Page 55 of Soros
“Hmm… I know pretty much everything. I started as a bouncer but for the past two years, I’ve been the boss’s right hand. You see the night club is mostly a front. We make the real money on drugs and women.”
“How does that work?” I asked and felt my heart rate spike.
“We call the women our hidden treasures.” Carlos laughed. “It’s a simple set-up, really. The boss works with other club owners who sell him women. It’s easy for them to get their hands on pretty, young women who come to their night clubs. They select the right candidates and spike their drinks. Once they get tired, the staff offers to call them a taxi. The club owner makes sure that the taxi is followed and once the drugged woman arrives at her destination and the taxi takes off, she is snatched up. By that time the women are usually close to passing out so it’s easy. Then they are brought to our back entrance.”
“And what happens to the women then?” Lios asked.
“We use the drugged women for a very popular concept called Sleeping Beauty. Our staff uses it a lot because passed-out girls can’t be a witness against you in a lawsuit.” Grinning, Carlos tapped his temple, “Clever, huh?”
“Men like to have sex with sleeping women?” Nerix had his eyebrows drawn so close that they created a unibrow.
“Not all men. Some clients prefer women who are feisty and fight back. The boss… I mean the old boss… was like that. New, feisty girls are high in demand by the men who enjoy breaking them in and crushing their spirit. Once that’s done, they’ll serve everyone.”
“Do you have any new girls?” I asked with a foul taste in my mouth.
“Sure. If you’re interested, we actually have some beautiful women. One was so feisty that she had to be disciplined, but…” Carlos trailed off when a man called his name from across the room.
Standing in a doorway with a sign above that said VIP, the man glared at us. “We’re closed,” he thundered. “Get out.”
Carlos held out a hand. “It’s cool, Stanley. Relax.”
Lios walked calmly toward the man. “We’re friends of Carlos and he’s just telling us about the new girls you have. We would like to see them and meet your new boss.”
Stanley glared at the three of us. “The boss doesn’t want to be disturbed. He had to take care of some trouble with a… ehm… contractor.”
Lios communicated to Nerix and me telepathically. “This man has a block. Ko’roz mind clouded him recently. It will wear off, but I can’t double cloud his mind or it might affect him long term.”
“I don’t care. They are human pirates who kidnap women. Override Ko’roz!”I told him but Lios refused.
“I have to defend my actions, and double clouding someone is wrong. He’s a human and part of a protected species. The cultural committee wouldn’t approve. But the good thing is that his mind block tells us that Ko’roz is near.”
“You need to leave right now.” Stanley gestured toward the door. “You have no right to be here, so get the hell out.”
“We are searching for our friends who went missing,” I told him.
“Do you even have a warrant?” Stanley asked in a hostile tone. He had tattoos on his arms, neck, and fingers. On his knuckles were letters that said, “your next” and on his neck a tattoo said “no mercy.”
“No, but your colleague invited us inside,” Lios said.
“You’re lying. Carlos would never do that. We hate cops…” Turning his head in Carlos’ direction Stanley said, “Right?”
Carlos nodded. “Absolutely.” Crossing and uncrossing his arms, he looked puzzled as to how we got into the nightclub.
“That’s okay. We’re not cops,” I told the men. “We’re just looking for our friends and we think they might be some of the new women who Carlos just told us about.”
Stanley shot Carlos a what-the-hell look. “He was just joking. We don’t have any girls here. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Two more men came from behind the curtain that blocked off the VIP area. They positioned themselves right behind Stanley joining him in his rigid glaring with their feet firmly planted and their arms crossed. It was a clear non-verbal message that we couldn’t go any further.
“We need to get past them,”Nerix said telepathically. “Star keeps showing me images of a painting with something abstract, but I don’t see it in here.”
“What was that sound?”I asked the others.“Did you hear a scream?”
“Thank you for allowing us to search your place,” Nerix told the three men who stood like a wall between us and the VIP room. One of them eased his pose, but when the last two didn’t move, he crossed his arms again.
“All three of them are mind clouded by Ko’roz,” Lios said.
Nerix and I exchanged glances.
