Simon

Simon - A Hannah Todd Story

Simon - A Hannah Todd Story

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental. This work is copyrighted by the author. All characters involved in sexual activity are eighteen years of age or older at the time of portrayal.

This is the continuing adventures of Hannah Todd. I would strongly recommend you read at least some of "The Bridge," "Badass," and "The Auction," which provide the backstory for most of the characters in this story. And if you've been reading me, thank you for your continued support. Your comments are priceless, so please leave your wisdom so I might improve my writing.

Simon - Part Nine

On Monday, the 28th, I decided it was time for me to visit Simon. In all his splendor.

He hadn't eaten since before we apprehended him, and he sat there on that metal chair, naked, and chained by his ankles. Looking oh so sorry.

"I'll bet this isn't where you expected to find yourself today, Simon. But it's exactly where you belong. You should feel lucky you're not dead. It's my understanding that your man Truth bought it."

"This was his auction to fuck up, and he did so royally. I knew I shouldn't have made an appearance. It was..."

"Stupid? Egotistical? Hairbrained?"

"All of the above, I'm afraid. Who are you, and how did I get here? Are you with the government or are you the competition?"

"I am vengeance, Simon. I am the wrath of God. Come to you to exact a price for your actions. But there are things I will want from you first. Before God has the opportunity to decide what to do with your sorry ass."

"You certainly don't appear to like men very much, do you? Whoever you are."

"I'm Hannah Todd, and I like men very much. These men here are my people, and I cherish them. They are not evil pieces of shit like you, Simon. They are fine men who do good things. They are the good guys, Simon. Unlike you."

"Will you be turning me over to the authorities, as you should, Miss Todd."

"Ha! The authorities have no idea what to do with you, but I do. Whether you like it or not or know it or not, you are my bitch, Simon. And youwillbe doing whatever I tell you to. Not today, and maybe not tomorrow, but I will find my way in and you will do my bidding."

"You seem mighty confident. Your overconfidence will be your undoing."

"Yours put you in that chair, Muldoon."

"So, you've found me out. I thought I buried old Pat pretty deep. You must have some mighty fine connections to have figured that out. But what did that get you? Patrick Muldoon is dead as far as the world is concerned. And so is the late Simon Meetcham."

"Which is why I have to deal with you on my own. I don't want you to escape your fate due to some legal mumbo jumbo. You know what you've done, I know what you've done, and now the world knows what you've done."

I pulled my tablet out of my big handbag and lit it up. I showed him the video of Russo offering the world a million-dollar reward for the apprehension of Simon Meetcham. And the son of a bitch laughed. I could have taken his head off right there and then.

"What's so funny, Simon?"

"Only a million. I would expect a ten-million-dollar reward onmyhead."

"Oh, don't worry, Simon, you'll experience ten million dollars' worth of pain by the time I'm through with you."

"I expect I'll be dead pretty quickly when I don't cooperate with you."

"But Simon, there are many ways to die. And my people are familiar with all of them. Give me that cattle prod, Martin."

And Martin, the bodyguard assigned to keep a close eye on Simon, handed me the prod with a big smile on his face. I kicked it up to number three out of five and gave him a quick shot to his hairy, naked ribs.ZAP!

"Eyow!" He erupted. "What do you want from me? Isn't it bad enough you are starving me? You're evil, lady."

"Ha, ha, ha." Martin and I erupted in laughter. That's when Avi entered the room, having been summoned to this new safe house by me.

"This is my ex-Mossad agent, Simon. He knows how to loosen lips like nobody's business. He understands what I want, and I'm gonna leave you two alone for a bit to get acquainted. Avi, are you wearing your body-cam?"

"I am, boss. I'll drop my conversation with Mr. Meetcham onto a memory stick for your review. Don't worry. I'll get you what you want."

I gave Avi a kiss on the cheek and wished him well. I didn't acknowledge Simon any further and walked out the door. Off to the safe house.

I had several videos on my tablet that I wanted to share with some of my guests at the safe house. One was of the scene of the auction taken by the sparrow drone, and a couple of newscasts from TV, including Russo's offer of a million dollars for the apprehension of Simon Meetcham. I figured Peacock would get a kick out of that.

But he didn't. It shocked him. But not as much as seeing that the federal government, something he had evaded for years, pulled off the mission. Not as well as we had, but they did get most of the bad guys, dead or alive.

"Miss Todd, you're not going to tell me you have Simon, are you?"

"I don't have to. You already know I do. Now, everybody in this house, including you, Deacon, are of less value to me. In fact, you are of no value to me once Simon starts running his mouth. You and your friends here are yesterday's news. Hardly worth my time. Which brings me to an interesting conundrum."

"You're gonna kill us all, aren't you?"

"As I've told you time and again, Deacon, that is not my inclination. My preference is to find the deepest, darkest hellhole and put you in it for the rest of your sorry lives. Let you suffer like the girls you held in bondage and bought and sold like so much cattle. To be fed like shit and raped and abused on a regular basis. To be broken until you only want to die."

"I'm ready to die, Miss Todd. Why not make it easy on yourself and just kill me."

"You may wish to take that back if you knew just how that might happen. As my associate has told you, there are many ways to die. Yours should be the ugliest."

"But I thought we'd become friends, Hannah. After all, I have been so cooperative. I would guess without my help you never would have brought Simon's reign to an end."

"And now that his reign is over, Deacon, who will be taking his place?"

"I have no clue. As far as I know, Simon was at the top of the food chain."

"C'mon, Peacock, we've affected less than a third of the country. There certainly must be more out there beyond the East Coast. Give it up, and maybe I'll go easy on you."

"All I know is my territory and the surrounding ones. Simon was never my direct boss, so my contact with his organization was limited. I have no clue who he may have answered to or who his peers were. Other than Teetotaler worked for him and for me, I couldn't tell you more."

"It looks like your long run of cooperation is over, Deacon. So is the service. You're going to be eating a lot of oatmeal and peanut butter sandwiches from now on. That is unless your memory recovers. Knowledge is power, Deke. The more you know, the better it will be for you."

"If I'm gonna spend the rest of my days in some rathole, so be it. I will adapt."

"Yeah, good luck with that. I've got other fish to fry."

Next on my list was Teetotaler. I gave him a burner phone that Alec was looping around the world so we could not be tracked, and had him call his home. Just to see if anyone was there. Nobody was picking up the phone. So, I decided to send a couple of operators down there to check things out. Maybe there are things we can find that might move us forward, beyond Simon.

The feds had his address in Baltimore, where no one was ever home, and they raided it and found nothing. I had his address in western Maryland, and it was time, now that things had quieted down on the Teetotaler front, for me to see what I could find. It felt like a SEAL mission to me. Go in, take what we can, and blow the rest up. Assuming, of course, that the residents of Teetotaler's house had run off when they heard of his auction being busted.

"Tell me, Miles. Where can I find the data at your place in western Maryland? We know it's there; we just need to pinpoint it. I don't want to tear the whole place apart, but I will if I have to. I just want to get in and out with the data. Give it up, Miles."

"What's it matter? I'll never see the place again. I'll be dead as soon as you retrieve any data. That's when I become disposable. I think I'll take my chances with a closed mouth."

"Well, you're not going to have any reason to open it, 'cause I'm gonna stop feeding you. You present me with a solution rather than a problem. Go ahead, starve yourself to death. See if I care. But know, if you change your mind, that life could be at least a little more tolerable."

"How could you be so cruel?"

"Oh please. I've seen the girls you have auctioned. Tell me once that you never starved them into submission. Do you really think you deserve any better? Cooperation, Miles. Give it and get it. Them's the rules."

And out I went, thinking that maybe a little Lute Steep was in order for Mr. Teetotaler. We'll see. I've got nothing but time. And my real order of the day was not his place, but Simon's. We still didn't know wherehisdomicile was or if anyone was there to hold the fort, but I knew I wanted to take the place.

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I decided to call Carlotta Russo and catch up; just to see if the F.B.I. was making any headway with the prisoners they captured. Most of Simon's stormtroopers died in the gunplay of the other night, but seven remained alive, though they were not talking to Russo. Boy, I wish I could get hold of them. They held the key to Simon's front door, and if I could get hold of at least one of them, pay him off and promise him his freedom, that would solve my problem. But nobody apprehended at the venue was getting out so quickly. If at all.

She said that, per my recommendation, she was interrogating L'Cheetah Bolinski, and pouring it on pretty heavy, according to her. Bolinski bitched about Doyle not showing up and Simon not providing enough protection. They were ready for a vigilante force, but not the full force of the U.S. government. Russo was pretty proud of that until I reminded her of the men she had lost in this adventure and the number of the girls killed and wounded.

At the first auction we saved over two hundred girls, and only three had died and a handful wounded. This second auction saw fourteen girls die and an equal number badly wounded, not to mention those injured in the panic and chaos. Not to mention a battle that went on for over thirty minutes, bringing harm to many federal agents before the balance of Simon's people relented and put their hands up.

I told her about our idea for a women's health center geared specifically to taking care of the victims of trafficking.

"Oh, thank God somebody's doing something. Do you know how many of these poor things are hitting the streets with nowhere to go? This can't happen quickly enough. Let me know how I can help."

"Get me time with one of Simon's stormtroopers. That will help. I..."

"You know, there might be a way. Three of them are in the hospital. One got shot up pretty bad, but he's stable now. They will be transferring him to the medical ward of a federal prison down in North Carolina until his trial. He's already been refused bail, and once he completes his rehab, they will put him into general population. So..."

"I want to know everything about this guy, Carlotta. Where he is, his name, how many guards are watching him, when the shift changes, everything. Understood?"

"I'll see what I can do."

"You'd be surprised what famous people can do, Carlotta. Go forth and show me what you've got. I expect to hear back from you by tomorrow. I'd like to move on this guy as soon as possible."

"Yes, ma'am. I'll do my best.

*CLICK*

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Polo Candido was Simon's stormtrooper who was being held at the small rural hospital outside of Winston-Salem, NC, with two other badly wounded prisoners taken during the auction dustup. We had no idea if he would cooperate, but he was our best shot at finding Simon's home. But we'd need to liberate him from the hospital first.

I nominated myself for this mission, despite the reluctance of my entire team. As a nurse, I knew my way around a hospital, and, according to the plan, I only needed to deliver coffee to the guards, stabilize the patient and then disappear when my troops came in to move him. The coffee would be drugged, and the three guards stationed inside at the hospital wouldn't stand a chance. Romy, my paramedic, would join me in this endeavor.

Late that night, after Russo gave me the intel on the hospital and the baddyguards being held prisoner, I donned a long black wig, Romy went auburn, and we were both heavily made up to disguise our appearance. We were going in as nurses in scrubs, much to Duane's chagrin, and I would be going on my first in-person mission. We were to blend in, take out the guards with spiked coffee, and let our guys in when it was their turn.

The other two baddyguards in the isolation ward were pretty badly beat up. Much worse than Candido, who was now in stable condition and would be moved to a prison ward the following day. At least that was law enforcement's plan.

This was a limited operation, using strictly my SEALs, Duane, Herman, Alec and Anthony and my Rangers, Ronnie and Dom. The Rangers would take care of the two cops in the patrol car outside the hospital, and the others would flood into the hospital, masked, and abscond with Polo Candido, once I had stabilized him.

The three officers inside were eager for the coffee I brought to them, while Romy attended to the patients in the ward. The cops flirted with me and guzzled down the coffee. By the time Romy and I made our rounds in that ward, the officers were fast asleep. I called out to my SEALs, and they came in masked, and seemingly unarmed, and off we went with Polo Candido. He moaned and groaned but posed no resistance, expecting we had been sent by Simon's people to rescue him.

Duane had parked the Bell 407x at a small private airfield, and Romy, Dom and I jumped in and made Candido as comfortable as we could for a guy who had recently been pretty well shot up. The rest of the guys took the car for the long ride home. The helicopter ride took a little over four hours, and we landed out on the field at the horse farm.

Once we had Candido stabilized at the house, and the guards were alerted to our new guest, Romy took over care of the patient and I headed home. Given our new guest, I was having two additional guards posted at the horse farm to make sure that guest was plenty secure.

Having two safe houses to look after was taxing on my most trusted bodyguards, but, hopefully, it would be worth it. In this house, I had the key to Simon's home. Whether it's underground or above ground, it and everything within it will be mine before too long. At least, that was the goal. To truly own Simon.

Polo was a different kind of animal than the rest of the bunch at the other safe house. He was a true warrior. Oh, sure, Winger was a warrior, but not on par with Mr. Candido. He was built like one of my Navy SEALs, and looked like a movie star. Or a sexy firefighter with a six-pack and a gun.

His chart, which I conveniently took from the hospital, bore out how this fine specimen of a man was able to endure being shot multiple times and pull through it. Fifteen grams of metal was pulled from him, not to mention a pass-through shot to the right outer abdomen wall and another to the right thigh. But prognosis seemed to be that everything would end up in working order after treatment and time.

Time. That's the part that bothered me. I know that I have time, but I don't feel like I do. I want what I want, and I want it now. Spoiled? Well, fuck you. There are girls to save all over this country, and I'm just getting started.

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I loved that the kids went to a day camp all summer, but it was good when September came around and back to school they went. The challenges they face in fall and winter are much different from the ones they face in summer. More hands-on for me, which I just love. In the summer, with its overwhelming heat, just takes it out of the kids after a day of camp. However, they seem to come home from school more energized; more eager to do stuff.

But their time in school gave me the opportunity to visit my newest captives in the new safe house. It had been two weeks since the auction, and Labor Day was behind us, so I went primarily to see Polo Candido, my key to the castle owned by Simon. I was counting on his greed and desire for freedom to open doors for me.

We had fed and cared for Polo pretty well. Much better than Simon, who had lost ten pounds in captivity. We cared for Simon's arm wound and fed him sparingly to keep him on edge. He hadn't worn a stitch of clothes since the day after we absconded with him and was feeling pretty vulnerable, although you wouldn't know it given his attitude.

Romy met with Candido on a regular basis, giving him physical therapy for his injuries, as two hefty guards stood by. Even in his condition, I considered him a flight risk and a danger to all. I avoided him while he healed, but late in the week of Labor Day; I came a-calling. Time for Polo to earn his keep.

"Tell me, Polo, how has your treatment been going."

"Fine, I guess. Who are you? You seem familiar, but I know I don't know you. And why am I locked up?"

"My name is Hannah, and I am here to strike a deal with you."

"I've already made my deal. And I don't unmake them."

"I expected you to say that. But Simon is no longer in charge and cannot uphold any deal he may have made with you."

"Are you saying the feds have him? As long as he is alive..."

"Are you saying I have to kill Simon in order to strike a deal with you? Nothing would make me happier."

"Wait. Are you saying the feds don't have Simon?"

"That's right, I do. And he's in no position to counter any offers I might make you."

"I expect the only offer you will make me is a quick death."

"Raise your expectations, Polo. I can offer you so much more. But when more is given that much more is expected of you."

"I don't think I understand."

"Then let me help you to understand. First of all, yes, I have Simon under my control. In fact, he's in this very house." And I pulled out my tablet from my big handbag and showed him a live feed of Simon chained to a chair, naked as the day he was born. Looking oh, so powerless.

"Polo, I want to go to Simon's place, get in and explore. I expect it is a wonderland, but I need a way in and you are the key. Can you gain me access to Simon's world?"

"I can, but I won't. You'll kill me as soon as you walk in the door."

"Listen, Polo. I know you are a soldier, just doing your job protecting Simon. That job is done and it's time for you to look out for yourself. I can help you with that. In fact, it's what I do best."

"Sure. I'm gonna believe..."

I raised my wrist up and said, "Call Charlie Tendler."

"Miss Todd. What's up? I've been watching the news and I see your fingerprints all over this government operation that took down another auction. Why am I not surprised you've got the feds working for you now?"