“You look so good,” Jack said and gave her a bear hug. When he hugged her goodbye three months ago, she was frail and he was afraid he might hurt her if he hugged her too hard. Now, she felt strong beneath his embrace. Finally, he let go of her and held her out at arm’s length. “Vy chudesno vyglyadite,” he said in Russian and then repeated in English. “You look wonderful.”
“Thank you,” Penny said quietly as she blushed and looked down. Jack was shocked at the simple phrase she spoke. It was the first time he ever heard her easily take a compliment. He felt his eyes mist up a bit and he slipped on his sunglasses.
“I have another surprise,” he said and stepped to the side. He motioned towards Ellie who was still sitting on the bench. She had stopped rocking and was nervously fidgeting with the bouquet and her book.
“Ellie…,” Penny whispered and quickly looked at Jack. Her eyes shined with tears. “Thank you,” she said and rushed over to the bench where she sat and then hugged Ellie. “I have missed you so much, my sweet Ellie.”
“Ellie miss her Nee-Nee. Ellie have her Nee-Nee now.”
“You are more beautiful now than three months ago,” Penny said and kissed her forehead.
“Nee-Nee promise Ellie never go away again.” Ellie looked up at Penny. Tears were falling down her face.
“I promise, my sweet Ellie,” Penny said, her voice choking up a bit. “I promise never to go away again.”
Sadly, it was Ellie who ended up going away just three months later.
Chapter 14
Jack wiped away the tear that fell when he remembered his beautiful daughter. Ellie and Penny were so close and her death was hard on Penny; so hard she was unable to talk to Jack about her for a very long time. All the kids took Ellie’s death hard and he felt sad Little Sofie, not even two years old yet at the time of her sister’s death, could not remember her wonderful big sister.
With a sigh, he looked down to check on Penny. She was curled up on her side, her eyes open. Moving his sadness aside, Jack smiled at her.
“You had a good and uninterrupted nap,” he said and sat next to her. She stretched a little and then attempted to sit up but Jack had to help her. Penny was still weak. She leaned back against the wall. “Are you feeling okay?” he asked her and touched her cheek. Although she was cool to the touch, Jack knew something was up with his best friend. Penny shook her head. “You indicate no but I know you,” he prodded. Her face crinkled in concern and she looked around.
“Camera,” she whispered.
“Yes, there is a camera.” Jack thought about the subject and what she had been through and an idea popped into his head. “Are you afraid to talk?” he asked her in blunt words. She looked surprised by his question and tucked her arms closer to her body and dropped her eyes. Jack scooted around so he could put his good arm around her shoulders. He dropped his voice as low as possible. “Are you afraid to talk or is it just the difficulties because of the drugs?” Penny straightened herself up but she looked a little unsure of herself, as if she was trying to show Jack that she was strong. He had no doubt that her incredible strength was slowly returning, she just needed time. “It is okay to tell me, Penelope. I just want to understand and see if there is anything I can do to help you.”
“It’s so hard,” she said, her voice low. Just those few words took effort but she didn’t stop trying. “When she drugs me,” she continued, closing her eyes. “My head is not right. It scares me. It’s not normal for me. I’m afraid of what else they will do.” Penny looked at Jack. Her face was set in a cross between vulnerability and determination. Jack had seen both faces on Penny but never at the same time. “You… You say I am strong but it’s so hard. I try, I try. I do.”
“You have been through a lot the last few weeks and it is not fair they continue to hurt you but your speech is getting better.” She looked up at Jack. Her brown eyes were now wide and tear-rimmed.
“My words,” she whispered, “caused pain…” She stopped and motioned at him with her bound hands. “Afraid I’ll hurt you again.”
“Moy prekrasnyy drug,” Jack said and touched her cheek. “Do not worry about your words. Okay?” He wanted to make sure she wasn’t afraid to talk. He needed to help her get better and he didn’t think he could do that if she was afraid of saying anything.
“Okay,” she said. Jack smiled at her and kissed her forehead. He heard her stomach growl.
“You are hungry,” he noted and she giggled lightly and nodded. “We have some food and it is time for me to play doctor.”
“Doctor?” she questioned and Jack explained how Vivienne left him in charge of keeping track of Penny’s vitals.
“How do you feel right now?” he asked.
“A little weak,” she answered.
“Do you have any chest pain?” She shook her head. “That is good,” he replied. “Make sure you tell me if you have chest pain. She left medication for that. Promise?”
“Promise,” she said and gave him a small smile. Her cheeks then blushed and she dropped her gaze. “I… I need to pee.” Jack pulled the top bucket off the stack and set it on the ground. It was difficult for Penny to use the bucket; her knees were too damaged for the crouched position and it was necessary for Jack to hold her up. The task was completed, however, and he settled her back down on the mat. Penny was winded. When he felt her pulse in her neck, it was racing and irregular. Just the simple act of relieving herself was almost too much. Her wheezing was loud and she took two puffs from the inhaler.
“Better?” Jack asked her and she nodded.
“It scares me,” Penny said, bending her arms down enough so she could touch her heart. She was being honest and he felt he needed to be honest in return.
“It scares me also, Penelope.” Jack placed one hand over hers that was touching her heart and touched her cheek with the other. “Let us do what we can. You rest as much as possible and I will take your vitals as instructed by Vivienne. You are being allowed medication that is to help you and I will make sure to give it to you. I know you wake up confused sometimes so do not worry about trying to remember when to take the pills. Your job is to rest. Got it?” She nodded.
He picked up the Ziploc bag that held all the things he needed to play doctor. Jack was surprised he was a little nervous as he slid the blood pressure cuff around her wrist and told her to hold it against her chest. The meter was simple to use and as it inflated and beeped, Jack pulled out a small travel clock from the bag. It was needed to remind him when he needed to check on her. There was also a small pen light to use when it was dark.
The nerves he felt weren’t for the simple tasks he was required to do. No, his nerves were because if something happened to her and she needed more help than he could provide, they were stuck. Vivienne would be gone and who knew if Crystal was watching them and if she was, would she even care enough about them to help? He knew the answer to that was a most definite NO, at least when it came to Penny. The fear Penny could die hit him hard but he kept that fear quiet. Penny didn’t need to know her condition stressed him.
For the first time in over five months, he had to write and he sadly chuckled at how messy his penmanship was as he noted her blood pressure – a little high – and her pulse – fast and irregular. Her oxygen level was on the low side of acceptable so there was no need to hook her up to the oxygen. Jack filled their cup with water and he doled out their medication; two pills for Penny and one for him. He was off the medication that helped heal the ulcer – his stomach felt better – and was now just on the maintenance medication he had been taking for over half his life.
“Now for something to eat,” he said and pulled their options from the box. “We can choose what to eat but we must make what they have given us last for a we
ek.”
“A week?” she questioned and Jack remembered she had been asleep when William explained what was going on. Jack filled her in and noted the worried look on her face. She said nothing but he wondered if she had the same worry as him. They were locked in a small room somewhere in a mountainous region and if their tormentors did not come back, Jack and Penny would be in a very grave situation. He wanted to move both of their thoughts away from that and focused on their food. He laid out the Ziploc bag of bread, the container of peanut butter, a protein bar, and a can of hash.
“It is a little after one in the afternoon,” he said, noting the time on the travel clock. “So we could have a peanut butter sandwich and protein bar for lunch and the hash for dinner,” he suggested. “And we have some milk powder also.”
“We can choose for the first time,” Penny noted, then scrunched her eyes shut. “How long have we been here?” Jack was a little confused.
“How long have we been in this tiny room or how long have we been captives?”
“Captives.”
“I think it is almost the end of May so we are coming close to being here for six months.” Both Penny and Jack frowned. There was just nothing more to say about that.
“Sandwich now,” she suggested. “Bar snack. Hash dinner.”
“Sounds like a good plan, Penny,” Jack replied and he felt a little tension ease in his body as Penny looked proud of herself for the suggestion.
“First, a doctor. Now, I play chef,” he joked and pulled two slices of white bread out of the bag. They were a little stale but Jack didn’t mind as the saying beggars cannot be choosers popped into his mind.
“Der’mo,” he muttered.
“What’s wrong?” Penny asked.
“There is no knife,” he answered and crawled over to the water tap and washed his hands thoroughly. “So I use my finger. Problem solved, no?” he chuckled and returned to Penny. She had picked up the container holding the peanut butter and struggled to open it. Between the damage to her hands and shoulders, the fact she was handcuffed, and probably overall weakness, she could not do it.
“I will get it,” Jack said nonchalantly.
“I should do,” Penny said. “My job.”
“We have not had this argument in a while,” he replied. “But it is time I took care of you. No arguments,” he added when she went to say something else. “I take care of you now, okay?” After a couple moments, she nodded and looked down at her nearly useless, bound hands. “I am so sorry for what you have been through. Never could I have imagined Crystal was capable of this. I do not know if you remember telling me not to feel guilty because I asked you to drive me back home but after learning Crystal is responsible and then she was okay with what that bastard…” His voice broke and he turned his head away from her. Jack couldn’t go on out of fear of breaking down in front of her. He felt Penny take his hands between her clenched ones and lightly press hers together. It was her version of a hand squeeze. It meant a lot to him.
“I’m not blaming you,” she said. “Blame Crystal. Remember, Jack.” He felt another squeeze and he dared to look at her. “Not your fault.”
“Thank you,” he said quietly. It was Jack’s turn to announce hunger.
“Play chef,” she said and folded her arms back up in front of her. Jack opened the container and eyeballed 1/7th of the amount and then halved that. Using his finger, he messily smeared two pieces of bread. As always, Jack’s first instinct was to gobble the food down but he forced himself to nibble his piece of bread just like Penny was doing when he held her sandwich to her lips. He used the instructions written on the bag of powdered milk to mix up a cup he and Penny shared. And that was their lunch.
Jack cleaned up. Actually, there really wasn’t anything to clean up, just put their food stores back in the box and rinse out their cup. Jack made Penny drink a cup of water and then he did the same since they had not drunk very much that day. Penny was tired after lunch even with the nap they both took and he helped her lay back down. She grimaced as it took a couple minutes to find a position that didn’t irritate all her injuries. He set the little travel alarm clock for six hours and stretched out next to Penny. She scooted closer to him and he stretched his right arm out so they both could use it as a pillow.
There was a pretty good breeze blowing in through the open window and although it was nice to have the fresh air, the air was chilly. Penny shivered and Jack pulled her even closer. His mind thought of the night. They would have no choice but to use the pissy blanket and he realized it was probably William or Crystal who ordered someone to piss on it just for the torture and humiliation factor. He calculated the time. If he ran the blanket under the water now to remove the offending odor and then somehow managed to hang the blanket in front of the window, there might be just enough time for it to dry.
“I will be right back,” he said and carefully moved away from Penny. Picking up the blanket – and trying to breathe through his mouth – he spent a good fifteen to twenty minutes running the olive green blanket under the tap and rinsing it out. He ended up soaking himself and a good portion of their space and riled up his painful arm but afterwards, when he smelled the wet fabric, he could barely smell any urine and even thought what he could smell was from their own piss bucket.
There were two hooks on either side of the window and after putting a lot of effort into pushing the fabric against the hooks, he made a big enough hole to hang the blanket. It covered their window which took most of their light away but since they were settling down for a nap, he didn’t think it was going to be a problem. The blanket moved a bit in the breeze and satisfied he had been able to make their intolerable situation a little better, he lay back down and pulled Penny closer.
“Good job,” she said and kissed him on the cheek.
Chapter 15
Jack felt some of his Penny tension ease a little. The relocation to the cinderblock building seemed to help with her nightmares. In those first couple of days, Penny was able to sleep often without being interrupted by the horrible nightmares. When she was interrupted by bad dreams, they weren’t on the same level as the ones that affected her heart back at the bungalow. Jack also felt better she only had one episode of chest pain that needed the nitroglycerin and oxygen. It was still a scary moment as he worried about what would happen if Penny needed more advanced medical attention.
He, however, was not doing so great. The withdrawal from the heroin was terrible, leaving Jack shaky and dry heaving. Penny tried to help him through the worst moments and he was actually glad she was there to try and take his mind off of the cravings that now inundated him. There were several times where he looked at the vial in the medication bag. A voice inside of him would then start talking. Just a small hit will make you feel so much better. This voice worried him. It was his own strashnyi golos.
He was also worried something would happen to William and his team to keep them from returning. And then he worried about the poor soul who was their next target. This actually frightened him a bit at the unnecessary reminder of what William and the others did for a living. He wondered if there were other people like them operating in America and realized there probably were. His parents would be so disappointed. They had taken the risk to escape the Iron Curtain to keep Jack and Danny from this sort of horror in the Soviet Union. It was prevalent there, especially in the closed city where they lived. Most of the time the kidnappings and sudden deaths were government sponsored, of course, but Jack remembered hearing about people just vanishing and not even the local KGB agents knew why or where they went. Not that they talked shop with regular folks often but on occasion, there would be a sympathetic one you could almost trust.
And then he realized he was one of those people too.
On a June
night, Jack’s mother went out and did not come back. He was worried and when he talked to his father, he said everything would be okay and the next night, Jack would be leaving also. Do not worry, my son, we will be all together again, God willing. On that second night, Jack’s father gave him very specific instructions and directions. Those directions were written on a piece of paper and Jack had to memorize them. It was too risky for him to have them on his person if he was stopped. For two hours, Papa helped him remember the streets and landmarks to look for and when it was okay to begin running as fast as possible to the house in the country. Mama will be there. Daniil and I will come tomorrow night.
Where are we going, Papa?
To America. If God watches over us, you will have your bar mitzvah in freedom next year. You are almost twelve, Ivan, but you are so wise. In a year you will be considered an adult but to me, I see one in you already. That is why you are going alone tonight. Daniil is too young so I must travel with him. God will be with you but I also have faith in you. I must ask a terrible favor of you, however. Should you be stopped, you must not tell them where you are going. They must not suspect what is going on.
An hour later, when it was dark and past curfew, Jack began his journey. He was frightened but knew his parents wouldn’t put him or Danny at such a risk if they didn’t think the defection would be successful. Jack followed all directions and instructions and crept away from the city in the shadows. He arrived at a small house close to the wall that ringed the city, went down a few stairs, and entered the basement. Jack felt like a burglar entering someone else’s house without permission. Just as Papa said, he heard music coming from upstairs. The people who lived in the house knew what was going on but Jack was told not to bother them or make any sound. He found the hole in the wall behind a stack of old furniture and crawled through a long tunnel that finally ended at a ladder. When he climbed it, he found himself in a jumble of scratchy bushes.
Aftermath (The Deceptions Trilogy Book 2) Page 18
