4 comments/  19093 views/  0 favorites

Transit

By: Sienna



The city sprawled out both sides of the river like a concrete jungle, with its skyscrapers, rising like fingers into the air. The vista provided a picturesque scene through the wide windows of Maria Kelly's apartment. 

To Maria it was the start of another day as a successful journalist working for the City Times. She felt good about her mission in life at present. She was full of confidence for what the job demanded so far and she felt good about herself because that morning the feelings of the night were still buzzing through her sensorium.

The city looked good, she thought as she sipped on her fresh cup of coffee. Then the hands of Paul Davies settled upon her hips from behind. She could feel his breath on her neck as he kissed her, parting her blonde hair to one side. "I think I'm falling in love with you." he whispered gently. She closed her eyes, snuggled her back into him, feeling his presence.

"I wish it was still Sunday. Then I could have you all day." she replied.

"Then call in sick. Tell them you have suddenly come down with this paralyzing and mysterious illness and you have to stay in bed all day." 

Maria groaned her response. "I wish." She took his hand and placed it upon her breast and Paul returned a gentle squeeze, feeling the stiffness of her nipple beneath the white lace nightdress. "I loved it the way you fucked me last night."

"I don't do that for every woman I meet."

"Mmm....so I should count myself lucky?"

"No. I'm the lucky one."

She turned to look up into his brown eyes. Slowly they embraced in a passionate kiss. "Share a shower with me." she asked, parting their kiss for a moment as she ran her slender fingers gently over his slightly stubbled face. "Let us see what might transpire."

The thought made Paul get even harder than he already was coupled with the sweet aroma of sex that was still upon her body. The things he wanted to do to her again and the things he never had chance to do came streaming into his mind. She broke the kiss once more, placing her fingers over his lips. "You really do want me don't you?" she asked.

"Want isn't a strong enough word to describe how I feel at the moment."

Most people moved around the city by cab or public transport these days. The traffic was so busy and the city still poor to be able to provide adequate transport ordinances. Maria was fortunate to be able to hold an account with a cab company. The trains and busses were all too crowded at the best of times. Quite often they were the venue of some of the most horrific sex crimes even in broad daylight.

The cab dropped her off outside the main forecourt to the press office housed in one of the thirty storey buildings of the Main Street. She hated that elevator ride to the fifteenth floor, even though the workers and visitors in the building seemed harmless enough, there was always the chance of being a victim of transit rape, the newest and now highest crime in the city.

"Know what. I blame the Japanese." Vernon Wiles remarked, throwing the morning edition across his desk towards Maria. "Their obsession with schoolgirls and abusing them on public transport in Tokyo. To top it all, they video the whole thing."

"Vernon, I think that is all staged." she replied, thumbing the pages to find the article of their conversation. 

"Look...I don't think so. You ever seen one of those videos? The look of sheer trepidation on those girls faces. I think it's real enough."

"According to this statement, it's happening here?" 

"I have seen videos on the internet. This thing is getting big now. Like snuff movies and gonzo. Real life situations."

"Then surely the victims know who these people are?"

"Well, it seems not. Total strangers. There even putting Marky Dayton out of popularity."

"Dayton? Is he still going?" Maria asked with a smirk on her face. "I used to watch his show on the adult breakfast channel before going to high school every morning."

"Ever met him?"

"No. Not that I have wanted to either."

"Then now is your chance. I want you to cover a story that involves good old Marky."

Maria suddenly realised that she was being roped into a task she would not relish. She neatly folded the broadsheet and laid it on the desk and then leaned forward, allowing her average cleavage to show from the open top few buttons of the blouse she wore. Vernon liked the view. Despite his clean-cut moral stance on sex and being the father of three teenage daughters, the site of a nice neat titty package still turned his attention, especially from the still youthful Maria.

"You mean to say that you would send me out on an interview with Marky Dayton? Vernon I can't believe you."

"Look, Maria, you are the only one I can trust with this story. I am out to expose these perverts once and for all. My youngest daughter relies upon traveling the busses to school every day. It is only a matter of time before it hits on her route."

"So what makes you think I am a specialist in these things?"

"You are young and sexy enough to get what I need." Vernon replied, a partially evil grin growing across his lips. "Come on. You can do this. Makes a change from interviewing boring movie stars and thespians alike. You said you wanted a challenge. Now here it is."

Marky Dayton began his career as a tv personality many years ago. He was notorious for hitting the streets of the city armed with a camcorder and encouraging women to strip for the camera in back allies. A one-man bang bus team. But his victims were willing and they gave their consent. The footage was then shown on public access adult tv and he became very popular.

The growth of the Internet meant viewing changes and his ratings began to fall. Now he takes on the moral fight against those who commit transit rape and display their efforts on unregulated web sites.

Many people like Maria thought the whole thing was a new theme in the porn industry. Marky Dayton knew something different.

Maria was driven in style to where Marky lived on the outer areas of the city. The newspaper took good care of its journalists, especially if they were on an important assignment. The limo pulled up outside the millionaires' house and then left her to it. "Just call us when you want to be collected." the chauffeur explained. 

She watched the car retreat down the drive and through the electronically operated security gates and wondered what was in store for her. A man like Marky turning moral over night only meant that he could be loosing out financially. He considered himself an artist in his own right, but one that believed in profit. 

The house was a spread, styled on the Spanish villa design only bigger. Maria decided to take the backdoor entrance and found a gate leading into the rear compound and garden. Her explorations failed when met by two Doberman pinchers racing to the gate. She loved dogs, but not those trained as viscious guardians. She closed the gate fast and waited, noticing the inevitable jaws barking and growling at her from the safety of the other side. "Good doggies. Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't feel like lunch today."

The handler, a tall beefy man walked up to restrain the dogs on a leash. "You must be the guest? Miss Kelly?"

"Yes. City Times." She displayed her identity tag pinned to her jacket. "I see the guards here are both cute, angry and very keen."

"They do their job miss. We get a lot of trespassers here."

"Well, I am just pleased to be a guest."

Marky was busy on his telephone by the poolside. There was a defiant and assertive side to his nature. He owned shares in the public access tv channel he helped to run and with the recent trends away from their product, business was harder each day. He was also brash and although his life turned good after college in the media business, there were traits still present of his rough childhood upbringing in the poorer city streets and projects.

He clicked off the mobile phone, cutting someone out who he did not feel obliged to continue his conversation with. "Fuckin' idiots! I'm surrounded by them!" He looked at Maria, like he would any attractive woman and scanned her from head to toe. To him she was sex on legs in the first and then a journalist further down the line. Maria smiled and held out her hand to greet him. Marky however did not believe in association with a woman so intimately unless it was to satisfy his basic natural needs. The charm he used in doing what he did was trained and practiced to gain maximum advantage.

"So Vernon sent you? I expected a guy. So how good are you at your job?"

"I do OK. Why do you ask that?" Maria inquired. "Is it because you don't believe that women should do the things I do?"

"OK, let me put it this way.... if I told you to strip naked here and now, would you?"

"Certainly not." She stood arms crossed in defense. "Why should I?"

"Because it's what I think you're good at."

"Typical. I should have expected that from you. Infact, I did expect that from you, OK?"

Marky laughed at her expense. When he was not charming he was jokingly offensive. "Look, grab a chair and sit down. I was only joking with you. It's the way I am."

He ordered cool drinks of lemonade which Maria considered welcoming. It was turning hot in the mid-day sunshine and she was a little over dressed to be out of air conditioning. The pool was becoming inviting to her as time went by. Marky explained his point of view about the matter of transit rape and as expected he seemed to be fronting a moral objection to it. 

"So how do you think it should be stopped?" She asked. "More cops, better public transport, regulated websites? How?"

"All of those things of course. It isn't right." 

"But don't you think its all staged? I mean the victims complain but they don't point anyone out. I personally think they are paid in advance and agree to do it."

"So you think it's staged ah?" Marky replied.

"Yes I do. They complain because it's publicity. We see the victim on the news and next evening everyone can pay to see it really all happen on the websites."

"Yeah OK, I get your point. But these people are not paid believe me. They are victims of a rape virtually in public with lots of witnesses around sometimes. Then they have to go through the humiliation of it all being re-run hours later."

"But that is it...lots of witnesses. As if people are invited to be part of it."

"You ever heard of the words fear and intimidation?"

"There's no way." Maria laughed at the thought.

"OK, ok..... I'll put my own personal safety on the line here. I know who is behind this. I know how they operate the whole thing."

"Are you suggesting organised crime rings Marky?"

"Yes I am. I think you need to be a victim to understand this."

"So how do I become a victim?" Maria asked. "I don't use the busses or trains."

"Then make yourself a victim. Bait yourself. Look, I'll make an agreement with you and the cops. You do this and I'll tell everything I know."

Maria thought that the suggestion was crazy. But then it did have its advantages. She could be there when it happened of course. It was dangerous and it would help to put an end to it one way or another. Afterall, she remembers the story of how a snuff movie team was busted by a fellow journalist doing the same only years ago in another city. The risk of loosing her life was much lower, but she would have to be raped in the process. What sane woman would do that?

That evening Maria thought long and hard about it. Rape was something she feared could happen to her, unless she knew what to expect perhaps. She thought about it, running scenarios through her mind. Rape was a surprise attack in the first instance. The fear could be diminished slightly by expecting it. Now she thought about Paul Davies and maybe his help.

Over the passing days, she had agreed with Vernon to come up with an exclusive within the next few weeks. It was time to get prepared for the whole thing.

After building up the courage she finally called Paul Davies from her home one evening.

"Hi Paul here..." She trusted that voice and the man it belonged to. The sound of it brought her dying to be close to him and to feel him next to her. It had been sometime now since she had sex and the last time was with him.

"Hi, it's Maria...remember me?"

"Do I remember you? That is an understatement if I ever heard one. Of course I remember you babe, how can I ever forget. You are always in my mind, I can't get you out of it."

To hear him say that made her feel good and so special. "I hope you are not just saying that?" she replied.

"Honest to god, I have been waiting for you to call. I need you again. And I know that you need me just as much. So, babe... when do we meet?"

"Well, I need your help with something."

"You know I will help you with anything....... just name whatever it is."

Maria laughed to herself at the things going through her mind. "I want you to rape me." She heard him laugh and it was not really what she wanted to hear. His reaction was natural from someone who thought they loved you. Being asked something out of the ordinary was unusual.

"Babe. Did I hear you right?"

"Yes. But it doesn't matter. Forget what I said it was stupid. I was being stupid."

"No. It isn't stupid. Listen to me........"

"Paul I was just......"

"I understand what you are saying. You forget what I do for a living. I am a psychologist remember and if this is one of your fantasies then maybe we should work this out"

"Actually it is more than just a fantasy......I want to be raped." She was now struggling with the way it must have sounded to him. What must he be thinking about her? She risked explaining the reasons which could jeopardise everything she was planning, which in itself was still outrageous.

"And if I said that I would be willing to do this? Maria did you understand what I just said to you?"

"Yes I did. You would rape me? But why?" Her mind was now running into confusion. His agreement to do this now seemed ridiculous to her. Willing rape by Paul suddenly became a nasty thing to contemplate.

"Because you asked me to......it's something you want.... right?"

"Yes of course, I'm sorry Paul. I just thought about it another way that is all."

"It is sexual role-play you are looking for I take it?" he asked.

"I can't explain the reasons. I just want to know what it is like."

"Maria I understand."

Somewhere on the other side of the city, the subway station clock clicked to 12:03. Three people walked down the escalator dressed in black leather trench coats in an orderly line. They wore shades and one was unmistakably a female with her flared bleached blonde hair. They stood on the empty station platform and waited. The screeching of an oncoming train could be heard inside the dark tunnel, getting louder each second as it approached.

The three looked into the direction of the train as it entered the station out of the darkness. It's carriages rumbling to a standstill and the doors slid open. The train was virtually empty of passengers when the three stepped onto it together. The doors closed and the train began to rattle its way out into the dark tube again. The tallest of the three looked down into the compartment and saw four people sitting evenly spaced apart. A drunk, asleep in his stupor. Two teenagers, both male, who got out of their seats and walked on to the next adjoining carriage. The last one was a girl in her early twenties. 

Cathy Tenaway shuddered as the three looked directly at her. She knew there was something strange about them and maybe she should have followed the two young guys who had left in haste. She tried not to notice that she had seen them looking at her. Maybe they were just three harmless individuals who wanted to be noticed.

One of them moved towards her. Her heart began to race, her breasts heaved in the low cut dress she wore and she grasped her coat tightly around her. It was time to go. Without further hesitation, Cathy jumped to her feet and made a dash down the compartment. Too late. She was gained upon by one of the three who grabbed her around the waist and covered her mouth with the other free hand. 

Screaming out was pointless. The black leather glove covered her mouth tightly and fingers squeezed her nose in a way that controlled her breathing. The more she struggled then the more he would pinch. "We are not going to hurt you." he told her. His voice was moderate and calm as if all of this was routine, clinical even. 

The other two came up close and the tall second man stood before her. She tried to kick out at him but his grip on her legs was so powerful that the whole thing became futile. It was obvious to Cathy that this was going to be over as soon as it began. She was a victim of the transit rapist. The man before her smiled at her, his face was not that of someone who could do this, she thought. He opened up her coat and ripped at her dress from top to bottom so that it fell apart exposing her underwear. 

Cathy's eyes looked to the side and she saw the girl standing on one of the seats, a mini-video cam in her hand focused on what was happening. It was sick, but this was their style. She had been warned that this could happen and she took no notice. She took the chances.

They eased her down onto the floor of the compartment and the tall man moved his hands over her firm breasts before taking a knife and cutting through the material between the cups. The lace cotton fell open exposing her nipples. Nipples not extended through excitement, but fear. He moved the knife down to her panty waistline and lifted the material with his finger from her skin while he sliced downwards, cutting enough to break the elastic and to produce a tear.

The girl continued filming. Continually zooming in on the action and focusing in on Cathy's face. Hands touching nipples and the then the tuft of dark pubic hair. "That's it baby...I need to see lots of fear in those pretty gray eyes of yours." she commanded. The man who held her began to laugh and released his grip on her face.

"You bastards!" Cathy cried out. He took her legs by the shins and lifted them towards him so that she was contorted, her ankles hovering over her head to either side. "You won't get away with this!"

"Sorry, but I think we will somehow." the tall man replied, opening up his trousers and taking his hard long cock in his hand. "We know who you are. We know everything about you."

"The fuck you do" Cathy retorted. "You know nothing at all." Quickly the girl took out a photograph from her pocket and waved it in front of Cathy's face. The fear in her intensified instantly when she saw the image of little Michael, her nephew. 

She screamed out loud, almost begging for the whole thing to end as her sex was penetrated by the man, for what seemed forever. But the ordeal was over in a matter of minutes. They had done their deed between stations and left the train. Every moment of the act captured for the voyeurs later on that day.

"Cathy, why can't you tell us anything?" Maria asked leaning beside the victim as she sat dazed following hours of police interviews in the rape suit of the city police headquarters. "Did they threaten you really bad? Cathy, you can trust me on this one. I won't say anything."

"Yes you will." Cathy turned to look at Maria in the face directly. "You are a reporter."

"No. I give you my word on this. I just need to know this for my own benefit. Trust me."

"I think you have asked enough questions already." The burly policewoman intervened.

Maria smiled and accepted that that was all she was going to get on this occasion. She thanked them both for their time and hugged Cathy before leaving. "If you need to talk, then please contact me. Anytime."

The morning had turned out to be another hot sticky day as the sun began to rise higher in the sky between the tallest of the buildings, Maria left the police headquarters and made her way to the busy street where she ailed a cab. She was now determined to get the scoop on this issue and her mind was set. Nothing would stand in her way.


Transit



She told herself to stay calm and realised that she needed a drink and worst of all, she needed to pee. The door opened and a strange girl entered the room. Ellen was strange atleast to Maria as they had never met before in there lives. "Where am I?" 


Ellen leaned on the brass bed frame and grinned at her captive guest. "In good company. I don't even know your name, but I am told you are important. I have to look after you."

"Ok, in that case can you untie me?" Maria asked.

"No. If I did that, then you might escape."

"Then can I have a drink of water atleast?"

Ellen stood by the side of her captive and stroked her hair with a slender hand tipped with long silver painted finger nails. Maria noticed that Ellen was strangely dressed. A tight black leather dress that held her breasts in with a squeeze, perm waved blonde hair that cascaded over her shoulders and the silver eye shadow and lipstick she was made up with. 

The way Ellen touched her hair and run a gentle finger over her face had a hint of cruel affection. She knew that whoever this girl was, she was not going to be easy to deal with.

"Water? I don't have any water. What are we going to do?"

"I need a drink, surely you could understand that." Maria pleaded. "Can you get me a drink?" There was assertion in her voice. 

Ellen looked around the room and then looked back at Maria. "Let me think about this for a while..."

"What is there to think about? I need to drink." She also now realised that Ellen was either dumb or acted it. More acting it seemed, as she was obviously bent on being outright cruel. "You are going to make me wait then?"

"Yes." 

"Do you know why I am here?"

"Yes. You have been very naughty and you have to be punished."

"Who told you that? What is your name?"

Ellen slowly touched Maria's nipple and watched it react. She grinned with that evil smirk she had, running her sharp nail around the areola tantalisingly. "Oh look. Am I making you horny?"

"Not in the least." Maria replied. It was the fear that produced the reaction more than the erotic implication. "Can we discuss that drink? And you still have not told me your name."

"Do you shave or trim? Let me have a look." Ellen run her finger over Maria's navel. She gulped, her throat was stinging with the dryness left by the ether, and then she felt Ellen pulling down her panties. "Oh yes, how nice. I see you trim your pussy. So neat and tidy."

"I do my best." Maria felt a sharpness between her outer lips as Ellen pushed into her roughly. "That hurts."

"Oh I'm sorry. I was checking to see if you were wet."

"And if I was?"

"Hmmm...maybe we could play."

"Maybe we could. But I need that drink first."

Ellen thought, running the back of her fingers slowly up Maria's navel once more. Then she stopped and dashed to the door, leaving Maria alone in the room. She gave a sigh of relief for that one moment in hope that a drink would be on its way very shortly. But it did nothing to relieve the tightness she felt in her bladder that was getting increasingly painful.

Dayton stepped out of his limo on the waste ground and strode towards the car parked infront. He placed the briefase on the bonnet and waited, looking at Banner through the windscreen. "Are you coming out to collect this money or what?" Banner, after a few seconds got out of his car, turned the briefase towards him. "What's up? Don't you want it? Or is it perhaps you think I have dropped you in it? Look around!"

"I don't and never will trust you Marky."

"Want to count it?"

"No."

"I thought you said you didn't trust me you stupid fuck!"

Banner grabbed the briefcase and threw it in the car before him. "You broke the rules Marky. You shouldn't have contacted Garth."

"Well lets just say I had some extra business to put his way." Dayton replied smiling. "This business is sort of better than your deal. And make that the last fifty grand I pay you OK."

"Don't worry Marky, one day I will have you." Banner started the engine and sped in reverse away from Dayton, who delighted in sending abusive finger gestures.

Marky Dayton had offered Garth a better deal than Banner had originally. Garth's respect had switched now leaving the bent detective in a sorry dilemma. But Garth did not realise his own predicament. Banner would now find a way to stop the rapes and have them all arrested without implicating his own involvement. It was not going to be easy, but he was determined as any crook would be who was instantly blown out of the plan.

Dayton sat in his limo and ordered his driver to take him home. He tapped out a number on his cell phone and waited until it was answered. "Ay Garth, hows it going?...you looking after my pretty little friend down there?"

Maria watched as Ellen loosened her wrist, and then allowed her to take a sip of water from the glass, clumsily. Ellen smiled and playfully stroked Maria's hair, expecting her to play her games as a return of favors. But Maria had other ideas.

"Thank you. So do I get to know who you are and where I am?" Maria asked looking around the bland room. "You know it would help if I could just sit up. Untie the other wrist."

"I can't do that." Ellen replied.

"Why not?"

"You might escape."

"Ok. I promise you I won't and besides, maybe I could join in better with what you have in mind."

This made Ellen excited and Maria realised that she was not the world's smartest person when it came to intellect. "Promise?" Ellen asked. Maria replied with a smile and a nod of her head. "You really want to play?"

Ellen reached over and began to untie the other wrist and as she did she hitched her leg up from the floor making her dagger accessible, tucked down her knee-high boots. Maria quickly reached for it with her free hand, tossing the glass of water. Both wrists free she grabbed Ellen's hair tightly and held the dagger to her face.

"Don't even think about moving bitch!" Ellen did as she was told. She never even contemplated Maria making such a move on her. "I want you to do everything I say..." At that Maria instructed her to reach over and untie her ankles in turn while she held on tight to her hair, pulling now and then to show her who was in charge.

Maria knelt up and pulled Ellen towards her, holding the dagger now to her throat and tugging on hair. "Ok, we are going to get out of this room. Who is on the other side of that door?"

"Trent is next door."

"Anyone else?"

"No, just me and Trent." 

At that moment the door flew open with a bang. Garth stood in the frame pointing a hand gun at the two women. "Drop the dagger...NOW!" Maria was shocked, not only by the sudden bang of the door opening, but also seeing a gun pointing at her. Her bladder released at that moment, unable to hold on much longer.

Paul tried endlessly to call Maria on his phone. Every contact number he had was unavailable or unanswering. It was late and the time that they had arranged to meet was now many hours past. He began to worry. He reversed his car out of the theatre drive and headed down the main street weaving his way around the rest of the evening traffic, near missing collisions as he drove through.

He burst into Vernon Wiles' office. Vernon was working late to follow through a big front-page issue. "What the hell!... who the fuck are you? Who let you in?" 

Paul leaned on the desk, and almost reaching up to Vernon spat out his words; "Maria! Where is she?"

"How the hell should I know, I'm not her keeper." Vernon replied.

"You put her on this assignment. So where is she?"

"Tell me who you are first and I might consider talking to you."

Paul settled down and sat nervously with his head in hands. "I'm sorry. I worry about her. She is missing."

"Probably working somewhere quiet, out of the way. She does that sometimes."

"No." Paul replied. "No, I think she is trouble."

"I wouldn't worry. Maria will turn up when she is ready. So who are you?"

He explained to Vernon who he was. Vernon did not realise that Maria had friends let alone a lover. She was a private woman who only met people for business. And from what Dayton had told him barely a hour ago, Maria had to meet with a tragic circumstance in order to get her out of the way.

"I thought you might know where she was. I'm sorry to have troubled you." Paul stood up and walked towards the door of the office.

"No wait. Sit down." Vernon requested. He was now worried about anything Maria might have told him. Suddenly Paul was a risk to the whole plan Dayton had set up. "Maybe I can help you. We do things very secretly sometimes in order to safe guard scoops and things. Maria was sent on a very urgent assignment."

"Where to?"

"I can't say, but I assure you it wasn't anything to do with what she may have told you."

Paul realised that Vernon had become very nervous and concerned as soon as he explained who he was. "And what do you think she may have told me?" he asked.

"The assignment she was supposed to be on."

"The Transit Rapes?"

"Yes, that's the one."

"Mr. Wiles, can you tell me something about that assignment?"

Vernon began to twitch. "Not really. What in particular?"

"Was she set up to catch the rapists?" Paul asked, settling back into his seat.

"I can't say. Confidentiality and all that, you understand."

"No I don't understand. Did you sanction her to do it the way she planned?"

"Look, she wanted it that way."

"Don't you think that was a little bit irresponsible on your behalf?"

Paul knew how to apply pressure on people when it was needed. He found that Vernon Wiles was showing the psychological signs that he was hiding something important. "Mr. Wiles, I don't think she is on an urgent mission. You know where she is don't you?"

Vernon now knew that Paul was a threat. Their plan was not as easy as it seemed. Maria's disposal was seemingly easy. She was a woman who lived alone and led a private life apart from her work. Vernon was to be the concerned and caring employer who would take care of things. Paul grew more and more angry whilst he sat observing Vernon's anxious reactions. 

Paul reached across the desk quickly, grabbing Vernon's shirt in both hands. His weight was no problem to him as he focused all of his energy on physically extracting the information he wanted. Vernon's meek nature made it easy for Paul to intimidate him. "Where is she!?"

Maria felt the wrenching pain in her arms as she was suspended from the rope. Both wrists tied together above her head, hanging, her feet only inches above the floor beneath her.

Garth put his finger on her shoulder blade and set her swinging, which made the pain increase even more. Ellen sat in a chair watching from across the room smirking. "Try to escape and you make things harder for yourself." Garth whispered into Maria's ear. Tears streamed down her face as she tried to fight off the pain and fear within her. He walked around her tortured naked body and then stepped back. "Mmmm...what a nice body. Very sexy. I see you look after yourself. I like that, don't you Ellen?"

"Yes." Ellen stepped forwards and stood beside her leader. "She is very sexy."

"I think our friend here should have been a model not a journalist."

"I think you're right." Ellen replied.

"You see she had the unfortunate disposition to be blessed with brains which altered the course of her life. Brains in a woman can be a disadvantage. Gets her into all kinds of trouble."

"Ay...I have brains too." Ellen snapped. 

He looked around at her and laughed. "Yes you do. Very little." 

"You have to let me down." Maria pleaded, her voice weakened by the pain.

"What was that?" Garth stood close, his hands running over the perspiration soaked skin of her breasts. "Did you say something?" Her eyes were partially closed, and she looked straight at him before she spat in his face. Garth wiped his nose where the saliva had hit him. "That isn't very nice Maria. Like I said, you will only make things worst for yourself."

Ellen flexed the riding crop she held in her hand. "Let me punish her." 

Garth quickly grabbed out at the riding crop and held it. "No! Let her down,"

The security guard jumped on Paul from behind and sent him flying onto the office floor, dragging Vernon with him. Paul was overpowered by the burly guard and restrained with both hands behind his back. The handcuffs locked into place. Vernon picked himself up and sat back into his chair watching as the guard sat on top of Paul, still kicking out and struggling to break free.

"It's OK the cops are on their way." the guard informed. "Who is this guy anyway."

Vernon took out his handkerchief and wiped his brow. "Someone who got passed your security checkpoint. Where the hell were you...sleeping?"

"No. I was on patrol."

"Then how the fuck did he get in here?"

Garth held Maria and slung her tortured body over his shoulder as Ellen unleashed her wrists. Then he carried her over to a mattress on the floor, easing her down gently. Maria was weak with the pain of hanging by her arms for what seemed an eternity, but it was only a few hours. "You'll never get away with this, whoever you are." she muttered.

Garth turned to Ellen and signaled her to go away. She returned him a riled expression and stomped unwillingly back to her chair. He stood over Maria and looked down at her. "You are not in a very favorable position to threaten anyone." He knelt beside her and brushed the dampened hair from her face. "I don't like threats." She looked up at him, listening to his soothing yet aggressive voice. "I don't like being spat at or kicked or punched. You see I like to be in control." His hand moved over her lips and then down her face. "You are so beautiful Maria and it is a shame that you find yourself in the situation that you are in." He paused and looked up to the swinging light hanging from the ceiling. "I am going to kill you." He stood up and looked down at her. "You see, I am your nemesis."

Maria began to weep and tremble. She was helpless. Garth took out the handgun from the waistband of his trousers and checked it. He smiled at her and then pointed it across the room to where Ellen sat. "Goodbye"

The first shot exploded into Ellen's stomach, sending her reeling backwards on the chair. The second hit her between the eyes sending a spray of brains against the wall. The third shot aimed at her heart as her body slumped to the floor. Maria began to scream out hysterically.

Trent ran into the room, throwing the door wide open with a blood stained bandage around his neck. He stopped and saw the shattered body of Ellen on the floor then looked over at Garth. "What the fuck are you doin'?" Garth smiled and with a fourth shot aimed at Trent, hit him hard in the chest sending his body back through the open doorway.

He knelt beside Maria, putting his hand against her mouth. "Shhhhhh.... It's not your turn yet. I promise you something a lot more exiting." 

Paul sat in a cell alone. He was still calming down from his manic attack on Vernon Wiles and coming to terms with his arrest. The cell door opened and Banner strode in. The two men looked at each other before Banner introduced himself.

"Aren't you the cop in charge of these transit rapes?" Paul asked.

"Yes. I'm sorry you got roughed up. Wiles probably deserved a beating."

"I didn't beat up on him. I threatened him with strangulation if he didn't tell me something I needed to know."

Banner laughed and offered Paul a cigarette. He refused. "What was it you needed to know?"

"Doesn't matter." 

Banner leaned against the glossed brickwork of the cell wall and lit himself a cigarette. "I think it does matter. It's got something to do with a missing person not yet reported missing."

"What the hell do you care?" 

"I care a lot. Your girlfriend is in danger right now as we speak."

"So why don't you do something?" Paul asked.

"We need to work together. You and I."

"What you are saying is, you don't know where she is?"

"I know exactly where she is."

"What? Then do something!" Paul stood up and looked at Banner. "What the hell is going on here?"

"Listen to me...."

"No... Get out there and do something now! You're the cops.

"I need this to be between me and you, no one else." Banner said.

"What do you mean?"

"Look, the people who have your girlfriend right now are crazy. They are capable of cold-blooded murder and for all we know it might be too late. So do you and I have an understanding here?"

Paul thought about it, although still confused, he understood something. Maria had to be saved from whatever and whoever held her captive. 

The city was large and there were plenty of places that Maria could be held captive in. One man's single searching would take forever or be stumbled upon by chance. Banner was the key. A police officer with revenge on his mind and a plan to save his own reputation, Maria meant nothing to him really and neither did Paul Davies.

The abandoned mill by the riverside was one of many. Like hundreds of run-down buildings it was waiting to be demolished and the city planner to exercise regeneration. But, like many plans in the city, it was still a dream and to the citizens yet another false promise. To Garth, it was his haven and shelter from the authorities; his hideout with it's many rooms and open workshops and now his depository of death.

For Maria, it was her personal hell as she was taken by Garth to one of the workshops, gagged and once again tied up by her aching wrists. He pulled on her hair, no longer with it's usually kept golden luster, but disheveled and entangled. He forced her onto her knees on another dirty mattress at gunpoint and demanded that she stay put. Her eyes only spoke out in silence, with fear and trepidation. He sat besides her holding the gun at her forehead.

"You know, it's easy to kill you right now. All I have to do is pull this lever and...pow.. It's all over." He pulled back the gun and smiled. "You do realise that you are one of my favorite captives up to now? Beautiful." His finger drifted over her pendulous breast, touching her nipple playfully. "Pity. You have to be destroyed." She wanted to speak and plead with him, but the gag was tight and all that she could do was whimper. "I have had many women, but none as good looking as you." He moved the hair from her face. "There is one thing that I can do for you. Make your end peaceful and painless. But you must do something for me."

Garth untied the gag and pulled it from between her lips. "Anything." She spoke quietly, looking back at him. "You can do anything you want, but don't hurt me. Let me go." He smiled back at her with that half evil grin, but she could also detect a grain of humane compassion.

"I can't let you go. It's what I do."

"No. You don't have to do this."

He ran the gun over her lips gently. The very touch of the cold metal made her wince. "You remind me of someone. No, you remind me of an angel I dreamt about once. It was a nightmare. I was still in high school. But the dream was bad because you were a guardian angel and the demon destroyed you."

Maria noticed that he had referred to her as the angel in his nightmare. This gave her something to work on. "I failed that time. But I am here again and this time I will save you." 

Garth smiled. "This isn't a nightmare and.." he looked around. "Where are the demons?"

"That was a dream. This is real. The demons are something else."

"Something else?" he laughed. "What? Who?"

She had to think quickly, now realizing that he had the ability to see that she was trying to manipulate him, moving his thoughts her way. "Surely you have enemies out there?"

Garth looked over to the window and its cracked and broken glass. It was getting light and the distant sounds of police sirens met his ears. "Yes, I have enemies out there."