Chapter 25
Warehouse, outside of Lausanne, Switzerland
They all stood looking at the six bound and gagged figures sitting in a row with their backs against a couple of crates and their bound legs stretched out in front of them. The security guards were at either end of the row, with one of the Boulanger sisters next to them with Jean Boulanger and Emily St Clare taking the tow central positions. All of the captives glared at Christina, Natalie, Natascha, Gayle, Charlotte and Gabriela from over gagged mouths. “I don’t think they are too happy,” Natascha commented.
“The bad guys never are when they lose,” Gayle said. Christina knelt down used a boxcutter that she had acquired to slice the tape that was around Emily St Clare’s ankles and thighs before helping the woman to her feet.
“We need to have a chat Emily,” Christina informed St Clare as she guided the woman toward the same room where Boulanger had taken the meeting with Chernov earlier that evening with Gabriela and Natascha following close behind. After they had entered the room Christina guided Emily to a wooden chair and gently pushed her down into it before taking a seat across the table from Emily, Gabriela pulled a chair across the floor and stationed it beside Christina. Natascha closed the door before taking up a position in the corner behind and to the left of Emily St Clare. Christina and Gabriela sat and stared at Emily for thirty seconds before Christina nodded and Natascha moved forward and started to undo the knot to the base of Emily’s neck that held the folded scarf over her mouth. With a bit of picking Natascha managed to remove the scarf hand then leaned around to remove the white handkerchief that had been stuffed into Emily’s mouth. Once the gag had been removed Natascha went back to her position in the corner.
“Who are you people?” Emily asked. “Business competitors of Jean’s or are you just robbers that picked the wrong warehouse to break into?” Gabriela and Christina glance at each other before looking back at Emily.
“Neither,” Christina replies. “You are barking up the wrong trees with those guesses.” Christina notes that a brief flash of worry appears in Emily’s eyes.
“Well, this is your party. What do you want to talk about?” Emily asks as she leans back in the chair, regaining her composure. “I suspect that you are on a tight schedule so you had better get on with it.” Christina had to admit that Emily had a point with the timescale issue
“Do you know an Elizabeth Crawford?” Christina asked, getting straight to the point.
Gabriela, who after that question had been staring intently at Emily St Clare suddenly turned to look at Christina and then back at Emily as the penny dropped. “Now I know where I have seen you before. On Elizabeth Crawford’s island. Except you had a different accent, Australian or maybe Kiwi.”
“What island?” Emily asks, genuinely perplexed. “I don’t know any Elizabeth Crawford.”
“No, you were definitely there,” Gabriela replied. “Well, either that or your twin sister”
“I don’t have a twin sister,” Emily stated.
“Then it must have been you as I don’t make mistakes about what I have seen,” Gabriela retorted. As this exchange was taking place Christina just bided her time as she knew from Elise Rodger’s letter exactly what had happened.
“Look, I have never met this Elizabeth Crawford before or been to her island.”
“Have you been confused recently?” Christina asked softly.
“What do you mean?” Emily asked.
“Like you have missed something, or perhaps forget things. People mention things to you and it seems like it hasn’t happened.” Suddenly something, like she had just made a connection, passed across Emily’s face. Christina and Gabriela exchange a glance as they both caught it.
“Because, if there is Emily,” Christina started. “Then I think that we can help.”
“Look for fear of repeating myself here ladies. I have no knowledge of this Elizabeth Crawford or of being on any island with her, or anyone else for that matter.” However, this time there is not the certainty in the voice behind the statement. Christina patted Gabriela on the thigh as a signal that they should remain silent and see what happened. Eventually that tactic paid off. “Well, you ladies seem to think that something has gone on. Would you care to fill me in?”
“I will let you take this one Christina?” Gabriela said as she stood up and moved away to take a position at the door in order to make sure that Emily kept her focus on Christina.
“What I am about to say may seem farfetched but please allow me to finish.” Christina took a pause to compose her thoughts. “Elizabeth Crawford is the head of an international criminal organization.” Christina paused again to see if Emily St Clare reacted. Nothing. “We believe that some time last year Crawford had you abducted and replaced by a doppelganger for some purpose before switching you back again.” To be fair to Emily St Clare she didn’t show any kind of reaction.
“So, just so that I am following this story from an American nineteen thirties pulp novel I assume that the person that your colleague over there,” Emily indicated Gabriela by nodding at her, “was the doppelganger?” Gabriela nodded.
“Why were you on this island?”
“I was also abducted by Elizabeth Crawford’s organization,” Gabriela stated.
“But you weren’t replaced by a doppelganger?” Emily asked with a beaming smile, obviously warming to the conversation.
“No, I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. We reckon that you were abducted for a specific purpose.”
“I must admit that I am starting to enjoy this. It sounds so much more exciting than my actual life,” Emily stated. “Why do you think I was abducted?”
“Elizabeth Crawford always has a plan, playing the long game. It will all fit into whatever large plan that she has ongoing at the present time,” Christina replied. “It may have been to get your doppelganger to do something that you wouldn’t or to convince to do something that you wouldn’t normally do.”
“You think that I was brainwashed by this Elizabeth Crawford woman?” Emily suddenly blurted out followed by a hearty laugh. “You really are cracking me up. Did someone put you up to this?”
“No, nobody put us up to this “I appreciate that it sounds far-fetched but the answer is yes,” Christina replied.
“Alright, I’ll play along. Why did she brainwash me?”
“As Christina said, it was to get you to do something, probably hand over or retrieve something that you wouldn’t give up otherwise,” Gabriela chipped in. It was then that Gabriela notice something passed over Emily’s face, it was as if the missing piece of a puzzle had just been handed to her and the picture was now complete.
“So, what do we do now?” Emily asked.
“We would like you to come with us so that we can discuss this further,” Christin began and then raised a hand as Emily opened her mouth to say something. “Gabriela was an undercover agent looking into Jean Boulanger. If you come with us then she will forget about you ever being here when her law enforcement colleagues arrive. If not then you can take your chances with them.”
“Well, when you put it like that how could I refuse,” Emily said.
“Now gag her and we can get going,” Christina said wanting to get away from their current location as they were exposed.
“Is that really necessary?” Emily asked as Natascha approached with gag in hand.
“Sorry, but we can’t trust you not try and call for help.” Emily’s shoulders slumped as she realized that she didn’t really have a bargaining position. Natascha stuffed the handkerchief that she had earlier removed from Emily’s mouth back in before tying the scarf back over Emily’s mouth to complete the gag. Natascha then grabbed Emily under her left armpit, helped her up and then began to escort her out of the room.
“I know someone that can perform hypnotherapy on St Clare,” Natascha threw out as they passed Christina on their way to the door.
“MMMMOOOO,” Emily moaned when she heard this.
“That might not be a bad idea,” Gabriela said as held the door open for Emily and Natascha. “Take to the cars and we can talk about it later.” Natascha nodded and led Emily through the door closely followed by Gabriela and Christina. As they watched Natascha taking Emily St Clare to their vehicles which were currently parked just outside the warehouse Natalie approached them.
“How did the chat go?” Natalie asked.
“As well as can be expected,” Christina replied. “She agreed to come with us.”
“Did she ever have a choice,” Gabriela commented.
“Better to get agreement than have to use force,” Christina replied with a smile.
“Well, I guess that I had better go and make arrangements.” Gabriela said. “I wish you the best of luck and I will hopefully see you later.” As she walked toward Jean Boulanger and the rest of their prisoner’s they all exchanged a nod of the head. Christina and Natalie both turned and watched the woman walk away.
“Are we taking Emily to the hotel?” Natalie asked. Christina nodded.
“Danielle has some supplies that should help us with keeping her in check,” Christina responded.
“How do we get her into the hotel. I am sure that somebody will notice a gagged woman with her hands tied behind her back walking through the lobby.”
“We will have to knock her out and carry her,” Christina commented.
“I assume you didn’t mention that to Emily back in the room,” Natalie pointed out. Christina just kept her mouth shut and signalled to Charlotte and Gayle that they should head to the door. Gabriela already had a phone in one hand and leaned in to hug Charlotte with the other. Once they had said their goodbyes Charlotte and Gayle joined Natalie and Christina in heading for the vehicles.
----------
They drove back toward Geneva in a convey of two vehicles, Christina drove the lead vehicle with Gayle in the passenger seat and Natascha in the back beside a bound and gagged Emily St Clare. In the vehicle behind Natalie drove with Charlotte in the passenger seat. On the drive back Gayle had called Danielle to brief her on what had happened and explain what Christina wanted to happen when they arrived at the hotel. They made the journey in silence as Christina steered the car around the tight country bends before being able to open it up a bit as the road widened and straightened as they entered the outskirts of Geneva. The large car was a nice drive and allowed Christina to relax until they were almost at the hotel and then she caught Natascha’s eye in the rear-view mirror and nodded.
Emily watched on as Natascha reached into her pocket and produced a white handkerchief and a small bottle without a label on it. “OOOHHHMMMOOO,” Emily moaned as she read the signals. Natascha carefully folded the handkerchief and poured some of the liquid onto the handkerchief. After Natascha had put the bottle back into her pocket and positioned the handkerchief correctly in her hand Natascha leaned over and pressed it over Emily’s nose and gagged mouth. Emily didn't fight the chloroform was time, there was no point. The end result would be the same. Instead she inhaled deeply and eventually felt her eyes fluttering and her limbs felt weak and then her eyes fluttered and closed over as she slipped into unconsciousness.
“I take it you want me to help you carry her to the car?” Natascha asked as she removed the handkerchief form Emily’s face.
“That would be nice,” Christina replied over her shoulder as she concentrated on pulling the car into the tight entrance of the hotel’s underground car park. Once down the ramp Christina manoeuvred the car into the closet available space to the lift. After shutting off the engine they all sat in the car whilst Natascha removed the gag from Emily’s mouth and the tape that bound her wrists and ankles. That job complete Christina, Natascha and Gayle all opened their doors and slipped out of the car. Christina opened the door beside Emily and allowed Natascha to somewhat awkwardly pull Emily out of the car and hold her up until Christina was able to close the door and then help Natascha prop the woman up. Between them they carried Emily from the space between the cars until they could spread out and put one of Emily’s arms over their shoulders so that they carried her between them. Gayle walked just in front of them and Natalie and Charlotte, having parked their care a couple of spaces away, fell in behind blocking the view from behind. The group made it to the lift without meeting anyone or getting any strange looks. Gayle pushed the button to call the lift and they all stood around looking around nervously as they counted down the journey of the lift from the seventh floor, all the way through to the ground floor and then the basement. There was a soft ding as the doors opened and Gayle heaved a sigh of relief as the car was empty. They all piled in and Gayle pushed the button for the fifth floor.
The lift car doors opened and Gayle stepped out into the lobby and looked left and right before spinning round and signalling to Christina that the coast was clear. Carrying the unconscious Emily between them Christina and Natascha rushed as quickly as they could from the lift and through the door that Danielle held open for them. Once they were in Gayle, Charlotte and Natalie followed close behind. Danielle took a last glance both ways down the corridor to check that nobody was paying them too much attention before she closed the door and made her was back to the living room of the suite where Christina was currently stretching her back after she and Natascha had deposited Emily St Clare onto a couch. “It sounds like you had an interesting evening,” Danielle commented.
“You could describe it as eventful,” Natalie replied taking of her boots and throwing then into the room that she shared with Charlotte.
“Anybody fancy room service?” Gayle asked and found herself getting some strange looks. “So, I’m hungry.”
“Get some wine,” Natalie commented. Nobody gave Natalie funny a strange look for that suggestion.
“I see you have been busy,” Christina said to Danielle.
“I spoke to the concierge and the hotel was able to supply us with this a fold down cot,” Danielle pointed to the folded-up cot that was sitting in the corner of the room.
“Excellent,” Christina said. “Do you have anything else?”
“Yes, there is a lightweight restraining bag, some diapers, a handful of straps and some tape. Unfortunately, I couldn’t come up with anything to use as a gag. Oh, and she is about Charlotte’s height and build so maybe Emily can borrow a set of pjs,” Danielle looked at Charlotte who nodded and headed straight into the bedroom.
“So, who gets to secure our guest for the night?” Christina asked and suddenly everyone was busy doing something else. “Don’t worry, I will take care of it.” Christina looked at Danielle. “Can you set up the cot and I will grab the stuff.” Danielle nodded and headed off to wrestle with the cot whilst Christina gathered up the required material to secure Emily St Clare for the night. “Charlotte!” Christina called. “Can you bring a towel from the bathroom as well?” Christina was engrossed with picking up the materials when she felt Charlotte come up behind her.
“I will give you a hand Christina. Given the current situation I think it would be best if I get some practice at this,” Charlotte almost whispered in Christina’s ear.
“Let’s get going then. Will you grab the bag,” Christina jutted her chin at the sleek black restraining bag that was already lying on the carpet. After gathering their equipment Christina and Charlotte walked around the couch and stood in front of the slumbering form of Emily. “Lay the towel out on the floor Charlotte,” Christina asked her colleague. Whilst Charlotte did that Christina managed to wrestle Emily out of her overcoat and dump it over the couch.
“What now?” Charlotte asked having completed that simple task.
“Give me a hand to get her onto the towel and then we can get her stripped.” Taking an arm and leg apiece the two women managed to move the dead weight of Emily from the couch onto the towel on the floor. Then they went about the task of getting Emily out of her clothes. Starting with her shoes and stockings, followed by the dress that she was wearing. Fortunately, given the event that Emily had been attending there wasn’t much clothing to remove which Christina was thankful for. Having stripped their captive Christina picked up the folded diaper and handed it to Charlotte, who looked it at strangely. “You wanted to learn something,” Christina commented. “Just the same as putting it on a child.” Charlotte nodded and unfurled the diaper before Christina held up Emily’s hips which allowed Charlotte to place the diaper in the correct position. Once Christina had lowered Emily’s hips gently onto the diaper Charlotte flipped the front over and then used the sticky tabs to secure the diaper in place. Christina get the diaper a quick check and nodded. “Nice and tight.”
“Thanks,” Charlotte said with a smile. The next step in the process was to get Charlotte’s borrowed pjs onto Emily which they succeeded in going with a bit more effort than it really should have. “Might need more practice at that bit.”
“Easier with a one piece down suit,” Christina commented as she handed a roll of grey duct tape to Charlotte. “Wrap this around her ankles five or six times, then do the same just below her knees and after the I will give you a hand to do the same thing around her thighs.” Charlotte nodded and went about her task with concentration and enthusiasm. After Emily’s legs had been secured together with the tape they moved on to the woman’s upper body. Christina moved behind Emily and hefted the upper half of the woman’s body into an upright position. “Wrap her wrists together then we can tape her arms to her body.” Charlotte nodded and wet about the task again, wrapping the tape around Emily’s wrists six times.
“That enough?” Charlotte asked
“Should get the job done,” Christina replied. The two women then pinned Emily’s arms to her body and wrapped the tape around then and her body several times to pin her arms to her body. As they were doing this Danielle appeared and picked up the lightweight restraining bag and placed it onto the mattress on the folded down cot, unzipping it in the process. Once Christina and Charlotte had finished binding Emily then lifted her between them, Christina at the top and Charlotte taking the legs, toward the cot. Danielle picked up the restraining bag and held it open which allowed Charlotte to feed in Emily’s legs and between them then managed to easily get Emily fully into the bag. As they laid Emily down on the cot mattress Christina slipped the bag over Emily’s shoulders and then zipped the bag up fully, it went ll the way up to the base of Emily’s neck. Danielle threw Christina a pillow which she placed under Emily’s head. The final part was to use the four straps that Danielle had found to secure Emily to the cot so that she wouldn’t be able to roll off. That job completed they women stood back and admired their handiwork. “Not that bad considering we had to improvise a bit.”
“Thanks for the help, Charlotte said to Danielle.
“No problem,” Danielle replied. “There was a knocked at the door so I think room service has just arrived. Couldn’t let the food get cold.” With their captive secure Christina, Charlotte and Danielle went to join the rest of the group leaving Emily to sleep off the effects of the chloroform.
----------
It turned out Danielle was correct; the room service had indeed arrived. They all tucked into what they had ordered, all of which was superb. “I am going to miss this when we leave,” Natalie commented. “I certainly could get used to this.”
“I second that,” Natascha said as she cleaned her hands on one of the cloth napkins and sat back on the couch beside Gayle. “Even the napkins are quality.”
“It certainly smelled nice,” Emily called from her prone position on the folded clot.
“I told you to be quiet?” Christina said with a hint of irritation creeping into her voice. Their unwilling guest had come around twenty minutes ago and in Christina’s opinion had been far to vocal since then.
“So, you keep saying,” Emily responded. “I wasn’t hungry anyway. However, if you could let me out of this infernal contraption it would be appreciated.
“Excuse me ladies,” Christina picked up one of the clean napkins and tied a knot it in before approaching Emily who was lying prone in the restraining bag on the cot. Appearing in Emily’s vision from above Christina held the napkin at either end. “Open wide.”
“Come on, you can’t be serious. You have me tied up and now you want to gag me as well,” Emily commented.
“Yes, I do. Can’t have you disturbing the neighbours. People pay a lot of money to stay at this hotel and they do not want a nice, relaxing night’s sleep.” Christina’s hands hovered in the air for a couple of seconds as Emily’s mouth remained clamped shut. Stalemate. Then Emily relented and open her mouth to allow Christina to place the knot in Emily’s mouth. “Lift your head,” Christina asked and when Emily complied it allowed Christina to tie the two ends of the napkin in a tight knot, securing the gag in place for the night.
“OOMMOOHH,” Emily complained from behind the gag.
“Sorry, it has to be tight to be effective,” Christina said with a smile. Emily heaved a gagged sigh, closed her eyes and settled in for the night. Having completed that job Christina returned to the group and shrugged her shoulders by way of an apology. As Christina sat down there was another knock at the door.
“I’ll get it,” Charlotte said jumping up.
“It will be Gabriela,” Natalie commented. It was, indeed Gabriela, who wearily traipsed into the room behind Charlotte.
“How are you getting on?” Christina asked as Gabriela took a seat.
“There was a lot of explaining to do to my bosses,” Gabriela said.
“Did they buy the story about the random group of criminals?” Christina asked.
“I don’t know if they totally believed it but they were willing to accept the story if that got them the arrests and information. They won’t be asking too many questions. Boulanger and the rest of them will cut a deal and spill their guts about what they were involved in.”
“Nice to hear,” Christina replied. “What about Emily St Clare?”
“MMMMM,” Emily moaned from behind them. Gabriela craned her neck and caught a glimpse of the bound and gagged woman strapped to the cot.
“Emily who? I had a quick word with Boulanger and the rest before the cavalry arrived and explained the position. They seemed to take it in.” Christina nodded as Charlotte poured Gabriela a glass of wine. The conversation then drifted onto other, less serious, more relaxed topics for half an hour.
“What’s the plan now Christina?” Natalie asked picking up a glass of wine. Christina paused for a moment to formulate a strategy. Running across Emily St Clare had been a massive stroke of fortune but there were still avenues that had to be investigated as Christina knew that there was no way that she would let Emily St Clare know the location of her base. All St Clare could give them would be a lead on what Elizabeth Crawford’s plan is, even then it would only part of it. Then suddenly her phone chimed that meant she had received a message. The message was short and to the point but Christina stilled smiled.
“What’s got you so happy?” Gayle asked.
“That was just Victoria confirming that she will help us out.”
“I still don’t know if I trust her,” Natalie commented.
“I can appreciate where you are coming from but our interests do align on this job. Elizabeth Crawford does not forget about betrayal.” There was silence amongst the group and Christina could tell that there was a sense of unease about involving Victoria. If she was being totally honest then Christina would admit to not being wholly confident on Christina but she had to take the chance. “We need some experience on the team, especially for what I have got in mind.” There were some questioning looks from around the group. “I still think that we have to run down the Hamburg angle,” Christina began. “With Victoria there are enough bodies now that I am comfortable splitting the team.” Christina glanced at Gabriela who nodded to confirm that she was in.
“I want to find out where this goes, the story is bizarre enough to have me curious.” Gabriela said. “Besides, I owe you ladies after that rescue earlier this evening.”
“Alright then, I think that Natalie, Victoria and Gabriela should head to Hamburg to follow up on that lead from Gayle. I don’t think there will be anything in it but it we will have to check it out. The rest of us will escort St Clare back to Paris and see what we can get out of her with the help of Natascha’s friend.” There were nods of agreement from around the room. “It’s been a long day so I suggest that we all get some much-needed sleep.”
“I second that,” Natalie said as she stood up, stretched and headed for her designated bedroom.
“I better go and get packed for tomorrow,” Gabriela said as she got up and headed for the door. “Night, ladies,” she called over her shoulder. “I will see you back here bright and early.”
“Not too early,” Christina called. “Have a lie in.”
“Forgive me for not showing you out,” Gayle called with a tired wave of her right arm. One by one the rest of the group got up and headed for the door. As Christin called it a night Natascha approached Christina,
“Did you catch the name of any of the other people at the meeting?” Natascha asked in hushed tones.
“Yeah, it was Checkov or Senkov,” Christina said.
“Could it have been Chernov?” Natascha asked. Christina considered this for a few seconds and then nodded in the affirmative.
“Problem?” Christina asked.
“I don’t think so. It is just that I know someone of that name.”
“Anything that we should worry about?”
“No, different operation. No direct link to Elizabeth Crawford.” Christina and Natascha went their separate ways but the conversation had thrown Christina as it gave her something else to consider as she stripped, put on the oversized t-shirt that she slept in before pulling back the covers and sliding into bed beside Gayle who was already asleep
No finger control mittens 
Great stuff!