Chapter 5

The warehouse in question was not a large building as such things usually go. It was about the equivalent of two-storeys tall and had a couple of large doors on each of its long sides. Normal doors could be found at either of the short ends. There were a few windows up high for light, but none at ground level. The roof had four large skylights and hardly sloped at all, only the minimum necessary for rain to drain off.

As soon as it was dark enough, The Ghost went up on the roof and looked through the skylights. The warehouse appeared to be empty, except for four large cages. The cages had no top, but the sides were about 12 feet high, plenty high enough so that no top was really needed. Each cage held naked children, a bucket of drinking water with a dipper, and a chamber pot, nothing else. Apparently, the children slept lying directly on the wooden floor. There appeared to be no segregation of the children by age or sex—there was at least one boy in each cage with a number of girls. There were four children in each cage, except for one cage which held five children.

Near one end of the warehouse were four cots, a table, four chairs, and a stove with a coffee pot. At the moment, there were three men in the warehouse, sitting at the table. The fourth man must be the guard who was wandering around outside. The three men at the table were playing poker and drinking coffee. The Ghost was ready to attack, now that he knew where his enemies were.

The Ghost had a big advantage in that there were only four gas lamps spaced around the warehouse, insuring that there was little ambient light and many deep shadows. There might have been more light if a man was ambitious enough to trim the mantles, but nobody cared enough to do that little chore.

The Ghost checked out the roof and found the hatch that led inside the building. The hatch was down at the end of the roof opposite the place where the men were gathered, so he would have little trouble sneaking in when he was ready. This hatch was loose, so he would be able to open it whenever he wished. The Ghost wanted to wait a little longer to give the gang members plenty of time to become careless.

One of the men threw down his cards and took one of four keys hanging on the wall. He went over to one of the cages and said, "Come on Angela, its time for your training session." The oldest girl in the cage, about 10 years old, pushed up against the bars as far away from the cage door as she could manage, as if she hoped to squeeze out between the bars. "I said ta get your ass over here. You know what will happen if I have to come after you."

At this statement, the girl let her shoulders slump and reluctantly walked to where the man was waiting. He took her hand and pulled her out of the cage. After locking the door to the cage, he pulled her over to one of the bunks. "OK, you can start out by sucking my cock. Get on with it, girl, or I'll take my strap ta you."

The girl whimpered, but sank to the floor on her knees. She reached out and unfastened the man's belt and fly, letting his pants drop to the floor. As was usual for the time, he was not wearing underwear, so his hard cock popped out and hit the girl in the face. The other two men were watching intently, and laughed when the girl was surprised by the bobbing cock.

She kissed the end of the man's cock and began to lick him from his balls to the tip. After a few licks, she took the man's cock in her mouth and wrapped her hand around the base of his cock. The man slapped away her hand and said, "Oh, no. You are gonna take my cock all the way, this time. I want ta feel yer lips against my balls. Get busy!"

As soon as he saw what the girl was being forced to do, The Ghost swallowed a growl of rage and moved as fast as he could to get through the hatch and to the floor of the warehouse. The three men were so taken by the girl's "training" that he was able to climb down his rope without attracting their attention. The children were also staring at the girl's performance, so that they did not give him away, either. The Ghost sprinted toward the men, meanwhile drawing his staff from its carrier.

The Ghost pressed one of the mermaid's breasts, causing a blade to jump out at the end of the staff. None of the others in the warehouse had seen him yet, as he ran toward the horrible scene at the other end of the building. He ran passed the cells so fast that the children did not register his presence until he had reached the three men and the girl. The Ghost's rage knew no bounds as he ran to rescue the girl from her tormentor.

He ran up beside the girl and bumped her aside, she was startled enough that she bit down on the man's cock so hard that she nearly severed it from his body. The Ghost waited only long enough for her to clear his target before he stabbed the man in the balls with his staff and blade. The man was in agony, now, as his balls were smashed by The Ghost and his cock was bitten by the girl. He fell to the floor and began to scream and writhe in pain.

Two more quick strikes with his staff resulted in jabs to the balls of the other two men. They, too, fell, writhing and screaming on the floor. The children now could see what was going on and began to cheer and applaud.

The man from outside the building ran in to investigate, and he, too, was met by a strike to the balls with The Ghost's weapon. He was soon performing the same dance as the other gang members. The four men were no longer a threat, so The Ghost ignored them and turned to the girl. "Are you unhurt, my Dear?" Angela nodded, so The Ghost took the keys from the wall and went to unlock the cages.

Before unlocking the doors, The Ghost said, "I am here to rescue you. I..." He was interrupted by more cheers and applause. When the noise subsided a little, he said, "I will take you to a safe place, but you must do exactly as I tell you. You older children will have to look after the younger ones, because I will be concentrating on protecting you from any more bad men. Do you understand?"

Loud shouts of agreement answered him, so he continued, "I don't have clothes for you, yet, but you will all be dressed when we reach safety. You must walk for about a mile and a half, but I am sure that you can do it. Remember, you must keep quiet and do exactly as I say if I am to protect you. OK, follow me."

The Ghost led the children from the warehouse toward Betty's bordello. The 17 children were remarkably well behaved as they made their way through the back alleys. They had to stop and rest on a couple of occasions because the children had lost a lot of muscle tone from being locked up without exercise for so long. Eventually, they made it to Betty's place, and they filed in and sat on the floor while they waited for their next orders.

Betty and a couple of other women showed up to dole out blankets for the children to wear until they could get regular clothes. Then the children were put to bed, several children per bed because of the large number of kids. Two women stayed with the children while Betty and Jason adjourned to their bedroom.

Jason told Betty the story of his attack on the men in the warehouse, and the first thing Betty asked was, "Why didn't you kill the bastards?"

"Because they are going to die anyway from the stab wound, it will just take a few weeks. If they don't get gangrene, they will get gut rot (peritonitis), and either one will kill them in considerable pain. Actually, I suspect that their friends will not want to bother with nursing them, so their throats will be cut sometime in the next few days.

"Dammit, I wish that I had thought of locking them up in the cages and throwing the keys in the bay. That just might have made the bastards suffer a little longer. Oh, well, I guess that I will have to be satisfied with what I did do to them."

"Jason, we've got to get these children moved to the orphanage as soon as possible. They can't stay here, we just don't have the room for them. Besides, a brothel is no place for children."