The Hotel

Chapter Two.

"You cannot believe a word he tells you!" Sarah's editor was yelling so loud on her cell phone, that he might have been using a tin can and string.

"Hang on a second..." Sarah attempted to halt the tirade but still, Gerry Maxwell would not be interrupted.

"No, Sarah! His government were about to impeach him, arrest him and then shoot him. That was before he helped overthrow his own elected government and helped to set up a military dictatorship. This man is nothing less than a war criminal!" Maxwell paused if only to draw breath. Sarah took her chance,

"I know all that but I've done some digging and interviewed the man himself. It's not that cut and dried. All I want to for you to okay my stay here for a week, ten days at the most and then I'll get out. It's quiet here, I can report without restriction. The Colonel is the de facto governor here and has allowed reporters into the areas we have been kept out of. Maxie, please this opportunity will not come again," Sarah knew she had him, at unrestricted reporting.

"Sarah, as your editor, I'm begging you to get out at the first opportunity. I mean it!" Maxwell knew he had lost this argument, one in a long line of such exchanges with the award-winning reporter.

"I'll check in as often as I can." And with that, the line went dead. She folded the Sat Phone's aerial into its housing and flopped back on her bed. She had been flustered upon her return to her room, after her meal and interview with the Black Colonel. Her instincts knew there was more to the man and a great story. She now lay, with unusual abandon in her bra and panties, the heat of the summer had hit the hotel hard and the A/C had packed up. She had heard the Colonel's soldiers and engineers trying to fix it, with a lot of indigenous swearing and gesticulating.

Men were the same all over. No job was ever completed with some swearing and arm waving. Sarah smiled at the memory of her father attempting to fix his beloved maroon Gran Torino car every summer vacation.

This part of Europe was known for ferocious summer heat and since the fighting had stopped, many freedoms had been restored. People were out tonight, in the town and as she looked out at the house lights, it all looked so ordinary. It was not so, nine months ago, with heavy street fighting and explosions everywhere. That had been the first time she had seen the Colonel.

During the fighting, he was standing giving orders, to direct his men to aid the townspeople to leave, helping one young man and her small child himself, by putting them in his own 4x4 and ordering them away from the fighting. Sarah had been part of a small gang of international press, reporting on the conflict and had been using the hotel as a base, but as soon as it came under threat of rocket fire, they had been moved out.

Now, the same Colonel was sleeping a few doors down from her own.

Back in her bed, she felt the sweat on her body and in a moment of madness, stripped off her underwear and lay naked, the window was open the drapes pulled back and she was bathed in the moonlight. She closed her eyes and as she began to drift, her hand slipped across her small but sensitive nipples, which stiffened immediately. Soon, the ache between her legs protested with Sarah's lack of attention and she sighed, half asleep, and slipped her sweaty hand to her neatly trimmed pussy lips and found, to her alarm, that she was very wet, and her clitoris swollen with arousal. She found her stiffened nub and her fingers deftly pulled back on her clitoral hood and rubbed the stiff nub.

She had never cum so quickly. Thoughts of Adam Black slipped like oily smoke into her mind and then she allowed the fantasy of him to engulf her. The fingers were his fingers and he touched her with such wonderful intimacy.

She shivered, shuddered under 'his' touch and 'his' fingers finding her pussy lips and spreading them gently but firmly. As the lips parted, a gentle dribble of her wetness trickled from her sex.

"Fuck...oh fuck!" She breathed and then suddenly, her body was wracked with spasms of utter pleasure. She jerked and shuddered as she orgasmed uncontrollably. Her bed shook as she gradually took back control of her own body and then exhaled loudly, she stirred involuntarily feeling the dampness of her bedsheets. Within minutes, she fell to sleep huddled in a fetal position until the early hours, when she rose to shower and prepare for the day ahead, which she expected to be trying.

Part Three- Marta

Sarah sat huddled in the battered armoured Land Rover, with two of The Colonel's soldiers, an attractive blonde-haired female sergeant and the corporal whom she had met on the first day of the Black Knight's occupation of the hotel. In the early morning, just as dawn broke, they had piled into the Land Rover and sped off north. With her trusty camera, Dictaphone and note pad she had sat, initially quiet in the back of the armoured vehicle, then the Sergeant broke the uncomfortable silence,

"So, you will write the truth about us, Miss?" Her broken English was still better than Sarsh's broken Slavic,

"I always write the truth, sergeant." Sarah smiled; the insult of writing lies hung in the air.

"We're taking you to the villages outside Donesch, near the blasted-out bridge, you will see what we see every day in this war." Her tone was still an accusation, and Sarah decided to bite down on the bait.

"You're loyal to your Colonel? "Sarah looked at the driver, the young Corporal, and back to the Sergeant.

"I would die for my Colonel. Right here and right now if he asked me to. You don't know much, do you?" The Sergeant pulled off her camouflaged cap and rubbed at the shirt crop of blonde hair, her femininity still noticeable despite her military fatigues, rifle and the hard edge to her voice. Sarah decided to try another approach,

"I'm Sarah, and you are?" Sarah put on her best warm smile and held out her hand.

"Marta," The sergeant replied, "And he is Anton," Her voice was still suspicious.

Throughout the three-hour drive, Sarah had managed to thaw the ice on the two soldiers and discovered that they were returning to the region of the most brutal fighting to search for refugees and to seek out bands of armed deserters, that were reported to be terrorising the locals in the region.

Mata spat out the words, "Deserters are scum. Rapists and cowards from both sides, but my little petchelka will make them sorry they returned to this village." Marta patted the AKM rifle, a sickening feeling lurched in Sarah's stomach as she knew that Marta was not averse to executing summarily. She eyed the weapon and saw a faded stick of a bee with its sting extended to attack. on the rifle butt. Sarah looked up to Marta, "See the petchelka?" She pointed to the sticker,

Sarah peered at it, "Ah, a bee!" She smiled.

"Yes, a bee. My little bee has a mighty sting!" Marta smiled cruelly. This woman had been twisted out of shape by this conflict. Sarah was now invested in this woman's own story as she was about the Colonel's.

"You haven't always been a soldier, Marta tell me about your life and I'll write about you," Sarah suggested. Marta looked at her, trying to decide whether to answer, Sarah pushed again, " Have you always been in the Colonel's brigade?"

Marta nodded, " He found me outside my village after the invaders came. They...they raped me and my mother and my sister and set fires in my parent's house, but I got out. The Black Colonel found me and helped me get away. I was taken to a refugee camp but I wanted to be a soldier then, and the colonel sponsored my training and six months later I rejoined his brigade." Tears were forming in her eyes, her voice now low. Sarah leaned forward, she took out her Dictaphone and thumbed the record button,

"Let me tell your story..." She whispered.

"When I came back, the Colonel welcomed me like a brother, as that's how he has been to me. I would do anything for him. I cannot...I can't be anything like a woman for him. I am a soldier now and that is how I serve my Colonel." Sarah bit her lip, Marta's story was not unusual. In the conflicts, she had reported on, men became bestial with guns in their hands and women always took the brunt of their bestiality. This Colonel could only offer this young woman a chance to fight.

"I'm sorry Marta, "The words were cavernous in the back of the Land Rover, but Sarah had decided to add Marta's story to her reporting. The world had to know.

"I cannot be a woman to my Colonel, I am...broken but I see the way he looks at you, like no one he has looked at since the day he picked up the rifle. Be kind to my Colonel." Marta straightened and instantly became a soldier again. The Land Rover slowed and finally stopped. The trio got out and the sight that met Sarah's eyes was devastating.

There was not a single building that wasn't damaged, or its walls torn asunder by mortar or shell fire. There were still buildings smoking and the whole ground was darkened with fire and debris. Sarah gagged on the thick air. It was sour and slick with the unmistakable stench of the dead.

"What happened here?" Sarah gasped. She looked around and saw a group of the Black Knights and the Black Colonel himself. He was tall and his authority was clear to see. As they approached him, neither the Corporal nor his trusted sergeant saluted their colonel and then Sarah looked around and saw the soldiers on high alert, with rifles held to their shoulders, peering out through their gunsights.

Snipers!

Sara remembered military protocol of not saluting in a fire zone as enemy snipers would be made aware of a commander rank in the group.

"Sarah, you can only stay here if you follow my orders exactly. We have Vârcolaci in the area!" The Colonel swept his gaze across the building line and pointed for a clutch of soldiers to fan out and check the outer building.

"Vârcolaci?" Sarah didn't know the word.

"Werewolves!" Marta interrupted, "Rogue troops are left behind after an army retreats, to cause maximum chaos in the lost village or town. They're often from convict battalions." Her voice was flat and emotionless, but still, she thumbed her safety off her AKM.

"As convicts cannot go home. They have no one to return to." Sarah hissed.

"And they operate without restraint or conscience. They rape, steal, and kill without anyone to stop them and attack small villages, or towns and defenceless people." The Colonel interjected.

"Can I look around?" Sarah asked, knowing the suggestion courted danger. The Colonel nodded and ordered a squad to make their way into town and then Marta and Sarah made their way.

"Atenție maximă și rămâne în viață" The Colonel stated with heavy tones.

Marta nodded and hefted her AKM to a firing position.

The walk down the town's main street was sickening. There were still bodies on the sidewalk and signs of a firefight. Whoever these wolves were, they had the firepower and Sarah's back was wet with sweat and her mouth dry. She was not at all comfortable with being so in the open. The whole town, no larger than thirty houses was a wasteland. Whoever hit them, was completely merciless.

Thumbing the record button, Sarah whispered as she gave a detailed account of what she saw and what she heard. The soldiers had fanned out ahead of her and checked every building and every wall, every pile of rubble.

There was no one there.

Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Marta walking backwards checking their rear contacts and in the distance, she saw The Colonel walking down the street, his rifle levelled at the building line and his eyes were keenly focussed.

As they walked down the street, Sarah's digital recorder was quickly filling up with the awful sights. Then all hell broke loose.

Ear-splitting shots streamed in from the tree line to the east and unlike the movies, there were few if any rounds expended on the ground. Just into the soldiers moving cautiously down the street.

Three fell immediately. The rest scattered to any available cover and returned fire into the tree line. Sarah dropped to the ground and crawled across the filth, and she felt her warm urine soak her fatigues. Hating herself, she crawled into a shallow wall and huddled in as tight as she could. It was then she saw the Black Colonel leading his squad down the street at a trotting pace, each soldier made a chevron with their weapons spitting a few rounds at a time into the tree line. The Colonel directing fire.

Sarah watched a real soldier, directing fire and ordering his men and women to take cover. Sarah couldn't take her eyes off the man. Within the minutes of furious gunfire, two of the lead soldiers had apprehended a member of what looked like militia, but as Sarah stood up, her compact digital camera taking shot after shot, she heard cries of;

"Vârcolaci! Vârcolaci!" Sarah watched the soldiers edge towards the man and grab him roughly dragging him into the street and throwing him to the ground in front of the Colonel. The Black Knight stood over the prone sniper with their weapons raised. The Colonel looked over to the lead section of soldiers,

"Were any of the men killed?" His tone was business-like and the consummate professional.

"Nikolay and Sergei were injured. They will need immediate evac but none killed. He wasn't very accurate." The soldier added. The Colonel looked down at the dishevelled man on the ground, he had been left her for at least two days awaiting army patrols. He was thin, scruffy and utterly defeated. That was the Colonel's way in. He spoke softly to the prisoner,

"We will not slaughter you like your comrades do, to your prisoners. What unit were you with?" The Colonel knelt, "If you tell us the unit, that will suffice and you'll be taken away to Livorno prison camp and perhaps even repatriated. Tell me the unit and you'll be on a truck in minutes, if not I will not be able to restrain my men." The Colonel sighed. The performance was immaculate. The standing ring of soldiers, either chambered rounds into side arms or produced sharp combat knives.

The threat was obvious.

"Third Penal Battalion under Kirov." His words tumbled out, fearing the sharp knives being unsheathed. The Colonel stood,

"The Third Battalion?" The Colonel stood and rubbed his chin, pondering the potential scrap of intelligence, "He might be telling the truth. Kirov was the heartless bastard that operated around here," The Colonel's mind, suddenly found the scrap of a memory. He looked at Marta and then looked down at the prisoner again, "He's still here isn't he?" Tell me or by Christ, I will let them skin you alive!"

"Yes, "The prisoner stammered, now felt the utter hatred being poured upon him. Kirov had been the worst of the invaders and his treatment of civilians and prisoners was infamous. While all this was happening, Sarah was watching the soldiers glance at each other and a murmur erupted and then she saw Marta's face pale. Kirov meant something to her. The Colonel looked straight at her,

"Sergeant! Escort Miss Harding off the field. Go back to the HQ and await me there. Go now!" The Colonel ordered. Marta took a moment or two to gather herself and then Sarah was seized by the handsome Corporal and hurried down the street, with Marta joining them. The force of her frog-marching took Sarah by surprise, and as she turned, she managed to catch Marta's attention,

"Who is Kirov?" Sarah's tone strangled with the speed of her body being bundled down the road.

Marta looked across at Sarah, "He was the man that ordered raped my mother, my sister and finally myself and then when they had finished with us, they burned the house down."

Sarah looked down at the street, her heart beating, the wetness of her leg and her dry mouth stifling any further questions, "Oh God!" she murmured.

End of Chapter Two