Cindy's Dream Chapter 3:Betrayed

(Another Cover for "Cindy's Dream" Story)

by mabauterklamm and YamaguchiShun

Language check by @jima378

Chapter 3: Betrayed 

"Safe House" was not just an ordinary safe house. It was an exclusive private club owned by Cindy, a bastion of her peace and an oasis for her recreation.

Only approved people were allowed to become members. Even the people who applied for the jobs of dancers, bartenders, and waiters had to undergo a fussy security check, like for starting to work for a secret service. For Cindy, this was a huge expense, but she wasn't foolish enough to save at the wrong end. A place where you could feel safe was priceless.

While Cindy and Polly sat in the lounge, poring over their drinks over how to deal with the attacks on Gemma and Dr. Laura, a waitress slipped up to their table and quietly whispered something in Polly's ear.

"Boss..." Polly cleared her throat. "There's a new girl who passed the security check."

"Is it so important that I need to know right now?" Grumpily, Cindy looked up from her glass of whiskey. Today it tasted like stale water.

"Um ... no, but I thought you might like her," Polly said, blinking meaningfully. She held out to Cindy a photograph that the waitress had given her. She was pleased to see that she had been right. Cindy's eyes flashed briefly and the corners of her mouth twitched upward for a moment.

"Bring her in, Polly!"

After a while, a petite girl came in wearing a bikini, reminiscent of a maid in style. Her hair had been dyed green, but was already growing back blond at the roots. Cindy leaned forward in fascination, because the most interesting thing about this girl was that she was missing both arms from the middle of her upper arms.

"Hi, I'm Wendy," she introduced herself in a cheerful, charming voice.

"Well, Wendy. I'm Cindy." Smiling, she leaned back in her chair and took another sip of whiskey. It tasted better now. "But you'll call me boss! Where are your arms?"

"Looks like I lost them somewhere, boss. But don't worry, I can be a good servant to you," Wendy replied with a laugh.

Cindy didn't let her mirth get the best of her. "As you may notice, there is no need for a useless cripple." She turned Wendy's photo over and raised her eyebrows in surprise as she read the text on the back. "In your interview, you said you could perform complicated actions even if you had both legs in casts." She squinted, but couldn't see anything special about Wendy's legs. "Is that right?"

"Yes, Boss. I can!"

"Words are just worthless without action, aren't they?" Cindy turned to Polly and smiled wolfishly. "Polly, put both her legs in long casts and we'll see."

"Yes, Boss!" Polly rose from her chair and pointed to a nondescript door nearby. "Please come with me, Wendy! I'm going to give you the best leg casts you've ever had."

Only a short time later, an impressive female figure took a seat in Polly's empty chair, directly across from Cindy. She was taller than average and could barely hide her muscles under her Hawaiian shirt and coat. Her sunglasses with orange-tinted lenses could not hide a scar on her left eyebrow, and her pitch-black hair, tied in a ponytail, blended into an understatedly dangerous appearance with a slightly amused expression on her face.

Cindy, however, just gave her a bored look, glanced at her wristwatch, and took a sip with a sigh. The woman smiled confidently at her and held a glass of pure vodka without ice in front of her face. Through the glass, she looked at Cindy.

"Well, well, if it isn't the great leader Cindy herself," She finished her sentence with a chuckle. "In the flesh and in all her glory," she continued, her smile beginning to grow into a grin.

Without another movement, Cindy perked up her ears and eyed the unfamiliar woman out of the corner of her eye. Then she lit a cigarette and shrugged her shoulders indifferently.

"There's the famous smoker's style, the coolness, the composure, and of course, the casts." From one moment to the next, the grin on the strange woman's face died away. She put down her glass and looked Cindy in the eye. "My compliments to your doctor. She made such great casts, didn't she?"

Cindy returned the look and her hackles stood up in alarm. Even she, the most nefarious, ruthless crime queen in town, felt reminded of a devil at the sight of the strange woman's face.

"You have an advantage over me. You know me. But who are you?" And no sooner had Cindy uttered this question than the skin on the back of her neck prickled. She felt an unknown fear grip her heart with cold hands. With difficulty she resisted the temptation to flee from her own safe house. Was this woman her new adversary from the shadows? And if so, how could she show up at Cindy's own very safe, very private club?

"My name is Barb. But my people call me Big Barb. And my enemies can't pronounce my name because they can't move their mouths to pronounce it correctly." She leaned forward slowly, looking like a panther ready to pounce on a defenseless prey animal. "For that reason, my name doesn't matter to you, Cindy!" She giggled, delighting in Cindy's surprise, though it was only visible for a split second.

"Then I just have to make sure that it doesn't happen." Cindy rolled her shoulders and raised a hand, her fingers formed into a definite gesture. She didn't take her eyes off Barb for a moment as she did so.

Her reaction only seemed to amuse Barb more. "No, you don't understand, little girl. It's already over and all that's left is just you. You see: No one is coming to your rescue!"

Cindy's eyelids twitched in testimony to her surprise. She allowed her gaze to take a moment away from Barb and survey her surroundings. Where five minutes ago everything was full of guests, guards and waitresses, now everything was empty. Everyone had suddenly disappeared. Where the hell were they?

"You know..." continued Barb in a conversational tone. "...The rumors are that people are tired of being threatened with and put in full body casts all the time. So I just showed them a way to feel safe again." Barb rose to her feet and slowly took a step toward Cindy. With a sudden movement, she took the cigarette out of Cindy's mouth to put it in her own. "Ahhhh, that's the best quality, right. Hell, that's what makes it so good."

"What do you want?" Cindy felt cornered and quite rightly threatened. But she was still alive, well and.... ready to break this bitch one bone at a time. Who did she think she was anyway!?

"Hmmm, me? What do I want?" Barb put a finger under her chin and pretended to think about that question for the first time. "I don't know... Maybe I want to push you out the window so you're tied to the bed in your own full body cast?" She waved her hand, blowing smoke in Cindy's face. "I haven't decided yet."

Unaware of the situation, Polly returned, pushing Wendy ahead of her in a wheelchair. Two thick long casts encircled the legs of the armless girl. The one on her left leg pointed straight ahead. The other was bent at 90 degrees to the knee, and Polly had placed gray walking heels under both.

"I'm back, Boss, what do you think-" Polly exclaimed cheerfully, but before she could finish her sentence, Wendy leapt out of the wheelchair as if she had been flung up by a spring, using her left leg as a pivot. With unimaginable dexterity, she swung her bent, long leg cast and kicked Polly's head from the right side. Although Polly had no chance to see this attack coming, her reflexes were superb. From one moment to the next, she intercepted the kick with her hand. It would have been all right if Wendy had been barefoot or wearing a shoe. But the hard plaster shell shattered Polly's radius and ulna in her arm. Polly gasped in surprise at the pain and lost her balance.

"Oh! I guess you've met Wendy, the brilliant armless assassin," Barb introduced her with satisfaction in her voice.

Cindy tried to get up from her chair, but Wendy whirled around and kicked again. She aimed for Cindy's face and her victim was not as gifted as Polly. She couldn't absorb the kick, heard her nose crack, and her chair tipped backward, sending her to the floor next to Polly.

While Polly held her aching arm, Cindy reflexively grabbed her nose, which was a little crooked in her face. As they groaned, Barb slowly approached them and Wendy climbed onto the table, balancing deftly on her straight long leg cast. Barb and Wendy casted their shadows ever larger upon them.

"You know, it's called karma," Barb said in an almost apologetic tone. She gave a nod to Wendy, who didn't hesitate to go for Cindy's jaw.

Cindy rolled to the side and was lucky to dodge Wendy's attack. At the same moment, Barb and Wendy were too distracted to pay attention to Polly. Despite her broken arm, she jumped up and suddenly held a small pistol in her left hand, which she carried in a hidden pocket of her pants. Being untrained with her left hand, she held the gun shakily. But she wasted no time in using it. Reflexively, Wendy held her bent long cast leg in front of her body and managed to intercept the bullet with the high-quality cast. But nothing could stand up to the force of the shot. Wendy spun on her axis from the speed of the bullet and fell off the table. First her butt hit the edge of the table and then the floor as well. The latter with an ugly crack.

Barb contorted her face at the sound of bursting bones. With a broken pelvis, Wendy would have to wear a double hip spica cast for some time.

Polly took advantage of the confusion to help Cindy up, and they both limped out of the club as quickly as possible to Cindy's Porsche. Normally Cindy enjoyed being driven around, but this time she ordered Polly to sit in the passenger's seat. "Your arm is broken. How can I let you drive in this condition!"

"You're so sweet, boss," Polly was torn between the pain of her broken arm and her gratitude for her boss.

With screeching tires, Cindy left the parking lot. She didn't care about the blood dripping from her nose. She had to think, even though her head hurt so much. She had to find a new place that was safer than her safest shelter. For Polly and for herself! And to do that, she had to understand what had just happened. Had there never been a rival drug dealer Ruby had worked with? Was there just one person who simply wanted to take her down? And that with her own methods - intimidation, broken bones and plaster casts. She was sure she couldn't trust her people anymore. Obviously, they had betrayed Cindy and helped Barb enter her club.

But at least there were still a few people she could rely on, who she could trust. Polly for example. And of course Gemma, and Laura, because they had been attacked and Barb knew full well that she couldn't persuade them to switch sides. So it was clear that she had to take them out first. And what about Sherry and Millie, whose legs Ruby had broken and who had left town for their own safety. Were they still loyal to her?

While Cindy was lost in her thoughts, disregarding red light after red light in her escape from the city, Polly with dizzy senses next to her, suddenly from the left side a large white truck shot into her Porsche. Cindy's car began to lift off due to the force of the impact, and the rear of the car was cut into pieces of metal. The Porsche rolled over several times, and the destroyed frame of the car could not protect the occupants. Finally, the car trundled down the street and came to rest upside down in front of a medical supply store.

Cindy felt as if she had just gone through the spin cycle of a washing machine. Everything hurt, but the pain in her left leg and right arm surpassed even the pain from her broken nose. She spit out a glob of blood as she hung in her seat belt. Before she could check on Polly, she blacked out. The sounds of horrified passersby began to echo before slowly fading away.

Peace at last! At least some kind of!