The HUSH Series: (HUSH, HUSHED and JANE.)

by Sandra Raine

  I stepped away from Viktor to allow myself room to breathe, to talk 'cause I had started to feel choked. "The day before we showed up in Boston, Andrew took me back to the old house. Upstairs in he and CeCe's bedroom he pulled open the very bottom of his dresser's drawer and pulled out this very shawl. He then tossed it to me and said: The woman who wore that was just as much a whore as you are. And that whore was your real mother. Smell it, bitch! Andrew then picked up his gun from off the dresser and threatened me to smell the shawl as he continued to say: That's what that whore smelled like. Smell it, Jane. Remember the scent. You'll recognize it when you two meet in hell! And then he hit me. And then he raped me. . .repeatedly until I passed out."

  "Son-of-a-bitch!" Jonah spat beneath a trodden tone that coerced his teeth to clench so hard he could have easily broken them if it hadn't been for Viktor's next words.

  "That son-of-a-bitch will have his justice, son," Viktor assured holding Jonah's face taught between his hands while his thumb erased a lone tear drop that accidentally slipped from his eye. "You hear me, son?" Jonah nodded, and sniffled back another straying tear, yet he could not let go of the idea of the thought of Andrew sadistically assaulting me which obviously began to plague him violently 'cause soon he began to shake and his forehead began to twitch. "He raped her, dad." Jonah then stated point blank as if that were reason enough for them to seek their revenge but Viktor was feeling otherwise.

  "I know, son," Viktor then consoled. "I mean. . .you think I don't feel your pain knowing what they did to our family, to Janie? I want revenge, too, son, but that will take time. Understand? Time. I mean. . .vengeance takes time. It is something you cannot do spontaneously. It has to be planned or you end up fucked by your blinding rage."

  Jonah sucked back his own blinding rage and stepped around Viktor and crossed to me slowly. And when Jonah reached me, and instead of reaching out to me and taking me into his arms, he instead stood there, staring at me within a deep and penetrated thought. In me he must've seen all my pain, all the shame, all the torment embedded in my eyes. And though he could not erase the past from me he instead realized that he could shield the future of it from me.

  Jonah eventually reached for my hands and pulled my body gently to his and held me just the way a father held his daughter: with love, understanding and forgiveness. This alone made me fully understand that I didn't have men in my life protecting me now, I had family, a real father, a real brother. Jonah slowly pulled away from me, giving one of my hands a tight squeeze as if to say that everything was going to be alright. But as Jonah stepped away from me to allow Viktor and I to re-acquaint ourselves not as strangers but as a father and a daughter both double doors to Viktor's office suddenly slammed opened with one of Viktor's housekeepers barging in nervously and speaking frantically.

  "I'm sorry, Mr. Kasa, but she insisted to see you!"

  And just like a storm, that beautiful smiling young woman in Viktor's perfect family portrait stormed in, bypassing the nervous housekeeper who just continued to stand there fidgeting in her stance, fidgeting with her hands and obviously getting under the storming woman's skin.

  "You need to get less furtive housekeepers, Vik," the woman then complained to Viktor over her shoulder. "Out. Out." the woman then said shooing the housekeeper out of Viktor's office like she was a pesky annoying fly.

  "It's alright, Elaine," Viktor said comforting the housekeeper as the woman continued to shoo her out of Viktor's office. And one thing that really grabbed my attention about this woman were her clothes. They weren't street clothes - no jeans or tee's on this woman - they were of professional grade: straight navy blue slacks accompanied by a navy blue unisex long sleeved dress shirt with both sleeves rolled up; hair in a straight ponytail, little make-up, and last, but not least, a badge and a gun holstered taught against her right hip. This woman was obviously a cop. Wait! Let me rephrase. My mother. . .was obviously a cop.

  "Seriously," the woman continued to complain once she closed the double doors and turned around to face Viktor comically. "Oh," she said suddenly, halting her footsteps when she realized Viktor wasn't exactly alone. "I didn't know you were in the middle of. . .something," she then stated nodding at Jonah. "Jonah."

  "Sissy." Jonah acknowledged.

  "When they announce that I'm busy, I mean, I'm busy." Viktor retorted a bit irked which obviously didn't offend the woman 'cause she clearly dismissed Viktor's mild complaint against her 'cause her gaze swiftly settled on my presence; a presence that not only took her by surprise but left her extremely curious particularly when she crossed to me, yet keeping her distance from me.

  For a minute there, this woman and me, we just kind of stood there staring at one another as if we had crossed paths somewhere in the past or perhaps in another life time. One thing was for certain, something we both discovered in that curious silence that felt like forever, we harbored a canny resemblance in both appearance and characteristics like if we were literally one in the same. The woman Sissy knew exactly what her instincts were projecting deep inside that place that many people swear exists: The maternal instinct where blood recognized blood no matter the distance, the dilemma, the absence in that mother's life.

  There was a sudden shift in the warm breeze swaying around my father's office that coerced me to traverse back to that room in my old house, listening to Andrew Parker's fated words: Smell it, Jane. Remember the scent. You'll recognize it when you two meet in hell!

  "You know me. . .don't you?" Sissy then spoke suddenly causing my nerves to pinch, my heart to flutter 'cause I had recognized that voice. . .that soothing, tranquil voice; a voice I clung to, I giggled to, I cried to, a voice I cooed to when I was her baby girl. . .I remembered. Then I remembered her scent. Her smell. The maternal perfume alone began to intoxicate me, sending me back to a place in time when I was loved, cherished, honored. And as much as I wanted to speak, to shout that YES! I knew who she was, I couldn't. I couldn't get my tongue to move, to speak; it was like my motor skills had suddenly stopped working 'cause suddenly I felt paralyzed within myself. Then, Viktor stepped in beside me, slinking one arm around my waist to ease my sudden distress of having discovered my family and at the worst moment in my life.

  "Oh, God," Sissy then broke down suddenly, her head literally falling into her trembling hands. "Oh, God!" she then cried out, shaking her head in an arguable motion, wondering if what she had discovered were truly happening? And when she finally glanced up from all her darkness; a darkness that had clearly consumed her her entire life, she let go, setting forth her conscience free from a burden she had obviously been carrying for the last sixteen years because it showed.

  "Janie?" Sissy whispered as she slowly began to step toward me. "Janie?" she continued, no longer whispering but speaking up, speaking out. "Janie!" she then exclaimed breathless as if she had been running for miles and miles.

  "He. . .hello. . .mom," I said the moment she began to touch me the way Viktor had touched me as if I was something precious, fragile, breakable that if touched to much I was sure to break. But in all honesty I didn't want my mother's touch, I wanted her embrace, I needed her embrace to comfort me, to bring me some kind of warmth from the bitter cold that I found I was having difficulty blanketing with nothing that could ease my chill. And instead of waiting for that invitation, seeing the difficulty my mother was having just trying to reach out and hold me, I instead broke the ice and rushed into her arms and held her like there was no goddamn tomorrow.

  "I'm sorry, mom," I whispered into my mother's loving embrace 'cause a certain part of me felt responsible for the trouble Viktor and Sissy and Jonah had been going through all these years with me being absent from their lives.

  "Jane, hon, why are you apologizing?" Sissy said stroking my hair, my face, my shoulders. "You've done nothing wrong to be sorry."

  "But it feels. . .like I have done something wrong," I said lowering my gaze so that she wouldn't see my guilt expression. But Sissy, leaving me no room to express th
at guilt, raised my chin to meet her gaze once again.

  "If anyone should be apologizing, Jane, it should be me. . .Us. . .your father and I." I glanced at Viktor for assurance and he nodded.

  "Your mother is right," he said.

  "Jane, you do understand, right?" Sissy stated in hopes that I did understand that none of it, meaning my having been stolen, was not my fault. I shook my head and sniffled back my tears. "I think the best thing we can do now is focus on moving forward - "

  "That is going to be difficult, Sissy." Viktor doubtedly interceded stirring up Sissy's defenses.

  "What do you mean by that?" she then demanded, meeting Viktor's rigid tone.

  "She's still not free."

  "Like hell she isn't!" Sissy argued. "This is our daughter, Vik. We have her back in our lives. And without having to go to war."

  "I think you're a little to late for that, Sissy. . .I mean, 'war'." Jonah said. Sissy quickly shifted her attention back onto me and forced a smile before stepping away from me and stepping toward Jonah.

  "So what are you saying. . .That there is a war?"

  "We have reason to believe that Andrew Parker and his men are looking for Jane even as we speak." Viktor stated mildly.

  "We also have reason to believe that they might already be here in New Orleans." Jonah concluded.

  "What?" I gasped out loud.

  "What?!" Sissy exclaimed in disbelief. "I thought you had Janie protected, Vik?"

  "Under surveillance, actually." Jonah corrected.

  "Have you ever spotted any of Parker's men around Janie's home?"

  "We've had a few run-ins with some potentials but nothing certain."

  "Are you sure about that?" Sissy pressed.

  "If any of them were Parker's men, we would have moved Jane quickly." Jonah asserted.

  "Well if that's the case, Vik, and if you suspect Parker and his men might already be here in New Orleans then maybe now's the time to move her." Sissy said.

  "We're already working on it." Jonah said.

  "Really?" Sissy retorted cocking her head. "And where exactly are you planning on moving Janie to?"

  "We're thinking London might be the best place. Lot's of people. Commotion."

  "Well there's plenty of places like that here in America, Vik." Sissy reminded.

  "Yes," Viktor agreed but then disputed, "but I really can't protect her here a 100%."

  "And why's that? You have as much muscle, as much pull as Andrew Parker has."

  "Yes, but abroad. You already know this."

  "You can send for them, Vik. Have them come here."

  "While a great idea, Sissy, they'd be single out in a minute by the Feds, Parker's men."

  "What if they enter the country by other means," I suggested suddenly. "I mean, other than - "

  "Parker has men working the airlines, bus lines, borders. . ."

  "Are you fucking serious?. . .Sorry, Jane," Sissy apologized swiftly leaving me to smirk.

  "Look, Sissy," Viktor said suddenly becoming rather serious, "I think the best thing we can do to avoid attracting attention to ourselves is to continue with our plan. And that is moving Janie, Anna and Bree out of America and into the UK without being detected. We're also going to need a little time to get passports for Janie and the girls, and Jonah has a few of our men already working on that."

  "Sissy. . .I mean. . .Mom, you're a cop, right?"

  "No, hon, I'm actually an Agent."

  "So you work with the Feds here in the U.S. then, right?"

  "No, sweetheart. Not here in the U.S. . . .Canada. The CSIS."

  "Oh," my face soured.

  "What did you have in mind?"

  "Well. . .nothing really. Just a thought, actually."

  "What kind of a thought?" Viktor pressed with some interest.

  "Well, someone dropping a couple of quarters on Andrew Parker and his men. Create some kind of distraction. . .buy us, I mean, dad and Jonah some time to move Anna, Bree and me to London."

  "Well if we do that, Jane, we might as well go the distance and have Andrew Parker and all his men investigated, tried and convicted but that would mean putting you and Anna and Bree into some kind of witness protection program and jeopardizing Viktor's entire operation. It's a lot to consider." And instead of arguing over, and what I considered, petty, I merely nodded and kept to my silence, realizing that this whole Cop vs. Criminal thing was way out of my league, and that it was best not to play; that it was best to let ill legit businessmen deal with ill legit businessmen. That way innocent people don't get hurt; let the bad men bleed their own blood.

  "Where are exactly Anna and Bree again?" Sissy inquired Viktor, her voice quite authorative.

  "In Colorado." Viktor said.

  "Where in Colorado?"

  "It doesn't matter where, Sissy," Jonah said quickly sounding a bit frustrated. I assumed there was friction between them.

  "Did I do something to offend you, Jonah?" Sissy stated, comically.

  "No. Just to many questions. Dad already has enough on his plate. I mean, it'd be nice if you'd stop with the twenty questions. We're not under investigation here."

  "My apologies, Jonah," Sissy apologized settling her gaze on Viktor. "Vik, do you think I have you under investigation here?"

  "My son is not an object that you can speak mechanically to, Sissy. He's just trying to keep the situation calm. And like we've stated before. . .arrangements are being made even as we speak."

  "Well excuse me for wanting to rush things, Vik. . .Our daughter's life is at stake here." Sissy argued.

  "I'm very much aware of that, Sissy!" Viktor's voice began to rise. "And we're very much capable in handling - "

  "Quiet! The both of you!" Jonah demanded with Viktor and Sissy glancing his way only for their eyes to be met with a silent touch to his lips.

  "What?" Sissy failed to hold back.

  "Hmm. . .nothing," Jonah said clearing his throat after a minute passed. "It's just I thought I heard something."

  "Like what?" It was Viktor's turn to demand.

  "I don't know. . .like muffled voices. . .even a faint scream."

  Just then, and for no apparent reason, my body tensed up and I came to full attention with my eyes locking onto the double oak doors to my father's office. And for some reason, my heart began to thump with bouts of anxiety slowly taking over my entire body. I could feel something. . .Something just outside the door, like a presence. . .a very unwelcome presence lurking, searching, preying. I quickly turned to Sissy and Viktor for shelter but the lights suddenly flickered off then on, and then an explosion of some type seemed to rock Viktor's entire fortress 'cause it shook, the walls rattled and a couple of windows surrounding Viktor's office shattered to a million tiny pieces. I belted out a scream and flung myself against Sissy for protection but it seemed to late 'cause the lights went completely out, and seconds later, the doors to Viktor's office were kicked in with men's voices scrambling through the semi darkness; voices I hadn't recognized that is until one voice became suddenly clear. . .and clearer. . .and clearer: Andrew Parker.

  Chapter 7

  Before anyone one of us, meaning, my mother, Viktor and Jonah could grasp what was happening in the darkness surrounding us, the lights unexpectedly flicked on. When I glanced up I saw two things: Smoke, faint smoke. And Andrew Parker's enraged eyes staring down at me. I froze instantly in my mother's arms like I had seen that ghost pimp of whore's past. And it seemed like Sissy had frozen, too, 'cause we were huddled, immobile, perilous to the commotion unfolding around us, particularly around Viktor who had been knocked to the ground, I assumed, after the explosion. He was shoved up against the foot of his desk with a shotgun cocked toward his head. And Jonah. . .well he was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly the breath from within me started to escape me in deadpanned bouts while my frantic eyes swept around the damaged office in search of him in spite of the horrifying fact that Andrew Parker and his men - men I'd never seen before in my life - were not more than a few fee
t from raging their war against me, against Sissy, against Viktor. . .

  "Well, well," Andrew Parker crooned down at Sissy who, in her mother's instinct, pulled me closer to her body as if she were shielding me from the boogieman. But to my horror, she was trembling. "If my eyes don't deceive me, Sissy. . .but I almost didn't recognize you all grown up? Would it amuse you to know that I always believed you'd stay that lovely sixteen-year-old I fell in love with forever? Never in my wildest dreams would have I ever imagined you as a woman. . .And I must say. . .it suits you."

  "Leave her alone!" Viktor seethed.

  "Come again?" Parker said with one ear raised, his expression comical.

  "Fuck you!" Viktor spat, his eyes darting from the gunman to Parker and back.

  "Now that isn't polite especially in front of your family. Hank," Parker pressed. Hank, the one holding Viktor hostage beneath his shotgun, stepped about a foot back from Viktor, pulled a pistol from his left side hip and whacked Viktor across the cheek with it. The force of the hit caused the blood from Viktor's mouth to splatter. I screamed with Sissy tugging me closer, her hands shielding my eyes.

  "You son-of-a-bitch!" Sissy cried out. Parker quickly squatted to one knee meeting Sissy face-to-face and shook his head in sheer disappointment.

  "No, Sissy, love, you got it absolutely wrong. . .You're the bitch-of-a-bitch!" And with that said, and with a level of self-gratification, Parker rose to feet and belted Sissy across her face. The force of his hit was so intense that I fell out of her arms; Parker had laid my mother out cold.

  "MOM!" I screamed, tossing myself over her body, my hands, my voice in an extreme state of panic 'cause I couldn't get her to come to.