by Hatchett
The door was opened by a woman who on first glance appeared to be in her thirties and about five feet eight inches tall, towering above Chrissy. She stood aside and allowed the three of them to enter the barn before closing and locking the door behind them.
“Any issues?” the woman asked.
“None,” Chrissy replied, “except these two can’t shut up.”
Mamba looked at the woman and shook his head in denial.
There was weak, yellowy light in the barn from a few lanterns scattered around and Mamba immediately noticed that the windows had been blacked out. There were about a dozen or so people milling about, clearly waiting for their arrival, who followed on behind them as they walked further into the barn.
Chrissy led them around some pallets, and they found themselves in a man-made squared off area surrounded by tall shelving and more pallets, the space was about five metres by five metres with just one way in and out.
The light was much brighter in this area and there were a number of people already seated, waiting for them to arrive.
Chrissy walked to the opposite side and stopped in front of an older woman who was seated next to old Ernie. Mamba and Ahmed followed.
“This is Evelyn,” Chrissy introduced the woman. “She’s our leader.”
On closer inspection she looked to be in her fifties with a slim build, dark eyes and dark brown hair just off her shoulder, and worn, ruddy facial features, as if she’d worked outdoors all her life.
Mamba studied her closely.
“And of course,” Chrissy continued, “you already know Ernie.
Mamba nodded and smiled at the old man.
“Welcome,” Evelyn said, although she didn’t smile. “Please take a seat.”
She indicated a couple of wooden crates a couple of metres away to her left.
Mamba and Ahmed took the seats and saw that Chrissy had clambered up onto the pallets that Ernie and Evelyn were sitting on and perched herself between them. A couple of people offered Mamba and Ahmed cans of coke, which they readily accepted and snapped open. Everyone had now come into the area, some sitting and some standing. Most were women but there were a handful of men in the group.
“We understand you’ve already had a long chat with Ernie,” Evelyn started, “so we know what you’re here for and what you’re capable of. What we’re wondering is whether you and your men would help us with our problem.”
“Let me guess,” Mamba replied, “the Rev.”
Evelyn nodded.
“He is a tyrant, using the word of God to control very frightened people. He has carried out a number of atrocities and we don’t have time to go through them all, but once he is gone then things can return to normal around here. Of course, we’d do whatever we could to help.”
“Well, that depends on Ernie,” Mamba said. “If he’ll help us with what he knows ‘bout the underground city, we’ll help ya with yer problem.”
Evelyn turned to Ernie who nodded his assent, then Evelyn turned back to Mamba.
“Do we have a deal?”
“Yep.”
“Any ideas on how we might do it?”
“It’s already happenin’,” Mamba replied cryptically. “By mornin’ yer’ll have yer town back.”
Evelyn was unable to prevent the smile which spread across her face, making her features far softer. There was a buzz around the barn, the gathering looking excited and relieved. Evelyn told everyone that they should make their way home as soon as possible. Now that agreement was in place, she didn’t want people getting caught out by the Reverend and his Enforcers, or having the whistle blown by nosy neighbours.
Evelyn, Ernie and Chrissy watched as most of the people left, just a few deciding to stay behind in case there was anything else of interest to hear.
“That was far easier than I expected,” Evelyn said, “especially after hearing Ernie’s story. I just can’t believe the Reverend hasn’t already had you killed.”
“He ain’t clever enough,” Mamba replied.
“Yet you went into his lair unarmed.”
“What makes ya think we were unarmed? We weren’t.”
Mamba wondered how she’d known that they’d been to see the Reverend in the first place, never mind whether they were armed or not, but then he remembered that Chrissy had been there when they first arrived and had handed over the Glocks.
“Chrissy tol’ ya,” Mamba answered his own question.
“Yes. That is why most of our group are women. The Reverend doesn’t listen to or respect women and forgets they are even there. But it was still a dangerous thing for you to do.”
“Believe me, the Rev was in far more danger than we were,” Mamba replied with a laugh. “Ya really think we’d go in there all alone ‘n unarmed?”
Evelyn, Ernie and Chrissy watched Mamba with growing interest.
“A bit like we wouldn’t come here all alone ‘n unarmed.”
“Yes, well we know you have pistols and knives…” Evelyn began, but quietened when Mamba raised his hand.
“Basir?” Mamba shouted.
Basir and a dozen of their group emerged from the entryway carrying MP5 sub-machine guns.
“They’ve bin with us all night, jus’ in case.”
“I knew you were a sneaky bastard,” old Ernie said with a chuckle.
“Ernie!” Evelyn admonished him.
Mamba laughed.
“’N yer a tough ol’ goat,” Mamba replied, making Ernie chuckle some more.
“I knew you were a bad ‘un the moment I saw you,” Ernie said, “just not how bad.”
“Ya ain’t seen nothin’ yet,” Mamba agreed. “So, what’s the story?”
Evelyn looked a little confused.
“Evelyn is my daughter,” Ernie explained. “Chrissy is her adopted daughter. Evelyn’s husband, Nick, is dead. The rest of our group are friends, neighbours, cousins. Anything else you want to know?”
“Nah,” Mamba replied. “Good enough fer me. Time fer us ta get back. I reckon Chrissy oughta come with me ta keep her safe.”
“In your dreams,” Chrissy shot back, but at least she was smiling this time.
19
Day 20 – 21:15
New Eden
Faruk and Ismet had crept along in the shadows, heading back to the Hunter’s Arms, reacting immediately to the slightest movement or noise. It was amazing how many night creatures were still out and about as soon as it got dark.
The moon being out didn’t help them, but they were dressed in the all-black combat gear and had applied cam cream to their faces so they would blend into the scenery. It never failed to amaze them how some simple changes to your appearance could make you almost invisible, providing you didn’t make any sudden movements or noise.
Both young men were extremely patient and moved with a cat-like grace. But they were also very troubled individuals and carried a psychosis which bordered on insanity. They were more than happy with their night’s work, although you wouldn’t have been able to tell from their blank faces.
While Basir and a group of men had shadowed Mamba and Ahmed all evening, Faruk and Ismet had been given a different task, one which was right up their street.
While everyone else was focused on the guests arriving at Corsham Court, followed by the meal and punishments, Faruk and Ismet had clandestinely navigated their way to the Western wall of the house, and using a combination of guttering, windowsills, cracks in the brickwork and prodigious amounts of creeping ivy, managed to climb the wall to the upper floor.
There had been Enforcers roaming around the outside of the premises and a couple had wandered beneath them as they clung onto their holds a few metres above the ground, but these guards were just amateurs and of no real concern.
Faruk managed to slip a knife into the rotting wood of the window frame to free the latch and gain entry. They found themselves in an empty bedroom and quickly moved to the door to check the corridor beyond.
The upper floor was dark and
deserted, the only light coming from the ground floor. Initially, there had been a pair of Enforcers at the top of each of the two staircases looking down on the people arriving for the evening’s events.
Faruk and Ismet could just about hear them talking to each other above the sounds of the guests below, so they kept as quiet as possible. Worst case scenario; if the Enforcers did hear or suspect something and came looking, it would be the last thing they ever did.
Once the last guests had arrived and been shown into the Reverend’s presence, the big entrance doors had been closed and the Enforcers ambled their way down the stairs to the ground floor and disappeared.
Faruk and Ismet began their search at one end of the corridor, carefully opening all the doors to check out the rooms beyond, hoping they were empty, but not too bothered if they weren’t. Collateral damage was, if not expected, then certainly acceptable. They just didn’t want anyone screaming out, so they took their time and only used their small torches when they were sure the coast was clear.
They found what they were looking for in the fifth room which was roughly halfway along the Northern wall, with windows directly above the terrace below and views overlooking the lawn.
They were not entirely surprised to find a young, naked girl lying on her back on the large bed, her arms and legs spread-eagled and tied loosely to each of the four corner posts. She had a blindfold covering her eyes and a gag in her mouth. The girl could only have been in her mid-teens, with a slim, almost emaciated body, and long blond hair spread over the pillow beneath her head like a halo.
Faruk and Ismet took a passing interest in the girl but were far more intrigued by the ties that held her. It was clear that there was nothing wrong with the girl’s hearing as she tilted her head in the direction of the soft sounds they were making.
Faruk leant over the bed and whispered in the girl’s ear. He told her that she was safe, and that her ordeal would soon be over. She just had to be patient a little while longer. He and Ismet had then silently moved a couple of chairs, took what they had brought from their pockets and sat down and closed their eyes to wait.
At around seven thirty, Faruk and Ismet heard the first guests starting to leave the house; heavy doors opening, footsteps on marble, loud chatter. The noise slowly dwindled, and the front doors were eventually shut. That just left the Reverend, his Enforcers and whatever Underlings were still around.
Just before eight o’clock, Faruk and Ismet heard more chatter, followed by footsteps on the stairs. They opened their eyes slowly. Showtime.
The door to the bedroom was opened and someone flicked a switch which brought soft yellowy light from two small lamps on side tables next to the bed, the light falling on the girl as if she was a picture in an art gallery or museum.
As two Underlings helped guide the Reverend towards the bed, the bedroom door was pulled shut by someone in the corridor, presumably an Enforcer.
Faruk and Ismet moved with stealth and speed. Ismet plunged his Bowie knife into the head of the Underling on the Reverend’s left as Faruk stabbed the one on the right. At the same time, Faruk snaked his left arm around the Reverend’s head and pulled him into a headlock and cutting off his ability to shout.
As the two Underlings slumped to the floor, Ismet walked in front of the Reverend, a small smile playing across his face.
The Reverend’s eyes went wide with panic and he tried to kick out, but he was too weak to cause any serious problems and his strike brushed easily off Ismet’s thigh.
Ismet moved closer as Faruk held the Reverend in a tight embrace. Ismet then used his knife to slice away the Reverend’s clothes until he was naked below the waist. Whilst they could have just killed the man and done whatever they wanted, where was the fun in that?
Ismet knelt in front of the Reverend, and with his left hand, grasped the man’s testicles and penis and pulled. He then placed his knife next to them, nicking the skin and drawing a little blood.
By this stage, all fight had gone out of the Reverend leaving Faruk to support his full weight, not that it was particularly strenuous. There were tears in the Reverend’s eyes, eyes that seemed to be pleading and beseeching his captors to have mercy on him. Unfortunately for him, neither Faruk nor Ismet knew the meaning of the word.
Ismet suddenly sliced through the Reverend’s genitals and watched as blood started gushing down his legs and onto the carpet by his limp feet, some blood splashing onto Ismet’s clothes and face.
The Reverend’s eyes opened in pain and horror and he struggled one last time to break free, but Faruk was having none of it.
Ismet stayed kneeling, mesmerised by the flow of blood. He was amazed at the amount now soaking into the thick carpet. The flow gradually diminished, and Ismet prodded the gaping hole with his knife a couple of times just to try and get the flow going again.
Once it was clear that no more blood was forthcoming and that the Reverend had effectively been drained and died of loss of blood, Faruk used his own knife and slid it up under the base of the Reverend’s skull and into his brain. The last thing he wanted was the Reverend turning.
Ismet forced the Reverend’s mouth wide open and inserted his testicles so that he looked like a chipmunk with a large nut in each cheek, the limp penis sticking out like an unnaturally long tongue.
Faruk and Ismet then manoeuvred the body to the bed and laid it down carefully with the Reverend’s head resting against the young girl’s crotch and his ‘feature’ mouth pointing towards the bedroom door.
The girl jumped as if she’d received an electric shock and started murmuring under her gag, struggling to move away from whatever was happening between her legs, but prevented by the restraints. Faruk again whispered that she would be fine, and she slowly stopped fighting against her bonds but didn’t relax.
Faruk and Ismet then forced apart the Reverend’s legs with small cracking sounds coming from his hip region, sliced some of the bedding sheets and used the strips to tie the Reverend’s ankles to the two posts at unnatural angles at the bottom of the bed. They then selected a cross about fifteen inches in length and a couple of inches wide which they had found on the wall beside the bed, turned it so the long shaft was pointing towards the Reverend’s body and forcefully inserted it into his anus and up his rectum, before standing back and admiring their handiwork.
A simple nod at each other confirmed that they were satisfied.
Faruk and Ismet moved silently to the bedroom door and stood on either side with their Bowie knives ready. Faruk then flicked the switch to turn off the bedroom lights and carefully turned the door’s handle and eased it open an inch.
They knew that this might be the trickiest part of their evening because they had no idea if the Reverend had Enforcers guarding his bedroom.
Weak light entered the room through the small gap as Faruk eyed the corridor to the right of the door. There didn’t appear to be anyone there. Indeed, there were no lights on in the corridor, so the light had to be coming from the left or filtering up from the ground floor.
He eased the door open a little further and then stayed as still as possible and held his breath with his mouth open as he tried to sense if there was anyone standing out of sight to the left of the door.
After a few seconds he was satisfied that there was no one too close, so he opened the door a little further, allowing Ismet on the hinge side of the door the chance to look through the newly opened gap.
In the weak light, Ismet signalled that there was just one Enforcer to their left.
Faruk nodded and started tapping rhythmically on the door.
It took a few seconds for the Enforcer to hear the noise, then look all around before finally working out where the sound was coming from. He slowly left his post at the top of the stairs and walked towards the Reverend’s bedroom.
He seemed a bit surprised when he got within a couple of metres and saw that the bedroom door was slightly ajar, but the lights inside were off. With a frown crossing his face, he approac
hed the threshold and pushed the door open further, squinting to see more clearly and reaching for the light switch at the same time.
As he did so, there was sudden rush of movement and he felt some thumps on his chest. He automatically looked down but couldn’t see anything except his black shirt. Then he felt hot liquid flowing down his chest and dripping onto the carpet.
As the beginnings of an incredible pain blossomed in his chest a hand clamped itself across his mouth and he felt more thumps to his front and back. By the time his brain realised what was happening, he no longer had the strength to fight back or shout for help and stood mesmerised as two grinning faces appeared in front of him. One of the men moved behind him and grabbed him under his armpits while the other picked him up by his feet.
The last thing he saw before descending into darkness was the corridor’s ceiling moving like a conveyor belt as he was carried along.
Faruk stopped at the far end of the corridor and Ismet quickly lowered the Enforcer’s feet to the ground and opened the door to another bedroom. They quickly carried the Enforcer into the bedroom, placed him on the floor then retreated back into the corridor and closed the door behind them. Someone was going to get an unpleasant surprise when they came searching.
Faruk and Ismet then retraced their steps to the window they had used for gaining entry and left the same way they had arrived.
Once off the premises, they followed the same path taken by Chrissy, Mamba and Ahmed earlier in the evening, but instead of following the curving path towards the farm, they took a narrower right-hand spur which took them parallel to the High Street. After fifty metres or so they entered the trees on their right and made their way to the rear garden of the Hunter’s Arms, slipped through a gap in the fencing and entered the hotel through the rear entry without any of the Reverend’s spotters seeing them.
20
Day 20 – 22:00
New Eden
Mamba and Ahmed decided to return to the Hunter’s Arms via the High Street while Basir and the rest of the men followed the same route through the rear entrance taken by Faruk and Ismet a little earlier. Mamba wanted to make sure that the spotters saw him and Ahmed enter the premises so they could report back.