Finally, the well-dressed man and the gang leader moved toward the door. "Okay, it's all set to go," Billy said, standing at the stairway. It was then he seemed to relax a little and asked quizzically. "But one other thing. How come ya thought of hiring us to do the rip-off?"
The stranger smiled for the first time and raised his briefcase off the floor. "We look for experts and found them. We put no cost level on gunmen we hire, you ought to know that from the conversations you had in the Pen."
"Yeah, that's right," Billy shrugged, sounding only half-assured. He was still standing there, looking uncertain, when he closed the door behind him without even waiting for the stranger to leave the warehouse.
CHAPTER THREE
Ellen was glad when she heard the sound of the car engine leaving the house even though she knew it only brought the time closer when she would be, without a doubt, subjected to more indignities at the hands of her captors. But the man with the briefcase had brought more fear into her than ever would have been possible had she merely been sequestered with these criminals alone. Suddenly she had an image in her mind of what the outside world would be if political assassinations were permitted to go unchecked and unsolved; and it didn't look good. It would be a world of steadily mounting chaos where the strongest ruled the weak, and where the law of the land would become the savage rule of survival of the fittest. Right now the wanton abuse of her body and her loss of complete self-respect seemed almost inconsequential in comparison to what they were about to do tomorrow; yet she knew that when the moment came, and she had to submit to them once more, she would react with as much revulsion as she had before… because it was happening to her! A rape was here and now! And there was no way of escaping the humiliation… especially with these men.
"Why dontcha make yaself comfortable, honey?" she heard Sylvia ask Billy in an obsequious tone. "Maybe I can fix ya somethin' to eat."
"Goddamnit, just get me some whiskey and leave me alone, will ya?" he answered gruffly, weary, uncertain, and still angry at the discussion he had had with the overbearing stranger.
The others sat quietly and averted their gaze from Billy, knowing that it would be sheer idiocy to cross their gang leader at this moment. They knew what he was capable of doing, and were fearful that he might erupt into an uncontrollable violence after he had been rather abruptly put in place so many different times during the long day. He had been humiliated and beaten at his own game, and now he was momentarily reduced to the same level as the other men. That would mean that he would try to assert himself more vigorously than he ever had before; after all, he was now challenged on all sides, and a cornered animal has no choice other than to fight violently for its life.
Ellen sat and watched Billy extend his glass for Sylvia to fill it to the brim. Time seemed to stand still in the warehouse, the afternoon had worn into the lazy summer half-light of early evening. The rain had stopped and over the hazy skyline of the nearby city a burnished sunset glow lit up the horizon. Soon it would be night, and Ellen's fear of what the men planned to do to her next began to grow. Cash, Pop and Vito were crouched down next to the wall at the far end of the room; they had begun shooting craps, and with each crack of the dice Ellen felt as though a new verdict or further confirmation of her ravishment was being sealed. Once Vito stared back at her, and Ellen caught a sliver of light that glittered up from the evilly swirling depths of lust in his eye. The silence was ominous, and the intermittent sounds of Billy pouring himself more whisky and the dice clattering against the wall only made it all the more frightening.
The thought struck Ellen that the dice playing, the drinking, and even that vile expression of animal lust she had experienced last night and undoubtedly would be subjugated to again, were expressions of a deep inner fear that embraced each of the four men. Death was near, it was inescapable, and if they couldn't out-run it, then they could at least blind themselves to its approach. Even Sylvia seemed to be aware of it, and she sat silently drinking alongside Billy, her movements strangely tranquil, almost a mirror image of the gang leader's gestures of quiet desperation. Slowly the silence seemed to break with the growing chatter from the men crouched near the wall, and Ellen sensed that plans for the night were being made again. Occasional furtive glances were shot up towards her seated figure, and she tried to make herself as stiff and unobtrusive looking as possible. She was grateful for the glass of whiskey Billy had poured for her earlier, and now she sipped from it, feeling it course through her veins and relaxing her somewhat. Then, suddenly, she remembered the dog; and for some reason, she shuddered at the thought of the huge animal lying in watchful repose at its master's feet.
She wanted to blot it out: she just couldn't stand the sight of the animal. If she tried to escape, he would stop her!
As if sensing her thoughts, Rex raised his head and stared at her.
But the strange irrational feeling subsided as quickly as it had come upon her, and she was left to handle more realistic considerations of how she was going to avoid further attacks from the four criminals. She hoped beyond hope that Billy would make some kind of sign to assure her that she would be his for the evening. The thought of him possessing her was not pleasant, but it was preferable to her other alternatives. She knew too that she had been on his mind. If he took her tonight he would have the wrath of the gang girl to deal with, and if he didn't, he knew he had to give her to the others. Her eyes wandered across the room to the soiled mattress where Cash and Pop had raped and ravaged her, kneading her body into tortured balls of humiliated flesh the night before. And now she found herself muttering a silent prayer – a silent pleading that Billy wouldn't let them do that to her again.
"It's getting late. Don't you think we oughta head to bed, honey?" Sylvia's voice suddenly broke through the heavy silence.
The gang leader remained morosely silent, but the others responded by moving away from their crap game and facing Billy and his former girlfriend.
"If you want to have Sylvia tonight, there ain't no reason, it seems to me, we can't have a go at little Miss Sweet Pussy here one more time," Cash said, and grinned at the laughter he had provoked from Vito and Pop.
Billy looked up at him and for the first time since the meeting had ended several hours earlier smiled.
"Well, there's been a change of plans, Cash, old boy," Billy said thickly, the alcohol he had drunk obviously affecting his speech. "She's sleeping in my bed tonight!"
Ellen felt her heart plunge into her throat. Yes, it was happening, and she just couldn't believe that this was going on right before her own eyes. It wasn't much, but she wouldn't be raped by all four of the gunmen again, at least tonight.
"Billy, Billy," Sylvia cried out, a sound of pain erupting from her throat. "What are you doing? We've been together so long. You can't do this to me."