“Bunch of candy asses.” She drove a knee up. The girl jerked as it smashed against her rump. The blow lifted her feet off the boards. Tanya hurled her down. The platform shook as she slammed against it. Dropping to her knees, Tanya pinned the girl’s hands. “Come on, somebody!”
Karen scurried forward and crawled over the girl, moaning as she delved, caressed, squeezed, licked, and sucked.
“You don’t want to be in on this,” Shiner whispered.
I want to be doing it, Jeremy thought, feeling guilty and hating Shiner for being here to shame him.
The girl bit the top of Karen’s head.
Yelping, she clutched her scalp. Then she battered the girl’s face with her fists until Samson pulled her off.
“Let’s run her up there and haul on out,” he said. “Those cops are gonna show up.”
“Yeah, yeah, okay.”
Tanya and Samson dragged the girl to the bottom gondola. Tanya propped her against the seat, rump on the footrest. She swung the safety bar down, hooked the connecting chain of the handcuffs over it, and closed the empty bracelet around the girl’s wrist.
“If she falls too…” Shiner muttered.
“One more good troll,” Liz said. “Give her a ride!”
“Hang her high!” from Cowboy.
Tanya pulled a calling card from the pocket of her sweatshirt. “Greetings from Great Big Billy Goat Gruff,” she said. She took a small plastic case from her pocket, opened it, and held up a straight pin for everyone to see. She poked the pin through the middle of the card. The girl winced and her legs flinched as Tanya stuck it into her, just above the left breast.
“God,” Shiner muttered.
Liz laughed. “Looks like a name tag at a nudist convention.”
Tanya hurried over to the machinery. Moments later, the motor rumbled, sending vibrations through the platform. The wheel began to move, dragging the girl’s bare heels over the boards as she was swept backward.
The gondola tipped out from under her. She let out a sharp gasp as her weight was borne by her cuffed wrists.
The wheel picked up speed, carrying the moonlit girl quickly to the top. Just as she swept over the crest, Tanya stopped the wheel. The girl snapped rigid. She shrieked. She looked as if she might be torn loose. Jeremy half-expected her arms to be wrenched from their sockets, and he pictured her naked, armless torso falling through the night. But nothing gave. After the harsh tug, she seemed to be flung upward. She dropped straight again and dangled there, her pale body suspended in front of the swinging gondola.
All the trollers on the platform stared up at her.
“Holy jumping Judas,” Cowboy muttered.
“Well, shit,” Liz said. “Isn’t she gonna fall?”
The motor went silent.
Jeremy, suddenly alarmed, hurried over to Tanya. “She’s alive,” he whispered. “We can’t leave her alive. Christ, she’ll tell—”
“Don’t worry, huh? The cuffs are loose. Real loose. I’m surprised she hasn’t already fallen. That stop should’ve done it. She must be keeping her hands fisted.”
“What if she doesn’t fall?”
“She will. I don’t give her ten minutes.”
“You sure?”
“I told you, it’s my ass too. She’ll be taking a big dive.” Tanya stepped past Jeremy. He followed her, and they joined the others. All their heads were tilted back.
The gondola had stopped rocking. The girl dangled straight down, her rump against the edge of the footrest. She looked limp.
Is she passed out? Jeremy wondered. If she’s out cold, why hasn’t she fallen yet? Maybe the cuffs aren’t as loose as Tanya thought.
“Okay,” Tanya said. “Let’s get out of here.”
They hurried down the stairs and out the gate. Standing in the middle of the boardwalk, Jeremy again looked up. From here he had a very good view of the girl. She was incredibly high. A fall would kill her for sure. She wasn’t moving at all. Her head hung. But he couldn’t see whether or not her fists were clenched to keep the cuffs on.
A brilliant burst of light suddenly hit his eyes.
Heather blurted, “Shit!”
Jeremy snapped his head around. No more than thirty feet away stood a giant troll with a camera at his face. Its flash blinked again.
“Get him!” Tanya yelled.
They charged the troll. He whirled away, camera swinging at his side by its strap, and vaulted the railing. He dropped toward the beach and vanished.
“Get him!” Tanya shouted again. She was first to reach the railing. She hurled herself over it. Samson rolled over the top bar, turned around, and leapt. Cowboy cleared the railing and held