by LS Sygnet
“No one will ever own me, you son of a bitch!” I spat in his face.
He jerked back a step and wiped his cheek with the cuff of his sleeve. “That was a really stupid thing to do, Helen. I may have to punish you for it. As I said, we’ve got a lot of work to do with you before we make the transfer on Friday.”
“You’ll never get that far. Go ahead. Lull yourself into a false sense of security, Andy. Keep telling yourself that Johnny won’t find me, won’t even look. I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you, really. You’ll be dead before he gets here.”
The corner of his mouth curled upward. “Yet here we are. You’re in chains, ready to transport to the most recent buyer –”
“Most recent?” A harsh laugh carried the words from the back of my throat. “You’re delusional.”
“No,” very patiently drawled, “I have more information than you do, that’s all. Funny thing about information. It’s the only true power in the world. Your secrets gave you power over Commander Orion, pushed him to the brink, didn’t they? I’m not surprised that you grew up to be such a guarded woman, Helen. You were after all, groomed by the best of the best.”
“What are you saying? What the hell do you know about who raised me?” My heart slammed against my ribcage. I thought of Dad’s other side business again, the dirty secret no one had ever uncovered, one I only suspected, but could never prove.
“Your mother of course. She was the reigning queen of secrets.”
“My… my mother?”
“Oh dear. Seems I’ve spilled the beans a bit,” Gillette chuckled.
I struggled to quell the growing panic in my chest. “What’re you saying, Gillette?”
“I’m saying that you’ve never been a free woman. You were bought and paid for from the moment you were born. You really aren’t as bright as everyone thinks, are you? Guess Al was right about you. Here we rushed our timetable for fear that you were putting all the pieces together too quickly.”
Umberto eyed me warily. “You speak to much, Andy. She does not need to know more than the fact that she is already owned.”
“Aw, but this is half the fun, knocking her down off that smug pedestal. Tell me, Helen, would you like to know more?”
“You’re a liar, a criminal of the worst kind. Why would I believe anything you say to me?”
“Because,” he grinned, “in your heart, you already know that I’m telling you the truth. In fact, I could convince you with one simple name.”
“No, you couldn’t. No more than I can convince you that I’m going to take great pleasure in killing you. It doesn’t matter who you sell me to, Gillette. I’ll find a way to escape. You’d better grow eyes in the back of your head, because I will find you, and I will kill you. Slowly.”
The impact of my threat, the steely resolve and absolute intent behind it gave him pause he didn’t want to show. Instead, it hitched and slid in his throat, a slow unease that settled in the lump, and lodged until I made good on the promise.
“Martha Henderson,” he said softly.
The name ricocheted round my brain. Yeah, I recognized it. But my poker face is far superior to Gillette’s. I absorbed the horrible reality he revealed to me without flinching. “Gesundheit.”
He grinned and gave soft applause. “Well played, Helen. Pity you were sold so quickly. I think breaking your will is a task I’d rather enjoy from angry start to sweet surrender.”
I spat again. “Know this, you son of a bitch. I will never surrender. Watch the obituaries. When you see Captain Umberto’s untimely demise, you’ll know what it means. I’m coming for you next.”
He turned to Umberto and glanced at his wrist watch. “I’ve got to make a couple of calls from a land line. We’ve got to get our other passengers on board. Prepare the crew. We’ll be leaving dock sooner than anticipated.”
“Surely you don’t believe this woman will be missed so quickly.”
“Oh, I know she’s been missed already,” Gillette said. “They won’t have a clue who took her. We’ve got to get Missy out of Bay County Correctional and the brat from Hennessey Island before we can pull up anchor and go. Not to worry. Destiny’s been working on it all day. We’ll be ready by midnight.”
It was a little after eight when Devlin and I arrived outside Fantasia’s apartment on Mercer Boulevard. My heart sank. Could Johnny pull the pieces together in less than three hours and find me before The Celeste slipped out onto the Pacific?
Please, God, let him get past his anger and find me in time.
The rare prayer was uttered from the deepest foxhole I’d ever known. I had almost no hope that Johnny would give a damn that I disappeared. Maybe he’d figure I made good on my promise to leave Darkwater Bay once and for all.
No, if I had a saving grace in this mess, it was David Levine. He’d know. He’d put it all together. He’d…
The fragment of Johnny’s call from OSI earlier rippled through me again. Florence Payette was upset, demanded to see me immediately. The by the way was that Gillette had also been there, looking for Devlin.
I swallowed against a dry thick tongue. “Oh my God. You’re the one who took the Datello baby to Montgomery. You picked her up from Saint Mary’s from Florence Payette.”
Gillette turned toward me. “Figured it all out, have you?”
“Not all, but I’m getting there. You’re right, Gillette. You spilled the beans. More than a few. Let me see how many of the players I’ve got in this little drama. Preston. Sherman – both of them, you, your soon-to-be-dead pal Umberto. Destiny Gerard. One more. Am I right?”
He rolled his eyes. “Umberto, let’s get her prepped for the sailing early. I have the distinct impression that she’s going to try to escape. I’ll be discussing that other matter we –”
“But Andy, we will have to approach her to prepare her for transfer. We should’ve done it immediately when you arrived.”
“Nonsense. It’s her first lesson in humility and obedience. You know this. How many times do we have to go through procedure? Until they learn who is in charge, clothing is not an option. If you’re that concerned, bring in one of the crewmen to help you.”
“Bastard,” I hissed. “You are not taking my clothes away from me.”
Gillette cocked his head to one side. “But Helen, the acquisitions are less likely to attempt to escape without clothes or shoes.”
“Tell me something. Where do these ship to ship transfers take place?”
He sighed heavily, hung his head and shook it slightly. “If you must know, it’s a small island inhabited only by an active volcano off the Alaskan archipelago. Cleveland Island. Satisfied?”
“I bet we’d find a rather unique bacteria in that water. Something in the Vibrio family.”
“I’m sure I’d be fascinated by where you’re going with all of this, darling, if I gave a damn,” he said.
“Taking Analynn Villanueva’s clothing away from her didn’t stop her from trying to escape, did it? She jumped ship and tried to swim for the island.”
Shock registered in Gillette’s eyes. “What makes you say that?”
“The sexual assault you inflicted on her didn’t kill her. It was the water she inhaled when she tried to escape. I’m not a helpless seven year old child, Gillette. And I’m a very good swimmer. I’m not particularly modest either. I’d rather be naked and free than let you think for one second that stripping me will prevent me from walking off The Celeste.”
Umberto gasped. “We must leave now, Andy. She knows the ship! Others might know it too.”
I smiled coldly. “That’s right, Andy. I know. Others know. Do you really think midnight is soon enough to pull up anchor and get out of Darkwater Bay?”
He turned back to the captain. “Umberto, even if we are caught, the wheels are already in motion. We’d never be prosecuted now, not when these buffoons have been thoroughly discredited by our friend.”
“But what if they simply kill us like they did Alfred? What if our fri
end is not successful?”
“Valid points. Fuck the others. They’re on their own. Pull the anchor and let’s get out of here right now. Send the men down to strip her. I’ll be in later for her first lesson in… well, what will be required of her when she’s in her new owner’s possession.”
It was hardly the result I’d hoped for. I wanted him to panic and make a mistake, not leave now as opposed to later. My chest constricted tightly. The weight of the monstrous ship pressing down on me would’ve felt lighter.
If Dev was still interviewing Fantasia, he might not know I’d been abducted yet. What if he thought Johnny and I talked, that Johnny came and picked me up?
No, I couldn’t think it, couldn’t let panic dull me to the point that I missed any opportunity for escape that may present itself. Like it or not, I’d have to operate on the assumption that my escape would be accomplished solo.
This wasn’t the first serious predicament I’d ever faced.
The door slammed behind Gutierrez and Gillette. I was plunged into darkness again.
Chapter 39
Morning sickness and anything less than the stabilizers on an ocean liner do not mesh well. The upside was the roiling in my gut that mirrored the sea beneath the ship let me know that help wasn’t going to rush in and save me before we left dock.
To a normal person, it would be a hope crushing event. For someone like me, a woman raised by a father who took lives and never batted an eye of guilt or remorse, it was a steel rod in my spine. I was on my own. It severely limited my options to one.
Umberto Gutierrez and Andy Gillette had to die.
In the darkness of my prison, I practiced what little mobility they stupidly gave me. I pushed away questions about my father, his possible culpability in how I came to be his daughter. Thoughts of my mother, on the other hand, provided a quick infusion of rage.
I wished she hadn’t died in that car accident, probably for the first time since it happened. It would’ve been my distinct pleasure to watch the life fade from her deceitful eyes.
While the soles of my already bare feet climbed the wall behind me and provided relief to my aching arms, I plotted. They’d never see it coming. At least not the first time. Big mistake to let me have the use of my legs.
Pins and needles invaded my fingertips. It was ten steps beyond the discomfort one feels when a limb falls asleep. This was a literal sensation of micro slivers of steel stabbing repeatedly into the highly sensitive flesh.
I clenched and released my fists in an effort to promote better circulation. I needed more than I had. While Gillette was yammering on and gloating about a past I’d never suspected, I got a better look at my restraint.
The shackles on my wrists were attached by a loop to the chain that held me to the wall. The chain itself stretched across the metal cargo bay, attached to large metal hoops riveted into the walls. I imagined they probably had some legitimate use, maybe for securing cargo that was legally hauled in such a room.
Bad news was, even if I weren’t hampered with some serious mobility issues from being shot last fall, I never possessed the strength to break heavy iron chains. Good news was that because of the distance between the hoops on the wall, they couldn’t secure me hoop to hoop without leaving a good handful of chain within my grip on either side.
Leverage, meet momentum.
My legs had plenty of strength. Even though I had to use them to relieve some of the weight caused by dangling on the wall where my feet couldn’t reach the floor, they were strong enough not to be tired or experience even a twinge of discomfort.
I remembered once, Johnny and I were playfully wrestling around. I got him in a headlock with my legs. He laughed himself silly over the fact that I could’ve snapped his neck between my strong thighs.
Yes, I certainly could. And would, just as soon as someone made the dire mistake of getting too close.
My problem was that the trick would only work once. They’d be prepared on the second approach.
“I need to get one of them in here with me alone. Without my arms, I can’t stop a second person from… well, saving the son of a bitch.”
Where was Johnny? Did he know I was gone yet?
Surely Devlin realized that I didn’t leave voluntarily. My purse was still in the foot well of the SUV. I left the ignition engaged so I could roll down the window.
God, what if one of the losers down on Mercer stole the Expedition?
Wait a minute. There were people down there! Witnesses!
The word screamed through my brain like the sweetest symphony known to man. Oh hope! It crashed through me again. The Celeste was one big-ass trawler. It surely wouldn’t be hard to spot. I indulged in a moment of fantasy. Johnny, flying across the Pacific in a state police helicopter, spotting the ship, jumping onto the deck from high above. He’d pull his gun and start shooting first.
David wasn’t a lost cause. Surely he had gotten the truth from Florence Payette by now. They had to know that she recognized Gillette when she saw him at OSI. They’d be looking for him, dead or alive.
His threat, anticipation of being the one to teach me my first lesson in what would be required of me after the transaction was complete, floated back into my consciousness. I’d be alone with him. I had no doubt his little lesson involved rape. The bastard.
Dilemma one was solved. Gillette would be the one to die with his neck between muscular thighs.
So how to kill Umberto?
The human heel is at least as hard as a fist. With my fist, I knew I had the strength and force to crush his hyoid bone. Getting to that location with a heel would be tricky.
Think, Helen! You’re running out of time!
I sucked in a couple of calming breaths. A quick punch comes from a limb much shorter than a leg. It’s easier to see the leg coming. More time to react, to block or move. I thought of the tiny hyoid bone, how it holds the trachea open and allows for every necessary respiration. A tilt of his chin would throw off my kick.
Then again…
A wicked smile curled at my lips, and not a moment too soon. The door to the cargo bay swung open again. Umberto appeared with an unknown assailant.
“Did you warn him, Umberto?”
My legs hung limply against the wall. I curled my fingers around the chain strung across it and squeezed tightly. Yes, it hurt like a mother, but adrenalin pumped the pain away on a flood of hatred and desperation.
“Warn me about what, captain?” Spoken with a thick accent that rendered captain into a very clichéd cap-ee-tan.
“Ignore her. Mr. Gillette wants her prepared for the transfer immediately.”
“That’s right – what did you say your name was?”
“Raul –”
“Idiot!” Umberto hissed. “Do not let her get into your head. She is very crafty, this one.”
“I have a list, Raul. Take one step closer, and your name goes on that list, right above Captain Umberto’s.”
“What sort of list?” He paused his approach. “Captain, what is she saying?”
“He won’t tell you, because he’s a coward, Raul. He wants you to come over here because he knows I’m telling the truth, that the names on my list are men who will die. Very soon.”
“Impossible, Raul,” Umberto snorted. “Go remove her clothing.”
He pulled a large knife from the sheath on his belt and handed it to his crewman. “Make sure to be careful. The buyer does not wish a damaged slave for his collection.”
Raul stared at me, wide-eyed. He gave an imperceptible shake of his head.
“Go on now. I need to prepare the hose.”
“Ah,” I said. “You’re going to hose me down after you strip me, yes? Andy must like his victims clean before their first lesson. Tell me, Raul, did Andy make you strip the little girl that was raped, or did Umberto take care of that one himself?”
He started speaking in Spanish too rapid for translation.
“Silence!” Umberto shouted. It echoed in the me
tal room long after he shut his mouth. “I will strip her clothing. You prepare the hose. Dios mios.”
That one, I understood.
“I warn you, if you resist me, I will hurt you,” Umberto said as he approached slowly. Light glinted off the blade of his large knife.
“Yes, and if you harm me too much, the buyer won’t take me off your hands. Careful Umberto.”
He was within four feet. I lifted one leg and slammed my heel into his face with all the force I possessed, all the rage bubbling in my heart. The red-black world blazed to life before my eyes.
Blood gushed from Umberto’s nose. His eyes glossed over a second before he crumpled to the floor. A well placed punch to the nasal concha will shove bone straight into the brain. My head rolled forward on a satisfied sigh.
“One down. How many more to go, Raul? Want to be on my little list?”
He ran five steps toward his fallen captain before thinking better of it. His Spanish approached light speed at a tone barely audible to dogs. Raul turned and ran from the room.
It felt like two seconds before the door slammed open again and a wild-eyed Andy Gillette charged into the room. He took one look at his bloody co-conspirator and glared at me.
“Goddamn you!” he hissed. “You killed him!”
“Indeed I did. Worried yet, Andy?”
“Fool! Now we have no captain!”
“I suppose one of his flunkies could steer the ship back to Darkwater Bay. Do it now, and your name comes of my list.” Yeah, I lied. Me, Ms. Paragon of Truth told a big whopper. No way would this man continue to breathe air as long as I had life and fight left in my body.
“Pity Umberto died so quickly. I’d have loved to torture him for a few months before letting him slip away into the comfort of hell.”
“Shut up!” Gillette screamed. Blobs of spittle flew from his lips. “Raul, go secure her feet. We’ll do this together.”