Page 66 of The Players

How dare he leave her? He couldn’t just make her fall in love with him and throw in the towel without even giving them a chance.

She turned back to Erica and almost decided maybe he deserved another meeting with his mom.

“I can’t meddle in between you guys, but I’m going to see Sy now.” If it was the last damn thing she did. “I can give your gift to him for you.”

Erica’s face lit up. “The albums are in the back of my car.” She pointed at a white van around the corner. “Follow me.”

The second Erica opened the van’s back and Carmen saw it was empty, she felt a tingle down her spine. Next thing she knew, a syringe was jammed in her throat.

Crap…

***

Carmen woke up in a shaded room the size of a broom closet. Judging by the buckets, and broom, it actually was one. Her mouth was dry, and her head spun a little. How had she ended up in here? And where exactly washere?

She heard a heated conversation in the adjoining room. It was Erica’s voice. “He’ll be here with the money. You just wait and see.” A whimper followed, then she screamed, “Don’t you hurt him!”

Carmen tried to wrap her head around what was happening on the other side of the room. Fortunately, she didn’t have to wait long.

“My son will pay you! Just call him. Tell him you have his woman and he will pay you. The bastard won’t help his mom, but he will pay for that little bitch.”

Finally, it dawned on her what had happened. Erica had actually kidnapped her by drugging her and probably pushing her into a van. How very serial killer movie-style of her. And how stupid of herself to fall for it.

She pulled herself up and peered through the crack in the door. At the far end of the adjoining room, she made out three figures. As there was a row of cabinets between them, all she could see was their heads. One was Erica, pacing a hole in the floor, and the other two were men Carmen didn’t want to particularly meet.

As the conversation there went on, she started to look for a way out. That’s when she noticed another door on her left, opposite of where the trio was standing. Crawling on her stomach, she got herself through the door and ended up in a narrow corridor. She jumped up and started running. Any minute now, Erica would find out she had split.

Where had she taken her? It resembled an underground warehouse of sorts. Wherever she was, she needed out. Now.

At the far end of the corridor, she noticed a woman open a door and slip inside. Without giving it another thought, she ran after her. In the back of her mind, she wondered why the woman had been wearing a bikini in this place. It was quite chilly after all.

There was no time to waste. She pulled the door open and came face-to-face with a man who had a thin goatee as if he’d forgotten to shave it. Behind him, there was a buzz of activity, with several women in bikinis. Most of them sat on benches, some were doing squats, and a few looked pale.

Goatee frowned when he looked her up and down.

“What’s with the clothes?” His tone of voice suggested she shouldn’t be wearing any.

That certainly didn’t bode well for her. “I, um… left my… suit inside,” she said, not knowing what else to say.

He smirked. “Suit? Right.” His hand reached into an open locker and pulled out a tiny piece of cloth. It was a tiger print triangle bikini with a spandex thong the size of a postage stamp.

The horror.

When one of the girls called to the man in front of her, Carmen carefully made her move. She re-opened the door and peeked into the hallway. Sure enough, at the far end of it, she could see three people heading her way.

She shut the door again and hurried into the changing rooms. All she had to do was find a phone and she’d be out of here in no time. In the meanwhile, she couldn’t risk Erica finding her and using her as a means to get to Sy.

“Excuse me, where are the changing rooms?”

The women at the bench laughed at her. “First-timer, huh?”

One of them though, took pity on her. “There ain’t none, sugar.” Her arms made a circle around the space. “This is what you’ve got. But don’t worry, you’ve got nothing we haven’t seen before.”

“You’d better hurry up,” a blonde one with heavy makeup said. “If you’re not changed in the next five minutes, Johnny over there will give you a hand.” Judging by her scowl she gave Goatee, she spoke from experience.

Wasting no more time, Carmen changed into the tiny bikini. As expected, it was a disaster. More than half her breasts poked out of it. And the thong, well, calling it one was an overstatement. Never before had she felt this naked.

She sat on the bench next to the blonde. Like the rest of the women, she was eying the door in front of them.

---