“You have nothing,” Patrick laughed louder. “Absolutely nothing.”
With this, Matt reached into the pocket of his greatcoat and pulled out a letter. He looked at the letter for a moment, considering it with a smile. He then kissed the letter sardonically and handed it over.
Patrick opened the letter, to reveal a set of folded pictures. He unfolded the bundle, and immediately went white. The top picture revealed himself ruthlessly penetrated by the fat French dignitary in an alleyway. The picture wasn’t expertly taken—indeed, it had captured far more of the wall than it had the characters in it—but what it did prominently display was Patrick’s face twisting in pain. Suddenly, he realized the error of his supposed comrades. “What were they thinking?!” he screamed inside himself, “Why did they give that pen back to her?! Why?”
“While Lena and I were… well, you know… she didn’t seem to notice us absconding with her purse. Too busy being throttled, perhaps.”
“You…” Patrick hissed, trying to regain his composure.
“And honestly,” Matt continued, “we were quite surprised by a lot of things. If it wasn’t for the Soviet GRU agent who had lost that exact same model of pen, we wouldn’t have even noticed. You’re getting slow, Patrick.”
“Well, big deal!” Patrick howled. “So what? Put it in the tabloids! Put it all over the news that I, some no-name Eastern German, likes getting buggered by old men! What do you have to gain?!”
“Oh, keep looking,” Matt smiled. “You’ve only seen the top photos.”
Patrick quickly rifled through the photos; each one bringing him to a paler and paler shade of white, “This can’t be real,” Patrick thought to himself. “This… there’s no way. How…?” There, in the damning shade of monochromatic, was a picture of Patrick, red-faced and crying with… her… on top of him.
“How…?” Patrick whispered as his vision blurred. “How did… who?”
Matt simply stared at him. It wasn’t a triumphant look. It wasn’t even a remotely pleased look. It was the blank, emotionless stare of a man who felt nothing. Patrick had become an object—neither worthy of praise nor contempt. He was a stone in the road; a chipped edge on a bench. He may have been useful as an asset to Matt, but as a person… he was absolutely nothing.
“How… how did you…”
“So, I take it we have your loyalty, then.” Matt asked plainly.
“Who… I h-have to… know… wh-who t-took…”
“Oh, be a man, will you?!” Matt shouted. “Be something remotely resembling a man! I know it must be hard for you, being such a deviant little whore like you are! I’ve half a mind to use these photos regardless! How disgusting you are! Just look at you!”
“I’m n-not…”
“You are disgusting. A filthy, disgusting little pervert. Look! Look at those fucking pictures and tell me what you are!”
“I’m not d-disgusting!” Patrick openly cried now.
“Yes. Yes, you are! You are a filthy, disgusting freak! Who could ever love such a freak?! Getting raped by a damn woman! How very, very weak you must truly be.”
“I’m not… I’m not… I’m not…” Patrick repeated over and over, as he dropped to his knees, “I’m not disgusting… I’m not…”
The scene paused momentarily as Matt stood victorious before Patrick, who cowered on his knees, sobbing into his hands. He had been beaten, and so very terribly wronged by the world. It wasn’t fair… none of it was fair. Why was the world this cruel? Why was it this cruel to him?
“Does Vivika have your protection?” Matt said plainly, after some time.
“Yes.”
“And Lena too?”
“Yes sir.”
“And you will do what needs to be done for Mr. Schmidt when the time finally comes?”
“Y-yes sir.”
“Then we’re done here.”
Matt spit on the ground in front of Patrick, before walking out of the barn, leaving him to cry silently. The night’s fog crept into the barn, adding to the stifling claustrophobia of the space. Alone in his misery, the night seemed to become that much colder, and the barn seemed to become even more desolate than it had been before.
Die Wahrheit Wird Dich Befreien
“Hello, dear Lena!” Dragon Lady gushed, as she stood up from the cafe’s small wooden table to give Lena a deep hug.
“Oh, it’s been so long!” Lena gushed back. “How have you been?!”
Fake pleasantries accomplished, the two slipped into chairs at opposite sides of the table. Lena resisted the urge to glower at her, while Dragon Lady made no similar attempts. The cafe was busy with the evening rush of young couples and lonely hearts out on the town. Their table was at the far end of the room, and no one was paying the slightest bit of attention to them. Dragon Lady used this opportunity to shoot poisoned eyeball-darts in her direction.
“So,” Dragon Lady began. “I suppose you are excited, then? You finally get to see your Grandfather again.”
“I am. It’s been too long. How has he been?”
“Oh, he’s been busy. Very busy indeed.”
The two sat in awkward silence for a few moments, neither really wanting to talk to the other. Lena took a loud sip of her coffee, Dragon Lady took an even louder sip of hers, and it seemed that both were enjoying the precious few seconds that they didn’t have to make conversation. Dragon Lady was the first to speak again, however, and Lena couldn’t help but feel that she had won some minor battle.
“So… how have you been?” she asked, almost seeming genuine. “Any new music? Any… new men?”
“New men?” Lena responded awkwardly. “You mean… dating, or?”
“Or women,” Dragon Lady offered, and she didn’t seem to be teasing her at all.
“God, why does everyone think I’m a lesbian?” Lena thought acidly, “And what business is it of this monster if I was?!” For a second, she considered actually saying it, before simply replying, “No. No new men. I’ve been rather busy.”
“Well, that’s good.”
The two sat once more in silence, taking long sips of their coffee. Lena hazarded a few glances about the room, just to make sure that everyone was having more fun than she was. Indeed, it appeared that they were. Of course, everyone else was here because they wanted to be. They laughed, joked, hugged, kissed and did all the things that true friends did—whereas she and Dragon Lady could not possibly be more eager to be rid of each other.
“How about you?” Lena asked, half awkwardly and half brazenly. “Any new women?”
“Yes, actually.”
“Oh.”
“…and new men, of course.”
“I see.”
Lena cleared her throat, and Dragon Lady did the same before changing the subject, “So, let’s get this over with, then. I am going to be transporting you to a location. I want you to know that this is a temporary place. We were originally planning on sending you to an actual safe house, but some new developments have occurred, and we will be unable to expose you to any place that is sensitive.”
“What new developments?”
“Well…” Dragon Lady said in a tone vaguely resembling concern, “It would appear that some people aren’t very good at following instructions and get a little bit nosy.”
“Nosy? Who’s getting nosy?”
Dragon Lady stared at her. It was as if she expected Lena to somehow know who or what she was talking about.