The Queen Of Spades

Chapter 7, Continued, Again

The three of us walked inside and saw chaos. Police and FBI were everywhere and news channels were running around trying to get statements about who knows what. We found Oliver and followed him to the courtroom where our case was and took our seats in the back. We all stood as the judge entered and the trial began, then took our seats and stayed there for two hours as the judge presented the charges and the prosecutor and defense attorney gave their opening statements. Evidence was presented and explained to the jury and then the prosecutor called the first witness: me. I wasn't prepared to go up to the stand and nobody had told me I was going up, but I walked bravely up to the witness stand. The judge swore me in and I took my seat, collecting my thoughts.
"Please state your full name for the court." The prosecutor told me.
"My name is Madelyn Rayne Everhart." I leaned into the microphone as I said it.
"Madelyn, could you please recount for the court exactly what happened that put you in the ICU last summer?"
"I was kidnapped, along with all of my siblings."
"Do you remember when you were kidnapped?"
"It's kind of hard to forget the day your life is ruined."
"Objection!" The defense attorney said, standing up. The judge told him to sit down. "Please refrain from sarcasm in your answers." She told me.
"June 10th 2020." I reiterated.
"According to your medical records, you were admitted to the hospital via ambulance on June 29th correct?"
"Yes."
"What happened in the nineteen days you were held captive?"
"A lot."
"Why were you kidnapped?"
"Because of my parents."
"Where were your parents at the time?"
"Traveling, my older brother was left in charge of us."
"Were your parents rich? Did they receive a ransom?"
"No, there was no ransom. They didn't want money."
"What did they want then?"
"Information."
"What kind of information?"
"Government secrets above your pay grade."
"What made them think that your parents had them?"
"Intel."
"Did your captors get the information?"
"They killed the only three people who had it, so no. That information is gone forever."
"Who had the information?"
"My mom, my dad, and Aiden. I think you're getting off topic. How is this going to put him away?" I pointed at the defense table.
"No further questions, your Honor." The prosecutor sat down and the DA came up to the stand.
"How many siblings do you have, Madelyn?" He asked. Oh, how I loathe cross examination.
"None."
"You said that you were kidnapped with your siblings. Was that a lie then?"
"No. I was kidnapped with my siblings. I don't have any anymore."
"Why not?" This dude really was just stupid.
"Because," I steeled myself against my emotions before continuing. "they're six feet under."
"You don't sound very upset about that fact. Did you get along with your family?"
"Maybe I just know how to keep my emotions in check. I got along with my family just as any other family does. We had our quarrels but we loved each other."
"Why, of all of your family, are you the only one alive?"
"Luck? Fate? Skill? How the Hell should I know? Oh, no, you know what I bet it's the curse. Yeah, I got cursed by an angry leprechaun a few years back. He wanted my life to be miserable, and I guess it’s working, because here I am talking to you." I rolled my eyes.
"How did your siblings die?"
"Nazis. They murdered them."
"Why do you say Nazis?"
"Because they were Nazis."
"How do you know that they were Nazis? What proof do you have?"
"Well, for starters the fact that every time they passed each other they said "Heil Hitler" and  put their left arm in the air in salute. They spoke German, and the information they were looking for was on our counterterrorism file on the recent Nazi uprising. I thonk it’s safe to say they were Nazis."
"And how is my client connected to that group?"
"The swastika tattoo he has, actually it's a Nazi hakenkreuz. Originally a Jewish symbol, Hitler adopted and changed it to be presented as the Nazi sign during world war two. It was actually one of many Jewish symbols perverted by Hitler." I said it like I was reciting a paragraph from a textbook. Because I was.
"Thank you for that wonderful history lesson but you're incorrect. My client does not have a—what did you call it?—a hakenkrens?"
"Hakenkreuz, and yes he does, behind his ear. Feel free to check. They all do." The defense attorney walked over and looked behind his ears, clenching his jaw at the left ear. Then he walked back over to me, "How do you know so much about Nazi history? Unless, of course, you yourself also align yourself with the Nazi party. That would explain why you made it out almost unscathed while everyone else died. The police did hear you and another person exchange words in what sounded like German while you were in the hospital. Did they not?"
So he decided to switch tactics, cool. I could match whatever he threw at me. But I was losing my patience. "I'm a language expert. I was fluent in six languages by the time I was eight, twelve when I was twelve. German happens to be one of them. But please, by all means, keep making false accusations. I do not align myself with the Nazi party, I am proudly Irish-American. I work for the United States government as a counterterrorism assassin and undercover operative.” Oliver was gonna chew me out for burning myself like this. I didn’t care. “And do not presume to know what happened in that warehouse! I did not even come close to being unscathed. I drowned! I barely made it out alive!" I stood and took my jacket off so that the whole courtroom could see the scars running up my arm. "Does this look unscathed to you? How about this?" I took my shirt off to reveal the rest of the scars. "Yeah I'd say that's pretty unscathed, how about this?" I wiped my jacket across my face, wiping off makeup no one knew was there. "He got mad at me and Nova for talking to each other so he cut from the corners of our mouths to our jawbone. Talk about slack jawed. Screaming was fine, he said, but no talking. I watched as my entire family died the most gruesome deaths you can imagine and you have the audacity to try and pin me for the crime! Go screw yourself. I'm done." I stood and stormed past the DA, flipping him off as I went. Oliver and Nada tried to grab me and calm me down and I pushed them off of me. "Don't touch me! Don't you ever touch me!" I yelled at them, pushing past the doors and out into the hall. News people yelled and cameras flashed towards me with questions about the trial. Suddenly remembering that I was wearing nothing but a bra and pants, I ran to the bathroom and sat in the corner under the baby changing table. The last thing I needed was pictures of me half naked in the newspapers.