Page 11 of Taken

The truck meandered down a winding dirt road, heading southwest on the ranch, and I made small talk with Jacob about the weather and other such things. As I spoke, I continually rubbed my eyes with my left hand, pretending I’d gotten some dirt in them earlier.

Jacob glanced across at me every so often as we chatted, and finally, his gaze fell on my left hand as I wiped it across my face again. “Not married yet?” he asked, taking the bait exactly as I hoped he would. “What are you, twenty-seven?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Still single,” I said. “I mean, I’d love to get married and have a ton of kids, but trying to find a woman in New York who shares my specific set of values is quite… difficult.”

“I can imagine. Loose morals abound in that city.”

I suppressed a snicker. He talked like some sort of religious fortune cookie.

“That’s right,” I said with a faux-sorrowful sigh. “What’s it like with the women here? I presume you’re quite strict with them, because I’ve heard on the grapevine that no one ever sees them.”

Jacob smiled thinly. “I know about all the rumors. Because I never let anyone in—well, almost never—people assume all sorts of wild things. Some actually think we’re all crazy Devil worshipers out here. But let me explain somethin’ to you. The terrorist attack we discussed earlier… can you imagine how it affected the young girls at the time?”

I shook my head slowly. “They lost their mothers and older siblings in such a horrible way. I honestly can’t imagine it at all.”

“Well, they grew up to be very frightened, scarred young women. It’s not surprising, of course. Women are the weaker sex, after all. Not just physically. Mentally and emotionally too.”

“Of course.” I nodded sagely, suppressing the urge to punch him in the face. I lowered my voice and adopted a conspiratorial tone. “To be honest, the only reason I hire women at my company is to fulfil diversity quotas and appease my sister. If I had it my way, they’d all stay at home where they belong.”

Jacob smiled again. “Yes. Very good,” he said. “Anyway, as I was saying, the girls and women here are terrified by the outside world. Absolutely stark petrified. It’s our duty as men to protect them, so that’s what we do.”

“That’s very admirable. But surely they contribute? I mean, it’s not exactly fair if they just lounge around the mansion all day while the men go out and work.”

I was seriously playing dumb now. I knew perfectly well that that wasn’t what went on here. From what I’d heard via people like Jack Lazic, the women here were essentially unpaid housemaids to the men. They weren’t allowed access to electricity or technology, either.

Jacob chuckled. “Of course they work. We keep them busy in their protected quarters. They do the cooking, cleaning and child-rearing for us. In return, the men keep them safe from the outside world and do the outdoor labor.”

“I see. Seems like a good deal. Do any of them ever leave? On vacation, for instance.”

“Oh, yes. The men are allowed to take vacations if they want, but they always return. Most of them don’t even want to leave for so much as a weekend away, because they know they are freer here than they could ever be out in the real world. No bills, no wars to fight. Just a couple of hours a day of honest work in exchange for everything they could possibly want or need.”

I noticed he only said men. Not women.

“And you sell the sugarcane to pay for the commune, don’t you?”

He waved his hand. “We do, but it doesn’t contribute as much as you’d think. I’d say around seventy percent of our annual expenses come out of my investment accounts. I was really hoping for those investments to serve as a well that never runs dry, but I lost some money in the recent financial crisis. While there’s still enough to last another hundred years or so for the future generations, I was really counting on more. That’s why I’m interested in selling off some land. I need to make more.”

Bingo.I fucking knew it.

He regarded me with another smile. “What fortuitous timing,” he went on. “You want land, and I want to sell it.”

“It is fortunate, yes.”

“Perhaps God sent you directly to me.” He switched the truck’s engine off. “All right. We’re here.”

I climbed out and followed him to the edge of a field. A mixture of woodland and swamps stretched out for miles beyond.

“Remarkable, isn’t it?” Jacob said in an admiring tone.

The view was truly spectacular. The setting sun cast an orange glow over the swamp waters as it sank to the horizon, making it look like something right out of a fantasy world. Several bald cypress trees stood sentinel in the middle of the water, black silhouettes against the sky.

“Yes, it is.”

“Obviously you’d want to check it out in the daytime to get a real feel for it, but what do you think so far?”

I pretended to consider the question. “It looks great. How far does it go?” I asked. “The part you’re willing to sell, that is.”

“It’s around two hundred acres. I’d be willing to let it go for three hundred thousand. It’s worth more, but you’re basically an old family friend, and I know from experience that the market hasn’t been strong lately.” He gave me a wry smile.

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