Heroine: California Dreamin' (12 page)

It didn’t take me long until I reached the building Pete had pointed out to me. I turned into a parking lot behind a warehouse and spotted Pete at the corner of a flat building. After the relaxing adventure at Santana Row this sight was quite sobering. Prior to that I was looking forward to see the boys again and my mood reflected that anticipation until I called Pete. But that had vanished. The car door had not closed properly behind me when my friend gave me a big hug and danced around with me until I lost my shoes because he’d lifted me up.

“Hallelujah, and we were scared that you stood us up. What luck that you’ve made it here.” His heartfelt welcome let me forget my disappointment about the hotel and I gave him a kiss. After all I ‘owed’ him something.

“Pete, I’m happy too. But why are we meeting here? Didn’t you tell me that we’d go to a hotel?” He blushed.

“Well, this is almost a hotel. Ron can use that shack once in a while, it belongs to one of his friends. You understand, don't you, when he has a girlfriend for a change and Alonso is not here …” The color of his face turned from red to pale when he noticed what he had just revealed. I laughed and pushed him away from me.

“Let’s go in. I can’t stand open accounts.” My laughter calmed him down and he led me into the house. Ron met us in the corridor. Like Pete, he was also totally happy to see me. I was truly moved.

When I left the building a few hours later I had a better understanding why both of them are losing their girlfriends all the time. It didn’t even take five minutes into chitchat when both dudes started to undress me. Originally I wanted to heat them up a bit by modeling my new sexy bra and thong. And I wanted to talk. In my imagination this afternoon was supposed to be a cozy togetherness with the occasional exchange of intimacies.

But far from it. They started without any foreplay. Since they assured me that they haven’t had girlfriends for quite a while I chose to agree with it. I had hoped that each one of them would return to some tender caring and love making. None of the above. They fell back on the bed, panting and swore that this was the best sex they ever had. Apart from our movie in San Jose. And it continued in that way.

First I remained patient because I still clung to my romantic anticipations. But already after the second change of positions I lost my patience and asked them if they handled their girlfriends in the same rude manner. They first looked at one another and then at me, totally perplexed. They didn’t seem to understand what I was talking about. Now I started to understand that they had learned everything how to behave in bed from porno movies. Only fucking, being potent, no display of affection. To simply relax, letting yourself fall, to cuddle and some tender eroticism was not part of their program. I remembered a friend in Germany who had landed with me in the ditch before I got to know Daniel. He behaved just like that. At that time I thought that I must take part in all of that. Now I had enough of it.

“Listen to me, boys”, I said in an energetic tone of voice. Again I discovered that I had never spoken to a man in such manner when I lived in Europe. And again I felt that I had changed throughout the last few months. And I was proud of it. Debt or no debt.

“We can’t go on like that. I thought we spend a nice relaxed afternoon and have some fun together. Instead of that you perform your gymnastic exercises here as if you wanted to win the super bowl in fucking. If you do that with other women as well then I am not surprised that they constantly run away from you.”

They looked at me with the mouth and eyes wide open.

“You don’t like it?” stammered Pete. Apparently he was the more sensitive one because I felt that something had touched him. Ron only shrugged with his shoulders and asked dryly:

“What else do you want from us? That’s all that we can offer.” He hadn’t understood anything.

“Listen”, I continued. I really intended to lecture them.

“If you want to come clear with a woman you must adjust to her needs. Just fucking is a no go. It involves affection, listening and most of all respect.” My sentence gave me a sting in my belly. If I had demanded that from Erich at that time …

Pete felt that I became sad and took me into his arms.

“We don’t want to hurt you”, he whispered. “I thought you’re having fun with us.”

“It is also fun if you once understand a woman and don’t always give in to your dick”, I hissed back in anger. Because Ron’s look expressed boredom. I felt sorry for Pete.

“Do you want to learn something?” I asked whereas I looked Ron straight into the eyes. From the corner of my eyes I saw that Pete nodded eagerly while his friend only shrugged his shoulders in uncertainty.

“So, it is a ‘yes’”, I decided.

For the next few hours they were lectured about respect and consideration. I taught them to pay attention to feelings and moods that I developed when they touched me. I only allowed tender touches and showed them how I wanted them to feel me. With the tip of their fingers, no roughness.

In particular I paid attention to the fact that they wouldn’t cum so fast when they felt like it. That worked fine with Pete but Ron was just too boisterous. And too potent. Horst came to my mind. Just another testosterone driven stud. But Ron did try. When it started to get dark I decided to let the afternoon wind down. I let them know that I would continue my lectures at the next meet. After that I took a long shower and got dressed. Then we said good bye. When I walked out I remembered our first meeting together.

“What ever happened to the movie we made together?” I asked Ron.

“Oh that”, he answered without thinking. “Paolo brought the files to Los Angeles. The client liked it and now it is commercially available. If you want I download a copy onto my laptop for our next meet. Then we can watch it together. The movie is really expensive. They told us that the quality is something they haven’t seen in a long time”. I didn’t want to hear anything else about it, I just wanted to leave. In the parking lot Pete gave me a big hug and kissed me gingerly on the cheek.

“Thank you”, he said with moist eyes. He looked as if he had fallen in love. Strangely enough that triggered a somewhat pleasant feeling in me. Pete was a darling and I told him so.

“What a shame that you are married”, he commented. And with that I remembered ardently that I still had a message from Daniel on my cell phone. I hurried to get into my car and drove off in haste. On my way to the nearby freeway I read his SMS. It didn’t say anything important. He only told me that he had landed safely in New York. Nothing else. Again I felt a sting in my belly. I pulled myself together and sent him a short reply.

An hour later I turned into the driveway of Daniel’s house, knowing that I’d paid all my debts.

Forever.

A few meters behind the driveway parked a rickety grey van with tainted side windows. I giggled to myself in schadenfreude imagining the car getting towed soon by police since it was parked in a no-standing zone. After locking the garage door behind my Chevy I was going to open the front door of the house.

At this very moment a strong arm embraced me from behind and a hard large hand pressed onto my mouth. Then a man jumped out of the shrubberies joining the attacker and clasping my legs. I yelled and struggled but the hand on my mouth smothered my screams and the grip on my legs was too tight so I couldn’t free myself. In my panic I realized that the grey van that I had seen before parked on the street now slowly backed up into the driveway. The two attackers dragged me to the side door of the car which opened by itself and then threw me into the car like a bag of potatoes. I landed on the burgundy colored back seats. After that the two kidnappers got into the car quickly. Before I could start screaming again one of the assailants lifted his hand and threatened to strike me in my face.

“Just be quiet, then nothing will happen to you. If you scream I'm gonna beat you up.  Did you dig that?” he snarled with an accent that didn’t sound Californian at all. I nodded submissively and looked at him with eyes wide open in terror. My whole body was shaking and if I had not been stretched out on the backseat I probably would have collapsed out of sheer angst.

His companion got out of the car once more and he was back in a moment with my purse throwing it at me. Then the car’s side door closed again automatically. My kidnappers placed themselves opposite of me staring at me coldly when the car slowly picked up pace. The seats were arranged opposite from one another, separated by a table. Like all windows the view into the driving direction was covered by black, all closed curtains.

In my fear I didn’t dare to ask any questions. The two guys kept on staring at me. Both wore black suits with black T-shirts. The guy who had barked at me was at least 6 foot something tall, probably already fifty years old and had broad shoulders. His open jacket hinted a strong muscular body. His face was sharp-edged with a broad prominent chin, and dark eyebrows gave him a powerful appearance.
Like the macho version of George Clooney‘
I thought for a moment. I found it impossible to define the color of his eyes because he kept his eyelids lowered half way. His black hair showed some gray strands and was neatly cut.  His big hands and his slim fingers appeared well-manicured. He would probably look good as a senator. My brain registered all of that despite my dismal situation – a fact that left me dumbfounded for a while.

His significantly younger companion was also rather tall but more sleek and a more wiry physique. His blond short-cut hair fit his narrow face and green eyes quite well. He appeared to be the more friendly one of the two although he tried, like his partner, to appear ‚cool‘. Once in a while a few wrinkles flinched around his eyes and I realized that he tried to suppress a smile. Somehow that had a calming effect on me and I hoped the two of them would not try to rape me. I couldn’t recognize the driver because some tainted glass separated the passenger seats from the front.

When the car accelerated I slowly moved up into a sitting position and squeezed myself into a corner. Obviously we were headed south what I concluded from the car’s swaying movements. I took a few deep breaths and tried to suppress my panic. When I looked around carefully I noticed that the interior of my ‚prison’ was quite luxurious: soft satin upholstery, a refrigerator, everywhere trays for drinks and even some hi-fi equipment. The dingy exterior of the car would not let you expect this kind of comfortable interior.

Some minutes passed by then the car drove into a lengthy left turn and sped up. We obviously entered a freeway. Since nothing else had happened so far I took all my courage and carefully approached the younger of the kidnappers.

“What do you intend to do with me? And where do we go?” I asked shyly. But before my vis-à-vis I had spoken to could open his mouth the older guy snarled at me.

“Why don’t you shut up? No questions. You’ll learn about that soon enough.”

Terrified I flinched and nodded submissively. For the next few minutes all you could hear was the noise from cars on the freeway that came muffled through the tainted and closed windows. Time went by slowly and seconds stretched to an eternity while I was sliding around restlessly. Somewhere and at some point the vehicle made a right turn and apparently headed west now. The road became bumpier and the many curves indicated that we were headed for the mountains in the direction of the Pacific Ocean. Traffic had become much lighter. I could hear other cars only once in a while.

My wristwatch told me that we were going only for a little more than one hour. Then the car swayed across some bumpy terrain and soon came to a complete stop. The older of my kidnappers pushed the curtain aside and looked outside. Obviously he was happy with what he saw because then he pressed the button to open the door. While he got out of the car slowly he pulled his gun from his jacket and grabbed the handle with both hands. Once outside he briefly looked around and with a nod of his head he pointed to me to follow him.

I felt sick with angst that had besieged me again and with wobbly knees I followed him clasping my purse against my tummy as if for protection. The younger fellow stepped behind me and put his hand onto my shoulder. Then he pushed me slowly into the direction of some flat building that appeared before us in the twilight. From far away I heard a propeller plane starting and shortly thereafter and for a moment I saw the blinking lights of a small machine in the sky with its hum dissipating quickly. Not too far away the waves of the ocean swept upon the beach.

Then we reached the front door of the house. The car that had brought us here drove away with no lights on. The night sky was clear and it was still light enough to screen the environment for a moment. In the background I saw a large silo with a strange looking cross on top of it. The unlit buildings surrounded a large square in a rectangle. The whole thing looked like a farm. The guy who accompanied me opened a door and I stumbled into the interior right after him. Only when the door behind me had been closed again somebody turned on the lights. For a short while I was blinded but then I saw that we stood in a long corridor featuring doors to the left and to the right. We continued walking until we stood before a steel door at the end of the corridor. It took a while until it could be opened because the guy before me needed to tuck away his gun and then enter a numeric code at the door. Another metallic door required even two keys to be opened. Then we reached a spacious hall with large lights hanging from its ceiling that illuminated the room with white light. This room was built from concrete and not from wood as it is common in California. Like a prison. Or a bunker. A small metallic table stood in the middle of the room, the walls hosted diverse comfortable seating mostly armchairs made of white leather but also some regular chairs and some metal cabinets. Two simple doors apparently led to adjacent rooms.

What terrified me were some handcuffs on the walls in the back. They were affixed in a way that they would hardly serve for tying up animals there. My knees started to wobble again and angst crept into my belly. It felt like somebody had punched me in my lower abdomen. When I turned around I saw, much to my surprise, a large strangely formed double cross with five-points on the wall that shined in light blue with green edges. Was this a room for worship?

The young fellow who still held carefully onto me now pushed me without saying a word into one of the armchairs after a signal from his accomplice. They sat down on some chairs opposite of me and waited. There was dead silence in the room. No noises would enter the room and I realized that it must have been soundproof.

We sat there for a long time and waited and waited. I certainly calmed down. So far nobody had tried to rape me. Perhaps it was a thing of mistaken identity anyway and soon we all would find out. Then the older kidnapper got up and said:

“Watch her! I’ll go and make a phone call, I’d like to know when your dad is coming.” He came back a bit later, looking rather disgruntled.

“He’ll be late. They are still in a meeting and he can’t leave before eleven o’clock. We have to wait.” They pulled both armchairs towards them so they could rest their feet on them. All three of us just sat there in silence and waited. The younger one soon dozed off and his deep breathing also calmed me down. Perhaps everything was a misunderstanding. The older kidnapper kept on staring at me, his eyes still squinted to slits. I felt that something in me excited me somehow. This man was really damn’ good looking and in particular his power presence had quite some effect on me. A gentle shiver ran through my spine all the way down to my behind and beyond – I kind of felt attracted to him. Ah, if we only had to get to know one another in a more pleasant situation …

‘Wake up, you are dreaming!’
Just in time my inner voice appealed to right reason. That would be the last thing that I started flirting with these criminals! What was the matter with me? The truth was that the older one was really good looking. But he had kidnapped me. He hadn’t raped me so far so I didn’t need to provoke that after all. I calmed down again. Perhaps all of that was a mistake and there is an explanation for it.

I startled when I heard some keys rattling in the front door. I had dozed off. First a man squeezed through the door whose gigantic physique had my fear return instantly. He was not only more than six feet tall but he was also build as wide as a cupboard pushing a mighty belly in front of him. A fat neck protruded from his too tight collar of a white shirt that was fastened by a black tie carrying a massive bald head that looked like a water melon. His eyes were hidden behind some dark pilot specs. My guards got up showing their respect. The man who entered was probably their boss.

While this new arrival instilled only fear into me I almost jumped in panic when I eyed his companion when he appeared from behind the massive body of his boss. I collapsed on the inside and started to hyperventilate. The blood drained from my head and everything started to turn in circles before me.

It was Diego from the storage hall in Daly City. It had been far too easy when I collected those papers back then. Now all of that hit me like an avalanche. I was certain that this was the end of me. Everything would be disclosed now and regardless who these men were – I was at the end of my rope.

The giant approached me bent forward and took a long look at me. Then he called for Diego who stepped up slowly.

“Is that her?” the big guy asked with a light almost shrill voice that didn’t fit his massive appearance at all. Diego approached me, smiled at me and said in a friendly tone of voice:

“Yes, that is Maria’s sister in law Julie. At any rate that is what she called herself. At the time she wore dark makeup when she came in but I remember that light dress she’s wearing now and I recognize it.” I was wearing the same dress that I bought after my visit at the storage hall in Daly City. My hysterical attempts to disguise myself where busted like air balloons. Jan’s voice sounded in my ears: ‘
… you are really terribly naïve …’

“Take a hike”, the fat guy pointed to Diego without looking at him. Diego turned around and scuttled from the room as if bitten by a tarantula. He was obviously afraid of the fat guy.

In the meantime I had entered a state of lethargy. I didn’t care anymore. I was convinced that my life would come to an end this very night and I just hoped that I wouldn’t have to suffer. I had no strength left, panic had robbed me of my last drops of energy.

“Well, now to you Maria or Julie or whatever your name is”, squealed the fat guy in front of me. That he knew my name suddenly ripped me out of my lethargy. I did some quick thinking. They had left my purse with me and my passport was kept at home. They could have taken my name from my driver’s license. But the documents and the contents of my purse didn’t seem to interest them the least bit. So where did they know my name from? The guy grinned as if he could read my mind.

“We know everything about you”, he tried to provoke me. “That your husband will be in New York until Saturday, for example. Before that hardly anyone will be missing you.” I swallowed deeply. That was terrible. Why did they have this information? Soto grinned suggestively. But then the fat guy made a mistake and it woke me up instantly.

“So, you tell us now why you showed up at Diego and took those documents. And foremost I want to know where Roberto is. Did you get what I just said?” I looked at him with eyes wide open. He wanted to know where Roberto was. Didn’t he learn about the guy’s death?

“Do you want to know where Roberto is?” I asked him back in a subdued voice. “Why don’t you know about his whereabouts?”

“Don’t play games with me”, my counterpart snapped. “I know with certainty that
you
know his whereabouts. After all you are his girlfriend and you cheat on your husband with him.”

“Why, what do you want from him?” I asked back. I saw a small silver lining on the horizon and felt a chance to get out of here alive. They looked for Roberto and had no idea what had happened to him. Something in my heart felt some affection for the now dead pimp. Did he actually try to help me from beyond his grave?

The psychologist in me told me in a cold matter of fact that this was an additional sign that I was on my best way to turn nuts. But my feelings clung to this straw of hope. Idiotic psychological findings from someone who hasn’t even finished her studies – that would not help me along here. These guys in this room probably were as brutal as death in person. They were so assertive of their power that the air surrounding them seemed to be on fire.