Telling the authorities proved
pointless. They didn’t want to know unless there was hard evidence, so it was
up to him. It wasn’t the first of these circles he’d uncovered; he’d unearthed
four so far. And there was only one way he could get in and that was by
pretending to be one of them.
He knocked on the door of the
townhouse. It opened a crack and a gruff voice asked, ‘What do you want?’
Trevor flicked his head up,
indicating the noise above. ‘Some of that.’
‘As you can hear, she’s busy.’
‘When won’t she be?’
‘Depends on how much you got.’
‘How much does she cost?’
‘Bidding starts at a couple of
hundred.’
‘Bidding?’
‘You don’t think you’re the only
one, do you?’
‘Is it cheaper if I share?’
The man opened the door a little
bit more, interested.
‘Would you be happy to be a
third?’
‘How much?’
‘We just need someone to keep her
calm ... you know?’
His stomach clenched but he
nodded. The guy opened the door to a dark narrow corridor which led to an
almost vertical staircase. ‘Go up and someone’ll meet you up here.’
Trevor nodded and ascended the
stairs. Another man appeared at the top. The girl had started screaming – and not
from pleasure.
The man pointed to another flight
of stairs. ‘Hurry will you!’ he shouted.
Trevor ran up them. At the top it
opened out into a large open studio. There were cameras and a four man crew. Trevor
hadn’t expected it, but it wouldn’t be a problem.
What he didn’t expect was that
this wasn’t a normal trafficked woman; this was a minor, and a feisty one at
that. Whatever they’d had her on had worn off. She was kicking and screaming in
an attempt to resist the needle one of the two naked men were trying to put in
her arm. He wasn’t having much luck, and no one from the crew was intervening.
‘Are you here to help?’ The one without
the needle shouted at him.
‘Yep,’ Trevor said.
‘Good. Strip off and get over
here.’
Trevor stripped down to his
underwear. ‘I’ll take these off when we have things under control,’ he said.
The men didn’t seem to care, and
Trevor approached the bed they had her pinned on. How was he going to play
this? He had no intention of helping them, only her.
‘Tell you what, why don’t you
hold her down and I’ll give her the needle.’
‘Be my guest,’ the man said,
shoving it at him. His willingness surprised him. These weren’t professionals.
Trevor took it and waited for
them to get hold of the girl’s limbs. Each man held an arm and leg. The girl
started sobbing, believing it was hopeless now, and a tiny piece inside Trevor
broke. He wanted all of them to pay for this.
He shushed her and stroked her
hair, whispering it would be okay. He looked her in the end, then glanced at
the needle and at the man’s arm and then back to the girl. He did this twice while
shushing her and she quieted, picking up on his intention. Out of his left-hand
peripheral vision he eyed the other man, taking in his position.
‘Now!’ he shouted. In one
movement he plunged the needle into the arm of the man on his right, and brought
his elbow down hard on the bridge of the nose of the man on his left. The man
on the right tried to fight but the drug effect quickly. Trevor pushed them
back and swept the girl up, taking the bed sheet with him, and wrapping it
round her as he put her over his shoulder.
The crew were slow in responding,
but by the time Trevor turned he was surrounded.
‘You can try it if you like, but
I’m not alone.’
They look around them and Trevor
smiled as the door downstairs slammed open and they heard a man scream. They
backed away from the stairs looking at each other as they heard a rushing sound
come up the first flight and a second scream as whatever it was encountered the
man on the second floor.
Then it stopped.
‘Fuck!’ one of the men said, and
rushed over to the sash windows, debating the possibilities of jumping. The
other men joined him and they all stood there, no knowing what to do.
Trevor gently placed the girl on
the ground. She didn’t want to let him go, but he reassured her he just needed
to get dressed. Once clothed, he scooped her up again and descended the stairs.
At the bottom was a dark shape. Trevor patted it on the head, and red eyes
blinked out at them.
The girl gasped. ‘Oh don’t worry
about, Bonzo; he won’t hurt you. They might be called the hounds of hell, but
there’s no hell like that here on Earth.’