mrjones2009 wrote: ↑4 years ago
“How do you think Elizabeth Crawford is going to take this?” Schmidt asked.
“I don’t really care.” Novak responded. “Whatever is on that hard drive it is worth a lot of money and I want it. The money I mean.” Then the pilot released the brakes and they were both thrown back into their seats as the plane jumped forward.
That turn of events, is somethng Crawford did not expect - I think - and she will be not amused - because that puts her plans in jeopardy. On the other hand Nowak does not know about Crawfords Plans for Nowak Niece. Houston we have a problem
A nice surprise nevertheless, well done @[mention]mrjones2009[/mention]
!
Another pleasant surprise: Natalie rescuing Charlotte But will they be able to save Natascha in time? Maybe Crawford must change plans now - and there is still a chance of rescue? Surprises, surprises - I like that! The pace of the story has quickened again, keep it going !! [mention]mrjones2009[/mention] !
The wind had picked up slightly and was blowing down the street being funnelled by the tall buildings on either side. Christina flicked up the collar on her down jacket to protect her neck and wished that she had brought her scarf. For the third time she removed Elise Rodger’s letter from her pocket and checked the address. “Definitely the right place,” Christian said to Jessica with a slight nod of the head toward the building that they were standing directly across from. It wasn’t Vienna’s best establishment or neighbourhood but it made sense if you were trying to lie low. They crossed the road, looking both left and right beforehand and entered the lobby of the hotel. Christina looked around and decided that at one point the hotel and probably been nice but now was in need of some work. There was a seating area off to one side and the reception desk was off to the other with a lift to the left and a set of stairs to the right. The desk was manned by a gentleman of around forty and smartly dressed.
“How may I help you?” the man asked as they approached.
“Yes,” Christina asked as she removed her mobile from her pocket. A quick search on social media had found Elise Rodgers accounts and therefore photographs, which she now planned to use. “Have you seen this young woman?” Christina thrust the phone at the man from across the reception desk.
“I cannot give out any information on guests,” the man replied before a look crossed his face as if he had let something slip that he didn’t mean to.
“So the young woman is staying here.” The man gulped.
“Sorry as I said earlier I cannot give out information on guests.” Christina decided to pull at the heartstrings.
“I appreciate that but she is my cousin and has disappeared without leaving word. My aunt is distraught with worry.” Christina went full on big eyes and quivering lip. “We are concerned that she might be in trouble.” This time the man looked around and behind Christina for shadows lurking in corners. Jessica followed the man’s gaze but Christina kept facing front so when his gaze came back to the women Christina was staring straight at him, eyes earnest and as big as dinner plates.
“Alright….so she was here…”
“Is she still here?” Christina asked hopefully. The man shook his head. “What happened?” Christina got the impression from the man’s body language that something had happened.
“A couple of women came looking for her,” the man paused as is he had just realised that this was two women looking for Elise Rodgers yet again. “The young woman came down the stairs as I was discussing with the two women and once they saw each other they both began to run.”
“So they chased her and you didn’t think this was strange,” Christina commented.
“Look I didn’t know what was going on. Then a man came back after the two women and gave me some money, took her belongings and suggested that I keep quiet about the young woman ever being here.”
“How long ago was that?” Jessica asked.
“The young woman was here for two nights and everyone else turned up on the third morning.”
“Look I am not proud of this but times are tough in this business….” Christina held up a hand to stop the man in his tracks.
“Could you describe the women?”
“They were both similar; late twenties, pretty, dark blonde or light brown hair, blue jeans, sweaters and those puffy jackets, like the one that you are wearing, in black.”
“The man that came afterwards would you describe him as average, non-descript, can’t really remember his face,” Christina went. The man nodding as she talked. “I assume that you don’t have any cameras?” Christina asked more out of hope than expectation. This time the man shook his head. “Thanks for your help,” Christina added before heading for the door and beckoning Jessica to follow. Once they were outside Jessica asked Christina what she was thinking. “Elizabeth Crawford got to her first.”
“Are you sure?”
“Very sure,” Christina replied nodding her head. “The down jackets were a clue but what clichéd it was the description of the man. It sounds like Horace, Elizabeth’s jack of all trades. He could walk across a football pitch on match day and none of the crowd would be able to pick him out later, a special talent.”
“What should we do know?” Jessica asked.
“We should head back to the hotel and check in. But let’s find somewhere to have a drink first. I need one.” Christina turned and headed off down the street with Jessica hurrying after.
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That drink had become three and night had fallen before Jessica and Christina left the bar and headed back to their hotel. It was in a better neighbourhood than that of Elise Rodgers and they both collapsed onto their respective beds before Christina fumbled for her mobile, pulled it out and dialled Danielle Snow’s number whilst staring at the ceiling. It was answered on the third ring.
“Hello Christina,” Danielle voice was perky.
“How are things in Paris?”
“They are great thanks.”
“Apologies again for leaving you alone to follow Novak,” Christina said.
“No problem Christina. I am really rather enjoying the change to be honest, sneaking around, sharpening my skills,” Danielle replied, thinking back to the incident at their hotel in Paris that statement didn’t fill Christina with confidence.
“Well it was my mission so thanks for picking up the slack on this one. How has it been going?”
“Actually it is quiet at the moment to be honest. I haven’t seen her for some time.”
“Dare I ask what happened?”
“Well Novak, that creepy Schmidt woman and her assistant went into the Almost Famous offices this morning and haven’t come out yet. Should I try and get in and have a look?”
“Where are you?” Christina sat up on the bed.
“Sitting in a coffee shop across the road, they have free Wi-Fi and a nice selection of flavoured teas. Also the muffins are to die for but I might need five sessions down the gym to burn them off….” Danielle babbled on.
“Just stay there and monitor the front door, don’t do anything silly or dangerous and get into trouble.”
“Thank you. Well stay safe and hopefully we will see you tomorrow.” The conversation over from her point of view Christina hung up. Sitting in the coffee shop Danielle Snow looked at the building opposite housing the head offices of Almost Famous Fashion and thought, having a look around wouldn’t be dangerous. No not at all.
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Although Danielle would never have admitted this to Christina she had already decided to enter the offices of Almost Famous and devised a plan to do so, she was going to pose as a cleaner. In fact she had gotten the idea when watching the staff at the hotel. Nobody gave the cleaning crews a second look as they made there way around the floors. Having managed to procure a cleaners uniform from the staff room of her own hotel all she had to do was get into the building as she assumed that there would be some kind of security to get through on entering the building.
As she sat finishing a cup of tea and chocolate muffin waiting for the best time to enter the building. In addition to the Almost Famous offices the building had three other occupiers over its various floors. Daniele thought that it would be best to wait for most of the employees to leave before entering and having a look around. In the end it took about thirty minutes for a mass exodus to start. Danielle gave it another thirty minutes to be on the safe side before grabbing her bag, exiting the coffee shop and heading across the road toward the entrance of the building. Taking deep breathes to steel her nerves as she did so Danielle went up the steps to the entrance and pushing through the front door entered the lobby. A quick glance around told her the there were lifts to the left, stairs to the right and a desk straight ahead manned by a security guard. There was a directory board nest to the lifts that told her that the Almost Famous offices were on the third floor. Danielle decided to take the stairs and as confidently as she could strode toward them like she was meant to be there, casually unbuttoning her coat to reveal the cleaners outfit, light blue with white trim that finished just above her knees. The outfit did have the desired affect as the security guard looked up from his newspaper, gave her a once over and then went back to whatever story he was reading. The first part of the plan seemed to have gone well and fortunately thanks for some nice timing so did the second, getting into the Almost Famous offices. As she reached the third floor landing three staff members were exiting the offices for the day and kindly held the door open. “Thank you,” Danielle said.
“No problem,” one of the group replied. As the door closed behind her Danielle was glad that the group didn’t want to have a chat as her grasp of French didn’t go beyond the exchange. Once inside the offices Danielle slipped off her jacket and hung it up on a set of hooks that were just inside the door, it would look strange is she walked around with that on but she did keep her bag over her shoulder. Danielle decided to head straight to the heart of the place and went looking for Milena Novak’s office. It didn’t take her long to find the office that she was looking for, the big corner office at the far end of the floor. To her surprise the heavy wooden door wasn’t locked and after a furtive glance in both directions Danielle walked straight in and closed the door quietly behind her.
Deciding to go straight to where she believed the information would be and headed for the laptop sitting on the desk. Danielle sat down on a chair with her back to the door and spun the laptop around to face her. She rummaged in her bag and pulled out her mobile and a white cable. Danielle attached one end of the cable to her mobile and the other to the laptop via a USB port. The mobile had a programme on it that would allow her to bypass the security on the laptop. Danielle sat and stared at the screen as the program worked its magic, an icon appearing as it did so. It seemed to take half an hour but in reality it was probably less then five minutes until the screen came to life in a blur. Then the icons appeared and Danielle fist pumped under the desk. The obvious place to start would be the web browser, it usually was the most interesting place, to see what people were looking at whilst surfing the internet. But she ignored that temptation and instead clocked the file icon and began to search through the different levels of folders. At the beginning it didn’t seem like there was anything of interest, just information on what looked like legitimate business dealings until she came across a folder named X, clicking to open the folder she found that it was password protected. Undeterred Danielle opened another program on her phone and set it to work. This time it took closer to ten minutes for the program to unlock access to the folder and during this period Danielle looked around nervously. Then her phone pinged to let me now that the folder was unlocked and she clicked on the folder. Inside were a number of documents and photographs and Danielle began to go through them one at a time, her interest and excitement growing with each passing document. “Now what have her here?” Danielle whispered at one particular file. After twenty further minutes Danielle realised that she was exposed in the office she selected some of the files and copied them into the large memory that had been installed onto her mobile before disconnecting it from the computer dialling Christina.
“Calling again so soon Danielle,” Christina said.
“Christina I have found some important information.” So engrossed in what she had found Danielle didn’t hear the door to the office open and someone slip inside and approach her from behind, the thick carpet making the person’s footsteps silent.
“What is that Danielle? I can’t hear you. Why are you whispering?”
“I am in Milena Novak’s office.”
“Who’s office? Did I hear that right? I told you to be careful and not do anything stupid.”
“I know, I know but I thought it was worth the risk and turns out……MMMPPPHH,” Danielle was cut off as a hand clamped a handkerchief over her nose and mouth from behind. In the initial shock of the attack Danielle dropped her mobile onto the floor but at least this meant that she now had both hands free to attempt to fight off whoever had pounced on her. Instantly Danielle had recognised the scent of chloroform coming from the cloth, her attacker obviously intended to put her to sleep, This suggested to Danielle that they didn’t mean to hurt her, well not initially anyway. The attacker had the advantage of leverage as Danielle was sitting on a chair but despite this she fought hard, jerking, twisting and flailing her arms. These actions only got slower and weaker though as the chloroform started to go to work on her. She tried to get loose again but could not. She was getting dizzy, lightheaded and her eyelids becoming heavy. So decided to relax her body and try to slip from the chair and out of her attackers grasp. To her surprise this must have surprised her attacker as it worked, Danielle managed to slip away and onto the floor.
“Well aren’t we a slippery little snoop.” Having slipped onto the floor Danielle; still dazed from the application of the sedative rolled over onto her back so that she was now looking at her attacker. She didn’t know why Danielle was surprised that her attacker was a woman, Novak’s assistant to be precise. The woman sank onto her knees, one each side of Danielle who now found herself straddled by the woman. Now laying on the floor with her attacker now on top of her it would be even harder to escape her clutches, especially as the woman had just reapplied the drug soaked handkerchief. “Just go to sleep.” Danielle was losing her battle with the chloroform. It sapped her strength and will to resist as if wanting you to embrace the darkness. What was that noise? Wait her phone was ringing, if only she could get to it perhaps she could get help. Her vision narrowed as her fingers moved along the carpet toward the phone but just as they were about to reach out the final couple of inches a hand firmly grabbed her wrist and pinned it to the floor. “I don’t think so sweetheart. It is nap time at the moment.” The fight had now completely drained from Danielle now and she was still and with another couple of breathes slipped into unconsciousness.
Holliday removed the handkerchief from over Danielle’s nose and mouth and took a couple of deep breathes, the struggle had taken a lot out of her. When Schmidt had originally given her the bottle of chloroform she had scoffed at the idea of actually using the stuff but now was glad that she had it. Standing up Holliday started to drag Danielle across the floor before realising that an unconscious body was heavy and difficult to move, even one as petite at this one. She would require help to move the woman and get her out of the building without causing a scene. Holliday glanced at her watch, with Schmidt and Novak away at the moment there wouldn’t be help available until the morning so she would need somewhere in the building to stash this woman until then. Plus she would need to bind and gag the woman to make sure that she couldn’t attract attention as she couldn’t sit and hold a chloroform cloth over her nose and mouth for hours. It was time for a think so she sat down and decided to make a plan.
It seems Danielles street skills need a looot off polishing So instead of Crawford Nowak is collecting damsels at the moment. Christina and Jessica did not learn very much .....
I'm really curious how Crawford reacts, when she learns about Nowaks kidnapping "Crawfords" Mathematician? Excellerating her plans to lay her hands on Nowaks Niece
Chapter 54
An island, somewhere in the Mediterranean
Hayley was starting to get frustrated at being restrained for so long, it must have been coming up to the end of induction week now although having no reference to gauge time against it was difficult to tell. The past days fell into a routine for Hayley and Gabriela, the day passed through one interminable hour after another of being restrained within their down cocoons. In Hayley’s case it was worse than on previous occasions as the triple restraining bag combo restricted the amount of movement she had dramatically. The experience caused Hayley to fret occasionally at her inability to move freely, the soft smooth material on the inside of the bag combined with the amount of compressed down around her body seemed to cloy at her any time she made the slightest movement. It was so difficult to move that most of the time she lay still, accepting her present helplessness either trying to figure out exactly what Elizabeth Crawford was doing or in her more optimistic periods hoping for a rescue. The days were only broken up in the morning when the lights came on and Hayley and Gabriela were released from their down filled cocoons for a short time for breakfast and a change of diaper, then it was back into the bags and a dose of chloroform to knock them out. On regaining consciousness Hayley would discover that the television screen above her head was on, there was no sound so it was pictures with text. The choice of programming wasn’t great, reality television shows, travel programs and a Spanish soap opera but it helped to pass the day until it was time for dinner when they were released again for more food and another change of diaper. Once again it was straight back into the bags and a chloroform induced nap and then they were left to there own devices until the following morning. The lights came on and Hayley was sure that was for the eighth time so she was looking forward to what happened next, a bit of freedom. There was a noise as the door opened. Hayley could hear footsteps then heard a zip and felt the pressure immediately release over her body as the massive external third bag was unzipped. Hayley wondered why they actually bothered with the third bag, not only was it overkill but it took three of the guards to get her in and out of the thing. It was easier work to get her out of the other restraining bags then the bindings on her arms and legs were removed. Instinctively Hayley went to remove her gag, thinking induction week was finished. “Not so quick Hayley keep that in place.” Hayley turned to see who had said that and it was Perrie.
“Yeah, the boss wanted you to keep that in for the moment.” Hayley once again searched for the source of that voice and found Nicole standing in the middle of the room leaning on a large, old fashioned wheelchair that was seriously padded. Hayley’s heart instantly sank when she saw it as she had a feeling what was coming next and she wasn’t going to like it. “Now just pop yourself into the chair.” It was certainly not what Hayley wanted to do but she didn’t really have any option. Even if Hayley had wanted to be uncooperative, she was surrounded by experts in controlling women in a room that she couldn’t get out of and all resistance would get her was a chloroform soaked cloth over her nose and mouth. Hayley trudged over to the wheelchair and sat down in it; Nicole quickly strapped her tightly in place and finished the job with a thickly padded sleep mask over her eyes. Hayley sat perfectly still and felt movement around her before she heard Gabriela’s voice.
“Where are you taking her?”
“That is none of your business Gabriela,” Nicole said.
“Yes I am sure that Hayley will tell you when she gets back,” Perrie chipped in. With that Hayley heard a small click as the brakes on the wheelchair were disengaged and it started to move. The journey wasn’t that long, obviously out the door and then along the corridor and then to a stop, which turned out to be a ride up in a lift. At the end of the brief ride it was another push along a corridor until the wheelchair was brought to a stop and the breaks reapplied. Then there was the swish of fabric as Nicole walked away before there was the sound of the door closing, then nothing but silence and the sound of her own breathing. Hayley tugged at her bonds and squirmed in the chair. It was a wheelchair, more or less like any standard wheelchair, like one would find in any medical facility, small wheels at front and large at rear, a padded sling style back and seat, armrests and footrests. The main difference was the extended back that meant a headrest and the restraints, obviously. The bonds in question were straps of nylon webbing, all about two inches wide. They pinned her to the chair at her wrists, ankles, upper arms, thighs, around the waist and across her upper arms and chest, above the breasts. All were tight enough to make sure that she couldn’t slip out of them and she couldn’t tell how they were secured to the chair.
“I like it when girls struggle Hayley,” said the unmistakable voice of Elizabeth Crawford from somewhere in the near distance. Hayley stopped squirming and turned her head to try and confirm where the voice had come from. “I remember you being a feisty character,”
“MMMPPPHHH,” Hayley replied.
“Well let’s get that gag and blindfold off and then we can get a better look at that pretty face of yours.” Hayley felt Elizabeth Crawford’s presence approach from behind then felt delicate fingers push her head forward until her chin was almost touching her chest. This angle allowed easy access to the buckle at the back of her head which Elizabeth Crawford loosened and removed the gag and then the blindfold. Hayley expected her eyes to hurt once the sleep mask had been removed but there was no natural light on the room, heavy drapes covered what Hayley assumed were large windows. The only light in the room came from large lamps that were strategically placed to create pools of light and dark. Straight ahead of Hayley sat a large four poster bed that was lavishly furnished with pillows, cushions and a comforter; she couldn’t see much else with the mood lighting.
“Nice decoration Elizabeth,” Hayley commented. Then she heard the rustle of fabric and Elizabeth Crawford appeared in front of her wearing nothing but a full length black down jacket and a matching red bra and panties set. “Did you get those for Christmas?” Hayley asked indicating the bra with a nod of her head.
“Always quick with a quip and some bravado Hayley, we will see how you are after I have finished with you.” Elizabeth Crawford reached into the pocket of her jacket and produced a small bottle and a large white handkerchief. Slowly Elizabeth scrunched up the handkerchief and unscrewed the top of the bottle. Then she poured some of the liquid from the bottle onto the handkerchief and stated to lean in toward Hayley who had watched all of this with a grim fascination. Although she knew what was happening Hayley still recoiled as the handkerchief got a couple of inches away from her nose and the fumes caught her nostrils, definitely chloroform Hayley thought. Elizabeth leaned in further and pressed the handkerchief over Hayley’s nose and mouth. Hayley marshalled her inner reserves and focused all her energy on remaining calm and fighting the initial instinct to struggle, but the familiar fumes having their usual effect: an initial wave of euphoria, followed with increasing drowsiness and loss of sensation. As the darkness closed in, Hayley's fear took over slightly throwing forward to what she expected to happen. There had to be a good reason for this, for Elizabeth Crawford abducting her and she hoped the answer would be forthcoming when she woke up. The fumes took a while to knock Hayley out but eventually her eyes closed over and she slipped into the darkness.
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Different island, different house, different room, different bed but the same position Hayley thought as she found herself naked apart from a diaper and with her wrists and ankles secured to the four corners of a large bed. Hayley was not exactly looking forward to what she assumed was going to happen over the next couple of hours but couldn’t really do anything about it. Hayley heard movement and watched as a now down jacket less Elizabeth Crawford walked toward the bed with a wicked smile across her lips. Hayley couldn’t because of the distance and lighting but she could have sworn that the woman had licked her lips. Elizabeth approached the left hand side of the bed and put a knee beside Hayley. “Good evening Liz. How have you been?” Hayley asked, trying to exude some confidence. The response was a hand clamped firmly over her mouth, pushing her head deep into the luxuriously silk covered pillow.
“Now Hayley you know that I don’t like being called Liz. Be good and I might not have to gag you” Elizabeth Crawford replied her eyes hungrily taking in Hayley’s prone form on the bed. “Have you been working out Hayley? You look great.” Crawford got up from the bed and headed toward a chest of drawers.
“Sorry.” Hayley said now that the hand had been removed from her mouth, making it sound as sincere as possible. “Can I ask some questions?” Hayley watched as Elizabeth rummage through the drawer and take out some items. Identifying what they were Hayley closed her eyes and took a couple of deep breathes.
“Sure, I wouldn’t normally entertain them from a guest but I am in a good mood at the moment.” Elizabeth Crawford said as she walked back to the bed, “and it is you after all Hayley.”
“The young woman that was on the train and boat with us, who is she?” Elizabeth Crawford considered the question before answering.
“That is none of you business Hayley.” There was a tightness and strain in her voice that told Hayley that she had struck a nerve or if not that then at least something important that Crawford didn’t want her to know. Hayley decided to change track slightly.
“I was just thinking that she can’t be more than twenty two or twenty three. She must be nervous…..and well I thought it might be easier on everyone if she shared a room with Gabriela and I.”
“Nice of you to think of your fellow woman but she is currently still in induction protocols.”
“What, for more than a week?” Hayley questioned, her eyes not leaving Elizabeth Crawford as the woman paced around the bed like a cat waiting to pounce of her pray.
“I think that this is chatty time over,” Elizabeth Crawford said and produced a cloth and scarf from the cup of her bra. Hayley got the impression that her situation was going to go downhill quickly. Elizabeth Crawford forced the cloth deep inside Hayley’s mouth, totally filling it and leaving some of the cloth hanging from between her lips. Then Elizabeth folded the bright red scarf into a wide band and tied it tightly over Hayley’s mouth. “Let’s get started, shall we.”
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Hayley was embarrassed and frustrated at being handled like some kind of doll. The pent up frustration got the better of her and she sent a steady stream of complaints, objections and curses in the direction of Elizabeth Crawford but due to the gag they were almost inaudible. Hayley closed her eyes and pushed her head back, deep into the silk covered pillow and tried to ignore the heat rising between her legs, the sensation building gradually, to ignore her building arousal but like freeing herself from her bonds, she knew it was a lost cause. Hayley felt sweat start to perspire all over her body, breasts heaving as she panted through her gag. The end of this journey was obvious and approaching fast. The time seemed to pass in a blur and before she knew it the gag was removed and the handkerchief was back over her nose and mouth and Elizabeth Crawford was gently stroking her forehead. "Shhh... That's it. Just go to sleep... Go to sleep...Be a good girl and make it easy on yourself”, Elizabeth Crawford said, almost speaking like a mother would to a child. Hayley’s lovely blue eyes rolled dramatically and eyelids closed and opened again as Elizabeth spoke. “I do love it when the eyelids flutter like that.”
Chapter 55
Bern, Switzerland
After dropping off the package that Hilary had picked up at the restaurant at the agreed location Ainslie and Hilary quickly went back to the airport in order to catch their flight and get back to their cover careers. They weren’t working on this flight but were grabbing a lift in order to get to their next job which was a long haul flight to Australia with a side job already booked in it would be a profitable trip. There was also a layover in Sydney which was always nice. The two women sat in the main seating area in the terminal building just watching the people rush by. There was a buzz and soon after the tanoy system burst into life. “Ainslie Hayes and Hilary Burton please report to the staff lounge immediately.” The two stewardesses glanced at each other. Without talking they both got to their feet and smoothed out the creases in their uniforms, always paid to look smart and grabbing the handles of their small suitcases headed toward the staff lounge. The two stewardesses hurried down the concourse, stiletto heels ringing out a steady rhythm on the highly polished surface. They stopped at the desk which guarded access to the inner areas of the airport. There was a large security guard behind it who locked eyes with Ainslie, his expression was that of a man who didn’t want to be there and deal with her. Ainslie flashed her security pass at the guard and smiled, full beam as she didn’t want to be delayed. The guard barely acknowledged Ainslie but gestured toward the double doors, Ainslie grabbed the handle of her suitcase and bustled through the door closely followed by Hilary.
Once away from the glitz of the main concourse the floor surface changed from the highly polished surface of the customer facing sections of the airport to the utilitarian grey carpet of the areas reserved for those that worked at the airport. Ainslie and Hilary made their way along one nondescript corridor after another making the correct turns to take them to the staff lounge until up ahead they noticed a barrier across the corridor and a dirty looking man leaning against the wall behind it. “Sorry ladies. There is a leak from the water system that we are trying to fix at the moment. No access beyond this point.”
“Em…we need to get to the staff lounge.” Hilary said to the workman who was wiping his hands on an already dirty rag.
“Diversion, go back to the last junction then take a right to retrace your steps. At the next junction take a left and go along the corridor until you see a sign for the medical facility.” Hilary hoped that Ainslie was following these directions. “Then go into the medical facility, make sure and knock first, and go straight through the fire escape on the other side. That brings you out into a corridor where you turn right and there should be signs up from there. Got that?” Both women nodded but Hilary thought that they should have been taking notes to avoid getting lost. It did seem like a long way for a diversion. However the dutifully turned around and began to retrace their steps and then took the first right before taking the rest of the turns as directed by the workman. They soon found the entrance to the medical facility but they both paused at the door, at the same time they had arrived at the same position of thinking that it was strange to have to pass through this area to get anywhere. Anyway Hilary took the lead and rapped on the door.
“Enter,” replied a voice from within. Ainslie and Hilary entered the room and as soon as the door closed they knew they were in trouble but before they could make a move a cloth was clamped over each of their faces from behind. Hilary felt an arm wrap around her body, pulling her into and pinning her tight against what felt like a smooth, down filled jacket. Then a woman appeared from nowhere and grabbed both of Hilary’s wrists, preventing Hilary from flailing around and using her arms break free of her attackers grasp or dislodge the cloth pressed over her nose and mouth. Instantly panicked by the cloth placed over her mouth Hilary reacted by trying to scream for help but the sound was effectively muffled by the soft thick cloth that the woman had pressed over her face. It was at that moment that she noticed the smell coming from the cloth, a pungent sweet smelling aroma that was familiar, chloroform. At that moment Hilary knew she was in trouble as it would be almost impossible to fight off two attackers without help. It was then that she glances across to Ainslie in the hope that she could offer assistance but Hilary could see that Ainslie was in a similar position to her, grabbed and being drugged by two attackers twisting this way and that in a futile effort to escape the grip that held her and the fragrant cloth pressed against her face, forcing the sleep-inducing fumes into her lungs no matter how much Ainslie tried not to inhale. Focusing back on her own predicament Hilary struggled for all that she was worth but that just meant that her breathing became deeper and more frequent, taking in ever increasing amounts of the fumes coming off the anaesthetic drug on the cloth that had been clamped over her nose and mouth. As Hilary continued to struggle she could feel her arms and legs start to feel numb and her strength drain away, despite her best efforts she knew that her struggles were diminishing markedly and it was just a matter of time before she slipped into unconsciousness. Now she had stopped struggling, her strength gone. She felt her eyelids getting heavier and it was an immense struggle to keep them open. All the fight drained out of her as the woman facing her let go of her wrists and they dropped uselessly to her sides. Hilary looked over at Ainslie and saw that her friend’s struggles had ended before hers, Ainslie’s eyes closed over. Suddenly darkness engulfed Hilary and her eyelids slammed down and her whole body went limp. The women behind her removed the cloth and carefully lowered Hilary carefully down to the floor. “Let’s get these two ready for transport ladies.”
If either of the two stewardesses had been able to open their eyes they would have seen that the four people that had attacked them had all been women. Two of the women wore uniforms that identified them as paramedics; the other two women were wearing nurse’s uniforms with a short, white down jacket on top. The attackers paired off and lifted the stewardesses onto gurney’s that were sitting, waiting in the room. After strapping them in place the attackers headed back to where they had positioned their vehicle. As the group headed along a long corridor a uniformed security guard loomed at the door they had planned to exit through. There was no panic within the group, if you acted confidently and had a reasonable story it would be fine. The majority of people didn’t look for or wat any trouble. “What’s with these two?” The security guard said pointing toward the two unconscious women on the stretchers.
“Some sort of gas leak in the staff lounge. These two fainted, nothing serious but we need to take them to the hospital for a check up.” The guard nodded as if in agreement and opened the door. In single file they wheeled the gurney’s containing the two unconscious stewardesses through without anything else being said and anybody else giving them a second look.
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As they drove along the residential neighbourhood Kirsty silently mouthed the numbers of the houses until she could see the house that they were looking for up ahead. “That is it up ahead on the right Horace, red door and tree at the centre of the front lawn.” Horace nodded and slowed the car down in preparation of pulling over. “Park at the kerb and leave the engine running, I shouldn’t be long.” Once the car had come to a rest Kirsty opened the door and got out. She walked up to the door and as instructed picked up a gnome with a red hat that was sitting there. Flipping it over to look at the base Kirsty found a keypad and entered the code that was on the e-mail that Elizabeth Crawford had sent. The code worked and Kirsty opened a small door to find a compartment containing a key.
Using the key Kirsty opened the front door and slipped inside to the hall; quickly she closed the door behind her and headed to up the stairs to the bedroom that she had been directed to. Opening the door she found the bound and gagged Natascha Taylor lying on the bed. There had been an unintelligible moan when the door opened and Kirsty which meant that he gag that had been applied was effective. One less issue for her to worry about thought Kirsty. “Nice to meet you Natascha, my name is Kirsty. Now we don’t have long so you will have to behave yourself,” Kirsty said making eye contact with the bound and gagged Natascha who didn’t react. Not wanting to waste any time Kirsty untied the scarf holding Natascha to the bed then the two scarves holding her legs together and helped Natascha to her feet. “Just stand still for a minute.” Kirsty made a quick inspection of the gag and bindings on Natascha to satisfy herself that they were sufficient and then stuffed one of the scarves in the pocket of her down jacket before spreading out another and folding it before using it as a headscarf on Natascha tying the ends tightly under her chin in order to disguise the gag. “Now we are going for a short walk where my colleague is waiting in a car.” Natascha was getting tired of being order around moaned a protest from behind her gag, to which Kirsty did not react. Kirsty took a look around the room and opened a wardrobe before reaching in and removing a coat which she slipped over Natascha’s shoulders to hide her bound wrists. “It’s not a down jacket but it will do the job.”
After Kirsty had locked the door and replaced the key she took a firm grip of Natasha’s arm and led her toward a car that was idling at the kerb. Before leaving the house Kirsty had warned Natascha against trying to make a run for it. Apparently her colleague would not take kindly to that and the consequences would be severe. When then got to the car Kirsty opened the rear door and guided Natascha onto the rear seat, no sooner had Natascha sat down then Kirsty removed the spare scarf from her jacket pocket and used it to bind Natascha’s ankles together. That job complete Kirsty quickly closed the door and ran round to the other side and jumped into the seat beside the bound captive. No sooner had Kirsty closed the door when Horace engaged drive and pulled the car away. “The airfield as quickly as you can,” Kirsty said to Horace before turning her attention to Natascha. “We are going on a trip that I know you are going to enjoy.”
Despite what the woman had said Natascha very much doubted that she would enjoy neither this trip, nor the destination when they got there.
So. Induction Week for Hayley is over. But she is nothing the wiser, what Crawford wants with her. I liked the bravaddo she showed despite the circumstances.
Obviously Crawford seems not to know yet, that not all of her plans are unfolding as planed. Or does she? Either way: it will be interessting so see her reaction.
Natascha will be on the Island too. How Crawford will use her, to play with Hayley? To gain leverage?
Who is left know to rescue Hayley and unwilling companions in misery? There are Christina and Natalie, maybe Charlotte. But who else? At the Moment the Girls are fighting an uphill battle against an Enemy in control of the rules of Engagement.
But I think the Master of the Unexpected, [mention]mrjones2009[/mention], has one of two aces up his sleeve
It wasn’t often that she would admit to this but Christina Howard was spooked, thrown off kilter and unsure what to do. After the telephone call with Danielle had terminated early Christina has attempted to get her on several occasions but failed. Given the sounds from the other end of the call Christina knew that her colleague was in trouble, just how much she didn’t know but she just hoped that whatever trouble it was Danielle could hold on until Christina could work out what was going on and help her. She would have went to her aid straight away but within ten minutes she had received two further telephone calls that had added to her growing sense of unease regarding the situation that she and her friends found themselves in. So Christina had put out the word to reconvene in what seemed like the relative safety of Paris, indeed back at their previous safe house. Which is where she found herself now, sitting in a chair across from Jessica. Then there was a knock at the door. With some trepidation Christina made her way across and opened the door. It was with some relief that she found Natalie Twain waiting on the other side. Christina threw the door opened allowed Natalie to enter, closely followed by Charlotte Saltzman. “Am I glad to see you Christina,” Natalie said as she dumped her bag on the floor.
“Likewise Natalie,” Christina replied.
“I would like to introduce Charlotte Saltzman,” Natalie indicated the woman that was hovering just inside the room.
“A pleasure to meet you Charlotte, I am Christina Howard and I hear that you have a story to tell.” Charlotte just nodded in response. “Well let’s get a seat and we can take turns in telling stories.” They all took seats around the coffee table and went about catching the group up on their respective stories. When each of them finished Christina sat back and pondered their current situation, which wasn’t great. They were losing numbers and resources but were making no progress on what was going on.
“You mentioned that Rhiannon had been in contact,” Natalie commented brining Christina back into the present.
“Yes, she had and unfortunately it isn’t great news…” As if on queue there was a knock on the door. Christina once again answered it and let Rhiannon in. After the pair hugged Christina introduced Charlotte and caught Rhiannon up on where they were. “Now Rhiannon why don’t you catch us all up on what happened in Copenhagen.” Rhiannon then recounted her tale of meeting Gayle then the next morning going to her room and being chloroformed whilst noting an unconscious Gayle was being strapped into a gurney and then having to be rescued by hotel security later that day when then came looking for Gayle to give her speech at the conference.
“No idea who the people that grabbed Gayle were?” Natalie asked.
“Absolutely not, I did try and get some idea from the police once they started their investigation but my impression was that they didn’t get anywhere. However I did leave as soon as I can. I feel safer here with you than I did in Copenhagen on my own.” Natalie nodded and they noticed that Christina was looking at her phone.
“What are you looking at Christina?”
“Elodie has just sent through some CCTV footage from the hospital. This is from a camera covering the main entrance at the Emergency Room.” Christina rewound the footage and handed her phone to Rhiannon. One by one the gang looked on as the images as they played and saw Hayley wheeled past on a gurney. “There is nothing further from inside.” The footage then cut to an outside camera where they watched on as the gurney with Hayley on it was wheeled to an unmarked black van put inside. The van then exited the rear parking lot of the hospital.
“Did they trace where the van went?” Natalie asked; an obvious look of concern on her face.
“Yes, they did. Elodie confirmed that it went to a train station where it met a private train. It looks like Hayley was transferred onto the train. The driver of the van didn’t get onto the train and Elodie has operatives trying to track down the driver. They assume that she was local talent hired for this job rather than part of the group.”
“Well, I suppose one positive is that we at least now have confirmation of what happened to Hayley,” Jessica stated. Nobody responded as a long silence fell over the group.
“So we have a famous former model abducted and replaced with a lookalike, the daughter of a bank executive abducted and used as leverage, Hayley had been taken, presumed kidnapped by Elizabeth Crawford, Natascha is missing as is Charlotte’s partner then Gayle is snatched from a hotel whilst attending a conference of mathematicians…..” Christina said. “If I have missed something please let me know.” She looked around at the women sat around her and received blank expressions. “Now if we take out the Hayley abduction as a crime of opportunity by Elizabeth Crawford are the rest linked in some way?” Once again silence descended over the group before it was broken.
“I don’t suppose any of you have any idea what is going on here?” Charlotte asked. “It seems like you have somewhat more experience of this kind of situation than I do.” Nobody hazarded a response. Christina reckoned that was because like her they didn’t have the slightest clue what was going on. An uneasy silence descended across the group until it was broken by Christina’s phone vibrating on the table. Christina picked it up and listened to the person on the other end speak for a minute before hanging up
“Well this may be some good news at last.” Christina commented whilst putting her phone back on the table.
“What is that?’ Jessica asked.
“They have a lead on Sophia Rousseau. So maybe we will get to have that chat with her after all.”
“Where is she?” Natalie asked.
“That was Elodie. They have intelligence that she is lying low in Marseilles, she is texting me the address. I think that we should head down and at least talk to her to see if there is anything that she knows that could be of use.” Christina replied.
“It is better than sitting here doing nothing,” Natalie said.
“Who exactly is Sophia Rousseau?” Charlotte asked.
“She is an operative with a history of co-operation with Elizabeth Crawford and maybe our best chance of getting some information of where Elizabeth Crawford is hiding or what she is up to,” Christina replied.
“Well I vote that we head down to Marseilles and see if we can track her down,” Jessica piped up with obvious enthusiasm. Christina hated to burst the bubble but Jessica was going to have to stay in Paris.
“Sorry Jessica but I think that it would be best if you stay in Paris,” Christina could see that her partner was about to object and decided to get in first. “Look we still have an operation to run involving Milena Novak, which now includes tracking her down and finding Danielle.” Jessica nodded her head slowly to show that she understood. “Plus if something happens to us you need to sound the alarm.” Now she turned to address Charlotte and Natalie. “Let’s get organised. Elodie will meet us in Marseille.” Christina went into the room where she had left her bag to make arrangements to leave. In her head she was worried about what would happen next. Whatever force they had found themselves against was well organised, had a plan that they she was unaware of and worst still seemed to be a step ahead of them. Also there adversaries seemed to know there every move, which was very unsettling.
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Marseilles, France
They had arrived in Marseilles the previous evening and met up with Elodie before heading to a safe house that French Intelligence had in the city. Now they found themselves huddled out of the drizzly rain in an alley across from a rundown apartment building in what, if you were being generous, would call an up and coming section of the city. “And you are sure that she is in that building?” Christina asked. Elodie nodded in response.
“Second floor, apartment D. I saw her enter the building yesterday morning.”
“No point in hanging around then. Let’s get on with it.” With that Christine and Natalie left Elodie and Rhiannon in the alley and crossed the road toward the building. Once Elodie saw them disappear inside she and Rhiannon split up and made their way to the designated positions that they had agreed. Charlotte sat behind the wheel on a parked van a couple of blocks away. Awaiting the signal to either move in or abort the mission.
Christina and Natalie entered the building and paused to get the bearing in the dim lighting. The decoration was tired and general feeling was of a place that had been nice around twenty years ago. They located the stairs and made there way cautiously up to the second floor and locating apartment D. As they stood outside the door Christina noted that they haven’t seen or indeed heard another person since entering the building, which she did find strange. Perhaps it was the kind of place that only came to lift late at night. With that thought running through her head Christina nodded at Natalie who knocked on the door of apartment 2D. Both women listened intently but no sound came from inside the apartment. There was always the chance that she wasn’t actually in at the moment. Natalie tried again and this time there was the sound of footsteps from inside the apartment. Then the door opened and Natalie and Christian came face to face with Sophia Rousseau. “Hi Sophia remember me?” Christina said before she launched herself at Sophia forcing her back into the apartment. Natalie followed and closed the door behind them.
“What do you want?” Sophia asked walking backward. After recovering from the initial push by Christina she was now able to keep her at arms length.
“A chat,” Christina replied.
“I am not interested,” Sophia spat back.
“It isn’t optional,” Christian spat right back. Natalie watched on with interest as Sophia backed into the bedroom followed closely by Christina. If she didn’t know better Natalie would have guessed there was a bit of history between the two women. They she heard a thump and the sound of bodies clashing into each other from the bedroom. Sophia and Christina wrestled each other around the room, bumping into items of furniture and up against walls each trying to gain the upper hand in their struggle. They were well matched adversaries, both determined and not willing to give their opponent and opportunity to exploit and gain the advantage. Christina was worried as in addition to having to get the better of this woman the noise of their struggle was sure to have attracted attention. As the two women continued to wrestle, Sophia lost her balance when her heel got trapped in a rug that was on the floor allowing Christina to gain an advantage and pin Christina on the bed, this meant stalemate at the moment but for how long. The door to the room that was only slightly ajar suddenly opened and Natalie entered. Now Sophia knew that she was in trouble. “Quick, keep her quiet” Christina shouted from her position on top of Sophia. “Use the chloroform!”
“Is there any need for that?” Sophia asked, suddenly panicked.
“Well you didn’t volunteer to come along of your own free will.” Christina responded with. “So, it is option two.” Sophia was struggling valiantly against her assailant but the tide was about to turn against her. Sophia watched on as Natalie produced a bottle and poured a liberal amount of liquid from the bottle onto a cloth that she held in other hand. Natalie scampered over to the bed and getting level with Sophia clamped the cloth securely over the woman’s nose and mouth. Sophia tried to work herself free but with her arms and legs pinned by Christina it was a fruitless endeavour. As Sophia feared the powerful vapours soon started to make there presence felt. Her thoughts and movements were becoming sluggish and her strength was ebbing away, causing her limbs to go rubbery. Sophia realised that her inevitable slip into unconsciousness was fast approaching, the end of her resistance to the fumes was drawing near and she wondered what fate awaited her when she woke up. Sophia managed to turn her head sufficiently to escape the direct contact with the cloth for a split second but it was just delaying things briefly as Natalie replaced the cloth over her nose and mouth quickly. Sophia’s limbs became increasing numb, her eyelids fluttered uncontrollably and then everything went black as she slipped into unconsciousness. Christian noted that Sophia had stopped struggling and lifted her left arm and then let it go, it instantly fell back to the bed. Christina nodded to Natalie and she removed the cloth. The two women stood together at the end of the bed.
“You know that this means that we will have to carry her,” Natalie said and crossed her arms across her chest.
“Unfortunately it does. But she gave us no other choice. We will take her out the rear entrance. Better call Charlotte and let her know to pick up Rhiannon and meet us at the back of the apartment building. I will let Elodie know that we have Sophia and that she can meet us back at the safe house.”
Natascha couldn’t tell whether or not the flight had been eventful as she had been unconscious since just before take off until about five minutes ago when she had come round to find that the plane was on the ground. Initially she thought that it could be all have been some trick, knock her out to think that they had travelled but actually just remain in the same place but one look out of the window dispelled that notion. The airfield in Bern had been on the edge of the city with industrial looking buildings nearby and an actual control tower. Where they were now just looked like a long strip of tarmac with two hangers, a small hut and open ground on either side. Natascha continued to look through the window as several women who were busy loading items into two SUVs’; they were being directed by the woman that had picked her up at the house whose name was Kirsty. Natascha then turned her attention to the interior of the plane and looked again at the two women sitting bound in or should that be to the chairs across from her. Both wore the uniform of stewardesses, which Natascha thought was quite amusing, well as funny as anything could be in this situation. The other occupant of the plane was a voluptuous redhead wearing tight fitting leggings, a purple jumper with a plunging neckline and a short down jacket over the top.
“Where are we?” Natascha asked the redhead.
“Non parlo inglese,” replied the redhead in heavily accented Italian.
“Fortuna io parlo italiano,” replied Natascha instantly without thinking. The redhead couldn’t hide her shock at the reply and Natascha took this as a small win.
“Time to apply the gags I think. Please just note that you brought this on yourselves by talking. I was happy just to sit here in silence.” The redhead got to her feet and rummaged in a bag
“What are you looking for?” asked one of the stewardesses.
“I was looking for these,” the redhead replied showing the other women a selection of white cloths and patterned scarves.
“You can’t do this to us?” protested the second stewardess.
“What do you mean? Gag you?”
“No, kidnap us!”
“Well ladies, it seems like we have so you better make the best of it.” They all turned to where the comment had come from to find Kirsty standing in the doorway. “Now be good girls and let the nice lady gag you.” All three captives turned to look at the redhead. “I think you can carry on now Nicole.”
“Do we have any real choice?” the first stewardess chimed in.
“No, so Ainslie and Hilary open up,” Nicole said as she made her way across to stand between the two stewardesses. Natascha put away the names for later use and watched on as Nicole first gagged Ainslie then Hilary by stuffing a cloth in their mouths and then tying a folded scarf over their mouths.
“I don’t suppose it would make a difference if I promised to be quiet?” Natascha asked. Nicole shook her head and Natascha slowly opened her mouth and allowed Nicole to push a wadded cloth into her mouth before tying a folded scarf over her mouth to prevent the stuffing from being pushed out. That job completed Nicole made her way over to discuss something in whispers with Kirsty. As there captors were no longer paying attention to them Natascha tried to slip off the scarf that was over her mouth but found that it was almost impossible, it was almost welded to her face which was surprising to Natascha with the soft, silky material that the scarf was made from.
“Perrie, Annika!” Kirsty shouted. “Could you help us in here?” There was a delay and then the two women appeared through the door and entered the cabin, Natascha noted that the fuselage was now rather crowded. Natascha watched on as the two women who had just entered the fuselage remove a pair of padded leather cuffs from the same bag that Nicole had been rummaging in not that long ago. All three captives had been secured to their chairs with several heavy straps that had no give. Perrie and Annika undid the strap around Ainslie body, then took one of the wrists straps each before forcing Ainslie to bend forward at the waist and bring both of her arms behind her back and slipping a padded cuff on each wrist and locking them in place. Natascha was actually impressed at how professionally and smoothly this operation was carried out, there was never any chance of Ainslie getting free. It didn’t take long for the same operation to be performed on Hilary and then the two captors turned their attention to Natascha. The two women approached Natascha who had decided whilst they were dealing with the two stewardesses to at least put up some kind of resistance and the moment that the straps on her arms were released that is exactly what she did but with the remainder of her body still restrained and gagged she was no match for the two professionals that had their hands on her.
“Look like somebody is going to make this interesting,” Annika commented.
“Well let’s get this show on the road and get back to the house ladies,” Kirsty ordered. With the instructions issued Perrie and Annika released Ainslie and Hilary from the seats and helped them to their feet and Nicole smiled at Natascha before doing that for her. All three captives were led out of the plane, down the short flight of stairs and across the tarmac toward two vehicles that were sitting idling not that far away. Despite being bound Natascha continued to fight against Nicole’s solid grip she was being led from the plane. “This one is a bit feisty Kirsty. Shall we administer the cloth?” Kirsty was slightly in front of the rest of the group rolled her eyes. Nicole could be so dramatic at times; maybe it was the fact that she was Italian.
“No, leave it for the moment unless you want to carry her into the house but radio ahead and make sure they have a chair waiting when we arrive. But stick a blindfold on her; it might calm her down a bit.” Kirsty suggested. Nicole dived into her pocket, produced a padded sleep mask and slipped it over Natascha’s eyes. That did have the desired effect, Natascha now couldn’t see so couldn’t take the chance on making a mistake and as such was no compliant. After a short walk Natascha heard instructions whispered into her ear and a hand on her head as she was guided into the back seat of the vehicle before she felt her ankles being bound together with rope or cord. There were the sounds of doors opening and closing before Natascha heard the pitch of the engine increase and then the vehicle pulled away.
It wasn’t a long journey but during it Natascha had time to think about her current situation and she wasn’t too optimistic at her prospects. As far as she could tell this was the third group or organisation that she had been held by recently and something about them, their calmness, professionalism and ease at which they dealt with restraining their captives told her that they were experienced at this. The vehicle stopped and the process was reversed as Natascha was helped out of the rear seat and once again led a short walk then up a short flight of stairs and she could tell into a building of some sort. It was only once Nicole had removed the sleep mask and her eyes had adjusted to the light that Natascha could take in her surroundings. It took several seconds for Natascha to take it in or for her brain to believe what her eyes were telling her. She was standing in the entrance of what looked like a large southern style mansion with several entrances off it including a spiral staircase. The decoration was obvious expensive but subtle and tasteful and the various paintings and sculptures dotted around the space looked like they could have come straight out of a museum.
“Welcome to my residence.” The voice made Natascha focus on the person speaking. “My name is Elizabeth Crawford and I will be your host for the duration of your stay.” It would obvious that Natascha had just met the person in charge of this venture. It wasn’t just the fact that the woman was speaking now; it was the way that she held herself and the way that everyone seemed to hang on every word that she said. It was then that Natascha noted the strikingly beautiful young woman wearing the really old fashioned dress standing just behind the woman giving the welcoming speech. Just to the other side was a dark haired woman wearing a similar dress. “Now it is getting late so I will leave the girls to get you settled in and we can get the formal inductions completed tomorrow.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Kirsty said quietly from just behind Natascha.
“Constance. You and Kirsty take Natascha to her suite and the other girls can look after Ainslie and Hilary.” Elizabeth Crawford had turned to look at the blond woman when she had said this. As this woman had been tasked with looking after her Natascha focused on what Constance did. The answer was to take a couple of steps toward the door which took her out of Natascha’s line of sight for a brief moment. When Constance returned to Natascha’s vision she was pushing a large, old fashioned wheelchair. Natascha didn’t like where this was going and involuntarily took a step small step backward, then another but no further as she bumped into Kirsty who leaned in to whisper in Natascha’s ear.
“You brought this on yourself with your antics at the plane.” Kirsty grabbed Natascha and spun her round so that they were now face to face. “Now you will learn quickly that obedience is the best path, no it is the other path here.” Kirsty then put both hands on Natascha’s shoulders and gently pushed her downwards. There was a brief moment of panic and confusion until Natascha felt her bum rest on something soft, smooth and padded and she realised that it was the seat of the wheelchair. Once seated Natascha watched as Kirsty kneeled down, flicked down the feet rest and locked them in place. Whilst bent over Kirsty fixed Natascha’s legs to the wheelchair using several straps, then between them Kirsty and Constance bent Natascha at the waist and undid the cuffs around her wrists. However relief was short lived as they levered Natascha’s arms into position onto the arms of the wheelchair before fixing them in place with more straps. Finally a strap was locked in place around Natascha’s chest, just below her breasts. All of the straps were tight, making Natascha one with the wheelchair. “Wheel away Constance,” Kirsty said and Constance pushed the chair and Natascha with it out of the grand entrance foyer and into a corridor. At the end of a corridor was a lift which was lying open and they went straight in without pause, followed by Kirsty. The doors closed and the short ride to the first floor commenced. When the doors opened on the first floor it was a short walk or roll to what looked to Natascha as a seriously strong security door which Kirsty opened by swiping a card through a reader to the side of the door. Once through it was clear that the decoration here had changed from expensive and tasteful to practical and plain. The group made their way along the corridor and Natasha glanced at the doors off the corridor as they passed, all looked similar to the main door at the end of the corridor. There was no sound except the swish of fabric from the skirt of the woman pushing the wheelchair. Then at the end of the corridor they stopped and made a ninety degree right turn and faced a door which once again Kirsty leaned forward and opened with a flash of a card against a reader.
“Home, sweet home,” Kirsty said and beckoned Natascha to enter the room. Constance obliged by wheeling her through the door and into the centre of the room before she engaged the brakes and then went off toward a wardrobe in the corner of the room. Natascha took a quick look around the room in wonder. There was a large double bed against one wall next to a large window with a view of the ocean. It was like a very good suite in a top hotel. Then Kirsty appeared in front of her, leaned down reached round Natascha’s head and started to work on the knot on the scarf that was part of the gag. As she loosened the knotted scarf, Kirsty said “now, we need to establish a few ground rules. Firstly you will be quiet at all times.” Natascha nodded her understanding and Kirsty smiled. “You will do what I and the other guards tell you to do, without complaint.” Gently removing the scarf part of the gag, she continued, “If you do not, there will be consequences. Understand?” Natascha nodded again as the scarf was whipped away and then the cloth delicately removed from her mouth. Now that the gag had been removed Natascha worked her jaw and then decided that it was time to ask some questions whilst she had the chance. Kirsty seemed to have some level of authority within whatever organisation now held her captive.
“Where am I being held?” was Natascha’s opening question. Kirsty who was standing in front of Natascha shook her head.
“Now what was rule number one?” Kirsty replied shaking her head. Natascha noted that she also indicated with her head toward the woman with the large skirted dress on who was standing behind her. Natascha tried to twist her head round far enough to try and see what that signal meant but the headrest on the chair made that impossible. But turning her head did make something else catch her eye, two what looked like extremely large sleeping bag contraptions lying on the bed. Natascha had been on survival courses and used four season sleeping bags but in comparison they were nothing to these, which on the same scale would have been eight and ten season.
“Sorry I forget. I was never good at taking instructions or following the rules.” Kirsty grinned at this reply.
“Now Agent Natascha Taylor I am glad that you are showing the traditional English spirit despite your current predicament.” Kirsty’s use of her full name made Natascha turn her attention back to Kirsty who could see the shock on Natascha’s face. “Yes we know exactly who you are and I am sure that the boss will be having a discussion with you about your occupation after the induction period is over.”
“Induction period…..” Natascha said quietly. Kirsty continued as if Natascha hadn’t spoken.
"Being tied up doesn't hurt Natascha; well at least the way that we do it. The system has been developed over time to combine comfort and security of restraint. I've been tied up by several different people over the years and I can assure you that our system is by far and away the most comfortable and it doesn't have to hurt or be awkward at all." Kirsty stated.
“If it is alright with you I would rather not find out how you do it,” Natascha replied, taking another glance at the sleeping bag contraptions and other items that were lying on the bed.
“It is for everyone’s benefit that you are properly restrained”
“How do you work that one out?” Natascha asked.
“It removes the motivation. Sorry that is the wrong word. It removes all chance of escape so that you quickly realise that even trying is pointless. This means that you do not try anything silly and get hurt.”
“But it is part of my training to try and escape,” Natascha replied and instantly regretted saying it.
“I knew that you were going to say something like that. Now I will give you the same choice that I give all guests. This can be done the easy way or the hard way?” Natascha didn’t reply and set her look to defiant. “I think that it is time for you to take a nap Natascha,” Kirsty said and looked over Natascha’s shoulder. Before Natascha could do anything a hand holding a thick, white cloth appeared in front of her face before it was clamped over her nose and mouth. “Now if you don’t recognise the scent from the cloth it is chloroform. Although I am sure that in your profession you have come across it before. It is the sedative that we use the most here and you will be accustomed to the smell, especially if you continue to be difficult. It has been refined overt he years to act more efficient and have longer lasting effects.” Natascha shook her head but the cloth remained in place, forcing her in inhale the pungent fumes from the cloth. Kirsty was correct in that she had experienced the effects of chloroform before but the scent from this cloth was slightly different than her previous exposure. It mattered little as the end result would be the same, she would be unconscious. And that is exactly what happened less a minute later as he head slumped forward and her eyes closed over.
Natascha came to and found Kirsty looming over her. “Welcome back. I am sure that in time you will confirm that my earlier assertion that you will be comfortable but first an explanation. The induction period is normally seven days and will be that minimum for you. For the duration of that you will be kept restrained as you are now. Don’t worry about needing the toilet as if you haven’t noticed the bulk around your groin that is a disposable diaper. I know that at first it can be embarrassing but it is purely for practical reason. It is safer and more hygienic for everyone. They have been engineered for both comfort and effectiveness so don’t worry about using them.” Natascha just stared at the woman in disbelief at what was being said and also the situation that she found herself in. “Alright…well enjoy the night and the girls will be back in the morning with breakfast. A last word of advice before I go, obey the guards at all times and things will be fine. Otherwise we will just have to resort to using the chloroform until you learn your lesson” Kirsty then disappeared from view. Natascha just lay perfectly still until she heard the door close then decided to investigate how she was actually restrained. Working from the outside in she was obvious now restrained in one or more likely both of those large sleeping bag looking contraptions, her wrists, arms and legs were securely bound together with what felt like heavy leather cuffs or straps and there was something filling her mouth and a large soft pad pressing down on her lips secure with a buckle at the back of her head. In addition to all of that there was also something around her fingers and hands that rendered them useless.
Although she assumed that there would be little point Natascha spent about fifteen minutes thrashing about and trying to get free but she stopped struggling in earnest after that was merely went through the motions for another period of time knowing that there was no escape, she was tightly and inescapably restrained. All that she succeeded in doing was getting tired. The people that held her now obviously had expertise in keeping people restrained and she had been warned that any resistance or disobedience would get her the dreaded cloth. The gag wasn't as bad as she had feared. She was effectively silenced, but the only problem was that as her mouth became a little dry, the gag itself became somewhat damp around her mouth. She left it for another couple of minutes before she struggled a bit again, just out of habit, but it was no use at all. She was in no pain and if she relaxed, the bindings and restraining sacks or sleeping bags or whatever she was in felt as light as a feather, but as soon as she tried to move there was maybe, at most, an inch of slack in any direction. She was bound, gagged and helpless and lying on a bed in a room with no idea where that room was. The door was shut and locked and the curtains were drawn. All the lights were on, but there was no radio, no TV and nothing to do but occasionally try to think of some way to escape. But Natascha was really too angry and is she was honest embarrassed to think straight at this moment in time. Being captured and held prisoner was directly linked with being tied up in her mind. All her life she had seen movies and TV shows where people, most often the women, were snatched, tied up and held for ransom or some other nefarious purpose. What purpose could her captors have for abducting and holding her? Had she been caught snooping where she shouldn’t have been? Is so why didn’t they just leave her there? Why bring her to whatever this place was? The phrase “damsel in distress” entered her mind. Damsels were tied up, but then they were rescued. As a strong, independent woman with her level of training the thought of having to be rescued infuriated Natascha. Perhaps the rescue was the punch line of this very bad joke. Who would be the rescuer? Wait, did anybody know that she had been snatched? That wasn’t a pleasant thought.
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Elizabeth Crawford watched the small helicopter circle round and then deftly land on the pad. The rotor blades started to slow down as the pilot slipped off her headset and hung it up in the cabin. “Good afternoon Harper I hope that you had a pleasant journey.” The woman nodded and offered Elizabeth Crawford a small hard shelled case that she opened closely to catch a glimpse a look at what was inside. Smiling, Elizabeth Crawford closed the case and held it tightly as it was precious to her, the chance of a new future lay within, and if she to bribe, blackmail and threaten her way there, well so be it.
First: The remaining members of the good trying to regroup and making some progess. If they will be successful, we do not know - for now. Good to see Rihannon is back.
Second: Natascha coming to terms with her situation. I liked the dialogues between Kirsty and her. The most interessting part: The end of this chapter. Crawford getting the Information she longed for, from Harper. But Crawford is in for a surprise: She has nobody to break the Code
Things will get dramatic soon, I guess - while in the Island Crawfords guests have the dubious pleasure of enjoying all the downfilled comforts, provided by Crawford
Natascha came to and found Kirsty looming over her. “Welcome back. I am sure that in time you will confirm that my earlier assertion that you will be comfortable but first an explanation. The induction period is normally seven days and will be that minimum for you. For the duration of that you will be kept restrained as you are now. Don’t worry about needing the toilet as if you haven’t noticed the bulk around your groin that is a disposable diaper. I know that at first it can be embarrassing but it is purely for practical reason. It is safer and more hygienic for everyone. They have been engineered for both comfort and effectiveness so don’t worry about using them.” Natascha just stared at the woman in disbelief at what was being said and also the situation that she found herself in. “Alright…well enjoy the night and the girls will be back in the morning with breakfast. A last word of advice before I go, obey the guards at all times and things will be fine. Otherwise we will just have to resort to using the chloroform until you learn your lesson” Kirsty then disappeared from view. Natascha just lay perfectly still until she heard the door close then decided to investigate how she was actually restrained. Working from the outside in she was obvious now restrained in one or more likely both of those large sleeping bag looking contraptions, her wrists, arms and legs were securely bound together with what felt like heavy leather cuffs or straps and there was something filling her mouth and a large soft pad pressing down on her lips secure with a buckle at the back of her head. In addition to all of that there was also something around her fingers and hands that rendered them useless.
Although she assumed that there would be little point Natascha spent about fifteen minutes thrashing about and trying to get free but she stopped struggling in earnest after that was merely went through the motions for another period of time knowing that there was no escape, she was tightly and inescapably restrained. All that she succeeded in doing was getting tired. The people that held her now obviously had expertise in keeping people restrained and she had been warned that any resistance or disobedience would get her the dreaded cloth. The gag wasn't as bad as she had feared. She was effectively silenced, but the only problem was that as her mouth became a little dry, the gag itself became somewhat damp around her mouth. She left it for another couple of minutes before she struggled a bit again, just out of habit, but it was no use at all. She was in no pain and if she relaxed, the bindings and restraining sacks or sleeping bags or whatever she was in felt as light as a feather, but as soon as she tried to move there was maybe, at most, an inch of slack in any direction. She was bound, gagged and helpless and lying on a bed in a room with no idea where that room was. The door was shut and locked and the curtains were drawn. All the lights were on, but there was no radio, no TV and nothing to do but occasionally try to think of some way to escape. But Natascha was really too angry and is she was honest embarrassed to think straight at this moment in time. Being captured and held prisoner was directly linked with being tied up in her mind. All her life she had seen movies and TV shows where people, most often the women, were snatched, tied up and held for ransom or some other nefarious purpose. What purpose could her captors have for abducting and holding her? Had she been caught snooping where she shouldn’t have been? Is so why didn’t they just leave her there? Why bring her to whatever this place was? The phrase “damsel in distress” entered her mind. Damsels were tied up, but then they were rescued. As a strong, independent woman with her level of training the thought of having to be rescued infuriated Natascha. Perhaps the rescue was the punch line of this very bad joke. Who would be the rescuer? Wait, did anybody know that she had been snatched? That wasn’t a pleasant thought.
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This Paragraph is one of my favourites. The way [mention]mrjones2009[/mention] describes Nataschas feelings and thoughts. Trying to adjust to the Situation she is in. The feeling of helplessness, that she is powerless to do anything different as to accept that she is dependent on help from the outside? That is superbly written!
There was no sound or sensation of movement which told Christine that the plane had reached its destination. After coming round Christine realised that she was no longer strapped down using the heavy leather straps; that was the good news. The bad news was that she was securely tied using rope. As a professional Christine could tell from the feel of the fabric binding her wrists together was rope and strong, good quality rope at that. In addition to her wrists being bound there was another length of rope was wrapped around her body, pinning her arms in place and then there was also the same matter of her legs being bound at the ankles and around the thighs. Christine had a feel around for the knots in the rope around her wrists but it was placed tactically out of reach. A thick pillow gag filled her mouth, making communication all but impossible. The quilted duvet was still in place which meant although she could still roll around in the pod but not out of it. “I see that sleeping beauty number two is now awake,” the face of Milena Novak loomed over her. “Now we can finally get moving.” Novak undid the buttons keeping the duvet in place over Christine and after untying her legs helped her onto her feet. Christine had a quick look around and saw Antonija, her partner, standing bound and gagged next to Schmidt. In addition to being bound and gagged Antonija was also blindfolded. As if reading her mind Novak commented, “your partner got a bit frisky so we thought that the blindfold would help calm her down. I assume you will not need any such calming.” Christine looked at Novak and shook her head. “I am glad that we understand each other. Now move.” Novak emphasised the point by waving the tranquilizer dart gun in her general direction. It was then that she noticed that Gayle Hutton wasn’t on the plane.
As they made their way down the steps from the plane Christine noted a white panel van a short walk away. The sliding side door on the side was lying open and standing beside it was Novak’s assistant. Christine was sure that the woman was called Holliday. The small group made their way across to the van and Christine looked inside and saw Gayle lying in the back, on a mattress, bound and gagged. Pretty soon Christine and Antonija joined the restrained academic in the back on the van with their legs securely tied in several places with strong rope. As it turned out the ride in the back of the van was a short one, for which Christine was grateful. In addition to being tied thoroughly tightly, which meant that they couldn’t use their limbs to brace themselves, they were also not secured in place which meant that every time they went round a corner the three bound captives rolled around the mattress that was on the floor of the rear section of the van, hitting both each other and the bare sides of the van. Every time one of them grumbled a muffled complaint Milena Novak would turn round and tell them to stop complaining, which in Christine’s thinking was not very understanding of her. During the journey Christine played the recent turn of events around in her head. She wasn’t that concerned about her current predicament. Elizabeth Crawford and Novak would talk soon enough and the boss would get them out of this. Either they would come to some sort of arrangement or Crawford would force Novak to let them go.
Once the van stopped and the side door opened Holliday jumped into the rear of the van and untied the ropes around all three captive’s legs. One by one Holliday helped them out of the van and back into the now twilight of the late evening. Milena Novak stood motionless a couple of yards away, the dart gun hanging menacingly from her right hand next to her thigh. “Ladies, we will now make our way inside and down to the basement. Please follow Holliday and try not to wander off and get lost.” Novak said this with a smile. Christine took a look around as they walked toward a large wooden door. The house was impressive; it was almost a castle or at least a house on a country estate. I suppose that is what you could buy with a thriving international business with a sideline in illegal activities Christine thought. Having entered the house through the large wooden door they moved through the building in single file column with Holliday leading the way, next came Gayle followed by Christine and Antonija being lead by Schmidt with Novak bringing up the rear with the dart gun. Every so often Novak would make a motion with the gun to remind everyone that it was there. Christine was guessing that the dart gun would scare the operatives into behaving, she was correct in that assumption. The column made its way along a corridor toward another wooden door with an arch at the top.
They entered the room and Christine noted that there was no natural light. The only light in the room came from a single light over a metal framed bed at the far end of the room. On that bed was a mattress and lying on that mattress was a young woman with long, light brown hair. The woman’s head lay on a single pillow and was turned to face them as they stood in the dark. It was then that Christine noticed that the woman wasn’t lying on the mattress; she was in fact strapped down onto it with a lot of heavy straps. Then a whole bank of lights came on and whole room was illuminated. Christine looked around and noted that the only items of furniture in the room were eight beds in two rows of four against each of the longer walls of the rectangular room. Only one of the beds was occupied, however Christine guessed that was soon to become four. “Pick your bed for the night and we can get you tucked in,” Novak said. Christine looked around the room and without having to be asked made her was to the bed directly opposite from the one occupied by the young woman. “It is nice to see that at least one of you understands the situation.” Once she reached the bed Christine eased down onto the bed, which wasn’t that easy as her arms were tied behind her back and pinned to her body with rope. She then had a roll around to try and get comfortable. As she was doing this she noted that Gayle had taken the bed next to her.
“Just lay still a moment ladies,” Holliday said before producing two short lengths of rope and used them to bind first Gayle’s ankles and then Christine’s. They had obviously identified Antonija as the main threat and were going to deal with her first. Although bound, gagged and blindfolded Antonija seemed to realise what was going on and resisted as Schmidt guided her toward another of the beds.
“Elsa, would you get the chloroform?” Novak said. “I am not putting up with any nonsense. It is nap time for anyone that doesn’t comply.” To her credit Antonija did not relent any at the threat of being sedated. After flexing a bit to try and get a bit more comfortable Christine managed to roll over and found that Gayle was staring at her with a look of disgust, which being honest Christine could understand. After all she had helped abduct Gayle from a hotel suite earlier in the day. Anyway at the moment that wasn’t Christine’s main concern. That was how her colleague was currently getting on. The answer was not very well. Managing to ignore Gayle’s glare Christine lifted her head and looked over Gayle’s shoulder and found that between them Novak and Holliday had managed to wrestle Antonija down onto the bed and were currently pinning her down as Schmidt loomed over her colleague wielding what Christine was a chloroform soaked cloth. They with a swift movement Schmidt clamped the cloth over the lower half of Antonija’s face. Instantly Antonija tried to turn her head to shake free of the cloth, it wasn’t to be successful. The struggle was fruitless and Christine watched on as the writhing from Antonija diminished until barely noticeable and then her body became still. Once her colleague had been successfully knocked out their captors quickly and efficiently removed the bindings securing her before strapping her to the bed using several heavily padded leather straps. After then was completed Schmidt loosely took some cotton wool and soaked it with chloroform before wrapping it in a large cloth which she then tied loosely over Antonija’s nose and mouth ensuring that the sleeping woman would continue to inhale the sweet fumes for a while yet. Now knowing full details of the fate that awaited her Christine rested her head back onto the pillow and waited before noting that Gayle was still glaring at her. That was the problem with amateurs, they took getting abducted personally.
“So who wants to go first with the sleepy cloth?” Schmidt said. At the sound of the voice both Gayle and Christine turned their heads to find there three captors standing at the foot of their beds.
Once all of their captives have been secured and sedated for the night the three women congregated in the corridor outside the door. “Well there is no putting it off any longer Holliday. It is time to call Elizabeth Crawford and tell her the good news that she has a new partner, rather than a paid contractor.” Novak said.
“What about the plan with the mathematician?” Holliday asked.
“We still need her to perform so in terms of that part of the plan we proceed.”
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“Kirsty!” Elizabeth Crawford bellowed from behind her desk, crashing the telephone handset back into the receiver. “That bitch Novak is trying to force my hand and I won’t have it.” Kirsty looked on slightly concerned about what might happen next. Although she had seen her boss upset before, never to this extent, this was more like outrage.
“What would you like to do boss?”
“The Cambridge operation is on.”
“I will see to it.”
“Until then we will continue to proceed as planned and play along.” Elizabeth Crawford was taking deep breathes to calm her down. “Tell the girls to get Hayley ready.” Kirsty nodded before turning and hurrying to the exit.
Chapter 59
Marseilles, France
“I don’t know how may times that I can you this ladies. I have no idea where Crawford’s base of operations is.” Rousseau jutted her jaw out to emphasise the point. After snatching Sophia Rousseau from her apartment they had brought her back to the safe house and tied her securely to a chair and waited for her to regain consciousness. Once Sophia had cone round Christina and Natalie had taken it in turns to ask her pointed questions about not only about the current situation they found themselves in but also regarding Elizabeth Crawford’s organisation. It hadn’t gone well. “Look, as I have already told you I have no idea about what has happened to your friend Hayley or Doctor Hutton or Danielle Snow or what, if anything that Elizabeth Crawford is up to. Believe it or not she does not run all of her operations past me.”
“Put her gag back on then” Christina said to Natalie. “I will ask Jessica to arrange transport for her back to the States,”
“Wait. Let’s not get to hasty Christina.” Sophia said; an unmistakeable hint of fear in her voice.
“Well if you aren’t going to be of any use will send you back to the States. If I remember correctly there are some law enforcement organisations that are keen to speak with you.”
“Look I am telling you nobody knows where Crawford’s base of operations is.” The hint of fear was now starting to turn to desperation.
“What do you mean nobody?” Natalie chimed in.
“Well apart from the people that work closely with her. The rumour is that it is an island and if you want to get there you have to be sedated for at lease part of the trip so that lose track of where you are. The woman is paranoid about security.” Sophia now looked from Natalie to Christina.
“Well that goes back to my original point. If you aren’t going to be of any use to then we will ship you back to the States.” Christina stated, folding her arms.
“I will put that gag back in now,” Natalie said reaching to grab the cloth and scarf sitting on a nearby table. Sophia looked at what Natalie was doing and was desperate to avoid being gagged. Once that gag was applied there would be nothing that she could do to convince them not to send her back to the States.
“Wait. I said that I didn’t know where Crawford’s base was. However I may know where Novak is at this particular time if she has disappeared from view.” Christina raised a hand to indicate that Natasha should pause with the application of the gag.
“Crawford owns a string of properties throughout Europe under legitimate business enterprises that she and her friends can operate from. She would need somewhere to hide your friends.”
“And I suppose you know just the place?” Christina asked. Rousseau just smiled and nodded. “Now you can put the gag back on.”
“Wait, wait, wait……” Sophia said hurriedly.
“Something else you would like to add Sophia?” The woman sighed and then took a deep intake of air.
“There is someone who may know where the base of operations is.”
“You have our attention Sophia,” Christina stated, “please continue.”
“You will know first hand Christina how careful Elizabeth is with compartmentalising information both inside and outside her organisation. If you don’t need to know something then you don’t.” Christina nodded, agreeing with the statement. “Even you didn’t know about all of her operations.” Once again Christina nodded. “Elizabeth also seems to generate a lot of loyalty and if not that then fear in former employees and associates.”
“Get to the point,” Natalie said impatiently.
“So you are looking for someone that has no loyalty for or fear of Elizabeth Crawford and also someone that she can’t manipulate in some way. That my friend is a short list.”
“But you would know such a person?”
“There is a rumour about a woman called Fallon Bennett……..”
“A rumour…..” Christina interrupted.
“This sounds thin Sophia,” Natalie added, “desperate attempt at salvation with stories of phantoms.”
“No it is not. She used to work for Elizabeth but they had a falling out and she fell off the radar…managed to get away without Elizabeth tracking her down…..MMPPHH….” Natalie cut off the story by stuffing a wadded up cloth into Sophia’s mouth and then used a folded scarf to keep it in place. That job completed Natalie and Christina left the room. closing the door behind them.
“What do you think?” Natalie asked.
“Normally I would put it down to a desperate woman trying to make a deal……..but there was something in her eyes that made me sort of believe what she was saying. Call me a soft touch if you like.”
“I don’t think that anybody would think of you as a soft touch Christina.”
“I hope not, however I think that it is worth looking into. For nothing else it may be the only lead that we have. First thing first though, to call Jessica and get Sophia Rousseau on a flight back to the States.”
The door to the room opened and two guards entered, one of them was pushing a wheelchair. From previous experience Hayley knew where this was going and knew that she wasn’t going to like it. The two guards quickly extracted Hayley from the restraining bags and deposited her into the wheelchair. Hayley tugged at her bonds and squirmed in the chair. It was a wheelchair, more or less like any standard wheelchair, like one would find in any medical facility, small wheels at front and large at rear, a padded sling style back and seat, armrests and footrests. The bonds in question were straps of nylon webbing, all about two inches wide. They pinned her to the chair at her wrists, ankles, upper arms, thighs, around the waist and across her upper arms and chest, above the breasts. All were tight enough to make sure that she couldn’t slip out of them and she couldn’t tell how they were secured to the chair. She had also been gagged and blindfolded. She did struggle a bit more, just out of habit, but it was no use at all. She was in no pain and if she relaxed, the strapes felt as light as a feather, but as soon as she tried to move there was maybe, at most, a minimum of slack. After being escorted from the room by the two guards Hayley was wheeled down the corridor. Despite now being somewhat used to being blindfolded Hayley still found it unnerving, in fact the whole situation with the wheelchair made her very uneasy. The small group paused outside the lift doors and entered when they opened. Hayley’s unease grew when the lift dropped to what felt like beyond the ground floor into some kind of basement rather than head up to Elizabeth Crawford’s boudoir. They were obviously going somewhere within the building that she hadn’t been before.
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Wearing the down suit and finger control mitts meant that Hayley was well insulated but she was still aware of the drop in temperature against her bare cheeks, this seemed to confirm Hayley’s initial impression that the lift had dropped into a basement. Hayley was pushed along a short corridor, his sense of unease growing until they stopped and Hayley heard the rap of knuckles on a wooden door. There was the creak of old hinges as a door opened and the group entered the room and stopped before Hayley’s blindfold was removed. The lightning in the room was sparse, some would say moody and certainly not up to the same standard as that in the other areas of the house. Even then it still took time for Hayley’s eyes to adjust, which maybe wasn’t exactly a good thing. Taking a look around the room her sense of dread about what was happening deepened. The walls were bare brickwork and the only items of furniture in the room were a double bed, a wardrobe and a couple of chairs. There were other items in the room that Hayley recognised from certain videos from a previous case but chose not to think about what they might be for. There was also a tripod sitting in the room with a camera on top. Standing in the centre of the room was Elizabeth Crawford. Something within Hayley snapped and she started to thrash against the bindings but trapped in a web of tight nylon, Hayley squirmed in vain, only succeeding in pushing against the soft, deeply padded cushions of the wheelchair. “There is no point in struggling Hayley. This is happening,” Elizabeth Crawford said in a neutral, professional tone. Hayley noted that she was wearing a strange, patterned and brightly coloured poncho and that her hair was tied back in a ponytail rather than cascading around her face an over her shoulders.
“MMMPPPHH,” Hayley mumbled from beneath her gag. Elizabeth walked casually over and caressed Hayley’s chin, locking eyes with her captive.
“Hayley I apologise in advance about this. As you know my preference is for my guests to experience only comfort and pleasure but this time I have to be a bit more forceful. All of this, including the decoration is for effect. Don’t worry we won’t be using all of the items in the room. We need to persuade someone that you know to do something and unfortunately there are time constraints and this is the best way to do it.”
“MMMPPPHHH” Hayley mumbled from behind her gag, starting to panic. Her concern about what was going too happened to her in this dingy room was increasing.
“Hopefully you will understand the need for this at some point.”
“MMMPPPHHH” Hayley couldn’t make legible noises but pleased with her eyes. Suddenly a damp cloth was pressed over the lower part of Hayley’s face.
“I will explain properly when all this is over but for now just relax. I am sorry about the chloroform, Hayley, but you need to be prepared for your starring role in our production and that will be much easier to do without any resistance from you.” Elizabeth Crawford said, still leaning over Hayley bound to the wheelchair. The exertions of her struggles and her bounds meant that Hayley was in no position to resists being chloroformed and it was a short fight until Hayley lost consciousness and slipped into the darkness. Elizabeth watched Hayley fight and then succumbed to chloroform with her eyes fluttering at the end before closing.
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Although her head was still fuzzy with the effects of the chloroform Hayley could tell when she came round that she was no longer strapped to the wheelchair and that she had also been stripped of her down suit. “Ladies please strap Hayley to the bed,” Elizabeth Crawford said. That sentence quickly helped Hayley to regain her faculties and the two guards had to put in a bit more effort than they expected as they wrestled a struggling Hayley toward the large bed in the centre of the room. “Give her another dose of chloroform when you have her secure, not enough to knock her out but enough to relax her and make her a little more amenable. Once you have finished take your positions and remember to put on your masks.” With the chloroform still in her system Hayley couldn’t resist effectively and she soon found herself bound spread-eagled on the bed, leather cuffs round wrists and ankles secured to the corners of the bed frame with lengths of black rope. After being secured to the bed Hayley kicked, thrashed, bucked and struggled desperately, testing her bonds and was quickly satisfied that she was indeed helpless. Elizabeth Crawford appeared at the corner of her vision, recognisable to her despite now wearing a mask and Hayley sent a steady stream of complaints, objections and curses in the woman’s direction but due to the gag they were inaudible.
“Ready to go boss,” Kirsty said from behind the camera.
“Hayley, believe me when I say this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you,” Elizabeth Crawford said before taking a couple of steps back. “Action!”
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Gayle had no option but to stare at the screen which suddenly burst into life in a blast of static then the picture came into focus. The image looked like a live television feed from somewhere that was of Hayley King and two women wearing masks so that Gayle couldn’t recognise them. They had come for her in the room about half an hour earlier. They had unfastened her from the restraints holding her to the bed and led her out of the large room that she had spent the night along with the other three bound and gagged women. Gayle had spent the night wondering what had been going on. Having been abducted at the hotel by three women, two of these women now joined her in being held captive. Also she had absolutely no idea who the fourth woman in the room was. In the end she decided to worry about that later. The first order of business would be to find a way to escape. She was led by the creepy looking woman called Schmidt out of the room and along the dark corridor toward another wooden door. Schmidt paused before rapping her knuckles against the bare wood. There was a moment of silence before Novak voice rang clear from inside. “Enter,” Schmidt pushed opened the door and ushered Gayle inside. Gayle took a couple of tentative steps into the room and stopped, unnerved and uncertain and what was in the room and went to back out of the room. However Schmidt had anticipated this and shoved Gayle forcefully in the back, making her stumble deeper into the room before closing the door and shutting out the only means of escape.
“You can stop it anytime you want to Gayle. All you have to do is solve the equation for us.” Novak said, a cruel smile forming at the corner of her lips. Gayle had been now been forced to look at the images on the large screen for what seemed like hours. The images were of women doing things to her friend Hayley King that nobody should be subjected to. It had been a reaction to turn away but Gayle couldn’t, they had strapped her to a hard plastic board that stood upright to keep her in place. There had put her head in a brace that meant that she couldn’t move her head. When she had closed her eyes they had threatened to use some medieval looking medical device to keep them open. So left with no option Gayle had to watch the images on the screen. “All you have to make them stop is to solve the equation. Stop that happening to Hayley…..” Gayle whole body slumped and she nodded her head almost imperceptibly. It was the best that she could do as the massive pillow gag was still wedged in her mouth. “Good, I am glad that we have come to this arrangement.” Novak nodded at Schmidt and then picked up a mobile and sent a text. A couple of seconds later the images on the screen went blank. “You have twelve hours or we start to get unfriendly again.”
In the end it didn’t take Gayle that long to solve the equation. She has been led to a proper bedroom in what she guessed was the top floor of the house. It had a bed, toilet, and a desk with laptop on it. As Schmidt untied explained what was going on. “The computer has a single file on it. You will open the file and solve the equation in it. The computer has no access to the internet so you cannot contact anybody by that means. The windows do not open and the roof is completed soundproofed so no trying to shout for help. If you go a good job you may even be able to spend the rest of your captivity here rather than in the basement.” Gayle looked on as the woman smiled, but it was a cold smile so she just nodded and went over to the desk and flipped open the computer, which booted up automatically.
It took seven hours using manual methods to solve the equations which provided a ten digit number. To Gayle’s eye it look like a random series of digits so had no idea what it represented but Gayle knew that she had solved the equation correctly so wasn’t that bothered. All she could do now was to wait until the next time Schmidt came to check on her progress and give her the good news. Gayle only hoped that her captors kept their word
These last Chapters were full of Drama! Maybe Natalie and Christina got a clue to find their friends, hopefully
Really dramatic - and creepy: The Sequence where Crawford used Hayley to play her Part in this charade. Somehow it seemed, that Crawford was really sorry this time .... Not that Hayley will care about that. Maybe Crawford has a heart after all!
Dr. Schmidt is really really creepy ....
Good work, [mention]mrjones2009[/mention] - again!
[....] Standing in the centre of the room was Elizabeth Crawford. Something within Hayley snapped and she started to thrash against the bindings but trapped in a web of tight nylon, Hayley squirmed in vain, only succeeding in pushing against the soft, deeply padded cushions of the wheelchair. “There is no point in struggling Hayley. This is happening,” Elizabeth Crawford said in a neutral, professional tone. Hayley noted that she was wearing a strange, patterned and brightly coloured poncho and that her hair was tied back in a ponytail rather than cascading around her face an over her shoulders.
“MMMPPPHH,” Hayley mumbled from beneath her gag. Elizabeth walked casually over and caressed Hayley’s chin, locking eyes with her captive.
“Hayley I apologise in advance about this. As you know my preference is for my guests to experience only comfort and pleasure but this time I have to be a bit more forceful. All of this, including the decoration is for effect. Don’t worry we won’t be using all of the items in the room. We need to persuade someone that you know to do something and unfortunately there are time constraints and this is the best way to do it.”
“MMMPPPHHH” Hayley mumbled from behind her gag, starting to panic. Her concern about what was going too happened to her in this dingy room was increasing.
“Hopefully you will understand the need for this at some point.”
“MMMPPPHHH” Hayley couldn’t make legible noises but pleased with her eyes. Suddenly a damp cloth was pressed over the lower part of Hayley’s face.
“I will explain properly when all this is over but for now just relax. I am sorry about the chloroform, Hayley, but you need to be prepared for your starring role in our production and that will be much easier to do without any resistance from you.” Elizabeth Crawford said, still leaning over Hayley bound to the wheelchair. [....]
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Although her head was still fuzzy with the effects of the chloroform Hayley could tell when she came round that she was no longer strapped to the wheelchair and that she had also been stripped of her down suit. “Ladies please strap Hayley to the bed,” Elizabeth Crawford said. That sentence quickly helped Hayley to regain her faculties and the two guards had to put in a bit more effort than they expected as they wrestled a struggling Hayley toward the large bed in the centre of the room. “Give her another dose of chloroform when you have her secure, not enough to knock her out but enough to relax her and make her a little more amenable. Once you have finished take your positions and remember to put on your masks.” With the chloroform still in her system Hayley couldn’t resist effectively and she soon found herself bound spread-eagled on the bed, leather cuffs round wrists and ankles secured to the corners of the bed frame with lengths of black rope. After being secured to the bed Hayley kicked, thrashed, bucked and struggled desperately, testing her bonds and was quickly satisfied that she was indeed helpless. Elizabeth Crawford appeared at the corner of her vision, recognisable to her despite now wearing a mask and Hayley sent a steady stream of complaints, objections and curses in the woman’s direction but due to the gag they were inaudible.
“Ready to go boss,” Kirsty said from behind the camera.
“Hayley, believe me when I say this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you,” Elizabeth Crawford said before taking a couple of steps back. “Action!”
One could really think, that Crawford is really sorry about what she "must" do to Hayley. The neutral professional tone suggests, she is trying to establish some emotional distance, to convince herself, that she has no other choice. And from her point of view she has no choice. She has to tell that herself - she even believes that she must do what she must do. That torturing Hayley is bad but must be done to reach her Higher Goal. Conveniant for Crawford.
Crawford apologizing? That is a first, I almost believe her. She even makes an effort to explain Hayley, why she had to this. Do I sense a little insecurity here? I think so. This behaviour is unusual for her. Always in control, always with a plan. Cool and collected, that is the Elizabeth Crawford we know. Her apologizing for anything, especially to one of her guests? This is indeed highly usual.
Crawfords remark, that all this would hurt her more than it would hurt Hayley could mean two things: It hurts Crawford more,, because she has to share her prized possession with Novak or it hurts her more, because she has feelings for Hayley on some Level?
In the end this could mean, that Crawfords spot for Hayley could put her whole game in jeopardy.
The story gets better and better! And this Part of Chapter 60 is just superb. We catch a glimpse of a different Elizabeth Crawford here. Well done, [mention]mrjones2009[/mention]!
[....]
“MMMPPPHH,” Hayley mumbled from beneath her gag. Elizabeth walked casually over and caressed Hayley’s chin, locking eyes with her captive.
“Hayley I apologise in advance about this. As you know my preference is for my guests to experience only comfort and pleasure but this time I have to be a bit more forceful.
“Hopefully you will understand the need for this at some point.”
“MMMPPPHHH” Hayley couldn’t make legible noises but pleased with her eyes. Suddenly a damp cloth was pressed over the lower part of Hayley’s face.
“I will explain properly when all this is over but for now just relax. I am sorry about the chloroform ... [....]
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“Hayley, believe me when I say this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you,” [...]
I wonder what Crawford is thinking? That time will heal all wounds? That Hayley simply forgets? She really can not believe that? If she does .... well, that will make things fairly interessting:)
It seems, that it is really really important for Crawford to make it clear to Hayley that she does not enjoys doing that. I wonder about Crawfords real feelings for her captive ....
The shower had been long, warm and enjoyable as Hayley finished drying herself with the soft white towel. The change in attitude of their captors over the past couple of days since the end of the seven day induction period and that bizarre incident a couple of nights ago had been noticeable. It was as if a switch had been flicked or the pressure had been released, everybody was clearly a bit more relaxed. This had been the second day that they have been allowed to remain unbound throughout the day and given a relative amount of freedom, well within the confines of their room, but that was about to change as they were even to be allowed out of the house today on a trip to the beach. Hayley knew that it was a test of sorts, to see how they would behave and how they would follow instructions. Would they rebel or comply? Hayley didn’t care as she was just glad to get some fresh air and a bit of sunshine.
Hayley came out of the bathroom adjusting the bikini top. Hayley checked herself out in the mirror and nodded; satisfied that she looked good, which she did. Then she turned round to look at Gabriela who was sporting a similar outfit and suddenly she didn’t feel quite so good. Hayley knew that she had a good body, voluptuous was a description that was often used but Gabriela looked spectacular, lean and toned like a professional athlete combined with a supermodel. “Gabby. Honey, why are you working for in financial regulation enforcement when you have a body like that?” Gabriela blushed at the compliment. She didn’t think of herself as attractive.
“What is this all about Hayley?” Gabriella asked.
“I wish I knew Gabby. I suspect that it is some kind of test to see how compliant we are going to be.”
“We should on it as a chance to look at some way of escaping.” Gabriela put the suggestion out there.
“These people are smart Gabby; they will have thought about that and prepared for it. Beside have you forgotten about that” Hayley replied pointing at the band around Gabriela’s ankle. The band was part elastic and part plastic. It contained a tracking chip that constantly monitored where they were on the island and relayed that information to the nerve centre of the house. Gabriela seemed to consider that for a while but Hayley could tell that Gabriela wasn’t totally convinced and just hoped that she wouldn’t try anything silly. Hayley had been contemplating the some way of getting off the island as well. Although with the experience that Hayley had of being kidnapped and detained by Elizabeth Crawford and her crew escape was unlikely without help. Hayley had been thinking about how she could get a message off the island rather than escape. “What else have they left for us?” Hayley asked hoping to distract Gabriella, In addition to the swimwear the guards had dumped other items onto Hayley’s bed which included kaftans, towels and flip flops.
As the two captives studied the items on the bed the door opened and Kirsty entered sporting a similar outfit to that which the captives wore. Hayley noted that her body was similar to Gabby’s but there was a bit more muscle under the skin like the woman worked out regularly. Kirsty also carried a small bag which she put on the bed. Gabriella and Hayley watched on intently as Kirsty removed several items from the bag, several silk scarves, a handful of clothes and a bag of cotton wool. Hayley had the feeling the scarves might not only be a fashion accessory and glanced at Gabriela. They both knew what was coming next, they was about to be gagged. “Is there any need for this?” Hayley asked before Kirsty had said a word.
“Yes there is. There is no way to monitor your discussions out on the beach and as you will be separate from the guards so gagging you is essential.” Kirsty could tell that neither woman was happy about the idea. “Look it is no skin off my nose. I am going to have a good time at the beach. You can either be gagged and join us or stay here and be restrained again.” Kirsty left that threat hanging. Both Hayley and Gabriela nodded their agreement to being gagged. Although both their down suits and restraining bags had been refreshed yesterday neither woman had any urge to go back into them so soon. “Who wants to go first?” Kirsty said as she a white cloth from the pile and scrunched it up in her left hand.
“I will go first” Gabriela volunteered.
“Open wide” Kirsty said jauntily. Gabriela opened her mouth and allowed Kirsty to stuff the cloth deep into her mouth, filling it completely. Gabriela glared in indignation as the woman went back to the bed, picked up the bag of cotton wool and a bright blue silk scarf walked back across to where she stood. Kirsty reached into the bag of cotton wool and produced a large wad which was placed over Gabriela’s packed mouth and secured in place with the scarf which was tied securely at the nape of Gabriela’s neck. Then Kirsty picked up another cloth and folded it into a pad, placing it at the centre of a second folded scarf. Kirsty approached Gabriela again and lined the folded cloth up with where Gabriela’s mouth would be and placed it over where the cotton wool was and then tied the silk scarf behind Gabriela’s head, very tightly keeping everything snugly and securely in place. Gabriela winced as the second scarf was tightened, encasing and compacting all of the material over her mouth.
“Is that not a bit of overkill Kirsty?” Hayley asked.
“No I don’t believe so Hayley. Now it’s your turn.” Hayley signed loudly and opened her mouth to allow Kirsty to stuff in a cloth. Once their gags were applied Gabriela and Hayley each slipped on a kaftan and sat on the edge of one of the beds. Kirsty was now staring out of the large window as the door opened and Nicole and Annika entered the room and walked over to where Hayley and Gabriella were sitting,
“Both of you turn around and cross your wrist behind your back,” Vernie ordered. Hayley and Gabriela glanced at each other before complying with the order and felt soft rope being wrapped around their wrists to secure them together.
“I think that will suffice for restraints ladies. Let’s get this show on the road,” said Kirsty.
At the beach
Hayley watch on as the cuff was placed around her ankle and locked in place. Nicole made a show of placing key for the small padlock that held the cuff locked against her ample left breast in her swimsuit. “Feel free to get this any time you want Hayley” said Nicole. Hayley smiled politely under her gag but shook her head. Once Nicole turned and made her way toward her colleagues who were playing volleyball at the other end of the beach Hayley examined the cuff around her ankle. It was connected to a large metal hoop on a wooden post by a long sturdy looking chain. The post was set into the ground, with the chain gave Hayley a radius of about ten metres in which she could move. They had both been supplied with a large beach towel, floppy hat, suntan lotion and other normal items that you would take on an outing to the beach. Hayley looked around at the beautiful golden sands and clear blue water and decided to make the best of it and after splashing on some lotion, rolled out a towel and lay down to take some sun. About ten minutes later Hayley felt Gabriella sit down bedside her turned to find her staring out at the ocean or sea with arms wrapped around knees that were drawn up to her chest. Hayley reached out and placed a hand on Gabriella’s shoulder, hoping to wordlessly communicate that they were in this together and that they would get their freedom.
About an hour later Hayley looked on as Gabriela grabbed the length of chain that attached the cuff on her ankle to the hoop, buried her feet deep into the sand, bent her knees and pulled with all her strength. It didn’t budge. Hayley watched Gabriela exert herself, the lean muscles in her arms and legs taught under her skin. Hayley then turned round and looked at the group of guards who were now enjoying a swim in the ocean, having completed their game of volleyball, a couple of them even waved at her. Hayley turned back to find Gabriela standing with her hands on her hips, slightly flushed from her exertions. I suppose it didn’t help when you were this heavily gagged. Gabriela took a couple of breathes through her nose before reaching round and untying the scarves that made up her gag. “MHJ FTEG DAT,” Hayley said from under her gag. But it was too late, Gabriela had removed her over gag and was pulling the sodden cloth from her mouth before Hayley could react and stop her.
“Alight now that I have this gag off let’s look at a way out of here.” Seeing no other option at this point in time Hayley quickly removed her gag to try and reason with Gabriela.
“Where would we go to anyway?” Hayley spun around three hundred and sixty degrees. “Unless we have a certain escape route from the island or can get the trackers off then it doesn’t make sense to make a move.” Gabriela had to admit that Hayley had made a valid point.
“What do we do then?”
“Play the long game, it’s the only option,” Hayley said. “Unless we can get a message off the island then we have to go along with whatever Elizabeth Crawford has planned…….unfortunately.” As she finished that sentence Hayley turned to see a figure striding toward them along the beach. As the figure got closer Hayley recognised Kirsty walking towards them.
“You should not have taken those gags off,” Kirsty said hands solidly on hips. Hayley glanced behind Kirsty to find two other figures also stalking across the sand toward them.
“What do you mean? There is nobody close enough to hear us even if we called for help!” Gabriela commented, her voice rising as she completed the sentence.
“I explained this earlier. The rules are in place for a reason to protect all involved.”
“Now put them back on please. If you can’t do it yourself you will have to gag each other because I certainly am not doing it for you.” Kirsty finished and stood with her arms folded across her chest. Hayley and Gabriella stood dumbfounded staring at the lump of material on the beach towel. “There are fresh cloths and cotton wool in the bag if that is what is holding you up.” Hayley could tell that Gabriela was about to tell her where to go until Nicole and Annika materialised to stand behind Kirsty and thought better of it.
“Well, when you put it like that,” Hayley said and delved into the bag a produced a cloth which she scrunched up and placed into her mouth. Gabriela followed Hayley’s lead and before to long both of them had gagged themselves effectively in the same manner as Kirsty had done in their room. Hayley and Gabriela both stood in front of Kirsty and stared at her, Hayley hoped her body language expressed what she was felling. Are you happy now?
“That is much better,” Kirsty said before examining the gags for security. Both Hayley and Gabriela moaned and mumbled as Kirsty thoroughly checked their handiwork.
“What’s up with you ladies? Your acting like you have never been gagged before,” Nicole smirked.
“I would enjoy what time you have left outside. This little infraction of the rules has cost you two full days in restraints with three chloroform induced naps through in.” With that statement Kirsty turned and left the two captives to their own devices, closely followed by Nicole and Annika. Gabriela turned to Hayley and raised her hands in a gesture of apology, Hayley just shrugged and rummaged through the bag to again find the bottle of suntan lotion and spread an even amount over her entire body. Gabriela stood still and looked at Hayley as she finished applying the sun cream before lying down beach towel and decided to join her. The time must have passed quickly as it seemed that no sooner had they settled down to enjoy the sun and refreshing breeze than the guards appeared. “Fun time is over ladies.”
Fun time at the beach The Sound of silence - so to speak. This little stunt of Gabriela? Understandable - but pointless.
Clearly Gabriela is still not used to the rules on Captive Island. At least, she and Hayley had some quality time at beach. But the message delivered by Kristy is clear: Even the smallest infraction is punished several. This Zero-Tolerance-Policy is designed to ensure strict obidience of the guests. Under these circumstances Haleys chances to get a message from the Island seem slim - at best
Crawford and her crew are very professional. Which Chapter 61 demonstrated clearly
Let's see, how the story unfolds further .....
How the other guests enjoy their stay? Jane and Sasha? Or Natascha?
The drizzly rain had just gone off but the dull grey clouds remained overhead as the nondescript dark coloured four wheel drive vehicle turned off the main road and into the quiet residential area. Sitting in the front passenger seat Constance took a look around at the team that has been chosen to assist her with this mission. There was Tahani the tall, curvaceous, cappuccino skinned beauty who didn’t really say much, Yelena the tough looking Russian with the stern expression and behind the wheel, leather gloved hands tapping a beat on the steering wheel, was Vernie who was the most experienced operative on the mission. Constance knew that Kirsty had specifically asked Vernie to come along on this trip, as a favour, to make sure that everything went smoothly. Vernie had memorised the route and had driven them here without having to consult a map. They found the parking area that they had agreed on the night before whilst going over the plan for the final time, looking for weaknesses or areas where small adjustments could be made at the last minute. Vernie killed the engine and after a couple of seconds of silence all four doors opened simultaneously and all four women exited the vehicle, Yelena and Tahani carrying holdalls. It was still early in the morning and any lights on in the houses within the estate were behind closed blinds and curtains as they casually strolled along pavement toward the path that ran behind the row of houses that they were looking for, Constance leading the way. Once they had found the correct gate Tahani helped Irina to vault the fence. There was the soft sound of feet landing on grass as Irina landed on the other side followed by the snick of a padlock being cut then the gate opened to allow the other three members of the team to make their way through.
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The four operatives paused at the door and took positions so that they couldn’t have been seen by anybody looking out of the rear windows of the house. Yelena quickly set about picking the lock on the rear door. Highly skilled at this dark art the simple lock didn’t take her long to disengage. Next came the most dangerous part. Yelena gently depressed the handle, opened the door and slipped in closely followed in single file by her colleagues. Vernie who was bringing up the rear closed the door behind them. The door opened into the kitchen and fortunately for the ladies neither of their targets was present in the room. Yelena raised a hand and the group paused, listening. The faint hum of conversation drifted in from the somewhere else on the ground floor. Yelena signalled and the group moved off carefully on tiptoes in the direction of the noise. The noise was coming from the living room and was easily identifiable as the sound of two voices in animated discussion. Constance and Yelena took up positions on one side of the door with Tahani and Vernie on the other side. The plan was simple, shock and awe. Constance raised her hand with all of her digits extended before slowly putting them from five to one and at that point the four women crashed through the door, much to the surprise of the two women standing in the centre of the room. That meant that they didn’t put up much of a struggle as a pair of attackers subdued each of the women, wrists bound behind their backs and a wide band of micro foam tape plastered over their mouths. Each pair of attackers then helped their victim up and onto a seat on the couch and over them. Constance looked as the pair and noted the mix of fear, shock and confusion in each woman’s eyes as they stared at the four women wearing long down jackets and leather gloves that had burst into their home. She decided that it would be better to explain the situation so that they didn’t try anything stupid and get someone hurt. “Chloe, Sarah if you pay attention and I shall explain what is going on.” Constance said. The use is their names seemed to focus the attention of women on her.
“We need your uniforms and your security passes,” Yelena blurted out. Constance glanced at her colleague before turning her attention back to the two bound women sitting on the couch.
“Well my colleague is basically correct but let me assure that no harm will come to you. We are not in the business for hurting people but we need to keep you out of the way whilst we use your uniforms and security passes. In order to keep everyone safe we shall keep you restrained for the duration. Don’t worry some of us will remain here to keep an eye on you. If you do not cause us any problems then it will be a reasonably quiet and uneventful day for you.” Constance thought that summed up the situation well. “But make no mistake ladies we will not tolerate any nonsense and failure to obey our instructions. Now nod if you understand.” Both women nodded slowly. “My colleagues will take you upstairs and secure you properly.” The speech over Yelena and Tahani each grabbed one of the captives and hauled them up onto their feet, out of the room and up the stairs toward the spare bedroom. The team had studied the layout of the house over the past couple of days and could find their way around it blindfolded. Vernie followed a couple of seconds later but stopped at the door, turned and gave Constance a quick smile before picking up the two holdalls and heading up the stairs. Constance walked over to the front window and opened the blinds just enough for her to see through then leaned against the wall in order to keep an eye on all movement on the street.
When Vernie entered the bedroom her colleagues were beginning the process of untying the bindings on Chloe and Sarah’s wrists. When that task was completed both captives rubbed their wrists and removed the tape from over their mouths. “Sorry about the tape,” Vernie began, “not our usual form of gag but quickness was a consideration this time.” The two women just looked at Vernie as if she had just told them that she was from the moon.
“Now remove your uniforms down to your lingerie and shoes. I will not ask again,” Yelena ordered. Chloe and Sarah glanced at each other before starting to obey the order.
“People will realise that it isn’t us,” Chloe said as she slowly undid the buttons on her blouse. Vernie smiled at this comment.
“That is not your problem to worry about,” Vernie replied.
“Why are you doing this?” Sarah asked as she dumped for blouse onto the carpet.
“That is once again not your problem. Just take your clothes off and don’t worry about what happens next. Please be aware that we do this not for pleasure but as professional undertaking a job.” Vernie watched on detachably as the two women completed stripping, leaving a pile of clothes next to each of them on the carpet. Whilst they were doing that Tahani reached into one of the holdalls and produced two large, white packages.
“What are they?” Chloe
“We would call them diapers but I believe that the English use the term nappy?” Tahani replied. Nervous looks crossed the faces of both Chloe and Sarah.
“Holding us against my will constitutes false imprisonment,” said Chloe, though she would have sounded more authoritative without the tremor in her voice. Amused grins spread across the lips of the operatives. In the end they all just ignored this comment.
“I told you we are professional and know what we are doing. Look it will be several hours before we leave plus you will be bound for longer as we have to make our escape. If you feel that you can hold on for that length of time then that is up to you.” Vernie chipped into the conversation. Once again Chloe and Sarah glanced at each other before slowly nodding.
“Now sit on the edge of the bed and don’t move” Yelena’s voice had a hard edge which confirmed that anything she said was to be complied with. Both women did. “Now slip off your panties and lie in the middle of the bed.” Yelena took off her coat and Chloe couldn’t help but notice the well defined and toned upper body that the woman possessed, as if she was professional athlete, definitely a woman not to be on the wrong side of. Tahani handed a diaper to Yelena and they both unfurled it to its full size before approaching the bed where they proceeded to put both Chloe and Sarah in a diaper. “That wasn’t to bad, was it? Now turn over and lie on your stomach.” Once again Chloe and Sarah obliged. Yelena pulled Chloe's arm back behind her back, held both wrists and wrapped folded six foot length of cord around them horizontally, threading the rope through the loop and finally clinching the tie by wrapping the cord in the vertical direction before tying two knots where Chloe would be unable to reach them. Then a longer length of rope was wrapped around Chloe’s torso several times, both above and below her breasts, pinning her arms to her sides. “Do not worry. The rope is soft and won’t bruise or cut your skin, unless you struggle vigorously against your bonds that is.” Yelena said whilst she completed the task to securing this second length of rope. “I would suggest that you don’t. It would do you no good anyway.” Everything happened so quickly that she and Sarah had just been overwhelmed, pulled along by the momentum of events. Chloe couldn’t believe that they had submitted so meekly to being restrained. Partly, it was the manner of their captors, which was ruthless but professional, not aroused or passionate. Whoever they were, these woman was clearly had great experience of their own particular strange field. Chloe believed that even if they had resisted there was nothing either Sarah or her could have done, they would have been subdued whatever. Then further ropes were used to bind Chloe’s legs at the ankles and around the thighs. Chloe risked a quick glance at Sarah and noted that her housemate had been bound in exactly the same manner.
Chloe and Sarah were now lying on their backs with their arms pinned beneath them. They looked on as their captors pulled other items out of their bag, two large white handkerchiefs; a bag of cotton wool pleats, two patterned pink bandanas and two large patterned silk scarves. “What are they are for?” Chloe asked nervously although deep down she knew the answer was obviously. Chloe had watched enough old black and white movies in her time to know what happened next once the damsel was tied.
“They will be used to gag you” Yelena said matter evenly, like is was nothing special or out of the ordinary. “I make sure that you can’t call of help.” Whilst the two captives were being bound Vernie had been gathering the clothes that had been discarded on the carpet.
“Yelena can you handle this on your own,” Vernie asked. Yelena just nodded in response. “Tahani can you come with me,” Vernie and Tahani left the room and headed back down the stairs.
“Look there is really no need for that. You don’t have to gag us” Chloe almost pleaded. “You have us tied up and we promise to be quiet.”
“Yes we promise” echoed Sarah.
“Gagging you will remove the temptation,” Yelena replied. Before she deposited the mound of gagging implements on the bed between the two bound women and then got onto the bed and help Sarah so that she was in a sitting position. Yelena looked through the pile and picked out a large white handkerchief, balled it up and moved it toward Sarah’s mouth. The bound woman instantly recoiled. “Don’t be stupid young lady. I can always get my colleagues back and forcibly gag you or we have a drug that can put you to sleep.” Sarah took this in and gulped before opening her mouth and accepting the inevitable, Yelena forced the balled up handkerchief into Sarah’s mouth. Next Yelena folded up the silk scarf and placed a thick wad of the cotton pleats at the centre before picking it up, placing the cotton pleats over Sarah’s mouth and tying the ends of scarf behind her head, locking the padding and stuffing in place. Finally Yelena picked up a bandana and folded it before using it to reinforce the gag already over Sarah’s mouth. Chloe gulped as she watched the gag being applied to Sarah, knowing that she would be next.
“What are you doing? There is not need to use that much material to gag her.” Yelena finished gagging Sarah and Chloe felt the bed move as her captor moved behind her. “This is really not necessary.”
“I am afraid that it is,” Yelena said. Chloe expelled her breath before opening her mouth.
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“Now lie down on the bed and behave like good little captives and you will get out of this.” Yelena said having completed gagging both women. Chloe and Sarah both rolled back and fell onto the bed but bound restrictively as they were even rolling and shuffling around was difficult. Yelena looked on for a bit with a look of mild amusements on her face. Chloe and Sarah moaned a lot through their gags at the exertion involved. Eventually Yelena took pity on them and helped them get positioned so that they were both lying comfortably on the bed and put a pillow under each of their heads, gently lifting and lowering each of the girl’s head onto the centre of the pillow.
“Don’t get any ideas about trying to escape. We will be back occasionally to check on you.” With that Yelena closed the door and left the Chloe and Sarah to their own devices. When Yelena made her way downstairs she found her colleagues Constance and Vernie in the living room putting the final touches to their disguises. They had each put on one of the uniforms that the real waitress and security guard had taken off and they fitted almost perfectly. Tahani was sitting at a table making the alterations to the official identification cards. It wasn’t a complicated job, just replacing the photographs of Chloe and Sarah with those of Constance and Vernie.
Constance had earlier found the keys for Sarah’s small red car and put them in her bag. Know that they were ready to leave she retrieved them and headed for the door, closely followed by Vernie. “I will check on the ladies.” Yelena said and headed back up the stairs.
“Take them a drink of water or something Yelena,” Vernie said. “Show them your softer side.” The rest of the crew smiled at this before returning to the task at hand. A little humour helped to break the tension during an operation.
“The ceremony is supposed to start in three and a half hours,” Constance said to Tahani, “assuming that things run to time meet us at the agreed place in two.” Tahani nodded, the plan was for Constance and Vernie to penetrate the venue early and get the lay of the land with Yelena and her joining them later. Tahani opened the door to allow Constance and Vernie to exit the house. She watched as they made their way to a small red car parked across the road, got in and headed off. Tahani closed and locked the door then went to make sure Yelena wasn’t scaring the captives too much.
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The door opened and Yelena entered, Chloe and Sarah froze, like guilty six year olds that have been caught with their hands in the biscuit tin by their mother. “Ladies don’t look so nervous.” Yelena made her way across to the bed placed her well toned ass on the edge. “It is only natural that you roll around and try and get out of your bonds. As mentioned we are professional we expect this of those that we bind.” Whilst Yelena said this she ran her hands over the body of the bound women checking that the knots of the ropes were still secure. “As expected all secure. And the gags very effective are they not ladies?” Chloe and Sarah made barely audible noises in response.
“Would you like a drink?” Both women nodded in the affirmative.
“Now just a couple of sips each and no funny business when I take off the gags.” Yelena headed over toward Chloe and removed her gag.
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Suddenly there was a noise that was unmistakably a knock at the door. Chloe and Sarah perked up instantly thinking could this be a potential rescuer? Yelena quickly clamped her hand over Chloe’s mouth. “Are you expecting anyone?” Sarah mewed into her gag and Chloe slowly shook her head. The door opened and Tahani burst in.
“There is some old woman at the door.” There was silence for a couple of seconds then another thump at the door followed by the ringing of a bell.
“I am going to remove my hand but no calling out” Yelena whispered and Chloe nodded her understanding. “Are you expecting anyone?”
“It will probably be Mrs Grey from number thirty six. We help her out sometimes with shopping…….checking her cat when she is away………birthday presents for her granddaughter,” Chloe said. “She probably won’t go away or will come back later.” Yelena and Tahani looked at each other and made a decision.
“Roll over and lie on your back.” Chloe did as instructed and quickly felt the ropes that had been binding her arms and legs release and she was free. Well for the moment. Yelena helped Chloe off the bed and onto her feet, once back standing Yelena hurled a nightgown at Gayle which she caught and slipped on. “Now you go downstairs with Tahani and get rid of the old woman. I will stay here with your friend Sarah to make sure you do not try anything silly.” Chloe quickly made her way down the stairs with Tahani following close behind. At the bottom of the stairs Chloe felt Tahani’s hand on her shoulder and stopped.
“Keep it nice and loud and nothing stupid. You can run away but remember your friend upstairs.” Chloe gulped at the warning and nodded. Tahani took a position lurking round nearest corner where she could clearly here anything that would be said. Taking a deep breathe Chloe opened the door and found Mrs Grey standing in front of her. “Good morning Mrs Grey. How are we doing today?” Chloe hoped that her voice didn’t sound too strained. The old woman looked her up and down before replying.
“I’m fine love. What about you?”
“Fine.”
“What kept you?” Mrs Grey asked trying to peer passed Chloe and into the house.
“Sorry, just a bit tied up with something upstairs,” Chloe said, a nervous smile breaking out across her lips.
“I was expecting Sarah as I thought that you were supposed to be working security at that wedding today.”
“I was supposed to be but last minute change of plan,” Chloe replied. “I switched with another job next weekend.”
“Enough of this chit chat Chloe I don’t want to keep you to long. I will be out most of the day. Could you keep a look out for Arthur?”
“No problem Mrs Grey. If he comes around I will let him in. How is your granddaughter?”
“Getting big, turns seventeen in two weeks,” the old woman replied. “That reminds me….”
“Don’t worry Sarah and I will have a think about what you could get her.”
“Thanks again Chloe,” With that Mrs Grey turned and headed up the path toward the bus stop. Chloe closed the door and spun round to find Tahani standing in the middle of the entrance foyer with arms folded across her chest.
“Good performance Chloe, now back upstairs.”
Once back in the spare bedroom Chloe was forced back onto the bed by Yelena and bound in the same fashion as she had been previously. She lay on the bed on her side and looked down at herself for the thousandth time in the last thirty minutes and saw the same thing. Her legs were tightly tied together with soft white cotton rope, and beyond this were her legs were also tied at the ankles and around the things, cinched together and leading from the rope around her ankles their captors had now placed another rope that attached her ankles to the footboard. Above all this there was a large quantity of rope encircling her body just below her breasts and this was cinched between her elbows and the sides of her body. Chloe had hoped that her good showing with their visitor would stop her from being gagged but that turned out to be a forlorn hope, the extremely extensive and effective gag had been reapplied as well. Chloe thought that there must have been a way to escape but after a bit of struggling she realised that there was no way to reach the knots and get the ropes lose. Before “And remember girls, keep very quiet.” Yelena had commented before leaving. They had obeyed but then with the severity of their gags Sarah and her didn’t have any option.
Chloe had felt Sarah shifting around on the double bed beside her for a while before awkwardly rolling over to see what her friend was doing. When she had managed to complete that process Sarah nodded toward the foot of the bed and Chloe noticed that the rope between Sarah’s ankles and the frame of the bed was now loose. Chloe could tell that Sarah was going to try something and started to shake her head vigorously to dissuade Sarah from taking any further action but it didn’t have an effect as she watched on as Sarah shuffled to the end of the bed, swung her legs onto the floor, struggling upright and started to hop toward the window. Chloe looked on in horror and thought; this isn’t going to end well.
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Tahani and Yelena sat in silence in the living room drinking coffee from a flask and cups that they had brought with them. They still had more than a hour before they had to leave the house and pick up the vehicle for the next phase of the operation. Tahani glanced at her watch. “Better check on the girls.” Yelena nodded before placing her cup carefully on the table.
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The door opened and Chloe knew that they were in trouble. Yelena entered and Chloe watched her eyes take in the fact that there was someone missing from the bed and they scan the small room until they found Sarah standing at the window, trying to get her head through the closed blinds in an attempt to attract attention. “What are you doing?” Yelena said sternly. Sarah turned to look at the tall Russian and a look of worry spread across her face. Chloe could tell by the tone of the voice that Yelena was upset. “Tahani get up here and bring the sedative,” Yelena said down the stairs before advancing toward Sarah. Chloe watched on from bed as Sarah made mewing noises from behind her gag. The Russian woman picked Sarah up easily and deposited her back on the bed just as Tahani appeared in the door way.
“We told you we are professionals and not to try anything,” Tahani said. “What happens now you brought on by your own actions.” Chloe looked on as Tahani step into the room with a dark coloured bottle held out in her hand. When Tahani got to the bed she handed the bottle to Yelena then bent down to untie the bandana over Sarah’s mouth, once that had been removed she also removed the scarf and cotton wool but not the handkerchief wedged into Sarah’s mouth. “We didn’t want to have to do this but you have forced our hand.” Whilst Tahani had been removing the over sections of Sarah’s gag Chloe attention had switched to Yelena who poured liquid from the bottle onto a folded handkerchief. Then Yelena placed the handkerchief over Sarah’s nose and mouth, instantly Sarah tried to recoil but that that did was driver her head deeper into the pillow. Next Sarah tried to shake the free of the handkerchief and the chemical on it but Yelena kept in clamped in place with practiced ease. Whilst Sarah was being chloroformed Tahani had removed Chloe’s gag, including the stuffing.
“Wait what are you doing to her?’ Chloe asked.
“Quiet. You will find out soon enough but don’t worry, it’s just chloroform. It will only put her to sleep for a while.” Chloe watched on in grim fascination knowing that what was happening to Sarah was soon to happen to her. The fumes on the cloth seemed now to be having an effect as Sarah’s struggles became slower and less violent, eventually they stopped altogether and her eye’s fluttered several times before they rolled up into her head and she slipped into unconsciousness. It was now Chloe’s turn. As the handkerchief was moved toward the lower half of her face Chloe could already smell the strong, sweet smelling odour coming from the fumes on the cloth. Then Yelena moved quickly to clamp the handkerchief in place before Chloe could turn her head away.
“MMMMMPPPHH…MMMMMHMMM,” Chloe cried in muffled tones into the handkerchief that covered her mouth and nose. Chloe’s instant reaction was to struggle, to fight, to shake off the chemical soaked handkerchief that had been clamped over the lower half of her face. Eventually Chloe realised that her attacker was too practiced at this and she guessed that even it not bound she would be no match for the athletic Russian. Chloe relaxed and started to take deep, even breaths. “That’s right, just let the chloroform do its job.” It seemed to take a long time but it probably wasn’t actually more than a minute before Chloe’s eyelids started to get heavy and despite not wanting to fall asleep she felt the pull of unconsciousness and her eye’s closed.
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“Lara I still can’t get over that dress. It’s beautiful,” Deborah, one of her bridesmaid’s said for what felt like the twentieth time in the past half an hour. Lara was standing upright, she didn’t want to sit down before the ceremony and risk creasing the dress. Before she responded she took another look in the mirror, her long dark blond hair was up in a French roll and her large blue eyes and sharp features were highlighted perfectly by the professional make up that her friends had organised. The dress was magnificent and with the highly professional dressmakers made sure that it fitted her perfectly.
“Yes I know,” Lara replied. “I just got a telephone call from that new top French fashion house. Somebody had entered me in a competition for a wedding dress and I won. It included all expenses paid trips to Paris for fittings and everything.”
“I wish that I had friends like that,” Kathy, the second bridesmaid commented. Lara glanced from one of her bridesmaids to the other with a quizzical look on her face.
“Wait? It wasn’t you? I had assumed that it was one of you two.” Both Deborah and Kathy shook their heads. This came as a bit of a shock to Lara as she had no direct family having lost both parents in a tragic accident when she was a very young child so had assumed that one of her two best friends had put her name forward for the competition to win the dress. That was why she hadn’t mentioned it earlier. Lara shook her head and then looked at her friends, both of whom wore fetching, form fitting blue dresses that complemented the subtle blue on her mostly white dress. Before the conversation could go any further there was a quiet knock on the door. “Come in,” Lara said. The door opened and the waitress called Chloe popped her head into the room. Lara had to admit that the young woman had been very attentive since introducing herself whilst bringing in some water and light refreshments earlier. Lara had also noted that the waitress happened to be a very beautiful young woman.
“Sorry for interrupting but there is a telephone call for Deborah,” the waitress said.
“That is a bit strange. I wonder who it is.” Deborah replied heading for the door that Chloe was holding open.
“Perhaps it is the stripper from the hen night,” Lara shouted as Deborah exited the room. “He did seem to take a shine to you.” The last that Lara and Kathy seen of their friend was her extended arm making a rude hand gesture, they responded by bursting out in laughter. Once Deborah exited the room she followed Chloe along the corridor.
“You can take the call in the private suite at the end of the corridor, on the right.” Chloe pointed toward the end of the corridor and headed off in the other direction. Deborah nodded her thanks and as quickly as possible in the dress and heels made her way in the direction of the suite. Once Deborah indentified what she believed to be the correct door she opened it and went in. Immediately she noticed the telephone lying on a table on the other side of the room. So focused on the telephone that she didn’t notice the figure slip out from behind the door, close it softly and fall in silently behind her. Then suddenly Deborah was surprised by the sudden application of a moist cloth over her nose and mouth. There was initial shock then very quickly that turned to fear, as a medical student Deborah recognised the scent from the cloth. She squealed in dismay, only to discover her mistake: the output of sound required an input of breath, and the young woman drew a deep dose of chloroform into her lungs, causing an explosion of colour behind her eyes. She frantically tried to lash out and escape the clutches of her attacker but the person was obviously practiced at this as the attacker had put her slightly off balance and all she did was continue to inhale deep breathes of the drugs fumes. Deborah groaned into the cloth as she was overcome with an irresistible light-headedness and her eyelids began to flutter uncontrollably. She fumbled with the hand pressing the chloroform scented pad to her face, but couldn't seem to get her fingers to work properly. Soon enough, her hands fell away and her moans softened as her awareness was dissolved and she fell into the darkness. Vernie kept the cloth in place as she lowered the unconscious woman down safely to the floor.
“Now to tie you up,” Vernie said as she removed several lengths of pre cut rope from the small backpack that she was carrying.
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“What do you think is keeping Deborah?” Kathy asked. Lara took a quick look at the clock before responding, it had only been ten minutes since Deborah had left the room.
“Hopefully the call wasn’t anything serious,” Lara responded softly. “There is plenty of time until the guests start to arrive for the ceremony.”
“That is the problem with staying in the hotel where you are getting married Lara.”
“What’s that?”
“There is no excuse to be late!” Kathy said. Then there was another knock at the door and Chloe’s head appeared again.
“Sorry to interrupt again but Deborah has asked if Kathy could meet her in the room at the end of the corridor,” Chloe said held the door open.
“Is anything wrong?” Lara asked with a look of concern on her face.
“Oh, nothing to worry about Lara,” Chloe responded as Kathy headed out of the door. “They shouldn’t be more than fifteen minutes or so.” Once Chloe had closed the door she pointed Kathy in the direction of the room with the telephone and then stopped. “I think that I better stay and keep the bride company. Stop her from panicking,” Chloe said quietly.
“Probably a good idea, it is always stressful for the bride on wedding day!” Kathy responded. “Last on the right?”
“That’s it,” Chloe responded before opening the door and going back into the room with Lara.
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At that moment Tahani and Yelena sat five minutes away in the front of an ambulance that a local contact had acquired for them. They had both changed into the green overalls favoured by paramedics and ambulance technicians in Britain. “I just hope that someone doesn’t chap the door looking for help.” Tahani commented with a smile. Yelena just continued to look through the windscreen before glancing at her watch.
“Time to move,” Yelena said. Tahani just shrugged and started the engine.
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Kathy knocked on the door tentatively and once again there wasn’t a response from within. That did seem strange as she was sure that Chloe had said that this was the room. So Kathy opened the door and entered the room. The first thing she noticed was the lack of natural light; someone had closed the blinds that hung over the windows around the room. Kathy paused and then located the small table with the telephone on it and then started to look around for Deborah. No sooner had she noticed the outline of a figure lying on the floor than she was roughly seized from behind. Her attacker thrust a damp cloth over her nose and mouth, forcing a sharp, sweet smell into her nostrils. She tried to twist free of her attacker's grasp, but found her efforts thwarted as the arm that encircled her torso only tightened further, drawing her close to the other person’s body. That was when she noticed that her attacker was unmistakeably a woman. Her own arms were pinned; and useless as she attempted to reach up and pry the soaked cloth away from her face, her thoughts were becoming sluggish, and her strength was ebbing, causing her limbs to go rubbery. It must be whatever the pungent fumes are on the cloth that is having this effect, must be some kind of drug. As if reading her mind her attacker whispered into her ear. “Just relax, it is just chloroform and it will put you to sleep.” She realised the end of her resistance was drawing near as he attacker continued to press the chloroform soaked cloth to her face more firmly than before. Kathy gasped into the soft damp cloth, drawing a deep breath of the irresistible inhalant and swooning under the resulting loss of sensation. Her body was growing numb, her eyelids fluttering uncontrollably, and the looming darkness was almost upon her then her eyes closed and everything went black.
After carefully lowering Kathy onto the ground Vernie quickly turned her over onto her stomach and quickly but securely bound the woman’s wrists behind her back. That task complete Vernie selected a longer length of rope and used that to secure the woman’s arms to her body. Three further lengths of rope were applied to Kathy’s legs at the ankles, just below the knees and around the thighs to secure her legs together. Vernie then manoeuvred Kathy across the room into position beside Deborah. She wasn’t concerned that the two women would be able to help each other get free. Firstly Vernie was extremely confident that the knots on the ropes would be secure, secondly Vernie had placed her knots where they would not be easily accessible and lastly they would both soon be gagged with cloths and scarves and blindfolded with thickly padded sleep masks.
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Constance could tell that the young woman was getting anxious by the way that Lara was constantly fidgeting, never at ease, checking one thing or the other. It could have just been nerves about her upcoming wedding, that was about to be delayed indefinitely or it could have been about her bridesmaid disappearing. Constance couldn’t be sure but was glad when the door opened and Vernie entered the room and stood beside her. “What are you doing here?” Lara asked. Neither of the women responded until Vernie felt her mobile vibrate then nodded at Constance. That meant that Tahani and Yelena had arrived at the hotel.
“Now Lara what I need you to do now is be very quiet and take off that dress,” Constance said as she crossed the room to stand close to Lara, a perplexed expression now on her face.
“Sorry but I don’t understand. Where are Kathy and Deborah,” Lara said looking over Constance’s shoulder.
“What did I say about being quiet?” Constance said. “Now about your friends, look at this.” Constance removed her phone from her pocket and should a photograph to Lara. It was of Kathy and Deborah bound, gagged and blindfolded. Lara gasped and her left hand went to her mouth.
“What have…..I don’t……….” Lara stammered.
“We have your friends and if you don’t want anything to happen to them you will do exactly what I say.” Lara was stunned into silence but nodded.
“We need to keep her quiet,” Vernie said. She now stood beside Constance.
“Please open your mouth Lara,” Constance ordered. Although the young woman was in a state of shock and Lara complied to allow Constance to push a clean white linen handkerchief that she had in her pocket into her mouth. Before Lara could regain her senses Constance moved behind Lara whilst removing the black and white scarf that had been hanging around her neck, folded it into a band and used it to gag Lara. As Constance was tying the knot to hold the scarf securely in place Lara moaned softly. “Don’t worry, you will get used to being gagged. It is better for everyone’s safety that you are gagged. Now that I am here I will give you a hand with that dress.” Constance spent the next five minutes helping Lara out of the dress and just as they finished there was a knock at the door. Vernie opened it slightly to check who was there before opening it fully to allow Tahani and Yelena to enter along with the gurney that they were wheeling between them. “Your chariot waits.” Constance whispered into Lara’s ear.
“Let’s get moving,” Yelena said to Vernie as she went about preparing the gurney to receive its passenger. As she did this Yelena took a glance at the semi-naked former bride to be. The young woman was blushing and trying to cover her modesty with her arms and hands. Yelena didn’t know what the young woman was doing; she had no reason to be embarrassed by her body. At this point Lara was both confused and scared having no idea who these people were or what they wanted with her. All that she knew was that they had her friends and she couldn’t take the chance that they might hurt them if she didn’t comply with what they wanted. The incident had taken another turn for the weird when the two women dressed as paramedics had entered the room with a gurney. If she didn’t know better they were going to use it to take her somewhere. In that case she was being abducted! But by whom and for what purpose? She only hoped that she sound out soon.
“I need you to get on the gurney Lara,” Constance said softly. The young woman moaned again. “Remember you are doing this for your friends.” Lara nodded and then complied with the instruction. As she as she had lay back on the gurney Yelena and Tahani pounced on her and secured her to the gurney using several heavily padded leather straps around her wrists, ankles, thighs, stomach and chest. Lara tried to move and test the straps but there was no give at all in the straps. Whilst this task was being completed Constance placed the wedding dress into a large garment bag. Kirsty had been clear with her instructions; the dress also had to be brought back to the island.
“Lara I am going to take that gag off now but no noise.” Vernie said, Lara nodded her head slowly to confirm that she understood the instruction. It was the only part of her body that she could move apart from wiggling her fingers and toes. “Once I have done that I am going to put a mask over your nose and mouth, like they do before you have surgery. There will be a gas that will make you sleepy but just relax and breathe normally. Vernie leaned in and Lara lifted her head to allow access to remove the gag. That job done Vernie produced a black rubber mask and slipped it in place over Lara’s nose and mouth. The first thing that hit Lara was the smell from the mask, apart from the underlying smell of rubber there was definitely a hint of lavender in as well. Unable to remove the mask or escape the iron grip of the straps pinning her to the gurney, Lara tried to minimize her exposure to the gas by taking shallow breaths, but even that endeavour failed as the resultant euphoria diminished her capacity to resist. Each breath pulled more and more of the vexing vapour into her lungs, dulling her senses and draining her strength. Her perceptions grew fuzzy and eventually her eyes slammed shut and darkness consumed her. With there captive now unconscious the team wheeled the gurney out of the room at speed. Vernie took the lead and with the authority of a security guard at the hotel cleared the way of any people that may ask awkward questions, next came Tahani and Yelena wheeling the gurney with Lara on it and then Constance brining up the rear with the garment bag containing the wedding dress slung over her crooked right arm. They made it to the lift, down into the reception foyer and out of the hotel with some bemused glances but fortunately no questions. The advantage of being an ambulance meant that you could park anywhere, including right outside hotels in stops usually reserved for drop offs and pick ups. They quickly put the gurney in the back of the ambulance and secured it in place. That job completed Vernie, Yelena and Constance jumped into the back with the gurney and took seats. Tahani closed the rear doors over and then jumped in the driver’s seat, started the vehicle and pulled off, heading for the private airfield and the bosses jet for the journey home.
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Thirty five thousand feet above sea level the handset on the large chair buzzed and Constance picked it up. “Hello.”
“How did it go in Cambridge?” Elizabeth Crawford asked. Constance glanced at the unconscious Lara who was strapped into the seat across from her with the rubber mask administering the gentle anaesthetic.
“Smooth. Package secured and on our way back.”
“When are you back home?” Constance didn’t know why but the use of the word home struck a cord with her. Given her background she never felt as anywhere as home before but the camaraderie she felt with Kirsty and some of the women that she had meet meant that she was starting to think of the island as home.
“The pilot has us landing in just under two hours,” Constance replied.
“Look forward to seeing you then.” Elizabeth Crawford said, “and Constance, well done.”
So, Crawford countered Nowaks move. Now it is tables turned. Now it is Nowaks turn to get caught on the wrong foot. And a new guest on Crawfords Mystery Island No wedding Dress for Lara but a lot of downfilled goodness and a nice stylish downfilled suit Of course she will get used to being gagged
But, there are questions ....
How will Nowak react? And will Christina and Company make progress, finding their friends? Is there any hope for the good ones to save the day???
They had found a lay-by roughly two hundred yards from the entrance to the estate that was owned by the parent company of the Almost Famous fashion house. It had taken a bit of digging but the technical bodies back at base had managed to come up with a list of properties owned by Crawford’s various companies and having no other leads, apart from the name given to them by Sophia Rousseau, Christina and the gang had decided to check them out. Christina had found it interesting that Elizabeth Crawford actually had legitimate assets, including it seemed a stake in Novak’s fashion house. Charlotte sat in the driver’s seat with Natalie and Rhiannon in the backseat. They were not bothered about being seen by anybody in the estate. The house was well set back behind the walls so there were no windows with a direct line of sight. That and a combination of thick foliage and dusk meant that someone would have to almost walk into the car to come across them. Just then Christina appeared from the trees directly across from the car on the other side of the road and after fixing her hair and checking both ways for traffic hurried across the road and got into the passenger seat. “Did you see anything interesting?” Natalie asked from the back seat.
“Well there are lights on so somebody is home,” Christina replied. “I managed to get a look at the main house by climbing a tree and I couldn’t see any cameras.”
“Sounds like you are planning a closer look,” Rhiannon said. Christina thought about it before responding.
“Something about it feels like we should give it a closer look.”
“What are we awaiting for then?” Natalie opened the door, stepped out of the car and closed it again.
Having made their way carefully through the woodlands in the fading light Christina, Natalie and Rhiannon now found that they had the problem of getting over the wall. “What do you think Christina?” Rhiannon asked. The response came in the form of Christian bending her knees and locking her fingers together, the she was going to give Rhiannon a punt. It the end Natalie went first and helped Rhiannon up and over the wall before reaching down and lending Christina a hand to scramble up. When they landed on the other side they found well manicured lawns broken up with flower beds and tall hedges. Using the hedges as cover they quickly covered the ground toward the house.
“I don’t think there are many people at home.” Natalie said as they hunkered down behind the final hedge that gave cover before the last bit of open ground before the back door of the house. Christian lent round the edge of the head and noted a light go out on the top floor and then another light come on two windows down not long after.
“Well somebody is home. Lights are going off and coming on. It could be Novak.”
“Perhaps it is just the housekeeper that is about. What do we do now?” Rhiannon asked.
“I haven’t made it this far not to take a look,” Natalie stated and went to move off but Christina grabbed her forearm.
“Here, take these before we find an open window.” Christina delved into the pocket of her down jacket and handed both Natalie and Rhiannon one of the single use chloroform pads that Danielle had provided.
“What are these?” Natalie asked looking at the silky feeling pad in her hand.
“There is a vial of chloroform at the middle of the pad, crush it and then let it seep through for a couple of seconds and then you have a one off knock out device. It may come in handy.” Natalie and Rhiannon both looked at Christina. “Now when we get inside we will split up and take one floor each and search through it. Do we remember what Novak and the rest for her team look like?” Both other women nodded. “Also make sure your mobiles are on silent.”
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Novak took one look at the photograph on her mobile and was perplexed. She recognised the dress in the photograph that she had commissioned for her niece to wear at her wedding, which had been due to take place yesterday now that she thought about it. Then the mobile began to softly burr and Novak answered it. “Good evening Milena. Did you get the photograph that I sent?” Novak heart instantly slumped with the implication of that question. Elizabeth Crawford had her niece; there was no doubt in Novak’s mind that is what had happened.
“If you do anything to that girl……” Novak could hardly form the words due to the anger she felt, well it may well have been frustration also. Milena had played with fire and got burnt. Elizabeth Crawford had found her pressure point and squeezed. One question that Milena would have to get an answer to once this played out would be how Elizabeth Crawford found out about her niece.
“Now, Milena you have no need to worry. I also treat my guests well, especially when they are related to my close friends.” Milena hated the way that Crawford talked round threats rather than just made them straight out. “I am sure that we can come to an agreement that would get us both what we want.”
“And what would that be? How do we cement that friendship?” Novak asked, her words dripping with undisguised distain.
“We just go along the way that we have been.” Novak fingers were getting whiter as her grip on her phone tightened. So angered was Novak that she couldn’t even respond and just cancelled the call before launching her phone across the room in anger. Novak opened and closed her fists to release the tension that was building up but so engrossed in her conversation with Crawford and subsequent feelings of frustration that she didn’t hear the door open as Natalie slipped into the room. Before Novak could fully recover her poise, Natalie came from behind and slapped the chloroform laced pad over Novak’s face, forcing her backward into the back of the chair. The instant shock of the attack combined with her initial breath of chloroform, conspired to put Novak off balance, and she started to flail away at Natalie trying to remove the sweet smelling pad from over her nose and mouth. Novak was a bit confused as whatever being held over the lower half of her face was not a cloth or handkerchief, it had a silky feel, despite that she still desperately tried to thrash her head from side to side and dislodge it. All attempts were unsuccessful and Novak started to feel her strength drain as the chloroform started to have an effect. Then seeing one last, desperate way to escape her attacker Novak firmly planted her feet on the ground and pushed with all of the strength that she had left. This move surprised Natalie as the force of that move left both women lying on the floor with the chair between then. But to her credit Natalie recovered quickly and managed to get the pad back in place over Novak’s nose and mouth before the woman could call for help. Then Natalie managed to slip out from beneath the chair and reposition herself so that she was now on top of Novak, securely pinning het target to the floor. Having made that one last gaps move to get some help Novak had now inadvertently increased the level of her disadvantage, as the pressure of the chloroform laced pad increase around her nose and mouth she knew that there was no chance of escaping the forced slumber that was coming her way. The only question in her mind now was what would she find when she regained consciousness. Then the darkness closed in and all fight drained away as Novak fell into a deep slumber.
“That was a pleasant surprise,” Natalie said softly. She had been walking past the door and heard the voice coming from the other side. It had taken a couple of careful looks before she was able confirm that it was Novak from the reflection in the dead computer screen. After that she had decided to make her move. Now she had Novak unconscious Natalie looked around for something to tie up with but before that Natalie pulled out her mobile, took a picture of Novak and sent it to both Christina and Rhiannon. Now all she had to do was find something to tie Novak up with. As she looked round Natalie realised that she was in what she took to be a home office so thought that it might be a struggle to find something appropriate until she opened a drawer and found a roll of grey duct tape. That would do the job, Natalie thought before going about wrapping Novak lavishly using the tape.
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On the first floor of the house Christina cautiously made her was along the corridor when she felt her mobile vibrate from the pocket of her jacket. Glancing around Christina slipped into the cover of a doorway before removing the mobile and looking at the picture that she had received from Natalie. A smile spread across her lips, her instincts had been correct on this occasion. Then Christina heard a noise and flattened against the door as a woman came round the corner before entering a room further down the corridor. Fortunately the woman hadn’t looked along the corridor and seemed oblivious to Christina’s presence. However Christina had recognised the face immediately, Elsa Schmidt. Even now a chill ran down her spine, the reputation that the woman had with her sedation techniques and mind control experiments was the stuff of nightmares. Elizabeth Crawford had discussed using Schmidt as a consultant in the past but thankfully had never followed through on that idea. Christina knew that there would be a number of agencies in a lot of countries interested in talking with Schmidt. She also knew that Novak was the key person that they needed to talk to and they had her now. However the chance to take Schmidt out of circulation was too good to turn down and Christina started after her target.
After listening at the door that Schmidt had gone through Christina opened it and found an empty room with several doors leading from it, three in fact. With no real reasoning Christina picked the door on the right and went through it trying to find Schmidt again. After taking a couple of steps into a corridor the door closed behind Christina and then in an instant, a right hand came out of nowhere and clamped a chloroform soaked cloth over Christina’s nose and mouth whilst at the same time wrapping a left arm around the Christina's torso and pulling her tight against a woman’s body. “Christina, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance again.” Schmidt said in accented English. “Who are you working for these days? Elizabeth Crawford, the American government or whoever is paying the most?” Christina had been caught unaware and had a large intake of breath and had therefore been rewarded with a lungful of chloroform fumes during the initial attack. Judging by the strength of the fumes Schmidt didn’t believe in skimping on the essentials and the cloth was heavily dosed, she would have to get free quickly or it would be game over. “I am sure that you will enjoy your stay with us. I can’t wait to work with you Christina. So you just take your medicine and go to sleep like a good girl.” What was it with this woman and the chat; she thought that German’s were supposed to be quiet. Well at least the monologue meant that the woman was distracted and it gave her the chance to unexpectedly and decidedly painfully plant her left elbow into Schmidt’s unprotected midsection. The elbow hit the sweet spot and Christina heard Schmidt let out a groan as the breath was forced out of her lungs and felt the woman’s grip on both her and the cloth loosen as Schmidt dropped to her knees, clutching at her stomach with both hands, doubled over and groaned loudly. Christina took a couple of unsteady steps forward, she had obviously been administered enough of the drug to have some effect. Quickly however Christina regained her bearings and delved into her pocket and found the silky, padded single use chloroform device and squeezed hard enough to break the vial of the liquid contained within. Next she turned and made the two strides that brought her towering over the stricken Elsa Schmidt.
“I won’t lie and say that I am not going to enjoy this Elsa,” Christina leaned down and pushed Schmidt onto her back.
“Can we not discuss MMHHII…..” Schmidt’s pleas were cut off as Christina, after straddling Schmidt and using her knees to pin the woman’s arms to the ground, clamped the thick, silky pad over the woman’s nose and mouth. Of course Schmidt instantly recognised the scent from the thick pad. It was a scent she feared, the powerful vapour quickly making its presence felt. Knowing that she had to get the pad removed from her nose and mouth before she lost too much strength to the soporific vapours so she thrashed and bucked for all the she was worth but Christina had the advantage and leverage with her position on top of Schmidt. Her thoughts were becoming sluggish, and her strength was ebbing, causing her limbs to go rubbery. She realised the end of her resistance was drawing near and Schmidt decided to stop struggling and accept her fate, her knowledge of chloroform and indeed sedatives in general telling her that she was past the point of no return. Not long and several deep breaths later her eyelids became very heavy, eventually slamming closed as she eyes rolled back. Christina left the pad in place just long enough so that she was sure that Schmidt was definitely unconscious, not wanting a horror movie moment when the killer suddenly came back to life. Once she was sure Christina that Schmidt was out she got up onto her feet and looked around for somewhere to stash the woman.
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Lying on her bed in the second floor bedroom of Novak’s large country house Holliday Conroy closed her eyes and let her mind drift to non work related thoughts, well not directly work related anyway. Shed hadn’t known before she started working for Milena Novak but Holliday had a fetish about being knocked out, it floated her boat so to speak. It had first come to light when Novak had gassed her on her first flight on the Silent Lady and she had definitely felt something stir. Not that she would ever tell her boss about it for fear that she would pass it on to Elsa Schmidt and she definitely didn’t want that creepy woman knowing that piece of information. Although having Schmidt about had meant that Holliday had access to several different sedatives and had been able to experiment, finding out that her favourite was chloroform. The smell and sensation of being knocked out using the drug thrilled her. She enjoyed to so much that she was contemplating asking Novak to arrange for Elizabeth Crawford to kidnap her and hold her captive on her island for her next week of leave. Anyway perhaps that was for another time, for now she needed a glass of water. There was a jug sitting on the table in the room so she rolled off her bed and walked across to the table and poured herself a full glass before draining half of it down in one long gulp. No sooner had she set the glass down on the table than she was roughly seized from behind. Her attacker thrust a thick, silky pad over her nose and mouth, forcing a sharp, sweet smell into her nostrils. She recognised the odour immediately and her eyes went wide as the familiar odour filled her nostrils and gave her the loveliest rush of euphoria. It had always been a fantasy of Holliday’s to be kidnapped and know it was happening. For a second she started to panic and fought back against her attacker but they she thought that this must have been arranged by Novak, she must have found out about her fetish and asked Schmidt to perform this task. Novak did mention a special bonus and after all there was only the three of them at the house. Knowing as she did that the fumes would soon take their toll and render her unconscious Holliday decided to play the part of damsel being abducted and tried to twist free of her captor's grasp, but found her efforts thwarted as the arm that encircled her torso only tightened further, drawing her close. Her own arms were pinned and useless as she attempted to reach up and pry the soft, thick pad away from her face. Holliday noted that she was beginning to feel sleepy and that her legs were losing their strength. She just wanted close her eyes and slip away. A soft sigh emerged from her parted lips into the muffling pad and her capture was complete. The last thought that went through her head was one of utter joy before she was immersed in total darkness, her body limp in the arms of her captor.
“That was a bit easier than I thought it would be,” Rhiannon said as she lowered the unconscious woman onto the ground. Now that she was able to get a good look at the woman she could confirm that it was Novak’s assistant Holliday Conroy. “There must be something around here that I can use to bind her with?”
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“Exactly how many people do you plan to send my way Christina?” Jaclyn Sanders asked from the other side of the Atlantic. It had been another telephone conversation that Christina had to have with her boss after an unauthorised operation of foreign soil.
“Hopefully at least one more,” Christina replied with a smile. She was of course referring to Elizabeth Crawford. To be fair Sanders hadn’t been impressed when the conversation had started but when Christina had explained the situation and the fact that they had secured Elsa Schmidt, someone who was on the list of several agencies to be apprehended.
“How do we explain the disappearance of Milena Novak for any length of time?”
“I am sure that you will come up with something,” Christina replied. “Long holiday, break from the stress of running a high powered business empire…..or the truth. I am a criminal and have been caught.”
“Well, perhaps one of the first two. At least until we have had time to properly question her. Anyway there is a small airfield around forty minutes from your location. The team is currently preparing to take off and should be with you within three hours. Can you handle things on the ground until then?”
“That won’t be a problem.” Christina looked over at the three bound and gagged women, one on the bed and two lying on the floor. After dragging the unconscious Schmidt back along the corridor and into a bedroom Christina has found a box of silk scarves and used them to bind the slumbering woman. Someone from the outside may have thought that the amount of scarves that Christina had used to be excessive but she wasn’t taking any chances with Elsa Schmidt. Then she had texted both Natalie and Rhiannon and been surprised to find that they both had an unconscious woman to deal with, a bonus point for Natalie for nabbing Milena Novak who was now securely wrapped up in tape. Between them Natalie, Christina and Rhiannon managed to get their captives into the same room and there were enough scarves left to bind Holliday Conroy. Next Christina found three large handkerchiefs and stuffed one in each of the woman’s mouth before tightly tying a folded silk scarf over each of their mouths to complete the gag. “I couldn’t be bothered listening to anything that they would say,” Christina said.
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After subduing and securing Novak, Schmidt and Conroy the gang had decided to search the house. They left Rhiannon to look after their captives and Christina and Natalie set about looking through the house. “Let’s be methodical and start at the bottom and work her way up.” Hidden away at the end of a corridor on the ground floor they have discovered a large wooden door with a heavy, modern lock on it. “Something tells me that this does not lead to the wine cellar,” Natalie commented. Just at that moment there was a knock at the front door and they both jumped.
“You wait here and I will let Charlotte in,” Christina said walking toward the front of the house. They had called Charlotte earlier and told her to keep a look out for half an hour and then come up to the house. When Christina returned to the door with Charlotte in tow she had a set of keys in her hand. “I found these in the drawer in Novak’s office. Do you think one for these will open that door?” In the end it was the second key that Christina tried that unlocked the door. It swung opened to reveal a small landing, bare stone walls, a set of stone steps leading down and very little light.
“Not creepy at all,” Charlotte commented. Natalie looked around and found a switch. Leaning in she flicked the switch and the lights came on.
“After you,” Natalie said with a smile to Christina. The air was still and had a slightly musty smell as Christina made her way down the stairs, one at a time, until she reached the bottom and a long corridor. After taking a couple of steps to allow Charlotte and Natalie to get off the stairs and onto level ground Christina surveyed the corridor and noted several doors leading off the corridor, only one of which was closed over. It was the last door on the right.
“What’s behind door number six?” Christina asked.
“Just to be on the safe side we had better check doors one through five on the way.” Natalie slipped into cop mode. Always check the corners and doors and never walk past a room without checking it. So in the end it took them slightly longer to get to door number six but it made them all feel better. There were some strange items in the rooms but not any people. They congregated outside the last door and Natalie grasped the handle and pushed down lightly, expecting it to be locked but to her surprise it wasn’t and she was able to nudge the door open. She glanced at Christina before entering the room to find eight beds, four against each wall with a small light hanging over each bed. The light was just enough to show that three of the beds were occupied by women who were held in place with heavy leather straps. Christina followed Natalie in and found the switch that activated the main bank of high level lights. As soon as the lights went on all three women looked at the door and mumbled through the large pillow gags that currently filled their mouths.
“That is my colleague Danielle,” Christina said indicating the young woman on the furthest away bed and waving. “No sign of Gayle though,” she commented as she walked between the rows toward the bed that contained Danielle. When she arrived at the foot of the bed Christina turned and stood with her hands behind her back looking down at Danielle. “Now, I warned you not to do anything stupid Danielle.”
“MMWWRRZZ,” Danielle mumbled from behind the black pillow gag in her mouth.
“Hopefully you have learned your lesson,” Christina said as leaned down and began to loosen the buckles on the straps that held Danielle in place on the bed. It took several of effort to finally release Danielle from the straps which then allowed the woman to reach round and undo the buckle securing her gag in place.
“Thanks Christina. You have no idea how good it is to see you,” Danielle said once she had managed to remove the gag and throw it away. Christina nodded and helped Danielle up onto her feet before turning round to see that Charlotte and Natalie had almost finished releasing the other two women from the straps that held them to their respective beds. Whist not sure that it was a great idea to let anybody that they didn’t know free of there bonds, after all there must be a reason that they had been restrained in the first place, Christina could understand the natural inclination of wanting to help a woman who was seemingly in distress. Once all of the women were free they grouped together at the centre of the room. Once Christina had introduced Danielle to Natalie and Charlotte she turned her attention to the two strangers.
“If you don’t mind my asking ladies, I have two questions? Who exactly would you be and why are you in bound in the basement of someone with links to an international criminal organisation?”
“My name is Maria and this is my friend Liesl,” Christine began after taking a couple of deep breaths. “We work at hotel in Copenhagen and these women grabbed us there. They put cloths over our nose and mouths. There must have drugged us as we fell asleep and then when we came round we were in the back of a van bound and gagged. They had stolen our uniforms.” Christine put on her best damsel in distress impression and looked at Antonija who nodded as if confirming Christine’s version of events. Christina studied both women carefully, she couldn’t poke holes in the story but there was something about them both that Christina thought was slightly off.
“Do you mind if I take your photographs?” Christina asked, sensing that the two women weren’t keen she continued. “My boss likes to have pictures for the report.” After exchanging a look both women reluctantly nodded and Christina whipped out her phone and took head shots before attaching them to an e-mail to send back to base once they were out of the basement.
“Where did they take Gayle?” Natalie asked.
“They took her away a couple of days ago. At least I think it was.” Danielle said with a shrug of her slender shoulders. “Sorry, it is hard to keep track of time in a basement.”
“Hopefully Gayle is still somewhere else in the building,” Christina commented.
“Well we know that she isn’t in the basement. We checked all of the other rooms.” Natalie said. “I am also sure that she isn’t on the ground floor. Novak was in the last room that I checked.”
“Also, it wouldn’t make sense to hold a captive on the ground floor. I would suggest that we start on the top floor and work our way down.” Christina turned to the two women that she didn’t know. “I suggest that you find somewhere safe to wait on the ground floor.”
“What about locked doors?” Danielle asked. In response to that question Christina turned to Natalie who produced from her pocket a large ring of keys and held them up.
“I found these in Novak’s office. I assume that they will open most doors in the house.”
“Shouldn’t we call the police?” Christine asked, knowing the answer.
“No just yet,” Christina answered before turning away and heading for the door closely followed by Charlotte, Danielle and Natalie.
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They carefully checked every room on the first floor and finding nothing of interest; including Gayle they switched their attention to the second floor. Having carefully checked every door bar the one at the end of the corridor the group paused as Christina knocked on the door. After a couple of seconds there was a response from the other side of the door causing Danielle to jump and take a step backwards. “I think that we may have a winner,” Christina said whilst looking through the bunch of keys that she had taken from Novak’s office. Finding one that she thought looked like it would fit Christina slipped it into the lock and twisted. The locked turned smoothly and disengaged allowing Christina to gently push the door open to find Gayle standing in the centre of the room with a smile on her face.
“On a list of people I expected to be standing on the other side of that door, you were pretty close to the bottom Christina,” Gayle said.
“I won’t take that personally,” Christina responded entering the room.
“Dare I ask what happened to Milena Novak and Elsa Schmidt?” Gayle asked.
“Tied up in another room,” Natalie replied as the two women hugged.
“Now how did you end up here Christina? Not that I am complaining.”
“That is a very long story and probably best told later on. I think that you should start with your story.” Gayle nodded and after Christina had introduced the rest of the group stood and listened intently to the story that Gayle told. It started with being snatched from a hotel room at a conference in Copenhagen, being flown in a jet to her current location, the incident with the video of Hayley and being forced to solving the equation.
“That is strange indeed,” Natalie commented. “I don’t suppose they mentioned what the answer to the equation was?”
“No idea. It was just a random stream of numbers. It didn’t look like a telephone number or map co-ordinates.”
“Maybe there will be something on Novak’s phone or computer,” Danielle suggested. Then Gayle seemed to remember something important.
“Did you find two other girls in the basement Christina?” Gayle asked.
“Yes.”
“I don’t suppose you kept them restrained?” Gayle asked.
“Why?”
“Both of them were involved with snatching me from the hotel.”
“Dammit!” Christina exclaimed. “Sorry we let them out and left them downstairs. I don’t suppose that there is any chance that they hung around is there?”
“I very much doubt it,” Natalie said. “Well at least you got their photographs. Perhaps we can get a lead from those.”
“Something to look at later but for know let’s get prepared for the arrival of the team to take Novak, Schmidt and Conroy back to the States.”
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Having their photographs taken wasn’t ideal but as least they have managed to get away from both Milena Novak and Christina Howard. It came as a slight surprise that Christina hadn’t recognised her but when she thought about it Christine had worked in Europe whereas Christina and been based in North America. The only reason that Christine had realised who it was that was rescuing her was Christina’s reputation within the organisation before she had left and gone back to work for Section 12. In another stroke of luck Antonija had noticed their clothes lying in a pile in a corner and grabbed them on the way out of house. It saved them having to explain away wearing silk pyjamas with built in diapers to anyway that asked. However disappointingly their mobile phones weren’t still in their pockets so they had to find another way to contact the organisation and check in. That was why having made their way to the nearest large town Christine and Antonija were going round hotels. Entering the lobby of number four and scanning the area, Christine finally found what she was looking for and signalled to Antonija to keep a look out whilst she approached the public telephone. Picking up the receiver Christine dialled the number from memory and waited through the various clicks until as call was diverted and routed through various servers until it was answered after only three rings by the on duty guard. “It’s Hummingbird making a call to request a return to the nest.”
Score for the Home Team! Novak and Company are out of the picture! That is good news. Crawfords People escaped ... But Gayle was rescued - and she may be able to fill in some blanks. But how to find out, where Captive Island is? And even more important: How to get there and how to rescue the Girls? And Christina and friends will need support to do that .....
It would be much easier to get the Information they need from Christine and Antonija. But that can be helped now - and Christina and friends will have to work from here.
What does that this new development mean for Crawfords plans? If Nowak did not pass the Access Code already on to Crawford, then Crawford must get the Code still. Which is now a lot more difficult.
The Kidnapping of Lara will gain Crawford nothing - now that Novak is out of the picture. What will Crawford do now? I do not think, she planed for this scenario in advance.
But for now: At Christina has to find a clue, which will lead them to Captive Island - not as guests themselves preferrably
Christina, Natalie, Rihannon and Charlotte found Novaks Phone and Computer, maybe the Phones of Christine and Antonija. There must be something to find here - which maybe provides a lead to Crawfords Island Keep fingers crossed!
A little speculation: As soon as Christine and Antonija are back on the Island, Crawford will know, that Novak is out of the picture. If she does not possesses the key already, she will do all in her Power to acquire it.
What options does she have?
She has still her Contact on the other side. We do not know, who she or he is.
She can try to mount an Operation to get the key.
She could use her guests as leverage: Hayley, Gabriela or Natascha.
The Sound of silence - so to speak. This little stunt of Gabriela? Understandable - but pointless.