Chapter 6

Note: When the conversation is a telepathic exchange, it is indicated by italics font.

Just as the shuttle door had opened Virginia screamed loudly. In doing so managed to push the rag out of her mouth. “Noisy bitch,” said the woman as she pressed the prongs of the cattle prod against Virginia’s tit. “Slut, you better shut your fucking mouth or the pain will continue and get worse. Electricity can give you a lot more pain than a whipping and leaves no marks.” Virginia shuddered at the implications, and then screamed as it was discharged into one breast and then the other.

As the pain began to ease, Virginia opened her eyes, to see Doug coming through the front door. Remembering that he was coming to see her, she hollered, “Doug, run, before they get you.”

The woman turned at Virginia’s comment to see Doug standing just inside the door. “So, this is your famous boyfriend. We didn’t know he would be visiting. Oh my, what have we here,” she continued as she saw Cathan and Todd enter behind Doug.

“Let her go!” shouted Doug, then began easing slowly forward.

“You’ve got to be kidding. With a body like hers, she is going to be the most popular slut in our shows, at least until her new owner claims her.”

“What do you mean?” asked Doug stalling for time.

“Tonight Virginia is beginning her new life as a sex toy. She is already dressed for the part, as live sex toys seldom need clothes. With a few enhancements to her appearance, she will be a very desirable. While those are taking place, she will learn her new role in life. With the three of you joining her, she will have live training aids on which to practice her new skills. You will first need some adjustments to your body but your two friends will be fine just the way they are.”

“Virginia isn’t going anywhere with you,” replied Doug.

“Oh, but all of you are going with us,” responded the woman as she pointed a gun at Doug. “This says you are going to do just what I tell you. So let’s begin by you stripping.”

“It will take more than that. You can’t pull the trigger fast enough.”

“Try me. Besides we are not alone.”

Enya and Máiréad stepped into the room from the kitchen, placing them behind and to the side of the man holding Virginia. Enya said, “You are alone.” Her comment caused the woman to jump and glance toward the voice.

The momentary glance was just what they needed. Todd quickly picked the woman up by the throat and threw her against the wall as the gun was pulled from her hand.

With Máiréad on one side and Cathan on the other they quickly moved to the man holding Virginia. They each grabbed one of his elbows and squeezed. He released Virginia when his elbows erupted in pain as they were crushed. Enya caught Virginia as she fell forward and carried her to the couch. She sat down with Virginia, placing an arm around her.

Doug quickly sat on the other side of Virginia. He started to put his arm around her, but realizing she was naked he took her hands in his. Both Doug and Virginia had dazed looks on their faces as their situation had totally changed in seconds.

Ciar stepped through the door and looked around. “Looks like you’ve been busy in here as well.”

“I thought the West was supposed to be friendly,” said Cathan.

“Me too,” added Ciar.

Virginia shuddered and said, “It is very friendly, unless you turn over the wrong rock or step on someone’s toes.” She suddenly turned to Doug and her face beamed as she threw her arms around his neck. After a few moments she began to cry. Doug held her as she cried caressing her bare back.

When the sobbing had diminished, Doug said, “Are you all right?”

“Now I am. I have never been so happy to see you and I have never been so scared. It is fortunate you brought your friends.”

“I am glad we were in time.”

“Me, too,” she replied as she kissed him.

When they separated Cathan said, “Well Virginia, do you know which rock you turned over?”

“No. I don’t know what I could have done that would involve that slimy thing,” as she pointed at the woman. “The woman is the only one I have ever seen in town. From what I’ve heard, she owns and operates an exclusive dude ranch an hour or so outside of town. I have never met her, or seen any advertisements for the place or its location. There are rumors around that there is a ranch nearby that has a brothel with anything goes sex shows. Whether it is the same place, I don’t know.”

“Were you looking into anything?”

Virginia paused with a thoughtful look before saying, “Well not really as the last few weeks has been filled with fixing equipment at the station. The only out of the ordinary thing is that several weeks ago I met a couple of young women in one of the local night spots. We spent the evening talking over drinks. It was nice to talk to someone who had seen more of the world than just Wyoming. They were from out-of-state and were here looking for work as they had heard that there was a dude ranch nearby looking for help. I told them I was pretty new to the area and had heard of a dude ranch but that was all I knew. I know they were in town for a few days after that because our paths crossed several times. Each time we stopped and chatted. They were nice people. It has been a couple of weeks since I last saw them, no probably closer to three.”

“Did you talk to anyone about them?”

“Not really. About a week ago we were talking in the office when I expressed some curiosity about the dude ranch that I kept hearing about. Several of the staff spoke of hearing those rumors, but didn’t know where it was or even if there was one. Someone asked what brought the subject up, and I commented about meeting the two women in town looking to work there.”

“Sarah’s Clan, can we have another security team down here?”

“What’s up?”

“Seems that we were just in time to keep some trash from abducting Doug’s friend. The MO is disturbingly familiar.”

“Okay. Edana’s Clan will join you shortly. Don’t dally; we would like to have everyone back before too long.”

“Virginia, do you feel like standing up?”

“Yea, I think so.” She slowly stood up. She was a little unsteady but didn’t realize that part of her unsteadiness was due to the shoes locked on her feet.

“Ciar, why don’t you go with her while she gets dressed? Then I think Doug wants Virginia to meet his friends.”

“What about them?” said Virginia looking at the two moaning on the floor.

“We’ll take care of them while you’re getting dressed.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Quiz them so we can find out what is going on,” replied Cathan. “We will start with the woman as she was apparently in charge. Besides the man looks like he is still out.”

Todd looked at the man carefully, before saying, “He is about half conscious. From the angle of his arms, it looks like his elbows are crushed.” Todd walked over and checked the man for weapons.

Ciar walked with Virginia back to her bedroom. Shortly after they left they heard Virginia scream, “Those sons of a bitch.”

Cathan saw Doug looking around with a worried look on his face. “Doug, they searched the rooms before we arrived and tore up things pretty badly. Try and relax, we have more help coming. Before we leave we will know what is behind their attempt to abduct Virginia. From what has happened we also want to see what is going on out at this woman’s ranch. Her actions here seem really strange, if she is just operating a brothel in conjunction with a dude ranch.”

“It’s obvious from what we heard that she planned on forcing Virginia to work at the ranch as a sex toy,” said Doug.

“Sorcha, what did you learn from the three out front?”

“They’re cowboys, but that description sullies the idea of what a real cowboy is. Basically there are two parts to the woman’s operation. One part is a cattle ranch with a large herd of cattle and horses.

The primary activity is a brothel, sex shows and S&M cellar. Besides offering sex shows and full service companions, they offer a wide range of other services. The S&M cellar includes unrestrained torture. The sex shows include dogs and horses fucking women. All the clients for the sexual services arrive by air and leave the same way. Some clients bring women or men who are left to be trained as sex toys or performers in sex shows. A few of those the clients bring are taken immediately to the cellar.”

“There have to be some locals involved to keep something like that quiet. Do they know who is in on it?”

“Not really. They have occasionally seen people from the area at the ranch. They don’t know names to go with the faces.”

“Okay. Let’s work on the woman.” Sorcha and Cathan moved the woman so that she was lying on her back. When they stripped her they found two more weapons. Cathan rolled her onto her side so that Sorcha could tie her elbows together using a slip knot around each of them, and then bind her wrists together. Each of the woman’s legs were folded back and tied together. A noose was then tied around each ankle with the end tied to the rope around her wrists, she was then rolled onto her back.

“Okay, let’s wake her up,” said Sorcha as she projected the sensation of a knife cutting the woman’s breast. The woman woke up screaming, looking down at her now bare breasts. Her eyes bulged as she could feel a knife slicing through her breast but could see nothing. When she tried to move her hands she realized that her wrists and ankles were bound together. She then looked up at the women on either side of her. Neither Sorcha or Cathan said a word, they just stared at her. The woman’s fear was evident by her expression.

After a few moments Sorcha softly said, “Who sent you?” Cathan watched the woman’s thoughts as she considered how to respond.

Sorcha followed each question with a more probing question using the information Cathan collected from the thoughts the woman had about the questions. Each question grew more pointed and came more frequently as the questioning continued. The woman was off balance as she couldn’t understand how Sorcha knew what questions to ask because she had not replied to any of them. The woman’s fear grew even more as she realized how much Sorcha knew about their operation, never realizing that it was her thoughts providing Sorcha with the knowledge.

Doug watched spell-bound as Sorcha continued asking the woman questions. Sorcha’s questions puzzled him, as he couldn’t understand how she knew what to ask either. The woman hadn’t responded to any question but the questions Sorcha asked were as if the woman had answered. He could tell by the woman’s body language that Sorcha’s questions were based on accurate information.

Edana’s Clan arrived just as Sorcha finished questioning the woman. Cathan looked up, seeing Edana she said, “Glad you guys are here.”

The woman on the floor got a good look at Edana and realized that these people were Órarduine. The knowledge scared her so badly that she began to pee. She had heard rumors about how Órarduine treated those who forcibly enslaved people.

“Heard you needed a little help. Enya and Máiréad hogtied the three men out front and dumped them in the pickup. One of them must be pretty broken up as he screamed when he hit the bed of the truck.”

“That must have been the one that tangled with Ciar. Let me gag this one.” Sorcha shoved the gag into the woman’s mouth and then tightened a harness over her head to hold it in place. “Todd, there is a cage in the truck. Would you put this animal in her cage?” Hearing that the woman began to struggle, each movement tightened the bindings around her elbows and ankles.

Edana watched the woman struggle before saying, “You really shouldn’t struggle so much as you’re just tightening the bindings on your elbows and ankles. Keep it up and the circulation will stop. No circulation and you will soon lose your hands and feet.”

“We need to question the man before we put him in the truck.”

“Shouldn’t we turn them over to the law?” said Doug.

“That would be ideal,” replied Cathan. “The question is ‘how’. First let’s see what this one knows.” Sorcha and Cathan moved the man so that he was lying on his back. The area around each of his elbows had started to swell. He wasn’t totally conscious but Cathan could tell he was conscious enough to hear their questions. Sorcha began questioning him, again keying off the information Cathan gathered from his thoughts, and what they had learned from the woman.

They had just finished questioning him when Virginia and Ciar came back into the room. Virginia looked around and said, “Where is the woman?”

“We put her in the cage in the back of the truck,” replied Sorcha.

“What?” replied Virginia as she moved over to stand next to Doug, slipping her hand into his.

“Todd, would you and Kacey take this piece of meat out to the truck.” Everyone was quiet as the man rose off the floor and then floated out the door. After they were outside Cathan noticed the expressions on Virginia and Doug’s faces.

“Psionic ability,” said Cathan as she nodded toward the door, drawing their attention back inside. “Ciar, where are Lorelei and Darren?”

“Out in the shuttle. A little shook up, but calming down. Two of our clan are with them.”

“Let’s start over,” said Cathan. “Virginia, as you have probably figured out by now, we are Órarduine. My name is Cathan.” She then introduced everyone that was in the room. “We are here because Doug wanted to talk to you before he came to visit us.”

“This has to be the worst night of my life,” said Virginia with tears in her eyes. “I am so thankful you all showed up when you did. I really goofed, no, I screwed up royally. When they knocked on the door, I was so sure it was Doug, I opened it without checking the peep-hole.”

“The five of them were inside before I could even react. The man you saw holding me, grabbed me by my arms before I could try to escape.” She then described the events that had happened before Doug arrived with Cathan’s Clan. “I don’t remember much after you all arrived.”

“Don’t feel bad,” added Doug, “I am not sure I can tell you what happened either.”

“It did happen quickly,” replied Cathan. “Without going into a lot of detail, Todd threw the woman against wall. Máiréad and I took out the man holding you, and then Enya helped you to the couch.”

“What now?” asked Virginia. “I know I would like to see all five of them in prison.”

“We learned from the woman that she was here tonight due to your comments about the dude ranch, along with being seen in town with the two women visitors you mentioned earlier.”

“But, I hardly said anything to anyone.”

“True. However, you have apparently done some other local stories that embarrassed some people. The woman does not usually obtain workers for her operation in this manner. This effort was done in response to a specific request. The person making the request apparently decided it was time for Virginia to disappear from Twisted River. He offered them a large sum of money to do this. One condition was that there had to be a reasonable explanation on how she disappeared from Twisted River. Their plan was to strip you, force you to walk out to the truck, and then crawl into a cage for your ride out to the ranch. Sometime in the early morning your house would explode and burn to the ground. With you apparently dead, they could really do anything with you that they wanted too. However, the person who initiated this wanted you to be his sex toy and willing to do anything he asked. Besides body jewelry and body alterations, a part of the training was performing in their sex shows besides servicing the customers and staff. If he decided not to take you after you were conditioned, you would become the ranch’s property.” As Cathan talked, Virginia became very angry.

“I am going to call the police, now,” said Virginia firmly.

“That may not be the best choice,” said Cathan.

“What?” exploded Virginia.

“They have compromised several officers in local law enforcement. Also, there are a number of people at the ranch right now. There are about two dozen people held there as sex slaves. They either perform in sex shows or serve as a customer’s companion. As a companion, they are required to ensure that all the guest’s needs are satisfied. Besides those involved with the brothel, there are the real ranch hands who actually operate the ranch side of the operation. When the residents are not working they are kept in locked cages, so they are quite vulnerable. Doing what you are proposing would likely result in some deaths and injuries. The risk would be greatest for those in the cages, with those serving customers close behind.”

“Well we can’t let them get away with this.”

“We aren’t suggesting that they should. Edana’s Clan will take these people to their ranch. After a full reconnaissance of the ranch operation we will have enough information to expose it with little or no injury. Meanwhile, we will neutralize this woman’s contacts in local law enforcement. Conceptually our goal is to stage an incident, so that law enforcement officers are summoned to the ranch. We will then let the discoveries unfold from there.”

“You can do this?” asked Virginia and Doug together.

“We can definitely remove those held there without a problem,” replied Edana. “The most difficult part may be getting the law enforcement officers there as quickly as they are needed. A quick arrival is important to lessen the chance of any evidence being compromised. Many of those involved in the whorehouse operation will likely want to brag about their operation and their participation. Why would they brag? They believe their connections and backers make them legally untouchable. From what we learned from the three men outside, the three of them will likely hang if they live long enough in prison.”

“Virginia,” said Ciar, “why don’t you and Doug come with me out to the shuttle?”

Virginia looked thoughtful for a few moments before she looked at Doug and smiled saying, “As a reporter, I can think of a multitude of questions to ask. Right now I am certain of two things. One is that asking those questions would only delay what needs to be done. Secondly, I also feel very comfortable letting you do what you think is best.” She looked around at the mess in the room then added, “Before I go out there, I need to straighten up in here.”

“No. Go with Ciar,” said Cathan, “our group can tidy up in here while we take care of the other bits.”

Cathan and Edana watched as Ciar, Doug and Virginia went out the door. As they were walking out the door, Cathan said, “Edana, do you want any of us to go with you?”

“Yea. How about half your team?”

“Okay. Those outside are mounting up now. Sarah wants us to move as quickly as possible, but safely.”

Outside Ciar led Doug and Virginia over to the cloaked shuttle. As they neared the door, a white ring became visible outlining the opening. Ciar stepped to the side and motioned for Doug and Virginia to enter.

“Are you guys okay?” asked Lorelei when she saw Doug and Virginia. As she spoke, Ciar entered and two other clan members left to join Edana’s Clan.

“Yes. We’re fine, I think,” replied Doug with Virginia nodding. “Lorelei, this is Virginia.” He watched as they greeted each other, then added, “Virginia this is Darren. He is the program director for the TV station in Grand View.”

“Virginia, it is nice to meet you,” said Darren. “Doug has told us a lot of nice things about you.”

“Nice to meet both of you,” replied Virginia. “Lorelei, the show this evening was really well done. The idea of you two coming all this way to meet me is ... well ... just overwhelming.”

“We came for several reasons,” said Darren. “We were very impressed with Doug’s participation in tonight’s program. When we were talking after the show, your name came up. He spoke very highly of your capabilities and lamented the fact that you were stuck here. We understand you had some very successful articles before you came here. Basically, if we can sort everything out, I would like for both of you to come to work for us.”

“Both of us? What would we be doing?” said Virginia and Doug together.

“Yes, both of you. I have several options, but before we get into that I would like to know more about both of you. Lorelei is not on our staff anymore, but she has an idea of what I am considering so I would like her to sit in on our discussions.”

“Wow, but I am scheduled to work tomorrow afternoon,” said Virginia with a frown and an inkling of tears in her eyes. “Although, after my outburst this morning I may not have a job.”

Doug started to speak, but Lorelei said, “Virginia, the Órarduine have offered Darren and Doug the opportunity to visit their ships and Mars. The invitation includes you. Would coming with us be enough reason to not go to work tomorrow?”

“You’re kidding!” Virginia looked at Lorelei, then at each of the others in the shuttle, trying to figure out if they were pulling her leg. They had to be. She thought ‘okay I’ll call their bluff’. “When do we leave?”

“Just as soon as Cathan’s team finishes up inside,” replied Ciar. “We aren’t kidding or pulling your leg. Although we do need to stop by the ranch first so that we can back-up Edana’s team.”

“Ciar is right,” added Doug. “Before we go further, I will understand if you don’t want to work with me again.”

“And why wouldn’t I?” replied Virginia with her voice rising a little.

“Well the last time I canceled a visit, you left me with that impression.”

“If I remember right, the day of that conversation had been outstandingly bad, nearly as awful as today. Yes, I was mad, upset and disappointed when you said you couldn’t come at the last moment.” As Virginia talked, the pent up frustration bubbled forth. “At the station that day, every piece of equipment baulked. We managed to stay on the air but it was difficult. As you probably guessed the staff were not very supportive in dealing with the technical problems.”

“Oh.”

“Yes. I WILL work with you again but NOT here. After tonight, there is NO FUCKING way I can continue to work here. I knew this was a sleazy operation when I came here, but I never realized how sleazy. Besides, I really didn’t have much choice as I was running out of funds. You remember how little I had unpacked when you were here last.” Doug nodded. “Well that hasn’t changed.” Doug smiled.

“I take that to mean you’re interested,” said Darren.

“Yes. Damn right! I believe we are both interested,” replied Virginia with Doug nodding.

Lorelei said, “I suspect that working as a team, you two will never have any trouble finding a job after your stories about this trip are aired.” All three turned to look at Lorelei who was smiling. “It seems to me that Virginia and Doug have an excellent rapport, which should make them an outstanding broadcast team.”

With that, Darren, Doug and Virginia began talking about the challenges of being a reporter, and other aspects of TV news programs. Darren told them of the sharing agreement on covering stories that their station had with the two local newspapers. Doug and Virginia were a little surprised but as they began to discuss how it worked, they quickly saw the benefits to both operations.