Porn Free (part 1)

The woman stood and walked across to a playpen inside which a small child was playing.

‘Mama has a couple of things to do,’ she said to the boy.

He looked up at her, tilted his head, then looked down again.

The woman left the room.

* * *

‘Come on,’ said Elvis.

Elvis and Donnie picked Prime up between them and dragged her inside the complex.

‘We have to get her to safety,’ murmured Elvis; his voice full of concern. Unsaid was what was really on his mind: I led them here.

‘Us too, surely,’ said Donnie.

‘Where the hell has Marcus taken that plane,’ said Elvis, ignoring Donnie.

‘He could be anywhere by now.’

Prime stirred.

‘Not a good time, darlin’,’ remarked Elvis.

‘Elvis, my legs hurt,’ she said breathing shallowly.

‘That would be because they’ve got big holes in them,’ said Donnie, stating the obvious.

‘Oh. Seems reasonable,’ she said and passed out once more.

Donnie tried to stem her bleeding, but didn’t have a lot of luck.

‘Forget it,’ said Elvis, and together with Donnie, they lifted her up again, each under one of her arms.

Then they ran, or at least, moved as quickly as they could. Prime’s steel toe-capped boots dragged on the industrial-grade carpet, shining the toes to a dazzling mirror finish.

Above them, they heard footsteps on the metal roof. Panix and his goons had worked out what was going on and were pursuing.

They stopped at at a junction. Donnie took Prime as Elvis reloaded.

Elvis took his other gun from Donnie as the latter began to sag under Prime’s not enormous weight.

Elvis lifted Prime from him and supported her while Donnie stood again.

‘You need to work out, man,’ said Elvis. ‘She’s not that heavy.’

Donnie pulled a Daisy face, a kind-of why do I need to work out when there’s men around look.

Elvis looked from side-to side.

‘So, which way?’ asked Donnie. ‘Left was where we came from.’

‘This’ll do.’ said Elvis, turning right.

After a few moments they emerged in a dark, deserted lounge, just as another person entered, silhouetted against the light from the corridor.

Elvis and Donnie reared up, expecting trouble.

‘Can I help you,’ asked the woman in a shocked but official tone, her voice slightly accented. She was dressed not unlike Tina, but the resemblance ended there. Her hair was cropped short and looked like black velvet against her pale face.

‘That depends,’ said Elvis, pulling his jacket away from one of his holstered guns. Prime’s arm slipped from his grasp and she lolled forward.

‘Is she all right,’ asked the woman with concern.

The wind out of their sails, Donnie and Elvis paused. Their senses of urgency rallied and they spoke.

‘No, she needs a hospital,’ said Elvis. ‘Gunshot wounds.’

‘Or a doctor,’ Donnie finished the sentence.

‘A doctor?’ said the woman. ‘How lucky for you.’

The woman reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a mobile phone, dialed then spoke.

‘Pink here,’ she said. ‘I need a medical team to departure lounge six immediately. Three wheelchairs.’

‘Pink?’ said Elvis, realisation hitting him on the back of the head. ‘Oh, you gotta be–’

The doors crashed open again, and armed men rushed into the room, peeling past a single fat-faced figure standing in the doorway.

‘Going somewhere Penfolde?’ said Panix triumphantly.

The woman ducked behind the doorway.

Elvis turned Donnie.

‘Get her out of here!’ He pulled his guns and started to fire once more, running across the lounge for some cover.

Donnie moved toward Prime, and as bullets ripped into the wall nearby, screamed and ducked for cover behind seats.

He glanced up, trying to work out where he was in relation to Prime.

Prime was left lying prone. Donnie hoped she would be okay, because he couldn’t get to her without being shot to bits.

* * *

‘Merde,’ said the man, watching the action unfold on the screens. ‘When will this become simple?’

Behind him, the boy laughed happily.

The man turned briefly to face the child, his son, with a small smile broke across his black lips.

* * *

Everyone had found cover and waited for someone to make a mistake.

‘What the hell do you want this time, Panix,’ yelled Elvis from behind a group of seats.

‘Oh, the usual.’

‘What, more masturbation?’

‘I have something special in mind for you,’ hissed Panix angrily. ‘It’s getting better every minute you detain me.’

‘Bite me, fatso!’

A hollow sound pierced the silence.

‘Ow,’ said Elvis, pulling a dart from his neck.

He blinked a couple of times, eyes not focussing properly.

‘What…?’ he said, voice slurring.

‘Elvis?’ asked Donnie enquiring as to the nearby thud. There were several more, each preceded by a hollow sound and a yelp of pain.

Donnie chanced a look around the trolley behind which he was hidden. Nothing moved. There was no sound, other than the air-conditioning… except.

Something else he couldn’t put his aural finger upon.

He crawled on all-fours over to where Elvis was and found him unconscious and…

‘You’re snoring?’ Donnie looked at his friend in shock, finally working out the source of the additional sound. He moved to one-side and made an exclamation of pain.

Shit, a poisoned dart,’ he said yanking the aforementioned object from the palm of his hand. That would be what knocked The King out.

‘Not quite,’ said the woman, stepping over one of the bodies behind Donnie. She stopped beside one of the walls, standing still in shadow.

‘You can stand up by the way,’ she said. ‘It’s perfectly safe; all your assailants have been sent to the land of nod. It’s just you and me, now.’

Donnie considered what to do next. He couldn’t hide forever.

He stood slowly, allowing his hand to drag the floor and grasp one of Elvis’s guns. He hid it behind his back.

‘So what’s in the darts?’

‘No poison if that’s what you’re worried about.’

Donnie tilted his head in enquiry.

‘If you know enough about the human body,’ said the woman, ‘you will know that if you press on a specific point with just the right amount of pressure–oh, but I am forgetting myself. Please don’t move.’

She aimed a dart-pistol at Donnie.

‘Oh, threats,’ Donnie smiled drily. ‘What a change from the usual.’

‘This won’t hurt a bit.’

Donnie leapt to one side, raising Elvis’s gun and pulled the trigger. It clicked harmlessly, but it was enough to make the woman falter. The dart ended up in his shoulder just as he hit the ground and rolled.

Thankfully he was facing the doors.

Needles whipped past him as he ran, leaping over another set of seats, toppling, rolling, and getting his feet beneath himself once more.

Donnie burst through the doors and was gone.

The woman stood and stared at the doors as they swung slowly open and shut on their bi-directional hinges. She placed the gun back into her pocket and knelt down next to Prime.

Three men arrived, pushing wheelchairs.

‘Just take the woman and Presley,’ she said. ‘Ignore the others. They’ve served their purpose. Our bargain is at an end.’

* * *

Donnie sprinted back along the corridor, the adrenaline guiding him. After a few minutes he realised he’d become lost in the maze.

He stopped, his breath wheezing in and out from the sudden exertion. He was stuck.

Forward was more unknown. Behind was the needle-slinger.

Oh shit; and Prime. And Elvis.

In his desire not to be put to sleep, he’d forgotten about both of them.

He stood straight, closed his eyes and banged his head against the wall slowly and repeatedly for a few moments, while murmuring profanities.

‘What could I have done,’ he asked himself at last. ‘There’s no way I could have brought both of them; it was hard enough getting out of there on my own.’

It didn’t salve his conscience that well, but it was all he had.

With only a dull pain in his skull, and potential left temple bruising, he glanced down the corridor.

Above him a camera turned to face him and focussed.

* * *

‘Now perhaps?’ said the man.

A door opened and the woman entered.

‘We’ve got Presley and Prime,’ she said, sitting down. ‘I left the others.’

The man nodded, eyes still on the monitors.

‘He’s faltering again.’

‘Patience, dear brother,’ said the woman, glancing over to the boy who had curled up and was now asleep.

She sat down and watched him for a few moments.

* * *

Donnie stood a moment, his hand had moved automatically to his zipper.

He couldn’t though. His friends; Prime was nearly dead, Elvis unconscious… Marcus who knew where?

Damn this conscience of his. Damn it all to hell!

There was something on the edge of his vision. He frowned and slowly raised his head to face the camera above him.

There were four letters on its side:

C C T V

A terrible shiver expanded at the back of his head and rushed down his spine, and his mouth slowly opened in shock.

‘It can’t be…’ he whispered, remembering the conversation from the car:

‘CCT,’ said Elvis.

Donnie cut over him.

‘What, another three-letter-bleeding-acronym,’ he paused. ‘What’s this one for Cretinous Cu–’

‘Cubist Conspiracy Theorists,’ said Prime.

Back in the here-and-now, Donnie’s jaw dropped, and read the first three initials on the camera.

‘C, C, T…’ Donnie breathed.

Donnie’s shocked face was displayed in close-up on the walls of screens

The woman clicked a button and the picture changed from a Donnie on each screen to a single face fragmented over them all.

‘C…C…T…,’ he breathed. ‘Oh, shit.’

The woman turned to the man. ‘Now things get interesting.’

‘He’s alone,’ said the man, rolling his chair next to her. ‘Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. He has to do it sooner or later.’

The woman glanced without turning her head in his direction. She raised an eyebrow.

‘The systems are set-up to catch him in the act?’ he asked.

‘You know full-well they are, dear brother,’ she said, turning and placing a hand against his cheek. ‘You worry too much.

* * *

Donnie now sprinted from the site of his discovery. Unbidden, the words to a Barry Adamson song rose up in his unconscious:

Save me…

…from my own hand

Think! It’s an airport! his thoughts screamed. There’s got to be help around! Another exit, another doorway… another…

He came to a screeching halt.

The answer to his prayers, or at least, his wishes: a door.

The sign on it was clear enough:

Do not open

Danger

‘Has to be better than the alternatives,’ said Donnie.

Click to see the next installment: Porn Free (part 2)