by Emma York
“Welcome to Birmingham,” the man said, pulling me out and yanking the bag from my head. I blinked in the light, confused at what I was seeing. It looked exactly like Club Darkness.
So Ethan was behind this. He had to be. Was he a member here too?
I spat the rag onto the floor. “Where am I?” I asked as he grabbed my arm. “What’s happening?”
“Your new workplace,” he replied. That was the accent. Birmingham. How did I not realise?
“My what?”
“Come and see for yourself.”
He took hold of the zipties around my wrists, pulling me over to the door. I thought about fighting him but hopping across the car park told me I wouldn’t be able to run, not until my legs were untied.
He swiped a card and then we were inside. The corridor was painted a different shade of red but otherwise it was just the same as the club in London. “What’s going on?” I asked. “Please, talk to me.”
The man shrugged. “I was just paid to get you here and get you in there.”
“Who paid you?”
“In.” He pushed a door open and I saw a dark room, lit by a single bulb on a table in the corner. There was no carpet, the walls stark. In the centre was a steel cage hanging on a chain, the bottom of it solid metal, the rest vertical bars curving together at the top, like it was designed for a giant bird.
“What the hell is that?” I asked.
“Your new home,” he said, pulling a lever behind him. The cage clanked slowly downwards to the floor as I tried to turn and get away. He grabbed me at once. “Not so fast.”
The cage hit the floor with a thud, the door to it swinging open as he dragged me over. I fought, trying to bite, scratch, anything to stop it. I didn’t care if Ethan wanted this, I didn’t. I was fine with most things but being put in a cage like it was some kind of zoo? That wasn’t happening.
“Let me go,” I screamed. “Let go of me.”
“Each time you complain, you get another hour in there,” he replied, his voice calm as he pushed me through the door. “Now if you’re good, you’ll get those removed.” He nodded to the zipties on my wrists. “If you’re bad, well, someone will enjoy punishing you.”
“Do you mean Ethan? Is this him doing this? Where is he?”
“Ethan can’t help you now.” He slammed the door closed on me, turning the key in the lock before pocketing it. “Enjoy your stay,” he sneered, turning and heading out of the room. Then I was alone.
I slumped down and then let out a scream when the cage suddenly started rising up. The chains clanked slowly and I swung slightly in the air. It stopped when I was two feet up. That was when I started to cry.
TWENTY-FIVE - ETHAN
I stood outside a perfectly ordinary house. It was a quiet suburb, the street tree lined, cars parked either side of the road, a mixture of expensive and cheap. There was a Porsche next to a Fiat. A group of drunken students were walking up the road, heading home after a night out.
The house I was looking at was different to the others. Each was of red brick, semi-detached, small front garden, well maintained.
It was difficult to connect the house with what I’d been told by Roy. This was definitely where William Sound lived.
Roy had been as good as his word. Within ten minutes, he’d not only found the right guy where I’d been unable to, he’d also found his address.
“What’s this all about?” Roy asked over the phone after I’d taken the details.
“I’ll tell you later. First of all, I’ve got to go see him.”
So the owner of Club Darkness lived in this nondescript place. Net curtains up, number painted above the door, nothing out of the ordinary at all.
I opened the gate and walked up to the front door. I had thought about sneaking in but decided the simplest option was to just knock.
He opened it after thirty seconds of waiting. “Mr Powers,” he said, tipping his head just slightly. “Would you like to come in?”
“Where’s Alice?”
“It wasn’t a request, Mr Powers. Step inside. My neighbours will not appreciate noise at this hour.”
His voice was cold. His entire manner was frosty. Had he been expecting me? He knew who I was. “Where is she?”
“If you continue to berate me, I shall close the door and leave you to it. Your choice.”
I walked in, clenching my fists to try and keep calm.
“Good choice,” he said, walking along the hallway and into the lounge. He sat on the armchair by the fireplace, cat asleep on the rug in front of him. “Sit down and let’s talk.”
“I don’t want to talk. I don’t want to sit. I want to know what you’ve done with Alice.”
“I haven’t done anything with her.”
“But the red token-”
“You have put two and two together and made five. A red token has been issued but beyond that, who knows what it means.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
He leaned back in his chair, examining my closely. “What do you see in Alice?”
“What’s that got to do with anything?”
“Everything. Why do you care where she is? What is she to you?”
A hundred thoughts crossed my mind at once. She was the missing piece of me, she was the thought that woke me each morning, she was the reason I felt like a part of me was dying at that moment. “She’s the right fit for the person I am,” I said at last. “I can’t explain it any better than that.”
“Do you love her?”
“What kind of a question is that?”
“A perfectly simple one. Do you love her?”
“I want her back and if you’ve hurt one hair on her head-”
“Mr Powers. You will answer my question. Do you love her?”
“Yes!”
He smiled ever so slightly. He had a strange look about him. He was heading towards his sixties. White woolly jumper, brown cords, slippers. But where his hair was grey, his face was sprightly as if he was finding our conversation terribly amusing.
“Where is she?” I asked again, my fists clenching once more. “Damn it, tell me!”
“There are certain rules that come with running a club-”
“Damn your rules,” I interrupted him to shout. “Just tell me.”
“Rules matter, Mr Powers. Without them, we are no better than wild beasts. It is because of the rules that you received a black bid token. It is because of the rules that a red token was issued in your name. Did you ever think whether your infraction was serious enough to warrant a red token?”
“What does that have to do with Alice?”
“Sometimes we can only see how things connect after our journey is over. I did not know what issuing the red token might lead to. I do now.”
“I’m running out of patience. Where is she?”
If he noticed the anger in my voice, he showed no sign of caring. “The red token was merely a test of your mettle. You intrigue me, Mr Powers. So angry, so impetuous. You remind me of me when I was young.”
I opened my mouth but he waved me into silence. “I have done nothing with Alice. However you might be interested in knowing I own clubs in other cities. Perhaps you might care to visit one, Birmingham is particularly good at this time of year. They have many visiting acts.”
“Are you saying she’s there?”
“I’m not saying anything. I have to obey the rules same as you. I don’t ask how you are on first name terms with two members of the local police force for example. Take a trip, Mr Powers. See where it leads you.”
“If she’s not there, I’ll be back.”
“I have no doubt. Now if you don’t mind, I have a crossword waiting for me.”
“Just answer me one question,” I said as I paused in the doorway. “Why ruin me?”
“When people are tested, their true personalities emerge, Mr Powers. Now get going, the roads can be busy at this time of day.”
He nodded before picking up his cros
sword. I left, no closer to understanding what was going on than before but at least I had somewhere to go. Had he sent her up there? None of it made any sense.
I climbed into the car and headed north. It would take three hours to get to Birmingham. I knew there was another club there. I had been to it a couple of times but it wasn’t to my taste. But if they did anything to her, if they hurt her in any way, then I would be back to visit William again real soon, rules or no rules.
TWENTY-SIX - ALICE
In the darkness, I swung back and forth in the cage. The room was cold, it had been like that for hours. Whenever I shifted position, the chain above me would creak as I began to rock from side to side.
The only break in my misery came when the door opened and the light was switched on. My eyes were seared by the brightness and I winced, squinting and seeing a figure approach. “Arms out,” he said, the same accent as last time.
“Please let me go,” I said, blinking as he came into view. Before I could focus on him, the bag was back over my head.
“Arms out or you stay tied.”
I put my arms towards him, still pleading to be released as he brandished a knife. “No, don’t,” I begged, expecting the worst. He put the blade between my wrists and flicked upwards, the ziptie shearing neatly in two.
“Legs,” he said bluntly.
He held the cage to stop it moving while I shuffled my ankles forwards. He cut the ziptie holding them together as I tugged the bag off my head. He was gone before I could see, the light switching off with a click. Darkness again. I was alone.
I could only mark the passage of time by the fading of the pain in my aching muscles. I was at least able to move my arms and legs again. I tried fiddling with the lock, reaching through the bars to try and work the door open. It didn’t work.
Much later, the door opened again. This time when the light went on, the figure remained in place, waiting for my vision to come to me.
“Good evening,” a voice said, a voice I recognised.
“You,” I said in disbelief as Jason Fry walked towards me, a sick smile playing across his lips.
The man who’d been outbid by Ethan at the auction. The man who’d told him he would get revenge. The man who’d bribed the club into holding a second auction then tried to drag me to his car.
His nose still looked swollen from where Ethan had punched him. “You did this,” I said, swinging my arm at him through the bars, my fingernails trying to claw at his face.
He ducked neatly backwards. “Temper, temper,” he said, leering down at my body. “I bet you’re wishing you went with me now.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“I thought you were into submitting. Isn’t that why you’re with him?”
I scowled at him, unable to believe all of this was just a petty act of revenge over the auction. “Let me out.”
“If you agree to come home with me for the night I paid for, I might just do that.”
“Never."
"Then stay in there and starve."
"You’re insane.”
“For wanting what I paid for? I don’t think so. You should be more careful about breaking the rules. The auction was completed. I won you.”
“You won nothing.”
“I tell you what, you stay in there and think about it for a while. You might want to think about this too. What’s to stop me just coming over there and taking what I want from you right now?”
“Anything of yours that comes near me gets bitten off.”
“See how you feel in a day or two. Oh, and if you’re thinking of shouting for help. I’ve hired the entire club for a while so there won’t be anyone getting in the way of our little bit of fun. Lucky I knew there was a cage here, right?”
He turned and walked away, smiling back at me as I glared at him, not willing to beg anymore.
In the darkness, I raged silently, staggered by the injustice of what he’d done, the pettiness of his actions. I didn’t regret refusing to go with him, I had no interest in the man after finding out what he was really like, what he’d done to Ethan.
But how long could he leave me in here? All night? All day? Someone would miss me sooner or later. Ethan or my parents or Rowena would notice I was gone. They’d start asking questions. Hopefully someone would find me. I just hoped it would be before it was too late because I would rather starve to death in the cage than spend another minute in Jason Fry’s company.
At some point I slept. I only know that because when I did, I dreamed of Ethan. It was pitch black in my dream but there was a candle flickering somewhere near by, the light building enough to flicker and change. Nothing was illuminated but me. The candle was out of sight. It was somewhere nearby but whichever way I looked all I saw was darkness.
Then he was beside me. I knew it before I heard him. I couldn’t see him in the dark but I just knew he was beside me. “I’m coming for you,” he said, his voice light, gentle, but also resolute. There was no doubt, no worry, he was coming for me.
“Where are you?” I asked.
“Very close.”
“I’m scared, Ethan.”
“Wake up.”
I jolted awake. The light was still there but it wasn’t a candle. It was the light of a mobile phone screen, blue glow illuminating me in the cage. “Don’t say anything.” The voice was the same as in my dream, quiet but confident.
“Ethan? Is that you?”
“What’s happening?”
“Jason locked me in here. There’s a key but I don’t know where it is.”
“I’ll be back. Just hold on.”
The door opened and closed. All I could do was wait.
He had found me. Just the sound of his voice and my fears melted. Nothing could hurt me now. He had found me.
I smiled to myself.
A few minutes later, the door opened again. “Here,” he whispered. “Can you walk?”
“Yes,” I hissed in his ear as he gingerly slid the key into the lock, turning it slowly. “Is he still here?”
“No but there’s security. I might be able to take on that many but better to just avoid them if we can.”
The door swung open and he helped me down to the floor. The moment I touched solid ground, I threw my arms around him, holding him tight as he kissed my cheek. “I’m so glad you’re here. How did you find me?”
“I’ll tell you later. Let’s get out of here first.”
He held my hand as we tiptoed over to the door. I stayed behind him as he glanced left then right. In the darkness I could see nothing but he was surefooted as he walked me slowly along the corridor before pushing the door open. I was overwhelmingly glad of the cold night air on my face.
It was only when we got into his car that the reality of the situation dawned on me. I collapsed into sobs and he held me for a moment before starting the engine. “We need to get you home,” he said as the back door to the club burst open and a man with a torch appeared, shining it in our direction.
The engine revved and then we were tearing out of the car park, leaving the security guard shouting after us. “Get me home,” I muttered through my tears, unable to believe I was actually free.
“Yes, get you home.”
“What about Jason?”
“Don’t worry, I have something planned for him.”
TWENTY-SEVEN - ETHAN
I didn’t see Jason Fry when I got to Birmingham. Lucky for him. I filled in the gaps based on what Alice told me on the drive back. He had arranged for her to be driven north and put in the cage in the club. Then he’d left her there, hoping she’d be so scared or weakened by her experience that she’d agree to stay with him. It was like threatening to kill yourself when someone breaks up with you, it’s not going to be the basis for a solid relationship after that. The chance has gone.
As soon as he grabbed her in the car park, the chance was gone. That was even if I hadn’t been looking out for her.
I felt as if I’d let her down, but the pla
n had gone exactly how he’d wanted. What part did William Sound play?
I thought about it as I drove back to London. He owned the club. He had put the red token into circulation. Off the back of that, the company had tanked. But I felt Jason’s hands on that too. Did he pay William to do it?
Time for that later, I thought, as I glanced across at Alice. She was asleep on the seat next to mine. She looked beautiful. There were marks on her wrists from where she’d been bound. He would pay for those marks soon enough and not in the way he might expect. I had something far more cutting than a simple punch up.
Roy had talked me through the idea as I’d driven north. I had him on speaker and the more he talked, the more the plan came together until by the time I got to the club, I only needed proof it was him. That came from Alice telling me what he’d done, what he’d threatened to do to her. The bastard.
Seeing her in that cage had flicked a switch in my mind. I wouldn’t rest until I had revenge. He was going to pay the ultimate price.
Alice didn’t wake up until we were home. Home. My home. Our home. It was where she belonged. Where she should stay, forever, where I could keep her safe.
I felt guilty enough for leaving but the bait had been dangled well, what better way to get me out of the house than to shove financial ruin in front of me? It had worked. I was out. She was taken. A clever way of doing it too. Have someone dress up as a police officer.
I’d already checked in with Pippa after rescuing Alice. It wasn’t a proper officer who’d turned up, just someone Jason had presumably hired for the evening.
Poor Alice, thinking it might have been me setting up an elaborate roleplay. As if I would hurt her without her consent. Never.
“Are we here?” she asked as she shuffled upright in her seat. “Are we home?”
