Only Human (Themis Files #3)(43)
[I’m sorry. You said trust. I thought you should know.]
Right … Thank you, Alex, for your honesty. And Katherine, I hate to ruin that ominous plan of yours but he won’t be able to hold a gun, not with the gloves on. They’re like hockey gloves.
[Oh!]
Exactly.
—All right! We’ll think of something else. Why does everything have to be so difficult?
[So what do we do now?]
Well, Sergeant, it looks like you won’t start training today after all. No, Vincent, I’m not letting you into Themis without some sort of safety measure in place. You can start tomorrow.
—We can start today. We don’t need to be inside Themis for now. We can just hold hands for a while.
—What did you just say?
—Hands. Ever tried walking while holding someone’s hand? It doesn’t work if your pacing is different. You need to adjust speed, distance, so your arms can move in sync. We’ll start with that to get our feet moving together. It’ll be a mirror image, but it’s easy to switch later. Then we’ll work on the arms. You can just follow me around. I’m going to exaggerate my arm movements a bit. You have to move like I do. You’ll need to walk like that even when I’m not around.
[This is the stupidest thing I have ever heard in my life.]
—It sounds perfect. I’ll let you boys do your thing, then. I don’t wanna be a third wheel.
—Don’t go, Katherine. I need to talk to you first.
[This … training thing sounded much better when she explained it to me.]
Oh, don’t worry, we’ll get to the part where we fall ten times a day soon enough. That reminds me, Katherine, we’ll need a place where you don’t mind things getting crushed.
—And they say I’m high-maintenance. You can leave us, Sergeant. I’ll send for you when we’re done here.
[Yes, ma’am.]
So?
—Any news about Eva?
—No. We haven’t found her yet. She’s really good! Or whoever is helping her is really good. Whatever. We’ll find her. Don’t worry about it.
—You gave me your word she wouldn’t be harmed.
—I promised I wouldn’t give the order to shoot first. They still need to bring her in. I’m not responsible for what happens if she doesn’t want to. You know how she is.
—That’s not good enough. I need to know you won’t hurt her.
—Hurt her? Why would I do that? But you know we can’t let the Americans get their hands on her. If it comes to that, they’ll put her down. They’ll shoot to kill. No one is going to hurt her.
—I won’t help you if anything happens to Eva. You can kill me if you want to, but then you’ll have nothing.
—Oh, Vincent, Vincent … I thought we’d been through this. Do you really think anything’s changed because Dr. Franklin and your daughter are gone? Look at your hands. How many fingers do you see? Are you sure? Oh don’t worry, they wouldn’t start with you. They’d bring in a little girl and let you watch while they do it to her. They can do things that you and I can’t even imagine, Vincent. They can do things to you until there is no you left. They can screw with your mind so much you’ll be begging for them to hurt you more. They can turn you into a pet.
—You’re a sick fuck, Katherine. I hope you know that.
—Me? I’m not the one who wants to do any of this. I’m the one, the only one, stopping them. My boss, he doesn’t like this plan. He doesn’t like you. He doesn’t like you at all, Vincent. It’s the accent, I think. If this doesn’t work out …
—If this doesn’t work out, what?
—Let’s just say you’re not the only one who’ll spend some quality time with a blowtorch and some bolt cutters.
—You guys watch way too much TV. Am I really supposed to fall for this?
—Trust me, Vincent, the GRU can be …
—Oh, I know you can do some very nasty shit to people. I have absolutely no doubt about that. I was talking about that Stockholm syndrome thing you’re going for. Next thing you know, you’ll be asking me out on a date. Just a casual dinner in a dimly lit restaurant. Do you think I’ll develop feelings for you? That I’ll use Themis to destroy armies … out of love? Is that it? I’ll admit, if the circumstances were different, and maybe you weren’t a psychopath, and the world hadn’t gone to shit …
—Wow. I don’t know what to say, Vincent. I’m … hurt. Hey, that dinner thing is a great idea, though. What do you say we get out of here and go for a big steak? I know the perfect place.
—I’m serious, Katherine. I want Eva to be safe. You hear me?
—I’ll do my best, Vincent. I promise you I’ll do my best. Come now. Steak!
FILE NO. 2138
PERSONAL JOURNAL ENTRY—EVA REYES
Location: Kaarina Work Camp, near Turku, Finland
There’s a way out. Everyone knows about it. There’s a tataarit kid—they call him Baba. I have no idea what his real name is. He goes out every single night for supplies. Cigarettes, mostly. One hundred percent markup, but Baba can get you anything. He’ll even bring you a receipt, so you know you’re only getting ripped off a hundred percent. The kid—he can’t be more than twelve—makes over two thousand dollars a week, or so he says. I get the feeling it’s Baba’s dad who pockets the money, but Baba likes to brag. He lives well, that’s for sure. New clothes. New phone. He’s cocky as hell. I like him a lot.