Chapter 9

The Ghost found the alley door to be unlocked, so he dashed into the building, just daring somebody to try to stop him. The screams and crying from the child in the next building could still be heard, and this galvanized The Ghost's ire like almost nothing else could. He ran into the hall and found the steps leading to the upper floor. There, he climbed the next flight of stairs and came to the building's top floor.

He was looking for the trapdoor to the roof. Ah, there it was, at the far end of the hall. There was no ladder, but the ceiling was only about eight feet high, and The Ghost was so pumped full of adrenaline, that he had no trouble reaching the trapdoor by jumping. His first jump was strong enough to knock the trapdoor lid open and out of the way; his second jump was high enough to catch the edge of the opening in his hands. The Ghost's martial arts skills let him make his way through the opening with only a minimum of delay.

The Ghost scrambled to the roof and looked around. He was almost hoping that somebody would try to stop him, he was so mad and excited. Denied that release of tension, he ran to the edge of the roof and jumped to the adjacent building where the screams and crying had originated.

He was still in control of himself enough to land and roll to keep the noise down as he impacted the roof. It took only a moment to locate the trapdoor going down from the roof to the main part of the building. He wrenched off the closure of the trap door and laid it aside, despite his instinct to throw it, thereby saving a lot of noise and possibly attracting attention.

There was darkness in the room below the trapdoor, so The Ghost did not know what he was getting into. He took the time to inspect the room as well as he could in the very dim light available, but the floor seemed to be clear just below the opening in the roof. The Ghost lowered himself to arm's length from the edge of the opening in the roof and allowed himself to drop the couple of feet to the floor. This ceiling was a little higher than the one in the other building, but not so much as to make a significant difference in The Ghost's ability to function, being the superb gymnast that he was.

When he hit the floor, he realized what room he was in. He had been so wound up in gaining entry to the building that he had not noticed the foul odor in the room. Now he understood that he was in the toilet room for this floor, and the room was getting its first airing out in a very long time. It was a good thing that he did not decided to strike a match, since there were so many fumes in the room, he might have had an explosion, provided there was enough oxygen left in the room for that to happen!

The Ghost tried not to breathe as he opened the door to the room. He actually felt a welcome draft of good air come in from the hall as the hole in the roof acted as a chimney, venting the foul odor from the room. At least, nobody would be tipped that the door was opened because of a sudden foul odor appearing in their midst. Luckily, there were a couple of lit gas lamps in the hall, so The Ghost was able to see what he was walking into. He also was able to identify the location of this door in case he had to make a hasty exit.

The noise was still going on, and it appeared to be coming from the next floor, down. The Ghost ran to the stairs and used his mirror to see if there were any guards standing around. None were seen, so he hurried down to see what he could do about the torture on the next level.

The door, the only one on that side of the hall, was open to the room he was interested in. He used his mirror again and saw a large room with some doors opening off from it. However, at the far end of the room, he saw what was the cause of all of the distress.

A girl who appeared to be about nine years old was strapped to a cross-like affair with her arms spread and fastened by leather straps to a crossarm. Each arm had two straps, one at the wrist and one at the armpit, so she was held in an upright position whether or not she fainted. Her ankles were strapped to two uprights so that her legs were held apart. That way, she could not twist her body or close her legs to protect her pussy. And that was the source of her agony.

A man was swinging a wide leather strap between her legs, trying to hit her pussy with every blow. Even though he didn't hit the girl's pussy square every time, he did catch enough of her thighs and pussy with each blow to cause the girl to scream. Of course, she was weeping and wailing between blows. The strap the man was using as a lash left a welt at every blow, but they were not deep enough to cause permanent scarring.

Two other men, spectators for the moment, were watching the torture and sporting big grins, as well a big tents in their pants, as was the the man doing the torture of the girl.

The torturer said, "OK, Sally-cunt, what's gonna happen the next time a man wants a blow job?"

"Oh, Master, I'll do it! Please don't hit me again. Let me show all three of you Masters what a good blowjob I can give."

"No, I think a good fucking from each of us should come first."

"But, Master, my cunt is so sore now that I can't do my best for you with that."

The man swung the strap and hit the girl between her legs, again, causing her to scream. He said, "Now, Sally-cunt, what did I tell you about refusing what was asked of you?"

"Yes, Master, I understand. I just didn't want you to be disappointed when you fucked me."

"Well, you let us decide whether or not we are disappointed when we fuck you, but you better hope that we aren't. Otherwise, I'll just have to stroke you some more with my lash."

At this, the girl began to gyrate her hips as if she was already fucking one of the men. The three men laughed at that, and one of the spectators dropped his pants to take advantage of the offer of child pussy.

The Ghost couldn't take any more of this and drew his staff. He ran the 50 or so feet to where the men were standing and released the blades as he ran. The staff was ready by the time he got to the men, and he stabbed each one of them in the groin. He twisted the blade as he withdrew it in order to make as grievous a wound as possible. None of the men were dead yet, which was what he had in mind. Nevertheless, the wounds were serious enough that the men fell to the floor and groaned, all of them in enough pain that they made no effort to call for help or to warn anyone else in the building.

The Ghost wiped the blood off his blades and snapped them back into place in the staff. The girl was shocked by this turn of events and, obviously, had no idea what her fate would be. However, it was interesting that she did not begin to cry.

The Ghost asked, "Is your name really Sally?"

"I don't remember, everyone here calls me Sally-cunt."

"Well, your name is now Mary, you can forget all about the bad things that have happened to you here. Can you stand when I release you?"

"I don't know, I don't think so."

"OK, I'll release you, and you can sit down right where you are while I ask you some questions." He released the straps and helped Mary to sit down. She was so sore that it was obvious that she would not be able to stand on her own for a while, nor could she walk.

The Ghost asked, "How many more men are there in the building? Where can I find them so that I can kill them, too?"

Mary clapped her hands and said, "Oh, that's wonderful! Can I watch you kill them?"

The Ghost was shocked to hear this from a nine-year-old girl, but then he realized that it should have been expected from somebody who had been treated the way she had. He answered, "I'm not sure, Mary. It depends on how many there are and where they are. What can you tell me?"

"Well, at supper, there were four more Masters. They had selected girls for the night and had left for their rooms before these Masters started playing with me. It's pretty late, so I guess they are already asleep by now."

"You mean that they could sleep through your screams."

"Oh, sure. Some girl is disciplined every night, so you get used to it."

"How many girls are here?"

"I'm not exactly sure, about 30, I think. I do know that Helen-cunt died the other night while she was being disciplined, and she has not been replaced."

"OK, we don't have much time, so I am going to kill these three so that we can leave."

"Please, can I kill them? Master Jones, there, was especially mean to me." She pointed her finger at the one who had first dropped his pants. The Ghost shrugged and handed her his staff after extending one of the blades. Mary crawled to the downed men, all of whom were conscious, and proceeded to stab at Master Jones. She punctured his chest and belly several times, but couldn't seem to hit a vital place from her position on the floor.