The People Traders (20 page)

"Who has?"

"Security, they were told to keep her locked up at night until Sirec returns tomorrow," she said quietly.

"On your knees, head between your legs, quickly," Mark ordered.

The woman did as he asked and Mark moved to the door. A quick check revealed the lock was flimsy and inadequate. With one push of his shoulder it burst open. Mark stood for a moment and waited. Not a sound came from the rest of the house.

"Inside," he demanded. The woman stood and did as he asked. Mark followed.

Somebody was asleep in the bed, their head hidden under the blankets. Even the small noise from the door hadn't disturbed them.

"Wake her and tell her not to say a word but to get dressed in jeans and something warm. Then you kneel again on the floor, head down between your legs."

Karen opened her eyes as the woman shook her gently.

"Please don't say a word, just get up and dress. You're to wear jeans, t-shirt and a warm jumper. Not a dress, you understand?"

Karen nodded and climbed out of bed. Then she saw Mark stood some distance away, gun trained on the woman. Now she understood and quickly dressed into what she'd been told to wear, before slipping on trainers. She then grabbed a brush from the dressing table, underclothes, shorts and top from inside a drawer, before stuffing them all in a carrier bag. Mark hadn't said a word; the woman was still on the floor, unable to see what was going on. Mark touched her with the tip of the gun.

"We return to your room now," he said quietly.

They all went back to the room. Garry was still stood over the man. Mark told the woman to get back into bed and cover her face. Garry told the man also to do this and then urged Karen out of the room with Mark. Seconds later, she heard two low thuds and Garry joined them.

"British S.A.S., Karen, we've come to take you home. Not a word until we speak to you, silence is imperative. Keep close and do exactly as we say."

She gave them a weak smile and they all returned back down the stairs, through the servant's area and out into the courtyard. Then they moved swiftly towards the front car park. Mark grasped Karen's arm and pushed her down to the ground. Garry moved from car to car until he found one that was open. Climbing inside he pulled a small gadget from his pocket and slipped a section into the car lock. Seconds later a snap came and the lock fell to pieces. Turning the broken lock inside, the car's ignition came on. He then waved them over. With three of them in the car, he pulled the small remote detonator from his pocket and selected zero. A press and seconds later, the explosions rocked the villa. All the lights failed with flames shooting from a number of windows blown out by the blast. Within minutes the whole place was ablaze.

Not waiting any longer, he started the car and they moved slowly at first, before gathering speed straight through the first gate and crashing through the lowered barrier of the security at the entrance. Two security men stood there, staring at the flames coming from the villa, at first not sure what to do about the car approaching them until it was too late. Mark turned and faced Karen.

"I'm Mark, this is Garry. We are, like I said, British S.A.S and I hope you're Karen Marshall?"

Karen grinned. "Yes I am, and thank you for coming for me. I must say your departure for a clandestine group was pretty spectacular."

Garry shrugged. "We did that for a laugh really. To tell you the truth, we had it wired in case something went wrong. I don't like the sound of this Sirec or his ponced up villa, so what the hell, give him a bit of rebuilding to do, I say. Anyway while they're trying to bring that lot under control, we'll be far away."

Mark cut in. "You know, Garry, this girl's as cool as a cucumber. Not only did she dress, she even packed. I must say, under fire, she'd be some girl."

Karen hit him in fun. "I know this place, believe me in the daytime it's like an oven, then at night its bloody cold. I was just being practical that's all," she retorted.

"Practical?” Mark said. "She brought a bloody hairbrush as well."

They all fell silent and Garry swung the car round and up the steep track. This car would be known and he needed to change it for the one Arif was leaving. They got to the end of the track but there was no car.

Garry slammed his hands on the steering wheel. "The cheating bastard! If I see him again I'll put a bullet into his head." With that he swung the car round and they sped off down towards the main road. They travelled on for some miles before the car started to cough and splutter and finally came to a halt.

"Fuck, the bloody fuel's run out. Right, let's get it off the road and then we walk," Garry said quickly.

They all piled out and pushed the car off the road and down a small bank. It seemed well hidden so they moved off. At first following the road, then across country. Mark was reading the map, setting their route by a satellite navigation unit he was constantly watching. By now dawn was beginning to break and Mark called a halt. Settling down in a small clearing, away from any casual passer-by, he handed out dried biscuits. "We're here for the day now, so get some sleep if you want. I'll plan our next move."

Karen did as he asked, using her clothes bag as a pillow. She was shattered and needed to rest.

***

It wasn't until after nine that she opened her eyes. Mark was asleep; Garry was sat looking at her.

"I can watch now if you want to sleep, I've done it before," she said quietly so as not to wake Mark.

He nodded and leaned back, soon he too was sleeping. Karen looked at the gun by Mark then picked it up, fiddling with the mechanism. She found how to release the ammunition clip and by the time the two were awake, she'd managed to pull the gun virtually apart.

Mark looked at the pieces on the ground and grinned. "Go on then, get it back together if you can," he teased.

Karen frowned at it and tried her best but nothing would fit, so he took it from her. For the next hour or so to pass the time, he went through it stage by stage until she could do it blindfolded.

'You learn quickly, Karen, if you want a job we'll have a word with the Commander and you're in," Garry mocked.

She smiled softly and grabbed the completed gun. "I don't just want to know how to take it apart, I want to know how it works. What's this switch for and how do you control it?" she asked quietly.

Mark looked at Garry then towards Karen. "Why? You've got us to protect you. Anyway you'll be home in a couple of days."

She stood and looked across the barren landscape. Then turned and faced them. "I've no intention of being caught and going back in that hell-hole. I've been raped, beaten and spent half my time naked in front of leering men. I'm grateful for your help, more than you'll ever imagine, but Sirec's no wimp, he'll follow; perhaps try to get me back. After all, I cost forty thousand dollars. That's a lot of money."

Garry had listened to her and cut in before she could carry on. "That is a lot of money, Karen. Have you met this guy?"

She shook her head. "No, Sirec was due tomorrow, I think. I've been waiting for him for a week now. His villa though was really cool and I at last got meals I could actually eat and enjoy. Before going there I've been living on mostly bread and cheese with some sort of thick soup or on the ship, bacon butties. God I hate them. Then as soon as I came to Sirec's, I was taken to a large store where they fitted me out with casual clothes, some evening wear and decidedly sexy underwear. I was getting worried how kinky this guy was with what I was expected to wear. Mind you, in some ways I was enjoying it, you know, dressing for dinner, swimming in the pool all day, and then I got speaking to the cook. She was French and we hit it off. She told me to try and get out; many girls had been there before me, they disappeared within a few weeks and it was rumoured they'd been killed. He's a room that is kept locked where he would take the girls. Never once had she seen one in his bed in the mornings, so whatever his perversion, it was in that room, not his bed."

"So how did you expect to get out then?" Mark asked.

She shrugged. "I'd managed to call my dad and hoped he'd get the Government to intervene before what happened to the previous girls happened to me. If that didn't happen, I'd no real idea. Besides trying to get in with the cook, she may, if we'd become closer, have helped me escape, but I don't know." Then she stretched, pushing her hair back with both hands before looking across at them watching, her eyes no longer sparkling, but cold and hard. "Anyway if the worst came to the worst and my life had been in danger, I'd have killed him."

Garry laughed. "And just how would you achieve that, Karen?" he mocked.

Her features never altered, her eyes cold and uncaring. "Two years I've trained in self-defence and kick-boxing. I'm also close to black belt. The average man wouldn't know what hit him with those types of skills. I've also kept myself very fit. I can do forty press-ups without a problem. Okay, I've not got big obvious arm muscles but have no doubt in my training, it's a tiny step to go a little further and break a man's neck, especially if he's trying to screw me at the time and his guard's down."

No one replied and Garry pulled three tins of meat from his pack, handing them out. "I'm not sure you understand how difficult it is to kill a person, Karen, in close combat," he eventually said, between bites of the tinned meat. "But, short of the belief you could kill someone by using this black belt training of yours, why is it you want to know how to use the gun?"

She looked at him for a moment. "The point is, say you two got killed or we got split up? I'm not going back to be screwed every night by whoever, that's for certain, so what are my options? Fight my way out? Not really practical, besides, I'd not get far and it wouldn't bear thinking about if I was captured. So the only option I'd have then, is to turn the gun on myself."

"And you think it's that easy to kill, Karen?" Mark asked.

"I don't know, but if I'd had a weapon over the last few days, after what I've already been through, I wouldn't have hesitated. Does that answer your question?"

Garry shrugged. "What the hell, we've hours to kill, so to speak. If you want to know how to use the bloody thing, Karen, I've no objection. How about you, Mark?"

"So long as she doesn't turn the gun on us in error," he replied dryly.

She laughed and Garry pulled an array of weapons from his bag.

"Right, Karen, listen and learn. The machine-gun you've taken to pieces is your real weapon. It can fire a hundred rounds a minute. That's enough to cut a man in half at ten feet. It can also single shoot. In that mode you've got real control, little or no kickback, and you can use the silencer. Deadly accurate with the laser sight and you've also got an optional laser beam. You know the sort they use in presentations to point something out? At hand height it's difficult to know where the gun is pointing, but with the laser on you can watch the beam and know exactly where it's aimed."

She listened intently, trying the options herself, and within an hour was able to control it without any problems. The handgun was a different matter; totally inaccurate, without lots of practise. She decided that would be the gun she could turn on herself. Even she couldn't miss her head with the barrel touching her throat. The day passed quickly and the two soldiers were enjoying her company. Karen knew how to play up to lads, what to say, how to talk to them as if she was interested in them alone, and they both fell for it. She'd even changed earlier into shorts with her t-shirt. Garry in particular couldn't take his eyes off her.

***

As the sun set, they looked again at the map.

"We need a car, how about we go into this town called Hashal and see what's available," Garry finally said after studying the map.

"Hashal is where Saeed lives. If we could find his house we'd have transport for certain," Karen commented.

Garry frowned. "It's a bit of a long shot, Karen. Do you know the way?"

She shrugged. "I went to a church on Saturday; it was less than quarter of a mile from Saeed's. If we can find the church then I'll find his house," she replied confidently.

"So you think this Saeed would help out then?" Mark asked.

She laughed. "Of course he'd help. Saeed has a definite soft spot for me, I can promise you that," she lied.

With this agreed, they waited for dusk, then set off across the fields towards Hashal. Mark had estimated about three miles, which was nothing. The soldiers hid the weapons in their bags so as not to alarm anybody they might meet. As they entered the town they kept to the side streets and followed the main road to the centre.

Karen suddenly grasped Garry's arm. "That's the church, I'm certain. If we follow the main road for a few hundred yards, turn left and second right, Saeed's house is at the bottom."

The two lads were impressed but Karen shrugged it off. After all, she told them, two years running round woods with her dad, playing one group against another, was good training for observation.

By the time they'd arrived at the house it was completely dark. Mark handed Karen the bag with his equipment inside to look after, and moved off. Armed only with his handgun, for concealment, he intended to look for possible alternative transport if she couldn't get Saeed's car, besides keeping a watchful eye on anybody approaching the street.