Chapter 5
The hospital was much calmer than it had been when Race and the others had first arrived. Corbin had been given a private room in the intensive care unit, more than likely for protection purposes, and as the group approached Race saw that there was only two I-1 personnel standing outside the door.
Off to the side was a row of chairs, leather, but still looking rather uncomfortable, and on those chairs Corbin's daughters sat. Jonny noticed the older girl, he couldn't recall her name, glance up at the group, sneered, then looked back down at a magazine she was reading. The younger girl sat next to her sister, her legs swinging back and forth as they dangled from the chair. She was clutching a stuffed animal tiger and was leaning her head against her sister's shoulder.
Glancing back in the direction of the room, Jonny saw the door open and SA Simpson walk out. He got here quick. Jonny thought, but then he remembered that the agent had left the office when he had received a call. Jonny wondered what the call was about.
Simpson strode up to the group and said, "You can go in" motioning to Race and Benton, "but you boys need to stay outside. And remember, he's still kind of drugged up. SSA Hotchner is already in there."
Benton turned to his sons and said, "Perhaps you should go wait over with the girls. Talk to them." Tilting his head in the direction of the chairs.
"Sure thing, dad." Jonny said. He didn't know if he wanted to go into the room anyway. He knew Corbin, liked the guy, but he really didn't interact with him enough to feel the need to go into the room. He was so worried about Jessie that he suddenly came to the realization that there were other people involved in this entire ordeal, other people that were hurting as well.
Benton squeezed his son's shoulder encouragingly and turned to head into the room. As he and Race were about to step inside, Simpson placed a hand on Race's arm and said, "After you're done in there, you and I need to talk."
Race gave the agent a quizzical look, but nodded. "Alright." He pushed down on the door handle and went inside with Benton.
Jonny and Hadji watched the two men disappeared into the room. "I hope everything goes alright in there." Hadji surmised.
"The adults will figure it out. I just want to find out what the hell is going on and save Jessie." Jonny said, slapping a balled fist against his other open palm.
"We will, Jonny. Hopefully Race and our father will get some answers. Or at least a clue to start with."
"Yeah." Jonny murmured as he turned towards the chairs. "We need to do something!"
The two brothers walked over to the girls. "Hey, I'm Jonny Quest. This is my brother, Hadji." Jonny directed the statement to the older girl.
She glanced up and then back down. "I know who you are. What do you want?" Her voice was bitter and angry. Her reaction was not totally unexpected, but Jonny still felt a twinge as if he was being kicked in the gut. This is how Race must feel around all those I-1 agents. He thought.
"Can we sit down?" He asked, keeping his voice even.
She shrugged without looking up, "Free country."
Jonny sat to the older girl's right and Hadji on the other side of the younger girl. Hadji gave her a warm smile and the little girl smiled back before turning her face against her sister's arm. "Its okay, Jenny," The older girl said and then looked at Jonny, "Hadji's the nice one."
The younger girl, Jenny, turned back to Hadji and showed him her tiger. "In my native India, tigers are a respected animal." He said. "They are fierce and loyal."
The young girl nodded, but she suddenly looked sad. Hadji continued, "Tigers are fighters. They fight to protect the other tigers they love against people that would hurt them, especially their young cubs. Your father is like a tiger. He is a fighter."
A smile appeared on Jenny's face again and Hadji was surprised that girl took his hand and held it tight. He glanced up at Jonny and the older girl, a bit embarrassed. "She doesn't generally take to people so quickly." The older sister said. "She's generally shy. She's partially deaf you know. Your father, Doctor Quest developed some sort of high tech hearing aids, so she can hear better than before. She still signs though. It's like her security blanket." Then the girl smiled at Hadji. "I'm Marissa."
"Nice to meet you." Hadji replied.
What am I? Chopped liver? Jonny thought. He glanced at the magazine that Marissa was reading, Model Boats. There's a magazine for model boats? And a teenage girl is reading it? Interesting girl, Jonny said to himself.
"So you, um, like boats?" Jonny asked.
Marissa turned towards him. "What?" Her tone was still icy, but not as harsh as previously. "No, not really. Well kind of." She flipped back through the magazine and Jonny saw it was a catalog. "My dad collects them."
"Really?" He never knew that about Race's boss.
"From when he was in the military. Before he left to work for I-1."
"I didn't know he was in the military." Jonny replied.
Marissa gave him another sneer. "You don't know much about anything outside your own world do you, Quest?"
"Huh?"
"Just you and that redhead."
Jonny raised his hands in defense. "Hey now, that's not fair." For the first time Jonny really noticed just how pretty Marissa was, with her athletic build and long dark hair that flowed to the middle of her back. And was she jealous? Impossible, he didn't even know her, but obviously she knew him.
"Look, that…friend of yours, her mother tried to kill my dad. So I'm sorry if I don't really feel like talking to you right now, Jonny." She snapped.
"Fine." Jonny snorted and stood. "Come on, Hadj. Let's go find the cafeteria or something. I'm starving."
Hadji tried to stand, but found that Jenny squeezed his hand tighter. The argument between her sister and Jonny must have upset her. Hadji looked at his brother and said, "Sorry, Jonny. I think Jenny wants me to stay for a bit longer. If that's okay with her, of course." Hadji said to the young girl who nodded.
"Fine." Jonny said, throwing his hands up in mock defeat. "I'm off to find a vending machine and think about all this crazy shit that's happened in the last day!" He stormed off down the hall.
They watched him go and after he turned out of sight, Hadji said to Marissa. "Sorry about that. He's just as upset about this as everyone else. Our friend, Jessie, the red head, has been kidnapped ."
Marissa chewed her lower lip and said, "I didn't know that. But that still doesn't excuse what her mother did."
Hadji realized that this girl was just as stubborn as Jessie! Must come from having fathers with Type-A Personalities. "I know. And he knows that too."
The older teen sighed, "I'm sorry, Hadji. A lot has happened and it's not easy seeing my dad like he is."
Hadji nodded sympathetically, "I know, Marissa. I know. We'll get through this…together." He said and squeezed Jenny's hand to show his support.
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The van sped down the interstate. Estella was seated, rather uncomfortably in the rear of the vehicle guarded by one of the three men that had been watching her at the hotel. They had left her hands free, but she wore a blindfold, probably so she couldn't ascertain where they were headed. Seated across from her in the back of the luxury van was a lone guard, armed with a short barrel AK-47 that he had lying across his legs. There was little conversation in the vehicle. Every now and then the two men in the front of the van would speak to each other, but for the most part they rode in silence. At least one of the men in the front was smoking because Estella could smell the cigarette smoke as it wafted through the van.
The men had entered her hotel room and handed her a shopping bag. Estella had no idea what to expect, but when she slowly opened the bag she had found a box of hair dye. The two men had kept their handguns trained on her as she went to the bathroom and dyed her hair, watching as her fiery red locks turned a dark brown, almost black color. She hated it, but had no other choice. Obviously her captors were attempting to disguise her looks, knowing that most of the law enforcement agencies in the Metropolitan D.C. area were probably looking for her.
Once she was done, the men quickly ushered her out of the hotel and into the waiting van. The van was one of those luxury vans meant for long distance travel. The windows were tinted, making it difficult to see inside the back of the van in the event they were stopped or a curious traveler were to peer inside.
Estella wasn't sure but it felt as if they had been travelling for a number of hours, but due to her lack of sleep, disorientation, pounding headache, and being blindfolded she really had no idea how long they had been on the road or where they were headed for that matter. Her captors had told her nothing and when they did speak, the spoke in their native tongue.
A slight shift in the vehicle's speed caught Estella's attention. They were pulling off the interstate, but where they were headed she had no idea.
Soon enough the vehicle stopped and the driver said something to the man in the back. Then they addressed her. "Be quiet. If you make any sound or try to escape you will not make it very far."
Estella nodded.
"Are you hungry?"
The question caught her off guard. "Excuse me?" She quipped in a low tone.
"Are you hungry? You best eat something we have a long drive ahead of us." The voice responded and she heard the three men snicker.
Estella shook her head. "No. I'm not hungry."
One of the men grunted and then she heard two car doors slam. She could still hear the last guard breathing so she knew she wasn't alone. A short time later she heard the other two men return, climb in the vehicle and start the engine. The van pulled away and within minutes they were back on the interstate. She could smell the food that the men had purchased and her stomach responded. A moment later her guard said, "Here eat this." as he slapped a wrapper into her hand. It felt greasy and shaped like a hamburger.
"I said I'm not hungry." She stated, trying to sound defiant and tossed the burger back in the direction of the man's voice. Laughter came from the front of the van as the guard in the back was smacked by the flying burger.
He slapped it back in her hand and said, "Eat or don't. I really do not care."
She sighed. As much as she wanted to stand up to these men she knew she would have to eat something to retain her strength. If she saw an opportunity to escape she would have to take it, but she wouldn't stand a chance if she was exhausted due to hunger. Opening the wrapper she took a small bite, and then she quickly devoured the rest. The men all laughed and she was then handed a bottle of water.
With a bit of food in her stomach and her thirst quenched the rocking of the van as it chugged along the interstate started to make Estella drowsy. She tried to stay awake, willed herself to keep her eyes open so she could attempt to gain as much information as possible, but her body was exhausted and as hard as she fought she found herself nodding off. Within moments she was asleep.
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Kosovo, December, 1998
The morning air was brisk and cold, the flaps of the covered military transport vehicle kept some of the cold wind from piercing through her heavy winter clothing, but it wasn't enough to keep the chill away entirely. The vehicle lumbered on for a number of miles down a bumpy, muddy road. The driver had to take care to stay in the tracks of the vehicles that must have passed down this road recently due to the threat of possible landmines. Even though the area had been cleared, there was always the chance that something had been missed.
"You okay?" Philip Corbin asked her, he sat next to her in the back of the lumbering truck. To his right sat one of the American Special Forces Soldiers the I-1 team had been working alongside. Across from them on the opposite bench sat the other three members of the I-1 team; two male security operatives and the third was a young woman who specialized in humanitarian relief. Two more American Special Forces Soldiers sat on either side of the group. The cab of the truck was occupied by the last two Special Forces team members.
Estella glanced at Corbin, the team leader. He was wearing battle camouflage fatigue pants, boots, a black military style sweater, gloves and a black beanie cap. He was sporting a two-day old stubble on his face and had a 9mm pistol strapped to his leg in a combat holster. Estella thought he fit right in with the soldiers.
"I'm okay. It's just the message we received seemed kind of vague."
Phil blew into his hands. "True. But from all accounts there hasn't been much fighting in this area between the Albanians and the Yugoslavian Army. But higher thought we should investigate since there hasn't been much communication with this village in the last week."
"I'm just curious why they need me."
Phil shrugged. "Part of what we are doing here is trying to protect Kosovo history and the Yugos have been looting and stealing many of the artifacts and historical works of art. The Kosovo Government hid some of their most prized possessions in this small farm village in the hopes that they would be saved. We want to try and get there before the Yugos do, in order to secure them and bring them back to our base camp."
"Mmmhmm." Estella mused.
Phil nodded. "If nothing else we will catalog what we find and add it to the rest of the secured items."
Estella wasn't used to field work. She'd only been with I-1 for five years. It felt strange to her that she was out in the field, working and living under harsh conditions, but her husband, Race Bannon, was back home taking care of their young daughter, Jessie. Estella hoped that this current assignment would be over before Jessie's third birthday rolled around. She had no intention of missing any of her daughter's birthdays.
"How much longer till we get there?" Estella asked. She glanced past Phil and saw that a light snow was beginning to fall.
"Another hour or so." The solder to Corbin's right responded. "It's slow going on these roads."
Estella nodded. She looked around at the others in the vehicle. Each of them seemed so perfectly at home here, riding in the back of a U.S. Army Deuce-an-a-half, bouncing up and down on rough, muddy roads, freezing their butts off; all of them except Estella. Granted, she been on her fair share of archeological missions, but never in the middle of a warzone.
Sucking in a breath of cold, crisp air she looked at Phil and smiled, "So how does guy like you learn to speak and write fluently in Slavic?"
"Good question." He scratched at his stubble, "I guess I just wanted to learn a different language that was different than what everyone else already knew. If I had known it would get me posted here though." He laughed.
"Well, at least we have someone that can speak the language." The Soldier said. Estella remembered his name as Sergeant First Class (SFC) Williams.
"I suppose." Corbin said suddenly going quiet. Estella wondered what caused his sudden change in demeanor. She had always found it difficult to understand his personality. He was a nice enough guy, but his ability to go from joking to dead-set serious in a matter of seconds always unnerved Estella. She saw the same behavior in Race at times. It made her wonder what men like Race and Corbin had experienced in places such as these that could so alter their personalities and how they coped within themselves.
The rest of the trip was covered in relative silence. Every now and then she heard one of the I-1 security men clicking his tongue which she chalked up to being a nervous tick. Ten minutes later the truck came to a halt. The two soldiers from the front of the truck came around and lowered the gate, allowing the rest of the team to disembark. The men helped Estella down and her feet crunched lightly in the snow, which had start falling harder, at least an inch had already accumulated.
"This area should be clear of any mines, but I want my explosive techs to take a quick look." SFC Williams stated.
Corbin nodded as he peered around the village. It was cold, but it was also quiet; too quiet. "Something's not right." He mumbled. His keen senses picking up on the strangeness of their surroundings.
"Someone should have greeted us by now." The humanitarian specialist, Agent Lewis, stated.
Corbin nodded and Estella watched as his hand hovered instinctively over his sidearm.
Twenty minutes passed before the explosive tech gave the all clear and Estella couldn't be happier to get moving. Her toes felt frozen and the snow was still coming down. It was times like this that she missed the climate of her native Colombia. Also the eeriness of the small farming village set her nerves on end.
"The village elder was supposed to meet us here." Corbin said. He looked at SFC Williams and said "Search the buildings, see if we can determine where everyone has gone."
Williams gave a curt nod and assembled his men to give the order. Within minutes the Special Forces team had spread out.
"Clark," Corbin addressed one of his operatives. He was a large, well-muscled African-American man with a bald head and a stern look on his face. "You, Hill, and Lewis fan out. See if you can find any clues or evidence. I don't think we are going to find what we came here for."
"Yes, Sir." Clark responded and they moved out on high alert.
"Follow me." Corbin said to Estella and led her down the abandoned street. "The artifacts were to be stored in the Orthodox chapel's basement."
Estella followed and within a few minutes they were entering the chapel. Corbin drew his pistol, and slowly entered the church. Estella followed closely on his heels and wished that, even though she wasn't overly familiar with firearms, she was armed as well.
They searched the main chapel area and found nothing. No sign of a disturbance and no sign of life either. Moving towards the rear of the alter Corbin located a door that led down to the basement. It was dark so he withdrew a small flashlight he had clipped to his belt. "Be careful." He whispered.
At the bottom of the stairs was a large oak door that stood open. As the pair moved inside they saw that the room as empty, but it had definitely been ransacked. Storage shelves were tipped on their sides, boxes and wooden crates were strewn about, some flung open, some completely smashed and destroyed. Phil holstered his weapon as he turned to Estella. "Looks like we're too late. The Yugos must have gotten word that these items were stored here."
"Now they are lost…for good probably." Estella said with a hint of sadness. It always touched her in a painful way to see history being pilfered and stolen away for nothing more than money.
"Let's head up." Phil said as he left the room. "Maybe they stored some things somewhere else, just in case."
As they reached the top of the stairs, Corbin's radio chirped. "Sir, this is Clark."
"Go ahead." Phil replied as he slipped the radio off of his belt.
"We're out back, in the field just north of the village. You need to come see this." Something in his voice sent chills down the team leader's spine. "Now." The other agent added.
"On the way."
"What's going on?" Estella asked as she picked up her pace to keep up with him.
"I don't know." Corbin replied.
They headed out in the direction that Clark had stated and as they came out into the open Corbin knew something was wrong. His three agents were standing off in the field, looking at something that he could not see. The group of Special Forces soldiers spotted Corbin and Estella and trotted towards them. SFC Williams pointed to his men and then in certain directions and the men fanned out.
"My men are setting up a perimeter." SFC Williams said, his breath forming a cloud of mist in the cold.
"What did you find?"
Estella noticed the soldier glance at her and then back at the head agent and said, "You need to see for yourself."
Corbin seemed to get the message and looked at Estella. "Stay here." Before she could respond he moved off with the soldier, Estella heard the snow sloshing around their boots.
She watched the group intently, saw them pointing at the ground, the female, Agent Lewis was crouched down. It appeared they were examining a ditch or a ravine.
Estella felt a lump in her throat, fearing what they had found. Not being able to stand being left out, she was part of the team after-all, she strode over to where the others stood and her eyes took in all that the others were seeing.
She gasped and placed her gloved hands over her mouth. Before her eyes, in the small ditch were countless bodies. They had to be the villagers. All she saw was a mass of corpses, partially covered in snow, the ground covered in darkened pools of blood. Her mind was having difficulty taking in the horror before her. There were so many bodies; men, women, children; young and old alike. Some of the bodies had their clothes torn almost off. Estella noted that most of those had been women. She couldn't tell, but there had to be at least thirty to forty people lying dead before her. She saw the dead were spattered with bullet wounds and hundreds of spent shell casings were all around the ditch. Her knees shook and her legs slackened and she slumped down to her knees. She'd never seen something like this before; never seen a massacre.
As horrible as the scene before her was, she couldn't pry her eyes away. She felt a presence next to her and she managed to turn her eyes away from the grizzly sight. Corbin had knelt down next to her and wrapped an arm around her. "I told you to stay away. You don't need to see this." His voice was gentle and Estella felt herself breathing again.
"What happened?" Who did this?" She whispered, barely audible to the point she wasn't sure she had actually spoken.
"Come on." He said as he helped her to her feet. "Let's go back to the truck."
Estella pushed away from the man, suddenly filled with an anger that she didn't know was in her. "What happened? Bastards! How could people do this?!" She felt hot tears burning against her cold cheeks.
"Estella, calm down, please." He said, trying to remain calm. She looked at him and saw both sadness and rage in his eyes. "We'll figure this out."
She sniffed, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. "What about them?" She inclined her head in the direction of the dead.
"We're taking care of it. This isn't what you signed up for and I'm sorry you had to see something like this."
"No one should have to see something like this." Estella barked back, her anger misdirected at her superior.
He took it in stride and lowered his eyes, "I know."
Estella let him place his hand on her arm to guide and steady her; he turned to lead her away from the scene of the horrid execution. Clark came up to them and quietly said, "Sir?" waiting for orders.
"Call it back in to the base and you, Hill, and Lewis remain here until officials from Kosovo's Government can get here. Have SFC Williams leave some of his men behind for security as well. The rest of us will head back." Corbin would have preferred to stay at the scene, but his agents were experienced and he was responsible for his entire team. He felt his best place right now would be with Estella, who was not used to dealing with such things. He knew she would need help coming to terms with what she saw, with what was happening, and he would be there for her if she needed him.
"Yes, Sir." Clark said and turned to go, but Corbin stopped him and in a low voice he added, with his eyes set on the murdered villagers, "Search for Delic. We need to know and this will confirm."
Clark gave a nod and turned off. As they walked back to the truck Estella asked, "Who is Delic?"
Corbin didn't look at her, but she saw that serious look on his face again, "A very dangerous man."
Estella trudged to the vehicle, gently led by her team leader, as the snow continued to blanket her world is a cold, silent sea of white.
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Estella jolted awake, gasping for air. Her dream, no her memory, was so vivid, so real. She hadn't thought about her days in Kosovo, and the horrors she saw there, for years. She had locked them away in her memories, never wanting to relive them. But now she was reliving them and it made her ill. She started coughing and then the dry heaves came. She heard the men in the van laugh at her discomfort and her anger rose. She had no doubt that the men occupying the van with her were some of the same men that had committed those atrocities almost twelve years ago.
She felt her cheeks as they flushed with red hot anger and at that moment she vowed that no matter what happened to her, she would make these men pay for what they had done.
To be continued….
A/N: This chapter turned out a lot different than I originally intended. However, I figured this would be a good point to stop instead of bringing the last section in which would be back in the present day time. The next chapter will do so.