"Jose sleeps so lightly. I had to make sure he was very tired."
"You look beat yourself."
"It was a rough night."
"Our last, thank God," Ruth sighed. "Hurry and brush your hair. I've got your things laid out and ready for you to put on."
"Thanks, Mother. I ought to have a bath."
"Later, Paula. Let's get out of here while they're all sleeping. I shudder to think what Pico might do if we're caught."
"Don't even mention it," Paula said, dressing hurriedly.
"I don't think we should bother with anything but what we have on."
"Yes," Paula agreed, buttoning her dress as she moved to the door. "Come on. I'm ready."
"The keys," Ruth whispered. "Don't rattle the keys."
They eased into the hall looking both ways, found it clear, then walked softly to the stairs and down, carrying their shoes. The large barroom was empty and quiet, smelling of stale tobacco smoke and whiskey. Both of them trembling with a mixture of fear and anticipation, they crossed to the outer door and Paula held her breath as she inserted keys until the right one opened the lock.
"Oh, God!" she whimpered with relief, pushing the door open for her mother then following her outside.
"We're out," Ruth sighed. "We're going to make it!"
"Hurry, Mother. This is a bad section. Let's walk fast."
"Maybe we can find a taxi."
"I'd rather find a policeman," Paula said. "I never thought I'd be looking for a policeman, but one or two of them would sure be a welcome sight right now."
"There goes a cab," Ruth said, breaking into a trot and calling, "Taxi… taxi!"
"He can't hear you."
"Damn it! He's gone!"
"Come on, Mother. Let's go this way… toward those taller buildings."
"I wish we knew for sure where the downtown area is."
"I'd settle for the nearest police station," Paula said.
They walked at a fast clip through the early morning quiet. When they were six blocks from Pico's, a police car pulled to the curb. As the door opened and one of the uniformed men started to climb out, Ruth and Paula rushed toward him.
"Oh, thank the Lord!" Ruth exclaimed. "Thank you for stopping, officers."
In English almost as good as Pico's the officer asked, "You ladies out for a breath of early air, or what?"
"You'd never believe it," Paula told him, grabbing his hand and pumping it. "Would you give us a ride, please… to the main police station?"
"Are you in trouble?"
"Yes. Big trouble."
The policeman opened the back door for them. "Hop in. You can tell us about it on the way."
The police car moved slowly as Ruth and Paula poured out their story from the caged back seat. Like police cars in many cities, the back was designed to carry prisoners. Steel wire mesh covered the windows and the space between them and the front, and the doors had no handles on the inside.
"Hmmm… I see," the policeman said when they stopped talking. "You say this Pico had been holding you prisoner?"
"Yes," Ruth said. "It's been awful… just awful!"
"We are not in the Canal Zone here. Would you like us to take you there, so you can contact the proper American official?"
"Please. That would be wonderful!"
"How much money do you have?"
"What?"
"Money. Dollars American. How much do you have?"
"Why, none. Pico took it all."
"Isn't that a shame?" the policeman asked his partner who was driving. "They have no money."
"What has that to do with it?" Paula demanded.
They both laughed, then the driver said, "I know Pico… and he has money."
"Do you think he'd be grateful if we did him a favor?"
"Oh, man," Ruth groaned.
"I think he would. Let's take them home and see."
"No! No, don't!" Paula pleaded. "We'll get money… lots of it! We'll send you a great deal of money when we get back to Tulsa!"
"Do you trust them?" the driver asked.
"You know better than that. They're whores… and whores, as everyone knows, are such notorious liars."
"But we're not whores!" Paula wailed.
"Don't you understand?" Ruth demanded. "We were kidnapped… abducted!"
"I'll ask Pico," the driver said over his shoulder. "If he says you're not whores, then I'll take you to the Canal Zone."
"Oh my God!" Ruth screamed. "No, no no!!!"
Pico looked irritated when he opened the door. Then he saw Ruth and Paula, handcuffed together and trembling with fear between the two grinning policemen, and he snarled angrily as he jerked them inside.
"We found them several blocks away, Pico," the policeman who'd driven the car said. "They made serious accusations against you."
Glaring at Ruth and Paula, Pico slapped them viciously before he turned to the policemen and took out his wallet. "How serious?"
"Very serious, I'm afraid."
"This serious?" Pico asked, taking several bills from his wallet and passing them to the men.
"About twice that serious, Pico."
Pico frowned, but he gave them more money. "I trust this will not be reported."
Both policemen smiled, and the driver asked, "What is there to report? It's a dull morning. Nothing has happened yet."
"Thank you for returning my property," Pico said. "Don't forget your handcuffs."
When the policemen had gone, Pico vented his rage on Ruth and Paula, cursing and slapping them till both lay sobbing on the floor.
"Get up!" he hissed.
They struggled to their feet and Pico shoved them toward the stairs, forced them up the stairs and down the hall, flung them into Ruth's room, and promising to deal with them later, locked the door.
That afternoon Pico returned to their room with Rosa and the two Latin bouncers. They were all in the room before Ruth and Paula woke up. Rosa carried two syringes and a length of rubber tubing. The Latin men came on either side of the bed, one grabbing Ruth and the other Paula, holding them as they tried to cringe away. "What are you going to do to us?" Paula gasped.
"Shut up! Give me the tubing, Rosa."
Pico grasped Paula's wrist and pulled her arm out, sat on her hand, then tied the tubing very tightly around her upper arm. He poked at her vein, holding his other hand out for the first syringe.
"No!" Ruth yelled as Pico inserted the needle into Paula's arm. "What are you giving her? Don't!"
The milky fluid left the syringe as Pico pushed the plunger.
Paula's eyes grew very wide. Her mouth dropped open. An expression of complete bliss washed over her face. "Hooo… ohhh… oh, Lord!"
"My God!" Ruth wailed, watching in horror as Paula fell back on the bed moaning ecstatically. "What did you give her?"
"Just a little heroin, rubia, the same as I'm going to give you. Hold out your arm."
Using every ounce of power she could muster, Ruth struggled wildly to break free. "No! Oh, God… don't! Not that! Please… not dope!"
"You don't want it?" Pico asked tauntingly, tying the rubber tubing around her arm as the scar-faced man held it. "Look how happy it makes Paula."
"You dirty beast!" Ruth cried as the needle stabbed into her vein.
Pico's thumb touched the end of the plunger. "Soon you'll beg me for it, rubia. Soon you'll do anything for this lovely stuff. Soon you won't even think of escape."
"You swine!" Ruth screamed.
The plunger moved down into the syringe.
"You d-dirty an-an-imal… unggggh… oh, Jesus!"
"There," Pico said, smiling as he withdrew the needle. "How do you feel?"
"Ohhh… ohhh."
"It's time to eat. Would you girls like some food?"
His voice came to Ruth and Paula as if from a great distance. It was too much trouble to answer. They lay moaning in a fantastic new world, their eyes clamped shut and their hands clenched into trembling fists.
"I don't think they'll be wanting food for a while," Rosa said.
Ruth was dimly aware of Pico bending over her.