The Woman They Kept (5 page)

“
Working for myself is one
thing," she continued. "I put a good roof over Sammy's
head and keep food in his stomach. I don't take clients I don't
want and I don't hand over my money to anyone else. But not
everyone in this business works for themselves, and I didn't used
to.”

“
You see, a lot of girls
get taken and moved city to city, they're confused and disoriented,
they have all their money taken from them and can't go to the peace
officers.”

“
Why not?” Gideon
interjected. “It seems like they have time to run, the
managers can't watch them all the time.”

The lighter twirled in her hand.
“They keep a better look than you would think, and even if
they get away, a lot of places they just get arrested for being a
whore. Even if it's a place like this where it's legal, some of the
cops are on the payroll of the riders. You never know who's safe
and who isn't.”

“
So you have to understand
that not all of these girls are eager participants. They try to run
or they won't service clients, and that's when they get seasoned.”

Ilsa motioned toward the door.
“Before I had Sammy I lived out in Kitswitch. It was nice
enough, there was always food on the table, but my parents never
really cared about me. I was just there because I was related to
them, you know? Well one day this older guy named Jeff starts
paying attention to me. I couldn't believe it. Me; ugly, young,
little eighteen year old me just starting to bloom into womanhood
and here was this handsome older guy who was paying me attention.
We kept our relationship secret.”

“
Oh, sure, it was
wonderful in the beginning. He was a regular Romeo, giving me gifts
and telling me how beautiful I was. He was my first, he took my
virginity in one of the most romantic nights of my life.” She
sighed and smiled at the memory before it faded and she continued.
“Things started getting physical after that. It wasn't much,
a slap here, calling me a whore in bed, but it kept getting worse.”

“
The first time he tricked
me out he said he needed money to go to the hospital, said he knew
someone who would pay enough to get him there just for one hour with
me. I was so heartbroken, just a eighteen year old kid and here
he's telling me that I should be noble and do this for him. I told
him I was sorry, but I just couldn't do that, I would try another
way. He beat me pretty bad for that. It wasn't the answer he was
looking for.”

She pulled back her hair and
showed Gideon a long and jagged scar that ran from her temple down
to her jaw. “I still have a scar from that night.”

“
He wasn't done, though.
He tied me ass up on his bed and had the guy over to do it anyway.
Told me that was how it was. I tore up pretty badly down there, but
Jeff started calling people and they all came over and had a go. By
the end when they untied me I couldn't even walk to the bathroom.”

Ilsa lit up another cigarette on
the butt of the first. The glow at the tip shook slightly in her
hand. “You don't even know how fast the fight will go out of
you, and here I thought he loved me. I wasn't nothing but a horse
in his stable. Jeff sold me to one of his friends, I never saw him
again, and the new guy had me out on the street telling me that if I
didn't make him his money he would get his friends over and they
would season me again. I learned pretty fast. That's seasoning,
it's breaking someone down so they do whatever you want.”

They sat together in silence for
a moment as Ilsa smoked her cigarette. The smoke drifted lazily out
the open window.

“
How did you get out?”
Gideon asked.

“
Sammy's daddy got me out.
He was one of my regulars but a nice guy, always gentle, asking
permission and not forcing nothing I didn't want done.”

“
What was his name?”

Ilsa smiled then, not a small
and quiet smile like when she was remembering her first night with
Jeff but large and toothy, the kind that can't be hidden. Her eyes
crinkled at the edges and rimmed with tears at the thought of him.
“His name was Angel, and he really was one.”

She dabbed at her eyes with a
napkin before continuing. “It was terrifying when the
realization came that I hadn't had my period in a few months. I was
so disoriented in those days, but when I realized that I was going
to have a child I knew I would have to get help. I had seen what
the managers did to girls that got pregnant.”

“
I told Angel he was the
father. I don't know whether he was or not, but I hope so. Sammy
is certainly kind enough to be his son. Angel helped me get out and
get set up in a new life, but he paid for it dearly.”

“
Is he dead?” Gideon
asked.

Ilsa nodded. “Sammy don't
know that though. He thinks he's out in Kitswitch working.”

“
Why go back to hooking if
you got out?”

Ilsa shrugged. “Having a
child isn't cheap, and I've got nothing else I know how to do.”

The door opened and Sammy
hobbled in carrying a bag strapped to one of his crutches. The
smell of hot food filled the small apartment.

“
Hey baby, what'd you get
for dinner?” Ilsa said and she stood.

Sammy set down the bag and
looked for a long time at his mother before turning to Gideon. "Why
is my mom crying?" He asked, pulling up one of his crutches
and holding it like a club.

"Oh, it ain't his fault,"
Ilsa said, hushing her son. "It's just one of those women
things."

Gideon stood, the throbbing
throughout his body had localized into several smaller points,
painful but manageable. He handed the ice pack back to Ilsa.
“Thank you for letting me recuperate here, I should really
keep moving on.”

Ilsa grabbed a pen and jotted
something down on a piece of paper. “There's a guy I know in
Darien. He always seems to stick himself between things, if your
girl passed through there he might know something. Be careful with
him though, he's a 'fine print' kind of guy.”

Gideon thanked her and left,
rustling Sammy's hair as he went.

...

The road to Darien was much the
same as any other that Gideon had been down; dark, littered with
rocks and trash, and perilous. He tried to take it slow,
concentrating on the road, but every time his thoughts drifted to
Rolanda his wrist would turn seemingly of its own accord and he
would be racing down the path again. He used to think that the
worst possible scenario would be that he never found Rolanda. Now
he had so much more to fear. It was months since she had been
taken, he didn't like the chances that she had of not going through
what Ilsa had described. He reminded himself that it didn't matter,
the important thing was getting her free.

The path twisted and wound under
him and he banked smoothly along the curves. His ears popped as he
climbed in elevation, he left the low flat hills and wove in between
a little mountain pass. Hard shrubs clung to the side of the road
and the air turned thin and cold. The shrubs were some of the few
plants that lived out between the bubbles, pathetic things that
clung stubbornly into the dirt.

He stopped for the night on the
backside of the mountain. Despite everything on his mind he had to
admit that the view was breathtaking. The mountain sloped down, the
distance spotted with high peaks, the brown of the road winding
through them.

Gideon could see his breath as
he set up camp. He built a low fire, he wasn't concerned about the
Thirteen up here, they would camp in lower elevations down where it
was warmer. Still, after his last run in with the rogue krok user,
he avoided his little flask. The night passed slowly but
uneventfully, Gideon couldn't sleep much but he felt rested after
having lain next to a warm fire for a few hours.

The sun rose in the morning and
Gideon stayed for a few moments to watch. Filtered through the smog
and the toxins that filled the atmosphere it shone a mute green, no
red sun this morning. In one of his school books when he was real
young he remembered reading that there was a time when the sun never
looked green, but he wasn't sure if he believed that. It was hard
to imagine the world without the smog covering everything.

He packed his tent and rode
towards Darien. The road was hard packed, the cold keeping it
dense. Aside from his fingers getting cold it was relatively
uneventful, he rode up the pass of the next mountain and down again.
There was less trash up there, the bubble of Darien was far enough
off in the distance that there was no one to dump it.

In a few hours he arrived at
Darien, stored his motorcycle, and changed his money over. He tried
not to look too long at the little pile of coins his money had
bought, nor at the percentage that the bank took. He tried to smile
at the teller before walking out the door.

It was a small bubble, no large
skyscrapers here, just homes and one room shops along the street,
but it was warmer than outside in the mountain passes. A passerby
pointed the way towards the address that Ilsa had given him.

The house was nice, but
innocuous. It stood in a row of houses exactly like it, they were
clones of one another. Each one was a white two story house with a
slanted roof and a circular window above the door. A small patch of
grass separated each house. There were minute differences between
them, a birdhouse here, a patch of flowers there, but that was it.
Gideon checked the house number twice before ringing the doorbell.

A small man dressed in a grey
business suit opened the door. His face was open, and honest, his
smile large, showing off perfectly white and straight teeth. “Can
I help you?”

“
Is this the residence of
Mr. Manah?” Gideon asked.

The man's smile grew. “It
is and I am. Akem Manah,” he said, reaching a hand out to
shake Gideon's.

“
Ilsa sent me, my name's
Charles. I was wondering if I could ask a quick question of you?”

Gideon had the curious sensation
of feeling that Akem's face changed, only for a split second, before
the smile was back. He looked outside around Gideon. “Why
don't you come inside?”

He followed Akem through the
living room, the house was comfortably furnished with deeply colored
oak furniture, a small but luxurious space. They went into a back
room where he had a large desk and a few leather chairs, Akem
motioned for Gideon to sit in one. Before they spoke Akem pulled
out a black pipe and filled it with sweet smelling tobacco.

Gideon pulled out his photo and
handed it to Akem. “I'm trying to find this girl, Ilsa
mentioned that you may have information regarding where she might
have gone.”

Akem lit his pipe, not looking
at the photograph sitting on the desk before him. A blue smoke rose
from his lips in thick curls wafting to the ceiling.

“
Do you know her, have you
seen her?” Gideon pressed.

Akem took another drag on his
pipe, the bowl lighting up the lower half of his face, his eyes
looking small and beady, reflecting the orange ember as it burned.
He whistled sharply past Gideon, startling him.

There was a sudden low growl to
his left, and then his right. Coming from behind him streamed three
large dogs, thick and muscular looking black and brown dogs with
broad and sharp looking teeth. They were all growling fiercely at
Gideon, hovering inches away from him. He began to stand, his legs
suddenly cold with fear.

“
I wouldn't do that if I
were you,” said Akem. “One word from me and they'll
tear your intestines out. You play a very dangerous game, Mr.
Gideon Goodman.”

Gideon swallowed the rising bile
in his throat. “How do you know my name?”

Akem took another long drag on
his pipe, leaning back in his leather chair. “It's my
business to know things. Can I give you a piece of advice? You
won't get very far in your search for this girl unless you learn to
get a little smarter about it. Now, who is the whore to you?”

Gideon flushed an ugly red and
bared his teeth, causing the dogs to inch closer and growl louder.

Akem laughed, a low belly
chuckle that was reflected in his eyes. He seemed to be genuinely
amused. “Yes, yes. I can feel your hatred from here.”
He licked his lips. “It tastes bitter. You're going to have
to control that temper of yours if I am going to help you.”
The smoke billowed and curled around Akem in such a cloud it seemed
to be coming from his every pore. His grin shone through while the
smoke almost obscured the rest of him. “How much is the girl
worth to you? Take your time, it's a big question.”

He didn't need more than a
moment. “I'll give you whatever amount you need to help me
find her.”

Akem studied Gideon, seemed to
look straight through him. “Money doesn't mean anything to a
man like me. It's just paper and metal.”

“
What would be worth it to
you? My life? Take it, I'll forfeit my life in servitude.”

He cocked an eyebrow and puffed
on his pipe. His eyes had taken on a quiet intensity, almost a
hunger as he looked at Gideon. “That's good, that's good.
Now offer me your soul, too.”