CHAPTER TWO

Marina Learns Angelina's Fate


If Marina had gone straight back to her hotel, then that would have been the end of this story. But Marina did not go back to her hotel. Instead she decided to visit Mr Marcelinus, whose invitation to the pair three years ago had been the start of the nightmare of Angelina's disappearance. She had the address and had little difficulty finding the house, which was a villa in its own grounds and very grand if dilapidated. She rang the bell and a maid let her in. Mr Marcelinus came out of a back room and ushered Marina into the lounge. he was an elderly man and wore a down at heel and dejected look.

"You were wrong to come here, Miss Green. And I was horribly wrong to invite you both here three years ago. I would tell you to go straight home, but it  is too late for that. The airport will be being watched and all roads out of the capital. And we must do something about that face! A white woman stands out a mile.  I'm amazed you are still at liberty! No white woman is safe here for long. You are lucky still to be at large, Miss Green. Very lucky!"

A servant led Marina, now very frightened, out of the rear of the house and into a maze of alleyways until they came to the servant's own miserable hovel. here she was told to strip. An angry and impatient gesture from the female servant made her obey. This old woman then produced a jar of walnut coloured liquid and began to apply it evenly over her whole body. Marina noted that the woman was careful not to paint the soles of her feet or the palms of her hands. She clothed Marina in rough native garments and took the still terrified girl's own clothes out to the back yard and burned them.

"You must be native from now on, Miss Green. Poor native."

Marina noted that her new clothing did not include footwear. She had seen for herself that many people here were shoeless, especially the women. She was given a chipped and broken looking glass. Amazing! Marina had the right shaped face to pass for a native and with this convincingly stained body that the good servant had expertly given her, she looked like any one of thousands of poor local women.

"What now?"

"You want to find your fiend, or you want escape? We get you to fishing boat and you get away. But if you want find friend - very much danger. Mr Marcelinus, he old man but he help you find friend. I see in brave lady's eye she want find friend!"

"I only leave here if I can take Angelina with me. Either that or I share her fate. I suffer too with friend."

"You good woman! Not all of us bad here. Men in charge bad men. Plenty hate them!"

"How long will the stain last?"

"Many, many weeks! It no come off. You safe for many weeks!"

Marina guessed that in many, many weeks, the sun might have given her a deep enough tan to pass for a local without the need for stain, especially in these clothes, which consisted of a khaki blouse and baggy short  trousers which reached to just above the knee. Hardly ultra modest, she thought! And she had seen enough to realise that what the Consul had said on the subject was nonsense. Excessive modesty was not the rule for females in this country. Far from it!

Next day Marina was led back to Mr Marcelinus’s house.

"I was raided yesterday, Miss Green, seconds after you left. You seem to be gifted with a charmed life! Your disappearance has caused a lot of panic, but I think you will not be recognised now! I will do all I can to trace dear Angelina. But first you must learn the language. It will be disastrous if you try looking for her without being able to pass as one of us. Are you a good linguist, Miss Green?"

Marina nodded. Her father had been born in Cyprus and her mother was German. She knew three languages already. One more was no problem and if it meant finding Angelina then she would willingly become fluent in ten languages!

Three months later, she was judged sufficiently fluent to begin searching for her friend. In order to disguise any remaining foreign tinge to her accent she had developed a very thlight lithp!

She learned that her boy friend had been looking for her, but had gone home. They had told him some story and he had believed them. Officially, Marina had been checked out of the country three days after she had arrived, supposedly on her way to Thailand.

**************************

"Angelica is working in the north, Marina. There are important minerals there and an Anglo-American company is exploiting them. These materials are vital to your countries' military and they will do anything to lay their hands on supplies, even if their own nationals have to suffer. Your Consul and the US Consul are in the whole thing up to their necks."

"What kind of work?"

"Breaking rocks. Like convicts on a chain gang. But these rocks contain the mineral. The dust they create by the work of their bare hands is worth a fortune."

"But there are machines to crush rocks! Why use human labour - to say nothing of a woman like Angelina?  Are there many women involved. Marina already knew the answer.

"All these prisoners who sweat and suffer under the scorching sun are women, Marina. And they are all members of the despised white race. The new Junta is run by lunatics, Miss Green. And your government goes along with this madness in order to procure the sinews of war. The Americans as well. You will have  no help from any Western government. You are on your own! And if you do get your friend away there are many miles of ocean between this island and safety. Normal means of departure are out!"

“How many years has this evil been going on for”

“Some of those poor women have been here for thirty years, Marina. They are old before their time and still they are worked until they drop. We are not proud of what our country has become - not the educated among us.”

“I see why Angelica saw no hope. No wonder she wants me to stay away. Poor girl. My poor friend!”

She was allowed  out only when her language skill was deemed satisfactory. The hunt for her seemed to have died down. Going back to that market she saw several native women in that same ring. They were dancers in the main, and very seductive! And hardly modestly dressed. One local couple of women had wrestled erotically, with even less on them and clearly doing zero damage to each other. There were two other fights which were all too real and they were both taped fist fights between naked white women. The eighteen year old figured in both and Marina saw that she was coming on fast!

She was relieved to see that neither of these fights were death fights. The losers had still been breathing when carted away to jeers from the crowd.  Marina had no doubt, though, that the older woman in the first fight had been killed or that the eighteen year old had deliberately finished off her opponent - almost certainly unwillingly. That would explain the curious air of automaton like unreality about the pair. They had known one would not be walking away.

But she looked such a nice girl, apart from her fighting prowess - which Marina found scary. She had been fresh faced and unspoilt on that first day. She was less fresh faced now! Marina guessed that these public bouts were not the only times that the girl was fighting. Her face and body were showing too many signs of wear and tear for that. Poor kid! Obviously a trapped tourist like Angelina who was being brutalised and made into an unwilling gladiator to please some sick minded scum.

Now that she understood the language she could see how strong the feeling was against the European former rulers - at least on the part of some. The sight of two English or American girls, nude and forced to fight each other, clearly delighted many. But the young girl was also popular for her undoubted skill and for her good looks. Not everyone was glad at the way these white prisoners were being treated. In fact Marina doubted there was a lot of support for the regime at all. But soldiers and police were everywhere and Marcelinus assured her that there were many secret  police keeping watch on everything and everyone!

Lilly - A Tormented Woman

In the prison, Lilly Chambers, an eighteen year old female fighter, was facing up to her twelfth opponent in four months. This time, she was fighting a native girl. She was going to beat her. The word "lose" did not figure in Lilly's vocabulary. When an English or American woman was her victim, it was done in that ghastly ring in the market with the sun shining on her and leering locals relishing the sight of her bare body. At least there was some shade and privacy in the prison yard as the drunken Warden, the head jailer, and a few bigwigs gathered in pride of place, with the other prisoners and staff kept at a distance to watch Lilly in action. She knew a lot of bets were placed on these contests and that she had made much money for those who had backed her. The woman up against her today was on Death Row. Lilly was told to send the poor lady on her way a little early!

Lilly did as she was told, even though her victim fought like a tigress. It only took her two four minute rounds. The condemned murderess went down under Lilly's furious attack and Lilly knelt down and applied a neat, quick chop. Poor Martha, four months ago, had put up a far better fight and Lilly had been incapable of fighting again for ten days. It had been Martha who had taught the sixteen year old Lilly the tricks of this brutal trade. Lilly, a violent and tempestuous young woman, had been an apt pupil, like that other English girl -  the one who had refused to play it their way and was now breaking rocks - or worse!

"Kill me, Lilly!" Martha had told her before that final fight. "What other way is there out for you? Fight hard and win. You may have hope for the future. I have none."

Lilly had been in tears when Martha had said these words. But it had been billed as a death match and it had to be either her or Martha. If either girl had held back, both would have been put to death. So Lilly, minus the woman who had shielded her for two years, was still alive - alive and kicking - and punching!

That English creep spoke to her as she was being led back to her cell.

"Well done, Miss Chambers! Keep it up!”

 That odious creep was her country's Consul General. Loathsome bastard!  She had never seen Martha's Consul - Mr Potter. But Potter was also in on all these rackets. Potter made a mint out of Lilly's increasingly formidable skills as a deadly fighter. Fuck Potter and fuck Hargreaves!  But Lilly knew she liked these contests. If she ever got out of this hell hole, she would go on fighting - but for her own profit!

Back in her cell she had a visitor.

“You did well, Miss Chambers to save the hangman a job and entertain us all. Next week we have a match in the square for you. Train hard between then and now! We’ve found a real challenger for you this time.”

“Any one I know?”

The head guard shook his head.

“Someone from the mines. We’ll see how you do against her. It’s a death fight Lilly!”

“What if I refuse?”

“Women don’t like it on the Chain gang, Miss Chambers. You do well enough here! Good food and a trip out into the town every so often. Why throw all that away to work eighteen hours a day breaking rocks? I think you’ll see it our  way! You always do!”

That was the trouble. Lilly always did see it their way. Getting one's face bashed in might not be everyone's idea of fun, but Lilly was not like most girls. For Lilly the buzz of being in a fight was becoming addictive, and being sent up there to the quarries would be hell. She’d fight that new woman. And she’d win! And she'd kill again! But she prayed not to be asked to kill another of her own!

She obeyed the order to train hard. Starting with two hundred push-ups. But Lilly liked training. Lilly had a good body and she worked night and day to make it better, stronger - and deadlier! She paused only once in her three hour workout and that was to flex a bicep and feel it with her free hand. Hard as a rock - like the rest of her!

It would have made Lilly sleep better if she had known that tomorrow’s fight would not take place ! But she slept well enough in any case.