Retribution

RETRIBUTION

(PART FOUR)

BY

WALLACE

He was close enough to feel the heat from the flames as the big car burnt steadily in the middle of the road but all he could think about were Charlie and Jimmy because at that moment they were nowhere to be seen.

He could see armed Police Officers literally crawling towards him to the left and the whole area seemed to have gone very quiet. Horns still blared but they were a long way off. The drivers who could actually see what had happened sat stunned in their vehicles.

The traffic was gridlocked.

He sensed rather than saw movement off to his right and then he noticed that the officers had stopped moving. Still in a half crouch, gun still in his right hand, the Inspector turned his head slowly and made unexpected eye contact with a tall, masked, silver creature dressed entirely in shiny PVC and carrying a semi automatic machine pistol.

*

Heather could only watch as the creature drove her fingers repeatedly in and out of Ally's moist opening and even now, eyes fixed on the strange being as they were, her breath was quickening, she was beginning to pant, her eyes were glazing over and there was sweat on her forehead. Sensing that she was close to orgasm even in these unreal circumstances, the creature drove her fingers in even harder, pumping them in and out of Ally's exposed vagina exactly as if she was being fucked.

Ally could resist no more she closed eyes as if wanting to block it all out but still she moaned and every now and then an arm or a leg would twitch involuntarily as the oncoming climax forced her to lose control of her muscles momentarily.

Her hands were tied behind her back; the two smaller silver creatures appeared to be watching her anxiously whilst the tall one fucked her mercilessly with no less than three fingers.

Now she moved just a little closer and stroked Ally's generous breasts through her black mesh bra, Ally groaned and Heather, her hands also tied behind her back, could watch no more.

"Hey, whatever you are! Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"

The smaller creatures swung round but Heather was already standing up. Even barefoot she stood the same height as the silver one, who turned slowly, her fingers no longer moving but still embedded deep inside Allison. For a moment she looked almost comical as she put her head to one side as if questioning what Heather had just said.

Now the two of them stood no more than a few inches from each other, their eyes locked together. Slowly the silver creature withdrew her gloved; glistening wet fingers from Ally's vagina with a slight plopping sound bought them up to her masked face and inspected them. Then, to Heather's intense annoyance, she began to smell them, breathing deep as if savouring the aroma.

So absorbed by this was Heather that she didn't see the creature's left hand come up swiftly and bitch slap her three times across the face and neither did she see the first three punches that the creature threw at her, hitting her on the nose and the lower lip and the jaw respectively which sent her staggering and then crashing to the floor where the creature continued to hit her until the smaller ones dragged her away.

*

He was cut off, literally cut off, standing in the middle of a major arterial road watching the remains of a brand new vehicle, which was now reduced to no more than a pile of white hot metal, burn with no form of communication open to him because his mobile phone was in what was left of the car, watching something that appeared to come from another planet walking slowly towards the black clad man lying in the road.

The man who had caused the explosion in the first place.

The creature walked forward slowly, moving the gun it held in its hands slowly from left to right. Now two more silver creatures were joining it, one emerging from the blue van, the other from the white one and both of them carried similar weapons.

It was obvious that the armed officers had never seen anything like this before and they watched as the taller of the three "aliens" moved deliberately forward until she was standing over the man lying prone on the floor.

Overhead the Police Helicopter still hovered but even now the steady beating of its blades was being drowned out by a much deeper, throatier sound. Suddenly the area was lit by a blindingly powerful searchlight, which seemed to pick out every policeman currently on the ground. It also made the actions of the tall silver being even more dramatic as she slowly raised her gun and almost casually fired what seemed like a whole clip full of bullets into the man lying prone and already injured on the ground.

*

It was quiet when she woke up.

Quiet but very, very, bright.

She tried to shield her eyes but her hands were still tied behind her back. She tried to sit up but it was difficult because her ankles had been tied together as well with coil after coil of soft cotton rope, she was somehow relieved to find that she still had her low cut bra and high cut panties on. She was not as uncomfortable as she could have been. She struggled to get upright but not only was she tied very tightly, she was also laying on something soft, Something that seemed to form itself around her body, Something that reacted almost as if it had a life of its own.

Her head ached and her lower lip was cracked and swollen. Her nose felt sore but not as painful as the time she had broken it falling off a horse. The room she was in was pure white; the light reflected off the walls and seemed to sting her eyes. Finally she struggled upright. She was laying on a kind of bed or at least something that looked like the bottom half of a bunk painted pure white and with what appeared to be a lid that was currently lying on the floor next to it, a Perspex lid with several flexible tubes attached. The sort of thing you might find on a vacuum cleaner but pure white.

She felt like shit but she was still alive.

The room was very quiet; there was a slight electronic hum but otherwise total silence. She looked around her. White floors, white walls, white ceiling. Too much of this place could drive her mad and then the white door opened and she began to seriously doubt the current state of her sanity.

*

The heavy throbbing noise was coming closer; Inspector Martin looked up and was amazed by what he saw. A huge black shape was descending slowly toward the ground. He started at first but was relieved by the voice he heard unexpectedly in his left ear.

"It's a Blackhawk C70 guv, civil version! Remember the time they tried to rob the Bank of England note repository in Loughton with a couple of 'em?" Jimmy had to shout to make himself heard above the noise, they were both trying to shield themselves from the downdraft. Still staring up at the helicopter the Inspector asked the question that had been bothering him for some time.

" Where's Charlie?"

They had both taken their eyes off the silver creatures and now they had to adjust their vision as a series of gunshots cut through the night air. The Inspector stared in shock as he saw the tall silver being standing in the middle of East India Dock road flanked by two smaller but identical creatures holding Charlie by the throat with one hand whilst still clutching the machine pistol in the other.

*

Two silver creatures entered the room, she somehow felt that they were not the same ones who had been around earlier but it was not them that drew her attention, it was what followed them.

She was looking at a woman.

A quite large woman with a completely shaven head and bare breasts to which were attached small gold cups with thin, barely discernible wires attached.

A woman who was sitting in a kind of small plastic car. Black and shiny in stark contrast to the pure white room, low and streamlined. Neither the woman's hands or her feet were visible but her upper torso seemed to jut out from the car as if it were built around her

It had four tiny wheels and it moved silently on what must have been a battery powered motor but the most remarkable thing about it was that the otherwise naked woman appeared to be moulded into it.

*

Until he was told otherwise he was the senior officer, so it was up to him to take charge of negotiations. This was now a hostage situation, Charlie was a hostage and he wanted her back. The huge Blackhawk helicopter that in other circumstances would be used as a gunship hovered above him, dwarfing the Police helicopter that was used for surveillance purposes only. He could hear sirens, he could see blue flashing lights everywhere, fire engines were trying to get to them through side roads but right now nothing was moving apart from the rope ladder that even now was being thrown from the Blackhawk.

He made his decision.

Shouting above the noise he looked directly at the tall silver creature.

"THERE ARE ARMED POLICE ALL AROUND YOU! LET YOUR HOSTAGE GO AND I WILL TELL THEM TO HOLD THEIR FIRE UNTIL YOU ARE IN THE HELICOPTER…" The man who had been dragged under the car had died when the Jaguar had exploded but one man was still alive, the one who had fallen just in front of the lorry. He was beginning to move. The tall silver creature appeared to be staring at the Inspector but even as he spoke she moved her arm suddenly to the left and riddled the injured man with bullets.

It gave Charlie the chance she needed.

Catching her captor off guard she kicked her in the shins and then elbowed her in the stomach and before the silver one could recover she had grabbed the gun and turned it on the smaller silver creature to her left, who, taken by surprise, dropped her own at what must have been Charlie's whispered instruction and allowed Charlie to drag her off to the left and the cover of the white van.

A lot of what happened next would forever remain unclear in his memory. The tall silver creature picked up the discarded firearm and ran towards the injured policeman who was still lying on the pavement in a pool of his own blood, she stood over him, one hand holding the pistol the other by her side and she seemed to stare defiantly at the Inspector. The remaining smaller creature had followed her and was standing next to her, gun raised

It was his call.

The marksman could open fire but before they did the chances were that one or other of the silver creatures would execute one of his own.

*

The silver ones stood at the door as if guarding it but Heather could not take her eyes from the woman in the car.

Her head was shaven, she wore a gold collar around her neck, so wide it might have been a posture collar and a similar but narrower one around her forehead, both, like the nipple cups, had tiny wires attached. Her face was covered by a gold mask with eye, nose and mouth holes, similar to the Mask of Janus but with only one face.

The car moved silently towards her and the masked woman regarded her steadily.

Finally she spoke,

"Heather, if you cooperate with us no harm will come to you, I promise." her voice was low but sibilant. Heather was not sure she believed her,

"Where's the other one? The tall sonofabitch!" the masked woman was unphased.

"Number One is no longer here." Heather thought for a moment.

"Number One huh?" So who are you?" the woman answered immediately.

"I am Five." Heather looked at her.

"Hi Five!" she said cheekily but the humour was lost on the people around her, she tried to move her bound hands, "I would but I'm a little tied up at the moment!" still no one laughed. The woman continued as if nothing had happened,

"…and this is Seven and this is Nine." She indicated the two silver creatures. Heather looked at her in mock surprise.

"This is a joke, right? Either that or someone's been watching too much Star Trek!" the woman regarded her from what Heather assumed must be lidded eyes.

"Pure coincidence." She said quietly. Then she raised her head to study Heather once more. "We need to keep you out of the way for a while, you won't be harmed, far from it, you'll just be… out of circulation." Heather had decided some time ago to play the innocent abroad.

"The Maafia say that when they whack someone." She drawled.

"We're not the Mafia!" five held her gaze.

"Okay. Where are Ally and Angela?" Again five regarded her steadily.

"They're fine. They've cooperated and they're nearly ready, they'll be in in a minute or two." She anticipated Heather's look of surprise, "You've been out for some time, we gave you a sedative to let you…"

"…recover after being beaten while I was helpless?" there was no rancour in Heather's voice, she was just stating a fact. Five moved on.

"Seven and Nine looked after you, they bathed your lip and washed you down…" Heather looked up at the anonymous creatures with a kind of affection.

"Thanks guys!" she said quietly. Then she turned to Five. "Are these the same ones who were with us in the ambulance?" five hesitated for a moment and then she shook her head. Heather nodded.

So there were quite a few of them. A regular army of silver women. She wondered where they all came from and whether it was something they should know about in Area 51.

Five was still looking at her.

"Well, are you going to help us?" Heather asked a question that she already knew the answer to.

"What happens if I don't?" she saw the naked woman's right arm flex just a little and a small compartment opened in the side of the strange vehicle she was sitting in.

"Then we use this!" inside the compartment was a small disposable syringe, Heather looked at the clear liquid inside as if it would somehow tell her what it was, "But I'd rather not," said Five hastily," because it will be much easier all round if you 're still conscious!"

*

The term Mexican Stand Off was something they used to use in cowboy films when he was young. He never really knew what it meant but he guessed that it referred to situations like these.

SO19 were not here yet but he knew that they would shoot first and ask questions much later. So far the officers from the Armed Response Vehicle had held their fire but they wouldn't wait forever. He didn't feel exposed, standing as he was in the middle of the road with stationary traffic all around him. He was thankful that so far people were staying in their cars. There were already enough targets around to shoot at.

He wondered where Charlie was; and he wondered how this would all end, when a single shot answered all his questions for him. It came from somewhere very close. Somewhere in the direction in which Charlie had gone, then he saw the small silver being running desperately towards her companions.

When she neared them the taller one pushed her towards the rope ladder of the helicopter and began to fire indiscriminately into the traffic. Her smaller colleague followed suit whilst the armed officers did their best to pick off distant, moving targets.

The Inspector was already running in the direction of the white Mercedes van just as the first silver being was hurrying up the rope ladder. He was relieved to see Charlie standing between the van and the brick wall of the building. He called out.

"Charlie, are you okay?" Charlie looked distracted. She stared into his eyes.

"You were right Bob. It WAS her. She 's okay and Linda's theory was right too. They can't talk Bob. They're gagged and their hands are restrained. They've got very limited movement!" Charlie paused, it seemed to the Inspector that she was trying to suck in air, he assumed that it was shock, the aftermath of the situation she had been in.

Above him he could see the last figure climbing into the helicopter and even now it was moving upward into the night sky, the searchlight beam flicking off as quickly as it had flicked on.

He put his hands on Charlie's upper arms.

"Charlie, was she able to tell you anything about who's doing this?"

There was a sudden burst of gunfire.

The unarmed Police Helicopter had got too close to the big Sikorsy Blackhawk. The Inspector was alarmed to see white-hot tracer bullets stab into the night air. He was also relieved to see the police helicopter bobbing quickly away from its larger aggressor unharmed. He turned his attention back to Charlie who was becoming increasingly more distressed.

"I asked her Bob. I asked her who it was and all she did… all she did was clap her hands! She just clapped her hands over and over again…" without warning Charlie fell forward. The Inspector just managed to catch her in his arms before she hit the ground. Her mouth was open and tiny red bubbles were beginning to form round her lips. The Inspector looked around him and then he saw it on the wall.

He saw the blood spatter from the bullet that had entered Charlie's chest and exited through her lower back and already he was running past an open mouthed Jimmy with Charlie in his arms looking desperately for the ambulance that he knew must be on it's way.

THE STORY CONTINUES IN PART FIVE

© Wallace 2004. The writer maintains the right to be recognised as the author of this piece. This is a work of fiction and bears no resemblance to any places, either real or imaginary or any people or characters real or fictitious, living or dead.