Confrontation

About a half-hour after you settle in to your spot in the woods you hear some static. Maisie’s listening devices are coming into range. She’ll be arriving soon. Shortly the static clears and you hear classic rock playing over the hum of an engine. Then Maisie’s voice:

“Is that it, is my cousin there?” She asks.

“Yes, but I told you to stop asking questions.” A gruff voice answers.

You can’t help but smile. One of the commands active on Maisie makes people more inclined to listen to her and do what she wants. It wasn’t a strong command, Maisie had been adamant about that. If she walked in there and took control and he was even remotely clever it would trigger something in her cousin. She only had a few protective commands and the one to make people more likely to listen to her. Ones that she was confident wouldn’t set off the man she was meeting when he found out about them. Once more you pray that she is overestimating him.

You hear the vehicle doors open.

“You first.” The man orders. You hear Maisie walking across some gravel, then dirt, then you hear her going up wooden steps.

“You weren’t followed?” You haven’t heard his voice before, but you know it is him. It’s the guy behind all of this.

“Yeah, Randy, I’m sure.” The truck guy answers. At least he's given you a name for the leader, Randy.

“You, bitch, anyone following you? Anyone tracking you?" Randy asks. You open the gun case. You are suddenly much more okay with the thought of becoming a killer today.

“No.” Maisie answers. Then silence for a moment.

“Well?” You hear the man demand.

“What?” You hear a different woman answer. That has to be Amber, Maisie's cousin.

“Don’t fucking what me, slut.” You hear a slap and Maisie gasp. “Is she lying?” He demands.

“No, she’s not.” The woman’s voice answers.

“Next time, Fucking tell me.”

“You ordered me to tell you if she lies to you, not if she tells the truth.” Amber’s voice sounds like she is crying. You hear a thud and Maisie screams.

“Stop it, don’t hurt her!” Your wife screamed.

You hear Maisie gasp and the hidden microphone rattle.

“You don’t want me to hurt her?” The man says with a cruel tint to his voice.

“No.” Maisie says, trying to be strong. You grip the rifle harder. You know you can’t violate Maisie’s plan, but it is hard to sit still and listen to this.

“No please!” Maisie yells. You start to get up, but you stop yourself. If Maisie wants your help she knows what to say.

“Slut, stab yourself.” The man says, and you hear both women scream.

“Again!” He commands.

“No please, you’re killing her!” Maisie screams.

“But I’m not the one hurting her.” The man taunts, then: “Slut, slit your wrist.” He orders.

“Oh God, no!” Maisie screams and you hear her moving, the microphone rustles against her dress as she does.

“Please, she’s dying!” Maisie screams.

“Slut, your wounds are healed, you are fine.” You hear crying over the microphone, you can’t tell if it is Maisie or her cousin, or both. You settle back down. You knew Maisie's cousin wasn’t going to be in good shape even if things went well, but hearing it happen was a very different story.

“Now, slut,” The man continues, “from now on, if this bitch fails to obey anything I tell her to do, you will cut yourself, understand?”

“Yes.” Came the soft, scared voice of Maisie’s cousin Amber in reply.

“Yes what?” He demands.

“Yes, Master.”

“Good. You know what, bitch, why don’t you call me master too.” His voice is mean but almost gleeful. “You understand, bitch?”

“Yes, Master.” Comes the voice of your wife, obedient yet defiant.

The man laughs. You honestly don’t know how much more of this you can take.

“Now, before we start the negotiations," Randy continues, "I think you should take off your clothes.” You grip the rifle tighter. Maisie said this was likely, told you she might have to do things while she’s in there. You had agreed, but you wouldn’t sit here and let him hurt her. You start to move forward, closer to the cabin.

“Is that a fucking wire?” Randy yells. You stop, get back under cover. They’ve found her microphone, hopefully she’d already dropped the other one.

“It is.” Maisie admits.

You hear a slap. “Fucking bitch, who is out there listening? You said no one followed you.” The man yells, his confidence is slipping, he’s angry but also scared.

“No one followed me. I want a recording of our negotiations for my own safe keeping.” Maisie is careful not to lie.

A pause.

“She’s telling the truth, master.” The other woman states. The mic had storage for recording as well as a transmitter, if they didn’t follow up on the question she might get away with it.

“And there is no one near the cabin?” Randy asks.

“Not within the perimeter, master.” Maisie’s cousin answers.

“Boss, you want me to check?” The guy from the truck asks.

“Yeah, take this and look around, let me know if you find anything.”

Maisie sniffles twice. You know what that means and you quickly pull out the battery of the receiver and then do the same to the satellite phone. You don’t have anything else that would give you away. You lie still, find a part of the bush you are behind that lets you see out a little bit and lie still.

Soon enough the man emerges and you get your first look at one of the men behind this. The guy that met Maisie, drove her here. He has a pistol and some kind of electronic device, most likely scanning for devices sending or receiving signals. You left your regular cell phone at home and both the receiver for Maisie’s microphones and the satellite phone are disabled so you should be okay. You still hold your breath when he scans in your direction before turning and continuing.

You wait for minutes after he walks around the corner out of sight. Every second feels like an eternity, lying there, completely ignorant of what is happening inside the cabin. Unable to help Maisie should she need it. You are glad you waited when you see the man come around the side of the cabin, making a second pass.

You lie still and breathe, try not to think about what Maisie is doing right now. It won’t help to get upset about what could possibly be going wrong. You just need to be ready for when you can turn the receiver back on.

The man walks up the steps to the back porch, turns around with the scanner one last time and then opens the door and slips inside. You hurriedly reattach the battery to the receiver.

“. . . and we find this? What the fuck is this?” You hear the head man’s voice yelling. Your fingers tighten on the gun.

“Tell me what this is.” He demands

“It’s a signal booster.” Maisie admits.

“Like I said, boss, it was in her purse in the truck.” Came truck guy's voice.

“Who is listening.” Randy again. Silence and then the crack of a slap.

“Tell me the truth, bitch,” The man’s voice is almost a snarl, “who is listening to us?”

“No one.” Maisie yells back at him. You hear a scream and crying.

“Well, it seems someone disobeyed me.” Randy's voice is almost gleeful. “I guess she just lied to me, right slut?”

“Yes, Master.” Maisie’s cousin says shakily.

“Answer me, and tell the truth, who is out there?” Randy demands.

You hear crying, but no answer. Then another scream.

“Please,” you hear Maisie beg, “We’ll pay you whatever you want, just let us go.”

“You enjoy seeing her stab herself?" Randy shouts. "You must, cause you aren't doing what you are told. Maybe you don’t care how much blood she’s losing.”

“Please. . .” Maisie begs him again. Another slap. You are going to enjoy killing this son of a bitch.

“Slut,” Randy says, “cut your leg from the knee up, until this bitch tells me what I want to know.”

Another scream.

“It’s my husband.” Maisie blurts out.

“There, see, that wasn’t so hard.” Randy says.

“Boss, she’s losing a lot of blood.” Comes a new voice.

“Shut up Nate.” Randy answers.

“It’s just, if she blacks out. . .” Guy number 3, Nate continues.

“Oh Christ, slut, you are healed, and you have normal amounts of blood in you.” Randy commands. “You happy, Nate? Next time you talk you’ll be the one bleeding.”

That’s all three men in the house accounted for now. Nate seems to be the low man, Randy of course being the mastermind behind all this, and then there’s truck guy, the one that drove Maisie and found the booster.

“Now, bitch. This husband of yours, he’s your master, right?” Randy asks your wife.

“No.”

“That’s a lie, master.” Amber rats her out immediately.

“Lie to me again and I shoot your cousin right in her cunt.” Randy spits. “Is your husband your master?”

“Yes.” Maisie admits, sounding defeated.

“Where is he?” Randy continues.

“Please. . .” Maisie begs. Another slap sounds through your ear piece.

“Where the fuck is he?” Randy yells.

“Outside, two or three hundred yards in the woods.” Maisie says tearfully. “Don't hurt him. Please, I just want to go home.”

“He can hear us?”

“Yes.” That’s the last word you hear through the earpiece. The sound of a smash and then the signal is dead.

You breathe heavy. “I just want to go home.” Maisie’s code for an ending you really don’t like. You **** back your feelings, focus, tell yourself it could be worse. It could be much worse. You just have to be calm, you have to get this right.

It’s a few moments before the door to the back porch opens. Your wife, the love of your life steps out. She’s naked, shivering, she looks panicked as she does her best to cover herself with her hands. You can see her face is red and slightly swollen from being slapped. You push the feelings down again. You can’t fail her now.

Behind Maisie a man steps out. Scraggly black hair, nervous eyes, expensive pants and shirt. He’s holding a pistol, pointing it at your wife’s head as he stays behind her. It has to be Randy, the guy behind all of this.

“Hey asshole!” He yells. “Come on out, let’s talk.”

You stay put. You know the plan, even if you don’t like it.

“No?” Randy continues, “Well your wife and I are going back in the cabin, and I’m going to have fun hurting her. My friends too. She might need someone to heal her soon.”

Suddenly the man flinches, “What did you say?” He yells, but softer, it isn’t at you, it’s at Maisie. At the same time you can see it. On Maisie’s chest, right below her right shoulder. It’s his heart. She activated the dormant command. You take aim but he is moving.

Maisie’s mouth moves, and the man freezes, holds Maisie firmly in front of him, pistol pointed at her head. You exhale and pull the trigger. You see the red plume where the bullet hits Maisie, but Randy moves. Her cousin was there, Randy on the ground, still moving. You re-aim for his chest. Maisie’s cousin is trying her best to cover the man, to protect him but he is fighting to get up. You pull the trigger a second time. The shot is true, blood sprays from the hole in his ribs. Amber is frantic, clawing at Randy, crying. His face flops to the side, looking right at you. You aim and squeeze the trigger one last time. His head jerks backward like a towel being snapped as his face disappears and blood and brains spray against the wall of the cabin.

MAISIE

The thought hits you fast, and hard. You grab the small megaphone next to you, pull the trigger and yell into it.

“Maisie, full recovery! Maisie, full recovery!”

You start running toward the cabin, if she can’t hear you have to get to her. Your free hand grabs the paper in your pocket. If she can still see it, read it. . .

You stumble in your haste and you hear the tree beside you splinter, the sound of a gunshot. There’s still two men in the cabin, at least one of them is taking shots at you.

“Maisie, full recovery!” you yell again, ducking behind one of the last trees before the clearing behind the cabin as a second shot sprays splinters of bark from another tree.

Your heart is racing. You are pinned down, you can’t help her. All you can do is keep yelling, hope she hears you, hope she is okay after you shot her.

You hear two more shots and freeze. A thud, then the door to the cabin opens. You carefully peak around the tree, rifle ready, your heart pounding.

On the porch is the corpse of Randy, Amber on top of him sobbing, and nothing else. Maisie isn’t there, she’s moved. You step out, pointing your rifle at the door. Nothing.

You start moving forward, still watching the door. Faster now. She’s inside, she could be okay, she could be hurt. Your start running like an idiot, the rifle swinging in your arm. You can’t think straight, you need to see her, you need her to be okay.

You run up the steps onto the porch, hit the door hard, bursting through. You almost trip over a body, the guy who had walked outside earlier, two bullet holes in his chest. You look up.

“Maisie.” She’s there, she’s bloodied but she’s alright.

“Hey babe.” She says, but she doesn’t turn, doesn’t look at you. She's preoccupied.