Transit

She told herself to stay calm and realised that she needed a drink and worst of all, she needed to pee. The door opened and a strange girl entered the room. Ellen was strange atleast to Maria as they had never met before in there lives. "Where am I?"

Ellen leaned on the brass bed frame and grinned at her captive guest. "In good company. I don't even know your name, but I am told you are important. I have to look after you."

"Ok, in that case can you untie me?" Maria asked.

"No. If I did that, then you might escape."

"Then can I have a drink of water atleast?"

Ellen stood by the side of her captive and stroked her hair with a slender hand tipped with long silver painted finger nails. Maria noticed that Ellen was strangely dressed. A tight black leather dress that held her breasts in with a squeeze, perm waved blonde hair that cascaded over her shoulders and the silver eye shadow and lipstick she was made up with.

The way Ellen touched her hair and run a gentle finger over her face had a hint of cruel affection. She knew that whoever this girl was, she was not going to be easy to deal with.

"Water? I don't have any water. What are we going to do?"

"I need a drink, surely you could understand that." Maria pleaded. "Can you get me a drink?" There was assertion in her voice.

Ellen looked around the room and then looked back at Maria. "Let me think about this for a while..."

"What is there to think about? I need to drink." She also now realised that Ellen was either dumb or acted it. More acting it seemed, as she was obviously bent on being outright cruel. "You are going to make me wait then?"

"Yes."

"Do you know why I am here?"

"Yes. You have been very naughty and you have to be punished."

"Who told you that? What is your name?"

Ellen slowly touched Maria's nipple and watched it react. She grinned with that evil smirk she had, running her sharp nail around the areola tantalisingly. "Oh look. Am I making you horny?"

"Not in the least." Maria replied. It was the fear that produced the reaction more than the erotic implication. "Can we discuss that drink? And you still have not told me your name."

"Do you shave or trim? Let me have a look." Ellen run her finger over Maria's navel. She gulped, her throat was stinging with the dryness left by the ether, and then she felt Ellen pulling down her panties. "Oh yes, how nice. I see you trim your pussy. So neat and tidy."

"I do my best." Maria felt a sharpness between her outer lips as Ellen pushed into her roughly. "That hurts."

"Oh I'm sorry. I was checking to see if you were wet."

"And if I was?"

"Hmmm...maybe we could play."

"Maybe we could. But I need that drink first."

Ellen thought, running the back of her fingers slowly up Maria's navel once more. Then she stopped and dashed to the door, leaving Maria alone in the room. She gave a sigh of relief for that one moment in hope that a drink would be on its way very shortly. But it did nothing to relieve the tightness she felt in her bladder that was getting increasingly painful.

Dayton stepped out of his limo on the waste ground and strode towards the car parked infront. He placed the briefase on the bonnet and waited, looking at Banner through the windscreen. "Are you coming out to collect this money or what?" Banner, after a few seconds got out of his car, turned the briefase towards him. "What's up? Don't you want it? Or is it perhaps you think I have dropped you in it? Look around!"

"I don't and never will trust you Marky."

"Want to count it?"

"No."

"I thought you said you didn't trust me you stupid fuck!"

Banner grabbed the briefcase and threw it in the car before him. "You broke the rules Marky. You shouldn't have contacted Garth."

"Well lets just say I had some extra business to put his way." Dayton replied smiling. "This business is sort of better than your deal. And make that the last fifty grand I pay you OK."

"Don't worry Marky, one day I will have you." Banner started the engine and sped in reverse away from Dayton, who delighted in sending abusive finger gestures.

Marky Dayton had offered Garth a better deal than Banner had originally. Garth's respect had switched now leaving the bent detective in a sorry dilemma. But Garth did not realise his own predicament. Banner would now find a way to stop the rapes and have them all arrested without implicating his own involvement. It was not going to be easy, but he was determined as any crook would be who was instantly blown out of the plan.

Dayton sat in his limo and ordered his driver to take him home. He tapped out a number on his cell phone and waited until it was answered. "Ay Garth, hows it going?...you looking after my pretty little friend down there?"

Maria watched as Ellen loosened her wrist, and then allowed her to take a sip of water from the glass, clumsily. Ellen smiled and playfully stroked Maria's hair, expecting her to play her games as a return of favors. But Maria had other ideas.

"Thank you. So do I get to know who you are and where I am?" Maria asked looking around the bland room. "You know it would help if I could just sit up. Untie the other wrist."

"I can't do that." Ellen replied.

"Why not?"

"You might escape."

"Ok. I promise you I won't and besides, maybe I could join in better with what you have in mind."

This made Ellen excited and Maria realised that she was not the world's smartest person when it came to intellect. "Promise?" Ellen asked. Maria replied with a smile and a nod of her head. "You really want to play?"

Ellen reached over and began to untie the other wrist and as she did she hitched her leg up from the floor making her dagger accessible, tucked down her knee-high boots. Maria quickly reached for it with her free hand, tossing the glass of water. Both wrists free she grabbed Ellen's hair tightly and held the dagger to her face.

"Don't even think about moving bitch!" Ellen did as she was told. She never even contemplated Maria making such a move on her. "I want you to do everything I say..." At that Maria instructed her to reach over and untie her ankles in turn while she held on tight to her hair, pulling now and then to show her who was in charge.

Maria knelt up and pulled Ellen towards her, holding the dagger now to her throat and tugging on hair. "Ok, we are going to get out of this room. Who is on the other side of that door?"

"Trent is next door."

"Anyone else?"

"No, just me and Trent."

At that moment the door flew open with a bang. Garth stood in the frame pointing a hand gun at the two women. "Drop the dagger...NOW!" Maria was shocked, not only by the sudden bang of the door opening, but also seeing a gun pointing at her. Her bladder released at that moment, unable to hold on much longer.

Paul tried endlessly to call Maria on his phone. Every contact number he had was unavailable or unanswering. It was late and the time that they had arranged to meet was now many hours past. He began to worry. He reversed his car out of the theatre drive and headed down the main street weaving his way around the rest of the evening traffic, near missing collisions as he drove through.

He burst into Vernon Wiles' office. Vernon was working late to follow through a big front-page issue. "What the hell!... who the fuck are you? Who let you in?"

Paul leaned on the desk, and almost reaching up to Vernon spat out his words; "Maria! Where is she?"

"How the hell should I know, I'm not her keeper." Vernon replied.

"You put her on this assignment. So where is she?"

"Tell me who you are first and I might consider talking to you."

Paul settled down and sat nervously with his head in hands. "I'm sorry. I worry about her. She is missing."

"Probably working somewhere quiet, out of the way. She does that sometimes."

"No." Paul replied. "No, I think she is trouble."

"I wouldn't worry. Maria will turn up when she is ready. So who are you?"

He explained to Vernon who he was. Vernon did not realise that Maria had friends let alone a lover. She was a private woman who only met people for business. And from what Dayton had told him barely a hour ago, Maria had to meet with a tragic circumstance in order to get her out of the way.

"I thought you might know where she was. I'm sorry to have troubled you." Paul stood up and walked towards the door of the office.

"No wait. Sit down." Vernon requested. He was now worried about anything Maria might have told him. Suddenly Paul was a risk to the whole plan Dayton had set up. "Maybe I can help you. We do things very secretly sometimes in order to safe guard scoops and things. Maria was sent on a very urgent assignment."

"Where to?"

"I can't say, but I assure you it wasn't anything to do with what she may have told you."

Paul realised that Vernon had become very nervous and concerned as soon as he explained who he was. "And what do you think she may have told me?" he asked.

"The assignment she was supposed to be on."

"The Transit Rapes?"

"Yes, that's the one."

"Mr. Wiles, can you tell me something about that assignment?"

Vernon began to twitch. "Not really. What in particular?"

"Was she set up to catch the rapists?" Paul asked, settling back into his seat.

"I can't say. Confidentiality and all that, you understand."

"No I don't understand. Did you sanction her to do it the way she planned?"

"Look, she wanted it that way."

"Don't you think that was a little bit irresponsible on your behalf?"

Paul knew how to apply pressure on people when it was needed. He found that Vernon Wiles was showing the psychological signs that he was hiding something important. "Mr. Wiles, I don't think she is on an urgent mission. You know where she is don't you?"

Vernon now knew that Paul was a threat. Their plan was not as easy as it seemed. Maria's disposal was seemingly easy. She was a woman who lived alone and led a private life apart from her work. Vernon was to be the concerned and caring employer who would take care of things. Paul grew more and more angry whilst he sat observing Vernon's anxious reactions.

Paul reached across the desk quickly, grabbing Vernon's shirt in both hands. His weight was no problem to him as he focused all of his energy on physically extracting the information he wanted. Vernon's meek nature made it easy for Paul to intimidate him. "Where is she!?"

Maria felt the wrenching pain in her arms as she was suspended from the rope. Both wrists tied together above her head, hanging, her feet only inches above the floor beneath her.

Garth put his finger on her shoulder blade and set her swinging, which made the pain increase even more. Ellen sat in a chair watching from across the room smirking. "Try to escape and you make things harder for yourself." Garth whispered into Maria's ear. Tears streamed down her face as she tried to fight off the pain and fear within her. He walked around her tortured naked body and then stepped back. "Mmmm...what a nice body. Very sexy. I see you look after yourself. I like that, don't you Ellen?"

"Yes." Ellen stepped forwards and stood beside her leader. "She is very sexy."

"I think our friend here should have been a model not a journalist."

"I think you're right." Ellen replied.

"You see she had the unfortunate disposition to be blessed with brains which altered the course of her life. Brains in a woman can be a disadvantage. Gets her into all kinds of trouble."

"Ay...I have brains too." Ellen snapped.

He looked around at her and laughed. "Yes you do. Very little."

"You have to let me down." Maria pleaded, her voice weakened by the pain.

"What was that?" Garth stood close, his hands running over the perspiration soaked skin of her breasts. "Did you say something?" Her eyes were partially closed, and she looked straight at him before she spat in his face. Garth wiped his nose where the saliva had hit him. "That isn't very nice Maria. Like I said, you will only make things worst for yourself."

Ellen flexed the riding crop she held in her hand. "Let me punish her."

Garth quickly grabbed out at the riding crop and held it. "No! Let her down,"

The security guard jumped on Paul from behind and sent him flying onto the office floor, dragging Vernon with him. Paul was overpowered by the burly guard and restrained with both hands behind his back. The handcuffs locked into place. Vernon picked himself up and sat back into his chair watching as the guard sat on top of Paul, still kicking out and struggling to break free.

"It's OK the cops are on their way." the guard informed. "Who is this guy anyway."

Vernon took out his handkerchief and wiped his brow. "Someone who got passed your security checkpoint. Where the hell were you...sleeping?"

"No. I was on patrol."

"Then how the fuck did he get in here?"

Garth held Maria and slung her tortured body over his shoulder as Ellen unleashed her wrists. Then he carried her over to a mattress on the floor, easing her down gently. Maria was weak with the pain of hanging by her arms for what seemed an eternity, but it was only a few hours. "You'll never get away with this, whoever you are." she muttered.

Garth turned to Ellen and signaled her to go away. She returned him a riled expression and stomped unwillingly back to her chair. He stood over Maria and looked down at her. "You are not in a very favorable position to threaten anyone." He knelt beside her and brushed the dampened hair from her face. "I don't like threats." She looked up at him, listening to his soothing yet aggressive voice. "I don't like being spat at or kicked or punched. You see I like to be in control." His hand moved over her lips and then down her face. "You are so beautiful Maria and it is a shame that you find yourself in the situation that you are in." He paused and looked up to the swinging light hanging from the ceiling. "I am going to kill you." He stood up and looked down at her. "You see, I am your nemesis."

Maria began to weep and tremble. She was helpless. Garth took out the handgun from the waistband of his trousers and checked it. He smiled at her and then pointed it across the room to where Ellen sat. "Goodbye"

The first shot exploded into Ellen's stomach, sending her reeling backwards on the chair. The second hit her between the eyes sending a spray of brains against the wall. The third shot aimed at her heart as her body slumped to the floor. Maria began to scream out hysterically.

Trent ran into the room, throwing the door wide open with a blood stained bandage around his neck. He stopped and saw the shattered body of Ellen on the floor then looked over at Garth. "What the fuck are you doin'?" Garth smiled and with a fourth shot aimed at Trent, hit him hard in the chest sending his body back through the open doorway.

He knelt beside Maria, putting his hand against her mouth. "Shhhhhh.... It's not your turn yet. I promise you something a lot more exiting."

Paul sat in a cell alone. He was still calming down from his manic attack on Vernon Wiles and coming to terms with his arrest. The cell door opened and Banner strode in. The two men looked at each other before Banner introduced himself.

"Aren't you the cop in charge of these transit rapes?" Paul asked.

"Yes. I'm sorry you got roughed up. Wiles probably deserved a beating."

"I didn't beat up on him. I threatened him with strangulation if he didn't tell me something I needed to know."

Banner laughed and offered Paul a cigarette. He refused. "What was it you needed to know?"

"Doesn't matter."

Banner leaned against the glossed brickwork of the cell wall and lit himself a cigarette. "I think it does matter. It's got something to do with a missing person not yet reported missing."

"What the hell do you care?"

"I care a lot. Your girlfriend is in danger right now as we speak."

"So why don't you do something?" Paul asked.

"We need to work together. You and I."

"What you are saying is, you don't know where she is?"

"I know exactly where she is."

"What? Then do something!" Paul stood up and looked at Banner. "What the hell is going on here?"

"Listen to me...."

"No... Get out there and do something now! You're the cops.

"I need this to be between me and you, no one else." Banner said.

"What do you mean?"

"Look, the people who have your girlfriend right now are crazy. They are capable of cold-blooded murder and for all we know it might be too late. So do you and I have an understanding here?"

Paul thought about it, although still confused, he understood something. Maria had to be saved from whatever and whoever held her captive.

The city was large and there were plenty of places that Maria could be held captive in. One man's single searching would take forever or be stumbled upon by chance. Banner was the key. A police officer with revenge on his mind and a plan to save his own reputation, Maria meant nothing to him really and neither did Paul Davies.

The abandoned mill by the riverside was one of many. Like hundreds of run-down buildings it was waiting to be demolished and the city planner to exercise regeneration. But, like many plans in the city, it was still a dream and to the citizens yet another false promise. To Garth, it was his haven and shelter from the authorities; his hideout with it's many rooms and open workshops and now his depository of death.

For Maria, it was her personal hell as she was taken by Garth to one of the workshops, gagged and once again tied up by her aching wrists. He pulled on her hair, no longer with it's usually kept golden luster, but disheveled and entangled. He forced her onto her knees on another dirty mattress at gunpoint and demanded that she stay put. Her eyes only spoke out in silence, with fear and trepidation. He sat besides her holding the gun at her forehead.

"You know, it's easy to kill you right now. All I have to do is pull this lever and...pow.. It's all over." He pulled back the gun and smiled. "You do realise that you are one of my favorite captives up to now? Beautiful." His finger drifted over her pendulous breast, touching her nipple playfully. "Pity. You have to be destroyed." She wanted to speak and plead with him, but the gag was tight and all that she could do was whimper. "I have had many women, but none as good looking as you." He moved the hair from her face. "There is one thing that I can do for you. Make your end peaceful and painless. But you must do something for me."

Garth untied the gag and pulled it from between her lips. "Anything." She spoke quietly, looking back at him. "You can do anything you want, but don't hurt me. Let me go." He smiled back at her with that half evil grin, but she could also detect a grain of humane compassion.

"I can't let you go. It's what I do."

"No. You don't have to do this."

He ran the gun over her lips gently. The very touch of the cold metal made her wince. "You remind me of someone. No, you remind me of an angel I dreamt about once. It was a nightmare. I was still in high school. But the dream was bad because you were a guardian angel and the demon destroyed you."

Maria noticed that he had referred to her as the angel in his nightmare. This gave her something to work on. "I failed that time. But I am here again and this time I will save you."

Garth smiled. "This isn't a nightmare and.." he looked around. "Where are the demons?"

"That was a dream. This is real. The demons are something else."

"Something else?" he laughed. "What? Who?"

She had to think quickly, now realizing that he had the ability to see that she was trying to manipulate him, moving his thoughts her way. "Surely you have enemies out there?"

Garth looked over to the window and its cracked and broken glass. It was getting light and the distant sounds of police sirens met his ears. "Yes, I have enemies out there."