Chapter Four: Germany
Why Jennifer Jenkins believes Pierre Sherman (Tank) is dead and how she finds herself head of JJ Enterprise. Hang on, Ranger and gang return soon.
"Fraulien Caufield, do you have an escort to your home?" the elderly engineer asked as he slipped into his overcoat."
"Ja, herr Doctor," she replied, "but he's late."
"I will walk you with you and then take the bus back home," he offered.
"Nein, Nein, I'm sure he' coming. Sehe dich morgen. (See you in the morning.)
But the escort forgot and Jennifer was faced with walking alone to her apartment in the German late afternoon dark through dangerous neighborhoods.
"It's only five blocks, be aware, look around, long strides and keep the whistle between your lips and blow when something isn't right," she kept repeating to herself. But when danger came, she never had a chance. From behind a shrub hedge came a man with a brick and bashed her in the head. The whistle fell from her lips and she was dragged into an isolated area behind shrubs where she was further beaten and worse. A soccer team jogging past the pocket park noticed the emergency whistle on the sidewalk and investigated behind the hedge. They were horrified with what they saw and beat the attacker unmercifully.
Admiral Caufield caught a MATS flight from Washington to Ramstein AFB. It was the first available flight, military or commercial. Once at the civilian hospital he received the bad news, Jennifer was on life support but fortunately there was enough brain activity to warrant continued care, but the prognosis was dire.
"Pie where are you?" Jennifer pleaded. "It's so dark in here, I need help! Pierre Andre Sherman, I'm really scared."
"Jen?" The voice was far and filled with pain.
"Pie, Pie talk to me so I can find you. Are you hurt?"
"Jeni?"
Slowly the darkness became a faint glow. The objects in the light were blurred but gradually began to sharpen. Her fear of the dark morphed into a fear for the two men naked and bloody with their arms and feet bound. The room was small and dark. One man was Pierre, his head was down on his chest, his eyes closed and it didn't appear he was breathing. Pierre's body was more muscular than she remembered, had a curly black beard, his head hair closer cropped. Bruises covered his body; blood seeped from his nose and mouth. The second man was shorter than Pierre, lighter mocha colored skin, he looked Latino. He too had a beard, but his thick straight hair was longer and shaggy. His body also showed torture but there was a scar on his lower right abdomen. It wasn't new, maybe a few months old. She moved toward the second man and touched the scar lightly. Her finger tingled. The man jerked his head and opening one eye, the other eye was swollen shut. He didn't speak but just stared at her.
She moved back to Pierre whispering, "Pie." She then touched his chest and the bruises. He did not respond. Tears formed in her eyes and she turned away. The room blurred and she returned to the dark.
Again the darkness began to clear. This time she could hear sounds, beeps and murmurings. They were frightening at first but became comforting. Day by day the dark became lighter, sounds continued and a new sensation began, touch. Her eyes opened but she couldn't comprehend what she saw. Over the days she found a name for the tall dark man constantly at her side, "Daah, she croaked and the man began to cry.
"Jeni Bird," he sobbed.
She had no idea what a Jeni Bird was. Was that her name?
After a month in the hospital she needed a rehabilitation center. Unable to fly because of the head injury and with her father's influence, she was transferred to Ramstein AFB to begin rehabilitation until she could return to the states. Her work in Germany was over.
After months of rehabilitation in the Washington, DC area Jennifer enrolled in the MBA program at Georgetown.
"Jeni, you don't need to do this," her father counseled.
"Daddy, I need to train my brain to work again. I need to be able to work…at something.
Her speech was better, but not perfect. At first she couldn't walk, but now was walking with a cane. Learning was twice as hard as before but her father and new friends helped her. One friend was Jerald Jenkins. He admired her determination and spunk. They often studied together and he accompanied her when she exercised. Early on Jerald told her he was gay which was comforting to her. While she didn't remember the attack, just knowing she had been beaten and raped turned her asexual. Jerald was perfect.
As graduation neared, resumes were sent out and interviews began. Jen's interviews went nowhere. Her speech problem and limp were a liability, depression was growing.
One day Jerald proposed a solution to both their problems. "Jennifer, I have an assured job with my father's construction firm; however, my gay lifestyle is an embarrassment to my socially conscious family. It is ironic considering what scum they are. They insist however I get married to a woman, for appearances."
Jennifer sat stunned. "I'm not sure I like where this is going, Jerald."
"No, no, let me finish. "If you marry me, I gain a wife to satisfy my parents and in return you gain employment at JJ but also as my wife, part of the company."
"Jerald I don't want the company, I just want a JOB."
"I know, I know. But if you start off at the bottom, learning, if you'll pardon the expression, from the ground up, you will learn the entire business at all levels plus your education you would be an important part of each division. You would see things faster and find solutions faster than someone without the training.
"I'm listening."
"As for the marriage part, while we'd live in the same residence, you'd have your space and I'd have mine. We are already good friends, enjoying each other's company; there just wouldn't be any sex between us."
What about your father?
"And my mother….they would find a way to legally challenge the deal unless we, ah, consummate the relationship.
"Ahhhhhh, Jerald I'm not sure about that."
"Me either, but think of it as a way of saving JJ Enterprise. My father is killing the company. It's time he spends his energy chasing tail in Florida or elsewhere."
And your mother?
"I'll find her some nice boy or girl toys in Italy," Jerald responded.
"Ick….."
Admiral Caufield was adamantly against the marriage, but Jennifer went against his wishes for the first time in her life.
The Jerald's parents were also against the wedding. First Jennifer was mixed race. Second she had a speech impediment and used a cane. Third she was 3 inches taller than Jerald.
Jerald blackmailed his parents, allow the wedding so they could retain their facade of dignity and morality or his revelation their lifestyle would far surpass his coming out as a homosexual.
It worked. Jennifer and Jerald went to Reno and came back married.
The big house on Rockridge Drive was the parents' wedding gift to the couple. To Jennifer's architect eye it was an abomination of pseudo French and Greek Tragedy. Still it was large enough to allow Jennifer and Jared to have their living areas.
The marriage charade continued but in reality they were close friends. They had a "butler" named Max who was Jerald's love interest. Jerald added a gym to the house for Max and himself but soon the men were working with Jennifer in the gym helping her complete her rehabilitation.
In time Jennifer's interest in men returned. At night she thought of Pierre and a life that would never be. She couldn't explain how she "knew" Pierre was gone. As a married woman she couldn't show interest in other men, so work became her outlet, always fighting the stigma of nepotism, she worked twice as hard as others. What little free time she had was shared by continued speech therapy, working out in the home gym, taking martial arts classes for protection, attending church, and target shooting with handguns and rifles. The latter was regular entertainment both with Pierre and Paul but also with her father. It also greatly helped her eye-hand coordination.
As she married outside of the church, she could not participate in the Eucharist, but she still attended church. It was while attending a weekday church service when tragedy struck. Jerald senior had heart valve replacement surgery at the Heart Hospital in Newark. Jerald junior and Max would be drive his father and mother home to Trenton. They didn't make it home. All died along with several others in a horrific traffic accident on I-95.
In a moment Jennifer Caufield Jenkins went from a mid-level executive in JJ Enterprise to the sole owner and quite wealthy woman.