Chapter 6 #3
She stared at him and then winced. “Yeah, I did say that, didn’t I?
Remember that child molester who got ahold of me long ago?
Well, he really got ahold of me,” she murmured.
“I was kidnapped as his next victim, and, being a child, it was hard. Although thankfully I was too old for his sexual fantasies. At the ripe age of thirteen, fourteen maybe, I was well past what he preferred, but let’s just say it was another one of those very traumatizing events in life that you don’t ever want to repeat.
When I got kidnapped this time, it was very different, a very different energy and a very different feel to these guys.
Plus, I’m a whole lot older, and I’m not anywhere near as scared, terrorized, or whatever you want to call it, as I was back then.
Back then I lived with the monsters in my head all the time.
I knew what they were doing. I couldn’t sleep for days or weeks on end,” she shared, with a headshake, as she stared down at the empty coffee cup that she gripped tightly with both hands.
She sighed, relaxed a bit, and added, “Now, that’s all about me. What about you guys?”
Celia laughed. “Nice attempt to change the subject, and we’ll let you because obviously what you described is still very painful. I want to be one of the first to tell you that I’m sorry. Not everybody is an asshole, and not all parents are assholes, even if they appear to be.”
Amy laughed. “Yeah, that part about appearing to be was a problem for me. I learned to recognize the overt monsters, but I didn’t learn to recognize the monsters in sheep’s clothing. That would be the guys who kidnapped me this time. Not that they reminded me of my parents in any way, but…”
“When you have time to work on it,” Celia suggested, “that inner child inside you needs some attention, some true healing. We have excellent healers here,” she pointed out.
“Believe me that any of us here would be more than willing to help.” And, with that, Celia looked over at Terk.
“I need to get back upstairs.” She headed to the fridge, grabbed a jug of juice and a bottle of water and added, “We’ll talk later.
” And, with that, she headed out of the room.
Wallace leaned over to Amy and whispered, “You handled that well.”
She shrugged. “It didn’t feel like it,” she murmured, staring at him. “Seems as if opening up yourself is one of the hardest things to do.”
“It’s because you couldn’t open yourself up that Jonas gave you a pass after your initial interview,” Wallace shared. “I was rooting for you while talking to him about it, but he didn’t figure you were team material.”
She gave a half laugh. “He’s probably right. I’m not team material, not his team material,” she murmured. “I’m not sure I want anything to do with MI6,… not when it’s obvious that his team is as broken as any team I’ve ever seen.”
“You mentioned how you didn’t want anything to do with governments. Is anything personal in that?” Terk asked.
“Only in that it was always the local authorities pushing me to come help them, once they realized I could do something. Don’t get me wrong.
I don’t blame them for that,” she explained.
“If you’ve got missing children, and you can’t do anything, but you know somebody who can do something, who could potentially find answers, anyone would give in.
I thoroughly understand and expect that part, but a couple individuals in power were ugly about it, and a couple weren’t very understanding, and it just made me hesitant to deal with any ,…
any government officials. But once my abilities came back stronger than ever, this little voice inside me was like, Use it or lose it , and I was okay with that—until the same little voice came back with this Then you’ll die business.
I don’t have any way to explain that to you, but it felt very much as if I needed to do this in order to keep justifying my existence in some way, as if this is just part of my fate and what I have to do in this lifetime,” she murmured.
“I know that sounds horribly dramatic, and I don’t mean it to be, but that is my reality. ”
“I think we all feel pretty much the same way here,” Terk admitted, with a smile. “We all do what we do because we know that nobody else can.”
“Exactly,” she agreed, staring at him. “I hadn’t considered it that way though.”
“You need to spend some time just sorting yourself out,” Terk suggested.
“Think about what works, what doesn’t work, what you want out of life, and realize you can have it.
It’s not a case of you get it once and then it’s taken away or you get an offer and then it’s gone.
There’s a lot in life you can have that I’m certain you haven’t even considered as being on the table for you.
But it is, and it’s up to you to determine which way you want to make it all go. ”
“That sounds very simplistic and lovely,” she replied, laughing. “But I think you and I both know it’s not quite as easy as that.”
“No, but you’ve made one brilliant choice,” he pointed out. “For starters, you’re here.” At that, his phone rang. Terk looked down at it. “This is Jonas. Let me talk to him in private, and then I’ll come back and set up a plan.”
And, with that, he got up and walked out.
*
Wallace, Amy, and the rest of the off-duty team waited at the kitchen table for Terk to return. When he didn’t, Wallace looked over at Amy and asked her, “Do you need a nap?”
She snorted. “I really was flagging, wasn’t I?”
He nodded. “How about we go outside for a walk around?”
She hesitated, since most of the others had now left. “Do you think we’re allowed?”
“We’re absolutely allowed,” he declared, with a smile. “Come on. Being outside for a bit will do you some good. You know, the fresh air and all.” He had a goofy grin on his face.
They walked through the kitchen, waving at the people working away in the kitchen, as they headed outside.
Amy noted, “I think I counted four people at work in there.”
Wallace noted, “You didn’t eat much breakfast. Are you hungry now?”
“I was still on edge at breakfast,” she murmured. “I’ll make up for it at lunch.”
He smiled at her. “There’s no making up for missed meals. You know that, right?”
“Yeah, I know.” As she got outside, she looked around and smiled. “Who would have thought anybody would have this castle all to themselves?” she murmured.
“Not exactly to themselves , as a lot of people live here.”
“I only saw a fraction at breakfast, didn’t I?”
“Absolutely. The rest?… Let’s just say that a ton of other people live here, the team itself, their partners, their children.”
“It must take an awful lot to run this place.”
“Everybody helps,” he said. “That’s the joy of how it all works.
Everybody has roles. Everybody has things to do.
Everybody has something that they’re involved in, usually something they like to do anyway,” he added, nodding in agreement.
“So, I don’t think anybody has regrets or a problem being here.
I think that, on a whole other level, it serves them all very well. ”
She smiled and nodded. “How could it not?” she whispered. “Even though it’s huge, it’s also warm and welcoming.”
She determinedly put away her thoughts about how many people would be required to run this place. As soon as she saw the gardens, she cried out and walked over to the first set of rose bushes. “My God, these are heirloom roses.”
“If you say so,” Wallace muttered, with a shrug. “I can’t say I’ve ever had a chance to know the difference.”
She looked up at him and smiled. “It’s one of the things I buried myself in as I tried to heal,” she shared. “Roses, all kinds of plants really. I’m still a novice in so many ways, but I absolutely adore them.”
“I think they are therapeutic in their own way,” he said, with a smile. “All we have to do is accept the healing they offer.”
“Accepting healing is a very different story,” she noted, turning to him. “We can all do only so much, and then, even though the water is running in our direction, or even flowing over us, you can’t accept any more, and you need time to assimilate. It takes time to figure out what’s going on.”
He chuckled and held out his elbow, and she linked her arm with his. They walked through the gardens, and she couldn’t help oohing and aahing over the many different varieties of flowers and plants. She looked at one area in astonishment. “How long have they been here?”
“Not really all that long I don’t think,” he noted, pointing out the mess ahead of them. “They’ve put a ton into getting the castle refurbed and getting the base operational. There’s only so much money and energy for cleaning up the grounds.”
“That makes sense,” she replied, “but it’s pretty spectacular out here already.”
“I’m sure some enjoy it, yet probably others haven’t even made it out here yet.”
“I haven’t seen the kids.”
“You will,” he declared cheerfully, “and there’s a whole lot of them. I know that some of the apartments have their own kitchens and not everyone comes down to the big kitchen all that often. You appeared, so they chose to grace you with their presence.” There was that smile of his again.
“Ooh, ouch,” she said, with a laugh. “Not sure I want to be a novelty.”
“Maybe, but in this place, slow assimilation is often better.”
“I would think it’s always better,” she noted, “and it’s been pretty easy so far.”
“Good. So, when we go back inside, and twice as many people are there, you won’t freak out, right?”
She glanced up at him and asked, “Really? Are there that many here?”
“I know of at least twenty-four, if not twenty-six people who live here. And I’m not privy to all the goings-on here. So could be twice that many, as far as I know. Hence the number of people working in the kitchen. They’ve got to feed them all.”
She smiled. “You know a kitchen is one place I do not belong.”
“You can’t cook?” he asked.
“I can do mac and cheese.” He winced, and she chuckled at the sight of his face all scrunched up. “What? Nobody likes mac and cheese?”
“Oh no, it’s… it’s an iconic food and all that, but, as far as being able to cook it, that’s not exactly what I would consider cooking.”
“I understand, which is why I said it,” she stated, grinning at him. “I can manage simple meals, but not much more than that. I tend to catch things on fire.” He stopped and looked down at her. She shrugged. “I think it’s a special talent of mine.”
“You want to explain that a little further?”
She shook her head. “No. Let’s just say that I shouldn’t be left alone in the kitchen.
I don’t quite get how all of it works and how food is supposed to be cooked at a certain time, at a certain temperature.
Everybody else manages to make it come out gorgeous, but me?
Not so much. That’s how I stay so skinny,” she quipped, laughing. “My cooking is inedible.”
They were still laughing and joking when they heard a shout from behind them. They turned to see Terk, walking toward them. She grinned up at him. “If you’re hoping to put me to work in the kitchen, I was just telling Wallace here that I’ll probably end up burning down the castle.”
Terk smiled, then shook his head. “The good news is that castles don’t burn easily. I gather you’re not great at cooking.”
“Nope, not at all,” she admitted, looking around in circles. “Now, gardening, on the other hand, I love.” She looked wistfully around her. “This is absolutely spectacular.”
“It is,” Terk agreed, “but I couldn’t tell you one plant from another.”
“I don’t know all these varieties either, but a lot here are very special,” she stated, “and you’re blessed to have them.”
“Blessed?” he asked in confusion.
“Yes,” she confirmed. “Some of these are heirloom varieties, as in hundreds of years old. Some of them you can’t even get anymore. You could almost set up a private grafting program, selling some of these offshore. I bet you could make a killing from this bunch.”
“Anything that makes money I’m interested in,” he stated, with a laugh. “This castle is bleeding us dry.”
“Ah, I’m pretty sure that Jonas is paying a lot of those bills,” Wallace pointed out, with a knowing smile.
“He is, and he’ll pay again and then some,” Terk replied, with a note of satisfaction.
“Just for your information, the young man you found in the tunnels is awake. He survived surgery just fine, and he’s doing okay, considering.
I’ve been told he very much wants to talk to both of you.
I guess he didn’t sleep well, worrying that you were still a victim and being tortured, as he had been. ”
“I would love to see him.” Amy looked up at Wallace, and he nodded.
“I can take you in.” He looked over at Terk. “And MI6 is okay with it, right?”
“They’re hoping you can get more information out of him than they got.”
“Of course they are,” Wallace muttered, with a wry look. “Maybe we can. I don’t know. I did talk to him initially, but he was in tough shape, so I want to see him doing a little bit better now.” He looked around at Terk. “Are you good if we go in now?”
“I would suggest it,” he replied, with a nod. “Jonas wants to meet you there and to talk to you as well.”
“Okay, anything that we need a heads-up on?”
“He’s hoping you guys can be convinced to help them find the guys who did this.”
“Did he find the leak in his department?” Amy asked. “Because no point in us doing anything if it’ll just go right back out to the kidnappers. We can’t have them on our ass as soon as we go back in.”
“Jonas thinks so. He had a new junior clerk on his staff who came forward yesterday and admitted that he might have inadvertently shared something.”
She pondered that. “I’m not sure about the inadvertently part,” she murmured. “That makes me very suspicious that the confession is also a setup.”
Terk studied her for a long moment and smiled. “That was my first thought, so let’s go find out.”
“Are you coming too?” she asked.
“I thought I would, yeah. I want to see who this guy is and what’s going on. Besides, Jonas and I have a little bit to talk about.” And, with that, he headed toward the castle. “Let’s take one of my rigs,” he murmured.
“Are they bulletproof?” she asked, with spirit.
He grinned at her. “They absolutely are. Surely you can’t burn that down too?”
“Only if it’s got a cookstove in it.”
Laughing, they headed back to the castle and the vehicle.