CHAPTER 5
RAT HOLE
Both women went over the cell carefully, at least as best they could under the circumstances. The light was almost non-existent. The dim light bulb, although in the hallway just eight feet from the doorway, gave little off into the room.
“I’m afraid I can’t see any way out,” said Irina.
“What’s with these white overalls?”
Irina turned her back, “See now?”
“Prisoner.” Sydney sighed. “Looks like we’d be dead ducks if we made it upstairs.”
“I’m afraid so,” Irina sighed. She sat on the bunk. It had no mattress or blanket.
“Christ, its cold,” said Sydney shivering.
“Sit next to me. We’ll share body heat.” Irina moved a little.
Sydney sat down and Irina put her arm around her shoulders. Both women were lost in thought for a few minutes. Each one was assessing the probability of Jack and Nadia locating and rescuing them.
“It doesn’t look too good for something happening.” Sydney finally said.
“I’m sure your father will do the best he can. I’m hoping he’ll get an extension of time from Cuvee.”
“Do you think he’ll kill us?”
“If he does, he gets no money.” Irina smiled in the dark. Jack could stall Cuvee with a perfectly good reason. “No, he’ll keep us alive until he gets the money.”
“You think he’ll kill us then?”
“Possibly. We know who our kidnappers are, so…” Irina frowned. That thought had not immediately crossed her mind. She and Cuvee had a history, a long one. Perhaps once he had the money, he would sever relations with his employer SVR. Ten million tax free euros would take him a long way, especially in south Asia or even South America.
“It’s cold.” Sydney could feel its pervasiveness over her body.
Irina pulled her daughter down onto the bunk in a spoon position. She wrapped her arms around Sydney. “We can share body warmth from head to toe.”
Sydney felt her legs being tucked close to Irina’s left one as her right folded over Sydney’s legs. Body heat invaded Syd’s and she felt herself feeling sleepy. God, how long had it been since her mother held her in this manner. A good long time, she thought, but could not pin point when that was.
“I know what you’re thinking,” whispered Irina in her ear.
“So when…”
“You were four, I think…
They had had sex and it was as explosive as the rain, thunder and lightning, which highlighted the storm that hit L.A. Jack was sound asleep. Laura was waiting to be sure, before she went to the den to go through his briefcase. She smiled happily. He never failed. Their foreplay had been extensive tonight. Laura was edgy because of the storm. It took him longer, but it was, as always, worth it.
She hoped it would be over by morning. She was not comfortable driving in this kind of weather. She promised Sydney they would go shopping and maybe to a movie. Bad weather always meant umbrellas, raincoat, and galoshes.
“Mommy?”
Laura started. She looked over to her side of the bed. Sydney stood looking at her wide-eyed, frightened. “What is it Sydney?”
“Can I sleep with you? It’s scary in my room.”
Laura pulled back the sheet and blanket inviting her daughter to join her. “Come on.”
Sydney started to climb up onto the bed, but paused. “You don’t have any pajamas on, Mommy.”
“I know. It’s all right. I never did like to wear pajamas.”
“Oh! Didn’t your mommy make you?”
Laura pulled Sydney close to her, whispering. “She tried, sweetheart, but I took them off. Finally, she kissed me and said it was okay.”
“Ummm, she was nice. Will I get to see her someday?”
Laura sighed, “No, she’s in heaven.”
“Oh!” There was a loud clap of thunder, preceded by a flash of lightning. Rain poured down over the house. Sydney began to sniffle as she pulled the sheet and blanket over her head. “Make it stop, Mommy.”
Laura held her daughter tight to her. “It’s all right Sydney. God is letting water out of his bathtub, just as we do.”
“Too noisy,” came the muffled response.
“It will be gone soon. Mommy will protect you. Go to sleep now.”
Minutes later, Sydney was sound asleep in her mother’s arms. Laura decided this was worth more than the time to go through Jack’s briefcase. She had longed to be held this way when she was a child, but it never happened. She kissed the top of her daughter’s head, closed her eyes, and fell asleep.
“Was that the truth?”
“What?”
“Your mother let you sleep naked? I mean, Moscow is not exactly a tropical city.”
Irina chuckled. “Yes…I was…stubborn.”
Sydney laughed. She sighed. A tear escaped one eye as she thought about her mother and what would have been if…if she had not been a KGB agent and assassin. It was possible she herself would be married and have a child…maybe two, even three. She sighed again and felt her mother’s comforting arms tighten around her.
Irina heard Sydney’s sighs, wondering what she was thinking. Strangely, she herself wondered how different their lives would have been if…if she stayed and avoided extraction. It would have meant ‘walking in’ and throwing herself on the mercy of the Americans. She suddenly had no illusions as to her fate. She had executed too many CIA agents, enemies her country, enemies of the state. Irina sighed and closed her eyes.
“I love you, Sydney,” she whispered, knowing Sydney was probably asleep.
“I love you, too, Mama!” Sydney’s voice mumbled the words as she drifted off.
The scrabbling sounds woke Irina up. She listened. Whoever or whatever it was skittered around the cell looking for something. She knew what they were…she heard them many times in her lifetime. She leaned forward toward Sydney’s ear.
“Sweetheart, wake up,” she whispered.
“Huh?”
“Wake up. We have visitors.”
Sydney’s body stiffened. “Who?”
“They are of the four legged variety and come with long tails.”
“Rats?” Sydney chuckled.
“Thankfully so.”
“What do you mean?” Sydney said before realizing what the rats in their cell meant. “Oh, somewhere there’s a rat hole.”
“Lets take a better look and I think under this so-called bunk might be the first place to start.” Irina disentwined herself from Sydney and stood. “We can’t see anything in this dim light, but we can feel and in order to do that we have to pull the bunk away from the wall.”
The two women pulled the bunk away quickly. Neither was weak and so they were not inhibited by limited strength. Irina kneeled down and ran her hands along the wall. She felt something run across her legs and it, a rat, disappeared. She sensed where he or she had entered and felt around.
“Ahh, found it.”
Sydney kneeled beside her. “Where?”
“Here, feel.” Irina took Sydney’s hand and held it against the hole. “What else do you feel?”
“Cool air.”
“Good, then we both know there is another way out of here.”
“We are not exactly built like rats.”
“Before we give up, we will try to do something. I do not intend to stay and be killed like rats in a hole.”
Sydney giggled. “Yeah, right…what next?”
“Let’s see if we can make the hole bigger. This place is old and it’s possible nothing has been done to it for years.” Irina took hold of the hole in the wall and pulled…hard.
Old rotted wood cracked and a chunk of the wall came free. She tossed it behind her. The two women concentrated on the opening, making it larger and larger until it was about four feet in width. They could not see anything. It was pitch black.
“Should we wait for morning?” Sydney asked.
Irina snorted, “For all we know it could be morning now.”
“Yeah, right!” Sydney reached forward with both hands. What she felt was frozen earth. They must be below the permafrost line, which would account for the coldness they were experiencing. “You know, there’s at least a foot or more space between this wall and the earth. You up to some dangerous adventure?”
“You sure you want to do this, Sydney?”
“Yes, we’ve got to find a way out.”
“First a plan. We have to decide where to go.”
“Out of here…”
“Listen to me. I noticed the cells were empty and doors of some were open. If we can find our way to one of them we can either take the elevator out or climb stairs if there are any.”
“Then you go right and I’ll go left.”
“No!” Irina said softly. “We need think. When we exited the elevator…close your eyes… do you remember anything…an open door of one of the cells.”
“Yesss,” hissed Sydney, “the one on the left of us….closest to the elevator.”
“I agree. We’ll go to the next cell, but we have to break in and it won’t be easy. We’re going to have less space in which to operate.”
Sydney led the way. They could hear sounds of animals scattering. They had invaded rat space and the scavenging animals did not like it.
“Do you suppose there is a rat hole in the wall there.” Sydney muttered softly to her mother.
“Let’s hope so. I suspect there is as the rats have had a free reign down here for years.”
Sydney gauged the distance they traveled. She kneeled down and felt the wall near the floor. Her hands didn’t find anything at first; then, she found it about a foot further. “Got it, Mom.”
TBC