The Journal: Raging Tide: (The Journal Book 4) (12 page)

“I got my bitch on a leash, soldier-man,”
Tat snickered even as Jim leveled his gun at him.

“Take. It. Off.” Tat dropped his hold on the
belt, and I limped forward on my stockinged feet, removing the belt
from around my neck and dropping it to the ground. “Now hand me
that gun. Butt first.”

Tat complied. “I suppose you want me on my
knees too?” he said and dropped to the dirt, crossing his ankles
before Jim could answer.

I stood near Jim, afraid to speak. I wanted
to hug him to make sure he was really there.

“I believe this is your sidearm,
Lieutenant,” he said, handing me the Beretta. I ejected the
magazine, checked the loads and slammed it home, chambering a
round. I turned to face my captor. My tormentor.

I placed the barrel of the gun to his
forehead and saw a flicker of fear in his eyes just before I pulled
the trigger. I stuck the gun in the waistband of my tattered and
filthy pants and limped back to Jim. “Get me out of here.” My knees
buckled. Jim caught me, cradling me in his arms, and marched me
back to the Hummer. I felt his heart beating against my cheek as I
breathed in his scent. Yes, it was really him and I felt a surge of
emotions that I’d neglected for far too long.

“Sergeant, execute every last one of them,”
he barked out when he passed his second in command.

Jim set me down on the tailgate of the
Hummer. “I’m so sorry it took me this long to get back, Allex.” He
brushed a lock of hair away from the fresh bruises on my face. “Are
you okay?”

I looked up at him. “No, I’m not okay.” The
tears started running down my face. “I’ve been held captive by a
violent, sadistic psychopath who tortured and beat me. All the
while I had no hope of being rescued because I believed my best
friend was dead! When they captured me, I heard them say to not
waste a bullet, you were already dead. All my hope was gone in that
one statement. I believed you were dead, Jim, and my sorrow was
overwhelming. Plus, with you went any possibility of me ever seeing
my family again.

“
And
I just killed that psychopath in
cold blood. You know the worst part is? I don’t feel anything, no
regret, no sorrow, no remorse in shooting him. So
no
, I’m
not
okay!”

Jim pulled me into his arms for a reassuring
hug and I clung to him. “It will take more than a conk on the head
to kill me,” he said, trying unsuccessfully to get me to smile. “I
came to with a serious headache about a half hour after the attack.
I followed their trail back here. It wasn’t hard, even a blind man
could have followed them. I waited and watched for another half
hour. I never did see you. I counted fourteen men; fifteen
including Tat.” He took my hand. “Allex, if I thought I had even
the remotest chance of getting you out by myself, I would never
have left, but fifteen to one is not good odds. I’m sorry.” He sat
down next to me. “I got back to the Hummer just as some of them
were starting to search for it. It was too well concealed for them
to find. As soon as they were gone I hightailed it for the Soo. I
had to stop a couple of times to clear my head. I think I had a
concussion. Once I got there though, I must say I had more
volunteers for the rescue mission than I could use.”

I took a deep breath and winced.

“Ribs still hurt?”

“Tat liked to inflict pain; it’s what he got
off on: Pain and fear. When I was indifferent to the fear, he
started hitting me, and then he started punching on my existing
bruises, adding a few of his own. I think one or two ribs might be
cracked now. And when I grew numb to that pain, he started on my
feet.”

“I noticed you limping. What did he do?” Jim
asked quietly.

“He started breaking my toes,” I bit back a
sob. “Rape has many faces, Jim. When he couldn’t rape my body he
tried to rape my mind by beating my body. Even when he whipped the
soles of my feet with his belt, and then started breaking the toes,
I remained indifferent to him.”

“Y-you mean he n-never…?” Jim stammered.

“Tat was impotent. At least with me he was,”
I said. “I do think though, that with time, he would have broken
me, or killed me trying. Either way, I was still violated and I can
barely walk now.”

“I brought the medic with me. Maybe he can
help.” Jim stood right as the firing started. This nest of vermin
was history.

“I want to take a shower first, and put on
clean clothes, if that’s okay.”

“Where are the showers?” he asked.

“This was a summer camp once, and each cabin
has a passive solar unit on the roof. There isn’t much pressure,
but the water is usually warm.”

He picked me up again, and took me back to
Tat’s now empty cabin. I opened all the windows to get the stench
out, then hobbled into the bathroom and used up every bit of that
warm water.

*

When I came out of the bath, a towel wrapped
around me, Jim was sitting patiently, with a pile of clean clothes
for me: a khaki shirt, BDU’s, the blouse and hat with my false
rank. I looked at him questioningly.

“Please, Allex, I’m asking you as a personal
favor to me to wear your uniform. The men need to see you in it.
When I got to the Soo and explained what had happened, the men
rallied because they believed this was a mission to save one of
their own. They would have come anyway, but that belief, that
camaraderie for a fellow soldier and officer, has done wonders for
their morale. Please don’t take it from them,” Jim pleaded. “I’ll
leave you to get dressed while I get the medic in here.”

I found my belt with the holster still
attached under the desk, and stoically threaded it onto my clean
BDUs and added my Beretta.

*

I sat on the bed with my left shoe and sock
still off. My foot was so swollen and painful I couldn’t put that
shoe on anyway. Jim sat behind me, my back against his chest, his
arms wrapped loose, holding me upright. The medic sat on the single
chair facing me, looking at my foot and my bent toes.

“Damn! That must hurt, Lieutenant. You’re
one tough lady. I’m sorry I have to inflict even more pain on you,
however, it’s the only way I know to maybe fix this. Are you
ready?” he asked. I nodded. He pulled and straightened one toe, and
I passed out from the pain.

When I came to, my foot was being wrapped.
It was over.

“Luckily only one toe was broken. The other
three were dislocated and probably more painful. They will heal
much faster now that they’re back in place,” the medic said. “It
will be painful to walk for a few days, and the sole of your foot
is completely black and blue. Can you lift your shirt so I can
check your ribs, please, ma’am?” I did, and noticed the sharp
intake of breath and the way he glanced over at Jim. He pulled a
wide ace bandage from his bag and wound it around under my breasts.
The compression initially hurt, and then I felt relief.

“Are there any… other injuries, lieutenant?”
the medic asked tactfully.

“No,” I said. I wanted the details kept
between Jim and me.

“Let’s see if we can get this shoe on you,”
Jim said, holding up my soft walking shoe that he had cut to
accommodate the bandages. He slid it on gently. I stood, testing my
weight on the foot. “Here, this might help.” He handed me a walking
stick.

“Okay, I’m ready. I want out of this room!”
I hobbled to the door and we stepped out into the fading afternoon
sunlight. Thirty soldiers were lined up at parade rest, waiting for
me.

“Atten-
tion
!” the Sergeant yelled,
and everyone stood straight.

I took a few steps forward and stopped. I
looked at both sides before I spoke. “Gentlemen, thank you.” My
voice hitched on the last two words. I saluted them and limped
forward, each of them saluting me as I passed by, Jim following
close behind.

*

The bivouac was being set up and the grounds
were a flurry of activity. We wouldn’t be staying long, but
everyone was tired and hungry. The mess tent was the first to go up
and no one questioned when tents went up for Jim and me to be side
by side. Only the two other captive women stayed in cabins; no one
wanted to go near those buildings, especially me.

“We need to get Andrea and Patsy back to
their families, Jim. They’ve been missing for a very long time,” I
said.

“Let’s go talk with them and find out where
they’re from.” He stood and started walking at his usual fast pace.
He stopped, then turned around to find me ten feet behind him and
waited. “Sorry.”

I limped to catch up, leaning heavily on the
walking stick.

Andrea was a young girl of maybe eighteen,
brown hair, brown eyes. Scared eyes. This I understood. Patsy was a
bit older, though not by much. She was twenty-two and married, with
a baby at home. She had long blonde hair that Andrea was trying to
finger-comb the tangles out of when we found them by the food
cabin. They had both showered and found cleaner clothes.

As I watched Andrea struggle with Patsy’s
hair I had a thought. “Jim, would you get me that trade bucket from
the Hummer, please?” After he left, I turned to the girls. “How are
you holding up?”

“Much better now, thank you,” Pasty said.
Andrea stayed quiet while tears started running down her cheeks.
“We thought we would die here, and never see our families
again.”

“I know that feeling,” I said mostly to
myself.

“I don’t know how to thank you for getting
us out of here,” Pasty said.

“It wasn’t me, Patsy, it was the colonel. He
drove half the night with a concussion to get to his men and
organize our rescue,” I informed them. “That does bring up some
things I want to mention before he comes back. He’s going to ask
you questions, painful questions, about your abduction and your
time here. Please answer him as honestly as you can, it might help
someone else.” Jim came within earshot, carrying the bucket that
held all those small items I thought would be good for trading,
none of which I had used yet. I twisted open the lid and dug to the
bottom. I handed each of the girls a comb. Andrea burst into a huge
smile, and started combing Pasty’s hair with renewed
enthusiasm.

Jim sat beside me. “I think they’re ready to
answer your questions,” I said to him. He nodded.

“Who was taken first?” he asked gently.

“I was,” Andrea said. “My home is, or was,
in Newberry where the prison is. My dad was a guard there. After
the big quake and the power went out, a group showed up at our
house, led by Tat. I don’t know how they found out where we lived.
They killed my dad, and then my mom. When Tat found me hiding in a
closet, he raped me right there. Then they burned down the house.”
Her lip quivered. “I have nothing to go back to.”

“What happened next, Andrea?” I prodded.

“They found a motel in Hulbert and we stayed
there for a couple weeks while they ransacked the area. I
‘belonged’ to Tat. The men were afraid of him and left me alone,
until they found Patsy six weeks later.” She paused for a minute,
and I could see the struggle in her eyes. “Tat was mean and slapped
me around a lot, until he knocked me out for over an hour once.
After that he stopped hitting my face, then the rest of me
suffered.” The tears started again as a memory surfaced. “Once I
was given to the men, they never let me … at least they didn’t beat
me like he did.”

“It was how Tat did things. He got the new
girl for himself,” Patsy said. “When you showed up, Allexa, I was
given to the men, too, for them to share. Had another girl come
along, you would have joined us.” Her tone was bitter, as it should
be. “He treated me much the same. The beatings, the terror – every
day. There were times I hurt so much I couldn’t get off the
floor.”

“Where is your home, Pasty?” Jim knew we had
to keep the questions rolling, so these two didn’t have time to
dwell and clam up.

“We have a small farm outside of Yardley,”
she answered. “For some reason, when they took me from the yard,
they left my husband and son alone, which was a blessing and has
kept me going. I miss them so much.” Patsy cried for the first
time.

“We
will
get you back to them, ma’am,
I promise you that,” Jim said emphatically. He looked at Andrea,
young, scared Andrea. “With your family gone, where do you want to
go?”

Patsy flipped back her now combed hair.
“She’s coming with me. She is more of a sister than I could have
ever hoped for and she will always have a home under my roof.”
Patsy took Andrea’s hand and gave it a squeeze.

A corporal came up behind Jim and whispered
something to him.

“Ladies, lunch is ready.”

Since we were only allowed one small meal
each day while in captivity, we were all really hungry. Senior
staff was ushered to the front of the line. Andrea and Patsy stayed
with me and I stayed with Jim, although my false rank of lieutenant
allowed me the front courtesy anyway. The meal put together in the
mess tent was simple and delicious. We picked up our mess trays and
utensils and took the offered scoops of canned green beans with
corn, cubed potatoes and carrots floating in meatless gravy, and a
roll. The server gave us women two rolls each. The available coffee
was thin but hot, and felt good going down. We all ate with relish,
mopping up every drop of gravy with the bread. The adrenaline of
the day had stoked my metabolism into high gear.

*

“If you ladies are ready, we’ll take you
home,” Jim said after our trays were cleared away.

“I was ready months ago!” Patsy
exclaimed.

The troops had come in two transports, one
mostly gear and supplies. The Sergeant in charge and the medic had
come in a Hummer, while the colonel had arrived in our vehicle with
a driver. With his concussion, he was advised to not drive yet.
Since we had removed the back seats from our vehicle, we took the
other Hummer to accommodate the two women, with me driving, at
least at first.