An Evil Woman

An Evil Woman -- Part Ten

This is not a stand-alone story. The previous chapters will put everything into place for you. It will involve some lesbian sex, and some violence.

It is relevant that I once again try and make the SLAVE TRADE an important point of the story from here on. Reading what is happening in the UK at the moment, I am hopeful the British people do not get hoodwinked by their politicians as we did here in Australia. Coincidentally by the same type of politicians. REFUGEES need the silent majority to stand up and be counted. The refugees are not the criminals, they are the victims.

The slave trade is still very real today. Some use it to traffic young women for sex, some use it to gain cheap labour, while some use them as a human currency it knows no age limit and you will find it in every country on the planet. It is all about lust and greed. Not all criminal gangs are dirty old-style street gangs, some are sophisticated businessmen and women, governments and even communities. It is an insidious crime affecting more people now than at any other time in human history.

This is one of three stories that start to merge with two others, [Stella & Margarita -- Sex in the Desert Sands and the City of Churches -- The OWLS Club] I hope it works out as well on paper as it does in my head.

**WARNING** It gets a little darker from now on.

I nodded to the woman. Taking in her looks, not an unattractive-looking person but not glamorous either. The helicopter was moving extremely fast or appeared to be. We were barely above the water or so it seemed to me, watching us skim across the top of the waves made it appear faster than normal.

I turned back to the woman who was still watching me closely. "What do you do Tilley?" I asked her.

She shrugged, "This and that," came the reply.

"Then what are you doing here?"

"Making sure you are safe and sound," The Matron answered while smiling at me. Her smile wasn't sincere I could see that, as false as a celebrity on the red carpet in Hollywood.

"Why am I so important all of a sudden?" The question was direct as I looked at her dead in the eyes. It demanded an answer.

"Corrine, you don't appreciate it but you just might be the most important woman in the western world right now. You are going to help us," she hesitated then added, "I hope,"

I hung my head as that didn't sound like a legitimate request but more like a statement of fact. Trying to have a civil conversation while speeding across the southern ocean at some ungodly speed is not a good idea. I asked if I could sit next to her to speak rather than try and yell at each other across the cabin. She patted the seat next to her.

I unstrapped my seatbelt and took a step across to the seat next to her. She held out her hand to steady me as I did. She held my hands firmly as the copter took a sudden bounce and jerk, I fell forward and she caught hold of me her hands firm on my hips, she smiled, this time it was a warm smile, different to the one before. That told me that we had similar tastes. She put me into my seat and I buckled up. I crossed my legs and was kind of glad now I had changed into a decent outfit.

"Why am I so goddamned important to everyone?" I demanded.

She patted my knee, "You are the only living person to have come into contact with Lui Wang. Normally she is meticulous in making certain no one is left to talk to her country's enemies,"

"So we are her country's enemy?" I looked at her slyly, "Her country is China, I presume?"

"Your presumption is correct, when we get to Edinburgh, you will have a chat in-depth with a couple of people, we would like to ask for your help, but all of that will be explained," again it was how she delivered her statement to me that made it sound like I wasn't going to be given any options.

The helicopter started to lift and banked away until we came upon the mouth of the Murray River. Rising higher we followed it until we got to a point where the copter did a sharp left turn and headed across the Lofty ranges to the RAAF Base north of Adelaide.

The helicopter landed and I followed this mysterious woman called Matron into a large hanger, carrying all of my precious ill-gotten loot. As soon as we got past the opening the giant hangar doors began to close. She marched towards a single doorway halfway down the building, and by the time we got there the hanger doors were closed. We entered a small room, she opened a seemingly simple door and entered an elevator and we descended, it was noiseless but it was moving swiftly, I felt it in my stomach. Some 30 seconds later the door opened and she showed me to a small conference room.

"Make yourself comfortable Corrine, we are going to be here for a short while. Care for a coffee or a tea?" She asked me.

"Coffee is fine, strong and sweet," I told her.

"Just like your women I think," she told me speaking over her shoulder as she started to make a fresh brew of coffee.

"What makes you think I like women at all?" I asked her making a point.

She turned to face me and stared at me, "Corrine Myers, finished high school top of your class, came out as gay to your parents at your 18th birthday party, they disowned you, being the good Catholics they professed to be, you joined the army for one set tour, you didn't excel, you left and joined the SAPOL, there for six years until you were fired for misconduct,"

"I RESIGNED," I told her in a raised voice.

"Corrine, darling, you were sacked. You were caught shagging your partner's wife while he was busy being beaten to a pulp by a bikie gang. You should have been his backup, but you weren't. You started doing some private work until you stumbled onto this little hornet's nest. Want me to go on?"

I shook my head, she had it pretty well down pat. Not nice when you hear it spoken about aloud.

I looked around the room and put the bags and suitcases on a sofa. It was pretty much a self-contained area, down one end a large screen with a whiteboard next to it. A small kitchenette, is at the other end. A round table with eight chairs, in the center a communication device, of some sort. The chairs were soft leather I found out as I sat down. Comfortable, ideal for long meetings. Along one wall were two sofas, big enough to grab 40 winks I suspected.

Matron picked up a phone attached to the wall, and told the person on the other end to bring us some food, sandwiches for now and that we'll eat a proper meal later on.

I got comfortable and watched her from behind, not a woman I found attractive, but she was likable in some ways, I could tell she was strong and commanded authority. She was what I would call a handsome woman.

"What do you want to talk about Matron?" I started off.

She brought the pot of coffee over and a couple of mugs, then three more, a bowl of sugar cubes and a pitcher of full cream milk.

"Expecting company are we?" I asked looking at the other two mugs.

She smiled, her not-so-sincere smile, "Yes we are, they shouldn't be much longer,"

A large plate full of fresh sandwiches arrived, and we both grabbed a couple. Eating became less frequent these days.

She poured the rich black liquid into a mug for me, just the aroma made me feel a little better. What is it about the aroma of a freshly brewed pot of coffee that makes you feel so good? I added three lumps of sugar and a dash of milk, the Matron took her's with a single cube and no milk.

The door opened behind me and in walked three people, I felt a hand on my shoulder and a familiar voice say hello, "Hi Corry," Said CPO Catherine Withers and Lieutenant Reynolds from the US warship Jason Durham. They were no longer in uniform and the dynamics of their previous status were now reversed as Cathy Withers was the leader in this meeting.

I chuckled out loud, "I'm not sure if I should be surprised or not. So what do I call you guys this time?"

"By our names, this is Bryan and Celina, you know my name," she told me. "Sorry about the cloak and dagger stuff beforehand, but it was necessary until we worked a few things out and now we have," she said all of that as they sat down and set up their clunky laptop on the table. She handed a file to the Matron with all the decoded documents I had handed them.

Matron stood up and explained to me who was who on the merry-go-round. "Bryan and Cathy will be doing most of the talking and listening, Celina is a hired gun, her role is to keep you alive. Before we start, I need something from you Corrine. More than just your word I'm afraid. I need you to sign this, it states that you are covered by the Secrets Act of 2019, clauses 1.e to 39.a.b and c."

"And if I don't?" I looked at her and then at the others, none were smiling.

"Corrine, this isn't a game. If you refuse and knowing what you already know, we couldn't have you on the street. You would be tried, found guilty and will spend the next 50 years in a very unpleasant prison. That or I might decide to let Celina take you out into the bush and come back alone."

She smiled her non-sincere smile and then said, "Just kidding. You'd be free to go and do whatever you want to do,"

Why wasn't I convinced that she was 'just kidding', the likelihood of spending a long time locked up didn't appeal at all. I think I'd prefer a bullet to the brain.

Cathy Withers offered me a pen.

I took the documents and started to read them but as it was written in legalese I asked the Matron what it actually means.

"It means that once you have signed these, you can't tell anyone what happened, ever. Not that anyone would believe you, oh and I will own your arse for the rest of time,"

I took the four pages and then signed and dated each page. The fact that the date I used was two days behind the actual date wasn't pointed out to me until much later. I took another sip of my coffee and handed the pen back to Cathy and the documents to Matron. For the first time, I looked into the eyes of this Celina woman, the 'hired gun'. She didn't have the look of a killer about her but I knew they were the worst kinds of people, the ones you least expected to be violent.

I sighed, leaned back in the chair and cursed Lisa who had started all of this for me. Was it so long ago? All of this shit for the potential of some hot sex with her for a month of Sundays. She had better be worth it. I now started to wonder if I would ever find out.

Cathy patted my hand. I smiled at her, a cold smile.

"Let's get started shall we?" Said the Matron.

Cathy and Bryan looked at me and we started playing their game. "How did you find their house to begin with?"

"Word of mouth, it was known by some of the kids as a party house," I told them.

"Who, specifically Corrine?"

"What do you mean, numerous people, not one specific person," I wasn't going to hand over the actual person who pointed me in the right direction.

I went on to explain, "My friend Lisa was looking after her niece when she went missing, she gave me a list of her friend's names and mobile numbers, they all went to the same party and they all ended up on that ship," I continued.

Bryan spoke up in his cultured tone, "Ms Myers, this Lui Wang or Madam Lai as you know her, is going to cover her tracks, she will or wants to kill every person who knew about her little side business in Adelaide. That includes you by the way, so if you think you are being smart about not wanting to tell us a name, for whatever reason, you are putting that person or persons at risk,"

Cathy held my hand on the table, "Please, who told you about their party house, Corry, how did you find out?"

I looked at them both and pretended to be deep in thought, well actually I was, but I wasn't searching for a name, but wondering how Lai would find everyone. Slowly it started to dawn on me, the who, how and where. My mind raced back to the real person who told me. Terry Cookson or 'Sk8ertoyinc' and who told me about her, Chloe, sweet sexy Chloe. Then the dark shadowy character at both Taperoo and then Semaphore. My eyes lit up fucking Lai. She was there at Semaphore talking to that brute of a guy in the kiosk. I suddenly burst out with it.

"The Semaphore kiosk, the guy there, he is Lai's contact. All those kids at the skate park, he does the reccie sends Lai a message once he sees some who are not with parents etc, and bingo,"

The Matron smiled at me, said thank you and dialled a number using the fancy communication device in the center of the table.

His name, what did Chloe call him? "Tung, Tong, Teng, Tonne or something like that, he is a big guy, stocky, broken nose, type of a thug, crew cut. I only saw him for a couple of minutes, pretty sure he didn't spot me." I told them. Matron was repeating everything to whoever she was talking to.

"I'll give you a 10-minute head start before we call the locals," Matron told them.

I felt the coffee pot which was just warm, so I poured another mug, added the sugar and milk and took it over to the microwave. Dialled in the 15 seconds and hit start. Cathy came up behind me, put a hand on my shoulder and asked quietly, "The name of the person who told you about the party house, a bit of advice Corrine, we aren't going to let it go so please, please tell me, so we can protect whoever they are. I'm sure you don't want to find out that they have suddenly disappeared or something much worse,"

I looked at her and she back at me. We held each other's gaze.

I was hesitating. I wasn't absolutely certain it was necessary for them to know. Terry Cookson was a slippery character she had that ability to be somewhere and then disappear into thin air.

"Cathy, I can't remember her name, honestly, I can't." I lied straight-faced to her. She knew I did. She took a deep breath and half smiled, "Then whoever they are, they're in your hands, I hope you can protect them."

"I can't if I am here with you guys drinking coffee all fucking night,"

"Well, we will only keep you for as long as necessary," She told me.

The microwaved beeped at me and I took the hot mug of coffee in one hand and cursed at the heated mug.

I went back to the table just as the Matron received a text message and photos.

She read it and then told us in a matter-of-fact tone, "We're too late,"

She showed me the photos of two bodies, the man I called Tong and a sweet young girl, it was Chloe, both shot in the head, execution style. Hands tied behind their backs. "My people think it was done sometime in the last 10 hours." She told us. She then showed me that they were branded, not the same ones as I now have, theirs were just a crude triangle, the thug-looking guy had several on his arms, feet, and one on his forehead. Chloe just had one, her jeans were pulled down and the one she had was high on her inner thigh. Lai would have enjoyed looking at her like that. I could imagine how it would have happened. They had the guy tied up letting Chloe watch as they did what they did, she would have been petrified, she would have given them Terry's name in a second, but they still branded her, still silenced her.

I slumped down into my chair, the colour drained from my face. Bryan looked at me, "Did you know them?"

"That's the guy from the kiosk and the girl is called Chloe. She works there part-time.

Cathy looked at me, a sad look on her face, "Now do you believe us?"

"Wang won't stop until she is sure there is no trace of anyone, anyone means you too Corrine. How many times do we have to ask you, plead with you,"

I felt both angry and sad. I looked at the woman Celina and asked her "Are you as good as the Matron thinks you are?" She just smiled and nodded.

I turned to Cathy and Bryan, "The girl you are looking for is called Terry Cookson also known as St8ertoyinc, she hangs out around the skate parks on the peninsular, mainly at West Lakes late in the evening, but she scares easily and can disappear in a blink of an eye."

"Thank you," They said.

The Matron went to the phone on the wall and spoke firmly to a person on the other end.

"Tell the Major to go to interview room 4 and wait for me,"

I waited for her to return to the table before asking. "What about those kids on the boat, once Lai knows they are still alive, she will want them all dead!" I told her.

The Matron, raised her eyebrows, "Yes she will. They will be safe where they are and as far as the world knows they are still missing at sea. So not your concern Myers," her stare at me told me that was all she was going to say about it.

Catherine Withers cleared her throat and then tapped the table and got my attention. "Can you remember where they took you when they first found you?"

"No idea, they hit me with a taser, I went down and when I woke up I was in an old warehouse but it was in the Port, that I am sure of. It was one of those old wool stores. The problem is they all look the same on the inside," I told them all.

The Matron dialled another number and when it was answered she spoke first before the person could identify herself. "Call our friend and set up a meeting in my office in the city, today. Text me the time," She hung up. Turned to Celina and spoke, "Come with me," then turning to us three, "Excuse us for a moment, I will be two minutes,"

She left the room with Celina at a brisk pace.

The Matron and Celina entered a small room with the number four on the door, the sign said occupied as she entered the room. The door locked as it closed. She spoke first "No recordings," Whoever was listening turned off all recording equipment at that moment.

In the room was a tall woman 6'6" in the old language, she looked fit, with toned muscles, but her sweatsuit hid most of them. Her eyes betrayed the woman's cold exterior, but she still had a small sparkle of humanity left in her, buried deep inside, not seen by anyone, except one.

"Major, this is Celina, your only contact from now on," there was a knock on the door, Celina went to it as it automatically opened and took procession of a cardboard box. She handed it to the Matron. The Matron gave the Major two photos of two separate Asian women. "These are your primary targets, plus anyone who wants to stop you. ANYONE!" she emphasised. "It would be nice if they were still able to talk to us after you have met them, but I doubt they will be that enthusiastic about that." She smiled at her own simple joke. Knowing full well that the Major won't consider that an option.

She gave her a phone and told her it was an encryption phone. Gave a second one to Celina and reminded them, "Text only," then pointed to Celina as she spoke to the Major, "She is not your backup,"

The Major was handed a small pocket-size Samsung tablet and given a name, Terry Cookson, "It is most likely too late, but just in case it isn't she hangs out around skate parks, West Lakes mainly, this one we do need to talk to, she is a non-com. Today would be good. Good Luck Major," She then turned and left the room with Celina.

The major left two minutes after them but in a different direction.

She returned to the others. Catherine looked at her and she just nodded.

Tilley McMahon stood at the table and pleasantly asked if anyone wanted more coffee.

I looked at her and said in very plain English, "After what I have just seen a bottle of Fireball is more needed than a fucking coffee, lady,"

"Yes indeed, of course. Celina take her to her quarters and get a bottle for her would you please,"

"Yes Matron," She replied. She smiled at me and led me to my safe underground sleeping quarters. She helped me carry everything at the same time.

Catherine and Bryan sat back and started going over what they had heard. Matron sat with them and laid everything out on the table.

"As I see it, Wang is caught between a rock and a hard place. The hardcore in Beijing wants her head on a plate, from what we hear. But only after she has cleaned up the mess here with the kids and her little slave trade business. They also need to slow down the Atomic Sub deal. The AUKUS A.C. meeting is going to be her main target. From what we saw in the kiosk we think she has sent some of her people to sweep her tracks clean. As far as we know, she is unaware that those kids and Myers survived. Which is to our advantage. The Major has been given the go-ahead,"