The Fortress, Catherine Holland [best books to read non fiction .TXT] 📗

had been taken. It was too soon after he’d made his offer for it to have happened, whoever had done this was a student at the College.
Ryan had to be patient; he had to know where Ellen was being taken before making his move. He took out his cell phone and called Max, “Max its Ryan listen; Ellen’s been kidnapped, I’m tracking her at the moment and they’re slowing down. How soon can you get back here?” “Give me five minutes and I’m there.” Was the reply.
Ryan hung up, his attention never wavering from the little red dot that had now stopped moving. Moments later the red dot was moving again and then stopped a few minutes later. When it remained stationary, Ryan zoomed in on the red dot on his computer and stared in disbelief at the location it’d revealed. A few minutes later Max was beside him, also staring in disbelief.


Chapter Eleven


Ellen woke up to a world of pain; her nose was throbbing and her face felt swollen. She found herself laying on her stomach, and then felt cold air on her back; someone had taken off her shirt and bra. She looked around her and saw the twins. One of them was holding a young girl while the other took off her shirt and bra; they then put her on the bed face down, exposing her back.
Ellen didn’t want to watch anymore, she frequently heard thuds as one of the twins hit another girl into unconsciousness. Eventually only heavy breathing could be heard, as Ellen tried to twist around to get a better view of where she was; she heard someone walk up to where she lay bound, it was Ahmed.
He looked over her, disgust written on his face, as though he was too good for her. She saw him walk away and then withdraw something from his belt, it looked like a stick. She heard the other girls cringe at the sight of it and knew it must be bad. Ellen looked down at her bare breasts, thankful that the necklace was still around her neck.
She knew that Ryan would come for her, and she hoped it would be quickly; the tension in the room hung thickly like a malevolent spirit. Ahmed walked over to where she lay and drew the stick out to its full length; it wasn’t just any stick, it was a piece of raw bamboo. She started screaming again and again as the stick cut into her back.
It lasted for so long she didn’t think it would stop, she could feel the hot blood trickling down her spine, tears poured from her eyes and then thankfully, mercifully, she knew no more.

* * * *

Ahmed only stopped hitting her when she blacked out from the pain; her back bleeding badly from the numerous lacerations the bamboo had caused. He then turned his attention to the other four girls, whipping them one after the other until there was no sound in the room.
Only echo’s from the screams of pain and his heavy breathing; feeling much better Ahmed walked from the room, not bothering to close or lock it. He felt his brother come up the stairs behind him; Ahmed walked into the bathroom to wash his hands at the sink, the warm water washed away the blood and the backlash stings from the bamboo.
Once finished he dried his hands and sat down on the floor next to his brother; he closed his eyes and then began to meditate; he would need as much calm as possible, for when the girls awoke; the questioning would begin, but not before administering a bit more pain.

* * * *

Ryan and Max looked in disbelief at the location of the red dot in front of them, they sat as if mesmerised; but Ryan shook himself back to his senses. He took out his cell phone and stood up, walking down the stairs as his call connected to the police station.
Ryan told them everything, about how he and Max had made the connection of why the girls were taken; about how he’d put a tracking device in the necklace he’d given Ellen that morning and where it had ended up. The police took his cell number and said that they’d call him back confirming that Ellen was missing from College.
He didn’t have to wait long, five minutes later he was in his Porsche; in a race with the police and ambulances to get to the place where the girls had been taken and held captive. The place where everything had started; HighCliffe Castle.

* * * *

Ahmed and Bastien woke the girls up one by one; they shook them roughly and when that didn’t work, they poured ice cold water on their backs. At first the girls’ screams were all that could be heard, echoing loudly around the room. Ahmed hissed at them to be quiet; and then hitting them when they refused, sending their screams even higher and louder than before.

* * * *

Ellen didn’t think she’d be able to take any more pain, she was wrong; she was bought to semi-consciousness when ice cold water was thrown o her flaming back. The pain was beyond words; she screamed and writhed, trying to shake the water off of her back, only to scream louder when she received another lashing.
She couldn’t think or see straight, she knew that someone was coming for her, for all of them; but the name eluded her. Her body finally gave up, unable to take any more punishment and she passed out.

* * * *

Ryan pulled up in front of the Castle with a screeching of tyres, he cut the engine and ran from the car, taking his keys but leaving the doors open. He could hear Max running behind him; a faint sound stopped them in their tracks. Although it was very faint the sound was unmistakable, the sounds of multiple girls screaming in agony.
Ryan’s breath left him and he felt as though he’d just been gut-punched; taking in a deep breath he hurried towards the sounds of the screams, they were coming from the side of the Castle; as they ran around the base of one of the turrets Ryan saw a small window with bars across it. He looked in and regretted it; two males were in the room; one was stood by a door and the other was stalking around the room, whipping the girls’ backs with some sort of cane.
Ryan could see the blood on their bare skin trailing down their backs, he felt sick to his stomach at the sight of all that blood. He could hear the sirens from a distance, but knew that the males I the room wouldn’t be able to hear them because of the screams. Ryan forced himself to move on; he had to look for a way to get in, and had to get to the girls.
He sent Max back to the front of the Castle to guide the officers and ambulances in; then carried on walking around the turret. He resisted the urge to open the door and run into the room below; killing the males who’d dare to kidnap and hurt his sister and the girl under his protection. The police chose that moment to arrive at Ryan’s side.

* * * *

Clara swore she was dreaming, in her dream she was tied to a bed, delirious with pain and fever; she could see someone creeping silently down the stairs, a gun in their hands; they almost looked like the police. But then decided it couldn’t be as it was only a dream, a very bad and painful dream.
She heard shouts above the screams, but couldn’t make any of the words out; her view was partially blocked as she was on her stomach, her head faced to the side. She dreamt that a dozen or so officers had suddenly burst into the room; their guns held high and threatening. She saw one of her captors surrender immediately and be led from the room in handcuffs.
She could hear more shouting, the one remaining captor and the police, shouting at each other; the words mixing to become nothing more than the sounds of angry bees. She heard heavy steps on the floor and then the sound of a gun firing. The sound was extraordinarily loud; echoing around the room. But none of that could be happening; it was just a dream.
She felt someone touch her hands and tried to make herself as small as possible, cringing away from the contact; she couldn’t take any more pain. “Please, no more; I can’t tale any more pain.” She started to cry as she heard a low mumbled reply; her hands became lose and she fought her way to the end of the bed, not caring that she was naked from the waist up.
A man faced her, it wasn’t someone she recognised. All she thought of was that her dream was getting increasingly worse; she just wanted to go home; have a long hot shower, a decent meal and sleep in her warm bed. The stranger reached for her and she screamed; she didn’t care that the room was cooler than before, or that the stranger held what looked like an extremely wet blanket out to her.
She just kept screaming, wishing the dream would stop; would come to an end. She felt a sharp jab in her arm and then knew no more as she fell face first onto the bed.

* * * *

Ryan was waiting anxiously; he’d seen the paramedics bring up two girls he didn’t recognise; they were laid face first onto individual stretchers, with large lacerations covering their backs. The first two ambulances took off sirens screaming and flashing as they raced to the hospital in Miami.
Dana was brought up next, her back also covered in large lacerations, her face black and blue from the multiple beatings she’d endured. Max climbed into the back of the ambulance with her and then watched as the ambulance raced away from the Castle. Ryan then watched as they brought Ellen up, she was unconscious and had fresh bruises on her jaw, and the rest of her face was partially covered in dried blood from her nose.
He watched as they bundled her up in the last ambulance and raced for the hospital. Ryan went back to the door leading to the prison; he wanted to know where his sister was, he needed to know she was alive. An officer came up the stairs as Ryan was about to go down them; “Clara? Is she in there? Is she alive?”
The officer looked like he’d just aged twenty years in the space of a few minutes. He replied “There’s one girl remaining down there; she’s in a pretty bad way. They’re going to airlift her to Miami; I hear that’s where they’ve taken the other girls.” Ryan went to move past the officer when he was stopped.
“I wouldn’t advise going down there son; the paramedics have had to sedate her, they’ll be bringing her up momentarily.” Ryan nodded and then lifted his face skyward; he could hear the low thrumming of blades as the helicopter approached. He stood back as it landed and then watched in horror as the last girl was bought out.
She didn’t resemble Clara at all, every inch of her face was black and blue, and there were large, deep lacerations to her back