Wonder Woman:
Trial by Ordeal by marat
Chapter Five
Outside, it had
grown dark. The street lamps glowed in the heavy night air. It was still
surprisingly warm, although it was getting on toward eleven o’clock, and too
humid for comfort. The apartment’s drawn blinds allowed no one to see inside
and only slivers of light escaped through the slats from a few of the rooms.
The large two-storey window that faced northwest in the front of the building,
which had nothing to cover its exposure, revealed only the apartment’s dark
interior of the living area and loft. But light seeped from under one of the
bedroom doors upstairs. Inside, the air conditioning was running overtime,
ensuring a high electric bill for next month.
Liddy and his
four minions stood near the door to the bedroom. The bald chieftain was giving
orders, arranging for the continuation of Operation Gemstone after his escape.
Operation
Gemstone was the name given to a collection of White House activities, mostly
political, including intelligence gathering, surveillance and disruption of
opposition activities (particularly opposition to the war), and the
infiltration, disruption, and direction of the Democratic Party’s nomination
process in the election year. Thus far, it had been underfunded, but surprisingly
successful. Senator Edmund Muskie, who had at one time led President Nixon in
the polls, had been driven out by a letter-writing campaign in New Hampshire.
The Democratic candidate who would be easiest to beat, George McGovern, was
still in the race and showing good strength in the primaries. Regardless of
what happened from here on, the Democrats were too divided to carry on an
effective campaign.
The break-in at
the Watergate had been part of Gemstone, part of its intelligence gathering
component. The purpose was to make sure that phone taps were working: There had
been some complaints about the quality of reception from bugs installed a
couple of weeks earlier. Liddy had directed James McCord to lead his burglars
back into the Democratic offices to re-set the bugs.
But it had all
gone wrong.
Sitting across
the street in a Howard Johnson’s Motel, Liddy and E. Howard Hunt, his boss, had
seen the police arrive and arrest the five operatives.
Those arrested
had kept their mouths shut, but soon enough, Liddy expected, trails would lead
to him and Hunt. He had to get away before that happened.
Wonder Woman
would be a perfect means of arranging his escape.
*****
The heroine was
kneeling on the floor across the room from the five men. Devastated by the
events of the evening, she felt tears well up in her eyes as she held,
caressed, and embraced her roommate. Penelope’s long blonde hair was matted
with blood and semen, and the Amazon tried to brush the ugly deposits away, but
stopped when she realised that some of the coagulants left her only pulling on
her lover’s knotted, gnarled hair. The Princess of Paradise Island responded as
if her tugs were painful to the unconscious girl. Penelope’s eyes were bruised
and closed, one of them badly swollen. Blood from a cut on the bridge of her
nose had flowed across her cheek; dried now, it simply covered her face, nose
to ear, with a ghastly red smear. Blood was also visible from Penelope’s
nostrils and the corners of her mouth.
As Wonder Woman
shifted her weight on the floor, the sound of the chains linking her bracelets
sounded loudly in her ears. The metallic clink of the steel rings recalled the
laughter of her tormentors. Her powerlessness in the face of these enemies tore
at her.
The Amazon Maid
had surrendered to Liddy and his confederates because she feared they might
threaten Penelope. But she had realised, too late, that her surrender, rather,
would insure the assault and rape of her lover. She had seen the evidence of
the coming attack in the faces of the bald, mustachioed leader and his
subordinates at the moment that she felt her strength torn from her. In that
dizzying moment, as the heroine’s ability to protect her friend was ripped from
her arms and her body with an almost sickening effect, the delight they had
shown in their expressions had told her of the peril that the women faced.
Now Penelope,
battered and defiled, was clinging to life. As Wonder Woman pressed her palms
and fingers against her lover’s face, neck, and shoulders, as she kissed
Penelope’s punished face, it was as if she were seeking to force her own
vitality and vigour into the body of her friend. If only she could give this
broken body some of her own strength.
Strength? The
strength that had been taken from her, ripped away because of her own foolish
pride. The Champion could feel, within her, the contained power of her own
body: The long, hard muscles of her arms tight against her smooth skin held
within them all the strength of an Amazon Princess, a Wonder Woman. But the
fetters that linked her bracelets had rendered that power useless.
Penelope had
paid the price.
Wonder Woman
heard Liddy approaching her, his heavy footsteps muffled by the shag carpeting
of the bedroom. ‘Stand up, Wonder Woman.’
Gently, she
placed Penelope’s head on the floor and, amid the rattling of her fetters, the
Amazon Princess struggled to rise to her feet.
It was evidently
too slow for Liddy.
He grabbed a
fistful of her raven hair and viciously yanked upward, pulling from the
Princess a short yelp more from surprise than pain.
Still holding
her by her hair, he pulled the Amazon toward the corner of the bedroom, away
from his men. He spoke evenly, looking her level in the eye, so that she could
see that he was deadly serious. ‘Unless you do what I want, what has happened
to your friend will happen again. It will continue to happen. I wanted you to
see that you are helpless to stop them from doing whatever they wish to her.
‘If you assist
me, you will be freed from your chains and Penelope will be released. Both of
you will be able to resume your everyday lives. If you do not, their treatment
of her will continue; you will be forced to watch; it will end, no doubt, with
her death. If you attempt to stop us, or if you betray me, she will be killed
immediately.’ There was no emotion in his voice.
‘I trust you
understand your… situation.’
‘What do you
want me to do?’ Wonder Woman was almost desperate for an answer to this
question. Thus far, Liddy had given only the scantiest details of what he was
after.
‘I will shortly
have a warrant for my arrest issued to the District police. I have made some
arrangements for my protection, but they require that I get out of the country
quickly. You will provide transportation with your invisible plane.’
‘I can’t…’
Wonder Woman began, before glancing at the unmoving figure of Penelope. ‘I….’
‘Surely you
understand the circumstances you find yourself in. I am about to be tried for
following orders issued from the office of the President. I am likely to go to
jail for several years.’ Liddy’s voice was kept under control, never raising it
above a harsh whisper. But he clearly felt very strongly about what he felt was
the wrong he was about to suffer. Obviously, the men across the room knew
nothing of this. ‘I’m going to be made a fall guy for higher-ups.’
‘If you’re
innocent, if what you did was legal, it will come out at your trial,’ Wonder
Woman said. ‘The system will protect you.’
This time,
Liddy’s voice rose and he fairly shouted, ‘Oh, dear, Princess, where have you
been the last few years? Powerful people don’t go to jail; their subordinates
take the fall. Rich people get a slap on the wrist; those who work for them,
those who do the dirty work… they’re the ones who get hard time. Sure, we all
want justice. But you’ve got to have the money to buy it. Next to health is
wealth, and only wealth can buy you justice.
‘It seems Kane
told me of an instance during World War II when you actually broke someone out
of captivity and flew them to freedom. Think of this in the same terms.’ He had
resumed his harsh whispers.
‘I want you to
fly me out of the country tonight, within the next hour. If you do so, you will
be back in time for breakfast tomorrow and all of this will just be a painful
memory.’
‘Where do you
want to go?’ Wonder Woman felt defeated. To protect Penelope, she had to do as
Liddy said.
‘Patagonia.’
*****
Many hours and
many miles later, Wonder Woman’s invisible plane circled a stretch of plain in
the heart of the mountainous South American region. One by one, lights
flickered to life, illuminating a landing strip, and the beautiful pilot saw
men rushing along the edges of the runway. After circling for a final time, the
unique aircraft glided towards its rest, touching down soundlessly and smoothly.
Liddy and his
pilot had hardly spoken a word to one another since they had left Washington.
The White House operative had taken great care to ensure that Wonder Woman
would have no option but to aid in his escape. And aiding this criminal
festered in the beautiful heroine’s mind and spirit.
The Amazon
Princess had summoned her airplane and the two had boarded from the roof of her
building in Georgetown. Still bearing her shackles, insuring the containment of
her Amazon strength, Wonder Woman left Penelope behind in the apartment with
Liddy’s four thugs. They had been instructed to do nothing further to their
prisoner. They were to await his communication, informing them that he had
arrived safely, when they would make sure of Penelope’s well-being, and leave.
At the same time, after sending the message, Liddy would remove Wonder Woman’s
chains, and she would be allowed to return home.
It was
apparently a foolproof plan. Evidently, there were plenty of men here at the
airstrip to make sure that Liddy remained at liberty, and, besides, the Amazon
heroine only wanted to return to Georgetown as soon as possible to provide care
to her friend and lover.
*****
Wonder Woman
followed Liddy across the frigid landing zone, the cold temperature turning
their breaths to mist as they headed toward a camouflaged hangar. The landing
lights lining the runway were one by one being extinguished, now that the
invisible plane had landed. Young men in military fatigues shouted orders and
responses in Spanish, and officers, decked out in dress uniforms, as if
expecting a foreign dignitary, lined up at the entrance to the building.
Liddy saluted
the officers smartly as he hastened toward them. ‘General Guzmán, how are you?’
he said laughingly. ‘What do you think of my transportation?’
General Guzmán,
wearing an Air Marshal’s insignia of the Chilean Air Force and an emblem of a
jump-qualified officer, laughed. ‘I will have to study it before I can offer an
opinion.’
‘And what do you
think of my pilot?’
All of the
officers were silent.
Wonder Woman had
followed several paces behind Liddy’s rapid march. It was not the weight or the
strength of the fetters that slowed her usual rapid pace; it was the knowledge
that Men had welded chains to her Amazon bracelets. The dazzling heroine, now
weakened, grew increasingly uncomfortable as she felt the eyes the half dozen
officers fix on her. Her taut satin uniform, emblazoned with the eagle
breastplate and the star-spangled satin tights, clung to her body like a second
skin, firing the imaginings of these men and an uncomfortable
self-consciousness in the powerless Amazon Maiden.
General Gustavo
Leigh Guzmán, Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Air Force, was a member of a
conspiratorial group of military officers with whom Liddy had been in contact
for several months. These top-ranking officers, led by General Augusto J.R.
Pinochet Ugarte, had been plotting, with the aid of the United States
Government and the CIA, to first weaken, and eventually to overthrow the
elected Government of Chile’s Socialist President, Salvador Allende Gossens.
Liddy had served as an assistant to the CIA liaison to the officers.
Now, he was
seeking their help to protect himself. This secret landing strip was one of
several in this border region between Chile and Argentina. Liddy had carried
some of the cash that had paid for its construction and supply to these Chilean
officers and to their fellows in Argentina, dissatisfied with the left-leaning
rule of General Alexander Agustín Lanusse Gelly. From such bases in 1973, coups
would be launched to overthrow both rulers, successful against Allende,
unsuccessful a month later against Lanusse.
Now, in June
1972, still remote and secret, they were depots for training and for storing
military supplies.
‘Tell me, Señor
Liddy, is she a good pilot?’ General Guzmán asked, a smutty grin working its
way across his face. He licked his lips lasciviously as he looked her enticing
body up and down.
‘She is… very
quiet.’
‘I can see why.
You have put her in her place.’ The Amazon was taken aback by the conversation.
She had expected to be freed and allowed to return to the United States; she
had not bargained for this demeaning evaluation of her attributes.
Two junior
officers approached the Amazon Princess from behind and took her by her arms,
rushing her toward the door to the hangar. Her deep blues eyes went wide and
she tried to twist her body, to dig in her heels, to resist but the officers
were quickly joined by two enlisted men. The powerless Champion of All Women
was dragged into the large camouflaged shelter. The half-dozen officers quickly
followed, some laughing in anticipation. Liddy was the last to enter.
Inside, Wonder
Woman continued to struggle in vain against the men who now held her. She
vigourously wrenched herself in an effort to release their strong grip, pulling
first her right arm and then her left, trying to twist herself that she might
kick herself free. Everything failed. The rising laughter of the Chilean
officers at her struggles finally slowed her resistance.
‘She is still
fiery, despite her shackles,’ Guzmán said, still smiling. ‘You have not broken
her.’
‘You have no
doubt heard how independent she is. She will not be broken easily.
‘But you will
have lots of time.’
Wonder Woman
shot a wide-eyed look at Liddy. ‘You promised… I would be… freed… if….’
‘I lied,’ Liddy
replied. ‘I had to get away, and you were the only way to avoid airport
customs.’ He didn’t sound sorry.
‘But, what
about… my friend?’ Wonder Woman’s heart was breaking.
‘I will contact my
associates that you have carried out your part of the bargain. She will be
released.’
‘How do I know
you’re telling me the truth this time?’
‘She was only a
means to an end. I have no further need of her. You may choose not to believe
me, but the fact is that my men will be out of your apartment within two
hours.’
These words
somewhat lifted the spirits of the Amazon Maiden.
‘But you will be
the price of my liberty. And you will begin by getting on your knees in front
of these men.’
‘Liddy, you should
know that I will never debase myself in such a way.’
‘You will get on
your knees… or I will not send that telegram. You will show these officers the
respect a woman owes to her masters.’ His tone indicated he was serious.
‘You will see
that stubbornness is not a virtue, Wonder Woman,’ a new voice said, coming from
behind the hapless heroine.
Everyone cast
his gaze at the figure who had emerged from the office next to the door through
which Wonder Woman had been carried. His intonation, high-pitched and loud,
reflected someone used to giving orders. He was an old man, the left side of
whose face was badly scarred. The tracks of the scarring disappeared under an
eye patch that covered his left eye. He walked erect, but slowly, with a
military bearing of long standing, and he limped noticeably, favouring his left
leg. A black leather glove covered his left hand.
The clicking
heels of the Chilean officers indicated that this was a man of high military
rank, though his accent indicated that he was not from South America. The
officers gripping the Amazon heroine released their hold and stood to
attention. The snap to attention by these military men was all the more
surprising because, like Liddy, he wore civilian clothes.
He slowly
approached the captive Amazon Princess, a smile twisting his lips. ‘You will do
as your master orders, Wonder Woman. You will get on your knees.’ The enlisted
men holding her pressed her body toward the cold concrete floor.
As she resisted
the pressure, Wonder Woman voiced her defiance. ‘No man is the master of an
Amazon.’
‘But you are
chained, Wonder Woman. The chains are a symbol of your subservience to Men,’
Liddy said. ‘And I understand that you learned the nature of subservience at Schloss Stössel
under… now-General
Kesselmann, what was it, thirty years ago?’
Kesselmann!
‘Yes, Wonder
Woman, look at me and see your own past. It was we who first taught you
submission in our dungeons. There, for the first time, you became a whore for
Men.’
The weight and
strength of the two enlisted men holding her had finally driven Wonder Woman to
her knees, but she stared defiantly up at Kesselmann. ‘You may have used me in
a depraved way, Kesselmann, but it was Fausta Grebel who captured me and
brought me to you. And it was she who helped me to escape after you took me a
second time.’
Kesselmann’s
face contorted in fury. ‘Fausta Grebel was a traitor! And she paid for her
treason!’ He calmed himself as he continued, ‘When she was captured, she
screamed for mercy.’
Wonder Woman had
not known what had happened to the powerful ‘Nazi Wonder Woman’ who had first
been her rival, and then her friend.
‘There was no
mercy,’ Kesselmann concluded.
‘Because of the
failure of Operation Wonder Woman… because of your escape from the heart of the
Reich,’ the man in the subdued civilian attire continued, his rage
spent, ‘I was ordered to the Russian Front, where Operation Citadel made me the
man I am today. I was promoted to General, and within forty-eight hours of that
promotion, a Soviet artillery barrage sent me to hospital.
‘I have spent
thirty years waiting for this day, Wonder Woman, awaiting my revenge. Now you
are before me again, chained, helpless, and on your knees, and, this
time, I do not intend to allow you to escape. These men will keep you in this
place, until we are ready for you to fulfill your function. You will again
learn your place is only to serve Men, not compete with them.
‘Your purpose
has been made clear to me by our friend Herr Liddy. You will be broken, as you
were at
Schloss Stössel. These gentlemen will be only too happy to help you relive that
experience. And since, as I have been informed, you cannot become pregnant
except at one time during the year—’
Wonder
Woman shot a shocked look at Liddy, standing behind Kesselman, smiling. The
former SS officer noticed the glance and allowed Liddy to interject, ‘Kane
thought I didn’t understand what you told us. Given that he was no longer part
of my plans, I saw no need to let him think otherwise.’
The
strident voice of the Nazi officer continued, ‘Since you cannot become pregnant
except at one time during the year—in the spring—it will be up to us to hold
you in our custody until then.
‘Do
you have the Führer’s DNA, Herr Liddy?’
Liddy
reached into his satchel and pulled out a small metal container. He handed it
to the old man, who seemed to stand a little straighter, hold his head a little
higher, once he received it. Liddy told him, ‘It must be placed in cold storage
immediately.’
Kesselmann
passed the parcel to a Chilean major, who raced to the office from which the
Nazi had emerged. Kesselman seemed to be reveling in Wonder Woman’s
predicament.
‘Teach
her the error of her ways,’ he ordered.
The
two enlisted men violently pulled the Champion to her feet, the links rattling
metallically on the polished cement floor. They stretched her arms outward from
her shoulders. The strong young soldiers then wrapped their own arms around
Wonder Woman’s bare limbs, securing them in a firm, strong grip, pulling to
control the struggling Amazon. A tall, powerfully built officer stepped in
front of the star-spangled heroine, massaging his fist. Wonder Woman tried to
twist herself free, but before she could complete her first move, his balled
right fist, as large as a softball, crashed into the side of her head.
‘AAAaaaaahhhhh!’
cried
the powerless woman. The blow was painful, but her response was equally a
result of surprise.
Almost
immediately, his left fist smashed against her cheek, twisting her head
obscenely about. The rapid right-left combination dazed the heroine.
Wonder
Woman tried to blink clarity back to her vision, but the large, powerful
Chilean officer gave her no respite, and worked her over brutally. One blow
after another rained down from his fists against her struggling body, wrapping
her in pain and fatigue. Finally, one last blow, this one into her diaphragm,
ripped her senses from her.
‘OOOOOhhhhhhhhhhhh!’
Desperately
fighting for air, Wonder Woman gasped and heaved, but again, before she could
even clear her head, still another smashing blow laid on her another layer of
pain. But this time the attack came from a new source, from an unseen officer
behind her, who drove his knuckles directly against her back in the area of her
kidneys.
‘GGGhhhhhaaaaaakkkkkkhhhhhh!’
Her
legs very nearly gave out from under her and the two enlisted men, who had
until now struggled to keep the still-potent Amazon under control, changed
their grips; they released the hold which restrained the heroine, and adopted
one which merely supported her. Wonder Woman’s head lolled down toward her
chest and her body slumped visibly in the grasp of the soldiers. The officer in
front of her pulled her face upward by grabbing her raven hair with his left
hand, holding her just inside the rim of her Princess’ tiara. A fraction of a
second later, his right hand again crashed into her beautiful visage, twisting
her much-photographed and readily recognised aspect horribly. His next punch
drove deep into her abdomen, burying itself almost up to the wrist and driving
the wind from her body again.
There
was a brief pause in the beating delivered against the Champion as a new
attacker, almost as large and equally fierce, now replaced the first officer.
His first blow was a right cross that landed flush on her cheekbone. Once
again, Wonder Woman’s head seemed to swivel on top of her neck and another cry
of pain, now noticeably weaker than those earlier, was wrenched from her.
‘AAAaaaaaaaaaggggggggggglllllllllmmmmmm!’
An uppercut
delivered right to the point of her chin drove her head back at an extreme
angle and a dribble of blood crept out from the corner of the Amazon’s mouth.
When she opened her lips to gasp for air a bubble of blood formed and burst and
the red ooze became a stream that poured down her chin. Her deep blue eyes
rolled in her head as unconsciousness threatened to overwhelm the Champion of
All Women.
She fought
against the darkness, though she could not even focus her eyes on her
attackers. At the same time, her legs finally gave out from under her and her
body collapsed in the grip of the two men who held her. The once-mighty Wonder
Woman had been rendered helpless and was casually tossed to the cement floor of
the hangar. She lay like a clumsy rag doll,
gasping, painfully trying to fill her lungs with revitalising air. But
Kesselmann was not through with his revenge. Yet another uniformed figure
approached the prone woman, and he immediately dug a powerful kick into her
side, one that lifted the helpless Amazon from the floor.
‘UUUuuuuullllllggggggggkkkkkkkkhhhhh!!’
When she raised
her battered face to try to gain her bearings, a second kick, this time
roundhouse, smashed against the side of her head. Wonder Woman’s entire body
twisted as it was thrown sidelong across the cement, landing on her back.
The beautiful
Amazon Maiden’s body writhed slowly, almost sensually, on the floor, the
twisting motion an attempt to reduce the pain that gripped her. A look of
near-desperation covered her face, which was obscured by a swath of blood
across her chin, the drying ooze smeared upward toward her right ear. Her long
raven hair was tousled, swept across her eyes or radiating long strands of her
black, tangled mane across the polished cement. The golden tiara that was the
symbol of her royal heritage had disappeared in the sweaty disarray. Her eyes
were barely open. If her enemies could have gazed into her eyes, they would
have seen a despair there, a despair that had only rarely gripped this Champion
of All Women. Sweat glistened on the smooth, silken surface of her body, at her
neck and shoulders. Wonder Woman’s long arms lay on the floor, her left arm
reaching straight out from her shoulder while the right was bent at the elbow
with her hand lying adjacent to her star-spangled hip. The chains that linked
her bracelets formed a large semicircle enclosing her lower body, its smooth
perimeter broken only at her ankles, where the strength-sapping links rested on
top of the still gleaming red leather of her boots. Inside that semicircle, the
Princess’ perfectly formed legs lie akimbo, their spread making an inviting
enticement to all of the officers present.
The Amazon’s
famed and well-recognised costume clung to her beaten body like a second skin.
The red and gold satin of her breastplate expanded and contracted as her chest
rose and fell in her torment. The satin alternately stretched and bunched ever
so slightly as the heroine tried to catch her breath. The eagle’s wings that
embraced her ample breasts seemed to change size as her chest rose and fell,
quivering as if in pain. Hippolyte’s golden girdle clung to her narrow waist,
the eagle’s talons seeming to rest firmly on the pedestal provided by its
contour. This golden belt, a gift from the Princess’ mother, was, like her
golden tiara, a symbol of her royal heritage. Her present status, chained by
men and powerless, mocked the golden accessories that evinced her birthright.
The star-spangled tights, high-cut, revealing her perfectly round and muscular
hips, lay flat against the surface of her body. On the inside of her thighs,
the dark satin was stained with her sweat as the shaped form curled around the
Amazon girl’s sex. Her once-powerful body seemed to be moving in slow motion,
winding and unwinding, contorting itself in front of the officers who watched
fixedly.
‘Take her to
her… quarters,’ Kesselmann ordered. ‘She will be receiving visitors tonight.’
The two enlisted men who had restrained her earlier, now lifted the battered
Champion under her shoulders and marched toward the rear of the hangar. Her
polished leather boots slid almost noiselessly across the polished cement
floor. All of the men laughed as Wonder Woman was dragged away, barely
conscious.
*****
As usual,
Kesselmann allowed the officers to bid for the right of primacy. Each of the
Chilean officers had a particular ‘specialty’ to which the helpless prisoner
would be treated over the course of the next painful hours.
*****
The battered
Amazon Maiden struggled toward consciousness. Beneath her, she felt the damp
cold stones of a dungeon floor. As she pushed herself painfully to her knees,
she tried to grasp the enormity of Liddy’s betrayal. She had allowed herself to
be chained, depriving the Amazon Princess of her strength. Now, Liddy had
turned her over to a collection of military officers under the command of a man
who had only loathing and revenge in his heart. Kesselmann had presided over
her first disgrace; he had seen her broken once; he would settle for nothing
less this time.
Oh, Hera, help
me! Why do men never change? Why do they persist in degrading me? Why must I
face these trials? What must I do?
End of Chapter Five
Comments, questions, suggestions welcome: contact
the author at marat1793@comcast.net.