Chapter 16

Flashback – Tatiana – At the hospital

The orderlies arrived again to help get Ben back into the bed. As we moved him one of them remarked, "What did he do to his arms?"

I looked at his wrists which were a bloody, mangled mess and realized that Ben didn't cut the restraints, he somehow tore through them! But those restraints were designed to securely hold the largest man and I'd never heard of this before! I began to tend to the wounds on his arms and the orderly asked, "Should we restrain him again?"

I was tempted but I remembered how angry Ben was when I walked into the room after he escaped and stated, "No, we need to remove the restraints from his bed." We began to remove the restraints and I noticed that the leg and waist restraints were not torn. They were simply opened and that made me feel better. However his wrists were a huge mess; I could not understand how a man could inflict that much pain upon their own body? I finished with his wrists then looked at his hands and swore, "Tвойу мат!" They were filled with shards of the crushed baby monitor! This Ben of mine was a most mysterious man and then I could not believe what he said!!!

Flashback – Ben – At the hospital

I slowly awakened after Hard Ben took over and busted me out of the restraints and smashed the hell out of the fucking baby monitor. I heard Tatiana as she swore, "Tвойу мат!" My ornery self-decided to have some fun so I said, "Don't tell me you're going to kiss me with that mouth!"

Tatiana replied, "Ben you are awake! What do you mean about kissing with that mouth?"

I guess the joke didn't translate well so I countered, "Does your mother know you swear like a Russian sailor?"

I saw some fire in her eyes as she countered, "Ben, I do not swear like a sailor!"

I laughed, "Yeah, a Russian sailor might not have any chance against you."

She threatened, "Ben, if you do not take that back then we will never have coitus again."

I was suddenly tired of this bullshit and declared, "Tatiana, I'm fucking tired of your threats and your lame assed punishments. You're fired as my nurse now get the fuck out of my room!"

She questioned, "Ben, you can't be serious!"

I laughed, "Hell yes! I'm as serious as a heart attack! You're fired so get your ass out of my room!"

She sputtered, "But ... but ... but..."

I ordered, "You heard me, get the hell out of here!"

She began to cry and ran out of the room ... Yes it was about time I put her in her place, now I could rest in peace...

Flashback – Mira, Ira, Safia and Naomi – in Israel

After exposing the 'doctor' as a charlatan, and after Ira's katana assisted his haste of post departure from the domicile, I checked his medical bag. I retrieved what I was looking for and said, "Safia, I would like for you to take this pill. It is Risperidone and I would like to observe how you react to the medicine."

She loudly brayed, "Now Mira is trying to kill me!"

I questioned, "Little one, you know that is not true so why do you continue with such falsehoods?"

She explained with warped logic, "Mira, if you give me that pill I will be a different person. Those pills will kill the person that's inside of me."

I finally comprehended Safia's statement and asked, "Safia, it is obvious you have some mental problems which we need to address."

Safia interrupted and pleaded, "But not with drugs! Mira is there anything else that we can try?"

I thought for a moment and answered, "Safia, I currently do not have an answer for that question. Therefore, we will not medicate you until I can further research your request."

Safia loquaciously brayed, "Mira, would you please release me from these cruel restraints?"

Naomi vigorously shook her head, I contemplated my response and stated, "Safia, your past history indicates that you are a risk of flight. Furthermore, the deceptive tactics you employed which caused us to injure the behemoth man, prove that at this juncture you are not to be trusted. Logic dictates that you would use this paramount opportunity to escape. I will however, after serious consultation with my sister, determine a methodology to restrain you which is less cumbersome. Now, I must attend to your sister."

I motioned to Naomi and we left the room...

Flashback – Masha – At the apartment

I was teasing Jack with my bare foot as we ate dinner. It was most enjoyable and I looked forward to the promise of romantic behavior later in the evening. There was a frantic knock on the door that scared me so badly I dropped my wine glass right into my lap. With embarrassment I swore, "Tвойу мат!" I then began to wipe the wine off my robe.

Jack jumped up, grabbed his rifle, walked to the side of the door and questioned, "Who is it?"

We were shocked when we heard...

Flashback – Jens – At home

Daddy got enough food to choke four horses then mother set my plate in front of me. It had three little shrimp on it, two or three small spoonfuls of green bean casserole (you know the tasty one with the French fried onions on the top) and the rest of the plate was filled with lettuce without dressing.

I took one look at it and complained, "Mother, what the heck is this?"

She smiled and said, "Jennifer it's your favorite food."

I poked at the stupid lettuce with my fork and continued my complaints, "Mother, lettuce without Ranch dressing is not my favorite food, and why do I only have a miniscule amount of shrimp and green bean casserole?"

Mother actually smiled as she answered, "Why Jennifer, you know that since you're now a prima ballerina you have to watch your weight."

I sarcastically replied...

Flashback – Glen – At home

Hell, I thought I'd dodged the bullet when Jennifer came downstairs with the dress on: She did look good in dresses but hated wearing them.

However Evelyn came unglued when Jennifer sarcastically asked, "Are you saying I'm fat?"

Evelyn looked at me and whined, "Glen, I've tried my best but just look at how ungrateful your daughter is." She snatched the plate from in front of Jennifer and ran into the kitchen.

I glared at Jennifer and she declared, "That's right Daddy, I'm an ungrateful little beotch!" She then ran up to her room.

I looked at the kitchen, shifted my stare to the stairway, studied at my plate and started to eat – hey I was going to finally enjoy a meal in peace...

Flashback – Todd – On the island

Where the hell was I? Oh yeah, I was shot in the neck with a dart while exploring the camp. But now, as my vision cleared, it looked like I was in some sort of cave. I viewed my surroundings then realized that my arm was connected to another coconut along with another bag of something...

I stood up to look at the bag and determined my legs were in shackles and the damn shackles were attached to the floor. I sat back down, reached for my pack but it was fucking gone! In fact everything - my pistol, my knife, yes everything - was gone!

Fuck! I was going to use things in my pack to pick the lock on the shackles so I could explore this cave. As my vision cleared some more I could tell that someone, probably the person that helped me on the beach, and the person that kept shooting me with the damn sleeping darts, lived here. There was a damn comfortable looking bed, some sort of fire pit with a cooking tripod over it. But I wondered why the person didn't just stay at the compound I'd seen earlier, then it hit me, they had been a prisoner at the compound so of course they wouldn't stay there.

I heard a noise turned and couldn't believe what I saw...

Flashback – Alexi – At home

Yes it was as I expected, I was just an experiment to my 'parents.' Yes I say 'parents' because within the folder were the records that I was taken by cesarean section from my dead mother and given as a 'gift' to my 'parents, ' which nurtured me through some difficult times brought about because of my traumatic early delivery.

I leaned back in the chair and contemplated the retrieved information. Then I heard a noise as my 'father' entered the room. He looked at me and said, "Son, I see you have finally uncovered the truth. Do you have any questions?"

I smiled at him and inquired, "Would you tell me who my birth mother was?"

He replied, "Sorry my son, but that I can not do. If the authorities even discovered we exposed the truth to you they would remove you from our home."

I questioned, "So why did you reveal the truth to me?"

He answered, "We knew that you would discover it by yourself one day and we were tired of concealing the facts from you."

It made perfect sense so I promised, "Father, I will not expose this truth to anyone else. However, why have you performed the various experiments on me?"

He answered, "Son, you are a gift and have the potential of becoming much more than most people. We are making sure you fulfill that potential."

I smiled and said, "I think that I will work on the cryptex you presented me."

He smiled back and said, "Son, I knew you would react logically to this information. Do not stay up too late."

He left, I closed down my 'parents' computer and decided that I would never reveal to them that they were only my 'parents'. They had provided me a good home with many benefits and I would use all those benefits to better myself. I would also endeavor to determine if I had any other living relatives. I started to work on the cryptex...