Barbie

His eye blinked as he nestled it against the scope. It focused on the little sidewalk cafe. He found the target and spoke into his radio. "Target acquired. Are we sure?"

"Vasily, yes we're sure. She has the sunglasses and green dress, no?"

Vasily shook his head and then remembered they couldn't see him. "Yes. But she looks harmless. Just some young girl who would make a nice plaything."

The reply came after the guys in the van had composed themselves, but Vasily could tell that they had been laughing. "She is behind the recent 'accidents' among our employers. She is known to have at least a dozen different schemes to undermine the leadership. And she might have one of those missing bombs. So take the shot so we can all go home."

The target was mixing some sugar into her tea as Vasily squeezed the trigger. It was done. "Target is down.  Heading to the rendezvous." There was no reply. 

Vasily quickly disassembled his rifle and put it in his bag. He jumped back when he opened the door to find his target standing there with a pistol aimed at him. No it wasn't his target. This woman had a grey shirt and pants but she looked like the target. 

"Shit! I'm compromised!" Vasily gasped into his radio. 

She squeezed off two shots as she said "they can't hear you, Vasily. They're already dead."

Alice part 6

 Alice had become numb to the pain. She made the mistake of looking down at what the Limey bastard was doing to her and now forced herself to keep her eyes closed. 

"That should do." Jack looked into Alice's face after forcing her eyes open. "Thank you."

She felt the knife along her neck and soon everything went black. 

There was a roar of some kind. A waterfall. No, rain. She was soaked from it.

The other sounds came to her attention. People talking. No, screaming. 

She was face down on a checkered tile floor that was wet. The diner.

It all came back. The explosion. The Limey bastard.  No, that was another time. 

She gathered the strength to push herself up and look around. 

Alice part 5

It was that Limey doctor bastard, Jack. He was silent as he went to the cabinets and opened one of them. He took something from inside and closed the door. When he turned towards Alice she could see he had retrieved one of his little doctor knives.

She struggled as she imagined what he was going to do with the knife. None of it was pleasant. 

"Shall we start?" It was more a statement than a question. He brought the knife to her stomach and gently started cutting into the skin.

Alice tried to pull away but the straps were too tight. Her belly burned and she tried to scream out but the sound was no more than a feeble muted squeal. 

Jack continued his work for what seemed like hours. Alice lost consciousness a few times during the tortuous process but each time he would slap her to bring her back to feel each cut. He clearly enjoyed each sound she made and he smiled a little sick smirk as he continued. 

Alice part 4

Alice was cold but couldn't move to pull up the blanket. Her head ached and she struggled to open her eyes. It was dark and she was not in her bedroom. She slowly realized she was not in a bed at all. It was a hard surface that was propped at a steep angle. 

The room was lit by a pair of lanterns to either side of her and she could see it was a cellar. There was a line of cabinets on the far wall with a small table in front of it. 

Alice cursed but there was only a muffled sound. She realized there was a gag in her mouth. Alice was not one to panic easily. She started to panic when she realized her clothes were gone and she was held down by heavy leather straps. 

The last thing she could remember was climbing down from Old Clancy's cart near Elizabeth House. What could have gone so wrong in the fifty yards from the relative safety of Elizabeth House?

There was a creaking from the ceiling. Footsteps. A creaking door opened and Alice could hear footsteps as someone descended the stairs.

Alice part 3

The cart came up a small hill where a foreboding house stood. Each window had a candle that was still lit. Old Clancy spat and muttered a curse. "Them damned witches be up t'no good."

Alice had heard the stories for as long as she had lived in town. The three sisters were said to have sold their souls to the devil in return for dark powers. But other stories said they were secretly native women who could pass for white folk and they would drink blood in secret native rituals. 

Alice had seen them on the street from time to time and they all looked like regular women. They would be dressed in dark colors and one wore a veil, but maybe she was in mourning. Alice knew how the people would spread wild tales when they didn't have any facts. 

Clancy launched into his own tale about the supposed witches. He claimed one night, much like this one, as he rode past their house the three sisters were outside. He said they were stark naked dancing around a fire. They chanted some foreign language. He said they cursed his knee when they saw him and it had been giving him trouble ever since. "Damned witches..."

Alice part 2

Alice stepped into the moonlit street. She cursed as she realized it was still muddy from the rain earlier in the day. At least the foul smell wasn't as noticeable as it had been when she came to the Old 22. 

It would be a long slog back to Elizabeth House.

A few blocks closer to Elizabeth House Alice gave out a sigh as she stepped onto one of the brick cross streets. She scraped her heels on the edge of the raised bricks cursing at her luck. She stood on the dry street for a few moments as a break from the muddy street that was the only route home. 

Alice heard a cart and horse coming down the brick street and stepped off into the mud again. As it drew closer the driver called out in an Irish accent. 

"Now who's that out at this ungodly hour?" Alice recognized the old man everyone called Clancy, she wasn't sure if that was his his first name or last name. She called out to him as the cart came to a stop in front of her. "Is that lovely Alice? You should shouldnae be out alone lass. Never know what sort ye'll meet on these streets after dark."

Alice smiled, "just look at you."

The old man laughed until he started coughing.  "Aye, I'm a right old sod. Now climb up here and I'll give ye a ride to that den of iniquity ye call home. I'll get you closer than here at least."

As she took his hand and pulled herself up, Alice smiled at her good luck.

Alice part 1

Alice awoke unsure where she was. She was seated with her head and arms on a table. She slowly realized the table was wet. She raised her head a bit and tried to focus as she scanned her surroundings. It looked like the Old 22 Saloon. 

A glass was on its side resting against her arm. The events started to come back to her now. She had been drinking with that young doctor, Jack. He had the accent from Britain and was always chatting with the working girls from Elizabeth House. 

Jack was good for a few drinks now and then but then he would try to get it for free because "I been so nice to ye, love."  The girls would slap him or tell him off and he would go back to his room to pout. At least that's what Alice would imagine. 

She put her head back on the table to piece together what happened. She felt the left arm of her dress was torn open and she realized she'd been cut.

A booming voice caused her to sit up at attention, "Alice, you can't stay here anymore. I seen you wake up now." It was Fred, the owner of the Old 22. "After what that Limey tried on you I reckoned you needed the rest."

"What'd he do? I don't remember anything." It was a struggle to get the words out.

Fred stepped over to the table and picked up the glass. He started wiping the spilled liquid with his rag. "You were lucky, that's for certain. The Limey was getting you well lubricated with my special juice and tried to talk you into servicing his needs in the alley."

"Shit..." Alice put a hand to her forehead. 

Fred continued his retelling of the events. "But you weren't having none of it and told him to piss off back to London. I don't think he's from London but who can tell, right?" He stepped over to the bar and put the glass down. 

"So there he was turning red as a mad ass when he pulls this little doctor knife and cuts your arm there." He pointed to her torn sleeve. "So I grabs my stick and before I got around the bar you'd punched his face near half a dozen times. Everybody cheered for you and the Limey ran out with a bloody face from where you hit his nose."

Fred went behind the bar tidying up some more. "So old Jeffy Heidrick bought you another drink and then a couple other boys did too."

Alice shifted in the chair. She didn't know whether to believe him or not. Although it did sound like something she'd do.

Fred coughed to get her attention. He pointed to the door, "it's been a lovely evening, dear, but it's time for you to skedaddle back home."