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Chapter 21: Ransom, Part 1
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The Master's Child Chapter 22: Ransom, Part 2
Klempner - ThailandSwiping down the counter, I wipe away slops, discarded prawn shells and peanut fragments.The bar is just what you would expect; lowered lighting, luridly coloured over the stage area where a glitterball twists, reflecting whirling pinpricks of green, blue and red. The shelves are well-stocked for both the locals and the tourists, with names both familiar and unfamiliar to me. Some of them you'd expect, but who comes to Thailand and asks for the local vodka? And the regional wines are revolting - sickly sweet and syrupy. But then Thailand's hardly known for its grape growing either. There's Johnnie Walker on display for those that want it, but most of the 'whiskey' on display is actually rum.The liquor mainly drunk by the locals, lao khao, is brewed from rice. They call it '40 Degree'. After half a glass of the stuff set my ears on fire, I avoided it.I have a glass on the bar to sip from, for appearance sake, and I stick to soda water.On the stage, a gi
The Master's Child Chapter 23: Ransom, Part 3
MichaelMitch is in the nursery as we arrive, working on... something... A stack of ripped-up glossy magazines to one side, she works through a mass of wires, strings and multi-coloured somethings-or-other...She smiles as we enter, glancing up but not really looking. "Jenny showed me how she makes those little paper birds she does." She waves across to where the Christmas tree is half-decorated, still waiting for tinsel, but with Charlotte's kaleidoscopic creations dotted through the branches."They're so pretty, so I looked up other kinds." She lifts the contraption up, untangles a couple of wires and then displays it, a swirling display of birds, fish, unicorns and more. "It's a mobile for over Cara's cot. I thought it would go well with the larger one from the ceiling."Then she finally looks at us. "So, how did it go..." Her smile dissolves. "What's wrong?" She looks past us, out to the hallway. "Where's Jenny?"James is having trouble speaking, his breathing short and q
The Master's Child Chapter 24: Ransom, Part 4
JamesI've cleared the dining-room table. The best dinner set and cutlery, candlesticks, red and green napkins and the Christmas log sit tumbled together on the dresser. We sit, each with a laptop and a bowl of re-heated casserole.Mitch holds a spoon in one hand, but her stew is untouched. "Mitch," I say. "Eat."She looks at the dish, then puts down her spoon. "I don't want it. I don't think I could hold it down." She looks ill, her complexion now, not just pale, but pasty.Michael picks up the spoon and scoops up a chunk of chicken, offering it to her. "You have to eat, Mitch, even if it's just a little."She recoils, turning her face away. "I'm sorry. I couldn't."I level a finger at her screen where the drama of everyday hospital life plays: white-coated doctors with clipboards and stethoscopes; nurses, walking briskly, carrying stainless steel bowls and trays, and weird-looking pouches of fluids; a patient on a trolley draped in a green blanket. "If you don't eat, Mitc
The Master's Child Chapter 25: Ransom, Part 5
CharlotteCold...Pain...Thirst......I'm thirsty...My eyes open to... an unfocussed fog... And droop closed again............ and open once more...The fog swirls... then clears. A blur of grey and brown and black resolves into detail...And the detail means nothing...Where am I?Master?I'm hurting...Master?Michael?I want to speak, but my mouth is dry and puffy, lips gummy, sticking together... My jaws won't work... like some nightmare where I want to scream but the sound won't come out...Sucking at my tongue and cheeks, to work up saliva, I try again to speak, but all that emerges is a whimper.I'm so cold...The fog clears some more and slowly it comes to me that I'm lying on my side on some hard surface. Pressed against it at shoulder and hip and cheek, the chill strikes up into flesh and bone. When I try to move, nothing happens. I'm stiff, my muscles unresponsive.Woozy, my thinking is tattered...What happened?Master?
The Master's Child Chapter 26: Ransom, Part 6
KlempnerPerfect!The man I could never have gotten close to, is now paying me for the privilege.He's even armed me. The M9 sitting in the holster under my jacket is satisfyingly standard fare and gives me a pleasant glow of Target Achieved...On the other hand, it's not too flattering, joining the ranks of Chuan's 'bodyguards', but this isn't about job satisfaction...... not in that sense anyway...And I don't plan to be staying long."This is your station for now," says Arak. "You'll cover this end of the compound together with Decha and Atid there..." The two heavies gaze vacantly at me... "And if requested, accompany Mr Chuan when he is out on business."The pair of apes stare at me with eyes vacant of any trace of thought but a fair amount of passive aggression.Newcomer...Foreigner...Sap...The work is hardly taxing. Standing to look alert and dangerous about covers the job description. Decha and Atid are all I could have hoped for, leaving the New
The Master's Child Chapter 27: Ransom, Part 7
CharlotteThirsty...Hungry...Beside me; a plastic jug of water and an aluminium takeaway tray, already opened, half-eaten: the remains of someone's else's meal. A fly floats motionless in the water.Cara...Fishing out the fly, I take a bare sip of the water, swilling out my puffy mouth, then spit out, gagging at the foul taste...How long has it been standing???Hungry...I eye the food, my stomach rebelling...I've eaten trash before now.It's food...And I gobble it down, scooping it out of the carton with my fingers, sucking the fingers clean to get it all. It's stale and stinking, semi-congealed in its container...But it's food...Then, rice and soy sauce clot in my throat...What if they drugged it?Could I tell?I wait, looking inwardly, analysing every sensation, every tell, that there might be more to worry about than too much fat and salt in the 'meal'.But there's no growing muzziness... No spots behind my eyes...I hold out a han
The Master's Child Chapter 28: Ransom, Part 8
CharlotteThe clammy chill of the concrete claws at me...Anger helps, heating me inside...But I have to get off the naked ground...Stretching out against the chain, now fumbling out in the other direction... My swollen stomach won't allow me to lie flat down... I twist...Then, reaching with my left hand as the metal cuff bites into my right ankle; with the bare tip of my fingernails, I snag the edge of one of the cardboard boxes. It moves only slowly, the contents weighing it down.What's inside?I try again, digging in with my nails, trying to bite into the semi-hard surface. I find myself envying the long nails of my 'cousin'; Beth; her hands soft and white, the nails elegant... painted and shaped... sharp...My stubby excuses-for-nails barely make an imprint on the tough cardboard.Breathe...Don't panic...Try again...*****KlempnerThe hotel is cheap and unremarkable. The kind in fact where they rent rooms by the hour and don't ask for your ID. We
The Master's Child Chapter 29: Ransom, Part 9
CharlotteGot it!Finger and thumbnails gripping onto the corners of a box, it shifts; not by much, but it moves, just enough for me to get a proper hold. And now as I pull, it eases towards me.Result!One cardboard box. Contents undetermined.And with something to haul myself up against, I can - at last - stand... The box, stout as it is, buckles under me, but nonetheless, I finish the manoeuvre upright.What's inside?Old drinks bottles... whiskey, vodka, gin, beer...A drink...Oh, God... For a drink.........Michael... peeling foil from the bottle, prising off the wire cage and popping the cork on a bottle of cava. His blue eyes... his sunlit hair. And his smile...Oh, God... His smile...My Golden Lover.My husband....My Master, his dark eyes full of the promise of what is to come as he offers me a glass: a tall flute, shimmering gold in the candlelight, frothing white and fragrant as I sip wine and bubbles together......The bottles rat
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