Chapter 109: Chapter 109: The Girl Who Was Hunted - Chapter Twenty-Five

CHARLOTTE I tick off on my fingers. “One; The Police think they know who the culprits are, but not where to find them. Two; They could have taken Beth by mistake, but they could just as easily have been intended to pick up both of us and they happened to get her first. Three; The Police have no leads of any kind on hideouts, car registrations, routes out of the City, or anything else. Four; I can’t even go home right now, or back to university and Five……” My voice falters, tears threatening…. “Beth is my friend, and she’s in trouble because of me…”

Taking a deep breath, I fight back the pricking at the back of my eyes. Tears don’t help anyone. “And this isn’t small trouble. They probably don’t want to kill her.… me…. Otherwise, it would just have been a bullet in the head in a parking lot…. It’s more likely they want to learn what she.… I…. know and then sell her on.… me on….”

All three men are watching me, jaws dropped. “Jeez, Charlotte. You sound cold-blooded when you talk like that,” says Michael.

“It’s about survival isn’t it,” I say, keeping my voice heartless. “Richard was right when he said that you’re no good to anyone if you panic. Some things have to be done in cold blood.”

My Master, watching me carefully, says “Like selling yourself to the highest bidder? Done in cold blood?”

I lift my chin, meeting his eye. “And how else do you think I could have done it?”

Richard interrupts. “Alright, Charlotte, you’re a survivor. We all know that. But you won’t help Elizabeth by getting yourself caught and trafficked as well. All that would mean is that we’d lost both of you. And while she may be your friend, you don’t owe her that…”

I owe it to you though….

But I stay silent; keep my thoughts to myself.

I look at Will. “So, I’m happy to be corrected, but in fact, the police have no idea where Beth is? And no leads of any kind to follow? Please tell me if I’m wrong on this.”

Miserably, he nods his head.

Richard looks sick at heart. His face is drawn, and he’s lost weight over the last few days.

He loves her…

It dawns on me that I am flanked by Michael and my Master. “What’s this then?” I ask. “You’re my jailers again?”

Both men look askance at me. Michael says “Charlotte, take this as it’s meant, but while James thinks you’re his obedient little sub….” My Master looks startled. “….and will do as you’re told, I don’t. And frankly, I’m not willing to let you out of my sight just now.”

“You think I’ll try to do something stupid?”

“No. I think you’ll try to do something clever. But that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be dangerous in the extreme and…. I’m not letting you.”

“We’ve discussed this. I’m not property.”

“No, you’re not. But you will be my wife, and that entitles me to a say.”

Time to shut up. Let them think they’ve won.

I hang my head. “Perhaps you’re right.” I try to appear to have submitted. My Master appears to have swallowed it, nodding in apparent satisfaction. Michael watches me from the corner of his eye.

He’s not fooled.

*****

Later:

“Promise me.”

“Promise you what?”

Michael gazes at me. “You know what.”

“I promise you I won’t do anything stupid.”

He tilts his head. “And will you promise me not to do anything clever?”

I remain silent. He looks distressed. “Charlotte.…”

“I’m not going to make you a promise I’m not sure I can keep. Anyway, you don’t need to worry do you?

You’ve all got me locked up in here. What could I do?”

*****

MICHAEL “So, what is it you’re working on, Charlotte?”

She leans over a large table surface, comparing various plans. “It was an idea Richard had, about how they might have gotten Beth away from the City. It’s not as though I’ve anything better to do, so I said I’d help.”

“So, what are all these?”

“They’re all plans of the City, but in different ways and from different perspectives.’ She holds up one of the plans. “This one’s an underground map of the sewers and drains.” She points again. “Access tunnels and electrical schematics for the subways.” Then she waves over at another, covered in a mess of sticky dots and annotations. “That one’s the roadmap, and I’ve been superimposing details of where all the cameras are, not just the official ones, but the private ones too where I can find them on webcam sites. And that one….”

“Okay. I get the picture. You’re looking for the non-obvious ways that someone might have been spirited out of the City? And the ways that they might be spotted anyway?”

“Yeah, basically that’s it. It’s complicated because some of the networks tie up together and some don’t. For example, the old nineteenth-century sewer system was built covering most of the City, as it was then, but when they started construction on the subway system…”

“Everything had to go around or over or under…”

“Yup. And then they needed the….”

“I get it. I get it.” I hold up my hands, laughing, but scanning the pile of ragged maps and plans, the modern documents, the tabs open on webcam sites, the biro’d comments and yellow notes over everything... “You did all this manually?”

“Not all of it. I’ve scanned and digitised most of this lot so that I could superimpose the systems over each other. Uploaded them to the cloud.”

“You’ve done a hell of a lot of work, Charlotte.”

“Have I got anything better to do with my time?”

I shrug. “Oh, I nearly forgot. I picked up a couple of pieces of mail for you.” I pass her the small padded envelopes. “What are they?”

She hesitates, but only briefly, feeling through the padding at the contents. “Oh, I got bored. Did a bit of online shopping.”

“Shopping? You?”

“As I said, I was bored. Oh yes, this one, it’s a necklace I saw, that I quite liked the look of.”

She opens the packet, producing a small locket, the kind that opens to take a photo.

She must have been bored. When does she ever buy stuff like that? If you can’t read it, she’s not usually interested….

“Mmmm. Very pretty.” I say. “We’ll turn you into a society lady yet.”

She smiles, but I can’t avoid a nagging feeling of missing something.

*****

CHARLOTTE They think they have trapped me.

The concierge has been told not to let me out of the building. Ross sits outside by the lift. Cameras scan the corridor outside the apartment. And they think I don’t know that my parking pass has been invalidated, so I cannot exit from the car park.

To Hell with this!

*****

My plans in place; my car keys are in my pocket, my Master’s parking pass with it, exchanged with my own while he was showering….

“How’s the work going, Charlotte?” asks my Master.

Standing up from a large map of the City, I explain my various markings. “I’ve been plotting out where all the public cameras are along through-routes. There are a lot of them online available for anyone to view. I thought I might be able to use them spot some kind of pattern for the route they could have taken with Beth.”

I’m talking hogwash. My real reason for interest in those cameras is quite different.

My Master raises his eyebrows. “Good idea. Any luck with it?”

“No, not really. I’ve just not driven around the City enough to be able to read the map very well. Really, it needs someone with a lot more ground knowledge of the roads.”

Will he take the bait?

“Perhaps Ross could help with it? He’s Richard’s driver after all.”

Bingo!

“Of course he could. Should have thought of that myself.”

My Master calls in Ross, from where he was standing in the corridor, guarding against my use of the elevator.

“Ross, Charlotte had an idea about checking the routes….”

The three men gather around the map, engrossed. I make a show of pulling up web-cam sites on my laptop as they trace out possible routes through the City. When their attention is thoroughly diverted, I slip out.

I send the service lift down first: it’s a long slow trip, and hopefully, it will be several minutes before it can return. Taking the turbo-lift to the parking levels, using a fast-acting epoxy adhesive, I quickly attach a tracer under the wheel rim of my car where it shouldn’t be noticed, toss my phone on the passenger seat where I have a good view of the screen, and go.

I reckon I have less than five minutes to get out before they notice, and I’ve used three of them coming down to the car. I need to get out of the parking lot before the alarm is raised, and the building locks down.

Trying to drive normally, not to raise suspicion, I drive up to the barrier, swipe my Master’s parking pass and as the barrier raises, I join the stream of traffic.

A minute later, I tap the phone screen again to send my pre-prepared message.