Chapter 5

The Palas Hotel was located in one of the older sections of Istanbul with narrow, cobbled streets. Robert Hale watched the seedy neighborhood his taxi was entering with some anxiety, noticing the dark, surly men skulking in the doorways opening right onto the streets and the painted women who were obviously prostitutes. Finally the car stopped outside the entrance to a surprisingly modern looking hotel and the driver asked to be paid.

After a brief argument which ended with Robert paying almost double what he thought he should have, he got out and ascended the broad steps. He brushed away the five dwarfs in red circus-like costumes who scrambled down to meet him. He had not brought any baggage, leaving his belongings in the hotel he had checked into so many hours ago with his bride Penny.

At the desk he demanded to see the manager and someone who could speak English. He was exasperated with all the difficulties he had been encountering, and he was so tired that his patience with these people was wearing thin. The man at the desk pretended not to understand a word he was saying, and Robert began to shout and bang his fist on the reception desk. He was almost sure Penny was in the building after what that sneaky looking little Turk at the motel had told him, and he would find her if he had to search every room himself.

Robert had not noticed he was being watched. The pretty dark-haired girl standing in a corner of the room glanced at a photograph she held in her hand until she was finally satisfied that the man shouting at the hotel clerk was the same as the one in the wedding photograph.

Nisli had taken it from the handbag where Penny had put it after her mother had handed her the Polaroid snapshot outside the church. It showed her and Robert in their wedding costumes, smiling at each other on the steps under a shower of confetti and rice. The picture had been definite proof that the girl was married, and Nisli was sure that her husband would be desperately searching for her. The experienced slave-dealer had no illusions about Osman's ability to figure out what had happened to this blonde American, and he had posted the girl Feyadin in the hotel lobby to watch for Robert.

The desk clerk was nervously wringing his hands and Robert was threatening to call the police when Feyadin stepped across the room and touched him lightly on the elbow.

"Please, would I be able to help you, sir?" she inquired in a sweet voice. "He really doesn't understand a word you're saying. I'm afraid that few of my countrymen speak your language."

Robert turned around in surprise at the sound of the soothing feminine voice. He looked down into the softest, warmest pair of brown eyes he had ever seen. His anger caught in his throat and he changed his tone of voice.

"God, yes. Thank you very much, Miss... Miss..."

"You can call me Feyadin," she demurely answered him, gazing directly into his eyes.

"Thank you, Miss Feyadin," Robert went on, stumbling a little over the strange-sounding name. "I was telling this clerk that my wife is in this hotel, and I want to know which room she's in." He knew it sounded crazy to say that, but there was nothing he could do about it. It was the truth.

"Just a minute," she told him, reassuringly patting his arm. "I'll get the information you want. What is your wife's name?"

"Penny-Penny Hale," he stammered. "And I'm Robert Hale," he added.

"I'm pleased to meet you, Robert," she said warmly, smiling up into his eyes. Then she turned to the clerk and spoke Turkish rapidly but with a softness Robert had not heard in the language before. He watched her full sensual lips forming the words as though she were caressing each one with her mouth. While she was busy asking questions and listening to the answers the man was giving her, Robert took the opportunity to run his eyes appreciatively over the young woman's body. She wore a clinging silk mini-dress that left little of her ample physical attractions to the imagination. Her high full breasts thrust tautly out against the material of her dress, lightly rising and falling as she spoke. A tiny, almost thread-like belt tied the dress in at her narrow, wasp-like waist, accenting the outward flare of her hips and well-rounded buttocks. He followed the long tapering line of her legs below the short skirt to the enticing swell of her calves and her slim ankles. She's quite a dish, he thought to himself, forgetting for a split second his concern about Penny.

He glanced at the profile of her face again and was nonplused to see her turn to smile coquettishly at him. She had seen him running his eyes over her body, but it didn't seem to embarrass or upset her. In fact, he thought, she seemed to like it. He smiled back a little more boldly than before, thinking to himself how lucky it was that she was here when he needed help, and that she was also lovely to look at.

"He says that your wife is not a guest of this hotel," Feyadin told him softly.

"I don't believe it!" Robert nearly shouted again. "She was brought here from outside the city not more than a couple of hours ago. Tell him that I know she's here!"

Feyadin placed her hand soothingly on his arm and squeezed lightly with her fingers. "I understand how you feel, Robert. But he swears by Mahomet that she's not here-at least not under that name. Perhaps she isn't alone?" she suggested, changing her tone slightly.

"Impossible! We were just married yesterday!" he blurted out. Then suddenly he remembered the sly hint the man at the motel had made. It was just barely possible that Penny had actually been with another man-perhaps she was making a desperate attempt to get back at him for doing and saying those things earlier in the hotel-especially his declaration that he was going out to find a good lay. Suddenly he didn't know what to think any more. "I just don't understand women," he admitted.

Feyadin noticed his sudden uncertainty and leaned over closer to him, her breasts, seemingly inadvertently, brushing against his upper arm. "Let's go away from the desk and talk alone for a minute," she whispered in his ear.

They moved to the other side of the room and she planted herself firmly in front of him, looking sincerely up into his eyes. "I can see that you and your new wife must be having problems," she said. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to say anything over there, but it seems to me that the clerk was hinting that there was a woman who might have been your wife who came in a little over an hour ago-with a Turkish man."

She watched the glowering expression that seemed to close down over his face like a dark cloud. These Americans are so easily swayed in their emotions, she thought. She was glad that he was good looking; it made her job so much more interesting.

"If it's true," Robert began in threatening tones, "just wait till I get my hands on her again!"

"You're tired and upset. Don't come to a hasty decision until you know for sure what's happened," Feyadin tried to calm him. "I have a room here. Why don't you come up and rest, and perhaps I can make some discreet inquiries among the hired help."

Robert felt his shoulders drooping from fatigue and worry, and, not knowing what else to do, he gave in to the light pull she gave his arm and followed her into the hallway. At least I won't be alone for a little while, he consoled himself. He couldn't help but think as he watched her seductively swaying hips in front of him that she seemed more interested in him than just to help find his wife. He hoped so-he would love to get his hands on her appealing young body.

She led him through complicated winding corridors until finally they entered an older part of the hotel. Eventually she stopped outside a door and fumbled for the key hanging from a thin gold chain around her neck. She unlocked the heavy oak door, and Robert followed her inside. He was amazed at the opulent luxury of what seemed to be a large private apartment.

"You like it?" Feyadin asked him, watching his face with interested amusement. It was obvious he had never seen such plushness except in movies. The floor was covered with thick Persian rugs, and all the furniture was upholstered with highly ornate Moroccan leather. The low tables were covered with objects of chased brass and gold left over from wealthier days when sultans ruled the country.

"This is what I call living in style," Robert managed to blurt out. "Are all the rooms here this luxurious?"

Feyadin laughed deep in her throat, a husky sensual sound that made his loins ache with desire. Here was a woman he could really get to like if he were given half a chance.

"No, this is my own special apartment," she answered with pride. "It used to be for a rich man's favorite mistress, but I have lived here nearly five years now."

Robert wondered how a young Turkish girl could afford such an expensive-looking place, but he didn't ask any questions. It was possible that she, too, was able to stay there only because she was the kept woman of a wealthy man, and she might be sensitive about it.

"Make yourself at home," she told him. "I'll be back in a minute." Then she disappeared into another part of the apartment and Robert amused himself by looking over the room. A large water-pipe was near the low-lying couch, and he wondered briefly what, if anything, Feyadin smoked in it. He finally decided it was probably just a decoration. He ran his fingertips over the thick animal skins scattered around on the furniture, enjoying the sensuous quality of the furs.

Before long he began to wonder what was taking her so long and sat down on one of the divans. He suddenly realized just how tired he was and leaned back to rest his eyes. For a moment he lay there letting his mind go blank, but then again he found himself wondering about his lovely young bride. He hoped that she was all right and wished vaguely that he had been able to catch up with her before this. Then he was suddenly annoyed with her again for disappearing like that, and after deciding that he had done as much as he could for now, he relaxed and dropped off into a light sleep.

In another part of the huge hotel, Penny was slowly recovering from the effects of the drugs Osman had put into her drink earlier. Nisli had turned her unconscious form over to an old woman-servant who was plying the dazed young wife with thick black coffee while she lay soaking in a sunken marble bath filled with hot water and perfumed oils. She felt completely drained and utterly exhausted. However, the groggy blonde was slowly beginning to return from the hazy dream world, where she had been lost for what seemed an eternity, back to the world of reality. The hot coffee and the warm water were helping to revive her, and now that she was regaining consciousness she was becoming more and more aware of her surroundings and beginning to wonder where she was.

The old woman held up a hammered copper coffee pot, but the confused young wife made a sign to show that she had had enough and the servant bowed and silently left the room.

Penny took the opportunity to crane her neck and look around. She was trying to figure out how she had gotten there. The last thing she remembered was getting into bed back at the motel, and after that it seemed she had been dreaming and dreaming for ages. She couldn't help but recall the previous events that had led to her running away from Robert and the hotel bridal suite, and she wondered about her husband-she felt a little sorry for him. He was probably worried sick. Well, she thought, let him worry. Tomorrow, she would return to their hotel and maybe by then Robert would have learned a lesson. She had decided the whole thing was silly. If only he would try as hard as she would, surely they could work the whole thing out.

She peered curiously from the tub out through the open arched doorway. The building looked like a palace from where she was sitting, and for a split second she considered the possibility that she was still dreaming. Otherwise, how could she explain her presence here? But she could feel the warm wetness of the water on her skin and still taste the cloying sweetness of the coffee in her mouth.

No, she definitely was not dreaming. Then what had happened? Could it be that Robert had found her at the motel, and somehow, without waking her, had moved her to this luxurious palatial apartment? She was suddenly sure that was it, and she was about to call his name, when she heard softly padded footsteps in the other room. That's probably him now, she thought, coming to surprise me with his cleverness at finding me after I ran away without leaving even a note. She smiled to herself and expectantly watched the doorway.

"Hello, my dear. Are you feeling better?" Nisli asked.

Penny gasped and shielded her exposed breasts with her hands, sinking down into the bubble bath as far as she could.

Standing in the doorway was a man in a flowing robe she had never seen before. He was smiling at her in a relaxed familiar manner, and for a moment she wondered if she should know him. Had she had too much to drink and somehow allowed herself to go off with a perfect stranger? She stared in fascinated horror at his unusually handsome face, taking in his deep-set dark eyes, full sensual-looking lips trimmed with a thin mustache, and noticing the single gold tooth flashing in his mouth. No, she was certain, she had never to her knowledge seen him before this moment.

"W-who are you," she stammered, her voice trembling as he gazed knowingly down at her as though she had belonged to him forever.

"Nisli Bey," he answered, bowing slightly. "Your new master."

The abducted bride's mouth gaped open at his words. It had to be some kind of weird joke- she had never heard of such a thing in her life.

"You seem a little taken aback, my dear," Nisli said in a tone of superiority. "You mean to tell me your husband Robert said nothing at all to you about our arrangement?" He watched her face with an inner chuckle as her mouth fell open in undisguised fear, eyes widening in disbelief at his meaning.

"B-but he couldn't do such a thing!" she sputtered. "It-it's illegal! And besides, Robert loves me," she added as an after thought. Immediately after her words had left her lips, she wondered if it were not possible after all. This part of the world might have totally different laws from other countries for all she knew, or this could be happening without the knowledge of the authorities. And there was no doubt that Robert had been highly displeased with her when he had left the hotel.

"Are you sure?" Nisli goaded her teasingly. "He certainly seemed happy enough to accept my offer, and the price was not too steep, either." He was enjoying playing with the confused young woman like a cat with a mouse. He knew how proud and independent these American women were, and nothing pleased him more than to make them feel like helpless slaves who could be bought and sold on a mere whim. They usually changed their attitudes once they understood that they would be treated with the respect that normally fell only to royal concubines. All they had to do was admit that they were at the mercy of his will, and life could be extremely good for them-at least as long as he wasn't bored.

Penny stared at his grinning face for a long time, shaken by his calm, secure manner. Finally she had had enough.

"Please leave the room," she said curtly. "I'm getting dressed and I'm leaving." She jerked her head around and stared blankly at the tiles on the wall, waiting for him to obey her command. But he only laughed softly and remained standing in the doorway.

"I'm afraid you'll have to change your attitude, my dear," he said after a long pause. "You don't seem to understand. You are now completely at my mercy, and you will have to do as you're told. Never again will you be able to order anyone around-except the handmaidens who will take good care of you for me. Even they will listen to me first if there is any doubt about what to do." With that he snapped his fingers once, and she heard the shuffle of feet behind him.

Two young girls dressed in loosely fitted white robes appeared with thick towels draped over their arms and a bundle of clothing clearly intended for Penny. Nisli rasped a few brief words to them in Turkish, and they crossed to the tub where Penny was still trying to hide her body from his view.

"These women will assist in preparing you to come to me," he told her coldly. "Do not give them any difficulty. My man Mahmet is waiting outside, and he's very anxious to begin teaching you proper respect. He believes that women are like animals-both need a little training before they behave the way they should." Then he was gone.

The first woman unfolded a huge towel and held it out for the completely astounded young blonde. Penny hesitated a moment and then decided that she would have to dry off and dress before she could do anything about her situation. She rose up from the water, slightly embarrassed at exposing herself to these total strangers.

They seemed not to pay the slightest attention to her nakedness, rubbing her tender skin dry with great care and skillfully plying her body with sweet-smelling oil as she stood between them like a lovely princess of old. In spite of her fear and confusion, their hands felt good on her soft skin and soothed her nerves. When they were finished they stood on either side of her and began to drape her almost reverently with a beautiful embroidered gown of green and gold. Penny happened to glance in the full-length mirror at the far end of the room and saw herself as her shimmering nakedness slowly disappeared beneath its caressing folds. Her tall lithe body was softly glistening in the muted light, her breasts gleaming like twin white moons, and her full flaring hips and tapering thighs had never looked so appealing. Even the golden triangle of pubic hair up between her legs shone from the oil, matching the loosely falling locks making a blonde parenthesis around her face. She watched in wonder as the two women cinched in the waist of the robe to cover her body, finishing their work by slipping her feet into thin gold sandals and then bedecking her with large, circular gold earrings and numerous matching bracelets.

The young wife couldn't help admiring herself in the mirror, and she had to grin at the childish way the girls stood back and waited for her to compliment their skill. She felt lake Cleopatra, quickly flashing a smile at them before she strode regally out of the room.

The man who called himself Nisli was nowhere to be seen, and Penny curiously explored the first room she entered. It seemed to be a kind of dressing-sitting room, with ornamental mirrors and vanity tables, many overstuffed chairs and lounges, and rows and rows of bottled perfumes and powders. She opened a wide closet and found it filled with all styles of dresses-a wardrobe such as she had never seen except in movies and magazines. They all seemed to be about her size, and she was secretly envious of whoever owned them all.

Penny walked into the next room and found in the middle against one wall the largest bed she had ever seen. It was covered by a red velvet canopy hanging from four carved posts at the corners. Stepping closer, she realized that the bed was surrounded by mirrors made to look like room dividers, with a circular mirror mounted in the canopy over the bed. She knew that there could be only one purpose for them. Anyone on the bed would be able to see himself from whatever position he was in.

This man Nisli liked to see himself making love to women. She had heard of such things in naughty whispered conversations, but never had she dreamed that they actually existed. She must have been brought to a virtual den of iniquity-and she had to find a way out before it was too late.

She rushed over to the window and looked into a huge high- walled garden. It would be easy enough to slip out the window and try to find a way over the wall, she was thinking, but then she saw the dogs and her heart seemed to leap up into her throat.

They were almost as tall as her waist, with long pointed snouts and sharp teeth. Obviously, this avenue of escape had been tried before, and Nisli wasn't taking any chances. She wouldn't last five minutes outside with those hungry-looking beasts roaming restlessly under the window.

Then she tried what she hoped would be a door leading to the hallway, only to find that it was locked. She was trapped in these rooms, and she began to wonder if she would ever get out. Suddenly the door she had just tried opened and Nisli came in. Penny caught a glimpse of a giant man standing guard outside the door and fought down her impulse to make a run for it. That was probably the Mahmet he had mentioned before, and he looked like he could snap her in two if he wanted. She drew in a deep breath and straightened herself into a stern pose of indignation.

"All right, Mr. Nisli," she began. "Thank you very much for your kindness, but now I demand that I be allowed to have my own clothes." Penny quickly slipped off the gold bracelets and the earrings. Then placing them on the chair beside her she said, "I must leave now. My husband is expecting me." She hoped that he wouldn't see how frightened and hopeless she felt inside.

He totally ignored her words.

"I see you've inspected your suite," he said in a mild voice. "I hope it meets with your approval. You may be spending a lot of time here."

She opened her mouth to speak, but was unable to form words with her lips. He was taking it for granted that she would stay here until he decided she could leave.

"Here is something which might interest you," he said in a shrewd, suggestive tone. He opened a pair of louvered doors to reveal a large television screen. Flipping a switch, he motioned for her to sit in a chair facing the screen, and then he adjusted the dials until the picture became clear.

She hadn't intended to sit down. She wanted to show him that he couldn't tell her what to do, but when she saw what was on the screen, she practically fell back into the chair from shock.

There was Robert-with another woman!

"This is coming from another suite in the building," Nisli told her in a flat, cold voice. "You can decide for yourself whether or not your husband is concerned about you."

With a smile of cruel satisfaction, Nisli lit one of his cigarettes and stood back to enjoy what was coming. He had just talked with Feyadin, and knew that the American was ready to do anything she might ask of him. They had smoked some strong hashish in the water-pipe, and the young husband was already beginning to make advances when Nisli had called her away to briefly talk with her. Now they were together again, and Feyadin had been instructed to go ahead.

Penny barely noticed when Nisli reached to one side and flicked off the lights in the room, and then pressed a button which caused the heavy window drapes to glide closed, leaving the television as the only source of illumination.

On the screen Penny could see a large double bed almost like the one she had just been looking at. In the center of the bed a long-legged, dark-haired girl was lying spread-eagled, completely naked before the hidden camera. Robert, also stripped bare, was kneeling on the bed between her widespread legs running his lips and tongue excitedly up and down her body. He sucked at her ripely rounded breasts, teasing the nipples up into trembling hardness, and then he traced a path with his tongue over the flat plane of the girl's passionately heaving stomach all the way down between her quivering inner thighs.

Penny gasped out loud at the obscene pleasure Robert was taking over the lewdly prostrate form on the bed. If that's what he wants to do to me, he's got a surprise coming, she was thinking. She had never seen such wanton depravity in her whole life.

Then on the screen Feyadin's hands tangled in Robert's hair, pulling his greedy lips tightly to her loins. Penny leaned forward gripping the arms of the chair until her hands ached. She could not move. She tried to close her eyes and blot out the shocking picture but she couldn't even do that. She had to look- the salacious spectacle was hypnotizing her even as her mind rebelled-to watch her own husband toying with the naked squirming body of another woman was debasing and lewd. Still, she could not turn away.

The watching bride's husband had worked the dark-haired Turkish girl up to a fever pitch and her mouth hung wide open in ecstatic rapture, her glassy, lust-crazed eyes staring up into nothingness. He placed himself in position over her rapidly rising and falling belly, his face hanging within inches of the black-furred pubic mound below. Her fingers still clutched in his hair and struggled desperately to pull his face down to her squirming cunt below, but he was obviously holding back until he was ready. His hands pressed down on the smooth flat plane of her lower stomach as his thumbs squeezed into the fleshy outer flanges of her vaginal lips. Penny sucked in her breath with a gasp as her husband's thumbs massaged the other woman's soft moist pussy- flesh for a moment, and then pulled outward slowly, parting the dark wet curls to expose the moist inner folds of her cuntal crevice. The tiny throbbing bud of her clitoris was clearly visible just above the stretched elastic vaginal opening.

Then Robert finally gave in to the straining hands in his hair and his head dropped, his probing wet tongue snaking out to teasingly flick at the quivering little clitoral nub. Feyadin's body jerked at the sudden electric contact and her legs clamped tightly together around his head, the firm softness of her inner thighs imprisoning his ears in a vise-like grip. Her hips began a slow up and down movement in rhythm to the ministrations of his lashing tongue as soft mewls of animal pleasure came from between her clenched teeth. She was lost in a mindless uncontrolled lust as her upper torso writhed like a belly dancer's, her wildly gyrating buttocks grinding spasmodically down into the mattress.

Penny watched the lewdly depraved scene as though it came from a distant dream she had once had, strange chords of remembrance passion through her head. It was almost as though it had all happened to her somewhere in the past, but she was unable to believe it possible that she could ever react in such an abandoned way. Her mouth gaped in disbelief as she watched Feyadin twisting wantonly under the degrading sucking at her loins. The confused young blonde was no longer certain whether the two writhing bodies she was watching were real or a figment of her imagination. It felt as though they were dancing in her head. Time and distance had suddenly become indefinable. Nothing existed in the world but the scene before her, and she seemed somehow mystically connected to the two figures on the screen.

It suddenly dawned on her that when she had first been brought to this apartment, not even aware that she had left the motel, it was entirely possible that Nisli had performed similar lewd acts on her own helpless body. It would explain a lot of things to her confused mind. He seemed to consider her his property even though, to her knowledge, up to this point, he had never even touched her. And she had felt a little strange and sore down in her genitals when she had first come out of her stupor of sleep.

The embarrassed young bride suddenly blushed in her new understanding, and she glanced sideways at Nisli standing beside her to see if he had noticed. But he was staring straight ahead at the screen as if lost in the lascivious act taking place there, a thin smile curling his sensual lips.

She glanced back at the screen and saw that Robert had stopped what he was doing at the squirming woman's open loins, and now he was crawling up her writhing body, his lips slowly working their way up, pausing now and then at soft sensitive spots for a quick flick of his tongue. It was then that Penny saw Robert's distended erect penis protruding down between his legs, the heavy testicles beneath filled to bursting with sperm. The massively rigid cock paused momentarily over Feyadin's undulating vagina, and Penny thought that her husband was going to ram it up into the girl right then. But instead he slowly moved all the way up her slippery perspiring body and straddled her firmly upthrust breasts.

Penny could see the proud roundly molded mounds squeezing up around his thickness as he took them in his hands and pressed them together against his lewdly excited cock. He stroked back and forth a few times in the soft tunnel between them, flicking the tautly erect nipples with his thumbs at the same time, and then he moved up farther until his muscular young buttocks pressed down on her breasts. Penny saw the tight bulges squeeze out as his weight sank down, smashing them onto her chest. His lustfully thick penis stood straight out from his belly, the bloated rubbery head only a few inches above the girl's gasping mouth. Robert reached one hand back behind him and with a quick twist of his wrist, shoved his middle finger up between her wide-open thighs, skewering it far into the hotly moist depths of her cunt all the way to the flatness of his palm. Feyadin jerked as he rotated the skewering finger around inside, teasing the wet sensitive walls until finally she gasped aloud, breathing a moan of surrender to the lascivious ministrations the young bridegroom was working on her body.