by Tony Lavely
They were not abandoned after the doctor left; a man had come with her and he sat, watching from the dressing table. His presence was sufficient to dampen any conversation—or exploring—they might have considered. They each had had one visit to the facilities, but had no other way to mark time; it seemed to Beckie that hours must have passed before a man and a woman entered and dismissed their guard.
They recognized the bald man who’d led them to the room, but the woman was new, and obviously in charge. “The Doctor reports you both to be healthy,” she said, “sufficient to our needs.” She paused to look them up and down. “I am more interested in your arrival. Why were you riding out here?”
Beckie finally spoke into the silence. “We were out ridin’ and the water looked great, ‘specially with us all hot and sweaty, you know. It looked, like, really inviting.”
Several more moments of silence passed. “Okay.” Another pause while she again studied them. Then she stepped around the bed to address her companion while keeping the girls in view. “But if I accept that, Cäcilie will—” Beckie hoped the woman wouldn’t notice Melissa’s sudden start at the name. Or mine, maybe. Then, with no acknowledgement but the pause, she continued, “Cäcilie will want to understand why they had a professional radio in addition to their cell phones. That is what Jas said he destroyed out there?”
“It is.”
“Any reason to doubt his identification, since the thing is gone?”
“None, looking at the pieces.”
She turned back to Beckie. “So, if indeed you and your male companion were simply riding, and our pool did in fact entrance you sufficiently to strip and jump in, why the expensive radio?”
Beckie drew breath to attempt an answer without any idea where her explanation might end, but the Boss waved her hand in dismissal. “A rhetorical question, I assure you. I see you are familiar with Cäcilie.
“No, no,” she answered their protests, “spare me, please. I think the Padrone will be interested in meeting you. I trust you won’t mind.” She reached, grabbed the blankets from them, leaving them exposed. “While you are both too well developed for most of our clients’ tastes, I’m sure we can…” Her voice trailed off as she turned first Beckie, then Melissa, looking them all over. But then on her second, or perhaps third look at Beckie, she took Beckie’s breast in her hand. “Oh, yes…” She ignored Beckie’s expressions of disgust as she ran a fingertip along the small scar. “He will be very interested to meet you.”
Her glance made sure the man’s attention hadn’t strayed. Don’t know where it would go, Beckie whimpered silently. “We must be extraordinarily careful with these two. Do nothing which might affect the Padrone’s enjoyment.” She gave them another look. “However, they can begin to earn their keep. Wilem can make photo sets of them, don’t you think?” He nodded. “I thought so. Let’s take them there, now. Come along.” Her gesture encompassed the girls. She stopped at the doorway. “Isn’t it time to get Cinq and Six ready for their appointment?”
“It is,” the man agreed.
“Very well. Go and set them out as arranged. Jas should have arranged the scene and be watching. Afterward, come and collect these two.” She paused, musing. “Perhaps we should open up this level. Make these two Quinze and Seize?”
“We’d do well to close the stairwell.” The scant hope Beckie’d had died with his words, certain that the brief conversation with Wendy and Megan was known to him.
The woman nodded. “Of course. But tomorrow will be soon enough; these rooms will need cleaning first, anyway.” After another critical look Beckie felt more like meat than she had even in Nigel’s club. “Neuf is about their size; we’ll pick up outfits from her closet.” She led the girls out the hallway while the man used the interior stairwell.
The short hall led to the arch with the 5/6 notation. It opened on a circular space twenty or so feet in diameter, but it wasn’t empty. A spiral stair rose around an open shaft down which light flooded. She saw four more doors, equally spaced around the outside wall, and, Is this a landing going around? A glance up, there were two more landings above them, but the Boss yanked her arm before she could see anything else except the stone. Looks like it’s all been carved outta the rock!
The Boss dragged Beckie and Melissa past one archway to the next, with a 9/10. In Neuf and Dix’s room, she threw a brief top and skirt out of the closet for Beckie, and an equally brief dress with a net top for Melissa. Neither spoke aloud as they donned the garments, but exchanged looks as if to say: Yup, these fit, for all it matters. Lissa’s bust was visible through the lacy fabric.
‘Dressed,’ the Boss led them up the central spiral stairwell to the top level, then along a hallway, past wood paneled elevator doors in a carpeted lobby kind of space. A single panel door was set in the wall; she opened it by brushing her wrist over the door frame, then motioned them through.
Beckie glanced at Melissa. Her friend was as astonished as she. Nothing had prepared them for the size of the studio. Beckie tried to compare it to an riding ring; it was almost as big as a small dressage arena. She, Melissa and the Boss stood on a landing just large enough for the three of them; it provided entry to the room as well as access to a grid from which a wide variety of lighting instruments were hung. Suspended from the ceiling, the landing also formed the top step of an open spiral staircase. Sure do like these spiral stairs, Beckie mused. Twenty feet below them, furniture and backdrops of various sorts had been latticed across the floor. The basic color scheme—the only color scheme—was white, pale and stark, except the floor was off-white, a shade or two toward gray, with small pieces of blue tape scattered about, seemingly at random.
“Wilem!” The Boss waited a moment until one of the doors in the far wall opened and a tall man in casual clothes with dark short cropped hair, entered. “Got some models for you before you go back to work with Cinq and Six.”
“Ja, ja.” He walked through the disparate pieces of furniture—also in white—between his door and the foot of the open spiral staircase. “Well, come down, come down. Nothing will hurt you here.”
“That’s certainly true, Wilem. Nothing is to happen to this pair until after der führer meets them. Verstände?”
“Ja, verstände.”
It was clear to Beckie that the garments they wore did no good hiding them from Wilem as they made their way down to his level.
“Have no fear, ladies,” the Boss continued. “Wilem will make a few pictures of you. I don’t believe he will have the time for a video today; perhaps tomorrow.” To Wilem, she said, “Cyrus will be along to collect them shortly. Take what you can till then.” She left through the upper level door.
Wilem started the shoot by taking first Beckie, then Melissa, into a booth where he could quickly take a series of head shots followed by full-figure poses photoed from all sides. But instead of using a camera, he looked them up and down, front and back, appraising their faces and figures, determining, Beckie guessed, how he would actually photograph them. Maybe she or Melissa did have a ‘bad’ side after all, even if no one’d ever mentioned it. At least, she thought, he hasn’t said ‘take off your clothes.’ Yet.
The lights went out. Wilem said, “Sit! Sit where you are.” He lit his cigarette lighter for its faint illumination. A telephone rang in the room from which he had entered; he made his way carefully to the door. Beckie had almost gotten the nerve to speak to Melissa when he returned.
“We are to remain here. There is some difficulty, which does not concern us.” Before he lapsed into silence, he added, “Besides, the locks are electric, I think. Ah…” A small emergency light came on next to a door away from the office. “We can sit there.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Freed
BECKIE HAD REPLAYED THE DAY’S events over and again, trying to decide if anything should have warned her. Finally, she combed her fingers through her hair and thrust it down her back. She glanced at Melissa, who had her eyes closed, but her breathing wasn’
t regular enough for sleep. Beckie aimed a look at Wilem, a look she hoped would kill. She wondered about Wendy. Hope she’s ok. And Megan, too. She sure looked—
The door next to them moved; Beckie jumped. I know it moved! What’s— She looked over at Wilem, leaning against the wall, staring off. She moved, stretching to make her movement appear more natural.
The door moved again, infinitesimally. She sat, frozen, for nearly a minute as the door crept into the room. She looked harder than she’d ever looked into the gap. Dammit, I can’t see anything! But someone’s gotta be there. Don’t they?
She cast another look at Wilem, who had turned to look toward his office. Panicked, Beckie mouthed Stop! into the gap, then she jumped up and ran at Wilem. He was rising to stand when her shoulder caught him in the midriff. All the air in his lungs whooshed out over Beckie’s back as she landed atop him, holding him down. “Lissa, get the door!”
But the door swung open before Melissa could do anything. Uniformed people poured in.
Beckie heard her name from a couple of voices.
“Rebecca?” That’s Mr. Jamse! And Mike, I heard Mike, too.
Wilem made an abortive attempt to throw her off; she used her superior position to knee him between the legs. That should hold him till I get up.
She looked up into Derek’s smiling face, took his hand and allowed him to pull her up. Once she was on her feet, he dropped to put tie-wraps on Wilem’s wrists and ankles. “Thanks,” she said, more shakily than she liked. She pulled the scraps of her clothing back into place and then looked to see Jamse, Mike and Kevin along with Sue, who appeared to be guarding… That’s the bald guy… Short Stack? The one took us in… Has Sue got a gun on him? “We’ve been waitin’ for—”
“Ooww! Oh God, Lissa!” Mike’s cry cut Beckie off.
Melissa dropped her attempted hug. Mike fell to his knees as soon as she let go; she sank beside him.
Beckie dropped beside Melissa. “What’s the matter, Mike? Are you okay?” Fear in her voice made it shrill, almost a cry.
Sue and Derek were laughing; the others merely watched. “He’s got a bruised rib, maybe broken, in his back,” Sue explained once she calmed to be able to speak clearly. “Hugging should be restricted to his head or legs.”
Beckie, ashen and distraught beside her brother, took Mike’s face in her hands. She brushed her lips across his forehead. Kevin took her hand, helping her up again. On the way to stand, the bandage on his arm chafed her skin. “My God, Kevin, are all of you hurt!? Is anyone… dead?” She forced the word out.
“Injured: Sue and I, along with Mike. We’ll have scars; Mike won’t. The Wendy girl got hit pretty badly, but Doc says she’ll be okay. And her friend Kylie, we think she’ll be alright, too, though… Too much information,” he muttered. Beckie was staring at him. She looked over to Sue, then back to Melissa who was trying to help Mike to his feet without causing more pain.
“No, Kevin, not quite enough,” Beckie said through clenched teeth. “Wendy? And Kylie? I thought we saw Wendy and, Megan? We talked to them a little while ago.”
He pulled her to sit on one of the white chairs, kneeling beside her. “Must’ve been a little while after that, we ran into Wendy outside, and took her along to guide us. Ian wasn’t pleased,” he said with a grin.
“I can believe that, but wh—”
“Your brother, fine young man that he is, insisted Wendy wear the armor he’d put on. So, she led us around best she could, and we found her friend Kylie, and a couple other girls. Getting ready to go to the helicopter, Wendy gave Mike the armor back, and wouldn’t you know, running to get on board, she’s hit by a couple of shots.”
“Oh!” Her hand trembled as she covered her mouth. “But… but the doc says she’ll be ok?”
DeVeel nodded as he looked around to see Jamse taking stock of the group. “Com’on.” He gave her a hand up.
“Je suis arrivé,” came from his radio along with the sound of the helicopter.
“Roger that, do you copy?”
“Barely.”
“Any action?”
“Nothing,” Sam responded. “Karen and Willie just got off the copter. I’m gonna send her through the door, and Willie up to the hatch. I’m dug in here; it’ll be best for me to cover them.”
“Very well.”
Derek added, “Tell Karen there are two of the little girls—she won’t believe what they’re wearing—off to the left as she enters. I left ‘em behind a table, up against the wall. They shouldn’t panic once they see ‘er uniform’s like mine. Get ‘em out first. If Jean-Luc’s got a dark blanket, all their white skin won’t reflect the moonlight quite so much.”
“Excellent. Once they are safe, Karen should return and wait for us at the entry, rather than getting lost in this maze,” Jamse said.
During Jamse’s speech, Beckie left deVeel and went to Melissa and Mike. “Oh my God, Lissa! What have I gotten you guys into? All of us?” Deep in buyer’s remorse, she looked at Mike, still supporting himself on Melissa’s arm. “And what happened to you?” Damn, my voice sounds bad. Shaky.
Melissa took Beckie in a one-armed hug. “No one thought this’d be pretty. Mike just told me that Wendy gave him back the body armor just before he got shot, so he’s only got broken ribs instead of dead. We’re not gonna stop now. Let’s get those other girls out of here!”
Wow! I wonder… Could she mean that? Beckie took a deep breath and drew herself up. “Thanks, Lissa. You’re right; I can cry later on. But we both need to really thank Wendy, huh? If she’s ok.” She grinned, though she was sure it was dampened by Wendy’s injury. But look at him blushing. That’s the Mike I know! And Lissa… She turned Melissa back toward Mike.
Short Stack broke this silence. “You’ll probably want the computers. Through here.” He opened the next door away from Wilem’s office.
Beckie looked askance, but no one noticed.
She followed Jamse in. Four computers, big ones, filled the shelving on the wall.
“Susan, please bring our new guest in here,” Jamse said. Once Wilem was in place, Jamse tied him to a floor to ceiling conduit, using heavy cable. “You will be out of our way there.”
Sue and Mike looked over the computers while Beckie opened cabinet drawers. “Look at these,” she exclaimed, lifting three cases of shiny disks. “DVD’s, looks like.”
“And unless there’s a disk farm somewhere else?” Sue’s knife peeked toward Wilem, who instantly shook his head. “Well, then, we’ll take the drives out of these; be a lot more portable.”
“If there’s time, we can send someone back,” Kevin said, handing her a tool kit from the shelves beyond Beckie’s trove.
“Don’t forget the cabinet,” the bald man reminded them.
“What’s that mean? And why are you here, anyway?” Beckie said, facing first the man, and then Kevin.
“It’s a long story,” Kevin replied.
The man snorted. “Not really so long,” he said, running his hand over his scalp. “I thought helping your friends was a better option than having them hack my hand off and then leaving me to my just reward.”
Kevin laughed. “That’s about the size of it. And so far, he’s not gone back on his word.”
“Not much chance,” Short Stack said, with a sardonic twist to his lips.
“Well, okay then,” Beckie said, shifting the DVD cases on her hip. “What about the cabinet?”
“Records and such. Here…” He waved to encompass the computers and material on the shelves. “This stuff has to do with the web sites. The other, is for…”
“For the brothel?” Kevin finished.
Short Stack nodded.
Beckie set the DVD cases next to the computers. “Show me.”
“Beckie, take this.” Sue handed her the dagger she’d been using.
“As if!” both Beckie and the man said together, then looked at each other and laughed. Like I know what to do with it! He better not try anything!
Bec
kie rifled through the contents of the cabinet he’d pointed out; she started to make a pile on a chair next to it. With the top drawer cleaned out, she looked at the stack. “Likely be running, yeah?” She wriggled out of the skirt, used the knife to open a seam making it a wrap instead of a skirt. I can carry this stuff, like, in a sling. She laid the cloth over the top of the cabinet and added the stack of papers. She wrapped the ends over and tied them, making a bundle less likely to fall apart.
The man looked at her with wonder, and continued to watch as she began to empty the second drawer, trying to add these to the stack. He gently touched her wrist. She jumped and waved the knife at him. He’ll get back, even if I don’t know…
He released her and shied away. “Hey, it’s ok,” he said and then removed his tee shirt. Together, they used it to package the rest of the papers and materials.
The others trooped in with packs full of disks and hard drives. The sight of him bare-chested and Beckie bare waist down caused consternation, but without concern Beckie said, “Not now,” and handed the blade back to Sue. “Thanks. It was helpful.” She picked up the first bundle, nudged the man to collect his, and waited to know where to go.
They had no difficulty until they reached the intersection of four hallways at the top of four flights of stairs. Jamse took stock of the group. Beckie looked him in the eye. He’s gonna get rid of us.
“Susan, you and Kevin take Rebecca, Melissa and Michael to the helicopter.”
This order brought instant rebellion, not only from the teens, who wanted to see the effort through, but from both Sue and Kevin, who told Jamse they believed their contributions would make breaching the upper level command center less hazardous. I don’t see any way we can change his mind, Beckie mused. I wonder if Sue and Kevin can.
“Jean-Luc, what’s your load limit?” Kevin radioed.