Sordida

by Jason Andrews

  Amercia was feeling cold; she was shivering head to toe. Tim’s voice was grating on her; his arrogance was angering her. Amercia heard the end of the conversation between him and her client, but mentally now she was fixated on the whereabouts of Angie. Imagined she was chained to a bed all night as a sex slave in Portugal while working all day for nothing. How was he getting away with this? She thought to herself, how fucking dare he treat people this way. The metal clunk of the door closing made a loud sound, but the room soon fell silent. She was alone with her thoughts.

  The door opened, Amercia jumped as it startled her. It must be Jake coming up to drug me to sleep, she thought to herself, the only fucking one who looks like he had a conscience. I need a drink; I need diet cola badly. No, he’s come to give me some water.

  “Amercia, it’s Jake. I’ve got you a diet cola, I’ve even brought the straw.”

  Amercia lay there emotionless, her mind in a state of angst and despair due to the restrictions, but her only weapon in her defence now was her ability to talk. Her mind constantly wandered between the outcome of her fate, how had they kidnapped Angie, how did all the others feel chained and restricted to this bed.

  “If you scream, no one can hear you. I will remove the tape, but I’ll hold the can. It took a lot of persuading for them to let you have this instead of water. I wanted to do something nice for you.”

  She felt the adrenaline kick into her kidneys. Jake is fucking nuts, she wondered, somehow, he is part of the reason I am here. Slowly the tape was removed from her mouth, and the blindfold pulled over her head. Amercia spluttered, coughed as though it was the first time she had gasped some air.

  “Why,” she cried, “why me Jake, why did you, they do this to me. I’ve done nothing to you, nothing.”

  “Sip the drink because you need to drink some fluids. I’ve also got some breakfast biscuits, the ones with the chocolate chips in them. Don’t ask me questions. What’s done is done, your new life is in Egypt.”

  Amercia noticed his eyes widened glare; he mouthed the words to her without making a sound. He. Can. Hear. You. She winked at him to acknowledge she understood, but for that brief second, she sensed a flicker of hope. He was discrete; it was as though he was on her side, despite helping her here in the first place. Confused more than before, she took a sip of cola from the straw to quench her thirst. She couldn’t stop drinking, realising she must have been more dehydrated than she thought due to the alcohol or drugs that had been in her system. Couldn’t she trust him?

  “Why am I going to Egypt?” she whispered, “Jake this is wrong, can’t you see what he’s doing. How he makes his money, he’s cheating us. He’s using people, selling people. He’s a fucking criminal Jake.”

  Jake shook with his nerves, never had he expected to be in this situation. He looked at Amercia’s eyes, they were beautiful, yet the fear was evident in her expression. She looked at him for help, Jake felt powerful but never wanted her to get involved in Sordida. Of all the escorts he met, of all the ones he desired to chase the dream of a better life, Jake felt guilty he was part of her problem.

  “Just keep drinking,” Jake replied, his hands shaking so much the straw was bouncing up and down inside the can, “I’ll feed you the biscuits in a minute.”

  She sipped more of the diet cola, aware of his nervous disposition, something he always displayed in every meet. What hold does Tim have over him, she wondered, what the fuck did he do to get involved in this, will he help me?

  “Take a bite at a time, and slowly because I don’t want you to choke on these. I heard you’ll never have any more money worries again.”

  Amercia took a bite of the biscuit waved in front of her mouth, bit slowly before chewing it, while crying her eyes out. What was going on, why this madness, how could my life change so drastically in just a day. How do I get out of this mess, think, think, think?

  “This shouldn’t have happened to me, Jake. You knew all along that they kidnapped escorts to become slaves for their businesses.”

  Jake wiped her eyes with his thumbs, looked at her solemnly, as hard as this was for him. He had to do this; he needed the money.

  “I didn’t know at first what this whole thing was. I thought it would be prostitutes, druggies, no-hopers who wouldn’t be a loss to anyone. I didn’t plan for this, but I’m too involved now. In the beginning, it was prostitutes, we treated them like royalty, gave them false hopes and they took the bait. It was easier then though, you just paid them to come to the hotel room, and they never saw Plymouth again.”

  Amercia felt saddened by his honesty.

  “What changed, why was I led to Sordida and displayed around like a prized doll. Is the club even real, are they all just a fucking cult? For fuck sake Jake, why didn’t you kidnap me when we first met?”

  “It’s a bidding war. You were one of three escorts this time; I gave you enough information to secure your curiosity. You took the bait, you went hunting for the club, and you found it. I didn’t want you to be the best of that bunch, I was honest in the beginning, but you kept pushing and pushing and pushing. I blame myself, but I blame you more.”

  Jake started to control his breathing; he was shaking with fear, anger and nerves. He had told her too much, he wasn’t good with confrontation, but the others never asked this many questions, he didn’t feel this way towards the others. He let her take a few more sips from the cola to quench her thirst.

  “You were special to me Amercia, that’s why I couldn’t fuck you. I wish you hadn’t focussed yourself in just the money. You absorbed your attention on the wealth; you wanted Sordida to providing you with a rich lifestyle surrounded by millionaires and shit loads of money. I told you from the beginning what they were about, but you continued, you fucking chose this path that I fucking warned you not go down.”

  Jake continued to shout; his anger was brewing. He couldn’t contain it any longer.

  “I found you online; I didn’t expect you to be so fucking normal. I kept wanting to see you, I couldn’t let you go, but I had hoped you took my warnings. Of the three escorts I hunted for Sordida, you came out on top when they walked you round in the raffle draw. Your desperation for money was evident when you’d do anything for them. You showed no limits Amercia, no fucking scruples. I tried warning you; I tried getting you to stop.”

  “What do you mean? why didn’t you warn me, Jake.”

  “I watched you; I watched you for days. I painted slag across your door in the hope you would think your neighbours hated you. I thought it would help make you stop. Now I have to let you go because you couldn’t stay away. Sordida is home to wealthy fucked up people in wealthy businesses; it’s too big a network to battle with, there’s no way out for you now. That’s why I am upset; they loved you. He’s made a lot of money from you. Your life in Egypt, it’s already set in stone. I couldn’t give a fuck now that he can hear all this. Tim knew I would rather he let you go, but you’ll end up vanished like the others.”

  “How many Jake, how many others? How many fucking women have been shipped off to work in this slave industry?”

  “I’ve only involved myself in this for the past two years,” Jake replied, hand over his face unable to control his emotions, “Do you remember what I told you about Kerry and the snorting of cocaine from her pussy?”

  “What of it. What else have you done?”

  “Kerry was a friend of a friend; she knew my marriage had broken down because of my gambling addiction and debts. Sordida got me out of a hole, initially, but then things spiralled out of control. I got offered a job, and it sounded easy. I meet women online, I bring them to the club, and in a way, I didn’t care. The gambling addiction was the hardest; the more money Sordida gave me, the more I couldn’t stop.”

  Amercia knew she had to think on her feet, work fast while he was showing his vulnerable side.

  “You can still change, Jake. There’s still time to fix all of this.”

  Jake loo
ked up, confused, but fearful of knowing that Sordida would somehow find a way to destroy him. The look on her face was that of innocence, little did she know the depths of their pure evil.

  “Please,” she whispered, “let me go.”

  “I couldn’t even if I wanted to Amercia. Do you think they’d let me have the key? Tonya has it on her, Tim doesn’t dirty his hands with anything. We’ve had our fallings out in the past; I can’t do anything now about this. The best way to have saved yourself was to have never taken that path of curiosity.”

  “You know this has to come to an end, Jake. If not now, at some point this will come to an end. He’ll frame you for all of it; he doesn’t dirty his own hands, he has a network of friends who use their money as a means of getting away with whatever they fucking choose. You know we’re both doomed in the long term even if my fate is shipped off to Egypt to skivvy for some fucking family for nothing, I will be chained to the sink, tied to the bed, imprisoned in the shed and let out if I am lucky enough for lunch?”

  “I’m sorry. Amercia, my head is fucked, absolutely fucked up. Shut up, shut up.”

  Jake put the tape back over Amercia’s mouth. He saw the fear in her eyes as his temper snapped once again.

  “This pays my debts; this stops me from having the shit kicked out of me. I owe some dangerous people a lot of money. You have no idea what will happen to me. No fucking idea. I’d probably end up so badly beaten I’d be unrecognisable or even worse yet, dead. Fucking dead.”

  Amercia coughed and kept shaking her head left and right for his attention. There was twenty-five-thousand-pounds in the wardrobe. Sixty-nine something or other, she thought, I know I opened it when I first came here, he put my money in it. Six, nine, four something. She switched off as he continued to storm up and down explaining that she had allowed herself to get lured into the club. He told that she had been treated like a queen while the wealthy members price her up for their business needs. Knowing that she needed to speak to him again to make him understand that everyone was likely part of a bigger game, he was her only hope of escaping. In her mind, a new risk was brewing; it was worth a shot because she had nothing left to lose.

  Amercia rolled her eyes back and forth while continuing to cough to give the impression she was choking, all she needed was for Jake to turn his head to see her. She intentionally shook her body to rattle the handcuffs on the bed giving the impression she was having a panic attack or a fit. Jake stopped in his tracks, panicked and removed the tape across her mouth, allowing her to calm and breathe. He placed the straw under her mouth as she took in another few sips of the can of diet cola.

  “Thank you,” Amercia said, catching her breath on the back of her performance, “despite everything, I forgive you.”

  Jake didn’t reply immediately but felt guilty for his part in her kidnap.

  “With your honesty in our sessions together, I should have listened; I should have understood you. I’m sorry for putting us both here. I’ve learnt that money doesn’t buy me happiness. I’d rather be piss-poor back at my bedsit, and It was nice knowing you Jake; I will always remember you. Whatever happens to me in Egypt, at least you know I will always be thinking of you. I will not blame you for any of this.”

  Desperately trying to tug on his conscience or give him an alternative reason to be on her side.

  “Believe it or not, you were my only client. I made up other men just to sound experienced. I lied, you were the only guy I was seeing, and I looked forward to seeing you. You’re a decent man who made a few mistakes. All I ever wanted to be once was an accountant.”

  It came into her head as clear as day; it was as if a voice from nowhere just whispered into her mind. One, four six, nine. One four sixty-nine. The code to the safe in the wardrobe, she remembered it now.

  The door to the hotel room burst open, Tim and Tonya both stormed in. Amercia saw the anger on Tim’s face who might have heard every word from their conversation. He closed the door behind him, but Amercia convinced herself they were back to drug her.

  “Get the fuck out of here Jake,” Tim said, glaring at his direction, “I didn’t expect you to be this weak. You’ve disappointed me, disappointed yourself. All you had to do was give her the drink, feed her the biscuits and shut her back up again.”

  Tonya took a roll of tape from the drawer of the vanity unit, peeled off a piece and slapped it over Amercia’s mouth.

  “You’re going to be out of here in a few hours bitch,” Tonya said, while also pulling up the blindfold again, “surprised you’re still awake with what I crushed into that cola.”

  “What the fuck,” Jake asked, “you spiked the drink?”

  “How much of it has she had?” Tonya replied, “she’s not looking drowsy to me, how much is left?”

  “Just under half a can and why the fuck didn’t you tell me?”

  “Because we didn’t want you to screw this up, Jake,” Tim interrupted, “I know this is the first time you’ve been part of it this far on, but you’ll learn that they will try anything to escape. Amercia has chosen her path; you know that. Sometimes what you don’t know will help you later. She’ll be knocked out in a few more minutes I expect, and you can help Tonya transport her to the car later, you’ll be rewarded for your efforts, trust me.”

  Jake turned to look at Amercia who was chained to the bed, blindfolded again, but aware she could hear him.

  “I’m sorry, Amercia. Please forgive me.”

  All she could see was the shade of darkness once more, but the distinctive noise of the door closing behind them was the last sound she heard before not being physically able to fight the tiredness any longer. Under the blindfold, her eyes gave in, her head bent forward, and her arms were tired of being tied above her head. The shade of darkness edged into blackness shortly before the deep sleep consumed her.

  Twenty-One

  A

  mercia’s eyes bolted open. Where am I, she thought in the darkness, is this Egypt? Her legs still felt cold; her body motionless from the effects of the drugs. The blindfold is still covering my eyes, so this is room 232, they haven’t shipped me out just yet. What time is it? Her mind was in constant overdrive coupled with instant panic; she was exhausted from the worry. Was anyone else in the room with her?

  She lay there silent, unable to escape with her hands still uncomfortably firmly chained to the bed while the tape around her mouth silenced her. Able to hear, she listened carefully as the sound of footsteps outside the room walked past the door along the corridor. So many people who could help her if they only knew the terror behind door two-three-two. The women who must have been tormented, drugged, and shipped off around the world like cattle for society’s most wealthy spent their last days in England chained to a bed waiting to be fed biscuits and a concoction of drugs. The underground sickening actions of the Helman House Hotel Estate would make breaking news if anyone could escape. How many years, how many people? Amercia asked herself, considering that she was now just a number in a game that succeeded to hoax her beliefs of escorting work, remembering that judges, police, council chiefs and other high-profile individuals with the powers of influence were members of Sordida, will anyone even care that I am not around?

  In the stillness of the room, she continued to then think of her family, none of which she had bothered with for years. They would still assume she lived in the south-west happily suiting herself. They decided to disown her. How her life could have been so different if she had tried to resolve her issues with them? Feeling guilty that she was motivated by greed when in hindsight nothing stays the same forever.

  One, four, six, nine, I remember the safe code, the fucking money, is it still in the wardrobe safe? Remembering that twenty-five-thousand pounds were potentially in the room with her, time was of the essence with her removal from the hotel likely to be imminent. She was starving, having only had bites of a breakfast biscuit, her mouth was still dry with dehydration taking its toll. The weakness was
awful, unsure of exactly what drug had caused this effect, it felt like the worst hangover of her life. A headache was pounding her forehead, Amercia felt like she needed to vomit, her stomach was gurgling, the saliva was lining itself in her throat. Fearful of chocking to death on her stomach contents, Amercia controlled her breathing through her nose, taking in big deep gusts of air before counting to five, then releasing it slowly. She remembered watching a documentary on the television about panic attacks where controlled breathing had been a focal point. Amercia also felt confident that they had no intention of killing her, with her main use being to support a family villa in Egypt, she didn’t want to die nor more than her client who had paid all that money for her capture. Keep breathing; I can do this, she thought, I can’t die here, not chained to a bed covered in my vomit. Not fucking choking here like this.

  Amercia heard the metal clunk of the door which triggered an instant reaction to pretend to be asleep. Trying to control her breathing she lay with her head to the side, eyes closed tightly to imitate that she was still out for the count. A finger prodded her thigh, Amercia didn’t move a muscle, still silent, still limp, she didn’t react.

  “She’s still out for the count,” the male voice whispered, “we need to get her ready because she has to fly out by ten tonight. The best time to move her is when most of the hotel guests are at dinner.”

  “I’ll start getting her dressed,” a female voice replied, “Tim has left a bag of clothes in the wardrobe, I think it’s some gear the client brought back from Egypt so that she doesn’t look too conspicuous when they arrive.”

  Amercia recognised that Tonya was the female voice whispering about getting her dressed, but was unsure of the male voice, she didn’t know it to be Tim, Matt, or Jake. Continuing to be pretending to be out for the count, how will they dress me? She wondered, what time is it now if I must be shipped off by ten? Amercia knew that somehow this was her only chance of survival, whatever happened in this room right now would be the only means of escape before being drugged into a deep sleep.