by Ian Hamilton
“Here,” he said, holding the glass to her lips.
His presence and voice jolted her. He had crossed the room without her being aware that he had moved.
She sipped, sliding water with her tongue over her lips. She took her time, and even then the water was gone too quickly. “Can I get some more?” she said.
“No.”
“Please.”
She heard what she thought was him placing the glass on the floor by her chair.
“Are those real?” he asked.
“What?” she said, feeling him close beside her.
His fingers began to unbutton her shirt. She twisted sideways. He grabbed her shoulder with his free hand to hold her in place. He reached into her shirt and down into her bra. “Nice,” he said.
She spat in the direction of his voice.
“You bitch!” he shouted.
His hand left her chest and she collapsed back into the chair. Then she felt his hands coming over her shoulders — he had moved behind her. They shot down, grabbing both breasts and pulling them free from the bra. He cupped them at first, squeezing gently, but then his thumbs and index fingers moved to grip her nipples. He tugged at them and then rolled them between thumb and finger.
“I love big nipples,” he said. “This is just a warm-up, sweetheart. You owe me. Actually, you owe my brother — he’s the one you drove your elbow into. But he’s not here, so I’m substituting. Keeping it in the family.”
“Leave me alone or you’ll be sorry.”
“Not a fucking chance. I’m going to play with your tits, and then maybe I’ll play with something else. The thing is, you’re not going anywhere — at least, not for a while, and if I know Wan, probably never, so I’m not going to waste this chance.”
Ava lowered her head, trying to calculate if she could drive it back into his chest with enough force to hurt him. But then what? How would he react? It might make things worse. No, she thought as she coiled her neck, I don’t care how he reacts.
Then she heard a voice yelling. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Boom was back in the room.
“She’s awake.”
“So I can see.”
“She wanted water. I gave her a glass.”
“And what? That gives you the right to fuck around like that?”
“I wanted to see if they were real. Look at them, they’re fantastic.”
“Do up her shirt.”
“C’mon.”
“Do it up or I’ll do you up.”
“Oh, what the hell,” Squeaky said.
She felt him come around the chair to the front and gathered more spit in her mouth. She tried to gauge where his face might be.
“Do it,” Boom said.
Ava felt his hands on her breasts again as he put them back inside her shirt but not in her bra. He closed two buttons, his face close enough to hers that she could smell breath that reeked of beer and cigarettes. She swallowed the spit.
“Your partner is a pig,” she said to the air.
“I don’t want you to talk,” Boom said.
“But I need more water.”
He went quiet and Ava thought he was ignoring her. Then he said, “How many glasses did you give her?”
“One.”
“Give her another.”
Squeaky stood over her and this time pressed the glass against her mouth, forcing her to gulp rather than sip.
“Now I need to pee,” Ava said when he had moved away.
“Go ahead,” said Boom.
“I want to go to the bathroom.”
“No, if you pee, you pee there.”
“I can’t do that.”
“That’s your problem, not mine.”
“What do think I’m going to do?”
“It doesn’t matter what I think. I have my orders and I’m following them.”
That’s that, Ava thought, leaning back in the chair. I should have known better than to go into that meeting room. The dimly lit empty restaurant had been the first clue, the extra men the next, Wan’s pointless conversation the third. She had made it so easy for them. Four months away from work and her instincts had deserted her. Now Wan and Yu were taking her to market. Until they closed a deal, they would keep her alive. After that — well, Boom and Squeaky had made that clear enough.
She had no illusions. She had been down this hostage/ransom path before, but on the negotiating side, trying to get her brother’s partner released. The only reason he was still alive was that they had gone in after him and taken out the kidnappers. What had made that possible was that they knew where he was; they had time enough to get organized; and she had men she could call upon to help. If the brothers decided to pay to get rid of her, things would happen quickly. If they had to negotiate with May Ling, that at least would give her time, and if May Ling reached out to Uncle then they might have a chance of finding her. But then what?
One thing at a time, she thought. Just think things through. From what Yu had said about meeting Wan that afternoon, she guessed that it was morning and she had been missing for maybe twelve hours. May Ling would have looked for her at the hotel and, not finding her, would have taken some kind of action. Calling Uncle would be the most logical thing for her to do. And if she did — and she must have — then Uncle wouldn’t have been idle. He knew the kind of man she was meeting with and would assume that things had gone badly.
He’s already doing something, Ava thought. “Nothing is predestined,” she murmured.
( 27 )
Sometime in the afternoon — at least she supposed it was the afternoon — she fell asleep. She wasn’t sure how long she had been out, but when she woke, it was to the sound of Yu’s voice telling the men they were going to be staying there at least overnight and that he was arranging to have some mattresses sent over.
The brothers didn’t buy me, she thought instantly. May Ling was in play, or going to come into play, and that meant Ava had crossed her first hurdle.
“How about food?” Boom asked.
“It will come with the mattresses.”
“What about her?”
“What do you mean?”
“Food.”
“Give her some white rice and water.”
“She hasn’t pissed yet, and she keeps asking us to untie her so she can go . . . I mean, what can she do?”
“You saw what she can do when she took out your dumb shit of a brother. She stays there.”
“Okay.”
“Boss, do you have any idea how much longer this is going to take?” Squeaky asked.
“Why, do you have somewhere to go?”
“No.”
“Another day maybe,” Yu said. “The customer doesn’t care what we do with her, so Wan contacted her partners this morning and started negotiating. It’s going as fast as he can make it go, but the partners are asking for proof that she’s still alive.”
“How are you going to do that?”
“I’m sending a digital camera with the other stuff. Take some pictures and then give the camera back to the guy who brought it. We’ll email the pix to them.”
“Fine,” Boom said.
“Hey, what happened to her shirt?” Yu asked. “Buttons are undone.”
“Kang had a peek,” Boom said.
“And?” Yu said.
“As good as I’ve ever seen,” Kang said.
Ava heard chairs moving and then the shuffle of feet. She held her breath. She felt fingers loosen buttons and her shirt pulled back.
“They are nice,” Yu said.
“Told you.”
“But put them back in the bra and close the shirt. We want her to look tidy for the picture.”
She felt clammy hands on her skin and tried not to react. Somehow the humiliation was lessened for h
er if they thought she was sleeping.
“Okay,” Yu said. “Chin will be here in about two hours. I should be back here sometime tomorrow.”
Ava heard the door open and close. She flexed her wrists. The tape was unyielding. Her legs had knotted again and her knee was throbbing. Her mouth was dry; she could feel her lips starting to crack.
“I would like some water,” she said.
“She wakes,” Kang said.
“Woman, did you hear Yu just now?” Boom asked.
“No.”
“Well, there’s some food on the way. Why don’t you wait until it gets here? Then we can feed you and water you at the same time.”
“I’m thirsty.”
“And we don’t want you pissing all over the floor.”
“Then untie me and let me go the bathroom.”
“You’re a fucking pain in the ass with that. Don’t ask again.”
She had no driving urge to pee. There was some discomfort, but that was overpowered by her thirst. “I’m not going to wet myself. Some water, please.”
This time it was Boom who brought the glass to her. “You’re going to be here for a while, so get used to the idea.”
“What’s going on?”
“What do you mean?”
“Are they talking to my people about a ransom?”
“What do you think?”
“I think this is crazy.”
“I’ll be sure to tell my bosses.”
“Look, I know you can’t untie me, but could you at least take the blindfold off? It makes me feel claustrophobic . . . I can feel a panic attack coming on.”
Boom paused. “Kang, what do you think?” he said.
“Makes no difference to me, but if Wan gets mad then it’s on you.”
“We’ll take it off until the guy gets here with the camera. They’ll want to see her full face anyway.”
“Okay.”
“Listen, woman, no promises after that.”
“Thanks, and by the way, my name is Ava.”
“I don’t want to know your name,” Boom said, slipping the blindfold over the top of her head.
She blinked, her eyes trying to adjust to what was nothing more than overhead tube lighting that struck her with the force of kliegs. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, opened them, and closed them again. She looked down at the floor, at her bare feet, not wanting to see her captors until she felt she had focus and control. She moved her right leg to one side and examined the back of her knee as well as she could. It was swollen, a mass of broken blood vessels visible through a patch of black and blue.
“Which of you hit me with the bat?” she asked, finally looking at them.
They were about thirty feet away, standing against a wall. They glanced at each other and said nothing.
Ava didn’t recognize either of them from the night before. Boom was bulky and fleshy, probably in his thirties, a younger version of Wan. His face was round and small and his head looked freshly shaved, the skin slightly pink. He was five foot ten, Ava figured, and had at least two hundred pounds hidden under a roomy floral shirt and a pair of baggy jeans. She searched his arms for tattoos and to her surprise didn’t find any. She looked up at his face again. He looked bored.
From his voice, she had pictured Kang to be small and scrawny, but he was at least as large as Boom, and where Boom was fat, he was all muscle. His upper body stretched a white T-shirt, and a pair of black jeans was tight around his thighs. His face was lean, and made to look even longer by his mohawk haircut. He had tattoos, and rings in both ears. He was smiling, his eyes flicking from her face to her chest.
She took in the room. It had a high ceiling, maybe sixteen feet, and formed a perfect square about forty feet on each side. It looked like a warehouse, and the furnishings — four wooden armchairs like hers, a card table with a radio on it, and an old brown leather couch that was slashed in places — looked lost in it. The walls were bare except for beige paint that was scraped and scarred as if pallets had been banged against them. The floor was covered with gouge marks, probably for the same reason, she thought. She looked down at it, trying to detect any signs of old blood.
“What’s the time?” she asked.
“What does that matter?” Boom said.
“Does that radio work?”
“Stop fucking talking or the blindfold goes back on,” Kang said.
“I’m going outside to make some phone calls,” said Boom. “Do me a favour and stay away from her.”
Kang shrugged and then reached into his back pocket and pulled out a pack of Marlboros. Ava watched Boom open the left side of the double door to leave. She looked past him and saw that the room she was in led into another that looked even larger and was equally as empty. It seemed they were in an abandoned warehouse.
Kang lit a cigarette, took a deep puff, and then started to walk towards Ava, a smile on his face. She turned her eyes away from him and tried to gather herself. He stopped ten paces short. Ava refused to acknowledge him.
He tossed the cigarette onto the ground and stepped on it. Ava sensed rather than saw his hand move towards his crotch and pull down his zipper. “Look at this,” he said.
She shut her eyes.
“I’d like to give you some of it — in the cunt, in the ass, in the mouth. Maybe all three, one after another.” He laughed. “But that’s kind of hard the way you’re tied, so I’ll have to make do.”
She felt him come near and shuddered. He was behind her before she realized it, and the now familiar sweaty hand reached down into her blouse. He pulled her left breast free from the bra and began to pinch the nipple with his left hand. She felt him pressing against her back, his other hand working his cock. She opened her eyes. His left arm lay across her chest. She twisted her head towards it. His wrist was beyond her reach, but the upper arm wasn’t. She lunged, driving her teeth into him as deeply as she could. He screamed and tried to pull free, but Ava hung on until he struck her across the back of the head with his right hand. Her head slumped forward and she braced for another blow.
“You fucking bitch!” he yelled.
“Hey, I thought I told you to leave the woman alone,” a voice roared from the doorway.
Ava looked up and saw Boom standing there.
Kang was still behind her. She heard him fumbling and guessed that he was putting things back where they belonged. “The bitch bit me,” he said, and then he laughed. He walked past Ava without a glance and went to the leather couch, where he lay down.
Behind Boom, the warehouse door opened and a third man came into the room. He wore jeans and a black T-shirt and had a shaved head. Ava recognized him from the restaurant the night before.
Kang sat up and went to join him at the card table, where he was emptying the contents of a paper bag. Even from that distance she could smell the food, and it triggered her appetite.
The new man opened a container of barbecued pork, another that held noodles, and a third that was filled with white rice, and finally he pulled a whole roasted chicken from a large sleeve. Boom walked over to the chairs and pushed them towards the table. The three men filled their plates and then sat and ate. None of them paid her any attention.
When they had finished, Boom and the new man left the room and returned a minute later, each carrying a mattress. They threw them on the floor near the couch. Kang lit a cigarette and said something to the newcomer. They both laughed and turned to look at Ava.
“You told me I would get some food and water,” she said.
“In a minute. I want to get this picture out of the way,” Boom said.
The three of them walked towards her, the newcomer holding the digital camera. They stopped only a few feet away.
“Look up at me and smile,” he said.
Ava stared, her face impassive.
“Gre
at,” he said.
“Now one with those great tits front and centre,” Kang said.
“No,” Boom said.
“The boss won’t mind. When did you get so fucking moral?” the newcomer said.
Ava closed her eyes and waited for Boom to assert himself.
Then she felt fingers on her shirt again, buttons coming undone, hands reaching inside her bra.
“Aren’t they great?” Kang said.
She counted. At ten the newcomer said, “Look at that picture.”
“Enough. You’d better get back to Wan, and back to business,” Boom said.
“I’m done.”
“Then go.”
Her eyes still shut, she heard feet shuffle and the door open and close. Different hands slipped under her breasts and put them back in the bra.
“Sorry,” Boom said.
( 28 )
They fed her two plates of white rice and two glasses of water. Her appetite receded. Her thirst was slaked. The blindfold was pulled back over her eyes, and almost at once the need to pee began to occupy her mind.
“I have to go to the bathroom,” she said.
“Then go,” Kang said.
She did. The urine ran down the inside of both legs and poured over the middle of the seat onto the floor. She lifted her toes so they wouldn’t have to rest in it. She was glad she wasn’t wearing slacks.
“What a fucking mess,” said Kang.
“There’s a mop in the next room. Get it,” said Boom. “I’ll move her chair out of the way.”
She heard Boom circle around her, trying to avoid the pool of urine. He grabbed the back of the chair and dragged it farther from the door. “You can put your feet down now,” he said.
“Thanks. I’m not sure what I would have done without you.”
“Don’t make anything of it. I follow orders, just like Kang. I’m just not an animal.”
She heard the mop swishing and Kang cursing.
“We’re going to be lying down soon,” Boom said. “We’ll take turns so one of us will always have an eye on you. We’re also going to leave the lights on, so don’t think you can try any funny stuff in the dark.”