Old Lady (8 page)

“Oh yes, I can.”

She sprang out of the chair and lunged for the door. She didn’t want to do this because any attempt at escape would earn her nothing more than good beating, but still, she tried because if she didn’t do so, she would be trapped in an endless nightmare. Just as she reached the door, he grabbed her hair and spun her around with enough force to make her knock against the wall. A scream shot out of her lips as blood flew from a cut on her forehead. As she screamed again, he kicked her in the stomach and when she fell down, he kicked her once more to make sure that she stayed down.

“Stupid girl,” he snarled. “Haven’t you realized that there is no escape from this place?”

“Please let me go,” she sobbed out the words. “I will pay you whatever you want. Nick will give you the money.”

He bent down and thrust his face close to hers. His breath stank. “It’s not about the money anymore, silly girl. It’s about my ego, my pride. You’ve stamped on it and now you’re going to pay the price for it.”

Nick, where are you?
She screamed in her mind. If only he knew where she was, he would have moved heaven and earth to help her, but she was too far away. No one knew where he kept her. They might suspect that he kept her in the same club from which he operated, but they couldn’t come inside to search for her. In any case, he didn’t intend for her to remain here for long. What he planned for her was horrendous beyond words.

Tears ran down her cheeks. “No, please no.”

“Oh yes, baby. You’re going to serve me until your last dying breath and when I am done with you, then I am going to put you out of your misery.”

Gabby wished she was dead already.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Days blended into night as Gabby was shuttled from one client to another. Trussed up, tied with a rope that dug into her arms and legs, she was thrown in the back of a van and shifted from one man to another. She’d thought that all faces of evil were known to her, but she realized that there were other levels of depravity that she hadn’t been exposed to before. There were men who liked to have sex with her when she was tied to the bed, helpless and vulnerable. Some of them liked to hit her when she couldn’t lift her hands to protect herself.

Her life became an endless nightmare from which there was no escape. Gabby prayed for salvation, but knowing that it wasn’t close, she longed for death. It didn’t come. Battered and bruised, she lay spread on one bed and then another as Joseph drove her from one place to another. He wanted her to suffer, and this was the worst that he could do. Her pride, her self-worth, all evaporated as she was forced to do unspeakable acts to men who enjoyed her humiliation as much as they relished her body.

She wanted to die, but death eluded her.

But only for a short time. When he was done, when she couldn’t serve him anymore, he would kill her. She yearned for that moment to come, but he kept her alive by force feeding her in between her time on the bed. One man after another subjugated her to his will. She cried, she pleaded them to stop, but no one cared enough to listen to her. Broken in spirit, devastated and depressed, she finally stopped groveling. Quietly, she lay down while they did what they had to. One man blended into another.

“Gabby?” said a gentle voice she could recognize but Gabby refused to open her eyes. She couldn’t bear to look into the gloating face of the man whom she was brought to. How long had she been shifted from one house to another? She didn’t quite know. Was it days or weeks? Or perhaps hours? Time had lost all meaning. “Gabby,” said the man in a persistent voice. “Look at me.”

What the hell did he want? Wasn’t it enough that she didn’t protest, didn’t scream, or pleaded? What did he desire more than what he was already going to take?

“Gabby, it’s me. Lyle. Open your eyes. I want to talk to you.” In some corner of her mind in which sanity prevailed, she saw figments of her past life. Lyle? The man who helped her escape. Had she been brought to him?

She opened her eyes. His face swam into view. She was tied to the bed by Joseph and stripped of all clothes. She squirmed as she tried to sit. To her surprise, he opened the bonds that held her. He sat on the bed. “Lyle?”

His eyes traveled down her bruised body that was nearly black and blue. “What have they done to you?”

Tears poured down her cheeks. She couldn’t stop. Gabby didn’t want sympathy. He would do what he always did so there was no point asking for mercy. What was the use anyway? If he didn’t rape her, the next man would. “Kill me, please.”

Much to her surprise, he took her in his arms and patted her back. “Gabby? I want to help you.”

“There is nothing you can do,” she said.

“Is there anyone you can call for help? He told me to surrender my phone before I came in, but I have got another phone. He didn’t know.” Her confused mind couldn’t process the request. “Should I call the police?”

What if she reached someone who was on Joseph’s take? She couldn’t afford that risk. If he knew that she had called the police, he would kill her this instance and throw her body in the river. Joseph was bent on exacting his revenge but he wouldn’t keep her alive if it meant being caught. For him, self-preservation was everything. “No,” she said. “I need to…call someone else.”

Would Lyle actually help her? Was he joking? Perhaps this was part of Joseph’s plan? Maybe he told Lyle to ask her to see if she still had any courage left? But he put the phone in her hand. “You can use this.”

She stared at the phone as if it was a foreign object. “I can call someone. No! Wait!” What the hell would she tell Nick? She couldn’t speak of the horrors that were inflicted on her. “Where are we?”

He gave her the address. “Whom do you want to call?”

With fingers that trembled, she typed out the message and sent Nick a text. She gave him the address of Joseph’s club and this place. Joseph wasn’t too discreet when he called her old clients to see if anyone was interested. She’d heard him talking to a few more of them in half daze while he drove the car. She could take a guess as to where he intended to take her next. Of course, she could be wrong, but she sent Nick the addresses of two other places where he could possibly take her.

Would he come? How long would it take him if he set off now? By the time he arrived in town, she would be elsewhere. He wouldn’t be able to track her. But at least he would know that she tried. At least, that was enough for now.

“Thank you.” She returned the phone to Lyle.

He glanced at her as if he was trying to memories her features. “I am sorry for what he has done.”

Her lips lifted in a wry smile. “It would be better if I was dead. I am as good as. He is not going to let me live.”

“When he called and said that you were available, I couldn’t believe it. You’d left. So I told him yes, that I was interested. My wife has gone out of town, otherwise I would have had to say no. He insisted that you weren’t available in his club. I wondered what that was all about,” he explained.

“He doesn’t want a police raid. I think he is keeping all the girls somewhere else right now because there is an investigation going on against him,” she said. Even from this much talk, her throat began to hurt. Slowly but surely, her body was giving up.

Lyle ran a hand over her cheek. If he’d touched her in a sexual manner, she would have cringed, but the way he rubbed his hand over her clearly showed his affection. She could tell that he was genuinely sorry about her state. “I just wanted to make sure that you were doing this out of your own will, but it’s obvious that he is forcing you into this. How did you get caught?”

She told him the whole sordid tale. Once more, guilt hit her. If only she hadn’t left that day with Tasha to go to the damned store. “He is very angry. I don’t even remember how many days it has been since…he kidnapped me. What day is it?”

“It’s Sunday, October 25.”

Only two days had elapsed since she was snatched off the street and brought into this filth again, but for Gabby it felt as if she had been doing this for a lifetime. Her body had already been battered beyond recognition in forty-eight hours. What would happen if he continued this treatment for a week or months? She wouldn’t survive. She didn’t want to live like this anyway. If this was the way she was going to spend the rest of her existence, she preferred to embrace a quick end rather than prolonged agony.

Lyle tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. Emotions coiled in his eyes. She could see pity and sympathy. “I could ask him to keep you here for the day. My wife won’t come back before a week has passed. Let me tell him that I would be willing to pay double price. You could just rest and recuperate.”

She couldn’t believe that he was so helpful. What did he want? Or perhaps she was being so paranoid that she couldn’t accept anyone’s help without being suspicious. “He wouldn’t agree to it.”

“Let me just talk to him. He wants money so he will get it from me.”

Lyle walked out of the door. Gabby took that moment to pull the sheet forward. She could perhaps rest for a few minutes. All she’d done in the past days – surely, it was days, and not weeks – was to either travel in the van or service men. Whatever sleep she’d snatched was in the back of the van while she was tied up tightly. Her mind was exhausted, and her body was almost near-death. She could feel her energy draining with each passing moment. Soon, she wouldn’t be able to move at all, and then the end would come. But would it be quick, or would Joseph drag it out for as long as he could?

Nick would never be able to reach in time to save her. The distance from this town to his was a ten hour journey by bus. She’d thought it was enough to keep her save, but apparently it wasn’t, and now the same distance would get her killed. But she hoped that he would be able to make Joseph suffer for what the way he tortured her. Even though she wouldn’t live to see it, it gladdened her heart to know that Nick would do his best to get Joseph sent to jail. Perhaps she would, in death, be able to protect the other girls he enslaved. It would be an accomplishment, perhaps a minor one, but still she would be able to leave her mark on this earth in some positive manner.

The door opened with a bang. She jumped up, knowing that her brief respite was over. Lyle was trying to pull Joseph back from the door, but the pimp swiped his hand and threw the younger man on the floor.  “Stay away,” he yelled as he strode forward to yank the sheet off Gabby. “You bitch! You managed to turn him over, didn’t you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I do.” Grabbing her hair, he pulled her off the bed. She landed on the floor with a loud thump. “We’re leaving right now.”

Gabby could guess what must have happened. Lyle’s overeager desire to keep her here must have convinced Joseph that something was amiss. He was an extremely paranoid man, and these days his paranoia was even more fueled by the police investigation that was going on against him. Since it was initiated by Gabby, he was all the more mistrustful of anything to do with her.

“I’ve paid for an hour,” Lyle protested.

Digging into his picket, Joseph drew out Lyle’s money and threw it on the floor. “Take it back. I don’t need it. You bastard! I shouldn’t have brought her to you.”

Keep his grip on her arm intact, he dragged her towards the door. Lyle refused to budge. “If you leave, I will call the police.”

Gabby was frightened for Lyle. He didn’t realize it but in this kind of a mood, Joseph was ready to kill. “No!” she breathed out the word so softly that no one heard it. If she spoke any louder, she would earn another few kicks and slaps.

Joseph bared his teeth. “You do that, pretty boy, and they would like to know as to why you felt the need to pay for a prostitute. Your wife would know, and so would your family. You want to do that for her? You want to risk everything you hold dear for this woman who means nothing to you? She is a whore who moves from man to man to earn her keep.”

Lyle opened and closed his mouth. “I…”

Gabby could well understand the thoughts that crossed Lyle’s mind. He wanted to do the right thing for her, but he also couldn’t risk harming himself in the process. His self-interest conflicted with his concern for her welfare. She couldn’t really blame him. What he’d done was more than what anyone else offered. She was already grateful for him for offering a chance to contact Nick. Also, at least, he tried to keep her safe. Apart from Nick and the friends she met in Hell Brigade’s clubhouse, no one did even this much. 

“Thank you,” she muttered as he stepped aside and allowed Joseph to drag her away.

Joseph tugged her towards the van. Resistance would earn slaps and beating. She didn’t want that. Her body wouldn’t be able to tolerate any more abuse. Lately, she was feeling as if all her bones would shatter at the slightest impact. She was too weak to fight, too broken down to protest. As he shoved her in the car, Joseph took a moment to survey her.

“I know what you’ve done. He must have helped you call a friend or someone. Don’t think that this has changed anything. I’m not going to let you escape no matter what happens. I’ve got two more appointments booked for you tonight, and once we’re done with those, you’re going to die,” he told her in a flat, cold voice.

She gulped as she stared at him. He bent to pick up the ropes and slide them around her. For a moment, Gabby considered the thought of making a lunge for freedom, but it would earn her nothing but another beating. She wouldn’t survive it. If she was going to die, she preferred to meet her end with dignity. Would he grant her that?

She licked her bottom lip. “I didn’t do anything.”

He tightened the ropes and stepped away. Picking up a handkerchief, he tied it around her mouth. “Two hours. That’s all you got. Don’t worry. I will make it quick. One blow to the head and down you will go in the river, weighed down by rocks. You will not open your eyes again.” He closed the door of the van and she heard him move towards the driver’s side. He sat inside and started the van.