The Sopaths (15 page)

But in the brief interim while they were discussing it, Dreda and Nefer approached him. “Father,” Dreda said. “They want another hymn.”

“Father, I will be glad to sing another,” Nefer said.

They were both giving the signal. There was a sopath in this group.

“Who?” he asked tightly.

They indicated a five year old red-headed girl standing beside her red-headed mother. “Mother doesn’t know,” Nefer said.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Abner said. “Carry on here for a moment.”

The girls shrugged. They were relating to the children, explaining that yes, adopted parents could be good parents, especially when they had been through the same horrors as the children.

Abner walked to Mayor Jones. “There is a sopath here,” he murmured.

He reacted exactly as Abner had. “Who?”

“The girl beside the redhead there.”

“Oh, no! I am courting that woman. Their sopath girl put rat poison in their food, killing her husband and other daughter.”

Abner made an internal whistle.
It was the sopath who had survived, framing the souler sister for the crime
.

“It is not necessarily bad news,” Abner said carefully. “Consistent firm discipline can civilize a sopath, and they can be useful, as your townsmen have discovered with the sopath maids.”

“The sopaths from Sauerkraut are under Sauerkraut sopath discipline, which is deadly. Fear keeps them in line. But a sopath in a Pariah family? This would be extremely awkward.”

“It doesn’t have to be.”

Jones shook his head. “Are you sure you know a sopath when you see one? I have had experience with sopaths, but have not seen the signs in that girl.”

“They can masquerade as soulers,” Abner said. “If they choose to. Smart ones are more likely to, because they realize it is dangerous to be exposed as a sopath.”

“You must be mistaken.” The man was in denial.

“Perhaps I should demonstrate,” Abner said. “I have a sopath in my own family.”

“You must be joking.”

“Nefer, here.”

“The angelic soloist? I can’t believe it.”

Abner beckoned, and the girl came over. “Tell him, Nefer.”

“I am a sopath.”

“I don’t believe it. You appreciate beauty and religion. You sang a wonderful hymn.”

“I don’t give a shit about religion,” she said sweetly. “Or about what you believe, pecker-head. If you want, I will strip naked and masturbate myself in public while singing another hymn. I’ll tell them you made me do it.”

“You wouldn’t dare!”

Nefer started singing another hymn, her voice as beautiful as ever. As she sang, she started unbuttoning her dress and gyrating suggestively. All eyes turned toward her, as the hymn attracted attention.

“All right, all right, desist,” Jones said quickly. “You made your point.”

Nefer glanced at Abner. He nodded.

She continued singing, but stopped the other actions. There was applause as she finished the hymn. She made a little appreciative curtsy, looking impossibly angelic. “Thank you for asking, Mr. Jones,” she said, blushing. Abner had not realized she could fake even that. The others returned to their other activities.

“Heaven and hell,” Jones said, daunted. “And she obeys you implicitly, showing no fear. How do you do it?”

“She loves me,” Abner said.

“Sopaths don’t love!”

“You would call it lust,” Nefer said. “I’m hot for him and want him to fuck me. He knows it and uses it to control me with the hint that he might be weakening. If I push it too hard, too soon, he’ll kill me. He’s one tough stud.” She smiled longingly at Abner.

Jones was taken aback. “Do sopath girls actually feel sexual desire? I assumed they tolerate some of our men only for the sake of the food and money.”

“We can be horny as hell,” Nefer said. “With the right man. We’d as soon kill the wrong man. So you’re right: they’re selling the fucks for cash, but maybe after a few times some of them are getting to like the men. It’s a two way street. We don’t need souls to like a good cock.”

Jones evidently had a horrible thought. “That girl you say is a sopath. She has seen me kissing her mother. What would be her motive with respect to me?”

“Chances are she’s seen you fuck her mother, too, and she wants a piece of it. But mostly she knows she’ll always be safe if you marry her mother, so she’ll behave until you do. Then she’ll see about seducing you herself. You bet she knows what the Kraut girls are doing.”

“I would never—she’s only five years old!”

“Here’s how it’s done, dope. She’ll come to you when you’re alone, and ask you to fuck her, carefully. Maybe just stroking your cock along her wet little slit, the first time. If you do, she’ll enjoy it and keep her mouth shut. If you don’t, she’ll scream and tell her mother and the world you tried to rape her. She’ll be damned persuasive. You won’t be mayor long after that.” Nefer half smiled. “So you had better do it. It’s easier all around. She’ll play along as long as you behave. You might even like it. Many men do.”

“This is appalling!”

“No problem,” Nefer said. “Kill her, or don’t marry her mother. Maybe arrange to have the sopath have a fatal accident while you’re out of town, so you won’t be blamed. Then her mother’s safely yours. Fuck her all you want.”

Jones looked at Abner. “You tolerate this creature in your family?”

“We’re dealing with sopaths,” Abner said seriously. “We need to understand them. This is the way they think and act. That’s another reason we’ll be moving on to Sauerkraut.”

“Do that tomorrow,” Jones said grimly. “I wash my hands of it.” He walked away.

“That was fun,” Nefer said. “Thanks for letting me, Abner.”

Abner squeezed her shoulder. “Actually, it
was
fun. He’s such a self-important shirt. You took him down.”

“Any time, Abner. I love you, and it’s not all lust. Mostly, but not all.”

“I believe it.”

They carried through on the organization routine, but knew that their welcome was now quite limited. Jones would not talk about it, but he would want nothing more to do with them. They had become pariahs even among Pariahs. Abner made a quiet phone report to Pariah. They had learned significant things, but the main mystery remained.

“I am nervous about tomorrow,” Bunty said as they turned in. “In fact I’m terrified. The prospect of dealing with teen-aged sopaths is daunting.”

“I can go in alone,” Abner said.

“No. I’m scared for you as much as for the family.”

“We’re all scared,” Clark said. “But we know we’ve got to do it.” Dreda nodded agreement. They were young, but they had the courage of conscience.

“So am I,” Nefer said. “Sopaths can be scared too. I’ve got a notion what I’ll be like as a teen, and that scares me. And I want to say this: if I think they’re going to kill you, Abner, I will say or do anything to save you. So don’t believe me, especially if I call you father.”

“And if you think they’re going to kill Bunty, Clark, or Dreda?” he asked.

“If I have to turn them in to save you, I will. But since I know that would forever poison any chance I have with you, I won’t do it unless there’s no other way.”

Abner was shaken despite himself. “Maybe we should cancel.”

“No,” Bunty said firmly. “This is something we all have to do. We will live or die pursuing our mission.” The two children grimly nodded agreement.

“Damn, I wish I could feel what you’re feeling,” Nefer said. “Before we all die.”

“Then you wouldn’t be a sopath,” Clark reminded her.

“Damn,” Nefer repeated morosely. That seemed to sum it all up.

CHAPTER 8

The outlying environment of Sauerkraut reminded Abner of militarily occupied territory. Three quarters of the farm houses were shuttered, their yards overgrown, obviously unoccupied. Many of their fields were fallow. The occupied and maintained ones stood out like ragged islands.

“This is grim,” Bunty remarked.

“When a hostile force occupies a region, in war, the natives have to flee or accommodate,” Abner said. “I have seen it. There is no point in stopping at any house; they will be afraid of us, or of retaliation if they show us any courtesy. We shall have to deal directly with the conquerors.”

“Which will be sopaths.”

“Yes.”

“They have to know we’re coming, and our mission.”

“Yes. We’re like a foreign embassy entering under flag of truce. They may not honor it.”

“They will for a while,” Nefer said. “They’ll know you are coming in for a reason, and they’ll want to know that reason. Otherwise you could have skipped it.”

“But will they believe that we just want to solve the riddle of the twin towns, and maybe fathom the secret of sopath births?”

“Maybe.” Abner brought out his cell phone and called Pariah. “We are nearing the target. Is the unit in place and zeroed in?”

“It is. Response will be thirty seconds from your directive. First one a warning, second one for effect.”

“Good enough,” Abner said. “I suspect we’ll need it.”

“Unit?” Bunty asked.

“Military hardware I asked them to set up overnight. We’re not playing games here.”

“Indeed we are not,” she agreed.

“Background for the rest of you,” Abner said. “It seems that Sauerkraut is governed by a teen-aged female sopath named Topsy, said to be as beautiful and vicious as they come.”

“Topsy?” Clark asked. “What’s she doing with a cute name?”

“You never can tell,” Nefer said. “I chose mine because I heard of Queen Nefertiti and it also sounds like Never. She has to have some nasty reason.”

“Surely so,” Abner agreed. “She came to power about a year ago, ruthlessly eliminating competitors. She’s young but smart, and it seems knows how to make people do her bidding. She rewards grown souler men with sex, and grown souler women with other favors, such as getting the men of their choice. The men’s first desire is for Topsy, but they know they won’t get any part of her unless they obey her whims, so they settle for the other women when Topsy tells them to. It’s cynical but effective.”

“She’s a sopath, all right,” Nefer said. “Are you sure you can handle her, Abner? She’ll be worse than me.”

“Pariah seems to think that I can.”

“It’s his secret weapon,” Bunty said. “Personal magnetism, otherwise known as raw sex appeal. Women of any age are attracted to him. You may have noticed.”

Nefer and Dreda laughed. They had noticed.

“I will have to get her close to me and keep her there for a while,” Abner said. “I will try to play it straight, presenting my mission, but if that doesn’t work, we’ll just have to hope that the secret weapon, as Bunty puts it, does. There is a serious risk regardless. We can still turn back.”

“No,” the children said together.

“I’m not sure you’re considering just how ugly it may become.”

“Daddy, we know about sopaths,” Dreda said bravely.

Abner let it drop, hoping this deadly gamble would play out successfully. The family had seen less of the viciousness of sopaths than he had.

There was a structure ahead. It turned out to be a check point, covered by a machine gun. Abner glided up to it and stopped.

“Who are you?” the young teen guard demanded.

“I am Abner Slate, representing Pariah. This is my family.”

“Why are you here?”

“There is a mystery about Sweetpea and Sauerkraut. No sopaths are born there, and few soulers here. We want to know why.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

The kid consulted briefly on his cell phone. That sort of thing was of course part of what the sopaths needed money for. They might have preferred to be completely isolated from the rest of the world, but had discovered that this was not feasible.

Then he evidently got his orders. “Get out of the car.”

Rather than try to argue with possibly trigger-happy minions, Abner obliged. “Do it,” he murmured.

The five of them got out. They were marched to an adjacent building and separated. None of them offered any resistance.

Abner found himself in a chamber by himself. He sat and waited about half an hour. He knew they would get around to him soon enough. They had to bring in their authorities. Topsy herself, with luck.

A gruff older man entered. “You’re no sopath,” Abner said.

“I work for them,” the man said.

“I’ll bet.” The fact that a person had a soul did not guarantee he would be ethical or independent. Sex and threats could be powerful persuaders.

“Now here’s the situation,” the man said. “You came to spy on us and mess us up. What we want to know is why. Tell us, and maybe you’ll see your family again.”

Abner remembered military interrogation procedures. This was not very sophisticated. “We came to find out why so many sopaths are born here.”

“You lie.”

Uh-huh. He was definitely dealing with amateurs. “What is the basis of this charge?”

“We got it from your two younger children.”

And doubtless lying similarly to the others about what Abner said. Standard operating procedure. “I doubt it. What of the older girl?”

“She collapsed in tears before we even asked.”

That just might be true. Nefer was playing a dangerous game with them. Evidently they hadn’t recognized her as a sopath herself. They surely would before long, however. “And what of my wife?”

“She clammed up. But she’ll squeal soon enough when we torture the children.”

There was the threat. They were clumsy, but had the essence. “You won’t be doing that.”

“Why not?”

“Because the moment you do, I’ll be annoyed.” Abner smiled. “You wouldn’t like me when I’m annoyed.”

The man frowned. “You’re some joker, you know that?”

“This has gone far enough. Bring us back together, unharmed. We’re here to meet with your superiors.”

“Oh? And what if we don’t?”

Abner moved too quickly for the man to react. In an instant he had him in a firm headlock. “That would annoy me.”

The man tried to cry out, but Abner cut off his wind with a twist of his wrist against the windpipe. “I could kill you in a few seconds. But you’re not worth bothering with. You’re just a flunky. Now call your supervisor in here.” He eased up a little.

“The hell!”

Abner shifted his grip slightly. Now it was a pain hold. “I didn’t hear that. Will you cooperate?”

“The—”

This time the pain hold made the man groan in agony. “Do I have to reach him over your dead body? Now get in line and I’ll let you go.”

The man took a moment to recover. Then he called “Autopsy! He’s got me in a hold.”

Abner was about to make him hurt again. But then a young woman appeared. “I will take it from here, Jud,” she said.

So the mistress of Kraut really had come. That was a break. Not the childish Topsy, but the brutally suggestive Autopsy. As Nefer had said: she must have her reason. Maybe it was to make her seem less threatening to outsiders, while insiders knew how vicious she was.

Abner let the man go. He scrambled to his feet and out the door. Abner was left with the woman.

And what a woman she was. Her face was lovely almost beyond description, perfectly made up. She wore a low cut gown that showed more than half of her rouged breasts. Her fair hair was bound with a sparkling jeweled comb. She took a seat on the chair and crossed her right leg over the left not at the knee but midway along the calf so that her shapely thigh was exposed all the way to the buttock. The effect was compelling. This was like Nefer on steroids. “I am Autopsy,” she said.

“You’re a teen sopath!” Abner said, affecting surprise. She looked seventeen but was surely younger.

She leaned forward, showing more of her breasts. “Don’t fool with me, Abner Slate. I saw you coming. Tell me what I want to know and I will let you touch me.”

“We are here to try to discover why one town has no sopath births while the other has mostly sopath births. That could have global significance. Tell me that and I will leave you alone.”

“You understand of course that we will not hesitate to torture your wife and children to death in front of you. Or to reward you with a fantastic experience if you cooperate.”

She was speaking literally, but it was not his role to be cowed. “Cut out the threats and temptations, Autopsy. I will not be moved by either.”

“Oh? I am curious to verify your constancy. Perhaps I will strip us both naked and sit on your lap and fondle your penis while we watch the smallest girl writhe and scream as we burn out her eyes with red-hot pokers. Which distraction will interest you more?”

She wasn’t bluffing. She was a sopath with power. It was time to halt this. “Here is why you won’t do any of that. I have been in constant touch with the Pariah home office via a private signal you can’t intercept. The moment I give the word, or cease to communicate, they will alert the state authorities who will do what they have been eager to do: raid you and kill all of you as rogue sopaths. All they need is a pretext, and I am that pretext. I will see that they capture rather than kill you personally, and if any of my family have been harmed, I will hold you securely bound and naked on my lap as I rape you with the hot poker you have prepared for my daughter. I suspect your body will writhe and scream in a most interesting manner.”

She gazed at him, unconcerned. “I wonder.”

“It is simple enough to have the proof of my threat. Start your torture.”

“I think you’re bluffing. You’re a man, so you desire me and want to have sex with me. You’re a souler, so you don’t like hurting people, while it doesn’t bother us at all.”

“You are the one bluffing, bitch. You have no interest in torturing anyone unless you have something to gain by it. I, in contrast, care about my family, and will be motivated by vengeance. When the raid manifests you will flee to try to save your own hide, while I will make good on my threat. There’s nothing quite as vicious as a motivated souler with a hard military background.”

“That is true. We have some here.” She studied him thoughtfully. “What do you want?”

“I want the answer to my question. Give it to me and I will leave you alone and see that Pariah does too. That’s a bargain for you.”

“We don’t
have
the answer!” she snapped, her poise beginning to fray.

“I’ll be damned. You mean it.”

“Yes I mean it! All we want is to be left alone. We can’t give you what you want.”

Abner wasn’t sure whether she was lying, because to sopaths the truth was merely one option among many. This still needed to be played out. “Then I can’t give
you
what you want. We may simply have to clean you out and start over here with a study group.”

She sighed. “Well, I tried to make nice. Now we’ll do it my way. Follow me.” She got up and walked out of the room.

Abner followed, involuntarily admiring her flexing buttocks under the tight skirt. He could have caught her and subdued her with a pain hold, but was pretty sure that would not work a second time. Her guards would instantly appear with guns. Her very ability to turn her back on him showed her confidence in her own safety.

They came to a larger room. There was Dreda, tied naked to a board. “Daddy!” she cried hopefully.

Abner saw that Bunty, Clark, and Nefer were seated on chairs across the room, facing the torture site. They were all naked, and all looked grim. They had evidently been told the same thing he had.

There were four male guards armed with knives, standing to the sides of the room. The thing about knives was that they were better for stages of torture than guns were. A gun was either fired or not fired, while a knife could cut off small sections at a time.

“We shall sit and watch the persuasion,” Autopsy said. “Strip and sit, Abner Slate.” She indicated a chair for him at the near end of the row.

She was inadvertently playing into his hands.

Abner removed his clothing and took the seat, retaining only the cell phone in his left hand. The fact that they had not taken it indicated either their confidence or their caution.

Autopsy stripped also and stood before him for a moment gloriously nude. Then she sat on his lap, her plush buttocks pressing warmly against his thighs. She reached down between her spread thighs, and took hold of his penis, exactly as she had threatened. She massaged it, and it hardened in her hand. It was now erect between her thighs. She had ferocious sex appeal, an animal magnetism that her mere appearance could not entirely account for. He abhorred the necessity of being so close to this vicious creature, yet his body was reacting forcefully. No wonder she governed here!

“So you’re doing exactly what you threatened to,” Abner said, keeping his voice calm.

“Exactly,” she agreed sweetly, giving his penis a pull. “I am turned on by torture. How about you?”

“I will not allow it.”

Autopsy glanced at the guards. “Proceed,” she said.

One of the guards left the room. He returned a moment later with a poker that glowed red at its business end. It had been in a fire, made ready for this ugly use. He advanced on Dreda.

“All you need to do is promise to leave here and be silent about our control of this town,” Autopsy murmured in his ear. “I know that as a Pariah official you will keep your word in a way a sopath would not.”

“I will keep my given word,” he agreed. “I have not given it except in this respect: Your doom is sealed the moment that poker touches my child.”

“And when you do promise, not only will she go free unharmed, but I will give you the fuck of your life.” She reached down to catch his right hand and bring it to her bare right breast. She pressed it in, causing it to massage the flesh. His estimate had been correct: she was like Nefer on steroids. There was the same kind of animal magnetism about her that others had described about him, and he desired her fiercely.