"Hold on."
Rose didn't open her eyes until she was sure that Robson was actually gone – off of the bed and walking toward the cameraman, Zeke. She hadn't heard anything, but she'd been more than a little occupied with not screaming. Opening her eyes now, she saw that Zeke was handing Robson a phone and he was talking very seriously into it. In her muddled condition one of the things she noticed was how Robson's crisp white buttondown shirt and neatly pressed trousers had come through the past eternity still looking pristine.
Not so Rose. But she was still alive and other than a bit bruised and bloody, not too badly hurt. She let her hopes rise when Robson growled something at Cricket, who was hovering nearby. Cricket pulled Rose off of the bed and cuffed her back on the chair where she'd woken up.
Cricket went back to Robson, who was pacing and growling into the phone. Zeke had returned to his workbench, where the DVDs he said were so special were spread out and he was dropping them one at a time into a machine that certainly looked like a DVD player. The entire time he sang along to the music in his headphones in a surprisingly pleasing tenor. Rose would never hear the song, "Desert Rose" the same way again, though.
Everyone casually ignored the naked, bloodied hooker handcuffed to a chair.
Please God, please let them leave me like this for a few minutes.
According to Gail, the best way to get out of a pair of handcuffs was to have the key. "All handcuffs have a universal lock. That means that all you need is one key and you can get out of any pair of cuffs you want." Gail had spoken derisively of the laziness of cops that they gave people such an easy way out of restraint just because they didn't feel like keeping up with different keys.
But it worked in the girls' favor. Old Town girls wore a lot of jewelry. It was expected. Eight out of ten Old Town girls had a handcuff key secreted in among all that jewelry. In Rose's case, the key was dangling on the charm bracelet she was walking her fingers through while Robson shouted increasingly profane threats into his phone and Cricket watched his boss with a worried expression.
Rose glanced over her shoulder at Zeke, but Zeke the geek was completely absorbed in his work. She opened one cuff, but left it loosely clasped around her wrist to avoid attracting attention. Her heart pounded in her chest. All she needed was a break. Just a quick break and she'd live to see the next night.
She didn't have to fake her fear or tears when Robson clicked the phone off and threw it against the wall. She was so damned close!
"Get my car pulled around," Robson ordered Cricket, and Rose's hopes rose again. "I gotta take a leak, then I've got some business to attend to." He patted Rose on the head as he walked by, "Don't worry, I won't forget about your film debut."
She stayed silent and watched while both men disappeared; one into what she supposed was the toilet and the other out a door she assumed led outside. I swear, the next one of you primates even touches me…I'm going to cut you so bad your mothers will wish you'd been born girls to save the trouble.
It was making her ready to scream to sit in that chair when escape seemed so close, but she made herself stay silent and stay still. Robson was leaving. Zeke was easily distracted with his toys. She was better off getting out of there while the only one likely to go after her was Cricket.
Rose waited. She waited while Robson took the car keys from Cricket and promised to return in two hours. She waited while Cricket harassed Zeke. She waited while Zeke lectured the turtlenecked thug about the wonders his LDs would bring to the computer and entertainment worlds. She waited until Zeke was again absorbed in his world of shining discs and future wealth. She waited until Cricket finally gave in to the call of nature and disappeared into the bathroom.
Now! She didn't hesitate. The moment the bathroom door clicked shut behind her kidnapper, she slipped the loosened handcuff off and ran on bare feet across the floor to the door. She snatched up Robson's coat where he'd left it by the door and almost as an afterthought, grabbed the DVD that Zeke had mentioned an eternity ago. I'll take you down, motherfucker. Even your rank in the mob won't protect you from evidence like this.
Old Town had its own hierarchy. The Twins had taken over a few months before, but they were more the administration. For law enforcement, you turned to Gail. For an enforcer, you turned to Miho.
Old Town's "sheriff" got a phone call that one of the girls had just returned from outside and looked like she'd been roughed up. Gail snarled and clicked her phone closed and wasn't surprised to see Miho waiting silently behind her when she turned around. She didn't know how Miho did it, but nine times out of ten, the tiny assassin knew exactly when she was needed.
Looks like Rose had been that one time out of ten when Miho didn't do her magic.
The doorbell rang and Rose jumped, shoving her hand in her mouth to keep from letting out a little scream. When a quick peek through the peephole told her who was there, she opened the door, relieved to see Gail and Miho outside.
Gail gave the girl a quick once over. She wasn't in bad shape, all things considered – a bit bruised, a few superficial cuts, but Rose wouldn't even need stitches. She listened to the girl's story with a growing rage. She hated men who preyed on women, but men who preyed on one of her girls earned a special kind of pain.
"And I grabbed this." Rose handed the DVD case over to Gail. The DVD was labeled simply, "Jenny."
Gail held it up questioningly and Rose pointed to the DVD player on the shelf while she returned to packing her clothes. Rose was getting out of Old Town and she was getting out of Sin City. No waiting around to get picked off. Out. Done. No more. She'd live in Bumfuck, Idaho and peel potatoes for a stinking farm hand rather than stay here and face the sort of death that Byron Robson had promised her.
Gail had recognized the name, and as she watched the DVD that Rose had stolen, she recognized the face: Byron Robson, Wallenquist's right hand man. Fuck. She used a remote to fast forward through the majority of the "movie," and ignored the smears of high speed red that appeared on the screen the farther along it went. She stopped and watched impassively while Sin City's number two mobster cut a young woman's throat after he had carved up the rest of her.
He was going to pay for Jenny. And for Rose. And for every other nameless girl who had died for Robson's little "hobby." She didn't need to look at Miho to know that the girl was ready to take care of this matter.
Rose sat and watched the Basin City train station fall behind her. Miho and Gail had escorted her to the station and ensured that she'd gotten on the train without being hurt. God bless them both.
She had written out a detailed account of the incident in her diary. They had then put the DVD inside the diary and locked it closed. She left the evidence in Gail's care with the promise that if anything happened to Rose, Gail would make sure that Robson's crimes would be splashed on TV screens and newspapers around the country, not just in Sin City.
No more prostitution. Being a hooker in Sin City was one thing; Rose wasn't going to try it anywhere else. At least in Sin City a whore could have some pride.
Rose leaned her head against the window and closed her eyes. It had been a very long night and she had earned some rest.
"Wake up, babydoll."
No. She was not going to open her eyes. She was asleep on the train and she was not going to wake up in the middle of the nightmare she'd escaped the night before.
A stinging slap changed her mind. Rose opened her eyes and looked into the grinning, mismatched face of Byron Robson.
"Surprise." She shivered. His grin looked like he was going to just take a bite out of her at any moment. She'd seen the DVD. She definitely would not put it past him. "I bet you didn't even feel the needle, did you? Damn, but that Delia is good."
Rose flinched back from his hand when he caressed her cheek. "Don't touch me! You foul thing! You fucking piece of shit bastard."
"You're gonna learn to love me, missy. They all learn to love me."
He's out of his goddamned mind! "Miho will come for you."
"Darlin', I'm gonna save her the trouble." She bit back a whimper when he pulled out the knife again. "I'm gonna send someone to her. Right after you and me have a little talk."
And that's where I came in.
Just another night at Kadie's. Another night spent packed in with the other losers watching Nancy like she was the last woman we'd ever see.
If the last woman I ever saw was Nancy, I'd be a lucky guy.
The air reeked of cigarettes and spilled beer with a bit of piss and vomit thrown in just for the hell of it. Just another night.
Until things went quiet. The quiet spread out from the rock tossed in our bit of murky pond. The rock's name was Miho.
Even if I hadn't been there, no man in Kadie's would have laid a hand on Miho. Not without leaving it on the trashed out floor.
I looked down at that tiny girl standing next to me. Her waist wasn't as big around as my arm, but if I fought girls, she'd wipe the floor with me. I like that about her.
"Huh. I guess you want me to come with you?"
Miho nodded and the giant most of Sin City knew as Marv followed her docilely out of Kadie's.
"It's about time." Gail opened the door and stood aside for Miho and the ugly, scarred up giant of a man who followed her. "I have to get you two taken care of and go check on Dwight. I got a call that his surgery's done and he's waking up."
"Tell him hi for me," Marv rumbled. "Tell him I'm glad he didn't die."
"I'll tell him, but I'm not leaving yet. First, let me introduce you to Carmel." Gail stood aside and pointed to the woman sitting – no, huddling – on the couch. She had a blue blanket wrapped around herself.
Marv looked her over. Like every girl he'd ever seen in Old Town, Carmel was drop dead gorgeous. Great figure, hair he just wanted to run his fingers through, her skin tone and pouting lips proclaimed one racial background, but the vivid blue of her eyes hinted that her background was more varied than first glance might tell.
Marv stared, transfixed before remembering himself and swallowing harshly. "Nice to meet you, Carmel. Name's Marv." For a second those eyes seemed like the only color in the room.
Gail looked past Marv to Carmel. "This is the guy I told you about. He'll help you."
"I will?" Marv looked down at Gail. "What am I helping her with?"
"Tell him."
Carmel looked from Gail to Miho and up to Marv. She looked terrified and Marv felt a pang; he knew he was ugly. He hated making a woman like this afraid. He wasn't a bad guy; he just had a condition. He was okay as long as he had his medication.
"Tell me. I won't hurt you." Marv looked around for a place to sit and settled for sitting on the floor instead of crushing the rather dainty wicker furniture.
"My sister, Sharon, works here in Old Town. This is her apartment." Carmel pulled the blanket around her and looked up when a hard rattle of rain hit the windows. The weather still hadn't broken. Days of rain in a desert city was wearing on everyone.
"Sharon went out two nights ago and was snatched by a guy who works for Byron Robson. They were going to make a snuff film with her as the star." Carmel looked ill at the thought and her eyes brimmed with tears.
"She got away and came here." She nodded toward the two women standing behind him. "Miho and Gail helped her out, got her on the train out of Sin City and those bastards got her. They had to have taken her right off the train." She held up a CD sleeve between shaking fingers. "This was delivered to me this morning."
Miho plucked the CD out of the woman's fingers and put the disc inside in the DVD player built into the small TV sitting on a stand across from the couch. Marv leaned over for a clear view and watched as a frightened young woman's face filled the screen.
"Carmel, show this to Gail and Miho in Old Town. Anyone can show you how to find them. Just tell them you're Rose's sister." Sharon's skin was a similar shade to Carmel's, but she didn't have those amazing blue eyes, although hers were luminous through the sheen of tears. "Just do it or the people who have me are going to hurt me." Tears spilled town her cheeks. "They're going to hurt me real bad."
Sharon's lip quivered, but she took a deep breath and looked somewhere to the left of the camera. "Gail, Miho, you two have to give Carmel the disc I gave you. And the diary. If you do, they'll let me go. If you don't…" Her face crumpled and she began to sob, "They do to me what they did to Jenny. God, please don't let them!"
The image jumped and Sharon was calmer, or at least she wasn't sobbing. She looked down at something out of the camera's range and began to read in a dull monotone: "Carmel will wait at Rose's apartment until she is contacted. She will be given directions then. When Carmel receives her instructions, Miho is to go to the roof of the building that overlooks Bleaker and Browning and stay in plain sight. If Miho leaves view at any point before I am released, they will kill me," she paused and bit back a sob, "and Carmel if she is with me.
"Carmel will deliver the diary and disc to the location she will be given. They will release me and this will all be over." She closed her eyes and pressed her lips together before continuing, "If you don't do what they say, he says that what happened to Jenny will look easy compared to what he'll do to me."
The scene froze on the woman' terrified face just as she dissolved into tears again.
Marv looked up at Carmel to see her huddled under the blanket with her hands over her face, silently sobbing. Glancing back at Gail and Miho, he asked, "Which dame am I here for? Sharon or Rose?"
"They're the same person, Marv." Gail rolled her eyes at him. "Rose is her working name." She sighed irritably. "Now you see why we wanted you. Carmel needs some muscle to keep from getting screwed over, roughed up, or worse. I can't send Miho, and you owe us a favor, so I'm calling it in."
Marv knew nothing of the sort. If anything, Gail owed him for getting Dwight to Old Town before he died. It didn't matter what the reason was, a woman was going to be hurt if he didn't help and that was all the reason he needed. Marv might be a guy who was prone to confusion because of his condition, but he wasn't the sort of guy who'd let a woman get hurt if he could help it.
"Any chance we can leave the book here and just try to get Sharon out?"
Gail snorted and shook her head. "And if they use the threat about Rose and Carmel to keep Miho from dealing with any attack they might bring into Old Town? Byron's got the mob on his side! Maybe. Just maybe my girls can protect the book. Yeah, and maybe I'm a Chinese jet pilot."
