Chapter 13: Jenny bargains with her Captors

They began offering bribes to get out. The Mexicans were more skilled at extracting money than Jenny and Joe were at negotiating with them. They soon found out that the man in charge was named Omar. Omar was good with kidnapping and ransom. He knew that if he asked for too much, he might not get anything. The trick was to get as much as he could, but not enough that the authorities from both countries thought it would be worth their time to find him.

He decided to take his time completing the transaction. He wanted to find out more about this curious looking middle age woman. It wasn't obvious from the way she was dressed whether she was worth the effort or not.

Omar left and came back with a porcelain covered metal dishpan, soap and several different size rags. "What is your name, young lady?"

"Jenny" she replied in a barely audible whisper.

"Well, Jenny, I don't know whether to kill your husband and keep you in this brothel, or keep him alive to try to get some ransom out of him. I don't know whether you are good enough to work in the brothel or just discarded into the street. If you aren't good enough for the brothel, we might just kill you."

"It is common here to disfigure a woman's face and put her on the street as a beggar. Lots of people will sympathize with a disfigured woman and leave tips."

"We can start off first trying to decide whether or not to kill your husband or keep him for ransom. You could actually settle several issues at once. You can give us some gesture of your earnestness in keeping him alive and give us an idea what you look like at the same time. If you want to keep him alive, you can remove those dirty and unflattering clothes. The women here will give you some other clothes and we will decide what to do with both of you."

Joe started screaming at them with every foul word he could think of. Don't do it Jenny! Fuck these guys. They can kill me. It's not worth it to give in to them. Don't do it Honey!"

Jenny's eyes started to water. She was in the middle of nowhere. No matter what happened, she would probably never be able to get back to New York by herself. If Joe was killed, she didn't know where any of his accounts were, and she would be broke. She didn't see any alternative.

Jenny reached up and took off the straw hat. Her hair was still in a bun. It had been cooler that way going across the desert. Jenny sat on a folding chair and crossed her legs. She bent down to untie the laces of her high leather work boots. One at a time, she pulled them off of her feet. She pulled her Levis up and pulled off her socks.

Jenny looked helplessly over at her husband thinking that some miracle might happen and he would break free and save her. Nothing was happening.

Jenny reached up and unbuttoned the straps holding up the front bib of her overalls. The bib dropped. She unbuttoned the sides and let the garment drop to her waist.

At this point, Omar could see that he had struck oil! In spite of her shabby and innocuous costume, this woman was clearly a ten on the looks scale. He could see her defiance beginning to crumble. The hesitation in her confidence was starting to show. Her lips were starting to tremble. He could see tears forming in the corners of her eyes as she glimpsed frantically between him and her husband.

Jenny stuck her thumbs in the sides of her coveralls and guided the garment down past her hips. It puddled around her ankles. She raised her feet one at a time and stepped out of it.

Jenny was down to her long sleeved men's shirt. The shirttails covered her legs down to her mid-thighs. Jenny had no options left but to undo the blue work shirt. She started at the top and worked her way down. When she had opened the last button, it hung open. The men could see the expanse of skin between her breasts, but not her nipples. Jenny let her arms drop to her sides. The front hung open enough that everybody had a pretty good idea that her vagina was shaved. She was in a real shit-dilemma. Her husband's life depended on her performance. If they didn't like her, he could easily be killed, she could be maimed and turned out for a beggar. On the other hand, if she did what it took to save her husband, he would see her as a slut and a whore.

With her heart racing, Jenny grabbed the sides of her shirt at the top button and slid it over her shoulders and let it drop. The men in the audience inhaled in silence. She was beautiful.

"We have enough with her! Kill the fucking husband. We don't need the aggravation of authorities from two countries chasing us about any damn ransom." Omar said in Spanish as he turned to face Joe.

Jenny lunged at him. She didn't speak Spanish, but she could tell by his tone and expression what he meant. "No! Please! Please don't kill him. Whatever money you want, I will make it for you. I give good blowjobs. I promise. I can suck your dick. Please give me a chance." She pleaded as she knelt on her knees in front of him and wrapped her arms around the back of his legs.