The Woman They Kept (7 page)

Gideon smiled, trying hard to
mask his excitement and his fear, affecting nonchalance and boredom.
“You must be Daniel,” he said and he stuck his hand
out.

“
And you must be new at
this. Why don't we go to a quieter room where we can talk?”
Daniel held his hand out and directed him towards a smaller room,
comfortably furnished with two overstuffed leather couches and a
glass table in between. The door was a heavy and thick oak, when it
closed it silenced the sound of the party.

“
What makes you think I'm
new at this?” Gideon asked, one hand in his pocket clenched
into a fist.

Daniel sat on one of the couches
and motioned for Gideon to sit on the other, the mountain set two
drinks in front of them half filled with scotch. “I think
you're new at this because you presumed to know my name. In this
business we may know people for years, building trusting
relationships and conducting a great many business transactions
without ever knowing each other's name.”

Gideon smiled and looked around
the room. There were a few paintings on the wall, mostly violent
scenes of ancient warfare. Daniel never took his eyes off Gideon.
“What should I call you then?”

“
Daniel is fine. It's not
my real name anyway.”

The door opened and a beautiful
woman in a silk robe entered. She had black hair held together by a
silk ribbon, her eyes downcast but lined darkly, her cheeks flushed.
Her lower lip quivered as she stood before them, opening her robe.
Daniel motioned to Gideon to pick up his glass, and after he did so
the woman laid down on the table, face up, completely nude. In the
open air her nipples quickly became hard.

“
This isn't the one I
want. She's wonderful, but she's not the one I'm looking for.”

Daniel laughed and the door
opened again. “This one isn't for sale. She's just our
serving platter. Patience my young friend.” Through the door
walked another woman, heavier and older than the first, less made
up, her arms flexing as they carried plates full of covered silver
dishes. She kneeled before the naked woman and removed the covers
for the platters, revealing rolls of sushi that she lay out on the
naked woman's body. After an entire meal had been placed there, she
gave each Daniel and Gideon a set of chopsticks.

“
Will you eat with me? I
would learn of a man before doing business with him.” Daniel
took a roll from the woman's nipple and shoveled it into his mouth,
murmuring with delight. Gideon followed suit, knowing he would have
to play his part, and took a roll just aside from her neatly shaved
pubic hair. He wondered what he would have to do to convince this
Daniel character that he was a trafficker like him.

“
Delicious, delicious.
What is it you would like to learn of me? I am but a poor business
man,” Gideon said.

Daniel took out a small coin
from his pocket and rubbed it between his fingers. “We are
both businessmen, but I want to know your motivations. Most people
are motivated by these shining bits of metal. Are you? Are you
motivated by the power of it? Is it the sex? What motivates you?
What kind of a person are you that you would sit here trying to buy
a human being from a complete stranger? Here we have been eating
food off this woman, and you haven't even acted surprised. When we
are done she will rise and service us both, and she'll never once
look us in the eye, and that is because she is mine completely, I
own her, I broke her myself. Look, she doesn't even flinch when we
talk about her. She is nothing more than a table right now, and in
about twenty minutes she'll be nothing more than a mouth. And here
you are with me. Why?”

“
Here I am,” Gideon
echoed. This was the lynchpin moment, the moment Akem was talking
about, and he recognized it as such. Daniel was feeling him out,
testing him, seeing if he was on the level. The only way to make
any sort of progress in finding Rolanda would be to pass this test
without any question. Something extreme had to happen, something
evil. “Here I am,” Gideon repeated, placing his entire
self inside the littlest box in the darkest corner of his mind,
hiding himself from what he was about to do. “You want to
know what motivates a man like me?” He stood and unbuckled
his belt while looking down at the girl on the table. She never
looked back at him, but her eyes seemed to edge closer. Gideon got
the impression that she saw things well out of the corners of her
eyes, and he silently apologized for what he was about to do. He
traded her discomfort and his dignity for the possibility of
Rolanda's life.

He
began to relieve his bladder on their serving platter. Thick hot
ropy streams of piss landed all over her face and upper chest, she
never turned away but she closed her eyes and puckered her mouth.
“Nothing motivates a man like me,” Gideon said, his
whole self locked away, “I'm a man who believes in no god but
would sell his soul to any devil offering to buy. I do things for
the plain and simple reason that I
can.
”
Gideon finished his stream and flicked the last few drops at her
before zipping his pants back up.

Daniel had watched the entire
display without so much as a twitch going across his face. When
Gideon finished and sat back down they stared at each other for a
long time, during which Gideon's heart was pounding against his rib
cage, he was hoping beyond hope that his gamble would pay off.
After more than a minute, Daniel's face broke out into a large
smile.

“
I think you ruined our
dinner,” he laughed. “You're quite the character, I'll
give you that. Certainly not a peace officer. Now, when I see a
display like that a few thoughts go through my head. Perhaps you
seek to dishonor me by pissing on my property? Or maybe to put me
on my guard, so that I think you are fearless? Well, let me tell
you a few things.” Daniel stood and refilled his scotch. “A
good woman is like an investment. You have the initial costs and
then the returns once she begins working. Also, like an investment,
it is good to know when to cut your losses. Right now I'm not sure
of your exact motivations in pissing on Diane here, but I am sure
that you've changed her. She may no longer be the obedient little
whore that I trained her to be. You don't just keep working after a
thing like that. So you've presented me with a few choices. I
could forgive this little show you've given me, assume that it's
cultural differences or something, let Diane here go take a shower
and come back and blow us both.” He pushed a small red button
mounted on the wall and the door opened immediately. The mountain
came in and grabbed Gideon from behind, yanking his arms up and
lifting him clear off the couch. Gideon's heart thundered against
his rib cage. Daniel reached under the couch and brought out a long
and wicked looking blade that shone in the light. “I could
cut off your manhood and make you eat it, that would certainly
avenge my property. Of course, then you probably wouldn't want to
do business with me.” Daniel laughed. “Have you ever
wondered what your testicles taste like? Or, my third option, I
could show you just how much this particular investment means to a
man like
me
.
We are much alike, you and I, I see that now. I too do things
simply because I can.”

Daniel sat back down on the
couch and placed one hand over the woman's mouth, slicing the knife
down into her neck. She kicked and wailed against his hands but
every motion sawed the knife deeper.

Gideon stopped struggling
against the mountain, laying limp in his hands as a hollow feeling
started in his stomach and spread until he felt like a paper thin
shell. He had gambled, and that woman had paid his wager. Blood
spurted up out of the woman and all over Daniel's suit as he
frantically sawed through her. He didn't stop until the head was
completely seperated from the body. Once severed, he picked it up
and set it on the mantle above his fireplace.

“
That will make quite the
bust, don't you think?” He smiled at the head. “She
looks so contemplative.”

Daniel sat back down on the
couch, the headless body still laying before him. A bit of sweat
trickled down his forehead and he wiped at it, leaving a smear of
red across his face. “Whew! I feel like I've gotten a
workout." He pointed a bloody finger at Gideon. “If I
can do that to my own girls, what do you think I could do to you?”

Bile was quickly rising in
Gideon's throat, he was sure that he was going to vomit soon.

“
As long as we understand
each other I think we can do business. Akem's friends are always
good business. Charles, you can let him go.”

The mountain dropped Gideon and
he fell to his knees, his legs were weak from the display of
brutality he had just witnessed. It took all of his will, but he
forced his feelings into that bursting little box in the corner of
his mind.

“
Now, are you buying or
selling?”

Gideon crawled back onto the
couch and the mountain handed him his drink, refilled. The body in
front of him continued to leak, though it had slowed to a trickle.
“Buying. I'm looking for a particular girl, actually.”
He handed his photograph to Daniel. “This girl will be my
first, but if business goes well rest assured there will be more.”

“
Ah, the one that got
away,” Daniel said.

“
I'm sorry?” Gideon
asked. The drink in front of him looked so tempting, but he didn't
trust his hands not to shake if he reached for it.

“
She must have escaped
your chattel? I admire a man willing to go to such lengths to
protect his reputation. As you can see, I am a man similarly
inclined.” He reached behind him and took out a small box of
cigars, taking one himself and offering one to Gideon.

He declined. “She did. I
want her back, and am willing to pay quite a lot of money to get
her.”

Daniel lit his cigar with an
ornate lighter, covering himself in the smoke. “She is not
here, but for a thousand I will tell you what I can.”

Gideon handed over Akem's money,
trying not to think about what he would have to do to pay him back.
Daniel did not count it, he merely slipped it into an inside pocket
in his jacket.

“
She passed through here
about three weeks ago. No one was willing to pay first rights for
her, so you may still be able to recover your investment, I sold her
to a man from Fouchbough.” Leaning forward, Daniel pointed at
Gideon with the spit end of his cigar. Ash dropped onto the
headless body on the table. “If I were you, though, I would
forget about first rights. A whore that runs away from you once
will run away from you forever. You'll have to break her of that.
I would line up as many sadistic motherfuckers as you can, tie her
to a bed and let them all have a go on her. After that, when her
mind is to the point of snapping, take a syringe and inject her with
some krok. She'll get hooked after the first one, and then she's on
a leash, she'll do anything to get it again.” Daniel shrugged
and leaned back, putting one leg over the other. “Of course,
it's a short term strategy, but you can work them like dogs for the
few months before they fall apart.”

“
Where did the girl get
sold to?” Gideon asked. The stink of the room, the blood and
cigar smoke, was beginning to get to him. He wanted to get out of
there as soon as possible.

Daniel scratched at his chin
thoughtfully and peered at Gideon with his small black eyes. They
were dancing with some private joke. “You know, I think I've
told you enough for a thousand. You may have to sweeten the pot if
you want more detailed answers. We are businessmen, so let us talk
business. Another thousand will get you the name.”

There was a silence after that
in which Gideon tried to keep his face as blank as possible. He
didn't have another thousand to give to Daniel, and there wasn't any
other reason that Daniel would tell him what he needed to know.
Gideon had no leverage on him. A desperation ploy was all that was
left. “Akem told me that you would help, he said that if you
didn't he would make things difficult for you.”

The reaction he got shocked him.
Daniel's face drained of all its color and his mouth gaped
slightly. Naked fear was in his eyes. He licked his lips and began
to breathe heavier. “Akem said that?” he whispered. He
shook his head. “I don't believe you.”

Gideon held up his hand, the
dragon ring shining on his third finger. Daniel swallowed hard and
sprang to his desk, leafing through a leather book. “Her name
is Rolanda. I sold her to a man named Malakir. He works mostly in
Fouchbough. He's a bit of a disturbed figure, he's not civil like
you or I. I would be careful how you approach him.” Daniel
laughed, a high pitched nervous laughter that didn't fit with the
man he had been ten minutes prior. “No one's perfect though.”

Gideon pocketed the dragon ring.
It wasn't comfortable, it felt constricting and cold on his finger.
No matter how long he wore it the thing never warmed to body
temperature.

Rubbing his hands together,
Daniel opened the door for Gideon and a woman's scream rang out,
along with the general busy sounds of a commotion. The quick sharp
staccato of gunfire rang out and more screams accompanied it.
Through the open doorway Gideon saw guests rushing out the front
door. The mountain pushed Daniel aside and ran out into the hallway
as the noise grew louder, reaching into his coat pocket and pulling
out a pistol.