Destination Eden

by Jim Payton

  Chapter 23

  The hand clamped over her mouth woke Janet, It smothered any scream she would have made. Simultaneously her ankles were bound together and she was flipped onto her stomach. Her hands were secured behind her back. The hand over her mouth was removed but before any sound could escape, a rag was pushed into her mouth and taped in place with sticky tape round her head. Two pairs of arms dragged her from the tent and stood her up. The owners of the arms situated themselves on each side of her, threaded their arms through hers, and walked away from the tent with her between them. It looked almost like two people helping a disabled friend. Ahead of her Janet could see a similar situation and presumed it to be Jasmine in the same circumstances.

  Janet had no idea of the time. She and Jasmine had climbed into their sleeping bags at about 10pm with the intention of an early 5.30am start. As it was, the current darkness indicated some time between midnight and 4am, she thought.

  Questions chased themselves round and round inside her head. Why and who were the kidnappers? Along with the four carrying her and Jasmine, Janet countered four others. What alarmed her more was that those four each carried some type of gun. They carried what looked like small machineguns in their hands, but also had guns and knives attached to their belts.

  After what Janet estimated to be about half an hour, they stopped on a road by two parked vehicles. To Janet they appeared to be big four-wheel drive cross-country vehicles. She and Jasmine were put in the back seat of separate vehicles and squashed into place between those who had been carrying them. The other four took their places, two to each vehicle; one as a driver and the other riding shotgun in more ways than one. No effort was made to blindfold either Janet or Jasmine and Janet took this to be a bad sign. She reasoned that if they did not care that she and Jasmine could identify them, and knew the route they were travelling, maybe it was because there was never going to be a chance for them to use that knowledge. Mind you, she also reasoned, she couldn't really see where they were going anyway. The headlights showed only a metal road with scrub and bush on either side of it. There was a bit of up and down that Janet took to be hills. She did not know how long it was before dawn broke and she was able, in day light, to see beyond the road. Nothing!

  Eventually they turned off the metal road and onto what was clearly a driveway, well, more of a track really. Another half an hour saw them arrive at a group of buildings. To Janet they appeared to be a Church, Monastery, or something similar.

  She and Jasmine were dragged unceremoniously from the vehicles and across to a building that appeared to be a storage outhouse. Their captives opened a solid looking door and cut the ties on their ankles and hands before carelessly undoing the tape wrapped round their heads, heedless of the pain caused. Pushed through the door, it closed after them with a solid clunk and the rattle of an outside latch.

  They had fallen to the floor when pushed by their captors as the lack of circulation in their legs and arms meant they were unable to react quickly enough to save themselves. The pain, as the circulation slowly returned to normal, was excruciating and blotted out that caused by the removal of the tape. They spat out the rags from their mouths but were unable to speak due to the remaining dryness.

  As they began to gain movement in their limbs, they took in their surroundings. The building was solid and about twenty feet square. The floor appeared to be compacted dirt. The roof seemed to be made of slate tiles, or something similar, and was about fifteen foot above floor level. Small windows, or air vents, were on all four walls about a foot down from where the walls joined the roof. They were about a foot square. There did not appear to be any covering over them. That is, they were just holes high up in the walls.

  Janet and Jasmine held onto each other for comfort and cried their hearts out. They were cold, depressed, exhausted and very scared.

  The door suddenly opened. Two men came in and dropped a couple of mattresses onto the floor. Janet and Jasmine were too stunned to do more than stare dully at their captors. Another man placed a tray just inside the door and then left again with a clunk and rattle.

  When they had cried themselves out, Janet and Jasmine made the effort to check out the tray. It contained sandwiches and water bottles. They drank greedily from the water bottles and made a half-hearted effort at eating a sandwich before collapsing onto one of the straw mattresses and falling asleep holding onto each other for comfort.

  They awoke some two or three hours later to the sound of voices and vehicles outside the building. The voices were muffled, and Jasmine was unable to ascertain the language being spoken. Jasmine examined the door but it was indeed as solid as it had sounded. There was no handle on their side.

  "Do you think these are the people who took Eti," asked Janet?

  "Probably," replied Jasmine. "It's hard to tell though. You would have thought they would have waited for the money before doing whatever it is they are doing."

  "They didn't touch the tents or anything did they?"

  "Not that I saw. Mind you I was too scared to notice much of anything."

  Janet nodded.

  "They knew exactly what they were doing though didn't they? They didn't say a word. Just got on with it."

  They sat in silence for a while, and then Janet asked, "Do you know where we are?"

  "Not really. It looked like an old church or Monastery. If it is, then it is probably Armenian. There are quite a few of them around this area. This was, after-all, the centre of the Armenian Empire at one stage."

  "Those were the people whose houses and buildings were demolished during the First World War weren't they? That place near Van Castle that Eti and I saw."

  "That's them. They were early Christians actually, and were the first Country to have Christianity as their national religion. A couple of your Apostles were also in the area. One was actually killed here."

  "In Van?"

  "Not far away. On the Eastern side I think."

  "I didn't think you would know that sort of stuff. I mean, you being a Muslim and that."

  "Well, that knowledge brings money to us. A large number of Coptic Christians revere the area; particularly the St Bartholomew's Monastery ruins. It is on the site where Bartholomew was martyred. Unfortunately those ruins are now inside a military base and access is limited or not possible."

  "He is mentioned in the Bible isn't he?"

  "In yours, yes. He was an apostle but things didn't end well for him. We, as a country, are officially removing, or rewriting, our treatment of the Armenians. Worldwide, our treatment of them is classed as the first major genocide of a people. We wiped out one point six million Jews and Christian Armenians. As I said, officially, genocide is denied, but secretly the majority of the Turks have no problem with it.

  "It's sad when you cannot accept what you have done and learn from it don't you think?"

  "I don't think Christianity, or us in the West, can be smug or complacent about such things either," said Janet. "Look at the number of people killed in the name of religion, God, and for the expansion of the white man."

  "In New Zealand also?"

  "Oh yes. To a lesser degree than some, but the early European settlers still managed to kill, fight and legislate against the Maori people."

  A routine became established over the next few days. Initially Janet and Jasmine were confined to their stone shed. A bucket was provided for their toilet needs, along with toilet paper and a dish of water. There was another bucket of water for washing, along with a couple of towels. That enabled Jasmine to attend to her prayerful routines. Basic food was also provided. Their jailers were always male, and were the same eight who had originally kidnapped them. They did not talk to either Janet or Jasmine and ignored questions and pleas for information. From the few words that Jasmine was able to hear, she confirmed their captors as being Turkish.

  Depression settled over them. It was like a dark heavy blanket physically pushing down on them. They started to neglect their personal hygiene and went f
rom talking to each other, to accusations, to silence. By Janet's reckoning, fourteen days had gone by when in the predawn darkness she became aware of some one sitting on her mattress.

  "What are you doing Jazz," queried Janet. "What do you want now?"

  "I'm not Jasmine," came the reply. "It's me."

  Janet sat up pulling herself well away from the male voice.

  "Who are you? What are you doing here?" Janet demanded, straining to see the shape speaking with her. It remained a blurry outline, more just an area of light grey in the darkness.

  "How did you get in here? What do you want?" continued Janet.

  "Always questions Janet. Always questions," said the voice with a hint of a chuckle. It's me, Jude, Jude Prentice. Remember? The Solomonis' friend."

  Janet's mind flashed back to the coffee shop and the mysterious person who had actually started her on this quest. A quest that had ended up in this cell she now found herself in. She actually laughed.

  "How do you know him? No, I don't think so. You are just a figment of my imagination. I am aware of what is happening. I know that I am losing my mind in this place." Janet laughed again and then continued; "How sad this all is really. My lost mind conjures up you when all is lost. I would have thought it may perhaps have brought Mum or Dad, or other friends to mind, but what does it do? It brings up you. How sad for me."

  "I am real Janet," said the shape. Janet could just see something pale reach out towards her and she felt something like a hand squeeze her shoulder. "I am not a figment of your imagination."

  "Oh that's right," responded Janet. "You are my guardian angel. The one who didn't save me when I was shot at and kidnapped. The one who has let Eti also be kidnapped. The one who has let me be stalked by Palmer and his men. The one who said I had to attack Joe's beliefs. The one who got me into this mess."

  Janet started to cry bitterly.

  The shape shifted and seemed to sit beside her with its arms around her. It felt like a human and the arms were indeed comforting. Janet allowed herself to sink into the warmth.

  "I still don't believe you are real," said Janet. "You are still just my mind going haywire."

  The shape chuckled. "Okay," it said.

  "So what are you doing here?" asked Janet.

  "I've got a message."

  "Of course you do. You are a messenger after all are you not?"

  "I am."

  "Well then what's the message? Be of good cheer and all that? Don't worry things will turn out right, blah, blah, blah?"

  "More or less," said the shape.

  "I could have thought of that myself."

  "Indeed you could have but you didn't did you?"

  "Well the circumstances don't actually lend themselves to such a belief do they? You know, locked up in a cell stinking of sweat and shit. That sort of thought doesn't occur too often."

  "That's why I am here to remind you."

  "Yeah, well thanks a heap. Got the message. You can head off now thanks. Oh, by the way, before you go, could you open the door like God did for Paul?"

  Again the chuckle.

  "You're not Paul, Janet."

  "You can say that again," affirmed Janet. "Oh, before you do head off, is Eti okay?"

  "Yes he is. You'll see him today. Stay focused Janet. You are doing well. There is a lot ahead of you and it's not all plain sailing but you'll make it. Be strong."

  With that, Janet felt the warmth of the shape's body leave her and in the growing light of dawn saw the person she knew as Jude Prentice, stand up and walk away through the stone wall.

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