31.
It feels so good to be back home again. I’ve been away for three entire days, but it seems like three months. I’ve just stuffed my stomach with so much food it’s about to explode and told the story between times. Jabar and Diedie barely interrupted me.
‘But, girl, that’s all so terrible,’ Diedie says while she takes away my plate. ‘We’re so proud of you! So incredibly proud.’
‘It wasn’t so bad. It’s much worse for those otherkinds in those tubes.’
‘I can’t imagine he only wants to study them. There must be more to it than meets the eye,’ Jabar says thoughtful.
‘Just what I thought. When I began about brain transplantation I thought to have seen some reaction from his side.’
‘We need to save them!’ Diedie cries out. She opens the dishwasher and puts my plate in it.
‘Don’t rush things,’ Jabar says. ‘Of course we won’t leave them to fend for themselves.’
‘If Noël would have known he’d help me by telling about those adrenaline suppressers maybe I’d still be stuck in there,’ I say.
‘Everyone makes mistakes, that’s how it is.’ Diedie caresses my cheek and looks lovingly at me.
‘Won’t Noël move now I know where he lives?’ I ask.
‘Doesn’t seem likely to me,’ Jabar answers. ‘It’s not that simple to move an entire laboratory. It’s seems more plausible to me he will enforce the security or come after us.’
‘Then we need to be prepared!’ I already jump off my chair.
‘The best defense is the attack,’ Jabar says calmly. ‘Oded will arrive in a minute. We’re stronger with the four of us. If I got it right, Noël only has a devil and a vampire working for him?’
‘And that transformer, but I didn’t see him in the house. And then the Doc of course, although I don’t think we’ll have to fear much about him, except a pistol maybe.’
‘Don’t forget the dogs.’
‘Leave them to me,’ I say combatively. ‘You know, if I wouldn’t have wounded that devil I’d probably be married to Noël already.’
‘I wonder what’s behind that,’ Diedie says. ‘What does an old man like him want from such a young thing?’ She pulls a face of disgust.
‘To me it seems as if he saw it as a revenge. I took away his love from him, so he wanted to take a beloved someone away from me,’ Jabar says.
‘Than why didn’t he kill me. Simpler and faster.’
‘Because you would strengthen his ego and position of power more as his wife and slave than if you were dead.’
‘Luckily you didn’t warn the police,’ I say. ‘If they would have found those files…’
‘We were about to do so,’ Jabar says. ‘We thought you wouldn’t manage to escape anymore. And as if Noël felt we would contact the police, we got a letter in the mail, together with that terrible picture, in which stood you were still alive and we would soon know what was expected of us. We already suspected Noël was keeping you numb. And above that they taped up the number plate of that truck so Oded couldn’t pass it on. We looked up which companies are Noël’s and started to investigate them subtly. Oded read their minds, but they couldn’t tell us anything. We didn’t find a home address anywhere.’
‘But I still have the feeling there’s more to it than meets the eye. I mean those tubes. Noël talked as if he already knew how to steal the gifts of otherkinds. If we aren’t quick he’ll undergo the operation himself.’
‘I don’t think so. He knows we can storm into his house any moment,’ Jabar says. ‘He’s too vulnerable during and after an operation.’
‘Jabar, that last filing cabinet Manon opened, with those names on the further empty folders. Shouldn’t we just check them?’ Diedie suggests. She takes a seat at the table again.
‘Do you remember a name?’ Jabar asks me.
‘It were strange names on the average. Foreign and therefore hard to remember.’
I’m doing my best to see the files in front of me, but I can’t call a name to mind. Damn it, if only I paid more attention, but I have a bad memory after all.
‘I can’t remember. One looked Arabic, another one Russian, another Spanish or something like that. I really can’t remember, sorry.’
‘Oded can find it out,’ Jabar then says.
‘What can I… Good God Almighty! Manon!’
Before I even notice Oded has entered, he’s already hugging me.
‘Oded,’ I giggle. ‘You’ll squash me.’
‘Rather a squashed Manon than no Manon,’ he says with a cracked voice. He lets go off me and looks guiltily at me. ‘I’ve never hated myself so much before as in the last couple of days, cursed myself so badly. You were taken along right under my nose and I didn’t do anything.’
I lay my hand on his upper arm. ‘You couldn’t do anything, Oded, it was all going too fast.’
‘And still… damn, and still…’
Now it’s me who’s hugging him and caressing his back. I need to pay attention, because Squeaky is sitting on his shoulder and the little creature seems to have a rough time keeping its balance. ‘It’s alright, Oded, really. I don’t blame you at all.’
He keeps me at a distance and looks carefully at me. ‘What did those plucked sons of bitches do to you?’
‘Diedie and I will tell you, Oded. Maybe Manon wants to take a shower first?’
‘Oh, don’t you like my new tramp look then?’ I joke. ‘But I have indeed a great need for a good, long, hot shower and that without priers this time.’
‘Priers?’ Oded asks.
I get to stand on the tip of my toes, give him a kiss on the cheek and then walk to my room, yelling: ‘I’ve missed you all so much!’
A few minutes later I feel like a new person or the usual Manon again. All physical, but also mental dirt washed off of me. A freshly washed blouse, clean underwear and spotless jeans. I feel up to it again.
When I walk to the kitchen I hear Oded say: ‘What an incredible musty monster!’
‘Manon thinks the foreign names are important. I agree with that. The file folders were empty and not like those of the otherkinds full with information of those persons,’ Jabar says.
I enter the kitchen where they’re all still sitting together around the table and pull up a chair.
‘Can you look into my thoughts and single out the names?’ I ask. ‘I can’t remember one of them.’
‘I can do that,’ Oded says doubtfully. ‘But I don’t like it. It’s an incursion on your privacy and I can also see other data you’d rather keep to yourself.’
‘That doesn’t matter right now. We need to know what Noël is still planning to do and free those people as soon as possible.’
Oded nods, he gets that I’m quite determined.
‘Keep sitting relaxed and I’ll do the rest.’
I close my eyes, not that it matters, but to me it just seems to fit more. A feel the well-known tingling, as if ants are crawling over my brain. It certainly lasts a few minutes before Oded says: ‘Okay, it worked.’
I open my eyes again. ‘What did you see?’
‘A lot.’ Oded grins.
I poke him. ‘Come on, I mean, did you see the files, the names?’
‘Of course!’ He throws a proud look at us. ‘I’m good! I’m even the bomb!’
‘Enough blowing your own trumpet,’ Diedie smilingly says. ‘Give us the names.’
‘How many do you want of them?’
‘Lets go to the attic at once,’ Jabar suggests. ‘Then we can google those names.’
Soon after we’re all sitting around the computers.
‘Start with Nikita Dimitrief,’ Oded says.
‘Sounds Russian,’ I find.
Jabar types in the name. Immediately on the top of the page stands: ‘List of richest people in the world – Wikipedia.’
‘Well, well, look at that,’ Oded sniffs.
Nikita Dimitrief seems to be number twelve on the list of the forty richest people in the world. He didn’t do badly.
‘Hey,’ Oded says and points at number twenty. ‘That’s that Arab. Ghalid Nabilsi.’
‘Doesn’t really sound Arabic,’ I think.
‘It does, it is,’ Oded says. ‘And thus again a stinking rich one.’ Oded grins sheepishly at Jabar. ‘Not meant personally, ol’ friend.’
‘Do you recognize more names on the list?’ Jabar asks.
Oded goes through the list. ‘Yes, number thirty-nine, Johanna De La Torre. But further on nothing. I saw another name in your memory: Jack Jefferson.’
‘Hey, Jabar, you’re also on the list,’ I cry out and point eagerly.
Then I whistle. ‘Number seven. Well yeah, say, boaster.’
Jabar looks surprised at me.
‘Kidding,’ I say while shrugging.
‘So, Jack Jefferson,’ Jabar says and types in his name.
‘That drawer was full of file folders, for sure about fifty,’ I remember.
‘Yes, but you didn’t look at them and therefore I also couldn’t see them,’ Oded declares.
In the meantime Jabar has googled Jack and apparently he doesn’t belong to the top forty, but he didn’t do badly. A big Wall Street man who above that deals in diamonds.
‘I’m starting to get the impression that the other names also have a lot of zeroes on their bank accounts,’ Oded says.
‘All fabulously wealthy people,’ Diedie concludes. ‘What’s he planning to do with them?’
‘I think I know.’
They all look interrogative at me.
‘It seems logical to me he wants to sell the gifts or rather the brains to those rich people.’
‘I can’t imagine that, Manon,’ Jabar thinks. ‘Then there is no way out. A lot of people would know about our kinds and that can’t stay a secret for long.’
‘What else could it be?’ I say. ‘Only very rich people could afford that.’
‘I don’t think brain surgery is that well advanced already, Manon,’ Jabar keeps insisting.
‘Everything goes super-fast, you know,’ I object.
‘What if Manon would keep an eye on the house? Transformed into for example a bird or something?’ Oded suggests.
‘Than it would have to be a very big bird to correspond with my mass and that would attract too much attention.’
We all fall silent, thinking about the shape in which I could keep an eye on the house nondescriptly.
‘A Doberman!’ I cry out. ‘It won’t differ that much in mass and maybe they won’t notice that one dog got a little big bigger.’
‘I don’t know,’ Jabar puts forward. ‘It seems quite dangerous.’
‘I agree with Jabar,’ Diedie adds. ‘You’ve only just escaped from them. They’ll kill you the second time.’
‘Ah, come on! It’s what I do!’ I cry out much too loud. I lower my voice and say: ‘That’s what you’ve trained me for, Jabar. And you know just as well as I do we stand less chance with the four of us if we attack. Noël has optimized his defense and he suspects we will rush in. But it isn’t the case I will risk it on my own. Hopefully he doesn’t realize I saw that date, the twentieth of May. That’s tomorrow and maybe it’s extremely important.’
I can see him doubt, so I quickly add: ‘You guys stay around, close. You now know where the house is located, so. And maybe we can use in-ear microphones, so we stay connected with each other.’
‘Okay, suppose we anaesthetize a dog and you take its place. Won’t the other dog attack you?’
‘Nope, he’ll try. But I don’t think he will because I’ll be a female dog. I now how to handle a male dog, be sure about that.’
‘And then? Those dogs don’t enter the house,’ Diedie says. I see the worried look in her eyes. She’d rather keep me here.
‘I’m only keeping an eye on the house. Just check what they’re doing that day and especially at night at eight p.m.. Maybe they’ll give themselves away one way or another. I only can’t see the cellar, unfortunately.’ I deliberately keep to myself I hope the windows aren’t blacked out, otherwise I can’t see from the outside at all.
Jabar opens his mouth, but I’m ahead: ‘If there’s nothing to be seen after that day I’ll come back immediately.’
‘I don’t think you can still stop her, Jabar,’ Oded says softly.
‘I’ve left out one thing in my story.’ Contritely I bow and look at the ground.
‘What, honey?’ Diedie asks. She understandingly lays her hand on my knee.
‘Noël claimed to know who my biological parents are.’
Although I don’t look at them I can hear how they suck in their breath in surprise. When I look up nobody says a thing, but they all look sympathetic at me as if I’ve just told them I suffer from a deadly disease.
‘How can he know that?’ Diedie finally asks. ‘We don’t even know it.’
‘It doesn’t matter to me,’ I say. ‘You’re my own and real parents.’
Jabar looks doubtfully at me. ‘Eventually every child wants to know who their biological parents are.’
‘I don’t!’ I cry out fiercely and then softer: ‘I really don’t, Jabar. I love you both and you’ve raised me. That’s the only thing that matters.’
Diedie hugs me and puts a kiss on my crown. ‘You’re a sweet girl.’
‘And now we need to get things moving,’ I say firmly and get up. ‘Can we still get a hold of in-ear microphones today?’
Jabar can. He’s immediately sets to work and calls a few connections that can help him further. In the meantime I draw a sketch of the territory and the house, at least as well as I can remember it. Oded looks with Google Earth at the territory, searching for a hiding place where they can stay connected with me, but not too far away from Noël’s house. Diedie is making sandwiches and takes care of the drinks. The intention is they get through the day, but Diedie exaggerates as always and seems to stock up for an entire week.
Next to his Mini, Oded also has a delivery van with which he gets his drinking supplies for his pub. It’s perfect for making it as comfortable as possible for them on the mission. All possible worst case scenarios are run through and we look for the best solutions if they’ll present themselves unexpectedly. We’ve probably overlooked something, you can’t plan everything after all, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Diedie still dug up and destroyed the last cameras in the garden.
I feel stronger than ever. I think it’s just the fact that the others are coming with me. This time I don’t need to do it on my own and I’m really planning to give Selena and Ed hell.
Payback time! With interest!
At night we’re all mentally washed-out. Nevertheless, Diedie still knows how to work magic with a delicious meal. Not literally of course.
During the eating we’re stressed and especially minding our own thoughts. Mine are especially with Lucas. Actually it’s all my fault. If I hadn’t slept with him Selena would have never used him as live bait to hurt me. But I need to stop with those feelings of guilt, they don’t contribute anything and only hinder me. I repeat a few times to myself it wasn’t me who stabbed down Lucas and I wasn’t the one who put him in a tube.
After supper we all go to bed early. We need to get enough sleep, because who knows how long we’ll stay awake tomorrow. Before I turn on the television to fall asleep with, I first call Sharon.
Unlike usual she’s still at a loss about the vicious way Joseph has put her aside. I find it horrible I can’t inform her about it and try to comfort her as much as I can.
‘But,’ she says, ‘I’m going to a concert of Placebo tomorrow evening and it will take my mind off of Joseph.’
‘Placebo! How incredibly neat!’
‘It is, isn’t it! I’m really looking forward to it. They’ve got a new album. It’s just superb!’
‘I’ll look it up on the internet.’
‘You really should! I find the lead singer, Brian Molko, so handsome.’
‘And sexy!’ I add to that.
‘You know,’ she says in a mysterious tone. ‘I suspect he’s a vampire.’
‘Brian Molko?’
‘Yeah, I think so.’
I try to see him in front of me and need to agree with Sharon. The chance is big.
‘You could be right,’ I then also say.
‘Just be sure I’ll find out. I’m gonna try to get backstage.’
‘What if it doesn’t work?’
‘Then I can always bring him to me with my telekinetic gift.’
‘Sharon!’
She chuckles. ‘No, silly, of course I won’t do that.’
‘It doesn’t sound like you mean it.’
‘I must and will sleep with him, that’s for sure.’
‘Knowing you, you’ll even succeed. Just let me know whether he’s a vampire.’
‘Will do.’
‘I’m gonna go to bed. Lots of fun tomorrow.’
I’m convinced she’s grinning right now. ‘I’ll manage. Sleep tight.’
I put on the television and try to find a movie I’ve already seen before. To me it’s the perfect soporific, because I already get it soon sleeping won’t be easy.