Bollywood Nightmare (8 page)

I could hear the brothers back in the main hall of the warehouse bitching at each other again so I took a decision and walked into the room, bold as brass.

“Are you looking for something, gentlemen?”

Their faces turned from anger to mirth in less time than it took for a Bollywood angel to flutter her eyelashes at the man she loved.

“Well, lookee what we’ve got here,” Josh exclaimed.

“Indeed, brother. We set a trap for him and even when it doesn’t fucking work he still falls in it.”

“What are you on about, you complete imbeciles, and what have you done to Kiya?”

“We have no fucking clue where the human bitch is, she should be in here somewhere but we can’t find her at all. She’s disappeared.”

“She must have found an exit.”

“Yeah, funny, Johnny. We’re in the badlands, if she got out anywhere but the door she’d turn to ashes.”

“Shhh,” Josh elbowed his brother, obviously afraid he’d revealed too much.

“How in hell’s name are we in the badlands? What is going on here?”

“Johnny, Johnny, Johnny.” Josh sighed and fiddled with the buttons on the front of his pinstripe suit. “You’ve never been the smartest tool in the pickle jar.”

“And you’ve never been able to keep your analogies straight,” I replied with a sickly smile.

“Can it, deadbeat,” Joe roared. The brothers might have fought like cat and dog but they were fiercely loyal to one another.

“What my dear brother is trying to say is that if you want to know what’s going on you better zip that sarcastic lip of yours and listen.” Josh sat down on a shaky wooden bench and started to pick at his nails. A very Djinn thing to do, the human form dug in at the nails, it was quite annoying really. I wasn’t sure why they persisted in that form when I was so clearly, fully Djinn. Maybe it was out of habit.

“We kidnapped your human and brought her here to torture her,” Josh said, “but it wasn’t her we were really after.”

“No, it was you.” Joe danced a little jig of glee and his brother rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“Thanks, bro, but I can tell this story myself. Yes, we wanted her to lead us to you. You have something we want, that our boss wants, and he’s willing to go to any lengths to get it.”

“But now you’ve lost your object of persuasion and your boss is going to kick your arses, right?” I smirked.

“No, because we have you here, we have the only key to this building and if you try to escape you will be turned to dust. So we never needed the dame anyway.” Joe cackled and I noticed that his eyes were redder than usual. He was about to change.

“Okay, guys, what do you want from me?”

“Oh, I think you know.” Josh replied with a sniff, “Don’t play stupid with us.”

“No, why try to kid the masters of stupid? Look, boys, I have nothing. I’m a fucking slave. All I have is the vessel my master keeps me in.”

Not the complete truth but pretty close as any possessions I did have were back in my tea kettle home in Mumbai and definitely not to hand.

“Oh, come on, Johnny.” Josh had changed by this point, his ugly human face looking no better now he was back to his native Djinn red and black colours. “Don’t try to kid us, we know you’ve got it, our boss said you’d try and trick us about it.”

“Look, guys, I’ve not got one damn thing and you can see I’ve nothing hidden about my person as I’m naked as the Djinn Day I was born.”

“You have hidden it,” Joe snapped and snatched at my arm. I pulled away violently but his brother caught my other arm and captured it in something ice cold and metallic.

“Copper,” he smiled, “you can’t get out of copper.”

Josh attached another manacle to my right arm and I started to feel the intense chill of it burn into my skin as I watched the brothers peel off thick gloves.

“You fucking bastards, what do you want from me?”

“The key,” Joe said.

“Yes, the key.”

“I don’t have a damn key, I’m a Djinn, I don’t need one for a kettle, I just jump down the spout.”

“No, you’re right, you don’t have your own key, it is our master’s key and he cannot do all he wants to without it.” Josh sighed and turned his back on me. “But since you’re being so uncooperative I think we’ll leave you in the coppers for a bit, maybe after a few hours of burning pain you might see sense.”

“Oh, come on guys,” I yelled, “I honestly don’t know what you mean. I don’t know your master and I don’t have anyone’s key. Please, come on, for your sister’s sake—”

“Don’t you
ever
mention her, you bastard, don’t you ever say her name. How can you after what you did? After abandoning her like that?”

“I told you I was tricked, captured and brought to the human world. I couldn’t do anything to get back to her but she’s safe in Jennistan and I know I’ll have hurt her but I’ll go back and make it up to her. I promise I will, boys, I promise.”

“She’s not in Jennistan,” Joe yelled, sulphur-yellow tears streaking his Djinn-red cheeks. “You know that, you know she was fucking kidnapped but you did nothing, you still do nothing to help her. That’s why we work for him, he says he knows her whereabouts, says he’ll tell us if we get his key back and we care about our sister, we want her home with us, we love her. Unlike you.”

“Hush, Joe.” His brother stroked his arm gently. “Don’t tell him anything else, he can’t be trusted. Come on, let’s go for a pint.”

“No, lads, no, don’t go.” I pulled on my chains even though they dug into my flesh and stung like a million wasp stings. “What do you mean she was kidnapped? I didn’t know, lads, I really didn’t know. Oh, why didn’t you tell me? I thought she was safe, I thought she was safe at home waiting for me…” I broke off with sobs of despair as my tormentors walked down the corridor and away from me. Leaving me with the news that my soul mate was in danger. I cried bitterly then because I knew there was nothing I could do to save her.

Chapter Eight

Kiya

“Let me untie you, now,” Aseem said after a few moments of comfortable silence. I brought my hands down in front of me and he started to work on the knots. “What’s this?” he asked, pulling at the charm around my neck.

“It’s just something my Dad gave me. It’s his amulet, he wears it for good luck. It hasn’t worked so well for me so far, though.”

“Oh, yes, it has,” Aseem chuckled. “Well, I think it has, this looks just like the key Josh uses to let them in and out of the door.”

“Really? So we can get out?”

“Well, I’m hoping so, let’s go.”

“Okay, think we better get dressed first though.”

“Good point. We’d better be quick. I don’t know when they’ll be back.”

“Thanks, Aseem,” I blurted out and I made a grab for my pyjama bottoms.

“What for?” he asked as he pulled his T-shirt over his cocoa-coloured chest.

“For, well, everything. I’d have been lost here without you.”

“Then I thank you too, Kiya, because I was lost without you here. Now I have the hope of escape, escape with you.”

“Do you want to escape with me, I mean, do you want to stay with me when we get out?”

“Sure, I’d like that,” he said, “but I have to get back to Mom before they get to her, need to move her, keep her safe.”

“I have an idea about that,” I nodded, “but we better see if we can get out of here first, then I’ll tell you the plan. Can we pick up a top for me too, I mean, I’m a little exposed right now.”

“As much as I enjoy seeing your breasts,
janemaan,
I’ll get you one of my tops to cover you up.”

* * * *

It was a little bit of a surprise to both of us when the bottom of my amulet fitted perfectly in the indent in the door and we could walk out into the world as free people once again.

“We need to ring my dad,” I commented while we jogged down the tatty back alley, “if he can get us some air tickets you and your mum can come to Mumbai with us, you’ll be safe there.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.” I nodded. He kissed me then with passion and relief and laughed heartily. “There’s a phone box over there, I wonder if I can work out how to reverse the charges?”

It didn’t turn out to be too difficult, which was the complete opposite of the conversation I had with my dad. He was initially relieved to hear my voice, after being informed that I had gone missing a day after I had arrived in America but then when I told him what I wanted his usual grumpiness kicked in.

“So let me get this straight, you want me to buy plane tickets for you, your kind of kidnapper and his mother? Oh and sort out some passports for them as well and such other stuff, are you really asking me this?”

“Yes, I am, but you can do it, you’ve got Johnny, it’ll be a breeze—”

“No, that’s not the problem—well—no, what I’m having trouble with is you wanting to bring your jailer and his mum home with you?”

“I know, Dad, I know it sounds crazy but can you do this for me? Aseem was a prisoner himself and he’s the one who’s got me out of that warehouse and away from those brutes and Dad, they were going to torture me, they threatened me…” My voice broke then as I remembered the ordeal and realised how far away from home I was. I wanted Dad to be there beside me, to protect me and tell me it was all going to be alright.

“Okay, I’ll get it sorted. Make your way to the airport, to Mumbai Airlines and I’ll get a flight for you.”

“Thanks, Dad, I love you.”

“I love you too,
Farishta
, keep safe now, okay?”

“I will, Dad, I will.” I put the phone down. “We have to get to the airport,” I said to Aseem, “Dad’s going to sort everything out for us.”

“Okay, well, first we need to get to Mum’s. I wonder if we could hail a cab and pay when we get there?”

“Maybe we won’t have to,” I chirped as I spied a familiar car and a familiar face across the road. “Curtis, I need your help.” I pulled open the passenger side door and hopped in.

“Where’s the scary dude? He went in to rescue you?”

“Who?”

“Some tall guy with an attitude and a red face, he threatened to…well, he told me to wait here for him, where is he?”

“You mean Johnny, tall, dark and annoying Johnny?”

“Yes, that sounds like him.”

“He’s now back there, in that warehouse, trying to rescue me, right?”

“Right.” Curtis nodded.

“Fuck.” I shook my head. I didn’t have time to think about what Johnny was doing in the US or why Curtis would know where to bring Johnny to find me. I had to go and rescue the big stupid Djinn before he got himself into real trouble.

“I’m so sorry, Aseem, but I’m going to have to go back in there. Someone I know, someone I care about is trying to rescue me and I have a feeling he’s going to be the one who needs saving now.”

“Okay, come on then,” Aseem shrugged, “we better go rescue your man.”

“Oh, no, he’s not my man.” I shook my head violently then looked back at Curtis. “Stay there, Curtis, don’t go anywhere without us.” He sighed and nodded. I turned back to Aseem. “He’s my, well, protector and my father would kill me if I lost him.”

“Okay,” he replied sharply, “whatever, come on quickly, we might get to him before he gets into the warehouse.”

I took another mental note to talk to Aseem later about Johnny. How I’d explain who he was without exposing the fact he was a Djinn I didn’t know but I’d have to worry about later as I had a big hulk of an idiot I had to go and save first.

It soon became apparent that Johnny had got himself into the building. We were just dithering around the entrance when Aseem grabbed me and dragged me behind a skip. He put his hand over my mouth and indicated with his other hand that I should stay quiet.

“I don’t know how that fucking pair got out,” Joe spat as he walked past, “I don’t understand it at all.”

“Who cares?” His brother shrugged. “We’ve got what we wanted and Aseem’s mother’s going nowhere. Once we’ve got the master’s key out of that asshole in there we’ll go and pay her a visit.”

They laughed in a stereotypically evil kind of way. Truly, I’m not just saying it for effect. You could tell from their laugh that they were bad and rotten through to their hearts, if they even had hearts.

We waited for them to reach the other end of the alley before darting out and using my amulet to open the door once again. We both hesitated before stepping over the threshold, Aseem much more than I.

“I understand if you want to stay there.” I gulped and tried to smile bravely.

“No, I’m not letting you go”—he paused significantly before continuing—“in there on your own. Come on, let’s be quick.”

We heard Johnny before we saw him, though at first I thought it was a tortured animal as the wailing screams that echoed round the high ceilings of the building were eerie and animalistic.

“Johnny,” I screamed and ran across the room to him, “what have they done to you?”

I was ripping at the cuffs around his wrists before I realised he was in Djinn form. Well, that cut down on the explaining I’d have to do with Aseem.

“He’s a Djinn, he’s not dangerous. Aseem, can you help me?” I smiled over in his direction. He was stood stock still, shock written all over his face. “And Johnny, will you stop wailing, I’m trying to get you out,” I snapped.

“You don’t understand,” Johnny gasped, “the bonds are nothing to me right now.”

“Yeah, they look it.” I grimaced as I pulled at one manacle and Djinn skin came away with it. “Will you turn human, please, you’re scaring Aseem and I need him to help me rescue you.”

Johnny lost the red, scary Djinn look but managed to look just as dejected in human form. It was easier to get the manacles off then, they dropped off with just a little tug.

“She’s been kidnapped,” he moaned, “I don’t know where she is, I don’t know what happened to her and they won’t tell me.”

“Who?”

“Josh and Joe’s sister, I guess.” Aseem said off to my left, “they talked about her quite a lot.”

“What do you know about my soul mate?” Johnny growled and grabbed Aseem’s arm.

“Whoa, easy, tiger,” I whistled. “Aseem’s a good guy.”

“I don’t know much, dude, just what I’ve overheard, but there’s this letter they kept in the office.”