Allure (Mercenaries Book 1)

by Tony Lavely

  “Thanks. Hurry back!”

  After a look about, Beckie turned and went into the control room. She spent a few seconds watching Willie check controls, then headed to the stairs down. She about-faced and took the girl’s pistol from Willie’s belt. “Loaded?” she asked. He gave her an incredulous nod, then shared it with Elena as if to say: you brought her.

  “Derek, can you lead?” He nodded quickly and stepped onto the stairs. She stepped toward Elena. “I’m not gonna be much good with this thing…” She waved the pistol. “It’s mostly for show—or I could throw it at someone, I s’pose—so you and Derek are offense.” She turned to follow Derek down the stairs.

  As she did, Elena reminded her, “It’s loaded; don’t throw it at anyone.”

  At the foot of the stairs, Derek stopped Beckie and took the pistol, checking it over.

  “Let’s be clear on this. The safety’s on; see ‘ere?” He showed her. “And,” he said, doing clever things with it, “now there’s no round in the chamber, so if you decide to fire it instead of throwing it, you must pull the trigger twice.” He looked her in the eye. “Two times.”

  “Then, let’s take the safety off, if I can’t do it by mistake,” Beckie said. “Just in case. Like if both you and Elena are dead and they’re all after me.” She giggled, with a barely perceptible note of hysteria.

  Elena had come down the steps and was standing off to their side. “I don’t think it’ll be a problem. As you’ve seen, the armor’s pretty good; our only injury’s been to Wendy, not wearing any.”

  “We won’t discuss Sue’s arm, then.” Or, she thought, Kevin’s leg and Mr. Jamse’s head.

  “Well, yeah. Knives are something else.”

  “Yeah. Silent and painful.” She looked around; the pool of light from the opening above didn’t extend more than a couple of yards. “Let’s go find the girls. And see if there are any others, too, okay?”

  Derek started into the black corridor; Elena nodded and waved Beckie to follow the green light on Derek’s back.

  They had reached the anteroom to the Playpen when Willie reported two useful switches. “I have Lights, and Central Lock Override. Want me to hit them?”

  “Lights, yes.” Beckie told him. A quick look at Derek, then Elena. “Hold off on the locks. Let’s see if we can get any other girls out before we maybe have other people running around.” By then, the lights in the hallway were on; Beckie saw that she was standing in a puddle of blood, recently shed. She involuntarily made a little wrinkle of both nose and forehead, then walked over the ruined door into the room, empty of living people.

  “Sue?” she asked the radio, “Where are they?”

  “Door— left—” they heard faintly. “Bet— soon— …ter deep he—”

  The partial message, along with not knowing how deep in the rock Sue was, gave the three of them added impetus. Through the door on the left, they found two girls, one, about the same build as Beckie, with bandages around her breasts and arms; the other, a littler taller, wearing considerable blood along with one of the inimitable scanty outfits. They both seemed lost in the comfy chairs Sue must have dragged in for them.

  Big eyes didn’t begin to describe them, they both showed white all around, with one’s mouth a little round “O” of surprise. She had her hands up to ward off unpleasant visitors—Not much hope of any other kind, here, I guess—while the other one hugged herself tight, rocking back and forth on the cushion.

  “Hi,” Beckie said, very quietly, as Elena stepped around to make sure all else was clear. Beckie held her hand up; Derek took the hint and stepped back out.

  Beckie and Elena needed only a few moments to convince Sydney—bandage—and Ashley—blood—to leave with them. She called Derek in to introduce him, and then asked about other girls.

  They both spoke in voices filled with pain.

  “’Sides the ten of us in ‘The Cake,’” Sydney started, “there’s one all the time with the Boss.”

  “Yeah.” Ashley took over. “And about twenty-five others in the floors here.” She shifted her position a little. “Jas didn’ tell us very much, but he did say the cake was s’posed to hold thirty when it was full, and another thirty on this side.”

  “Who’s Jas?” Beckie asked.

  “Our keeper; guard, I guess,” Sydney told them. “He broke us in, too.” Her body shook.

  “Where is he?”

  “He brought us down here this morning, and left. Haven’t seen him, or anyone ‘cept the clients till you guys broke in.” She wiped her eyes. “And then Sue helped us, after— You!” recognizing Derek. “You! My God! You were there, and— and shot—”

  Derek nodded, his hand up.

  “But is there anyone else here?”

  “Bunch of people…” Sydney replied, “to keep things going, I guess. We don’t know how many.” Looking at Ashley. “They’re over here, too, I think.”

  “Okay,” Beckie said. “Let’s get you out of here. Elena, can you take them back and out to the copter, while Derek and I look for the other girls. I don’ think they’re ready to be alone with Dan and Freddie. And I think we already found the one with the Boss.”

  “Yeah. I’ll take them back. Willie?”

  “Lena?”

  “Willie, are the locks are marked to indicate what they secure? Who’s in there? Even if they’re staff or… worker?”

  “Maybe. Been lookin’ for the switch to turn off the flood, too—”

  “More important by far,” Beckie interjected.

  “Before we leave, Beckie.” Derek caught her attention, but Willie came back before she could answer him.

  “Looks like the locks control main areas. Like the kitchen, the garage, the cake—what’s that?—the dorm and the apartments.”

  “The dorm and the apartments; how many in each?”

  “Looks like,” a pause, “about thirty in the dorm, and…” After a longer wait, “Almost a hundred in the apartment section.”

  “Okay. Keep lookin’ for the flood, please. Derek?”

  “We’ve got two alive over ‘ere.”

  She turned around to look at Derek. “Okay, we’ll deal with them later, after we check for the girls, I think.” The bodies were all way still. “I guess they’re not moving?”

  “Sue gave them some painkiller, yeah? Like she did the girl I dropped the furniture on.”

  “Makes sense. Okay, Elena, shepherd your little flock up home. Oh, ask if Jean-Luc has any more stretchers, too.”

  They helped Sydney and Ashley up, and Elena led them slowly down the hall. At least, Beckie reflected, there was no fresh blood.

  “Don’t think there’s anything down ‘ere, Miss; we’ll need to go up one.” Derek pointed to the stairs beyond Elena and the girls.

  She gave him a sharp glance. “Okay.” They fell in behind.

  As they walked, he gave her a twisted grin. “I call all ladies of your caliber miss. If that’s a bother…” His smile was wide and unreserved.

  God, it’s nice to see a smile ‘round here! Her own smile came from her toes. Okay, to work. “Beckie would be great, Derek. I won’t look the wrong way then, maybe. Thanks.” She stepped around the girls, turned back at the next floor to enter the cross hallway.

  “Hey, Beckie!”

  “Yeah. Who’s this? Sorry, I’m not good with voices.”

  “Dan. We’ve got you and Derek on a monitor labeled Dorm1A. Looks like there oughta be five doors a side, no, five on one side, four on the other, offset.”

  They looked up and down the hall. “Yeah, that’s right.”

  “Hang on a second. What you got?”

  Willie’s voice announced, “Water’s still comin’ in from somewhere. The red indicators are for water in the space. Haven’t yet figured why the electricity and AC are still on, though. Hey, Sue’s back, with a guest, I guess. Soaked.”

  “Yeah. The photo guy,” Sue amplified. “He showed us some more storage. And he was gracious enough to carry some disks and d
rives for us. I’ll take him outside. Willie’s right; the water’s rising steadily, except in the machinery room. It’s coming up through the floor drains, little geysers, like.”

  “Good,” Beckie said. “Thanks. A great job. Ask Jean-Luc to stow the stuff, and tie photo guy to the body for now. I did see a body out there, right? Then, help getting people into the copter. Tell Jean-Luc to go when it’s full. Don’ know yet if we’ll need his buddy’s. Dan, can you see the door we’re at?”

  “Sure thing, Beckie. It’s marked one stroke nine. I’ve got a group of four monitors marked 1/9, and a red flag, too.”

  “Flooded?” with a little gasp.

  “No, that light is amber. I think this one means engaged since the next one, 1/8, is green and a girl’s in there, looks pretty much alone. But in 1/9, all the lights are off.”

  Beckie and Derek exchanged a glance, nodded and went to the door marked 1/8.

  “Got an unlock for 1/8, Dan?”

  “Maybe. Try this.”

  She pushed on the door handle; nothing happened. “Nope.”

  “Now?” Again, nothing. “Okay, looks like the override controls all the locks on one side. I’ll do the even ones.”

  The handle now turned smoothly and, thank heaven, quietly. They stepped in; Derek pulled the door to behind them. Beckie wondered if it would open from this side, too. She elected not to tempt fate; she signed to Derek to wedge his glove between the door and frame.

  “Hello?” Beckie called.

  “She heard you,” Dan reported as Beckie heard scuffling ahead and to the right. She could see two doors opening off the dimly lit hallway, the noise came from the farthest back. “She thought about the bathroom, but she’s back in the bed all huddled up against the headboard. Guess she’s not expecting visitors.”

  “Certainly not pleasant ones like us,” Derek said. “Beckie, probably you should go first. No one else there, right?”

  “Right!” Dan told them.

  Beckie swept her helmet off, pushed at her hair to give it some volume and edged along the wall. She allowed Derek to check the first room before passing that opening. At the door, she extended her bare hand into the doorway about shoulder high and waved.

  “Hello?” a little louder than before. Slowly, in the way she’d sometimes played with kids she’d babysat, she peeked around the doorframe, using both it and her hand to hide behind, then briefly, quickly, reveal her face. The picture she had of the room was certainly no less bizarre than the one the girl had of her. Not quite square, a gigantic bed—a whole team could sleep, or play there—stood against the wall opposite, two tables with dimly lit stone lamps, one on either side. The ceiling was covered in mirrored tiles; the walls, a more conventional textured paper. The bed’s headboard was mostly mirrored, too, she saw. Colors were strong and vibrant, tending toward reds.

  The girl was not quite cowering, likewise peeking from behind the sheets. Between peeks, Beckie swiped her hand across her forehead, to wipe the sweat away. She now felt the droplets at the nape of her neck and especially under the armor, running down her chest between her breasts. She rubbed again, then stepped into the room with her face still hidden behind her hands. By now, she was peeking obviously from between splayed fingers. Finally, she saw the first hesitant smile-like shape on the girl’s lips.

  “Hi.” Wondering what to say next, she started talking, “I’m Beckie, that’s Derek.” He stuck his head in as he passed by. She saw the girl’s eyes go wide as she shrank against the bed. “He’s just lookin’ round. He’s so not gonna bother you; we’re jus’ gonna help you get outta here. Okay?” The girl nodded, slowly at first. “Let’s get acquainted, Okay?”

  The next few minutes were spent on Erin’s history: Taken from Vancouver with her sister who was there, too, somewhere. She’d been there about two weeks, but not allowed out of the room “except for exercise we can’t get in there,” pointing to a screened area with work-out machines awaiting victims. When Beckie decried the lack of sunlight, Derek pointed to the bathroom. Along with the mirrors and sauna, tanning lights would supply a healthy amount of ultraviolet light for the room-bound tenant.

  By the time she finished, Erin was out of the bed, describing the outfit she wore. “Mainly it’s so the Boss or whoever can tell if you’re workin’ or not, I guess. When a client’s ready, you wear what they want, otherwise, you always wear one of these. I guess the Boss wanted… My boobs are a little small, I guess, so she had someone take out most of the fabric here,” picking at the net across her tiny bust, “so they’d be easier to see, I guess, and made it a lot shorter, too.” Beckie didn’t recall that any of the jumpers were longer than Erin’s.

  Unfortunately, except for her sister, she knew nothing of anyone else. Perhaps a half-dozen people came through her room on a daily basis, bringing meals, picking up laundry and trash, cleaning, repairing, medical, training. Except for one meal a day at the dining room, her departures from the room had so far been restricted to a walk to the staircase and down to a large open area where she could run and play tennis against an opponent disguised as a blank wall. “Oh, and a showing for new clients,” she added with a flush.

  “Okay, Derek. I’m torn between taking Erin with us, and leaving her here to collect when we have the floor done. I don’t want to leave her here and take the chance someone else’ll find her, but I don’t want to get her hurt, either, when we go in those other rooms.” She thumbed her mike. “Willie, Dan. How many of these rooms are green?”

  “Three on your floor. Two have nothing; looks like from the monitors they’re empty. Four with… guests, I guess they’d say, but only one of those is moving.” Dan’s voice broke off to allow Willie a word.

  “I think maybe I found it, but if you find your feet getting wet, let me know.” A forced laugh. “There’s room on the copter, Sue says, so get busy, And Karen reminds Derek there may be useful cylinders in his kit. If not, she’ll bring some down. Sleep inducing, she suggests.”

  “Ah, yes. I considered the stun grenades. Too noisy, I think. And I was weighing the difficulty of fighting our way in against that of dragging the unconscious bodies out… Assuming we’re not leaving anyone who’s alive?”

  “Right,” Beckie said firmly. “Jus’ ‘cause I’m willing— Never mind!” looking at Derek’s grin. “What are the cylinders Karen’s talking about?”

  “A soporific and anesthetic gas that induces sleep for a minimum of thirty minutes, up to several ‘ours.” He gave Erin an appraising look. “I’d guess she—or someone ‘er size—would be out on the high side - couple ‘ours, anyway, if she got a good whiff. The downside is we’ll ‘ave to carry ‘em out. No other side effects, generally.”

  “Dan, what are you and Freddie doing?”

  “’Bout to follow Elena; pick up the injuries where you guys found the girls.”

  “Oh. But that’ll take a while—”

  “No, Sue found a lift behind the sofa that comes right to the dining room. It’s a short trip and only the steps up to the hatch. You need us to come back?”

  “Yeah. I’m thinking we can get three girls without any problem, but the four with their clients, they’ll be unconscious. That’s gotta be eight bodies at least to lug out.”

  “From what we’ve seen, the girls, we oughta be able to take two each, right Freddie?” They heard a answering grunt. “Okay, we’re here and we’re gonna go get those guys on stretchers.”

  “Okay. Careful.” She shared a glance with Derek. “Lets’ take them, if Erin wants to go?”

  Erin’s enthusiasm seemed unbounded. The thought that she might be able to get out gave her the appearance of floating, she was so upbeat and happy. Derek nodded in agreement.

  “Okay, but quiet then, dead quiet!” Beckie said. “Which are the green rooms, Willie?”

  “Five and Two. Six and Seven are empty. Good luck!”

  The scene with Erin was repeated at door five and then door two, shortened by reduction of the history and current events p
ortions of the introductions. Beckie and Derek now had a clutch of three barely clad girls trailing them.

  “Okay, Willie. you said one with a client who was still up and about. Derek’s itching to try one of his little toys; we’ll do it there, so you can tell us if it works, and how long, with the AC.”

  “I could maybe turn it off—”

  “No!” Derek interjected. “Not yet. Let’s see if it interferes, first.”

  “Okay, Room one, then.”

  Beckie herded the flock into 1/2 while Derek drew the door of 1/1 open. She couldn’t see him place the cylinder, but watched the empty door until he came back out. They listened to Willie’s blow by blow account, ending in three minutes with the report that everyone he could see was lying on either the bed or floor.

  They were careful going in. Beckie had no qualms sending Erin in first to make sure that the anesthetic was dispersed; the girl was happy to be of assistance. They waited five minutes, then opened the door enough that she could slip in. Willie reported that she ran to the far side of the bedroom and back; Derek caught her as she raced through the door.

  Willie had told them what to expect from the monitors and the three girls, of course, had lived it, none less than six weeks save Erin. Beckie, however, wasn’t well prepared for the sight in the bedroom, not just because the bodies both looked really, truly, capital D dead. Derek took the lead here, lining the girls up out of the way, showing Beckie how to quickly check pulse, respiration and for obvious damage—more useful in combat venues, to be sure—pointing out they had more to do.

  Once Beckie had verified that the girl and man were both alive and not likely to revive to embarrass them, Erin took charge of the girls. The three of them got the sleeping girl to the corridor easily. As Derek and Beckie yanked the man’s arms, Dan and Freddie showed up.

  First, the girl went on a stretcher, then the four of them moved the man so his head extended into the corridor so they’d be able to find him. Plastic ties on the wrists and ankles completed his new ensemble.