Aftermath (The Deceptions Trilogy Book 2)

by Dana Mansfield

  Do not worry about the scratches. Run as fast as you can straight across the field. Follow the fence until you see the hidden gate behind an old buggy. Then run again until you come to the small creek. Turn left and run fast again, Ivan. You will have to run for a very long time but you will come to a farm. There will be a farmhouse with two windows, one on either side of the door. If you see a candle in each one, go to the front door and knock but if there are no candles, you must wait near the creek. Find a place along the creek to hide until you see those candles lit. Do not go to the house until you see two candles.

  But Papa, what if the candles never light?

  Then keep hiding until Daniil and I arrive the next night. We will figure out something then.

  When he arrived near the farmhouse, he saw the house was dark. Jack’s fear skyrocketed but he didn’t lose his mind. He ran quick back to the creek bank and found a hiding place. It was just a little below an outcropping but gave him a good view of the house. The bad part about the spot was he had to stand in chilly water. When he could no longer stand it, he would move out of the water and away from the spot until he warmed up a bit and then move back. After the fifth time he had to move out of the cold creek, he saw one of the candles light. Jack almost took off running towards the house but he remembered Papa saying he had to wait until he saw two candles.

  Jack waited in the water until he could no longer feel his feet and his teeth were chattering so hard he was afraid they might break. Other than the babbling of the creek, there were no other night noises and the wind was still. He would look up at the sky and see so many stars and prayed to God he would be able to look at the stars in America. Would they look the same?

  The next time he looked at the house, the second candle was burning. Although he was so cold and couldn’t feel his feet, he ran anyway to the front door. He was out of breath and scared but he knocked. When the door opened, he saw Mama. They both started crying and the hug she gave him nearly robbed him of his breath. After a few moments, she pulled him into the house. A fire burned on the hearth, even though it was June it was still Siberia, and Jack wanted to stand near it to warm up but instead, Mama pulled him towards the middle of the room. There was an older man and woman standing near there and the man pulled back the braided, muted rug. Jack saw a trap door and the man opened it.

  Are we going down another tunnel, Mama?

  No, we will hide down there until Papa and Daniil come.

  It was cold in the cellar but Mama had dry clothes for him and the woman from upstairs brought him hot tea and cake. After the shock of what he had just done, Jack fell deep asleep on a cot and did not wake up until Mama gently shook him awake at lunchtime. He was allowed upstairs to use the bathroom and then they ate simple sandwiches and more tea for lunch. The wait for nighttime was terrible but Mama found a checker set on one of the shelves and they passed the time playing game and after game. He had a thousand questions running through his head, as usual, but he was afraid to ask them. Mama knew him well and quietly talked to him as they played.

  Remember me talking about Leo, the man who taught me how to play the piano?

  Yes, he is in America, no?

  That is right and he is the one helping us escape along with a couple friends of Papa’s when he worked in the laboratory.

  What happens next, Mama?

  Papa and Daniil will come tonight and then in a couple days, we will start the journey to America.

  How long will it take?

  If all goes well, a week.

  Jack didn’t want to go to sleep that night but Mama made him.

  When you wake up, we will all be together.

  But Mama woke Jack up when it was still dark out. There was fear on her face. Through the trap door, he could see Papa and Danny changing out of wet and muddy clothing.

  What is wrong, Mama?

  Nothing, there is just a change in plans. We are leaving now. Quick, gather up those items on the table, put them in that bag. As soon as Daniil is changed, we must go.

  Jack was happy Danny and his father had made it but the bits and pieces of conversation he heard from above worried him. KGB were at the house near the tunnel… We heard three shots… Looking for us… Waited in the water for a very long time…

  Before climbing the ladder upstairs, Mama gathered Jack and Danny. There were tears in her eyes.

  I love you both so much. You are brave, remember that. Ivan, you came here all by yourself and Daniil, Papa said how you were so very quiet. Stay brave for a few more days and then we will be free. We will be in America. Soon we will be able to light the Sabbath candles without fear of being caught.

  The journey out of the Soviet Union was scary. It wasn’t until they were on a small boat did Papa tell Jack where they were.

  We just left the Soviet Union and our next stop is Norway.

  Then where will we go?

  To Denmark and then over to London.

  And then will we go to America?

  Yes, to a place called Atlanta. That is where Leo is.

  Is that where your science friends are?

  No, some are in Florida and work in a place called Cape Canaveral while the others work in Texas and Alabama.

  When they arrived in London, Jack was amazed at how everything was so colorful. They spent two days there. A man, another stranger, gave Papa and Mama fake papers to use. Jack would need to remember his name was not Ivan for the airplane ride. For that trip, he would be Peter.

  Jack and Danny rarely spoke about the defection. Only twice did they speak about the experience publically – once in the piece that accompanied their performance on A Capitol Fourth just a few months before the kidnapping but the first time was for a piece on CBS’s Sunday Morning. It was during their third tour and the Ivy Brothers were going to perform in Moscow. It was the first time Jack and Danny would be returning to their country of birth. When Emerson told them during the planning stages of the tour the band had been asked to play Moscow, both Jack and Danny worried since they had defected. Emerson hadn’t thought about that but after two weeks of talking with the Russian consulate in Washington, D.C., they were assured the trip was okay and nothing would happen to them. It was still a tense trip and Jack’s stomach bothered him greatly for the whole week they were in Moscow. It was the last show of that particular leg of the tour and Jack had never been happier to return home.

  Jack’s parents risked so much to bring him and Danny to a free country away from those horrors of the closed city. But Jack was now an American. A singer and songwriter and occasional actor. More importantly, he was a father. He took his citizenship duties seriously and never missed a chance to vote even if his vote was cast by absentee ballot. Jack questioned, with respect, and taught his children to be aware of the dangers of blind faith. He even said it was okay to question God. This was definitely something he did often in this new and terrible role as kidnapping victim. His kidnapping was not related to pissing the government off or the result of a delusional fan. No, his kidnapping was because of greed on the part of someone he thought he knew.

  He forced his anger away once again as he gently washed the burn wounds. It was the evening of the third day that their kidnappers were gone. Penny was standing at the window, against his wishes, and breathing in the fresh air. When he helped her up, a small group of deer – about seven or eight – had emerged from the woods and they greatly amused Penny. Jack was happy to see a genuine smile on her face. It had not been a good day for her. Her memory was still patchy from waking up and this gave him another worry as to why it was taking so long for her mind to sort out that day. The confusion left her both scared and frustrated but the deer brought on a smile. She would stand until her knees bothered her too muc
h and then sit down for a few minutes to rest. Then she would stand back up and check on the deer.

  Jack used the distraction of the window to focus on his arm. The large wound bothered Penny because he was tortured and that day because of the confusion, she was having a hard time remembering the names of the children. Then her fear would increase when she realized how much physical pain he went through during the burning off of the names and the painfully slow healing process he was going through.

  The burns looked worse now and he grimaced as he gently washed them with the antiseptic soap Vivienne left for this purpose. Jack worried about infection; redness was spreading past the borders of the burns and his whole arm hurt. He wasn’t running a fever – yet – and he hoped that was a good sign.

  He finished spreading the ointment on the burns and then wound the snowy white gauze around and around until they were covered. Penny had sunk back down to her usual place in the corner and he noticed fatigue in her face. It was nap time. He settled Penny and then stretched out next to her.

  “I remember,” she whispered. “Sasha, Ellie, Natalya, Karie, Leo, Annie, Freddy, Little Sofie,” she said softly, without stuttering or effort, and looked up at Jack. “I remembered.” All he could do was nod. He did not trust his voice.

  Chapter 16

  Spring was fighting with winter and some of the nights were darn right cold. Even with the blanket – which Jack acknowledged only to himself was a godsend and could be taken at any time – neither Jack nor Penny slept much as the temperature was just too cold. The bamboo mat they laid on did not provide much protection from the cement floor that soaked up the chill. When the sun rose, it still took a while for the space to warm up as the window faced the west. Despite Penny still sound asleep, it was time for his doctoring duties. He carefully shook her awake.

  “How are you feeling today?” he asked after noting all appropriate numbers and wrapping the blanket around them both. Her blood pressure was much better and heart rate, although still irregular, slower. The cold, however, bothered her lungs and she needed a puff from the inhaler.

  “Tired,” she replied. Jack understood this and wondered how many more frigid nights they were facing before the temperatures evened out. “You?”

  “I am okay.”

  “And your stomach?”

  “Better,” he replied. Jack felt he was over the main withdrawals of the heroin but his stomach was still a little hit and miss. The shakes were less shaky and the itch that had bothered him for the first couple of days was gone. He was still worried, however, as cravings still lurked.

  The days passed slowly. Penny had a couple good days and a couple bad days either with her heart or her memory and was now showing some cognitive problems although her speech was almost back to normal. He wondered if the meds that were left for her had been adulterated and he swore under his breath as the cognitive problems worsened. Jack was patient with Penny, however, especially when she exhibited short term memory problems. He needed to be patient because the problems would cause her to panic which was not good for her heart. Often, she broke down crying and all Jack could do was hold her. What bothered Jack was that Penny realized she was not acting herself. Her frustration level was high.

  The issues allowed Jack’s mind to focus on something other than his arm. The pain was growing worse and his arm was swelling. He knew it was infected but he still hoped the fact he was not running a fever was a good sign. He hid how bad his arm was from Penny; she had enough to worry about.

  Day six of the seven where they were on their own started out bad. A nightmare woke Penny up before the sun rose and then she couldn’t remember where they were.

  “I don’t like the dark,” she cried. From the sound of her voice, she was huddled in the corner by the door. “Please turn on the light.”

  “There is no light, Penny,” he said, keeping his voice calm as he carefully crawled towards her. “Remember?”

  “I… I don’t remember,” she had said and started crying. Jack wrapped his good arm around her and guided her away from their piss buckets and back to the mat. The last thing they needed was for one of them to knock them over. Seven buckets were provided so they used one per day. Five were full now and Jack didn’t want the mess with two days left. The smell was bad enough and he didn’t want that smell to be spread around.

  Jack wrapped the blanket around Penny. She struggled against him, however.

  “Don’t hurt me,” she begged.

  “I am not, Penny. I am just putting the blanket around you. It is cold.” His words only caused her to breakdown again and that’s how the rest of the day went. Even as the day progressed, Penny was all over the place. Her breathing was erratic and she would not cooperate when he needed to take her vitals. When he tried to give her the pills she needed, she was afraid to take them.

  “But she put something in them to hurt me,” she cried and grimaced when she tried to shove his hand away that held the pills. “I don’t want them. I’m worse now,” she said during a moment of clarity. Jack knew the pills were important but he was also convinced they were laced with whatever was harming Penny. He could not conscionably force the medications on her.

  Penny buried her face in her knees. Jack was spent. He didn’t feel good and his peanut butter sandwich wasn’t setting well in his stomach. He put the pills back in their bottles and then rubbed his forehead with his right hand. His nerves were shot not just because it was a bad day for Penny, but because he was worried William and the others would be delayed in their return. They only had enough supplies for seven days.

  Penny would not eat the greasy and cold hash for dinner and although he tried to stomach it, he couldn’t get his half down either. As the sun went down, he stretched out on the mat and carefully lay his burned arm on his abdomen. Penny was still in the corner. It wasn’t until the sun was completely set and they were in total darkness did Penny speak again.

  “I’m sorry, Jack,” she said. “I’m sorry I had such a bad day.” Jack couldn’t be mad at her. They adjusted their positions so Jack could put his good arm around her, tucking his burned one close to his abdomen.

  “You do not need to apologize, Penelope,” he said.

  “I have to. I’m making an already difficult situation even worse.” Her voice was becoming weepy again and Jack didn’t want her to go there.

  “Let us think of something happier,” he suggested. Crickets provided a soundtrack until Penny spoke after a few moments.

  “Ice cream,” she said and Jack let out a happy groan.

  “Of all the food I am missing, ice cream is the one thing I think of the most,” he confessed.

  “Chocolate for you.”

  “And tin roof sundae for you.”

  “Remind me why your family loves ice cream. Help me occupy my mind.” Penny asked.

  “Of course,” he replied. “Do you remember that my mother was a concert pianist?”

  “Yes.”

  “The Soviet Union would send her abroad to perform concerts all over the world. She knew they were using her for their communist agenda and she would be sad while traveling to amazing places. Leo always went with her…”

  “Before he defected,” Penny noted.

  “Yes, that is right. The first time Leo noticed Mama sad they were in Sydney, Australia so he called room service at the hotel they were staying in and ordered a hot fudge sundae. He told her if she was still sad after eating ice cream, then there was nothing that could ever make her happy.”

  “There was no ice cream in Russia? Even for your Mama and being such a star?”

  “There was ice cream but even though Mama would play all sorts of fancy concerts in Moscow, she was never allowed any of the
fancy food. When she was not touring in Russia or other countries, she and her family lived in a very small apartment and were not given anything extra. Mama said once she felt like such a slave,” Jack explained. “But Leo’s trick with the ice cream worked and from that day forward, whenever she could order ice cream while on tour, she did. Then Mama and Papa met and when he proposed to her, he did so with a small bowl of her favorite ice cream.”

  “What kind was her favorite?”

  “She liked vanilla so she could ‘fancy it up,’ as she used to say. Even though he was a scientist, Papa could not afford an engagement ring so he thought ice cream would be the next best thing although he admitted finding a diamond ring might have been easier to find than ice cream. Mama always joked with Papa that if he would have proposed without the ice cream, she would have said no.” They both laughed and Jack gave Penny a squeeze. “They had to keep their engagement secret at first because of who they both were in their respective careers but it was very hard to keep anything secret when you are constantly being watched and when the government officials who managed both Mama and Papa found out about the engagement, they were very angry and tried to keep them apart. Mama and Papa snuck off and got married but the KGB had followed them and as soon as they came out of the building after the civil ceremony, they were arrested and sentenced to Siberia. They were given just a half an hour to pack before they were sent east.

  “Of course in the closed city there was barely enough basics so ice cream was unheard of. Mama said when it was decided the family would defect, she told Papa the first thing her sons would eat on American soil would be ice cream because she wanted to make sure we felt safe and happy after the danger of sneaking out of the Soviet Union. The first thing we did right after leaving the airport in Atlanta was to go to an ice cream shop and as they say, the rest is history.”