Loser

by Valerie J. Long

  “You called me, here I am,” Ronnie said. “What can I do for you?”

  I began by reporting how I had found Jen. I could see the anger rising in Ronnie.

  “You should have told me right away,” he said.

  “Yes, now I can see that,” I agreed. “But that wasn’t all. Two hours ago we had unfriendly visitors.” I added the details, including the unknown license number.

  “They dare to come here?” he fumed. “Good that you called. That’s not possible!”

  “It wouldn’t be good for the girls if someone would make the connection,” I raised my concerns.

  “Just the opposite,” he returned determinedly. “It wasn’t good for you that someone didn’t make the connection, and I will fix that. You won’t see these four brutes again. And the guy who did that to Jen will soon wish to have never been born.”

  I shuddered when I realized how serious he was. Should I have remained silent?

  Could I live with what would happen now, whatever that might be?

  I thought of Dandy and what he had done to me. Then I thought of Jen, her suffering and all what still could happen to her if nobody put a stop to this. Her torturer might want to continue at the point where I had interrupted him? Or he’d kidnap Jen, just as Dandy had kidnapped me?

  I didn’t care what happened to the criminal, I noted. Should my soul burn in hell for it, I could live with it!

  Chapter One-Hundred-And-Twenty-Four

  I was not three steps past the door, and I knew that I didn’t like hospitals. They had such a specific smell of cleansers and disinfectants that was hard to bear. When it mixed with the odor of passed and mashed cabbage soup, the average stomach had to revolt. With an effort, I managed to suppress this reaction.

  With detective-like smartness I searched and found the station where they had brought Jen. Room Seventeen, she had told me on the phone, the only single room, right next to the station door.

  “Hello, Jen,” I cheerfully greeted her.

  “Jo!” she squealed excitedly and reached out her arms. “Come!”

  I let my bags drop down and myself into her arms. This part simply didn’t need words, just the appropriate amount of time.

  “Jo—why are you here?” she finally asked.

  “Why? To give you a visit.”

  “Jo, I’ve heard your story. I understand if you don’t like hospitals.”

  I sighed and sat up. “No, I don’t like them. But my story is over. Now it’s about you. I like you, so I’m here. How are you?”

  Jen shrugged. “So-so. The back feels a bit tight, that’s all. Want to see it?”

  No, I don’t. “Yes, of course.”

  Jen climbed out of her bed, took off her nightshirt and turned around. The sight confirmed my judgment—I didn’t want to see that. “You have a very pretty ass,” I said.

  She turned around and showed me her similarly pretty boobs, before she pulled her nightshirt on again. “That bad?”

  “Quite,” I agreed. Jen didn’t need anyone talking sweet about her status, she needed an honest opinion. “Right now it looks really ugly, especially the stitched parts. That will take a while to fade away.”

  “Do you think I can still go back to work soon?”

  “That’s a difficult question,” I admitted. “As soon as there’s no more danger that your wounds will re-open—and to me, they appear healed—you can resume work, technically. I don’t know if the doctor would let you work again. Nor do I know if Lydia would let you, and I’m not sure if I myself would let you. I can’t tell how it’s healing inside you.”

  “You worked again, too. After all they did to you. If you could do it, I want to do it, too.”

  Of all things! Me, as a role model.

  No. That was good. It didn’t cost me a dime, and Jen could use every support. If my example helped her to not completely go mad, then my fate was at least useful for one person.

  “Do you think the clients will still want to sleep with me?” she asked, concerned.

  “Yes, Jen,” I answered with conviction. “You’re an attractive girl. Once a man is hard, he won’t ask for the scars. Show him your tits and ass, and you’re in business. You shouldn’t wear anything back-free on a night out. Rather, direct the looks on your legs. Closed-up top and short bottom. Okay?”

  “Okay. Would you talk to Lydia?”

  “Sure. Once you’ve talked with the doctor.”

  “Oh—well.”

  She sat down on her bed again and pulled her feet up to its edge, so that her pussy peeked out.

  “I’ve brought you something,” I began and pointed at the bags with fruit and magazines.

  Jen had another topic on her mind though. “You had visitors.”

  “Yes.”

  “They came for me.”

  “No,” I quickly objected. “They came for me.”

  “It’s about me anyway, Jo. That scumbag won’t let loose. They’ve been here, too, you know?”

  “No. How did they get in?”

  “In a white lab coat. Two guys who told me they’d inject me who-knows-what if I wouldn’t revoke my statement and call the lawyer back. I’ve told them I’d do everything, they should only leave me alone, and then they left.”

  “What did they look like?”

  Jen gave me a description of Glove and Knuckles.

  “Good,” I commented.

  “What’s good about that?” Jen pouted. “That scumbag will get away with it.”

  “No, Jen. I wanted to show this to you, too.” I pulled a piece of newspaper from the bag. “As it seems, he had a severe car accident. Broken bones, burns, he’s lucky that he’s still alive, unlike his four companions.”

  Jen skimmed the short article about the spectacular crash. “Broke through the bridge railing, several times turned over. Well—and once he’s recovered? And his brutes?”

  “Those four dead are his brutes.”

  Jen looked up at me. “That’s too convenient for pure chance.”

  “Right.” I waited for a moment. As Jen didn’t comment, I went on, “As it seems, he’s made someone very angry with his commando raid. This accident might have been a warning.”

  “How do you mean that?”

  “He reaps what he sows. He’s started a game that others can play, too—only better.” She still appeared clueless. “Jen, sometimes we have enemies who think they have free rein just because we’re prostitutes. However, in our job we also learn to know people who can become our friends.”

  “Mighty friends.”

  “I see you’ve understood.”

  “That’s a crappy game, Jo. But if nobody asks us if we want to play, I prefer the winner side. Do I know our friend?”

  “We’ve welcomed him together. A very old friend of mine.”

  She briefly mused. “Oh.”

  “I guess, when you’re back at work, he’ll want to give you a visit.”

  “I guess, when I’m back at work, I’ll want to thank him, and—deepen—our friendship a bit. Friendships should be cultivated, shouldn’t they?”

  “True.” Did that sound cynical? If so, Jen had observed her role model well.

  Chapter One-Hundred-And-Twenty-Five

  Irritated, I paused in mid-movement. Something had disturbed me. What?

  Any other burglar would probably have ignored it with a shrug and crawled on. No—other burglars wouldn’t have crawled, but they’d have continued.

  I stayed where I was and tried to remember what had caught my attention. A motion? A noise? Yes—a fine chirp, only very briefly, only once, almost in the ultrasonic range.

  Dragon piss! I was so close! Only twenty meters to the house, and now I had to meet a fucking ultrasonic sensor that I hadn’t spied out before. Moreover, the noise sounded more like a complex signal for measurement of the terrain contour than like a simple motion detector. Without my nano enhancement, I wouldn’t even have noticed the difference. I had to be grateful for that.

  Well t
hen. Here and today, I couldn’t find anything to write home about, I told myself. A good half hour wasted, and now I had to invest the same amount of time to get away—preferably exactly the same way I had come in. The path I had planned was simply not wide enough to turn around.

  So I used my enhanced memory to execute my movements exactly backward. Stay calm, I told myself, you have time. In half an hour, you’ll have reached the property boundary, and as soon as you’re outside, you can just go away.

  A loud, approaching barking corrected me. I didn’t have the time! The two Great Danes belonging to the house surely couldn’t take a joke, and probably were hungry, too. I’d be just the right appetizer.

  Okay—whether the motion detectors spotted me or the two dogs would mince me, wouldn’t matter now. Now only the cameras mattered, and those shouldn’t learn about me. To that end, there was another safe path, and in order to reach it, I had to retrace another half meter. Slowly!

  Recap—I was lying on the grass flat as a flounder and moving with the speed of a phlegmatic giant turtle, while two snappish, angrily barking dogs dashed toward me at top speed. That required an enormous amount of self control—about the same as for waiting for another lash of an SM client’s whip, although I connected especially unpleasant memories to this kind of treatment.

  The barking quickly grew louder, I slowly crawled on. I almost expected to feel the dogs’ drooling breath before I assumed myself to be in the safe area. Like a grasshopper, I jumped up and sideways, thus barely escaping the beasts’ snapping jaws, then zigzaggingly darted toward the fence.

  The beasts were quick and swift, I was highly motivated and skilled. Several times, I felt the nip of an almost-bite at my leg, but in the end, I escaped with a jump and a pull-up across the fence.

  I felt like catching my breath, but of course that wasn’t possible. First, I had to leave the area before the dogs had stirred up all the neighborhood. So I continued my sprint for a few hundred meters more, then reduced my pace to a fast trot through the forest, changing my direction several times before I finally reached my bicycle.

  Only now on my bike, I took the time to ponder the failure. No, actually it wasn’t a failure, it was just a cancelled attempt. Sadly, I couldn’t risk coming back during the next days to check whether my previous research had been incomplete or the ultrasonic terrain scanner had indeed been newly installed.

  I had been lucky.

  I owed hearing the scanner to my refined senses—thanks to Dragonish nano-technology! That I hadn’t touched the range of any camera was also owed to my enhancement, which allowed me to record my move sequences and repeat or retrace them with utmost precision, as well as planning my exact way across the property. If I wanted to go three-hundred-and-seventy-five millimeters, I’d do just that.

  The quick dodging maneuvers on my run were owed to my training as well as to my nano support—that the dogs hadn’t got me was luck anyway, as I hadn’t been able to plan the dogs’ moves. That could have ended worse.

  Whatever. This villa was burned ground for me, so I could focus on my next target.

  Chapter One-Hundred-And-Twenty-Six

  Finally! After a much too long of a time, I had signed up for an Ironman in Frankfurt again. I wanted to know—did I still have what it takes, or not?

  Shortly after signing up, doubts came up. Would my nano essence count as doping? I had no idea. So I needed the help component, even if this kind of mind talking outright annoyed me.

  Ghost.

  —Ready.—

  Does the use of nano essence count as doping?

  —No data on regional law available. In principle, the use of substances for enhancement of physical performance isn’t legitimate, and nano essence is suitable for this kind of use.—

  Crap. What if I don’t want that?

  —According to the actual biometrical data, this body is able to deliver physical peak performance without support. Thus the functioning of this substance can be limited to monitoring of physical parameters.—

  That’s something. What about testability?

  —Intrusion of pointy objects into the body can be effectively prevented. In the case of a necessary blood sampling, the substance will be retained. No nano particle leaves this body.—

  Okay. So I can participate without cheating, and without anybody finding out about me.

  —Correct.—

  Fine. Then we’ll do it this way.

  Chapter One-Hundred-And-Twenty-Seven

  In order to get home from my training track along the Main river banks, I had to run across Frankfurt’s city center, and I always took about the same way. So I didn’t have to wonder about how they’d found me when I noticed the upcoming trouble.

  As a rule, I used the running time to sort my thoughts and become more familiar with my physical abilities—meanwhile mostly without the help component’s annoyingly distant chatter. However, that didn’t mean I was inattentive. Such carelessness had allowed Dandy to kidnap me—such would never happen again.

  Only this attentiveness didn’t help me if I had no way out. Ahead of me, five young bullies, who I remembered well, were waiting for me, and the three who cut off the way in my back hadn’t been visible before.

  It seemed as if I had to fight my way out, and I didn’t like that idea. Or was there another alternative?

  I changed my easy trot to a slow walk and boldly approached the five guys with their knives and brass knuckles.

  “Hello, Sweetie,” their leader welcomed me with an evil grin and a waving butterfly knife. “You still owe us one, don’t you?”

  I replied with my sweetest smile. “I wouldn’t have expected to see you so soon again. You haven’t got enough yet?”

  “This time you won’t escape us,” he told me.

  “Ah, okay, you mean for the three boys behind me? Who says I want to escape?”

  That puzzled him, but only briefly. He laughed. “You’ll pay, Sweetie. Perhaps we’ll leave your pretty face intact, if you’re kind to us, what?”

  Oh yes—with two of his fellows, pink tips were already peeking out of their flies. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?

  “I want to be very kind to you, boys. Not that you fare as bad as the other guy recently. He’s run through a bridge railing with his car. His four brutes were dead immediately, but he’ll sit in a wheel chair for the rest of his life. You know, it must be unpleasant to burn alive.”

  “What should I care?”

  “You know, that guy bothered a friend of mine. My friend wasn’t happy about it.”

  His knife hand suddenly froze. “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying,” I declared with all the ice I could put into my voice, “that you can be lucky if my friend won’t learn about this encounter. I’d guess he’d cut your cocks in stripes and then feed your balls to his dogs—without cutting them off before.”

  “Then he better shouldn’t learn about it,” my opponent concluded lamely.

  I didn’t evade his gaze, but confidently stared into his face. There were only two options—either he let me go now, or he killed me. Even if he was a rough guy, a murder would cost him quite an effort. How far would he go?

  He played with his knife.

  “You don’t really want that. If they pick up your trace, you’ll have the cops and my friend on your heels—and you can be sure that it doesn’t matter who finds you first.”

  In his eyes, I could already see my victory. That moment, one of his mates lost it and assaulted me knife first.

  Chapter One-Hundred-And-Twenty-Eight

  My first reaction brought me out of the leader’s reach. Within the same sideways-backward flic-flac, I kicked the attacker’s knife wrist, battering the weapon from his hand, and another kick to his temple sent him to the land of dreams.

  During my tumble, I spotted no further attackers. So I quickly came back on my feet and waited, ready to fight.

  The other boys had anxiously backed off—except for their leader, w
ho hadn’t moved. All together had to realize that their would-be easy prey could defend herself!

  “Nothing happened,” I said with demonstrative calmness. “I will leave now, and we never meet again. Okay?”

  Nobody answered. But when I made one step toward the leader, he backed off. Another step, and they opened a path for me.

  It cost me quite some self control to slowly walk between them without looking right and left. Stay cool, Jo. Even if you get a stab between your ribs, it’s only pain.

  The pain didn’t come. Ten steps later, I briefly glanced around—nobody had moved—and waved goodbye. Then I resumed my trot.

  One block later, I granted myself leave to breathe a sigh of relief. This could have gone bad!

  My only option would have been to at least seriously injure some of them. With eight armed opponents, I wouldn’t have had the time to send them to sleep one by one. Sadly, I felt the same qualms that I had bet upon with their leader—I didn’t dare to simply kill a man. Someone like Dandy—perhaps. But a spoilt green boy with a knife?

  Luckily, it had come easy to me to only stun the single attacker. With my martial arts trainer, I had exercised a few moves that should help against knife-wielders, like for example that kick on the wrist. In addition I trained all kinds of dodging maneuvers—dash rolls, jumps, flic-flacs, somersaults, cartwheels, from Kung Fu movie moves and wrestling fights to bicycle equilibristics. I tried everything that could improve my mobility and coordination. Only the actual situation hadn’t been among those.

  I had spontaneously imagined how to do it, which jigsaw parts I’d assemble, and with the aid of my nanos the move had happened exactly the way I had planned it. Great! Moreover, according to my knowledge, I was the only one on this planet able to do such. I felt great.

  I had arrived on Winner Street.

  Chapter One-Hundred-And-Twenty-Nine