“Yuh take care now,” Harry said, frown lines furrowing his brow while he watched Curtis walking unsteadily to the door.
“Thanks, Harry. I’ll tell you all about it next time.” He didn’t see the woman get up and follow him out as he wove his way to the car. He was fumbling in his pocket for his keys when she appeared beside him.
“Hey, Mister, yous goin’ pasts Massacre Bay?”
He was, and the sight of her short ginger hair reminded him of another woman he’d once tried to save. “Get in,” he said.
He began driving fast, barely aware of her sitting silently next to him.
“Pigeonwood Road, downs by the sea,” she said when the bay came into view. He knew the area. It was just a dirt track with a few baches hugging the shoreline. Such run-down places were known to be occupied by Ryxins, usually women, who weren’t entitled to welfare payments. The baches were rented out by the Muritai Employment Agency on behalf of the owners on condition the tenants took the first job offered to them and began to pay back the rent. If a woman was hired as a sexual partner for an elderly Human male then he would be obliged to pay the rent she owed before the contract could be signed.
She pointed to one of these baches and he pulled up, expecting her to get out. She didn’t. “Come inside, Mister. You looks likes you needs coffee.”
Curtis found himself agreeing. The whisky had made his head swim and he was barely aware of what he was doing. But it had numbed the pain.
She pulled out a chair for him at a table in the miniscule kitchen. He watched as she put a kettle onto a gas ring and lit it, then brought out two large, chipped mugs from a cupboard and began spooning instant coffee into them. He could see she was Ryxin by her six-fingered hands and became aware of something else. She had the clear skin and fine features of a Ryxin beauty while at the same time seeming familiar.
Then he remembered. She was like Mistle, the woman who had earned him his PI qualification by her admittance of guilt. But why did this woman bring back such a presence of Mistle? “What’s your name?” he said as they both sat, sipping their scalding coffees.
“Theys called me Ixola,” she said. “When I like first gots pregnant, old Dux called me that.”
Curtis was familiar with her kind of story and the way these maltreated women often denied anything bad had ever happened to them. But why was she here and not still a slave, having more babies for the Ryxin hierarchy? She must have once been a number just like Luxinda. “Why are you a free woman, Ixola?” he asked.
“I losts my first baby, then losts number two and three. Theys say I musts be discarded. I was tolds to go back home to this island where I used to lives. One of the staff tooks me to the ferry and boughts me a ticket. I hads only $30 and the clothes I wears.”
Curtis wasn’t shocked. He knew the Ryxin Breeding Programme employees were without conscience. He also realised the coffee wasn’t helping him to sober up. He began to get up from the table and she was there at his side, taking him by the arm.
“You must sleeps here, Mister.” She took him to the only other room in the bach where there was a single bed. He lay down, wishing he hadn’t had so much to drink, and went instantly to sleep.
In the morning he woke to the sound of thunder and heavy rain drumming mercilessly onto a tin roof. His head ached and he didn’t want to open his eyes. He knew the morning light would make him feel sick. He lay still, listening to the thrumming. He thought he was at home in Tahatika Road, but when he opened his eyes it looked so different.
He eased himself off the bed with the thin mattress and slowly made his way to the bedroom door. Ixola was curled up in a sleeping bag on the hard floor, her head resting on a folded towel. He stood watching her for a while and thought about the evening before. He had a vague recollection that some Ryxin tough-guy threatened him with something, he didn’t know what.
Ixola’s right arm was flung out wide, resting on the floor, and he saw with pity that she had a scar on her wrist that looked like she had once been badly burnt with some kind of boiling liquid. He wondered if she’d been microchipped yet. He felt the back of his own neck and the small bump throbbed underneath the tape. The area felt hot to touch.
Later she woke up and they had breakfast together. More coffee, black with lots of sugar, and a crust of very stale, hard bread, unbuttered and with nothing at all spread on it.
“How did you come to be in the breeding programme?” he asked her.
“I works as a servant until I turns fifteen. Thens my adoptive parents gots $5,000 if they sents me to Xlesky Street. They says I musts join the breeding programme. They needs the money, they says, so the name theys gives me gets takens and theys call me 23, the one they gaves me at birth. I takes a long times to get pregnant and thens Dux says my new name is Ixola. But I losts all my babies. My friend, Luxy is stills there. Her baby will comes soon. She cries a lot whens I tells her I beens discarded. Shes say she wants to come with me.”
Curtis couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Did you say Luxy?”
“Yes. Whys? Is that’s bad?” Ixola looked pale and made as if to get up from the table.
“Is her name Luxinda?”
“Yes. We mets at Xlesky Street and starts to be friends. We helps each others.”
“Is she all right? Is she well?”
“Yes, she’s being okays. Does you knows her or something?”
“Or something, yes.” Curtis downed the last dregs of coffee.
“She not in troubles?” Ixola said, a worried frown creasing her forehead.
“No, no, not at all. I was her breeding partner, you see, at Xlesky Street. She took me as a permanent partner until she became pregnant and then I was discarded, just like you were.”
Later, back at his home, Curtis sat outside and contemplated the peaceful serenity of Tauiwi Bay as he drank a glass of merlot and thought about how to get to see Luxinda. Like Mistle, Ixola had been a numbered and catalogued baby, born to serve. Puberty meant it was time to offer her body to be an incubator for Ryxin offspring, fodder for The Ten and their elite group.
Curtis thought she’d been rather lucky to have miscarried and subsequently been discarded from the programme. The alternative was to become a breeding cow until she was spent. By then she’d be a woman with no future.
He pondered Ixola’s situation and could see she still had hope of making a life for herself – even in a world where Ryxin women like herself were tainted by the degradation of being in the RBP (Ryxin Breeding Programme). They were uneducated and had never known the love and support of parents, a family or a partner.
Curtis wanted to help Ixola get back on her feet and begin making her own life. He was also sure she could help him get access to Luxinda and save their child from a similar fate.
He decided to offer her a wage to help him in his quest. He’d visit her again at the bach and offer it to her as a way of earning a little money for herself, with the added reward that she would see her friend again and perhaps find a way to free her from the clutches of The Home for Single Mothers.
Ixola opened the door and saw Curtis standing there. She only had a few dollars left from the thirty dollars she’d been given when she was sent back to Muritai. That was the only money she’d ever been given in her life. Ryxin women slaves were never paid for anything they did. But freedom was no easier to find for such women in a world ruled by Human government laws.
She’d been contemplating offering herself to a Human man as a live-in mating partner just so she could have regular meals and a decent place to live. She was used to giving herself away even though she hated it, and had been told about this service at the Muritai Employment Agency.
“Fill out this form,” the woman at the employment agency had told her, passing over a clipboard.
“I don’t knows how to writes,” Ixola had answered.
The woman had sighed loudly. “Then tell me your details and I will fill in the form. What is your surname?”
“I don�
�t haves one. She tolds me I am Ixola. That is alls.”
The woman sighed loudly again. “Who told you?”
“Mrs Duxton. But she gots killed.”
The woman slammed the clipboard down on the counter. “Then leave me your phone number. You may be suitable as a live-in mating partner for an elderly Human. There are no other jobs available for illiterate Ryxin women with no surname. That’s Government policy. Now what is your phone number so you can come and be viewed if a client is interested?”
“I don’t haves one.”
The women sneered at her then. “You want everything for nothing, your kind. Don’t you? Now go home, go on. Go. And don’t come back until you have a phone number. That’s Government rules as well.”
And now Curtis McCoy was standing at her door, smiling at her.
“May I come in? I have something to ask you,” he said in as kindly a manner as he could.
Ixola looked startled and there was something else about her that wasn’t right. “You can comes in.” She stood back from the door, closing it once he was inside.
Curtis thought she looked weak and undernourished. “How do you support yourself?” he asked, hoping he wasn’t going to fall in love with her too.
“I went to the agency and theys said I musts have a phone number. I cants buy no foods.”
“Listen, Ixola, I need your help. It will be a wee job for you and I will pay you so you can buy food. I know there is no welfare for Ryxin women. I want to help you, Ixola, if you will help me.”
“Does you wants a mating partner? That’s what she tolds me I can do. No other jobs, she saids.”
“No, of course not, my dear. I want you to help me find a way in to 105 Lenixx Street. Luxinda is carrying our child and I want to get her out of there. Do you understand?”
Ixola’s eyes were wide with fear. “Theys wont lets you gets in there. Theys locks up that place very good.”
“There must be a way. I want you to help me find it. I’ll pay you to help me. Agreed?”
She hesitated and he could see the fear still in her eyes. She was like a cowering dog. He waited.
“I wants to help you.”
“Good, it’s a deal then. Now I want you to come to my place and have something to eat. Then we can discuss what we’re going to do next.”
Curtis contemplated Ixola’s red hair as they sat opposite each other at the kitchen table and ate the sandwiches he’d prepared. She devoured the food hungrily and immediately reached for more.
“How do you pay your rent?” he asked her. She savoured the remainder of a peanut-butter sandwich.
“The lady says I musts pays her for all the rents.” She looked longingly at the last sandwich on the plate.
“Do you mean the woman at the Employment Office? Please, eat that sandwich – go on.”
She took the sandwich and ate it before answering. “Yes, I tolds her I haves no job. She tolds me to gets out.”
“So how long have you got to pay?”
“She tolds me theys will comes to sees me on Friday. If I don’t haves the rent then I musts leaves.”
Curtis took the empty plate from the table and placed it in the sink. He knew the next step would be for the Employment Office to offer her to an elderly Human male, single or a widower, as a live-in sex slave. Then the Employment Office could wipe their hands of her and forget all about her. Her file would be destroyed and there would henceforth be no record of her ever having been to their office. That was the law concerning such women.
“I’ll pay the back rent if you help me get Luxinda away from Lenixx Street.” He could see her face blanching as she contemplated his offer. She looked down at the floor and sat very still. “Look, you’ll be okay – we’ll be doing it together and I’ll make sure you’re safe. Is it a deal?”
She looked up then and half smiled at him. “Yes, I will helps you, Mr McCoy.”
“Good. Now let’s see to this rent. How much do you owe?”
“The lady, she says I musts pays at leasts $400.”
After some discussion Curtis finalised a financial agreement with Ixola that she was now employed by him to assist him to find Luxinda. Since Aidan Vasco had paid the advance fee Curtis was able to offer Ixola some wages so she could at least feed herself. He also needed to take care of her rental arrears and the next two weeks’ rent in advance. To this end he agreed to meet her at 3 p.m. and take her to the Employment Agency to settle her rent and tell them she need no longer be on their books.
Ixola was nervous for she knew the woman in charge thought her to be worthless and stupid. So she was surprised when she walked in and the woman smiled at her.
“I’m so glad you’ve come in, dear. I have a client who is looking for someone like you and he needs that woman to begin work today. His name is Mr Tayk and he’s sitting over there. Come on, love, I’ll introduce you to him now. You can move in today, if he thinks you’re suitable and providing you’ve been microchipped. Have you?”
“Yes, I beens microchipped, but I can’ts move in with hims. I already haves a job.” Ixola recoiled at the sight of Mr Tayk who looked to be at least eighty and was leering at her hungrily.
“Yes,” Curtis confirmed, “she’s already started working for me today and we have come to pay the rental arrears plus two weeks in advance.”
The woman scowled, but at the sight of the money Curtis held out she almost salivated. “That is wonderful news.”
By the time they’d left Mr Tayk was no longer smiling. He’d been deprived of a young sex slave to satisfy his lust.
Ixola breathed a sigh of relief while she followed Curtis out to his car. “I don’ wants to goes with him,” she said. Thanks you for helping me.
He smiled at her reassuringly. “Now we must get to work. We have a goal. To get our young friend out of Lenixx Street,” Curtis said with determination as he turned the ignition key and the engine roared into life.
CHAPTER 11
Sly Onyx shuffled out onto the porch of his home in Ngahere Road. He had no female companion now but instead shared his house with two of his old sidekicks, Baxy Hurzy and Ferdy Xyle. They were helping him through the long days of his ill-health. He dragged a crumpled pack of cigarettes from his dressing-gown pocket and lit one with shaky, nicotine-stained fingers.
Ever since the death of his wife, Mistle, Sly’s health had been deteriorating. He hadn’t believed the Ryxin blood-sickness could happen to him. It had been a long time since he’d slept with Mistle before she was sentenced to death. But Sly had forgotten that the many years of their marriage meant his blood-type had blended into a mixture of his and hers.
Baxy and Ferdy were still Sly’s loyal followers and knew that although their master was weakened by Mistle’s death, he would one day be restored to health and they could carry on with their campaign for Ryxin power, control and eventual dominance of Muritai – and later, Earth. Not for them the subservience of a downtrodden people, prevented from true freedom at every turn.
In the past few weeks word had been telepathised from Ireland back to Sly Onyx that a woman from Muritai Island had called to see Ma Keoghan. They had spoken at length so the woman must be watched on her return home.
The head man in Ireland, known as The Controller, told Sly he suspected there were more aberrations on the island. He’d already given Sly the go-ahead to deal with all known ones in whatever manner he wanted. The most important rule was that any murders must leave no trail back to the perpetrator. Framing someone else was considered the best way. But if that was difficult they were permitted to drown the victim by sending them out to sea at night when no one would notice. Of course this adversely affected the killer, reducing their life expectancy. But still, if the order was given to kill full stop, then it must be obeyed forthwith. The consequences for delaying too long were not pleasant and to be avoided at all costs. So while the traditional method of killing one’s victim with a knife through the heart was still considered the most noble way, it was no l
onger compulsory.
As loyalists to King Dymon 3rd, the Pure-Blood Ryxin networks must be vigilant. Especially since reports were coming in that female aberrations had increased by eighty percent in the last year.
Baxy had come to Sly just a week ago and told him about what had happened over in Seal Bay with a woman there who’d been too open in her method of communicating with her lover. Baxy had been watching her closely for a whole week before becoming certain that she and her lover had a secret way of telling each other things.
“I was preparing to eliminate her, master, when the job was done for me. At first I was suspicious. Who else could have known of her deviation? The stupid police think they have found their man but I know it wasn’t the husband. What should I do now, master?”
Sly lifted a shaky hand and reached for a glass of whisky. This was his favourite drink now and helped to alleviate the sensation of emptiness and pain that had taken over his body, making standing and walking almost unbearable. “Forget her – she’s dead now which is all we wanted anyway. Your job is to find the rest of the filth. Find the known and dig out the unknown ones. Do not fail, Baxy, or Earth will become a dangerous place. Get Ferdy to help you put down as many of the vermin as you can.” The empty glass slipped from his hand and bounced on the carpet as he slumped back, the effort of talking having drained him of the meagre energy he had.
“Yes, master. You know I do only your bidding.”
His words fell into the emptiness of the room. Sly had been overtaken by exhaustion and would sleep like that for hours. Baxy picked up the whisky bottle and drained it before leaving. But he was worried. He didn’t know whose orders Sly was following. Who was The Controller? Sly hadn’t elaborated any further, and except to say there had been no more communication with The Controller for two weeks, nothing more was said. In fact, most of the time now Sly was either drunk or asleep.
Baxy hadn’t told Sly about the mysterious phone message he’d received the day the Seal Bay woman was killed. It had come on Lodax’s phone while they were in bed together at her place. She was smothering him with kisses and by the time he grabbed the phone off her the line was dead. But Lodax repeated the message she’d been told – that he’d better get round to the Vasco home straight away because the woman he was supposed to be watching was having a fight with someone there and needed his help.
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