The Devil Couldn't Break Me (14 page)

“I told you to be quick,” he said.

“Sorry,” I replied, “the water is hot, it feels so good.”

Kupi watched as I dressed and then turned and walked away. I followed him through to the bedroom. He was sitting up propped against a pillow and looked deep in thought.

“I wished you had given yourself to me,” he said, “things could have been so different.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

I never got a reply as Kupi eased himself under the covers and closed his eyes. I got into bed beside him and turned my back. I looked at my illuminated watch display, it was just after midnight and remembered reading somewhere that around three in the morning was the time most people slept the deepest. I would lie awake and wait. I would wait for Kupi to sleep, to snore and then I would wait a little more. He was snoring gently within about fifteen minutes. Snoring had never sounded so good and I fought my natural desire to close my eyes.

I lost my battle somewhere between one and two in the morning and as Kupi woke me I looked at my watch and my heart sank as realisation set in that I'd slept most of the night. Kupi was telling me to get ready, as we would soon be leaving. There was none of the tenderness in his voice that there had been the previous evening. He was back to his normal self, barking out orders and demanding a quick response. He spent some time on his mobile phone.

We were out of the apartment within twenty minutes and driving back out of the city of Pejë. Kupi hardly said a word and I thought it best to keep quiet myself. He had been quite cold towards me since he'd woken me.

The street we had driven into looked familiar and I realised it was where we'd dropped off Rexha and the other two guards. Kupi stopped the car and made a quick phone call on his mobile. Within a few minutes Rexha and the two guards were walking up the street and coming towards the car. Kupi told me to get in the back and they made me sit in between two of the guards while Rexha climbed into the driver's seat and Kupi switched to the passenger side.

Kupi turned around to the two guards and nodded. They both produced a gun and made a point of showing me, then I got a gun barrel pressed either side of my ribs.

“We are going to the border of Albania,” He said. “If you try anything stupid they will shoot you dead.”

Organs for Sale to the Highest Bidder

We passed through the towns of Rastavica and then Junik and Kupi mumbled something to Rexha and pointed to a huge mountain up ahead.

Rexha turned to me.

“That is the mountain of Bjeshket e Nemuna and on the other side is Albania,” he grinned wickedly. “That's your destination you Serb whore.”

The other two guards were abusing me too, making wise cracks about some Sheik and how the Arabs much preferred another form of sex rather than the more conventional method. More than once I felt a gun barrel pressing into my ribs. Kupi was strangely quiet as he concentrated on the road up ahead.

“But I don't want to go to Albania Azem,” I said.

He ignored me.

“Why are you taking me there?”

He turned.

“Didn't you hear him? So that a big Arab Sheik can have some fun with you.”

The car irrupted with the sound of laughter. It seemed everybody had to laugh at Kupi's jokes.

Bjeshket e Nemuna was drawing agonisingly close and I became aware that the men in the car took on a more sombre mood the nearer we got to the border but still I bombarded Kupi with questions that he chose to ignore.

Rexha took great pleasure in telling me that virgins were very much in demand. I had been told that before, but I would only be a virgin for a very short time and I was more concerned about what would happen to me afterwards.

“Azem... please talk to me. Will I be coming back soon?”

I had almost resigned myself to the fact I had been sold and accepted that a very rich man would want to take my virginity. I looked around the car at the animals I was travelling with. Surely the rich Sheik couldn't be any worse than them.

“How long will I be there Azem?”

Rexha looked in the rear view mirror and I caught his eye.

“There are sixty four positions in the book of the Kama sutra, so your Sheik will fuck you at least sixty four times before he tires of you and sends you back.”

What's the Kama sutra?
I asked myself.

“You will come and get me?”

My question remained unanswered.

“Please Azem tell me what-”

“Mother fucking whore,” he snapped, “don't you ever shut up? I'll tell you what's going to happen. You've been sold to a Sheik for a large sum of money but Rexha is correct, he'll be sick of you within the month and he'll be looking for another virgin girl to replace you and then you'll be sold for organ harvesting.”

I'd never heard of organ harvesting.

“What's that?” I asked.

Kupi turned around as he spoke through gritted teeth.

“Mother fucker, I swear if you ask one more question I'll order those two beside you to put a bullet into your head.”

Rexha pointed ahead.

“The border Boss. We are nearly there.”

Kupi looked up.

“Okay,” he said, “let's keep calm.”

Sitting in the middle of the back seat I had a perfect view as we neared the border and I could see that there was a large queue of cars and buses and many UN vehicles blocking the road. Kupi and his men looked nervous and Rexha fidgeted and changed gear many times when there was no real need. Kupi slapped his wrist.

“Keep fucking calm I said.”

I noticed that there were many cars being turned around and just an odd one was being allowed through. Kupi and Rexha were anxious. Rexha said that it wasn't normal. As we neared the roadblock I recognised a flag on one of the soldiers' uniforms. He was Italian and I also noticed another Italian flag fluttering in the breeze from the aerial of a truck parked by the side of the road. There were men in other uniforms too and a police car. As if sensing what I was thinking one of the guards pushed the barrel of his gun into my kidneys. I let out a little yelp and Kupi turned around as he gave the guard an approving look.

“If she says one word don't hesitate to pull the trigger,” he said, before turning back as he wound the window down.

A policeman approached the window with two Italian soldiers carrying rifles.

Kupi spoke politely to the policeman who turned out to be a police translator.

“What seems to be the problem officer?”

“The border is closed to anyone who doesn't live in Albania. Have you any ID that states that you live in Albania?”

“No,” Kupi said. “We are from Kosovo but we need to get to Albania tonight for a friends funeral.”

“No chance I'm afraid. You'll need to turn back.”

Kupi tried to argue with him, nicely at first, he sounded rather persuasive.

“Whose decision is this?”

The policeman pointed to the Italian soldiers.

“The UN,” he said. “I have no authority here, now please, turn around as quick as you can.”

Kupi let out a sigh.

“But we can't, we have a funeral, you must appreciate how important it is to pay our last respects?”

One of the Italians leaned through the window and looked at me. I was so close to saying something but of course I didn't know any Italian. What would I say? And then he disappeared, looking at the car behind us. Kupi had pulled out his wallet and opened it in front of the policeman. It was full of money and he pulled out a handful of US dollars.

“If it's a question of money I'm sure we can...”

The policeman turned aggressive and started shouting abuse, saying that we were lucky we all weren't arrested there and then. The policemen took Kupi's dollars and threw them back into his lap.

“Get going,” he said. “Get your car turned around right this second or I'll have you all arrested. The border is closed and I won't tell you again.”

Kupi was furious as Rexha performed a quick three-point turn and we headed back in the direction we had come from. He cursed and swore and banged his fist on the side of the door.

“Mother fucking Italian bastards, who do they think they are? This is my country not theirs, the mother fuckers.”

I had never seen Kupi in such a bad mood as Rexha tried to placate him and tell him they could come back in a day or two.

Kupi didn't seem to be listening. He turned towards me.

“It's her fucking fault, she's bad news, and She's causing me too much trouble.”

Kupi rubbed at the side of his temples as he looked down at the floor and then he looked up as if he'd thought of something.

“Fuck the Sheik, fuck him. He's not getting her.”

Rexha looked at him.

“What do you mean Boss? She's worth a lot of money.”

“Fuck him,” Kupi repeated, “I'll rape her myself and then we'll harvest her.”

I couldn't help myself.

“Harvest me? I don't understand. What does that mean?”

The guard to my left spoke grinning.

“Will I tell the bitch Boss?”

Kupi looked at the guard and then at me.

“I'll tell her. I'll tell the mother fucking Serbian bitch.”

The car fell silent as Kupi spoke. It was as if he'd composed himself to deliver my sentence. He told me exactly what he meant by harvesting.

“It's all quite simple,” he said, “we're becoming quite expert the more we do it. You'll be taken to one of our doctors and operated on, he'll test your blood beforehand so that he can assess your health and our contacts can find a match. Don't worry, the doctor will sedate you before he removes your heart and your liver and perhaps a kidney too.”

Kupi was rubbing his hands together and smiling. The frustration and anger evident in his contorted face just a few moments before had completely disappeared. He spoke softly in a controlled manner and I was left in no doubt that this was no fairy story.

“We sell the organs to our Turkish contacts for up to forty thousand US dollars at a time.”

Kupi let out a squeal of delight.

“Forty thousand dollars for one organ, can you believe that?”

He leaned over the front seat and ran a finger across my breasts, then all the way down to my navel.

“So you see, we don't need to whore you out because this little body is still worth a pretty packet.”

Kupi repeated that he was going to rape me in Pristina and then let his men have some fun. Afterwards he'd arrange the deal and by the end of the week I'd be dead. I sat in the back of the car too stunned to move while the rest of the guards teased and ridiculed me, backing up Kupi's tale with stories of other young girls and Serb soldiers who had gone before me. A cold like I'd never experienced before washed over me. It started in my chest and moved slowly down my body into my stomach and my hips. I remember feeling as if someone was rubbing ice over my thighs as the feeling continued down to my ankles and finally into my toes. I felt numb, as if my blood had frozen solid. I couldn't move, I couldn't talk. I felt dead.

The two guards either side of me were more aggressive than ever as Kupi sat smirking in the front while they described in great detail what they were going to do to me sexually. Their depravity knew no limits. These animals were the worst of the worst but I was now beyond fear and everything they said went in one ear and out the other. I was beyond caring.

Kupi was on the phone for the next twenty minutes and made no attempt to conceal or hide what he was discussing. He was brokering my deal, my death deal.

We drove back through Pejë, took a right turn in the centre of the city and headed out towards the east. After thirty or forty minutes Kupi announced he needed food. He told Rexha to look for a bar or a restaurant. Rexha said they were only ten minutes from a place called Kline.

“Perfect,” Kupi said, “we'll have a little drink to celebrate our good fortune.”

Rexha parked the car by the pavement as soon as we drove into Kline and I was pulled from the back door. The two guards flanked me while Kupi and Rexha walked on ahead in the direction of a small bar. We walked down three small steps to the bar that was just below ground level. When we got inside Kupi was on his phone again. He stood against the bar and the barman placed a small beer in front of him.

“I really need to go to the toilet too,” I said to the guards.

They ignored me and instead ushered me over to a table in the far corner. I watched Kupi and Rexha as they smoked and drank for some time. The barman brought a large jug of beer over to our table and a tin of coca cola, which I assumed was for me. As I opened the tin I looked over to the bar and spotted something that made me sit up straight. It was something familiar, a familiar face. He was not much older than me and stood at the opposite end of the bar to where Kupi and Rexha stood. I recognised him but from where? My heart was pounding in my chest as it came to me. I was more than familiar with him; he was from one of the small towns near Veliki Trnovac though I couldn't recall which one. I had seen him many times in one of the coffee bars back home. What was he doing in Kosovo? A refugee too perhaps? It didn't matter, it was a chance I told myself, a chance to get a message to him to call the police. I'd tell him and he'd recognise me too, realise there was something quite wrong by the look of fear on my face, the fact I'd lost so much weight since the last time he'd seen me.

“I really need to pee.”

One of the guards leaned over the table.

“Go then, but remember I'm right behind you.”

I stood up and walked away. The toilet was at the back of the bar and I would have to pass the man I recognized. I tried to take my time praying to myself that he would look in my direction. I stopped just a metre from him as I lingered and made a coughing noise. He looked up and saw me and a smile flicked across his face. He had recognized me. I returned his smile. Please call the police, I've been kidnapped I would say. I'd even prepared the exact words and then I'd walk away as soon as I'd said them.

“Please...”

I felt the familiar shape of the gun barrel sticking in my back.

“Move.”

I stuttered nervously.

“I was asking where...”

“Fucking move now.”

He pushed the gun harder into me and the sharp pain made me take a step forward. The man had to notice the desperation in my eyes, had to have spotted the gun or at least the aggression of the guard. I was so close, so close to getting my words out but each step closer to the toilet was another step further away from the man who could have summoned help. The guard followed me into the toilet and grabbed me by the throat.

“You stupid fucking bitch, I saw exactly what happened and Kupi did too.”

“Please no, I didn't, I wasn't...”

He banged my head twice against the tiled wall, opened the door to the cubicle and shoved me in.

“I'm right here outside so do what you have to do and get out of there double quick.”

I broke down in tears. I had been so close but hadn't managed to get my words out. I sat on the toilet sobbing my heart out. The guard was shouting at me to hurry and to keep quiet. I felt a tightening in my stomach and fell quickly to my knees as I felt my throat go into spasms and the taste of bile in my mouth as I vomited what little I had in my stomach into the toilet bowl.

“What's going on? Hurry up or I'll kick the fucking door in. “

“Please... just give me a minute.”

I could hear a commotion just outside the door and I could hear Kupi's voice. I pulled myself together and unlocked the door. The guard lunged at me and grabbed my hair as he pulled me out. I protested my innocence claiming I only wanted to ask the man where the toilet was. As I walked out of the toilet Kupi was waiting for me and slapped me hard across the face.

“I've heard what you did bitch. I'm sick of the trouble you are causing me.”

I was aware of a voice, the barman was shouting something and I looked around for the familiar face but he had gone. The barman didn't look too happy. He was asking if everything was okay saying that he wasn't going to see girls hit in his bar. He stood beside Kupi while the guard stood behind him with two fingers pointing at his temple imitating a trigger action with his thumb. I knew he wouldn't hesitate to put a bullet in me and one in the barman if necessary.