by D. E. Daum
“You bitch!” he screamed, “You’re dead! You hear me? You’re dead!”
After Jane cuffed his right ankle and snapped the other side of the cuff to a vertical chrome bar on the footboard she taunted, “It doesn’t seem like you’re in much of a position to carry out your threat, big fella.”
Mariam apologized, “Sorry I took so long. We took our clothes off out there in the other room. I had to look for my purse, and it was sort of hidden. Yours too.”
“Forget it, better late than never.”
Hamadi turned as much as his restraints allowed and snarled at Mariam, “And you’re dead too. I’m going to make you watch as Ali takes her apart piece by piece.”
Mariam snickered, “Yeah well, Ali isn’t here is he? Therefore, we are going to have a little fun with you. If he happens to show up, we’ll have some fun with him too. You know, we’re fun time girls, don’t you, Yosef?” She clamped a second set of handcuffs on his ankle. “But first we need to make sure you are very cooperative and won’t try to leave us before we’re finished having fun.” Mariam threw another set of cuffs to Jane, and she came around and fastened his left hand to another bar on the headboard. “You want to cooperate, don’t you, Yosef?”
“You wait,” screamed Yosef. “When Ali gets here he will skin you alive. He will cut off your beautiful tits and stick a knife up your cunt! He will cut your tongue out and gouge your eyes out, after lighting your hair on fire. Ali is a true sadist.”
“Guess what, Yosef. I’m a sadist too,” teased Jane, fastening his left ankle to the footboard so that he was spread-eagle and buck-naked. “You know what this is, Yosef?”
Yosef looked at the twenty-four inch piece of wire with a wooden handle on each end. For the first time, fear appeared in his fiery eyes. “You want to kill me?”
“No, Yosef, we want information. This garrote is not to strangle you. I have another purpose in mind. First let me ask the question, and if you answer it and a few others, I won’t have to take your cucumber sized penis as a souvenir.” Jane slipped the garrote around Yosef’s now flaccid organ, which had shrunken to the size of an average man’s erection.
Yosef was shaking and moving side to side as best as he could to loosen the garrote. “What do you want to know? Please don’t do it. I’ll tell you anything.”
“That’s more like it,” Jane replied, a smug smile spread across her lips, “Where is the bomb?”
“Bomb? What are you talking about? You’re crazy, lady, talking about bombs, wanting to cut off my manhood.”
“You’ve got to look at this from a female point of view, Yosef. To you, it’s your manhood, to us, it’s a grand oversized symbol of our suppression.” Jane tightened the garrote.
“Oh, I know, the nuclear bomb. Yes, now I know what you mean. I will tell you. The bomb is –”
An explosion shattered the air, while a tiny hole abruptly appeared in Yosef’s forehead. Blood, brain, and bone matter burst from the exit wound over the headboard and wall, and onto Jane and Mariam, before Yosef said another word.
“Don’t move or you’re dead,” A high-pitched male voice announced from behind them.
Chapter 5
Shit! So close. “You must be Ali,” said Jane, “Your deceased friend here was telling us what a fun fellow you are. A prized graduate of The House of Horrors, from what he said. I don’t suppose you’d like to fuck?” She slowly turned around to face their captor and looked him over good. Ali was another average-looking Arab type, black hair, brown eyes, average height, and average in every way, except his face was disfigured; cratered from severe teenaged acne.
Realizing he was in charge, Ali smiled, revealing the worst set of teeth Jane had ever seen, and she had been all over the first, second, and third worlds. They were malformed and rotten, black with decay. They were so bad that Jane was sure that Ali’s breath was probably one of his forms of torture. “On second thought, show me the rack.”
“Very funny. I wouldn’t fuck you, if you were willing. That’s what got poor Yosef in trouble,” Ali replied. His voice, in addition to being high, had a lisp, Jane noticed. “I never was a fan of carnal pleasures. Instead I concentrated on the pleasure of pain and savagery, which both of you will get to experience firsthand.”
“It looks like we’re looking at an Arab Freddie Krueger.” Mariam quipped.
Ali motioned toward the bed with the gun. “You won’t be laughing long. You, Blondie, take those cuffs off Yosef and push him onto the floor, then put the cuffs on your partner there. Truss her up like you did Yosef.”
Jane did as she was told, unhooking the deceased Yosef and pushing him to the floor. Where can Haman be? He could make mincemeat out of this ugly pipsqueak. After she pushed Yosef off the bed to the floor, Ali took his gun and smacked Mariam across the face with it, knocking her unconscious. Jane started to make a move, but Ali quickly swung his gun directly on her.
Casting a hideous smile, Ali warned, “Easy now, I’d hate to kill you fun girls outright, depriving me of all the fun I have planned. As it is, I’m a little disappointed that I don’t get to cut the clothes off each of you. What are you girls, anyway? Prostitutes? Never mind, she’ll be out a while, so you need to sit in that chair.” He pointed at an armchair against the wall.
* * * *
Kelly was with the Colonel and Hayden Crenshaw, when he felt something was wrong. “Starbird and Mariam are in danger,” he blurted.
“How do you know?” Dickens asked with a troubled frown on his face.
“Sometimes I can just sense things. It’s happened before.”
“Where are they?” inquired Hayden.
Kelly rose and began pacing. “We had a hunch about the New York, New York Hotel, so Jane and Mariam went over there to snoop around. They took Haman with them. He was supposed to call me periodically, but I haven’t heard from him.”
The Colonel asked, “How long ago did they leave?”
“I’m not sure, an hour and a half maybe.”
Hayden was genuinely annoyed. “We don’t have time for freelance operations! Why didn’t you come to us with your suspicions?”
The Colonel interrupted, “Hay, this is no time to start fighting among ourselves. Apparently, they were on to something, and we need to beat it over there to see what they ran into. This could be the break we’ve been looking for.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Crenshaw,” Kelly didn’t know what he was apologizing for, but he thought it might smooth things over. “It was just a spur of the moment thing. The girls were supposed to report back if they found anything, then we’d report it to control.”
“The Colonel’s right. Forget about it. Saleem, take Fawler, Santani, and Heggler with you. I need to stay here. I’ve got Jimmy working on the vehicles they may have used to transport the bomb here, so I need to stick around.”
“If you don’t mind, may I come along?” the Colonel asked Kelly.
“The more the merrier,” Kelly replied.
* * * *
Ali the psychopath tied Jane securely to the chair with duct tape—her arms to the chair arms and around her chest to the back of the chair. He stretched tape tightly over her mouth to keep her from screaming, but didn’t blindfold her, apparently, because he wanted her to be terrorized by watching as he performed his intended handiwork. Hell, ripping all this duct tape from my bare skin would be torture in itself. She was waiting for him to try to tape her legs to the chair legs, but he didn’t bother. Bad move. She was prepared to use her feet on him if he got in range.
Unexpectedly, she received a reprieve when Mariam groaned and Ali went to her side.
“Well, my little pet. Are you prepared for a most painful death?” Ali said, whispering into Mariam’s ear shortly after she had awakened.
Mariam spit in his face. “You foul monster, your breath is the worse thing you could do to us. I’ll bet it would fail emissions–” Ali backhanded her, knocking her out for a second time
Ali ripped the tape off Jane’s m
outh and said, “Since your friend’s unconscious again, it’s your turn. I like your little garrote idea. I was going to try it on her first, but you will do. I am going to garrote your breasts. First, your right one, then your left.”
“That’s what you think. You better knock me out first, you sick fuck, or you’re a dead man.” Ali, who was standing behind Jane, slapped her across her right ear. She almost passed out and there was a ringing in her ear, then she felt a liquid running down her neck, onto her shoulder and down her… The bastard broke my eardrum. He’s going to pay for that.
* * * *
They’d gone to the MGM Grand Casino and were going outside when Kelly jerked upright. “They are helpless and being tortured. Hurry!” Once outside Kelly realized he had made a mistake, for there were no pedestrian crossings, only pedestrian bridges to all four corners. “Hurry! Back inside. We have to go up there,” pointing at the bridge.
Kelly and company had located the pedestrian bridge on a mezzanine above the casino rotunda. After a short trip up an escalator, they were crossing the bridge to the New York, New York when Kelly turned pale and cried, “The one who has them is a SADIST!” The five of them ran the rest of the way into New York, New York and down the fixed stairs, since customers occupied the escalator.
* * * *
“It’s not nice to mess around with Mr. Misery,” Ali whispered sadistically.
“Is that what you call yourself? Come to think of it, you are a miserable fuck,” she snarled back, vehemently.
He was about to strike her again, but Mariam moaned. “Ah ha,” Ali said, “your friend is back with us. Looks like you get a short reprieve. You might enjoy watching what I have planned for you.” He laughed sardonically. “Then again, you may not.”
Ali cackled insanely and returned to Mariam. She was woozy, barely conscious. Ali straddled her with the garrote in his hand and slipped it around her left breast. He chose it so Jane could see what he was doing. There would be nothing to this. Garrotes have been known to decapitate. Breasts were nothing more than a mass of flesh. It would be off in seconds. He started to squeeze and Mariam screamed.
* * * *
They had been showing pictures of Jane and Mariam, whom everyone seemed to remember, though not where they went, and Hamadi’s crew, whom nobody remembered, until a desk clerk told them that a guy looking like Hamadi had checked into a penthouse suite in the Empire Tower. The Colonel asked which room that was, and the clerk was looking it up when Kelly had another reaction and said, “I’m going. Mariam’s hurt.”
“Just a second, until we get what room they’re in.”
“I know the room.” Kelly stalked off toward the elevators.
“Fawler, go with him,” Dickens snapped. When he found out what suite Hamadi was in, he asked if Hamadi had any other rooms. “Yes,” the clerk said, Room 867.” Immediately, he, Heggler and Santani took off.
When Kelly got out of the elevator, he heard some muffled banging coming from a door beside the elevator bank. A janitor’s closet Kelly thought. He tried the door but it was locked. He didn’t have time to run the janitor down. He took out his silenced Sig Sauer and blew the doorknob off. Fawler watched the entrance and kept anybody drawn by the gunshot away. Kelly opened the door. Inside was Haman, tied up and gagged.
* * * *
Jane yelled, “Ali.” When she got his attention, she said, “If you cut her breast off, you may as well slit her throat, because she would die almost as fast from blood loss. Then you would have only me to torture.” She didn’t know if it was true, but it sounded good.
Ali turned and looked at her. “I don’t believe you.”
“Go ahead, do it then. You’ll see.”
“How about I do it to you, instead?” Ali grinned.
“Go ahead. Then I’ll have a painless death, if you think you can even do it. Like I said, you better kill me or knock me out, or you’re a dead man.”
Ali couldn’t resist a challenge like that.
* * * *
Once Kelly untied Haman, he said, “The women, they’re in 2121. I was waiting just down the hall in case they needed me. The next thing I remember is being locked in this closet.” Kelly’s satellite phone rang. It was Colonel Dickens. “They’re in Room 2121. Do you think you and Fawler can handle it, if I send up Santani?”
“Sure. We found Haman, so we have him as well. What are you going to do?”
“Is he all right? What happened to him?” asked the Colonel his voice shaky with concern.
“It appears he was ambushed. I think someone snuck up on him and clubbed him, but he seems to be okay now. You didn’t answer me. What are you and Heggler going to do?”
“It seems Hamadi was checked into another room, 867, so we’re going to check it out for clues or better yet, terrorists.”
“For God’s sake be careful. Watch out for booby traps.”
“OK, I’ll check back with you later. Right now I’m going to call Hayden and update him.”
“Santani is on his way up to give us a hand, but we can’t wait any longer. Let’s go, time to go get our girls. Ready?” They nodded, and Kelly led them to the door of 2121. Standing behind the doorjamb, Kelly tried the doorknob. As expected, it was locked.
A bone chilling woman’s scream emitted from the suite.
Kelly looked at his offensive tackle-sized bodyguard and nodded to him. Haman nodded back and blitzed the door, breaking it in three places as Haman met less resistance than expected, lost his balance, and tumbled to the floor.
They all heard the woman’s scream continuing as Kelly and Fawler rushed in. The scream came from the right, so they carefully headed that way. Despite the continuing screams, the ominous feeling Kelly experienced had dissipated. The scream came again, and they rushed to the bedroom door. On the bed, spread-eagle without a stitch of clothes, but covered in a spray of blood, lay his wife. It was she who had had been screaming. She wasn’t even looking at them. Instead, her eyes were trained on the nearby floor. Kelly scooted around the bed, holding his firearm out, when he saw Jane lying on the floor shaking, as if she was going into shock. Maybe she was. Jane’s left breast was partially severed, and she was taped to what was left of a chair. Her forehead was badly bruised and bloody, but she looked to be in good shape compared to the corpse lying next to her.
Ali’s right arm was ripped open as if by a shark, but that was nothing. His face was obliterated, a mass of pulp. How the hell did she manage this?
Haman put a blanket over Mariam and started to unlock the handcuffs when Santani came to the doorway. “Whew,” he said when he saw the corpse of the women’s assailant. “Who are these guys?”
“Guys? What do you mean, guys?” Kelly asked.
Fawler pointed. “There’s a guy with a bullet hole in his head over here. He’s been dead long enough for the blood to coagulate. The guy that Starbird killed is fresh meat, though.”
Kelly was putting a blanket over Jane. He asked Santani to get a medivac and then call the hospital to tell them they had two traumatized patients on the way, one of whom needed to have her breast stitched up. Santani obliged. Kelly kissed Jane on the lips. Her lips were cold. “Can you speak?” he asked.
“What?” she said loudly. “The motherfucker broke my eardrum.”
Kelly’s lips formed a wide grin. She’ll make it. His admiration for Jane grew greater every day. “How did you do this?” Kelly marveled.
“You know, I don’t really know. I have to think about it. Sorry, I killed the cocksucker before he could be interrogated, but it was him or me.”
Mariam, who had calmed down some, signaled Kelly to come over. “I know how she did it,” she whispered. “I saw! It was awful. No, it was wonderful. That woman is amazing! She killed that sicko, without the use of her hands or feet. She saved us. I owe her my life.”
The medics arrived and while they attended to the women, Kelly called the Colonel to bring him up to date and learn what they found in Hamadi’s room. No answer. They st
arted to wheel the girls out of the room. Kelly caught them to make sure they had cushioned Jane’s breast. They had and showed him. He tried to get the Colonel again. Nothing!
“Santani, you stay here and talk to the local cops. Haman and Fawler, let’s go.”
Chapter 6
Dickens knew he should have gone up with the others, but he just couldn’t do it. He thought he had lost Jane in Argentina and was relieved when her resourcefulness got her out of that jam. That was only thirty-six hours ago. He couldn’t face the possibility of losing her again, so soon. Besides, this task needed to be done.