Obsession

by Dee Dawning

  Smiling at the irony, Mallory said, "Sounds like it pays to be a prophet. Tell me more about your mother. When and how did she die? How old was she?"

  Tears welled up in Morina's eyes. "She died three months ago, right here. She was only thirty-seven." She began sniffling, then sobbing.

  Mallory wondered if Sylema was sacrificed so the prince could marry her.

  Obviously distraught, Morina asked, "I have some business to take care of. Can we continue this later?"

  "Of course. One more question, please. You said they will execute Drew because he soiled me. How could your father know this?"

  "While you were asleep he had you examined. The doctor found seminal fluids inside you. The blood type matches Khalid and since we found him naked in your bed, it was obvious. If the results of the DNA test confirm it, he will be executed."

  Mallory felt more violated than when she learned they kidnapped her. "Some doctor I've never even seen messed around in my vagina? Ugggh. But wait. Drew wore a condom."

  "So it is confirmed. You did have sex with him."

  "Yes, but they can't prove it."

  "It doesn't matter. He being naked and alone with you in your bedroom is enough in Islamic law to condemn both of you. Anyway, the condom was defective. There was a hole in the end."

  "Morina, I have been kidnapped. I don't know your father and I certainly don't want to marry him. What can I do?" Mallory thought she saw empathy in the woman's expression.

  "I'm afraid there is nothing you can do. My father is one of the richest and most powerful men in the world. Your fate is sealed."

  "But there are laws against this—this is white slavery. Powerful or not, they could lock your father up and throw away the key."

  Looking tired, Morina stood up. "That may be, but Father has his own little fiefdom within the Babylon hotel. You've heard the marketing ploy, What goes on in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas?"

  Mallory nodded.

  "Well, it was invented in the Babylon Hotel. Nothing, and I mean nothing, leaves the Babylon. I must leave now. I will take you to the women's social area now."

  ~* *~

  Carboni sent Goodwin to help Grommen and Samuels question the witnesses, who reported the gunshots and any other neighbors that happened to be home. Meanwhile, he stayed out of the crime scene techs' way and nosed around the remainder of the house. He looked in the kitchen trash and found nothing interesting except a cocktail napkin from a JoJo's bar and Grill. He bagged it and put it in his jacket pocket.

  He turned on the TV to see what channel was last viewed and was surprised to see a screen from which you order adult films. He would have to check to see if anyone had ordered a movie last night. He then checked the answering machine in the kitchen. Three messages. He listened to Miss Robbins's sophisticated voice invite the caller to leave a message.

  "Hi, this is Mallory. I'm sorry I missed you. Please leave a short message and the time of your call and I'll get back to you."

  Carboni hit the play button.

  "It's Paige. I saw you with that gorgeous hunk last night. Hope you had fun. Call me."

  He hit the next button.

  "Mal, it's Paige again. Still looking to hear all about the fantastic guy you met. Call me please as soon as you wake up."

  Carboni hit the button once more to hear the last message.

  "Mallory. It's nine o'clock, I'm going to go over to Kelsey's. She told me something at JoJo's last night and I need to discuss it with her some more. Still want to hear about your dream date. Call me, please!"

  Hmmm. Paige, JoJo's, Kelsey and dream date. Carboni wrote in his pocket notebook.

  Chapter Seven

  Paige had been dying to talk to Mallory. She was itching to get the scoop on the gorgeous hunk whose hand her friend held last night. She observed them both while she was having dinner with Robbie. They looked pretty chummy. She also wanted to talk to her about Robbie. Kelsey had told her something very upsetting the night before and she wanted Mallory's take on the situation, but first she had to find out about her mysterious dreamboat. She had been awake since seven-thirty, but she forced herself to wait for a decent hour. After all, with a little luck, Mallory was up late, very late. She dialed quickly.

  A man answered. "Hello."

  Ooh! The hunk is still there. "Mallory please."

  "Who's calling?"

  He sounds sexy. "Paige. What's your name?"

  "Hi Paige. My name is Ritchie."

  "Nice to meet you Ritchie. I hope you two had fun last night. Can I talk to Mallory now?"

  "Paige, what did you say your last name was again?"

  "I didn't. It's Dillon. What's yours?"

  "Carboni."

  "Ritchie Carboni. That's a cool name. What do you do Ritchie?"

  "Actually, I'm a policeman—a detective."

  "Really? You sure are good looking for a cop. Oops! Is it alright if I call you a cop?"

  "Sure. I'm used to it. How do you know what I look like, Paige?"

  "I saw you with Mallory at JoJo's last night."

  Is that right? Where do you live Paige?"

  Paige was now suspicious. Why does he want to know that? "How come you want to know where I live?"

  "I don't know, I guess you sound interesting. I thought I could come over and talk to you."

  Something is wrong. With urgency Paige said, "What the fuck is going on, Ritchie Carboni. I'm not bad looking, but nobody would even give me a second look after being with Mallory. Where's Mallory? I want to talk with her."

  "And I want to talk with you. Miss Robbins is missing and we're investigating her disappearance. I need to interview you. I'm going to send a patrol car over to pick you up. Is that all right?"

  Paige was stunned. Mallory is missing? Could that guy have kidnapped her? He was so cute. "Is this some sort of joke?"

  "I'm afraid not, Miss Dillon. Miss Robbins is missing and I need to question you. Give me your address please."

  She hesitated, but relented. "My address is 1614 Thirty-Second Avenue, Glendale."

  ~* *~

  Morina led Mallory into Prince Ali's Twenty-first Century harem. Mallory scrutinized the enclosure. The focal point of the room was a huge natural-appearing pool with a single large and several smaller waterfalls discharging an unending flow of water. The landscape consisted of numerous lush tropical trees, large leaf and drooping shrubs and lush flowering perennials. A large overhead skylight, lit the entire area naturally from the sunny skies of southern Nevada. It looked like paradise, but Mallory suspected it was Hell.

  Scattered in and around the pool, in various states of attire, were a score of women. A few of the women appeared older and a couple were not particularly attractive, but the majority were young, beautiful specimens of womanhood, most with but some without suits.

  Morina brought one of the beautiful ones with her. "Mallory this is Campbell. She will show you around, explain how I run things and introduce you to the other women."

  Campbell reminded Mallory of herself, about the same size, blonde hair and blue eyes, but with ten or fifteen more pounds than her constant one-sixteen.

  When the other woman walked away, Mallory asked Campbell, "Are you one of the wives?"

  Campbell smiled, then laughed. "Heavens no! I'm a courtesan. Most of us are courtesans. There are one of the three wives here right now, in addition to the prince's sister and two daughters. The remainder are courtesans, as you will be."

  Revolted, Mallory snapped. "Courtesan! Is that a fancy way of saying whore?"

  Campbell's friendly demeanor slipped away. "I suppose it is an acceptable way of saying whore, but none of us are here voluntarily. I will let what you said slide as an emotional outburst. I remember how I felt when they first brought me here against my will. I was devastated. I even tried to commit suicide. Many of us have. Only Morina's mother has succeeded."

  Mallory felt badly about her outburst. In addition, Campbell's revelation shocked her. "Sylema committed suicide? How?"<
br />
  "I'm not positive, but if she didn't commit suicide, she was murdered. What was left of her corpse was found on the parking garage roof, twenty-four stories below."

  "I'm sorry for what I said. It was mean. I guess I'm in shock. I can't believe they can get away with this in America. Aren't there any phones around?"

  Campbell smiled, and held out her hand. "Apology accepted. Let's sit at this table."

  After sitting, Campbell continued, "As for phones, I'm afraid not. The guards carry two-way radios, but I'm sure they have no outside access. Their boss, the chief of security has a cell phone, but he's rarely up here. The Prince doesn't like ungelded males around his trophies."

  "Trophies? Is that what you…we are?"

  "I'm afraid so, and he will often show us off. What's the sense of having trophies if no one knows you have them, so frequently he'll bring a relative, a friend or a businessman up here and let him select one of us. I've been lucky enough to be selected two out of the last three times."

  "Was it awful?"

  "Pretty much."

  "But isn't that an opportunity to get help? Ask them to call the police?"

  "Not with friends or relatives. Muslim men in general don't seem to have much respect for women, especially non-believer women. They feel this is our lot in life. I get the feeling that they believe we should feel privileged because we are pampered and live a life of luxury."

  "What about the businessmen, the non-Muslim businessmen."

  "Yes, you'd think so, but for them, we're drugged out of our minds. We can barely stay awake. I don't imagine it's much fun for the john, but who cares. In some ways it's better for us. We don't remember."

  "This is like a nightmare. Morina says the Prince is going to marry me."

  "Really? That's surprising. Are you a Muslim?"

  "No."

  "Did you agree to convert?"

  "Heavens no! I only came last night and you and Morina are the only ones I've talked to. Campbell, do you know someone named Drew or Khalid?"

  "I know Khalid. He's been in and out of here for about the last eight months. He's one of the friends that the Prince has given the freedom to pick a partner. He picked me twice. It was the most enjoyable sex I've had here."

  Mallory didn't want to hear about Drew's sexual exploits. "Campbell, I had sex with him last night before I was abducted and they have him here. Morina says they're going to send him to Arabia where he will be executed for defiling me."

  "Were you a virgin?"

  Mallory shook her head.

  "Was it consensual?"

  She nodded. "Morina said it was adultery because I was betrothed to the Prince."

  Campbell shook her head and said, "I'll never understand the logic of these people. They have the strangest beliefs."

  Mallory suddenly straightened as she remembered more of last night. "They shot him…I remember. He must be wounded. Campbell, is there anything we can do to save him?"

  "I don't know how. It would be difficult at the least."

  "But somehow we must at least try to save him. Campbell, they're going to behead him!"

  "That's awful!"

  "No Please!" a urgent plea came from Mallory's left.

  She glanced over and noticed all eyes were on a shapely light-skinned girl whose top had come loose and dangled from her neck as she struggled with a behemoth of a guard. "It's not my turn. I was in the dungeon last week."

  He grabbed her curly, flame red hair and tugged her after him. "I know my dear, but out guest, who I hear is particularly sadistic, has a taste for redheads and you're the only true redhead."

  When she fell to her knees, the huge guard threw her over his shoulder and carried her kicking and screaming from the room."

  Mallory turned to back Campbell. "Poor girl. What is the dungeon?"

  Campbell sighed and took a deep breath. Resting her elbows on the table, she leaned forward and spoke under her breath. "We don't like to think about it. Prince Ali and some of his guests are into pain and deviant sex."

  "Have you been in there?"

  She nodded. "More times than I like to think." The dungeon, as we call it, is a room that's made to look like a medieval dungeon. It may look ancient, but it is outfitted with all the twenty-first century bdsm furniture and contraptions you can think of."

  "Like what?"

  She gazed upward and cupped her chin. "Let's see. For starters their are a couple bondage chairs, an impaler, a couple whipping posts, and a fucking table. There's also two St. Andrew's Crosses, a restraining table, a spanking bench, ceiling mounted steel triangles attached to pulleys and chains, whips, paddles, crops, spreaders and assorted bdsm toys.

  Mallory flushed. "My God, it sounds positively awful. Is it?"

  Campbell pursed her lips. "Depends on your dom. I've had a couple masters that made being a slave fun. Then again, most were sadistic doms who liked inflicting pain. Some came close to physically injuring me, which is against the rules."

  "What did they do? What's a St. Andrew's Cross. What's it like?"

  "Would you like to see for yourself? It would be easier showing you than than trying to explain."

  Half-heartedly, Mallory nodded.

  Campbell grasped Mallory's hand. "Come I'll show you, then we'll figure out if we can rescue Khalid." Campbell led her down the hall the guard had taken the girl.

  The spacious room had indeed been decorated to look like a dungeon—a dungeon with a small bank of bleachers on either side of the double entry doors. Mallory pulled Campbell's arm back and whispered, "What are the bleacher's for?"

  "The Prince sometime puts on a show. Only the richest and most influential are invited."

  They settled in an inconspicuous location in shadows near the bleachers. "Can we get in trouble for being in here?" Mallory asked under her breath.

  Campbell whispered back, "No, but if the doms spot us we should leave. We wouldn't want to give them any ideas."

  Mallory nodded as her gaze panned the left side of the dark room. She spotted the poor redheaded girl immediately. Tied face down to something that resembled a sawhorse with ledges for arms and legs, she was fully naked, wore a blindfold and appeared to have something stuffed in her mouth. A man fully covered from head to toe in what appeared to be a shiny black wet suit stood directly behind the girl, obviously buggering her. Mallory could hear her whimpers her head bobbed up, down and around in reaction to her master's anal thrusts. Mallory had the distinct impression the girl was not having a good time. "What's in the girl's mouth?"

  "That is a penis gag. In addition to getting sodomized, her mouth is filled with a plastic phallus," Campbell whispered.

  "I don't think she's having fun."

  "I know she isn't. Her name is Jessica. She was raised in a strict family and lost her virginity here, to Prince Ali." She hitched her head slightly to the right. "Neither is Karen. She's the one on the St. Andrews Cross you asked about."

  Mallory had been concentrating on Jessica so much she hadn't realized another women and another dom were in the dungeon. Karen had been secured to an elongated X shaped object that was attached to the wall. Upside down and spread eagle, her feet were secured near the top of the X while her wrists were secured inches from the floor. While Karen's master dined on pussy, his dick fucked her mouth in some bizarre 69 position.

  Mallory felt as if she might throw up. "I've seen enough."

  Campbell nodded. "So have I." and the two ladies slipped back into the hall.

  Mallory shook. "This place is evil."

  "I know."

  "We have to rescue Khalid. I just know if we could free him, he would see to it we were all freed."

  "You may be right. I'll tell you what, there are a couple other girls who know and like Khalid. Let me round them up and we will come to your room. Maybe the four of us can figure something out. What's your room number?"

  "I didn't notice. It's in the middle, one floor down. I'll leave the door open until you get there."

&n
bsp; ~* *~

  The uniformed policeman sent by Ritchie to retrieve Paige Dillon, ushered her in to the suspected crime scene. "This is Sergeant Carboni," he said before retreating.

  She studied the sergeant and almost as an afterthought turned to the officer. "Thanks…ah…er…Officer Thomas."

  Sergeant Carboni admired the diminutive, brunette doll. She was no more than five three with provocative bulges in all the right places, complimenting a lovely face. "You're too modest, Miss Dillon. You are really a dish."

  ~* *~

  Tall, sandy hair, blue eyes, good looking. Under different circumstances… "Thank you, Detective. I saw three or four police cars and a van out there. What the heck is going on?"

  "As I told you on the phone, Miss Robbins has disappeared and we're investigating her disappearance."

  "Wait a second. Why are you investigating here? Did she disappear from here? Was she taken?"

  Sergeant Carboni stared "I think you have the way this works mixed up. We brought you here to ask you questions. Not the other way around."

  "Fine! Can we get this over with?"

  "Sure. As you know, my name is Richard Carboni, I am a police sergeant and this is my partner Detective John Goodwin."

  Hmm. He's not bad either. Paige flashed a friendly smile and shook his hand.

  Goodwin said, "Sergeant, can I have a second?"