“Thank you.” His house manager headed back toward the kitchen, muttering under her breath.
Wes held up his hands. “I’ll keep her as busy as I can.” He turned and trailed behind the upset house manager.
Troy walked Gwen the rest of the way to their office. “If?”
“If I’m not approved for duty, I’ll need to work somewhere,” she said.
“You know I removed my hold. Ethan Miller is your surgeon of record. You are on medical leave. Russ will reevaluate your health as well. Both physicians are concerned about the infection, and the reason I know that is you are scheduled for a trip to the med center tomorrow morning.”
Gwen ran her hands over the regal desk in their shared office. He showed her all the hidden areas. Shaking her head, she looked at his face. “Where do you want to start?”
His chest felt heavy. He knew she wouldn’t be the terrific operator she was without instinct. Walking over to the sitting area, he offered her the oversized chair while he sat on the sofa, close enough he could touch her.
“Gwendolen.” He took her hands in his. “I hate this, but I need some more answers.The injuries to the female victims at Twentynine Palms are all strikingly familiar. I need to know what more happened to you during your captivity. Chase Security has an intelligence partner looking for patterns of torture prevalent in ISIS. They are having difficulty finding repeated instances of…” he inhaled and squeezed her hands, “instances of nipple removal and female circumcision. I can go over things with you, or I can ask Kip, Wes or Zach to speak with you when he gets here.”
“I understand you have questions. Even when you put up your professional wall, you were kind. I trust you. I know I shouldn’t ask you, but could you do this for me?” Her fingers played with some of her long hair that flowed loosely all the way to her bottom.
The look in her eyes gutted him, but he nodded. “Can I record this?” At her agreement, he gave the appropriate identification for the recording. “Will Cook refers to you as Gwenny. Does anyone else in your life refer to you as that?”The unknown callers.
“You read the transcripts. The mystery caller.” She chewed on her thumb. “Gwenny was Will’s name for me. Soon it was used by Will’s friends. There was a group that graduated from Samuel P. Carter Military Academy together. None of them made it into the big academies.” She shuddered. “And then there were the other officers, doctors, MPs, plus Boyle and Stacy.” Her eyes darkened.
Her body language intrigued him. There was a story behind “Gwenny.” “I’d like to focus on your captors. You mentioned in a previous interview, one of your ISIS captors spoke perfect English. Tell me about him.”
“Actually, there were two. Their leader, the caliph, their single political and religious leader ruling according to Islamic law. I was forced to my knees at his filthy bare feet. ‘You will be my bride. You will be trained and show the world an alliance with America.’” She squeezed her eyes tightly.
“Gwendolen, what are you seeing?” He placed his hand atop hers.
“He opened his pants. He smelled of sweat and smoke. His English was unaccented. My guess, he was educated in America.” Gwen opened her eyes. “The second man also spoke English. I was told to call him el-Saab. He assisted the caliph, doing his bidding.”
“Are you up to going on?” he asked softly. She nodded. “While you were in his custody, think about his words…any slang or abbreviations?”
“No.” She closed her eyes. “Wait, every once in a while, he’d use British words. Boot, Petrol, biscuits. After every one of the training sessions, he’d bring me to his quarters and offer me biscuits and tea.”
“That’s good, sweetheart. Can you tell me about the training sessions?” Waiting for her answer, he realized he was present, and his walls were down. His stomach was in a tight ball.
“Repetitive religious study. Every mistake was met with a beating. The lessons were in obedience. Because I was destined to belong to their leader, those lessons only involved …well…” She violently shook her head.
“Okay, shh. Breathe. You don’t have to go there. Tell me the moment you were taken.”
“A group of ISIS fighters came right at myself, Emily and Harry Desmond. It was as if they knew our position. I’d been slowing them down. Harry stayed with me until it became clear they were going to take us. I told Harry to run with Emily. I held our position until my ammunition was gone. If I knew… I would have saved a bullet for me.”
Troy grabbed her hands. “I’m so sorry they hurt you, but I’m so glad you’re here.” He swiped away her tears with the pads of his thumbs. He felt the sides of his brain war with each other. He should stop.
But before he could, Gwen continued, “I was grabbed and pulled into the Jeep. My hands were secured, and my head was covered with a hood. The ride jarred me. I was already in pain, and the ride made things worse. Some of the blisters from the burns burst. That’s when I started a conversation in my head. I got the idea from a friend after SERE training. I created a small cabin in the woods. I started talking to the imaginary builders.”
She looked down. “They took my hood off. The minute I saw their faces, I knew I was never coming home. I was dragged into a room with blood spatter on the walls. One of them spoke understandable English. Somehow pain and torture were in their lexicon. As part of my preparation for the caliph, I had to learn repentance by el-Saab. Two thousand lashes, one hundred per day, twenty days, and if I survived, I’d be brought to their leader. They forced my dog tags into my mouth. If I dropped them, the count began again.” Her tone went flat as her eyes fogged over.
“Was it el-Saab every time?”
“It’s all a blur. I… can’t.” She shook her head.
With a feathery touch, he leaned in and lifted her chin. “You can. It’s safe.” His fingers interlocked with hers. Her hand was cold and damp.
“Yes. It was el-Saab. He’d tell me he was cleansing my soul. Every time he caned me, I imagined Cristal putting a bullet between his eyes.”
“Cristal?” Troy crunched his brows.
“My McMillian Tac. I call my rifle Cristal. The champagne grapes are handpicked, and so are my targets.” The corners of her mouth flattened.
