the bar. She stopped smiling however when Jack plunged his long sharp knife into her abdomen several times in quick succession.
Harriet’s body was found later that evening by two well-to-do gentlemen using the mews as a short cut to Dunbridge Street. Like Elizabeth, Jack had made sure her body was found in what the police would officially call a ‘distressed state’. The tabloid newspapers, fed by ‘anonymous but reliable Party sources’ (AKA Dick) didn’t exercise restraint in their descriptions of the body. The papers’ owners had seen circulations rise after the first crime was committed which is why they took it in their own hands to elaborate on this latest murder to make it even more sensational. Depending on which report you read Harriet’s body had been found with her liver, spleen and kidneys removed and arranged in a neat pile on her chest (or as neatly as you could pile various bodily organs), her pancreas, small intestines and appendix tucked in her jacket pockets, or her nose and heart shoved up her rectum. Or all of the above.
It didn’t really matter which version of events was most widely believed. What was important was that in a very short space of time two harlots had been murdered and mutilated by an anonymous killer. Prostitution was scandalous enough in this puritanical society, but prostitution linked to what seemed like a mentally deranged serial killer ensured the bloody attacks became the talk of the town and the country. Ordinarily, if the prostitutes were real flesh and blood women they’d be absolutely terrified and would stay off the streets until the killings stopped but these man-made women didn’t operate with real logic or emotions. Their programming meant their prime directive was to entice men into having sex with them at any cost. That’s why deaths three, four and five followed later that week. And six and seven the week later.
By this time the deaths were making prime time television news. Dick had drip-fed various reports into the media to promote pro-Party messages. Rumours were rife that the vicious killer was a member of the Resistance, that he was someone who had avoided his monthly injections, a foreigner, a philanderer, an atheist, or a chronic masturbator. Once these stories had been planted speculation spread like wildfire, fanned by the winds of public interest and a circulation frenzy
‘Serial Slasher Slays and Slices Seventh!’ screamed the most recent front page headline. The Leader smiled, placed the paper down on his desk and leaned back in his chair. He’d been reviewing Jack’s progress on a regular basis via Vera’s reports and decided to commend Mr. Brunel on his good work once all the prostitutes had been terminated. He thought that as long as he could manage his unbelievably hectic workload he would try and meet Jeremy in person. As he contemplated this, the Leader shivered and looked around his office. He had that niggling feeling again and his foot was irritating him. If he didn’t know better he would have sworn there was a small pebble in the toe of his shoe.
CHAPTER 22
It was Susan who next intercepted Dick on his way home one evening and, after the usual blindfolding procedure, took him to the resistance headquarters. Dick was a little frustrated that the location still had to be kept a secret from him but Susan explained that it had been two years before she had been trusted enough to be told.
‘So Taylor doesn’t trust me?’, Dick asked over the hum of the hovercar.
‘Of course he does’, said Susan. ‘He has every confidence in you’.
‘Did he have every confidence in Benjamin too?’, Dick asked.
‘That colleague of yours at the Ministry?’
‘Yes’. Dick replied. ‘My colleague who, it turns out, was also in the Resistance. You must know him. In his mid-thirties. About five eight. Slightly built. Dark hair’.
‘Do you know the name he used in the Resistance?’
‘No’, Dick admitted.
‘Well I can’t help you. His description is too general. And besides, even if I can’t identify him by his appearance, I would know something as important as us having another member working alongside you at the Ministry’. Susan thought again about Benjamin and shook her head. ‘You’re wrong about him being in the Resistance’, she said. ‘Definitely wrong’.
Dick was confused and wondered how Taylor had even managed to conceal Benjamin’s identity and role from even his closest colleagues.
‘As far as I know’, Susan continued. ‘You’re the only man we’ve got on the inside’.
‘Would you like a man on the inside?’, Dick asked, making a very clumsy come-on. He rested his hand gently on Susan’s thigh and squeezed it, finding it hard and unyielding. Susan picked up his hand, took it off the metal transmission tunnel between the seats of the hovercar and placed it in her lap.
‘Yes please. After tonight’s meeting. Can you teach me something new?’, she asked.
‘I’m sure I can. Tonight’s lesson can be the Three R’s: Role Play, Rimming and Reach Arounds’.
If the Party had been keeping Susan’s hovercar under surveillance that evening they would have been confused by its very erratic flight path as it jerked and jolted around. This wasn’t a result of any control problems with the vehicle but rather the fact that Susan found it difficult concentrating on driving given what Dick was doing with his fingers between her legs. When they eventually arrived at the resistance headquarters Dick was surprised to learn that Taylor wasn’t there. Surprised and pleased. Edward and Grace were going about their business, Susan had gone off to have a shower and there was a member, Clifford, who he’d never met before, who was studying intelligence reports on the recent movements of Party hierarchy. Dick wandered around and eventually found Alice in the small dimly-lit library, engrossed in a newspaper with a pile of several others close by.
‘So, no Taylor?’, Dick asked, shutting the door behind him. He guessed the answer but was seeking comfort in its confirmation.
Alice looked up and smiled. ‘No. He’s working late’.
‘At his day job?’, Dick enquired.
Alice nodded.
‘Which is…’ Dick trailed off, waiting for Alice to answer.
‘I don’t know. None of us know’.
‘But I thought that of everyone here, you’d know’. Dick sat down facing her. ‘I mean, you’re very close to him. Almost joined at the hip’. Dick smiled. ‘And from what I also know, almost joined at the groin’.
Alice blushed slightly.
Dick probed Alice some more. Not in the way he would have liked, but in the interrogatory sense.
‘What is it between you and Taylor?’ he asked. ‘I know you’re lovers but it’s more than that. There’s some sort of strange bond between you that I’ve never seen between resistance members’.
Alice was now a fetching shade of pink. Dick continued, oblivious to her discomfort.
‘He’s very possessive towards you. Almost obsessively so’.
‘And is that a problem Mr. Longg?’, Alice asked, now looking directly at him.
‘Well, yes’.
Alice looked slightly confused.
‘You see, I’m jealous’. Dick paused to gauge Alice’s reaction. She continued to look at him with a puzzled expression. Dick took the newspaper from her grasp and gently held her hands in his.
‘Ever since the day you literally appeared in my life I’ve desired you. Of course, I desire most women, but you… there was something different about you from the start. I can’t figure you out Alice. The way you play hard to get. I’m not used to that. The way you act, you’d think you were a fully paid-up, suppressed member of the population. Take Susan or Grace. They’re absolutely gagging for sex — anything with a pulse will do. But you, it’s like you’re still repressed. Or is it that you’re a one-man woman Alice? And if so, how did that happen. It’s like Taylor has some hold over you. What is it with him Alice? Is he your svengali?’
Alice shrugged. ‘I love Taylor. We have a sort of “understanding”. He’s done a lot for me’.
‘I’m sure’, said Dick leaning forwards. ‘And I’d like to do a lot
With that, he leant forward and kissed Alice full on her ruby lips. Dick expected her to resist him, to hammer her small fists into his chest, slap him around the face, pull his hair or his eyebrows (which would have hurt a lot more), scream for help and generally cause a commotion. Her submissive reaction, instead, caught him by surprise.
