Chapter 9: Explanations

Explanations

Colonel Jessup: You want answers?
Lieutenant Kaffee: I think I'm entitled to.
Colonel Jessup: You want answers?
Lieutenant Kaffee: I want the truth!
Colonel Jessup: You can't handle the truth!
-- A Few Good Men (1992 Movie)

Sunday, July 24 2011
Munich, Germany

Daniel knew something was wrong at once, when he started to wake up. He didn't need long to realize the wrong thing had the distinct outline of a female. A female that was in his bed. A naked female that was in his bed. A naked, warm and very nice smelling female that was in his bed. Err, back to her being in bed. How the heck did he let that happen?

He knew the chewing out he would get at this point if his instructors were there. Never let someone get in bed with you, she might be there to kill you. And never let anything happen while you sleep without noticing. Somebody might be there to kill you. Always be vigilant. Those were some of the most important lessons and it seemed he had forgotten all of them.

He got angry with himself, but he let it out on her.

"What the heck are you doing in my bed?!" he shouted.

Rebecca woke up with a start, but it took her a while to get oriented.

"What..."

"I said what do you think you are doing in my bed?!" Daniel shouted again. By this time he had moved out of the bed, towering over her and scaring her with the angry look on his face.

"I, I, I..."

"What?!"

"I, I'm sorry, I just wanted to..."

"I don't care what you wanted, I told you not to. I told you to follow my orders for ten days, that can't be so difficult, can it?!"

"But..."

Daniel didn't hear the rest; he moved to the bathroom and closed the door much louder than necessary.

"But ... I just wanted to feel safe..." Rebecca whispered. She went back to her own bed, tears streaming down her face. She didn't know what she had done wrong, yes he had told her to stay out of his bed but it wasn't the end of the world. How could he do that to her? She had been so sure she could trust him.

During the night, Rebecca had had another one of her nightmares. They hadn't been this frequent before, but the events of the last days had her emotions in turmoil. When she finally woke up, she was again drenched in sweat.

Her state of mind was a mixture of sleep and fear. She hadn't made a conscious decision to do so; somehow it was a simple fact that she would join Daniel in his bed. But she couldn't join him with her nightgown drenched in sweat as it was, could she? No. She got out of it, then her underwear. While she searched for another set of clothes, she decided on the spur of the moment to just stay naked. It was fun, and maybe she could get him to warm up a little.

Entering his bed, she decided to spoon her back against his front. It simply was the most convenient way to join him without disturbing him or him needing to move. In his sleep, Daniel put his arm around her, coming to rest against her belly. Carefully she guided the hand a little up until it grabbed one of her tits. It felt really nice. It felt warm and safe and cared for. Rebecca easily went back to sleep, and she had no other nightmare that night.

It was great, at least until the moment she was so rudely woken up.

In the bathroom, Daniel started to brush his teeth. While doing that, he started to come down as the adrenaline slowly left his body. He started to wonder what the hell had gotten into him. It wasn't Rebecca's fault that he had fucked up. Or that he was fucked up, take your pick. Why did he shout at her?

There would be much apologizing to do.

Back in the bedroom, Rebecca wondered what to do. Run away? But no, she couldn't run away every time she fucked up. It was her fault, and she had to live with the consequences. She had to wait for a few minutes until the door to the bathroom opened again.

"Daniel, I'm sorry. I didn't want to..." she started, but Daniel stopped her.

"No, you have nothing to apologize for. It was my fault, and I'm the one that needs to apologize. I'm very sorry for shouting at you, it was totally uncalled for."

"But it's my fault, I'm sorry I didn't follow your orders. It's just..." she trailed off.

"Want to argue over whose fault it is? Listen, I overreacted. It's just something I once learned. I'll tell you about it later today, I have already promised you to tell you about my past. But for now, we need to get ready to go running."

"Again?"

"Yes."

While they were jogging along, Daniel asked her why she had joined him in his bed against his wishes. When she told him about her night, he felt even worse about his behavior. He decided to make it up to her.

Rebecca, on the other hand, was happy. He wasn't angry at her any more, and the running already felt easier to her than the previous day.

Unit Seven HQ, Germany

Somebody else was out jogging this morning, and that was Lieutenant Müller. It was the part of the morning PE that he hadn't given up when he moved to what he called a "management position". Of course, this might be the last time for the short rest of his life, so he decided he would relish in it even more.

Everybody knew the Lieutenant was out every morning regularly like clockwork, but they also knew it was the one time of the day you weren't allowed to disturb him. So it came as a surprise to him that someone was waiting for him at the side of a street and fell into step next to him.

"Good morning, Lieutenant."

"Do I know you?" he grunted. He didn't appreciate being disturbed while jogging, and especially not today.

"No, I don't think so. Anyway, who I am is not important. I'm just a messenger. And I think it's a message you really want to hear."

"Well, go on" the Lieutenant told the stranger.

"I heard you were leaving to visit the General. We both know you wouldn't survive that meeting. Now I assume you have a plan for that not to happen. No," he held his hand up as the Lieutenant started to reply. "I don't really want to hear about it. It doesn't matter. What does matter is that you might need a friend once you are out. Here is a phone number you can call once you are free and sure nobody is following you. The woman on the other end has a proposition for you. Of course you are free not to call or not take it, but if I were you I would seriously think about it. That's all I had to say. Have a nice day, and good luck."

With that, Lars gave the Lieutenant a slip with a very long telephone number on it, and then he went in the opposite direction without glancing back.

Freiberg, Germany

It was almost eleven in the morning when the Twins were woken by a telephone call. They had gone to bed very late, as they discussed the events without reaching a conclusion. Their parents and younger sisters had gone to church. The Twins had stopped going the day they turned sixteen and their parents had allowed it. It wasn't that they didn't believe in god, they did. They just didn't like the church.

Being alone, they knew one of them had to get up and take the call or the ringing wouldn't stop for ages. Mathias lost at a quick game of Rock, Paper, and Scissors and so it was his job this time. Patrick didn't have to wait long for him to come back.

"What's up?" he asked his brother.

"It was the police officer that visited us last Friday. Jürgen Zwick. He said he just wanted to tell me about the funeral date and that they have reached Sabrina's parents. Not a word about a break in at the morgue."

"Well, that's good, isn't it?"

"It's good as long as they haven't found out about it and suspect us. Well, there's nothing we can do about it. The funeral is on Tuesday. I'm not sure if my acting abilities are good enough for this."

"Well, we have to go; anything else would be highly suspicious. And anyway, someone should be there to say goodbye to the girl. Nobody else will, as nobody else knows about her."

"Yeah, you are right."

"So, you said they reached Sabrina's parents? How did they accomplish that feat?"

"He didn't go into much detail, but it was evident that he was pretty disgusted with them. They are somewhere in Africa at the moment. They told him they would send a floral wreath for the grave. But it's unfortunately impossible for them to come and say goodbye to their only daughter."

"Ugh, that's just typical. Well, they didn't see her as a daughter anyway, just some accident they had to live with."

"True. So what will we do about Sabrina? We didn't reach any decision last night."

"I want to go to Munich and find her. On the other hand, we can't leave before the funeral; it would raise way too many questions. Also if we want to avoid questions, we have to wait until next weekend. It's the start of the summer holidays, then we'll have six weeks for our search.

"Okay, we should probably wait. But I don't like it one bit."

"I couldn't agree more."

Munich, Germany

After breakfast, Daniel and Rebecca went to visit Sabrina. The girls had a nice chat, and the doctor told them that Sabrina could go home on Wednesday if no complications arose.

"Sabrina, what do you want to do once you get out of here? Go back home?" Daniel asked when Rebecca had left to visit the toilet.

"I'm not sure. I can't really go home; they expect me to be in Italy. I want to stay with Rebecca for a while, now that I've found her. Maybe I can find a way to help her, too."

"Well, for now Rebecca has to stay with me. I'm sure we can get you a room at the hotel. But I won't pay you for your time, too. Rebecca is expensive enough."

"I won't have sex with you."

"And I didn't think you would."

"Uh huh. Well, I can't check into a hotel anyway, I have no papers."

"That's not a problem, I will handle that part."

"Okay. So what do you get out of it?"

"Well, it might just make Rebecca a little happier. She's had a difficult life, as you know better than me. It makes me want to help her. That's all."

"I will believe you for now; Rebecca thinks you are a good person, and she is usually right about people."

"Thank you, I think. Uh, I need to take your photo. Do you think you can stand up for a while?"

"I can, but what do you need a photo for?"

"Oh, it's easier to get you checked in to the hotel if we create a little fake identity card for you. Don't worry, that's all. Err, we need to get you out of that hospital gown, do you have something else to wear?"

"Yes, they have cleaned the clothes I came here with. There should be a blouse in the closet. Could you get that for me, please?"