2041 Sanctuary (Dark Descent) (62 page)

‘
Aussteigen
,’ the man repeated in German. ‘Get out!’

Jessica walked forward, Eric at her heels, both with hands raised against the bright light. Reaching the opening, she climbed down from the rear of the truck and onto frozen, ice strewn soil. Eric dropped down beside her, his shoes, like hers, crunching and cracking the crystalline water underfoot. Looking around it was clear they were no longer in an urban area. Snow laden pine trees all around stood tall and silent in the darkness, illuminated by the lorry’s red taillights. Breathing in the fresh, freezing air, small puffs of breath expelling from her mouth, Jessica focused on the two men in front of them. Both were similarly dressed in thick, heavy fleece overcoats, military style steel toe-capped boots, and combat trousers, and each wore a thick black belt around his waist, attached to which was a holstered pistol. They were dark-skinned with swarthy faces and black hair, their beards short and wiry. One eyed Jessica and Eric with hostility as he puffed on a fat cigar, the end glowing orange as he took another drag.

‘
Yenbeghey an tekwen hena
,’ the non-smoker said to his friend, taking out his pistol, ‘
ayen hem
?’

The other man shrugged and expelled a large smoke ring from his mouth, its undulating shape floating away before disintegrating into nothing.

Jessica had given enough broadcasts and interviews in her day to realise the men were speaking in Arabic, although her understanding was limited and her ear untrained to distinguish one dialect from another, so they could have been saying anything for all she knew. She just hoped it wasn’t something like:
shall we kill them both now or later?
At the sight of the weapon Eric had grabbed Jessica’s arm, possibly fearing the worst.

The two men turned as another vehicle approached along the narrow dirt road, the man with the gun giving a wave of his hand in recognition. The compact truck came to a stop, the green and brown camouflage paintwork, high ground clearance and green canvas rear cover pulled tightly over a square sub-frame, a dead giveaway as to its military origins. The petrol engine continued to idle despite the vehicle now being stationary, its exhaust propelling out hot pollutants in a continuous, steady stream. The driver’s door opened revealing a depiction of the German national flag on the side. A man emerged, his feet impacting the ground in tandem as he dropped down from his lofty position. He had a rifle slung over one shoulder and wore similar attire to those greeting him.

‘
As-salam alaykum
,’ the man said, sauntering over.

‘
Wa alaykumu s-salam
.’ The cigar smoker put his hand to his heart and shook the newcomer’s hand.

After exchanging a greeting with the pistol-wielding third man, the new arrival appraised Eric and then Jessica in turn; the two of them now brightly lit under his transport’s blazing white headlamps. He said something to his friends, who laughed in response, the joke no doubt, Jessica assumed, at her expense.

‘I’m glad you all find this so amusing.’ Her tone and manner wiped the smiles from their faces.

‘Shush,’ Eric said in fear.

The man with the rifle walked up to her, looking her up and down with disdain. He lashed out with the back of his hand, catching Jessica hard across her cheek.

‘Hey!’ Eric moved forward.

‘
Ead eleyh
!’ The man grabbed his rifle and pointed it at Eric, who put his hands up and stepped back again.

‘Don’t worry, Eric.’ Jessica stood up straighter and pushed her long dark locks back behind one ear, the short red wig having been discarded back at the Stuttgart monastery. Her face stinging, Jessica stared defiantly back at her assailant, her psychological constitution preventing her from kowtowing to his intimidation. The man held her gaze and then muttered something and spat at the ground at her feet before stalking off to the rear of his truck.
Prick
, Jessica thought to herself, rubbing her face; the blow had brought back her headache.

Just when she thought things couldn’t get any worse, the rear flap of the truck clanked down and five white-clad soldiers got out, all wearing balaclavas and sporting assault rifles. The apparent leader of this team shouted some commands in German to those around him, before marching straight up to Jessica to speak in a heavy German accent. ‘Jessica Klein?’

She looked up at him. ‘Yes.’

‘
Gut, bekommen in der Rückseite des LKW
.’ He indicated the military truck he’d just vacated. ‘Get in.’

Jessica hesitated, unsure where this was leading.

‘
Ach, kommen,
’ the man said impatiently, pulling her forwards by the arm.

Eric made to follow, but another soldier pushed him back. ‘Jessica!’ Eric cried out.

‘Eric!’ She pulled back. ‘What about him?
Was ist mit ihm
?!’

The soldier, in no mood for games, kept her moving. ‘
Er bleibt hier
, he stays.’ He yanked her round to the rear of the vehicle and pushed her up into it.

Jessica felt bereft and exposed without Eric, whom she’d grown to like during their time together. She also felt a maternal instinct towards him, and a bond born of their shared experiences. She prayed he’d be okay without her, any optimism about his safety, and hers, deriving from the fact that they’d kept them alive this long; why would they change things now? Not wanting to think up any reasons to fracture her brittle confidence she pushed the thoughts from her mind.

Inside the truck an identical bench ran down either side. Jessica stayed standing, reluctant to get comfortable. Heavy black boots clattered up onto the metal floor-pan, the soldier’s bulky frames forcing Jessica to take a seat as they crammed in around her. The leader, who’d manhandled her, sat nearest the cab and banged a gloved fist on the metal panel, signalling to the driver they were ready to leave.

The vehicle rolled back and then executed a tight six-point turn while Jessica looked out of the small rectangular opening between the tailgate and canvas roof. She felt a wash of emotions when Eric came into view, still standing in the same position, with the cigar smoker and his friend for company. He looked as forlorn as Jessica felt. Seeing her, he raised his hand in farewell and Jessica waved back as the truck moved off into the dark snowy forest. She watched until a bend in the road obstructed her view. With her young German friend no longer visible, she was left with only the grim, silent masked men around her for company in a new – and wholly unwanted – reality.

♦

The journey into the depths of the snowbound forest went on and on, the endless bouncing and jolting almost hypnotic as Jessica rocked around inside the vehicle. Four hours must have passed and the truck now crept up an ever-increasing incline, the rocky road turning treacherous. Jessica guessed they were still inside Germany, although she couldn’t be sure. The duration of her enforced sedation could have lasted for hours or even days; for all she knew she could even be on another continent.

The soldiers around her spoke little during the drive and to her, not at all. Up and up they climbed and Jessica’s clothing, which she’d stolen from the house back in the small town of Aalen, did little to keep out the freezing temperatures. With her teeth chattering, her sporadic shivering had become uncontrollable, the now continuous movement bringing the attention of one of the men upon her.

‘
Sie hat den Tod einfrieren
,’ the man said to his superior; Jessica barely heard him.

‘
Ach
.’ The leader stood up, took off his coat and pulled it around Jessica’s small shoulders. Crouching down in front of her, he did up the zipper and then vigorously rubbed her frost nipped fingers before breathing onto them, his own hands cupped around them, trying to increase the warmth and blood flow. After a while of this treatment, the tips of her fingers regained some feeling, sharp pains and tingling sensations confirming they hadn’t become frostbitten. He then switched his attention to her arms and legs.

‘
Danke schön
,’ Jessica said; her teeth still chattered a little, but her shivering had subsided.

The man nodded to her before sitting back down, leaving Jessica wrapped in his thick, warm coat.

Not much more time passed before the truck ground to a halt, the steep topography finally becoming too great for the vehicle to go any further. The men around her clambered out and hopped down to the ground; one of them held out a hand, which Jessica refused, opting to get out under her own steam.

Torches were switched on one by one, until five beams of light radiated out into the mountainous landscape around them. The great trunks of many conifers, their bark coated with ice and snow, could be seen disappearing into the darkness like many immobile giants standing to attention and awaiting orders from an otherworldly omnipotent source.

As one, the men moved away from the truck and on up into the forest. Jessica, encouraged to move into their midst, glanced back to see the relative security of the truck vanishing from sight.

‘Where are you taking me?’ she asked, not relishing trekking through the uninviting wilderness. ‘
Wo bringen Sie mich
?’

No one answered her, but she didn’t have to wait long before they came across a small yellow tent hidden amongst the trees and boulder-strewn forest floor. From within this tiny haven emanated a bright warm glow. In the centre and at its peak a chimney poked out, puffs and wisps of smoke swirling up into the starless heavens.

All but one of the men bypassed this oasis, the leader of the troop stopping to hold Jessica back and reclaim his coat. ‘
Warten im Inneren
.’ He pointed to the tent, let go of her arm and turned to leave.

‘Stop,’ she said in German, ‘where are you going?’

‘We’re continuing on, you need to wait in the tent, someone will meet you inside.’

‘What’s this all about?’ she asked, but he was already walking away, following his men up into the mountains.

Confused, Jessica unfastened the tent flap and ducked inside, quickly closing the opening behind her to preserve the hot air within. The tent was larger than it had appeared from the outside. A small chimney had been erected in the middle, powered by a wood burning stove; cunningly constructed to prevent any flames or sparks igniting the padded floor under and around it. It was the wavering light from this fire that had glowed so invitingly from without. At the back lay an unfurled sleeping bag, its crumpled creases and central indentation indicating it had recently been used by its owner.

As minutes turned to hours, Jessica made herself comfortable, enjoying the warmth that eroded the chill that had pervaded every fibre of her clothing and body. Feeling filthy and unwashed in her ill-fitting clothes, she tried her best to clean herself up, combing her tresses with her nails and wiping her face with hastily collected snow melt.

A while later, the tent flap rustled before flopping open to reveal a man in a thick, bright orange jumpsuit. He had a pale, yet jovial, windburned face framed by a tight fitting fur lined hood. ‘Ah, hallo,’ the man said upon seeing her. ‘You’ve come a long way,’ he continued in German. ‘I hope they didn’t treat you too badly.’

Jessica sat up straighter as he entered the tent. ‘Who are you?’

‘What? Didn’t they explain? No, why would they – any of them.’ Looking annoyed, he took off his thick orange mittens and put his hands out to the stove, rubbing them together for extra warmth. ‘My name is Franz, and you are Jessica Klein, no?’

Jessica nodded. ‘But I don’t understand any of this; I was imprisoned, drugged and then driven out here, wherever here is—’

‘Imprisoned, drugged, oh dear. That is not good, not good at all. Those people are thieves and criminals, not to be trusted; the whole lot of them. Some, I think, are linked with a terrorist group out of the Middle East, the People’s Arabian Militia; perhaps you’ve heard of them?’

Jessica shook her head.

‘No? You surprise me, a woman of the news such as yourself. But then these are dark times, full of censorship and oppression; things are not like they were, they are kept hidden, secret. That is why the likes of me end up rubbing shoulders with the likes of them, dark days indeed.’

‘So where are we? And who were those soldiers? They weren’t terrorists.’

‘We are in the northern reaches of the Alps, in Austria,’ Franz said, ‘and those soldiers were most definitely not terrorists, but troops from the German army, moonlighting, if you will, across borders.’

‘So why am I here? What’s all this about?’

Franz gave her an odd look. ‘You don’t know? But you must know, he told me you knew.’

‘Who told you I knew what?’

‘The man who set up this meeting, of course, DMI,
Da Muss Ich
.’

Chapter Forty

Jessica stared at Franz in disbelief. ‘
Da Muss Ich
set up this meeting, Bic – the cyber terrorist?’

‘Yes, it has been arranged for some time. He didn’t tell you?’

Jessica thought back to her brief conversations with Bic via the computer, some of her memories still jumbled from whatever powerful drug the kidnappers had pumped into her. ‘He did mention something about meeting a GMRC insider,’ she said, ‘but that was before he betrayed us, before we were taken captive.’

‘There is someone else with you?’ Franz asked in concern. ‘I can only get access for one person, no more, two would be an impossibility.’

Frowning and disregarding his question, Jessica rubbed her temples trying to piece together the disjointed puzzle in her mind. ‘You’re the man who works on the classified programme, aren’t you?’ A section snapped into place. ‘The insider who can tell me the truth about the GMRC and what they’re hiding?’

Franz smiled at her. ‘Do you want to see?’ he said, a twinkle in his eye.

♦

Jessica traipsed through the freezing Austrian alpine forest dressed in bright orange clothing, provided for her by Franz who, a few steps ahead with a torch in his hand, guided her to a destination that would finally reveal the GMRC’s most secret of truths. What that would be she could only guess at, but the anticipation was palpable and increased with every step she took.