Blackburn closed his eyes and tried to calm his pounding heart. The problem was that some of the things she had said were thoughts he had been struggling with for years and to hear them echoed at him in that way was almost more than he could bear. He blinked back tears. It was then, in the dusty silence, that he realised something was wrong. It was too quiet! He whirled around and confronted the empty room. There was the cage, open, all the hostages had vanished. With calculated derision he reached out and checked Faeilr's chains. They were secure. He darted up the ladder in time to see Daisy racing to the skyship. With a burst of speed and adrenaline the man ran across the grass, feet thudding like a train. He threw himself bodily on the girl as she made to get inside the ship and tackled her to the ground as she screamed. The skyship roared into the air as the Plebes managed to fly it and he cursed as the lion's share of his hostages flew towards freedom. Grunting, he gripped the Plebe frozen in his arms and began to drag her back down to the bunker.
Dasiy couldn't believe it! She and Anna had orchestrated the escape of eight of the Plebes and they had left her! She was furious. And her PROFESSOR currently had her tied up like a pig for slaughter, bound to the outside bars of the cage! Vik had still been unconscious in the other room and Blackburn had carried him back through and tied him up in a similar manner. Anna remained limp on the rock. Blackburn was pacing with heavy steps. Eventually Anna stirred and groaned. Instantly, the Professor was at her side, gently moving her face and swiping her matted hair away. "Faeilr, Faeilr. Anna. Are you ok?" He sounded almost concerned. Gingerly, the girl made to open her eyes, wincing as the light struck her. She looked confused and made to sit up but, with sudden trepidation, seemed to remember what had happened. She froze and shrank back, cringing at the prospect of another beating.
James Blackburn watched as the girl retreated as much as she could and became paralysed with fear, chained to the rock. He almost pitied her, she looked awful. Bloodied and bruised, all his doing. The work of his hands. And she was genuinely scared of him. "Anna." He paused, allowing her fear to reach fervent pitches. "Be honest. You have nothing to gain from lying. What do you mean you know where Raines is?" Anna blanched. He could tell it caused her pain to move and to speak so silently admired her as she spoke in a detached voice. "I don't know where he is Sir. I told you that to distract you." Blackburn narrowed his eyes and made to strike her but she flew backwards against the rock as much as she could and mewled in pain. He paused, moved by her plight and the pain she was in. So he gently took her shackled hand. She tried to pull away but he did not let her and his fingers stroked her softly, distracting her from the pain. After several long minutes she began to let herself relax slightly so she wasn't tensed for sudden attack. She closed her eyes as he soothed her with his hand. A silent oasis of truce in the tempestuous sea of violence. After a while he spoke. "The others have all gone Faeilr." She looked at him. "Your plan worked. They escaped." She closed her eyes in relief. "All except these two." He moved aside and gestured to the bound Vik and Daisy.
She opened her eyes and grimaced as she spotted them. So they hadn't all made it. She took a shuddering breath and stared up at him in anticipation. "Take it out on me". Her voice was dead and monotone. She was spitting the words out, not wanting to say them, knowing it meant more pain. "Not them. Take it out on me." She half guessed his response.
"No."
He stalked over to the terrified Daisy and she flinched as he stroked her curled hair. "Tell me where Raines is or I will put your friend through more pain than you could possibly imagine. You think you have seen the worst of me Anna but you have not seen anything yet. Everything that you have experienced so far will be child's play compared to what I am going to do to this girl if you get between me and what I want!" Anna was panicking. He was going to hurt Daisy based on her lie! "Sir, I truly don't know where Raines is! I was lying - I wanted to distract you - I don't know!" Blackburn smacked Daisy and the Plebe wailed against the bars.
"Even if that is true, you would then have cost me my leverage, based on a lie. I want Raines and your actions are stopping me getting what I want, for you let my hostages escape. This, I do not take kindly to." He held Daisy and punched her in the stomach as she gasped silent, suffocating tears, struggling to double over tied to the cage. "I want to know where Raines is girl. Tell me." He hit Daisy again and she couldn't even gasp for pain. Anna said nothing and looked away.
For fifteen long minutes, the only sound was the thump thump thump smack of fist against flesh as Blackburn systematically beat Daisy, torturing her and meticulously allowing bruises to form without giving her the mercy of passing out. Anna's face was turned to the side, trying in vain to block it out and crying in muted horror, 'I made it up, I made it up. It wasn't true. I made it up. PLEASE STOP!"
After an eternity, Blackburn halted and stalked over to Anna again. Her room mate was a mess of bloodied skin and black eyes. His crimson hands grasped her chin, turning her face to his. Anna made herself meet his black eyes. "You monster." She whispered hoarsely. "Please, I made it up. Please leave her be. Let me help her." Blackburn's face was impassive and uncaring as he pinned her to the rock. "Do you really think Vengerov would have told me where Tom is?" she asked, tonelessly. The large man in front of her calculated, deliberated. She could not guess what he was thinking. He pounded over to Daisy who recoiled in terror as he reached into his pocket for a camera and took a photo of her mangled body to send to Vengerov. Then he undid her wrists and carried her into an anteroom where he spent a while cleaning her many wounds. Finally he dragged a mattress into the square with the bars (which he moved up, forcing the unconscious Vik to stand, bound as he was). Daisy was left to sleep in the cage.
Blackburn's phoned dinged. He looked at the screen and scowled. He moved over to Anna and she shuffled back as far as possible. He looked mad. Deranged. When it came to Vengerov he did not think rationally. "Tell me where Raines is, Faelir."
"I don't know. I made it up to distract you."
Daisy shuffled in the cage and watched as best she could. Nearby, Vik rose from the unconscious abyss and did something very un-Vik-like. He was silent.
Blackburn stared down at her. "I need to know for sure."
Blackburn undid her chains. He picked her up and carried to the next room, where he had initially taken Vik to be slaughtered. There was a bathroom here with tiled floors and an ominous drain built into the floor. 'For the blood', the words thundered through her head. Anna was carried to the adjacent room with a hard stone floor. Blackburn brought her to a bed in the middle of the far wall of the room, bodily flinging her down. She moved and twisted like a viper out of his grasp but she was no match for him. The stronger man pinned her down with his legs and forced her arms through loops on either side of the bed, so that she was utterly helpless, tied to the bed. "What are you doing?" she asked in confusion. Blackburn simply gripped her top and ripped it from her body. He tore off her bra with lightening speed and pulled off her shoes and trousers, leaving her in just her knickers. Cold terror flooded her face. She felt numb. "No."
In the next room, as if guessing what was happening, Vik was yelling and Daisy was watching the space where they had been in silent horror, witnessing tears cascading down her bruised face.
The Lieutenant gripped a pert breast in his strong hand, squeezing. "Is this what you want Faelir?" his tone was grim. He clutched her other breast and pinched her nipples painfully as she struggled pathetically to get out of his grip. There was nothing she could do. Her face was red with humiliation. "Tell me where Raines is!"
"I don't know!"
The Lieutenant's hands made their way slowly down her inert, squirming body, softly stroking her waist and then her inner thighs. Finally, they slowly and excruciatingly, tugged down her knickers, exposing her fully. Anna begged him to stop and noticed how she could feel him hardening next to her. She couldn't count how many nights she had dreaded this in Stow. And yet it had never happened. But now...
He pushed himself between her legs, threateningly playing with her nipples and then her neck. Anna barely breathed.
"Last chance Faelir" he spoke. He grazed her flesh and pushed apart her legs, holding them there. She was entirely vulnerable. "Where is Raines?" And even though she knew what this threat was, what the consequences would be, she could not bring herself to lie. So instead the young woman braced herself for the pain and humiliation. She tried to disassociate herself from this moment, she blocked out Vik's agonising cries. And she spoke: "I don't know, I made it up."
He stilled. He pinned her with his stare, searching her heart, her soul. "I believe you."
The sigh of relief rippled from her and she could barely believe her ears. Did that mean he would let her go?
"But. Your stunt cost me my leverage. Vengerov won't care much about three battered Plebes. I need to find him Faelir. I need to!"
Still frozen, helpless and crushed beneath him, Anna dared not move a muscle. She genuinely had no idea what he would do.
To her surprise and relief, she felt the man climb off her and cautiously release a hand. He handed her her clothes and she tugged them on hurriedly, wincing as the pain of her beatings lashed through her. "I'm not a rapist Faelir. Even if I hadn't believed you." She snorted derisively. As if that meant much considering what he had done already.
They waited. They waited in the damp, dark cave. They waited as the rain dripped down and the stalactites grew. They waited as the day outside turned to night and the nocturnal animals prowled. Not that the inhabitants of the cave noticed this deep in the belly of the earth. Blackburn provided them with some tinned spaghetti hoops and water, which they ate eagerly, not caring that the food was stone cold. Eventually Blackburn's phone dinged again. His face was impassive as he walked over to the Plebes in the cage. He released it and took Daisy by the arm, bading the others follow. As Daisy limped out, Anna tried to guess what he was going to do. He looked broken, defeated. They climbed up the ladder, tied together, feeling the cool night air kissing their faces. Bound and beaten there was little they could do.