Heller's Punishment (22 page)

“An
agricultural analogy? How apt,” I smiled.

He grinned
sheepishly. “Hey, I’m a farmer. What did you expect?”

“Simon, I
really have to contact Heller. I need to get Jye and the Head
Farmer away from the office so that I can use either the landline
phone or the laptop.”

“The computer
and phone are probably locked up. You won’t be able to access
them.”

“I know, but I
have to try. My only other option is to walk the hundred kilometres
to the nearest town. How long would that take me?”

“About twenty
hours or so. You can’t do that.”

I sighed in
frustration. “Is there any transport here?”

“Only the Kombi
van, but Jye controls the keys. And from what I’ve heard, he sleeps
with them.”

I rubbed my
chin in thought. “Even if I managed to get the keys from him,
everybody would hear me starting it for miles. No bicycles?”

“Not that I’m
aware of,” he said with a hint of bitterness. “But then there’s
lots going on here that I’ve been ignorant about.”

“They treat you
like prisoners here. I hate this place so much!”

Palpable
distress crossed his face. “Tilly,” he remonstrated. “It used to be
heaven here. Please don’t judge The Farm by what it’s now
become.”

I felt like a
worm. “I’m sorry, Simon. That wasn’t very respectful of me. I guess
I’m a city girl at heart.”

“I guess you
are,” he laughed nicely and patted my cheek. “Can we go back now?
I’m tired of being attacked by these triffids.”

We walked back
in the dark to the compound. We’d missed dinner, but managed to
sweet-talk the elderly cook, who I suspected had been dipping into
the homemade wine himself, into letting us raid the pantry. We
grabbed a bottle of the strawberry wine, some cheese, crackers and
olives. We sat in the dining hall and had a little feast between
us.

Simon held up
his goblet and clinked mine. “To us, Tilly. Friends forever?”

“Friends
forever.”

“Okay,” he
said, lowering his voice and checking the hall for any stragglers.
“This is what we’re going to do tonight. It’s Friday night.
Everyone’s feeling a bit loose. I’m going to call an urgent meeting
with the Head Farmer and Jye about something. I don’t know what
yet, but I’ll think of something. Then you’re going to sneak into
the office and see if you can access either the phone or the
internet. Try the laptop first. I’m fairly sure the landline is
locked with a code. Send a quick email, then get out of there as
fast as possible. The Head Farmer and Jye don’t want to talk to me
about anything, so I won’t be able to keep their attention for
long. How does that sound?”

“It sounds like
a plan.”

We cleaned up
and made our way to the general meeting hall where all the Farmers
congregated on a Friday night for a little fun. A table had been
set out with bowls of popcorn and bottles of the homemade wine and
homemade ginger beer and lemonade for the children. As we walked
through the door, it was obvious from the loud buzz of laughing
conversation that many adult Farmers had taken the opportunity to
become plastered. The children screamed with joy, chasing each
other around the hall, fuelled by sugar.

There were no
chairs and everyone sat happily on the floor. A group of men jammed
with acoustic guitars, the young mother with the newborn singing
along in a lovely voice. A small cluster of senior Farmers,
including the Head Farmer (who imperiously perched on a stool) and
Jye lounged in a corner of the room, all them looking rather
relaxed. Simon poured himself a glass of wine and went over to
them, starting a vehement conversation to distract them from my
brief appearance and immediate disappearance.

I jogged over
to the office, relieved to find that nobody bothered to lock any
doors around here. Inside the Head Farmer’s office, I tried her
phone. Simon was right; it was locked down with an access code.
However, in a stroke of luck for me, she’d carelessly left her
laptop sitting on her desk, still logged in to her account. Praying
that she didn’t have a password, I activated the screen. I silently
cheered – no password.

I called up her
email program and quickly composed a message to Heller’s personal
email address, copying it to the general business administration
email address that Daniel oversaw. Looking over my shoulder every
couple of seconds, I was too rushed and nervous to worry about
semantics.
h no comms here drugs possible meth lab need help pls
come soon DONT REPLY t xx

That was all I
managed to type before I heard voices approaching. I quickly hit
‘send’ and once I was sure the email had gone, I deleted it from
the ‘sent’ box and emptied the email trash, so no evidence would
remain. The voices came closer and I hid in the nearest spot,
underneath the desk, hoping that its modesty panel would shield me
from their view.

Two people
entered the office and slammed the door shut. I peeked out
surreptitiously to see Jye and the Head Farmer. Jye placed a bottle
on the desk, banging it down ungently.

“Get some
glasses,” ordered the Head Farmer and as usual Jye complied,
pouring her a full glass of the strawberry wine.

“Oh, this
stuff’s good,” she pronounced, gulping down her entire glass in one
go. She grabbed the bottle and topped herself up generously.

“Come here, you
little slut,” she commanded in a dirty voice, and for a
heart-stopping moment I thought she was talking to me.

Instead though,
Jye came over to her and with some effort, pulled off her shift,
throwing it on the floor where it landed like a deflated hot air
balloon.
Thank God, I can’t see what was going on
, I thought
gratefully. Unfortunately though I could hear, and I was pretty
sure that judging by the suckling noises, Jye was making up for any
lack of breastfeeding he’d suffered as an infant.

You know when
you see those movies where you laugh your arse off at some poor sap
who’s trapped under a bed suffering the indignities of listening to
a couple having sex? Funny, aren’t they? But, tonight I was that
sap, and the Head Farmer and Jye were that couple. It wasn’t funny.
Not in the slightest.

They were soon
on the desk, going at it. He pounded her like a pile driver and she
grunted in pleasure. It was shudderingly horrible. The desk creaked
and groaned with the burden. I was afraid it would collapse and I’d
be crushed to death by the fornicating couple.

On and on they
went, until I reached the point where I would willing spend another
two hours in the hot box just to make them stop. Eventually though,
as we’re told all things must, it came to an end, both of them
climaxing dramatically.

The Head Farmer
reached over the desk to open her first drawer. I stilled, afraid
she’d spot me, but she didn’t look in my direction, instead groping
with her hand to extract something from it. I heard rustling and
then the striking of a match and they both inhaled and exhaled
noisily. Cigarette smoke drifted down to me, tickling my nostrils.
They were smoking! I couldn’t believe it, especially after all the
fuss that Jye had kicked up with me about cancer risks. What a
hypocrite!

“Show me the
money again,” the Head Farmer ordered, and a crinkling noise
suggested that Jye had fetched the paper bag. “Excellent. I’m very
pleased with this deal. We’ve done well, Jye. It’s a much better
price than the Strykers were going to give us.”

“Yeah. But
they’re not happy about us not supplying as we arranged. I wish
they’d stop sending those threats to us. It gave me the creeps when
that head guy told us that they always extract blood penalties for
any wrongs against them.”

“They have to
understand that business is business and not take everything so
personally. They would have done the same to us if they had the
chance.”

“Do you think
they’ll follow through? Yeah?”

“Not sure.
They’re crazy enough. But anyway, even if they do we have Tilly to
send out to deal with them.” She laughed, and it wasn’t a nice
laugh. “Our little sacrificial lamb.”

“They’ll kill
her. Yeah?”

“Who knows? Who
cares? As long as she takes the heat for us and satisfies their
laughable ‘honour’ code.”

“I thought she
was going to leave after the punishment you dished out.”

“How could she?
She has no transport and no communications. We have her trapped
here. She’s not going anywhere. And no one knows where she is
either.” She paused, inhaling and exhaling. “It really turned me on
when she was so defiant. I’m thinking about riling her up so she’ll
talk back to me again. I’ll give her a turn in the hot box and then
I’ll bring out the whip. Strip her down and give her a couple of
strokes across that tight young arse.
Mmm mmm
. I’ll even
kiss it better afterwards to show how benevolent I can be.”

They both
laughed while my stomach churned.

“Yeah. Simon’s
keeping her occupied,” said Jye.

“God, I can’t
stand that pious prick. Daring to question
me
about what’s
going on here. He has to go.”

“Yeah.”

“Thinking about
punishing Tilly is making me horny again. Get down and give it to
me just the way I like it,” she commanded and she sat on the desk,
legs apart while he kneeled down in front of her and buried his
face in her.

“Oh yeah.
That’s it.” She moaned. “That’s good! Oh fuck, you have a wicked
tongue, Jye.”

I desperately
needed to plug my fingers in my ears to block the slurping and
moaning noises, but was afraid that any movement would catch their
attention. Instead I reviewed what I’d heard and their plans to
force me to deal with the Strykers (a bikie gang?) over their
dishonoured drug agreement. At least I knew their real agenda now.
I was sure the Strykers would turn out to be reasonable and
approachable businessmen. Not! Just then though, my reverie was
rudely interrupted by the Head Farmer’s animalistic scream of
orgasmic bliss. Jye flopped backwards onto the floor, his face
glistening, exhausted by his ordeal.

“We better get
back before everyone misses us,” she said, hauling her bulk off the
table and picking up her shift. “I have Tilly working with me in
the office next week. When the Strykers find out that we’ve
actually sold their order to someone else and not just threatened
to, they’ll be around here instantly. I’m running out of time with
her. I want to get my tongue on her before the Strykers get their
hands on her. She looks hot and juicy, and I don’t want to miss my
chance for a piece of that.”

Yuck!

“I want to have
a go of her too. Yeah. Don’t forget. I’m the one who brought her
here.”

“I won’t
forget, but you have to wait till I’m done with her. You can hold
her down for me while I take my time. We can both do her and then
we’ll let her deal with the Strykers.”

They were both
still laughing as they exited the office. As
if
I would let
either of them anywhere near me. Over my dead body, which was
probably how I’d end up if I didn’t escape from this place before
the Strykers showed their faces.

Chapter
15

I crawled out
from under the table and stretched. I had to return to the hall
before anyone noticed me missing. I sprinted around behind the
buildings and approached the hall from the opposite direction to
where the office was situated. The Head Farmer and Jye were
standing outside the hall talking and looked up as I approached. I
rested my hand on my stomach and pulled a face.

“I’m feeling a
bit off tonight,” I said pathetically. “Must be something I ate.
I’ve spent half the night in the bathroom.”

“Oh, you poor
thing,” sympathised the Head Farmer, taking the opportunity to rub
my back. It took every particle of self-control in me not to shake
off her hand. “But didn’t you know there’s a bathroom in the
hall?”

“No, I didn’t.
I’m sorry.”

She ushered me
into the hall, her caressing hand turning forceful. She clearly
didn’t want me wandering around the compound by myself. Inside, I
poured myself a glass of wine and slid down next to Simon, who sat
by himself, leaning against the wall.

“Everything all
right? I started to worry. You were gone for so long,” he said
quietly. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t get them to stay. They didn’t want
to talk to me at all.”

“It was an
extremely disturbing experience. In more ways than one. I’ll tell
you when we’re more private,” I said, shuddering at the memory.

We chatted for
a bit, shoulder to shoulder, watching the Farmers enjoy themselves.
No matter where I looked, all I saw was contentment, affection and
good humour. No one argued and even minor squabbles amongst the
children were solved with patience and tenderness. It would be
idyllic except for the malevolent presence of the Head Farmer,
looming over the happy scene, bespoiling it like an ink stain on a
crisp white shirt.

At bedtime it
was noisy in the dorm. The baby screamed continuously and the wine
made people snore loudly. I tossed and turned for ages before
giving up. I tiptoed over to Simon and woke him. We crept out to
the shed with the hay bales. I shared my evening’s adventures with
him and expressed my increasing concern for his safety.

“Don’t worry
about me, I’m more worried about you,” he said. “I can’t believe
they’ve planned to make you face these Strykers people alone. They
must think that if these bikies, or whoever they are, extract a
blood penalty on you then that will satisfy their need for revenge.
That’s so twisted. I never liked either of them, but I didn’t
realise just how warped they are.”

“That’s why
they picked a small security business in the city, I guess. I’m
nobody to them. They don’t care what happens to me. And if I die,
they can just tell Heller I was killed in the course of duty.” Not
that I was sure he cared any more. I’d tortured myself struggling
with the fact that he hadn’t made any effort to contact me, even
after I’d sent that email to him. Perhaps he’d been so disgusted
with me over the Will-incident that he’d decided to cut me free?
Misery rolled over me, so lost in self-pity that I didn’t even hear
what Simon was saying.