Twisted Truths & Leveled Lies

by Lessner, S. K.

  Glancing back at me, his eyes softened, his concern growing. “Sorry I yelled. I just wish I could do more.”

  “Please don’t apologize. You’re doing everything. Without you, I’d be…well, let’s just not think about that.”

  We gave each other a small smile and returned to our silence. It was impossible not to think about what was sitting in my lap, what was inside my son. It seemed absolutely unreal, yet it was too real. If only I could go home, curl up with Miguel on our couch, and watch Josie play with his toys. Now, within just a short time, it seemed like none of that would ever happen again.

  A few minutes later, I noticed Brett looking in his review mirror repeatedly. I didn’t have a side mirror on my door to look at, so I had to ask why.

  “Please tell me no one’s following us.”

  “I can’t say for sure, but I think that car’s been behind us for a long time. What color was your driver’s car?”

  “Black.” My voice wavered, fear gnawing on my nerves.

  He squinted his eyes, trying to look closer. “It looks like a Jeep, maybe blue though.”

  I didn’t feel relieved. Considering what was going on, I came to the conclusion that if this was real, if there was a bomb inside my son, then there had to be more people involved than just Osan, Miguel, and a doctor. There could be many people who would come after us.

  Just as I finished that thought, Brett slammed on the breaks, the car sliding to a stop on the side of the road.

  “Get down as far as you can, Mel!” He yelled.

  I bent over, trying to get Josie further to the floor without bending or hurting his back. Just as I eased his bottom to the mat, a vehicle flew by us on the road, slamming their brakes after they passed us. The screech of tires and sound of rocks and dirt hitting our car echoed through my ears.

  “Damn it!” Brett yelled, shifting the car into reverse, and turning around abruptly. “We gotta go back! Hang on!”

  He drove faster than I’d ever imagine the car was able to go. Lifting my body up, I kept my head low, and pulled Josie to my chest. He was awake now, looking like he’d cry any second. My body was trembling and I’m sure seeing a stranger driving a car, plus the looks on our faces, told him things weren’t good. I kissed his cheek, whispering I loved him and everything was okay.

  We raced down the road, dust flying up in clouds behind us. What had taken us the past thirty minutes to travel, we did in ten. Just as we were about to reenter the town limits, gunshots were fired behind us.

  “Oh my god, I’m so sorry, Brett.”

  “Shhh, don’t. Everything’s gonna be okay.”

  He didn’t look too convinced of that though. He kept checking his mirror and driving like a bat out of hell. When we entered the town, Brett started making tight turns, faster than I’d seen in any movie. He seemed to have the skills for it, though. He’d turn right, then left, drive a little ways, then turn, and turn again. To me, it looked like we were making circles.

  I held Josie tightly against my chest with one arm, and braced myself against the door with my other. The old car didn’t have seatbelts and it felt like it could fall apart at any turn.

  “Do you know anywhere to go?” I don’t know why I whispered. Nobody could hear us.

  “Yeah.” His face was drawn in concentration as he made another series of turns.

  Without warning, he slammed the car into park, thrusting his door open, and jumped out. He ran around to my side and jerked the door open.

  “Hurry!”

  That’s all he had to say. I got out as quickly as I could while holding Josie and Brett grabbed my bags and we took off running. It was hard to keep up, but the idea of someone catching us pushed me faster.

  He ran through an alley behind two large buildings, down a couple blocks, then turned to cross a small field. Once we were on the other side of the field, I thought I’d die from lack of oxygen. I tried to stop, but he grabbed my arm and urged me forward.

  He must have noticed I couldn’t do it, because he gently took Josie from me and handed me the bags. Josie’s eyes were filled with fear. I wanted to comfort him, tell him Brett was helping us, but there was no time for that. After adjusting his weight, he nodded his head in the direction to go, and we continued our sprint.

  “Just a lil’ farther.” He called out.

  I didn’t know where he was taking us, but it had to be better than out here like sitting ducks. Unable to answer him, I fought the lack of oxygen, and pushed my body harder.

  Rounding another corner, I saw a row of small houses. He led me around to the back of the houses and up another alley. About three houses down, he turned, jogging into a small yard. Once we reached the back of the house, he finally stopped.

  “Here, sit down on the steps for a few minutes,” he said between breaths.

  He wasn’t breathing as hard as I was, but I hadn’t run in years. He sat Josie down next to me, and patted the top of his head.

  “Sorry ‘bout that lil’ fellow, we had to play a game just now. Mommy did good though. We’re the winners.”

  Josie was too bewildered to know what to make of everything, but when Brett explained it like that, his eyes lit up, and he smiled a little. That was a small relief.

  “I’m gonna go inside and see if there’s any running water. This is an abandoned house that was donated to the Red Cross, but we haven’t done anything with it yet. So who knows what’s inside. You wanna wait here, or come inside?

  Considering the one hundred plus degree heat, and the men who were chasing us, there really wasn’t anything to think about.

  “Inside.” I breathed heavily.

  He nodded his head, holding out his hand to help me up. Josie stood on his own, and walked in with us.

  CHAPTER 26

  Abandoned was right. The inside of the house was a disaster. Old furniture was turned over, dirt and cobwebs lined every wall, and it smelled of sewage. The one good thing was that it was cool inside. Brett tried the sink, but all that came out was a black, tar-like substance.

  “We’ll let it run for a lil’ while. It should clear up. It’s not the best, but it’s better than nothing.”

  I had to agree with him. I would drink anything right now.

  We cleared an old sofa, dusting it off the best we could before I sat down with Josie. Brett was busy looking out the windows and pacing from the front of the house to the back. I took a couple snacks out of my bag for Josie, but he wasn’t interested. Sitting as I watched Brett, I thought about everything that had happened today. This was the first chance I’d had to really let it all sink in and it quickly started to overwhelm my mind.

  Just as I started to panic, Brett came over, sitting beside me, and wrapping his arm around my shoulders for a small hug.

  “It’ll be okay. I’m not sure how, I won’t lie, but I promise to find a way.” He squeezed my shoulders and leaned his head against mine before pulling back with a small smile on his face.

  Well, at least he didn’t lie, like some people I knew.

  “I didn’t expect this. I guess I didn’t know what would happen. I’m sorry you’re stuck here now.” I felt awful. He probably woke up this morning, went to work, and was having a good day. That was until the crazy lady walked in.

  He game me another squeeze with his arm, and shook his head. “No more of that. I believe in fate. We can do this, Mel.”

  He looked from me to Josie. “We have to do this,” he said sadly.

  Half an hour later, Brett stood, sliding his hands in his pockets, as he looked down at me. “Well, the good thing’s that the car we were in wasn’t in my name. So they won’t know who was with you. I can go get my truck and some food and we can try another route later tonight.”

  I had to stay here? Alone? I couldn’t form any response.

  “It’s not far, Mel. I swear I’ll hurry. I know it’s scary, but it’s the safest way.”

  He was right. Plus, he was willing to do all this just to help two strangers. Wait, w
hat if he didn’t come back? My fear tripled, if that was possible.

  “You will come back, right?” Tears started flowing down my cheeks.

  I had been so alone, locked in that house for over a month. Now I might be all alone in a country where I didn’t know where we were, without a clue how to get Josie to help.

  He sighed. “Mel,” Squatting down in front of me, he reached over, laying his hands on top of mine. “I promise I’ll come back. Ya just have to be strong for a short time.”

  Forcing the tears to stop, I nodded my head and said okay.

  “I’ll leave out the back and come in the same way when I return. It should only take about twenty minutes. Alright?”

  “K.” I squeaked out.

  Josie, who had been busy exploring the dirty room, came over and crawled in my lap. He could see and feel my fear now. I didn’t know how to hide it from him, but somehow I had to find a way. I took a deep breath and gave him a hug. We could do this. We had to!

  Brett returned almost an hour later. I had begun panicking about half way through and had taken Josie into a nasty bathroom, shutting the door behind us. I heard someone calling my name, but I was too scared to answer. It took him a few minutes to find us once he was inside the house, but when he did, I rushed into his arms like I’d known him forever.

  “Sorry it took so long. I had to take the long way back. I wasn’t sure about a couple cars and didn’t want to risk it.” He pulled back and smiled. I think he was proud of himself. “I got us some food.” He held up a bag and his grin grew even bigger.

  Stepping back, I picked Josie up and turned to say thanks, when I noticed that he had changed clothes too. He now had on a pair of jeans, a tight black T-shirt, and worn brown boots, his body nicely defined underneath.

  “Thank you, I really appreciate it.”

  He just smiled again and waved it off, like he rescued damsels in distress every day.

  “No problem.” He said as he began clearing off an old mattress. Pulling two sheets out of his bag, he laid one on top for us to sit on and sat the other aside. After getting Josie situated, we ate some turkey sandwiches he’d made at home. I could tell they were thrown together in about thirty seconds, but that didn’t stop them from tasting like a five course meal.

  The sun was starting to set, and Brett decided we’d wait till morning to drive out of town again. He reasoned that there were very few cars on the roads at night and it would be too obvious. In the mornings, people were busy driving in from all directions to bring stuff to and from the markets. It made sense to me. We had a plan. I just prayed that nothing happened in the meantime. Josie, well what was inside him, didn’t exactly come with instructions. We had no idea what the possibilities of it going off were. We chose not to discuss that. It was not an option.

  Josie was beyond tired. After eating and discussing our plans, I gave him his medicine, while Brett used the other sheet to spread over an old mattress. Using my bag as a pillow, I laid beside Josie until he fell asleep. I tried to relax, to allow my body some rest, but I couldn’t. Rolling over, I watched Brett who was busy walking the floors in the dark.

  “Can you sit here for a few minutes, please?” I just needed to feel safe, even for a short time. Everything was so overwhelming, I felt hopeless and scared.

  “Sure.”

  Crossing the room, he lowered himself down, sitting on the edge of the bed next to me. We talked about where we were from, how he was in the Marines until three years ago, which made me feel better, and then we discussed our hobbies.

  He was doing a good job keeping my mind distracted. It reminded me of a first date. Of course, not many first dates included bombs and outrunning bad guys. Somewhere during a story about his childhood home in Tennessee, I finally dozed off, just in time for a short nap before sunrise.

  CHAPTER 27

  Watching the dusty road before us, the city appeared across the horizon, and I knew we were almost there. My hairs started to stand on end, my nerves instantly on edge again. My hands were shaking, and my legs began to tremble.

  Reaching over, Brett gently laid his hand on my arm, trying to help calm me. I looked down and thought of Miguel. How could he? How could anyone? How could he do this to his own son?

  I hadn’t realized I was crying until Brett grabbed a napkin and handed it to me.

  “Sorry, I don’t have Kleenex or anything nice.”

  I gave him a small laugh. “It’s okay. I’m not sure what made me cry. You’d think I was out of tears by this point.”

  “I could only imagine,” he said sadly, returning his hands back to the steering wheel.

  We had to take the long route into Kabul, where the embassy was located. We’d been driving for over three hours when the city finally came into view. Brett’s truck made easy work over the bumps and hills of the back roads we traveled, but I constantly worried about Josie’s back. It was one thing to worry about his pain, but it was completely different to worry about the new problem inside him. Brett was certain that nobody would think of following the set of roads he chose. So far, he was right.

  Entering the city, Brett took his phone out, quickly making a couple calls. I couldn’t help but listen as he told someone he wouldn’t be back to the site for at least a few days due to an emergency. They asked a few questions, and I assumed they wondered if he was okay. He assured them that all was fine, but he had to help a friend unexpectedly. The last call was to someone in the military, asking for clearance to enter the international zone near the embassy. He must have known someone important, because other than stating he had an emergency situation with an American citizen, they seemed to agree to his request with much fuss.

  After finishing his calls, he held out his phone, offering for me to use it. I thought about calling Joan. I wanted to so bad, but I didn’t want to worry her. Anything I had to say right now would only scare her.

  “No thanks, I’ll wait to call home until I know what’s going to happen.”

  “Okay, if ya change your mind, just let me know.”

  I glanced at the kind man smiling beside me. He hardly knew me, yet he was willing to do so much. I had no way to ever repay him.

  “You told someone you weren’t going back for a few days?” I asked him tentatively.

  “I’m not lettin’ you go through this alone, Mel.” He looked over at me so I could see he was serious. “Y’all don’t deserve this. I know ya don’t know me very well, but I can’t leave ya. I can only imagine how crazy things will get once we’re at the embassy.”

  He paused, reaching over and tenderly holding Josie’s hand.

  “I won’t leave this lil’ guy.”

  “But, Brett, you might…”

  He didn’t let me finish that sentence. “No, Mel. My life’s no more important than his is. Than yours is. It’s the least I can do. Please, let me stay by your side and make sure you’re safe. Someone needs to.”

  Those damn tears! They were falling down my face again. If this ever ended, I was getting a tear duct removal!

  Looking at Brett, I couldn’t believe that a stranger would willingly put his life in danger for us. My own husband had turned his back on me, and on our son. He lied to us, and he left us. Yet, a stranger was willing to be there for us when we had nobody.

  “Thank you…a lot.” I offered a small smile and he moved his hand from Josie to my arm, and gave me another gentle squeeze on my forearm.

  “It’s the least I can do,” he said and then focused his attention on finding parking near the embassy.

  We were there. I had no idea what would happen from this point on, but I felt a little better knowing I had a friend beside me.

  ********

  Fifteen minutes later, we were approaching the embassy gate. We’d chosen not to drive the truck inside because we didn’t want to take the extra time to have it searched. There were US soldiers positioned sporadically around the perimeter watching everyone coming and going nearby, filling me with trepidation.

&
nbsp; Coming to a stop, we stood next to a concrete security booth that had red and white striped bars that extended out from it to stop traffic. The tall, muscular, black man inside eyed us suspiciously. It made me realize something frightening. We were taking a bomb into US territory. What would happen when they found out? I doubted they’d care if the bomb had blond hair, beautiful brown eyes, and cute little dimples when he smiled.

  “Brett?” I whispered nervously.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll explain and try to get us in.” He must’ve had the same thoughts as I did. Yes, thank God for small miracles, because how would I have done this alone?

  Stepping outside his booth, the officer looked us up and down, hesitant of our arrival.

  “Can I help you?” He asked, his eyes continuing their appraisal.

  “Sir, my name is Sargeant Brett Caveleri, this is Mel Sandviel and her child Josiah. We are all American citizens. I called General Handly and spoke with him a short time ago. He is aware that this is an emergency situation and we need permission to enter the embassy due to the danger we are in.”

  Wow. He was good under pressure. I probably couldn’t have said my own name at that moment.

  “We need to speak with the US Ambassador, or someone in command immediately, please.”

  The man looked at Brett like he was insane. “You can’t just walk up here and demand to see someone. What are you in danger from anyhow?”

  I guess he wasn’t buying the easy explanation. I knew I had to say something.

  “My husband, or his brother, I’m not sure yet, has planted a bomb that I’m assuming will be used against American people.”

  I jumped into the conversation hoping that this would speed things up. The man appeared emotionless, staring at us with trained accuracy.

  “Sir, please, this is very urgent. I ran away yesterday to seek help. I’m sure we don’t have much more time. If we could speak with someone in charge, I’m positive we could explain everything.”