31. April 15, 2023 #3
“I’ll give you this. At least you don’t discriminate.
You recruit rich men into your group, taking advantage of them by encouraging them to invest in your endeavors that are being used to fund your real goals.
You bring in the middle class, likely promising them that they, too, can work their way into the upper echelons of the organization if they just follow the plan and work hard, while you work the percentages just enough to make them believe it’s possible without actually allowing it to occur.
And let’s not forget that you exploit the poor and uneducated by showing them that anything you can provide them is better than the life they’re living.
No cost is too high, no request too great.
All they have to do—any of them—is give their soul over to you.
Sounds pretty close to a textbook definition of a cult to me. ”
Giudici shook his head. “It’s unfortunate that you feel that way, my dear.”
“Why? Because I don’t want to become a breeder and then be killed afterward? I can’t imagine many women are happy with that prospect.”
“They are contributing to a greater world. To be honest, most women don’t know the ultimate sacrifice they will make.
In ancient times, to be selected as one of the chosen wives for the Worthy was seen as a great honor.
However, in this day and age, we have found we must…
protect them from modern-day ideology regarding th eir purpose.
We are committed to treating our selected brides with great respect and care while they grow our young.
All efforts go to providing them with the best health care, the finest clothing, the finest living arrangements.
They want for nothing. In fact, as we prepare them for their roles as mothers of our sons, they see their lives as better than anything they could have achieved in their everyday lives. They don’t want to leave.”
“Psychological conditioning. You create Stockholm syndrome.”
“We provide them with lives they could have never had where they were.”
A sudden thought occurred to Cherry. “The women at the luncheon. They were all younger.”
“Yes. They are brides of our members. Some are marriages of longer standing from members recruited out of their traditional lives into the fold. Our recruitment is rigorous, and we are clear that the men will serve us well before they are told the price they pay for joining the Salieri. And… whether the marriage comes to us already formed, or it is arranged by us, if the women are considered good stock and they provide a son, or they have shown good breeding capabilities and provide a girl who is miscarried, some are permitted to remain brides for another pregnancy or two.”
“The method doesn’t matter. Their lives are bought and sold. It’s still trafficking!”
“It’s true. In recent years, we’ve had to procure our brides in somewhat nontraditional circumstances, but it has not changed our methods.
We still treat them extremely well. And when their confinement comes, they know little of what is happening around them.
We keep them medically sedated in a way that is not harmful to them or the child, and they pass blissfully unaware. ”
“And the women who conceive girls?”
“The joys of modern medicine. Being able to tell the sex of a child early certainly helps with that obstacle. But when it does happen, that is easily taken care of through alternative means. Termination of the fetus through natural methods causes the pregnancy to appear as a miscarriage. Women may even survive the loss of a daughter if they are considered hearty and healthy enough to withstand another pregnancy. However, these days, with the genetic research at our fingertips, we are able to take steps that prevent as many daughters from being conceived as there were in the past.”
“This is crazy. You’re all crazy. I do not agree to this.
I will fight you every step of the way. Do you honestly think my husband will just accept my disappearance?
He knows I would never leave him willingly.
He will come looking for me, and he won’t rest until he finds me.
And when he finds you, I guarantee you, you and all of your members will pay for what you’ve done. ”
“Come, Esme. Your uncle has already shown you that we know he’s not your husband, just as we know he is not Ciarán McCarthy. You do not work for an IT company. You work for Tribe Corporation, a group of mercenaries you put together with the specific mission to find your father.”
Two pairs of hands grabbed her from behind.
She’d been so caught up in the words of Giudici that she hadn’t been paying attention to her surroundings.
However people entered this building, they’d managed to sneak up on her from behind.
While she struggled against their grip, futile though it was, three more figures walked behind her—Zion, Deschamps, and Andres.
Her uncle was the one who spoke. “I am sorry, Esme. Your father was just a bit too smart for his own good. He was a miscalculation on my part. A trial run of mine, if you will, to successfully include investors with clean money who were not part of the Salieri. Unfortunately, I was proven wrong. He was more savvy than your average businessman and looked deeply beyond the prospectus. Apparently, he didn’t trust even his closest friend when it came to financial support. ”
“He always did have a nose for when something wasn’t on the up-and-up.”
“Yes, most unfortunate. You should know that he died well, with you as his final thought. ”
“Where is he?”
“Don’t worry. He’s buried on the grounds. He was my friend, after all, and I honored his death.”
“So now what? I’m going to become a bride and bear a son for General Howard? Not willingly.”
He chuckled as he gestured to the young man next to him. “General Howard is too old at this stage to take a bride. Andres has indicated that he’d rather forego university and take a bride. He has selected you.”
“He’s a child! I’m old enough to be his mother! And forty-four is a bit old for pregnancy.”
“Yes, we’ve apprised him of that. But he is most insistent.
You are in excellent health, and he is quite taken with you.
And, if things go poorly, he understands the risk that you, the child, or both could be lost during the pregnancy.
It’s a chance he’s willing to take.” He directed his attention to the two men holding her.
“The women will be here to prepare her shortly. Once they have passed the arch, no one goes in or out until the initiation begins.”
Zion, an expression of sympathy on his face, finally spoke.
“I had left you behind, Esme. I had no plans to come after you. I tried to honor my fondness for you and your father by allowing you to live happily, unaware of our existence. This could have all been avoided if Kent Leech and your friends with Mythos had refrained from involving Leech’s sister and kept their noses out of the Kaders’ business.
Now we’ve lost another set of investors, and we’re still missing Zahra.
Extra work for us, I’m afraid, but… no loose ends, as they say. ”
Unfortunately, it appeared Zahra and her son were still targets.
Cherry knew that Zahra was in a safe house, but given all the information the Salieri had on Tribe, for how long would she remain hidden?
And were Mythos aware that they, too, had been found?
There was no way to get that information to them either.
The sound of soft footsteps on stone reached her ears, getting louder with every step.
Moments later, a line of seven women entered the room, each carrying something in their outstretched arms as they crossed down into the circle at what she now realized was an altar.
Bowls with liquid in them. Piles of folded materials.
Small chests filled with who knew what. All of them were aware, yet their eyes had a glassy sheen to them. They were obviously drugged.
The two men flanking her began to drag her down into the sunken circle.
There was no way she was getting free of them, and even if they let her go, they would be between her and the one and only escape route, which had closed behind the last woman in line.
She was well and truly fucked, and the irony did not escape her that she truly would be if Demon and the others didn’t find her soon.
Hopefully, by now, they had activated her tracker; otherwise, she wasn’t sure how they would ever locate her.
“Prepare her. You have one hour.”
Her eyes went immediately to Andres. His expression was odd.
It appeared blank, but something was working behind the eyes.
Her stomach revolted, and she worked hard to keep the bile down.
He was barely legal. This whole situation was too weird for words.
Could she overpower him when the time came?
He was strong from working on the plantation, but she likely had more fight training, given her position at Tribe.
Would it do any good? Zion had mentioned her two guards being outside the initiation room until the rite was over.
If she did manage to overpower him, would she be able to get to the staircase, find and open the door, and flee before they stopped her?
Unlikely, but right now, it was the only plan she had.