Chapter 4

The interior of the warehouse was a wreck of scattered cardboard boxes and piles of gunny sacks strewn from one side of the second story level of the building to the other. Ellen noticed a musty smell that gave away the fact that the building had been long in disuse. Most of the windows were shattered, and, even though it was still summer, it felt a bit cold.

The men forced her up still another stairway leading to some vacant rooms that looked like they once had served as the office headquarters to the building. Ellen slowed her pace as she entered the doorway, and Billy turned and pulled her in.

"Goddamn it's cold," Billy said, rubbing his hands together for warmth. "I wish we had some way to build a fire here."

"It'll be daylight in a couple hours. The heat'll be on soon enough... when they find us gone," Cash quipped, and the others guffawed in knowing laughter.

"There's one quick way," Vito said, leering at Ellen. "Just get plugged up inside that little hot pussy, and you got electric heat."

"You get anything inside that, and you'll never get inside nothin' again. Not after the stunt you pulled in the truck," Billy reprimanded Vito, walking into a back room and switching on the light.

"Damn, Billy, what you think she is, exclusive territory or somethin'?" Vito shouted in Billy's direction.

Billy turned from the doorway of the next room and cast his gaze steadily on Vito. "Look, Vito, we got a job to do, and messing with the valuable property ain't gonna help none of us."

"What's so valuable about that?" Vito said, gesturing toward Ellen. "She's just another hot little piece of tail, as far as I can see."

"That piece of tail may make the difference between spending the rest of your life in the pig's pen, or living nice and easy on the outside."

"You call this nice and easy?" Vito retorted. "I'd take solitary before I'd stay in this dump for more than two days."

"Hold on, you guys," Cash intervened between the two men. "We gotta start thinkin' straight. Now Billy, when's the man comin'?"

Billy scratched his head and looked towards Cash and Pop sitting in broken down chairs on either side of Ellen. "We just sit here and wait. It should be soon from what I heard before we jumped the cage. That was a real smooth job. But remember, he can get us back in there as fast as we got out if we don't follow through with knockin' off the senator. We get plenty of loot for doin' it, so don't get all anxious, not yet anyway."

"That sounds real nice," Pop said, running his tongue across his lips in greedy anticipation. "We get the loot and just disappear."

"But politics is somethin' I don't fancy messin' with," Cash said, standing up from his chair. "They'll hang you fifty times for shootin' a senator, then fry your carcass in the chair."

"There are chances, but we been playing our cards right this far, and I say we make a go of it," Billy answered, asserting his authority once more.

He smiled at the three men in a superior manner as though he had mapped out the entire plan beforehand and had some information that he was withholding from the others. Ellen listened as he went on discussing the details of what now appeared to be an assassination plot. Her dazed mind was beginning to focus more clearly on what was going on around her, and she became more and more aware that this was no ordinary band of escaped criminals. Her own position as a hostage--and that surely was what she had become--now was quite obvious. Her hopes of freedom fell into the knowledge that the men not only intended to use her an object on which to vent their long pent-up lust, but they would hold her in case something went wrong with their murderous plans.

"And what about the cunt over here?" Cash asked. "She could blow the whole thing if she gets loose."

"You let me take care of her," Billy said, a glint of self- satisfaction in his eye. "Like I said, she's a valuable piece of property, and she'll be treated as such. And like I say, she ain't gonna get loose."

"I don't like the idea of the little bitch maybe sneakin' out on us. The city's only a mile away, and she could have the whole goddamn FBI down on us before we had time to get the scratch and run outta here."

"Look, we're pros now, part o' the big time, and we gotta act like it," Billy said, raising up to his full height. "You get all shook about our girlfriend here runnin' loose and two to one you'll blow the big kill. This here senator is money, you gotta remember that."

"It's startin' to sound more like you don't even know who the fucking senator is! I always like to know whose head I'm puttin' a bullet into before I get itchy fingers," Vito spoke up, moving towards Billy.

"That's your big surprise. Not knowin' gives things a little more suspense, don't you think so, Honey?" Billy said, looking down at Ellen.

"I--I don't think I know what you're talking about," Ellen said, feeling the tears well up in her eyes once more.

"Now that's what I like to hear," Billy said. "You just be a nice little girl, and nothin'll happen to ya. Meanwhile you can start helpin' us clean up this dump. We got some food in the back room, and after you finish feather-dustin', you can fix us up some chow."

Ellen sat back, resting her head against the wall behind the chair. She tried to pull the ripped material of her tee-shirt across the exposed pink nipples of her breasts, but this gesture seemed to bring more lewd stares from the men around her. The struggle in the car had left Ellen utterly shaken, and she now tried to cover her half-nakedness by pulling her legs tight around the long tear the men had made in her jeans and folding her arms across the lower part of her breasts and the whiteness of her bared stomach.

"I said we gotta get on with it," Billy repeated viciously, reaching down and grabbing Ellen by the arm. "I don't think you heard me right."

Ellen instinctively pulled away, feeling the hand increase its grip around the slightness of her wrist. Then Billy wrenched her up from the chair, sending her head spinning in another surge of anguished fear and humiliation as he swung his arm in a wide arc and brought the palm of his hand down hard against her face.

Ellen stood and covered her tear-stained face with her hands.

"Look, we ain't just playin' at any of this," Billy said, standing back for a moment. "What we want is real sweet and simple. You start cleanin' up this old furniture and these mattresses and fixin' up the joint so that it looks nice and respectful for the gentleman comin' shortly. Now tell the boys you understand, like a good girl."

"Yes, I--I understand," she finally said quietly. She understood too well, she thought to herself, glancing fearfully across the room at Billy who stood under the overhanging light shining harshly over his fierce-looking face. Ellen was beginning to comprehend the laws that guided the band of desperate criminals. Their years of imprisonment had turned them into near-animals who worshipped the strength of the leader of the pack more than anything else. At the same time, like the snarling dogs they were, they challenged that strength and, as in Vito's case, would try to destroy the leader's prestige at any possible moment. She had become a pawn in their game, and the man who finally ended up possessing her would simply take over that position of power. Now it was Billy who ruled over her ultimate fate, but she knew that the outcome of the struggle that was developing would depend on how he dealt with their challenge to his authority.

"Now Honey, you look real sweet," Billy said sarcastically. "You get that pretty ass of yours moving into the next room, and maybe we'll give you a nice treat if you clean up good and proper."

"And don't forget the chow," Pop exclaimed from his chair. "It ain't enough just to have a maid, we gotta get some vittles in our guts if we's gonna make a good job of it tomorrow. Be real nice to have some home cookin' after ten years of penitentiary soup."

Ellen felt a strong wave of humiliation rush through her as the men laughed heartily at the old man's remarks. She was completely unaccustomed to being treated this way, and, despite her fear of any further struggle over her already violated body, she suppressed a rebellious feeling that increased as they assigned her the demeaning task of cleaning up the filthy, so- called apartment.

"All right, Cash," Billy said, thrusting his thumb towards Ellen. "You show the little lady what's got to be done."

Ellen followed Cash through the dimly lit doorway into an adjacent room. God, she had never seen such a slovenly mess in all her life! Piles of filthy mattresses were heaped below the tall warehouse windows, and pieces of broken furniture covered with mold and dust were scattered across the rotting linoleum floor. She thought she would become sick when she breathed in the stale odor coming from a pile of dirty dishes lying in the sink in a far corner of the room, but she didn't. It seemed as though her humiliation from the insults to her body and spirit had strengthened her somewhat. Perhaps she was already becoming accustomed to this animal world, she thought. It was possible that the law of jungle survival had been affecting her in ways her own civilized mind could only instinctively understand.

"First, get them mattresses nice and clean," Cash commanded, pointing towards the window. "We may need them later on if there's any trouble with the fuzz."

Ellen stooped over the mattresses and broken furniture, and with a rag he had flung to her, she began dusting them off. Although it was Cash commanding her, she felt Billy's unseen presence directed through Cash's forceful orders. There was no longer any sense in the hopeless resistance she had put up at first. She had at least kept herself close to Billy, and as long as he retained his power she was relatively safe. Cash and Pop, and to some extent Vito, were under Billy's control, but if she aroused the leader's displeasure she would be thrown to them as the vestal virgins of ancient Rome had been thrown to dens of wild untamable lions.

"After that, them dishes in the sink need some washin'," he added with a certain sense of authority. "You don't want to get Billy mad, cause when he gets that way there ain't nobody can stop him."

Ellen nodded dully in assent and shrugging in resignation continued her task of cleaning up the mess. Cash had helped her pile the mattresses against the windows, and it occurred to her that the men were preparing for a possible gun battle when she observed the way the mattresses were arranged. They were piled up as though they had planned to use them as a shield against bullets that might be shot towards the windows from the vacant lot behind the warehouse.

The dishes were clean now, and she stood them up on a rack she had improvised on a table beside the sink. Cash had left the room to bring in some groceries from the truck, and she felt free to gather her thoughts for a moment. Her biggest problem had been believing that all this was really happening to her. The incredible nightmare had actually begun on the beach when she had seen Jennifer fondling the long hard penises of the two young men below the sand dune. The series of emotional shocks that had followed had fused in her mind into an agonizing blur of painful and humiliating thoughts and images, and now it seemed as though the horrible evening would never end. It must be almost early morning, she thought, yet the four men had shown no signs of retiring for the night.

Cash reentered the room and placed the bag of groceries beside the sink. "Billy says you're to get us some supper. And make it quick," he added with an authority of his own.

"There's nothing to cook on in here," Ellen said, surprising herself at the boldness of her statement.

"Them's all canned things," Cash retorted roughly. "We can eat cold for a couple days."

"W--what can I fix?" she asked with a slight tremble in her voice, feeling her fear returning as Cash stared at her cruelly. It was evident that she had angered Cash by speaking out so abruptly, and that was just what she had been trying not to do. She was intent on being as docile and unobtrusive as possible. She knew that everything she said to this man went directly back to Billy. She dared not alienate Billy completely or he might be forced to show his control over her by letting the others take advantage of her as he had done, and this was the last thing she wanted to happen--she would rather die than have them molest and prod her like that again.

"Open up them sardines and start fixin'," Cash shouted, interrupting her thoughts.

Ellen reached into the grocery bag and set a can of sardines and a loaf of bread onto the table. She was a bit surprised to find that the soreness between her legs was not as acute as she thought it might be, but as she bent over the table she felt a surge of pain come from inside her thighs and pulse upward into her groin. Yes, the tenderness was still there, and she couldn't escape the fact that she had been ravished and her cherished virginity had been stolen from her forever. The assault Vito had subjected her to with his fingers had accomplished this, and now she hoped beyond hope that she could escape any further violation of her body from this group of escaped convicts.

Ellen tried to shake the memory of the dreadful incident from her mind, but she couldn't. It just didn't seem possible that all of this could have happened to her in such a short, unexpected, period of time and yet she recalled now that there had been a rash of kidnappings and political assassinations recently that had caught the attention of the press and the entire nation. She remembered with bitter irony that she had once believed that such a thing could never happen to her and that her world was safe and secure, just as millions of other Americans had probably believed about their own lives. But why had these men treated her as they did? This was the unwritten account of what probably happened in dozens of such incidents. The poor victims, fearful of the horrible stigma that would go with them the rest of their lives, had refused to tell the real stories of rape and ravishment that lay behind their abductors' political purposes.

Ellen was still uncertain of what exactly had gone on in the truck only a few hours before. The bitter details were a confused jumble in her mind as she had been in a state of complete shock since the escapees had first grabbed her. Yet one thing was crystal clear to her. Her sister had betrayed an important trust by behaving as she had on the beach, and in some barely comprehensible manner Jennifer was responsible for her being here at the mercy of Billy and his fellow intriguers.

"Man, I'm starving to death, where the hell's the food," Billy's voice rang out from the next room, interrupting Ellen's thoughts.

"She can't go no faster than she is," Cash answered, looking over at Ellen who was placing the sardines on slices of white bread. Cash's voice had a note of irritation in it, and Ellen hoped that this did not signal the beginning of a conflict between the two men. Cash had patiently watched as she prepared the sandwiches and was now making a salad, but she knew that this apparent gentleness would turn into violent passion if he were provoked. She was aware of her breasts hanging out from the tear in her tee shirt, and she could feel the cool air rush against her leg from where they had ripped open the leg of her jeans up to her crotch, exposing one softly-rounded cheek of her buttocks. She tried vainly to conceal herself by pulling her legs close together and keeping one arm pressed next to her half-bared breast, but she couldn't. If Cash would just keep his eyes off her she would be able to work much faster, but as it was she felt his gaze pass over every soft curve and lewdly exposed crevice of her body, and she twisted uneasily as she sensed his eyes glued more tightly to the smooth white firmness of her buttocks.

"You're one of the most appetizing cooks I ever seen," Cash joked salaciously. "But you are also one of the goddamn slowest."

"The food's ready now," she said weakly, turning with one plate piled high with salad and another with sandwiches.

"Chow's ready," he shouted towards the next room, without taking his eyes from her voluptuous young body.

"Then bring it in here," Billy laughed. "Pop looks so hungry he might eat me up."

Ellen followed Cash into the next room and set the plates down on the floor in front of Billy who lay back on the mattress looking at her with an amused expression.

"Goddamn, girl, I ain't gonna eat off no floor," Billy growled in irritation. "You go and get a table or somethin', so we can eat like civilized human beings."

Ellen returned to the kitchen and pulled the table from beside the sink into the makeshift living room. Then she set the plates on the table top, watching Billy all the while to see if he was still displeased.

"Now that's more like it. Them there sandwiches look mighty good. And what we got here, a nice little salad," Billy said, a note of viciousness in his voice. "Dig in boys, we's gonna need all the nourishment we can get."

Ellen stood back by the door and watched as the four men gathered around the table and began to eat. It was the first time she really had an opportunity to see all of them clearly, as she had tried to avert her gaze from them while they had attacked her in the truck, and when they had entered the warehouse she had been too filled with shame to look them in the face. Now she could see them clearly under the strong glare of the overhanging light, and a sharp stab of fear cut like a knife through her stomach. Their faces were drawn in what she suddenly realized was a prison pallor and their expressions, as they ate, were those of desperate animals who seemed to fear that the food that had been set in front of them might be quickly removed.

Cash was the nearest of the four men; he appeared to be in his middle thirties, a few years older than Billy, but quite a bit younger than Pop. He was slightly balding with shortly cropped blond hair that was graying at the temples. As he bent over his food he displayed a kind of brute strength that was emphasized by his huge forearms and a thick neck that bulged out from a large muscular chest. He reminded Ellen of some dock workers she had seen on the Tampa waterfront earlier that summer. They were a tough vicious breed and she had heard that when they became drunk they frequently got into fights that often ended fatally.

Pop, who had been driving the truck when they abducted her, was a heavy set middle-aged man with rough looking skin and bulging red eyes. Of the four men he appeared the most inhuman and depraved. Years of prison confinement had transformed his every movement into a gesture of animal cunning that Ellen could sense now as he shifted his eyes from his plate of food to her body. There was an innate cold cruelty in Pop's eyes that she couldn't really explain, but she knew that his easy-going attitude was just a front hiding a bestial inner-self that needed only a nod from Billy to be released. Pop had been trained to obey the commands of any one man, but at the same time he seemed to harbor a deep resentment against that authority. Like an old dog who had stored up years of hate against an unjust master, he only waited for a moment of faltering when he might spring and destroy...

Billy was a tall, sandy-haired young man who carried himself with an arrogant confidence befitting his position as gang chief. He had well formed features and a square strong looking chin that revealed a strong willed character that Ellen had already learned to fear and respect. His arms were large and well muscled and sloped down to powerful hands that Ellen remembered had held her so brutally in the car. She winced when she recalled the movement of his wrenching fingers across her buttocks: she could still feel the painful marks he had made on her sides as he had plunged into her and ravished her so viciously. Although Billy was quite handsome in an obscene animal like way, there was something about him that repulsed her. He was colder and more aloof than the other men, and he seemed to lack a warmth of feeling that could lead him to commit acts of violence without having a second thought about it.

Vito, on the other hand, was bony and skinny with a shock of black greasy hair falling across his forehead. A long scar was slashed across his cheek that emphasized the paleness of his face and brought out the shiftiness of his character. If Pop appeared to be the most inhuman and depraved of the group of criminals, Vito was the most conniving and jealous. His dark darting eyes and his constantly tensed thin mouth suggested the born criminal personality who would have entered the world of crime even if the circumstances of his life had not sent him in that direction.

Earlier Ellen had feared an inevitable clash between Vito and Billy over leadership of the gang, and now as she watched the two men finish their sandwiches, she knew her fears had not been unjustified. Although they were completely opposite physically and mentally, both men had the driving desire to dominate and master the weaker human beings who crossed their path.

"Hey, little girl, what you lookin' at," Billy said, staring up at her from his empty plate. "Get into that kitchen and make us some more sandwiches."

Ellen darted back into the next room and began looking for some more food to fix the four voraciously hungry men. The sardines were all gone, but she found some cold cuts in the bottom of the grocery sack and quickly placed the slabs of meat on slices of bread and returned to the living room to set the full plate on the table.

The men dug into the sandwiches again and continued consuming their food in silence. As they ate they cast their gaze up from the table to her face and then dropped their eyes slowly in a lewd movement down to her half-exposed breasts and legs. There could be no doubt about what they were thinking about, and she kept her eyes on Billy as she cowered back from the table.

He was her only hope now, and as much as she was afraid of him, she feared the others more. She had been forced into a dilemma where she had to choose from one of four evils, and she truly felt that he would be her best bet if she hoped to survive the next few days without suffering a fate far worse than losing her virginity. Yes, she had come a long way from the innocent young thing she had been a few short hours before. She had believed in the absolute preciousness of her female dignity, and had thought the preservation of that purity should be striven for at all costs. But now she realized there were far greater indignities to be suffered--humiliations that in her virginal innocence she had never even thought of, never in her wildest dreams. So she, as though she were living in some primitive, war- like tribe, was forced to choose Billy as the strongest of the group for mere survival sake, and she hoped ultimately she would be accepted by him.

But she wasn't too sure.

Billy's actions were confusing. His strong assertive confidence appeared almost businesslike at times, and watching him eating now, she noticed that he didn't seem as concerned or even aware of her presence as the others. She was just there, a mere object to be toyed with at will; yet he knew she was his by virtue of his leadership of the gang.

"That was real good," Pop said, licking his lips in satisfaction. "I could use a couple shots to polish it all off."

"That sounds like a great idea, Pop," Billy said, yawning and stretching backwards on his chair. "Now you trot your sweet little ass into the kitchen, Honey, and get a bottle of booze for us fellas."

Ellen went into the kitchen and found a bottle of whiskey wrapped in a paper sack at the bottom of the grocery bag. She brought the bottle back with some glasses and watched silently by his side as he poured a drink out for all of them.

"You only brought four glasses," Billy said, winking up at her. "We want five. You gonna drink with us, don't you understand?"

Ellen winced and began to turn back to the kitchen. "Here, save yourself some trouble, Baby, and drink out of mine," Billy said, a note of disarming tenderness in his voice.

He poured his glass completely full and handed it to Ellen, who in an unconscious gesture of revulsion pushed the glass away from her face.

"Goddamn it, I said drink it you little bitch," he commanded, smiling broadly at the three men who sat with their eyes glued on Ellen.

The young girl slowly moved the glass of amber colored liquid toward her lips. It smelled bitter and strong, and she flinched involuntarily as she took a small sip and felt the hot liquid burn all the way down. This was the first time she had drank any liquor straight, and she felt momentarily sick as the whiskey began burning the walls of her stomach. She choked as Billy thrust his hand around her wrist and forced her to drink the rest in one gulp.

"Damn, she drunk all of that stuff," Vito laughed. "She's a regular pro at it."

"She's comin' along real well," Billy smiled. "And with me teachin' her the ropes she'll be a professional in no time."

"We's gonna get some of that too, ain't we, Billy?" Pop gloated. "We can't just sit here and watch. I mean, hell, I ain't had no woman for nearly fifteen years."

"Ya waited that long, another couple weeks ain't gonna hurt ya," Billy laughed.

"But that ain't fair, Chief. She's just as much ours as your own," Cash shouted. "We's the ones who helped you grab her up off that beach road. I say she's everybody's property."

"I say she's mine," Billy said sternly, rising up to his full height. "Anybody messes with this little pussy, and he's gotta answer to me. Remember, she's here because we need a hostage, not to knock off a piece of ass whenever we feel like it."

"Look, Billy," Vito said, speaking up for the first time in awhile. "You already fucked the stuck-up little bitch. You can't change the facts."

Ellen listened in astonishment at the vile exchange of words, pulling instinctively closer to Billy as the argument continued. She knew that her fate would be sealed with the outcome of the discussion, and she hoped somehow that Billy would be able to keep the three men off her.

"The facts are plain and simple," Billy answered. "But if you'd like to take a little look-see at the merchandise you're welcome a quick glance, with no touchin' that is."

Billy reached for Ellen's arm and pulled her violently toward the group of men. Ellen could feel the palm of his hand tighten around her wrist, then she sensed his fingers loosen slowly, as though he was intending to show his power to the men but did not want to hurt her. She let herself go weak under the strong pressure of the man's hand and found herself being pulled down toward the mattress.

"Now just look," Billy said, grasping her chin firmly in one hand while he still held her wrist strongly within his other fist. "Ain't she a sweet cunt? She's a real wonder."

Then in one swift movement Billy's hand reached down and ripped open the flimsy material of her tee shirt completely, throwing the tattered cloth onto the floor. Ellen fell backward for a moment in surprise, suddenly feeling the nakedness of the upper part of her body and trying to cover the exposed pink fleshed nipples of her large full breasts.

"Now you take a look at that boys," she heard his voice hiss. "That's what I call a real damn hostage, what dya think, Pop?"

"J--Jeeze, look at them goddamn titties," the old man exclaimed, lurching forward from his chair.

"Now hold on, boys. You just keep your hands off them pretty knockers, cause I got somethin' better to show you."

Ellen pulled away again, rising and trying vainly to escape her final exposure to the lewdly staring criminals seated before her, then she felt Billy's hand reach under the tightly clasping waist band of her jeans, and she heard and sensed the thick denim rip and slide down over the voluptuous young curves of her hips. The jeans fell in a useless pile to the floor and now she was standing naked and completely defenseless before them. She felt the cool air rush around the blonde silken treasure lying up between her thighs, and she clenched her legs, futilely trying to hide herself from their obscene glances.

"Now just walk around a bit," Billy commanded harshly. "I want the fellas to see what ya got that they can't get. But be nice about it, they been without it a bit too long."

Ellen shuddered and drew back from them, trying to bring herself to run to the door of the kitchen but somehow she was frozen in her tracks with a fear that increased as she watched the three men slowly rise from the mattress. Ellen pulled close to Billy and looked up into his cold expressionless face for some reassurance, but it didn't come. The men were coming closer now and she found herself trembling as the lewdly fascinated group shambled forward, the obscene glare of their vision clamped vise- like on her nakedly shivering young body.

Billy had done nothing to ward the three men off. He just sat impassively in his chair while they began their lust-incited appraisal of each curve and soft dimple of her body, gaping with unadulterated admiration and animal-like lust at her luscious fullness of her breasts and the soft-downed blush of sparse blonde pubic hair curling between her legs.