Chapter Twenty-Six
Deputy United States Marshal Linda Rankin stands with her supervisor Rhonda Flamboise on the balcony overlooking the huge chamber housing the capstans of the pump house. She pauses, letting her boss observe in awe just as she did when first visiting months ago with Kelly Devers.
Below some half dozen muscular women of color stroke away... the sound of sjamboks on naked buttocks most strident.
The high ceilinged room is stifling in the tropical heat. And there come the smells... sweat... urine. As Rhonda’s eyes adjust to the dimness she notes the recipients of the flailing sjamboks. Naked human flesh transformed to beasts of burden, laboring to step counterclockwise their arms pulled behind their backs. Behind the elbows there is entrapped a long thick prong of wood h
