The Auction (11 page)

“Wrong answer.” Foster pressed the button and watched let out a blood-curdling, high-pitched scream. The sound of the man’s pain made Foster’s heart race. He actually took pleasure in watching
Myers
fall apart. Foster bet this guy didn’t show the children that he raped, beat and trafficked
,
any mercy
.

When Myers stopped convulsing Foster stood in front of him. “You don’t get to talk unless I ask you a question. Do you understand?”

The other man didn’t respond so Foster pressed the button again.

“Yesssssss!” h
is victim
screamed.

Foster waited for the shaking to stop and asked again. “Just so we’re
clear, d
o you understand?”

“Yes…I understand,” Myers slurred his words.

“Good. Now tel
l me where you sent the money
?”

“After I take my cut, I…I transfer it to an account outside of the country. As far as I know, it bounces around a few more dummy accounts before going to an account registered to Hemmel Corporation.”

That was the company who’d had funded several of this man’s campaigns, and also to his legal defense in the cases of those missing
children.
From what Foster had gathered in his research, Hemmel Corporation was a supplier of energy and other power sources. The problem he’d come across was in searching for this records of this c
ompany was that
Foster couldn’t find out much about them besides the fact that they donated heavily to politicians. There were no records of who they did business with. Even the CEO listed in their bio was someone Foster had never heard of. Being in a prominent position himself, there weren’t many who were in or above his income bracket he didn’t know, or at least was aware of.

“Who is Edison Wallace?”

“I told you all I know. Please let me go!” Mucus ran freely from Myers’ nostrils as a he cried. Foster won
dered if the children Myers
hurt cried and begged for mercy. He was certain this motherfucker didn’t give a damn. It made it easy for him to decide what he’d do next.

He pressed the button and counted down from twenty to zero. Myers began to jerk and shake as he screamed. The snot that flowed from his no
se
was now bright red, indicating some internal bleeding.

When Foster took his thumb off the button, he noticed a foul
stench
in the air. It was a familiar odor that
wasn’t
uncommon during one of his torture sessions. Myers had shit his pants.

“Just…please…just kill me,” Myers begged.

“I’m actually insulted that you think I’m a murderer. And here I thought we were getting along so well.” Foster picked up his scalpel again and this time sliced into Myers’ other arm. “You see, I was going to hold back on you, but you’ve hurt my feelings.” He produced another muscle stimulator and like the first one, he pushed it inside of Myers’ flesh, making sure to go slow and to cause the most discomfort.

“I swear I don’t know who Edison Wallace is. I’ve never met him. No one has! I assumed he was a made-up person used as a cover for the business.”

“And exactly why would said company need a cover?”

“I….like I said before, I just get the money.”

Foster sighed. “
It strange you would say that when you’re listed as one of their consultants.
You obviously think I’m fucking around with you because you’re not telling me what I want to hear.” He pressed the button. Myers screamed louder than ever from the intensity of two disks implanted inside of him. Drool, blood and tears streamed down his face.” And then he stopped moving.

Foster put the button down and checked Myers’ pulse. There was none. He retrieved the needle and jammed it into the man’s chest right over the heart. When he injected the medicine Myers gasped as he raised his head in surprise.

“Welcome back,” Foster taunted.

“Please, you have no idea who you’re dealing with. These people have lot of money and are very powerful. They have
a lot of
people under their thumb.”

Foster walked to t
he table and picked up a jagged-
edge
d
knife. “That’s nice. Here’s what’s going to happen
now
. I’m going to start cutting off pieces of you.”

“No! I, they’ll kill me
.”

“That’s hardly my problem.” Foster pressed the tip of his knife against Myers’ chest and inserted it just enough to penetrate several layers of skin. He then dragged it down and drew a square in Myer’s chest, all while ignoring the man’s cries of pain. He managed to gouge out a chuck of flesh about two inches wide. “The next piece will be on your dick.”

“Okay, but....please don’t hurt me anymore.”

“I won’t make any promises but start talking.”

“When I was running for the seat in the local senate’s office, I was losing badly because my comp
etitor was outspending me. But he’d
made some pretty powerful enemies. I started getting donations from an anonymous source. They said they could help me win if I did this thing for them. I never knew with whom I was speaking and when they called there was never an image on the holophone. I couldn’t even tell if the voice belonged to a man or a woman because it was disguised. I started getting money in my private account and all I had to do was make some transfers. I got elected and they got what they wanted. I fought for the bills they wanted passed. It was as simple as th
at
. But…they were watching. They found out about my taste in companionship.”

“That you like children?” Foster wanted to spit on this toad.

“They were compensated! These Dreg children would never have seen the kind of credits I offered them. It was a mutual exchange. I got something, and they got something in return.”

“Go on,” Foster prompted.

“My contact said they needed me to collect some children for them. They didn’t say why. I just needed
me
to bring them to a certain location and they would take care of the rest. I did it because of the extra credits I received. I don’t know what happened to them afterwards, but I didn’t think it was a big deal. They were just Dregs, no one would miss them.”

“Except maybe their families.”

Myers snorted. “How do you think I got access to these street rats? Their own families sold them off to me. These filthy people demand rights but then they act like animals. They can’t even take care of their own children but they keep popping them out. At least I compensated them.”

Foster balled his fists at his sides. He was aware of how most people in his circle viewed the lower class; he’d witnessed it first hand,
he’d even said something similar
. That was until he actually got to know some of them. People like Victoria, Macy and Aya helped him to see how sheltered he’d been most of his life.

Hearing Myers discuss these people as if they were nothing when he was the one exploiting them pissed Foster off. He took the knife and gouged out another piece of the man’s flesh, creating a
larger
hole in his chest.

“Oww! I answered your questions. Why did you do that?”

“I’m not interested in the extra commentary. So get back to your role in this mess. How many children did you provide these people and how often did you do it?”

“
About two or three. But I only did it
a handful of times. They stopped asking me when people got suspicious of me. Some visiting dignitaries came to my house. They ha
d
their children with them. I had a few children in a room that I’d marked as off limits. They went exploring in the house and discovered the room. I had no choice but to get rid of them too. These families made a fuss and they had to be paid off to make the
allegations go away.”

“And that boy you beat?”

“I didn’t know who he was. I swear. He was just some kid off the street. I didn’t know his family had some pull in the city.”

“And that makes it right?”

Myers lowered his head.

“So then what?”

“They told me no more children. At that point I just did the money portion. I made the monthly transfer when credits ended up in my account.”

“When was the last transfer?”

“A few days ago.”

That was just after the last auction.

“Did you also take women?”

“No. They didn’t ask for women but…there was someone who collected the children whenever I would drop them off. I once saw another man with a couple of women.”

“Where is this location?”

“It’s about an hour outside of the city.” He rattled of an address. “It’s in front of a big blue building, you can’t miss it.”

“Who was this other man?”

“I don’t know. He had a medium build. Light bro
wn hair. Thin mustache. A wease
ly looking guy.”

“West,” Foster muttered. The bastard had withheld information and had probably lied to his face.

He had something in store for that guy when he caught up with him. He glanced at his tools. By the time he was done with Peter West, the other man would be begging for Foster to kill him. In the meantime, he owed Myers a lot more pain.

Chapter Twelve

Tori was determined to remain strong
and
resist Foster at all costs. After that incident where he proved to be an even bigger bastard than she remembered, she stayed in her room, not bothering to come out except to eat her meals. For the most part she’d managed to avoid him. But by the third day it occurred to her that he hadn’t bothered to seek her out. There were no invitations to join him for meals and he didn’t barge into her room.

It almost seemed like
he’d forgotten she was in residence
. There were a few times she’d actually run into him but he never gave her anything more than a polite hello. She didn’t understand what game he was playing, and why he
’d made her believe he’d come to her room for nightly visits
. But
that wasn’t the case.

It shouldn’t have bothered her but it did. Tori curled up in her chair, trying to keep herself occupied with a book on the holopad Mrs. Gordon had
given her
. All the words seemed to blur together and she could barely concentrate. She wondered if this was Foster’s way
of
getting her to
drop her guard around him. She’d fallen
for it once before.
She couldn’t afford to do it again.

Tori ran her hands over the expensive knick knacks that decorated the living room. She’d spent most of her morning exploring the house. It was hard to reconcile that only a few days ago, she had shared a
run-down,
two bedro
om house with six other people. The roof
leaked, the walls were cracked and
the carpets were dirty and stained. There was a faint scent of smoke that permeated the entire house. Victoria had tried her best to keep her house as tidy as possible, but it was difficult when there another adult in residence who
refused to pick up after himself
. The kids often had accidents and broke things and they weren’t always the
neatest.

And now here she was in a house so large, it could have fit several families very comfortably. It was the kind of opulence she’d only heard about.
Tori
felt guilty being here when her siblings were still where she’d left them.

“Do you like to read?”

Tori nearly jumped out of her skin when a voice cut into her thoughts. She turned around to see Foster watching her. She gulped, taking a step
away from him
. She’d forgotten how handsome he was. His looks were almost surreal. She could almost forget that he wasn’t the jerk who’d hunted her down and was virtually holding her prisoner until he said she could leave.

“Why do you want to know?”

He smiled revealing even white teeth. Tori shivered as she remembered those perfect teeth nibbling on her neck the night before. She shoved her carnal thoughts away and told herself that it was just her
body that responded to him. Not
of that mattered. Sooner or later, he’d get tired of her and she could go back to her old life.

“
Relax.
It’s just a question. Do you?”

“Do you mean for fun?”

“Of course for fun. I noticed that watching programs on the holo
vision
doesn’t
seem to
interest you. I figured you may like to read.”

“And how would you know what I’ve been up to? I barely see you around except…at night.”

He smirked. “Missed me?”

“Don’t flatter yourself. I’m only here because of that stupid game.”

“Oh? Was it that stupid game that had you moaning for more last night?”

She turned her back to him. Tori refused to think about how she’d acted. It had been her intention to resist him but after a while, she
’d
melted. He wasn’t the first person she’d even had sex with but he made her experience things she hadn’t before.

He chuckled. “You don’t have to respond. We both already know the answer to that.”

Tori didn’t dare
acknowledge that statement. “So,
how do you know what I’ve been up to?”

“There are cameras all over the house. I can look in any room any time I want with a click of a button.” Tori turned around to see Foster He hold up his wrist. He pressed the side of his watch and a hologram popped up with a picture of the living room. She could see the two of them.

She frowned. “Have you been watching me?”

“Just to check in on you. Don’t worry. I haven’t been spying.” He pressed the side of his watch against and the image disappeared. “So you never answered my question. Do you enjoy reading?”

“I don’t know. I mean, I haven’t read for pleasure since I was little. My mother used to read to me on an old electronic reader. It was so ancient that when it finally broke, there wasn’t anyone in town with the capability to fix it and we couldn’t afford a holopad.”

“I’m sorry to hear about your mother.”

“You say that as if you mean it.”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Because someone like you is only kind if they want something.”

“Someone like me? Interesting.” Foster’s expression had
gone blank and Tori
couldn’t tell if she’d offended him.

“It’s just, these aren’t the best circumstances.
Even you have to admit I have no reason to trust you.
”

Foster nodded.
“I get it.
But how
about we make the most of it while you’re here?” He waved her forward. “Come with me. I have something to show you.”

“Where are where are we going?”

“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise.”

She followed him to the East wing of his house to a room she’d already been inside
of
. “This is the library.” He hit the control panel and the wall in front of her opened.
He touched a large black box with a keypad on top
“This
computer is an
electronic library. It can pull up
any
book ever published.”

“Wow. I thought only the record halls had equipment like this. Do you read a lot?”

“I used to when I was younger, but when I finished all of my schooling, I didn’t have the time. My holo devices are synced to this computer so I can read any book I want at any given time. But this isn’t want I wanted to show you.”

“What?”

“Second panel.”

Another portion of the wall split open
to reveal shelves of books.

Tori gasped in awe.
“These are real?”

“Of course.”

Tori was
amazed.
Paper books hadn’t been made in at least fifty years. People kept them as collector’s items and they were valuable, the hardback covers being the most expensive. “They must be very old.”

“They are. Some of them
are
hundreds of years old.”

The cynic in her reared its head.
“I suppose you have them to show off. I can only imagine how many credits this is all worth.”

“No. Actually I don’t. I’ve only
ever shown my friend Dare who
also has his own impressive collection. These used to belong to my father.” There was a sadness in his tone at the mention of his father.

“Is he…?”

“Dead? Yes.”

A twinge of guilt tweaked her heart at the casual way she’d dismissed something that seemed to have a lot of meaning to him. “Sorry.”

“There’s no need to apologize. It wasn’t your fault.”

“Were you close?”

“Yes and no. We were closer when I was a
child
but we often butted heads because we didn’t always see eye to eye. When I look back on some of the advice he’d given me, I wish I would have taken it.” He ran his hand over the books. “I sometimes come in here and think and I wonder what he’d do. Being close to something that he once enjoyed makes me feel a little closer to him.”

Though it had only been a few days since she’d been brought here, Tori couldn’t quite figure Foster out. At night he was the aggressor, bending her to his will, making her ashamed of how much she liked the things he did to her. And then there was this. It warped her perception of Elites. This man actually had feelings and he wasn’t the one-dimensional villain she’d conjured up in her mind.

“Why?” she wanted to know.

“Why what?”

“Why are you showing this to me? This room obviously means a lot to you.”

“Because despite what you think of me, I don’t want your stay here to be unpleasant. I know you’re not here by choice, but I think the two of us can get along quite nicely. How about we call a truce?” He held out his hand to her. Foster seemed so sincere.

Then,
Tori placed her hand in his.

That had turned out to be the biggest mistake of her life.
It
was the moment when she’d started to fall for him. He made her believe in something that wasn’t real.

She was so deep in thought it startled her to hear Mrs. Gordon’s voice. Tori looked up to see the housekeeper leading a woman into the living room. “You can wait in here, Ms. Smith. Mr. Graham has been informed
of your arrival
and he said he’ll be home within five minutes. May I offer you something to drink or eat?”

“Nothing for me. Thank you, Mrs. Gordon.”

Once Mrs. Gordon left the room, the woman turned focused on Tori.
“Hi. I didn’t know Foster had company. Sorry to interrupt.”

Tori stared at the other woman, wondering who she was. She was small in stature and dressed
in a pair of jeans and t-shirt
. But even so casually dressed, she was one of the most stunning women Tori had ever seen, with her large brown eyes in a heart-shaped face.
Short fluffy curls crowned her
head and she had flawless skin, even darker than Tori’s. Her beauty was almost unreal.

Tori couldn’t help but wonder what this woman was to Foster
. She felt a sudden dislike toward her and Tori
couldn’t figure out why.

“You’re not interrupting me. I was just leaving.” She slid out of her chair.

“You don’t have to go on my account.”

“I’m not.”

Ms. Smith
smiled at her. “Please, don’t go. Are you a friend of Foster’s?”

“I wouldn’t say that exactly.”

“Oh.
There’s really no need for you to leave
. I won’t bother you if you’re reading.”

It was clear Ms. Smith was making polite conversation and Tori realized she was being standoffish for no reason. If Foster had taken another lover, that should have been no concern of hers. But
Tori
couldn’t figure out why he’d go to the trouble of bidding for her in that stupid auction when he had someone else. “Actually, I wasn’t reading anything in particular. I was just scrolling through some images.”

The woman stepped forward with an outstretched hand. “I’m Aya, by the way.”

“Tori.”

“It’s nice to meet you. Have you known Foster long?”

“Too long.”

Aya raised a brow. Whatever the other woman would have said in response was lost because Foster stepped into the room. His gaze briefly fell on Tori before looking at Aya with affection. “Hello, short stuff. What brings you here today?” He walked over and gave the other woman a quick peck on the cheek.

Again that unwarranted dislike of
Aya
spread through her. Tori had no reason to feel this way about someone who seemed very friend
ly, but she couldn’t shake this irrational feeling.

Aya
grinned at Foster and poked him in the chest. “What did I tell you about calling me that? I may be short, but I will kick your ass.”

He chuckled. “You’d have to catch me first. To what do I owe the honor of your presence?”

Aya glanced over her shoulder at Tori. “Uh...”

Foster glanced
Tori’s
way and waved his hand dismissively. “It’s okay to say what you have to say in front of Victoria.”

She could have been a piece of furniture for all Foster seemed to care. Without a word, she walked out the room, but once she was out of sight, she halted.
Tori
didn’t understand what masochistic force made her want eavesdrop.

“I hope she didn’t leave because of me. I don’t think she warmed up to me very well.”

“Victoria is dealing with a few issues of her own. Don’t take it personally.”

“Is she your girlfriend?”

“It’s complicated. But you and I both know I can’t afford to get involved with anyone right now, not when I’m so close to finding the truth.”

“What have you
learned
so far? Are you any closer to finding Macy?”

Tori froze. No. It couldn’t be.

“I can’t really say. I have some very interesting
tips
and
an add
ress to a drop off location.
I plan on checking
it. I also have
a man tracking some accounts that may lead to whoever Macy was sold to. In the meantime, I’ve learned the name of the company behind the trafficking. I don’t know with absolute certainty if they actually run the auction or just sell the women and children to the actual auctioneers.”