Chapter 290: Getting Into Trouble Again
Alex left the hotel shortly after setting down his luggage in his room. He had, of course, changed his appearance via his skill [Master of Disguise] before doing so. After all, his enemies had eyes and ears everywhere. Even deep behind the lines of their own enemies, such as the city of Tehran.
Because of this, Alex was able to effectively blend in with the local population. Who got along with their daily lives without incident? During his last visit to the country, Alex had, of course, not been able to freely travel the city for very long.
Everywhere he went, he was accompanied by a litany of bodyguards. All of which not only kept an eye out for potential assassins from the America and Israel, but they else kept a watchful eye on Alex himself. After all, there were, of course, still fears that he was a spy sent from the enemies of Iran to sabotage their efforts.
Things were different now, though. Not only had Iran built its first nuclear weapons, making it officially on the list of countries that should not be fucked with. But they were currently developing a nuclear reactor, with the information provided by Alex, on how to construct such a thing.
The hopes were to give Iran relatively clean and efficient energy within the next ten to twenty years. Swapping over from their current power plants to primarily nuclear energy within that time frame. Unlike the United States, which rather foolishly avoided investment and construction of nuclear power plants. Iran was all for it.
The reason the United States had failed to properly capitalize on such an advanced technology was largely because of the Soviet Union and their massive level of incompetency that had led to incidents like Chernobyl decades ago.
These fears, which were totally a moot point as modern molten salt reactors were completely safe, were compounded with protests from environmentalists. Who were, of course, every bit as stupid as the people paranoid about another disaster like Chernobyl.
After all, modern fission reactors such as molten salt reactors produced far less radioactive by products than their previous iterations. Not only that, but the ability to dispose of nuclear waste was now completely secure, and had no effect on the local environment.
After all, Nuclear Fusion was even safer than Molten Salt Reactors, and produced even less harmful byproducts if any at all. It was the future humanity would have achieved already if not for the folly of man.
But just because Iran now had access to modern fission technology, did not mean they were anywhere close to producing fusion. Even in the west’s currently crippled state of development into Nuclear Fusion technology, they would still create the world’s first functional fusion reactors before Iran ever came close to it.
Anyway, the point of this little tirade was that Alex had brought significant change to the relatively isolated theocracy within the Middle East, changes that would without a doubt increase its prosperity in the near future. And despite the fact that it was still months or perhaps even years away from constructing its first molten salt reactor, the streets of Tehran were already reflecting the winds of change.
People on the streets were more cheerful than they had been in the past, and perhaps even more patriotic, as those who bought into the propaganda saw this as the inevitable end result of Iran’s efforts to resist against America and its alleged Zionist masters.
And none of them knew that the man responsible for this change was walking peacefully on the streets among them. As Alex walked by a local coffee shop, he saw a propaganda poster of his alias, Omar Assad. It was a well-drawn picture that displayed his portrait with a series of ICBMs in the background pointed towards none other than the United States.
Alex didn’t necessarily know how to feel about this. After all, he was in fact American by birth, and had been raised there for most of his life. But the American Government had also tried to kill him, and at least one of his loved ones. Because of this, he really felt no sympathy for the Government of the United States. But such weapons would harm more than those bastards in Langley who tried to have him killed.
Still, there was nothing Alex could about the propaganda that Iran used, thus he went back to the hotel with a dejected expression on his face. One which did not disappear even as he reverted back to his original appearance.
Luckily for him, his expression and mood suddenly changed when he received a message from Jasmine saying that she was off work and waiting for him in the lobby of the hotel. Thus, Alex sent her a message back stating that he was going to take a quick shower and meet her below.
Which is exactly what Alex did, where he then styled his hair perfectly before dressing in his nicest suit. Once he had done this, he took the elevator down to the first floor of the hotel, where he saw the beautiful woman waiting for him.
She had changed into something nice, and was sitting there with a handbag made of the finest leather. It appeared to be a local production. Alex was, of course, stunned by the heroine’s exceptional appearance as he approached her and said hello in a slight jest.
“Well, don’t you look lovely tonight? What’s the special occasion?”
Jasmine played along with Alex’s statement and acted as if the two of them weren’t going out together.
“Oh, I’m just going out with a guy I like. Just don’t tell my father. He would be furious, especially if he knew the man was a foreigner. Let alone a westerner at that.”
Alex chuckled when he heard this, and took the woman’s arm as he escorted her out of the building and into the limousine he had called for the two of them, one that was waiting since he first got in the shower.
The moment Jasmine saw the expensive ride she did not react the way Alex thought she would. A lot of women went crazy for a ride in a limosuine, well those who were of poorer backgrounds. But to Jasmine she appeared as if this was only natural considering the occassion.
Alex didn’t know if the woman had been on many dates before, or if she came from a wealthy background. But if she came from a wealthy background, then why was she working as a receptionist at a hotel?
Evidently, Jasmine saw the confusion on his face and was quick to comment on it with a condenscending tone in her voice.
“What’s the matter Sterling? Did you expect me to freak out at the sight of a mere limousine? That’s adorable…”
Sterling was the alias Alex went by when he first signed up at the hotel during his previous visit. It was, of course, his middle name, one that he only went by to avoid detection from unwanted eyes. He also went by his mother’s maiden name. Which, interestingly enough, made his alias the same name as the main character of a popular cartoon series meant for adults.
As if channeling the energy of said cartoon character, Alex feigned offense as he opened the car door for the girl.
“Adorable? Sterling Archer is anything but adorable!”
This remark only further made the woman laugh as she sat down in the exceptionally large seat, which was more of a booth than anything. Because Iran was a dry country, Alex sighed heavily when he realized there was no booze in the limousine like would be present in an American one.
Considering the severe punishments for drinking in Iran, if one were caught doing so, Alex had not bothered trying to smuggle in alcohol. Instead, he simply waited patiently for the limousine to escort him to the restaurant he had chosen for his date with Jasmine.
While the car drove through the city’s streets, Jasmine finally revealed that she knew Alex was lying about his name, as she pulled out her phone and revealed an interesting photo.
“So… Mr. Archer was it? Do you mind telling me why you look exactly like this American athlete named Alex Smith?”
Alex was stunned that the woman had found out his identity, and felt like he was somehow walking into a trap because of it. He tried to deny he was the same person, but Jasmine simply frowned when he did.
“Huh? I’ll be damned, I have a twin… You know they say that is more frequent than you might think….”
Yet Jasmine quickly called Alex by his name, seemingly upset by the fact that not only had he lied to her, but he refused to admit the truth.
“Alex… Are you really going to pretend like this, aren’t you? He even has the same voice!”
Jasmine then played the clip of Alex talking on Jack Logan’s podcast insulting women, specifically feminists. She then played another clip of him proposing to his many women, which went viral a long time ago.
Alex had no choice but to admit defeat now, as he confirmed the truth.
“Alright fine… You got me… Do you want me to apologize? Because that’s not going to happen. I had good reasons why I faked my name…”
Jasmine narrowed her eyes at Alex. Though she had confirmed Alex was indeed a billionaire playboy, who had a sick sense of bloodlust that appeared to control him. In other words, the type of man she despised most in this world, she still wanted to hear Alex’s excuse, if not just so he could dig himself deeper into the pit of her hatred.
“Oh really? And what excuse would that be? Is it the fact that it makes it easier to pick up chicks when they don’t realize what a disgusting, hedonistic creep you are?”
Alex simply chuckled when he heard this, before responding to Jasmine’s words with an unusually confident tone in his voice.
“You’d be surprised how many women are okay with that… No, I disguised myself because I have the same enemies that your leaders in this country do. When I was in Mexico, I accidentally made an enemy out of the United States, or more specifically, the people who really run the country from behind the scenes. They tried to have me killed, and they tried to kill someone I care about.
So naturally when I was in a country which they consider to be the enemy, I needed to make sure to hide my tracks as much as possible. I never meant to trick you. I simply need to be careful when I’m here in Tehran. That’s all…”
Jasmine narrowed her eyes in further as she asked Alex for clarification on one last issue before she made up her mind about him.
“So… The rumors are true, you’re involved with the Cartel?”
Alex was quick to deny this, as officially he was no longer involved with the cartel, and he was quick to try to explain his actions in a manner that made him look as good as possible. Not that one could really end up looking good when they were literally hired as a hitman for the cartel.
“No, I mean not anymore… Los Zetas got me out of a bad situation and demanded I pay the debt with my blood, sweat, and tears, rather than with cash. So I was forced to do some odd jobs for them here and there, at least for a while. But once I fulfilled the debt I owed them, I was let off my leash, and I have had nothing to do with them since.”
While the first part of this was technically true, the last part was a complete and utter fabrication. After all, not only was Alex now romantically and sexually involved with the Illinois Drug Queen known as La Madre. But after their night together, Alex made the woman fully submit to him, turning him into the last surviving and all powerful Mexican drug cartel’s shadow king.
But only he and Selena knew this detail, and Alex never planned to reveal this to anyone. Hell, now that he thought about it, after conquering Jasmine, he should take a brief detour back to Mexico to fully conquer La Madre so that she was absolutely loyal to him the same way the other girls in his harem were who he had maxed out affections with.
However, As Alex was reflecting on this, Jasmine had come to her decision. One which Alex did not realize yet, but would have serious consequences on this arc of his.
“Alright… I understand…”
It was only now that Alex realized the car was coming to a stop. Believing that the woman was about to exit the vehicle, Alex tried to stop her.
“Come on Jasmine, are you seriously that angry with me?”
But just as Alex was about to ask the woman not to leave, the doors to the vehicle opened, and Alex was pulled out of the car by several men. He did not know what happened next, because a sack was placed over his head, where he was immediately struck on the back of the skull with a blunt object and knocked out cold.
When he woke up, Alex would find himself in the clutches of Iranian Intelligence. Who wanted to question how this American had gotten into their country without proper authorization to do so.