Deceptions

by Dana Mansfield

  Millie’s thoughts landed on Crystal and she swore she felt her blood pressure rise. It had been all about her in those days after the disappearance and Millie was so angry Crystal allowed media member after media member into the house to interview her and the children. Jack always shielded the kids from the media, with the exception of the Oprah interview, and Millie was livid with Crystal for breaking the unwritten rule. Danny and Millie fought her about this but Crystal threatened to kick them out of the house and go to court for a restraining order. The siblings were scared she would do this and so they begrudgingly stood silent as the interviews and photo shoots continued.

  When Crystal wasn’t putting on a show, she holed herself up in Jack’s bedroom or in his study. Then, on the day she announced she was going back to Atlantic City, she smashed the glass on the bookcase and riffled through his journals, taking several with her. The FBI had already been through them. Millie knew where Jack kept the key and Agents McLey and Reynolds spent two days skimming them. Those journals were so important to Jack and it bothered Millie a lot that Crystal had some of them. It was as if another family had been broken apart.

  She wanted to blame Crystal for the kidnapping but Millie had to admit there was no way her sister-in-law could pull something like this off. And why? Jack was worth more to her free where he was earning money by being the lead singer of the Ivy Brothers.

  Millie hoped with Agents McLey and Reynolds now in charge, Jack and Penny would be found and soon. So far, there had been no clues or credible tips. The burned out Suburban yielded nothing and although both Penny and Jack’s cellphones were found, they were destroyed beyond any help. No one had any idea what happened but at least they knew Jack was still alive.

  His appearance in the video was awful and it was apparent he was not being treated well. Then came the video of the beating and Millie’s worry for her brother managed to climb even higher. Those who beat him did quite the number; there had been blood which was so hard for her to see. Who was behind this?

  And Penny, was she even alive?

  * * *

  Chapter 13

  Jack was careful as he brought the protein shake to his lips for a sip. It was bland and chalky but he had to focus and not chug it down. He made that mistake with his first bottle and vomited it into one of the piss buckets. He had been so hungry at the site of something other than water and despite Vivienne warning him, he did not heed her advice to drink it slowly. She gave Jack a second bottle and he promised to sip it. He had to; if he vomited this one up they would take Penny’s shake away and she so desperately needed it.

  Another reason why he had to be careful was because he didn’t want to dislodge the simple IV Vivienne started in his hand. A bag of fluids hung on a nail above him and next to his was one for Penny along with a second smaller bag delivering antibiotics to her.

  They’d been receiving the fluids for twenty-four hours and would get them for another twenty-four. They were still in the chilly cell but a lumpy mattress was brought in for them along with an old blanket. The piss buckets were emptied and Jack and Penny received more water. Vivienne gave Jack ibuprofen for the pain from the beating and she attended to Penny’s swollen and burned hands. Not much could be done to the broken bones and Vivienne refused to splint the broken wrist. Vivienne cleaned the wounds and wrapped them up in white gauze including her raw wrists. Penny was in a lot of pain but had to choose between pain medication and antibiotics for the UTI. Jack was angry about this but it was the Employer who demanded the choice and Jack was afraid if he complained too much, there would be no choice and the infection would do irreparable harm.

  The burns not just caused physical harm to Penny but they caused mental and emotional harm. It wasn’t just the torture but the fact that for now, she had lost the use of her hands and Jack had to continue helping her with her most private needs. He did not complain nor hesitate but Penny was so humiliated that she broke down and cried in front of him. Exhaustion hit her hard afterwards and she’d been asleep since.

  She lay on her back, tucked beneath the ragged blanket. He’d rebraided her hair and coiled it next to her head and her wrapped hands lay limp next to her. There was a slight shiver to her; the antibiotic had not begun to work yet so her fever was still high. Even though their orientation was over, he was still scared Penny would not survive it. With her anorexia raging before the kidnapping and two more weeks of full starvation and the torture of being strung up, she was at a severe disadvantage. He wanted to do everything he could to make sure she survived this hell. Jack needed to protect her. She had no family other than an estranged half-sister and stepmother. Jack, and his own family and bandmates, we’re her only family. Plus, he had deep feelings for her and he wanted to have a chance to explore them.

  Even on the day they met, he felt like he needed to protect her. When she explained where her studio apartment was, he knew exactly which building she was talking about. Jack had looked at an apartment in the building but the sketchy neighborhood worried him and he chose to spend the extra hundred bucks a month on an apartment in a better neighborhood. He needed his family to be safe and on that day, he needed his new friend to be safe so he insisted on walking her back to her apartment once the rain stopped.

  Even in the many shared classes at Princeton, he protected her. She was smart, smarter than he even was, but she often hid her intellect due to her shyness. When it did come out in a class discussion, some of their more zealous classmates jumped on what she said even if she was spot on in her argument. Jack thought they did that because they were jealous they hadn’t thought the point up first and he hated when she took the intellectual abuse. He always came to her defense which didn’t endear him to their classmates. He didn’t care, however. He wasn’t in college to party and make friends. He had all the friends he needed in his brother and bandmates. And, of course, Penny. Jack had a family to take care of and a promise to his parents to fulfill. That promise was to make sure he and Danny, and eventually Millie, earned their college diplomas.

  Penny had a vulnerability that came across in her eyes and in her demeanor. It wasn’t that she was helpless but she needed protecting from herself. Jack knew when her vulnerability was high she was unable to see the harm she was doing. She could not see sometimes how unhealthy her anorexia was and although she knew her relationship with Shane was dangerous, she could not pull herself out of it. Jack should have been more forceful in protecting her from Shane. But that was in the past and now he would do what he could to protect her in this situation. Despite her sleeping, he wanted to wake her to get water into her along with some of the shake.

  “Penelope,” he called gently and touched her cheek. There was no response from her for several moments so he called her name again. Her eyes were slow to open. “I am sorry to wake you but they brought more water and a protein shake. Are you up for some?” Penny blinked her eyes several times and nodded. Jack helped her sit up. Even though her movements were slow, her bandaged hand went to her injured ribs. She then hunched forward a bit while clutching her abdomen. Penny was in pain and Jack hated to see her that way.

  After a few moments, she leaned back against the brick wall.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, looking emotionally uncomfortable.

  “Sorry? Sorry for what?” He tried to hold the bottle of water to her lips but she stopped him.

  “I’m the assistant. I should be taking care of you.” She tried to pick up his shake but this was impossible due to her damaged hands.

  “No, Penny,” he said. Jack knew where she was going. They’d done this before for the first few weeks after the accident. “I do not need a personal assistant.” Penny’s face fell and tears rimmed her eyes.

  “Are you firing me?”

  “No, Penny, not at all. I would be a silly man to do that but in this situation and especially with you being so sick and injured, I do not need an assistant. It is time to let me take care of you.” She shook her head.

  “I’m f
ine,” she insisted.

  “Penny, no you are not. I know that you do not like to have others do for you but you are very sick. You are running a fever, you are still dehydrated and you have a bad infection.” Very gently, he picked up one of her bandaged hands. She grimaced. “You need my help.” Penny tipped her head forward. Jack heard her pained sobbing and carefully wrapped his arms around her. Feeling her in his arms brought him great comfort even though he was worried. “Please let me take care of you for once.” She said nothing in response but didn’t stop him from bringing the water bottle to her dried lips.

  For the next many minutes, he alternated water and the shake for her to sip. Slow and steady is what he had to keep reminding himself of and was the approach he took with Penny for the next day. Her fever broke and they both felt a little better. The anticipation of bathing also helped them and when it was time to be allowed this luxury, Jack could not wait to get out of the nasty clothes he’d been wearing for two and a half weeks. He was also desperate to brush his teeth.

  “You will be moved to a bedroom upstairs,” William explained as he and the others came for them. “You will be allowed to bathe and given clean clothes. Don’t try anything, however. Remember, Penny’s fate is always quite fluid.” Anger bubbled up within Jack but he knew better than to act on it. Penny stared at the floor. “Let’s get a move on,” ordered William and on shaky legs, Jack followed a very slow Penny out of the cell.

  Up the steep stairs they went and through the kitchen. Jack tried to take in as much as possible and it was weird the house they were being held in was just so ordinary and stylistically outdated. Through the kitchen was a combination dining room and living room with several windows looking out on the snow-covered driveway and one of the black Hummers. The carpeting beneath Jack’s feet was shag and the television sitting in one corner of the room wore rabbit ears. Just off of the dining area was a small hallway with three doors and a set of built-in cupboards.

  Through the doorway on his right, Jack saw a floral bedroom with an antique bedroom set. Two doors were on his left but one was shut. The other one led to a bathroom with lime green and gold glitter linoleum and Pepto-Bismol pink walls. There was a window but it was frosted over for privacy. Another door, closed, sat opposite the one they were led through.

  “When you are finished, knock on that door,” William instructed and motioned towards the closed door. “You’re not being timed but we will know if you’re lollygagging around.” This time he motioned up at a camera in the corner. “Leave your filthy clothing in the garbage and you’ll find clean clothes in the top of the dresser.” And with that, William left.

  The first thing Jack did after the door shut was go to the window and try and open it.

  “What are you doing?” Penny asked as she sat down on the closed toilet. “We have no shoes, no idea where we’re being held, and they have guns.”

  “I have to try,” he replied but found the window was locked tight. The top part of the window was clear and he stood on his tiptoes to look out. “It almost looks like a farm. There is an old barn, chicken coop, and other outbuildings. Lots of woods and snow,” he described and turned back to Penny. She was hunched over and her face tight. “How are you doing?” he asked and crouched down in front of her.

  “It still hurts,” she said. Although the fever broke, the UTI was not gone and it still pained her to urinate. “A continuous sharp throbbing.”

  “Hopefully, they will give you more antibiotics,” he said and she nodded. “And maybe getting these stinky clothes off along with the grime will help also.”

  “That is a definite for sure. You go first, okay?” she said. Jack wanted to argue with her but she didn’t need that.

  “Okay and thank you.” He turned to look at his bathing options. There was only one and that was a bath as the tub had no shower. He turned the tap on and almost cried when he felt hot water run over his icy fingers. There was a bottle of liquid soap and he added a few squirts to the tub for bubbles. The last time he had a bubble bath was several years ago when he shared one with Crystal. Crystal. In their two and a half weeks of captivity, he hardly thought of her.

  Jack shoved that aside and focused on removing his disgusting clothes. Penny had turned to stare at the wall next to her to give him privacy, at least from her. Although they had been intimate at the cabin, that didn’t mean they were comfortable being naked in front of each other. He flicked his eyes up at the camera in the corner and turned his back to it. He wasn’t a prude but this forced lack of privacy bothered him and he knew it bothered Penny even more. He dropped his smelly clothes into the small garbage can under the sink and eased his stiff body into the hot water. He couldn’t help but sigh at how good it felt after two and a half weeks of cold and sleeping on a cement floor.

  He gave himself a few minutes to enjoy the feeling before de-griming himself. When he finished and wrapped a towel around his waist, he felt reinvigorated. Jack pulled the plug in the tub and as soon as it was empty, he started filling it back up for Penny. He snuck a peek at her. She was staring at the tub with such a pained look on her face. It wasn’t a look of physical pain but an emotional one as her gaze dropped down at her bandaged hands. He would need to bathe her.

  Jack found supplies to take care of her hands and since Vivienne had not changed the dressings, he would need to do so. He didn’t care; he would always be willing to take care of Penny even though she would be hesitant to accept his help. Even after the accident, she did as much as she could which often impeded her healing. Only a few times had she been willing to let him help her and even then, it was a massive struggle and once, Jack had not given her a choice for her own good.

  But now wasn’t the time for memories and he attacked his beard using supplies sitting on the sink. Within a few minutes, he was clean shaven and he felt even better. A little stubble he could handle but he didn’t like anything longer. He was not a beard man.

  “Ready?” he asked.

  “Okay,” she replied uncomfortably and he helped her to her feet. Jack was unzipping her gray hoodie when the door to the bathroom opened. It was William and he carried a small black case.

  “The hair comes off, too,” he said and handed the black case over to Jack. “Both of you. It just gets in the way and on occasion, our guests pick up a few critters which I personally want to keep away from me.” He then handed Jack a pair of sharp-looking shears. “A non-negotiable so make no fuss.” William left the bathroom and locked them in again.

  “Fuck,” Jack said. “This is stupid.”

  “Jack!” Penny said nervously and looked up at the camera as she sat back down on the closed toilet. He grumbled a few Russian swear words and within ten minutes, his brown hair was gone. It was so odd to see himself without hair and it was a little déjà vu. Both his maternal grandparents were survivors of Auschwitz and tucked away in his study was a small photo album handed down to him. In it was a picture of his grandfather taken just a few days after liberation. Although Jack hadn’t lost as much weight as his grandfather, he was beginning to look eerily similar to him. It made him a little nauseous. He had to turn away from the mirror.

  “You’re so thin,” Penny noted with a shocked look on her face. “And the bruises from the beating… You look awful.” Jack just shrugged. He didn’t know what else to do.

  “At least I do not look like a mountain man anymore,” he responded and knelt next to her. “Ready?” It was the second time he asked her the question and to be honest, he hated asking it. How could anyone be ready for this bizarre hell?

  “Start with the scissors,” she advised.

  “Penelope…,” he tried to talk to her but she shook her head.

  “No fuss, Ivan,” she said. There were tears in her eyes. “I’d rather have you do it than one of them.” Jack’s shoulders slumped. With the shears and a shaking hand, Jack began to cut off the long, chestnut brown hair he always quietly found so beautiful.

  When he was done with the clipp
ers, his stomach wanted to turn itself inside out. She was so thin that the nearly bald hairdo made her look as if she had come from Auschwitz also.

  . . .

  While Jack stood on tiptoe again and looked out the top of the window, I cried in the bathtub. The loss of my long hair brought back immense emotional pain in regards to my father. The situation was weighing on me and I let my tears fall. If Jack noticed, he didn’t say anything and for that, I was grateful. I didn’t like to look weak in front of him.

  Even in this situation you’re just thinking of yourself, the Terrible Voice said.

  I’m sorry, I apologized.

  Apology not accepted. I felt so worthless.

  I scooted down further into the water. The bubbles Jack made were dissolving and I didn’t like that the camera watched us even in our most private moments. I looked over at Jack; I was so worried about him. He typically was muscular but after starving for two weeks, he lost muscle and weight and his ribs were a bit visible. This hell had to stop before it hurt Jack’s health even more.

  The longer I soaked, the cooler the water grew and I knew the time had come. I had to force myself to say my next words.

  “I’m ready,” I said with little emotion. Having Jack not just help me on the toilet but also to bathe was humiliating. I wondered if that was the purpose of having my hands busted and burned. It was apparent whoever the Employer was held a grudge against me and for the first time in this ordeal, I realized whoever it was knew me. When I said that to Jack as he kneeled down, his face showed worried shock.