Darknet (17 page)

Maria de Fatima Delgado lay in her bed. She had her laptop sitting on her lap. It was a planned day off for her and she was taking advantage of it. Maria got four weeks of vacation each year, but she rarely traveled and preferred to take the occasional day off here and there.

She’d been awake in bed for 90 minutes doing something she hadn’t planned. She had woken with an insane curiosity about the areas of the Internet that Cindy had been looking at, and she couldn’t help herself. She clicked through to download her own copy of Tor and she started browsing.

Maria avoided the uglier areas, but she was drawn to the site that advertised itself as the most exciting live sex show anywhere on the Net.

She didn’t have to pay, didn’t have to identify herself (of course, since DarkNet loved anonymity), and she had no idea that her own web camera was being hijacked as she masturbated, watching two women performing oral sex on each other. She only planned on watching a moment, but then she couldn’t take her eyes away and certainly couldn’t hit the escape key to get back out of the site.

She felt a stirring in her own pussy and found her hand touching herself there. Soon, her panties were gone and she was pushing a finger inside herself, feeling the wetness, and then she didn’t have the slightest intention of stopping.

The video of her orgasm was stored away with hundreds of others for future voyeurs to watch at their leisure.

* * *

After taking the ferry to the San Juan Islands and driving twenty minutes, Cindy McKay parked her car in front of her parents’ home. This was the very last place she wanted to ever go, but she had no choice.

It was three days after that terrible beating from Tony. Most of the bruises had receded and what was left she covered with makeup. Her missing tooth would only show if she smiled, which wasn’t likely

She was tempted to tell her parents what had happened to her, but today wasn’t about Tony.

Somebody had kidnapped Avril and her parents were the only people she knew who had enough money for the ransom demand.

$500,000.

Cindy’s mom and dad lived in a large house on the San Juan Islands, a ferry-ride from Seattle. They did have a lot of money, about 6.5 million dollars, but they had no intention whatsoever of a single penny of that money ever going to Cindy.

For that matter, none of it would go to Cindy’s siblings, either.

They sat at their kitchen table and planned a vacation together. It was going to be one last trip to Europe, probably including Italy (where they went on their honeymoon all those years ago), and possibly France and Germany, although other countries were still open for debate.

The trip would be a relaxing three-month tour, and after that . . . well, Jennifer Jameson was starting to forget too many things. She’d been diagnosed with medium-term Alzheimer’s disease last month, and neither she nor her husband wanted to see her fade away into a puddle of lost memories. They’d agreed that the Europe trip would be their last time together. They hugged each other a long time when they plotted out how Dave Jameson would put a bullet in his wife’s head while she slept and then do the same for himself.

Their will had every penny being donated to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

* * *

$500,000.

Cindy still felt like it was an impossible amount. If this didn’t work, there was only one option remaining, and that was an even worse choice than her parents.

The house was built in the sixties, but it still looked in pristine condition. It was a 13,000 square foot rancher with a back lot that stretched seemingly forever. Her parents hired enough staff to be sure that their home always stayed in perfect shape.

She wondered how long it would take them to piss away $500,000 just on the upkeep for the house. From where she sat in her seven-year-old Mazda, she could see two gardeners along with a maintenance man working at the side of the house. She wouldn’t be surprised if there were others she couldn’t see, let alone the several indoor staff.

Dad had earned the money in the lumber industry. He had started as a logger but was always keen to take the next step in the ladder until he ended up as CFO of Weststate Industries. He once let slip (way back, while Cindy was still in school and her parents didn’t hate her quite as much) that his salary and benefits worked out to eight million a year.

She couldn’t fathom that amount of money then and she still couldn’t. Allowing for inflation, that had to be equivalent to at least twelve million now . . .

Cindy took a deep breath and climbed out of her car, locking it with her clicker, and then walked up the long stone path to the front door.

With each step, she felt like she was undertaking a death march.

The door opened and a woman answered. She was of some indeterminate age between thirty and sixty, wore a small black and white cap and a white gown. She didn’t smile nor say hello. She just moved back from the door and said, “Your parents are waiting for you.”

“Of course they are.”

She’d had to phone for an appointment. She knew if she hadn’t, they’d pretend not to be home, just to piss her off. Part of her was surprised they hadn’t left a message with the ageless servant: “So sorry, but your parents changed their mind. They decided to blow you off and suggested I tell you to go fuck yourself.”

In spite of the circumstances, Cindy felt a slight smile on her face as she thought of that. It quickly disappeared.

“Hello, dear.”

“Hi, Daddy.”

“Come sit down.”

The old man didn’t stand. He was sitting on the black leather couch, in the same spot she remembered him sitting all those years ago.

“Where’s Mom?”

“I’m over here, dear.”

Cindy turned to see her mother following her into the den.

God, you’re so old.
Cindy tried not to stare, but her mother was hunched over and walking with a cane. Her face was scarred with wrinkles and her hair was white. The last time they’d seen each other, her mother could still play a short game of tennis and her hair was chestnut brown. Dyed, but brown nonetheless.

Her father said again, “Come sit down,” this time more forcefully. Mom sat beside him and appeared exhausted from the effort of just walking into the room.

This might be the last time I ever see you
, Cindy thought.

“Are you well?” she asked. She looked back and forth at both her parents.

“How is Ricky?” asked her mother.

Ricky was Wendy’s son, several years older than Avril.

“That’s not why we’re here,” said her father before she could correct her mom. “Why don’t we just get to it, shall we?”

“Okay,” said Cindy. “I have a problem and I really need your help. I know things haven’t been good between us, but—” She hesitated, not wanting to grovel, but then she just blurted out, “Please, please help me.”

She didn’t know what else to say, how to start, how to tell them.

Her parents didn’t reply. Her mother had her eyes closed and may have fallen asleep, but her father just glared at her, silently telling her to get on with whatever the hell she wanted.

“I made a terrible mistake, and now Avril has been kidnapped. They’re asking $500,000 in ransom money or they might—”

Might what? How could she finish that sentence? All the possibilities seemed so terrible.

“
—
they might not let me have her back.”

“I think you’d better tell us more than that.”

She nodded and tried to catch her breath. As she looked at her father, she briefly felt like she was a child being lectured at for her failing grades, being told she’d never be a success like her older sister or even her younger brother. In seconds, she’d reverse-aged to being a teenager and all she could think about was how to slink away. She glanced at her mom, who was still sitting there with her eyes closed, and she wondered if something was wrong with her.

“Well?” asked her father.

She told him. She talked about trying to hire a contract killer on the Internet and how he had ended up tracking her down, killing her cat, and then he’d stalked Avril and finally taken her. She told him about the live video feed and the subsequent threats.

When it was all over, she just stopped. She thought she’d start crying again but it seemed that all her tears were gone.

“I need you, Daddy.”

For a moment, he didn’t say a word. Then he shook his head and said, “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. I can’t believe you can’t come up with a better story than that.”

“What?”

“You think just because we’re old that you can tell us anything and we’d believe it? May I tell you that I have used the Internet myself? I read the
New York Times
sometimes and I’ve even found episodes of some old TV shows that I watched many years ago.
The Wild, Wild West
and even
Gunsmoke
. Your mother and I enjoyed that. So, don’t think I don’t know what the Internet is. Your story makes no sense.”

“But it’s all true.”

“That’s enough! If there were murderers on the Internet, don’t you think the police or the FBI would have stopped them?”

Cindy didn’t know what to say. She felt guilty but she had no idea why. Her eyes focused on the floor, feeling one of her last chances to save Avril slipping through her fingers.

“You should
go now
.”

“Daddy, please! You can’t turn your back on your own grand-daughter!”

“Go now! Before I call the police myself.”

She stood and started to walk to the door, but as she left, she glanced back.

“Bye, Mom.”

Her mother blinked and waved a hand. “Say hi to Ricky!”

* * *

Tony loved withholding information and he especially loved it when somebody was dying to hear it. He knew that Deb wanted to know whatever it was he had come over to tell her, and so he wanted to hold out just a little longer.

“Take your clothes off,” he said.

Deb only hesitated a few seconds before taking off her T-shirt and pants. When he kept staring at her, she took off her bra and panties too.

Only when she was naked did he smile.

“Go sit on the bed.”

She did, and he sat in an armchair near the bedroom door. He stared at her body, feeling his cock start to stir, not so much from seeing her body but more from seeing her vulnerability and unease.

“Aren’t you going to get undressed, too?”

“Soon,” he said. “We need to talk first.”

“Okay. What about?”

“Remember that first time we met? In your store? I showed you something. Do you remember it?”

“Sure. The lottery ticket.”

“You know how much it’s worth, right?”

“It was a lot of money. A
lot
.”

“One million three hundred thousand.”

She nodded. Tony suspected she knew the amount right to the penny. How could she not?

He stood and walked to her so that he was towering over her. He took her left breast in his hand and caressed it. Her nipple started to react as soon as he touched her, and he saw her face change. She caught her breath and looked at his face, at his lips.

“I want you to take the ticket and cash it.”

Deb looked at his eyes. “What do you mean?”

He took her other breast now and squeezed her nipple between two fingers, hard enough to hurt. Her eyes squinted a bit but she didn’t make a sound.

Got you well trained, bitch.

“I’m a little worried about losing the ticket. I need you to cash it so the money is safe.”

He pushed her back onto the bed and forced her legs apart, spearing a finger inside her pussy. She wasn’t ready and he knew it hurt her, but he didn’t give a shit.

His cock was fully erect now, and part of him just wanted to take her, to satisfy himself. It’d been several days since he’d been with her and he was overdue.

“I’ll do anything you want,” she said.

He moved his finger in and out and after a while, he felt her relax and his finger moved easier.

“I can’t do it myself. Certain people would try to take it.”

She was breathing harder, moving her hips in time to his movements. “What do you mean?” she whispered. “Who could take it?”

“My wife.”

Deb’s eyes popped wide open and stared at him, and her body stopped moving.

“You have a wife?”

He ignored her. He took his finger out and took off his pants. He pulled her to him and slid his cock inside her, feeling her hot juices all around him. He didn’t wait, just started thrusting hard into her, deeper and harder each time, just wanting to fuck her.

She closed her eyes and he felt her timing her own rhythms to his.