Copyright: GSC

Mr Sx. Sat before his bank of video screens and watched the boys arrive. He flicked his dark, reddened eyes across the monitors and squinted through the gloom at the first bedroom.

Rob and Simon stood in awkward silence, their cases beside them, and stared at the bed.
‘Just one?’ Simon said nervously.
‘That bother you?’ Rob sounded more confident.
‘No. As long as…’
‘What?’
‘As long as you don’t take advantage during the night and make me lose,’ Simon took his case to the far side of the bed.
‘It’s a big bed man,’ Rob laughed. ‘You won’t even know I’m in it with you.’

In his dark tower Mr. Sx laughed too. Little did the boys know what adventures and temptations he had lined up for them. Trying to keep their hands off each other in a double bed was going to be the least of their worries.

He looked across to the Great Hall monitor. Karl was leading two more contestants into the castle. He looked at his notes and recognised Tim, the poor country boy, the cutest of them all. But he did not recognise the other lad. Angry and confused he slammed his fist onto the side of his chair and was just about to send for Karl, for an explanation, when the console directly in front of him flickered into life.

Ivan’s face appeared on the monitor. His deep blue eyes shinned up and calmed the Master immediately.
‘Yes Ivan?’ Mr. Sx asked quietly. The sight of his favourite boy always appeased him.
‘Your conference call is ready sir,’ Ivan said politely. ‘Shall I patch them through now?’
‘Go ahead.’

The monitor flickered off. Across the room a strange blue light illuminated the stone work and iron torch holders. Mr Sx turned in his chair and faced a large, flat video screen opposite. Suddenly the screen was alive with six individual images, six men. Their faces surrounded a central view; that of the Great Hall monitor where Karl was leading the two boys up the huge stone staircase. The six faces looked back expectantly at Mr. Sx from the wall.

‘Gentlemen,’ Mr. Sx said with a slight nod of his head. ‘Good of you to join me.’

The other men, projected into his tower from places across the world, nodded back and waited for him to say more.

‘The boys are arriving as we speak,’ Mr. Sx continued. ‘Already the boys called Simon and Rob are making themselves at home in their room. I have heard that Peter and Michael are nearing the station and that Tim has arrived at the castle too. But…’ He stopped and glanced back to the central monitor, now showing the first landing. Karl had mounted the stairs and was now showing Tim and the stranger to their room. ‘But we appear to have an unexpected replacement.’ He turned back to the conference screen. ‘Would someone care to explain?’

The six men looked around them, as if they could see the other men in the other screens. Some shrugged their shoulders, others looked down to smaller monitors beside them that showed what Mr. Sx could see from his bank of consoles. Finally a large man took a cigar from his mouth and spoke up.

‘Me,’ he said bluntly and his accent was deep southern American. ‘I engineered a change.’

The other men looked surprised. Mr. Sx looked furious.
‘You intend to forfeit your place in the game?’ he bellowed.
‘I intend to win,’ the American replied. ‘As do you all. But I wanted insurance.’
‘Explain yourself.’ Mr. Sx lent forward and glared at the video wall.

The American puffed on his cigar for a moment and then put it out. Taking his time he collected his thoughts and sat back comfortably in his chair.
‘You invited us to participate in this bet with bad odds,’ he began. ‘We each stand to lose a great deal of money if our boy drops out first. Fair enough, it’s a gamble and we are all gamblers. But the odds are… were stacked in your favour.’
‘How do you figure that one out?’ another man asked.
‘Simple, Chan,’ the American looked down to a monitor beside him. ‘It is Chan isn’t it?’
‘Good day Silverland,’ Chan nodded.
‘We’ve all bet ten million that our boy will stay intact for the weekend. Who ever bet on the winning boy gets ten million from the other gamblers and ten million from Mr. Sx here, that’s sixty million in all. But, if none of the boys remain virgins then Mr. Sx collects ten million from each of us and awards only ten to the winner. That’s assuming he does award the winner the promised prize money.’
‘That’s the gamble,’ Chan said. ‘So why are you worried?’
‘Because he’s already started cheating,’ the American spat and glared back to the camera.

Mr. Sx bristled in his chair. ‘Explain yourself Silverland!’ he demanded.

Silverland rolled his cigar in an ashtray calmly and sighed.
‘You plotted to plant one of your henchmen on the train,’ he explained. ‘Some big Russian guy, according to the reports I got. You planted him with a drug and got him to seduce my lad, Tim.’

The other gamblers started fidgeting and complaining. Mr. Sx held up a hand and they fell silent. ‘Let him go on,’ he said.

‘Well, I got news that you’d done this kind of thing before,’ Silverland continued. ‘And so I reckoned I’d take out my own insurance. I switched the boy Kris and substituted him for my own choice, not yours. I put Kurt on the train to look out for Tim. Just protecting my investment.’
‘Is this allowed?’ a man with a German accent asked. ‘Kris was my boy! He’s changed my player!’
‘Calm down Helmut,’ Silverland laughed. ‘You’ll have another heart attack. I’ve done you a favour. Kris, I discovered, would not have stood a chance. He got laid two nights ago, he wan not a virgin. So you were basically out of the running before he started.’
‘How do you know that?’ the German demanded.
‘I made sure of it,’ Silverland winked.
‘Thanks,’ Helmut said, unsure if he should be thankfrul or not.
‘Think nothing of it,’ the Amercan smiled back.
‘So Mr. Sx,’ Chan spoke up again. ‘Sounds like a fair exchange, warding off a cheat.’

Everyone looked at Mr. Sx.

‘I reckon it is,’ the American cut back in. ‘The news is, Mr. Sx, that your thug was thrown off the train, so he’s out of the game too.’

Mr. Sx just blinked at the news.

‘And,’ Silverland lent in closer to the screen, he appeared more threatening. ‘Just so that you know; if you try any more cheating I will blow your little scam wide open. FBI, Interpol, you name it. You play the game straight and we all walk away happy, either as winners or losers. Helmut gets the new lad, Kurt, your thug is out of the picture and we all get to play fair from now on. That’s all I’m asking.
‘What can I do?’ Mr. Sx concluded after thinking for a while. ‘If Silverland thinks that this Kurt stands as much of a chance as anyone else then so be it. I assure you gentlemen that the game still stands. You each have a boy. You have each placed your bet that your boy will still be a virgin by Sunday night. I still contend that none of them will be and that, in forty-eight hours time, you will each be wiring me ten million dollars. It’s a game, that is all. Our pieces are the lads and the board is my castle. Let us see which one of your boys will be taken first. If everyone agrees to the change of player that is.’
‘O.k. by me,’ Silverland spoke up first. ‘And no more cheating.’

The others agreed.

‘Good,’ Mr. Sx said. ‘Then let us get back to watching the action. The odds are again even for us all.’