Slowly, her skinny arms rise and I gently put the sweater over her head, helping her find the arm holes. Her legs curl in and I try not to cringe when I see the blood and bruising around her ankle shackle.
“I’m Morana, what’s your name?” I try to get her to talk, though the empty stare never leaves her eyes. She smooths her hand over the sweater, so I hope it’s a good sign.
A sharp chuckle breaks the silence. “Very sweet.”
The woman across from me looks closer to my age though, at twenty, I’m pretty sure I’m the oldest one here.
“You should have kept it,” she says, “it’s going to get cold tonight.” Stretching out her legs, I see her slight wince when the movement pulls on her ankle cuff.
“How long have you been on this train?”
She shrugs, “Two days, maybe three. They drug us when we come close to civilization.” She’s speaking Russian, but with an accent.
“You’re from Ukraine?” I ask.
“Yes, the war hasn’t slowed down the stealing of women,” she said bitterly.
Squinting in the dark, I can see the train car is full of girls, maybe fifty in total. We’re all chained to the wall. The smell is my first clue that there are no toilets, no food, no water. The stench of ripe, unwashed bodies is overwhelming. There’s a low soundtrack of suffering; soft weeping, and moans as the girls change positions and their chains rattle.
Closing my eyes, I try to track where we might be going. They took me to Moscow.
Miss Kevin! Is she alive? Please let her be alive. “Can you tell me how long it’s been since they threw me in here?”
“What does it matter?”
“I’m trying to figure out where they’re taking us.”
Two of the others start sobbing.
The girl across from me snaps, “Shut up. This is bad enough, don’t upset them more.”
“What did I say?”
Lowering her voice, she leans closer. “They told us that where they’re taking us, we’ll never leave there alive.”
My father needs to die. Stepanov should be torn apart in a thousand pieces. If I’m given the gift of any time left on this earth, I’ll use it to kill them both.
After another hour or so, the train jerks to the left, slowing down slightly and changing direction. I can smell the slight tinge of salt. We’re heading toward the ocean. This could be their facility near Sosnovy Bor. If that’s the case, Cameron may know where I’m going.
A huge surge of homesickness hits me. I miss our house. Bad Cat. I miss my husband with his forest-green eyes and his filthy mouth. I look down at my wedding ring and realize it’s gone. There’s a long scrape on my finger as if someone impatiently ripped it off. That’s the thing that finally makes me cry, smothering my sobs so I don’t make it worse for the others.
Cameron…
I’m watching the screen as the drone silently crisscrosses the countryside over the railroad tracks.
“How close?”
Dougal folds his arms, checking the readout. “Twenty minutes. The heat signatures are clustered heavily on two of the train cars, I’m guessing around a hundred bodies or so. The rest are spread out, about twenty guards in total.” He checks his watch. “They’ll enter the zone where there’s no cell signal in twelve minutes. We’ll have a jammer activated for the radio communication in the engine car at fifteen minutes exactly.”
“I knew ye’ were the smartest of us,” I compliment him.
Dougal laughs. “Ye’ called me a lavvy-heided wankstain yesterday.”
“It was a heat of the moment thing,” I defend myself.
“Uh-huh.” Turning to our men, he shouts, “Shut yer syphilis-ridden herpes holes, ya’ cunts! The boss is talking!”
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I take a deep breath. “Thank you, brother, so helpful.”
