What Happened in Strasbourg

Chapter eight: Anarchists with a pyramid scheme

It turned out Russell's apartment wasn't as far away as I thought it might be, just a fifteen minute walk from my house. I told my mom I was going to hang out with Imogen again and even though she eyed me suspiciously as I slipped my computer and a bag of money into my backpack, she said nothing.

The weather was just as hot as the days before. Ginger lagged behind me, panting, and drooling, and my hair stuck to my forehead with sweat. I was thankful when I finally saw the apartment ahead of me. It was the exact type of place I'd imagine a deep web connoisseur living. The cars parked around it were bandaged with duct tape, with bubbling tinted windows and disintegrating bumper stickers. The grass around the building was overgrown and rat traps boxes lined the walls. The flats themselves, brick but painted over in white, were in need of a good power wash to get the algae and grime off. Ginger stopped panting for a second and stared up at me, as if to say, "Gracie, why won't you stop bringing me to all these weird old places?"
"Sorry," I said to Ginger, patting her head, as we walked up a shaky flight of metal stairs in search of Russell's address. Once I found it and lifted my hand to knock on the door, I realized the true extent of what I was getting myself into. What if he kidnapped me? Or took my computer and all my money at gunpoint? What if -- the door flew open. Standing in front of me wasn't Russell, but a woman with dark circles under her eyes and greying hair pulled up in a bun. She was still wearing a nightgown and slippers. "What are you doing here?" she said in a strong German accent. "Did TOM--"

"I don't know anyone named Tom," I stammered. "I'm looking for uh... Russell."
"I know no Russell, my son is named Tom. Get out of here before I call the cops on you!" the woman snapped, with a look on her face like having to speak English was draining out all her serenity. She was about to slam the door in my face when I heard a familiar voice. "Mama! No, stop — that's my friend! I invited her over."

Sure enough there was Russell. "Why'd you have to break my cover, mama?" Russell said. "Leave her alone -- Come on in, Gracie."
"No, uh, I don't have to," I mumbled. At this point I just wanted to run, but Russell was motioning for me to follow him. He led me through the dark, cluttered flat and into a tiny bedroom. The carpet was covered in cat litter and heaps of dirty clothes, the air smelled like cigarette smoke, and there was no real bed -- just an old mattress with a wrinkled white sheet thrown over the top of it. And I'd thought Imogen's place looked run down. Russell showed me to a "chair" which was really just a suitcase lying on its side, and sat down on his own mattress.

"So Russell -- or Tom," I said. "What do you actually want me to call you?"

"Just call me Russell, okay? Tom's my actual name but it's boring and not incognito enough. You know why I picked Russell as my incognito name?"

"Why?"
"Because I "sell" you access to "Russia" get it?? Russ-sell."

I winced and covered my face with my hands to hide my laughing. "I know, I know, I'm a disgrace to my entire family," Russell said. He leaned forward. "So luv, what made you change your mind about the dark web?"
"I don't really know," I said. "I was watching a Paul Landry interview last night and he just seems so... fake. It's really hard for me to trust Acheron anymore, especially now that Imogen's family's business is closing because of them."

"But what's in it for you?" Russell said. "I just wanna make sure you feel strongly enough that you aren't gonna change your mind and snitch instead."

"Well, my dad, he's the manager of the warehouse... he keeps talking about moving," I said. "Back to Houston so he can finally go into middle management or whatever he wants."

"Ohh, I get it," Russell said. "Your parents are zoomers who overcompensate for their sad teenage lives spent as online performative activists by abandoning all hope of a just society and instead becoming corporate social climbers. And you.... you just wanna be relatable to the rest of us, and do something against Acheron before your parents take everything away from you."