Chapter 5

He was lying. It was certainly a lovely story but Lady Claire knew how to read men and could always tell when they were evading the truth. Besides, in all the years she had known and worked with Stephen he had never once mentioned being the godparent and legal guardian to an orphaned English girl. And this delightful tale of his young benefactor taking a gap-year between school and university was obviously fabricated - as was the notion that he would give up his work with NATO to chaperone the girl on her world travels. There certainly WAS a girl - the way his animated eyes danced and sparkled confirmed her existence but she knew the rest was merely a fanciful confection for her benefit.

Lady Claire kept smiling and nodded appropriately while he spoke and watched her storyteller with a show of mild enthusiasm. She was far too polite to succumb to the temptation to lean across the aisle, pat his knee and tell him to stop trying to deceive her. And she was too fond of him to cause any needless embarrassment - in their time together working for UNICEF, colleagues had viewed Stephen as a cold, calculating and distant man but she knew a totally different side to his character. Lady Claire would never forget the time they had been on a joint visit to a war-torn, disease-ravaged part of Africa. Late at night, Stephen had found a bundle of filthy rags left at the compound's gate which contained the emaciated form of a dying baby girl, probably abandoned by a desperate mother or older sibling. There was nothing they could do for the child and Stephen had cradled the tiny form until dawn while her life mercifully slipped away. At the end the baby had looked up into Stephen's eyes, feebly grasped his finger then sighed her last breath. Then the man who many thought taciturn and unfeeling to the point of rudeness had wept uncontrollably over the still form, later explaining to Lady Claire that if the only comfort he could give the child was to be cuddled and grieved over then he was not ashamed of his tears. Lady Claire's heart had melted for him and if he had been interested she would gladly have become Stephen's lover...

And now, several years later, here they were on a jet crossing the channel to London. She noticed how he seemed thinner and looked particularly strained and tired. Stephen was definitely unwell in some way but she refrained from asking what was wrong. As he added further embellishments to the fairytale about taking the girl on a shopping spree in Paris, her thoughts again wandered to the day her youngest daughter had turned up unannounced at their Knightsbridge offices from Oxford University just before her first year exams. Nathalie had been quite troubled on being introduced to Stephen for the first time, complaining afterward that he had looked at her in the same way an owner assessed a new racehorse - as if she was an untamed filly in need of being broken in and put through her paces! Odd how different people viewed the same man. "And you must take my car, Stephen. Arriving at Roedean in a common taxi will simply NOT do, even for an American!" At least her deliberately facetious remark had finally brought a smile to his face. "I have no doubt your young girl has standards to maintain and the way you are regarded by her peers is very important to her now." She spoke quickly to quell his protest. "Clements and the Bentley are at your disposal until you and the young lady have made other suitable transport arrangements. It is the least I can do for a dear friend." And he had certainly proved his friendship when Nathalie had inexplicably dropped out from her studies to disappear without trace into an obscure, mystical religious cult. When she contacted Stephen in frantic despair, he had dropped everything to come from Washington and help, revealing what she had suspected for a long time - that he had extensive links and influence throughout opposing sides of the Intelligence Community. Sadly, it was all in vain and it seemed as though her daughter had simply vanished into thin air - perhaps one day Nathalie would return to her. She was such a bright, dazzlingly pretty and charming girl who would be aged 22 by now and Lady Claire missed her terribly...

"Ah well, there is really no need for the Bentley, my dear Claire - I am meeting her in London and the Club is sending a limousine to Heathrow. But I really do appreciate your kind offer." His fellow passenger smiled back and seemed quietly amused by his response. He knew he had to watch himself with Lady Claire - she was far too intelligent and observant to be easily deceived and he realized he had already said too much. If she ever found out how he had arranged her youngest daughter's abduction and enslavement, she was perfectly capable of attempting to have him killed. Stephen had always found Lady Claire extremely attractive - if things had been different when they were younger, perhaps they might have shared more than a professional...

... Alexa's trusting face suddenly intruded into his reverie. He stared out of the cabin window at the blanket of white that obscured the English Channel below. It was almost funny, in an ironic way. His life was being disrupted so effectively by a skinny little waitress from a run-down cafe in a poor part of London. He had just abandoned his role as a key negotiator at a pivotal East-West Arms Summit, taken on a personal slave against his better judgment when his health was failing, and yet ... and yet he felt more alive and filled with purpose than he had felt in years. I WANT her, he realized, I want little Alexa as MY personal property and she WILL kneel at my feet!

The little girl in the flowery dress clutched her battered teddy bear and peered through the wire cage at the sleeping naked prisoner within. Filled with pity and concern, she reached up to tug the hand of the kindly old lady by her side. The smiling lady bent down to whisper in her ear, making the child's anxious face light up with joy. As they moved away from the cage, the girl turned back and looked lovingly at its fettered occupant who was beginning to stir, then she silently danced by the old lady's side as they went directly through the heavily locked metal door...

I am really going mad, she thought, to be dreaming of my grandma and even of little Ellie - perhaps this means I'm going to die soon. Alexa rubbed her eyes and tried to work out why her imaginary childhood friend would be visiting her troubled sleep with the ghost of her maternal grandmother who had cared for her until she was aged three. One had been pretend while the other had been real but they both had something in common - she had loved them dearly and she wanted to believe they had loved her back. And Ellie had been holding Ted, even though Alexa's precious soft toy had been callously tossed on the fire by one of her mother's drunken lodgers as he had forced the struggling six year old child's face down towards his...

Alexa shuddered and blanked out the awful memory, twisting uncomfortably in the cramped cage to peer out along the harshly lit corridor. The other cages were empty now - each terrified occupant having been hauled out and dragged to their unknown fates. One, a stunning brunette, had offered her a faltering, uncertain smile then slowly made a pattern of gestures repeatedly with her cuffed hands. It had taken Alexa several minutes before she realized her fellow-captive was signing the alphabet in deaf language. Slowly, painstakingly and with many frustrating errors, they had communicated...

SUSAN MY NAME SUSAN ... WHAT YOUR NAME

A-A-L-E-Y ... A-L-E ... X-A ... M-Y NAME ALEXA

The pretty brunette gave a tiny smile of encouragement and waved, making her fetter chains tinkle. But the harsh metallic sound of her bonds distressed her too much to continue for several minutes. Alexa watched her silent weeping and fought desperately not to sob herself, as it would only bring another severe shock through her cruel collar.

WHERE WE AALEXA WHERE ARE WE

LON-DON THINK CENTRAL LONDON NEAR WEST-MINSTER

HOW COME HERE - I NOT REMEMBER ANYTHING - FEEL ILL TELL MY MUM THEN GO BED EARLY - WAKE UP THIS PLACE NO CLOTHES IN CHAINS LIKE PRISONER

NOT PRI-SON THINK THIS CLUB BUT BAD VERY BAD MEN HURT AND DO BAD-THINGS SUSAN

The other girl looked so frightened and horrified by Alexa's warning. The girls mutely shared their experiences and feelings, slowly gaining speed and confidence as they communicated with their fettered hands. Susan explained she had learned to sign from the Girl Scouts at her church but Alexa felt too ashamed to admit she had been taught how to sign at a special class for backward children - she had become so withdrawn and lacking in confidence when younger that she was thought to be unable to cope with normal education. Susan had gone on to sign that she was terribly afraid of being raped and that she was still a virgin. It took a long time before they could bring themselves to sign again as the pretty young girl's body was wracked with uncontrollably violent but silent sobbing, moving Alexa to fresh tears of compassion and despair. But neither of them dared make any sound for fear of setting off their punishment collars.

During one long pause while Susan turned her face away and shook with distress, Alexa tried to fill in the gaps in her own memory - knowing what sickening abuses she must have endured while drugged wasn't going to be pleasant but NOT knowing was also very frightening. She THOUGHT she remembered being forced along a corridor by the vile guard who had killed Max and hurt her so badly ... she BELIEVED he had sniggered as she was drugged then ... NOTHING - it was all blank. Except for one very odd earlier memory of lying close to Cally on the huge, plastic-covered bed in the Guest Suite. The dusky slave had murmured something extremely strange. She had whispered that Alexa was 'a pretty weapon' and she would aim her well! But her attempt at seeking an explanation failed when Cally had done something with her fingers to Alexa's clit, making her mew in ecstatic abandon. A weapon? Why did Cally call her that - she was only a weak girl, just a captive destined for slavery. It simply didn't make any sense...