American Crow

by Jack Lacey

  I listened helplessly as she put up a fight inside the cell, then watched in numb horror as they dragged her out by her arms and flung her at the feet of the expressionless doctor.

  ‘Take off her clothes. Down to the underwear...’ he ordered calmly, unmoved by her distress.

  Nancy kicked out violently as the men yanked off her blue top, revealing a lilac bra underneath, then was held tightly again as they pulled off her shoes, socks and jeans, displaying the matching lacework panties, which the creep took time to enjoy.

  ‘Leave her alone, you fuckers!’ I boomed, slamming the flat of my hand against the cell door.

  They hauled Nancy roughly up then manhandled her onto the gurney face down, where they strapped her tightly, limb by limb, until she couldn’t move.

  ‘You lay a finger on her and I will fuck you up,’ I threatened, my rage tipping into the red.

  The doctor turned for a second, then looked over unfazed and offered a cruel smile. Then he walked to the end of the gurney and lifted Nancy’s head up gently by cupping her chin.

  ‘Shame,’ he said with a fake tenderness. ‘Shame...’

  Nancy spat at him. The saliva spattered over his crutch. He stepped back and wiped if off as diligently as he’d cleaned his glasses, then returned to his bag, which was now open, on a small table next to the gurney.

  ‘Thank you,’ he said to the creep for his thoughtfulness, before rummaging around for a good few minutes in silence.

  I watched Nancy’s body shudder uncontrollably feeling wretched. Her shoulders were kicking forwards and backwards now as her breath shortened with mounting panic. She wasn’t in a good way...

  ‘What are they going to do to me, Blake?’ she croaked tearfully.

  ‘Look at me…Look at me,’ I said, getting her to look in my direction, so that she could see my mouth pressed against the grill in the door.

  ‘Everything’s going to be alright, okay. I’m going to get us out of this...’

  The doctor turned, seemingly oblivious to our conversation, then walked slowly towards her, a large menacing syringe held vertically aloft.

  ‘What the fuck…’ I uttered under my breath.

  I looked on in increasing disbelief as the doctor rolled up his white cotton sleeves, then ran a hand carefully over her back, making her shudder again.

  ‘My god, what are they going to do to me, Blake, what are they going to do with me?’ she gasped, beginning to struggle against the binding again.

  ‘Sshh. Be still and you won’t get hurt,’ the doctor cautioned as if he actually cared, as if they were in some bone-fide hospital and she was about to be cured of some illness.

  Nancy became still for a moment, as his hand located the spot he’d obviously been looking for, then twitched violently as he pricked her skin with the tip of the syringe.

  ‘What are you doing!?’ she yelled in horror.

  ‘You hurt her and I’m going to break you in two,’ I warned, knowing my threats were futile.

  Ignoring my protestations, the doctor smiled then eased the needle firmly into her back, millimetre by millimetre, until she was screaming like a child. Then he pulled the plunger out slowly, filling it with a clear-looking fluid extracted from her spine.

  Nancy shook violently as the doctor withdrew the needle, then wept loudly as he returned calmly to his bag and transferred the extraction into a small glass tube.

  I stood there transfixed, appalled and confused, not believing what I had just seen, then watched numbly as the doctor rolled his sleeves back down, adjusted his waistcoat and walked slowly away as if nothing had happened.

  ‘Get her ready for Mr Corrigan. He’ll be down presently,’ he announced out of view.

  I listened to him scale the stairs then heard the basement door open and close behind him.

  ‘What does he mean, get me ready?’ Nancy sobbed, ‘What does he mean, Blake?’ she shouted again, becoming hysterical.

  The creep offered an unsettling smile.

  ‘I…I don’t know, Nancy, but I’m here with you all the way,’ I said lamely, trying to reassure her.

  I stared out of the grill powerless as they unfastened the straps and turned her over so that she was lying on her back. This time she didn’t kick out. She was too petrified. Too broken.

  The creep ran a hand over her breast, circling her nipple for a second making her shudder, then licked his fingers and dragged them down her torso to her hips, before thinking better of it when he saw his partner’s thousand-volt stare.

  ‘He will kill you if he finds out you’ve touched the goods beforehand...’ the big guy advised, like he was about to break his colleague in two. ‘You know what he’s like...’

  ‘Yeah, you’re right. The hill-billy-bitch is not worth the trouble anyways…’

  The big guy fiddled with the camera checking it was in good order, while the creep circled the gurney like some hungry jackal.

  ‘Make sure you switch it on this time,’ the creep said sarcastically, leering at Nancy.

  ‘Not going to make that mistake again, okay,’ the other guy replied, double-checking the battery.

  Nancy’s frail voice cut in suddenly.

  ‘Look, I’ve got money…a lot of it. You can have it all, if you just let us go?’

  Her head lifted off the table as much as it could, as she waited for an answer.

  ‘Of course you will, girl,’ the creep replied casually, stooping down and running his dry tongue over her stomach.

  ‘Please, I’ll do anything…anything,’ she said calmly.

  ‘You think we want a rough bit of mountain flesh, lady?’ the big guy rebuked, staring down at the creep in disbelief, whose tongue had now reached Nancy’s neck.

  ‘Please just untie me and let me go. Please I…’

  I watched the creep for a response, hoping that he would take the bait and untie her, hoping beyond hope, that Nancy had it in her to work some sort of move that could help me break out. He eyed her up and down as if thinking about the offer, then edged away as the muscle-man stepped forward to take pole position.

  ‘I’ll do anything...please, just untie me first...’ Nancy said again.

  The black guy stared into her eyes, licked his lips, then ran a hand up the inside of her leg to her crutch and shoved her roughly.

  ‘If-I-want-some of youz, I-will-just-take it, bitch. It-is-not-yours-to-offer,’ he said jolting her violently with each syllable.

  Nancy shrieked and twisted in the strapping trying to escape the violation, then sobbed harder as her tormentor just stood there, laughing.

  ‘Right, let’s get the boss,’ he announced, glancing in my direction as I booted the cell door over and over.

  ‘Save your energy, boy,’ the creep said with a sickening smile. ‘You’re next. And don’t bother screaming because the whole darn place is sound-proofed down here. You could let a bomb go off and you’d think a mouse had passed some gas up there...’

  The creep laughed again at his own joke, then turned and walked out of view where I heard him scale the stairs slowly with his partner and scrape the basement door shut again. As soon as it had closed, I turned my attentions to the bed, threw off the piss-smelling mattress and started to smash the metal frame against the wall.

  ‘Blake. Are you okay in there?’ Nancy said, her voice trembling.

  ‘Yes, I’m going to get us the hell out of here…’

  Eventually I managed to loosen some nuts and work one of the shorter lengths free. I stood back up, the sweat dripping from my forehead and examined the piece by touch alone in the darkness. It was around three foot long with forty-five degree angled point at both ends; a good enough weapon at close quarters. Something...

  I returned to the door and tried to prize its point between its edge and the frame, without much success. It felt solid. Unbreakable. I tried again, this time in a different place further up then heard something crack. I pushed harder and felt something give. The frame had loosened a little...My hopes rose sudden
ly.

  ‘Hang on Nancy. We might just get out of this mess yet...’

  I dropped the bar and shoulder-barged the door, hoping to free it up some more. The lock remained firm. I tried again. Still not enough for it to give completely...

  The sound of a door opening upstairs guillotined my efforts. I placed the metal bar down cursing, and peered out of the grill as footsteps descended once again.

  Eventually the bulky frame of Corrigan appeared in the doorway opposite, the bare bulb flickering above him as if acknowledging his demonic presence. He walked in slowly and lingered at the end of the gurney. He was wearing a smart, gun-metal suit and a black neck tie over a crisp white shirt.

  I stared at his face intently trying to work out his intentions. His demeanour was calm, just like the last time I’d seen him, though his eyes had a distant look in them now, as if he weren’t fully present. He turned slowly as if feeling my burning gaze, then took a step closer towards my cell.

  ‘My grandfather’s daddy built this basement to interrogate Yankee spies during the civil war...Those Union boys never did find it. Some of our boys even hid out here at the end when things got tough, used it as a base to make a final few raids.’

  I stared at him bemused.

  ‘I couldn’t give a fuck, Corrigan…’

  He stepped closer and rocked up and down on the balls of his toes. I eyed the polished metal points of his expensive white shoes, trying to fathom what dark scheme was running through his mind.

  ‘Over the years we’ve worked hard to keep that tradition alive, Blake. ‘We believe in tradition here in Kentucky, in the necessity for religion, and in our rich Southern heritage. We don’t like outsiders coming in and telling us what to do, telling us how things should be...’

  ‘All I wanted to do is find Olivia Deacon,’ I said exhausted.

  ‘Do you now…’

  I noted the amusement in his voice.

  ‘Give us the girl and you won’t hear from us ever again. I promise…’

  I knew the words sounded lame as soon as I’d voiced them. I wasn’t in a position to do any sort of bargaining with someone like Corrigan. He destroyed mountains for a living, after all...

  ‘Will you now, will you…’ he said, turning as if distracted.

  He sat down on the stool that had been placed next to the gurney, reached inside his pocket and slid out a fat cigar from a metal tube. I watched intently as he clipped it, rolled it between his lips for a few seconds, then lit it and took a long, purposeful draw until there was a thick cloud of smoke hovering above his head.

  ‘Now then,’ he said, turning his attentions to the trolley, ‘what are we going to do with you, missy?’

  ‘I, I’m sorry for any trouble we’ve caused you, Mr Corrigan. All we wanted to do was find this girl,’ Nancy croaked, sounding like an apologetic teenager.

  ‘Really…’ he replied, in a tone that was almost paternal.

  ‘If you let us go we won’t tell anyone what has gone on here, we promise...’ Nancy pushed, her voice quaking.

  ‘Won’t-you-now?’ Corrigan said slowly, expelling a series of silvery smoke rings into the room.

  He lowered his gaze down to where she lay, took the cigar out of his mouth and pinched his bottom lip with his fingers, as if ruminating over his course of action.

  ‘So you think I should just untie and let you go, is that it?’

  ‘Yes…’ Nancy said beginning to cry again, as if knowing that that was the last thing Corrigan was going to do.

  The tycoon placed the cigar carefully down in the ashtray, then went and stood by the side of her.

  ‘What are we going to do with you?’ he repeated, observing her like some scientist about to undertake a dissection. ‘What are we going to do...’

  ‘Look, if you’re going to do something to me, I’d appreciate it if you’d untie me first...I’ll do it willingly, okay?’

  ‘Is that so...’

  Corrigan turned and adjusted the camera, then walked to the back room and returned with some handcuffs a minute or so later.

  ‘And if I do, you promise that you’ll be a good girl?’

  ‘Yes…’ Nancy replied bravely, her voice trembling again.

  ‘Well, that is the way I prefer it, missy, so it’s your lucky day,’ Corrigan said, unfastening one wrist, then the other, until she could lower her arms and sit upright.

  ‘And if I do what you say, you’ll let us both go free?’ she pushed.

  ‘Sure,’ he said, freeing her ankles so that she could pull her knees up to her chest.

  ‘Mmmm…I hope you’re not planning any nasty surprises for me, little lady? In fact, I might just have to tie those slender little hands of yours behind your back.’

  Corrigan took her hands gently, cuffed them, then helped her off the gurney as if he was asking her to dance. Nancy did so in silence her head lowered then knelt before him as instructed, before the glare of the camera, underneath the hum of the lights, just waiting for Corrigan to act. Just waiting...

  I held my breath, expecting his hand to go down to his fly to release himself. Instead, he slid another hand inside his suit jacket and pulled out a pair of white cotton gloves.

  ‘You were thinking that you were going to give me some pleasure, missy?’ he said in a tone that was hard to decipher. ‘Is that what you were thinking?’

  She stared at him confused.

  ‘Is-that-what-you-were-thinking...’ he pushed, sounding agitated.

  The back of his hand smack hard across her face suddenly, whiplashing her head to one side. Nancy cried out and dropped to the floor, then lay out of view down besides the gurney.

  ‘Get up!’ Corrigan ordered, his voice infused with a simmering hatred. ‘Get up!’

  I watched in horror as he swung his right leg back and kicked her hard in the stomach, making her cry out with pain. Then he pulled her up by the hair so that her bloodied face hovered at his fly once more.

  ‘That’s better...Now where were we?’

  Nancy stared at him shell-shocked, her body limp with defeat. Corrigan worked the tight gloves over his fingers then flexed both his hands as if checking they were a comfortable fit.

  ‘You assumed that I was after some sort of sexual gratification, is that it?’ he questioned, after a few seconds of painful silence.

  She didn’t respond at first, unsure of what to say, then looked up at him teary-eyed and uttered the word ‘no’ feebly.

  ‘I think you did, you see, and that’s just plain insulting. It would rile any god-fearing man in fact...You know what I think?’

  She shook her head tentatively.

  ‘That you’re just a two-bit trailer trash whore who the good Lord has sent to tempt me...’

  Nancy lowered her head and wept as the verbal onslaught continued, until another physical one came crashing across her face, sending her back to the ground.

  ‘Get up! Or so help me god, I will kick you into the next world!’

  I hammered my fists against the door in fury as Nancy tried to right herself, as Corrigan readied himself to put the next boot in.

  ‘Let her go, you bastard!’

  Corrigan turned, his face filled with contempt.

  ‘Shhh...’

  ‘If you’re going to do anything, do it to me!’ I yelled again.

  Nancy dragged herself back up and looked despondently in my direction.

  ‘Blake…help me…’

  ‘No one can, honey...’ Corrigan sneered, towering over her. ‘You see, you environmental types try to interfere at every damned level, damaging my reputation, disrupting the good work we carry out daily to provide energy for this great country of ours…’

  Corrigan grabbed her chin and squeezed, forcing Nancy to look him in the eyes.

  ‘And you expect me to just let you go when it blows up in your face, some cheap hippy whore who’s happy to blow me in front of their friend?’

  She spat a mouthful of blood at him then attempted to stand with eve
ry last ounce of her faltering energy. Corrigan laughed and threw her to the floor - this time harder, this time with venom. She groaned and bravely tried to stand again. He grabbed her by the hair. She shrieked. Then he forced her to kneel in front of him again, his striking hand raised, willing her to remain still, willing her to submit.

  ‘I think you’re in need of redemption lady, and I am going to help you find it...’

  Corrigan grabbed her by the throat suddenly making her eyes spring wide-open with terror.

  ‘No!’ I cried out desperately, shoulder-barging the door.

  ‘Blake…’ she gasped, trying to pull away from his grip.

  ‘All your efforts on Black Mountain will come to nothing, missy, I just want you to know that before you die…’

  ‘Please…’

  Her petrified eyes looked over in my direction, searching in vain for some last-ditched hope.

  ‘Blake…’

  ‘I’m here darling,’ I yelled helplessly. ‘I’m here…’

  ‘Please…’ she gurgled. ‘Please...’

  Corrigan laughed.

  Then Nancy started to gag and gasp, her lungs were beginning to burn.

  I slammed my fists against the door over and over, wanting her to live, willing her to breathe.

  ‘Blake...’

  ‘Nancy...’

  A final breath petered out from her bloodied lips before Corrigan let her lifeless body drop. Then he straightened himself and drew a long hard inhalation, his nostrils flaring, as if he had just consumed her very soul.

  ‘No…’ I said, falling to my knees, not wanting to accept the reality of what I’d just seen.

  After a few seconds I hauled myself upright and stared at the man who had eradicated such beauty so easily, then thought how I was going to tear him limb from limb as soon as I had half the chance.

  Unaffected, Corrigan walked over to a cord hanging by the door, then pulled it casually as if calling his butler. Shortly after, the same two security guards strolled back down to attend to his needs.

  ‘Keep her here for now. We’ll dump her off in Gallow’s Creek on the way over to the lodge tonight. It’s where she belongs, this one…amongst the toxic waste.’

  Through glazed eyes I looked on as Nancy’s limp body was carried back to the cell, then I eyed Corrigan with a cool hatred as he and his men headed upstairs, leaving me alone with the dank basement, the odour of death, with the barbaric scene of Nancy’s death scorched into my mind.