Thousands of people have been abducted by the war-torn republic's kidnapping machine. Tales of the survivors read like relics from a barbaric past. By ROBYN DIXON, Times Staff Writer Kidnap victim Mikhail Brenner, shown with wife Tatyana, lost all but one of his teeth in beatings. "You try not to succumb to the pain," he says. YURI KOZYREV / For The Times NALCHIK, Russia--As awkwardly as a newborn foal struggling on spindly legs, Lena Meshcheryakova is learning how to curl her lips up at the corners to make a smile. Drifting just beneath the surface of her 5-year-old world are...
