Life had returned to normal for Sabriya after coming back to the Embassy from Miwu Cun. David rose before dawn each day for his cable exchange with London, while Sabriya rose several hours later and joined Hannah for breakfast to coordinate their schedules. An Ambassador’s wife’s days were occupied supervising the household staff, reviewing world news via their BBC shortwave radio, playing hostess for guests and the spouses of visiting dignitaries, visiting charities, and, when time allowed, she and Hannah would don their gis and spar in the garden.
Although she now knew David had always known Jia Kun was her daughter, she was surprised he had not called her out for lying to him, claiming Jia Kun was her niece. A sincere and honest talk with David was necessary; she feared he was being inconsiderately kind by patronizing her. Still, she waited for the right time, but the time was never right. And when the right time came, she wished it had never come.
10:30 AM
Sabriya was busy hosting representatives of Pellagore’s textile cooperative, who were in the early stages of petitioning the British government for a favorable trade position to export the output of their silk mills to the UK. The group of seven sat around a table on the garden veranda, nibbling on finger food and sipping tea, when Hannah appeared in the doorway. She walked quickly to Sabriya’s side and whispered into her ear, cupping her hand over Sabriya’s ear. Sabriya froze as she imagined what she was being told.
“Excuse me, please,” Sabriya said to her guests, suddenly standing and forcing a smile with the presumption of a gracious hostess who suddenly found herself out of her element, although she was entirely within her domain.
Hannah led Sabriya to Jack, who stood just inside the French doors to the dining room, then into an alcove where the guests could not see or hear them. But once out of sight, Jack could not find his tongue.
Hannah’s whisper was more like a wild boar’s grunt: “Jack!”
Jack’s voice cracked, but out it came. “The radio room received a relayed message from Miwu Cun’s Big Man. Jia Kun was walking to school with two friends this morning…”
The morning sun streaked through the canopy of banyan and kapok trees, their massive trunks and exposed roots directing the muddy but compact path’s course through the jungle after overnight showers. On the ground, flowering hibiscus mediated the irritating rattan palms that snagged Jia Kun's light-blue tunic as she walked to school with her friends. The morning was gay, and Jia Kun smiled as she glanced down at her St. Michael-Foundation medallion swinging from her neck to the rhythm of the red-whiskered bulbul’s brightening chew-chew-chew-whee and a myna’s whistles, clicks, and squawks. Their funny calls always made Jia Kun smile. Today, however, her smile was wider because her mother had finally agreed to let her wear Auntie’s medallion. Jia Kun had promised to tuck it inside her clothing before she got to school. At least she got to show it to her walk-along friends.
But suddenly, the cheerful morning was aborted when two menacing roots, that had not been there the day before, obstructed the path. Two thugs, stout and muscular, wearing black balaclava masks, black rip-stop nylon trousers, and T-shirts that stretched tight over their arms and legs, suddenly appeared on the path—one behind and one in front of the children—and brutally descended on them. Without a word, the thugs swept up the kids with their massive arms and carried them into the dense underbrush. Jia Kun was grabbed by one of the men, and her two friends, a boy and a girl, were carried away by the second. Jia Kun screamed for help, as did her girlfriend. But Liang, the boy whose name meant bright and promising, used his fists to hit the man in his face and chest, and started kicking with his feet. Dozens of song birds clamored in the treetops, warning of danger, and low-lying saplings scraped against the children’s bodies as the thugs recklessly carried them, kicking and screaming, into a dark, foreboding underworld.
Clearing the jungle, the men came to a dirt road where a cargo van was parked. As the man who carried Jia Kun struggled to open the truck’s side door, Liang kicked his captor hard enough and in the right place that the man lost his grip. Liang dropped to the ground and quickly ran into the jungle, while Dao, the other girl, struggled in vain to get free. Liang stopped in the thicket behind a banyan tree and watched. Now, it was two strong men against two small girls. The girls had no chance. The men threw the girls, along with their backpacks, into the van, jumped in after them, and slammed the door shut. Liang heard the girls scream behind the van door for a moment before Dao, and then Jia Kun fell silent. Shaking with fear, Liang watched in vain as the van drove away. Catching his breath and wiping tears from his eyes, he limped back to the village and, through gasps of fear, told the village chief what had happened.
In shock, Sabriya exclaimed, “Jack, that was, what, three, four hours ago?”
Jack nodded, and Hannah steeled herself and stared at Sabriya for a reaction.
“Where’s David?” said Sabriya.
“Office, likely. I’ll brief him and Landon.” Jack walked off quickly.
“I’ll handle your guests,” said Hannah. “Follow Jack.”
Sabriya was left stunned, afraid to move. All she could do was hope. In the meantime, she remembered.
~
Flashback - May-December 2013
St. Mary Elias Carmelite Monastery
Sabriya traveled on foot for over two weeks to the very northern region of Pellagore, when a village matron suggested she visit the monastery atop a nearby mountain, where the sisters might take in a single woman like her.
When she first arrived at St. Mary Elias Monastery, Mother Superior and an older nun interrogated her at length about why she had come. The older nun said it wasn’t unusual for the Carmelites to take in “stray” women, but they wanted to know more about her, and so she reluctantly told them about her background, or at least some of it, for she was indeed a “stray,” for that is how Sabriya saw herself. What was remarkable, she was told, was her reluctance to seek the religious life for herself. She was simply looking for sanctuary to heal, and, at some point, to find direction and purpose. The nuns finally allowed her to stay on the condition that she join their community as a lay laborer and follow a strict schedule of silence, prayer, labor, poverty, chastity, and obedience to the Prior. Sabriya remembered how desperate she was for a home after her ordeal, and she readily agreed.
Living with the Carmelites as a lay sister for the first year also forced her to cut off all communication with the outside world, including with her sister, Busaba, something she did not like. It was hard at first, but later she was allowed to send and receive letters with those outside. But by then, the younger Busaba had become bitter toward Sabriya, and the letters became fewer and fewer. Sabriya was at a loss for how to change her situation.
The Monastery did become a sanctuary for her with impregnable walls no less. But she came to embrace the bevy of kind but strict women, who became loving sisters.
The process of finding her new home felt like Providence. She had asked Kasden’s amulet for help. Still, everything she knew about the deity and her captors, who claimed to rely on the charm, was associated with trickery and manipulation that often harmed others. But in her first sojourn to Miwu Cun with Jia Kun, and her sojourn to St. Mary Elias, there had been no hint or need of such disagreeable things. Yes, there were occasional rebuffs, but on the whole, the people she met were kind and generous. Was she helped by Kasden’s amulet, or something more powerful? She didn’t know, but shortly after arriving at St. Mary Elias, intuition led her to remove the charm from around her neck and hide it among her few possessions, hoping it would stay hidden.
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