Heller’s Decision (15 page)

“
Should have hired
Heller’s
,” Bick muttered under his breath, earning himself
a fierce glance from Mr Hairpiece as well.

“
We’ll set up another booth
for you immediately,” soothed
Garrett. He pulled out his phone and barked into it gruffly. After
a few minutes, he gestured us to follow him to the other side of
the expo. For the next fifteen minutes, we all worked in overdrive
to set up the new booth and open it for the impatient crowd of
fans. Mr Hairpiece offered to give us extra thick-necks, but Barb
and Roger refused, having admirably recovered their composure. None
of us said aloud what we were all thinking – it was surely PRON
Productions who’d been responsible for the destruction.

Bick rang Clive
to let him know what had happened and from what I
could hear of the conversation, it sounded as though Clive offered
him another man as backup. Bick declined, citing Barb and Roger’s
apparent lack of desire in having more security, but promised to
keep Clive informed of developments.

Bick and I both smiled when we spotted
Benjy again, dancing up a treat in his penis costume.
When he stopped for a break, I
called him over.

“
Hey Benjy, I’ll give you ten bucks to
dance over to PRON Productions and tell us how their sales are
going.”

“
Thanks, Tilly!” he said, and I pulled two
fives out of my purse to give him.

We waited for a while until he danced his
decidedly non-erotic way back to us. He dripped with sweat by then,
the crush of the crowd increasing the humidity in the poorly
air-conditioned centre.

“
Empty,” gasped Benjy. “Not a soul there.
They looked pretty pissed off about it too.”

Bick’s and my eyes met.

“
What Roger said yesterday about them must
be taking its toll,” I commented.

“Hence the vandalism,” he agreed.

“Hope nothing else happens with them
today.”

“
You’re not on your own with that
hope
, Tilly.”

Barb and Roger’s
first presentation went off well and somehow
they’d managed to dredge up yet even more so-called favourite
scenes of them performing methodical, robotic sex. But strangely
enough, one of the scenes gave me inspiration for that special
‘something’ I’d promised Heller tonight. So at lunchtime, when Barb
and Roger were occupied eating, I took a stroll around the other
booths.

As I wandered up and down the
aisles
looking at the
merchandise for sale, Trent called me to let me know he could fit
in an interview with Barb and Roger on tonight’s show.

“
I’m telling you this because I presume
you’re actually planning on returning to the
station to work for me one day. Or are you
too far caught up in porn wonderland?”

“
Hey! I’ve been working hard
all
weekend, unlike some so-called
celebrities who’ve probably been swanning around, drinking
champagne and big-noting themselves.”

He laughed. “I was drinking scotch neat
while I big-noted myself, thanks very much for asking. And I
haven’t seen any evidence of all this ‘hard work’ you’ve allegedly
been doing.”

“
I like to be thorough in my research,” I
said virtuously. “I’m making a lot of notes.”

“
Of which I’ve seen none for a good while.
I’m not even convinced you’re really working.”

“
I’m working my butt off,” I insisted,
browsing through a very interesting collection of skimpy lingerie.
I held up a hanger and considered the tiny fragments of material on
it.
I wonder
if Heller would like this?
I thought. Then I noticed the price and hurriedly replaced
it on the rack. Trent didn’t pay me
that
much.

“
Sure you are.
I think you’re just there now for the expo because
you’re a sex maniac.”

“
Who
spilled the beans?” I giggled.

“
I saw it scrawled somewhere on a bathroom
wall. And I’m only regretful I never got the chance to find out
first hand if it’s true.”

I giggled again. Trent was so much fun to
work for, in a way that Heller could never be. “If that’s your only
regret in life, you’ve done well.”

“I’ll also regret hiring you if you don’t
send me your notes very soon. Otherwise I’ll have no questions to
ask my guests.”

“
There’s been some trouble here,” I warned
and became serious for a few minutes
, stepping into a quiet spot to fill him
in.

He didn’t say anything for a little while.
“Tilly, that’s gold. Thanks. I want you to escort the guests to the
studio tonight and I’ll let you shadow them again tomorrow in case
something else happens. Tomorrow’s the last day of
Seductively
Sextravagant
,
right?”

“Yep.”

“
Okay, guess I can spare you that long.
Just remember to send me those notes and I’ll see you later
tonight. It will have to be a live interview.”

“
Sorry.” No TV host liked those –
interviewees were often very unpredictable.

I shopped for a bit longer, finally
finding what I needed. On my return to the booth, I refused to let
Bick peek inside my shopping bag.

“
Then I won’t show you what I’ve bought
either,” he declared.

“
Something for you and Dixie?” I asked with
a smile.

“
None of your business, Miss
Nosy.”

“Aw, come on. Just a little look.”

“You show me yours and I’ll show you
mine.”

“
You’ll show
Matilda your what, Barnes?” asked Heller in a
dangerous voice.

Bick and I
both jumped in fright.
Shit!
From where did he materialise? Farrell stood
behind him, arms crossed, his eyes settled on us as well. Both were
dressed in their
Heller’s
uniform. Bick and I had been so focussed on teasing each
other, we hadn’t noticed them approaching.

“
His purchases,” I said, my heart
galloping. I glanced at Bick, whose posture had stiffened
nervously. “We wanted to see what each other had
bought.”

Heller’s eyes narrowed as he looked
between the two of us,
as if not quite believing me.
Shit!
I thought. He scrutinised my features closely and I worried
that I looked guilty of something, even though I knew I wasn’t. For
once.

But then he noticed the shopping bags near
us and a small smile crossed his lips. “And what have you bought in
a place such as this, my sweet?”

I relaxed, releasing a breath I hadn’t
even realised I’d been holding. My eyes flicked to Farrell
uncomfortably, his face still expressionless. “You’ll have to wait
to find out.”

“Something for us tonight?”

“
Maybe,” I said in a small voice,
embarrassed about the other men hearing our conversation. I
wondered whether anything I’d previously discussed with him about
keeping our private life exactly that had any impact on him. I
seriously began to think I’d been wasting my breath.

“I’m filled with anticipation.” He placed his
hand on the back of my neck and gently began to stroke my skin, a
strangely intimate and intense sensation.

“
Is something the matter
, Heller? Did you come to tell me
something?” I asked, hoping I didn’t sound too blunt or that I
wanted to get rid of him.

“
We were in the area. I wanted to check out
these PRON people for myself. Where are they?” Barb and Roger had
finished lunch by then and were ready to open the booth again, so I
didn’t want to take Farrell and him there myself. I needed to
discuss with them the interview with Trent.

“
You could get Benjy to take you there. He
knows where they are,” I suggested helpfully, indicating the giant
penis. Heller stared at the young entertainer.

“
I’m not going anywhere with that,” he said
flatly, so I rummaged around for a scrap of paper and drew them a
mud map. They strode away, no backwards glances.

“
Oh, God,” Bick whispered. “I thought my
heart was going to stop when I saw him there.”

“Me too.”

“Do you think I’m in trouble?”

“What for? You didn’t do anything wrong. We
were just having a conversation.”

“Isn’t that enough for me to be in
trouble?”

“
No,” I said crossly, stalking inside the
booth.

Barb and Roger
agreed to be interviewed by Trent tonight, so I
spent a hurried half-hour tapping out my notes on my tablet before
sending them off to him. I received a one-word email from him in
response:
Finally!!

Heller and Farrell
stayed for a short while after a lengthy
period observing the PRON team. They looked around the stalls
without much interest, though as usual, Heller garnered more than
his share of attention. They soon rejoined us in the auditorium
during the afternoon’s Q&A session. I immediately noticed a
contingent of PRON thugs in suits in the audience and pointed them
out to Heller.

“
I don’t
like these men, Matilda. I’ve done some research
on them. The multinational company they work for is a huge
business. It has deep pockets and no scruples. It bribes
governments to look the other way about their activities. It makes
people disappear. It’s involved in human trafficking. I don’t have
the resources to deal with these people. As I said before, Mr
Harder and Ms Biggen don’t know who they’re up against.” His voice
was low and serious, and that alarmed me as much as what he
said.

S
till riled by what had happened the day before, Roger again
used some of the Q&A time to rage against the evil companies
producing illegal and violent adult material, always careful to not
mention PRON by name. But that didn’t stop the suits heckling him
from the audience. I thought they were stupid to do so, just making
it obvious to everybody who Roger was referring to, but I guess
great lunks like them weren’t employed for their brains.

“
Come on, let’s do this,” Heller said to
Farrell and Bick as the suits eventually became too disruptive for
the rest of the audience. He pointed his index finger at me. “You
stay exactly where you are. And that’s an order.”

I stayed, but I wasn’t happy about it. A
couple of the conference centre security men joined the
three
Heller’s
men and
together they efficiently bundled the suits from the auditorium
with minimal commotion, despite their protests and struggles.
Farrell and Bick took up posts in front of the auditorium doors
afterwards, ensuring the PRON guys didn’t return. Heller came back
inside and stood next to me, his arms crossed, ignoring my pissed
off expression.

“
You don’t have to order me around in front
of everyone,” I said in a sullen undertone as we both kept our eyes
on Roger and Barb onstage.

“
Matilda,” he explained
with infuriating and insulting patience,
“if one of those men had harmed you in any way while I was here to
witness it, I would have hurt him very badly. And I told you I
don’t have the resources to deal with these people.”

I sulked
, even though I knew what he said was more than
reasonable. I could see him smiling to himself next to me and that
didn’t help to improve my mood at all. Barb and Roger finished the
session, the audience applauding them warmly. I joined in, and the
three men formed a protective cordon around them as they returned
to their booth, both Barb and Roger gaping at the sight of Heller.
There were no PRON people to be seen anywhere. Hopefully they’d
taken the hint and would stay away from us from now on.

Still annoyed with Heller, I dawdled
behind the others, feeling a little left out of their testosterone
gang.

B
efore I could raise any alarm, two of the PRON men sprang
out of one of the narrow aisles between the backs of two rows of
booths and grabbed one of my elbows each. They picked me up, my
feet left swinging above the ground, hauling me back into that same
dark, narrow space.

Chapter
10

My abduction
must have taken twenty seconds at most. I didn’t
think anyone in the crowd even noticed what happened. Incensed at
being so opportunistically picked out as the weakest link, I
struggled furiously against them, kicking out viciously wherever I
could reach. They didn’t appreciate it.

“
Heller!
” I shouted desperately at the top of my voice,
but my voice was lost in the noise of the excited crowd and the
loud music that blared continually throughout the day. One of the
men clamped his big, hairy hand over my mouth.

“
You better shut your sweet mouth, darling,
before I shove something huge and meaty in it. That would stop you
yelling for a while,” one said. They both laughed. I tried
struggling again, only to have myself more tightly
restrained.
I’d have
bruises on my arms showing by tonight. That was if I made it
home.