The Dark Star - Lockdown Vol. 01

"Um... I believe you need to see this," Ari opened her phone and showed him something unseen by Logan.

"Welcome.... the elevator is straight ahead of you.... floor 7" The security guard stated with a deep raspy voice as he stepped aside, yet Logan still felt suspicious eyes fall upon him. Following Ari who called for the elevator which descended to meet them with a heavy whirring sound. A heavy steel slide door requiring opening to enter the lift, Ari reached for the lift but struggle, even he had to exert physical force to slide back the door before stepping aside for Ari to enter first, which she did without acknowledging his chivalry. Pulling the steel shutter door up behind him he stabbed his finger against the off-white button for floor 7 of 7.

"There's no point me asking again is there?" Logan stated without even turning to her.

"Patience," she stated taking a deep breath.

"I don't trust this..." Logan retorted "...and I don't like it."

Silence filled the lift spare for the heavy mechanism that pulled the creaking metal lift to the seventh floor. The lift shuddered to a halt and Logan reached for the handle to pull aside the door. Surprised at what greeted him.

A wide-open plan warehouse space had been converted into what was to all intents and purposes a bar. Fitted out to a very high standard using up lighting, wall art and modern looking furniture. A long bar lined the length of the wall to their left as they stepped out into the room. Without an exact head count it wasn't difficult to calculate that there were very few patrons, around 20 in total, noticeably all males dressed in dark suits. A handful of female waiting staff and bar staff mingled amongst the small crowd. He felt Ari step to his side. As he did his eyes locked on another face from the past. A sickeningly sinister smile from an older looking but none the less ominous presence. Hector Salazar.

"I like this even less," Logan stated quietly to Ari. "Please tell me this isn't what I think this is."

"Relax Logan...I'm a big girl I know what I'm doing."

"Do you?" Logan offered on a heavy breath.

Unsurprisingly Salazar greeted Ari first; greeting her with wide arms as he approached and embraced her, a kiss was placed on each of her cheeks. Ari returned the greeting warmly with air kisses either side of his face, her hands gently falling over his shoulders. Salazar called over an attractive mixed-race girl with stunning ice blue eyes, who immediately obliged and offered to take Ari's coat the moment she stood at their sides. It was as if Logan had arrived with a Hollywood star, he considered, suddenly all eyes in the room are focused on the new arrivals, or more specifically on Ari as she unbuttons her jacket to reveal a tight-fitting short cut red lace dress. It was a statement as much as it was a garment. The cut and length of the dress accentuate every one of her near perfect curves.

If it's a statement, and if this venue is what Logan thinks it is, it's a red flag rather than a red dress. She's the only one in the room not dressed in black. Such a unique appearance isn't by chance, it's for a reason. Ari is the focal point of the room which means only one thing in Logan's experience.

Ari is this evening's star attraction for 'The Collective'

"And how's this ghost?" Salazar announces gripping Logan's hand and shaking it firmly "Mr Hughes...or Baxter...or what are you known as these days?"

"Just Logan these days Hector," he tried to keep the contempt from his voice. He had no ill will for Salazar; after all, in the past they had been better acquainted. First meeting in the exclusive Emerald Club years ago Salazar had then paid a keen interest in his stewardship of The Dark Star and the reputation it had garnered. Logan had in time been indoctrinated and become a member of The Collective; he had provided girls for evenings such as this and had attended such gatherings to indulge and partake. In their past, perhaps still unawares to the platinum blonde at his side he had arranged a demonstration with Ari as an unwitting accomplice for the benefit of Salazar and two other members. He knew the set up and formula well even if the venue was new. Drinks and social chat would precede the main event before retiring back for more socialising where majority of the girls currently serving cocktails and canapés would be available and open to eliciting far more personal services.

"Just Logan?" Salazar chuckled turning to Ari who meekly smiled back at him "What like Pele or Madonna.... the famous Logan?"

Shaking his head in mirth Salazar slapped a hand against Logan's left shoulder. "It's good to see you old friend.... we will have a drink later No"

The thought crossed Logan's mind to agree with him on the No part of his statement. Out of the corner of his eye Logan spotted a well-built guy seeking Salazar's attention. As apparently did Salazar.

"Excuse me..." Salazar offered, "You know how it is.... Arabella I will see you very soon."

"I know exactly how it fucking is," Logan sneered quietly once the Ecuadorean was out of ear shot. "Have you gone fucking mad Arabella?"

He used the formality of her full name, which he knew she hated anyone using, to make a point.

"I know exactly what I'm doing," she said in response "Not that really it's any of your business."

"So, why'd you bring me as your fucking Chaperone?" Logan stated through gritted teeth trying to make his point but not draw attention.

"I'm a grown-up Logan," she confidently stated taking a glass of champagne from a silver tray offered her by an oriental waitress with dyed blonde hair. "I'm not the little girl you once wrapped around your finger...this isn't my first rodeo...and do I need remind you at who's hand I was first introduced to this organisation."

Biting the inside of his lip on a protest, given the valid points she assertively made even if he couldn't agree in the slightest with her decision. A little taken aback to discover she was aware let alone somehow now involved with the shady organisation. The signs of her continued submissive lifestyle were no more apparent than the fact that the Dark Star still as far as he was aware operated still accommodating for the tastes of the alternative crowd. The constantly locked room, to which he'd never seen the inside of on the same corridor as his bedroom offered further suggestion.

As they slowly entered the room, the full focus of the room was now lost but still occasional glances in Ari's direction offered a mixture of lust and vile intent. A tall attractive dark-haired woman in a smart black trouser suit picked her way through the room and approached Ari, paying Logan little to no attention she offered her a hand and introduced herself. "Ari...." her voice thick with an Eastern European accent "...my name is Yvette I'm here to assist you and wonder if you like come with me."

"Sure," Ari stated slipping her phone into her silver clutch bag."...uh lead the way I guess."

"Good Luck." Logan stated bluntly as Ari followed the tall dark girl through the room, she didn't look back but gained more attention, particular from two heavy set tall black gentlemen as she was guided through the room towards a side door. As she passed from sight the patrons who's eyes followed her turned back to focus on whatever conversations she had distracted them from, all of them no doubt intrigued, appetites wet by the brief tease of what was to come.

Taking a seat at the bar Logan accepted an offer of a drink taking a Brandy over Ice. Had he not been driving he'd have taken the bottle of VSOP.

A sense of foreboding washed over him.

**********

"I think you wear your hair up is preferred." Yvette stated as she stood behind Ari who faced herself in the illuminated magnified mirror. "And then maybe your eye make-up darker and a strong dark lipstick".

Ari looked into her own blue eyes in the mirror her confidence flickering just a little she nodded in response and nervously smiling. Logan's disappointment and concern playing over and over in her mind.

"Can I get you drink or something?" Yvette offered staring to scrape her hair back of her face with a comb.

"Please Ari nodded...Vodka neat....and...and do you think you might be able to..., to uh get me some Coke?"

"Cocaine?" Yvette qualified quite viciously.

Ari simply nodded her confirmation offering a solitary, "Please."

Fifteen minutes later she looked back up into her blue eyes in the same mirror but was barely able to recognise herself; her hair scraped back into a high ponytail, her heavy dark eye make-up framed her eyes just as starkly as her heavily contoured cheeks and near black lipstick.

Dropping the rolled twenty note on to the dressing table before her she felt the powerful tingle of cocaine crystals in her nose, her gums beginning to numb

She took a heavy swig of vodka to wash the acrid taste of the coke from the back of her mouth.

Ari let go of a long nervous exhale.

**********

Logan sat at the bar nursing the same glass of brandy poured for him by an attractive slim blonde twenty minutes earlier, the ice cube now all but melted diluting the dark amber liquor.

Next to him at the bar he overheard a conversation between two males, a conversation along the lines he'd heard several times since arrival: a topic increasingly becoming a concern for all.

"When the government's own advice is that anyone with a cough or a fever self-isolate you have to wonder how serious things could be"

"How long are they isolating for?"

"Recommendation is seven days... there's talk of suspending foreign travel and even a nationwide lockdown being considered in worst case scenario."

"That'll never happen...there's no way a flu bug could cripple the country."

Logan zoned out his mind to eavesdropping. His mind wasn't for concentrating on anything but Ari's fate. He was indisposed to do anything, constantly wrestling the grip of anxiety that washed over him. A cold sweat breaking on his brow his throat dry.

Logan's only sickness was his anxiety the toxic fear that polluted his mind.

"So how goes it old friend?" Salazar appeared on his shoulder before taking the bar stool opposite of him. "It's been a while.... the brunette in the hotel room wasn't that the last time?"

"Rose." Logan immediately put a name to the brunette for him to add person to the genetic classification under which Salazar filed her. He picked up his glass and swilled the contents "She's a detective do you know?"

Salazar near spat out the swig he took from a glass of what looked to be rum and coke; exclaiming "You shit me?"

"I don't." Logan raised a brow.

"Well, well, well Logan, you've surprised me."

"Would she have been treated any differently had you known?" Logan finally took a swig from the Brandy sat on the bar

"I might have treated her worse." There's a darkness to Salazar's tone that concerns Logan and gives him no reason to doubt him.

"You just make sure she comes to no harm." Logan stated narrowing his eyes no need to clarify he now spoke of Ari not of Detective Rose Callaghan.

"Who Mr Logan?" Salazar offered feigning ignorance as if to mock him.

"Ari" Logan snarled "She's not as tough as she makes out."

"She coped with the audition I put her through the week before last...." Salazar grinned sardonically "...very well...such an energetic satisfying fuck... every tight little hole."

Behind them double doors opened, and gentle murmurs spread throughout the room. As collectively those present made their way towards the area opened up to them.

"It's ironic you are here given how I have chased and waited for years for this surrender...since I saw how she handled that fuck machine in your apartment."

Logan felt the anger course through him his fist clenching. Nostrils flaring, helpless to do anything.

"We have something special planned for her...something very special." Salazar slipped from the bar stool. "If you'll forgive me, I have a role to play in proceedings...do feel free to avail yourself of the amenities"

Salazar immediately stepped away, buttoning his suit jacket as he did, leaving Logan brooding, a pulse in his temple furiously pounding. He slammed his clench fist onto the bar drawing a nervous glance from the tall blonde bar tender.

**********

Ari took a deep breath and exhaled slowly the further lines of cocaine now coursing through her body relaxed her a little, but not enough.

"Ready?" Yvette stated as stood to her left.

Ari simply nodded, her fingers nervously twitching as she stood there in the relative darkness, her arms at her side.

Stood before a long dark curtain dressed now in a red lingerie ensemble, a sheer pattern trim bra and G-string coupled with a suspender belt that held up light denier black, red detail topped, stockings. She closed her eyes and took yet another deep breath sensing Yvette step away. A large firm hand then pushed between her shoulder blades. Acutely aware of two sets of footsteps that approached from behind. She dared not look over her shoulder.

"Gentlemen I give you Arabella"

She heard the words from the other side of the curtain and recognised Salazar accent, the same words she'd once heard from Logan. The curtain in front of her slid aside and she felt hands on her shoulders, instinctively she stepped forward. The room was dark, spare for a halo of lights above her. Stepping forward from shadows into the stark light, hearing the sound of her own heels on a wooden floor as the hands on her shoulders guided her forward. She could hear the hushed voices, seemingly all around her but could not see the faces she knew to be in the background, she had no idea how many were there.

Ahead of her a figure dressed in black with a cowl pulled over his head made her blood freeze, the figure unmistakably male as he stood between two wooden pillars set around 2 meters apart. The hands on her shoulders guided her as the hushed voices continued.

"Welcome," she recognised Salazar's voice from under the cowl. "Gentlemen if you will."

Stood before Salazar between the wooden pillars the hands on her shoulders slid down hers arms until they simultaneously took her wrists into firm grips. Her chest rose and fell her breath hitched up nervously already. Cold steel shackles replaced the firm grips of hands over her wrists shackles that locked tight in mere seconds over her skin. Her arms held away from her body tethering her to the wooden pillars.

"On your knees." Salazar coldly stated, and as if to emphasise she felt a firm hand of one of the unseen assailants on her shoulder.

Kneeling of her own fruition she was conscious she was breathing fast her heart pounding in her chest. Her legs were pulled apart from behind, she kept facing forward. Unexpectedly across the backs of her calves and ankles she felt cold metal that caused her to flinch. Moments later a shrill ugly horrible sound filled the room, making her audibly gasp. A sound she recognised but could not quite place. The metal across her calves and ankles tightened pressing down. The steel restraints she realised were being drilled into the floor beneath her, mercilessly securing her, trapping her. Immediately her comfort zone tested beyond what she had expected of this encounter.

Salazar approached her in his hands a wide leather object. She looked to him eyes wide desperately seeking reassurance from the man who brought her here. The man she'd willingly given herself to not just tonight but over a week earlier.

"Let's keep that pretty head up," he coldly stated.

With both hands Salazar wrapped the wide posture collar around her neck, the hands behind her working in unison to fasten the adornment which immediately acted as a restraint preventing her from dropping her head towards her chest. Her wrists puller at the chains tethered to the pillars. Barely any movement to be gained. She was helpless.

"Relax," she heard Salazar's voice in her ear, unawares he'd moved behind her.

"This... this isn't..." she started to whisper.

"Hush," he cut her off. Moments later strong hands gripped the sides of her head tilting it back.

"No" she begged determinedly but quietly. "What are you?"

"Relax," she heard Salazar's voice again. "Stay calm...Relax"

His repetition of the instruction did nothing to reassure her. Then almost Immediately she felt fingers pull open her right eye lid as she stared up at the halo of lights. A glint of movement cut across the lights before a sudden searing pain filled her eye as she felt a liquid drip into her eye.

"Noooo." Ari screamed out in unbelievable pain. "Nooooo."

Pulling furiously at the wrists restraints her ankles kicking against the floor. Around her the excited anticipation of the unseen crowd witnessing her demise grew. The searing pain now setting the right-hand side of her face on fire.

As she struggled, barely able to move her body and her head, she felt two strong fingers pull apart her left eye lid.

"Get off me..." she screamed, "Get the fuck off me."

The liquid dripped three times once more into her left eye, once again bringing the searing pain seemingly magnified this time by the sensation in her right eye.

Hands left her. She heard footsteps around her saw blurs in her vision that was rapidly fading.

"What have you done to me.... what have you done to me?" She begged her voice breaking as her face continued to burn and the blurs of the halo of lights started to fade.

She could hear but she could not see.

She heard Salazar's mocking chuckle in response

"What have you done to me?" Ari reiterated scared as the darkness took her. "I'm blind" she sobbed "I'm blind"

"It's not what we've done to you.... it's what we are going to do to you" Salazar sneered.

**********

Returning to the bar from the toilet the young Chinese girl with blonde hair stood before the bar stool he'd vacated a freshly poured glass of Brandy replaced the empty Tumbler Logan had left behind moments earlier.

The Chinese girl's appearance had changed; no longer did the short black halter neck dress adorn her body, she was now dressed in a pair of little black ankle boots, black fishnet stockings under a black frayed denim skirt and a black leather bra top that zipped through the middle.

"Mister Logan," she announced. "I am Cho I am with the compliments of Mister Salazar... for whatever you desire"

Logan stared through her piercing green eyes, which he assumed were too vivid to be anything other than contact lenses.

"Cho..." he said rubbing his hand over his heavily stubbled chin "...with the greatest of respect you can fuck right off...and and when you get where you get you can fuck off again so that I'm confident you're nowhere near me...you filthy little whore."

His tirade shocked her, her bottom lip immediately trembled, it was patently obvious she had no idea what to do with his vicious rejection.

"Go on....Go." Logan sneered.

The scream from the other side of the double doors was unmistakable, one indiscernible scream immediately followed by another far more prolonged scream. Logan heard it as did Cho he snapped his head towards the double doors. Before he realised it, he was striding purposefully towards the double doors. The two-security detail from the Car Park stepped into his way the black guy placing his right-hand palm flat on Logan's chest stopping his momentum.

Her screams continued.

"You can't go in there Sir"

"Like fuck I can't" Logan responded swinging his right fist catching the black guy true across his jaw. Despite being caught with his guard down he barely flinched, taking a step back he readjusted his body position and with a swift counter landed a punch square on Logan's jaw, blood spilling from a lip split by the impact of the blow.

Logan was flat on his back before he knew it, although not for long. The two of them stood over him, picking him from the floor and dragging him backwards towards the waiting lift through which they'd entered the room.