Chapter 9                     The Spider

 L’Araña smiled when the man left the room. “That was good, people. My amigo is happy so we won’t need you anymore tonight. To show what a good hombre I am we’ll give you a holiday till tomorrow afternoon so sleep in. Clean up and get dressed, the car is outside to take you home.”

            Tracy and Susanne found the shower and washed Juan’s jizz off their breasts. He had ejaculated on them while she was draped over the Columbian. Tracy had felt the jerk tighten his hips and gasp as she wiggled her bare ass in his lap and knew he wouldn’t need anything more this night.

            “That son of a bitch is a drug runner.” Tracy caressed Susanne and whispered into her ear.

            “Tracy, be careful, we’re not supposed to know that. Do you remember a red head named Kelly? She was here a couple of months ago.”

            “Yeh, I haven’t seen her since I went on vacation. Where is she now?”

            “She was poking into things in the studio. Rumour has it they took her to Mexico. Some people say she was killed.”

            “Oh, Susanne, they wouldn’t do that, would they?”

            “I don’t know but she hasn’t been around since. To tell the truth I’m scared.”

            “Me, too. I don’t know what to do, they’re always watching. I hoped Hilton could help me but the Spider has threatened him, too.”

            “Oh, shit, Tracy, stay with me tonight.”

Susanne’s apartment was close to where Tracy lived. Larger, it boasted three bedrooms and a big kitchen looking toward the words spelling “Hollywood” on the mountain over the city. It was neat in contrast to Tracy’s now that Jerry was camped with her. He was a pig and never cleaned up after himself.

            The driver was not happy about letting Tracy out with Susanne and phoned l’Araña who was still in a good mood and agreed without comment. The street was empty but the driver watched until the women were inside and then parked across the street.

            Susanne switched on the lights. “Those bastards think they own us. Is he parked out there?”

            Tracy looked out on the street. “He’s just stopped. What the hell are they doing anyway?”

            “They think we’ll take off. I don’t know what’s goin’ on.” She went to the cupboard and returned with a bottle of vodka and two glasses. “This will take the taste out of your mouth, sweetie.”

            “Is this your family?” Tracy had picked up a framed photo from the end table.

            “Ya, that’s my mom and dad, Bill is my older brother and there’s Kim, my little sister. That was three years ago, the last time I was home.”

            “I miss my mom, she’s still in Aspen. I wish I could go home and see her. One of these day’s I’m just going to go.”

            “They’ll kill you if you run away again.”

            “I don’t care. She doesn’t know what I’m doing and wants me to move back to Aspen. I’m gonna ask Hilton to come to Aspen. I think she’ll like him even if he is just a bit older than she is. She’s good-lookin’ for her age. Do you think she might try and take him from me?” Tracy smiled at the thought.

            “I think you know how to handle a man, dear. Your mother won’t have a chance against your bed room skills.”

            “Ya, I had him goin’ when we were in Toronto. I don’t think he’d ever had a fuck like I gave him. It was fun and I enjoyed it. I think I love the guy.” She looked wistfully toward Susanne.

 “How did you get in this business, Susanne? Was it as awful for you as for me?”

            Tracy had won a Miss Nevada contest during her last year in college. Everyone wanted her to pose for pictures and participate in shows and events, as her contract required her to do. The pageant organizers appointed a manager to look after her interests but the manager was bribed to take Tracy into the world of erotic photography. She ended up in the hands of a photographer who, easy to work with, made her comfortable with the camera. She soon didn’t mind exposing her body but was embarrassed when they insisted she stimulate herself with various types of dildos. Next thing pictures were posted on a web site and before long Tracy was a chat room princess.

            When the pageant organizers discovered what had happened they disqualified her from the Miss USA contest. Tracy was devastated and afraid to tell her mom. She went with the photographers to Houston where they set her up with a web cam.

            The memories brought tears to her eyes. She became aware of Susanne’s arms around her. “It’s okay dear. I was never a beauty queen but I liked the easy money from pole dancing and Internet sex. It seems we went down the same road. How’d they get you here?”

            “The money was good. I saved some and went on a holiday. They found me and dragged me back like a prisoner to a house with other girls. Internet clients could switch from room to room to see us eat, bath, work out or whatever. We were scheduled to masturbate or make lesbian love every couple of hours live 24/7.  They made bags of money and told us we’d get it at the end of our contract. I didn’t have a contract but they said I did. After about six months the place was raided and we got a lawyer who managed to get some of our money. I went home to mom.”

            Susanne looked at Tracy with eyes wide in sympathy. “Darling, that must have been awful but you learned how to pleasure a woman and I’m grateful for that. How did your mother take it when you came home.”

            “She was great. It was so nice to be home and sleep in my old bed but I don’t think she understood what I had been doing. She didn’t have a computer.”

            Susanne kissed her and held her tight. “What happened?”

            “That creep Jerry came to the door one day. He had an offer from a studio in Los Angeles and told me they had seen me on the Internet and thought I’d be perfect in their pictures. The money was really good and the contract was for just three films except after three they said I had to do more. I said no way. I was finished with porn. Jerry became nasty and said my mom might have an accident if I didn’t stay with them. That same night mom called crying because her dog had been run over. It was no an accident, I knew it because the next morning Jerry asked how my mom was. He knew what had happened.”

            “I’m going to tell you a secret, Tracy, but promise that you won’t breath a word. If they find out we’ll both be in trouble.”

            “What is it?” Tracy was frightened.

“I was shopping last week when I met a man. It was funny how it happened but anyway we went for a coffee and he told me the Feds were watching the studio. He asked me a lot of questions and said he’d contact me soon. I didn’t know whether to trust him or not but he asked me to keep an eye out for strangers like that guy tonight.”

            “Oh, Susanne, be careful, it might be a trap.”

            “We’re okay for now. They like the way we do our scenes but that won’t last much longer. Once they get the scenes they need I know they’ll do something bad to us.”

            “I’m going to call Hilton right now and ask him to help us. We can meet him in Aspen. We’ve got to get out of here, darling. We can hide in the mountains. They won’t find us there for awhile.”

            “Do you think we can get away? I mean really escape from here.”

            “We’ve got to. Give me the phone, it’s late in Toronto but this is an emergency.”

            The phone rang five times before a sleepy voice answered.

            “Hilton dear. Wake up darling.” She glanced at Susanne and smiled.

            “Who’s this? Oh, hi, I’m awake, what time is it?”

“It’s late but I want to see you soon.” She developed an edge to her voice as she thought about what could happen to them if they were caught.

“I want to see you, too, sweetheart. Can you come here this weekend?”  That was not what she wanted to hear.

She was desperate now and answered, “No darling. Come to Aspen. We’ll meet there. It’s urgent. Please say you will.”

             “Darling, I really want to. There are a couple of things that I have to do first.”

She looked at Susanne and whispered, “He’s going to come, I’m sure.”

            “Please, Hilton. It’s important that I see you. This will sound weird but I know I’m in danger. Only you can help me. I can’t say more on the telephone.”

            It was possible that the Spider had this line tapped.

            “What kind of danger? I’m sure you’re not in danger. You know I’m here for you. I’ll call you back and let you know when I can get away.”     

“Please, dear. I need you. I’ll see you in Aspen.”

            When she said she was in danger Susanne saw fear and longing in her eyes. She hung up and looked at Susanne hopefully, “I think he’ll come. When we get to Aspen I’ll ask him to take us to Toronto. We’ll be safe there. Let’s get out of here tonight. We’ll go to Aspen and wait for him there.”

            “How can we get by the guy in the car outside?”

            “I don’t know. Is there anything flammable in this place?”

            “I have cleaning fluid and there’s a can of gas in the back. The guy upstairs keeps it for his motorcycle.”

            “Good, here’s what we’ll do.”

            Susanne and Tracy got away that night. They caught a flight to Aspen the next morning.

Chapter 10

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