The Army Comes Calling (20 page)

     “Trust me. She makes sure we do whatever we can to treat the animals as humanely as possible.”

     Karen finally gave in and accepted the colonel at his word.

     On the way back to the compound, she thanked him for his patience.

     “No thanks are needed, ma’am. I’m an animal lover myself.”

     He could have stopped there but pushed his luck. Perhaps it was the daredevil in him.

     “…I especially love animals when they’re part of a hamburger or laid out on a plate of scrambled eggs…”

     Frank winced and expected the worst.

     But Karen got the joke and laughed.

     It could have ended much worse.

Chapter 33

     “But Glenna, that’s not true. Don’t you dare say such a thing.”

     “It is true. I’m damaged goods now, and I’m all used up. I’m beyond the point where any man would want me.”

     Hannah wasn’t buying it.

     “Why do you feel that way? You’re a beautiful woman. I know you’ve been through a lot. But you’re still young, and I know you can make a man very happy again. Don’t stop living just because of what Castillo and those other animals did to you. If you let them rob you of your dignity and self respect, then you’ve let them win. And they don’t deserve to take any more from you than they already have.”

     “Hannah, you just don’t understand.”

     “Then explain it to me. Because you’re right. I don’t understand.”

     Glenna drew a deep breath, then chose her words carefully.

     “Most of the time they had Steve handcuffed to a chair. In the early days he’d struggle to get free every time they would rape me. He had fire in his eyes and wanted to get loose so he could grab them and drag them off of me. They’d beat him bloody, until he’d lose consciousness. Then they’d have their way with me.

     “After awhile they tried a different tactic. Instead of beating Steve when he resisted, they beat me instead. That only happened a time or two until Steve stopped resisting. He didn’t mind being beaten into unconsciousness, but he couldn’t stand to see me beaten. So instead of resisting, he sat there, forced to watch.

     “Castillo, for some reason, seemed to take great delight in making Steve watch. Sometimes he’d invite a dozen or more of his friends over, and they’d take turns with me, forcing me to do all kinds of despicable things to them, and raping me one after the other for hours, until all of them dropped or quit from sheer exhaustion. Every time they caught Steve looking away, they’d threaten to bloody my nose, or break my jaw. I don’t know why they liked for him to watch, unless it gave them a sense of power over him. Maybe they wanted to show him at every turn that they controlled not only his destiny, but his whole family’s as well.

     “For a long time, Steve and I both cried through the whole ordeal. But then one day there were just no more tears to be let. We just endured it, he in his chair and me on the bed, three or four nights a week. I think we just learned to escape to a different place.

     “The worst part, of course, was when Castillo brought the children into the room. God only knows how those nights will affect them the rest of their lives. I’ve noticed that they are both afraid of the men in your compound, no matter how good and kind your men are. I hope they don’t have a lifelong fear of men.”

     “I know that you’ve been through hell, Glenna. And I know it will take the wounds a long time to heal. But I guess I’m having trouble understanding why you say you’re damaged goods. There are good men out there who will treat you right, and can help you heal. Why do you think that they wouldn’t want you?”

     “Oh, Hannah. There’s more to the story. There was one night that Castillo and his bunch decided to turn the tables on us. It was a couple of nights before Christmas the year before last, and Castillo said he was in a generous mood.

     “He said that out of the kindness of his heart he was going to let Steve ‘have a turn at the trough,’ as he put it. They sent a man into the other room, and told him if they heard scuffling and shouting, to shoot both of the children. Then he unlocked Steve and they stood back and ordered him to fulfill his husbandly duties. They had been raping me for three straight hours, and then they said it was Steve’s turn.

     “I think they just wanted to ridicule Steve and make fun of him, to break him even more than they had already.

     “And they were overjoyed when they saw that Steve couldn’t perform. Even when they threatened to beat me if he didn’t, he still… well, he just couldn’t. Then they seemed to take great delight. They said it was a good thing they were there to do his job for him, because he obviously wasn’t man enough to please me. No man at all, they called him.

     “But they didn’t see him up close, like I did. They didn’t see the look on his face, the look in his eyes, like I did. They thought they just broke him down. But I know the truth.

     “I saw the disgust in Steve’s eyes. He didn’t have trouble performing because he was stressed. He couldn’t perform because he considered me a filthy piece of garbage, just like the rest of them did.”

     Glenna started to cry.

     “It’s funny. For so long I couldn’t cry. The tears simply wouldn’t come. Now days, that’s all I do. I guess in a way, they broke me too.”

     Hannah held her close.

     “I’m no psychologist, Glenna. But I suspect you lost your tears because you went into a place where you refused yourself the privilege of showing emotion. It may have been your way of not allowing those animals to see they were getting to you. Or maybe it was a survival technique.

     “But I think your tears are back because you’re finally coming out of that cold dark place. You’re letting yourself be human again. You’re slowly becoming the woman you used to be, before they damaged you.

     “As for the look in Steve’s eyes…  I obviously never met him, and cannot speak to what he felt. But I doubt if he was disgusted with you. I think it’s more likely he was worried about what might happen to the children if he showed Castillo and his animals pleasure. Maybe he was afraid that if he showed you pleasure that the other men didn’t, that they might take it out on the children or on you. Perhaps he wasn’t so much disgusted, as he was afraid of what might have happened if he had performed and angered Castillo.

     “Or perhaps he
was
disgusted… with the situation. But certainly not with you.

     “Here’s the thing. We all have pasts. Every one of us. Normally when we meet someone we’re interested in, we keep our pasts to ourselves. Our new man doesn’t know if there was one man before him or a thousand. We don’t share those details with him because they’re not important. Our new man isn’t attracted to us because of our past, he’s interested in the here and now. Who we are, not who we were.

     “No one here… and I mean
no one
, will ever share any details about what happened to you in Eden. Right now it’s a fresh wound. But as time goes by, it’ll become farther and farther in your past, and easier and easier for you to put behind you.

     “I don’t profess to know what you’ve been through. I don’t profess to know what pain you’re going through. But I do know this. You’re still alive. You’ve survived your ordeal. And you’re a beautiful and vibrant woman. You’re the type of woman who will attract a lot of men. And none of them will know of your ordeal, unless you see a need in sharing that information with them yourself.

     “And you may feel that you should. But why? I mean, when Mark and I fell in love, I felt no need to tell him about my past lovers. He didn’t ask, either. I assumed there were other women before me, and he assumed there were other men before him. Who they were and how many didn’t matter to either of us.

     “I’ll bet you a nickel that you and Steve felt the same way when you met. Your past was unimportant because it was irrelevant. It had absolutely nothing to do with you and Steve falling for each other to begin with.

     “I know it’s hard for you to imagine now, but it’ll be that way again. I’m not trying to get you to start seeing other men. That’s obviously your decision to make. All I’m asking is that you don’t give up on love. There are several good single men here in the mine. I’ll bet some of them have been eyeing you already. You’re a beautiful woman, after all, and I’m sure they’ve noticed. I just hope you’re not so down on yourself that you don’t give them a chance. That would be an awful shame, for both of you.”

     “But even if they have an interest in me, the word will get around about what happened in Eden. And then they’ll certainly lose interest. How could they not?”

     “Oh, Glenna, that’s not true. No one who was involved in the Eden operation has shared any specific details about what happened to you. Mark didn’t tell me. Neither did Sarah or John or Marty. The only reason I know is because you shared it with me. And there’s no reason for the other men here to know unless you share it with them yourself.”

     “You said Marty. The name doesn’t sound familiar. Is there a man named Marty here I haven’t met yet?”

     “Oh, no. Marty is… Marty is a good friend who doesn’t live in the compound with us. He lives at a truck stop outside of Junction, to the northwest of us. Marty was the one who heard you were being held captive. He was the one who insisted on getting a group of men to go rescue you. In a sense, he’s your knight in shining armor. You didn’t meet him in Eden?”

     “I don’t know. He may have been one of the men who were in or around the truck when I killed Castillo. To be honest, that whole day was a blur. I was half out of my mind when I stepped onto that truck, and probably even more so after it was over. I remember John, and Sarah, but only because they were so kind to me. Sarah held onto me for two hours and just wouldn’t let me go.

     “But I’m afraid that everyone else I met that day is just too vague to remember.”

     “I’ll introduce you to Marty the next time he comes to visit. You’ll like him. He’s an angel. And he looks like Tom Selleck.”

     “Who?”

     “Oh, never mind. He’s an old TV star. Quite handsome. Anyway, Marty looks like him, and he’s got a heart of gold.”

     “Well, if he’s behind my rescue, then the least I can do is thank him. I’d like to meet him to do that.”

     “No problem. He’s supposed to come this weekend so Mark can show him our fishing hole. I’ll be sure to introduce the two of you.”
e was

Chapter 34

     “How come you get to go? Maybe I want to.”

     “Oh, shut up, Sami. You’re pregnant now. You’ve got no business going up in a helicopter. What happens if you go into labor?”

     “Oh, you shut up yourself. I’m only eight weeks along. I can’t go into labor. And even if I did, what’s the worst that could happen? The helicopter would have to land, on an Army base, where there would be thousands of handsome soldiers tending to my every need.

     “Hmmm… maybe I should fake it, just so I can check out all the guys and let them cater to me?”

     “Oh, Sami, you’re such a slut. You’re supposed to be getting married to Brad.”

     “Ain’t happened yet.”

     “And you love Brad. Why do you need to go visit thousands of handsome soldiers and get pampered?”

     “I can’t believe you actually asked me such a dumb question.”

     “You’re right. It was a dumb question. Maybe I should just go with you so they can pamper both of us.”

     “But you’re not pregnant.”

     “They wouldn’t know that.”

     “And you call me a slut?”

     “Only in the most loving terms.”

     “Oh, maybe you’re right. There’s no way any of those Army guys could make my heart flutter the way Brad does.”

     “Exactly. So stay here with Brad. Your dad and I will go on the second tour next week, and I promise you that I’ll try to talk Colonel Montgomery into giving us a third tour. Karen said he likes to show off his facilities, so I’ll bet he’ll consent. Then maybe you and Brad can go on the next one.”

     “Ooh, that’ll be cool. That’ll be like a honeymoon for us, after we get married.”

     “Yeah, how romantic. You can take a moonlight stroll through the stockyards. Be careful where you step.”

     “Oh, you’re such a pain, you know that?”

     “Yep. It’s my job. To remind you of reality every once in a while. Otherwise you’d live the rest of your life in your fairytale castle and the rest of us would have to live in the real world without you.”