by M A Comley
“If you don’t mind leaving now, my wife needs her rest.” North was standing in front of his wife, and Lorne noticed how Angela flinched every time his arms moved.
Instead of leaving, Lorne turned to wink at Katy and motioned with a nod for her to sit down on the sofa. After she and Katy were settled, Lorne said, “I realise you’re a busy man, Mr. North, please don’t let us interfere with your work. We’ll keep Angela company for a little while.”
His eyes widened, and Lorne saw his mouth moving as though he were grinding his teeth.
“My work can wait.”
Damn! With things not exactly going to plan, Lorne decided to try another tack. “It’s unusual for you to be at home during the week, isn’t it, Mr. North?”
“So? I’m not sure what you’re insinuating.”
Lorne smiled at him. “I was just wondering if you usually worked from home.”
“Occasionally.”
“When you opened the door for us, you appeared to be expecting someone else—can I ask who?”
North stepped around his wife and placed his arm on the mantelpiece. “Why would it concern you?”
Lorne pulled her trump card. “Would it have anything to do with the visit you made to Tara Small this morning?”
He glared at her and thought for a moment or two before he responded. “What if it has?”
Lorne turned to Angela, and as much as she wanted to keep her out of the conversation, she found herself asking, “Are you aware of your husband’s business dealings, Angela?”
The woman twisted in her seat uncomfortably, which worried Lorne. Is she hurting? Or does she know of her husband’s activities?
“Angela?” she prompted.
When the woman remained silent, she went down considerably in Lorne’s estimation. But she didn’t understand. If she knew about his other business, why had she openly given Lorne the agency’s number and address? What the heck was she playing at? Was it some sort of cry for help?
“I’ll ask you again, Angela: where did you get those bruises?”
The woman’s gaze immediately shot up to her husband. North appeared to be challenging her to keep her mouth shut. Lorne left her seat and went over to Angela. She knelt down beside her and took the woman’s trembling hands in her own. “Angela, he won’t hurt you anymore, I promise.”
North lunged at Lorne, but Katy was quick to stop him from reaching her. Katy flipped him over her hip, North lay prostrate on the floor with Katy’s knee pressed into his chest. “Wrong move, pal.”
“Sorry, I forgot to introduce you to DS Katy Foster.”
“Fucking get off me, you bitch. You’ll never work for the police again by the time my solicitor has wiped the floor with you. You say anything, Angela, and I swear I’ll…” He left his threat dangling dangerously.
Angela looked at her and gave a brief smile. “My husband…has several vices…that I am no longer comfortable with,” she stuttered.
“Like beating up women, you mean?” Lorne pressed her.
With her husband being restricted by Katy, Angela’s courage visibly grew. “Among other things, yes. I no longer want to be part of his sickening world, but when I voiced my worries the other day, he beat me until I couldn’t get up.” Then she surprised Lorne by kicking her husband in the ribs. “Didn’t you?”
“You deserved it, bitch. You do as I say or suffer the consequences—”
Lorne squeezed Angela’s hand. “Spoken like a true man. Angela, if you want this stopped, you know you’ll have to make a complaint to the police, don’t you?”
“You wouldn’t dare,” North warned his wife before Katy twisted his arm higher up his back. He grunted and spat at her.
Katy kneed North in the ribs, and he grunted again like the pig he was portraying himself to be. “Nah, Lorne, he ain’t nice at all. Mrs. North, you have to make a complaint. I’ll willingly accompany you to the station.”
“I’m not so sure. If I could get away from him, I would; however, the last thing I want to do is leave my beautiful home, and his son, Anthony, needs me,” Angela stated sadly, as if it had just dawned on her with an almighty force that she was stuck with this despicable man.
Lorne knew that when it came to the crunch, abused women constantly changed their minds.
Roger North snorted and earned himself another jab from Katy’s knee.
“That’s your choice, Angela, but I want to take Jai San away from this environment. Where is she, by the way?”
Angela nodded. “I understand. She’s in her room, I believe.”
“Will you be all right here for a minute, Katy, while I go and fetch her?”
“Sure, although I could do with a better padded seat than this bony bastard.”
Lorne left the room to the sound of North berating Katy, calling her every vile name he could think of in between crying out in pain from Katy’s retaliation.
She ran up the stairs and followed the soft sound of music playing. She tapped on the door where she thought the music was coming from and walked into the room uninvited. Jai San was sitting cross-legged on the floor of a small bedroom, which consisted of only a single bed and a small wardrobe. The young woman looked alarmed when she saw Lorne walk into the room. She scampered onto the bed and placed a pillow in front of her.
“Jai San, I was here the other day, remember? I’ve come to help you. Don’t be scared.” She eased into the room and toward the girl, who was now visibly trembling. “You, poor thing. Did Mr. North do this to you?” Lorne traced a gentle finger down the left side of her face, which was swollen and looked very painful.
Ashamed, Jai San’s gaze drifted to the bed beside her. Lorne sat down on the end of the bed and stroked her leg. “He’s not going to hurt you again, sweetie, I won’t let him. Can you pack a bag quickly? You’re coming with me.”
Jai San pulled away from her and vigorously shook her head. “No, can’t do that. He owns me. If I go, he says he hurt my family back home. Please, leave me alone.”
Lorne blew out a breath. “Sweetheart, I have a policewoman downstairs who is actually sitting on top of Mr. North at this moment.” The image brought a smile to both of their faces. “I’ll do everything in my power to make sure he won’t hurt either you or your family again. Now pack a bag, please.”
Jai San hurled herself off the bed and threw what few clothes she had into a couple of carrier bags she found folded up in the bottom of her wardrobe.
Lorne watched her, her mind racing as she tried to figure out how Jai San and her family were all going to fit into her medium-sized home. I’ll make them fit. There’s no way I’m leaving this girl here!
Once she’d finished packing her sorrowful looking bags, Jai San announced cheerfully, “I ready now, miss.”
Lorne rubbed her arm as she passed her. “Then let’s go. I hope you like animals.”
“Oh, yes, miss, very much.”
Lorne’s heart swelled with joy at the relief displayed on the young woman’s face to be getting out of this situation. “When I was a child, my family used to raise goats for milk to sell at the market, before we moved to the city.”
“You’ll be back there soon, Jai San, I’ll see to that.”
They ran down the stairs and into the lounge, but came to an abrupt halt in the doorway.
What the fuck?
The three people Lorne had left in the lounge had been joined by another man. He had Katy in front of him, one arm locked around her throat while the other arm waved a knife a few inches in front of her face. Lorne had never seen Katy look so scared.
“Ah, glad you could rejoin us, Lorne. Do come in. As you can see, circumstances have changed somewhat since you left us.”
She eyed North through a narrowed, untrusting glare. “What’s going on? Who are you?” she asked, turning to the man holding Katy hostage.
His amusement of the situation was clear to see, the man ignored her, probably under instruction that he leave all the talking to North.
North laughed and eyed Lorne with contempt. “You think you had this all worked out, didn’t you, bitch?”
“Not at all. What exactly is ‘all this,’ anyway?” she asked, her hand moving to her jacket pocket where her mobile was.
But North bellowed at her, “Stop right there, Warner—or is it Simpkins? Word has it that when you were in the Met, you were one of the feistiest cops around. Let’s see how you fucking get out of this mess, shall we?”
“Let Katy go and we’ll talk.”
“And you have a right to order me around because…?” North challenged, smirking.
Arsehole, you weren’t smirking just a minute ago when Katy had you flat out on the floor. Lorne took a tentative step further into the room in North’s direction, and he took two steps to his right, which placed him a few feet from his wife. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jai San shrink back and heard her expel a terrified breath.
“Let’s talk about this like adults, shall we? Let’s all sit down nice and relaxed.”
North gave a derisive laugh. “In your world everything might be fluffy and dandy, but in mine, you’ve poked your nose into my business, cost me time, and, more importantly, money. I don’t take meddling of that proportion lightly. Do I, Sansom?”
The man latched onto his meaning instantly and ran the pointed tip of the knife down Katy’s left cheek. Katy cried out and tried to escape the man’s grasp, but he held firm around her neck and her struggling turned out to be in vain.
Lorne’s gut clenched tightly. “Stop! Don’t hurt her anymore, please.”
“Don’t hurt her anymore, please!” North mimicked, a smile tugging at his thin mouth.
Lorne’s gaze dropped down to Angela, who was sitting on the edge of her winged chair, and she pleaded silently for some kind of help, but the woman looked away. Shit! How the hell do I get us out of this mess? Tony, where are you when I need you most?
North dropped down into a crouch beside his wife, and Angela flinched at his closeness. “Now, my dear, Sansom and I are going to take these nice ladies for a ride in his van. You’re going to stay right here in this chair until I return, do you hear me?”
“Yes,” Angela muttered in response.
Her husband’s hand gripped her knee, and Angela’s eyes instantly squeezed shut. “Look at me,” North ordered, and his wife’s eyes flew open. “I can’t hear you. I said, do you hear me? If I find you missing when I get back, you know what will happen. That sister of yours will need to be pushed down the aisle in a wheelchair in a few weeks.”
Angela’s hand shot to her chest. “You wouldn’t!”
North tilted his head. “Wouldn’t I?” Turning to Sansom, he asked, “I take it you have rope in that van of yours?”
“Yep, in the passenger’s seat. Want me to go and get it?”
“No, I’ll go. You watch these.” North stood up, strode past Lorne and out through the front entrance.
Lorne looked at Katy and raised her left eyebrow, silently asking if she was up for a fight or not. Katy opened and closed her eyes three times in response—it was a signal they had worked out back when they were real partners. Then Katy lashed out, digging her right elbow into Sansom’s side. Despite Katy’s elbow connecting heavily with his ribs, his arm held tightly around her neck, limiting any further movement on her part, and she began to choke due to the pressure he was exerting on her windpipe.
It was Lorne’s turn to make her move. She ran at the man, but stopped dead in her tracks when Sansom raised the knife and turned it inwards toward Katy’s chest. Both Angela and Jai San screamed. Lorne held up her hands in defeat. “Sorry, Katy.”
“We tried, Lorne.”
Hearing the commotion coming from inside the house, North came sprinting back into the room, looking angrier than when he’d left it. He strode up to Lorne and stood in front of her. Her gaze latched on to his and she neglected to see the back of his hand coming her way. She cried out as his hand connected with her cheek and sent her off-balance. The force flung her sideways, and she landed on the couch. “Dumb, bitch. That’ll teach you to try your superwoman antics with me. You won’t be so fucking foolish the next time, will you?”
Lorne put her cool hand to her blazing cheek and winced at the harsh lesson she’d just been handed. Bide your time, girl. Let him think he’s dealing with an amateur, and then pounce when he’s least expecting it. If the opportunity ever arises.
Lorne, Katy, and Jai San were tied up with their hands behind their backs and taken out to the van one by one. Sansom took Katy out first and stayed with her while North took Jai San and then Lorne out of the house. Between North taking Jai San and returning to fetch Lorne, whom North had tied to a heavy bureau, she begged with Angela a final time to reconsider helping them. “Please, Angela. You don’t have to go to the police—just ring my husband, that’s all I ask,” Lorne said, desperation lingering in her voice.
“I can’t! There’s my sister to consider. You heard what he said.” Tears of frustration welled up in Angela’s eyes and Lorne nodded her understanding. She totally understood the woman’s dreadful predicament. But, if Angela couldn’t or wouldn’t help them, then who would?
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
After being thrown into the back of the van, almost crushing each other, there was a slight delay before the van moved off while Samson dumped Katy’s car in a nearby lane. North sat on the one seat available in the back, glaring at his captives.
Lorne glanced at Katy with an expression that said, ‘we’re in deep shit now, girl.’ Inhaling a large breath and wishing she hadn’t after filling her lungs with the fumes from an oily cloth lying next to her, Lorne asked, “Where are you taking us?”
“Ever the inquisitive one. You’ll see when you get there. We’re going to teach you a lesson or two about how not to interfere in my lucrative business.” North sneered at her and then turned his attention to Jai San.
The young woman was shaking violently now. Lorne feared she knew what lay ahead of her. Something they’d all be finding out soon enough. She wished she still had her mobile phone in her pocket; she could have figured out the number pad through the cloth and opened up a line so Tony could listen in to what was happening to them. But North and Sansom had frisked her and Katy and removed both their mobiles before they’d bundled them into the back of the van.
They must have been travelling for about twenty to twenty-five minutes before they arrived at their destination. From her obscure position, Lorne caught brief glimpses of the area, she knew exactly where they were. Her stomach twisted and turned itself in large knots.
Katy nudged Lorne’s foot and mouthed, “We’re at the warehouse.”
Sansom jumped out to open the gates, with North distracted watching the driver Lorne nodded at Katy. “I know.” Her heart sank as the driver got back in the van and pulled it into the yard.
“Here we are, ladies—I use the term loosely, of course. It’s time to see what you’re really made of.” North moved to the rear of the van and waited for the doors to open. They heard the gates clang shut and then the doors sprang open. Jai San was the first to be yanked from the vehicle. She was crying and shaking uncontrollably. The two men merely laughed at the young woman, and then North disappeared with her.
“What the fuck are we going to do, Lorne?” Katy whispered.
North reappeared before Lorne could answer her. He grabbed Katy’s leg and hauled her out of the back of the van, she landed on the concrete with a sickening thump. Katy—being Katy—refused to cry out in pain. Lorne felt proud of her, and hoped that she would be able to remain strong throughout the torment that she imagined lay ahead of them.
Lorne twisted and turned in the confined space, trying to get into a better position to avoid going through the same as Katy when North came to collect her. He rounded the open door and his mouth turned up into a knowing smile. “You’re a quick learner. I’m going to enjoy teaching you most of all.”
“Bastard! You lay a finger on eithe
r of us, and I swear you’ll live to regret it.” Just in case North knew who the Unicorn was, she added, “A few years ago, a man in the same line of business as you, paid the ultimate price when he kidnapped my daughter.”
“Ah, the lioness has roared. I’d better watch out for those nasty claws of yours, hadn’t I?” North laughed callously. He pulled her out of the van, shoved her in the back to make her walk in front of him and into the warehouse.
Inside, the other two girls had been locked in a cage. A quick scan of the area told Lorne that they were alone, and the other girls they had witnessed being brought here had already been shipped out to God knew where.
North threw Lorne behind bars with the others, and then he and Sansom moved away from the cage to hold a whispered conversation, which ended with both men laughing loudly. Then the two men returned and stood in front of the cage, eyeing Lorne and the other two captives with pure lust in their beady eyes.
North approached the cage door and opened it, stepping through the doorway and walking over to where Lorne was standing. His eyes ran the length of her body, and under his creepy gaze, she struggled to prevent the shudder running up her spine. Her shoulders straightened in determination and as North’s gaze met hers, she spat at him, hitting him directly between the eyes.
Angered by the insult, North swiped her across the face again. However, this time Lorne had prepared herself for the strike, and remained bolt upright.
“You’ll pay for that, Warner. First, you’re going to watch what we do to the other two, and then I’ll have pleasure in teaching you how to behave around men. Obviously it’s a talent lacking in your extensive repertoire.” North’s gaze remained on Lorne as he reached out and found Jai San’s arm.
The young woman screamed as North led her from the cage and locked the door behind them.
“Shit! Katy, what are we going to do?”
“My advice half an hour ago would have been not to antagonize him, but I think it’s too late for that.”
“Shit!” Lorne said for a second time as they observed the two men pushing the girl between them. Each time she left the arms of one man, they heard her clothes tear, until finally Jai San stood naked between the two men. Lorne tried to turn away, desperate not to see what the girl was about to be subjected to, but she felt that if she did that, Jai San would feel she had deserted her.
