“He’s been dealt with, put it that way. His face took a serious pounding.” Matt replied, still sore from the beating he handed out on Tim’s command. “I don’t think that nervous runt will fucking bother to show his face again. He will be keeping his mouth shut. You have nothing to worry about.”
Tim hurried to the bathroom, removed the tape from Tonya’s mouth as she burst in a feared frenzy. The firemen are going to inspect this room, he thought, I’ve got to work fast.
“It wasn’t my fault; it’s not my fault, she played me, she fucking played me. She nearly killed me, and I couldn’t breathe. My neck is painful; look at my fucking neck, Tim. I’m still bleeding because of that evil fucking vicious bitch.”
“There’s no time for all this shit now, Tonya. She’s taken the money; she’s burnt the sheets on the bed, she’s probably about to go to the police. Matt, help me free her from the sink, it’ll be a few minutes before any firemen come up the stairs. The fucking alarm auto calls the brigade out and please remember to keep both of your mouths fucking shut. My wife will be here in just over an hour too. None of this what we planned, fuck it.”
With Matt’s help, Tim switched off the water supply tap under the sink, and together they tugged hard enough to break the plastic outlet pipe keeping Tonya cuffed to the bathroom sink.
“Matt you take the sheets and get them outside to the bin as fast as you can, make sure no one sees you. Tonya, please make your way to my office immediately and wait there for me. I’ll stay here and inform the firemen it was a cigarette fire that caught light in the bed, but it’s been cleared up. Hide those hands of yours and try not to show off that neck of too, looks quite an attack. The client will be wondering what’s going on. I’m fucking twenty-five-grand down, it’s not even my money either.”
“I’m sorry boss, so sorry, she was quick. She pissed herself; I tried cleaning her up for you, it happened so fast. I’ll make it up to you, Tim. Sordida can still count on me. It will never happen again, but how did she steal the money, I know the door tripped because she smoked the alarm?”
“I can’t remember exactly when, but she’s been here before; I didn’t expect her to have access to the safe because she was chained to the fucking bed, you idiot. I relied on you to finish the job properly. You need to find the client, he’s probably outside by the entrance waiting for me, and both of you then stay in my office, I think I can fix this without having to give back his money. You owe me.”
While Matt and Tonya vanished out of sight, Tim cleaned the bathroom as much as he could with limited time, explaining the missing sink pipe would be simple maintenance issues, but thankfully the room wasn’t fire damaged as Amercia just seemed to have waved the smoking sheets to the ceiling alarm. Tim heard the firemen as the approached the room, he turned to face them as they entered the door.
“Good evening guys. I’ve got this all under control; it’s nothing major as you can see.”
In the bigger scheme of things, he knew he had to plan for a series of comebacks if Amercia had called the police. He had a client who was expecting his modern-slave to transport to Egypt, twenty-five-thousand-pounds out of pocket, Tonya who failed to complete her tasks and was now potentially damage limitation, Jake who was a gambling addict on the verge of a mental breakdown, he had to tie up all the loose ends. As the firemen inspected the room, in the back of Tim’s mind was a growing problem.
She was an escort who got involved in a sex game; I’ve got her contract. She stole the money and ran away during a set of role-playing games. I’ve still got her contract. I’ve got evidence of her arriving at Sordida, video footage I can find of her working the room, people who can verify she was there. His panic intensified as they investigated the bathroom, the water pipe was in the bath, small speckles of blood were on the floor, Tim noticed they looked towards it, raised an eyebrow, but it was not related to the fire. The bed looked burnt with dark singe marks embedded into its centre and the room smelt severely of smoke. Tim’s body language was struggling to remain calm, but he had to stay with an appearance of honesty and a professional demeanour.
“I think the guests in this room were swingers,” Tim said sporadically, thinking it would persuade their unconscious bias, “We’ve had a few complaints about the noise, heard all sorts going on.”
The firemen looked at him and smiled, both noting details down onto their clipboards.
“At least no lasting damage is done, seems to be smoke that triggered the alarm. My guys are just inspecting the neighbouring rooms.”
Tim’s mind drifted off as they continued to talk, he nodded his head to agree with their findings, but he was still concerned over his story. The client will need an explanation; Tonya will have to pay for this somehow, Jake better keep his mouth shut. There’s no evidence, never been any evidence. She stole the money; she was an escort who robbed me. I’m the guy running a multi-million-pound business; she’s the girl who took the chance. She is the one who stole from me, how will she explain that?
The firemen left the room, Tim followed them out and into the hallway. With everything having the all clear, they gave a thumb’s up. Guests started to walk back to their rooms as the hallways filled with footsteps; everything was slowly beginning to resume back to normality.
In the confines of his office, Tonya was stood up against the wall, shaking with nerves because this had never happened before. No one has ever escaped, she thought to herself, should never have got Jake involved.
“Here, have a stiff one to calm your nerves Tonya, and explain to me in a minute how Amercia escaped, but first, Matt where has Jake gone?”
“He’s having a lie down in the basement, let’s leave it there for now. I’ll sort his return home in the morning, but you know how he operates, he couldn’t fight his way out of a paper bag. He’s a man on the brink of a nervous breakdown, practically suicidal. He’ll fix his problems I’m sure of it. He can’t say fuck all to anyone since he helped lure her here, he carried her in for fuck's sake. I need to get a few bruises on my face to say it was an act of defence if he goes anywhere with this.”
“She pissed herself, it all started from there,” Tonya nervously interrupted to reply to Tim, taking a large gulp of the whiskey he handed her, “I thought I should clean her up, she was too quick, she came at me like a pit bull terrier. I managed to get her to the bath eventually, but I walked away for just one minute. She was pretending to still be under the influence of the ketamine, and I fell for it. I turned to get the handcuffs back and she just fucking came at me so hard with the shower cord. I couldn’t breathe, I thought she was going to kill me, I passed out.”
“Well, our very generous Sordida member and client here isn’t going away empty handed. I can assure both of you of that. While I have no means of getting Amercia, and I am now faced with the consequences of her actions if she goes to the police. While I am confident she might not be having stolen the money, I still have that worry. Her escape is something that was preventable, and it is all your fault, Tonya. You too must face the consequence of your actions, and you leave me with no choice. No choice at all.”
Tonya’s colour drained from her cheeks. She couldn’t afford to be jobless again; she didn’t want to be demoted within Sordida just a people pleaser.
“I’m sorry, but she nearly killed me. Do you not understand that? Please forgive me, for all the years we have had this mutual understanding. You can’t shut me out of this now. You know I do a great job scouting and shipping otherwise, this is one mistake, my first mistake. Please don’t sack me?”
Tim watched emotionless as Tonya begged for forgiveness. In no position to leave the client empty handed or refund the missing money that Amercia stole from him, Tonya had become a liability. She had made her first and last mistake for Sordida. Matt looked on during the conversation, appearing concerned he tilted his head to appear involved, despite remaining silent.
“I cannot leave her without the goods,” The client i
nterrupted, “my wife and I are counting on the support to enable us to run our business and spend more time with the children. We need your help, and although it is technically modern-day slavery, I am on the understanding these girls would end up overdosing on drugs anyway?”
“I’m not sacking you, but the only way to fix your mistake is that you must go to Egypt now instead of Amercia, Tonya. You’ve been a great asset to Sordida, often with some flashes of brilliance, but I can’t trust you now, and I can’t trust you if I fire you. Therefore, the only option I have is to get rid of you. Matt, tie her up and prepare her for the flight to Egypt.”
Matt grabbed Tonya by the arm; he responded to his command in seconds. Unable to free herself from his tight grip, Tonya’s heart sunk as the realisation of her mistake hit her. The evilness from her boss was now in her direction.
“The drink,” Tonya said out loud, “you fucking spiked my drink.”
Tim looked towards the client, they both nodded in agreeance to signify this was the only deal left to agree. He then lowered his head as Matt continued with his duties as Tonya burst into tears while her legs then gave way beneath her.
“Amercia is out there somewhere; she can’t be all that far.” Tim said, shaking his head in disgust, “she’s a clever girl that one. If she’s keeping the money, I’d be surprised if she went to the police. My guess is within the time I’ve spent gaining her trust; she’ll probably fuck off up the line somewhere and start that new life she wanted. If I ever see her again, I’ll kill her with my own bare hands. No one has ever dared to take anything that is mine. She should fear me, fear Sordida, and keep a look over her shoulder. Amercia hasn’t seen the last of me, no matter how long it may take me to find her, no matter where in the country she might be.”
Tim left the room leaving Matt with the client to complete all the work necessary before shipping Tonya out the back door in the darkness. He smiled widely with his hands behind his back as he paraded himself through the hotel to ensure the bar was back in order, the guests still spending money, and that everything is as it should be. The Helman House Hotel on the face of it was in a league of its own in the rural setting of Elmton, but in the underground was a secret society that was a law unto themselves.
Chasing rainbows, Tim thought to himself as he concocted a backup plan in his head should Amercia disclose all to the police, an escort racing to that pot of gold. She worked her way into the club, she came back to the hotel with me, wanted to be tied up, but when free stole the money, lit the bed to escape unnoticed and made up nothing but lies. She has no real evidence, just a greedy bitch chasing rainbows who happened to be the first one that got lucky. Lesson learnt for the next one. In the bar he watched as the fire engines started to leave, Tim was pleased that Matt proved himself tonight, leaving a trail of evidence that pointed in Matts direction for kidnap and assault. You are just a foolish boy, Tim thought further, with such power in my hands, you are now mine. Sordida will own you.
Epilogue
H
er biggest regret was not going to the police that night. Amercia had taken the money from the safe following her ordeal to flee Plymouth, but often thoughts of Sordida passed her by regularly. Selfishly the lack of awareness, her foolishness combined with chasing a dream for a better life became her worst nightmare. Even now, three months on the horror still haunts her enough to wake her in the middle of the night. Each day she will always look behind her to make sure the coast is clear. Are they watching her, are they following her, do they somehow know where she lives now? She wondered daily, how many more women suffered, how many more games, how many other victims?
Torn with the battle of right and wrong, Amercia selfishly needed the cash as a ready means of escape. Having spent the whole night sleeping behind a tree in a field because every taxi, every vehicle in Elmton could have been part of Sordida’s network, she was alone with no one to trust. Her mobile had died, but in the morning a long slow walk back to Plymouth through the winding back streets took a few hours at a reasonable pace. The twenty-five-thousand pounds was a miracle in her lap, an ironic twist of fate that allowed her to escape. Not only from room two-three-two, not only from Plymouth but from her old self that chased the impossible. Being sure to never take simple things for granted, she was still reliving her ordeal, not sure she could ever trust again.
Amercia had managed to find a waitressing job in Lanzarote, a small yet quirky bar with all day English breakfasts by the seafront. She would wake up every day to the sun beaming, the golden sand on her doorstep and the sound of the waves was a pleasant change she had yearned for desperately. Life was once again a series of repetitive daily chores, a need to pay the rent, but the cash had given her a head start. With a great apartment that was light and airy behind the main strip of gift shops, life was different, it was another journey, but another unexpected circumstance. Hope was her survival instinct; independence was her driving force, Sordida was her enemy. She knew someday, somewhere, they would find her, but she was going to be ready.
No longer a victim of her misfortune, Amercia was content in Lanzarote. It felt like home.
Authors Note
T
hank you for taking the time to read Sordida. The novel writing process from start to finish takes some considerable time and I hope you enjoyed the story. Sordida was a learning curve – an idea to see if I could map out a carefully constructed plot with a few surprises and I have learnt a great deal in this process which I can transfer the knowledge and feedback into my second novel.
I am currently at this time writing another thriller that I hope to have finished in 2019.
Thank you for your support.
Jason Andrews
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