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Nothing else happened for the remainder of the voyage. Evidently Moeller’s personal guard and the security of his cabin provided enough protection to ensure that Larra was not attacked again. With nothing to do in her cabin except think Larra puzzled over her situation.
She was a bit confused by the actions of her captors. She suspected that Moeller and his forces had a strong connection with the German military even though the war had been over for almost two years and so she was used to the brutality of its followers. After all the Third Reich had made brutality into an art form. But she was surprised that Moeller’s men showed so little discipline. His actions in having the two men who had molested her thrown into the brig indicated that he expected a certain standard of behaviour from his men, but relying on Moeller for protection did not give her much confidence.
It was clear that Moeller wanted her for something, although exactly what remained to be seen. There were any number of reasons why members of the now defunct Third Reich might want to take her prisoner; revenge being the most obvious. She would just have to wait and see.
The sudden silence of the ship’s engines and the sounds associated with
the cocking of a ship told her that they had finally arrived at their
destination. As far as Larra
could tell she had been at sea for about a week, going by the number of meals
she had eaten and the number of times she had
slept. There was the sound of
men arriving outside the door of her cabin and then Moeller entered, followed
by two other men. “On your
feet
Larra heard the other two men come in and move to either side of her. “Handcuff her just in case, Moeller said. “I don’t think she is as docile as she would like me to believe,”
Larra hid her dismay at being handcuffed, but said nothing as the two guards pulled her hands behind her back and lacked them in place. Then with a man on each arm she was led from the cabin.
She and her guards walked in silence as they escorted her down the gangway and then one of them spoke. “Well, twat, got any more tricks up your sleeve?” Larra’s sightless eyes widened. She knew the voice. It was that of Karl or Gustav one of the men Moeller had ordered thrown into the brig.
There was a chuckle from the other side, and Larra recognized the other man. “She seems surprised Gustav. She must really have thought that Moeller would leave us in the brig just for having a little feel.”
“Stupid English bitch. Do you really think your cunt is so sacred that the boss would sacrifice one of us? It’s just one of his little games. You better get used to it. Moeller likes playing games.”
Larra was surprised, but not so surprised that she did not react when she felt Karl’s hand on her breast again. She twisted her body and raised her leg intending to slam her foot into the back of his knee, but both men anticipated her, evidently expecting the reaction, and jerked her arms viciously upward, almost dislocating them and forcing her head down.
Larra gasped at the sharp pain. The angle of her arms prevented her from taking any action against the men who held her and she was forced to plant her feet firmly in order to keep the pain in her shoulders to a minimum.
“Not so tough when we’re ready for you are you, twat?” Gustav chuckled. “Just remember that we’re in charge and can take you whenever we want.” To emphasize his point he squeezed Larra’s other breast. And then grabbing her hair jerked her erect. “Now no more fighting or we’ll give you a good fucking instead of taking you to the castle.”
Larra didn’t fight. She suspected that her escorts would like an excuse to beat her and force themselves upon her, and if what they told her was correct then Moeller would probably do nothing to prevent them from having their way. She could not expect him to come to her aid. She wondered just what sort of game he was playing. Whatever it was it appeared to be partly psychological and partly physical in an attempt to break her.
She and her escort came to some steps and she was walked up them. Unlike those of the ship they were wide enough for the three of them to walk side by side and she counted fifty of them before they reached the top. There was the sound of a heavy door being swung back and then she was ushered inside.
Larra was immediately aware of a sensation of being in a large space. The footsteps of her and the two men holding her echoed as though in a great hall and it took a good thirty seconds before they crossed the space and another door was opened. Larra counted the paces and guessed that the entrance hall was at least one hundred feet across. It truly felt as if she was in a castle and the feeling continued as she was led up a curving staircase of thirty five steps, giving her some idea of the height of the second floor.
As they reached the second floor Helga’s voice greeted her. “That’s good boys. Turn her over to me. Moeller wants her properly bathed and dressed before he meets with her.”
To Larra’s surprise both men merely chuckled before releasing her. “I wouldn’t mind help with the undressing,” Gustav said, “but I expect I’ll get my chance later. In the meantime you can look after her, Helga. Here’s the key to the cuffs.” He gave Larra’s breast one more squeeze before letting go of her and there was a corresponding pinch of her bottom no doubt courtesy of Karl. Then Helga took her arm.
“They are brutal idiots,” Helga said. “I wish I could do more to help you, but I have to be very careful. Moeller has threatened to turn me over to the garrison if I don’t do exactly what I am told.”
Lara said nothing, but kept in mind what Helga had said. If she was to escape unaided she would need a friend, but she had already seen that Moeller could not be trusted in anything he said and she was not about to try and recruit Helga until she was more certain about her.
“Here we are,” Helga said. “I’m sure you will like this a great deal more than the cabin on the ship. Let me get rid of these first.” Larra felt the key click in the lock and then the handcuffs were removed.
Unable to see what Helga was talking about, Larra allowed herself to be led into the room. She got her first clue when Helga walked her across the room and helped her into a comfortable chair. “You sit there while I get your bath ready. Then we’ll get you something to wear that isn’t so travel worn.”
A few seconds later Larra heard the sound of running water and smelled the scent of bath salts. Then Helga came for her and led her into the bathroom. “Here you are,” Helga said. “Now you have a nice bath.” While Larra stood there, Helga helped her with her clothes and then held her arm while she stepped into the bath.
“My, you have a fine body,” Helga commented. “I wish I looked like that. You are like some sort of goddess.”
Larra found the words disturbing. They were almost like those Karl had used when he and Gustav had fondled her. It occurred to her that she had no way of knowing if Helga was the only other person in the room. The thought was unsettling and she bathed as quickly as she could and then asked Helga to help her dress.
“You’ll like these,” Helga said. She helped Larra into a skirt and blouse along with a pair of slippers. Being clothed however, did not make Larra much more comfortable. She had the constant sensation that someone other than Helga was watching her and the fact that Helga had not given her any underwear even when she asked made her more than a little nervous. However, at least she was wearing something although from the lightness of the fabric she guessed that most of her upper anatomy could be seen through her blouse. However, she was barely dressed when there was a knock at the door.
It was really nothing more than a courtesy knock. The door opened immediately and Moeller entered accompanied by Harper. Larra identified both by their step and the distinctive odour of the cigarettes each man smoked.
Larra did not wait for either man to begin speaking. Instead she went on the offensive. “Just what do you want with me? You seem to be going to a lot of trouble just to ransom me so it must be something else.”
“You are exactly right,
“Cooperation?” Larra snarled. “I’ve been kidnapped, blinded, and threatened with rape. It is hardly treatment likely to make me cooperative.”
“The ‘treatment’ as you put it was meant to illustrate a point. You are completely within my power. The place where I have taken you is somewhere where no one will ever find you. While you are here I can treat you well or I can have you serve my men. Which do you prefer?”
Larra recognized the pattern. Moeller had shown her that he could hurt and humiliate her or treat her well. However, she was not taken in by so obvious a ploy. And she remembered the conversation between Harper and Moeller. Whoever Moeller was he wanted her for something and although he had her completely within his power that fact gave her a little leverage.
“I would prefer that you tell me what this is all about. Or do you and Harper have plans to rape me before getting to the point? You have shown that you are more than willing to take advantage of a helpless blind woman.”
“If I wanted to rape you,” Moeller said. “I assure you that your legs would already be spread and I’d be between them. You’re not exactly in any position to resist. However, I can do without the sarcasm. I had you brought here for a reason and I have no intention of wasting any more time. Now shut up and listen or Harper and I will find other ways of amusing ourselves with you. ”
Larra closed her mouth. She might as well find out what Moeller wanted, although she already had a strong suspicion. She hoped, however, that she was wrong; because if she wasn’t there was no way that she could give him what he wanted.
“As you may have guessed,
“You mean the cesspool that attempted to draw the rest of the world into a totalitarian nightmare, don’t you?” Larra interrupted.
“I suggest that you keep your mouth shut,”
Larra resisted the urge to offer a further insult. She had no desire to give Moeller any excuse to hurt her any more than he already had and so she sat and listened.
“During my service of the Fatherland I had the honour to serve directly under Reichsfuhrer Himmler. In December of 1943 I was given a special assignment by the Reichsfuhrer, namely the establishment of a base where members of the Reich could take refuge in the unlikely event that the Reich was defeated. I completed that assignment and prepared the base for the eventual evacuation of senior members of the Reich. Unfortunately, the Reichsfuhrer died a hero’s death in the service of the Fatherland before he could escape to this prepared refuge.”
“You mean the gutless bastard committed suicide rather than face justice don’t you?” The words were out of her mouth before she could call them back, but she didn’t regret them. Having Moeller refer to a scumbag like Himmler as a hero was a bit too much.
“I can see now why the Reichsfuhrer became so obsessed with you elimination,
Larra did not comment. During the last eighteen months of the war she had spent a good deal of time involved in various covert missions that she was sworn to secrecy to never reveal; not even to her friends, and she was certainly not going to enlighten Moeller.
“However,” Moeller continued, “my time was not
wasted. I learned a good deal
about you during that time; enough to realize that there was much more to
you than what was revealed in your recently published biography,
Woman
of the
Century,
the Life of
“That book was unauthorized,” Larra replied. “A great deal of it was grossly exaggerated.” It was a sore point with her that the writer who had writer the account of her life had not once interviewed her or any of her friends, but somehow managed to have written a very accurate account of her adventures. It had been churned out by some hack writer calling himself L’Espion and it still burned her that it had become a runaway best-seller.
“That may well be,” Moeller replied, “but I was struck by two incontrovertible details in the book. The first was that you were born in 1908 and one of your oldest friends, Katie Reddel was born in 1907. That would make you thirty-nine-years-old and Miss Reddel forty. However, that does not seem to agree with the second significant fact neither of you appear any older than women in their mid-twenties.
Larra kept her face expressionless. She could see where Moeller was going with his account. She supposed it was only a matter of time before someone noticed that neither she nor any of her closest companions seemed to age. However, other than isolating herself completely from the rest of the world there didn’t seem any way around keeping her extended youth a complete secret.
“I see from you silence that I have hit on something significant,”
Moeller said. “I also find
it significant that
Woman
of the Century describes incidents that should have
left you scarred for life, if
not permanently crippled, and yet I have seen with my own eyes that your
body is completely unblemished, not to mention that you have the physique
of a very fit seventeen-year-old.”
“So you were watching, you bastard,” Larra thought. For some reason she found it especially invasive that Moeller had taken advantage of her blindness to spy on her while she bathed.
“I’m tired of this,” Larra said. “What is it that you want?”
“First and foremost, I want the location of the Lost World, and I want it described exactly.”
“The Lost World? Why?”
“My research reveals that it was when you visited the Lost World that you discovered the some sort of mysterious plant or mineral that has given you the power of rejuvenation. Its location is one of your most closely guarded secrets. You have always justified keeping it a secret by stating that you did not want its unique cultures and wildlife disrupted by outside forces. However, I think there was another more important reason and that was to prevent the discovery of whatever it is that had given you the secret of eternal youth.
Larra did not so much as flicker an eyelash at Moeller’s assessment. He had gotten it almost exactly right. However, she had no intention of giving him the satisfaction of knowing just how much he really knew. “That’s a very interesting theory,” she replied. “However, it sounds more like wild conjecture than sound scientific fact.”
“Perhaps,” Moeller agreed, “but unless you tell me what I want to know I fully intend to test at least part of my theory.”
Moeller’s tone changed as he spoke. There was no doubt that he was making a very thinly veiled threat, but Larra pretended ignorance. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Just this,
Larra swallowed, but kept any other sign of her fear hidden. Considering the sort of men who had kidnapped her it was not surprising that it had come to this. She feared rape and the brutality associated with it more than anything else, but she could not give in to Moeller’s demands. Revealing the location of the Lost World to a man like him would almost certainly lead to its ruthless exploitation. Its pristine environment would be destroyed, and its peoples enslaved. She could not allow that. Even if Moeller or someone like him did not find the mystical spring that was the source of her youth there was always a chance that he might. It was a chance she could not take. Keeping her voice level she replied to his threat.
“Rape will not force me to reveal what you want. It will only confirm that you are no better than the depraved lunatic who founded the Third Reich.”
“Perhaps not,” Moeller agreed. She could hear the vile anticipation in his voice. “Perhaps not; but it will be fun watching.” He snapped his fingers and the door opened. Larra heard the sound of feet as a number of men filed into the room. Blind and helpless, she fought back her terror as they moved toward her.
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