I hope you enjoy this.
Chapter Seven:
Garcia blinked twice.
"Friend?" Arnica said again.
She sat up. "Where is he?" she asked urgently.
"I don't know," she said.
"Are you helping your sister escape?"
"Of course," she said.
"Then where is he?" she asked.
"Friend," she said slowly. "The less I know about the exact location of my sister the better. My enemies can't find her, and everyone only knows a small piece of the plan."
"Do you know if she's safe with Spencer?"
"I spoke with her several hours ago. She sounds as safe as possible given the circumstances."
Garcia felt like she could barely breathe.
"Now it is my turn to ask some questions," Arnica said. "Do you know the man personally?"
"I do," she said. "I worked with him for more than ten years."
"In the NSA?"
"No, FBI. He left just before our team was dissolved."
"What did he do there?"
"A little of everything. I worked at Quantico while he worked with a team tracking down serial killers."
"Another puzzle piece that doesn't quite fit," Arnica said to herself.
"He is also extremely smart," she said. "He has multiple PHDs and went to Caltech."
She paused. "Wait, if your sister is with him, why don't you know all this already?"
"Friend," she said slowly. "Spencer has been in captivity for the last two years. My sister wouldn't get into details, but I think they tortured it out of him. It was only under hypnosis that he recovered his name."
Garcia burst into tears. "No, not him!"
"We are trying to fill in the gaps and you are helping," she said. "Do you know anything about the whereabouts of his wife and daughter?"
"No," she said. "She moved after the car accident and I never could find a forwarding address."
"How unfortunate," she said.
"How can I help?" Garcia asked desperately. "I'll do anything and everything to help."
"Keep your government out of this," she said firmly. "I need time to think and contact my sister."
"Can you relay a message to him please?"
"I don't want your real name," Arnica said.
"Then tell him baby-girl won't rest until he is safe."
"I will," she said. "I'll be in contact again soon."
"Please do."
Arnica hung up and Garcia took a deep breath. She needed to be strong for Boy Wonder. She also had to come up with her own plan.
…
Early in the morning, a bouquet of flowers was delivered along with a coded message. It was one word.
"Call."
Raisa quickly got online with her sister.
"Albina," she said looking into the red eyes of her sister. "Have you slept much?"
"I'll sleep when you're safe," she said. "I have good news."
"What is it?"
"I found someone who knows Spencer and wants to help."
"Who?" she asked.
"I don't know her name, but she works in the NSA. I have been in contact with her for over five years."
"You've been in contact with the NSA?" she asked suspiciously.
"Relax, you know information is currency. Working with the Americans is good business."
"So how does your NSA contact know Spencer?"
"They used to work together in the FBI, hunting serial killers before her team was split up and he went abroad."
Raisa shook her head. "He was FBI? That doesn't help. Does she know where his wife and daughter are?"
Albina shook her head. "She relocated with her daughter after the accident and my friend has been trying to hunt them down."
"I do not like the sound of his wife," she said.
"Spencer must have more answers. There has got to be a way of opening that head of his a little more."
"We'll try," Raisa said. "You get some rest."
"Okay," she said. "One last thing: My friend has a message for him. It will make better sense in English: 'Baby-girl won't rest until he is safe.'"
She stared at her.
Albina laughed. "English is a funny language."
…
Raisa found Spencer reading in the library. To her surprise, he was wearing clothes that fit him.
He looked up and smiled. "Marat's tailor came. I am leaving with several sets of clothing that won't look like they're going to fall of me."
"You look good," she said.
"Raisa, I'm sorry about the way I spoke to you. You have been nothing but helpful and didn't deserve to be spoken to like that."
"It is okay, Spencer," she said. "I can understand your frustration."
"I still feel bad about it though."
"Put it out of your mind. I have good news for you: My sister was in contact with a friend of yours from before you moved to France."
"Her name might not mean anything to me," he said sadly.
"They don't share real names in the cyber-based intelligence community. The woman did have a message for you that I hope makes sense. 'Baby-girl won't rest until he is safe.'"
"Baby-girl?" he said. He mouthed out the world silently and closed his eyes.
"Is that helpful?" she asked.
"I never called her that," he said opening his eyes. "But I think my friend did."
"What friend?"
He shook head. "I don't know. I can just feel his presence somehow. Or I could be losing my mind."
"Don't say things like that," she said. "We're going to learn more today."
"Okay," he said.
…
Spencer laid on the couch and the doctor was back. This time, he came with a set of speakers.
"I am going to play the sounds of a hospital to get your mind in the right place," he said. "You must have sustained some injuries that needed to be tended to."
"I don't like hospitals," he muttered.
"Not many people do," the doctor said. "Now I am going to have you count back from ten and have you picture yourself in a hospital setting. Okay?"
He closed his eyes and did as instructed.
There was the beeping of all sorts of monitors. He looked around and saw his left arm was in a cast and so were both legs. Standing at the foot of the bed was Julia.
"You're awake," she said in Russian with a Russian accent.
"Julia, why are you speaking in Russian?" he asked in English.
"You will only speak to me in Russian from now on," she said, almost like an order.
"Why?" he said in English.
"Russian!" she ordered.
"Okay," he said in Russian. "Why are you doing this?"
"We have been studying you for a long time Dr. Reid," she said. "Your engineering innovations were particularly impressive."
"I don't understand," he said.
"We want you to help us make better weapons."
"What?" he said. "No!"
"We thought you might say that," she said. "So, an elaborate plan was enacted."
Something clicked. "You're a spy," he said. "But what of our daughter? Was she part of the plan?"
"Yes," she said. "I am almost as intelligent as you Dr. Reid. She will be sent to a good Russian family to be trained as a spy from an early age."
"What?" he said as tears filled his eyes. "You can't do this."
"I already have," she said.
"I won't cooperate," he said. "I won't make you any weapons."
"We thought you might say that," she said, her voice full of menace. "So a little brainwashing is in order."
"No! Please!" he pleaded.
"You have no choice in the matter. You will be Ivan Petrov soon with no memory of who you used to be."
"My team," he said desperately.
"Is scattered across the country. They think you are dead anyway. There is no one to save you from your fate."
"Was Linda Barnes involved in all this?" he asked dully.
She laughed harshly. "She's just another American beurocrat. Your team was going to be dissolved in a few years anyway. She just quickened the pace."
He burst into tears. "Did you ever love me?"
She shook her head. "You were also a terrible sexual partner. Goodbye, Ivan."
"No!" he moaned.
The memory faded and now he was in an office.
"You've been sabotaging us Ivan," the man said. "Little by little. It took us two years to notice, but it is obvious now that it was you."
"No," he said. "I did no such thing."
"I don't believe you," he said.
The door opened, and another man emerged. He stuck a needle in his neck before he could react.
The memory faded, and he woke up naked and restrained to a cold metal table. There was a man with a tattoo pen working on his ankle.
"What are you doing?"
"Making sure, that if you somehow escape, you are a man marked for death."
"NO!"
"Stop!" Elena shouted.
He looked up and around. "I remember everything. My wife is a spy and my daughter is being trained to be one,"