Explicit Instruction

by Scarlett Finn

  Flick hadn’t spent time thinking about the building previously, and when she realised it was run down she’d thought Victor a fraud. A man who squatted in a dilapidated house had ideas of grandeur, but like she’d said to his face, he couldn’t back them up. Now crouched behind these bushes with Jansen switching his weapon, and retrieving something from his pack, Flick had the time to look.

  On the side view, the structure still appeared grand. The blacked out windows only appeared to reflect the night, and had no bearing on how intimidating the place could be, and it was intimidating. With the red brick and the white eaves and with the tall chimney stack billowing smoke. Bad people were in that building, and here in its shadow Flick felt feeble, and lost any confidence she had in the difference two little ants could make, and that’s what she felt like.

  She and Jansen were nothing but insects in a birds nest. Not all of the confidence in the world could alter the laws of nature. Victor and his gang were bigger, stronger, and much better prepared. In that place she’d found the strength to stand up to Skeeve. Asking Rushe to kill her hadn’t been easy, but she’d managed it in there, with him at her side. Without him, Flick didn’t know if she was capable, and he could be gone. Maybe they had already killed him, or moved him; the possibilities drove her insane.

  ‘What?’ Jansen hissed.

  Flick hadn’t seen Jansen move, and he’d said no more talking, but he was at the edge of the lawn, exposed, and she stayed put. She couldn’t do it, she couldn’t, fear would win, she’d let it. Rushe would be ashamed of her.

  Then as quickly as she faltered, she straightened herself to a crouch, and ran in behind Jansen. If Rushe was in there, Flick was going to get him back. He’d promised to come for her, and there was no reason she shouldn’t return the sentiment. She had to try, and failure was favourable to never having given hope a chance.

  The area Jansen took her to was the narrowest stretch of gravel. They had to cross it; the house was an island in a sea of stones. But every footstep sounded to her like the bass at a heavy metal concert. If she was to follow Jansen’s lead the trick was to own it, because he just went, straight out there, straight across. He set his goal in mind and kept moving. Flick blocked out her uncertainty, and did as he did.

  If she was going to get shot, it was best to get shot while hoping to achieve something – like your destination. Rather than not achieving something – like making no sound.

  Thankfully quicker than she would’ve thought, they reached the house, and keeping them in shadow, Jansen took them to the front corner. Flick was pleased to see that there were stairs at this side, which saved them from walking up the front ones. But there were so many stairs, and she felt so exposed that by the time she got to the top her heart made more noise than the gravel had.

  An impulse to heave a sigh of relief when they got to the top consumed Flick, but she kept it in, and told herself that when she and Rushe were joined tonight she’d make all the noise she wanted to.

  Taking her to a broken glass pane Jansen pointed and crouched to boost her up. Grateful of the lift Flick perched on the windowsill, and did her best to check the darkened room they were crawling into. No movement drew her eye, so she stepped over the one protruding window and got herself into the room. Mostly stripped out, the floor was spongy to her feet, so she figured this wasn’t Victor’s refurbished wing.

  Jansen came in at her back, and took her straight to the door on the opposite wall; he wasted no time in getting to where he was going. His goal was set, and there was no time to look around. Out of that room, he swept the foyer, then took her through another door and down a set of stairs.

  Flick’s head spun, and as she worried about her sense of direction in the basement, Jansen opened a door, and pushed her through it. When she was about to ask where they were going, or how long it would take to get to the basement, she was thrust into another room. Empty... with a door on the opposite wall.

  Rushing to the centre of the room Flick spun. ‘This is the room, the one I was in when they sent him away with Simone.’ Jansen didn’t know that story, but he apparently didn’t need to.

  ‘Ok, you know where you are, that’s good,’ Jansen said, swinging his bag around, he took out a small lock-pick, and went straight for the other door.

  Equally surprised as each other when the door gave, without him picking the lock, Flick found herself at Jansen’s side in the corridor that they needed.

  ‘There,’ she said, dashing to the door further down on the left.

  Pressing her body to it, she tried to listen for movement. This should be where Rushe was, but he could have been moved. The deathly silence of the hallway sent her uneasy. The women had been held in this place, and now with the lack of sound, the screams echoed in her mind as if ghosts of vengeance hung in the air.

  The clunk of the gun on the wood startled Flick, until she realised it was the gun in her own hand. She hadn’t even thought about the thing, and she was grateful that she hadn’t been surprised anywhere along the way, or goodness only knew what she’d have shot.

  Jansen tucked his own gun away, then took the pick and unlocked all of the locks on the door. Both paused and looked at each other, knowing, this was the make or break moment. Rushe was here, or he wasn’t, and if he wasn’t...

  Jansen reached up for the high bolt, and Flick crouched to undo the lower one. With a finger count, they pulled their locks, and gave the door a shove. As quickly as it opened Jansen was gone, pulled over the top of her, and into the room. Rushe had a hold of his throat, and had him pinned to the wall three feet off the floor.

  ‘Let him go!’ Flick’s hand went to her mouth to suppress her volume, but Rushe dropped Jansen in an instant.

  There might not have been time for him to register whom he had pinned to the wall, but the sound of her voice had him whipping around. Flick hadn’t given any thought to their reunion, about what she would do when she saw him again. But her body acted on instinct. Running straight to him, she leapt into his arms, and swallowed his mouth.

  Kissing him once, and again, dipping her tongue into his mouth, then licking his lips, and diving in for more, her arm wrapped all the way around his head.

  ‘Rushe,’ she exhaled. ‘Oh, Rushe.’

  All she wanted to do was mate with him, right here and right now. Her animal drive to bond had her legs trying to climb higher on him, until her lower limbs locked around his diaphragm.

  ‘Kitten,’ he said. ‘Ok, Kitten.’

  Like a limpet on a rock, she didn’t want to let go of him. ‘You’re here, oh you’re still here.’

  His hands sought her ankles, and he tried to pry them apart. ‘When we get out,’ he said, still trying to free himself, but she kissed him again. ‘Kitten.’

  At his stern tone, Flick relaxed, and slithered down his body. Her feet might have touched the floor, but her body remained against his.

  ‘I think she likes you,’ Jansen said, tossing a tee-shirt to Rushe. Flick was surprised to perceive the amusement in his voice.

  ‘You gave her a gun?’ Rushe asked, yanking on the tee-shirt, and removing the offending item from her hand, while she rubbed her face in his chest.

  Whether she was trying to scent him, or get his scent on her, it could go either way but both were achieved. Rushe had been where she’d left him, and now that he was with them, Flick was confident of their success.

  ‘I thought she should have the means to protect herself,’ Jansen said.

  ‘I’m surprised you made it here alive,’ Rushe said. ‘The safety’s off.’

  ‘She doesn’t know how to use a gun.’

  ‘I know. Why did you bring her?’

  ‘She saw Serendipity.’

  Rushe took Flick’s shoulders, and forced her body arm’s length from his. ‘You saw Serendipity? Alive?’

  ‘That’s the only reason we’re here,’ Jansen said. ‘I was leaving you to rot.’

  ‘Figured,’ Rushe said. ‘I heard the shipment didn’t m
ake it, there were fatalities.’

  ‘During and after the crash,’ Jansen said. ‘Yeah.’

  Flick thought this was all lovely, everyone catching up. But being away from Rushe’s body, she was reminded of where they stood, and this room.

  ‘I want to leave,’ Flick said, backing toward the door.

  ‘Where’s Serendipity?’

  ‘End of the corridor,’ Flick said. ‘The very last door on the right.’

  Jansen didn’t wait, he went out the door, and Flick was about to follow when Rushe caught her wrist.

  ‘Do you think that now was the best time to start following my instructions?’ he asked.

  ‘What?’

  ‘You’re not wearing any underwear.’

  ‘How do you know that?’ Flick asked, looking down at her chest.

  ‘I know how much the girls like me, but they’re not usually so eager. Follows that no bra means no panties.’

  ‘We’re breaking you out of the evil lair, and your main concern is my breasts?’

  ‘No,’ he said, appearing offended by her question. ‘Don’t complain about chaffing later is all. I’m fucking you senseless when we get out of here. It’s gonna be hard and dirty and constant, so I don’t want to hear any defiance.’

  Flick wasn’t sure how serious he was, she knew his humour could be so dry, but on her own smile she wanted to leap back up into his arms. ‘Do I have a choice?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Ok,’ she said, and he took the lead out of the room.

  Keeping hold of her, Rushe approached Jansen who was already picking the lock of Serendipity’s room.

  ‘When did they have you in here?’ Rushe asked.

  ‘This is the room with the... John and Shiv brought me here,’ she said, not wanting to alert Jansen to what they did to her in here, and as would follow, what they did to Serendipity.

  When the final lock was opened, Jansen stood, and he looked over her head to Rushe. A lump pounced to her throat. These men had worked together on freeing this woman for months, and until now they hadn’t been successful. Flick thought about how grateful she was to see Rushe, and to be back in his arms, less than a day after she left him. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to see your love after half a year apart.

  Jansen had expected to see Serendipity after the first shipment, and he was thwarted. He’d commandeered their shipment last night in a final ditch attempt to free the woman he loved. Rushe hadn’t told her about the possible interception because as far as Flick could gather, even Jansen wasn’t sure he was going to take the risk.

  He’d thought Serendipity lost, and then losing contact with Rushe, Jansen had believed the jig was up. But he’d run them off the road with hope, that last ember of hope that maybe he could see Serendipity again.

  Here, part of him had to be torn. Opening that door could reveal the relief he’d been anticipating, or there could be more disappointment waiting for him.

  With a deep breath, Jansen opened the door and pushed it away. Standing here on the side-lines with Rushe, Flick couldn’t read Jansen’s expression at first. Then there was a gasping scream, a wail of torture and delight. Jansen’s own throat bobbed, and he rushed into the room.

  Rushe made no move to enter, and Flick didn’t either. Witnessing the naked love of those rediscovering each other would be moving, but it was also private. So many things had happened to each of them, and both must have thought all hope lost, yet here they were.

  Flick swiped at the tears on her face, and cleared her throat, trying to remind herself that she was a hardened warrior now. Except she wasn’t, and when Rushe’s hand slid up her back to the nape of her neck she curled into his embrace, burying her face against his chest.

  ‘I thought you were dead,’ he murmured.

  ‘Can’t get rid of me that easily,’ she said, enjoying the heat of him.

  ‘You shouldn’t have come back here.’

  ‘You can punish me later.’

  ‘I plan to,’ he said. ‘Will you ever do what you’re told?’

  ‘I might surprise you one day,’ she said. ‘But I doubt it.’

  Rushe guided her around out of the way, and she lifted her head to see Jansen carrying Serendipity in his arms. Flick could see even in this blackness the glisten in Jansen’s eyes, but there wasn’t time to soothe anyone.

  ‘We have to get out of here,’ Rushe said, and Jansen nodded.

  The four made their way down the corridor to the room they’d entered by. Flick could taste freedom, she could smell it, and when they all ascended the stairs, and Jansen carried Serendipity into the foyer Flick was sure they were home free.

  Then from nowhere she was grabbed from behind, and in the suddenness of it she lost Rushe’s hand. He immediately turned, and Jansen paused too.

  Flick didn’t have to turn to know whom that stench belonged to. ‘Little girl, you came back for me.’

  ‘You’re a worm,’ Flick growled. ‘You should’ve died like a dog at the side of that road.’

  ‘We were in the middle of something,’ Skeeve said. ‘We weren’t through.’

  The barrel of a gun touched her temple, and when his hand cupped her breast Rushe bared his teeth and bounded forward, but Flick held up her hands.

  ‘No,’ Skeeve said. ‘No. No. I got her now. You don’t want me to hurt her, do you?’

  ‘You’re gonna die,’ Rushe snarled.

  ‘Your girlfriend here was giving me a ride, did she tell you? Oh yeah, in the back of that van, she was all primed and ready for me, you left her all juiced up.’ Skeeve backed her away from the other three, and Flick noticed Jansen tucking Serendipity into the room with their entry window.

  ‘She is quite the screamer,’ Skeeve said. ‘Maybe we should do it right here. Right in front of your boyfriend, let me show him how you really like it.’

  ‘Ok,’ Flick said, much to the surprise of everyone else. ‘Let’s do it.’

  ‘Keen now, are you?’ Skeeve asked.

  ‘You’re right, we never got to finish. Let’s do it. Right here. Let him watch, yeah, it’ll turn him on. Maybe you can take turns.’

  Each word she spoke increased Rushe’s blood pressure, until she thought he might actually burst. ‘Kitten.’

  ‘Just exploring my curiosity,’ Flick said to Rushe. ‘Skeeve, get your dick out.’

  ‘You think about it—‘

  ‘Ignore him,’ Flick said, cutting off Rushe’s words. ‘We’ll do it right here, you can bend me over and fuck me stupid.’

  ‘You want it?’ Skeeve said, with all the glee she expected.

  ‘Damn right, all these guns, the cold, hard metal, and the testosterone. It gets a girl turned on.’ Flick unbuttoned her own jeans and pulled down the zipper, one tantalising tooth at a time. ‘You gonna do it, or what?’

  ‘I’ll take you upstairs,’ Skeeve said.

  ‘Oh,’ she said, zipping her jeans back up. ‘I know you’re scared that Rushe does it better, but you said to me that... if you’re limp I can help you. I’ve heard a lot of guys have that issue, it’s never happened to Rushe, but—‘

  ‘No problems here little girl,’ Skeeve snapped, and released her to go for his fly.

  Flick darted out the way, and she saw the flash of horror in his eyes at the moment everyone realised the game had changed, and Skeeve was now the prey.

  Before any of them could make another play, noise and movement from the top of the stairs drew their attention. Shiv, Glen, and the Kid appeared in front, with Simone close behind, and Victor coming in their wake. All of the players were on the stage for a showdown.

  Without realising it, Flick had crossed to Rushe who shoved her behind his back.

  ‘I’ve got all the guys out looking for you. Here you are, right under my nose,’ Victor said. ‘I’m surprised to see you, Jansen. Thought you’d have killed yourself by now.’

  ‘Wouldn’t give you the satisfaction,’ Jansen said.

  ‘Heard you put a bullet in John l
ast night. How are you going to explain that one to your superiors?’

  Flick didn’t understand it, and Victor’s men were surprised too, but Rushe didn’t seem to blink. Then again, Rushe never blinked first.

  ‘I’m not gonna lose any sleep over it,’ Jansen said. ‘I know what he did for you.’

  ‘Every man here has a purpose, or had one, men like John are difficult to find. He was competent, unlike most of the bastards around here.’ Victor shoved Skeeve away when he reached the bottom of the stairs.

  Shiv, Glen, and the Kid stayed on the stairs. Shiv was the only one of the three with a weapon, and he kept it trained on her, Rushe, and Jansen. Luckily, Serendipity was out the way but if the shooting started Flick didn’t think it would stop, and certainly something as measly as a wall wouldn’t prevent these men from causing pain. Victor had a weapon too, with a silencer attached, but it hung loose in his hand at his side.

  ‘And little Felicity Hughes,’ Victor said, and she poked her head around Rushe. ‘You turned out to be quite the distraction, didn’t you? You just wouldn’t give up. But we had you, I really thought we had you when we sent you out with that shipment. Who knew that the pig was going to pop up again.’

  ‘Pig?’ Glen asked.

  ‘That’s right boys, you all know Jansen, we all do, he was part of the gang, of the crew, one of us, but all the time he was a cop. A cop here to bring us all in.’

  Flick didn’t know this. In the time she’d spent with him in the last few hours Flick thought he might have slipped that into conversation. Maybe it was habit to cover his true identity, but that left Flick wondering how much truth there was in anything he’d said to her.

  The murky air around them was sinister, making this scenario all the more ominous. There were no artificial lights in this space. Only the gleam of moonlight slithering its way through the cracks in sharp wedges illuminated them. The room was cold and with its two-storey domed ceiling, the cavern echoed the voice of the villain holding court.

  ‘Let the women go,’ Jansen said. ‘This has nothing to do with them.’