Billy scratched his head and looked towards Cash and Pop sitting in broken down chairs on either side of Ellen. "We just sit here and wait. It should be soon from what I heard before we jumped the cage. That was a real smooth job. But remember, he can get us back in there as fast as we got out if we don't follow through with knockin' off the senator. We get plenty of loot for doin' it, so don't get all anxious, not yet anyway."
"That sounds real nice," Pop said, running his tongue across his lips in greedy anticipation. "We get the loot and just disappear."
"But politics is somethin' I don't fancy messin' with," Cash said, standing up from his chair. "They'll hang you fifty times for shootin' a senator, then fry your carcass in the chair."
"There are chances, but we been playing our cards right this far, and I say we make a go of it," Billy answered, asserting his authority once more.
He smiled at the three men in a superior manner as though he had mapped out the entire plan beforehand and had some information that he was withholding from the others. Ellen listened as he went on discussing the details of what now appeared to be an assassination plot. Her dazed mind was beginning to focus more clearly on what was going on around her, and she became more and more aware that this was no ordinary band of escaped criminals. Her own position as a hostage – and that surely was what she had become – now was quite obvious. Her hopes of freedom fell into the knowledge that the men not only intended to use her an object on which to vent their long pent-up lust, but they would hold her in case something went wrong with their murderous plans.
"And what about the cunt over here?" Cash asked. "She could blow the whole thing if she gets loose."
"You let me take care of her," Billy said, a glint of self-satisfaction in his eye. "Like I said, she's a valuable piece of property, and she'll be treated as such. And like I say, she ain't gonna get loose."
"I don't like the idea of the little bitch maybe sneakin' out on us. The city's only a mile away, and she could have the whole Goddamn FBI down on us before we had time to get the scratch and run outta here."
"Look, we're pros now, part o' the big time, and we gotta act like it," Billy said, raising up to his full height. "You get all shook about our girlfriend here runnin' loose and two to one you'll blow the big kill. This here senator is money, you gotta remember that."
"It's startin' to sound more like you don't even know who the fucking senator is! I always like to know whose head I'm puttin' a bullet into before I get itchy fingers," Vito spoke up, moving towards Billy.
"That's your big surprise. Not knowin' gives things a little more suspense, don't you think so, honey?" Billy said, looking down at Ellen.
"I-I don't think I know what you're talking about," Ellen said, feeling the tears well up in her eyes once more.
"Now that's what I like to hear," Billy said. "You just be a nice little girl, and nothin'll happen to ya. Meanwhile you can start helpin' us clean up this dump. We got some food in the back room, and after you finish feather-dustin', you can fix us up some chow."
Ellen sat back, resting her head against the wall behind the chair. She tried to pull the ripped material of her tee-shirt across the exposed pink nipples of her breasts, but this gesture seemed to bring more lewd stares from the men around her. The struggle in the car had left Ellen utterly shaken, and she now tried to cover her half-nakedness by pulling her legs tight around the long tear the men had made in her jeans and folding her arms across the lower part of her breasts and the whiteness of her bared stomach.
"I said we gotta get on with it," Billy repeated viciously, reaching down and grabbing Ellen by the arm. "I don't think you heard me right."
Ellen instinctively pulled away, feeling the hand increase its grip around the slightness of her wrist. Then Billy wrenched her up from the chair, sending her head spinning in another surge of anguished fear and humiliation as he swung his arm in a wide arc and brought the palm of his hand down hard against her face.
Ellen stood and covered her tear-stained face with her hands.
"Look, we ain't just playin' at any of this," Billy said, standing back for a moment. "What we want is real sweet and simple. You start cleanin' up this old furniture and these mattresses and fixin' up the joint so that it looks nice and respectful for the gentleman comin' shortly. Now tell the boys you understand, like a good girl."
"Yes, I-I understand," she finally said quietly. She understood too well, she thought to herself, glancing fearfully across the room at Billy who stood under the overhanging light shining harshly over his fierce-looking face. Ellen was beginning to comprehend the laws that guided the band of desperate criminals. Their years of imprisonment had turned them into near-animals who worshipped the strength of the leader of the pack more than anything else. At the same time, like the snarling dogs they were, they challenged that strength and, as in Vito's case, would try to destroy the leader's prestige at any possible moment. She had become a pawn in their game, and the man who finally ended up possessing her would simply take over that position of power. Now it was Billy who ruled over her ultimate fate, but she knew that the outcome of the struggle that was developing would depend on how he dealt with their challenge to his authority.
"Now honey, you look real sweet," Billy said sarcastically. "You get that pretty ass of yours moving into the next room, and maybe we'll give you a nice treat if you clean up good and proper."
"And don't forget the chow," Pop exclaimed from his chair. "It ain't enough just to have a maid, we gotta get some vittles in our guts if we's gonna make a good job of it tomorrow. Be real nice to have some home cookin' after ten years of penitentiary soup."
Ellen felt a strong wave of humiliation rush through her as the men laughed heartily at the old man's remarks. She was completely unaccustomed to being treated this way, and, despite her fear of any further struggle over her already violated body, she suppressed a rebellious feeling that increased as they assigned her the demeaning task of cleaning up the filthy, so-called apartment.
"All right, Cash," Billy said, thrusting his thumb towards Ellen. "You show the little lady what's got to be done."
Ellen followed Cash through the dimly lit doorway into an adjacent room. God, she had never seen such a slovenly mess in all her life! Piles of filthy mattresses were heaped below the tall warehouse windows, and pieces of broken furniture covered with mold and dust were scattered across the rotting linoleum floor. She thought she would become sick when she breathed in the stale odor coming from a pile of dirty dishes lying in the sink in a far corner of the room, but she didn't. It seemed as though her humiliation from the insults to her body and spirit had strengthened her somewhat. Perhaps she was already becoming accustomed to this animal world, she thought. It was possible that the law of jungle survival had been affecting her in ways her own civilized mind could only instinctively understand.
"First, get them mattresses nice and clean," Cash commanded, pointing towards the window. "We may need them later on if there's any trouble with the fuzz."
Ellen stooped over the mattresses and broken furniture, and with a rag he had flung to her, she began dusting them off. Although it was Cash commanding her, she felt Billy's unseen presence directed through Cash's forceful orders. There was no longer any sense in the hopeless resistance she had put up at first. She had at least kept herself close to Billy, and as long as he retained his power she was relatively safe. Cash and Pop, and to some extent Vito, were under Billy's control, but if she aroused the leader's displeasure she would be thrown to them as the vestal virgins of ancient Rome had been thrown to dens of wild untamable lions.