The Professor looked down, the ashtray was full, he glanced at his watch. An hour really? Looking up, he spoke.
'Fascinating, perhaps incredible, but fascinating yes. If half of what you tell me is true, then I that is enough for me.'
Janey blinked in the sunlight, 'Does that mean you'll help me?'
'How could I do otherwise? You have intrigued my imagination and luckily I now have some free time.....' Smiling, he rose, 'Shall we try Henry again?'
They entered the British Library and this time passed straight through, Henry giving a deferential nod as the Professor escorted his companion in.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile on the other side of the world....
'BASTARDS' Casey spat out a curse as the stick struck home again. Her body twitched against the bonds that held her, raw welts crossed her naked back and buttocks, sweat mingling with the faintest trails of blood where the blows had struck harder.
She hung, suspended from her wrists in a dank cellar. She could smell the mustiness and the sweat of the man wielding the stick. Blindfolded, her world was dark. The only sensation came from the blows.
The voice came again, disembodied, devoid of feeling. Cold, the same words again and again.
'Tell me where you put it, tell me and the pain will stop.'
'Fer Christ'sakes, I don't bloody know what you are talking about!' She yelled for what must have been the hundredth time.
Silence, the pause ominous, she heard the breathing of her tormentor, then the sound of a door opening and the click of heels on the stone floor.
Click, click they grew closer.
She felt breath on her cheek, then a sharp fingernail scraped her neck.
'Tell me what I need to know and I will make it stop.'
It was not a local voice, she couldn't place the accent but European for sure.
'I have no fucking idea what you are talking about, just let me go please, I can't tell you what I don't fucking know for God's sake..'
The nail slid down her neck, scratching her breast then flicked the bare nipple. Casey flinched. The one thing they hadn't done yet was sexually abuse her. Was that coming now?
'I may have to introduce you to one of my pets, you really won't like that you know.' The voice hissed in her ear.
Drawing reserves from somewhere deep, an inner determination drove Casey to twist and spit in the direction of the voice.
'FUCK YOU LADY!'
A sharp slap stung her cheek.
'You really shouldn't have done that you know..'
The heels clicked away and she heard some instructions in Mandarin spoken sharply as they left.
Rough hands pulled her free and she was thrown to the floor.
Other hands grabbed her and she was taken away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They hadn't noticed the time till a librarian came over.
'Sorry to disturb Professor but we do close in ten minutes.'
'What? really? Is that the time?' He rose, 'I do apologise, we'll be going now.'
He nodded to Janey who rose, gathering up her notes which ran to a dozen or more pages, and they made their way to the exit.
'I think we are nearly there.' She nodded, 'Yes, just two more sources to check and then ...'
'Yes - we need to discuss the 'and then', a drink perhaps?'
She smiled, 'I could murder a beer right now!'
'Then let us murder a couple together!'
Smiling, he led her to the pub opposite.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back home later the Professor sat in his favourite chair with a glass of whisky and mused over the day.
A strange one indeed- from the mysterious Chinaman at breakfast to the distressed Australian lady and the subsequent day in the library.
'Something is going on here old fellow, are you sure you want to dive in?'
'You know what? I think I may just do that.' He answered to himself.
Did her believe her? Well, yes he did, and was it out of chivalry or middle aged lust that he felt inclined to help this good looking Aussie?
'Pass on that one,' he muttered to himself, stroking the cat, who had somehow insinuated herself on his lap.
The thought of the package in the safe crossed his mind but he dismissed it- that was his wife's business and she couldn't be connected to what Janey had told him.
So, an early start tomorrow, he'd agreed to meet Janey at ten, he knocked back the last of the whisky, placed the glass in the dishwasher- not full yet, would put on tomorrow, and went to bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment