by Fox J Wilde
“So you propositioned her, then.”
Matt didn’t respond.
“I take that as a yes.” Patrick said.
“Well…in one way or another.”
“Oh, dear lord,” Patrick thought, “That bastard.”
“She’s not my type, but I made it work.” Matt grinned wolfishly.
“Oh, so you two actually…honestly, I thought the bitch was lying about that.”
“Wait, what did you think I meant?” Matt asked in an irritated voice.
“Well, naturally I assumed that...”
“Wait, you think that woman is worth the trouble of us employing?! My God, man…with how bad your organization runs itself, I figured you would give us more credit than that.”
“It’s surprising, is all. I just thought that many of your interests…align.”
“Only one thing between her and I aligned, I assure you,” Matt gestured crudely. “I’d be lying if I said she wasn’t spying and running intel for us—but I’d also be lying if I said she had any clue that she was. That girl has such a big mouth, she practically…well, you get the idea.”
Patrick hated Matt. He had all the luck with the women and he knew how to rub it in. Getting to mix business and pleasure the way he always seemed to…well, of course Patrick had some ‘pleasure’ of his own, but that was beside the point.
“Either way, I know she’s lying to me,” Patrick said, dismissively. “And again, I don’t care. But I’m not putting my head on the chopping block if my team-mates get the wrong impression. So, whatever you are planning on doing with her, do it quickly.”
“And what of the other?”
“What other?”
“You know who I’m talking about.”
“Oh, Vivika?” Patrick said casually. “She was recently arrested as a spy herself.”
“She…” Matt broke his composure slightly. “She what? What did she do? Where is she?”
“Oh, you know how these things go,” Patrick replied with a grin. “She’s probably still alive, if I had to guess. What’s left of her, anyway. But you were saying something about Lena...”
“I want to know more about Vivika,” Matt said, flushing with rage. “Tell me where they have her.”
Oh, this was too good, Patrick realized. The poor fool had broken the cardinal rule of espionage: don’t get involved. It felt so good to have this over him. Not only did Patrick have another major bargaining chip, he had it against this conceited British moron, “Now, maybe I’ll finally get a little respect.”
“If they’ve…” Matt seethed, “If they’ve hurt her…I swear to God I will...”
“Well, hurting is a matter of perspective,” Patrick taunted. “They generally don’t start with anything too debilitating. But electrocution…I sure hope she doesn’t have a weak heart. Sometimes they stick the pins in the wrong places.”
“Tell me where she is, or I swear to God...”
“You will what? Ruin relations with your only remaining double-agent in the HVA? Oh, I’m sure daddy will absolutely love that.”
“It’s worth it,” Matt threatened, drawing himself up to his full height. “My Boss gives everyone a freebie.”
“Oh, calm yourself,” Patrick jeered. “They haven’t captured her at all. No one suspects a thing. Truthfully, she isn’t even doing anything worth arresting her for. She’s a failed asset that the HVA doesn’t want anymore, and barely a worthwhile informant for the Stasi. She’s utterly worthless to everyone.”
“She’s not worthless.”
“She is to me. But I can make her worth so much more, if you really want her to stay alive. She does have the perkiest tits I’ve ever seen, and I’m sure it’s nice and warm down...”
“If you touch her…If any of your people touch her…”
“Then what?” Patrick laughed. “What do you have? What could you possibly do?”
“Oh, I have something,” Matt’s countenance changed then, to something vaguely resembling cheekish. Given the circumstances, ‘cheekish’ probably dealt a greater measure of foreboding than any amount of anger he let onto in the past few minutes. “Would you like to see?”
“You have nothing,” Patrick laughed louder. “Absolutely nothing.”
With this, Matt reached into the pocket of his greatcoat and pulled out a letter. He looked at the letter for a moment, considering it with a smile. He then kissed the letter sardonically and handed it over.
Patrick opened the letter, to reveal a set of folded pictures. He unfolded the bundle, and immediately went white. The top picture revealed himself ruthlessly penetrated by the fat French dignitary in an alleyway. The picture wasn’t expertly taken—indeed, it had captured far more of the wall than it had the characters in it—but what it did prominently display was Patrick’s face twisting in pain. Suddenly, he realized the error of his supposed comrades. “What were they thinking?!” he screamed inside himself, “Why did they give that pen back to her?! Why?”
“While Lena and I were…well, you know…she didn’t seem to notice us absconding with her purse. Too busy being throttled, perhaps.”
“You…” Patrick hissed, trying to regain his composure.
“And honestly,” Matt continued, “we were quite surprised by a lot of things. If it wasn’t for the Soviet GRU agent who had lost that exact same model of pen, we wouldn’t have even noticed. You’re getting slow, Patrick.”
“Well, big deal!” Patrick howled. “So what? Put it in the tabloids! Put it all over the news that I, some no-name Eastern German, likes getting buggered by old men! What do you have to gain?!”
“Oh, keep looking,” Matt smiled. “You’ve only seen the top photos.”
Patrick quickly rifled through the photos; each one bringing him to a paler and paler shade of white, “This can’t be real,” Patrick thought to himself. “This…there’s no way. How…?” There, in the damning shade of monochromatic, was a picture of Patrick, red-faced and crying with…her…on top of him.
“How…?” Patrick whispered as his vision blurred. “How did…who?”
Matt simply stared at him. It wasn’t a triumphant look. It wasn’t even a remotely pleased look. It was the blank, emotionless stare of a man who felt nothing. Patrick had become an object—neither worthy of praise nor contempt. He was a stone in the road; a chipped edge on a bench. He may have been useful as an asset to Matt, but as a person...he was absolutely nothing.
“How…how did you…”
“So, I take it we have your loyalty, then.” Matt asked plainly.
“Who…I h-have to…know…wh-who t-took...”
“Oh, be a man, will you?!” Matt shouted. “Be something remotely resembling a man! I know it must be hard for you, being such a deviant little whore like you are! I’ve half a mind to use these photos regardless! How disgusting you are! Just look at you!”
“I’m n-not...”
“You are disgusting. A filthy, disgusting little pervert. Look! Look at those fucking pictures and tell me what you are!”
“I’m not d-disgusting!” Patrick openly cried now.
“Yes. Yes, you are! You are a filthy, disgusting freak! Who could ever love such a freak?! Getting raped by a damn woman! How very, very weak you must truly be.”
“I’m not…I’m not…I’m not…” Patrick repeated over and over, as he dropped to his knees, “I’m not disgusting…I’m not...”
The scene paused momentarily as Matt stood victorious before Patrick, who cowered on his knees, sobbing into his hands. He had been beaten, and so very terribly wronged by the world. It wasn’t fair…none of it was fair. Why was the world this cruel? Why was it this cruel to him?
“Does Vivika have your protection?” Matt said plainly, after some time.
“Yes.”
“And Lena too?”
“Yes sir.
”
“And you will do what needs to be done for Mr. Schmidt when the time finally comes?”
“Y-yes sir.”
“Then we’re done here.”
Matt spit on the ground in front of Patrick, before walking out of the barn, leaving him to cry silently. The night’s fog crept into the barn, adding to the stifling claustrophobia of the space. Alone in his misery, the night seemed to become that much colder, and the barn seemed to become even more desolate than it had been before.
Die Wahrheit Wird Dich Befreien
“Hello, dear Lena!” Dragon Lady gushed, as she stood up from the cafe’s small wooden table to give Lena a deep hug.
“Oh, it’s been so long!” Lena gushed back. “How have you been?!”
Fake pleasantries accomplished, the two slipped into chairs at opposite sides of the table. Lena resisted the urge to glower at her, while Dragon Lady made no similar attempts. The cafe was busy with the evening rush of young couples and lonely hearts out on the town. Their table was at the far end of the room, and no one was paying the slightest bit of attention to them. Dragon Lady used this opportunity to shoot poisoned eyeball-darts in her direction.
“So,” Dragon Lady began. “I suppose you are excited, then? You finally get to see your Grandfather again.”
“I am. It’s been too long. How has he been?”
“Oh, he’s been busy. Very busy indeed.”
The two sat in awkward silence for a few moments, neither really wanting to talk to the other. Lena took a loud sip of her coffee, Dragon Lady took an even louder sip of hers, and it seemed that both were enjoying the precious few seconds that they didn’t have to make conversation. Dragon Lady was the first to speak again, however, and Lena couldn’t help but feel that she had won some minor battle.
“So…how have you been?” she asked, almost seeming genuine. “Any new music? Any…new men?”
“New men?” Lena responded awkwardly. “You mean…dating, or?”
“Or women,” Dragon Lady offered, and she didn’t seem to be teasing her at all.
“God, why does everyone think I’m a lesbian?” Lena thought acidly, “And what business is it of this monster if I was?!” For a second, she considered actually saying it, before simply replying, “No. No new men. I’ve been rather busy.”
“Well, that’s good.”
The two sat once more in silence, taking long sips of their coffee. Lena hazarded a few glances about the room, just to make sure that everyone was having more fun than she was. Indeed, it appeared that they were. Of course, everyone else was here because they wanted to be. They laughed, joked, hugged, kissed and did all the things that true friends did—whereas she and Dragon Lady could not possibly be more eager to be rid of each other.
“How about you?” Lena asked, half awkwardly and half brazenly. “Any new women?”
“Yes, actually.”
“Oh.”
“...and new men, of course.”
“I see.”
Lena cleared her throat, and Dragon Lady did the same before changing the subject, “So, let’s get this over with, then. I am going to be transporting you to a location. I want you to know that this is a temporary place. We were originally planning on sending you to an actual safe house, but some new developments have occurred, and we will be unable to expose you to any place that is sensitive.”
“What new developments?”
“Well...” Dragon Lady said in a tone vaguely resembling concern, “It would appear that some people aren’t very good at following instructions and get a little bit nosy.”
“Nosy? Who’s getting nosy?”
Dragon Lady stared at her. It was as if she expected Lena to somehow know who or what she was talking about.
“Who’s getting nosy?” Lena repeated, “Did I do something?”
The only response from Dragon Lady was the lifting of an eyebrow. Lena squirmed, desperately trying to read Dragon Lady’s expression or understand what she was implying. Whatever was going on— whatever had happened—she felt that anything she said or did in this moment might implicate her in something she knew nothing about.
“No, dear,” Dragon Lady responded after some time. “You haven’t done anything. Shall we head out?”
Dragon Lady drove the car for nearly two hours. Lena wasn’t complaining, though. This was one of perhaps three times she had even been in a car in her life, excluding the touring van to West Germany. Oh sure, she had ridden on busses before, but those were slow lumbering things and only drove certain directions. In this car, she felt so free! She imagined what it would be like to simply drive away in a car to start a whole new life anywhere she pleased. As it was, Dragon Lady drove past places Lena had walked a million times before, yet they seemed almost foreign to her now that she was whizzing by at a break-neck speed. After the first thirty minutes of driving, Lena knew she had to have her own car someday.
Dragon Lady had taken a winding route through the city before emerging out into the country. Driving slowly down a lonely country road, she pulled over to the side, shut the engine off and waited. Perhaps five minutes passed, before she turned around and drove back into the city. Another fifteen minutes later, she pulled up to a hostel and parked on the street beside it.
“Here we are!” Dragon Lady said proudly. “Are you excited?”
Lena nodded in response.
The two entered the main door into a lobby. It was a shabby place, and the attendant at the front seemed quite nonplussed by their presence there. He didn’t even look up to notice them, and Lena distinctly heard the sound of a television crackling somewhere from behind the desk. She recognized the sounds of one of the GDR’s terrible soaps. “Is there a room here, perhaps? Am I meeting him in one of the rooms?”
The excitement continued to build as they walked down a hall, passing door after door. She was so excited to talk to her Grandfather and talk about the car, and the show, and what East Berlin was like, she could practically contain herself. Yet as they approached the further end of the hall, Lena became confused. “Maybe he’s one of the last doors?”, she thought to herself. Yet at the pace they were walking, Dragon Lady didn’t seem to be walking anywhere but towards the end. She wasn’t even counting the numbers on the doors. As they finally reached the end, and walked out of the exit to the outside world, Lena had finally recognized the anti-surveillance tactics, “It’s a dummy location.” she realized, “She’s worried that we’re being followed.”
The two walked down a dark alleyway for a minute or two, before strolling past a parked car. Lena looked at the car and noticed that someone was sitting in the driver’s seat. Suddenly, everything went dark as she felt a bag being firmly placed over her head, “What the…what is going on?!” she screamed inside herself, as she began to struggle.
“Stop squirming.” Dragon Lady instructed. “It’s a necessary countermeasure. We know you are being followed, and we know by whom. Until we can figure out why, and determine if you’ve known about it, you don’t get to see where we are taking you. So, sit back and enjoy the ride.”
The car drove for nearly thirty minutes by Lena’s measure. She wasn’t uncomfortable, per se, but her bag was hot and sticky from her own breathing. At first, she had hyperventilated with the fear of certain immediate death. But reason took hold and she knew it wouldn’t bode well for her to have a full-fledged anxiety attack. If they had really intended on killing her, they probably would have done so. But they could still hurt her—if that was the case, only a calm head would get her out of it. So, she set about the business of stilling her breath and calming the pounding heart in her chest. Dragon Lady seemed to sense this.
“Someone’s in deep trouble,” she teased, but Lena didn’t respond. “Have you ever been thrown into a rock quarry before? I don’t imagine you have. But just know that it’s a long way down. Lots of corners too. Lots of sharp, poi
nty rocks to break your bones and rip chunks out of you on the way down.”
Lena shuddered. She knew that Dragon Lady was just trying to get her goat, but it was working.
“Believe it or not, some people survive the fall,” she continued. “Those are my favorite. They just crawl around aimlessly, screaming for help.” Lena shuddered visibly as she continued, “One actually made it eight hours—god, he was bleeding from so many places! It actually took both of his legs right out of the sockets…they were just hanging on by the skin. He pissed himself three times! Three entire times!”
Lena shuddered again.
“I know it’s all about the nuances and finer details.” Dragon Lady continued, “The way the dirt and rock bits packed into his wounds. That must have felt terrible…although in hindsight, that’s probably why he survived so long. My god, the man screamed! It wasn’t nearly as bad as when the maggots got to him though. You wouldn’t think eight hours is enough for them to breed, but it was! Oh, he really didn’t like the maggots.”
“Would you shut up, woman?!” a loud male voice cut in from the driver’s seat.
“Oh, come now. I’m just having a little...”
“Stop being a bitch and shut the fuck up!” the voice said again, and Lena recognized it as Wart-face.
“Fine,” Dragon Lady replied, sullenly.
“Thank you.” Lena silently thanked him. “Thank you for that.”
Lena was led out of the car. She gasped in the fresh night air as the bag finally came off of her head. As she looked around, she noticed that she was outside of a quaint little summer cottage, like many in the GDR. It wasn’t particularly interesting, all things considered. But as she looked around, she noticed that it was surrounded by woodland. Under other circumstances, she could have gotten used to a place like this. Despite her generally terror-filled mood, as she followed Wart-face and Dragon Lady in through the front door, she brightened immediately.
“Jackieisapunk, Judyisarunt…bumpindowntaBerlin, joinaice-capade-a...”