The Manga Girl

by Lorenzo Marks

  He looked at his cell and saw that it was still a quarter before seven. He finished his beer, ordered another, and called Summer who picked up straight away.

  “Hello?” she said breathlessly. “Have you heard anything?”

  Nick’s heart sank. “No,” he said. “I was hoping you had.”

  “Nothing,” Summer replied, sounding equally disappointed. “I’m getting worried.”

  “I’ve had enough of this,” Nick said. “I’m going to call her.”

  “I already tried. She’s on voice mail.”

  “Shit. Something’s wrong here.”

  “God, Nick. I hope she’s okay.”

  Sid turned up just as Nick rang off and, looking at Nick’s gloomy expression, said, “Not good news, I take it.”

  “Lucy’s off the radar,” Nick replied. “Damn, I feel so helpless.”

  “Hang in there, buddy. It’s going to work out fine.”

  When Rob and Andy arrived, there wasn’t much else to do but wait. They ordered up pitchers of beer and plates of burgers and fries, and put their names up for the weekly pool knock-out. It had been several weeks since Nick had last done this and had it been under different circumstances, he might have enjoyed himself.

  He let himself get eliminated from the competition early and he sat at the table alone, watching the others play. As time went by, his drinking pace sped up along with his sense of foreboding. He gazed around at the now-crowded tavern. Most of the patrons were young single men, but there were plenty of couples about too. Nick thought back to the many nights he had spent here before Lucy came along. Being single had never really bothered him before, but now he physically ached for her presence.

  Eventually, the others were knocked out, and they sat around chatting contentedly, with only Sid aware of Nick’s growing angst.

  Unable to stand it any longer, Nick tried Lucy’s number and to his relief, he heard her familiar ring tone.

  When she picked up, Nick cried, “Lucy! Are you alright?”

  There was a silence at the other end.

  “Hello?” Nick said.

  He heard somebody chuckle.

  “Who is this?” Nick asked, his stomach knotting up.

  “Hey, Nick,” said Johnny Ho. “How you doing?”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Nick stood up so fast he knocked over his beer glass.

  “Where’s Lucy?”

  “She’s with me, of course.”

  “I want to talk to her.”

  “Are you sure about that? You might not like what she has to say.”

  The knot in Nick’s stomach got tighter. “What do you mean? Is she alright?”

  “She’s fine. A bit sore, but as you know, she likes that.”

  Aware that the others were watching him, Nick moved away towards the exit. “What the hell have you done to her, you son-of-a-bitch?”

  “Now, now, Nick,” Johnny Ho mocked. “You know what Lucy’s like. She needs a father figure. Someone to discipline her when she misbehaves.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Come on, you think I don’t know about you and her? She told me all about it. Your punishment sessions. That’s the problem, though. You just weren’t hard enough on her. A girl like Lucy needs to feel totally dominated. She always had the upper hand with you, and that simply wasn’t enough for her. All those games she invents? She craves absolute subjugation, and I can give her that. ”

  “Are you saying she’s gone back to you?” Nick asked incredulously.

  “Why do you think she agreed to meet me today?”

  “That’s bullshit! She’s been hiding from you for over a year. She told me you’re sick in the head!”

  “Maybe I am, Nick. But so is Lucy. We were made for each other. Pleasure and pain. She may not love me, but she is intoxicated by me. The moth flew too close to the flame, and now she can’t leave.”

  “I don’t believe you,” Nick said, his voice almost a whine. “You’re holding her against her will.”

  Johnny Ho sighed. “Well, I guess you’ll just have to hear it first hand then. Lucy, Nick wants to talk to you.”

  There was a pause and then Lucy said, “Hello, Nick.”

  “Lucy! What’s going on?”

  “I don’t know how to tell you.”

  “Tell me what? Where are you?”

  “At Johnny’s place. I’m okay.”

  Her voice sounded a little woozy.

  “Did he get you drunk?” Nick asked.

  “Hmm? Look Nick, I’m a bit confused at the moment.”

  Nick’s insides did a somersault. “What are you telling me?”

  He heard Lucy take a deep breath. “What Johnny told you is true,” she said. “I had forgotten about the power he has over me. If I hadn’t come to see him, then we’d probably have been okay. But I did, and now it’s too late.”

  “So it’s over, just like that?”

  “I do love you, Nick,” Lucy said. “But I need what Johnny has right now. It’s impossible to explain. Just try to understand…”

  Johnny Ho came back on. “Lucy’s got to go now, Nick. Don’t bother calling again. She’ll be ‘tied up’ for a while.”

  The line went dead and Nick just made it to the men’s room before throwing up in the toilet.

  This is impossible! he thought. I was so sure she was mine. How could things have changed so quickly? He must have some kind of hold over her. Oh shit! He’s probably fucking her right now!

  These thoughts whipped around and around as Nick sat in the stall, tears running down his cheeks.

  “Nick? Are you in there?” Sid called out.

  Nick pulled off some toilet tissue and dried his face.

  “Yeah. Just give me a minute. I’ll see you back at the table.”

  “Okay,” Sid said uncertainly.

  After a couple of minutes, Nick went out and washed his face. He looked at his puffy, red eyes in the mirror and took a deep breath. His mind was a swirl of emotion. He walked in a daze back to the table and sat down heavily. Sid, Rob and Andy looked at him anxiously.

  Finally Sid asked, “Is she okay?”

  Nick nodded wordlessly.

  “So when is she coming back?”

  Nick let out a shuddering breath, and said, “She isn’t.”

  ***

  The pool competition had ended and Jenny’s Tavern was beginning to slow down. By the time Nick had finished explaining about Lucy’s previous life, they had gone through another two pitchers of beer.

  “I still can’t believe it,” said Rob, shaking his head. “She was so into you.”

  Nick stared at the bubbles rising in his glass, “Maybe I misjudged the whole thing. I mean, it was a really weird relationship. At first, there was no way we could have sex unless she got me angry first. I was so pussy-struck that it didn’t matter to me how she wanted it, as long as it happened.”

  “I don’t blame you,” said Andy.

  “But I really think she was changing. There were times when her defenses were down, and she was so vulnerable and childlike. She said she loved me and I believed her.”

  Nick looked around at his friends through stinging eyes. “I’m sorry, guys; I’m acting like a wuss.”

  “Hey,” Sid said. “I’d be feeling the same way.”

  “So this guy, Johnny Ho.” said Rob. “Is he for real?”

  “As far as I know,” Nick said. “He certainly looked it when I met him.”

  “I mean, this guy really is a killer for a crime syndicate?”

  “That’s what Lucy told me,” Nick said, her name sticking in his throat.

  “Holy shit,” said Rob quietly.

  “Got myself into one this time, didn’t I?” Nick tried to smile.

  “Why would she want to go back to a guy like that?” Andy asked.

  Nick shrugged. “It’s a power thing, I guess. An aphrodisiac.”

  Rob shook his head. “I still think there’s more to this than me
ets the eye. Everything was okay up until yesterday, then suddenly she wants to go back to this abusive piece of shit that doesn’t even love her?”

  Nick winced inwardly, and Sid said, “Beer’s empty. Another one?”

  It was almost twelve and Nick said, “Look, I really appreciate you guys helping me drown my sorrows, but I know you’ve all got work in the morning.”

  “Fuck that,” said Rob, slapping him on the shoulder. “We’re here for you, buddy.”

  “Tell you what,” said Sid. “Screw the beer. Let’s have something stronger. What do you suggest?”

  “Something to help me forget,” Nick said bitterly.

  “Like a Long Island Iced Tea?” asked Andy. “That’ll do the trick. Remember at the night club when Jason tried to get Lucy drunk…?” His voice trailed off. “Sorry, Nick.”

  Nick stared at him. Long Islands. The day after the night club, when they were eating Chinese food, he had told Lucy some people called Long Island Iced Teas a date-rape drug, because if you drank enough of them, they induced total memory loss, and she had told him a friend of hers was once drugged by a hypnotic drug.

  “Andy,” Nick said. “What do you know about a mind-control drug, something beginning with ‘s’?”

  “Scopolamine?” Andy said.

  “That’s it,” said Nick. “It turns you into a zombie or something, takes away your free will.”

  “That’s right,” said Andy.

  “So how does it work?”

  “Well, it’s a tropane alkaloid drug which affects the M1 receptors…”

  “In English,” Rob interrupted.

  “Okay, well it’s used legitimately for the treatment of motion sickness, and it’s an active ingredient in a few other medicines, but in large doses it can render a person into a completely submissive state. The CIA experimented with it as a truth serum, and it has gained notoriety in South America where the borrachero tree that produces scopolamine grows wild. It’s colorless, odorless and tasteless and according to reports, compliant victims have assisted in their own rapes, given away their money and possessions, even their babies. The biggest problem for the authorities is that the drug blocks out all memories afterwards, so the perpetrators can never be identified. ”

  Nick was nodding slowly.

  “So you think Lucy’s been drugged?” Sid asked.

  “Well, it would explain her sudden change of heart.”

  “That’s a bit of a stretch, isn’t it, Nick?” Rob said delicately.

  “Maybe not. She told me about this drug once. She said her friend was a victim. I think she was referring to herself.”

  “Christ,” Sid said quietly. “But even if it’s true, what can you do about it? You don’t know where she is, and even if you did, the guy’s a fucking mobster.”

  “You could call the cops,” said Andy. “Tell them you think she might have been abducted.”

  “They’ll probably think I’m delusional,” Nick said.

  “What about her parents?” asked Sid.

  “Her mother’s off the scene, and she’s not talking to her father. But she does have an aunt in Porter Square that she is close to. She might know where Lucy is. Sid, I’m calling in sick tomorrow, will you cover for me?”

  “Of course. But if you find out where she is, don’t do anything crazy, okay?”

  “I just want to make sure she’s alright,” Nick said standing. “You know, for the past couple of months, everyone has been advising me to fight for that girl. If she’s in trouble, then that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

  After promising Sid he would let him know what he planned to do, Nick left Jenny’s Tavern and headed for the station. His mind drifted back again to that Sunday when he’d thought he had lost Lucy to Jason. Over the phone, he had apologized for abandoning her at the night club and she had asked for his assurance that he wouldn’t do it again.

  “No, Lucy,” he had said. “Never again.”

  “Promise?”

  “I promise.”

  The more he dwelt upon it, the more convinced he became that he would do anything to get her back - no matter what the consequences.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Nick took the Turnpike west, then headed south at Sturbridge onto Interstate 84, and crossed the entire state of Connecticut before joining Route 17, which took him into the foothills of the Catskills in upstate New York.

  As he approached his destination he tried to compose his thoughts. His plan, if you could call it that, was a rudimentary one - if, as he had been informed, Johnny Ho’s country cabin was surrounded by dense woodland, he would park some distance away and come in by foot. After that, it all depended on what he might encounter.

  He didn’t exactly feel scared, although the longer he drove, the more he realized what a wild risk he was taking. A sane man would have probably thrown in the towel by now, but after his ‘Lucy experience’, Nick didn’t think he qualified as sane anymore. He had briefly considered calling Sid, but feared that his friend would either talk him out of his mission, or want to come along - neither of which he was going to allow to happen.

  He reached a small hamlet called Roscoe - its welcoming sign proclaiming it to be ‘Trout Town, USA’ - and turned off onto a winding country lane, with trees on either side. The road began to climb, and Nick slowed and started checking to his left. A hundred yards up, he saw it - a wooden Swiss-style chalet, with large gable windows and an extended deck, set in a five acre clearing. Some cabin! Nick accelerated out of sight, and half a mile up the road, parked, climbed out, and stretched his legs.

  He had spent most of the morning at Porter Square, trying to establish where Johnny Ho might have taken Lucy. Aunt Akiko had informed him that Lucy had called her, and had asked that she notify her father that she was going back with Johnny Ho - and she had been quite adamant that he was not to come looking for her. When Nick had suggested she might have been saying that under duress, Akiko had looked troubled, but had warned Nick not to get involved - for his own safety.

  Nick wasn’t going to settle for that, and he had sought out Lucy’s cousin Chieko in her bookshop. She had been equally reticent at first, so Nick had told her about his theory that Lucy might have been drugged and was in danger. Like the others, Chieko was skeptical, but finally, out of sympathy for Nick, and a growing concern for her cousin, Chieko had informed him that Johnny Ho owned an apartment in Queens and a secluded cabin upstate. At Nick’s insistence, she reluctantly gave him directions to both. As he had headed out of Boston, Nick had decided that the cabin was the best place to start. There was no guarantee Lucy would be there, but away from prying eyes, it would be a logical place to hide someone.

  Nick got back into the Mustang and found a narrow track leading into the woods. He turned in, and after a hundred yards stopped the engine. He reached into his bag and took out one of his sharp carving knives and his leather pouch of lock picks and wrenches. Then he tucked the knife into his waistband and, satisfied that his car was well hidden, walked back through the trees towards the cabin. As it came into view, he ducked down at the edge of the clearing. There was no sign of life, but a black SUV was parked in the driveway.

  Remaining under the cover of the tree line, Nick circled round to the rear of the cabin. Then, his heart beating harder, he stepped out into the clearing and zigzagged between a scattering of spruces until he reached the back door. The deck that he had seen from the road ran around to the back of the house and also branched out into the clearing where it ended with an outdoor hot tub. He softly climbed the steps to the terrace and crouching down, peeked in through the window. There appeared to be nobody inside.

  Nick cautiously tried the door handle and discovered that it was locked. He opened the leather pouch and selected a suitable pick and then placed a tension wrench inside the keyhole. He gently applied torque and then used the pick to work the pins out of the cylinder. Inside of a minute, he had the door open and he stepped into a sumptuous interior, comprising an open-pla
n lounge and dining area. Through an open door on the far side, he saw part of a well-appointed kitchen and in the left-hand corner was a pine staircase leading up to a loft which presumably housed the bedrooms.

  It suddenly struck him that he had actually broken into the country residence of a yakuza hit man, and he was seized by the awful possibility that he had got this all wrong. What if Lucy really was here of her own free will? He was now guilty of breaking and entering and he had no actual proof that Johnny Ho had done anything wrong. Maybe, he thought, Lucy’s relatives had been right and it would be better to let them deal with it. He hadn’t yet been discovered and there was still time to turn back.

  He took a step back towards the door but just then, from somewhere deep within the cabin, he heard the unmistakable sound of a girl’s muffled cry - and it was emanating from underneath the staircase. He crept quietly across the room and from underneath the floor, he heard a whooshing sound and another muted scream, which this time was followed by a man’s harsh, guttural voice. Under the stairs was an open trap door with another wooden staircase descending down beneath the cabin.

  Holding his breath, Nick crept down the stairs and then stood stock-till. It took a few seconds for his brain to process the scene displayed before him. In the center of a large basement, an old Japanese man with short, silver hair, was brandishing a leather crop and circling a table, upon which Lucy had been arranged. She was chained, and naked, but it was her clearly painful and humiliating position that made Nick stare with horrified fascination. Lucy was balanced on her knees and face, with her ass up in the air, her naked sex exposed, her wrists cuffed together between her shoulder blades, and her legs bent double so that her heels touched her buttocks. The narrow chains which restrained her had been strategically placed to deny any movement at all. They circled her waist, neck and thighs, and were tightly secured to the four table legs, effectively turning her into a human tripod.