Detour Paris: Complete Series (Detour Paris Series Book 4)

by Dancer, Jack

  Nanette pulls me to her and whispers, "Stand here and keep quiet."

  Whoever’s running from both ends has arrived and is now conferring. I don't know how many men are out there, but it sounds like a lot from all the boots.

  "What're they saying?” I whisper.

  "They're speaking Basque," she says.

  "Basque?"

  "Yeah, I wonder why all these Basques are here?"

  "Oh, yeah. Dick told me that Drusilla's Terra Lliure II group is really an umbrella group for several others, including the Basques."

  "That explains it."

  "What're they saying?" I ask again.

  "They're wondering why the baton is where it is. Someone’s saying the baton locked the men inside the room. Someone else is asking why it's so quiet in there and what's that buzzing sound,” she says.

  "Oh, no."

  "They're going to open the door and rush in."

  "Oh, Jesus."

  "Bat, bi, hiru,” one of the men counts and the door slams against the back wall with a bang and the men rush through.

  Someone screams, "Jainkoaren ama Holy.” (Holy mother of God.)

  Someone else, "Zer arraio?” (What the hell?)

  Someone else, "Zein da bere begietan gaizki?" (What's wrong with their eyes?)

  Someone else, "Daramat itsutu Jainkoak!” (They've been blinded by God!)

  Then the screaming starts up all over again, and men are scrambling out of the room, dropping their weapons, and tearing at their eyes. Hornets chase them down the corridor in both directions, diving like buzzing Kamikazes, shooting their acid spray. Men are falling onto the floor writhing in agony. The screaming is horrendous.

  We flip our night-vision goggles down and look at each other. Reading expressions through this getup is impossible.

  “This is horrible, Tucker,” she says.

  “I know. It's worse than I'd imagined. I feel awful.”

  “Just remember the flayed girl in the photo,” she says.

  “Yeah, but these guys didn't do that.”

  “Maybe, but they're protecting the one who did, so they're just as bad.”

  Everything outside has gone quiet now except for the faint sound of buzzing insects.

  “They're all dead aren't they?” she says.

  “I dunno, prob'ly.”

  “I think we should wait here for a while before we go out, don't you?”

  Before I could answer, more boots are coming down the corridor. You can hear them scream and holler as they come across the bodies strewn over the floor. Then, the buzzing starts up again, and more screaming. Weapons begin firing wildly, bullets ricocheting all over. The tapestry covering our hideaway bounces inward catching rounds, holes appearing like Swiss cheese. We drop back into the room. Nanette grabs my arm and pulls me around. Now I can see that this is not a room, but another corridor leading to another staircase going down.

  “Come with me, Tucker. This is a secret tunnel that'll take us to the other side of the castle.”

  We go down, and the floor turns to dirt; the air is musty, definitely a tunnel, narrowing ahead where rats as big as cats scurry across the floor. Pitch black dark sucks us into it like a well. Thank God for these night-vision goggles. The tunnel ends at another set of stairs leading up. We stop.

  “My throat's burning, I've got to take a swig of Gator Aid,” I say.

  “Me too,” she says.

  We retrieve our Gator Aids and plop down on the steps and I take out a small light from my backpack so we can remove the night-vision goggles.

  “What's up the stairs?” I ask.

  “Courtyard.”

  "Zer zain dago hemen, Señor," (What awaits you is here, Señor.) comes a voice along with a man stepping out from behind the staircase and up behind Nanette shoving a rifle into her back. "Zure burua eskuak, Señora, eta jaregin fusi, Señor." (Hands on your head, Señora, and drop the rifle, Señor.) I do.

  "Askatzeko gurekin. Bat mila euro ordaindu behar dut, eta Zure oilarra zurrupatu dut." (Release us. I'll pay a thousand Euros, and I'll suck your cock.), Nanette says.

  "Ados" (okay), the soldier says, "Buelta inguruan eta emadazu dirua lehen." (Turn around and give me the money first.)

  Nanette turns to face the man and reaches into her back pocket retrieving a wallet. She picks through the wallet but the man snatches it from her.

  "Mila baino gehiago. Dena hartuko dut. Orain, zure belaunak puta.” (More than a thousand. I'll take everything. Now, on your knees, bitch.)

  To my amazement, Nanette drops to her knees in front of the man and begins unbuckling his belt and unzipping his fly. She pulls his trousers down, and he springs forth.

  "Oh my, zer eder bat oilar,” (Oh my, what a beautiful cock,) she says admiringly and taking it into her hand she squeezes and pulls. She shoots a side glance at me and winks, then turns and takes him into her mouth. At the same time, her hand goes to a side pocket, and she slips out a small knife into her palm. The man moans and quickly closes his eyes then opens them, afraid that I'll take advantage.

  Nanette continues working on the man until he's just about to lose his mind. She looks every bit like she's enjoying herself and watching her I'm beginning to come around myself. When she has the man at the point that he's losing himself, she suddenly bites down hard and thrashes her head side to side. Blood spews everywhere and the man tries to pull away, but she won't let go and her hand, with the shiny blade of the knife, pointing upwards from her fist, flies up to his back stabbing and stabbing him in the kidneys.

  He throws his rifle and grabs her by the hair, but she keeps on thrashing and stabbing until he falls backward and abandons that part of him still in her mouth. She jumps up and spits out the bloody remains onto the man's thrashing body then wipes the blade on her trousers and slips it back into her pocket as easy as you please. Her mouth a bloody maw, she steps over to the rifle, picks it up and pressing the muzzle against the man's head she pulls the trigger and watches as the head explodes like a watermelon thrown to the stone floor.

  She then turns to me and says, "Men, you're all so fucking easy, so fucking stupid," and throws the rifle to the ground. "Give me your handkerchief, Tucker, and some water."

  I cannot believe what I've just witnessed. I'm stunned, but not enough to delay pulling out my handkerchief and handing it over, along with my bottle of GatorAid.

  "This'll have to do. I don't have water."

  She takes it and washes her mouth and face until the blood is completely gone, spitting all the while. Something creeps over me. I don't know if it's fear or respect or both, but this woman has taken on whole new dimensions in my mind, and I don't think I’ll ever stick my dick into her mouth again even if she had a gun to my head.

  "Jesus, Nanette. I can't believe you just did what you did," I say astonished.

  "Did it turn you on, Tucker?"

  "Are you kidding? It was the most horrible thing I've ever witnessed. Scared the shit outta me."

  "But did it turn you on?" she repeats.

  This woman's out of her fucking mind!

  "Up until you turn into a pit bull, yeah, I dunno . . ."

  "Just remember, Tucker, it might be fun to stick your dick into someone's mouth, but you shouldn't forget that it's still a food processor."

  “Nanette, my dick has crawled so far up inside me right now; I doubt it’ll ever come out again, much less wander into anyone’s mouth.”

  “Just don’t piss a girl off, Tucker.”

  I’m speechless watching her put herself back together until she looks like nothing happened.

  “Are you ready?” she says.

  “Sup'ose we're going up? And, where will we be again?”

  “We’ll be in the courtyard next to the west wall. From there we’ll proceed south to the living quarters,” she says.

  “And that’s where we’ll find Drusilla?”

  “Most likely.”

  Holy shit. I still can’t get over it and I’m having a hard time ca
rrying on here. Like nothing happened. Damn, was that an awful sight? How can she have done that and then wash up and walk away like it was nothing? This woman’s a cold-blooded killer. I’ve got to get a hold of myself here or I might end up her next victim. Jesus, maybe I oughta shoot her before it’s too late.

  “What about Monica. She's located near there too, right?” I ask with as much normality as I can muster.

  “Yes. All of those quarters are located along the south wall.”

  “Guess we can go up and see what's waiting for us,” I say.

  These people are all nuts. I got to get my ass outta here and in one piece. Fuck!

  The stairs take us to a door that opens out of the west wall and onto the courtyard. Cracking the door open, a rush of sunlight nearly blinds us both. I’d completely lost track of time. I check my watch, and it's already approaching 9:00 am.

  “I need a moment,” I tell Nanette and pull out my cell phone and send four text messages - one to Dick telling him to have Tiber and Drusus ready. They'll drive the IndyCat car to the Devil's Bridge to retrieve the lottery ticket. They won't know it's the lottery ticket, necessarily, and besides; they're forbidden to open the contents. They'll receive via text the latitude and longitude coordinates for the pickup location and the photo. They'll enter those coordinates into the car's GPS system and follow the directions. The IndyCat car has been fitted with video cameras to keep the boys under constant surveillance. One wrong move and Dick's men will intercept them, and they'll be back in Dick's custody. They know this. I don't think they'll want to go back to the Bagdad.

  The other text messages I send are to Claudia and Jose Fernandez instructing them to go to the bank, and to the safe-deposit boxes where each will retrieve a cell phone. They'll find a code number located in the note's field of their cell - either the latitude or longitude coordinates. But they won't know what the numbers mean. They are to each text their code number to another phone number - the one in the boys' possession - once they receive a "go” text from me.

  Lastly, I send a text message to Cese, instructing him to have his men ready to enter the castle upon my "go” text to him. If he doesn’t receive a "go” text from me, he'll know something went wrong, and they're to make their entry at 3:00 PM. He is to have the French police on the west tunnel exits and the Spanish police guarding the others. His team will enter the castle compound by helicopter, landing in the courtyard. I want to send a text message to someone telling them that if I’m found dead and without a dick to look for Nanette. But who? Pat? He’s probably the only one who’d believe me.

  “Okay, everything's set. Let's go get Monica,” I say.

  God, just looking at her freaks me out now.

  We see nothing outside the door and ease our way out closing the door behind us, and as soon as we do a screaming erupts from a nearby tree startling the hell out of us and we both jump for cover into a space between the castle's inner and outer walls.

  “Shit,” Nanette says, "I forgot about the murder tree.”

  “The murder tree? What the hell is that?”

  “A murder of crows resides in the tree continuously because Drusilla throws meat into it. The meat gets caught in the tree limbs and the crows feast. There's so much meat up there sometimes, the tree literally bleeds. It's known as the murder tree.”

  A voice from behind startles us with, "Freeze, both of you and drop your weapons.” We comply. "Now turn around slowly.”

  Pau is standing there with a pistol pointed at us.

  “Always wanted to say that," she laughs, "Well, if it isn't Tucker and Nanette. I knew you'd be coming up here, Tucker, but Nanette? What are you doing here? Have you teamed up with Tucker? Are you now against me? Are you here to kill me, Nanette?”

  "Of course, I'm not here to kill you honey. We're simply here to rescue Monica,” she says .

  “But Tucker has an agreement with mother to trade the lottery ticket for Monica. Is that still on? Or, are you intending to take Monica without giving her the ticket?”

  “You mother will get the ticket, Pau,” I say taking a step toward her. She quickly steps back, raising the pistol, frightened I'm going to jump her. Nanette steps toward her too, and she jumps back another step aiming the pistol at Nanette.

  "Stop right there! I have P.M.S. and a gun. You wanna take another step? Huh?" she says.

  "We're not here to hurt you, Pau. We just wanted to see that Monica hasn’t been harmed. I didn't want any surprises with your mother; that's why we're early,” I say as calmly as I can, fighting the urge to throttle her.

  “Well, that's a surprise, isn't it?” says a sarcastic Pau.

  When Nanette starts taking her clothes off Pau and I stand there dumbfounded. Her jacket comes off she's in a corset and when the pants and boots come off she's standing in front of us on a pair of the longest legs wrapped in fish-net stockings rising out of a pair of four-inch spiked bordello boots. She pulls a mask out of her backpack and puts it on. Then pulls out a studded dog collar with a long leash attached and throws the collar to Pau who drops her pistol to catch it while Nanette holds onto the end of the leash.

  “Put it on, Submissive,” she orders.

  “Yes, Madame,” she says and incredibly, Pau takes the collar and buckles it around her neck. Nanette then reaches into the backpack pulling out a riding crop.

  Holy shit. Never saw that coming.

  “Bend over, Submissive.”

  Pau turns her back to Nanette, bends over, and reaches for her ankles. Nanette gives her a good crack across her backside and Pau winces, but no more.

  “You've been bad, Submissive.”

  “Yes, Madame, I have. Please give me another.” And Nanette cracks her again.

  I can't believe what I'm seeing here! These people are nuttier than squirrel shit.

  “Up Submissive,” Nanette orders and Pau stands and turns facing her.

  “Now get down on all fours and bark,” Nanette orders and Pau again turns her back to Nanette and goes down on her hands and knees and begins barking, then howling. Nanette looks over and smiles and I nearly bust out laughing, but I don't. I just smile and shake my head in utter disbelief.

  sixty-six

  09:30 Hours, Friday, 12 September.

  Castello Llivia.

  I look over to Nanette, distraught with all the noise Pau's making and zip my lips to have her shut her up.

  “That's enough Submissive,” Nanette orders.

  As I'm leaning to the ground to pick up the weapons a familiar voice behind us says, "That's enough, is right. Stand where you are.”

  I look up, and it's Drusilla with a pistol.

  Great.

  “Get up, Julia, and remove that disgusting thing from around your neck,” she orders.

  Pau jumps to her feet, unbuckles the collar and throwing it to the ground says, “Mother we were just playing.”

  "Playtime is over, Julia. Pick up their weapons and take their backpacks.”

  Pau does what her mother says. She puts Nanette's pistol in her backpack and puts it on. My backpack, she carries in one hand, and with the other, the AR-70.

  "Nanette, you're looking quite the domme my dear. I can understand why Julia is so enamored with you. If I were twenty-five years younger I'd put that dog collar on for you too. Now, pick up your clothes and lead us to my office,” she says. We walk to the south end of the courtyard and enter a doorway, down a corridor and into an office.

  “Take a seat,” she says to Nanette and me, "Julia, look through their backpacks and find the handcuffs or nylon ties. I'm sure they came prepared, right, Mr. Blue?”

  “Here they are Mama; nylon ties,” Pau says sucking up to her mother.

  “Tie their arms to the arms of their chairs.” Pau does as ordered.

  The good doctor walks around her desk and sits in her oversized chair looking like a Muppet.

  “So, I take it, you two are responsible for killing my men?”

  “Only two. The others slaughtered each
other fighting over who was going to kill you for the reward money.”

  Hearing this, the color drained from her face.” Why have you done all this, Mr. Blue? I thought we had a deal?”

  “I did it to get Monica back,” I say, "Why did you kidnap her?”

  “To get back the lottery ticket you stole.”

  “I didn't steal it. I found it in a newspaper dropped by the man you killed in our train compartment. I didn't know the ticket was there. Why did you kill that man?”

  “Why do you think? For the ticket of course.”

  “Well, now you can have it. Just hand over Monica, and it's yours. You can leave the country and live your life out in luxury. You won't have to worry about anyone hunting you down, which, by the way, is a real problem for you right now because there're probably thousands of people who'll be knocking at your door any minute. Do you know what took place in Barcelona last night? Your face was plastered all over the rally in front of millions. Wanted dead or alive, five million euro reward. Pau too, dead or alive.”

  “Me! Why me?” Pau cries.

  “Because you’re in this with your mother, Pau. Simple,” I say.

  “I am not. I never did anything to Monica.”

  “Do you know where she is, Pau?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Then you're in it too. At a minimum, you're an accessory because you aided and abetted your mother. You know where Monica is, and you haven't done anything about it to save her? You haven't called the police or anything, have you?”

  “Mother? Am I in trouble too?” Pau asks.

  “Of course you are dear. That's why you need to protect your mother, because she'll protect you. You know that don't you my sweet potato?” asks Drusilla.

  “Of course, Mother.”

  “So, Mr. Blue, if we had a deal to trade Monica for the ticket, why are you breaking into my home?” Drusilla asks.

  “Because I don't trust you, Drusilla. I want to see Monica with my own eyes. I want to see she hasn't been harmed. That was part of the deal if you remember? You must have forgotten that because you sent me her severed finger. Remember?”