“Janet. Janet Adolfo.”
“How did you get here?”
“I was at a mall, drinking a soda. I got up to throw something away. I left my drink at the table. Next thing I know, I was woozy, and a man caught me, and kept me from falling. That’s the last I remember. Until I got here. I tried to run the first night, but I didn’t get far.”
“Well, Janet Adolfo, we’re going to try to get further this time. Maybe all the way. I will not sit around waiting for them to kill me; I’d rather go out fighting. Whadaya say? You game for a little hike?”
“No, I don’t think so,” she said slowly and with a measured tone. “I’d only slow you down, but I still might be able to help. Maybe I can distract them long enough and send them in the wrong direction for you two to get to the highway. I overheard a guard say the highway was a mile or so due north. You might’ve a chance. There’s a trail. The guards said they take it to walk to a convenience store a few miles away. If you get there, you might get away.”
“You’re very brave Janet. I don’t know how to thank you.”
“If you get away, come back for me. That will be thanks enough.”
Alice turned to the other woman. “I don’t know your name. Are you in?”
“I’m Andi, you know Andrea. My friends call me Andi. And yes, I’m in. Which way is north?”
“Janet said, I think if there’s a door or window out back, that’s north. Hopefully no one is watching. Better hurry. The lady bringing dinner will be here any minute. Cut me down, and I’ll run south. When they catch me, I’ll tell them you went on ahead. That should buy you some time.”
Alice looked at Janet and smiled. “I’ll be back for you. I promise.”
There was a back door to the cabin, so the women ran like hell to reach the darkness of the tree line. They moved in the direction they hoped was at a right angle to the path. If they found it, they would move along the side of the trail until they reached the highway. Then they would have to hope for a car passing or reach the convenience store, and hope there was someone there to help. They had been moving steadily for fifteen or twenty minutes when they heard a siren blare, and bright lights go on.
“They must’ve found the cabin empty. I hope Janet is OK. I’m afraid of what else they might do to her.”
“We should worry a little more about what they’re going to do to us if they catch us. Should we split up, and make it even harder for them to get us both?”
“Let’s stay together until we think they are on to us. Then maybe we should split up, and hope that one of us gets away. One of us has to get away.”
The women hugged the trail for at least another half hour, but they found no sign of a highway. Alice thought they should’ve reached the road by then, but perhaps they were going slower than she imagined or the highway was further away than estimated. Or maybe the entire story was wrong, or the guards mixed up. No matter, it was too late to turn back, and try another direction, so they pressed on.
Ten minutes later, the women heard voices coming from up ahead. It sounded like two men talking and moving along the path. They quickly ducked into the deep underbrush and waited. Minutes later two men passed by, with flashlights in hand on a steady pace in the direction of where the women had come from. Alice was heartened. At least there was something up ahead. She knew they were on the right path, and her heart lightened at the thought that they had at least gotten that far. Alice resolved that she would get to the highway, get to safety, and get home to her Mom and Dad.
Alice said, “Let’s go now. If they’re out looking for us, we’ve lost valuable time waiting for those guys to pass. If there’s a search party out, they won’t be far behind. They know the terrain, we don’t. Let’s get a move on.”
The women were instantly back running along the trail at a slow, but steady pace. After another few minutes, they reached the edge of a clearing with a large cabin almost dead center. They discussed their strategy and decided to split up. One would go to the right, hugging the tree line while the other would go left doing the same. They hoped they would meet up at the trail if it continued on, north and away from danger.
Alice said, “Good luck Andi, I’ll see you at the trail head. Be careful.”
Alice went left finding it easy to stay in the underbrush. The dim light from the cabin was barely enough to illuminate much of the clearing, but since she didn’t know who, if anyone, was inside, she avoided the clearing edge. Though slower, it was safer from detection.
Then she heard it. Dogs barking, and then a scream as if someone, a woman had been attacked by something. Flood lights lit up the clearing, but still not enough for Alice to been seen from her vantage point. As she approached the mid-point along the tree line toward what she hoped was the continuation of the trail, she suddenly saw Andi being dragged by her hair from the opposite side toward the cabin. Dogs were yelping at her, and two women accompanied the man she had met just only an hour or so ago.
Alice was all alone now.
She decided to move west into the forest away from the clearing, and then change directions, and go north again. If necessary, she would find a stream she could wade in to throw off the scent of any dogs sent after her.
Unlikely, but God might, just might smile on her. She had gotten this far and hoped that Andi would throw off the search party even more. She was still free, and she could taste success. Her spirits were lifted, and her resolve never greater. The road couldn’t be far now.
Suddenly, there it was. One hundred yards or so in the distance was a road. Intermittent, but she could hear cars or trucks up ahead. Another five minutes, and she would flag down a vehicle, and get to safety. She was almost there.
When she reached the road, she stayed back waiting for someone to pass by. In the distance she could see a van moving in her direction, coming around a bend maybe a hundred yards away. As the van approached, Alice jumped out in the road madly waving her arms and shouting for the driver to stop. He did, but almost didn’t see her.
“Young lady, what on earth are you doing out here? It’s late. You should be gittin’ on home. You lost?”
“Yes, yes, my car broke down, and I got turned around and lost. Can you give me a ride? Anywhere, anywhere will do.”
“Hop in, little lady. There’s a town just up ahead. You can get a room and cleaned up a bit. Then we’ll find your car tomorrow and get you on your way. Why don’t you just lie down in the back and we’ll be there in no time.”
“Thank you, thank you so much. Do you have any water? Something to drink? I’m dreadfully thirsty.”
“There’s a box of water bottles on the floor back there somewhere. Help yourself.”
Alice drank her water greedily, and within minutes, felt very, very drowsy and tired. She was exhausted, but who cared she thought, she got away and was on her way to freedom. She drifted off.
When she awoke sometime later, she could see people moving around outside the van. The driver was gone but had probably just left her to sleep. She would thank him later when she saw him. For now, she had to get out of the van, get to the police and get home.
She opened the panel door.
The van was parked inside a chain link fence, in a small clearing. As she shook her head to untangle the cobwebs, she could see that the small clearing was the one she saw last night that had the big cabin. The one where Andi had been dragged by her hair. She went to the gate, which was locked on the outside. She thought about climbing over the fence, as she had many times as a child, but the top of the fence was covered with razor wire.
Then she saw them. Two women and one man.
Her heart leaped as she recognized Andi and Janet. But they were with that man. The one from last night.
Andi spoke up. “Welcome back Alice. We’ve missed you. That was great fun yesterday, but now it’s time to meet your fellow actors. My name is Saldana Ri, the woman you know as Janet is Katarina Petrova, and of course you know our frie
nd Patrick Murphy O’Brien from yesterday.”
Alice’s heart sank. “But you …”
“But what my dear? You thought you were going to escape. Hardly. This was just a fun game to test whether you were obedient and would do as you were told. Frankly, I expected you to run. You humans always think you have a chance. Admirable trait, but to no avail for you this time. You had no chance of freedom, we just wanted to have a little fun before the work begins. And you’re invited to the party. Won’t that be fun? Not for you, of course, be for me and my friends.”
“Why? What possible motive could you have to do all this? And why me?”
Katarina spoke up, “Why you? That part was random. The better question is, why not you? Chance, luck, kismet? Who knows? But you are back with us now. And you will not be leaving us any time soon. We three have great plans for you.”
“Why? I’ve done nothing to you.”
“You personally, no. You as a species, why yes you have. But none of that matters now. Come along, Patrick will let you out now. Then you must join us for some recreation over in the cabin. We’ve brought all the party favors with us, and you’ll be the life of the party.”
Gloom and dread swept over Alice, as she came to the sudden realization that she was about to die. At the hands of three psychos. She felt limp all of a sudden unable to stand up. The light had gone out in her eyes and a kind of fugue state had taken over.
Patrick extended his hand to her which she took without realizing it. Her movement was now on auto-pilot. Her soul was pure dread, and she gave into whatever commands Patrick gave to her.
Saldana came over to the girl and stroked her cheeks.
“You’re very pretty, Alice. We’re going to have to see what we can do about that. You were told not to try to escape, but you were very disobedient. Now you must suffer your just punishment, and I shall be the instrument of your pain. Do you understand? You brought this on yourself, you have no one else to blame.”
Alice looked at her adversary, knowing nothing she could say or do would change her fate.
“I understand. I understand you’re a sadistic freak and the only thing I have to say is ‘fuck you’, bitch. Go rot in hell.”
Saldana looked at the girl, admiring her fight, what little there was left. Then she grabbed Alice firmly by her hair, forcing her head from side to side, like a rag doll.
“No, sweetie, fuck you.” Saldana quickly backhanded Alice brutally several times. “Now it’s our turn.”
Saldana turned to her companions, and said, “Bring our little love bunny into the cabin. Who’d like to go first? How about you, Katarina? Patrick tells me you sometimes enjoy sampling the fairer sex, why don’t you take the first shift?”
“My pleasure, Mistress. Did you bring all the drugs I asked? And my tools?”
“Yes, Katarina luv, I did.”
They brought the girl, now not much more than a husk of a human, completely resigned to her fate, and numb to her existence.
Unfortunately for her, not numb enough.
Her screams filled up the rest of day, and night, and could be heard all the way back at the old army base. No matter, no one there cared whether she lived or died.
Alice was prey. And she had crossed the leader of the Black Shirt Movement.
Four days later Alice was dead. Saldana dragged what little remained of her human carcass out into the field. The lesser carnivores would feast upon her, and the insects, and microbes would do the rest.
Saldana had truly enjoyed her little game. Perhaps when all this was over, she would bring back the old Roman Games. Updated, of course to modern tastes. This game, and its aftermath, was truly exhilarating.
All the animals in her new Circus Maximus would be humans. Yes, she decided, she would definitely bring back slavery. They can be trained and used for pleasure and sport.
What else were these vermin good for, if not pleasure and sport?
Saldana had meticulously recorded every moment of her four days with Alice, Patrick and Katarina for posterity. She uploaded it to her computer, and kept it for later entertainment, eventually storing it on her website buried in the dark web.
She though it was safe; she thought it was secret. It was not.
Chapter 44
Bitsie Tolan was in her office contemplating the most recent task assigned to her by Edward and Hannah. She had been asked to take all of the known information, data, about the Black Shirts, and see what kind of a profile she could construct. The main problem was, of course, the lack of data, and the absence of any kind of reliable information. Still, she thought she knew enough that she might compare certain key characteristics that she did have and run them against similar known profiles. However, she thought it to be more like a guess based on a guess. The variables were practically infinite, and any profile derived in that manner practically meaningless.
Still she thought she might construct a profile of certain characteristics of their leader, Saldana Ri, and see what her program had to say. In the end, all she got were profiles relating to Nazi Germany, and the Stalin era in Russia. Edward didn’t need Bitsie to tell him that.
Her cell phone suddenly began vibrating, and slowly moving across her desk, so she picked it up to see who might be calling on her private phone.
It was Vera Capri.
Bitsie answered, delighted her friend had called, “Hey there girl, how you doin’? How are things in Jolly Old England?”
“Fine. You sound awfully chipper, my dear. Met someone?”
“I wish. No just happy these days for no apparent reason. Work is good, his majesty is nowhere to be found, and I do so enjoy working for Edward. And, don’t breathe a word of this on pain of death, but I actually enjoy working with your wife too. I just wish you’d call more often. I miss our lunches and flirting. Plus no one gossips like you, so I’m happy and sad all at the same time these days.”
“Oh, Bitsie dear, it’s so you. Caught between wanting to be happy but enjoying holding a grudge. I’ve missed you too.’
“So, girl, what’s up. Something wrong in paradise?”
“No, not on this end but I do have a big favor to ask of you. And if you promise to do it, I have a friend of mine you should call. She’s just moved to Portland from back east and doesn’t know a soul in town. I told her all about you and she positively swooned at meeting you. Seems that a Ph.D. is a big turn on where she comes from.”
“Yes.”
“Yes what?”
“Yes, to whatever you want unless it involves his highness.”
“Oh, hell no sweetie but I should have a confab with you about him one day. Adam has really helped me with that problem, you know the one we used to talk about.”
“He’s a shrink now too?”
“No. Even better. But we’ll chat about that later. Then you really need to let him do this thing with you. You won’t regret it, and I promise you’ll like him a lot more.”
“Quit butterin’ me up and get to the ask.”
“OK, well you know that Dad wouldn’t come out for the wedding, so Mom came alone. Dad was pretty pissed. Couldn’t badger Mom to skip the wedding like he normally does. But she tells me things are really ugly between them now, and she doesn’t want to set him off any further. She really does love him, though I have no idea why. He’s a bully and he’s mean.”
Vera paused for a second, as if something just popped into her head.
“Anyway, I’m sending her an album of wedding photos, and I want you to have coffee with her, and drop them off.”
“You can’t just send them to her at home? Why not just email them to her?”
“Dad snoops into all her private stuff. Always has. I’m afraid if he finds the photos, it’ll be bad for Mom. Can you call her, and bring them to her? Please? You might have to hold onto them for her until things settle down.”
“Sure, I’d be happy to help.”
“You’re a doll. The album is
on its way, so you should have it tomorrow. Call my Mom today and make plans to meet. I’ll email her number, and my friend’s number.”
“When you commin’ back?”
“I don’t know. You know how weird everything’s gotten. Soon I hope. But don’t hold your breath.”
***
The next day, Bitsie mentioned to Tony that she was leaving early for the day and would be back in the morning. She had an errand to run for a friend and it would take all afternoon. In fact, Bitsie was on her way to see Vera’s Mom then on to an afternoon coffee date with Vera’s friend, Catriona Neruda. She had just arrived in Portland a few days ago and was hoping Vera had spoken to her friend Bitsie. She wanted to make a new friend, so she would feel more at home. Bitsie had spoken to Catriona on the phone and was also eager to make her acquaintance.
Bitsie got in her car and had begun the drive to the downtown. As she went toward town she saw two large moving trucks and eight or nine panel vans pass by in the opposite direction. Someone must be moving, she thought, and drove on.
Bitsie met Tanya Capri, Vera’s mother, at a coffee shop in downtown Portland, and Bitsie handed her the photo album from her daughter. They sat together enjoying a coffee and conversation all the while gabbing about how beautiful both Hannah and Vera looked on their big day and didn’t the man officiate look very much like the ex-Prime Minister of Great Britain. Silly, of course, what would he be doing in Glastonbury? Besides he was involved in things far more important than the wedding of a couple of Yanks.
The two women stayed in the coffee shop for a few hours, then Bitsie told her that she would’ve to get a move on. She had a date and didn’t want to be late. Did Mrs. Capri want to take the photo album, or should she hold onto it at the office for safe keeping?
“You hold it for me dear. Vera’s Dad would go apoplectic if he found it at home. He’s crazy, you know. Old school Baptist with a whole laundry list of prohibited thoughts, desires and activities. Can’t be moved even an inch. Have fun on your date.”
Bitsie walked down the street to her car and put the album in the trunk. Then a five-minute walk to the park for her date with Catriona. Southwest corner at four o’clock, Catriona would be wearing a black leather jacket and a red scarf.
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