A Cat Called Kat

Chapter Thirteen - A Little Light Torture

"Name!" he shouted in my face.

"Cat," I answered, "Catherine Parker." I let the words sort of tumble out of me as if I desperately wanted to keep him happy.

"Where you staying?" he asked.

"In a village called La Conia."

"Why you stay there?"

The vicar person is Terri's uncle or something."

"His name?"

"I don't know. We just call him, 'Padre'."

I got another three of the stingy whacks.

"Please! I really don't know!" I let my voice go all squeaky and desperate. "That's what we call him!"

There was a bit of a commotion by the door and I heard Slimeball's unmistakable, slimy voice. "What're you doing?" he demanded, talking to the men oh so naturally in English. "Who said you were to hurt this girl?"

"We just think..."

"You're not paid to think! You just obey!" Slimeball shouted. "Get out of my sight!"

Then he was taking the bag off my head and letting me down. I collapsed helplessly onto his shoulder because that's what I thought he would want me to do and I tried not to flinch too badly when he did some sort of slimy snuggling thing to me.

But then he must have noticed my little accident because he sort of leapt away from me. "Let's get you out of here," he said in what was supposed to be a gentle voice. "We need to get you cleaned up."

So he took me by the hand and led me out of the torture chamber. I tried to pretend that I was in a complete daze but I was, in fact, working really hard at Caroline's whole 'situational awareness' thing.

He turned left... so I knew that this wasn't the way I'd been brought in... and he guided me down a gloomy tunnel, lit only by a couple of dim lights in the ceiling. There was a row of cells on the far side and the whole place looked pretty grim.

At the far end, there was a door and, even though it wasn't quite a bank vault, it still looked pretty secure. Slimeball unlocked it, took us through and then locked the thing carefully behind us.

Beyond the door was a well-lit corridor. There were a couple of dormitory type rooms on one side and what looked like a common room on the other. There were quite a few guards about the place and they sprang to attention when they saw Slimeball but he didn't seem to notice them. I was vaguely aware that there were always two shifts of guards in the villa at any time - one on active duty and one on standby - so I guessed this was where the standby shift hung out.

There was another heavy-duty door at the end of the corridor and Slimeball pounded on this one with his fist and then looked up at a security camera. Within seconds, the door had been opened and we walked into what had to be the security headquarters for the whole place. The walls were lined with television screens showing video feeds from various bits of the estate. There were a couple of guys on duty in the room - and they both looked pretty senior - but I didn't recognise either of them.

Of course they jumped to attention when they saw Slimeball but he pretty much ignored them too.

A second seriously secure door and a flight of stairs took us up to the main entrance hall. I guess it makes sense to have the security headquarters right next to the front door - and next to the barracks!

From here he took me along a corridor past a couple of the grand reception rooms at the front of the house. I'd been in them a couple of times but in very different circumstances.

Then we turned a corner into the south wing. I'd never been down here before - this used to be Nonno's private bit of the house and I could guess that Slimeball had taken over his rooms - that's the sort of slimeball he was.

He led me pretty much down to the end of the corridor. Straight ahead of us there was a door which had a single guard outside it. There was a seat there for him but he was in a hurry to jump to his feet when he saw us.

Slimeball guided me in through the last door... right next to his own room... how convenient. Inside, there was a girl waiting for us and she looked shockingly young. She was wearing this French maid's outfit type thing - black with piles of frilly white lace and a shockingly short skirt - as if it was meant to be a joke or something. I mean... it would've looked pretty seedy on an older girl but, on her, it was like something out of a Bangkok brothel or something. She was huddled in the corner and looked absolutely terrified. "This is..." Slimeball began but then he sort of paused...

"I don't know your name," he said to the girl.

"Giulia, Sir," she replied with a bit of a curtsy though she didn't try to meet his eye.

"This is Giulia. She speaks English so she'll be looking after you. My rooms are next door so, if you need anything, you just have to send her."

"Yes, Sir," I answered. "Thank you."

"I've gotta go," he told me. "I've got work to do. I'll see you later on at dinner tonight."

"Thank you. I'll see you then."

He disappeared, leaving me all alone with the girl. "Hello, Giulia..." I said and then did Master's trick of waiting until she met my eye. The poor thing looked completely terrified... she was shaking.

"Relax!" I told her, stepping across the room, taking her hand and giving it a bit of a squeeze. "I don't bite."

At least that made her smile.

"Now would you go and run me a bath, please. I really, really need one!"

"Yes, Miss." she said with another curtsy. She tried to run away but I wouldn't let go of her hand so she had to look back at me.

"Giulia, I don't know what you've been told but when there are just the two of us here, you certainly don't have to do all this curtsying. It's making me feel seasick!"

That made her smile. I got the impression that she was quite a fun person, really.

"But you do have to stop being frightened of me. I promise I'm not going to do anything nasty to you. All clear?"

"Yes, Miss." She started to do another curtsy but just about managed to stop herself. "Sorry, Miss!" she said and we shared a bit of a giggle.

"That's alright," I told her, letting go of her hand. "Now would you go and run a bath for me, please. I really am in a horrible state"

With her out of the way, I closed my eyes for a few seconds and tried to relax a bit then I followed her through to the bathroom.

Giulia was looking worried. "I'm sorry, Miss. I think I put too much..." she began.

She was not wrong. "The bubble monster is threatening to climb out of the bath!" I told her.

It took her a couple of seconds to work that one out but then she smiled. At least it gave her something to think about as I got myself undressed. I mean... it felt a bit uncomfortable, stripping off in front of a stranger but, after my little 'accident', I was so keen to get out of those horrible... and damp... clothes that I didn't really care. At least the dirty great piles of bubbles meant that, once I was in the bath, I didn't need to worry about the whole modesty thing. I just lay back and tried to force myself to relax!