A New Style of Education

by Karen Page

Part 65

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Part 65

Tuesday, 28th March 2006 (cont)

We rushed across and saw it was Tracy Dine. She was semi-conscious, murmuring, "Don't kill my sister."

"Let me take a look," said Anna, helping Dr Dine across to the settee. "I'm going to have to remove your trousers to get to the wound."

"No," responded Dr Dine, becoming a bit more awake. "Just find something to compress the wound with."

She swung her leg onto the settee, so it was parallel to the rest of her.

"Helen, see if there is a first aid kit," I ordered, taking off my coat and removing my polo shirt. I used the top to press onto the wound.

Helen wasn't the only one looking. Jill and Anna leapt to search the dingy office. It was to no avail. There wasn't anything useful, just some old papers and a half empty can of oil.

"What are we going to do?" queried Anna, all the fear from earlier dissipated. It was like a switch had flipped and she was like she was in school, a confident young woman.

"Pray that compression is enough," responded Helen in a very matter of fact way.

I looked across and saw Helen was fastening up her coat, her polo shirt in her hands. "Let me take over for a bit," she offered.

I nodded, and she knelt next to me. "On three. One … two … three."

Helen added her shirt and mine came away. I wiped my hands on the side of the settee to try and get some of the blood off them and then washed them with some of the drinking water. Only then did I attempt to put my jacket back on.

"Her pulse is rather rapid," said Anna, trying to help. "Do you think she'll be okay?"

"It's difficult to tell," I responded glad to no longer be just in my bra. "She needs to be in hospital. We are trying to stop the bleeding by applying compression to the wound. Give it chance to clot."

I felt frustrated. I'd watched two surgeries, and nothing I'd seen prepared me for now. The surgeries had been planned and followed set procedures. Even when things went wrong, the experts had all there training to fall back on. We were just four school kids, trying to look after someone shot in the leg. Instead of a nice clean operating theatre, we were in a small dingy office. At least none of us were panicking.

Jill went up to the door and banged loudly.

"What are you doing?" hissed Anna.

"I'm going to tell them that Tracy needs the hospital," responded Jill, banging again.

"Stop it," begged Anna, rushing across to stop Jill.

The door swung open just as Anna got there revealing not one of The Supplier's gang, but Mr Taylor.

"We need medical assistance," I called out when I saw him. "Dr Dine has been shot in the leg."

"Rachel, over here," Mr Taylor called loudly, taking off his backpack.

"You can let go of her leg now," Mr Taylor said to Helen, as his large hands took her place. "You've done well."

Rachel gave a stifled cry as she saw Tracy lying on the settee and was soon rummaging through Mr Taylors bag. This was the last we saw of Tracy as we were ushered out of the room.

There was a dirty sink in a dingy toilet that Helen and I were able to clean our hands of the blood. Our hands might have been blood free, but I couldn't shake the picture of Dr Dine injured the way she was.

When we got to the awaiting car, we were handed our phones. They'd been found switched off in a drawer at the garage. The driver was Julia.

Julia stood there, wanting to hug her child, but held back, knowing the rules. Anna took the initiative and pushed Jill towards Julia. The two were soon hugging and crying over each other. After a few seconds, Julia beckoned to Anna, and she joined in the family hug.

"About time," Mr Taylor murmured from behind. "Too many rules spoiling family time."

"What now, sir?" I enquired.

"Hotel, clean up and debriefing. Most of the school has been out on an extended trip, so they might have noticed you aren't there, but hopefully won't enquire too much. It will give you chance to sort yourselves out without too many questions."

"Thanks. But what about Dr Dine?"

"You all did an excellent job in saving her. Dr Ruiz didn't have to do much more than seal the wound a bit better. She is being taken to a friendly surgeon who will make sure she is okay and if so, will probably fly out tonight where she can be looked after closer to home."

"That's good," said Helen, "but what about her at the school?"

"That's for Mr Hobson to decide."

"Just so you know, when she was slightly delirious, she was murmuring about wanting them not to kill her sister. If she was aiding them, it might not have been willingly."

"I'll get someone to check on her sister. The last we knew Cheryl was working in France as a tour rep."

"What happened to Louis Jumelet and the other that took us?"

"We saw them leaving, just as we got here. Our priority was to make sure you were all okay, rather than catch them. We made sure our approach was rather obvious. We didn't want to risk a gun fight where you could have been hostages. Mrs Toms appears to have finished her family time, so let her drive you back to the hotel. You have a concert tomorrow, and you need to concentrate on that."

"Yes, Sir," Helen and I responded in unison.

* * *

After Helen and I had had a shower. A message was on our PDA reminding us to stay in our rooms; Rachel was back and would see us after seeing Anna and Jill. I put the PDA into scan mode or bugs and went through the room.

"So, we just have to hang around?" huffed Helen. "We've just been sitting around for the past few hours."

"I know," I soothed, continuing to walk through the room. "If we'd known we could have had a longer shower."

I wiggled my eyebrows and she laughed. Unfortunately, our conversation didn't go further as there was a knock on the door.

I put my fingers to my lips and went to answer. The corridor to the door was the last area to scan.

I let in Mr Taylor and as we went into the room, I showed him the clear signal on my phone.

"Good thinking," he smiled.

Helen rushed to move one of the two chairs from around a side table, so he could sit down. Helen and I sat at the edge of Helen’s bed, since it was closer to the table.

When we were all seated, Mr Taylor didn't waste time opening with the line, "What happened?"

I gave a detailed summary, which Mr Taylor recorded. "That was great. I need to talk with my colleagues, but I will be back in about fifteen minutes. I need to do a more detailed interview."

"What about our chat with Dr Ruiz?"

"She is busy with Anna and Jill. As you said, Jill was the target of a kidnapping and that is going to take up some time."

When Mr Taylor returned, he wasn't alone. With him was Rachel and following behind was Stacy. He was also carrying a box.

"Are Anna and Jill okay?" Helen asked, when she saw Rachel. I'd thought that she would have been with Anna and Jill for longer than she had been.

"They are okay for now. However, I'm sure there might be bumps as they process what happened. For instance, you Helen only found out your problem after Russia until you got back to Hayfield."

"I'm going to ask you to go through your story again, but in some more detail," explained Mr Taylor, putting the box down next to his chair. "Stacy is here as close friend. Dr Ruiz thought it was a good idea for someone close if you need."

"I'm here to make sure you are okay with what Mr Taylor askes. Also, to make sure I know what happened. Therefore, if you need extra help, I know the background without having to put you through asking."

"No Brenda?" I enquired as Stacy joined myself and Helen on the bed.

"She's with Anna and Jill. Erika and Martha are there too."

Helen and I nodded. That made sense to us. They weren't alone but were with friends.

"This is going to be a detailed walkthrough," said Mr Taylor. "We will slowly go over each interaction you had with the kidnappers. Helen, why don't you tell us."

"We were just about to enter Laleh Park when a white van pulled up and two men jumped out of the side door."

"Stop," interrupted Mr Taylor, making me jump a bit. I wasn't expecting to stop so soon, we'd only just started going through things in detail. "Let's examine the van. You said it was white. Were there any markings on it?"

"No, it was just white," I said, thinking back. "There wasn't even any dirt on it. It looked like it had just been washed."

Mr Taylor reached into the box and pulled out two tablets. "I'd like you to separate and both look at a tablet each. It has pictures of different vans that are popular in Tehran. See if you can see the type they drove."

I took one of the offered tablets and swiped across several sets of pictures. Stacy sat between us so that we didn't peep at the other tablet. Eventually I found two that it could be and marked them both.

"I'm sorry," I said handing mine back. "There is two that I thought it could be."

Helen soon after handed hers back. "I was unsure. I've put what I think it was, but I may be wrong. It happened so fast."

"That's fine," reassured Mr Taylor taking the offered tablet with a disarming smile.

He looked at the results and smiled. "Well, you both seem to have chosen the same vehicle."

"Now let's go back and look at the first two men that jumped out. You mentioned one was Louis Jumelet, can you pick him out from any of these pictures?"

For the next hour, we looked at photos, drew pictures of the ones we didn't know and then moved on to talk about how we responded. During this Rachel just sat, watched and listened. Stacy also didn't say anything, but she was there showing both of us support.

"Thank you," said Mr Taylor as he put everything back in the box. "I think you both handled the situation…". He paused trying to find the words. "Admirably. You were calm and saved Miss Dines life. Having someone try to kidnap you wasn't on anybody's thoughts. I do know Mr Hobson isn't happy, so will be putting something new in place. We have some extra security coming from one of the European schools to help. They should be here later tonight."

"Thank you, sir" Helen responded. I just blushed.

"It's a shame we didn't manage to catch Louis Jumelet. I know he is wanted in at least five countries, and probably more. It's just nobody knew what he looked like, until now."

For the first time, Rachel spoke. "Do you feel you will be able to perform in tomorrow's concert?"

Helen and I glanced at each other, and then turned towards Rachel. I couldn't believe she would ask us such a question, and it showed on our faces. Music was our love. Music sang to our soul. Music was what brought the entire school together and shone as a beacon that different was good. They might not know we were different, but we did. We could do. We will do.

Rachel didn't take our looks as an answer. "I need a verbal response," she prodded.

"Yes, I will take part," I responded.

"Not even The Supplier can keep me from playing," added Helen.

"I'll leave you to your friends," said Rachel getting up from her chair. Mr Taylor gave us a thumbs-up and followed her out, carrying his box cradled in his arms.

"I thought Rachel would have asked us more than that," I commented after the door had shut.

"I can get her back if you want," playfully responded Stacy and got raspberries from both myself and Helen.

"It's coming up to the evening meal," said Helen, looking at the time on the phone. "We missed lunch."

I turned to Stacy. "As head student, can you inform the other year heads that Tracy was taken ill and is being flown back home. Hopefully, that will stop too many enquiries."

"I will do," Stacy responded, with a slight smile. "I'll do it individually, so not to cause more questions."

As Stacy opened the door, Mr Hobson was there, about to knock.

* * *

When we joined the rest from our year, including Anna and Jill for the meal there was nothing mentioned about us being missing. There were a few squeezes of hands, in some ways to confirm we were there, but no questions.

"Wasn't Azadi Tower wonderful," said Brian to Lewis as we were all eating. "Such ornate structure and all in marble."

I glanced across and Helen wondering why they were rubbing it in that we weren't there.

"The lattice like structure from looking up from the bottom was great," agreed Lewis. "But the traffic all around the park was chaos."

Emma and Paula started joining in and started to describe things in such detail. It was then that I released that they were trying to impart what happened while we were absent. I loved these guys.

It wasn't until we were finishing our meal that the conversation turned from the Azadi Tower visit to tomorrow's concert. At no time did anybody mention what had happened to us.

"Any idea where Tracy is?" quietly asked Martha as we were walking back to our rooms.

"She's been taken ill and is being flown back to the UK," Helen responded.

"Oh," said Martha a bit crestfallen. "I hope it isn't too serious."

"So do I," sighed Helen. "But one of those things to discuss when we are safely back in our year room."

Martha's eyes opened wide in surprise. "Oh?!"

Wednesday, 29th March 2006

The alarm rang, waking us from a fitful sleep. Two single beds weren’t the best environment when all you wanted to do was cuddle the one you loved. It would have been bad being in separate beds at the best of times, but after yesterday it wasn’t the best of times. Not the worst of times, but certainly not the best.

"How are you feeling?" I asked Helen as we both reluctantly got out of bed.

A deep sigh was her only response. Well, that and a "are you kidding me" look. I just stared back at her with my eyebrows slightly raised. "Look, can we talk about it tomorrow when we're home?"

I nodded and trundled off to have a shower. Alone. One thing I did notice is that when I had a joint shower, it always seemed to take longer.

When I got back to the bedroom, Helen was sat on her bed, hugging her pillow and staring out of the window into the distance.

I didn't say anything, but sat down next to her, and put my arms around her. Her stare didn't change, but she did shift slightly, coming in closer. There weren't any tears, so I just waited, my arm letting her know I was there.

"Why us?" she eventually asked.

There wasn't any upset or anger in her voice, just puzzlement. I didn't say anything but just continued to hold her.

"Are you jinxed?" she asked, turning towards me for the first time.

"I hope not," I replied, glad she was not just staring into the distance. "At our last concert, I wasn't the one who got to stay away on the last night."

"Oh, that's true," she agreed, putting her arm around me. "Will you still love me if I'm the jinx?"

"You're no jinx," I reassured. "We've had a few exciting trips. I bet the next few years will be boring with no extra activity."

"I hope so," said Helen getting up. "I better get ready quick, or we'll miss breakfast."

* * *

Breakfast was just like the day before and like the day before, we had a little pep talk from Mr Hobson.

"Our itinerary is changing slightly," Mr Hobson announced after we'd all eaten. "Our practice and concert are still the same, but an earlier flight has become available. So, I want you to go back to your rooms, and pack your suitcases. These can be loaded onto the coach. We will checkout in three hours."

There wasn't any grumbling, or complaints. As we walked back to our rooms, nothing was said about the early departure. Everybody acted as if it was part of the plan to leave tonight. That's when I realised that everybody knew something had happened but knew from what was said after the Russia trip that this wasn't to be discussed in the open.

When we got to our room, I noticed that the lamp over Helen's bed was switched off. We'd left it on. I put my fingers to my lips and pulled out the PDA and scanned the room. The screen started flashing red. The room was bugged.

I twisted the phone so Helen could see the flashing screen. She nodded and grabbing the suitcase, said "Packing is such a pain."

"Tell me about it," I added.

I wondered if we should spin a yarn, to put off whoever was listening, but we had no idea who it was. There were several parties that sprang to mind.

1. The Supplier and his crew
2. Iranian security services
3. The Russians
4. The French
5. The British

Making something up could tip whoever was listening that we knew they were listing. I knew the information that a bug had been found would have been transmitted to Mr Taylor and Stacy, so there wasn't anything I needed to do. They would make sure their rooms were clear. Our standing instructions for this scenario was to leave it alone and carry on as per normal but to watch what we said.

Then there was Mr Hobson's announcement. He wanted us to get out of Dodge. Was it the kidnapping, or did he know something we didn't?

Over the twenty minutes to pack, Helen and I kept up a conversation about the music we were playing and the Grand Bazaar. I'm sure whoever was listening found it a riveting conversation.

"It's a shame we didn't manage to Laleh Park," sighed Helen as she zipped up her suitcase.

It was that statement that gave me the craziest idea I'd ever had. Even crazier than being dressed as Jayne in Iran. I pulled out my beta PDA and did some quick investigation.

"We do have a few hours," I pondered aloud.

Helen gave me a what the…look.

I pointed towards the bugged lamp and Helen adlibbed. "We'd have to make it quick before someone at the school missed us."

I have a big thumbs up to that. If it was The Supplier, it would be a big hint that we'd be alone. If not, this might be a big waste of time.

When we'd left the room. Helen hissed, "What are you playing at?"

"Mr Taylor said yesterday they were adding extra security. I was thinking of us being bait so The Supplier can be captured."

"Are you nuts?" Helen responded. "That's deliberately putting us in danger."

"A little. But with security around, we should be okay. Do you want to try this?"

"Well Mr Hobson didn't ask for us not to go outside, so we won't be breaking any rules. I can't say I'm thrilled, but I don't want to always be worried going out. "

As we went down the lift, I put my Bluetooth into my ear, and made sure it was hidden under my hijab. As the lift doors opened, I dialled Mr Taylor.

"Good spot on the bug," was his opening line.

"Thank you, sir. However, I wasn't ringing about that."

"No, you're ringing because you want to be bait, and thought ringing when you got off the lift would be a great time to tell me your plan."

I internally gasped and looked around and eventually spotted him, with a young-looking Stacy and Brenda. They were to the left of the lift, so outside the sightline of anybody getting off the lift. "Helen, look left," I muttered.

"Oh shit", she muttered when she saw them.

Indeed. We moved across to see how much trouble we were in. I wanted to hold Helen's hand for support. But having two people of the same sex show affection in public wasn't a good idea in a country where that was illegal.

"What were you playing at?" scalded Mr Taylor. "I thought you were taught you better. You don't do something like that without a plan."

"I had a plan," I retorted. "According to tracking, there is security in the café opposite and scattered down the road we would have gone down. I presume they are looking for white vans and tagging them?"

"They might," Mr Taylor responded cautiously. "So why do you want to go out if you know we are looking?"

"Two reasons. One, we didn't want to be afraid of going out. And two. I thought that they might have followed us, and called the van in. If so, they aren't likely to just cruise around looking."

"So why are you two made up like your sixteen?" Helen asked Brenda and Stacy.

"Because we had exactly the same plan as you," admitted Stacy. "We were just stopped like you were."

I couldn't help it but gave a small laugh. Soon all four of us students were tittering, and Mr Taylor looked at us with bewilderment.

When we calmed down, I said, "You're not going to let us out, are you?"

It was obvious that he wouldn't, but I had to have it confirmed, just for my peace of mind.

"No," Mr Taylor responded firmly. He tapped something on his phone then put it away before looking at me. "However, it isn't that I didn't like your plan, but there are three reasons why it would never happen. One, Mr Hobson would be terribly upset if I put you in danger. Two, beta team is only supposed to assist when the main team are indisposed. Finally, I couldn't let you ruin my plan."

He gestured to the lift and we heard the lift doors ping as they opened.

"What the…" escaped out of Brenda's mouth as out stepped two girls that looked just like me and Helen. They headed out of the hotel entrance, just as we'd planned.

"Are we in trouble?" asked Helen, sounding contrite.

"No. Though it shows boundaries need to be described better, which is my responsibility. So why don't you all go back to Stacy's room and make sure you don't go anywhere near Helen and Jayne's room until I say so. It would be shame for whoever planted that bug to get wind that it wasn't you walking down the street."

* * *

"Playing wearing a hijab still doesn't feel right," said Helen as we boarded the plane. "Even after all the practice we did before flying out."

"Tell me about it," I sighed. "Knowing the music and seeing the conductor just isn't enough. Having your hearing muffled by the hijab really doesn't help follow the rest of the orchestra."

"At least the audience were great", piped in Lewis. "They gave us really warm applause. They seemed a lot less stuffy than the French concert."

The practice and the concert had gone without a hitch. Classical music wasn't something played often in Iran. The leaders thought pre-revolutionary music distracted from the relationship with God. In my mind, music was a gift from God, not something to be hidden, or restricted. Music played to the heart. Music played to the soul. Music played to the mind. Music just is.

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