The Remote Traveler (The Remote Series Book 1)

by Finian Blake

  “You’re married now. I hope Edward approves.” Layla buttoned all but the top button of the dress and climbed in the van. Edward let the comment pass in silence. The trip to Zurich was very eventful. Edward and Layla opened their cards on the way over. They already knew that Lynn and Susan gave them two million. Francesca gave them a draft for $200,000. Countess Liliana gave them $500,000. The other gifts were extremely large also, so by the time that they were through there were a little better than five million Pounds in wedding gifts. Bill and Layla were stunned. Susan took them to the back of the plane.

  “Alex made a lot of money for a lot of people. He has always compensated people for any losses that they incurred due to any of his operations. This is payback time. And there are many people that have been waiting to pay him back.”

  With twenty people Alex arranged a bus instead of the limo and when they arrived at the bank everyone went to take care of personal business. Alex took Bill in a private room with a banker. He arranged an account and made a two million dollar transfer to Bill’s new account.

  “Why are you doing this?”

  “As father of the bride, we can’t have you at a disadvantage to your daughter. We parents have to stick together. If you invest this through Lynn, you will be in great shape for the rest of your life. Lynn and Edward are setting up an account with another banker as we speak. They may be a while longer.

  Edward and Lynn set up a named account for Layla. They deposited five million pounds from the cards into her account. Edward put the ten million pounds that he promised Layla in the account. Alex and Anna put ten million in to the account too with Lynn making the proper arrangements to access the accounts for investing purposes and left the room to do the same for Bill. Marc the banker handed Layla the credit cards that Lynn had arranged. Layla amazed Edward by having the banker set up a numbered account and linking it to the named account. Edward looked questioningly at her.

  “Why…?”

  “With 25 million dollars, I can move the money back and forth. Nobody can lockup both accounts at the same time. If the money goes into a hub account it can’t be traced back to me.” Edward looked carefully at her.”

  “Terri…?”

  “No it’s not, but she did give me the idea. I can remember her thoughts.” Edward could not pursue the issue at the time so he let it drop because the call was right. Banking took a while for everyone to complete. Layla called Peter Mann’s Kunststuben and made reservations for lunch. Edward looked at her with a question on his face.

  “The food is great. Lunch is on me.” Lunch was amazing. Layla ordered off the menu blindly asking for the Chef’s favorite meal. The wine was four hundred dollars a bottle and she ordered Ice Wine which was four hundred Swiss Francs a bottle. Bill choked when he saw the price. Layla was the perfect hostess. Her father could not believe that this was her choice. She took out the credit card and paid the $4,000 tab plus a $1,000 gratuity. She handled the transaction as if she did it every day. After lunch Alex, Anna, Susan, Lynn, Edward and Layla decided to fly back. Frank and Francesca decided to spend a few days in Zurich and invited the others to join them. Bill decided to stay too. Connie and Lori wanted to stay so Anna volunteered to fly the Lear back. Francesca was aware of Anna’s abilities so she consented asking her to order some maintenance on the Gulfstream in Manchester.

  As soon as the plane was in the air Edward started the questions, “How did you know about Peter Mann’s Restaurant and what was that deal in the bank about two accounts?”

  “I just knew it.”

  Lynn gave her a light pinch on the arm. “What about last night? How did you know where to find that rope?”

  Layla shrugged. “It seemed like the right place to keep rope.”

  There was no hiding Lynn’s enthusiasm, “We have never played those games in front of the children. Besides the last time we did that was when Terri was alive and only one person had that kind of a touch with the feathers.”

  Edward was getting frustrated, “What the hell are you talking about?”

  Susan pointed to Layla. “Your loving wife tied our darling Lynn in a chair and made love to me in front of her.” Susan switched to a mewing voice. “She did so quite successfully.”

  Edward blurted out, “Terri…?”

  Susan was still purring, “I would have sworn that it was Terri.”

  Edward looked at the floor as he spoke, “Last night we suspected that Layla was channeling Terri. We shared a dream last night. “Layla went into Terri’s office last night and Terri took over for a while.”

  Susan remembered, “We stored all of her personal mementoes in the boxes at the back of her office because we didn’t have the heart to trash them.”

  Anna could not believe her ears, “You mean that Terri took over Layla?”

  Lynn snickered as she responded, “Something sure got into her, and her feather got into me, big time. My lungs still hurt.”

  When they returned to the resort Edward and Layla went to change for some training. Her skin still had a blush to it.

  Layla blurted out, “I am so embarrassed. How can I face Susan again?”

  Edward commented, “It didn’t sound like they were repelled. Quite the opposite, I think that they would like a rematch.”

  Layla’s blush became darker, “I can’t say that Terri took over. Doing all of those things came naturally. It seemed that I remembered them. Just like the bank account and the restaurant.” Layla sounded dazed. “I can remember how to do things without having done them. Did you notice that I can walk smoothly in these high heels?

  “Yes and it has added a lot to your wiggle.” Edward swatted her on the butt.

  “I ran my hand over the plans and could understand what every line on them was for. She is not taking over, but I can remember all of the skills that she learned. It’s like we went to school together.” They were running short of time.

  Edward and Layla hopped in a cart and drove over to the firing range. Sidney laid out several weapons. He knew that Edward was familiar with everything on the bench.

  “I selected several weapons that are common to our general use. I believe that we will start with the compact Walther pistol. That is the one that we selected yesterday.” Layla walked over to the bench while Sidney was talking to Edward. She checked the safety, removed the empty clip and cleared the breach. Much to her surprise a nine millimeter shell popped out. She held up the round for inspection.

  “You should not leave a round in the chamber with an empty clip. That’s a good way to get somebody shot!”

  Sidney shook his head, “There goes fifteen minutes of my lecture. Yesterday you were able to hit the paper seven times out of seven. Let’s see what you can do today.” Sidney decided to see how Layla’s memory was. She stepped up to the line, put on her safety glasses, and hearing protection confidently running the target out to ten meters. Layla moved the selector to safe, slipped in a full clip and chambered a round. She took a firing stance moving the selector to the firing position and fired off seven rounds in quick succession. She cleared the chamber leaving the slide open and applying the safety. Sidney looked at the paper. Four rounds were bull’s eyes and three were just outside of the inner ring.

  “Well you have eliminated six of my best lectures. I think that we can move to the silencer.” He laid it on the tray next to the Walther. Layla picked it up and fastened it to the end of the barrel. She inserted a new clip releasing the slide. Layla hefted the gun and extended it in the shooting position repeating the move several times. Finally, Layla chambered a round and released the safety. She fired a single round hitting the paper, but just barely. She fired another round hitting the outer ring. Layla hit the inner ring after the fourth round. The next three rounds came in rapid succession, with the last three rounds hitting the inner ring.

  “You have just killed off everything that I had planned for the day.” Sidney ran the target back and circled the last three shots with a marker. This is where I was hoping
to have you by the end of the week. With the size of the compact I do have something that you might like.” He walked with her to the bench and pulled out a 45 caliber derringer. “It is only two shots but it’s just the ticket for short range. It uses .45 caliber long colt ammunition, so it will have a punch. We can fit it in the opposite end of your purse and the compact can shoot over it from inside the purse.” Sidney brought the gun over to the tray and showed Layla how to load it. He ran the target in to six feet. “This is an emergency weapon. Six to ten feet is the maximum range for accuracy. He extended his arm and the pistol was only four feet from the target. The shot was of course a bull’s eye. He ran the target to ten feet and scored another bull’s eye. “Nadia carries two in her purse. The .45 caliber long colt round gives it some serious punch. Nadia loads it with one fragmentation and one armor piercing round for vests. Layla reloaded the derringer. She fired the pistol at the target and scored a hit on the outer edge of the bull’s eye at ten feet. “What about the noise?”

  “When they are within ten feet you are past the point of being sneaky. It has a roar like a regular 45. Anyone around you will stop to make sure that you don’t have any more.”

  “I’ll take three derringers loaded with both the fragmentation and armor piercing rounds.”

  Sidney patted her shoulder, “I will setup your purse for the two guns where do you want the third gun?”

  “Put a leather flap over the cell phone pocket. I may have to give someone a message.” Sidney punched Edward in the arm lightly.

  “You have one wicked lady there. Randy and Nadia are waiting for you in the training center. You have two more hours to go.” Edward acknowledged the comment with a nod leaving with Layla.

  4.

  NEW LIFE

  Edward and Layla took the elevator to the garage at the top level and walked out through the stone garden to the training center. Nadia was dressed in sweats, and Layla was intimidated by her size, since she was a foot shorter than Nadia in her bare feet. Randy greeted them warmly.

  “I hope that you don’t mind picking up a bruise or two,” Randal started. We aren’t going to get anything done without a few bumps. I teach combat martial arts. We are not trying to overpower our opponents. We are trying to eliminate or disable them as quickly as possible. Edward is the expert in sport martial arts.” Randy was intentionally trying to annoy him. They had sparred enough to know that Edward was a formidable opponent. Layla was unsure of the whole exercise.

  “I just hope that I don’t embarrass myself. I was the nerdy kid that always attracted bullies. You know the ones that would always stuff you into your locker while everyone laughed.”

  Edward stroked Layla’s arm. “Nobody would have laughed if I were around.”

  Layla caressed his cheek and kissed him gently. “Let’s get this done, we’re here now.”

  Randy explained the theory of disabling an opponent building up to some basic throws. When they were down to the last half hour, Randy thought that it would be safe to try some basic sparring. He cautioned Nadia not to damage Layla. Nadia made a light attack and Layla made a good throw. Nadia built up slowly to some moderate moves and once again Layla was successful. On the last two passes Randy called for full speed moves and Layla met with reasonable success. Layla talked him into another half an hour. They did the extra time at full speed. When they were through Nadia had worked up a good sweat. Nadia wiped the sweat from her forehead across Layla’s face in a good natured manner. “You made me break a sweat.”

  Layla pounded the mat with the flat of her hand. “Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?”

  Nadia looked dumfounded. “Where is who?”

  Layla looked at her and laughed. “Where is Norma? That is the evil bitch that always stuffed me in my locker. I have something for her!” She slapped the mat for emphasis. Nadia pushed her good naturedly.

  “She is not worth thinking about. Norma is probably on her fourth child and forty pounds overweight while you are a good looking rich bitch traveling the world.

  Layla laughed, “it’s probably six kids. She would spread her legs for anyone. Come on I’ll buy you a drink.” They walked out leaving Randy and Edward sitting on the mat. Layla and Nadia walked back through the stone garden. Nadia walked over to the edge of the terrace, dropped her sweatpants, squatted down and started to piss. Layla could see a marker under her. Nadia pulled up her pants and continued to walk. Layla was going crazy.

  Nadia explained, “That was Gregory’s marker he was Anna’s deceased husband.”

  “Gregory, as in your father…?”

  “He molested me and sold me to some other generals as a whore. I piss on his marker every chance that I get. The others are use to my display.” Layla pointed to the other stones.

  “Wasn’t his grave over there?”

  “Yes, they moved it so the other stones didn’t get the over flow. Even Anna takes a leak there. How did you know about the move?”

  “He was next to Terri when the stones were first placed. I thought that you did not believe in revenge.”

  “It isn’t revenge. It just makes me feel good. We put the stone garden in after Terri died. There are no graves just markers. They are buried somewhere else. We scattered Terri’s ashes over the Inn from a helicopter. Susan thought that we should honor our dead. Come look there were markers for Liz Turner, Hope Turner, Promise Furst, Terri Furst and Adam Furst. The marker for Frank and Brent were on the other side. Susan scattered Terri’s ashes over the Inn and sent Gregory’s ashes to the cesspool, so that he would not be next to Terri.”

  “Who are Hope and Promise?”

  “Hope is Liz’s unborn child and Promise is Terri’s unborn child. Susan and Adam named them to honor their memory.”

  Layla’s curiosity was up. “What happened to Adam?”

  “He buried the name and became Alex. Your Edward is his son.” Layla knelt down with a hand on the markers of Promise and Hope and then started to cry uncontrollably. Nadia waived to Edward as he was passing by. He tried to move her but she would not be moved. He called Anna and Alex on the cell phone. Lynn, Suki and Susan came with them. They sat with Layla while she cried and afterward they took Layla to Terri’s Place for a drink.

  Edward was first to ask Layla. “Was that what Terri was looking for?”

  Layla sobbed, “No I don’t think so. She had no idea that there were markers for the fetuses. She seems to be after something else.” Victoria came down to find Nadia. Victoria pulled a pint, pulled a chair up to the table having a seat. Layla smiled and extended her hand. “It’s good to see you again I appreciated your help that first day.”

  “Was Gregory your father too?”

  “No, Nadia actually adopted me as a sister. Alex and Anna agreed to adopt me. My mother’s boyfriend was molesting me so I ran away from home. When I was rescued there was no way that I was going back there. Gregory’s fellow generals ran a Russian gang. They kidnaped me forcing me into sexual slavery. Alex and his crew rescued both Cherry and me. I was sixteen at the time and could not legally fend for myself, so Nadia adopted me as a sister. Alex went along with her call becoming my father. Sarah adopted Cherry who was thirteen.”

  “I can imagine what it must have been like.”

  Victoria answered in a brooding tone, “If you can imagine something like that I don’t want to know you.”

  Layla was confused, “Why do you say that?”

  “If you can imagine that you have a vile imagination. There are some films here that we kept for evidence.” Victoria turned to Susan. “Can she see them? Layla can’t understand without seeing them.”

  “Alright I will setup a viewing in the service center.”

  The first video to be set up was the night of the rescue. Layla recognized a few of the people currently at the Inn. She watched as Lori and Connie were handcuffed to a pole. The video showed the auction for the rapes and snuffs that were planned and ended with the rescue. Layla also saw how the rescue progressed, r
ecognizing Grace, Suki, Nadia, Anna, Alex, Mark and Sarah as rescuers. She was surprised to see Alice, Lori, Connie, Cherry and Victoria as part of the victims being rescued.

  Layla did not believe what she was seeing. “They actually killed people for entertainment?”

  Victoria’s voice betrayed her anger, “This was the least offensive of the films. The others are far worse. Victor kept us pumped with hormones to keep us producing milk. They fed us fertility drugs. When we got pregnant, we would have multiple births and after we delivered they would sell our babies. When we were burned out they would sell the rights to snuff us. They killed 29 girls over the two years that they were in business. They were going to kill all of us that night because we were not generating the profits that they were looking for. We were also witnesses, so they couldn’t just turn us out on the streets. That was Victor selling my snuff in the first video. They were filming our murders and selling copies to those who wanted to see someone tortured and killed. The video is ready. You will see.” A few minutes after the start of the video Layla had Victoria shut it off.

  “You are right I can’t imagine. What happened to the people in the first video,” Layla asked?”

  Victoria smiled, “All of the victims were rescued and given a new life. Alex and the other rescuers split the general’s money between the survivors setting us up with new identities. He made sure that we were taken care of before leaving us to our lives. They took care of all of the pregnant women and their babies. I have a family that loves me and a home that I will never abandon, plus I have a future.”