Transition Plan Chapter 82: In His Majesty's Service Part 32 - Captive

Rated T for violence

…Three Hours Earlier…

The noxious-looking gray-green cloud slowly dispersed in the thick, humid jungle air. It was still potent, as birds, rodents, and lizards could be heard dropping from their perches in the limbs and on rocks into the jungle below. Would-be predators who were delighted to see delicious prey drop right in front of them thinking this was their lucky day fell victim to the cloud as well.

Karl-Heinz and Gunter emerged from their hiding place a few dozen yards from the French soldiers and stood over the unconscious bodies. They carefully removed their gas masks and sniffed the air. It was clear in the area of the French soldiers.

Gunter noted, "That stuff still scares the hell out of me. I don't care if it's only sleeping gas."

Karl-Heinz noted, "Yeah, well at least it wasn't the bad stuff. They knew we couldn't handle anything more deadly here and I didn't want it anyway, but it was part of the contract for the last-ditch defense of the station. And look what we just did. We did something none of the others could. We just defeated all of them."

Gunter observed deliciously, "You know we could still just kill them and be heroes. We could name our price in reward money."

Karl-Heinz wagged his head, "Heroes to whom? The French and British Army will soon be up the trail. Kamina is toast. If we killed them we'd have a price on our heads and we'd be hanged in the morning. Besides. Killing is not profitable. We're still going to go ahead with the kidnapping. It will be very profitable in this case."

Gunter was reluctant, and mildly objected, "What makes you say that, Karl-Heinz? Kidnapping children is not really a good idea.

Karl-Heinz' patience with Gunter was growing thin, having already agreed to do this, "We have to get our money back. If we don't repay the Army Communication Corps, we'll be locked up in a military prison the rest of our lives. Or in front of a firing squad."

"I know, I know," Gunter sighed, "So. Which one of them is most profitable to take? Maybe we should take both of the kids to be sure."

"No way. You know your back is too bad to carry them. Besides, two kids would be too hard to handle. Two of us can watch one. Watching two would keep us occupied all the time. You saw what these two jungle kids could do, especially the boy. They'd escape from us in no time if they were together, and probably slit our throats doing so."

"I suppose you're right," Gunter agreed.

Karl-Heinz asserted, "Well then. Just the girl. Girls are more easily manipulated and more controllable emotionally."

"Yeah but this girl proved she can kill," warned Gunter.

"She was forced. Did you see her remorse? She only killed to save her boyfriend," Karl-Heinz explained.

Gunter concurred, "Yeah, I guess so. Besides, boys are always trouble. No one likes boys, and they never listen to you. The boy is some kind of jungle kid like his father, even though they are not natives. The girl is obviously really 'sweet' on him to play 'going native' with him. These Nigerians don't have a dime, not even for clothing. They aren't worth anything to us."

"Yeah. The girl is definitely worth money to us."

The two radio operators really had no idea who the jungle man really was. The legend of the Lord of the Jungle was a closely guarded secret among the Nigerians, and they knew little of the Count of Greystoke to make any connection that the jungle man could be him. Only the Flammenwerfer squad had acquired any direct knowledge of the jungle family, and they were dead or imprisoned without having been able to transmit new intelligence information back to German forces.

Gunter asked, "So what about the girl is so special?"

He scrutinized her,"Check her eyes and the Colonel's. There is something really familiar about this girl."

He carefully opened both sets of eyelids. They were still deeply anesthetized by the gas, "Both hazel, sir. It's a pretty good bet this is his kid, despite her dark skin."

"OK. That confirms it. I remember now. I know about this Colonel's kid. He's the French Special Forces guy. Months ago they escaped from Casablanca on a French Navy cruiser that was sunk by one of our Navy's new U boats – the Colonel, his wife, and daughter and a bunch of his men. Everyone thought he and his men and family were dead in the shipwreck. We never did figure out what his mission was. Until now, unfortunately. No one ever cracked their code language. Somehow they all survived and still wiped us out with that jungle man as a guide. Remember the message from our spies in Morocco? They told us you only get to the Colonel through his kid. He'll do anything for her. He'll get the French to give us a lot of money for her. Quick. She's starting to come around. Chloroform her to make sure she still says asleep and let's get moving to Kamerun. You know who's there. She'll shelter us until we can set up 'operations' again. Heck, she'll even look like the girl's mom with her black hair and brown skin too. It will be the perfect cover," Karl-Heinz smirked.

"But I thought you broke up with her after the last caper? That didn't go so well."

Karl-Heinz explained, "Yeah, well, if Margrite can make a profit on this with us, she'll help. We may not be lovers anymore but we still can be business partners. And she can fake being a good mother."

Even Gunter thought that was a little cold.

Karl-Heinz continued with their plans, "Leave a note, and disarm the girl. Don't forget what she did to that sharpshooter with that slingshot."

"What make you think she won't do that do us in her sleep?"

"We have the chains, and we can break her. She's a girl. She'll obey. When we show her what happens to orphan girls in Kamerun she will never leave us. Girls are a lot easier to force to do things."

They chuckled, admiring their own cleverness.

Gunter put the chloroform rag over her nose and mouth, she struggled a moment without regaining consciousness and went limp again. But he tried to carefully pick her up, and had second thoughts about the entire plan, "Karl-Heinz, you know that taking this helpless girl away from her father and boyfriend makes me feel bad. Are you sure we want to do this?"

Karl-Heinz was adamant, "Absolutely. If this French girl and the boy want to play rough like the adults, we play rough right back. They will find out fast the real world isn't make believe. We need to hurry. The others will wake up soon. Then we will have a real problem."

Gunter held his tongue, still thinking this was a bad idea. Karl-Heinz destroyed most of the French warriors' weapons, and they hurried to their escape boat moored on the river bank, and placed their gear and her limp body into a launch. He felt very uncomfortable carrying a little naked girl in his arms, and was gentle when placed her in the boat.

Her bracelet glinted.

Karl-Heinz caught the sun flash and said, "What the hell is that?"

Gunter raised an eyebrow, "Don't you know anything about native customs in these countries?"

Karl-Heinz snarled, "They're all savages, Gunter. Why would I want to know or care? All I want to do is make money off of them."

Gunter ignored his colleague's cultural insult and explained, "It's a friendship bracelet. Nigerian boys give it to their girlfriends or fiancés. These kids are very close."

"Well then get rid of it. If they are sweethearts, we're even more likely to get all the money we want from them. And we especially don't want anything to identify that this girl belongs to the Colonel or the boy when people start looking for her."

Gunter slipped the bracelet off her limp wrist, and whispered, "I'm really sorry little girl."

Rather than hurl it into the water, he let it drop into the mud out of Karl-Heinz' sight, partially buried.

Karl-Heinz cranked the motor, it spurted and caught, and the trio sped off upriver. Gunter hoped the large fuel tanks would be enough to get to Kamerun by boat. He hated the thought of hacking their way through the jungle with a useless child that could be seen as food for some predator.

…

Jeanne, like all the others, woke up with a horrible headache from the gas-induced sleep and the extra dose of chloroform. But then she realized she woke up. And there was a loud motorized noise in her ears, and the feeling of motion.

But she quickly wished she was dead. She was bound and gagged. She was nude among strange adult men, and tried to hide herself behind the boat cover canvas. She noticed her bracelet was missing. Jack's bracelet. She knew she had been kidnapped. Everything simply overwhelmed her and she started to cry.

Karl-Heinz saw her awaken, struggle, and cry, and as distasteful as it was to him, he spoke to her in French, "Well the little brat is awake. Guten Tag, Fraulein Jacot."

He reached to remove her gag.

"How do you know my name?" she snapped as soon as he pulled off her gag.

She curled up more defensively, and looked at the men with an angry look that Gunter thought would burn through both of them.

Karl-Heinz boasted, "We know lots of things you don't. We know your daddy was sent here to destroy the station. And how you and your mom escaped Morocco. Better for you that you would have died there now that we have you."

Her fear deepened with their threat. They appeared to know everything about her and she knew nothing about them. But she tried to be strong just like Jack had taught her in the face of any vicious predator.

She stiffened and narrowed her eyes in defiance, "So what are you going to do to me? Kill me?"

Karl-Heinz answered, "We would have done that already, girl, along with the others. We have no intention of killing you. At least not yet. You are worth much more to us alive, young lady."

Jeanne snapped back, "You're awful. You kidnapped me."

Karl-Heinz gave an ugly smile, "Thank you dear, that's the nicest thing anyone has said about us all day. You see, when you and your daddy and your boyfriend killed the guards and destroyed the station you destroyed 10 million Deutschmarks of German property. And you're French. We can't let that go unpunished. We had the contract to own and operate it for the Army. We're responsible for all damages in that contract. Since you destroyed it, now we owe the German government all of that 10 million. We're only business men, not kidnappers, my dear. This is merely a business proposition. You're going to help us repay the German Army, girl."

She knew what kind of 'businessmen' they were.

"Yeah. So your dad owes us big time," added Gunter needlessly. Jeanne noted this one was clearly the brawn and the other was the brains of this pair of thugs.

Jeanne whined, "But my dad is just a soldier. He can't ever pay you back, especially when we're in a middle of a war right now. Soldiers have no money."

Karl-Heinz stoked her growing fear, "Well if you want to go home you better hope they think differently. Governments have money, little lady. Lots of money. Even in war. I happen to think they will pay if your dad asks. Rest assured he will ask. He'll never abandon you, my dear. You're dad's a war hero now, and one of their best. I think the French government will spend a little on you to keep him fighting in top form if he has you back."

"And if they don't, then what?" she asked with a nasty tone returning to her voice.

"Blunt, aren't you? Not the shy type. Well pretty little lady, that's where we find out how talented you are. You have potential to make a lot of money in our business, Fraulein Jacot."

"What do you mean?"

"Well one way or another, your government, or your dad – or you - owe us 10 million Deutschmarks."

She knew it was a staggering figure, swallowed hard, and asked, "You mean… if they don't pay the ransom you'll force me to work for you?"

He answered smugly, "Precisely. So if they don't pay the ransom, you are going to work your way to freedom. When you earn us that 10 million Deutschmarks, then you can go free. It's the Jacot family debt to the German government."

Jeanne panicked, "How on earth will I ever pay all that money in a lifetime? I'm just a girl. I'll always be your slave."

Karl-Heinz scoffed, "Well that's a pretty harsh term, Fraulein Jacot. I'd like to use the term 'indentured servant'. Everyone loves little girls, and because you're so pretty, you'll make us a bunch of money."

She wailed in terror.

Karl-Heinz savored that her fear had replaced her defiance, "Oh, if you're thinking about that way, not a chance. Don't overestimate how attractive you are, girl. There are plenty of people doing that kind of work in Africa with girls a lot prettier than you, so it's not profitable for us. Besides, where we're going, men prefer women. Not girls. You have other uses."

She was only slightly relieved. She imagined a dozen horrible ways these men would use her. And force her to be a criminal like them.

She shuddered, "But 10 million Deutschmarks? It will take my entire life to repay you if they don't pay the ransom."

Adding to her insult, Karl-Heinz added, "True. And you'll only be pretty another 15 years or so, and then it gets harder to make money. So you better get started fast. And get used to being around us all the time. We're the only family you have for now."

She recoiled internally at the thought of these two thugs being her surrogate family for who knows how long, "But how? I know nothing about your kind of business. And I never want to."

With a horrible sly grin, Karl-Heinz boasted, "Too late for that, Fraulein. It just so happens we are the best teachers in the business, and we've had a lot of successful 'students' go into their own 'business'. There's a lot to like about what we do, Fraulein. You end up living pretty well in our line of business. You'll see our side of things eventually."

"Never," she thought. And prayed. She'd be lost forever to Jack if she became a criminal.

She knew she needed to get away fast, if she had any hope of being found by Jack and Tarzan, and not to be corrupted by these men. She instantly had an idea.

She held herself and asked, "I need to pee. And I need something to cover me from your eyes. I see where you're looking."

"Only Jack can see me," she thought.

Karl-Heinz reluctantly cut her bonds, and ordered, "We're not stopping. Hang your butt over the edge and do your business, girl. I won't stare. You're really not that much to look at, Fraulein."

She took offense at that, knowing how Jack felt about her prettiness. After she was done, he tossed her his smelly, sweaty shirt.

She clutched it forlornly, wrinkled her nose at the odor, and complained, "I'd rather be naked than wear this."

"Suit yourself girl."

Seizing her only opportunity, Jeanne threw the shirt back in Karl-Heinz' face, blinding him a moment, and immediately flipped over the edge of the boat into the water and swam frantically. A croc on the shore leaped from the shore toward her.

Grabbing a gun, Gunter asked, "Do I shoot her?"

"No! Shoot the croc. Damn this feisty girl," Karl-Heinz gritted through clenched teeth. Adding to the insult, he noted that she pee'd on his shirt.

"Better to be dead than to be a slave to these horrible men," she thought, taking a deep breath and swam vigorously underwater to shore. She saw a mouthful of teeth open and close on her rapidly.

She heard a muffled gunshot, bullets zip through the water, and a cloud of blood darkened the cloudy water around her. She was worried she was hit or already been bitten.

As Karl-Heinz filled the crocodile's brain with lead, Gunter leaped into the water, grabbed her, and clutched her screaming, clawing and fighting against him hard.

He snarled as he pulled her sputtering to the surface, "Now that was uncalled for, girl. We haven't done any harm to you. Escaping was the wrong thing to do. Don't get on my bad side. I was just starting to like you."

Gunter chained her roughly to one of the boat's thwarts, "You realize if the boat capitalizes you go to the bottom and we escape, so don't try anything."

"Good. I hate you old man. I would rather be dead than a prisoner or a criminal like you," she shrieked.

Jeanne kicked him in the nuts.

Gunter doubled over, groaning in pain, and Karl-Heinz pulled a pistol and jammed it in her mouth all the way to back of her throat, gagging her on the barrel for emphasis, and warned her gravely, "You need to be a good girl, Meriem. Your life is in my hands. You've given us about 10 million Deutschmarks worth of trouble in only fifteen minutes. At some point it's not worth it. Didn't you mother teach you to be polite to strangers? Watch your mouth and your attitude or you won't have a mouth."

She was utterly frightened with the hard cold steel of the gun in her mouth, but she attempted to choke out the words defiantly, "Do your worst."

Karl-Heinz felt his blood boil and nearly pulled the trigger. Both men were beginning to rethink who they had kidnapped. This nasty child was someone's girlfriend and daughter? Nonetheless, for a moment she had the upper hand. She knew that without her they had nothing. Karl-Heinz uncocked the trigger and jammed the gun in his pocket, and gave her a nasty look.

Jeanne puzzled at being called by the name Meriem. "Who is Meriem? I am Jeanne Jacot."

"It's simple, Meriem. Everyone is going to be looking for a little girl named 'Jeanne Jacot'. No one will even think twice at hearing the name Meriem, so that's who you are to us, until you are back in your father's care, and never if the ransom isn't paid."

Jeanne continued her defiance, "I don't like 'Meriem'. That's an icky name. My name is Jeanne Marie Jacot. I was born with that name, and you have no right to change it."

"We control you now girl. You'll like it. Or else."

"No!" she screamed lunged forward in the small boat despite the chains and bit Karl-Heinz's arm deeply. She left a raw divot and spit his skin into the water, and growled and cowered like a cornered wild beast ready to strike. He bled profusely from the deep bite.

"My God! She bit me like an animal!" Karl-Heinz yelled, seeing the deep wound and the bright red blood.

Karl-Heinz slapped her extremely hard with a heavy grunt. He knocked her senseless against the boat gunnel. Jeanne reeled from the vicious slap and even worse from the sharp pain of her skull smashing hard against the hard wood rail. She'd never been hit in her life. The baby tooth that had been loose was out. She spit it out it into the river. It was supposed to go under a pillow and get a centime for it from her mother like always. She cried heavily.

Jeanne's misbehavior continued to annoy Karl-Heinz. He remembered why he intensely disliked children, and balled his fists and shook them at her, "I will hurt you worse, if you don't shut the hell up, Meriem."

The thought of being struck again harder paralyzed her. She stopped her wailing, but couldn't entirely stop whimpering entirely. She sucked on her swelled upper lip, and tasted blood. Her cheek stung and entire mouth throbbed. She hated the name Meriem. But she realized she had better cooperate or die. Men who didn't hesitate to hit a little girl could do far worse. She was surprised they wanted to ransom rather than kill her. It seemed they were less than totally ruthless, but realized her actions would determine that, so she knew for now she needed to cooperate and survive long enough to be rescued. She prayed they had only gassed the others too, they'd realize she was gone, and they'd act to find her quickly. She imagined the anguish and pain Jack was going through without her and she wanted him desperately. She knew her feelings for him would sustain her through all this.

She looked at her bare left wrist, and knew how much she had lost. While she was quiet, she couldn't stop the stream of tears, and lamented forlornly into the woods, "Oh jungle boy, I've lost you forever."

"Stop that," insisted Karl-Heinz.

"Stop what? I'm not crying anymore," she complained.

"Speaking in French," Karl-Heinz stated.

"Well… I'm French. That's how we talk," Jeanne said but then thought, "What kind of idiot was this man, anyway?"

"I can't stand French. I will warn you now. After today you will never hear another word of French as long as you are with us. From now on, Meriem, we speak only German in this family."

"But I only speak French," she answered and recoiled at the thought of being a 'family' with these men.

"Then you'll never understand anything that is asked of you. You seem like a smart girl, Meriem, so learn our language. And you'll speak it correctly, not German with a stupid French accent. Speak German like a German. So listen carefully. And learn fast. Where we are going people hate the French, hunt them for sport, and only speak German."

"Where are we going?" she dared ask in French, and swallowed hard, hearing the strong threat.

"Kamerun. Germany still owns that colony. We'll be safe there."

With that staggering revelation, Jeanne's hopes of being rescued faded with each mile on the river southeast from Kamina. They were moving too fast for Tarzan and Jack, who could track anything on land, but probably not on water. She laid back in the boat with trying to block everything out and napped.

While she fitfully slept, Gunter whispered, "You're going to call her Meriem? That's your grandmother's name."

"Yes. Precisely. What of it?" Karl-Heinz replied.

Gunter observed, "You hated your grandmother."

"And you think I don't hate this girl any less? Or her father?" Karl-Heinz snapped.

"Oh…"

…

Night fell. Jeanne wished she'd never wake up in the morning. It was a feeling that she hadn't felt since the night they escaped Morocco.

…The treehouse, the land of the Mangani. The same day, but late at night August 26…

It was another fitful evening of worry for Jane, Josephine, and Archimedes. Kala had already fallen asleep in their bed, and Lily had been asleep for hours clutching Jack's doll image of himself as she had every night since her brother and girlfriend disappeared. A week ago her mother made a new companion doll that Lily immediately named 'Jeannie', which had made Josephine cry, but appreciated the sentiment and how Lily felt immediately better clutching the pair of dolls every night. The two women were silently nursing a cup of tea, like every night since the children had run off. Their bellies never stopped moving with the children growing within. It was the only thing amusing to them.

They heard Jane's father's bare footsteps come down the staircase from the radiotelegraph room.

Jane watched as his natural feet, legs, lower and upper body came into view and then his nearly always jolly facial features. She admired her trimmer father and his distinguished looking white hair everywhere. She imagined Tarzan like that some day and smiled to her herself what growing old with Tarzan would be like. No wonder Kala called Archimedes 'her special Silverback', and loved the special joys of companionship they brought to each other late in life.

With a cheerful tone, the Professor stated, "Jane, dear, and Madame Jacot. I think I have some good news."

"What?" Jane asked hopefully.

"It's quiet out there."

"What do you mean, Professor? It's just as noisy in the jungle now as every night," Josephine puzzled.

"Pardon me for not being clear. On the air waves, Madame Jacot. Ever since the war started, the radiotelegraph at Kamina has been busy sending, receiving, and relaying messages. It's the Germans' main radio in Africa."

"That is not news," grumbled Josephine.

Archimedes explained cheerily, "Tonight it's silent. Completely silent, by jove. There are urgent messages from the radiotelegraphs in Berlin, Kamerun, Southwest Africa, and some German Navy ships trying to raise the station. There is no response. Nothing. More importantly, I am getting a lot of message traffic from Dahomey and the Lome stations talking about complete French and British victory in Togoland, but something about some kind of unexplained major destruction in Kamina involving the station. Even their chief of police who was guarding the station in Kamina can't remember it. They say he's shell-shocked, even though he was the only survivor."

The women looked at each other expectantly.

"I think it's over, ladies. I think they did it."

The women gave weak smiles.

"But at what cost, Daddy? Who's coming home?"

"Or who isn't?" choked Josephine.

"Let's not borrow trouble, dear ladies. They obviously took out the defenses. They destroyed the station. That means your husband, Madame Jacot, did his part and Jack or Tarzan finished the job. No other possibility exists."

"Yes, Daddy. You're right," noted Jane and squeezed Josephine's hand with hope. The French woman managed a smile at her friend.

Archimedes walked to the kitchen table, sat down, ignored his stale cup of tea for a moment, and put his hands atop both women's hands, "We can only pray - as we have - that all of them come home."

Their confidence was boosted, and for the first time in weeks they slept better. They all knew it would be weeks before they knew the answer to that question.

Jane would have some good news for Lily in the morning.

THE END… of In His Majesty's Service

Authors Notes: So here we are at the intersection of my latest extension of Disney Tarzan and Burroughs canon Tarzan again. ERB canon fans knew that Jeanne Jacot was a kidnap victim and became renamed by her captors as Meriem. Like the original book, she is kidnapped from her parents as a child, but in my version, after meeting Jack and become childhood sweethearts and acquiring many jungle skills, not meeting as strangers as teens in the jungle. The kidnappers are Tarzan's two arch nemesis villains with German, not Russian heritage and renamed for this WW I setting. In canon, Jeanne is kidnapped by an ethnic group in northern Africa instead, where Jacot is actually is serving as a French Foreign Legion General. As I have explained before, Burroughs often ignores actual historical timelines and I wanted to make a story that matches real history and their role in it. In canon illustrations of the dark-skinned Jeanne, she usually is depicted clutching a rag doll. For my version of the story, Lily carries that doll and now its companion.

I didn't want my retold story of Jack and Jeanne to be more or less a repeat of the Tarzan and Jane story. This way it truly isn't.

We have a lot of unanswered questions right now. Can Jack and Jeanne's love sustain them for however long this kidnapping lasts? Will this be a short detour while the ransom gets paid, and they will get to grow up together in France, England, and Africa they way they dreamed? But if not, how much will Jeanne change to become the criminal Meriem persona Karl-Heinz is forcing on her? We will see.

IHMS as a literary vehicle has ended its usefulness to tell the evolving story of Jack and Jeanne. So that will mean a new adventure for Tarzan, Jane, and Jack's family and for the Jacot family. I hope you will want to follow it, as Jack and both sets of parents and families search for his true love Jeanne. We will still put the story in the context of WW I Africa. And post WW 1 reconstruction.

Trust me, it will be a rough ride for both families for some time. It will be fun in some places, poignant and bitter sweet in others, and unrelentingly violent when it has to be.

Thank you sincerely for the truly astonishing support of my multiple installment extension of the original Disney Tarzan and Jane movie adaptation of ERB Tarzan.

Next week the first part of "Searching for Jeanne" begins!