The Last Horizon (18 page)

I
t was about one in the morning and the darkness held a slight chill as I pushed down on the Cyclone’s kickstand and grabbed my clutch bag. This time the valet from the night before had recognized me but still seemed a little embarrassed by his earlier mistake.

“Good evening, Miss.”

“Hello.” I responded. “Is the Electric Gypsy still open?”

“Yes, as far as I know it should be ope
n for another hour or so. May I take that helmet for you?”

“I’ll hang on to it this evening.
Have you ever gone in there?”

“
I like to go on my nights off.”

“Is it the same DJ every night?”

“You mean Herron?”

“Yeah.”

“Yes, Herron’s the man, he really knows how to work the crowd. The ladies love him.”

“Do
you know when he usually leaves?”

“I’m afraid any information concerning the staff is privileged.” The valet grinned.

“I understand.” I slipped him a hundred and winked. “This is for taking such good care of my personal belongings last night while I was at the Gypsy.”

He sighed,
“He gets all the girls. You want to meet him don’t you?”

“I find him interesting.” I smiled.

The valet glanced at the tip I gave him. “Sheesh, if you go around the east end of the casino, you’ll see a door by the loading docks. Go through it and take a right down the corridor, then go left. Herron’s dressing room is the second door on the right.”

“Thanks.”

I walked briskly down the side of the building in the shadows avoiding the parking lot lights, then I heard voices as I got closer to the docks. I slowed my pace, put my back to the wall, and edged closer, until I could peer around the corner of the building.

I
saw two men dressed in ERT uniforms carrying a blonde girl to a red Medevac van. I stood quietly in the darkness and listened in on their conversation as they loaded her into the vehicle.

“…
so wadda ya think, yhamo?.” One of them asked gruffly as he pulled the girl into the van.

“
I’ll tell ya what I think…I think you and I are in the wrong line of work,” the other responded bitterly, “she’s the forth one tonight.”

“
He’s definitely running hot, ain’t he?”

“Yeah. She’s a good specimen though.”

They shut the back doors of the vehicle, got in, and drove off into the night. I slipped into the building and walked through the corridor until I found Herron’s dressing room. I looked around and was comforted that the late hours left the area uninhabited by staff members.

I tapped on the door lightly and was greeted heatedly by Herron’s voice.

“Jase, I told you I’d meet you upstairs in an hour!”

I opened the door and stepped into the dressing room. Herron was sitting in front of a large mirror framed by lights. His
stovepipe hat was on the floor, and his face was still painted red and white with make-up. His shirt was off and he looked up at my reflection with surprise.

“Well hello there little lady,” he grinned as he
turned around and stood up to face me, “I’ll assume you came here because you wanted to feast your eyes on the star and maybe go home and tell your friends you pillowed the Gypsy’s DJ.”

“Not really.” I swung my helmet as hard as I could and nailed Herron on the left side of his head. He
flew sideways and smashed the mirror with his forehead before his eyes rolled white and he twisted slowly toward me with his mouth agape, then ended up sprawled on the floor face down and out cold.

I picked him up, propped him on his chair
facing what was left of the dresser mirror, and tore his shirt into ribbons. I used them to bound his hands behind him and legs to the chair.

I had to work quickly if I was going to pull this off.
I needed to keep him off balance by not giving him a chance to think, I had to instill fear and exploit it.

I grab
bed a table lamp and pulled the cord out of its base. I noticed that Herron had his nipples pierced and gold loops dangled from each one. Perfect. I split the cord in half, took my knife and stripped about two inches of insulation from the end to expose the wires.

I wrapped each bare wire
around Herron’s nipple rings, and plugged the cord into the nearest outlet that was circuited to a light switch.

I picked up a bottle of water that
sat on his dresser and poured some on his head. Herron inhaled loudly and coughed as he regained consciousness.

“What
the hell!” He barked raggedly as he looked at the wires attached to his body. “What are you doing?”

“Hello Herron,” I frowned as I crossed my arms and faced him, “you and I need to have a little talk.”

“Ha-ha! Piss-off, bitch!” He blurted defiantly.

“Uh-huh.” I sighed
, leaned forward, and jammed what was left of his shirt into his mouth. “So we do this the hard way.”

I took the bottle of water and poured it on his chest as I flicked on the light switch.
Herron’s body stiffened in the chair and his eyes bulged as he convulsed hard. I turned off the switch after forty-five seconds and pulled the rag out of his mouth.

“Goddamn it!” He huffed
as he glared at me.

“You know, I could do this all night.” I said calmly as I ran my fingers through his wet hair. “The only problem is that I don’t have all night.”
I grinned as I swirled a tuft of hair with my index finger and stepped behind him.

“What do you want?”
Herron growled.

“Answers
.” I stated dryly, clutched a hand full of hair, and pulled his head back hard so that he looked up at me. “I know you’re job at the Gypsy is just a cover for something else. I want to know who you work for and how your operation works.”

“You’re out of your fooking head…do you know who you’re messing with?” Herron laughed.

“Last night after midnight a girl disappeared while she was with you. Tonight four more vanished because of you.”

“How do you know this?” He gasped. “You a cop?”

I pulled out my knife and pressed it against his right cheek. “After you get a girl geeked-up on crunch, what else do you give them to get them so whacked? Last I heard, crunch was an amphetamine.”

“
It’s mixed with harquinol.”

“A
super opiate.” I nodded. “You dose them with a speed demon.”

“Yeah.”
Herron smiled.

“Where d
o they get taken when they pass-out?”

“No.” He
shook his head and looked down as he struggled against his constraints.

“No?” I asked with exaggerated surprise.

“Get stuffed!”

“I’m afraid your answer is unacceptable.” I replied and stuffed the rag back into his mouth and
hit the switch again. Herron seized-up and I could hear him choke as saliva foamed from the corners of his mouth.

I shut the switch off again and yanked the cloth out. “I’m running out of patience,
Herron, and you’re running out of time…”

“OH GOD STOP! PLEASE STOP!”
He pleaded.

“…what happens to the girls you drug when they get taken out of here?” I asked coldly.

Herron cried. “You don’t understand, they’re going to kill me if I talk!”

“
No, you don’t understand--they’re not in charge of you right now, I am.” I glared. “The only difference is that I’ll make you wish you died as a child by the time I’m done.”

I showed him my blade again as we looked at his reflection in a jagged
shard of mirror. “See this? It’s not the ideal tool for what I’m going to do, but still, it’ll get the job done.” I drew the blade lightly across his cheek and a thin line of blood appeared.

“Jaysus,
” he cringed, “what are you going to do to me?” Herron’s eyes widened.

“My knife is sharp but this is going to get really sloppy w
hen I start cutting.” I whispered. “You see, the layer of dermis has a lot of nerves in it, so when I start to flay your face, you’re going to feel it separate from the connective tissue beneath.” I smiled sadistically. I had to push my bluff, get him to believe that I drew pleasure from what I was doing…

“The muscles on the face are intricate…
a beautiful matrix, really. We’re going to have ourselves an anatomy lesson, and when I’m done, I’m going to stick your face on the wall so you can see the expression you had when I peeled it off your skull.”

“I’LL TALK! I’LL TALK!
PLEASE, NO MORE!” He begged.

“Where do they go when they leave here?”

“They get taken to Cybelle.”

“What happens there
?”

“
Charon breaks them down and uses them as call girls at The Orchid. Sometimes he sells them off to the high bidders in a place called The Chamber.”

“What do you mean he breaks them down?”

“He keeps ’em doped, has one of his guys threaten and beat them, whatever it takes to break their spirit into submission.”

“Where’s this Chamber?”

“Cybelle.”

“You’ve been to this chamber?”

“Only once.”

“So you kidnap
girls for a prostitution and sex slave ring.”

Herron didn’t answer. He slouched and looked down at the floor shaking his head.

“Where do you keep your stash of crunch?” I demanded.

“What? Why?”

“I’m asking the questions around here! Now where do you keep your shit?”

“Top
…” Herron motioned to the dresser. “…top drawer.”

I sheathed my knife,
opened the drawer and found a half-filled bag of white powder. I dumped its contents into a pile on the dresser, pulled out the Cobalt, and put it against Herron’s right temple.

“What are you going to do?” He asked as he
regarded the pile of crunch.

“It’s
party time.” I grabbed the hair on the top of his head and forced him down toward the dust.

“NO! NO!”
He cried pathetically as I pushed his face into the pile.

“Breeaaathe!” I said through clenched teeth.

“Mmmrrrffttt!” Herron struggled as I buried his face in the narcotic.

His body went limp after a few seconds, and I pulled his head up. Crunch was smeared all over his face and his pupils were dilated
and glassy. Herron’s mouth hung open and he began to drool on himself.

I put the Cobalt away
, flicked the switch back on, and left him convulsing in the room.

S
ummer mindlessly pushed the food around on her plate as she stared at the glass of wine in front of her. She paid no mind to the background conversations of the other patrons of the restaurant as she lost herself in thought. She was tired and just wanted to get back to her room.

The man she was escorting this evening was
a very distinguished executive for one of the largest platinum mining companies in Nexus. He was in his late sixties, balding, overweight, and rich. One of her regulars.