Chapter 3

After the guards left, Chris and Janet sat in their cell and assessed their fellow inmates in the other cells. The area was a fairly large former warehouse and the bars of their cells looked like a recent addition. There were four cells on each side of a wide aisle. They were put in the last cell at the end.

Chris moved to the bars of the cell next to them. “Do you speak English?”

The young man in the cell next to them spoke. “I do ... some.”

Chris moved to his side of the cell. “Can you tell me why these people are here?”

The young man talked quietly through the bars. “The soldiers come to our homes and say we must leave. These people refused so soldiers arrest them. Entire families were either taken away or arrested. Why you arrested? You English?”

“Yes, my name is Chris. This is my wife, Janet.” He extended his hand through the bars.

“Vasile. This is my sister Julia.” He shook Chris’ hand and motioned to a pretty young girl of about 16 with long dark hair and eyes. Julia nodded at the mention of her name.

“How long have you been here?”

“We all got here just this morning. They came to our village in the night and said we must move. We said they were crazy. We were up early to tend the fields and already dressed. So many other families were taken in their sleepwear and even underwear. Our mother and father went with relocation truck but they brought us here. They said we resisted but we didn’t.”

“So, all the others here are from your village?”

“All except you two and the blonde lady in the first cell at the other end. She speaks English and Romanian and says she is a reporter. Earlier she was complaining about her rights were violated and she demanded to speak to the United States Embassy in Moldova. The Russians told her the United States has no embassy in Transnistria and had not recognized the government, which is true. She said something about ‘war crimes’. They just laughed at her and slapped her.

Chris looked to where Vasile pointed and saw a pretty blonde in her thirties wearing a beige field jacket and matching slacks. She wore a patch on the back of her jacket that said “Press” validating what Vasile just said.

She looked scared and Chris didn’t blame her. If the Russians were willing to imprison and slap a member of the press it meant there were no curbs on their behavior and no telling of what they were capable. Chris and Janet had already been the recipients of their callousness. They evidently did not care at all for the rules of warfare and were willing to victimize civilians. She was too far away from their cell for Chris to talk to her or even get her attention, so he continued to get the story on the other prisoners from Vasile.

Vasile filled Chris in on his fellow villagers in the other five cells. They talked in whispered tones, trying not to draw any undue attention. Vasile struggled with some of the words in English but ultimately, they were able to work through language barriers.

The cell across the aisle from Chris and Janet held a family of four with two teenage daughters who sat on one cot and the mother and father on the other cot. Next to them and across from Vasile and Julia was a young married couple in their twenties. Between them and the reporter was another family of four but the kids were younger. Their boy looked about twelve and the daughter maybe a couple years older. The reporter was smiling and talking to the kids. The remaining two cells on the other side of Vasile contained two sisters he said were also accused by the Russians of resisting being relocated. Chris could see they were wrapped in the blankets from their cots with bare legs. He surmised they were arrested in their underwear. The final cell, across the aisle from the American, held a married couple in their thirties.

Chris learned from Vasile their village was only a couple kilometers from the Ukraine border. Vasile surmised the Russians wanted to move their tanks and artillery batteries in closer to the border and didn’t want any locals around to see or report what they were doing. In fact, as they were loaded on trucks to be moved from their village, he saw many military vehicles moving in to a field on the side of the village facing the border. The American reporter showed up and tried to interview a Russian commander about certain weapons she claimed were against the Geneva Convention and whose use constituted a war crime. She called them something Vasile didn’t understand. She said they were ‘vacuum missiles’ and inhumane.

Chris had heard of them on the news. The Russians had been accused of using thermobaric bombs in Syria but it was always denied by Moscow. “Vasile, it is best that you do not repeat any of this to anyone until you ae free from here. If the Russians knew you heard that it could be very dangerous for you and your sister and maybe even your parents. I believe the Russians would kill anyone that knew they were using these weapons.”

Vasile looked very frightened when Chris said this. “Okay, I will not repeat it. I didn’t even tell Julia what I heard. I did not think it important.”

“Good. The less people you tell until we are free from the Russians, the better but if we survive this, you need to tell the press and other people you can trust about it, but only when you are safe.” Chris patted the young man on the shoulder reassuringly.

Each cell had a hole in one corner with a faucet above that served as a crude toilet with no privacy. It was obviously easier or the men to use tan the women and when one of the women had to urinate it was usually a group effort where their cell mate tried to stand with them to grant them a bit of privacy. The other prisoners did their best to look away when this happened.

After some time, most of the prisoners began to doze off, despite their fear of what was to happen to them. It was late evening as Chris and Janet slept together on one of the small cots.

They were awakened with a start. The main door to the cell area slammed open and six soldiers stormed into the room. They stopped and opened the first cell door holding the American reporter. A couple of the soldiers carried a wooden bench further into the cell aisle and deposited it in the middle of the aisle. The bench had an iron pipe fixture in the shape of an upside down “U” attached to one end of the bench rising a couple feet above the bench.

Four of the guards moved into the cell with the reporter. One spoke to her in English allowing Chris, Janet and Vasile to understand the confrontation the other prisoners could not, even though everyone was now awake and staring in that direction.

The reporter retreated away from the cell door as the soldiers entered. The English-speaking soldier with the airborne insignia on his shoulder stood in front of her as she backed against the wall. “You will pay for the lies you spread about Russia by providing an example to others. They will see what happens to a Nazi that works against our brave soldiers.”

The reporter stood bravely but was clearly shaken. “I am not a Nazi and am a member of the press and you need to release me. If you do not, you are committing a war crime. I demand you let me go.”

“You are just another fascist spy and as such we do not recognize your press credentials. You have no rights.”

“I am NOT a spy! I am a reporter. If you let me call my network, I will prove that.”

“We will not allow you to communicate your spy information to our enemies. Now undress.”

“W ... what? I will not undress! That is outrageous!”

The soldier slapped her hard and she was stunned with her hand on her cheek. She stared at him not quite believing what he just did and her blonde hair spread across her face. Before she could react, he slapped her again on the same cheek.

She yelled at him. “Stop hitting me!” She was crying now.

As fast as lightning he slapped her hard in the same place and she fell to the floor crying. He grabbed her by the hair and hauled her up as she screamed at the pain in her scalp. Her hands grabbed his arms trying relieve the pressure leaving her open for him to punch her hard in the gut sending her once again to the floor, this time gasping for air.

The other prisoners were stunned at the brutality of the attack and the kids she had talked to in the next cell were loudly crying as their parents hugged them and tried in vain to shield them from the cruel scene taking place a few feet from them.

He leaned down and yelled in her face again. “Undress!” Sobbing she sat against the back wall of the cell and started to unbutton her jacket and pulled it off. At this point the Romanian speaking prisoners understood what the Russian was demanding the woman to do and started to turn their backs to the cell and turned their children away from the scene. “Stand up.” He grabbed her throat and pulled her back to a standing position against the wall with her jacket laying on the floor. “Keep going. Strip completely.”

“Please. Why are you doing this to me?”

“We want to show these people what happens to spies and those that defy Mother Russia. You are an enemy of the peoples and a Nazi. Now strip!” He slapped her again hard but not enough to send her to the floor. She sobbed and started to unbutton her shirt. Chris and Janet turned their back to the scene like most of the other prisoners and tried to cover their ears to the crying, occasional slap and orders for her to continue.