“You son of a bitch! Yeah, you found them all right. Funny how you were making absolutely no progress after six days of ‘investigating’ and then you just happened to find them on the seventh day.”
“I didn’t just happen to find them, I followed some leads and one paid off.”
“How convenient. Why should I believe you? The cops are convinced you’re the bastard who took all the girls, including my Sara.”
“Since when do you let the cops do your thinking for you? Think about it. It doesn’t make sense for me to snatch all those girls. Why would I? I used to be a cop. I solve kidnappings; I don’t commit them.”
Scar acted as if he didn’t hear me. His voice grew diamond hard, losing all pretense of civility. “You were supposedly looking for her, and you knew where she was all the time.”
He nodded at Tiny, who delivered the twin to his first haymaker.
This time I spat out a molar and more blood.
“Why would you do that to her?” Scar shouted. “Was it simply to get back at me? Was it just to pay off your debt?”
“Damn it, the cops are grasping at straws! They spotted my car in the traffic cams near the drop-off points, and maybe a shot of my mug at the bus stop. That’s all they based the APB on. Yeah, sure, I dropped off the girls, but I didn’t take them. Besides, how would taking all those other girls have anything to do with you?”
That brought a frown to his forehead. Maybe I was getting through to him. “If you didn’t take them, why not just call in the cops when you found them and say ‘Here they all are. Aren’t I the big hero?’ Why all the cloak-and-dagger shit with the anonymous drop-offs?”
“I—” I suddenly realized that I couldn’t tell him what really happened. Would he believe me if I said little reddish-black telepathic alien vampires kidnapped all these girls for their blood? Or that they were water-breathing, peace-loving, political prisoners who got a bad case of radiation sickness escaping from a repressive military regime? Yeah, right. I wouldn’t believe me either.
I went with Plan B. “I was afraid they’d think I had something to do with the snatchings. I wanted to stay out of the spotlight.” Even to me that sounded pitifully weak.
A foghorn sounded in the distance. That told me I was somewhere near the bay and reminded me of Karsh’s offer.
“You’re a pathetic liar, Sunrise. I’m amazed you’ve survived this long. Well, we can take care of that. Right, boys?”
I sent an urgent plea for help via my implant on the frequency he’d given me, and a focused mental one as well, hoping I was near enough that he could pick up my thoughts. I prayed that he’d get one of my messages and be able to help. Could he locate me in time? I couldn’t imagine how. I hadn’t been able to give him any details other than that I was somewhere in the warehouse district near the bay. Even if he did find me, could he do anything to help? He and his people were all pacifists. Did they even have weapons? Would they use them if they did?
For the next twenty minutes, the two goons beat the living shit out of me. They used clubs, fists, rope, and god-knows-what-else. My nose broke first, followed by several teeth and a rib or two. Apparently they were saving my kneecaps and fingers for later.
I didn’t even want to think about what they planned to do with the ice pick.
Tiny took a turn at trying to rip out my fingernails with the pliers. Fortunately my nails were cut too short for a good grip.
Scalding water was next, blistering the skin on my chest. Not once, not twice, but three times. Weasel paused just long enough between splashes for my tortured nerve endings to revive and register agony.
Then came electricity. Weasel pulled a truck battery from behind my chair and clipped a couple of jumper cables to it. He touched the ends together and they sparked. My “boys” really tried to crawl up inside me now.
Through eyelids nearly swollen shut, I barely made out the sick, disgusting leer on Weasel’s face.
“I tol’ ya I was gonna feed your gonads to ya, Sunrise. But first, let’s see just how much pain you can stand.”
He touched the ends of the cables to my testicles and my entire body seized. My back arched until I thought my spine would snap. I screamed as if the very hounds of hell were gnawing on me. Weasel pulled back and I slumped into the chair. After just enough time for me to catch my breath, Weasel repeated the procedure. Again I screamed, and again he stopped. This went on forever and then some. After a time, I smelled burning flesh. The stench made me gag. With an insane grin that matched the spark in his eyes, Weasel reached out over and over with the cables. I screamed until my throat was raw.
I had long since given up hope of rescue. At this point I was praying that I would die before they could hurt me any more.
Apparently, I wasn’t suffering enough for Weasel. He decided to step up the torture a notch. This time, instead of simply touching the ends of the jumper cables to my nuts, he used the spring connectors to clamp them on. The pain of the pressure combined with the electric shock itself was too much for my body to handle. Every muscle in my body locked up, straining against the ropes holding me. The wood of the chair threatened to splinter from the strain. Then I blacked out.
* * * *
When I awoke, I was drowning again, this time for real. I was suspended by my legs in a vat of water that must have been behind my chair before, where I couldn’t see it. Weasel and Tiny hadn’t bothered to tie my hands this time. Why bother? I was submerged up to my waist, with nothing to grab onto. I thrashed around with my hands, looking for something, anything to use as leverage to lift my head out of the water. There was nothing. I was already graying around the edges. A few more seconds and I’d be fish food.
Something drifting in the water brushed against my face. I squinted and barely made out a translucent pinkish square. The threl! I grabbed it and focused like I’d never focused before. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the threl stuck to my cheek. Within seconds, fine tendrils worked their way into my eyes, through my skin, down my throat and nostrils, into my ears. It still hurt; however, this time I welcomed the pain. But would it be in time?
My oxygen-starved lungs screamed for air. But it was too late. My arms stopped thrashing, my legs quit kicking. I was done. Tiny and Weasel let go of my legs and dropped me in the vat.
My last thought was of Jeannie. Daddy’s coming for you, Angel.
* * * *
I awoke again, floating face down, spread-eagled in the vat. There was some sort of commotion in the warehouse, but I couldn’t tell what was going on and I wasn’t about to turn over until I was sure Scar and his goons were gone. For me, the important thing was that I was still breathing.
After a few minutes, I heard a woman’s voice, garbled by the water and the threl. It was full of melancholy. “You’d better pull him out.”
Strong arms grabbed mine and lifted me from the vat. Still unsure of who I was dealing with, I played dead until they had me stretched out on the floor face up.
I heard a sharp intake of breath. “Good Lord. What did they do to him?”
That’s when I recognized her voice and opened my eyes. She shrieked. Something clattered to the floor. I climbed to my feet, almost falling, and mentally commanded the threl to disengage. Then I folded it up and slipped it back into my shirt pocket. Then my legs gave way and I fell to my knees.
Lola looked me up and down, taking in my battered face, the pinkened skin and purple bruises around my torso, the burns on my cojones, and the blood running in watery rivulets down my neck and chest.
“Damn, baby, you’ve looked better.”
That was worth a chuckle, despite the pain it caused.
I finally got my bearings and looked around. Scar was tied to the same chair I’d so recently occupied, while Tiny and Weasel were hogtied together, back to back, on the floor nearby.
I was nonplussed. “What—? How—?”
Here I’d been praying to be rescued by Karsh and his interstellar marines, and instead it was the
last person in the world I expected, the person I’d been trying to protect from Scar.
“How’d I find you? Sugar, I may not be...” here she made air-quotes with her fingers “...‘a highly-trained professional’ like yourself, but even I can follow a fat-ass black sedan driving slowly in light traffic.”
“But—” I gestured at the dozen brawny men with guns watching the exits and standing over Scar and his men.
“What, you think you’re the only one with contacts, Mr. Fancy Private Dick? You think I could survive this long on the streets without some muscle to back me up? I tol’ you I got connections.” She winked.
My mouth worked, but I couldn’t find the words. I shook my head with a wry smile. Then I winced from the pain of torn lips. Not only the proverbial hooker with a heart of gold, but a damned brave one to boot!
“I don’t know why some lucky guy hasn’t snapped you up by now, Lola.”
“So, watcha waitin’ for, Sunrise? Hmm?”
I smiled noncommittally. “Help me with my shoes and let’s get out of here.”
“Sure thing, baby.”
I stood with her help and pulled my pants back up. Then I rested a hand on her shoulder for balance as she slipped my sneakers back on.
“Whaddaya wanna do with the wise guys over there?” She pointed to Scar and the others.
An intense fire welled up inside me at the thought of what they’d done to me. I wanted nothing better than to retaliate, to hurt them like they’d hurt me. But I couldn’t bring myself to kill them in cold blood, and I didn’t have it in me to torture anyone.
Before I could speak, Scar growled, “You’re dead, bitch!”
Lola lifted her chin and looked down her nose at him, like a teacher staring down an unruly child.
“I wouldn’t go makin’ threats if I was you, little man. You come anywhere near my ‘hood and you’re smoked meat. Believe me, there’s more of us than there are of you.”
For once, Scar had no comeback. Lola turned back to me. “You were sayin’?”
The adrenaline rush over, I was suddenly drained of energy. I waved a hand vaguely in their direction. “Let ‘em go. Scar had no way of knowing I wasn’t involved in the kidnappings.”
“You sure?”
I nodded and limped over to where Scar sat. “Look, I tried to tell you before, I had nothing to do with Sara’s disappearance. I could tell you who took her and the other girls, but you’d never believe me.”
“This ain’t over, Sunrise,” Scar muttered through gritted teeth.
“It had better be, if you know what’s good for you, Scar.”
I turned and took a few halting steps toward the door. Then I turned back and hobbled over to where Tiny and Weasel lay. I looked at Tiny and decided he was too stupid to know better. He only did what he was told—no more, no less.
Then I limped around in front of Weasel. I was willing to forgive Scar for being an overprotective father, but Weasel had enjoyed himself entirely too much at my expense.
“One more thing.”
I hauled off and kicked him in the crotch just as hard as I possibly could with my sneakered foot. His eyes rolled back in his head and he puked all over himself.
I held onto the back of Scar’s chair to keep from falling. I looked down at Weasel and growled, “Sorry, I don’t have a rusty fork handy. Want some Tabasco sauce with those?”
I only wish I’d been wearing steel-toed boots.
* * * *
Lola put an arm around my shoulder and helped me stumble out the front door. Her car and several others were in the parking lot. Before we reached Lola’s vehicle, three dark shapes emerged from the shadows. Lola jumped and turned as if to call for help.
I gripped her arm. “It’s all right. They’re friends of mine.”
One figure stepped forward.
Lola frowned. “Who’s the kid in the Halloween costume?”
“Lola, I’d like you to meet Karsh. He’s no kid.” I debated how to explain. “Karsh, this is Lola.” Why not let him tell her himself?
[Greetings, Lola.]
Lola whipped her head from side to side. “Who said that?”
“Karsh did. He’s not from around here.”
“But— I heard him inside my head!”
“Yeah. Long story.”
“These the dudes from Area 51?”
She surprised me with how quickly she put two and two together. I opened my mouth to reply and then realized that I had no answer. For all I knew, she was right. I shrugged and turned back to Karsh.
“I appreciate you rushing out here to save me. I know you put yourself at risk.”
Karsh made the knee-bow again.
“How did you manage to find me? I wasn’t able to tell you where I was.”
[The intensity and duration of your anguish was like a beacon. The three of us were able to triangulate on your mental projections. I regret that we were unable to reach you sooner to spare you the pain. We were on foot and forced to avoid detection by the local populace.”
“Don’t worry about it. You still helped save my life tonight.”
At Lola’s quizzical look and Karsh’s mental query, I pulled the threl out of my shirt pocket and handed it back to him. I didn’t think I’d need it any more that night and I suspected it shouldn’t stay out of water too long.
Lola grinned. “Nice toy. Got any more like that? They could be worth a pretty penny on the open market.”
I chuckled. “I wish.”
“So what is he doing here, and how did you meet him?”
“Help me into the car and I’ll tell you on the way. Karsh, we’ll take you and your people back to your ship.”
[Is that wise?]
“Very. I have an idea for how to help you, but I’ll need Lola’s help to do it. Hop in.”
* * * *
“The problem is I promised Karsh that after returning the comatose girls I would help him acquire more women—well, people, anyway; they don’t have to be only women anymore—to serve as hemoglobin donors.”
Lola had slammed on the brakes when she learned that Karsh and his people were behind most of the disappearances in the area lately. Now, hearing that I’d promised to help him snatch even more people, she almost burst a blood vessel.
“You agreed to do WHAT?”
“Relax. I’m not going to do it. Aside from the morality, my mug is too hot to be seen in public right now. The cops already think I’m guilty.”
At Lola’s suspicious sideways glance, I hastened to add, “No, I wasn’t involved.”
Karsh cut in, now angry himself. [Sunrise! We had an agreement.]
He and his people were in the backseat of the car. I rode up front with Lola.
“Yes, and I intend to fulfill the spirit of that agreement, by getting you blood to use. I’m just not going to kidnap anyone to do it. That’s where you come in, Lola. I need you to use your connections to get us some blood. Lots of blood and it can’t be tainted junkie blood. It has to be blood-bank quality stuff. Do you think you can manage that? The lives of seventeen people depend on it.”
“Baby, I live for helping people. Why, I give of myself every night of my life.” She cackled and I joined in. Karsh was clueless.
“I know you do, honey. Now if you can get your men to meet us down there by the shore, I’ll help Karsh bring some of the women out of his ship. Then your people can drop them off at area hospitals all at once. That should minimize the girls’ exposure.”
“You’ll do nothing of the kind, Sunrise!” she scolded. I’m takin’ you home, callin’ Doc Hazelwood to patch you up, and then bringin’ Karsh back here. He and my boys can take care of the girls. You need to rest up. You look like shit.”
“But—”
“Don’t ‘but’ me, baby, or I’ll be forced to sit my butt on you until you stay down. Got it?”
I knew when to surrender. Besides, some sack time right about then sounded pretty damned tempting.
“Got it.”
According to my implant, I slept for more than eighteen hours and awoke screaming only once. I was so stiff and sore I needed Lola’s help to even get out of bed. She helped me limp to the bathroom. It was hard to find a part of my body that wasn’t taped up or bandaged. I didn’t even want to look at my “boys” when I took a leak. They hurt enough that I wasn’t sure they’d ever work again.
I crawled back into bed and Lola spoon-fed me some tomato soup, my favorite. Then I slept again. The next time I opened my eyes it was late afternoon. I propped myself up with some pillows and waited for Lola to return from running errands. It gave me a chance to catch up on the five o’clock news.
According to the reporter, “Police are baffled by the fact that twenty-one more missing women appeared yesterday in a matter of hours at hospitals, fire stations, and emergency care facilities all over the city.”
Twenty-one beyond the four I’d delivered. That meant Scar hadn’t taken Sara to a public hospital.
“All appeared to suffer from the same form of anemia as the first four abductees, who had been dropped off at area hospitals a day earlier by a man police identified as Donatello Sunrise. Sunrise was described as a local private investigator who has had troubles with the law in the past. However, the latest abductees were dropped off by more than a dozen different men. This seems to cast doubt on Sunrise being the culprit in all of the kidnappings.
“Police refused to comment on speculations that there was some sort of organized kidnapping ring operating in the metro area, why all the women are suffering from anemia, or why they were all returned within a twenty-four hour period with no ransom demands and apparently unharmed, other than the mysterious anemia. Officials at several hospitals have indicated that the women are being treated and are expected to make full recoveries.”
It was nice to hear that at least part of the plan was working. I hoped to learn more from Lola when she returned.
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