Shame Of Maastricht by Marie N. Hallen (any book recommendations TXT) 📕

“Won’t help I guess,” Lotte looked at the money in despair and put everything back in the bag.

Kate took her phone and typed a text message for Lotte in her notes, trying to outline her suspicions about the taxi driver, who was most likely a tipster and helped Bas track her down. She also explained Bas mistook her for a fighter he used to place bets on in the past.

They both sighed and lay down on the floor. Kate’s ear wasn’t bleeding any more. Suddenly an idea flashed through her mind and she crawled to the chair which was still standing there. Apparently Bas planned to continue the questioning of his prisoners next day and decided not to carry away the chair, however the toolbox wasn’t there. Kate tried to fumble with her hand on the cement floor hoping to find a needle used to sew her mouth shut a few days ago. There was nothing left on the floor and she returned back to her place, disappointed and exhausted.

A couple of hours passed and Bas entered the premises again. This time he was accompanied by the whole crew - Felix, Sven and Koen were also there and they brought more chains and a few skeins of rope.

“Now it’s gentleman’s turn!” - Bas moved the chair into the center of the room and put the toolbox near it. “Take him off guys but be careful, he is not the easiest person to catch. Almost broke my nose the last time”

Kate didn’t see what happened and what kind of fightback Luuk gave, but we was the strongest man she had known in person. She recalled how he got into the fight with twelve guys during some summer festivities in Amsterdam and how knocked out five of them making the rest run away. The crowd which gathered around the event epicenter, applauded when the fight finished and some of street vendors gave Luuk a bottle of water for free and some snack. He didn’t even got hurt then, only his fists were bleeding from punching his numerous enemies. Unfortunately, this time it didn’t work out and he was eventually overpowered by steel chains. Felix and Koen brought him to the chair and made his sit down just like Lotte and Kate. Then they tied him up and Koen pulled a gun at him.

“Just a quick cross-examination, and don’t be too silent. Reply as honest as you can, ok? What do you do?”

“I’m a project manager. I manage a team of machine learning engineers.”

“Are you on a vacation now?”

“No I’m not.”

“What is your total monthly income? Net income I mean.”

“That’s not something I would disclose” Luuk started to sound irritated. “Leave me alone already, I’m not giving you any money or a password from my bank account, you will be really disappointed.”

“I’m afraid it’s you who will be really disappointed if we proceed with our investigation,” Bas commented, but remained patient enough and didn’t rush to start torturing Luuk.

“How much do you have now?” Felix joined the interrogation.

“Around thirteen thousand euros.”

“Do you have cash?”

“Do I look like a person who walks with his pockets full of bucks?!”

“How much do your parents make?”

“I don’t know! I really don’t!” Luuk almost started yelling but Koen pushed him with a gun. “Ok, from what I know they might make around four thousand net each, but they still pay for a new car, they have been paying since the last year.”

“Not bad, not bad… Absolutely not as bad as you tried to convince us. Again, so many questions and not a single smart one! Why wouldn’t you ask how much we need? Wouldn’t you like to know? A penny keeps a pound, you know.”

“How much? How much do you need then? Should I sell my kidney or?”

“No need to sell anything.” - Bas smiled and his face suddenly changed. “We need any amount you can give us. Can you donate a couple thousand or a dozen thousand, we will take it all and come again.”

“I knew, I knew you would say something like that. So the plan is to milk me and everyone else. Then why just you don’t take the money or whatever you want? Why do you torture everyone? Why do you keep us here? What’s the point? And yes, we are too stupid to realize what you want from us.” Luuk turned his head and looked down. Kate realized he was searching for something or tried to as his hands were tied behind his back. Unfortunately the rest of men realized it too and reacted sharply.

“Another day - another good effort!” Koen rushed behind and took something from Luuk’s right hand. “Ah, that goddamn needle. Hahaha! I remembered it got stuck somewhere in the chair. Look, Bas, he even knows how to use it! Mommy taught you her boy how to sew, didn’t she?”

The whole crew laughed after this joke. However Kate realized that Luuk’s situation wasn’t going to be so fun after the discovered he was planning a trick. Before Kate could think of something else, loud noise and then a shot scattered all her thoughts and she tensed up. Apparently Luuk used the needle to disassemble the chair and just fell down trying to rock and loosen it. Now he was putting an effort into freeing himself from the chains wrapped around his body but Koen and Sven picked him up and punched him with a gun. The shot was just a warning, but even now Kate knew they wouldn’t just leave him alone and her bad feeling became reality.

“Now I will tell you the real reason why I keep you all here!” Bass broke the silence with a very angry voice. This time he was really mad. “Do it guys, just do it. We are not losing anything but a thousand euros we can pick up somewhere else.”

“What?” Koen seemed to wake up from a deep sleep.

“Hang him. Hang him higher. Just let him hang. We’re not going to get anything”.

The chair wasn’t broken as Luuk hoped for. It survived the furious storm Luuk was trying to make. Sven and Koen brought one more, pulled the table closed and climbed onto it. While Felix was fixing a rope on the pipe above their heads, Bas made Luuk step onto the second chair, taped his mouth and tied up his legs. After Felix finished with a rope, he put it around Luuk’s neck and now the latter one was standing on the chair about to be hanged. Luuk’s eyes were full of anger and anguish, it seemed as if they could irradiate some kind of laser light which, if materialised, would burn down everyone around. He was shaking with fury and tried to show his middle finger although his hands were tight behind his back. No one but Lotte and Kate could see the finger but it didn’t make them smile.

“I don’t even know who of you three is more disgusting to me. I started losing my hope. I will keep the dialogue with these two ladies but your game is over now and I’m saying goodbye.”

“Shall I move it?” Sven rushed to Luuk.

“Come on!”

“Oh wait, wait, I’ll just move the table a bit.”

Kate focused prepared to do the only thing she could. While Koen and Sven were moving the table with Bas and Felix smoking a few meters away, she got on all fours and took the position of a runner, who is at the start and is preparing for the race. So it was. She felt she would have to act at one time or another A bag at her feet creaked treacherously as she pushed it away, but no one paid attention. Or maybe they were pretending not to hear the mess in the corner. She will check it in a few moments.

The distance between her and Luuk was about three meters while Koen was standing right next to him. First she wanted to distract them, but couldn’t come up with a right idea so her plan B was the only option that survived. She rose from her knees slowly. Koen leaned over, grabbed the chair and pulled it abruptly from under Luuk’s feet. Kate rushed like a cheetah and her body ended up right under his feet before he realized what happened. She tried so stand up and hold or support him by legs with her only hand but realized she was too weak to do it and just sank down on her knees. Luuk was standing on her back now with his full weight. She was supporting him like a titan holding up celestial heavens and Luuk was her heaven is some way. The tension was crucifying but Kate remained steady, as his weight was pressing her down to the floor. It seemed that even the floor wouldn’t sustain the pressure and she was happy he couldn’t see her eyes at that moment.

The hangman crew seemed all to be petrified in astonishment. Bas dropped his unfinished cigarette on the floor leaving it to smoke. Lotte was screaming in horror and tried to rush towards the two but he chain was too short and she couldn’t even approach them. She started slashing the pipe with her chain vigorously and kicking the wall. The pipe where the rope was fixed, started to creak menacingly and Kate tried to remain in as horizontal position as possible and at the same time prevent her back and shoulders from breaking down. “I’m holding you… I’m holding...” she thought and took a deep breath.

“Wow what a surprising turn!” someone exclaimed. “What a clown heroism! What a self-sacrifice! Maybe you want to be in his place?”

Kate nodded back. She couldn’t say a word but all her moans and gestures expressed consent and solidarity. The pipe was creaking even louder and sounded completely rusted. Before Sven wanted to approach them, Bas stopped him with a sign and pointed a finger at Kate.

“What the hell are you doing? I’m not stopping you only in hope that this weight is going to crush you. And I’m sure it will.”

“Wait, do you really want to protect him? Seriously?” Kate heard a question from Felix. Other men were laughing and photographing her. She could smell the cloud of smoke from their cigarettes which was getting thicker and thicker. Koen got up and moved forward but Bas stopped him.

“It won’t save anyone. But this is the first time I see something like that, really. Listen, I don’t know what drives you, but as you seem to enjoy, we are just going to leave you guys like that. Koen, don’t touch them, for god’s sake.”

“Then let’s get back here in a couple of hours and see what remains. I hope this ram is finally gonna suffocate. She didn’t botch up the show... in the long run. But hey, I’m really bored already and we need to sell their cars by tomorrow. I have already called Sam, he promised to call me back in the evening and it’s high time to check things,” Bas pushed everyone towards the exit and closed the door.

“Enjoy your time, losers!” he waved to prisoners, but no one paid attention. Lotte was still rattling her chain, they didn’t unseal her mouth this time and her eyes expressed absolute trust and appeal… for support, probably? Kate couldn’t hear what she was trying to say but guessed that the only message would be “Hold him! Just hold him!” - that’s what she was basically doing for ten minutes already. Kate looked around and saw the chair standing in two meters from her. “If only I could reach it with my leg. But not to fall over after that. Then I’d pull it closer and we would swap.”

She stretched out her leg as far as she could but the chair was still too far. Then looked at Lotte but realized she was also too far to reach