The Slave World (30)

(30): Going dark

“It’s not going to be easy, but yes, I think we can arrange it. Mark should be here though. He needs to hear this too,” said Adam as we sat in a gastropub near King’s Cross called the Driver. Situated on Caledonian Road it was an old favourite of mine for an occasional working lunch with its vertical garden and decked roof terrace. Adam had bought me a glass of red wine which sat untouched on the table as I had outlined the arrangement I had proposed to Rebecca after dropping the bombshell that she had a dose of Carousel to trade for her freedom.

“I’m uncomfortable with Mark seeing me like this. He’s Gorean after all.” I wore the clothes Adam had told me I was to wear to meet him – a short leatherette skirt, light cream in colour, with a soft red silk blouse, the top two buttons unbuttoned to reveal a hint of my cleavage. I wore four inch sandal heels, a kinky chain link style belt and various bangles on my wrist that slid along my forearm when I lifted it. I also wore slave perfume and full makeup. Adam was very pleased when he saw me.

“He’s going to see you like this eventually, Caitlin. You may as well get the moment of revelation over and done with.”

“He treats me like he would treat a free woman of Ar…” I said sadly. “He's going to be so disappointed in me.”

“Not for much longer he won’t. I could show him your past text messages to soften the shock when he next sees you?”

“No, please don’t do that. Just give me a little while longer.”

“He won’t hate you for being a slave, Caitlin. He knows most women are natural slaves.”

“I’m not a slave!”

“I’ve allowed you some time to adjust, Cat, but that time is fast running out. You may as well come to terms with that.”

“You can’t really mean that, Adam?” I picked up the wine and sipped it. “You can’t keep me as a slave in London. Not against my will. You just can't.”

“You sing a very different tune when you're in bed with me, Cat.”

I had returned home earlier in the day to hide away the money I had received from Rebecca. I wasn’t supposed to have money according to Adam. Not money of my own, and yet I knew I needed emergency funds in case things went badly wrong for me. I had collected over three thousand pounds from Rebecca for past work and this I intended to hide under the mattress of my bed, only I didn’t have the chance for when I came through the door I found Kassa in the living room.

“Caitlin, come here please. Now,” she said. It wasn’t her fault – it was just the way she sounded – that abrupt East European way of talking where simple statements always sounded strident and forceful and often confrontational. She could be expressing her deepest condolences for the loss of your grandmother and it would come out as ‘grandmother dead. Very sad. Please to cry if you want.’

I mean, I actually did hear her say that to one of her friends once. I’m not making this up.

I entered the living room to find Kassa lifting a number of gowns and dresses from a box that she had slit open with a knife. The garments were similar to the ones worn by Middle Eastern women, and it dawned on me that they were probably the robes, gowns and veils of a Gorean free woman.

“What’s up?” I asked as I approached the coffee table where Kassa had laid out some of the fabrics. The materials involved looked gorgeous – expensive and hand crafted. Considering I did so much of my shopping in Top Shop, Next and Primark I wasn’t used to seeing such high quality stitching.

“Oh, hello Caitlin. These clothes are impossible to put on. See!” She lifted up one gown and turned it so I could see the multiple hooks and clasps some of which were at the back. “Impossible. Not know where to begin.”

Oh, and Kassa was standing there nearly naked, just wearing her bra and knickers. She did that from time to time.

“What are you doing with those?” I asked.

“Gift from Andromedus. I am moving in to House of Three Moons. We have talked much and he has offered me better job than shitty Amazon delivery with their nag-nag-nag every time I need toilet break. Fuck them.” She held up her middle finger to emphasise her point.

“Andromedus has offered you... a job? Doing… what?”

“Free woman work.” Kassa smiled. “He gave me gold. See.” She showed me a handful of coins that you might think were from some ancient empire pre-dating Rome except for the fact they had only been minted maybe a decade ago. The coins were small, there were three of them and they were most definitely gold. “And see.” Now she showed me a broach of exquisite silver craftsmanship inset with a precious stone that looked like a large emerald.

“Kassa, it probably isn’t a good idea to associate with these people. They’re dangerous men.”

“I am dangerous woman. So we get on I think.”

“Please, Kassa, it’s not safe.”

“Do you know how to dress? These garments…” she indicated the layers of gowns.

“I might be able to help you try them on.” And so with my help Kassa drew on the gowns one by one, building up the layers of soft light fabrics against her skin and the heavier brocaded fabrics worn over them. True enough it needed a second set of hands to assist with drawing back the folds, fastening the hidden clasps and generally arranging the garments so that the folds overlapped and fell beautifully. The last gown had a hood that could be drawn over her hair. I worked out how to hang the veils which I did with ease. Finally Kassa drew on her white gloves and I helped her feet into a pair of sequinned slippers.

The transformation was astonishing. Now Kassa looked authoritative, a proud regal free woman of a Gorean city, aloof and mysterious. She seemed to stand straighter in these garments and regard me with a penetrating gaze like a free woman might give a slave.

“Are you actually planning on wearing this in London?”

“No. Is for house.”

“The House of Three Moons?”

“I have room there now. They have made me offer.”

“Kassa, you don’t know these people like I do.”

“I will work for them on Gor. Then I will wear such clothes.”

“What?! What?! No, you can’t! Are you serious? Kassa!”

“I will have large house, money, many slaves. On Gor I will work for them. Better life than working for Deliveroo and Amazon.”

If what she was saying was true, then it sounded like Andromedus had decided she was suitable to be one of their operatives on Gor. From what Adam had previously told me it seemed the Kurii routinely recruited Earth women to be their agents on the Counter Earth. I suppose to his mind Kassa possessed the sheer bloody mindedness and force of will to operate in dangerous situations. But Adam had told me what routinely happened to those female agents after a short time on Gor.

“Kassa, do not do this.”

“Hush. Quiet. You are slave, Caitlin. And call me Mistress.”

“This isn’t what you think it is. What did they tell you?”

“They tell me I will be rich with big house and high status. I come to England to better myself from Poland. Now I go to Gor to better myself more than shitty England with its pizza hut.”

Oh fuck. “When?”

“Three days. Leave in three days.”

The same silver ship destined to carry its cargo of enslaved women from the New Forest, including possibly Rebecca Miles unless we helped her escape before the slavers came for her. Three days, even less now.

Adam still wasn’t happy with excluding Mark from meeting with Rebecca and myself, but in respect for what I’d managed to achieve he grudgingly allowed me a few more days before Mark would have to learn the truth about our current relationship. I was very scared how he might react. Adam was an Earth man after all and not indicative of what I might expect from a Gorean who had thought of me as a dignified free woman. And also, I liked Mark, he was my friend. I didn’t want him to be disappointed in me, which I knew he would be.

We talked about how we were going to arrange things for Rebecca. Obviously we had to move quickly and therefore we concluded that in the short term we had to hide her in the underground bunker complex belonging to the Priest Kings. There she would be safe from abduction and the silver ship would have to leave on schedule without her. Adam worked out it might take a week to arrange false papers, assuming his contacts still existed, and then he would arrange for her to be smuggled out of England to start a new life in Europe. Rebecca had stated a preference for Switzerland but Adam confided in me that she’d be lucky just to be smuggled into Europe full stop and that where she then chose to live would be her own affair.

“Besides which, once she's free and we have Carousel it’s probably best that we don’t know where she goes to begin her new life.”

I texted the news to Rebecca and got a swift reply back saying she was ready to leave as soon as we could pick her up.

“I’ve asked Mark to begin work with our contacts to arrange papers and a route out of the country. He has deeper connections than me anyway, at least with the surviving Priest King cells. It’ll keep him busy for a couple of days but after that he’s going to have to know about you and me.”

“Will there still be a you and me, Adam?”

“You're my kajira, Cat. I’m not giving you up. We’ll live on an island in the South Pacific and it’ll be ours completely. I’ll be a Ubar there. Mark will visit from time to time, or maybe live there too. Separate ends of the island. Money can buy anything.”

Except happiness, Adam. Money never buys happiness, just the illusion of happiness.

Now came the dangerous bit. This close to the date when Rebecca would be abducted it was quite possible that she was under close surveillance and that any move to lift her would be opposed.

“I’ll draw a gun from the bunker,” said Adam, which was an indication of how serious he took this as he didn’t carry a gun in London lightly. Guns were a last resort for him, but I felt sure that the agents of the Kurii would be armed in some way. “Do you want a gun, Cat?”

“What? No. God, no. Do I look like the sort of person who should be given a gun? I might shoot you by accident if I panicked.”

“Fair point.”

We strolled down the road and made our way to the secret entrance that descended by a flight of stairs into the old Earl's Court underground station, later refitted in the Edwardian era as a secret Priest King bunker. Adam had me wait at street level while he went down to sign out a gun and some ammunition. He didn't want the GPS tracker on my ankle ring to blink out and identify my last known location just yet. After that we had a little time to kill and we did so by strolling down towards the river. It was like we were an ordinary boyfriend and girlfriend out on a date, but he was a master and I was a slave.

Adam had parked a car close to the river. I sat in the passenger seat and wondered whether this car was also equipped to gas and abduct women in the back seat. As Adam stuck the keys into the ignition I fired off a text to Rebecca to tell her we were on our way

“Will she have the Carousel with her?” asked Adam.

“No. That would be risky, She doesn't know you after all, and barely knows me.”

“Just so long as he understands she doesn't get her new papers or a route out of England until we have the Carousel.”

We drove through London towards Docklands where Rebecca lived. Somewhere my movements would be monitored but I had to be with Adam to make the introductions.

“The bunker has plenty of food and everything we'll need,” said Adam. “Once we're down there you're going to sit tight with Rebecca until we're ready to move her out of England and Mark can hack your GPS signal permanently.”

“You're going to remove the anklet?”

“No. Just re-route everything through Priest King servers instead of Kurii ones. I like the ankle ring on you, Cat. I like the options it gives me.”

“Oh.” I sank back in the passenger seat and realised I was never going to lose this ankle ring. Adam would have control over me for as long as he wanted. “You're going to keep me as a slave...”

“I've already told you that. You just didn't believe me.”

A slave. I would never be free so long as I wore this ankle ring.

We had talked through various options and had decided the element of surprise would be best. We would simply go in fast, escort Rebecca out and into the car and if the Kurii had anyone there, well, Adam had a gun. I was terrified he might have to use it. You can't fire a gun in London and not expect armed police response teams to move in within minutes. But the same rule applied to the Kurii so maybe it might not come to that. Adam parked right next to the building and to hell with double yellow lines. As we got out he scanned the area for anyone who might look a bit suspicious.

“I can't see anyone,” said Adam.

“Nor me.”

“Cocky overconfident fuckers this close to the pick up. Our gain, their loss.”

I led Adam up to Rebecca's apartment and found her waiting for us with her handbag and a single holdall bag containing some clothes. I made quick introductions as we ushered her down the hall.

“Rebecca, this is Adam, Adam, Rebecca.”

“Pleased to meet you, Priest King.”

Adam simply nodded. His full attention was devoted to watching for any sign of an ambush. I was nervous as hell as we moved down the staircase. Adam had refused to take the lift and I saw he had his automatic pistol in his right hand with a jacket draped over it. Corny but it meant he could shoot quickly if necessary.

I hoped it wouldn't come to that.

“You okay?” I asked Rebecca. She was in the middle with me behind her.

“Terrified,” she said and her eyes reflected that fear.

“Straight outside is our car. Adam will go first and then you follow when he drops his left hand. I'll be behind you. If anything happens, run straight for the car and hide behind it.”

“Thank you, Caitlin. I'll never forget this.” She reached to me and squeezed my fingers as a sign of gratitude.

Adam went out first and reached the car door before he signalled for Rebecca to follow. I watched her hurry past at a fast walk, looking every part like she was a defector crossing the Berlin Wall. And then all three of us were in the car – Rebecca in the back seat and me riding shotgun. Adam wasted no time and drove away at what I thought was a far too obvious speed. We headed back towards the centre of London where the Earl's Court entrance was located.

“Was I being watched?” asked a nervous Rebecca as she craned her neck to gaze out of the rear window.

“I don't think so. They're either overconfident or busy setting up the pick up in two days' time. Either way, lucky for us.” He gunned the engine and took a rehearsed set of side streets in case we had a tail. If so the tail would soon be obvious. And then we hit traffic lights. Of course we hit traffic lights. You can't drive through London quickly. It's just not possible.

As I sat there chewing my nails, Adam calmly tapped his steering wheel controls to play some music.

“Coldplay?” I said in astonishment.

“Coldplay is great,” said Adam as he waited for the traffic lights to change.

“You actually like Coldplay?” I looked at him in horror.

“What's wrong with Coldplay?”

“Okay, that's it, I can't be a slave to someone who listens to Coldplay.”

Adam laughed as the traffic lights changed to green and we sped on.

By the time we pulled into a multi story car park I had taken charge of the in car stereo and was now playing 'Move On Up' by Curtis Mayfield. To my satisfaction Adam was tapping his fingers away to the song.

“Curtis Mayfield tried to have sex with me once at a party in Manhattan in 1972,” said Rebecca as Adam got out of the car.

“Nice,” I said.

“Bracelet check,” said Adam as he opened the passenger door. Like a dutiful kajira I extended my left foot. He fastened a small device on a velcro strip around it and slid a tight switch on the side. “You've just gone dark, Cat. Your GPS signal has just vanished. Time to move quickly.” He led us both out of the car park and then we took a quick succession of side streets heading towards the secret Earl's Court entrance. We were a good five streets away from where my signal vanished when we opened the door and descended down into the underworld. Lights came on automatically as we tramped down the echoing stairwell.

“You're going to be hiding down here for a week,” I said to Rebecca. “Me too, so I hope you like playing cards.”

We emerged after a few minutes deep underground in the Edwardian décor of the the condemned tube station rooms. The slight smell of damp and mould still lingered from last time, but the furnishings looked comfortable enough.

“Bedrooms are to the right, kitchen to the left. Ditto bathroom, and no, there's no TV,” explained Adam.

“Thank you,” said Rebecca as she dropped her holdall onto the ground and reached into her handbag for a compact and lipstick.

“Last time I was here I saw the wine rack. Anyone fancy a drink?” I asked as I headed towards the 32 bottle capacity rack. I pulled a dusty bottle of a 1986 Chateau Gruaud Larose from the rack as I suddenly heard a sharp scream from Adam. By the time I had spun round I saw Adam lying prone on the floor, his body convulsing as Rebecca dropped the lipstick tube that she had lightly touched to his bare neck. I was in shock as she reached into her handbag and pulled out an automatic pistol. She chambered the first round and pointed it at me.

“What...”

“Now, Adam I had to take alive, but you, well I have some discretion there. Do anything stupid, Caitlin, and I'll put two bullets in your stomach before you can get halfway across the floor. Remember my file notes – 1977?”

“You... you won a silver medal in an international target shooting competition in 1977...”

“That's right. And I no longer have the shaky hands of an 83 year old woman, so I won't miss.”

“You... you work for the Kurii...”

Rebecca laughed. “Of course I don't work for the fucking Kurii.” She held the pistol with her right hand and fished in her handbag for a set of handcuffs that she threw across the floor without taking her eyes off me.

“Then... what is this?”

“Oh come on, Caitlin, you're the great PI.” When it was obvious I still didn't understand she continued. “I lied to you a bit about Charles. There was never a Kurii death squad. I killed him. He had a mild stroke and I took the opportunity to smother him with a pillow. What? He deserved it. All those years of drunken abuse, fornicating with young women in our house, and then refusing me a share of his Carousel. Good fucking riddance.” She motioned with the gun which she was now holding professionally in both hands. “Pick up the handcuffs, Caitlin.”

“So... are the Kurii after you at all?”

“Of course they fucking are. I killed one of their assets. What do you think? And yes, they came across 'Rebecca Miles' and decided to abduct her, not knowing she was Jennifer Larner. It is genuinely ironic. Now lock the first cuff on your right wrist. Do it.”

I locked the first cuff on my right wrist.

“We're trying to help you, Jennifer...”

“And thank you very much. I appreciate the thought. But I'm not giving up a dose of Carousel unless I have to. So, you know what I did as soon as you walked out of my door earlier today? I made a deal with the Kurii. You were absolutely right – I do still have all those contacts on my speed dial. Now put your hands behind your back and lock that other cuff on your left wrist. Do it, kajira!”

“Jennifer... you can't deal with these people...” I heard the ratchet click as I secured both my wrists behind my back.

“You can if you have something they want, like a high ranking Priest King agent who can give them the entire London cell structure on a plate. We did a deal. One get out of jail free card for killing Charles. Turns out Andromedus thought he was a prick anyway. Who would have thought? Your offer of a new life in Europe was all well and good, Caitlin, but I would have spent my life looking over my shoulder constantly. It's better this way. And honestly, it's nothing personal.”

“You bitch.”

“Ohhh... have I upset you? Turn round. I want to see those handcuffs.”

I turned round.

“Make them tighter, kajira. I'm not stupid.”

I closed the cuffs another couple of notches until the cuffs now bit into my skin.

“Please, Rebecca, don't do this...”

“Lie on the floor, kajira. On your belly.”

I did as she ordered and saw her produce a disposable hypodermic from her bag.

“Now then,” she said as she crouched beside me and pulled the leatherette skirt down to display my hip. “This is probably going to sting but then you'll take a nice long nap and wake up where you will soon belong: in a cage with all the other slaves waiting to be shipped off planet. Night-night, Kajira.”

I felt the hypodermic needle prick me in the hip. Seconds later I passed out.

The end game had truly begun.