19

 

Lee woke up in a daze, her head hurt, her face hurt, everything hurt on her. She groaned and looked around her surroundings, it was a dark, small room that stank of animals and mildew. The floor was wet and felt like hard packed earth; at least she was hoping it was earth and nothing else. She put a hand to her head and felt the puffiness and cursed under her breath, she was going to have to put up a fight when they came back with the drugs, her only hope was to fight until she could escape. Lee slid down the filthy walls and sat with her knees pulled up to her chest. She started to cry, this was not how things were supposed to be. She sniffled and then laughed; well if you can’t beat them you may as well join them and then strike when their backs are turned. She lay her head back against the wall and closed her eyes, or they could have been closed and she wouldn’t know from all the swelling and numbness she was feeling. Who would have thought the great Lena Caine once a pretty decent cop would end up getting her a*s kidnapped and sold into human slavery.

            “Oh Tripp is probably rejoicing to be rid of me and if he does come and rescue me well I’m going to get a lecture from him.” She laughed bitterly and let the pictures play behind her eyes. An interesting homecoming no less, but she still can’t help but feel the pit of despair in her stomach tighten, she may not even get out of this alive and the last thing she did was to yell at Tripp and screw some guy she barely knew.

            “Well girl that was a total lack of judgment you can’t help who you’re attracted to but still did you have to be an uber b***h to Tripp? I mean he has been trying awfully hard to be nice.” She sighed and let the warm, musty room engulf her; she laid her head on her knees and muttered again. Something stirred in the corner or she thought she heard something. Oh just great on top of being locked in a small stinky room, it probably has some New Jersey sized sewer rats. She got on the defense in case some mutant rat decided to eat her for dinner when she heard sniffling and crying, unless the rats in Patpong cried this wasn’t an animal. She crawled over to where the sound was and felt another warm body, the body cringed when she touched it and she hoped to whoever was listening in the celestial sky that this person spoke English. She was such a mental midget when it came to learning new languages, Tripp, Biesel and even Sumyi tried teaching her several languages but she just couldn’t pick it up. She felt her blood boil at the thought of Sumyi and pushed the psychotic b***h aside, her day will come. Lee touched the figure again and they cringed and made whimpering noises. She looked up at the ceiling and said a silent prayer.

            “It’s ok I won’t hurt you? Are you ok?”  She heard the rustling of movement and the figure’s muffled cries became louder and Lee with drew her hand. She tried to sit back but the figure grabbed her hand and held it between its cold, clammy hands.

            “I thought I was the only one in here, what did you do to get thrown in here.” The voice sounded very young and Lee tried to see the person that was speaking but all she could make out was a blur. She smelled sweat and dried up blood, of course the blood could be hers.

            “ I killed some guy that wanted me to give him a blow job what did you do?” Lee’s head was starting to buzz and she shook it, the pain seared through her head again and she groaned. She may actually give into their cocktail in order to make the pain go away. She staggered back to the wall and let out a deep sigh, this whole deal was just wrong on a lot of levels and now she needed to get out of it.

            “I wouldn’t let some guy touch me, I screamed and cried and then I wet on the guy’s lap, he was so disgusted with me he complained to Lao Su.” She started crying again and Lee wanted to hold her and tell her it would be ok but she couldn’t move and she was still feeling quite nauseous. The girl sniffled and shuffled around again, “I just want to go home some men grabbed me when I was at the mall with my friends and the next thing I know I am here being groped by dirty old men.” She started crying again, Lee tried to make out the blurry shape but couldn’t, the room started spinning and she turned her head and wretched out her stomach contents.

            “How old are you? Who is Lao Su?” Lee felt her head spinning and her stomach growling, she was not hungry but she needed food. She heard the other girl shifting on the other side of the small room, the sounds from the streets of Patpong filtered through the walls, the various smells made Lee feel sick again.

            “My name is Amie what’s yours?”

            “Lena Caine.” Lee groaned and curled up into a ball, was what withdrawal symptoms would be like from their little drug cocktail? She wished Tripp would get off his lazy a*s already and come find her, she’ll even settle for the psycho contract killer that was hired to find them. Someone, anyone would be better than spending time in this stupid little room, waiting for the next round of torture.

            “Did you really kill a guy?” the voice was by Lena’s head now, she couldn’t open her eyes but she felt a hand touch her face and she flinched, the hand pulled away and Lee groaned.

            “Yes I did, sorry for flinching, they roughed me up pretty badly.”

            “They were going to beat me up too instead Lao Su said to just lock me in here for a bit until I came around. I’m thirteen years old, I’m not totally naïve when it comes to men but I really don’t want to get felt up by some dirty, sweating man who is drunk.” Lee heard the girl sigh, “Lao Su is the lady that always wears the dragon dresses, she is mean but she doesn’t hit us, she doesn’t treat the rest of us too well either but at least she doesn’t hit us.” Lee knew whom Amie was talking about, that woman could be her saving grace but she also had to figure out how to get on the dragon lady’s good side. How could they throw a thirteen year old into a sex business? These people were sick and Lee wondered how many underage girls were working for these people.

            “How did you end up here?” the air was growing warmer and thicker it was like a huge wool blanket was thrown into the room and was smothering Lee.

            “I was kidnapped, and I’m hoping Tripp can find me and get me out of here if not its up to me. Amie how many kids are there working here?” Lee really didn’t want to hear the answer but she had to know. When and if she managed to get out of this alive then she will beat all these scumbags to a pulp and shut down this operation, of course there are other operations that will still be in business but somehow she is going to make it a mission of hers to try and stop human trafficking if not put a wrench in the gears. She heard Amie inhale and the girl sniffled loudly.

            “ There are three other girls one is eight years old and the other two are fifteen, there are four boys two are eight years old and the other two are my age. They keep the boys separated from the girls and the boys when ever I have seen them are usually beaten and I can see it in their eyes that they wished they were dead.” She started crying again and Lee felt her head pound, her blood was boiling with rage and with withdrawal symptoms, if they came for her now there is no telling what she will do to them. Probably nothing but the thought counted, she couldn’t do much right now her stomach was on fire and her head felt like a jackhammer was going off in it.

            “Are you ok Lena? I can’t see well this room has always been dark but from your silhouette you look like you’re in pain.” The girl put a hand to Lee’s fevered head and drew back. “You’re burning up I should tell Lao Su, she does take care of us when we are sick.” The girl laughed but it was a bitter laugh, “of course the only reason she does would be because if we’re sick we don’t make her any money.”

            “I’m fine they injected me with some sort of drug and it is wearing off, I overheard them say that I would have to stay on it as long as they keep me.” Lee coughed and wretched up stomach bile. “It is to keep me sedated so I’ll play well with their clients.” Lee heard footsteps coming towards the room and then the metal clicking of a key in a lock. She tried to sit up but she couldn’t and she saw Amie shrink towards the corner. Muggy air came in followed by a symphony of city smells, Lee heard the clicking of heels and then saw a pair of stilettos staring her in the face, she felt like biting the ankle or spitting on them but she couldn’t. Amie started crying and hiccupping. Lee heard a groan and a disgusted sigh coming from the owner of the heels. The smell of cloves and sandalwood filled her nostrils.

            “You such cry baby little girl, you come with me now, we need you for business party.” The stiletto heels clicked past Lee’s face and she heard the scuffling in the corner, Lee tried to sit herself up but couldn’t, she groaned and tried again, she managed to get to her knees and wretched again, she saw the gray shapes of two people in front of her.

            “Hey b***h, why not pick on someone your own size.” Lee staggered to her feet and tried steadying herself, the room was starting to spin and the two shapes were the same size, that was just great.

            “Lena don’t pick a fight with Mistress, she will help you, she’s sick Lao Su she needs help.” Lee ignored the pleas and staged towards the blur that wasn’t moving. This had to be the dragon lady, what she wouldn’t do to drive one of those heels through this woman’s skull.

            “Crazy lady can’t hurt me you go girl get Echi he grab crazy lady and we fix her so she not crazy.” Lee saw the one blur streak past her and out into the neon lit street. Lee turned and stared at the woman in front of her, she was much taller than the other woman but she didn’t know the other lady’s background. The room lurched in front of her and she fell to her knees holding her stomach. A cool hand was placed on her forehead, “You sick crazy lady we fight other time you get well, and you no make money being sick.” Lee mustered all she could and spit on the woman’s shoes.

            “F**k you and your work, I’ll kill you the first chance I get.” A hand came across Lee’s face and she felt the sting of the slap.

            “You will be lot of fun to break, you have lot of fight in you, I make top dollar from you.” Lee felt the woman grab her chin and felt the nails dig into her skin, she wrenched her head away and fell into the gray haze that rolled over her. Screw the dragon lady she’ll get her next time.

            Lee woke up in an elaborately decorated room and groaned, her face hurt, everything hurt, it still hurt, and she rolled over and saw a woman staring at her. At first she thought it was Sumyi and then it came back to her that it wasn’t her. The other woman watched her through slanted eyes, her oriental dragon dress shimmering in the light of the paper lanterns. She was an older woman but she was pretty, her nails were painted a drastic crimson and looked like talons dripping with blood. She poured something out of a silver teapot, it smelled medicinal and Lee groaned, it wasn’t steaming though like tea so she really didn’t know what it was. The woman put the cup down and pushed it towards Lee, she rolled her eyes and tried rolling over and ignored the lady, pain seared through her stomach and her head started pounding again.

            “Bloody hell what was in Sumyi’s mixture, I swear when I get out of here I am going to inject her full of her own poison.” Lee gritted her teeth and heard the woman behind her clear her throat. She rolled over and looked at her again, the woman was pushing the cup towards her again. Lee wearily pushed herself up and stared at the room again, it was a beautiful room but she knew this isn’t where the hired help slept and she knew that.

            “You need drink medicine it help detoxify body, if you follow rules we not inject you with so much sedative.” Lee reluctantly took the cup and sniffed it and made a face, which reminded her that her face was swollen and bruised. She let the liquid run down her throat and it cooled as well as warmed her body, it was bitter tasting, it tasted like cough syrup and herbs. Lee felt her stomach clench again and she dropped the cup on the bed, the dragon lady pushed her down and pulled down the sheets, Lee wanted to fight those taloned hands but the stuff she drank was making her drowsy and heavy. Lao Su placed her hands on Lee’s abdomen and tutted, and then she looked down into Lee’s eyes and shook her head.

            “You need get better, no more sedative for you, it poison you badly, you behave or else.” The dragon lady walked out of the room leaving Lee lying helpless on the bed staring up into the gauzy canopy. Of course the dumb woman couldn’t believe that she would listen to a word they say. She slipped into a fuzzy sleep, she tried dreaming of Tripp and willing him to come and rescue her but all she saw was Brandon’s face floating in front of her closed eyelids. At this point, she kept telling herself it didn’t matter who came to rescue her, someone had to come for her or she was going to escape and probably die trying.

            Lao Su walked down the hallway and pushed open the office door, things changed and they were going to have to find another way to keep the wild one on a tight leash. Lao Su paged that lazy boy of hers and waited for him to come into her office. He beat their new girl up pretty good, the thing Lao Su liked about her was that she was beautiful and deadly, when they found that dead man in the room with his neck broken Lao Su felt a sort of pride in their new girl. She liked them with fight, they were much more fun to break, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to break this one. She paged Echi again and waited impatiently, they were going to have to do something to keep Lena Caine on a leash though, they couldn’t keep hiding bodies and they couldn’t let their help continue killing people. Lao Su also didn’t like the look in the woman’s eyes, she knew deep in her heart that if given the opportunity Lena Caine would come after her and deliver the same fate to her that she delivered to that man. Lao Su lit a pipe and puffed on it to calm her nerves, where was that brainless boy, she was also going to have to tell him to lay off beating the girls, he was getting too rough with them and the bruising took time to heal, while the girls and the boys healed that was money being lost. Lao Su hated losing money, a slow smile crept over her face, if Echi kept beating Lena Caine she may finally see her boy put into his rightful place to respect women. The law of karma may find her son soon, and that karma may be Lena Caine.

            “You paged mother?” her boy was a mess he was wearing a wrinkled shirt and there were blood stains on it, she had a good idea what he was doing but did not say anything it was like yelling at the wood that made her desk, hard and dense, solid, but the words will not penetrate it.

            “Yes sit, we need talk about new girl, no more Sumyi stuff for her, we need find a new way to control her.” She saw the petulant look on her son’s face and took another puff of her pipe, if she knew he wouldn’t slap his own mother she would have put him in his place a while ago.

            “ Why must we find a new way to control her? I like her when she is fighting, it’s more fun to hit her, to feel my fist hitting that soft flesh of hers, the impact is nearly erotic. When she is sedated she is no fun at all, but Sumyi’s orders were to keep her sedated,” he flexed his fingers and cracked his knuckles, Lao Su rolled her eyes and stared at her son. “Although like I said I prefer the b***h spunky, it was pretty impressive what she did to that big fat oaf.” Echi was smiling lost in his own sadistic world and Lao Su slammed her fist down on the desk startling him out of his thoughts.

            “We need find new way, don’t question me boy. She also has restricted period for working with us.” Her son gawked at her and she waved a hand dismissing him.

            “Well mother what do you suggest I do?” he stood in the doorway and was obviously annoyed, his crazy mother pulled him away from that girl Amie so she could tell him this useless information?

            “I don’t know, I figure out, you stay away from Lena Caine until I say so.” Echi narrowed his eyes at his mother and smiled, the smile he gave her was dangerous and feral looking.

            “Ok mother whatever you say.” He walked out into the hallway slamming the door behind him. He’ll go back to his fun and then he’ll find out where his mother put Lena Caine he was going to have a bit of fun with her.

            Lao Su watched her son walk out the door and shook her head, she would have to alert security to be on the look out for him, until Lena Caine was better she would not let her son near her. Lao Su may be a b***h but she did at least believe in a fair fight, and in Lena’s current condition if her son found her, Lena would lose, when the woman was well, she’ll be pissed and out for blood then Lao Su will alert her son to where Lena Caine is until then it will be Lao Su’s secret.

Reviews

[Marie]

Love Lena. I know how it ends...LOL.