“An inside man?” Bern asked. “Anyone I know?”
“We didn’t even know,” she answered. Technically I am not lying, baby Jesus. We did not know he was in league with the council until then, she prayed in her mind, hoping she would be favored by whatever god could hear her thoughts. Nina had not reverted back to her Sunday school thoughts since she defected from the church crowd as a teenager, but until now she had no need to pray for her life. She could almost hear Sam chuckling at her pathetic attempts at pleasing some deity and mocking her all the way home for it.
“Hmm,” the robust leader sat thinking, running her story through his cerebral fact-checking system. “And this… unknown… man snuck away Renata while making sure the pursuers did not come to your vehicle to check if you were dead?”
“Aye,” she said, still covering all bases in her head as she replied.
He smiled in amusement and flattered her, “It’s a stretch, Dr. Gould. It’s spread very thinly, that one. But I’ll buy it… for now.”
Nina visibly sighed in relief. Suddenly the large commandant lunged over the table and shoved his hand hard into Nina’s hair, clenching hard and pulling her violently forward to him. She shrieked in panic and he pushed his face painfully against her sore cheek.
“But if I find out you fucking lied to me, I’ll feed your leftovers to my men, after I personally fuck you raw. Are we clear, Dr. Gould?” Bern hissed against her face. Nina felt her heart stop and she almost collapsed in fear. All she could do was nod.
She never saw that coming. Now she was certain Sam was dead. If the Brigade Apostate were such psychotic beasts, they would definitely not be acquainted with mercy or restraint. For a while she sat, dumbfounded. So much for the ill treatment of female captives, she thought, and she hoped to God she did not accidentally say it out loud.
“Tell Baudaux to bring in the other two!” he shouted to the post at the gate. He stood on the far side of the room, looking out at the horizon again. Nina’s head was bowed, but her eyes shot up to look at him. Bern seemed contrite when he turned around, “I… apologies would be redundant, I suppose. It is too late to try and be nice, but… I do feel bad about that, so… sorry.”
“That’s okay,” she forced out, her words almost inaudible.
“No, really. I have…” he had difficulty in speaking, humiliated by his own conduct, “I have an anger problem. I get frustrated when people lie to me. Truly, Dr. Gould, I do not normally hurt women. That is a special sin I am saving for someone special.”
Nina wanted to hate him as much as she hated Baudaux, but she simply could not. In a strange way she knew he was sincere and instead found that she understood his frustration all too well. As a matter of fact, this was precisely her predicament with Purdue. Much as she wanted to love him, no matter how she understood that he was flamboyant and loved danger, she just felt like kicking him in the bollocks most of the time. Her furious temper had been known to erupt senselessly too, when she was lied to, and Purdue was the man who detonated that bomb without fail.
“I understand. Really, I do,” she said plainly, numb with shock. Bern noted the change in her voice. It was crude and real this time. When she said she understood his rage, she was being dead honest.
“Now, that I believe, Dr. Gould. I will try to be as fair as possible in my judgment,” he assured her. Like the shadows retreated from the rising sun, his demeanor switched back to the evenhanded commander she had been introduced to. Before Nina could figure out what he meant by “judgment” the gates opened and she saw Sam and Alexandr.
They were a little roughed up, but over all they looked all right. Alexandr looked weary and absent. Sam was still suffering from the blow he got on the forehead and his right hand was bandaged. Both men looked solemn at the sight of Nina’s injuries. Anger hid behind submission, but she knew that it was only for the greater good that they did not lash out at the thug who hurt her.
Bern gestured for the two men to take a seat. They were both restrained by PlastiCuffs behind their backs, unlike Nina, who was free.
“Now that I have had a word with all three of you, I have decided not to kill you. But—”
“There is a catch,” Alexandr sighed without looking at Bern. His head hung despairingly, his yellow-gray hair a mess.
“Of course there is a catch, Mr. Arichenkov,” Bern replied, sounding almost surprised at Alexandr’s obvious remark. “You want refuge. I want Renata.”
All three looked at him in disbelief.
“Captain, there is no way we can arrest her again,” Alexandr started.
“Without your inside man, yes, I know,” Bern said.
Sam and Alexandr stared at Nina, but she shrugged and shook her head.
“Therefore I am keeping someone here for surety,” Bern added. “The others, to prove their loyalty, will have to bring me Renata, alive. To show you what a gracious host I am, I will allow you to choose who stays behind with the Strenkovs.”
Sam, Alexandr, and Nina gasped.
“Oh, relax!” Bern threw his head back dramatically as he paced. “They don’t know they are targets. Safely in their cottage! My men are on point, ready to strike at my order. You have exactly one month to be back here with what I want.”
Sam looked at Nina. She mouthed, “We’re fucked.”
Alexandr nodded in agreement.
Chapter 8
Unlike the unfortunate prisoners who did not appease the commanders of the brigade, Sam, Nina, and Alexandr had the privilege of eating with the members that night. Around a huge bonfire in the middle of the chiseled rock roof of the fortress everybody sat talking. Built into the walls were several booths for guards to watch the perimeter at all times, while the obvious watchtowers that stood on each corner of a cardinal direction were vacant.
“Smart,” Alexandr said, observing the tactical trickery.
“Aye,” Sam agreed, biting deep into a large rib he clutched in his hands like a caveman.
“I’ve realized that to deal with these people — just like those other people — you have to constantly think past what you see, or else they will catch you off guard every time,” Nina remarked accurately. She sat next to Sam, holding a piece of freshly baked bread between her fingers and breaking it off to dip into her soup.
“So you are staying here — are you sure, Alexandr?” Nina asked with a lot of concern, although she would not want anyone else but Sam to go with her to Edinburgh. If they had to find Renata, the best place to start would be Purdue. She knew he would surface if she went to Wrichtishousis and broke protocol.
“I have to. I have to be near my childhood friends. If they are going to get shot, I’ll be sure to take at least half these bastards with me,” he said, and raised his newly stolen canteen in a toast.
“You daft Russian!” Nina laughed. “Was it full when you acquired it?”
“It was,” the alcoholic Russian bragged, “but it is just about empty now!”
“Is it the same stuff Katya fed us?” Sam asked, pulling a hideous face in reminiscence of the vile moonshine he was given during the poker game.