Retribution 21

After submitting my prior work for consideration for further publication I discovered most publishers require at least a trilogy before they will seriously consider anything in the dark erotica category. Since members of this site were instrumental in encouraging the unexpected completion of my previous efforts I look forward to input on this story as well. Constructive feedback is entirely welcome, Anonymous postings by those automatically hating anything in the noncon category will be cheerfully ignored. This is intended as a stand alone novel, no annoying cliff hangers, but to fully understand the characters background you may want to read through Introspections first. As always, all characters in this text are over the age of 18.

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"Come here bitch".

The command was cold...hard, and without hesitation the girl dropped to her knees and crawled to her master, kneeling in front of him with eyes downcast waiting for his next command. The next cue was nonverbal, he reached down to twist her already bruised nipples and she raised her chest upwards awaiting the pinch of the clamps. They were too tight, they always were, but she bit her lip to hold back her whimpers. He would tell her when he wanted to hear her screams, until then she was to be silent. The cost of failure would be far worse than her current pain.

He was in the process of unzipping his pants when there was a knock at the door, followed insistently by the repeated ringing of the bell. He groaned in frustration, dragging her upright by the hair and shoving her toward the bathroom. Cruelly he grasped the chain that held the clamps tightly in place and draped it over the hook on the door forcing her up on tiptoe. This time she couldn't help gasping and had to clench her teeth to keep from screaming out in agonizing pain. He had trained her well though and she managed, just barely, to hide her distress.

"Hang out for a minute cunt, this won't take long". He chuckled sadistically at his own joke as he walked out of the room.

The moments passed slowly as she hung there counting each ragged breath, a technique she'd found increased the amount of time she could tolerate horrific pain before blacking out. Her silent agony was disrupted by the abrupt appearance of another man, unaccompanied by her master. He lunged toward her master's computer and she whimpered, more from confusion than pain. The sound was just loud enough to draw the man's attention.

"Damn."

He glanced from her to the computer and then back again, sighing in apparent frustration as he moved toward her. She closed her eyes tightly, awaiting his assault, but while he couldn't help but inflict pain as he pulled her down his movements were intentionally slow and cautious. She stood hesitantly on her feet, more in control of her reactions now she didn't even wince when he removed the clamps despite the intensity of the discomfort as the blood rushed back into her swollen nipples. Satisfied with his rescue the man headed back toward the computer, tossing a command over his shoulder.

"Get some clothes on."

She stood in stunned bewilderment, unsure of if she should follow this man's orders or wait for her master to return with demands of his own. Terror at the thought of her master finding her clothed quickly won out so she continued standing aimlessly in place as the man worked at hacking into the computer, finally inserting a small thumb drive. While the information he was seeking copied he again turned his attention toward her.

"I suppose it's too much to expect, asking you to actually listen, but I really don't have time for this."

She slid one hand slightly behind her back nervously tapping her index finger against her thumb, another technique she'd developed to mask her uncertainty when she was unsure of the expectations in the moment. The man yanked open a drawer in the dresser she stood next to, digging through the contents haphazardly and tossing various articles of clothing to the floor. She watched him in wide-eyed horror as she silently calculated the punishment that would come from failing to stop this insanity versus the punishment of engaging with their unexpected guest without permission. The man showed her no mind, continuing to dig through additional drawers until he swore again and settled for a long sleeved shirt he shoved in her direction.

"Put it on. Now. If you don't I will."

She robotically pulled the shirt over her head, but still not satisfied the man shoved a pair of her masters boxer shorts at her. As she bent to pull them on he turned back to the computer, verifying the data transfer and ejecting the drive.

"Time to go. Unfortunately, I have no choice but to take you with me."

He didn't wait to see if she would object, simply grasped her by the upper arm and shepherded her toward the bedroom door and down the hall. As he pushed her toward the kitchen she halted abruptly at the sight of her master's body sprawled across the floor. The man behind her nearly stumbled over her, but he quickly caught himself and instinctually pulled her toward him.

"Don't you dare freak out on me. He's not dead, just unconscious, which means I don't have time to waste talking you down from a panic attack. We are going out the back way, come on."

With growing impatience he guided her through the kitchen, down the stairs and out the door toward an nondescript black sedan parked up the private lane that ran between her master's home and those behind his. He opened the passenger door and none-too-gently pushed her inside before entering the drivers seat himself. She sat in stunned silence as he pulled onto the main road ahead of them, nonchalant as if he hadn't just knocked a man unconscious and then guided an unsuspecting woman into his car. He seemed in no hurry to grant her an explanation so she did precisely as she had been trained in circumstances where her master had not found reason to explain his actions or give her a direct command and kept her head down and her mouth shut. They hadn't gone far before her apparent captor pulled into the parking lot of a nearby big box store.

"I'm going in to grab you something half way decent to wear. I won't be long. I honestly don't give a damn if you run, but you'd do us both a favor by at least staying put until I get back. I'd hate to waste good money on a wardrobe for someone who has vanished on me."

Since his ambiguous statement led to no direct order which would require a coherent response she leaned back against the seat, folded her hands together demurely and patiently awaited the strangers return. It wasn't long before he was back, tossing a couple grocery bags in the back seat and barely glancing her way before pulling out of the lot and onto the freeway. Again, no command or prompt was given so she remained dutifully silent. After awhile the stranger seemed to almost forget about her presence, flipping on the radio and ignoring her altogether. Eventually she succumbed to the inevitable adrenaline crash and drifted into a rather pleasant state of unconsciousness.

She was pulled from her restful state suddenly by the opening of her passenger side door. She was momentarily disoriented but soon became aware of the stranger's offered hand. She took this to be a nonverbal cue and automatically placed her hand in his, allowing him to pull her from the car. He handed her the grocery bags and rushed her from the car toward a hotel room, whose door already stood open awaiting their entry. After closing the door and sliding the deadbolt into place the stranger offered his first command since dragging her from the house hours earlier.

"Go in the bathroom and clean up, there should be plenty of options in the bags far better than what you are wearing."

Obediently she made her way into the bathroom, the door automatically swinging closed behind her. Obviously the man didn't like what she was wearing so that directive was easy enough, she promptly stripped out of the shirt and boxers. The next part of the command was more difficult as she had to assess what was meant by the direction to "clean up", did that imply a quick wipe down or a full shower? She leaned toward overachievement so automatically turned the facet to cold and stepped into the tub, swallowing the gasp as the cold water ran down her body. She couldn't remember a time that her cleansing process had consisted of the luxury of hot water so the discomfort was familiar, almost welcome considering her strange and unfamiliar circumstances. Working quickly she soaped down her full body from top to bottom, rinsed, and finally turned off the water, allowing herself to drip dry for a moment before stepping onto the bath mat. She pulled the bags up on top of the toilet seat and glanced into them, completely stumped. There were no less than half a dozen shirts and varying pairs of slacks or sweatpants along with a couple packages of underwear, all obviously hastily gathered but nothing indicated what outfit, if any, he desired her to wear. Erring on the side of caution she pushed the bags aside and opened the bathroom door, standing inside awaiting her next directive.

He walked toward the open doorway, stopping in momentary confusion at the sight of a wet, shivering girl standing nakedly before him before he guessed at her dilemma. He gestured to the bag of clothing closest to her and sighed.

"The pink sweats. Dry off and put them on. Underwear as well."

Her response to his command was immediate and he led her out of the bathroom to the small table where the delivery he had called in awaited. When he placed the plate of food in front of her and commanded her to eat she did so automatically, not bothering to focus on the taste of the food. Whether it was something she liked or not was irrelevant, she had been ordered to consume nutrients so she did so without complaint. He ordered her to get into bed, gesturing to the one furthest away from the door, she cowered on it like a scared rabbit until he directed her to lie down. Satisfied she would stay put for the time being he grabbed his cell and stepped outside to make a call.

"Did you get it?"

"Of course. Have I ever failed yet? I've got the data. There were, however, some unexpected...complications."

The voice on the phone was hesitant as he asked, "And what complications might those be?"

The man sighed, leaning against the door behind him.

"The female kind. He had a girl there with him. Nothing in our surveillance showed any evidence that he did not live alone. There was no way we could have predicted her presence."

Dead silence on the line for a moment before the voice responded.

"And did you neutralize the situation?"

Now his own nervous tick kicked in, he reached up mindlessly to run his fingers through his balding hair.

"In a manner of speaking, yes. I brought her with me."

"You what?!" The voice was unquestionably no longer carefully controlled.

"Yeah, I know. But he'd beaten her half to death. She won't speak to me. Hell, she can't even pick her own clothes. What was I supposed to do, leave her there for that douche bag to finish off?"

"You know damn well that's exactly what you should have done."

He didn't bother defending himself further and finally the voice gave in.

"You need to call James."

That got a reaction out of him immediately, he turned abruptly and unthinkingly slammed his fist against the cinderblock wall.

"Why the hell would I do that? We didn't exactly end our partnership on speaking terms."

"I know, but even you've heard about the most recent take down. James and his girl, Hannah, were behind that and her part was key. You got yourself into this mess. They are going to get you out of it. Make the drop tonight as scheduled and then you are on approved leave for as long as it takes to handle this situation. I will text you his number. After that I don't want to hear from you again until it has been fully resolved."

He barely restrained from chucking the phone into the parking lot. Instead he quietly pushed the door open and peered into the room. The girl on the bed was either fast asleep or faking it convincingly. He was quite certain she wouldn't be leaving the bed without permission so he grabbed his keys and retrieved the small thumb drive from its hiding place, heading out with just enough time left to make the transfer.

When he returned an hour or so later the girl was still on the bed, now curled in fetal position facing the wall. He watched her for several moments, until the rhythm of her deep breathing left him confident she was truly in a deep sleep. Groaning he sat down on the bed, kicked off his shoes and pulled the shirt over his head, chucking it in the general direction of his bags before he crashed on the bed and allowed himself to fall into a very light, cautious sleep.