Just Sleep, Just Dream
Characters: India, Delta, X-Ray, Uniform, Zulu, Golf and Jacqueline Forbes
Word Count: 3,685
Trigger Warning: Swearing, Violence, Blood, Death
A/N: The end. It’s pretty long too and I am sorry about that. I tried my best with this little India Company adventure and there are a few things I wish I changed but I hope whoever reads this like it.
Parts: X, X, X, X, X, X
Summary: The gang heads to New York to track down a bank CEO suspected of running an underground gambling ring. But surprises come in all shapes and sizes. And the truth is always what you least expect it to be. Click that read more if you want.
XXXXX
When she came for him he didn’t know what to expect. He hadn’t been in a situation like this one since he was young. He had spent every waking moment trying to prevent this exact thing from happening. Feeling like a helpless young boy was the last thing he wanted. The door opened slowly, letting in a small portion of light, and she walked down the stairs.
She crossed the floor in silence and stood less than a foot away.
The woman said nothing as she grabbed his hand and pulled him to a standing position. Quickly wrapping a black cloth over his eyes and ears; she blocked out his sight and muffled his hearing. She told him to be quiet and not to worry. He nodded and let her take his hand. Remaining as silent as a stone he let her guide him up the stairs and out of the basement.
Just like that Uniform was that little kid he tried so hard to stop being.
Helpless, afraid, and alone.
Memories of years before, of things he wished he could forget, flooded his brain. The situation was all too familiar. Every single detail was almost the exact same; from the blindfold to the cuffs on his wrists. He hated how he felt at that moment. He hated it back then and hated it even more now. He wasn’t supposed to be in this position.
It was supposed to be the opposite.
He heard a door open and was shoved inside a room. Hearing the door shut, and lock, behind him sent a nervous shiver down his spine. Forbes sent him falling onto the bed with a hard shove. Uniform did not like anything about this. He felt the mattress sink as she climbed on top.
“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.”
He didn’t know what to do so he just nodded silently.
He could feel the bed move as she moved closer to him. She unlocked the handcuffs and removed them from his wrists. Then she did the same to the cuffs around his ankles. He let out a small sigh. Sexual kinks were one thing but he had a line and he drew it at cuffs. She reached behind his ears and undid the blindfold. It delicately fell on to the bed without a sound. Then with no warning or ask for permission she started to kiss him. Her hands grabbed his and put them on her body.
“Let me,” he said.
Then he took control of the situation. Turning her on her back he got on top of her and started to run his hands down her arms. Grabbing the end of the shirt she wore he pulled it over her head. Uniform threw the shirt behind him and it landed on the floor silently. With her shirt off he moved to unbutton her pants.
“I’m not going to have to worry about you getting clients pregnant am I?” she asked grabbing his wrists violently.
“You won’t need to worry about that from either of us,” he said.
Forbes cocked an eyebrow; silently urging him to reveal more. Uniform was unsure of how much he could actually say. And how was he supposed to say it so that she wouldn’t catch on to the reality of things. If she found out the truth then his plan would fall flat. If that happened there was a high possibility that neither of them would survive the night. After a minute or two he sighed and summed it up for her.
“Mom and dad, they, were conservative and strict to put it lightly. When they saw that Zo and I were growing up they felt the need to put a stop to it. But that wasn’t the end of it. They took it upon themselves to make sure none of us could have children.”
“Your parents did that to you? Oh my gosh, how awful!”
Uniform said nothing.
“So… Zoe and Urban are your real names then? And you two are actual brother and sister?”
“Adoptive siblings, so to speak, yes. But we are lovers off and on as well. To be quite frank I love her more than anything in the world and I’ll do anything I can to keep her safe.”
“Sentiment,” he said with a shrug.
She started to say something else but he shut her up with a deep kiss. He knew exactly what he was doing. Forbes would not be getting the upper hand this time. Uniform just got it and was not about to give it back. Moving to kiss her neck he reached down and unbuttoned her pants; pulling them off her legs. As he ran his hands up her thigh, to remove her underwear, she reached behind her back and unhooked her bra. Then he threw her panties to the floor as she tossed her bra to the side of the bed.
Only then did he take his boxers off.
When they finished Jacqueline got up and started to redress herself.
“That was good,” she said. “Not the best but good.”
“Trust me, ma’am, I can do better.”
“We’ll see about that.”
With that she left and closed the door behind her; locking it.
XXXXX
Zulu came to with a splitting headache and the feeling like she was about to hurl. Blinking the nausea away she surveyed her surroundings. The room she was in was not the basement. That much was clear. But the room was dark and she couldn’t see much.
What is it with this woman and drugging people?
She reached around and tried to get a feel for her surroundings. Her hand hit something that felt like a foot and she jerked back in shock.
“Hello, little one.”
“I get that I’m short but you have got to stop calling me that. What do you want anyway? Come to beat on me some more?”
“I know I bite but I mean well. Trust me, I really do.”
Zulu scoffed; “You expect me to believe you?”
Forbes nodded.
She laughed loudly; throwing her head back.
“Is something funny?”
“Yes. You, you thinking that you have some power over us. Newsflash, lady. You know nothing about us and we know everything about you.”
“Oh, really?”
“You really think we’d come at you half-assed? Seriously? Boy do I have news for you! I had been listening to your phone calls, and he had been tailing you, for an entire week before we met you.”
“You think you’re so smart but you had no fucking idea about us until we wanted you to.”
“And who has the power now?”
She had wanted to hit this woman before but she wanted to do it even more now. She didn’t care about what would happen after. None of that mattered. And besides this woman kidnapped people and forced them to be sex workers. There was no reason for her to stay alive.
“I promise I will bury you alive.”
Jacqueline smacked her across the face.
But Zulu was done with this bullshit. She had enough of this woman and her stupid little games. She wanted more than anything to put a bullet between this woman’s eyes. It was bad enough that she had sex with Uniform. But if she was being honest with herself Zulu wasn’t upset about that. The thing that pissed her off the most was that Forbes got the upper hand on them. That she abducted them, kept them in fucking basement, and ripped a nail off her finger just to break them down.
Unbeknownst to Forbes they had been broken down years ago and could not be broken any further.
“You are so dead for that.”
Forbes ignored her comment and turned her back; started to walk out of the small room. But she stopped short in the doorway. Then she turned back around and stepped back inside. Closing the door behind her she locked the two of them inside. She ripped a piece of cloth from the dress Zulu wore; it was already dirty and slightly tattered thanks to spending hours cuffed in the basement. Shoving the cloth into Zulu’s mouth she wrapped a section of tape around her mouth.
Zulu blocked out the rest when she blacked out from the pain.
XXXXX
With Jacqueline gone Uniform got up and began looking around. He started with the bedroom first as he was still there. It was nothing special as bedrooms went. Nothing fancy or elegant was inside the room. There had to be something that was an indication as to where they were being held. Forbes was a smart woman, that much was clear, but there was no way she was that smart.
He started with the bed; removing the blankets and mattress cover. But the mattress was not hiding anything as far as he could tell. Then he moved on to the nightstand. Opening the small drawer revealed absolutely nothing. Not even a speck of dust.
Squeaky clean, he thought. What else are you hiding, Wacky Jacky?
As he searched the rest of the bedroom he tapped his ear comm. to life and sent out a call.
“X, Del, India, Golf? Anyone listening?”
A chorus of worried replies filled his ear. He let out a relived sigh; hearing their voices. Uniform patiently waited until they calmed down a bit to say anything. Besides he didn’t have much to say in the first place. Knowing only that the building had a basement and a ground floor didn’t help matters much.
“Zee-Bee and I are fine. Well, so to speak. Forbes abducted us, which you probably already know, but we’re both fine.”
Oh, thank god, Delta said relieved.
Where are you guys? X-Ray asked.
“Not sure. I was sort of locked up in a basement for the past few hours.”
How did you get out? India asked; curious.
“Simple. Coitus.”
Do you have to be so pretentious that you can’t even say sex? Seriously? X-Ray asked with obvious annoyance.
Un. Is Zulu with you?
“No, Del. She’s still in the basement.” Uniform said with a sad sigh.
Just keep your comm. on so we can find you.
How are we going to do that without Zulu? Golf asked the others.
Silence fell over the conversation. No one realized how important Zulu was to their operations until that moment. She did everything that had to do with the comm. system. Fixing them when they broke, catching interference from power lines or cell phone calls, and preventing others from listening in on their conversations. So naturally this job would have fallen to her.
I don’t know, Golf, but we’re going to have to figure something out, Delta said.
XXXXX
The team had regrouped at the safe house. And they all sat around the living room deciding what to do. They had enough information to get Forbes and pin her. But the problem was they still had no idea where she was. And where she was keeping their teammates. Or if they were all in the same place.
They just got off the comm. after a conversation with Uniform. But it had not brought them any closer to finding him and Zulu.
“How are we supposed to find them anyway?” Golf asked.
“Same way we always have,” X-Ray said. “We do have two solutions to this problem, after all. The triple tap and the trackers. So we pick one and run with it.”
“Exactly what I was going to say,” Delta replied.
After a short deliberation the team decided to use the trackers. They were rather old and somewhat unreliable but they had more advantages than the triple tap. For instance the trackers would pinpoint the exact location. There was too much possible interference on the comm. link without Zulu there to monitor it.
Golf got his laptop out and opened up the tracking program.
Golf decided to start off big with an entire map of New York state. He hoped it would be easier that way. He typed in both Zulu and Uniform’s serial numbers. There was the possibility that Forbes was keeping them in separate locations. They did not have room for error at the moment. Which was asking quite a lot from Golf.
“You okay?” Delta asked.
“Yeah, yeah,” he said with a nod.
He was lying to both himself and to the others. He was not okay in any sense of the word. The pressure was too much and his heart was beating way faster than normal. He could feel it. Golf knew he wasn’t skilled enough to do his job on a normal day. But all the pressure and time strains made it so much worse.
“I’m fine. I swear.”
Staring at the screen he waited for the blips to appear on the city map.
“How long is this gonna take you think?” India asked him after a few minutes.
Golf didn’t answer.
“Let him work, Indy,” Delta said.
“I’m just asking him a question, babe.”
“Why don’t we go get something to eat?” X-Ray suggested.
“Good idea, X,” Delta said with a smile.
None of them had eaten since the others went missing. And almost an entire day had passed. There was too much going on to even think about eating. They all were getting irritable and tired. Food was needed and it was needed now.
X-Ray and Delta got up and started to leave.
India stared at Golf; waiting.
“C’mon, Indy. Let’s go.”
“Fine,” she grumbled.
“You want to come with us, Golf?”
He shook his head and focused on the screen. Delta promised to bring him back something. He didn’t pay her any attention. His mind barely registered the sound of the back door as it closed. Once again he was alone in the safe house. But this time he was far too focused to be bothered by it.
“I found them, Delta. I found them.”
“We’re on our way.”
XXXXX
Zulu got up and took a fighting stance. She was not going down this time. Not again. Forbes had gotten the better of them far too many times that night. Her hands were curled into fists and raised; ready to strike. Suddenly the door of the closet burst open with a bang. Zulu swung a harsh left hook at whoever was there.
“Ow!”
Wait a minute…
X? How in the hell?
X-Ray stepped further into the room and ripped the tape off Zulu’s mouth. She spit the fabric out with a disgusted gag.
“Holy shit, X! I didn’t think that was you! Sorry!”
“You’re fine, Zulu,” he said; holding his nose in pain.
“Did you guys find Un?”
He nodded; giving her a once over. She was hurt a lot worse than he thought she would have been. Her dress was torn and dirty, both her shoes and jewelry were missing, and holes were in her tights. Blood was caked around the pointer finger on her right hand. Scuff marks were all over her palms and knees. It looked like there was some blood on her legs.
“Del, Zulu needs first aid,” he said into his comm.
You’re right there.
“I… I think it might be better if you do it,” he said quietly.
Alright I’m coming.
“No!” Zulu yelled. “I can do it myself. Just give your aid kit, X.”
X-Ray nodded and slung his duffle off his shoulder. Kneeling down he opened the second to last zipper pocket. Reaching inside he grabbed hold of the first aid kit. He held it out to Zulu and felt her grab it harshly. He zipped the pocket back up and readjusted the bag to his shoulder.
“You hear that, Delta? She’s going to give herself first aid.”
Copy that.
“I’ll give you privacy,” he said before leaving.
Meanwhile the others were about the small house. India was in the living room with Forbes; keeping an eye on her. She was tied up and currently unconscious. Golf and Delta were searching the place for any other evidence they could use. X-Ray walked into the living room and relieved India of her post.
“Where’s Uniform?”
“In the shower,” India replied. “He needed to wash the stink of this garbage off of him.”
She nudged her head in Forbes’ direction when she said this garbage. X-Ray was just glad that Uniform was safe. That Zulu was as safe as okay as she was. But he was even gladder that India was leaving. He was going to give this disgusting excuse of a human being what she deserved. When Jacqueline Forbes came back around she was going to wish she was dead.
Luckily for him the Ketamine was almost through her system.
It was bad enough that she played them.
They weren’t the best so that happened a lot. So that wasn’t that bad actually. Everything else she did was what angered him. He hated what he did with every fiber of his being. But at the moment he was glad he had knowledge he did.
Forbes stirred and slowly came to.
He took a knife out of his side pocket. Gripping it tightly X-Ray clenched his teeth. He knew that Zulu would have wanted to kill this woman. But he did as well. He stabbed the knife into her thigh and she screamed in pain. She fully came to and started crying for him to stop. X-Ray just smiled. Reaching into the front pocket of his duffle he took out a pair of pliers.
"You took her nail. I'm going to take all of yours."
A few minutes after he took her left hand pinky finger nail everyone came back to the room. Uniform was clean and showered. Zulu was still messy but as cleaned up as she could have been. She had done a pretty good job giving herself first aid after all. India, Delta and Golf had found a couple boxes full of paper evidence. And there was still the Macbook and Forbes' email. They had enough to justify anything.
“Are we going to let her live?” Zulu asked.
The others did not know exactly what had happened to her but they could tell that Zulu really wanted Forbes to die. Or to spend the rest of her life in pain. And that she deserved the worst possible punishment. Whatever they chose the punishment would not be enough.
“Do it,” India said.
“She deserves it.”
Zulu took a gun from X-Ray and cocked it. She put the muzzle against Forbes’ head. Her finger slowly closed around the trigger. Forbes stared at her with pleading eyes. Tears ran down the woman’s face as she pleaded with them to let her go. Just as she was about to full pull the trigger Zulu stopped.
Zulu dropped her gun hand to her side.
She turned to Delta and whispered something in her ear. The others looked at her with confused expressions. She just brought a finger to her lips. She was not going to give the secret away just yet. After a few minutes Delta came back inside with a couple of shovels in her hands.
Forbes’ eyes went wide in shock; “No! Please! Don’t!”
“Just shoot me, please,” she cried.
Zulu pulled her head back by a clump of hair. Pained tears rolled down the woman’s face. Zulu just smiled down at her.
“I made a promise and I tend to keep them.”
XXXXX
A few hours later Zulu dumped the last shovel of dirt on to the makeshift grave. They had dug it in the backyard of the safe house. It had taken them a few hours to dig the grave and to refill it with the woman inside. No one would have gone looking for Ms. Jacqueline Forbes in such a bad area. No one would find her for years. Even if they cared to look.
They all sat around the yard; tired and ready to go home.
Zulu spit on the pile of dirt. Uniform got up from the rock he was sitting on and walked over to her. Pulling her into an embrace he kissed her on the top of her head. Tears pricked at her eyes once again. But this time they were tears of joy. She was just happy to finally be out of that hell of a night. Uniform reached up and wiped them away with a finger.
X-Ray had stated gathering the shovels. With a two to a hand he walked them to the car. It was a bit too much seeing Zulu and Uniform like that giving the circumstances of things. And given the things he felt.
“You two will be okay, right?” Golf asked. “I mean you can’t have sunshine without having rain. Right?”
Delta, who sat next to India on the back porch, started singing;
I don't mind, no I don't mind, I don't mind the rain The simple things and subtleties they always stay the same I don't mind, that I don't mind, no I don't mind the rain Like a widow's heart We fall apart But never fade away
They all sat around watching the sun rise and once they were finished India called Stevens for an extraction.
“Does he know what happened?” Golf asked; worried.
“No. And I intend to keep it that way.”
The gang walked around to the front of the house. Piling inside the car they were all tired and covered in dirt. Delta and India were in the front seats. X-Ray and Golf were in the middle two seats; on opposite sides of the car. Uniform and Zulu sat all the way in the back; intending on getting some much needed sleep. This mission had taken a tool on the both of them and they needed much more than a nap.
Zulu leaned her head on Uniform’s shoulder.
“Smells like someone needs a shower,” Uniform said curling up his nose.
She laughed lightly and nodded. It was true. She had to admit that she smell pretty bad; blood, urine and dirt. Not a very good combo.
“I don’t want to ever fucking do that again,” Zulu whispered quietly.
“Don’t worry. You won’t.”
