadn’t mentioned that she would be going out that day, and as Ben looked around the dark interior of the house, he felt a little apprehensive.

After yelling for his mom a few times, and receiving no reply, he'd walked into the kitchen to find a note lying on the table, the life-changing bit of paper, with its words that would be forever etched in his mind. She had left, without any warnings or goodbyes, she had just gone. The note explained how she couldn't waste her life any longer and how she needed to go out and do something for herself. Ben never heard or saw her again, and the resulting fallout turned his world upside down.

His father took the news particularly badly, usually a cheerful, positive man, he became cold and reserved, barely speaking and seemingly incapable of looking after himself never mind his son. Ben had spent the next two years of his life living with his father’s sister, Aunt Nancy, which wasn’t a terrible experience, but with Ben missing how things used to be, blaming his mother for ruining everything, he made a vow to himself to always be on his guard when trusting a woman.

The second big change in his life came just before his fifteenth birthday, when his father, out of the blue, announced he was getting re-married. He had met a woman online, from Russia of all places, and having applied for and granted a 90 marriage visa, his bride to be would be arriving within a few days accompanied by her daughter Irena.

The day Elena Volkova entered his life, was another memory that Ben would never forget, having been told to put on his best outfit, which in his case, meant his uncomfortable and slightly too small suit, he wore to church each Sunday, he remembered standing on the front porch, looking on in awe, as a tall leggy blonde, struggled to exit his father white SUV, without showing the world her panties, in the incredibly short skirt that hugged her voluptuous backside like a glove.

(See image 1.1)

From the moment she opened her mouth, Ben knew the two of them wouldn’t get along. He could see why his father liked her, she was stunningly beautiful, her hair and makeup were immaculate, and she was dressed like a movie star, a stark contrast to the casual and quite drab clothing the women around his area normally wore.

Ben smiled as she approached on her tall over the knee boots, trying to be friendly, but the response he got to his, “hello I’m Ben, welcome to America”, set the tone for their whole relationship, as Elena wasn’t one for pleasantries, “Yes, Bun”, she had said in her thick Russian accent, “Bags are in car, you get”.

Surprised by the command, Ben looked over at his father for guidance, who had now exited the car along with Elena's daughter Irina. Ben's shocked face was met with an angry scowl from his father, who told him to get his lazy ass off the porch and help his new mother with her bags, all eight of them. With the arrival of the two Russian women, Ben now found himself back in his family home, haunted by the memories of all the happy times with his mother, as he tried to adjust to the two bossy new women, who were quickly taking over the place.

It soon became apparent, that Elena and her daughter Irina, were not used to country living, complaining about everything and generally a complete pain in the backside to live with. So, it didn’t come as much of a surprise, when Elana started saying she wanted to move to a city, but what was a surprise was when his father agreed. You see, Elena Volkova was a rich woman, used to all the luxuries in life, money was no obstacle for her, but the one thing she couldn’t buy was an American education for her daughter.

So, that’s how Ben, a country boy, having never left Nebraska before, found himself on a metal bird for the first time, where, in just a few short hours, transported him halfway across the country to the big apple, New York City, an alien world of high rise buildings, polluted air, and all the hustle and bustle that came with city life.

At first, Ben found it extremely difficult to adjust to his new way of life, having nothing in common with the other kids at his school, who all seemed so much more street smart and mature. But slowly, after making a fool of himself on more than a few occasions, he started to get to grips with how things work, and although he was never going to be the most popular kid in school, he had managed to make one or two close friends.

He had barely acclimatised to his new surroundings when the third major change in his life occurred, and possibly the most devastating. He arrived home from school one day to be told that his father had been killed while on active duty in the middle east, leaving him alone in a strange city, with two foreign women he found it impossible to connect with.

Three years on, Ben was living, what most people would consider a dream life, he was in one of the most desirable cities to live on the planet and went home each day to a multimillion-dollar apartment on the upper west side of Manhattan, but the problem was, he felt like an unwelcome guest in his own home and had almost nothing in common with the snooty rich kids that lived around him.

Approaching the entrance to the apartment building, Ben nodded towards the doorman, after seeing him mouthing some words, drowned out by the loud music in his ears. He took the elevator up to the sixteenth floor, and after taking a deep breath, he placed his key in the lock and went inside.

Elena, who was sat on the sofa, turned as he entered, her face devoid of emotion, and after confirmed who he was with a nod, she quickly turned back towards the television without any form of greeting. Ben was used to the cold welcome, in a way, feeling relieved that she hadn’t wanted to speak to him, as all she ever did was moan and complain.

He set off down the hallway, towards his room, where he planned to spend the rest of the evening, hopefully undisturbed. But those plans went out the window as he pushed open the door to find his beautiful but bitchy stepsister, Irina, going through his things.

“What are you doing in here? Get out”, Ben yelled angrily.

The girl turned, as Ben felt a mixture of anger and arousal as her perfect breasts bounced slowly up and down, he couldn’t help but feel attracted to the girl, even if she did always treated him like dirt, “My tablet is broken, so I’m borrowing yours”, Irina stated, making it clear she wasn’t asking.

Ben looked down to see his tablet, clutched in her hands, just below her distracting cleavage, it was his only possession of any value, something he had saved up to buy, and his main source of entertainment as he spent the evenings alone in his room “you're not taking that, it’s mine, I need it”, Ben replied sternly.

“You’ll get it back”, Irina replied, “God, you are so selfish, Benny”.

“Ha, me selfish!”, Ben snorted, “you have a room full of the expensive items and designer clothes, you have a weekly allowance, more than I get in a year, and you’re calling me selfish”?

“Yes, you live here for free, my mother even gives you money to spend”, Irina shot back, “you should be grateful, if she wasn’t such a compassionate woman, you would be out on the street”.

“Compassionate is not the word I would use”, Ben replied, “and that money you talk about is 20 dollars a week” do you realise how expensive this area is to live in, what the hell can I do with 20 dollars a week in this neighbourhood”?

“You see, selfish”, Irina spat, as she started walking towards the exit.

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With her mind occupied by some reality show about soccer moms from Ohia, Elena Volkova was trying to relax after a busy afternoon of shopping. As a cultured woman from an illustrious family back in the motherland, in her mind, she was living the life she deserved and having gone through all the trouble to secure a green card, she was now enjoying all the benefits New York city had to offer, which meant lunches with her girlfriends, shopping trips, and attending important events hosted by some of the most powerful people in the country.

To anyone who didn’t know her, she seemed like your typical lazy, rich airhead, only concerned with her appearance and what others thought of her. But Elena Volkova was anything but lazy, she was cunning, resourceful, and always got what she wanted. In a very short time, she had worked hard to build up a network of influential people and had even started a company to help other Russian women like her, enter the United States.

Taking a sip of her Bloody mary, she almost spilt it down her top as an ear-piercing scream filled the spacious apartment, making her almost jump out of her skin. She turned towards the doorway just as her pride and joy, her reason for her being, and the person she would do anything for, ran into the room, clutching her hand, almost in tears.

(See image 1.2)

“What happened, baby? Are you ok”? Elena asked her daughter in their native Russian dialect.

“He attacked me”, Irina replied angrily, “look he broke my nail”.

Elena stood up quickly and rushed over to console her daughter, seeing the large crack through the centre of one of her long acrylic nails, and knowing how painful it must feel, “Bun”, she screamed at the top of her voice, “you come here, now”.

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The hair on Ben’s arms stood up as the voice of wicked witch of the East, as he called her, carried through to his bedroom, as he looked down at the cracked screen of his tablet that Irina had just dropped to the ground after he had unsuccessfully tried to take it from her. Tossing the broken tablet on his bed, he marched off towards the living room, angry and ready for a fight.

Entering the room, he found Irina, sat on the sofa, glaring at him, hugging her mother tightly.

“Bun, why you injure your sister”? Elena asked in a serious tone.

“I didn’t, I mean, I didn’t mean to”, Ben stated, “she was going to take my tablet”.

“Tablet”, Elena said loudly, “you attack sister for worthless computer”?

Ben was now shaking with anger, “it’s not worthless, I use it to talk to my friends, it's important to me".

“You too angry, Bun, you need treat sister with respect, computer replaceable, Irina not”, Elena answered shaking her head.

“You keep calling her my sister like I’m actually part of this family, but you don’t treat us the same, you give her everything, and I get nothing, I don’t even have enough money to fix my tablet, which is now broken, not that you would care”, Ben said angrily.

Elena screwed up her face and narrowed her brow, “you are family, I give place to live, I give food, I give money”.

Ben couldn’t tell if she was being sincere, “what? 20 bucks, a week? when she gets thousands, how is that fair”? He whined like a little baby.

Elena looked over at her daughter before looking back at Ben, “Irina is girl, she need money to do girl thing, she need look pretty to attract husband, look pretty to attract client to company”.

Ben threw his arms in the air, “She works like two or three days a week, and probably does nothing even when she is there, a trained monkey could do her job”.

“Bun, calm yourself, remember who you talk to”, Elena replied, raising her voice slightly.

“You think my life is easy”? Irina said joining the conversation, “you should try it sometime”?

“What? get an endless supply of money to maintain your slutty image and hang out with your idiot friends, sure sounds real hard”.

He knew he had struck a nerve; he could see the rage behind her eyes. He also knew his chances of coming out of this conversation on top were slim to none, but at least he had got in one good shot.

Irina turned to her mother and started speaking in Russian. Ben tried to listen to what they were saying but even after living with these women for years, his Russian only extended to a few choice words.

Finishing their conversation, the two women turned to face him, now smiling broadly, which was a rarity in itself and made Ben feel uneasy as he looked down nervously.

(See image 1.3)

“Do you know how much Mamulya, gives me each week, Benny”? Irina asked now back to her normal calm and collected self.

“Erm… a lot”, Ben shot back.

“Ten thousand dollars”, she stated bluntly, “sometimes more, if I really need to buy something for an event”.

Ben’s mouth dropped open in surprise, he knew she received a hefty sum, but ten thousand dollars, when he was making seven bucks an hour, freezing his ass off, selling pretzels in a stupid embarrassing hat.

“You want same”? Elena asked, staring up at him, “You want do what Irina do? I pay you same”.

Ben just stared at her, was she being serious? Was she really offering him ten thousand dollars a month? “You mean work in your company”? He asked trying to work out what she meant.

“Yes, you work in company, you go shopping, you look pretty, everything Irina do, you do”, Elena replied calmly.

Ben didn’t know how to answer, it sounded too good to be true, with that amount of money, he could save up enough to move out and start over. He also knew there had to be a catch, and the "look pretty" comment made him wonder if these women were planning to humiliate him in some way, but he was used to humiliation, having gone through high school surrounded by rich kids who shunned him for being poor, he could cope with a little humiliation if it led to a better life.

“Ten thousand a month”? He asked to confirm, “you’re serious”?

“Deadly", Irina replied, as the smile on her face grew wider, "but you have to do everything that I do, no exceptions”.

“Ok”, Ben said nodding his head, “I'm in”.