Page 28 of Invincible
Looking back at the men, she saw Mr.Tirich speaking to the men with his body slightly turned away as if he had never said those horrible things to her.She felt cold dread wash over her at the realization that he did not have even an ounce of humanity within him.Natalie was right, if they weren’t found soon, none of them would live much longer.
Andreas walked out of the warehouse with a small smile on his face.He had to give it to the girl, she hadn’t flinched.If it hadn’t been for the tears that started to flow down her cheeks, he wouldn’t have known she was even more terrified than she let on.Luckily for her, the tears had prevented him from having to dish out one of the punishments he reserved for uncooperative inventory.He kept a length of cane in the trunk for just such a problem.
“How late am I to my dinner meeting, Turner?”he asked when he reached the car.Just walking the few feet already had his clothes sticking to him.He hated shipping anything out of Houston in the summer.It was simply too hot.He was working on a new contact that would give him a route from Oregon to Russia during the hottest months.With any luck, he should have that new market opened by next summer.
“I’ll still have you arriving on time, sir.”
“Perfect.Thank you, Turner.”He slid into the back seat, finding his paper neatly folded again.There was also a fresh, cold bottle of water and a blast of cold air awaiting him.
Soon they were heading back across town to meet with his client for dinner.The price negotiations had already begun, this was all just part of the game.A game Andreas very much enjoyed.
Pulling up to the restaurant, he exited the car with a nod to Turner holding open the door.Adjusting his suit, he walked past the kid holding open the door to be welcomed by the maître d’.He was quickly shown to a table in a secluded corner where he found the man he both despised and enjoyed.
“Andreas,” the man said, standing to greet him.
“Tomás,” he answered.Tomás had been one of the first legitimate contacts he had made when he began expanding the business into other markets.He was one of the trusted cousins of a man in South America who headed up the largest slave auction in the southern hemisphere.
He was a rotund man with a balding head and a tendency to sweat profusely even in the winter.Andreas knew him to be loud and flashy when they were being entertained in a club, but a shrewd businessman when they were negotiating.For this reason, Andreas continued to nurture the business relationship between them.
“Andreas,” Tomás said in a conciliatory voice after they had placed their order.“I cannot go back to mi primo with the price you demand.”
Andreas had begun the negotiation by asking for three thousand five hundred for each girl.It was a little high, but he planned on walking away with at least three thousand each.With the load arriving tomorrow, that would give him twenty-four girls totaling seventy-two thousand before expenses.It was high compared to the going rate, but then he always provided the best in young girls.
“Tomás, at least two-thirds of the girls are virgins.Where else can you get those numbers?You can make a killing at auction with every one of them.”
They paused when their meal arrived.Andreas had chosen a small piece of salmon with fresh steamed asparagus.At heart, he was still a fighter from the streets and liked to keep himself in shape.Tomás, however, did not and would stick Andreas with the bill for the eight-ounce fillet mignon, fingerling potatoes dusted with truffles, and an expensive bottle of wine.
“Perhaps there is a little wiggle room in your price?”There was always some wiggle room.Everyone liked to think they had won by talking you down.If that’s what Tomás, and by extension, his cousin, needed to think, then Andreas would accommodate them.
“Perhaps,” he answered.He let the table grow silent while they ate.After enough time had passed to make Tomás wonder about Andrea’s mood to deal, he finally spoke.“Perhaps this would be better discussed at a new club that just opened last week.I hear their VIP rooms are very nice.”
Tomás smiled widely.“I think I just remembered why I like doing business with you, mi amigo.”
Andreas returned the smile.Let them think they were winning the negotiation.He might even get twenty-seven hundred out of them this time.
Even a little more for the one with the loud mouth.Not only would she bring top price for her virginity, which he could almost guarantee was still intact, but she would break the bank as men clawed for a chance to break her.He would happily do it himself, but the money she would bring was far more valuable to him than the lessons he would relish inflicting on her small body.There would always be another one for him.
