Chapter 8
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"Dieter."
Dieter turned his head at the sound of a voice calling out to him. He let go of the woman's head and gave the man a quick, swift salute. It was machine-like, quick, and bowed.
The man in the torture chamber stared at Sasha's wet body sagging under the tub, bruises and cuts everywhere. Dieter was a torturer by trade. He was ruthless, cold-blooded, and maniacal in his cruelty. His madness knew no command, no gender, no origin, and that was what had brought him to Counterintelligence. The man nodded once, and Dieter stood back.
"Any progress?"
"Not much so far, I'm afraid, Sir."
"Very well. Get out of here."
"Yes, sir."
He exited the thick iron gate as soon as the order was given. The SS infantrymen who stood sentry on either side of the door stamped their feet and chanted.
He pulled a chair over and sat down in front of Sasha. His legs were crossed and he rested a thick, tattered book on his thighs, his hands in stiff leather gloves on top of it. His eyes were as calm and graceful and pure as a saint's, as he looked down at the bloodied woman, as if he held nothing within them. What he saw before him was not a tortured person, but an employee interviewing for a secretary in some office.
"What's your name?"
Sasha couldn't answer because she was breathing irregularly. Instead, he squeezed the book on his thigh. The silence was more frightening than Dieter's kicks.
"......Sa, Sasha....... Sasha...... Laurent."
"Sasha. Nice name, pretty and easy to say. Is that all the luggage you brought with you?"
Sasha nodded.
"Forty bahk and a few clothes?"
She nodded again.
"Did Jared give you a way to get back across the border from the Dochen? Or a way to contact a mole on the Allied side? An ID and passport in a name other than Elga Schmidt?"
Sasha shook her head slowly.
"What did you used to do before you came here?"
"At the hospital......in the pediatric ward."
"Were you a doctor?"
Sasha shook her head again.
"I guess Jared didn't even teach you how to die.mWhat to do if you're caught by the Dochen. Usually you chew cyanide hidden in your molars. You know what?"
He leaned deeper into the iron chair, looking down at her.
"You're the only spy I know who doesn't live to die, but lives because he can't."
Her eyes grew hot. If only he'd told her how to die. If only they'd taught her how to hide cyanide under her tongue, then she wouldn't be in this cruel, miserable position. She resented Jared, and resentment brought tears to her eyes. Her body shook with sobs.
John undid the top button of his conquest and calmly placed his hand on the book again.
"Do you believe in God, Sasha Laurent?"
Sasha rolled her eyes toward the book the man was fondling. It was a Bible, and as it turned out, there was a crucifix hanging in the first spot the sun hit in the morning in this checkpoint. By the time Dieter walked in, it was plunged into darkness.
"Dieter is a devout Christian, and if you ask him to call a priest, he will do so without hesitation, and with God's help, he will grant you a merciful death."
"......I don't believe in god."
She didn’t believe it. When her father and mother went down like smoke at their hands, when they died so horribly, god died with them.
"Sasha."
The man's voice was sweet as he called her name, and in the dusky light, Sasha tried to make out his faint outline in her blurry eyes. He was like an angel, she realized, a pristine white uniform with golden collar, brilliant platinum hair to match. Straight and controlled. No, he looked like a devil. He seemed to be smiling. No...... he had no expression. But a voice. Only the sound of his voice, calling to her, echoed in her ears.
She closed her eyes. Sasha. The syllables from his mouth vibrated and lingered on her bruised eardrums. If all of this was not a dream, she would rather die than open her eyes as she was. Please have your last mercy on me.
***
Above her, the ceiling swirled with geometric patterns inlaid with gold and ivory. Blinding sunlight crashed over them in waves. For a moment, Sasha thought it was heaven. It felt like a luxury of being dead. But with a series of blinks and breaths, Sasha realized it was real. Her body felt heavy, and the pounding headache was proof. She jerked upright in her seat. She looked at her face and hands: bandaids everywhere, her tortured fingers wrapped in bandages.
Where am I? Sasha kicked off the covers. She slid off the bed, tripped, and rolled across the floor with a loud thud. Her body felt so heavy. Her hands and feet didn't feel right. She stayed flat on her stomach and listened for a long moment to see if she could hear anyone outside the door, or if she could hear footsteps approaching. But there was no sound.
Sasha quickly got to her feet and with her uncoordinated hands, flung the large, thick double doors wide open. For a moment, her fingertips ached, but she didn't care. The sound of her opening and closing the door echoed loudly in the long hallway. She looked around.
"Is anyone here?"
"Is anyone there!?"
The sound returned to the hallway as an empty echo. It was too vivid to be a dream, too strange to be real.
"Hey!"
A large door appeared at the end of the ornate, decorated hallway. Run, Sasha. Run! Her instincts screamed. Suddenly, she realized it was dangerous. She had to run. Instinct fueled impulse. Sasha ran for the door. From one end of the hallway to the other, limping, tripping, falling, scrambling to her feet as if chased by something. Her hand slipped a few times as she fumbled for the doorknob. Clunk, clunk, clunk, no matter how hard she turned, the locked door wouldn't open.
"No one's there!"
Sasha pounded on the door.
"Someone answer, please!"
Another bang.
"Help me!"
Please help me....... Please open this door, please tell me where I am, please tell me if this is a dream or reality, please, please.
Sasha gasped and gripped the doorknob, sagging in her seat, her body heavy. Her legs continued to shake. She wondered how long she'd been lying there, where she was, and even in the palatial interior, she felt a sense of dread. Her ears were ringing with tinnitus.
Sasha got up again and headed for her bedroom. She pulled the curtains and opened the window to let in the blinding sunlight, but the tightly locked door refused to open, no matter how hard she tried. Everything was locked except the bedroom door. I'm trapped, I'm trapped, this is either prison or hell, I have to get out.
Sasha looked around for something to break the window with. She saw a small table and a chair. If she picked up that chair and threw it, the glass would shatter. Sasha ran over and grabbed the chair.
She was about to lift it up when something triggered her sense of smell.
She sniffed and sniffed, then lifted the golden dome cover from the chair. A large tray was piled high with bread and butter, sausages, fresh fruit, and fatty meats. Her hungry stomach rumbled and screamed. It was good to live, it was good to run, but most of all it was hungry. She had to eat. She was famished.
Sasha's eyes rolled with appetite. Forgetting how to use a fork and knife, forgetting the pain in her fingertips, she shoveled food into her mouth with both hands. She forgot to chew as she shoved it all down her throat to fill her empty stomach. She had never been so hungry in her life. Even when she was orphaned and begging for rags, she never craved food like this, like a madman.
"Kolok!"
The food she'd been shoving down her throat spewed out of her mouth. Sasha pounded her chest and gulped down the entire jug of water.
"Kolok! Kolok!"
The food still didn't seem to be moving down her chest, so she took another gulp of water, then pounded her chest again.
"Kolok! Kolok!"
But the coughing became more paroxysmal. By the end, she couldn't breathe, as if the food that had filled her chest had filled her throat. Sasha's coughing became more violent, and she didn't know why. She could see the corners of her mouth turning blue in the reflection of the silver teapot. Why was this happening?
Sasha collapsed to the floor and wiped the food from her mouth. She wiped the white foam from her mouth, along with powdery white bread crumbs. What is this? More foam spilled out of her mouth with a gurgling sound. Sasha gulped and let out a sharp breath, then blacked out.
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