Between the lines

[Maka]

"Justyna has a room in a boarding house, not far from Wencelas Square," Jake replied. "She'll take you there. I need to see a man here on my own... he's the nervous type. I'll see you two later. Be good."

He winked brazenly at Alice before striding off.


***


"Russians? And what makes you think I'd know anything of any Russians in Prague?"

Kristof Kepka's official (and sometimes unofficial) occupation was a butcher, and he conducted his business in the freezing backroom of his butcher's shop tucked away on a backstreet of the Castle hill, huge hanging joints of meat adding silent, menacing emphasis to his every word. Though Kepka needed no props to intimidate most visitors. He was a giant of a man, with the scars of a knife-fighter and the muscles of a body-builder, but more frightening than either of those were his cold, calculating and intelligent eyes, as black and expressionless as those of a shark.

He'd been a king of the Czech underworld before the war, and dominated Prague's black market during it. The Resistance, the German occupiers, the Soviet spies -he'd deal with them all, just as he'd shelter Jews for exactly as long as their funds held good, before turning them over to the Nazis the moment the well ran dry. It was no common kind of man who could so brazenly play all factions against each other under the reign of the infamous Reinhard Heydrich. It took nerves of steel and finely-tuned instincts for betrayal.

Jake and he had taken an instant dislike to each other upon their first meeting, each seeing far too much of themselves in the other. But Kepka had, as ever, made himself too essential for that dislike to be indulged. So Jake sighed.

"You'd know because you know everyone who comes in and out of this city, just as you know everything that goes on here."

Kepka boomed with laughter.

"So I do! So I do, Mr Thornton. I know, for instance, that you arrived here this evening, with a most pretty little American girl on your arm. I know that she is a detective, a lady detective, and that your blonde whore Justyna met you both."

Jake's attempt at a smile was more of a snarl.

"Yes," he said curtly.

"I know something of why you're here, and why you're looking for these Russians. I can guess what Justyna is for too... you've used that slut this way before. And I can help you find your Russians -but I have a price."

Jake reached silently for his wallet, but Kepka forestalled him, raising a slab-like palm.

"All in good time, Mr Thornton. You'll pay, yes... but I want more than that, also. I'm... going into a new line of business. What I think you call 'blue movies' in America. But most of my talent are so haggard and blemished, so very broken-down after years of the war. I think my clients would like to see something new. I think they would very much enjoy watching a fresh, pretty, smooth-skinned young American girl getting fucked the way the Germans fucked our city, being serviced by your Justyna in every filthy, depraved way her fertile mind can dream up."

Jake could not repress a grin. Cameras, two-way mirrors... Kepka would be able to provide the equipment. He'd be turning Alice McGregor into an unwitting porn star for the delectation of every degenerate from here to the Bosphorus. He loved it.

Kepka read his expression and shook his head.

"Ah, Mr Thornton. I was naive enough to think you might require coercion. There is no one quite like you, is there?"

"There might be just one, I reckon," said Jake. "Mr Kepka."

Kepka roared with laughter again.

"Well then," he said. "Just for that, I'll give you a little titbit I'd been saving up. Yes, I do know these Russians of yours, and they have that Englishman with them. But you do know who is leading them? A very old friend of yours... Miss Elena Toporovna. And when we take them, she's all yours."

Jake was silent for a moment.

"You know, Mr Kepka," he said, "I'm almost starting to like you."

 

[zora_little]

Justyna’s room was comfortable and spotless. Two large windows out into the square let in the mild, golden light of the afternoon. There was a comfortable bed, a small table and two chairs, a vase of softly scented flowers.

“Is this your first time in Prague?”

Alice nodded. “This is my first time in Europe.” Suddenly she felt embarrassed about her lack or worldly experience. A woman like Justyna, who had lived through wars and the horror of German occupation, must find the idea of her sheltered American life strange.

But the tall, blonde woman smiled indulgently. “It’s for the best, Alice. For so many years, Europe was reeling. Suffering. You are lucky, because you get to see the new, liberated Europe.”

The detective walked up to the window and looked outside. Potholes and ruins standing out like rotten teeth, rubble and so many reminders of what had been. She reached for the pack of cigarettes and held it out to Justyna who took one with a grateful smile.

Holding out the light, Alice considered her new friend. “And how is life in Prague?”

“We’re recovering.” There was a sharp tone to her voice. “The Germans had promised to drown Prague in a sea of blood in the case of an uprising.” Justyna inhaled the smoke from her cigarette, her eyes focussing one some point behind Alice. “But we had enough of them. We were no longer afraid of their threats and their torture, their brutal repression.”

There was a wild, cold glint in the eyes of the otherwise gentle young woman. Alice could not help but admire her courage. She thought of Lieselotte Junker and her attempt to save her friends from her sadistic benefactor, and how

“The day they finally strung up that bastard Frank was the happiest day in my life. I just wish that they would have found a slower, much more painful way for him to die. It made me long for the torturous deaths dealt out by the medieval kings against traitors.”

Alice looked at her, stunned. These words stood in such contrast to the delicate, beautiful face of her Czech host that for a moment she was unsure if she had really heard them correctly.

“They would have deserved a taste of their own medicine.”

She had read about the terror regime that the two German commanders Heydrich and Frank had unleashed onto the Czechs, the torture and the executions. It was likely that many of Justyna’s friends had been amongst the victims. But she had never yet seen such unfettered, cold hate. For a brief moment she wondered if Justyna would ever find peace, even with their opponents sentenced and dead. How did one let go of so much pain?

“You were part of the resistance.”

Justyna nodded.

“That is how I met Jake.”

Alice blushed against her will at the mention of her American companion. Justyna smiled knowingly. Her face lit up as she stubbed out her cigarette against the outside of the window sill, the sombre topic of death and destruction already forgotten. “He is gorgeous. A bit of an oaf sometimes, if you ask me, but I certainly understand the attraction.”

Justyna flicked the butt out onto the street.

“He’s a good man.” The lie came so easy, and the detective was so very eager to hear it. “Jake might be a bit full of himself, but many people in this city have reason to be grateful for all he has done. He has saved many lives, in his time here.”

This was not entirely untrue. Alice McGregor did not need to know that not all of the people Jake and his employers had successfully gotten out of Prague had been worthy of saving, or deserving of an escape, and judging by her softening facial expression she did not want to know, either.

“But enough of all this for now. You must be exhausted!” Justyna took the American girl by the arm. “I have a surprise for you, Alice.”

The tall Czech woman led Alice out into the hallway. At the very end of the narrow corridor a door stood ajar – a bathroom equipped with a gleaming white tub. Alice could not help but sigh in gratitude.

“I thought you must like to take a bath?” Justyna motioned for Alice to go ahead. “There are towels and soap. You go ahead and fill the tub, I will make us some tea downstairs.”

***

Justyna rummaged around in the boarding house kitchen, spooning dry black tealeaves into a chipped porcelain pot. Upstairs she could hear the water running, and the dull patter of Alice’s feet. Jake would be back soon from his errand, and Justyna wanted a bit more time with the detective before he did.

She sighed as she took the boiling water from the stove. Alice McGregor was no match for the American operative, delicate and vulnerable as she appeared. She obviously still had no idea what she up against. Whom she was up against. But it was not for her to enlighten the detective.

Placing the pot and two cups, a small jug of milk and some sugar on a tray, Justyna made her way up the stairs. The least she could do was to make Alice’s stay in Prague as comfortable as she could – the poor girl would need every good memory that she was still able to make.

 

[Maka]

Kepka had been as good as his word. The Russians were based in a flat in the Old Town. Jake had stood there in the shadows a while, watching. There was always one hardfaced guard at the window, looking out across the street -he guessed that they took it in shifts. No sign of Elena -no doubt she was within, interrogating Calloway. That thought made him smile. Elena had always been a hard woman, but it had taken her encounter with him to add fury to her hardness. She'd be taking the self-righteous British bastard apart, inch by bloody inch, and he wished her bon appetit. With a little luck, she might even have killed him by the time Jake, Kepka and his men raided the flat. That would make things a little easier -though he'd like the pleasure of killing Calloway himself.

After a couple of hours of observation, Jake sauntered back. Kepka should have made all the arrangements by now. Tonight was for movie-making. Tomorrow morning they'd take out the Russians. And there was little risk of Alice being awake enough to inquire into Jake's movements, after the exhausting work-out he and Justyna would put her through...


He let himself into the boarding house quietly, silently climbing the stairs to surprise Justyna in the kitchen.

 

[zora_little]

The warm water was wonderful. Alice leaned back in the tub, entirely at ease with her Czech host sitting next to her on a low stool, musing about possible evening meals.

“The black market is thriving”, she giggled. “Some argue that we have never had better cakes and sausages than we get now, but that might just be the lack of any kind of tasty food for such a long time…”

Alice turned her head and lazily opened her eyes. “In Berlin men seem to have given up eating”, she whispered with a smile. “All they do is to spend their little money on drinks and girls.”

“Such simple pleasures…” Justyna said cheerfully, filling two small glasses with Bohemian bitter she had whisked out after they had had their cups of tea.

Alice giggled, taking the glass she was offered.

“Cheers to that.”

Justyna watched the American girl down the bitter, and put her own glass aside, untouched. While she was certainly able to hold her liqueur, she did not want to lose control with Jake who due to arrive at the boarding house, or at least not just yet.

It was then that she heard the door downstairs, followed by a man’s heavy footsteps. Had he been able to strike a deal with his contact? It was a question she would have to ask later, with Alice safely asleep.

“We’re in the bathroom”, she shouted through the door, mouthing “It looks like your prince charming is back” to Alice, who, despite her increasing stupor, blushed and covered her naked breasts with one arm, much as if Jake was already in the bathroom.

“Don’t be silly”, laughed the blonde woman softly. “There is no reason to be coy, and Jake seems to adore every part of you, my dear.”

This incited another fit of giggles from Alice who now listened to the sound of footsteps mounting the stairs.

“Nothing here that he hasn’t seen yet, I suppose”, she added, shifting in the tub.

Justyna was sitting next to the tub, the front of her blouse almost completely drenched. The thin material of her blouse clung enticingly to her silhouette, hinting at the lace bra that she wore underneath. In an unsuccessful attempt to keep her garments dry, she had rolled up the sleeves, baring her slender arms that were now glistening with water.

Alice was holding the empty glass in her hand hanging over the rim of the tub and was laughing. It felt so good to laugh again, no matter if her giggles were mostly alcohol-induced, and the laughter kept the grim thoughts that had plagued her all morning at bay. Justyna insisted that it was important to unwind, and that nobody, not even the most dedicated detective, should linger on festering thoughts about murder and betrayals without taking the occasional break.

Justyna gave Alice a conspirational wink, before pushing the door of the bathroom slightly open.

“You are welcome to come in, if you dare!”

 

[Maka]

Jake needed no further introduction. Standing in the doorway, his hat still on his head, he drunk in the enticing sight. Alice's slender, delicate naked body was only very partially concealed by the wafts of steam from the hot bath. If anything, it simply set it off to greater advantage. He liked, too, that she had made no effort to conceal her nude body from Justyna or himself. It was another step forward, like the rush of excitement he'd felt from her body when those two Germans intruded on them on the train. Detective to Whore... in Five Very Easy Stages. He was going to relish every one of them.

Justyna also presented an alluring sight. Her blouse clung lovingly to her frame, outling every mouthwatering detail. Wicked Justyna. She knew something of Jake and the beast within him, thought herself hardened to men like him and the world they lived in. He would take great pleasure in advancing her education even further.

"I'm afraid we've got bad news," he said, not bothering to conceal his open admiration of Alice. "It looks like we're going to have move out of here for the time being."



***


Calloway came to in darkness. He'd seen little of the sunlight over the past few days -bundled from van to van, from featureless room to featureless room. The only constant was Elena. Angelic, merciless Elena. And he knew she would be coming soon.

They were reaching a tender intimacy of a sort, with the games she liked to play. He wasn't sure if she genuinely thought he had anything left to hide, or was simply being efficient, or perhaps was enjoying herself too much in her own coolly unemotional way to stop the interrogations. He had been keeping much of himself in reserve, trying to observe her in return, understand her strengths and weaknesses.

Elena was strong, very strong. But he thought he had detected cracks in the perfect, cold white marble of her facade. And when the time was right, if ever the time was right, he just might be able to save his own life by exploiting them.

 

[zora_little]

Alice smiled, slightly too tipsy to care about the sudden, unexpected intimacy of the situation. Her earlier inhibitions seemed entirely forgotten. At Jake’s words, she stood up in the tub, exposing her glistening body to Justyna and him, and relishing the thought.

“I hope that wherever we need to go is as inviting as this place”, she said with a coquettish tilt of her head.

***

Elena lit a cigarette, deeply inhaling the calming smoke. Things were not moving as fast as she had hoped in the beginning, and the progress she thought she had made with their prisoner had stalled. After hinting at wanting to talk Calloway had stubbornly remained silent, throwing her only the occasional quip.

Her patience was wearing thin.

She was not the only one: The soldiers who had to move Calloway from cellar to cellar, from city to city started to wonder why they had to take such risks just to bundle an unwilling, weakening and highly uncomfortable prisoner from one hiding place to the next, without any tangible evidence of progress in the interrogation. The commanders were increasingly aggressive, and Elena knew that her time – and Calloways – was up, Cheka or not. They hated her almost as much as they hated the British officer, and they were well aware of the delicacy of the whole operation – without knowing why they were expected to follow the orders of a young woman blindly, especially if she failed to extract the information she was supposed to.

There was always the possibility of finally showing Calloway what she was capable of with the fine leather case he had seen on their first encounter. But Elena was quite sure that physical pain would not bend him to her will.

She blew the smoke from her lips slowly, deep in thought. Maybe she had overestimated the British detective. Maybe he did not know much. Maybe he was stalling for time because he knew that once he had spilled what he did know, he was a dead man. A pity, really. In the days they had spent together, Elena had come to respect the dry, serious manner of the lieutenant. In another place, at another time they would have gotten along quite well.

The affection he obviously felt for the American private detective was something she could work with.

With a sigh, she dropped the half-smoked cigarette to the floor and crushed it under her high-heeled boot. She checked her face in a small hand mirror and smiled, content with the cool, immaculate features looking back at her. It was time.

 

[Maka]

The bedsit was an anonymous, threadbare space somewhere in the maze of the Old Town. There was a single double bed opposite a large mirror -Jake recognised the Butcher's arrangements. The mirror would be one-way glass, and behind it was a man with a video camera. Perhaps Kepka had given the role to a particularly favoured henchman, perhaps he'd reserved that pleasure for himself. Either way, he was soon going to be treated to the sight of two supple young beauties unwittingly degrading themselves for the camera in every way Jake's fecund mind could supply.

The thought made him want to grin. The idea of an audience didn't put him off at all -in fact, he was relishing to dominate the two strong, independent women, to show off his power over them to other males. No doubt Kepka was counting on that too -sick, clever bastard.

With the casual, flirtatious way Alice had exposed herself to both himself and Justyna back at the flat, Jake doubted she needed much persuasion but the dance was a part of it. With the fading remnant of the bashful, all-American young guy he'd posed as before, he shook his head.

"Just one bed... I guess there must have been a mix-up. Of course I can sleep on the couch and you girls can share... "

His voice trailed off. There was just a hint of suggestiveness to the way he'd framed his suggestion that the two 'share'.

 

[zora_little]

Alice’s head was still pleasantly cloudy when they arrived at the new flat. The sober, less confused Alice – the Alice before Jake Thornton, before Berlin, before the horrible mess that was this assignment – would have asked him why they had been unable to stay in the comfortable little pension on the square, who owned this flat and how he had procured it, and where he had been while they had been waiting for him, but that Alice seemed to be gone.

She looked around the bare room, shrugged, and sat down on the bed, as if testing the mattress for its softness. “This will do just fine”, she said with a suggestive smile to no one in particular.

“Just one bed... I guess there must have been a mix-up. Of course I can sleep on the couch and you girls can share... “ Justyna could not suppress a mocking snort, but Alice did not notice. Looking up at Jake, she shook her head. “I think we will be just fine.” Her voice was slightly slurred. The Czech bitter that Justyna had served her in the bathtub was stronger than she had at first noticed.

Their Czech host rolled her eyes. She could guess what Jake was trying to do – though she had no idea just how far he was willing to go. She simply assumed that he felt like he deserved a sweet distraction during yet another one of his missions – never would she have agreed to what Jake, and his butcher friend, had planned.

“I think I will go out and find us something to eat”, she finally said. It would be easier – tipsy American detective or not – if she gave Alice and Jake a moment to get started. Despite the pretty girl’s increasing lack of inhibitions Justyna felt that it would be advisable to take things slow. “Maybe you two need some rest anyway, and you will need your strength for this city.” She nodded at Jake. “I will be back shortly.” With that, she was out of the door.

Alice sat on the bed, slightly forlorn in her new skin.

“So do you think we will find here what we are looking for?” she finally said to Jake.

 

[Maka]

Alice looked a little lost and very vulnerable, sitting on the edge of the bed, her beautiful dark eyes a little unfocused from the alcohol. Jake found it hard to repress a grin at the thought that she was no doubt already being filmed. He'd have to make sure to get a copy of the Butcher's blue movie -besides the personal pleasure he'd take in it, he'd have to make sure Alice saw it once her usefulness was at an end. It would be the perfect, artistic final brushstroke to her humiliation and degradation.

But first things first. He sat down beside her, covertly making sure that they were both fully facing the mirror as he did so, and laid a hand on hers -engulfing her slender fingers.

"So do you think we will find here what we are looking for?"

Jake smiled.

"Well, Miss McGregor... " he said. "I get the impression that you just don't give up until you've found whatever it is you're looking for."

A little bit of easygoing charm, a little bit of flattery. She needed to be buoyed up right now -to be once again the lithe, nubile young live-wire, crackling with adventurous sexual energy, that was going to light up the screen. More alchohol would help with that too. Jake had already noticed the bottle of pre-war Bowmore single malt whiskey that had been left on a low table in a corner. You had to hand it to Kepka -the man didn't stint on his investment.

Jake retrieved it and poured them both a glass. He raised his in a toast.

"Here's to us both finding what we're looking for in Prague."

The moment the slug of powerful golden whisky finished scorching its way down his throat, Jake leant in and kissed Alice forcefully, with bruising intensity, his hands going to the back of her head and pressing her lips to his.

 

[zora_little]

Her fingers intertwined in his, Alice could not help but smile. “You are good with flattery, aren’t you, Jake Thornton?” It felt so good, so safe, to be with him in the threadbare room. Alice had the vague, but increasingly clear feeling that she would be safe and comfortable with him anywhere. She put her head against his shoulder with a content sigh.

She gave a low mew of protest as he rose to retrieve the whiskey from the corner, but smiled when he handed her the glass with the amber liquid. The glasses clinked together.

“What is it then you are looking for?”

As if answering her question in deed rather than in words he leant in to kiss her, and Alice kissed him back, hungrily, as if she had waited for him to finally do just this. He tasted of smoke and whiskey and urgent desire, a heady mix that made her pull him closer impatiently. Setting the glass down one of her hands snaked behind his head, caressing his hair, whereas the other slipped under his shirt, resting against his hard chest, teasingly scratching his skin.

It was as if she could never get enough of him, as if each time he touched her, her need for him became stronger, and more urgent.

“I want you so much”, she whispered in his ear. “I want you now.”


***

Elena sighed as she pulled up a chair. She felt as if trapped frozen in time, with Calloway still chained up to a radiator, sullen and silent, as he had been since they left Berlin. He looked pale and thinner than he had before, but he still had a sardonic look about him that made him rather attractive. He had promised her information but had then retreated again when he realised that he would be leaving Berlin. Ever since, he had refused to say anything beyond his usual dry, mocking comments.

“Calloway, I know you and me are both quite bored of this, but trust me, we are not as bored as the men in the next room”; Elena said softly. “Time’s up, Lieutenant.” She unrolled her leather case in front of him. “Orders are orders, as much as I sometimes dislike following them”, she added with a theatrical sigh. Pulling out one sharp scalpel from its leather sheath, she tilted her head.

“So here we are. If you have anything to say about the Polish composer speak up now.” She smiled. “Or be silent forever.”

 

[Maka]

Alice trusted him totally, Jake realised. She'd had doubts and suspicions back in Berlin -stirred up by Calloway's hints and Lieselotte's warnings, but that German bitch was dead and with any luck the Butcher's men would have taken care of Calloway before Jake was even through fucking Alice and Justyna tonight. By leaving Berlin and the small web of contacts she'd been able to build up independently, Alice had placed herself completely in his hands. She was all alone now, an innocent lost in the great dark forest that was Europe. She had no choice but to assume that the strong, handsome woodcutter was on her side.

The realisation might have made another man feel guilty or at least a trifle uneasy, but it only sent a thrill of joy through Jake as he contemplated how totally he was betraying the beautiful young detective. Even now, in this moment of intimate, vulnerable surrender, she was being filmed.

"I want you too," he murmured, his hands undoing the buttons of her blouse one by one, making sure her breasts were exposed to the hidden camera as he did so.


***


Under different circumstances, Calloway would have quite liked Elena. She had a quick, dry and acerbic wit quite unlike most of the Communist fanatics he'd met in the past. It wasn't difficult to tell from their lengthy interrogation sessions, which had their own subtle charms in themselves, that she would be a chess-player of superlative imagination and skill, and an even better lover.

He took a detached pleasure in trying to drive their sessions one way or another -feeling a mild, dispassionate sense of pleasure on the rare occasions when one of his flippant responses got under Elena's skin. Whether her reaction was a minute grimace of irritation or an even rarer, and instantly vanishing, grudging smile of amusement, did not matter to Calloway.

He watched her take the scalpel out. There was no fear in his eyes, just a certain professional curiosity. In his own investigations, he'd never found pain helpful in the long run but no doubt Elena had her own methods.

"Before we begin... " he said. He cocked his head to one side. Ever since he'd noticed certain signs a few hours ago, he'd been considering the possibilities, weighing up the benefits of remaining silent versus warning his captors.

"I thought it might interest you to know that this flat is being watched."

Calloway spoke casually. He seemed coolly indifferent to whether or not he was believed, indifferent to the apparent impossibility of his claim's implications -that a prisoner bound to a single room of a flat could be better informed of his surroundings than his captors.

He had considered maintaining silence. It had even occurred to him that those watching the Russians' flat might even be on his side. But then he'd almost had to laugh at that ridiculous idea.

Nobody was on Calloway's side.

 

[zora_little]

It was easy, so easy, to give in to Jake. It was the obvious choice for Alice, the only one she had left. She shrugged impatiently out of her blouse as he undid the buttons one by one, his confidence adding to her arousal. And why hold back now? Alice, too, quickly proceeded to help him out of his shirt, eager to feel his naked skin against hers.

She did not worry about Justyna coming back. In fact, she had already forgotten about their Czech host, all her senses occupied as they were by her lover. The desire for him made her feel safe. It was something she was able to cling on to.

“Jake…fuck me.”

The security she felt in his presence made it possible to give to a side of hers she had rarely before dared to even reveal.

“I want you to take me,” she whispered hotly into his ear. “And I want you to take whatever you need from me.”

***
Elena hesitated. The scalpel felt cold in her hand, too light almost for an instrument that was able to inflict such terrible pain. She looked at Calloway, searching for any sign of him bluffing. Over the past days she had gotten better at reading his seemingly inscrutable features, at looking for the faintest movement of his eyes, his lips, a brief, barely noticeable lift of his chin.

“Watched?”

She looked at him, unsmiling. Prague was not a city she felt comfortable at operating in. If it had been up to her, they would have stayed in Berlin, the torn city, where it was easy to vanish between the cracks, and easier still to pitch rival interests against each other to one’s own advantage.

But Prague made her uneasy. She had enemies here that she did not wish to meet again. For that reason alone it was worth hearing him out.

“What makes you think that, lieutenant?”

 

[Maka]

Piotr could hardly believe his luck.

He was a voyeur by nature, always had been. Ever since he was a kid, he'd loved to slope around Prague's Old Town on quiet cat feet, peeking in windows, sometimes getting lucky and seeing a girl undressing or a couple fucking in the gaslight. Piotr the Peeper, the disgusted girls of his neighbourhood had nicknamed him, throwing things at him whenever they saw him.

But his fortunes had changed when he'd first hooked up with Kepka the Butcher. He was the kind of man -big, muscular and intimidating, that skinny, small Piotr could never hope to be, but Kepka had seen something of value in Piotr too. He'd had him learn how to use a camera, made him lead director on his fledgling blue movies sideline.

Piotr had been in voyeur heaven. Now it was he who was calling the shots, who was in control. The girl were performing for him, seeking his approval -knowing that it was Peeping Piotr who had the power to determine whether they ate or not that week.

Some of them thought they could make their precarious situation more stable by cutting out the middle-man, by letting them Piotr fuck them himself... but after the first three to try it lost their jobs, the others caught on. Piotr liked to watch. Piotr loved to watch. But the thought of doing and not just watching made his palms sweat and itch with fear, made his throat go lumpy and dry.

But now, squeezed into the tight little space between the two-way mirror and the wall, he had something special in his camera sights. Something so much better than the war's lacklustre crop of malnourished, junkie whores. A slender, healthy and beautiful young American girl, with the flawless complexion and toned body of someone who'd grown up healthy and happy, in a safe, glittering place. And best of all, she did not know she was being filmed.

Thornton stripped the blouse from her, knowingly positioning her to face the mirror. His eyes glued to the camera's viewfinder, Piotr took in the treasures that the big CIA man had exposed. Buoyant, firm and perky breasts, capped by nipples already stiff with arousal. She whispered something in Jake's ear. His response was immediate. With a movement of his big hand, he pushed her down on all fours facing the floor-length mirror, her firm rump up in the air. Without ceremony, he unzipped his fly and didn't even pause to pull his trousers down before ramming into the American girl from behind.

Panting, his heart pounding, Piotr focused the camera on the girl's face, aiming to capture the expression on her face the moment Thornton's big cock penetrated her.


***


Calloway considered Elena's question. Answering truthfully would mean giving up one of his few remaining advantages -his basic knowledge of Russian, something he had concealed from his captors up to now, hoping that they would speak more freely in front of him if they thought he did not understand. He had listened to the guards chatting as they came and went, or entered the room to beat up the Englishman for a while to divert themselves. They talked of this and that -of the quality of the bakery down the street, of the Czech whores that stood in the doorways, of passersby they'd seen. They didn't compare notes, or they might have realised what Calloway had -that some of the whores and the passersby never went elsewhere.

He opened his mouth to speak.

Down the hall, there was a crash. The apartment door had been caved in on its hinges. There was an angry shout in Russian, then gunfire.

Calloway closed his mouth.

For a good Soviet functionary, the way ahead was clear. Calloway held potentially valuable information, information that the enemy might benefit from. With their location compromised, Elena's clear directive was to slash his throat with the scalpel in her hand. Calloway had to depend on the Russian girl's lust for life exceeding her sense of duty.

"Free me," he said quickly, "And I can get us both out of here alive."

 

[zora_little]

Alice cried out at the sudden invasion, her fingers digging into the floor in an attempt to steady herself against his hard thrusts. She could see herself in the large mirror, her breasts jiggling each time Jake impaled her on his huge cock, her lips parted wantonly as his cock forced deep moans from her throat.

His fingers dug into the soft flesh of her hips as he rammed himself into her, and Alice loved it, prostrate as she was in her helpless position, serving only as a fuck toy to fulfil his needs.

She would never tire of the appetite with which Jake continued to take her.

Already she could feel her inner passage deliciously tightening around his cock, and she rocked back against him, her moans turning into screams.


***

Her eyes widened at the sound of the crash and the gunshots that rang out in the hall. “I guess I don’t need to make you explain for now.”

She looked at the scalpel in her hand, then at Calloway. It was clear that whoever had forced their way into the apartment were after her valuable prisoner. Elena knew that there were other players who had a strong interest in getting their hands on the British lieutenant, and her bosses would not be pleased if they succeeded. Having already failed at extracting the information she needed, she wondered how they would react if she lost the prisoner, too.

"Free me. And I can get us both out of here alive."

“Shit.” Elena knew that she had only seconds to decide. The room she was in had only one window to a small courtyard at the back of the building, and they were too high up to simply risk a jump. The other way out was the door, behind which sounds of approaching footsteps signalled the presence of at least four, if not more, assailants.

Elena did not wish to die.

Reaching into her pocket she hastily fingered for the small key to the handcuffs that kept the Brit fastened to the heating pipes. Her hands were sweaty, and she did not succeed immediately to find it, but finally she closed her fingers around the small metal object.

There was no way of knowing if Calloway would keep his word and not turn on her first, but she had no time to worry about that now. The sounds of gunshots and cries were coming closer quickly, it was obvious that the guards had been caught offhand and did not succeed to put up any resistance against the intruders.

“Shitshitshit!” Elena forced her mind to remain calm as her fingers shook while she tried to insert the key into the small lock of the handcuffs. How had this happened? What fucking good was it to have trained soldiers around when they were so clearly unable to do their jobs?

Finally, the metal sprang lose around Calloway’s wrists.

“There you go, lieutenant”, she hissed. Someone kicked against the door of the room, and the wood splintered. “I hope for our sake that you are the magician that you think you are.”

 

[Maka]

Jake growled as Alice writhed and screamed, unwittingly performing for the camera -letting a man use her so shamelessly, so thoroughly. Jake brought his hand down hard on the side of her ass. It was not a playful slap, but a hard, bruising blow that left a red handprint on the firm, tender flesh.

"Slut," he panted, striking her again. "Slut!"

He could hear Justyna letting herself in, and he increased the tempo of his thrusts into Alice's helpless body.


***


The handcuffs sprang free. Calloway calmly massaged his wrists for a moment, then turned to Elena.

"Take your blouse off. Now!"


***


Jan's orders had been clear enough. Break into the apartment, kill everyone inside, return to Kepka for his pay -in American dollars, the only reliable currency these days. He didn't question why, didn't even particularly care. He'd fought for the Germans when they marched eastwards, slipped away and returned to Prague when it was clear what a shitshow the Eastern front was developing into. But the experience had left him with a deep dislike for Russians. It had been an unexpected pleasure to realise that they were the targets tonight. Tough meat, mind you -they had guns and military training, but they were on Kepka's turf here. They hadn't stood a chance.

The shooting only lasted a few minutes. Jan and his companions split up to search the apartment. Finding the door before him locked, Jan commenced kicking it, his revolver still in his hands. After a minute or two, it split with a satisfying cracking sound.

In the room beyond, a half-naked woman stood, deep red hair spilling about her shoulders. Her breasts were flawless, creamy globes all the more prominent on a slender, toned and supple frame. She looked at him calmly -something unreadable in her deep dark eyes.

Jan swallowed. So the Russians had stashed some whore away in their hide-out? But where had they gotten the funds for an amazing piece of ass like this? It didn't matter. Kepka had said to kill everyone, but he'd never said they couldn't have a bit of fun first. Keeping the gun trained on her, Jan moved forward, simultaneously fumbling with his belt buckle.

His last thought was to wonder if the hair around the whore's cunt was the same shade of red as the hair on her head.


***


With one perfectly coordinated movement, Calloway stepped from behind the door and swung the lead pipe at the Czech thug's head.

He'd had his eye on that length of pipe ever since he was brought here -lying disregarded next to the tiny, filthy sink. He'd known that if he'd been freed for just a moment, he might be able to spring across the room and pick it up, putting it to good use against his captors. He'd gone through various scenarios in his head so often that it felt oddly familiar in his hands for the first time -a reassuring old friend.

The thug's head cracked and split like an egg. His knees buckled and he fell to the floor.

Calloway's expressionless gaze turned to Elena. He should really kill her too, he knew. Leaving her alive would have repercussions. But he found himself unwilling to do so. It wasn't her apparent fragility, her lovely vulnerableness at her current position -Calloway wasn't a fool like the man he'd just killed. Elene Toporovna was dangerous.

It was the grudging respect that he felt for her after weeks of interrogation at her hands. Elena was beautiful and brilliant. He couldn't bring himself to waste that beauty, that brilliance. It would be like destroying a work of art.

"Miss Toporovna," he said quietly, aware of the other attackers working their way through the flat. "You may come with me or go your own way. But either way, I'm taking my leave of the Soviet state's hospitality for good."

 

[zora_little]

The slap was all it took for Alice to succumb to a violent orgasm. She stiffened in his grip, felt her body tighten, before tumbling over the edge, screaming and moaning shamelessly, oblivious to the world around her.

Yes, she was his slut, gladly, and it was with his cock inside her that she still felt alive, despite everything, despite Berlin, despite Calloway, despite the fear that had crept under her skin and stuck to her like a virus.

Justyna stepped into the room, her eyes fixed on the couple in front of them. Despite her slight distaste for the American agent, she had to marvel at his handiwork, at the way he handled, no, possessed women like the pretty detective. She was completely under his spell, was his toy to play with to, enjoy and finally, to discard. Justyna knew exactly who Jake was, and how he treated women he tired of.

But for now, he seemed to thoroughly enjoy the dark-haired woman, fucking her with abandon and skill, driving her mad with lust. It was beautiful.

She stood there for a moment, enjoying the sight of Alice McGregor bucking under the violence of her own climax, before she whispered nonchalantly: “I hope I am not interrupting?”

***

Elena calmly buttoned her blouse back up, not flinching once at the sounds of crashes and gunshots, the screams and curses coming steadily closer. When Calloway addressed her, she looked up, her appearance as immaculate and unfazed as ever.

"Miss Toporovna. You may come with me or go your own way. But either way, I'm taking my leave of the Soviet state's hospitality for good."

She smiled coldly at him, and tilted her head in an almost mocking gesture. “Lieutenant, despite your seemingly endless confidence I guarantee you that you will not make it out of here alive without me.” Elena tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, and her voice was even, as a shout outside the splintered door trailed off into a dying gurgle. “This is not an attempt to take you from us. This is an execution commando.”

Her calm stance never wavering, she took hold of a knife from her leather case, and handed him another. “I always thought that they should equip us with guns, but they seem to think that some of us might weaken in the face of a human being begging to die quickly. So they don’t.”

Elena was well aware that she was only inches away from desertion, from committing treason. But all that talk of self-sacrifice, of putting the party before the individual, made no sense to her. What good would she be to the party if she ended up dead?

 

[Maka]

Moaning and howling like a cum-starved banshee, Alice's body convulsed, her slut pussy squeezing his cock deliciously tightly as she shuddered with the thrill of the mixed pleasure and pain, the lust and the shame. She hardly even seemed to realise that Justyna had entered and was staring at her in amusement and arousal. Jake doubted that she'd even care, right now, if she'd known that her every expression was being committed to film as she orgasmed.

But she'd care later. Even as Alice continued to writhe and Justyna cocked an eyebrow, Jake considered a deliciously cruel plan for the future. After Alice had served her purpose and lost her interest for him, after he'd discarded her, one day she'd receive a package in the mail. And that package would contain selected stills from this night, along with a helpful note revealing the film's latest sales figures in Eastern Europe, and plans for a stateside release. Perhaps he'd even reveal her address to avid fans. Alice could spend the rest of her life wondering just who might be watching her at even the most intimate of moments.

His thrusts intensified, hammering brutally into Alice's sensitive, spasming cunt.

And Calloway, Calloway who'd tried to play gatekeeper and warn Alice away from this nightmare... Calloway was surely dead now.

At that thought, Jake came. He roughly pulled out of Alice at the first quiver, and so splattered her shapely, toned ass with his cum -trails of white criss-crossing her flawless skin marking her like a brand. He pulled his hands away s he finished, and Alice, deprived of support, fell to the floor.

He turned to Justyna. He was still fully dressed, his glistening flaccid cock now dangling from his fly.

"Actually, you're just in time," he said, indicating Alice' cum-stained with a shove of his feet. "For clean-up."


***


They made it out the door. Calloway should have not let his guard down. Professionals, whatever else they were, the apartment's attackers had left a tattooed, close-croped guard on the outside. There was a moment of mutual confusion as the two men stared at one another. Calloway was the first to recover, lashing out at the man's gun hand, and nearly taking off a couple of the meaty fingers wrapped around the revolver's butt. The weapon dropped to the floor but the thug, a hugely muscled gorilla of a man, had already used his free hand to grab Calloway by the throat and slam him against the wall, knocking the wind from his lungs.

Calloway thought he could rely on Elena to have the speed and presence of mind to pick up the gun and shoot his assailant. The interesting question was what she would do next.

 

[zora_little]

His callousness still managed to shock her, which was curious, because she had seen worse, so much worse from Jake Thornton before. Such utter contempt

Alice had crumpled to the floor, her upper body bare and her skirt bunched up around her waist, her shapely rear sticky with his cum. There was something so helpless about the girl at that moment, something so heartbreakingly sad that Justyna could not help but feel sorry for her.

“Clean up?” She looked from Alice up to Jake. “Let me catch my breath first.”

Justyna considered the American for a moment. While she knew that is was not advisable to defy him, she held his cold, calculating gaze, the question hanging unspoken between them. She had never really understood why he hated women so much, why he treated women like the detective the way he did. Alice McGregor was not his enemy, she was not even an important player in this fucked up game. It would have been easy to simply set her onto a false path and let her go. But Jake had to destroy her.

Alice whimpered, scrambling to a kneeling position, her hair in utter disarray as she looked up at Justyna, a confused, shy smile on her lips.

“You’re back.”

Justyna lowered herself to her knees and bent forward to tuck a lock of Alice’s hair gently behind her ear. She knew that Jake was an impatient man.

“I am,” she whispered. “And I hope I did not miss too much.” With that she leant in to kiss Alice on the mouth, who, in her weak state, willingly kissed her back. Her lips tasted sweet, laced with only a hint of whisky. Intoxicating.

***
“Fuck.”

Elena staggered back as the thug guarding the door went for Calloway, slamming him against the wall so hard that she was afraid he would knock him out.

She did not hesitate for a moment. Bending down to pick up the gun, she cocked it at the assailant and pulled the trigger.

 

[Maka]

Jake felt a flash of contempt mingled with arousal at the look on Alice's face -that shy, blissful, and wide-eyed eagerness to please, half-whore and half-schoolgirl. The camera would capture the moment when she was at her most vulnerable, when the last vestiges of her self-respect were still in the act of falling away.

But it displeased him that Justyna had disobeyed his order. She bent to kiss Alice. The gesture had something of tenderness to it. It was a sweetly passionate kiss, giving as much as it took. He could see Alice drawing strength from it.

He leaned forward and slapped Justyna hard, just below the ear. This too would be on the video, Jake thought with relish.

"I told you to clean the little slut off, to lick the cum from her ass," he said calmly. "Not kiss her."

 

[zora_little]

He had hit her hard. Justyna instinctively raised her hand to her face to protect herself against another possible blow, but none came.

“I told you to clean the little slut off, to lick the cum from her ass. Not kiss her.”

She stared at him, weighing the possibility of simply leaving in her head. But Justyna knew that such defiance would be unforgivable in his eyes. That she would not be able to run from him. That he would not hesitate to punish her with worse, much worse, than just a slap to the face.

So the Czech woman forced herself to smile, and nod.

“Of course.”

Alice had winced at the sudden and unexpected demonstration of violence, but she did not move as Justyna lowered herself to her knees to do as Jake had told her.

 

[Maka]

Jake's grin broadened as Justyna forced a submissive smile on to her face and bent to do his bidding, her soft pink tongue dutifully licking the sticky white cum from Alice's perfect ass. All of it captured on film. Beautiful.

"Now," he said softly, striding over to where the two young women knelt, his flaccid but still huge cock dangling between them. "Clean up this. Both of you -get your slut mouths to work."


***


Calloway had had his question answered. Elena's loyalties might still be to the Soviet state, but she had seen the sense in uniting against the common enemy -and shot the Czech thug attacking him.

Now they were in a place not far from the Karl Bridge -a small but functional cold water flat. During the war, Calloway had been sent on a couple of covert missions into Prague to meet with the Czech resistance -and in the process, used his resistance connections to help hide an elderly Jewish couple. And Jakob and Rebecca were only too delighted to return the favour now by letting Calloway and his Russian ally take shelter with them.

They had shuffled out to buy groceries for their unexpected guests, and Calloway had hosed himself down in their shower. The water was icy cold and rusty-tinted, but it was the first shower he'd had in weeks, and it felt glorious. Tying a towel around his waist, he moved back into their shared small backroom -his leanly muscular body on display. Not an ounce of fat showed anywhere on that frame -it had been hammered out by the exigencies of the war and the tough, relentless life Calloway had led. His eyes blazed with extraordinarily sharp perception yet they were also somehow weary, and never more so than now. He looked at Elena thoughtfully.

"When did you become a Party member?" he asked abruptly, his head tilted to one side, his sharply handsome features inscrutable.

 

[zora_little]

Justyna looked at Alice, her lips smeared with Jake’s cum. The detective was kneeling at his feet , her eyes wide with dawning fear, as if she finally realised that Jake was not the all-American hero, not the easy-going, corn-fed Midwestern farmboy-turned-adventurer that she had wanted him so badly to be. But the moment for that realisation to strike was a dangerous one. The Czech woman knew only too well that Jake Thornton, in a moment of passion, of male domination, with two girls completely at his will, would not appreciate the mood to be spoiled by the questions and sudden moral qualms of Alice McGregor. The poor girl would soon enough find out what her trusted companion was in fact capable of, the pain he was able to cause, but maybe she would be able to delay that moment for a while.

“Of course,” Justyna purred, her words followed by a soft, playful lick of Jake’s cock. Then she leant forward to draw in the beautiful American girl with a kiss, letting her taste Jake on her lips, her hands softly caressing her slender body.

“Help me, Alice,” she whispered, her voice a tad too languorous maybe, but it worked. Alice nodded, the earlier expression of hunger returning to her features again. “With pleasure.”

So there they were, both women obediently licking, teasing, sucking Jake’s cock, even after it long been cleaned of all earlier traces of him fucking the detective. It was as if they were trying to outdo each other in the search for his approval. Alice gently cupped his balls with one hand, while Justyna, when it was finally her turn again, caressed his firm buttocks, teasing him, set to draw moans from his lips. For now, at least, Alice seemed appeased, and was therefore safe a little while longer.

***

Elena did not avert her gaze when he walked into the room, and she did not try to pretend that she did not like what she saw.

“You look better when you are not bleeding and chained to a radiator, Calloway.”

His question, however, seemed to catch her unawares. There was a brief flicker in her eyes, and for the length of a few heartbeats, Elena seemed to fight with sudden memories

“I was young when the war started, Calloway. Too young. Too young to see the things that I have seen, the brutality, the rapes, the crumbling of conscience, the utter inflation of the value of a human life.” She sighed, drew a deep breath. “If a human being is constantly exposed to such cruelties, to such fear…what do you think happens? The party was something I could believe in. The ideas, the idealism, all of it rang true for me. When I saw what it was really about, well…” She sat down on the bed, her hands in her lap, suddenly vulnerable and weak. “It was too late then. By then I had risked too much, and I knew too much. I realised they would not let me go. That they would hurt me, and my family if I tried.” She gave him a sad smile.

“Well, and now I am here. What is it that you say? I am fucked.”

 

[Maka]

A savage smile returned to Jake's face as he stared down at the two heads, one blonde and one dark, went to conscientious, devoted work on his cock, slathering it with their saliva, kissing each other around it, competing to receive the first sound of approval from him. His good mood returned, and he shifted slightly to face the mirror full-on, smirking at himself in the glass.

He saw a king among men being serviced by two beautiful female slaves, and that was what the Butcher's video would record. Jake's erection returned as he thought about that image of himself. He would be a king, a king among spies, and he'd build his fiefdom here, amongst the shattered ruins of another empire's downfall. His superiors didn't know the real Jake Thornton, any more than Alice had. They thought of him as bright but biddable, a likely lad, a footsoldier for the coming spies' war.

He was so much more. He'd deliver the man they wanted but he'd remember everything -every dirty deal, buried body and black op. By the time he'd scaled the heights, he'd more of a terror to them than Hoover himself.

Jake's grip tightened painfully, one hand in Alice's dark curls and one among Justyna's golden locks, silently commanding them to redouble their attentions.


***


Calloway looked gravely at Elena, his expression as unreadable as ever.

The truth was that he had always respected the young Russian woman, even admired her in a dispassionate way, and looked forward to their verbal jousts as the only bright spot throughout the pain, boredom, and deprivation of his captivity. But he saw for the first time total, naked vulnerability in her clear eyes as she told her story, her tone completely without self-pity.

Calloway took her in as though seeing her for the first time. Before, the exquisite delicacy and beauty of her features had always made her seem cold and detached, a porcelain Russian doll. But now Calloway had a hint of the passion and depth of feeling underlying the redhead's cool poise. It made him think of Lieselotte, and that he had never been able to mourn her properly.

He joined Elena on the bed. Without a word, he reached out a bare, smoothly muscled arm, put it around her slim shoulders and drew the Russian girl to his side, holding her close.

 

[zora_little]

Alice opened her eyes. She whimpered as his grip tightened painfully in her hair, gasping for air while servicing his cock as he had demanded. Justyna, on the other hand, did not make a sound, but appeared concentrated, immersed in her task. For a split second, Alice wondered if Justyna had done this before, with Jake, and maybe another woman, in the exact same position that she was in now. But what did it matter?

It was exciting to feel his cock harden in her mouth again, her lips tightly wrapped around his shaft. There was pleasure in obeying him, pleasure in kneeling at his feet, next to the beautiful Czech woman, giving herself up to his will. She looked up at him, hoping to catch a glimpse of his features, his appreciation. Was he pleased now?

***

Elena held her breath, suppressing a smirk as he sat down beside her. It was always easy with men like Calloway. Too easy. It was not that any of the words she had said were untrue, that she had not seen atrocities, treacheries and death that would last many lifetimes. But none of it touched her anymore. She was a pragmatist. And she knew that the men who had staged the attack on their safe house would be back for more, when whoever had given the order realised they had failed. And she had disobeyed her own orders, and that, Elena knew, might yet cost her dearly.

So why not keep the English sergeant in the belief that he was her hero, her saviour? Why not give him reason to trust her? After all, they were, for now, in this mess together, and she needed to rely on his protection and companionship until she did not need either any longer. With a soft sigh she put her head against his shoulder.

“You’re a good man, Calloway,” she whispered. “The war has not left us with many of those.”

 

[Maka]

Alice cast a glance upwards, her desperate need to please Jake evident in her gorgeous brown eyes. Jake smirked. Alice's submission to him brought him as much, or more, pleasure than the act itself.

He unceremoniously pushed Justyna aside and pulled his cock away from Alice's mouth. It came out with a soft pop, slick and glistening with the girl's saliva.

He grabbed Alice's head and turned her towards the mirror, forcing her to regard her own debauchery -and letting the hidden camera register it.

"Before we go on," he whispered. "Beg. Beg for my cum, cumslut. Beg for it."