Wanted (19 page)

Chapter 12

Tanya woke up. The transition was seamless. One moment she was blissfully ignorant of the world at large and the next she was staring at Carl’s back as he was cooking a small animal over the coals of the fire. She guessed it to be a rabbit, but knowing Carl it could have been anything. The weight of everything that had happened crashed into her as well, stealing her breath with a small gasp.

Carl turned, seeing her eyes open and lips parted slightly. “Get up,” he said without preamble. “Sooner we get going, sooner you get your brother and the tramp back, then you can be on your way.”

Tanya blinked. “That’s it? Then you’re done with us again? Until the next time?”

Carl shook his head. “Ain’t no next time. This is it for me.”

The gymnast stared at him, feeling her temper flare at his announcement. She held her breath and waited, fighting the urge to lash out at him. She had no right to expect anything from him, she realized.“Why bother?” she asked him while rolling stiffly and climbing to her feet. Instead of just her back her entire body felt stiff. She wondered how long until she would be able to stretch again without fear of re-injuring her spine.

“
What?”

“
Why bother helping us?” she demanded. “If you’re just going to toss us to the wolves again, why help at all? It’s kind of cruel, isn’t it? If you’ve got a lame horse you shoot it instead of making it comfortable until something bigger comes along and eats it. Is that any different than what you’re doing to us? Teasing us, making us think we’ll be okay until something worse happens.”

Carl said nothing, he just spun the rabbit on the makeshift spit. Tanya watched him, hoping for a response, but instead he stuck his knife into the meat to judge how cooked through it was. Satisfied, Carl cut off a hind leg and tossed it to her. Tanya caught it awkwardly, then hissed as the hot juices burned her skin and caused her to juggle it and blow on it to cool it.

“
That’s mature,” she muttered as he tore off another leg and began to rip the flesh from it with his teeth. She waited for hers to cool a bit before eating it.

They ate in silence, then gathered up their meager equipment and set off. Carl set a brutal pace, and seemed to be a little uncomfortable with it himself judging by how he favored his snake bitten leg. True to the man of steel exterior he portrayed, he showed no sign of being uncomfortable to her. Tanya, pissed off as she was at how stubborn and confusing he was, could not help but wonder what his kryptonite might be.

* * * *

Jessie sat off to the right of Eddie Chavez. It had been a long and miserable day so far. Her job was to look pretty and be his trophy before anyone who came to visit. Between visitors he had other ideas that kept her occupied. Her head ached from the partying over the last couple of nights. Today it was better than before though, thanks to the Bloody Mary she’d accepted this morning.

“
Eddie,” she said, breaking her silence and trying for the umpteenth time to find out what was going to happen to her and Dusty.

He turned to look at her and she felt his leering gaze sweeping over her barely clothed body. He had demanded she wear a string bikini at least one size too small while in court. The pathetic part was that he considered this an honor – the other sluts he kept as a harem were not allowed clothing at all.

“
King Eddie,” he reminded her, rolling his eyes. “Hard to believe you made a name for yourself out there, as dumb as you are.”

He turned to the other men standing in what had once been an American Legion conference hall and laughed loudly. “Hard to believe any woman could learn more than how to lay on her back and spread her legs!”

They laughed with him, some agreeing with him and a few because they knew they would be lined up against a fence and shot if they dared to disagree.

“
King Eddie,” Jessie offered, bowing her head submissively. “Sir, my brother and I…”

“
Are my honored guests and will continue to be as long as you don’t piss me off,” he interrupted. “Just remember how good you got it. My boys hadn’t found you, you might have ended up dinner guests of the Diggers.”

“
The Diggers?” she asked before she realized speaking without invitation could earn her a slap or worse.

He overlooked her breach of etiquette this time in favor of explaining just who, or in this case what, the Diggers were. “Religious family, couple dozen kids and every one of them stark raving mad. They got radiation burns real good and moved out here couple years back. I gave ‘em the land up north east of here – it’s hard land and not worth much. In return they keep the raiders from Vegas from coming down our way.”

“
They don’t sound so bad,” Jessie said when he paused and looked at her expectantly.

Eddie laughed, signaling his men to laugh at her ignorance as well. “Cannibals, the lot of them. Through me the Lord has provided for them,” he finished, raising his voice to impersonate an evangelist. He cracked up afterwards, earning more laughter from his men.

Jessie’s eyes widened. She nodded and dropped her head again, resigned to trying to figure out a way to escape on her own. She hoped Tanya had made it back to Carl, he would know what to do. Then again, Carl had kicked her out, there was no way he was going to help her.

Her head ached and she felt a wave of nausea when she thought of the coming party. Sex, drugs, booze … it was not so different from the partying she used to do, but back then she had choices, at least. She could choose who she screwed, here it was chosen for her. She looked up at Eddie, her expression mirroring the agony she felt in her soul.

“
You getting tired of my company already?” he asked, seeing her expression.

She shook her head quickly, regretting it from the way it changed the pressure in her throbbing temples. “No, My Lord,” she said. “Just looking forward to pleasing you tonight.”

He leered at her again and then turned to address his men boastfully. “Look at this queen of sluts!” he said. “Bored with court and aching to feel me between her legs! One day all women will remember this is the reason they’re alive, to service their men!”

Jessie smiled and hid her revulsion. She even glanced at the double barreled shotgun Eddie kept behind his throne. She could get it before anyone reacted, she knew. She might even be able to take him out before his guards gunned her down. It was almost worth it, but then who would look after Dustin?

“
My Lord, let my service be an example to them all,” she said, falling into her role and thanking her former profession for making it sound and look real.

He laughed again and started to get up. She knew what was next. He would haul her off into a back room and have his way with her. He had done it before with far less provocation. Then again, he had also taken her right there in front of his men once too. Perhaps that was the lesson he wanted to teach today. For a brief moment she longed for the blanketing warmth of a few joints and a couple of lines of syn.

“
My Lord, visitors call upon you!” a voice rang out.

Eddie paused in mid-rise. He turned and saw one of the guards near the double doors at the end of the hall. He sat back down but sent Jessie a look that promised a good time later. She returned it even though it nearly made her vomit.

“
Who calls?” He demanded.

“
Captain Marko Garza, of Maestrom Inc,” the messenger said.

“
Who the fuck is Maelstrom?”

“
Private security company, he says. They handle bodyguard and defense duties for government officials and rich folks.”

“
Word’s getting out,” Eddie said with a grin. “Send him in.”

The guard nodded and ducked out, then returned a moment later to usher in a single man. Jessie’s eye widened briefly, not in recognition of the man, but in recognition of the calm and certain way he moved. He was Mexican and pretty average looking, but he reminded her a little bit of Carl in the way he moved in his desert camouflaged fatigues.

Captain Garza’s eyes took in everything as he walked, she noticed. He did a double take when he looked at her, visually tripping and needing to look at her again. Jessie knew she was supposed to display herself and offer both a sign of the wealth Eddie possessed as well as to distract his supplicants, but there was something about this man that made her wish she not only had all her clothes, but maybe a bullet proof vest as well.

“
Hola, amigo
,” Eddie said, smiling as he approached. “What can King Eddie do for Maelstrom?”

The look that passed over the mercenary’s face was so quick Jessie doubted anyone saw it. Nonetheless, she had noted it, and she knew it was contempt.

“
King Eddie,” he said in only slightly accented English. The captain seemed to have a little trouble making the words roll off his tongue, but he managed. “I am searching the region for some refugees. There is a reward for their recovery, perhaps you or your men have seen them?”

Eddie glanced at Jessie, but looked away before she could guess what he was thinking. She could only assume he wondered if maybe the merc was looking for her. “Maybe,
amigo
. Tell me, who are these people? Do you have pictures?”

Another look of irritation flashed across his face, but he quickly hid it behind a smile. “Of course… you highness. Their names are Dustin and Tanya Kurkova. Children – siblings, in fact. They were kidnapped by a man named Carl Waters and my client is desperate for any news as to how he can get them back.”

Jessie contained her gasp of shock, but was unable to prevent her eyes from widening. Eddie glanced at her again and this time she caught the calculating look in his eyes. Captain Garza seemed to have taken notice of her reaction as well, for he was looking at her with a newfound interest that did not involve her barely covered breasts.

“
Your pardon, King Eddie,” the merc said, “who is this lovely woman?”

Eddie leered proudly. “You recognize her, yes?”

“
She looks familiar,” he admitted, “but I can’t place her.”

A few weeks ago Jessie would have felt pride and outrage at not being instantly recognized. Now she felt shame. Shame for being little more than a prisoner and a concubine. She had told Carl she was not a whore, but now, she realized, she had always been one. A high paid whore, but she still sold her dignity every step of the way. Maybe she deserved to be Eddie’s prized slut.

“
This is Jizzy Banks,” Eddie proudly claimed, smiling at her and making her realize she should be smiling as well. “She starred in Guns of Tijuana, Mile High, Nowhere to Die, I-666, and more.”

Garza nodded as he made the connection. “Sorry, I didn’t recognize you without the makeup, Miss Banks. I had no idea you lived up here.”

“
I don’t-” Jessie replied automatically, but was cut off by Eddie.

“
Jizzy just happened to visit the other day with her brother. They’re liking the place though and thinking of staying, isn’t that right?”

Jessie smiled and nodded, dipping her head submissively to the ruler of Edland. “Yes, My Lord.”

“
You have a brother, Miss Banks?” Captain Garza asked, his piercing gaze showing a growing interest.

“
Yes… I do,” she said, trying to quickly think up a cover story. “He’s my assistant when I’m filming.”

“
Young lady like yourself that must be hard work for a kid. He is a kid, right? How old is he?”

Jessie dropped her eyes again, not out of submissiveness, though she hoped it might be taken as such. No, she did it to hide the sudden spark of fury that shot through her. How dare this son of bitch question her? How dare he try to take Dusty from her! Sure, he wasn’t really her brother, but he was… he was…

Jessie stopped. What was he to her? A friend? Did she have any friends? She was trying to protect him, not the other way around. Isn’t that what friends did, looked out for each other? Dusty was just a paycheck, she tried to remind herself. Her paycheck, not this Garza punk’s.

“
Darin’s seventeen, Captain,” Jessie said, then looked up at him after forcing the anger out of her eyes. “I know Carl Waters, how much is the reward, maybe I can help.”

Eddie chuckled. “You know Carl? He’s a real pain in the ass, that Carl. More trouble than it’s worth trying to get rid of him though. He lives southwest of here a bit. Haven’t seen him in months though.”

“
Your Highness, the pictures?” Garza asked, pulling out a couple of pieces of folded paper from his pocket.

Eddie signaled and one of his guards hurried over to grab the pictures, then bring them up to him. He unfolded them and looked at them briefly, then tossed them to Jessie as though it was inconsequential to him.

Jessie looked at the pictures, pretending to be clueless. One page had two pictures of Tanya, one a couple years old from a gymnastics competition, the other only slightly more recent – she was confined to a wheelchair and looked considerably different. The other piece of paper had a single picture of Dustin on it. A picture that, while younger and different, she still had no trouble identifying as the kid she claimed was her brother.

Jessie looked up at Eddie. She knew he must have recognized Dusty. He knew him as Darin, but Eddie was smart enough to see through that. He did not return her gaze though, and didn’t seem to act like he knew anything was amiss either.