Chapter 13

Jack, tied up with management duties, never noticed the absence of Raven.

"Will you look at this list of questions and add... Raven?" asks Jack as he looks up from the papers on the table in front of him and notices that Raven is absent.

Jack searched around the site looking for the truant young woman. The longer it took, and the lack of success, made him more concerned.

"Shit, is she going to kill them after all?" he thought as he ran back to the room that held 'The Bat'.

Nothing but the unconscious man!

Jack then went next door. The smell nearly knocked him off of his feet.

"Whoa! Alice must have emptied her entire digestive system!" thought Jack.

It was then that he saw Raven, by the light from the open door, sitting on her heels in the far corner of the room. The light also showed that the woman was just on the edge of sanity, so afraid was she.

< "What have you done to her?" > he said in the Native tongue.

Standing Raven answered in the same language, < "Nothing. I've just been sitting here thinking, and watching this piece of garbage." >

< "In the Dark? How could you see her at all?" >

< "I could see her, without seeing her. You must know what I'm saying." >

< "Yes, I understand." >

< "Did you speak to her?" >

< "No." >

"Who are you? Are you from Hassan? Why are you doing this to me?" asked the terrified woman in a quick but weak voice, her words running into each other. Along with the added stench and sound of more urine, tears flowed profusely down the cheeks of the captive, worsening the damage to the old woman's make-up.

Jack turned and snapped on the light switch. The room flooded with light. If anything the woman looked worse. Her eyes were as big as saucers, and it was obvious that her sanity was very near to leaving her.

Looking at Raven, who was still standing in the corner behind Alice, Jack said, < "We need to be quick! This woman is about to lose her mind!" >

< "Just juice her! The stuff will calm her as well as make her tell us the truth." >

Jack stared at his ward for a few ticks then nodded and moved toward the tray with the hypos and truth serum. He had been surprised, but pleased that Raven didn't want to torture the woman. Somehow there seemed to be a major shift in the manner of the girl, for the good he hoped.

"What are you doing? Keep that away from meeeeee... " screamed Alice as the chemicals were injected into her carotid artery.

The effects were almost instant. Gone was the wide-eyed look of terror. In its place was a drooping of the eyelids and a relaxed, almost contented breathing pattern.

< "Do your questioning. I'm going to do Form." >

Jack's head snapped around at the words of his ward. There was a question in his eyes that wasn't missed by Raven.

< "That's right, I no longer wish to torture this piece of filth. I will not kill her either! I will take her deep into the forests and leave her naked ass for the Spirits to deal with. The Spirits will decide if this woman lives or dies. I wash my hands of her. She is not worth the paper that I wipe my ass with!" >

With that said, Raven turned on her heel and walked from the room.

Jack just stood staring after the girl with a stunned expression, as a huge weight floated off of his heart. His girl was on the way back!

"Well, I'll be damned!" he said with a huge smile and a little laugh.

"Whasss sssssoo fffaaa... ffffunnnyy?" asked Alice in a slurred voice, bringing Jack's attention back to the task at hand.

"The fact that that person is not going to torture you and your man," said Jack.

Alice had no idea what Jack was talking about but she responded anyway, "Ohhhhh, ok."

"Now, Alice, I have some questions for you. Do you think that you can answer them for me?"

"Ohhhh sssshhhhuuurrrreeee. (Giggle)"

"Good. Now let's get started."

It didn't take long for Jack to get all that Alice knew, which actually wasn't much. In reality, Alice ran a management company, for houses of ill repute. There was one gem, though. The pedophilic brothel was owned by Aziz Hassan.

Jack extracted every little detail about the location, operation and physical layout of that establishment. Next, all the intel about Aziz Hassan and his associates was drawn from the woman. Even under the influence of the drugs it took a lot more work to get Alice to talk about Hassan. The man truly terrified the woman!

Once Jack was sure that he had obtained every shred of information possible from his captive, he moved on, to question 'The Bat'.

"Billy, Raven and I are going to take our 'guests' for a ride. We will be gone for two or three days. I want you stay on top of things here. Ok?"

"Sure."

"Have a couple of the boys guard these creeps while they shower. I don't want to travel with that stink in my nostrils. Better yet, keep them drugged and just hose them down."

"Will do," said Billy as he turned to leave. Then he stopped and turned back asking,

"Jack, is she going to be ok?"

"There is no way to be sure but I think that she has returned to 'The Way'."

"That's a good thing, I'll tell the others. Everyone is worried for her."

"I know Billy, I know," said Jack and then continued, "She wanted me to use the funny juice instead of torture. That is a good sign, old friend."

"Good, the others will be glad to hear it, especially the old man, he really loves her, probably as much as you do."

Jack nodded and the two men returned to their duties.

Within the hour the two 'guests' were loaded in the back of a rented SUV and covered with a tarp. Raven and Jack added their packs to the load and headed for the forests of Maine.

Along the way a stop was made for two bottles of water and two sandwiches. Raven made sure that her prints were not on the packaging as she made her purchases.

Hours later they arrived at an old unused logging road into Baxter State Park.

Jack cut the chain barring the way as Raven drove the SUV. As soon as the vehicle was around the first turn the two went back and covered their tracks, doing whatever it took to conceal the fact that a car had entered the park wilderness.

The going was now very slow due to vegetation that had invaded the track. It was dawn before they had arrived at the predetermined campsite. It was time to revive their guests.

Cloth bags were placed on the heads of the two prisoners, and then their hands and arms were bound. Next a noose was looped around the neck of each prisoner so that they could be lead down the trail.

The antidotes were administered.

As Alice came around Raven whispered into her nemesis's ear, "Give me any trouble and I will cut you worse than you could ever imagine. Do you understand?"

A feeble stuttering, "ya... yeess..." emanated from the sack.

At the same time Jack was talking into 'The Bat's' ear, "Give me any trouble and I will castrate you and shove you balls down your throat! Got it?"

A nod was the only answer that Jack received.

Standing the two prisoners on their feet, Raven and Jack tugged on the leads and headed out down the trail. They went slowly, knowing that the bare city feet and bodies of the captives would be a very real problem during the trek.