Mother and Child Reunion
Nate arrived at the AeB directorate, near the City Hall, with ten minutes to spare, which in German parlance, was just barely on time. He was armed with the bank draft for 20,000 euros. Thomas Brandt was already there, waiting. Martha Evans was at Nate's apartment, no doubt pacing the floors impatiently. They had worked out at the gym earlier, as Nate promised. Nate returned with her to the apartment. He showered while she administered her own enema. As Martha then showered, Nate warned Briana that his cleaning lady would come in this morning, and to let the surly German woman go about her business. Then he kissed Martha a proper goodbye, as she was drying off, and he left the apartment, drove to a nearby car park, walked to the bank, withdrew the bank draft, and then walked back to the AeB directorate.
Brandt and Nate sat together in the small waiting room, chatting idly. "Thank you for the payment for Miss Kozak's disposition," Brandt remembered to say. He had invoiced Nate in the previous week, and Nate had transferred the money electronically. No one wrote cheques in Europe any more – all banking was done electronically. It is a poorly held secret that the Americans are 20 years behind the Europeans in banking technology, trade, and security. They briefly discussed Pavlina's situation and whereabouts, but neither of them had any further information. She was gone,
Brandt explained he filed his documents with the AeB directorate at 0800 this morning. At 10:30 sharp, a severe looking woman with black hair and thick rimmed glasses called them into an office. She gestured them to sit down, and she left through a back door without a word, closing both doors on her way out. Less than a minute later, a tall, slim, dark haired man, no older than 25, entered through the back door, and introduced himself as Hans Tischendorf. Nate and Brandt introduced themselves. The entire conversation proceeded in German.
Tischendorf was wearing a three piece charcoal grey suit. He explained to both Nate and Brandt that, if Fraulein Evans were not to meet her obligations under the AeB program, the 20,000 bond will be forfeited and additional charges may apply. To claim repayment of the bond, Tischendorf explained, Nate had to return Fraulein Evans to the AeB directorate on or before the expiry date of her AeB certificate for further processing. The directorate will then return the bond to Nate, less 1%, within five business days.
Nate asked a clarifying question – so the return of the bond is independent of whether Briana is subsequently released, and allowed to go home, or remanded to the criminal division, as long as she is returned to the AeB directorate in time and without violating her bond conditions. Tischendorf nodded yes, that was correct.
Tischendorf next cautioned both men that, as he was an officer of the court, any and every document signed in this meeting before him shall carry the full weight and penalty of perjury. Nate and Brandt nodded their understanding. Finally Tischendorf looked at Brandt, and complimented him for filing such a thorough application. Clearly Fraulein Evans has competent representation, Tischendorf allowed. Brandt nodded modestly, and Nate made a mental note to thank Henry Taggart for the referral.
Tischendorf reviewed the terms of the bond. Fraulein Evans was to remain within 100 meters of the domicile that was registered to Nathaniel Edward Traymore. Any movement outside a 100 meter radius from Nate's apartment would be automatically detected by the ankle monitoring bracelet, and will result in a violation of the bond. Tischendorf recommends no more than 50 meters to be safe. The bracelet has tamperproof circuitry on it, and any attempt to remove, alter, or disable the bracelet will be detected and will result in a violation of the bond. Failure to return Fraulein Evans to the AeB directorate on or before the expiry of her AeB term will result in a violation of the bond. Any violation of the bond will result in the forfeiture of Nate's 20,000 euros.
With the preliminaries aside, Tischendorf opened his file folder, and handed a stack of papers to Brandt, who read each one over carefully before passing it to Nate for his signatures. A blue colored sticky arrow pointed out each location where Nate had to sign, and green ones were for Brandt's signatures. Over the next hour, the two signed over fifty times collectively. Tischendorf handed Nate's copies of the signed documents to Brandt, who filed them in his briefcase. At the end of the tedious hour of signatures, Tischendorf stood up, shook both their hands, and asked them to wait here, and retreated through the back door.
Five minutes later, Briana was escorted in handcuffs through the same door. Two armed guards flanked her, with a third following several steps behind. Briana was wearing the original jeans and T shirt she wore when she was arrested in Nate's apartment. No doubt, she was given prison garbs during her incarceration, and was just now allowed to don her regular clothing. Upon seeing Nate, Briana started crying, but she was not permitted to touch him.
A guard handed one final document to Nate on a clipboard – it was his acknowledgement he was accepting custody of Briana Carly Evans, subject to the terms and conditions of blah blah blah. Nate signed it, and the guard also signed it, and then tore an under copy off with pressure copies of the two signatures, and the guard handed the copy to Nate, who handed it to Brandt for filing. With that final administrative paperwork complete, the lead guard nodded to the second guard, who uncuffed Briana. She ran to Nate and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I never thought I would be so happy to see you," she smiled, and sniffled back her tears.
"Let's go home," Nate patted her on the back, and ushered her out the front door of the interview room. Brandt followed them to Nate's car, so he could later attest he watched Nate put her into the car. Nate unlocked the doors with his keys, and opened the left rear door. He gestured for Briana to get in. She looked mildly at odds about getting in the back seat, but Nate insisted, so she hopped in without complaining, and Nate closed the door.
"Did you remember to activate the child door locks," Brandt asked Nate. He nodded, and shook Brandt's hand, and thanked him for his services. "Remember you must drive directly to your apartment – no detours," Brandt cautioned him. "They will be monitoring her bracelet already." Nate assured Brandt he understood. "Good luck," Brandt offered without a smile.
Nate drove home using the most direct route, which was not the fastest, but if a monitoring agency was watching on a GPS map, they would appreciate Nate's navigation.
He parked the car in the underground parking lot, backed the Audi into its usual spot, got out, and opened Briana's rear door. If she noticed it was locked from the inside, she made no mention of it. Nate touched her in the middle of the back, and ushered her toward the door to hallways with the elevator. The car chirped once, indicating the doors were locked.
Briana stepped into Nate's apartment at 12:07. Martha heard the door unlock, and stopped pacing in the living room, and watched Briana step through the door. "Oh my God Briana!" Martha called out as she rushed to Briana with outstretched arms. She wrapped her arms around Briana and smothered her with a mamma bear hug. "Oh God I was so worried about you," Martha cried with the waterworks wide open.
"Hi Mom," was all Briana offered in a sullen voice without returning the hug.
Martha pulled back and held Briana's face in her hands. "You've lost weight," she fretted, and Briana rolled her eyes. Martha realized she was smothering Briana, so pulled away, and suddenly became awkwardly conscious of Nate in the room, and all that entailed for both women.
Sensing his moment, Nate said "I have to go to work, and do some shopping." He looked at Briana. "You understand you are forbidden from leaving this apartment. You have an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet, and if you violate your ..."
"Yeah, yeah," Briana waived dismissively.
"Don't you 'yeah yeah' me!" Nate barked at her, and he put his right hand around Briana's throat and pushed her backwards until her back hit the wall and he pinned her neck there.
"Nate!" Martha cried, but he ignored her.
"You are in seriously deep shit," Nate lectured her with his hand firmly around her neck, but he did not squeeze it tight, letting Briana still breathe comfortably. Briana instinctively grappled both hands around Nate's wrist, and tried to pull his arm away, but it was like trying to move a stone statue – for all her strength, she couldn't budge his arm even the slightest. Briana instantly understood how hopelessly outmatched she was to his incalculable strength. She started to appreciate how Nate so easily overpowered those three Romanians, and Briana started to tremble.
"You are here only because other people have gone through extraordinary measures, and have made unspeakable sacrifices," he lectured sternly. "You are a guest here only for as long as I say you are, and if you do not smarten up RIGHT FUCKING NOW you are going back to jail and you will stay there until your youthful looks rot to shit!"
Martha froze in shock, but she was starting to get a glimpse of what Nate meant about breaking the rules. "You will afford your mother and me with the courtesy and respect we deserve for rescuing you," Nate ordered. Now Nate pressed his hand into her throat, blocking off her breathing. "IS THAT CLEAR?!" he barked into her face.
Unable to speak, Briana nodded her head yes in acknowledgement. Nate released her throat, and Briana instinctively brought her hands to her own throat. She started breathing again.
"Jesus, Nate, you don't have to ..." Briana started.
"STAND FOR INSPECTION!" Nate bellowed at her, only two feet from her face. Martha wasn't sure if his order included her, but better safe than risk his wrath right now, so Martha spread her feet wide and snapped her hands behind her head.
