Descent Into Darkness

by A J Newman

  They quickly settled in the Bed & Breakfast since there was a large stack of firewood and plenty of food in the cupboard. Gail took charge of the injured woman against her husband’s objections.

  Gail washed the supper dishes and watched her girl do her homework before tending to their guest. The woman was getting stronger but was only awake for a couple of hours each day. Gail’s husband, John, told her that the woman’s brain had been injured and she needed a lot of sleep to recover and get well. John also thought they should have left her on the side of the road. Gail argued that if it were she or Emily, would John want strangers to abandon them on the side of the road.

  Gail lifted Jane Doe’s head in one hand and lifted her into an upright position with her head and shoulders propped up with extra pillows. She used a teaspoon to place small amounts of water into Jane’s mouth. Jane coughed and woke up for the first time that day. She surprised Gail by grabbing the glass with both hands and swallowing the glass of water in one gulp.

  Jane looked at Gail and said, “Hung…ry…I hungry.”

  Gail placed the bowl of chicken broth to Jane’s lips and watched Jane slurp the soup down quickly.

  “How do you feel today?” Gail asked.

  “Better,” Jane Doe replied.

  “What is your name?” Gail asked.

  “I’m…,” the woman said but stopped talking.

  “You hit your head several days ago, and you are confused. Don’t worry. Everything will come back to you,” Gail said.

  “Where are Cloe and Joe?” Jane Doe asked.

  “Are they your husband and daughter?” Gail asked as she held Jane Doe’s hand.

  Jane Doe turned her head away and tried to remember who they were but couldn’t. She knew she loved them and could see their faces but nothing else.

  “I know Cloe and Joe, but I don’t know who they were to me,” Jane Doe responded.

  Gail was now intrigued by this mystery. She asked, “Is Joe a man or boy?”

  “He is a man. I think he is my man.”

  “Is Cloe a woman or girl?” Gail asked.

  “Woman, I think. Maybe a girl. Wait. She is a teenaged girl,” Jane Doe answered.

  “Do you know where you are from? We found you just east of Ashland,” Gail asked.

  “I don’t know. My head hurts,” Jane Doe said and then closed her eyes.

  “John, look, Mal is talking with those men. I wonder what they want.” Gail said.

  “I don’t know, and it’s none of our business,” her husband replied.

  “John, why are you afraid of Mal? If he is a threat, we need to ask him to go away,” Gail said.

  John ignored his wife’s pleas, and he quickly took her back to the B&B without stopping.

  Gail saw John open the door to their suite and Mal came in and sat down with John at the table. Gail didn’t like Mal and felt her husband trusted him too much. She had never seen Mal do anything wrong but didn’t like the way he looked at her 15-year-old daughter, Emily. Mal worked hard at getting out of work and barely contributed to the small group but disappeared from time to time without notice and always came back with very little to show for his trips. Mal always told them he was going scavenger hunting.

  “Gail, how is our little lady doing today?” Mal asked.

  “She woke up for a few minutes but doesn’t know her name or where she is from,” Gail answered.

  “Gail, she needs to get well quick. We just can’t keep feeding someone who doesn’t contribute,” John said.

  “Now John, I think that when she gets better, we will find that she has some kind of usable skills. She might be a doctor or a nurse or something like that,” Mal added.

  John whispered, “I’ll bet you can find a use for her.”

  Mal laughed, but Gail could only guess what the men had joked about in private. Gail just knew that she would never leave her daughter or this poor lady alone with Mal.

  Gail changed the subject and asked, “Are Lyn and Rob over their colds. Ours ran its course yesterday, and we all feel much better.”

  John answered before Mal could speak. “Lyn is much better, but Rob is still a bit under the weather. We decided to cancel our weekly card game until Monday. I talked with Rob this morning while we were out hunting rabbits. Mal that reminds me that I haven’t seen you hunting in several weeks. Boy, you need to pick up the pace.”

  Mal sneered at first then smiled as he said, “I’m sorry; I’ll take the next two trips to make up for it. My leg has bothered me some and I should have said something to you.”

  Gail took a deep breath and asked, “Who were the men you were talking with in front of the other B&B. Did you learn anything?”

  “What are you doing spying on me?” An enraged Mal asked.

  John tried to calm Mal down, but Gail pressed him. “Mal, we were just running our traps and saw you talking with those men. Why are you so sensitive? Are you hiding something?”

  Mal stood up abruptly and said, “The men only asked if we had any spare gas. I told them no and sent them on their way. Why are you getting into my business?”

  Gail started to speak, but John said, “Gail, please leave Mal alone. I’ll talk with him later.”

  Gail replied, “That’s bull shit, John. Mal has been sneaking off for weeks now shirking his duties and doing what only God knows. Mal you need to pull your weight and stop trying to bully us.”

  “Or what, bitch,” Mal said.

  Gail already had her .38 revolver in her hand covered by a dishtowel. Her daughter, Emily, had her pistol in her lap covered by a blanket and was ready to back her mom. Gail glared at her husband expecting him to come to her defense, but he only stood there between them. John finally said, “I know you two don’t like each other, but we need to stick together to survive. Mal, name-calling doesn’t help. You need to apologize to Gail, and Gail needs to mind her own business from now on.”

  “Screw both of you. This is my hotel, and you all can leave anytime you get ready. Leave the woman,” Mal said as he slammed the door.

  “Gail, look what you have done. You must apologize to him, or we’ll be out in the cold again,” John said.

  “That bastard has no more claim on this hotel than we do. Mal can go straight to Hell. John, you and Rob have to finally grow some balls and confront the asshole. He is not our leader and joined us because he was starving. We supply most of the food and all of the weapons. That SOB had nothing when we found him, and now he acts like some kind of fuckin’ king,” Gail yelled.

  “Gail, that man is a psychopath and will kill us if you keep running your mouth. We need to meet with Rob and figure out a way to escape from him,” John said.

  “Why are you so afraid of him?” Gail asked.

  “Gail, I should have told you a while back, but I saw him kill a man and take his wife out in the woods. He came back to us with blood on his pants. Remember he said he had killed a rabbit but didn’t have a carcass,” John said.

  “You have known he was a killer and didn’t say anything to anyone,” Gail said.

  “Mom, Dad, we need to kill him before he kills us.”

  “I talked with Rob, and we are developing a plan to get away from him. You screwed up our plan by taking in the woman. We will use her to help cover our escape. He wants her as soon as she is well. When he takes her to the other B&B we will leave and head on to Klamath Falls as we had planned all along,” John said.

  “You told Rob and didn’t tell me.”

  “I didn’t want you to be upset,” John replied.

  “Upset! Well, I’m upset and pissed that you would even think to give that asshole this defenseless woman to buy our freedom. We need to kill the SOB as soon as possible and stay here. This is a great place to live and is away from the cities,” Gail said.

  Gail caught Emily later and said, “Thanks for having my back when Mal threatened us. I saw you stick your pistol under the blanket.”

  “Mom, you are always there for me, and I’ll be there f
or you. Mom, I don’t trust that man. Every time he looks at me, he stares at my boobs and mentally undresses me. Mom, he does the same thing with you.”

  “Darling I know. The man is a pervert and was probably on a sex offender list before the lights went out. Don’t let him near Jane.”

  ***

  Mal snuck into Gail’s suite the next morning when she and John were out trapping, and Emily went to fetch some firewood. Mal leaned over the woman and slid his hands under the cover. One hand was on her right breast, and he began to run his other hand over her stomach downward under her panties.

  “You will be mine. I will make you love me, and I will make love to you every day. You’re not like the others. You will become my wife,” the deranged man spoke to himself.

  Cobie’s arm slid off the bed reaching for something to kill the man. Suddenly he heard the door open. He quickly removed his hand and knowing he’d been caught just stood there looking at the woman.

  Mal turned to see Emily had a pistol pointed at him, and he said, “My dear I just stopped by to see your father. You don’t have anything to fear from me.”

  The fifteen-year-old said, “Not as long as I have this pistol aimed at your gut. Now get away from Jane and get your ass out of here. You know damned well my mom and dad are out running their traps. Now get out or die.”

  Emily thumbed the hammer back on the .357 Magnum Smith & Wesson, and Mal rushed past her and out the door. Emily walked over to the unconscious woman and said, “Jane, you have to wake up very soon, or you could end up with that pervert. I know he was going to try something. That’s why I watched the door while picking up the wood.”

  ***

  Cobie endured the man’s hand against her body only because she didn’t have a weapon. She didn’t want these people to know that she was conscious so she could find out more about her captors. It took all of Cobie’s strength to hold back and not attack the bastard that ran his hand down into her panties. She was ready to gouge his eyes out when the girl caught him and threatened to shoot him if he didn’t’ leave.

  Cobie lay there listening to everything the girl said and wondered why everyone called her Jane. That name made her uncomfortable, but she didn’t know why. By playing opossum, Cobie had heard the intense argument with Mal, and then what Gail and Emily said.

  Cobie’s head, upper right arm, and left side hurt a great deal. She winced every time she moved. She wasn’t sure what had happened to her, but she knew she had barely survived the situation.

  That night Cobie quietly got out of bed, found her boot knife, and placed it under her pillow. She fell asleep dreaming about a tall, handsome man but couldn’t remember his name. Her dream was about bathing with him in the room and then making passionate love. She couldn’t decide if it was a fantasy or an actual experience that she had earlier in her life. She dreamed about searching for her daughter just before she woke up. Some Islamic terrorists had shot her and kidnapped her young daughter. The girl was a teenager and looked exactly like herself. She wondered if she was dreaming about herself at a younger age. She woke up wondering if the tall, handsome man was her husband.

  ***

  Mal walked back to his captives at the other Bed and Breakfast and took his rage out on the two women. He captured the two sisters a day after they arrived at the other B&B. He ventured over to the other one and ran into a man and these women. He killed the men and locked the women in a supply closet chained to a pipe. He forced the women to have sex with him by withholding food and water until they broke down.

  Mal had been in the county jail waiting for transfer to the Oregon state prison. He and his brother had been caught red-handed selling young Asian girls to sex traders. His brother owned an import company based in Portland. He purchased young girls in Thailand and smuggled them into the USA through the Portland docks. Then they traveled by land down Highway 5 south to California where many were sold to the rich in Hollywood and Beverly Hills as servants.

  He and his brother had been caught and convicted and were in a prison van heading to the state prison when the shit hit the fan. They escaped when the van stopped running, and the guards decided to go home. He became separated from his brother in Medford and latched on to the two families to survive.

  ***

  “Dad, Mal had his hand under the cover attacking that woman. I caught him and ran him away. The SOB will attack one of us if we don’t stop him now,” Emily said.

  “Now daughter, I know Mal can be rough, but I don’t think he would attack one of you,” John replied.

  “John, I think he already has attacked some women. I think he has a woman hostage at that other B&B. The bastard will kill you and make sex slaves out of us and poor Jane,” his wife said.

  “No, you’ve got it all wrong. Yes, Mal has a girlfriend over at the other B&B, but she loves him, and they plan to get married,” John, said.

  “Have you seen or talked with the woman?” asked Gail.

  “Well, no but Mal tells me all about her,” John said.

  “Dad, how stupid can you be. If they were planning to get married, we would have seen her. Hell, they would be living here. Mal lied to you, and you believed the asshole,” Emily said.

  Cobie listened to the discussion and had enough of the weak-willed husband. She found her clothes and dressed quickly. She placed her boot knife back in her boot sheath and strapped on her gun belt. Her hunting knife was in its sheath, but her Glock 17 was missing. Cobie searched the room and found her Glock and extra magazines. She racked the slide to load a bullet and holstered the weapon.

  Cobie walked into the room and said, “Hello, I’m awake and couldn’t help hear what you were talking about. That guy Mal is a pervert and has to go.”

  “I’m glad you are finally awake, but who are you to tell us what to do?” John replied.

  “I agree with the women. This bastard is a pervert,” Cobie angrily replied.

  “You’ve been unconscious. What would you know?” John yelled back.

  “I’ve been awake for two days listening to everything. That fucking Mal stuck his hand down my pants, and I’m going to kill the bastard. Your daughter saved him by forcing him out of my room at gunpoint this morning, or he would be dead now,” Cobie said.

  “John, Jane is right. We need to kill Mal before he kills us. We need a plan. Get Rob and Lyn over, and we will kill the bastard, and we can all stay here and live in peace,” Gail said.

  John left to go fetch Rob and his wife, Lyn. Gail, Emily, and Cobie kept talking about how they found Cobie on the side of the road.

  “Jane we found you on the side of the road between here and Ashland. You had been hit in the head and lay bleeding when we stopped for you,” Gail said as she tried to avoid telling Cobie that their truck had hit her.

  “My upper arm hurts, and my whole left side hurts. I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck,” Cobie said as she tried moving her right arm up and down.

  Cobie suddenly asked, “Who the hell is Jane and why do you call me Jane. Do you know me?”

  Gail answered, “No dear. We don’t know you. I started calling you Jane Doe because we didn’t know who you were. Tell us your name, and we will gladly use it.”

  Cobie thought for a minute and decided that if she just blurted out “My name is …,” that her real name would follow. Cobie took a deep breath and said, “My name is … Cloe.”

  “Great, you remembered your name. Do you remember anything else?” Emily said.

  “I’m not sure my name is Cloe, but I like that name. I think I have a daughter or much younger sister and a boyfriend or husband. My daughter looks just like me, and my husband is tall and handsome. I think. My husband is a brave man but kinda dumb when it comes to women. I don’t know why I said that but I believe it,” Cobie said.

  “I’m glad you are beginning to remember things, but we have to deal with Mal first,” Emily said.

  John returned with both Rob and Lyn, and they were glad to see that Jane Doe was up and f
eeling much better. Gail led the meeting because John was still not taking charge as though he was afraid of Mal.

  “Rob, we all know that Mal is a bad man. We just don’t know how bad he is. John told us a few minutes ago that Mal told him that Mal has a girlfriend over at the other B&B. I…” Jane said until she was interrupted.

  “I knew it. That man has captured a woman. No decent woman would have the pervert. Jimmy caught him trying to look in the bathroom window when Lyn was taking a bath. We need to kill him before he rapes one of our women,” Rob blurted out.

  The group argued about how to kill Mal without being killed themselves for over an hour until they all agreed on a plan. The plan had Cobie taking Emily with her to free the woman Mal had captured while the others killed him. Rob’s sons, Bobby and Jimmy, would hide out at an abandoned boathouse down by the lake until the deed was done.

  The group decided to spring the trap the next day by letting it leak to Mal that they would have a group meeting at noon at Rob’s place. Then Jane Doe would be alone in John’s suite from 2 pm until 4 pm. The reason given was that Emily had to help John and Gail travel north to the Howard Prairie Lake.

  At 11 am, Cobie and Emily snuck out of the suite and hid until John gave them the sign to leave. Cobie talked with Emily along the way and found her to be a very smart and strong-willed young woman. Emily was 5’ 7’ with long blonde hair and slim build. She was outspoken and not shy a bit.

  Emily took Cobie down to the lake, and they approached the B&B from the backside. They walked very fast and arrived at the other B&B in a short time. Cobie cautioned Emily to move slowly and to keep vigilant for traps. They watched the building for several minutes before trying to enter one of the doors. The door was locked, as were the other three. Cobie found a shovel and used it to break through a sliding glass door to the basement gym.