Love on the Dark Side of the City

by Kennedy, Thomas

  “He’d better be. I think I will ban intercourse for a month. And we will have a pillow fight. Then I’ll screw him even though it is banned. Then I’ll ban him again and get into the massage. Maybe a hand job, not a blowjob. I need to build up to that.”

  Sonia laughed at Jean’s plan and Jean giggled and laughed. Suddenly they knew they were friends. “Lets’ go back and see what happened. We can meet for coffee and I’ll let you know how it is going.”

  Samuel was tense and Peter was frowning as the girls came back to join them. Peter was surprised to see Jean in such good humour and she seemed to like Sonia.

  “Well?” Jean said.

  Peter straightened up and looked with a frown at Sonia.

  “He wants to marry Sonia.”

  “Whee” Jean screamed and some heads turned to see what was so exciting.

  “Great!” she said and kissed Samuel and then Sonia.

  “He has asked for my approval,” Peter added, a bit put out by Jean’s reaction.

  “And?”

  “Oh well…” Peter stammered.

  “Peter I know you don’t know me and it is a bit rushed, but I do love Samuel and I will make him happy.”

  “He is retired. He can’t.”

  “He can if he will have me,” Sonia said quietly. “Samuel was very ill for a while Peter. And sadly, your mother died. But Samuel has been well for a time now. It is time he came back into the world. I can care for him an he can care for me.”

  Peter spread his hands and looked at Jean.

  “Peter,” Jean said. “Peter, please say yes. Your father is old enough to know what he wants and frankly he is bloody lucky someone as charming and as attractive as Sonia will look at him, let alone marry him. For God’s sake say yes before she changes her mind.”

  Peter struggled to come to a conclusion. He was flattered that his father had consulted him. He had residual anger that his father had refused him permission when he fell for Ellen Walsh.

  “O.K.” he said waving his hands as if to say ‘don’t overwhelm me.’

  Jean let another whoop out and leaned over and kissed Peter. Samuel called for champagne.

  Jean leaned over and whispered to peter. “Peter tonight, I am on top. You are going to be done. Don’t mention times of month or I’ll kill you. I don’t care if you can’t do it. Tonight is the night. I am going to reward you for your good decision.”

  Peter looked over at Samuel, hoping his dad could not hear what Jean was promising.

  “Lets Celebrate. We can worry about the future tomorrow. A business sold and a marriage planned,” Peter said, letting himself loosen up and getting into the now, into the moment.

  They raised their glasses. All judgments suspended. All of life’s trials not in that place. For that moment they were in perfect harmony. Happy could describe it.

  “What happened Frank?” Sara asked as they walked away from the Barclay Court.

  “Jane.” Frank said, stopping in his tracks as they were crossing the road. “Jane just turned up. She is Peter’s wife.”

  “The girl you fell in love with at college. I told you Frank to let it go. It’s no good dwelling on the distant past. It happened, move on.”

  “But I think we had a son. I just found out tonight. Peter explained how he met Jane. She already had Darra. That means he is my child. She never had the abortion.”

  “Keep walking Frank.”

  Sara smiled, “we can’t just stop in the middle of the street, lets’ keep moving.”

  “She never told me,” Frank said, beginning to walk again.

  “Why would she if you sent her for an abortion?” Sara arched her eyebrows in question.

  “It’s such a mess,” Frank said agonizingly.

  “Poor Frank” Sara said and pulled him to her and kissed her.

  “Take me somewhere,” she added when they caught their breaths. “Out of town, where the air is free, where we can be away from all these things that bother us.”

  “Come on.” Frank said, desperation in his voice, and they ran along the street.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Ellen found it hard to sleep. She was not afraid. It was the time he would usually come home from the club.

  However Peter had provided a security man from his firm’s contract security company and the young man was down stairs watching the television. The noise coming up through the floorboards was reassuring. If her husband tried to get in he would be stopped. And Peter had arranged for new locks on the door.

  She had bought pyjamas for the children today. Her youngest daughter slept beside her, breathing easily in peaceful sleep. Her son had the back room to himself.

  She thought of Ann, who had caused it all to come to a head by running away. Hopefully Ann lay safely asleep somewhere.

  Peter would help her find Ann. Ann was level headed. She would be all right.

  No it was the absence of fear. That was why she felt so awake, so good. Her husband would not come home and beat her tonight. She would not have to worry about the children. She was at peace. It flowed over her in pleasant waves. Yet at moments she tightened up again in fear of tomorrow and the next days. Where was Ann? Could they find her? She forced herself to live in the moment. She decided to go down and have a cup of tea and feel the peace as it washed over her.

  *****

  Ivan laughed heartily at something Adizua said, and Megan and Maureen giggled. The four weaved along, a happy group heading from the pub towards Ivan’s van.

  “I’m glad we came out on a double date together,” Maureen said, “ Ivan always said it would be great and it was a great night.”

  “It took a while to persuade Adizua, but here we are,” Megan said happily.

  “Ah Adizua” Ivan said giving him a big bear hug. Arms around Adizua’s shoulders he began to sing in Russian as the made their unsteady way forward. The girls linked the men’s arms on either side and helped to steer them in a straight line.

  The side lights on the mini van winked as Ivan pressed the button on his keys to unlock the doors.

  “First we men pee,” He declared steering Adizua, his arm still around his shoulders, towards a side lane beside where he had parked. The girls giggled at the high jinks, as Ivan seemed to be holding Adizua while fumbling his trousers zip as they wheeled away from the girls towards the alley.

  It all happened very quickly. A man came out of the alley and coshed Adizua over the head. Adizua’s attempt to duck and defend himself was hampered by Ivan’s grip around his shoulders.

  “Get in the back quick,” Ivan shouted and seemed to grapple with the man from the alley.

  In a panic the girls did as they were told and then to their horror, Ivan seemed to work with the man from the alley. They picked up Adizua and threw him into the back of the still open van.

  “Hand-cuff him” Ivan instructed the man from the alley.

  “What’s’ happening Ivan?” Maureen screamed.

  Ivan responded by hitting Maureen a punch, which sent her reeling back into the van.

  Megan went to assist Adizua but the man from the alley, dressed in black and wearing a balaclava that covered his face, hit her with his cosh and she fell back beside Maureen.

  “Give them a few,” Ivan said and the man climbed into the back of the van. Ivan climbed in also, closing the door as he got in. Then the man laid about him with his truncheon. He was quick and brutal. As the girls began to scream Ivan shouted. “Shut up or it will get worse.”

  Efficiently and quickly the men bound and gagged the two cowering girls and then paused to look at their handiwork.

  Adizua moaned and stirred so Ivan chopped him on the back of the neck and he was still again. The girls watched in round-eyed horror.

  “Now my chickens,” Ivan said with horrible friendliness, “you will be taken away and if you so much as make a sound you will be sorry.”

  Maureen opened her mouth to scream at him through the gag and tried to stand up, but was met by a punch
in the solar plexus that knocked her out. Megan began to cry.

  “Good little girl,” Ivan said. “I told you girls you would have an interesting time if you came on a double date.”

  “What next boss?” the man in the balaclava asked.

  “We take them to our training grounds and begin tomorrow.”

  “And the black?”

  “He is an illegal immigrant, a non person. To be cautious we will keep him prisoner for a few days to see that there is no difficulty. Then I will deal with him. He will not be missed.”

  The sound of Megan’s muffled crying through her gag became stronger.

  “Shut up” Ivan said slapping her and Megan whimpered and drew back into a corner in the van. The men got into the front seats of the van and the engine started.

  “Good nights work,” Ivan said. “We have the first two parts of my string. Now we just need to collect the next one.”

  “If you can find her.”

  “Don’t worry,” Ivan said confidently. “That is not a difficulty for me.”

  George took off his balaclava to reveal a smiling face.

  “I enjoyed that.”

  “No trouble now George. You stay with this project and stay away from your wife until I have the girls out of the country.”

  “No worry boss. Vengeance is best tasted cold, or so some playwright said. I’ll get my Mrs in a time of my choosing, as you suggested.”

  “Good” Ivan said, satisfied with the assurances.

  They drove in silence out to the site George had rented. They had decided to call it the training camp.

  They secured Adizua by handcuffs, by standing him on a table in one of the cottages and secured the handcuffs to a broad beam running across the roof. When Adizua tried to kick they tied his legs with some rope.

  “That should hold him.” Ivan said, “let us set the kennels up for the girls.”

  “It is all ready in the next cottage.” George said. “And I used builders insulation to soundproof.”

  “Good” Ivan said, “Show me.”

  George led the way. Like the first cottage, the second cottage looked innocuous and rural from the outside. Inside it consisted of two rooms and a kitchen. The kennels were in the large room and they and the chains were fixed with bolts to the floor.

  “Good work.” Ivan congratulated after an inspection and George beamed at the praise for his efforts.

  “The walls are thick” Ivan added. “No sound will get out and the insulation looks good. Crude but effective, you have done well.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Let’s get the girls.”

  George enjoyed bringing in the girls and stripping them. He used a Sharpe knife to cut their clothes off without untying them. Ivan checked the gags and made sure they could breathe around them. Then he fixed the chains to the legs and ankles of the girls. Finally, George cut the ropes on their wrists. The girls struggled and squirmed for a while and bumped into each other. They realized they were chained to the floor. The sounds of their panic and distress came out as muffled noise over their gags.

  “First beating George,” Ivan suggested, “and stay away from the good parts for the moment.”

  “Sure boss” George said and got the thick stick he’d left in a corner against the wall.

  Ivan watched for a while to make sure George did not overdo it and took the stick a few times to show George the best way to handle the girls.

  The girls were left sobbing; welts on their backsides, each in a kennel, and Ivan turned out the lights and locked the door.

  “Don’t go near Adizua,” he instructed.

  “That’s the black fellow.”

  “Yes, his name is Adizua. He cannot move or escape. Don’t feed him of give him water. Let him weaken. We take no chances. Just check he is still hanging there every few hours, after you give the girls their beating. And don’t over do it on the girls.”

  “Understood boss.”

  “We will bring your stepdaughter Ann shortly.”

  “If you find her.”

  “No worry George, I find her. You just do your job. We train the girls. No sex until next week. You understand the programme, little hard beatings at random times. Beat the soles of the feet, it is very sore and they won’t be able to walk. Each evening I come and we do big beating. I do the talking and the training. You never speak. Understood?”

  “I understand Ivan. You are the expert. Just tell me, and I do it.”

  “No sex this week. O.K.?”

  “Sure, I can wait.”

  “You stay here, you have enough food and coffee etc.?”

  “Sure, but bring a takeaway when you come. I like a Chinese. How do I feed the girls?”

  “You don’t. Leave water in a deep bowl. They can suck it through with the gag still on. Hungers make their resistance weak. Let them suffer; it is part of the training. They must become dependant. They must think they are shit and they must think I will save them. This we will do together.”

  “O.K.” George said, his voice not fully convinced.

  “You no worry,” Ivan said with a smile. “I see this work elsewhere. Once in Hungary they beat girls with hot chains. They soon come round. I don’t like hot chains, they leave marks. But be happy George. This will work just believe me. With this type of girls, who are used to violence in their lives, it works.”

  “Sure thing boss.”

  The following day Ivan waited with his van in Randon road. It had been easier than he had expected. He had struck up a conversation with Sara about Frank, and led the conversation to the meeting she and Frank had had with the girl and boy in town.

  “How did you know about that?” Sara had asked suspiciously.

  “Sonia mentioned you had met in town and in conversation mentioned this Frank and a school pupil. I was not nosey Sara, but as security, I just keep an eye out. You remember we had to throw that guy Frank out of the club the night you met him. I think he is trouble. I just want to know about him.”

  Sara had closed up, not liking the idea of Ivan prying into her private life. To close him off she had dismissively said.

  “That was a young man called Robbo O’Toole. It was private business, no need to concern yourself.”

  Ivan had dropped the conversation but noted the name. Then he had traced the address in the phone book. It was full of O’Tooles. But one called had elicited the response that Robbo was out. It sounded like his mother. The address fitted the neighbourhood of Frank’s school. Now Ivan waited.

  The house lay in a 'cul de sac' on Randon road. Ivan did not want to be conspicuous so he had parked a little down from the entrance to the 'cul de sac'. The van had darkened windows so no one looking into the van could see George in the back. George was restless. “Boss?” he asked, “Are you sure it was all right to leave those girls alone?”

  “You checked them. It is quiet and they are chained up. Yes?”

  “Yes boss. And the big black is still hanging out of the rafter. He has shit his pants and he looks in pain, but he won’t get out of those handcuffs.”

  “Good. Then relax. We collect your stepdaughter today. Then I have my first three girls. Then we get into the training. It will be over soon. I have been in contact with my friend in Paris. He will have premises for me. Soon we will make lots of money.”

  “Good” George said nervously. He was nervous but calm because of Ivan’s serenity and confidence. George was beginning to realize he was into something deep. But he did not care. If it worked he would reap the reward and he believed Ivan was the man to make it work.

  “Jasus,” George exclaimed.

  “Keep in the back, she must not see you.”

  Ann came down the Cul de sac and turned left. She was on her way to work. A young man walked along beside her. Frank’s friend Robbo.

  “Who is that?” George hissed.

  “No worry, stay down,” Ivan said and started the engine. The nearest bus route was two streets away and Ivan knew instinctively that
that must be their destination.

  Ivan passed them without a sideways glance.

  “Bitch. I have you now,” George hissed from the back of the van but the windows shielded him from view and he had enough sense to keep out of sight.

  “We must follow them and wait our opportunity,” Ivan said calmly. “We must not involve the boy. Too complicated. We take the girl when she is alone.”

  “O.K. by me.”

  Ivan waited a distance away until they got on the number fifty-six bus.

  “Where are they going?” He asked, himself more than expecting an answer from George.

  “Must be going to work.” George said.

  “So we follow.” Ivan said and started the engine.

  It was easy to follow the bus in the rush hour traffic although a few times they had to play catch up as the bus sped down dedicated bus lanes.

  “It will be easier for us if they go all they way to town.” Ivan said as he swallowed his frustration at trying to keep the bus in sight without being obvious by following it into bus lanes.

  At the terminus Robbo and Ann got off the bus and began to walk towards O’Connell Bridge and the Financial Services Centre. With skill Ivan kept them in sight while he manoeuvred through the rush hour traffic. He lost them momentarily in the Financial area as the couple cut across a pedestrian area. However Ivan caught sight of them again as he rounded a corner. He began to look for a place to park so that he could follow on foot and leave George to mind the van.

  Then Ann said something and Robbo kissed her on the nose and walked away. Ann went into a sandwich shop and Robbo disappeared on route to work. He had an early appointment and was concerned not to be late. He had agreed that Ann would get their lunch and they would meet up for lunch later in the day.

  “Seize the moment.” Ivan thought, feeling a wild excitement and he drove the van opposite the sandwich shop.

  Minutes later Ann came out with a bag containing the sandwiches she had bought.

  As she passed the van the rear opened and George stepped out with a harassed urgent look about him.