I hope you enjoy this.
I hope you enjoy this.
Chapter Two:
Six Years Later
Tomsk, Siberia:
Officer Andrei Sokolov was used to the cold. He was Russian after all. But Siberia in January was just unbearable. He looked to the members of his team and could see they were trying not to shiver also. Everyone had their limits.
They were assembled in a field not far from the compound they planned to raid.
"Let's find the girls and get out of the cold, okay?" he said.
Everyone nodded in agreement. With weapons ready, they fanned out and marched to the ugly concrete structure up ahead.
They banged down the doors and entered. There was no one there. Every room was empty. Clothes were hanging in racks and bed sheets were strewn about. Sokolov was disturbed to see that all of the beds had chains and collars connected to the head boards. Another agent found a chamber in the basement covered in blood. There was also office with computers missing. Somebody must have tipped them off.
He sighed to himself. This was the raid he was going to make his name off of. Prove to his family that he wasn't a failure. Get a promotion so he and his wife could get out of this wasteland.
As his team prepared to leave, he noticed another door that had been padlocked shut. There were windows on either side that revealed a crude courtyard of sorts. Out of curiosity, he grabbed a pair of bolt cutters and opened the door.
On the other side was a man crumpled in a ball covered in light snow. He was wearing no clothes. It looked like he was dead.
To his surprise though, he found a weak pulse. Having anticipated the need for medics for the girls, there were already a few on the verge of leaving. He called them back and they quickly covered him up and put an oxygen mask on him.
Sokolov wondered why the people in charge of this horrible place didn't just kill him. The man may be his only hope of getting information and show the raid yielded some results.
…
A few hours later, Sokolov was writing up his report at the hospital on his battered old laptop. He was anxious to find out if the man he found had any useful information.
"Officer Sokolov?"
A doctor appeared he and beckoned him to come forward. He followed him into an office.
"Is he awake?" Sokolov asked.
"He's responding to stimuli," he said.
"So, is he awake?" he asked impatiently.
"He is sleeping right now," the doctor said. "The man is lucky to be alive. If you found him even an hour later, he'd have probably been dead."
"What is his prognosis?"
"Officer," he said slowly. "The man has been through a great deal of trauma. We found multiple broken ribs that were on the verge of puncturing major organs. Severely malnourished, he also is missing teeth and his nose looks like it had been broken recently. Several of his fingers had been broken. There is bruising along his scalp as though someone had pulled at his hair. We also found signs of severe sexual assault."
Sokolov swore under his breath. "How is the man still alive?"
He shook his head. "The body is a miraculous thing. What I'm trying to say is, when he wakes up he might be too scared to talk. I spoke with other doctors and they said that when someone is exposed to this much abuse, their minds will simply shut down to block out some of the pain."
Sokolov didn't know what to say. Part of him felt guilty for wanting answers out of the poor man to advance his career. The other part was filled with rage over who would do this to a man.
"I do have something that might help," the doctor said and pulled out his phone. "After we warmed him up, a nursed noticed this on the side of his ankle."
He showed him a picture of a tattoo that made Sokolov's blood run cold. It was a blue circle with a square in the center and five-pointed star the middle. The man's life was in severe danger.
"I need a guard at his door and I need to see the man," he said.
"Dare I ask why?"
"The less you know, the better doctor," he said.
"I'll take you to him then," he said.
They went up a couple floors in silence and entered his room at the end of the hall. The man looked even worse under the warm lights. Bruises of every color covered the exposed parts of his body. Sokolov had seem some truly horrible things during his fifteen years as an officer, and this ranked among the worst.
"Sir," he said gently, not wanting touch him for fear of agitating him. "Sir, I need you to wake up for just a moment."
The man slowly opened his eyes. They were filled with fear.
"I mean you no harm," he said gently. "My name is Officer Andrei Sokolov. I work in what is known as the human trafficking agency. I know you're not ready today, but maybe tomorrow. If you do feel up to talking feel free to call me at any time."
Sokolov pulled out his card and showed it to him. Then he placed it on the bedside table.
"Do you understand me?"
The man nodded ever so slightly.
"I'll let you rest now," he said.
The man instantly closed his eyes and turned away.
Sokolov found the doctor waiting at the door.
"Thank you for not agitating my patient," he said.
"I didn't want to push him today," he said.
"Good."
Sokolov bid the doctor goodbye and prepared to leave for headquarters.
…
Hours later Sokolov entered his apartment with his ears ringing. His boss was beyond furious with the lack of results.
"I take it the raid didn't go well."
He couldn't help but smile at his wife, Raisa.
"It is as though you read my mind," he said.
"It's what happens after ten years of marriage," she said affectionately. "Come, I'm making your favorite meal."
"Hoping for a reason to celebrate?"
"Just enjoy the meal. There will always be other opportunities."
"So how was your day?" he asked as he took a seat in their tiny kitchen.
She shrugged. "The usual."
Sokolov dreamed of getting a straight answer out of his wife one day. She was a data analyst for the government. She had higher security clearance than he did but made considerably less. Some things just weren't fair.
"Anything else on your mind?" she asked as she served up dinner.
"We did find something," he said. "A naked man nearly frozen to death. He was the subject of considerable torture."
Raisa gasped. "Did he say anything?"
"I didn't want to push him today. I'll try tomorrow."
"Andrei," she said seriously. "What aren't you telling me?"
His wife kept hundreds of secrets, yet he couldn't keep anything from her.
"He had a tattoo," he said. "I'm afraid to tell you what it is. All I can say is that the man is in considerable danger and I have an officer guarding him."
"Let's hope the guard does his job then," she said.
"He better. I'd hate to see the man suffer any more harm."
Raisa changed the subject, but his mind remained on the marked man.
…
Sokolov slept fitfully. Images of the compound burned in his mind. The sight of the man covered in bruises and that tattoo haunted him.
His phone ringing woke him around midnight.
"Officer Sokolov," a man with an American accent whispered.
"Who is this?" he asked, fully awake.
"I am the man at the hospital. Someone just tried to kill me!"
Sokolov couldn't believe what he was hearing. It made no sense. His tattoo was a symbol for a government traitor.