"Well, you just found two and scared one away," Gigi said angrily.

"No, I mean we're looking for the young girls that were in the cages down the hall. We're here to save them," Oliver said. "When my friend and I were in here recently, he left the room and found them. Now we're here to set them free."

"Good luck with that," she said. "Madame Elina will never let that happen."

"That's not going to be a problem," Jaxon said. "We have somebody on that situation. Now if you please, can you help us?"

"I'm not sure what I can do."

"For starters, you can tell us where they take the girls. We found the room and the cages were all empty," Jaxon said.

"That's because they've already been taken upstairs for conditioning."

Jaxon felt a pit build in his stomach. He didn't like this sound of that. Were they too late?

"What do you mean?" Oliver asked.

"It's something they started about a year ago. Any new girls coming in go through a conditioning process where they erase memories of their past. They still know who they are, but they don't know who they were. It makes them more agreeable to our profession. If the girls don't know any better, they're less resistant to the demands of the clients. Hence, makes much more money for Madame Elina."

"And Pablo Guzman, no doubt," Jaxon said.

"You know about Pablo?" she asked.

"You mean, knew? Guzman's dead. I'm sure word will get around eventually, but until then, I want to know where these girls are. I want to set them free before it's too late."

"It might already be too late," Gigi said. "They took them up to the treatment lab late last night."

"Can you tell us where it's at?" Oliver asked.

"I'll do one better. Give me a minute to get dressed and I'll take you there personally. If what you say is true, I'm done here."

61.

Five minutes later, Jaxon led Oliver and Gigi back toward the foyer. As they rounded the corner into the final corridor, they came to an open door. Cautiously, Jaxon slowed his pace as they approached, not remembering if it was open on their way in. As they stopped in front of the door, the three of them stood, staring into the room in disbelief. It was Camille and the Madame in a questionable situation.

"What's ... going on in there?" Jaxon asked with a grimace.

Camille craned her neck and peered out the door at the three of them gawking. "Oh, hi honey. Just taking care of Madame Elina."

Madame Elina was naked and strapped spread-eagle to some exotic sexual platform device, exposing what God had given her for all to see. To finish her off, she had a ball gag in her mouth.

"When you guys didn't come back, I didn't have the heart to kill her, so I ... tied her up."

Jaxon, Oliver, and Gigi all cringed as they stared in awe.

"What?" Camille asked innocently. "We couldn't very well have her triggering some kind of alarm, now could we?"

"Tie her up, I get. But like that?" Jaxon said.

"Hey, don't question. She obviously has no consideration for any of the girls she has working for her. Might as well let her have a little bit of her own medicine, don't you think?"

"You're a cruel, cruel woman. And for that, I love you," Jaxon said.

"And I love you, honey," Camille said, leaning in and kissing him on the neck.

"I kinda hate to break up this lovefest, but we have some girls to save," Oliver said.

Camille slapped Madame Elina's bare ass. "Okay, let's go. Who's your friend? Miles, is this your doing?"

"Camille, Gigi. Gigi, Camille. She's going to take us up to where the girls are being held," Oliver said.

"Okay, that's fine and all, but I'll have to catch up with you. I have some other things to take care of first, right boss?" Camille said.

Jaxon nodded.

Gigi gave directions for Camille to find them as soon as she completed her part of the mission and then she disappeared. Gigi led Jaxon and Oliver through a series of dark corridors before coming to a discreet flight of stairs leading up to a single door on a narrow platform.

62.

At the top of the stairs, Gigi stepped to the side of the landing and allowed Jaxon and Oliver to enter first. They opened the door and silently stepped through, taking in the horrific surroundings. There were several dozen hospital beds scattered throughout the room, most of them with girls strapped to the bed frames. The girls ranged in age from preteen to what appeared to be middle age. At the center of the room, there were two men in lab coats administering something to one of the girls. Their backs were toward them so their element of surprise was intact.

Jaxon held a finger up to his lips and looked at Gigi.

She nodded.

Silently, Jaxon and Oliver approached the technicians. As they got closer, it became clear that they were adhering electrode patches to the girl's forehead and temples. The wires led to an archaic machine on a trolley that had a very large rotator dial and what appeared to be an amp or voltage meter.

Just as they reached the men, one of them stood and approached the trolley, ready to twist the dial.

"Don't even think about it," Jaxon said as he placed the barrel of his pistol to the side of the doctor's head. The other doctor sprang from his chair and lunged toward the side wall, where a panic alarm button waited. Oliver chased after him, tackling the doctor to the ground.

"Who are you?" the first doctor asked.

Jaxon sighed. Then he raised the butt of his gun high above the doctor's head and dropped it down with great force, knocking the doctor unconscious. Oliver, watching from the far side of the room, mimicked Jaxon's actions.

"Gigi, start untying all the girls," Jaxon said as he began to remove the wires from the girl nearest him.

Oliver started to help but then turned his efforts to tying up the doctors in case they woke up before their escape.

"Miles, when you're finished with them, find the girls some clothes. They can't very well go out into the station naked," Jaxon said.

"There should be some in the operating room next door," Gigi said. "I don't know if there's enough to go around, but anytime I've been in here for ... a procedure, I've seen them in a side cabinet."

"Procedure?" Jaxon asked.

"Don't ask. Let's just say Madame Elina doesn't want a bunch of babies running around the space station."

The ever-present pit in Jaxon's stomach grew even more. The atrocities of what was happening on the space stations, all at the hands of Pablo Guzman, made him sick. He couldn't believe how much of his own life was wasted with regret for taking El Tonto's life and maiming Pablo. Now, seeing what kind of psycho he was, he felt a certain satisfaction about how Pablo's life ended.

As the three of them continued untying and redressing the girls, some of them coherent, some not, Camille walked in and froze.

"My God. It's all true," she said in disbelief.

"Yes, but with your help, we can get out of here even sooner. Let's get them all ready to go so we can move. They're weak, but they all appear able to walk."

Camille rushed in and helped dress the remaining half dozen girls as Gigi and Oliver began gathering up the girls that were ready and leading them toward the door. They waited in line, patiently, as Jaxon and Camille corralled the remaining few girls.

"Okay. Is everyone set?" Jaxon asked.

"On your mark, boss," Camille and Oliver said in near unison.

"I wish everybody would stop calling me boss," Jaxon exclaimed.

"Whatever you say, boss," they said again.

Jaxon shook his head and opened the door. He pulled his gun out and checked to see if they had company. They were alone.

Oliver and Gigi took the lead, guiding the girls down the stairs, two by two. Camille and Jaxon brought up the rear, making sure all the girls exited safely. Halfway down the stairway, the station's security alarm began to blare.

"Looks like they found Madame Elina and triggered the alarm," Camille said.

"It was inevitable. I was hoping to at least make it through the pavilion before it happened, but that's what your plan was for. Go ahead and pull the trigger, Cam."

Camille waited to get to the bottom of the stairs before she brought up her commPad to activate the devices. Bright digital numerals displayed on her panel, and three, two, one counted down. Then, silence.

The silence only lasted a moment before a noticeable shimmy could be felt throughout the station's floor. The lights flickered and dimmed then went out completely. Emergency lights kicked on within seconds, and then, more alarms. Warnings began to blare about hull breaches and evacuation directions followed.

"Well, there goes the lower fifty floors of this shit hole," Camille said. "I placed the charges right where you said, in the elevator shaft just below level one."

Jaxon smiled. "That should keep them distracted for a while. Plenty of time to get off this sinking ship."

63.

With catastrophic failures commencing throughout the space station, the security guards normally stationed at the space dock entrance were nowhere in sight. No doubt called to other parts of the ship to regain a semblance of control. Having one less obstacle to worry about made gaining access to their ship practically a walk in the park.

"I'm sorry, girls," Jaxon began, "but we really weren't prepared to have quite so many guests on our trip home. But I assure you, the ride will be quick, and you'll certainly have more space and freedom than you ever had with Madame Elina."

Jaxon scanned the cramped cargo bay, analyzing each of the girls' faces as he did so. Nearly a third of them had blank stares on their faces, having already been processed through the mental manipulation device. The remaining girls' emotions ranged from fear to jubilation for being freed from the confines of their metal cages. As he continued looking at each of the girls, Jaxon couldn't help but think about how Francisco would be overjoyed at their success of the rescue. Jaxon smiled warmly.

"Now, Camille here will help you each find a place to get comfortable. We're limited on bunkrooms, but as soon as I move out of my quarters, I'm certain that there will be enough space for four or five of you to have some privacy."

Camille, who was standing next to Jaxon, nudged him kindly. "Same with my bunk. I'll just follow along where the boss goes, freeing up more private space for you all." Camille slipped her arm around Jaxon and held him tight.

Oliver also offered his bunkroom to the girls, but both Jaxon and Camille agreed that although it was a nice gesture, he'd be able to share his bunk with at least Gigi for the ride home. Not surprisingly, the suggestion was agreeable to both of them.

Hours later, Jaxon and Camille had assembled a makeshift cot in the corner of the cockpit for their two-day trip back to earth.

Having settled most of the live cargo, Oliver walked into the cockpit.

"I think we're good, boss," he said, standing between to two rear stations. "Gigi is taking a nap and all the other girls are tucked away in the various bunkrooms we have. It's tight, but everyone's attitude is positive at this point."

"That's great, Miles. Why don't you take a load off and relax for a bit?" Jaxon said.

Oliver lowered himself into Francisco's seat and tilted the chair back, tossing his feet up onto the console. "I was thinking, boss. You want us to pass around ... a picture of Celeste to the girls? Maybe they've seen her."

Jaxon looked at Oliver fondly. "That won't be necessary, Miles. I already know where she is. Or at least I have a good idea about her location. When I was interrogating Guzman, he didn't come right out with her exact location, but he did say that Brutus has her personally. As soon as we get to earth, I'm dropping you two off, along with all our hitchhikers, then I'm going to rescue her."

"There's no way you're going alone," Camille said, kicking Jaxon's heel with her toe. "Wherever you go, I go. You got that, mister?"

"Same here, boss," Oliver said, holding his thumb up in the air.

"I appreciate the gesture, guys, but I can't ask you two to do this. Whether I'm right or wrong on who Brutus really is, I stand a good chance of being court-martialed because of my approach. I might very well spend the rest of my life in some GSA jail cell."

Neither Camille nor Oliver flinched.

"Just the same, boss, I'm there for the duration. Besides, what are our alternatives? I was already kicked out of the GSA once. What else do I have to lose?"

"Here, here," Camille said. "If you're right, you're going to need our help all the way."

Jaxon was taken aback by their loyalty. He had a sneaking suspicion that Camille wouldn't let him out of her sight for the rest of her natural life and expected it. As for Oliver, he was a tough man to read, and was constantly full of surprises.

"Okay, then. You're on. As far as the GSA knows, we're all MIA, so were not landing in San Francisco. We're actually going to land back where we took off, out in the New Mexico desert's spaceport."

"Do you think that's wise?" Camille asked. "The place isn't exactly a top-secret facility, but it's still highly populated by the GSA."