Love in Chains Ch. 15

"There were shots fired Mir, both Luke and Nye fell but I couldn't see. I couldn't see if they'd been hit. This bastard wouldn't stop. He wouldn't take me back."

"This bastard saved your skin, you ungrateful colonial. If I had gone back they'd have got both of us too, then who would even know about it?" The words were resigned, as if they'd been said in similar format many times. However, there was a hint of amusement in them along with more than a hint of affection.

My stomach had turned to ice and for a moment I thought I was going to be sick. I was trembling so much I could barely speak but I had to... I had to ask... I had to know.

"Nye was shot?"

"I don't know. I told you, I couldn't see. I don't know." His voice rose into a wail of pain.

"Alright... calm down. When was this?"

"Three days ago."

"Three days? Why haven't you come to me before?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. My brother could be dead or dying and Kane had waited three days before telling me.

"I couldn't Mir. I wanted to but so much has happened." He glanced at the man. "Riz has been great but it took me twenty four hours to persuade him to do anything at all. I was almost under house arrest. He took me to a safe house, somewhere set up specifically to help escaped slaves."

"Slaves?"

"That's for another time, Mir. You don't know the half. Adam's bloody famous but you don't wanna know what for. Anyway... I eventually persuaded Riz and Marco, he's the guy who runs the safe house, to do something. I couldn't just abandon Nye and... eventually they agreed to let me go to the police. I was there all day, and I mean all day. They took I don't know how many statements and all kinds of people came to talk to me. In the end they told me to go straight back to the house and not speak to anyone." He paused, running a hand through his hair.

"I thought about calling you Mir, honest to god I did but the detective was very clear about not contacting anyone. He said it might put me and them in danger."

"It's alright Kane. Go on. What happened then?"

"Nothing. I mean... yeah... we got told this morning that The Club was raided yesterday and shut down but nothing else. Nye wasn't there and neither was Adam."

"Woah... hang on. The Club was raided? Why? It wasn't illegal or anything was it?"

"Not in itself but it was a front for all sorts of illegal activity. Drugs, prostitution, slavery."

"Slavery? There's that word again. What the hell has Nye got himself into?"

"He didn't know Mir, I swear he didn't know. I don't think he knew anything at all until that day and when he found out he was all set to walk away... but Adam wouldn't let him."

"And neither of them was at The Club?"

Kane shook his head, his eyes wide and burning. "No. There was no trace of either of them at The Club or at Adam's apartment. There were some signs that Adam had packed up quickly but none of Nye's stuff is gone."

His words left me cold. What if... what if...?

"You don't think...?"

It was the man, Riz who answered. "The word is that Adam's gone running to Lian and taken Nye and Luke with him. We know at least one of them was hurt. There was a good deal of blood in the courtyard and in one of the bedrooms upstairs."

"Have they tested it?"

"If they have they're not saying."

"Who's Lian?"

"Lian is Adam's 'Master'."

"Master?"

"The person who trained him?"

"Trained him as what?" Suddenly I didn't want to know. I held up my hand to silence Riz who was on the point of answering. "No... don't tell me. I don't want to know. So..." my mind was racing and I was finding it hard to get anything to make sense. "...Nye was going to leave Adam but there was a confrontation and someone was definitely shot. It could have been Nye, or... someone else..." I looked up at Kane who nodded.

"There was this kid... Luke... he works behind the bar in The Club. Marco tells me he's one of Adam's 'boys'."

"Don't... just don't tell me. I get the picture. So Adam and his goons take Nye and this Luke, one or both of them hurt... upstairs and then goes home and packs up his things, then he takes the boys to... Lian, whoever he is and then the police raid The Club and close it down."

"In a nutshell, yes."

"They find blood in the courtyard and bedroom but we don't know whose it is. And now all three of them... Adam, Luke and Nye, have vanished."

Both men nodded. "Don't the police know where this Lian is?"

"Oh yeah... they know him alright, very well." Riz grimaced. He is the kingpin, the head of the business. They have been after him for years."

"Okay... I don't want to know what 'the business' is, I think I can guess. But if they know where he is and what he does why don't they do something about it?"

"Because he is powerful, very powerful. He has a number of high ranking police officers under his belt... literally, and he's bribing more. He covers his tracks and has a score of very high profile, legitimate businesses."

"Do you know where he is, where Adam might have taken Nye?"

Riz shrugged. "There are any number of places... and even if you knew what are you going to do about it? Talk to him? Beg? Politely request that he releases your brother, the person responsible for bringing Adam down and the police sniffing around Lian?"

"I don't know. I don't know. But at least we could go to the police, tell them where he might be, get them to do something."

"Do you think I haven't tried? They keep telling me that they have things in hand and I should go home and try not to think about it. How can I do that Mir? How can I spend even one moment not thinking about him? He's all I can think about. I don't even know if he is alive and I am terrified that if I just sit back and do nothing he won't be."

Kane started pacing up and down the corridor. "Fuck Mir, this is killing me. It's fucking killing me." He stopped and punched the wall... hard, smearing blood on the wallpaper.

"Kane, calm down. This isn't doing any good. You have to calm down and be rational about this. I presume the police are checking Lian out. If he has Nye they will find him."

Kane looked at me as if I had two heads.

"Not likely. If he knows the police are sniffing around he will be hiding them all very carefully."

"Right. Wait here. And don't do anything stupid like splashing blood on my walls again."

For a moment Kane look confused, then he glanced at the wall where I was pointing and blushed, looking slightly sheepish and rubbed impotently at the stain with a finger.

"Sorry Mir."

My mind was racing as I got dressed. I didn't bother with my hair and it was hanging loose and wet around my shoulders when, a few minutes later I was back in the hall, my bag in my hand.

"Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"We are going to do something Kane."

First we went to the police but, as Kane had said they were polite but unhelpful. After over an hour of waiting a detective came to talk to us and told us that they had received plenty of information from various people at The Club and elsewhere and they were following up leads. He was young and bright and hopeful... but he didn't reassure me one bit.

I begged him to tell me if they were going to raid any of Lian's establishments but he told me that the details of the investigation were confidential information. I was so frustrated I wanted to punch him.

"This is my brother we're talking about. He's innocent in all this. He had no idea what he was getting involved in and he might be hurt, even dying. They are not going to be making him tea and toast. I want to know what you are doing to get him out of there."

"Are you saying then, that your brother was not willingly involved with Adam Nash?"

"In the beginning he was, yes. He was Adam's boyfriend and he was in love with him, so much in love with him that he was blind to what he was truly like and until recently he had no idea what was going on. As soon as he found out he tried to leave but Adam caught him and took him back."

"Are you really suggesting your brother was so naive that he spent more than six months in the company of Adam Nash, worked behind the bar in his club, was seen openly accompanying him and actually moved in with him, without knowing anything about what was going on right there in that very club or any of Mr Nash's more clandestine business dealings?"

"I am not suggesting it, I am telling you. Nye didn't know anything about any of that. There is no way he would have stayed with Adam if he had. You don't know my brother, you don't know anything about him, the kind of person he is. I do know. And I am telling you that Nye would NEVER be involved in anything like that."

The detective looked at Riz who nodded. The young police officer pursed his lips. "Do you know the kind of business Mr Nash was involved in?"

"No, and I don't want to."

"He has been implicated in an international slave ring that snatches young boys of fourteen and fifteen years old and 'train' them to be willing sex slaves. Their methods are brutal as are the lives of these children afterwards. They are sold to the highest bidder to be used in any way they choose. The best trained and most beautiful slaves can fetch millions. Adam Nash is one of the best trainers there is... his slaves are very much in demand as he has a reputation for breaking their spirit, bending their wills and twisting their minds without damaging them too much."

My stomach threatened to rebel forcefully and I started to shake violently. "Is that...?" My voice was a strangled whisper. I swallowed and tried again. "Is that what they are going to do to Nye?"

"I would be very surprised if that is not what he has been doing to him all along. Unfortunately his methods don't seem to have worked and so he has turned to Lian... who does not have such a good reputation. Lian is a sadist. Do you know what that means?"

"He... he likes hurting people."

"Likes is nowhere near a strong enough word for it. Lian is a master at the creation of pain. He has elevated it to the level of an art. People come from all over the world to sample his delights... either by experiencing it themselves or watching it done to others."

"People pay to be hurt?"

"You'd be surprised. In the hands of someone as skilled as Lian pain is the most exquisite pleasure, or so I have been told."

I could barely take it in. I was shocked numb. It was too much. This... boy was discussing that 'monster' with something almost like respect in his voice. Didn't he realise what he was saying? Didn't he realise that my baby brother was in his hands... that the things he was saying were likely to be happening to him right now?

"No."

I felt a strong arm around my shoulders and looked up into Kane's pale face. He looked at the detective and snarled. "I think you've given us enough information for now thank you very much. Fuck, you cops are heartless bastards. Don't you realise what you're saying you dick? You're talking about the man who is holding her brother."

At first the man looked as though he was going to tear into Kane for his disrespect but he thought better of it at the last moment and just nodded his head.

"I'm sorry, that was insensitive of me. I was merely attempting to convey to you that we are very well aware of Lian and his activities. We have been watching him for a very long time and we have agents infiltrating his organisation. We will bring him down but it takes time. This is a very delicate operation which has been underway for a considerable period of time. We area at a crucial stage in our activities. If we move too soon we could ruin years of careful preparation work."

"And if you don't you'll have my brother's blood on your hands."

He gave me a cool look and then got up and walked out of the room without a backward glance.

When he had gone we were effectively dismissed but I was strangely reluctant to leave. As we were milling about in the large lobby a man came out of a door on the far side and began to walk towards the exit, his head down. He looked dishevelled and morose, his hair hanging limply. There was something strangely familiar about him, so much so that as he passed I felt compelled to grab his arm.

The man looked up at me startled and pulled out of my grasp with a startled gasp. When I saw his face I knew immediately who it was. He was the man who came to speak to Adam at The Club, when I went there to find Nye.

"You. You work at The Club don't you? You know Adam... and my brother... you know Nye. Please... please tell me. Do you know what happened to him? Is he alright? Is he alive?"

The man's eyes widened and flicked to Kane and Riz who smiled and said softly. "Hello Jon."

Jon shuddered and lowered his eyes. He looked dreadful, as if he had been in a cell all night... which he probably had. He mumbled something and went to move on, but Kane blocked him.

"If you know where he is tell us."

Jon raised his head and for a moment his eyes blazed, then they faded and he shook his head.

"I can't. Look, you may not believe this but I really did everything I could for him. I tried to talk to him days ago, to tell him, to warn him, but he wouldn't listen. Adam had his claws in him good and proper. And..." He looked up at Kane. "I told him about you. I sent him up to you. At the time I thought it was the right thing to do... now I'm not so sure."

"Thank you... for trying to help but... Please... please can't you help us find him?"

Jon looked at me. He was probably not that much older than me with very pretty eyes but they were dull and dead, as if he had already given up on life.

"Please."

Kane put a hand on his arm and he turned his head to look at him, "Can't you even tell us who was hurt? We know that someone was."

Jon nodded and said dully. "It was Luke."

"Not Nye?"

"No. The last I saw him Nye was okay. Adam was... giving him a hard time and he was pretty drugged up most of the time but... he was okay."

"And Luke?"

"He wasn't hurt too bad. He was getting the same treatment as Nye."

"When was the last time you saw him?"

Jon hesitated then he nodded again. "Look... I can't talk here. Meet me at The Club in half an hour, outside. I'll take you somewhere we can talk."

"Oh thank you. Thank you. You have no idea..."

"Don't get too hopeful. I can't tell you much and most of it you probably won't want to hear but... I suppose it's the least I can do.

Well, there was not really anything we could have done but let him go... and spend the next half hour in hell.