Chapter 7

Lee had no idea what was going on. He had slept overnight in a cramped caravan along with five other people. They were all as high as kites and communicated very little with him. They smoked heroine in tinfoil shoots and lay back in their own little worlds. One young girl in her late teens kept prodding him and muttering to him. Sometimes she would cry, he didn't know if she were crying or laughing half the time. Finally she cuddled beside him and fell asleep.

He couldn't think past the constant headache and the throbbing ache in his leg. He longed for friendly people. He missed the little girl who gave him books and chicken sandwiches. All he knew was that he was scared now. They yelled a lot and pushed him around. Whenever he slept he would dream of this woman. She was nice. They were in a park together and she bought him a hot dog. His mind would constantly go to that picture, the woman with the hot dog.

The door to the trailer suddenly burst open. Two large men entered. The others in the trailer groaned and whimpered and tried to move away as they pushed their way in and complained about the mess.

They kicked out at the drug addicts sending them into corners, shielding their faces. The two men took hold of Lee and hauled him up.

"Come on, its time for your surgery fella." One said as he took hold of Lee's jacket and began dragging him out.

Once outside one man put his arms around Lee's middle catching hold of his hands while the other took his legs. They carried him across the muddy rain soaked yard to a prefab like building at the other end. Once inside, they put him down on a long table. Hands went to his middle and began unbuckling the belt of his trousers. Even through the fog he knew this was wrong. He struggled with the hands trying to force them away but suddenly he was restrained and he squeezed his eyes shut as torchlight was shone directly in his face.

"Come on, get on with it Max. We haven't all night."

Sheer panic rose to Lees throat as a cloth was placed over his nose and mouth.

Then everything went black.

~o~

"Amanda, my office,"

Amanda got stiffly to her feet and headed towards Billy as he stood at his door. Francine shot her a rare look of sympathy. Billy ushered her in and closed the door. He then went to sit behind his desk.

"I got a call from Mr Montgomery over at the test centre. Do you know what he told me?" He asked.

Amanda knew.

Through the silence Billy went on.

"You haven't been to a class in over two weeks. Then on the rare occasions you do show up you turn up late, you don't participate and you don't hand in assignment work. Amanda we are trying to make an agent of you but if you don't have the commitment."

"With respect Sir, you are not trying to make me an agent. You are trying to distract me from going out there and finding Lee."

"You won't find Lee, you'll wind up dead." He yelled back.

Billy's sudden outburst made Amanda jump slightly.

In nervous agitation he got up from his chair and began to pace.

"Amanda, you're going out at night, hitting nightclubs and sleazy bars, talking to known criminals..."

"How do you know that,"

"Because we had you followed. Of course we did. I had you staked out from the very first day. I don't grant myself much credit Amanda but I know a rogue agent when I see one."

Amanda went to say something but she couldn't form the words. She was caught out.

"Amanda, Lee was once kidnapped while on a mission in Colombia. He was taken by a band of renegade pirates. He was beaten, tortured, deprived of decent food and water for over three weeks, he still managed to contact this office, he still managed to get himself home."

"What are you saying?"

Billy took a deep breath and looked at her.

"Next month the search for Lee will be officially called off."

"No, you can't do that." She yelled back.

"Listen to me now. I'm telling you this as an agent with over twenty years experience. Amanda...Lee is dead."

She shot to her feet. "Billy stop it. Stop it Billy. Why would you say such a thing. How could..."

She couldn't continue. Her eyes filled with tears. Billy went to her and gently put his arms around her as she sobbed.

"Why would you say such a thing," she whispered into his shoulder.

Billy held her tighter as tears began to form in his own eye's.

~o~

Deek was happy with his new worker. He decked him out in casual clothes, jeans, sweater and hooded jacket and had one of the girls give him a shave. His once groomed hair now hung in a loose fringe over his face but Deek thought he looked very respectable. Lee had lost weight and looked slightly scrawny now, he had a sore on the corner of his mouth that just wouldn't heal, his eyes looked constantly lost.

Hank nodded his approval as they shared a beer at Deek's desk. The prefab door to this office swung back and forth in the wind.

"Here, close that," Deek told him.

Lee looked to the door and back at the two men sitting behind the desk.

"Close it." Hank barked at him.

After a moment Lee limped over to the door and closed it shut.

"I thought you were supposed to get him hooked on gear?" He asked.

"They wanted him gone, he's gone. He's here with me. Fuck them. He's more useful to us the way he is. Send him into a department store and he can take anything and walk out. Even if the staff don't buy his pretty face they don't come down hard because they think he's a retard."

"He is though isn't he?" Hank asked.

"Yeah, think so."

Hank took a slug from his can and then held it out.

"Do you want some?" He asked.

Lee looked back at him in confusion.

"Come on, take some. Make you feel good."

Lee limped to the desk and taking the can he took a drink. He scowled at the taste making Deek chuckle.

Hank grinned. "You're right, he's a gold mine. Very nice face. You need to keep him in clean clothes though. Don't have him looking like those other junkies you keep. And we'll need to be sure he isn't picked up by Ronnie or those other night club snakes. They'll have him working for them in a basement room somewhere earning twice as much."

Deek burped loudly and reached over to get another can.

"Max didn't fix that leg too good. He still hobbles around like an old lady."

Hank nodded with a sniff. "We'll train him out of that. Pain is all in the mind."

As they continued on drinking and talking Lee hobbled to a corner of the small hut and sat down on the floor. After a while he pulled one knee up and placing his head on it he fell into a dreamless sleep.