The Dark Star - Aftermath Pt. 05

"It's not the full version... but I can get you that if you ever want it."

The camera kept slipping in and out of focus at first, the image captured of the backs of heads; individuals crowded around something, someone, taunting, jeering, cheering. All against the backdrop of satisfied, female, moans of pleasure. The amateur cameraman squeezed between the observers and the camera focussed on her lay across a bed. Lay across a bed with her arms held stretched out and restrained above her much as they were now. She made no protest her head and neck arched back, her mouth open as she groaned as gasped for breath with her eyes screwed shut, her face contorted not seemingly in any pain but in ecstasy as she just lay there while they watched, and she accepted what was happening to her.

She was having sex in the video. Having sex with someone she obviously didn't recognise tied to a bed while a braying mob goaded and jeered.

"Enough," Sarah wept. "Enough."

"Hold on ... we are just getting to the good bit," The Wolf calmly stared as he continued to hold the phone over her, "Don't look away."

Her eyes drawn to the screen like a moth to a flame. She cringed realising she watched as whoever was on top of her, whoever was in her had just climaxed. The camera panned back, her eyes frantically scanning the screen trying to recognise any of the various faces, possibly she recognised the man called Chris who'd taken her there that night, instantly now she recognised the shaven head of Dan who'd brought her here this evening, his early comment painfully abundantly clear. The images clearly ignited recollections fit her. Not the most damning recollection, not yet.

Sarah kept watching her face suddenly contorting in a look of utter disgust.

"That's..." she uttered.

"Wait..." The Wolf bluntly stated.

The shaven headed Dan ruffled the hair of a bare-chested individual Sarah instantly recognised. The individual who'd just been fucking her. The Wolf paused the video.

"No..." Sarah uttered "No..."

"I've been doing my homework on you Sarah McAllister ... I suggest once again not only is it a small world ... but it's also a pretty fucked up world".

"No... No..." Sarah uttered fresh tears streaming down her face. The anguish her mind processed seemingly far greater than the physical pain and discomfort wracking her body.

"Yes... Oh Yes... That's young Jack is it not?" He slipped the phone back into his pocket. "Your boyfriend Jack."

Sarah lay there mortified unable to think, speak or move.

"I think as they say that the truth hurts".

The Wolf watched her as held by the grip the of The Rack the new emotional pain ripped through her. Eyes welling up and stinging with fresh warm tears as she processed what he'd just shown her. Her mind coming back to that same paused grainy image of Jack.

"Jack used to work for me... well work with me... we never met actually. He showed promise but his situation became untenable I think you'd say." The Wolf continued as stepped back a pace.

"Now I don't know how and why in young Jacks fucked up sense of logic you came back on to his radar. I don't know how and why that led your little to Sister to my door. Like I said world is a small place and it sometimes works in fucked up ways... very fucked up ways."

Sarah simply lay there unable to cope. Snivelling as she started up at the ceiling.

"I could've taken you that night, but I passed... perhaps it was fate... What will be will be."

Without a word and with a quick snatch of a lever The Rack noisily released and freed Sarah from its grip. Arms and legs that had been near raised from the surface visibly relaxed but still she held that haunted look unable to fully understand what she had just seen and been told.

"Although... and here's the real kicker... You can't and you won't be going back home tonight and breathing a word of this to him... not if you want to see your Sister again."

She slowly turned to face him, gently pulling her arms at the restraint which still held her as if she forgotten, tears falling to the cold metal surface on which she was held. "Wh... What?"

Behind the mask The Wolf grinned.

"You've a new purpose... a dual purpose so your sister gets her freedom... and when the times right you also give me Jack Hughes... it's a win win for you... I believe you've kept quiet so far... that's why I know I can trust you and that you'll keep quiet for as long as it takes."

Her eyes watched as his right hand reached back down along her right leg, immediately he pulled at the metal buckle and leather strap that held her in its restraint.

"I think you've suffered enough... threshold tested".

She remained silent as he moved around her releasing her left ankle and then both of her wrists. Wincing Sarah rolled into to her side drawing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms slowly around herself as she lay there; eyes level with his sternum as he stood back before her. Extending his right arm once again he pushed long blonde hair back off her face.

"As I asked you before Sarah... Do we have an understanding?"

Whether she truly understood or not she nodded an affirmative as she lay there overwhelmed by the thoughts no doubt running through her mind. The Wolf's hand took hold of her jaw and tilted her face towards his own masked face.

"Why do you want Jack?" She barely whispered.

"I don't think you'd cope if I told you everything, he was capable of... not on top of everything else" The Wolf coldly stated from beneath the mask. "I'll leave you to it... your phone is on the floor by the door... Wait 30 minutes before you leave".

"And What... and what about Sophie?" Her broken voice was barely able to hide her understandable emotions.

"You've taken another step towards freeing her... there are other steps I'll need you to take before you've proved you're an adequate substitute. In the meantime, I keep hold of pretty little Sophie as insurance."

He watched over her as she lay there "Damn though those boots... wear them again next time".

Silently she nodded as he walked away.

"Just keep your phone on, remain cooperative and obedient and I give you my word as I did before ...You're her replacement she'll be free when I know you are mine."

"Yeah, yours and every one of your handsy fucking vile little helpers."

The Wolf looked back at her "What do you mean?"

**********

Fuck I was pissed stumbling along the pavement with Tubs and Harry just ahead of me. The intoxicating combination of too much lager and brandy sloshing around inside of me. The last remnants of a now cold kebab sat in a yellow Styrofoam tray clutched in my left hand having done very little to absorb the excesses of the night, only serving to goad my nausea a little.

It was good to catch up, it was good to cut loose. The shit with Sophie I feel bad about it, but you can't go putting life on hold for months on end, can you? She'll be alright. Sarah will be alright. We'll all be alright.

"Jack" Harry calls over his shoulder "Jack are you coming back to ours or what?"

"Nah mate," I respond as I simply drop the tray of half-eaten food to my feet, further littering the pavement that's already well covered in the takeaway detritus of a Saturday night "Nah I'm going home."

"Pussy," Harry responds and I'm too inebriated to argue or ask why going home qualifies me as a pussy.

"Fuck off Haz" Tubs interjects as I raise my hand to hail a Silver Mercedes with an illuminated yellow light atop of it "He's got that blonde to go home to... She'll probably do him a Full English in the morning... I've just got you and I'll be lucky if you chuck Coco Pops in bowl with 3-day old milk for me".

I chuckle, I've missed Tub's sense of humour.

"Boys..." I raise a hand as the Taxi pulls up next to me "...as ever it's been Shit... but we'll try again next time."

"Don't go puking in the back of the cab," Tubs hollers in my direction.

"Ah the working boy can afford the penalty for soiling a taxi," Harry chuckles as I slip heavily into the back passenger seat.

"23 Willow Close," I manage to coherently say to the driver as he pulls into the steady flow of late-night traffic.

**********

Sarah pulled her aching body from the back seat of the Uber; her phone confirming that Alishan her driver had dropped her at her destination and asking her to rate her experience.

She immediately pressed five stars, grateful if nothing else that the GPS had been able to find her from the collection point deep within the Docks. Having emerged from the Storage container and then the Warehouse in which it had been housed. She'd remained there the full half an hour he'd specified after he'd departed. She followed his instructions intently. She had to play his rules if only through no other necessity than to ensure Sophies freedom.

Her eyes wet, her mind immediately cast back to that cold November morning she'd awoken in an unfamiliar room, no memory of the night before. Chris who'd brought her to the party after she'd finished a shift at work was nowhere to be seen. He'd been in that video. She knew. She knew at the time that something had happened to her, she hadn't known what and she couldn't explain to this day why she'd woke up that morning with no memory of what had happened to her. The memories she did hold being of shame and regret, feelings she'd suppressed for so long blaming herself, and her own stupidity. She'd told no one at the time. She could tell no one now.

Slipping her phone back into the waistband of her dishevelled skirt she fished a Yale key from the small front pocket of the skirt. As the saloon car reversed onto their neighbour's drive and headed away, she stumbled on weak legs along the pathway past her car to the front door. Raising a tired arm, she managed to turn the key in the lock.

Headed into the hallway she saw Jack immediately; fully clothed passed out face down on the sofa. Anger coursed through her as he lay there, the deceit, the betrayal she felt made her feel sick with anger. What he'd done to her, what they'd done to her, but more specifically what he'd then done to build a life with her. That level of manipulation and deceit she could not begin to comprehend.

Who else knew what he'd done? Tubs accidental revelation from earlier in the evening flooding back to her. He knew that bitch Chloe, what was her role in all of this? It mattered but what mattered most was that Jack was central to all of this how could she be sure he wasn't in on, or at least aware of the abduction of Sophie from the start? Is that why he seemed so at ease with the trauma. To the point he could go out and get out of his mind drunk with his friends. What did they know? When she'd met him that night at The Phoenix she'd always thought once he opened up to her after a frosty introduction, he couldn't have been any more cool, calm and collective a person; it had been an attractive quality.

And yet all that was despite knowing what he and his friends had done to her in the past. There had always been an edge to him, there had always been something from his recent past he wouldn't discuss. It all started to make sense now that his secrets and lies were unravelling. Sarah released balled fists, The Wolf's instructions echoed in her mind clearly; she had to carry on the pretence. She'd carry on in false ignorance for one person. Not this Wolf, not her, not Jack. For Sophie

Sat on the coffee table in front of him was a can of coke and a crudely hand rolled spliff. Sarah stepped silently forward, crouched and took the can and the spliff. She took a heavy swig of what remained in the still cold can.

"Who are you?" she said quietly as she stood back looking down at Jack, "Who the fuck are you?"

The heels of her boots heavy as she left him in his drunken slumber and headed up stairs to their bedroom. Each step physically painfully reminding of the cruelty that had been inflicted on her body.

Crashing down face first across the double bed she managed to find a lighter in the bedside table. Setting the coke can down on the same table she lit the spliff and took a deep harsh lungful of smoke which caused her to cough furiously; in turn causing every muscle in her body to scream out once again in protest.

Flicking ash into the now empty coke can Sarah took puff after puff on the joint her fractured mind and her broken body easing temporarily as the effects of the weed spread through her body and mind. Curling up eventually, as she dropped the smoked spliff into the can, into a foetal position as fully dressed she passed into an exhausted uneasy fitful slumber.

**********

"How could I not have seen you around ... I mean I've seen you around for months ...but well you know the new rules about colleague relations," Chloe smirked as she pressed her hand up over Dan Michaels engorged crotch in the dim little basement room where she'd led him. Her room, as sparsely furnished as it was, the fact she'd brought him to her private quarters suggested what she had in mind.

"Fuck the rules," Dan groaned no doubt feeling the rush of anticipation at the opportunity she presented him.

"Yeah, Fuck the rules..." Chloe whispered back to him drawing her mouth up to his ear "And fuck me... fuck me hard... fuck me fast... fuck every fucking way you want in every fucking hole Daniel... break me... use me".

He pushed her up against the cold hard brick wall next to the single bed frame. "I'm going to fucking destroy every one of your holes".

"Promises promises Daniel," Chloe uttered

His hands immediately exploring her, his mouth momentarily locked on to her lips before, falling down the side of her neck across her shoulders and breasts exposed by the skimpy black leather bra she wore.

"Tonight ... I'm your little whore" Chloe uttered as with his head buried in her breasts and with very little patience he furiously pulled at and unbuttoned the waistband of her tight leather trousers. "I'm a gift from him... to you... to do with as you please."

He'd always made her feel a little uncomfortable, he no doubt thought he was being brooding and enigmatic but there was a creepiness to Dan that she'd never been able to stand. The way his eyes mentally undressed her, no matter what the outfit. Not just her though all the girls that were associated with The Phoenix. As he kissed and clumsily groped her Chloe steeled herself at the behest of The Wolf. She'd let his hands fall over her. His touch alone repulsed her, but she didn't let on. She'd done worse with worse individuals than Dan Michael's.

As he broke away staring into her with those cold eyes, he grinned from ear to ear like a Cheshire Cat.

"Can you handle me?" Chloe narrowed her eyes, her tongue seductively wetting her lips.

"I'm going to fuck you like the... "

Her patience snapped. It would have been the unbelievable pain in his crotch that cut short his words and stuck his breath in his lungs. As he stumbled backwards his hands immediately slipping to the source of the pain. As he fell backwards across the floor, she could see the claret blood already staining his hands and the front of his jeans.

"You ...you ...stabbed me ... you fucking stabbed me..." Dan's face drained of colour, his voice rose as desperation as he clutched his crotch, "... you stabbed me in... in the fucking balls".

Chloe crouched over his chest as he whimpered a look of anguish and confusion etched into his face as she wiped the blade of the 5-inch knife across his chest, smearing his T-Shirt with his own blood.

"Keep the pressure on ... There's a main artery down there that I'll have severed" Her turn to grin, a sterile cold grin to match his as she crouched staring down into his wide desperate eyes.

"Why... Why?" he begged as Chloe rose and stepped away the spike heels of her stiletto boots click clacked on the hard concrete floor. She looked back over her shoulder in his direction.

"While you're bleeding out like a stuck pig... perhaps you'll remember you were always told never to touch what belongs to The Wolf".

**********

Kelvin Phillips tore open the small Jiffy bag he'd retrieved from the main gates of the 12-bed mansion barely 5 minutes previous. The security camera hadn't picked up a registration plate for the white Van that the driver had pulled up in as it had been removed. Equally the figure that confidently approached and dropped the package through the bars of the electric double gates revealed no clues, unmistakably male in posture but dressed head to toe in dark clothes with a balaclava obscuring his face his identity would remain a mystery.

From the Jiffy bag he tipped two items into the palm of his hand. A rose gold coloured memory stick and a platinum ring into which had previously been set the substantial diamond he had imported for the bespoke engagement ring.

Opening the Apple Mac which sat on the broad marble topped coffee table in front of him he plugged the stick immediately into the side of the device and waited for the machine to power up fully. He hadn't slept properly in days and in the darkness of the living room the invasive bright screen caused his eyes to squint.

The file opened immediately displaying 3 separate documents entitled:

'Read_First'.

'Watch_First'.

'Watch_Last'.

Moving the cursor over the first file he clicked on the document entitled; 'Read_First'.

A notebook page opened on screen. Four simple lines:

~~~~~~~~~~

If you want to see her again?

400k Cash. Victoria Docks Time and Date TBC

Confirm acceptance of terms to 07894 7176431

No Law

~~~~~~~~~~

Closing the document shaking his head somewhat in disbelief at the amateur approach he clicked on the first video file. The video camera was behind her but slowly moved around her. He could only see her from the waist up, but she appeared to be naked, he recognised her instantly from the rose tattoo on the back of her right shoulder. The camera panned around her. Her hands seemingly restrained behind the back of the chair. His fiancé, the girl he loved, Charity. Her eyes red from tears her hair dishevelled, her face flushed and between her lips a crude dirty looking cloth gag had been stuffed. She sobbed as the camera paused on her scared face and then the short video ended.

Phillips felt the bile start to rise in his stomach despite not able to remember the last time he'd eaten. She looked scared, he didn't want to imagine what whoever had her was subjecting her to, he wasn't mentally strong enough to let his imagination contemplate such things. Reappraising his belief, he was dealing with amateurs. His hand shaking, he opened the second video file.

His hand rising instantly and clamping hard over his mouth, no longer having to suppress the worst of his imagination as in the first brief horrifying seconds alone he watched a masked man fucking his fiancé as she lay there begging and screaming while tied down to an ornate metal framed bed.

Chapter Four; The Raid

"Will it hurt?"

Lyndsey looked up into Ness Collins eyes as she sat the opposite side of the table from her. A wry smile creeping across the short-haired girls face.

"I don't notice these days... and can't remember my first time."

Lyndsey offered a weak smile in return as she tied back her long dyed blonde hair "I guess not... So, all your tattoos have a meaning?"

"Each one tells a story".

Taking her left wrist as Lyndsey held it across the wooden surface, she wiped a sterilising alcohol wipe over the inside of her wrist.

"The symbolism of what this tattoo represents that has more significant meaning ...but I guess you know what you're doing."

"I know what it symbolises." Lyndsay met her eyes once more, her conviction held.

"So long as you're not assuming it means your free... it's the opposite of that."