Chapter 39
Manchester, England
It was seven days later and Penelope found herself sitting in a bar in Manchester wearing a figure-hugging black dress that showed off her curvaceous figure at its best. In the end it hadn’t really been much of a decision. It was either take the thirty years in prison or take her chances with this operation. At least with this choice there was the chance that nothing would happen and she would be free or an opportunity may present itself for her to just disappear.
The target was a man, hence the outfit, men were so predictable. Well, technically the target was the man’s daughter. Elizabeth Crawford was all about control, she wanted the man’s daughter in order to either get something from him or force him to do something for her. Although, to be fair Penelope had taken a good look in the mirror before leaving the hotel room and she did look very fetching. Penelope was on her second drink when she caught sight of the man entering the bar along with his bodyguard. The man was in his late forties, around Penelope’s height and had a slim build. The bodyguard was a woman, tall and rangy and she moved with an easy athleticism like a panther, prowling rather than walking eyes scanning the entire time. It was action time. Penelope took a deep breath and steadied her nerves. Along with the man and his people there was also the chance that either or both of Rogue Hart and Elizabeth Crawford’s people were watching. The man’s shoes made a clipped noise on the floor as he crossed to the bar and a seat. Penelope pretended that she wasn’t interested and kept her gaze fixed on something behind the bar but twisted her hips so that her long, shapely legs were in clear view. It was midweek and the bar was quiet, the man took a stool three down and there was nobody between them. The bodyguard took up a position about three paces away with her hands resting loosely by her side. The man ordered a drink from the barman and sat dirking it slowly, the room was almost silent. When Penelope finished her drink, she waved to get the attention of the barman. “Can I buy you this one?” the man asked.
“My mother warned me never to accept drinks from strangers?” Penelope replied not turning round. Instead, she watched the man in the angled mirror on the wall behind the bar, he smiled warmly.
“Well, let’s rectify that now shall we,” the man got up and moved to the seat next to Penelope. “Myles Sharpe,” the man said as he extended a hand. “It is a pleasure to meet you.”
“Penelope Gordon,” Penelope responds, taking the hand.
“I will have the same again and whatever the lady is drinking,” Myles nods at the glass sitting in front of Penelope as he addressed the barman.
“Thanks,” Penelope says as she accepted the drink.
“No problem.” When the drinks arrived, they clink glasses and for some reason both laugh. “So, tell me a bit about yourself. What brings you to Manchester?” Penelope took a drink to give herself some time before starting in the story that she had agreed with Jaclyn and Rogue. New in town after moving for work purposes, a bit of family background, trying to get acquainted with the area. It all sounded very plausible.
“Now, tell me a bit about yourself?” Penelope asked. Myles explained that his family business was shipping and that he had been in town tying up some loose end on a contract.
“Sounds interesting,” Penelope commented. Well, shipping certainly would be for Elizabeth Crawford.
“Not as interesting as you,” Myles said with a smile. They continued to chat for around thirty minutes until there was the sound of a cough from behind them.
“Apologies boss,” the bodyguard interrupted. “The table is booked for nine and we have to leave now to make it.” Penelope tried to place the woman’s accent but couldn’t.
“I almost forgot about that, great restaurant as well…” Myles paused. “Would you like to come with me?” Myles asked Penelope. There were sounds of disgruntlement from behind them.
“I don’t think your friend approves,” Penelope nodded toward the bodyguard.
“Don’t worry about Ramona, she doesn’t bite.”
“Neither do I,” Penelope replied before taking the olive out of her empty drink and popping it in her mouth. “Unless, you like that kind of thing that is….” Ramona gave Penelope a look that could strip paint. Rather than say that she accepted Penelope got off the stole and threw her shawl over her shoulders and headed for the door. “I don’t go out with a guy on the first meeting but give me a call and we can arrange something.” Without looking back Penelope walked away making sure that her hips swayed just enough to attract attention.
“I don’t have your number,” Myles shouted.
“Under the napkin,” Penelope replied with a wave.
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Manchester, England
In the end the he called the next morning and Penelope found herself being driven to a local art gallery in the back of a black Range Rover with tinted windows. There was a driver wearing a chauffeur’s outfit behind the wheel and a not too happy looking Ramona. “Thanks for picking me up,” Penelope commented, trying to break the ice. Ramona sighed very loudly and the driver just caught her eye in rear view mirror and raised his eyebrows. Penelope settled back to enjoy the rest of the ride. She had dressed sensibly this morning with boots, jeans, a white blouse and a maroon leather jacket. The jeans and blouse were tight in all the right places to show off her curves. The event that Penelope was attending was to showcase the work of a new artist and then there would be a sale of other artwork to raise funds for charity. Penelope expected to be bored quickly by people talking about how well off they were but she would just have to grin and bear it. Hopefully nothing exciting happened at the event as with it being an all-invite event Rogue Hart wouldn’t be around to back her up.
Arriving at the event Penelope grabbed a glass of champagne from a waiter carrying a large silver tray before wading through the crowd and eventually finding Myles Sharpe taking to a small group of people toward the rear of the hall. “Glad you could make it Penelope,” Myles said as he leaned in and pecked her on the cheek. “You look great,” he whispered in her ear. “Now, let me get the introductions out of the way.” Myles introduced Penelope to the other four people that he was chatting with, two men and two women. After the introductions the chat continued until Penelope realised that her glass was empty, Myles noticed this as well and guided Penelope away from the group and toward the bar. “It looked like you were getting bored.”
“No, well…just not my crowd,” Penelope said with a sigh.
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Myles replied. “What would you like to drink?”
“Gin and tonic,” Penelope replied. Myles nodded and the barman who had heard the order and held up two fingers. Once the drinks arrived on the bar Myles handed Penelope hers and toasted.
“Why don’t I show you around?” Myles was an entertaining and engaging guide, he knew his subject and put the information across in a way that was easy to understand. He explained about the work of the new artist and they also about the charity auction. Penelope chipped in when she could having spent most of her recent spare time reading information on art in general and what Myles Sharpe linked in particular. “Can I ask you a personal question Penelope?” Myles asked as they made their way back to the bar. Penelope nodded.
“Not that I am confirming that I will answer.” Myles chortled and nodded his head.
“How does a woman such as yourself come to be single?” Penelope ran the actual reasons for this through her head quickly, or what seemed to her to be quickly before getting to the ones that she had prepared earlier with Rogue and Jaclyn. “Sorry, if I have crossed a line.” To his credit Myles looked genuinely concerned. Penelope dismissed any worry with a wave of her hand.
“No, don’t bother, was a million miles away for a second. Just the usual stuff, working too hard…”
“DAD! DAD!” Penelope was interrupted by a female voice that got louder. “DAD!” Myles glance around and when he turned back to Penelope there was a wide smile on his face.
“My daughter,” Myles said as a young woman broke through the crowd, wrapped an arm around his waist and raised herself on tip-toes to peck a kiss on his left cheek.
“How are you doing dad?”
“All the better for seeing you my dear,” Myles looked at Penelope. “Someone that I would like you to meet Grace.” The young woman looked at Penelope. “Penelope meet, my daughter Grace, Grace this is Penelope Gordon….my….” Myles paused as if distracted, looking for the best description.
“Date for the night,” Grace said with a laugh and wide smile that had Penelope joining in. Looking Grace up and down Penelope could see the family resemblance. The woman was in her early twenties with brown hair and intelligent eyes that matched her hair colour. “You really are punching above you weight here dad.” Penelope laughed harder as Myles blushed a little.
“Pleasure to meet you Grace,” Penelope said and extended her hand, Grace accepted and shook.
“Sorry, but can I borrow him for a bit. I really want to meet the artist and rumour is the old man has some pull.”
“Be my guest,” Penelope replied with a smile. She instantly liked this young woman and was sorry that she was about to get caught up in whatever was going to happen.
“Would you like to meet the artists as well?” Myles asked.
“No,” Penelope said with a shake of the head. “I wouldn’t want to crowd the artist and besides, it will give you two a bit of time to catch up.” Myles nodded. “Get you back here in half an hour?”
“You bet,” Grace said. Myles put an arm around his daughter’s shoulders and the pair of them turned and disappeared into the crowd. After taking a glance at her watch Penelope thought that rather than meet the artist a better use of her time would be to take a quick look around. After walking around the venue and seeing nothing that caused her to look twice, she decided to get some fresh air. In the back corridor that led to the toilets and kitchen she found one of the caterers having a sneaky cigarette out of a fire escape. The man looked guilty as Penelope approached.
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell if you won’t,” Penelope said with a wink. “Just let me out and your secret is safe.” The man smiled and opened the door its full width to allow Penelope to sneak through and outside into the fresh air. Looking around nothing jumped out as being wrong or out of place so she walked the perimeter of the building and didn’t see anything either, it didn’t take long, the building wasn’t huge. There was a staff and contractor car park at the rear. There were several cars, vans and a small coach sitting idle. With nothing else to do and some time on her hands Penelope strolled across and wandered between the vehicles with her mind on other things until something caught her attention as she walked between a livered van and the small coach. There were very muffled noises coming from the van. Penelope tried the handle but it was locked. Reaching into the inside pocket of her jacket Penelope removed a small lock picking kit and after selecting the correct tools set about tacking the lock on the van. It was an old van and the lock wasn’t great so it wasn’t that long before there was a click. Slipping the kit back in her pocket Penelope gripped the handle again before counting to three and pulling the door open. The scene in the back of the van didn’t shock her, she had seen plenty of people tied up and gagged before. Looking over her shoulder to make sure nobody was taking an interest in what she was doing Penelope hopped into the back of the van, closing the door behind her.
Lying on the floor of the van were two woman and a man. All were stripped of their clothes down to their underwear, matching white bra and panties for the woman and white underwear and vest for the man. All three were also securely tied with rope and heavily gagged judging by the very mumbled response to the door opening and Penelope entering the van. They had all been tied with rope around the ankles, just above and below the knees and then around the thighs. On the upper body their wrists had been tied behind their backs and they a complicated and serious looking amount of rigging had been used to tightly secure their arm to their bodies. “Well don’t you look nice and secure.”
“mmmppphh, uummpphh,” chorused all three bound and gagged people. The man also started to squirm vigorously against his bonds.
“Calm down,” Penelope said kneeling down. “I take it you have been trying that for a bit and it hasn’t done any good before now.” The man stopped struggling and lay still. Penelope looked at the nearest woman and started to remove her gag. There was a lot of material to get off, whoever had applied the gag was serious about it.
“Thank you,” the woman croaked when Penelope managed to pull the last piece of cloth from her mouth.
“No need to thank me. What happened?” Penelope asked.
“I was packing the van when suddenly I was grabbed from behind. Before I could call for help a thick cloth was clamped over my nose and mouth. Then I tried to struggle but I couldn’t get free of the grip…then…then I remember a strange smell from the cloth and feeling weak but it is all a bit fuzzy after that,” the woman shook her head.
“Can you remember anything else? Who attacked you? What they looked like?” The woman thought for a second before shaking her head.
“What were you supposed to be doing anyway to have ended up like this?” Penelope thought it strange that the woman hadn’t asked who she was and why she hadn’t untied them yet.
“mmmpphh,” the man moaned again as he began to struggle against his bonds in obvious frustration. Penelope glanced around and saw a sack sitting next to her, she opened it up and saw ropes and other items. This is what was left over from subduing this lot.
“We are caterers,” the woman said. Penelope listened as she removed a couple of items from the sack. “There was a booking to help with some kind of event, I think that it was for a charity.”
“At an art gallery?” Penelope asked as she removed a handkerchief from her bag folded it into a pad. There was a bottle in the sack and after taking a brief whiff to confirm her suspicions poured it onto the handkerchief.
“uummpphh…hhaauupphh..” the man was at it again.
“Yes, it was something at an art gallery.”
“Is he always like this?” Penelope asked as she leaned over and clamped the handkerchief over his nose and gagged mouth.
“What are you doing to him?” the ungagged woman tried to turn her head to see what was going on.
“Just calming him down. The more he struggles the more chance he has of hurting himself.” The man fought and tried to shake off the handkerchief but bound as he was the man didn’t stand a chance and the fight was short before he slumped unconscious onto the floor of the van.
“Are you going to do that to us as well?” the ungagged woman asked.
“Unfortunately, yes I will be. I just need you to not get found for a while. Don’t worry this is the same stuff that they used on you earlier.” Penelope quickly placed the handkerchief over the ungagged woman’s nose and mouth. “Relax and take deep breathes, it will go easier on you that way.” To her credit the woman didn’t try and resist being chloroformed in any way. “I won’t gag you so you can shout for help when you come around.” The woman said something that was muffled by the handkerchief that Penelope liked to think was a ‘Thank you’ before her eyes fluttered and she slipped away. After knocking out the other bound and gagged member of the trio Penelope exited the van. Well, at least now she knew that at least two of the waiting staff weren’t who they claimed to be. It was highly unlikely that Elizabeth Crawford would use a man on any operation. Checking the time, she realised that if she didn’t rush then she would be later for meeting Myles and Grace.
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Manchester, England
“There you are!” Myles exclaimed as Penelope emerged from the crowd. “Starting to think that you had stood me up.”
“I am not that kind of girl,” Penelope replied looking around for the staff moving round. Hoping that a couple of them may stand out for some reason. It would be to much to hope that they had neon signs with kidnapper on their backs.
“Are you alright?”
“Sorry, was just looking for Grace.”
“She had to pop to the ladies room.” Penelope paused and scanned the crowd again whilst thinking that was a nice quiet place to snatch someone.
“Now that you have mentioned it, I need to answer the call of nature.” Penelope walked off before shouting over her shoulder. “Why don’t you get the drinks in and I will get you back here with Grace.” Myles gave Penelope the thumbs up.
As she weaved through the crown Penelope kept her head on a pivot. In addition to looking out for potential kidnappers there was always the chance that Rogue could be about and she could pass on what she had learned. Indeed, in addition to swatting up on art, Jaclyn had given her all of the information that she held on Elizabeth Crawford’s organisation. This included any photographs of operatives that Jaclyn had. Penelope only hoped that her memory would be good enough to remember any faces that may appear. It turned out that the trip to the bathroom was uneventful so she pushed the door opened and entered. “Very nice,” Penelope said under her breath as she entered. The bathroom very well maintained and had been freshly painted just before the event. In the bathroom were five cubicles, two of which were occupied. There was also an older woman using a mirror above one of the sinks to apply some make-up. Penelope used the sink next to her to wash her hands. “Lovely event,” Penelope commented. The older woman just paused for a moment before carrying on with what she was doing without replying. As she was rinsing her hands there was the sound of a flush and then one of the cubicles opened. Looking in the mirror Penelope saw Grace emerge. “How are you doing?”
“Fine thanks,” Grace replied as she started washing her hands in the sink to Penelope’s left. Then the other cubicle opened. The woman exited and Penelope caught a glimpse of what she was wearing. White blouse, black skirt and a red apron. Obviously one of the catering staff. Strange that they would be allowed to use the same toilets as the guests. “Perhaps there is only one set of toilets.”
“What did you say Penelope?”
“Nothing.” The woman that had come out of the cubicle had used the furthest away sick, the older woman was between Penelope and the new arrival. Penelope shut off the tap and picked up a hand towel from the ledge above the sink. As she dried her hands the older woman moved away and she was able to get a better look at the fourth occupant of the toilet. It took a couple of seconds but eventually Penelope’s brain made the connection. She had seen the woman somewhere before, that somewhere was in the files that Jaclyn had made her study. “Christine,” Penelope said out loud before she could stop herself. The woman paused at the use of her real name, water dripping from her fingers. The bathroom seemed to fall into silence for a couple of seconds as Christine and Penelope both decided what to do.
“Something up?” Grace asked. Then suddenly everything burst into action. Christine turned to face them and reached for something inside the pocket of her red apron, prompting Penelope to burst into action. Reaching out with both hands she grabbed bunches of the fabric on Christine’s apron and pulled the woman in close before turning and propelling her toward a cubicle.
“Move Grace!” Penelope yelled as she let go and threw Christine into a cubicle where the woman stumbled and fell onto the floor, banging into the sanitaryware as she did so. As she spun around Penelope noted that Grace had frozen.
“What…” Penelope ran for the door, on the way she grabbed Grace on the forearm and yanked her behind her.
“We need to go now Grace.” Dragging Grace along behind her Penelope burst out of the bathroom and into the corridor. There was the noise of a large crowd in the background as Penelope headed for the door that would see them back into the safety of that crowd. Just as they were halfway along the corridor the door opened and another woman wearing the outfit of the catering company filled the doorway. Taking in the scene the woman had a look of shock on her face. Obviously not what she was expecting to find. Having no intention of stopping Penelope sped up and barged through the woman, trampling the woman underfoot.
“Sorry,” Grace mumbled as she tried to avoid stepping on the woman. “Penelope what is going on?”
“Explanations later Grace. Let’s just keep moving for the moment.” Penelope scanned the room, eventually found the person that she was looking for and made a beeline for them, all the time dragging Grace behind her. “We have to leave now.” Penelope hissed as she stopped in front of Ramona.
“What do you mean?” Ramona asked.
“There is a threat. We need to leave now.” Obviously, the look on Penelope’s face removed any objections that Ramona may have had. She pulled out a phone and hit a key.
“Bring the car around now.” Penelope continued to look around nervously. “You take her to the main entrance and I will get Myles.” Penelope nodded and moved away dragging Grace along with her. They got some strange looks as she forcefully made her way through the crowd until the entrance appear. A man who had been outside, probably for a smoke, held the door open as Penelope and Grace moved through.
“Penelope!” Grace said with a sense of urgency. “Penelope!” Penelope ignored this and scanned the area for threats as she walked toward the road. She could hear the sound of a large engine approaching and they the car that had picked her up appeared around the corner. The timing was perfect, they arrived at the same point at the same time. The car pulled up and Penelope wrenched the rear door open and threw Grace into the car.
“Move, move, move,” Penelope heard from behind her and took five paces back to give the onrushing Myles and Ramona plenty of room. After bundling Myles into the back of the car Ramona slammed the door closed and vaulted over and bonnet and jumped into the passenger seat. The driver didn’t even wait for the front door to close before he hammered his foot door on the accelerator and the large vehicle jumped away from the kerb, the rear fishtailing before the driver caught it and speeding off into the distance. “What about me!” Penelope screamed after them, waving her hands. “That isn’t very nice. Is it?” There was a cloud of dust as the large vehicle pulled away. Penelope turned around to see Christine and the other woman dressed as a member of the catering staff coming toward her from the venue. They didn’t seem very happy. So, Penelope decided to make an exit and headed off toward a public car park. She would cut through that and into the park on the other side.
With her head down Penelope headed off at a brisk pace. Once in the car park she cut straight across it toward the path into the park. The path was basically a hole in the perimeter fence around the car park. Suddenly she could hear urgent footsteps behind her, then a shadow crossed her path and she stopped abruptly. There was a large presence in her way. Penelope looked up. Her route to the path was blocked by a large, blond-haired woman. “Can I help you?” Penelope asked as she glanced around to find that Christine was now only ten yards behind her. There was no sign of the other woman from the venue for the art exhibition.
“You should keep out of other people’s business,” a voice said. Penelope turned to find a young woman standing next to a white panelled van.
“I have no idea what you mean,” Penelope thought that it would be best to start off playing dumb.
“She recognised me back in the bathroom Kendall,” Christne chimed in from behind. That didn’t exactly help.
“Where do you know my colleague from?” Kendall asked. Penelope shrugged.
“Saw her on Tinder.” That comment got a smile from Kendall. Penelope also noted that Christine and the other woman had taken a couple of steps closer. Looking around there was nobody else seemed to be in the least bit interested in what was going on.
“Bring her along.” Penelope tuns on hearing that to find that Christine and the other woman were now standing on either side of her. They each grabbed an arm and started to manoeuvre her subtly but with force toward the side door of the van that Kendall had just slipped open. As she was being pushed in that direction the young woman that had been called Kendall walked toward them, a large white cloth ominously sitting in the woman’s right hand.
“Wait, ladies,” Penelope pleaded as the cloth made its way toward her face. “Can we not talk about this?” Penelope supposed she should put up a fight and make it look good. “There is no need to take me away!” Penelope hope that she sounded suitably panicked and tried not to roll her eyes, well at least not until the chloroform took effect, but sighed then let out a surprised gasp just before the cloth was clamped over her nose and mouth “Please!” Penelope pleaded. “Whatever that is mmmppphh" Penelope immediately begin to wriggle madly in their grasp, trying to make her bid for freedom look realistic whilst the sweet-smelling vapour assaulted her senses. Well, it was still sweet-smelling but not as harsh as Penelope had been used to. There was a rumour that Elizabeth Crawford has engineered different variants of chloroform that were much more effective and didn’t have the same side effects. It looked like Penelope was about to find out if those rumours were true. Penelope knew roughly how long the chloroform would take to have a proper effect so just had to judge her effort.
“Don’t fight us,” Kendall said, “it will go easier if you just relax.”
“UUMMPPHH! MMPPHH!” Penelope screamed into the cloth as she tried to wriggled free as she was dragged toward the van. She swallowed hard, inhaling deeply for the first time since the struggle began. There was no point fighting it, this was how she had planned to make contact with Elizabeth Crawford’s people. Penelope had just hoped that her initial introduction wouldn’t involve the application of chloroform. The world spins for a moment, and Penelope blinks hard, a mixture or fear and excitement coursing through her veins. Was this wave of dizziness because of that or just the chloroform? Not that it mattered at this point. They stop dragging her just before the van and stood looking around, letting Kendall apply the chloroform. Penelope continued to inhale and started to feel the effects of the drug kick in, her thoughts became muddled and her arms became heavier. Just for the benefit of making it look convincing Penelope continued to struggle and even attempted a couple of stamps on the toes of the women that were holding her. Then with the struggling Penelope continued to inhale the fumes from the cloth that was tightly clamped over the lower half of her face. From a professional point of view Penelope could appreciate their professionalism. Pretty soon Penelope felt very weak and could no longer hold her own weight so that her body begins to slump backward into the assailant, and she let out a strained moan for help from behind the cloth.
“Get her in the van,” Kendall ordered as she removed the cloth long enough for the other two women to through Penelope onto a mattress that was lying in the back of the van.
“oooooohhhhmmmmmmm……” Penelope moaned as she heard he faint click of the door being closed. Respite was short lived as the cloth was soon reapplied over Penelope’s nose and mouth. There was nothing that Penelope could do to resist now, being forced into unconsciousness was now inevitable. It came not long after, her vision narrowed and then her eyes fluttered a couple of times before they closed over. The last thought was what kind of trouble would she be in when she came round.