A light slap on his back woke him from his thoughts and Jack looked up to find his brother standing over him. "You alright, Jack? You look like hell."
"I’m okay. Having a bad week, is all."
T.J. took off his coat and draped it over the back of his chair before sitting down at the little table Jack had procured for the two of them. "Want to tell me about it?"
No. Not really. Jack started to decline the offer but, glancing up at the concerned expression on his brother’s face, "I’m worried about my job," was what he actually said.
"But you’re a chief inspector. I should think your position is pretty secure by now."
"Detective chief inspector," Jack nodded. He’d thought so too, until just recently. He’d been back on the job for a month now, after his little vacation, but he still hadn’t been able to shake off that other case. Everyone could tell he was off his game. He was distracted, making mistakes. He couldn’t seem to make himself really care about any of his current work. His mind just kept going back to the Andrews kidnapping, and the bloody double-homicide that had gone with it.
He told his brother about all of this, about how his superiors had started double-checking all of his work and sending other officers to verify things behind his back. He told him about the frequent moments, throughout the day, when he would get so lost in his thoughts that he’d completely lose track of what was going on around him, and when became aware of his surroundings again, he’d have no idea how much time had passed. He told him about how his friends and coworkers had started avoiding him, about how most nights he would lie awake in his bed all night, just staring at the ceiling and thinking about that Jones woman and those strange people in Switzerland, until his alarm clock signaled it was time for him to get up again.
A server stopped by their table, and Jack ordered a straight scotch.
T.J. stared at him. "Since when do you drink scotch?" he asked. "I’ve never seen you drink anything stronger than a little beer or wine in your entire life."
"I find it calms my nerves," Jack replied.
"This isn’t like you," T.J. leaned forward. "You’re not usually one to let your own feelings get in the way of your job. Haven’t you ever had an unsolved case before?"
"Of course. Cases go cold all the time. Especially in the Kidnap Unit. But this one is different."
"How so?"
How, indeed. Jack began to explain. He was vague on the details at first, because he really wasn’t supposed to talk about the case with civilians at all, but in the end he decided that he just didn’t care about that anymore, and he told his brother everything. The strange manners in which the mother and the boyfriend were murdered, and the gruesome scene they had created. The near-perfect quality of Ms. Jones’s false papers. The strange people in Switzerland, and the mysterious interview he’d had with them. The warning Mr. Waiblingen had given him in the lift. The pictures and video footage that had been so expertly tampered with. The way in which the Swiss police watching that house had suddenly lost all interest in the case– that really struck him as odd; it was as if they had all been bribed, or threatened, or . . . hell, it was as if they’d all been hypnotized or something. Not that Jack believed in such things. But one day they were reporting suspicious activity, noting unusual behavior, trying to get interviews with the household help, investigating the true identities of the two who lived there, and the two new arrivals from Malta . . . and the next day, they suddenly all agreed that there was nothing of interest at that house. It just didn’t make sense! "There’s something going on there. And it’s bigger than this one incident. They’re all up to something . . . something big, and this Nadina Jones is in on it. When I spoke to the other two, I swear they were protecting something, and it wasn’t just her they were protecting. It was something important. Some huge secret."
"Like what?"
Jack wasn’t sure about that yet. He had theories, but no real clues as to what it was that they were all hiding. Perhaps they were international terrorists of some kind, or they were involved in some kind of human trafficking ring, or they were part of a drugs cartel, or they were illegal arms dealers, or maybe it was some dangerous new religious cult . . . . He didn’t know what it was, but he did know that no one was investigating it. That they were somehow just getting away with . . . whatever it was, and had been for some time now. He knew that they had to be caught– they had to be stopped, and the fact that no one seemed to care about it . . . well, it was driving him toward a nervous breakdown, and he knew it!
Jack fell silent and downed his scotch in one long gulp, then buried his head in his hands. T.J. watched him in silence for a few minutes, then began riffling through his coat pockets. After a moment, he pulled a small pad of paper from an inner pocket and, after borrowing a pen from one of the servers, he scribbled a note, ripped the paper from the pad, and placed the note on the table in front of Jack.
It was a medical prescription.
"This is to help you sleep at night. Take one every night before bed. Tomorrow I’ll see if I can’t get you a recommendation for a good psychiatrist. You need help."
Jack looked up at his brother. "You think I’m losing my mind?"
T.J. shook his head. "No," he said, "But you will, if you don’t have someone to talk to about all of this. This isn’t healthy. You need someone who can help you get through this . . . whatever this is. Someone to help you get over it, so you can be yourself again. This obsession of yours isn’t just getting in the way of your work, it’s getting in the way of your life."
Jack nodded.
"Promise me you’ll get those pills."
"I will."
"Good. I’ll call you tomorrow about the psychiatrist." T.J. watched him worriedly for another minute, then asked, "Do you want me to drive you home?"
"No, I’m alright."
"Well, take care of yourself, will you? I’ll talk to you tomorrow."
Jack watched as his brother gathered up his things and paid the bill for both of them. He glanced down at his watch. It was later than he had thought. They’d been sitting at this table for more than three hours. How many drinks had he had? He hadn’t kept track. He slowly stood up and made his way toward the door, out into the fresh night air, then decided to take the train home.
T.J. was scared for him, he could tell. Well, he was scared for himself. His job was in danger, his health was in a bad state . . . and he felt like his mind was slipping, too. Perhaps his brother was right, perhaps he did need some professional help. He just wasn’t sure what, if anything, a psychiatrist could possibly do for him.
11/21/13
11/13/13
34- Nadina
"There is a spare bed in M’boku’s room. You can sleep there, until I can make other arrangements," Nadina opened the door to the larger bedroom in her flat and waved a hand toward the single bed that sat opposite from the one with the large tent on it. Alexei gave her a quizzical look, and she added, "I sometimes use that bed, when he is feeling insecure."
"No!" M’boku stomped his foot and slammed a tiny fist into Alexei’s right hip. "You can’t go in! Only ’Dina can be on that bed!" Nadina peered at Alexei’s face, watching carefully for his reaction.
"What?" Alexei turned to face him. "Why not? I thought we were friends."
"NO. WE’RE. NOT. FRIENDS!!" M’boku shouted back. "Only ’Dina!"
Nadina bit her lip. It was true that the two of them had never been friends. Alexei had clearly never approved of Mila’s inexplicable infatuation with M’boku, and M’boku had never shown him any kindness– in fact, Nadina couldn’t deny that he had actually been quite cruel to Alexei on several occasions– but she hoped that Alexei could look past all of that, and just think of how greatly this new arrangement would benefit him. M’boku was dormant now, after all. He couldn’t remember any of their interactions from the past. He was just behaving like a normal four-year-old boy. To him, Alexei was someone they had just met, and he wasn’t comfortable enough with him to share a room just yet. Whether or not that changed would depend on Alexei’s actions.
"We’re not friends, huh? Well, I guess not." Alexei glanced around M’boku’s bedroom for a moment. "That’s too bad, though. Because I know everything there is to know about cars and trucks . . . and dinosaurs. I am an expert on dinosaurs."
M’boku calmed down a bit and narrowed his eyes at Alexei, as if he were trying to determine whether or not he was telling the truth.
"That’s right," Nadina verified with a smile, "Alexei is very smart. He knows about a lot of things."
M’boku frowned. "But he has a bad-guy mask."
Alexei raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"He means your eyepatch," Nadina explained. "On television, only the villains wear them."
"Ah. Right." Alexei crouched down to M’boku’s level. "You don’t think it looks cool?"
"No. Not cool."
"I wear it to cover up my scar that I got when I was fighting a bad guy. You want to see it?"
Still unsure what to think, M’boku nodded.
Alexei lifted the patch off of his eye and gave a fake smile. M’boku’s eyes went wide. Nadina was surprised that Alexei would show it to him. She had never seen him without his patch. Mila would never have let him show his scar to anyone. Nadina blinked. It wasn’t pretty, but she had seen much worse before.
"A bad guy did that?" M’boku asked quietly.
"Yeah. I fight bad guys a lot. It’s dangerous work. I guess you could say I’m sort of like a superhero. In fact, Nadina and I have fought some bad guys together before."
M’boku looked up at Nadina. "Really?"
Nadina smiled. "Of course. Alexei is really strong, like I am. We’ve teamed up a few times."
M’boku’s eyes lit up, and Alexei’s smile turned genuine. "Maybe . . . if we were friends . . ." he said as he put his eyepatch back on, ". . . maybe I could teach you a few moves . . ." He glanced at M’boku for a moment, then added, "If I teach you how to fight, maybe you could join our team, and we could fight bad guys together . . . if that’s okay with Nadina?"
Nadina thought about that. If Alexei were careful, and just taught him a few basic moves, it might be a good idea for him to learn how to defend himself. As long as no weapons were involved, Alexei’s hand-to-hand style was simple enough that M’boku should have little difficulty learning it. But would Alexei be careful? Would it be safe enough? More importantly, could he be trusted that much? She narrowed her eyes at him. "You understand that if M’boku is harmed by you in any way, whether it is intentional or not . . ."
"Yes, I understand. You don’t have to worry– I’m not stupid enough to let him get hurt on my watch."
She felt a tiny pair of arms wrap around her thigh. M’boku hugged her tightly and stared up at her with pleading eyes. "Please, can we do it? Pleeease?"
Nadina pretended confusion. "But I thought you said you weren’t friends?"
"We are friends! I want to!"
Alexei grinned triumphantly. Nadina sighed. "Well, since he’s your friend, I suppose it would be alright."
M’boku squealed with delight and dragged Alexei into his bedroom to show him all of his toys. Nadina watched them with mixed feelings.
If this worked out, Alexei would be spending most of every day alone with M’boku while Nadina went out. She would come home in the evenings and spend an hour or so with him before putting him to bed, then she would leave again in the morning before he woke up. She would provide Alexei with instructions for M’boku’s meals, as well as daily lesson plans and curriculum so that there would be no lapse in his education. In exchange, Nadina had agreed to put a generous sum into an account every month. Nadina had managed to set the account up with a very good interest rate, with the stipulation that Alexei would not have access to the money until M’boku left for boarding school– which would be in about one year and four months. At that time, Alexei was free to do whatever he chose with his earnings. Until then, Nadina would pay for meals, clothing, and whatever else Alexei might need for the duration of their arrangement.
He also had a few rules to abide by while he was there. No drinking, no going out at night, and absolutely no gambling of any kind. Alexei had been insulted by that last rule. "I do not have a gambling problem!" he had insisted. "Good," she had replied, "Then it shouldn’t be a problem for you to abstain while you’re with us." He hadn’t had a response for that, and she had moved on to the other details of the arrangement.
Nadina sighed as she watched the two of them playing together. She wished she didn’t have to do this, but she knew that every minute that she spent with him was a risk. How much damage had she already done? She worried about it constantly. How close was he to a premature awakening, just from the time they’d spent together over the past year? Was it already too late? There was no way of knowing at this point, but she hoped that being apart from him every day like this would reduce the risk. It was all she could think to do. She knew M’boku would be upset when he found out that she would be gone most of the time now, but she knew that he would get used to it. It was for his own good.
They had decided to tell M’boku that Nadina was "at work" during the day. Perhaps she really would get a job somewhere in town, just to give her something to do while she was out. She had degrees in business and finance, among other things, so maybe she would do something along those lines.
She also intended to use the extra time to research various boarding schools. She wanted to ensure that he got the best possible education, in the most secure and comfortable environment. He would need his own room, and it would have to be somewhere that would allow students to stay year-round– she didn’t want him forced to live with her during long vacations. The whole point of sending him to a boarding school was to distance herself from him, for his own safety. She would also want to be able to live near the school, so that she could watch over him from a safe distance and be close enough to protect him, should he ever be in any danger while he’s at school. And it would have to be an institution that provided a minimum of twelve years of education, from age five to at least age 16– that had been the age at which he had awakened the last time. It would be difficult just finding a school that would satisfy all of her criteria, and then she was sure it would take some time to get him admission into such a school. The entire process would certainly help to occupy the hours that she would be spending away from home.
She only hoped that she had the willpower to stay away from him every day.
"No!" M’boku stomped his foot and slammed a tiny fist into Alexei’s right hip. "You can’t go in! Only ’Dina can be on that bed!" Nadina peered at Alexei’s face, watching carefully for his reaction.
"What?" Alexei turned to face him. "Why not? I thought we were friends."
"NO. WE’RE. NOT. FRIENDS!!" M’boku shouted back. "Only ’Dina!"
Nadina bit her lip. It was true that the two of them had never been friends. Alexei had clearly never approved of Mila’s inexplicable infatuation with M’boku, and M’boku had never shown him any kindness– in fact, Nadina couldn’t deny that he had actually been quite cruel to Alexei on several occasions– but she hoped that Alexei could look past all of that, and just think of how greatly this new arrangement would benefit him. M’boku was dormant now, after all. He couldn’t remember any of their interactions from the past. He was just behaving like a normal four-year-old boy. To him, Alexei was someone they had just met, and he wasn’t comfortable enough with him to share a room just yet. Whether or not that changed would depend on Alexei’s actions.
"We’re not friends, huh? Well, I guess not." Alexei glanced around M’boku’s bedroom for a moment. "That’s too bad, though. Because I know everything there is to know about cars and trucks . . . and dinosaurs. I am an expert on dinosaurs."
M’boku calmed down a bit and narrowed his eyes at Alexei, as if he were trying to determine whether or not he was telling the truth.
"That’s right," Nadina verified with a smile, "Alexei is very smart. He knows about a lot of things."
M’boku frowned. "But he has a bad-guy mask."
Alexei raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"He means your eyepatch," Nadina explained. "On television, only the villains wear them."
"Ah. Right." Alexei crouched down to M’boku’s level. "You don’t think it looks cool?"
"No. Not cool."
"I wear it to cover up my scar that I got when I was fighting a bad guy. You want to see it?"
Still unsure what to think, M’boku nodded.
Alexei lifted the patch off of his eye and gave a fake smile. M’boku’s eyes went wide. Nadina was surprised that Alexei would show it to him. She had never seen him without his patch. Mila would never have let him show his scar to anyone. Nadina blinked. It wasn’t pretty, but she had seen much worse before.
"A bad guy did that?" M’boku asked quietly.
"Yeah. I fight bad guys a lot. It’s dangerous work. I guess you could say I’m sort of like a superhero. In fact, Nadina and I have fought some bad guys together before."
M’boku looked up at Nadina. "Really?"
Nadina smiled. "Of course. Alexei is really strong, like I am. We’ve teamed up a few times."
M’boku’s eyes lit up, and Alexei’s smile turned genuine. "Maybe . . . if we were friends . . ." he said as he put his eyepatch back on, ". . . maybe I could teach you a few moves . . ." He glanced at M’boku for a moment, then added, "If I teach you how to fight, maybe you could join our team, and we could fight bad guys together . . . if that’s okay with Nadina?"
Nadina thought about that. If Alexei were careful, and just taught him a few basic moves, it might be a good idea for him to learn how to defend himself. As long as no weapons were involved, Alexei’s hand-to-hand style was simple enough that M’boku should have little difficulty learning it. But would Alexei be careful? Would it be safe enough? More importantly, could he be trusted that much? She narrowed her eyes at him. "You understand that if M’boku is harmed by you in any way, whether it is intentional or not . . ."
"Yes, I understand. You don’t have to worry– I’m not stupid enough to let him get hurt on my watch."
She felt a tiny pair of arms wrap around her thigh. M’boku hugged her tightly and stared up at her with pleading eyes. "Please, can we do it? Pleeease?"
Nadina pretended confusion. "But I thought you said you weren’t friends?"
"We are friends! I want to!"
Alexei grinned triumphantly. Nadina sighed. "Well, since he’s your friend, I suppose it would be alright."
M’boku squealed with delight and dragged Alexei into his bedroom to show him all of his toys. Nadina watched them with mixed feelings.
If this worked out, Alexei would be spending most of every day alone with M’boku while Nadina went out. She would come home in the evenings and spend an hour or so with him before putting him to bed, then she would leave again in the morning before he woke up. She would provide Alexei with instructions for M’boku’s meals, as well as daily lesson plans and curriculum so that there would be no lapse in his education. In exchange, Nadina had agreed to put a generous sum into an account every month. Nadina had managed to set the account up with a very good interest rate, with the stipulation that Alexei would not have access to the money until M’boku left for boarding school– which would be in about one year and four months. At that time, Alexei was free to do whatever he chose with his earnings. Until then, Nadina would pay for meals, clothing, and whatever else Alexei might need for the duration of their arrangement.
He also had a few rules to abide by while he was there. No drinking, no going out at night, and absolutely no gambling of any kind. Alexei had been insulted by that last rule. "I do not have a gambling problem!" he had insisted. "Good," she had replied, "Then it shouldn’t be a problem for you to abstain while you’re with us." He hadn’t had a response for that, and she had moved on to the other details of the arrangement.
Nadina sighed as she watched the two of them playing together. She wished she didn’t have to do this, but she knew that every minute that she spent with him was a risk. How much damage had she already done? She worried about it constantly. How close was he to a premature awakening, just from the time they’d spent together over the past year? Was it already too late? There was no way of knowing at this point, but she hoped that being apart from him every day like this would reduce the risk. It was all she could think to do. She knew M’boku would be upset when he found out that she would be gone most of the time now, but she knew that he would get used to it. It was for his own good.
They had decided to tell M’boku that Nadina was "at work" during the day. Perhaps she really would get a job somewhere in town, just to give her something to do while she was out. She had degrees in business and finance, among other things, so maybe she would do something along those lines.
She also intended to use the extra time to research various boarding schools. She wanted to ensure that he got the best possible education, in the most secure and comfortable environment. He would need his own room, and it would have to be somewhere that would allow students to stay year-round– she didn’t want him forced to live with her during long vacations. The whole point of sending him to a boarding school was to distance herself from him, for his own safety. She would also want to be able to live near the school, so that she could watch over him from a safe distance and be close enough to protect him, should he ever be in any danger while he’s at school. And it would have to be an institution that provided a minimum of twelve years of education, from age five to at least age 16– that had been the age at which he had awakened the last time. It would be difficult just finding a school that would satisfy all of her criteria, and then she was sure it would take some time to get him admission into such a school. The entire process would certainly help to occupy the hours that she would be spending away from home.
She only hoped that she had the willpower to stay away from him every day.
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