Although the spring sunshine meant that she was able to wear her fabulously stylish sunglasses Christina was glad she had decided to combine her full length down jacket with a matching down gilet. There was a distinct chill in the wind that was blowing down the street. Christina sat at a table outside a small independent coffee shop with her hands wrapped tightly around a large mug of coffee and waited patiently for her phone to vibrate to let her know that she had received a message. She had arrived at the coffee shop about twenty minutes ago and didn’t want to hang around in the same place for too long. Christina had been frequenting this particular establishment regularly over the past week. It wasn’t the quality of the coffee and snacks on offer that had kept her coming back, although she had to admit that they were very good but the excellent view that the coffee shop gave her of the communal entrance to an apartment building on the opposite side of the street.

 

After what her superiors had described as a calamity of a mission three months ago to retrieve a clean energy formula she had been benched. After two weeks of debriefing from the internal security team, it would probably only have been one week but her temper got the better of her on a couple of occasions whilst trying to make her point that the mission had not been a complete disaster. Alright so two of her colleagues had not been heard from since, presumably captured by the shadowy government organization Section 10 but the formula was delivered to an ecstatic client. Swings and roundabouts Christian had suggested but not everyone had shared this viewpoint. Finally she had been officially cleared of any wrongdoing and put back on the roster for jobs. For this mission she had been paired with Kirsty, an experienced operative with a no-nonsense, professional attitude. Although Kirsty was a woman of very few words Christian had always got along well with her. Kirsty was tall, lean and angular with shoulder length jet black hair and sharp features. Her look slightly betrayed the fact that Kirsty was probably the fittest person in the organisation and possessed a surprising combination of strength and speed.

 

The job was originally to retrieve information on a reported scientific breakthrough from a Professor Sarah Smart based at the local College but that had been complicated when she had unfortunately passed away a couple of weeks earlier. However Christina had never let something like death get in her way and had quickly moved onto Plan B. This involved finding someone else who could have access to the information. That search had lead her to a student who was doubling as the Professor’s research assistant and who also happened to stay in the top floor flat in the building that Christian was sitting across from, step forward Peyton Barnes. Peyton was the best chance that Christina had to obtain the information that she had been tasked with retrieving. Peyton lived in the flat with another student called Taylor Farmer. It was Taylor that Christian had tasked Kirsty with following on a shopping trip earlier this morning. Christina was disturbed from her reverie when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, reached in and read the text message that had just arrived.

 

Christina placed the phone back in the inside pocket of her full length down filled coat. She stood up and bent down to pick up a rucksack that was under her seat before taking a final look up and down the street for anything that she felt didn’t look right. Seeing nothing that made her nervous Christina crossed the road and started to make her way down the sidewalk toward the door to the apartment building whilst simultaneously taking a pair of leather gloves from an outside pocket and carefully putting them on, one at a time as she paced across the street. About halfway to the door she noticed Taylor come around the corner carrying several shopping bags and adjusted her pace accordingly. In the end Christina timed it perfectly; arriving at the door just as Taylor was turning round to pick up the bags she had placed on the ground to open the door.

 

“Please let me help you with that” Christina said as she took the door from Taylor and with what she hoped was a sincere smile spreading across her lips as she made eye contact with the young woman.

 

“Oh thank you very much” replied Taylor. As she bent down to pick her bags she didn’t notice Christina quickly put the door onto the latch so that you could enter just by pushing the door open. Christina glanced down the block and noted the unmistakeable silhouette of Kirsty striding purposefully toward the door, slow down Kirsty, don’t arrive too soon thought Christina. Don’t want to spook the girl, timing is everything. Taylor picked up the bags and Christina moved aside to let her enter before following her into the entrance and let the door swing closed behind her. The young woman started to climb the stairs, the old building didn’t have a lift and Christian followed as quietly as possible at what she considered to be a safe distance. At the top floor landing Taylor once again put the shopping bags down to find the correct key for the lock on the door into her flat.

 

“Sorry to be rude but I haven’t seen you around the building before” Taylor said as she stopped fumbling trying to find the correct key long enough to notice Christina’s presence. Christina was trapped on the small landing at the top of the stairs. “Are you looking for Kenneth and Liam?” she ventured and pointed to the other door on the landing. “I don’t think they are about, haven’t seen them for a couple of days.”

 

Christina smiled and kept quiet as the young woman looked at her waiting on a response. A couple of seconds later Kirsty, having entered through the unlocked door walked straight past Christina and directly toward the young woman who gave her a quizzical look.

 

“What are you doing?” Taylor questioned of Kirsty as she grabbed Taylor’s left wrist with her own left hand and wretched it behind her back quickly silencing any vocal protests by clamping her gloved right hand over the young woman’s mouth. Christina watched with interest as the young woman struggled against Kirsty’s powerful grip, squirming to try and gain some leverage, even attempting to strike Kirsty with her elbow. This resistance was met by Kirsty putting more pressure on the arm that was twisted behind the young woman’s back, eliciting a muffled yelp of pain from under the gloved hand that was smothered over the young woman’s mouth. Once Taylor had come to the conclusion that more resistance would bring further pain she calmed down and stopped squirming.

 

“Good morning Taylor” Christina said, the recognition that this woman knew her name made the young woman’s eyes widen in shock. “Yes I know who you are and a lot about you besides that. But today we are more interested in your flatmate. My friends and I have been tasked with asking her a few questions and this unfortunately means that you have been dragged into this situation. Now I am not into violence but you are now our captive. You are going to be restrained, tied up and gagged for a couple of hours. Don’t resist and we will make this as painless for you as possible.” Christina walked across and gently held Taylor’s jaw in her hand. Taylor winced, “Do you understand?” Christina didn’t like getting physical but sometimes a little bit of intimidation was necessary. The young woman nodded almost imperceptibly. “Good” said Christina “I am glad that we have come to an understanding. My colleague is going to remove her hand and then I am going to use this cloth and scarf to gag you” she continue pulling a soft white cloth and blue silk scarf from the pocket of her down jacket.

 

Kirsty removed her hand as Christina scrunched up the cloth and waved it toward the young woman’s mouth, “Open wide Taylor” Christina said firmly. The young woman hesitated and then reluctantly opened her mouth wide enough for the cloth to be placed inside, filling her mouth and effectively silencing her. Christina then used the scarf to secure the cloth in place, knotting the scarf tightly at the nape of Taylor’s neck. “Now give me your keys”, Christina demanded and held out her open palm into which Taylor deposited the keys for the flat. “Thank you Taylor. Now after we get inside lead my colleague to your bedroom. She will bind you on the bed, for your comfort of course. Remember any funny business and we can make this unpleasant.”

 

After opening the door and entering the flat Christina watched as Kirsty followed Taylor into one of the bedrooms off the foyer. She located the second bedroom and entered and took a quick look around. Depositing her rucksack on the bed she opened the largest of the pockets and took out several items. These included several long nylon straps with cuffs at the end. This was a restraint system that would allow a captive to be secured tightly to any bed. Christian grinned and began to make preparations in anticipation of the arrival of Peyton Barnes.

 

In the other bedroom Kirsty removed three lengths of cord from a pocket in her jacket and gave Taylor a firm nudge in the back, encouraging the young woman to lie face down on the bed; she landed with a mmpphh as she complained through the packing in her mouth. Kirsty quickly and with the practiced skill of an expert professional brought Taylor’s wrists behind her back and used a length of the cord to securely bind them together making sure there was no give that could be used to work the cord loose. Kirsty then continued to secure the young woman by securing her ankles together and then used the third length of cord to bind Taylor’s ankles and wrists together, hogtying the helpless young woman. This elicited another muffled grunt of complaint from Taylor’s gagged mouth.

 

Christina finished her preparations and exited the bedroom to find Kirsty standing silently in the hall. “No problems?” Christina asked. Kirsty responded with a slight nod. “Nothing to do now but wait then” Christina said more to herself than Kirsty. Christina made herself comfortable in a handily placed chair whilst Kirsty remained standing, motionless.

 

Peyton entered the apartment and stood stock still, frozen in astonishment by the sight of the strange woman standing in her apartment. Her shock was disturbed by a set of hands grabbing her from behind and pressing a cloth over the lower half of her face. The shock quickly wore off and instinct took over as she began to fight and squirm against whoever had grabbed her. The woman that had been standing in the middle of the apartment started to walk towards her. Surely Peyton thought, this woman would help her but the young woman’s confusion deepened when the woman grabbed both of her wrists so that she could not use her arms in the fight against her assailant. The woman just looked her right on the eye and smiled. It was then that the Peyton noticed the sickly sweet odour in her nostrils. It was coming from the cloth! What were they doing? Her mind flashed onto all of those really bad made for television movies that she used to watch with her mum. The heroine in the story would often be kidnapped by the bad guys, usually when the heroine was nabbed they would use a sedative to knock them out. This must be what was happening to her at the moment. Peyton started to thrash against the two women but it was useless, they were two strong. She could fell her arms and legs start to feel heavy, the drug on the cloth was starting to have an effect. Her ears were ringing and her eyelids were getting heavy. She fought to keep them open but eventually succumbed to the fumes, closed her eyes and slipped into unconsciousness. Between them Christina and Kirsty picked up the young woman and carried her into the bedroom.

 

Peyton started to come around. Her head was sore and her vision was blurry. After a minute or so of trying to put things together she regained her senses and discovered that she had been bound to her bed. Looking around she noticed that both of her ankles were secured by cuffs to a thick band that had been secured to the bed. Her wrists were secured in a similar fashion and she had been stripped to her underwear. She gave her limbs a shake but there was no give in the bonds.  It was then that she noticed the woman that she had first seen when she entered the apartment was standing, legs slightly apart and arms crossed at the end of the bed with an amused smirk on her face. Peyton suddenly became angry at this gross invasion on her liberties and began to shout but the words came out as muffled nonsense. It was then that she realised that there was something filling her mouth, a ball of smooth fabric and what felt like a strip of tape plastered over her mouth.

 

“Peyton now we have established exactly who is in charge.” Christina said making her way to the top of the bed and sitting down beside the restrained young woman. “I am going to ask you some questions regarding the late Professor Smart’s work. For the benefit of everyone it would be best if you answer them quickly. Now I am going to remove the tape so no screaming. Understand?” Peyton nodded and without hesitating Christina ripped the tape off the young woman’s face. Personally she preferred scarves to tape for gags but removing the tape gave the opportunity for a dramatic flourish. Peyton gave a small moan as the tape was removed and then spat out the cloth that had been placed in her mouth.

 

Christina went straight to the point. “Peyton the Professor was working on something, and I have been tasked with getting a copy of.”

 

“I don’t know what you are mmmpphh….” Peyton was cut off as Christina placed her leather clad hand over the young woman’s mouth.

 

“I wasn’t finished. Weren’t you taught that it’s rude to interrupt? Anyway I would have a long think if I were you. You are in a difficult position at the moment and I would like to help you out. But you need to help me first”. Peyton nodded to confirm that she understood and Christina removed her hand. “Talk to me about the Professors work”.

 

“Look I was her assistant but the Professor was keeping a lot of stuff too herself over the past couple of weeks. I wasn’t working with her long and hrnsthhs…….” Peyton was cut off in mid full as Christina forced a cloth back into Peyton’s mouth and clamped her hand over her mouth to prevent her from spitting it out.

 

“Kirsty it’s time for Plan B. We don’t have time to hang around” Christina said over her shoulder. Peyton watched as the other woman removed what she was pretty sure was a vibrator from a bag. Peyton watched on, her worry increasing as trying to wiggle free, to escape but her bindings wouldn’t let her move. Peyton heard the soft burring of the vibrator a couple of seconds before she felt it against her crotch. Peyton instantly tensed as she felt the vibrations through her body. Peyton made eye contact with Christina and pleaded with her to stop this embarrassment. As Peyton felt the heat rise in her groin area she started to involuntarily moan through the cloth that was in her mouth. Christina removed her hand and Peyton throw her head back. Peyton was just about to climax when she felt vibrator get removed from her crotch and slumped down in relief. Christina gave it a couple of seconds then leaned in and removed the cloth from Peyton’s mouth.

 

“We can do this all day Peyton”, Christina said with a smile “but can you?” Peyton turned her head to look at Christina.

 

“Your best chance if you are looking for something special is with one of the Professors former students. They were close and I know that still kept in touch”

 

“Give me the name and I will leave you in peace”

 

“It’s Gillian Young. Last thing I heard she worked at a research facility not far from here. As I said the Professor and her were still close and kept in touch.” Christina paused as the name hit home. Surely it couldn’t be a coincidence, it had to be her. Christina smiled as she contemplated revenge. Christina had been searching for Gillian Young on her own time for a while now but couldn’t track her down; the woman seemed to have disappeared with no trace. Now she could use the full tools of her organisation. Christina must have been daydreaming for a while as she was snapped back to the present when Kirsty coughed. Christina then went into her pocket and removed a bottle containing chloroform and thick white cloth.

 

“Peyton thanks for telling me that. It sounds like a good lead. My colleague and I are going to leave now and we can’t leave you to raise the alarm right away.”

 

“But wait you can’t leave me tied up like this. It could be days before I get found.”

 

“Don’t worry I will untie you but we need to knock you out so that my colleague and I can get a head start.” Christina replied as she poured a liberal amount of chloroform onto the cloth.

 

“You don’t have to do that again, I don’t want it again. I won’t tell anybody about this I mean…. I mmpphh….” Peyton was cut off as Christina thrust the cloth over the lower half of Peyton’s face, taking care to secure it over the young woman’s nose and mouth.

 

“Just relax and take deep breaths Peyton. It will take a minute or so but you will go to sleep eventually.” Christina watched as the young woman fought against the inevitable, eyelids fluttering and then closing for the final time.

 

Christina smiled as she removed the cloth from over Peyton’s nose and mouth after. Christina had given the young woman a good dose to make sure that she would be out for a while. Kirsty had started to remove the restraints from Peyton’s ankles. “You finish here and I will go and introduce or other young friend to the delights of forced slumber.”

 

Christina entered the bedroom where Taylor was valiantly but unsuccessfully striving against the ropes that bound her. Taylor paused when she noticed the woman enter the room. “Calm down. It’s time for us to leave but before we do I need to put you to sleep for a little while. Just long enough for my colleague and I to put some distance between this flat and us.” Taylor started straining against her bonds but quickly realised that it was futile. All she could do was helplessly wait and see what fate awaited her, what would the woman use to knock her out. Then she watched in horror as he opened a small bottle and poured some onto a white cloth. There was little doubt in Taylor’s mind that the cloth she was preparing was doused with the anaesthetic chloroform. “Its okay, I’m going to make this as painless for you as possible. This is chloroform” Christina soothed reassuringly placing the cloth over Taylor’s gagged mouth and nose “just take deep breathes and it will be over quickly.” Taylor didn’t fight as she knew it would be useless, she only hoped as her eyes closed that when she woke that she would be free on any bindings.

 

 

The light had been on in the second floor window for about five minutes as Gillian sat in the drivers’ seat of her car and waited. Well it wasn’t her car it was a pool car that she had been assigned for this operation. On this occasion she had been paired with Hayley King. Gillian was glad that she had been paired with Hayley for several of her early operations with Section 10. Ever since she had joined the organisation under slightly strange circumstances earlier in the year Hayley had taken Gillian under her wing in a sisterly way despite being less than a year older. Gillian hadn’t managed to get the full story on how Hayley had ended up in this line of work, only that she had been recruited from the police academy after an unspecified incident that Hayley wouldn’t go into any further. Hayley’s father was a police officer and she had planned to follow in his footsteps but as Hayley put it, fate had intervened. Suddenly the light went off, on, off then on again in quick succession, jolting Gillian back into the present and the job at hand. This was the signal that she had been waiting on from Hayley. She quickly checked her pockets to make sure that everything she needed. Satisfied, Gillian quickly exited the car and made her way round the building toward the rear entrance. Gillian had picked an all back ensemble for tonight, tight black jeans, black sweater and a long dark overcoat.

 

Gillian and Hayley had been tasked with retrieving stolen goods from a female thief. They had learned that the thief would be attending an upmarket social event this evening in order to case the location for her next job. Hayley had used her connections to get a place on the guest list. During the event Hayley would approach the thief posing as a fence and propose a business relationship. Gillian assumed that Hayley had been successful as Hayley and the target has left the event together and hailed a cab. Gillian had followed the cab to this address and waited. Working her way round the building Gillian found that Hayley had managed to leave the gate that lead to the rear of the property unlocked. She quickly glanced both ways and slipped through the gate, carefully closing it behind her to make no noise. Gillian got to the rear of the property and found that one of the rear entrances was lying open, sometimes she marvelled at how good Hayley was at this sort of thing.

 

Gillian crept up the stairs and paused outside a door which she presumed would lead into a reception room of some kind. Gillian could hear a voice on the other side but couldn’t make out what was being said. Opening the door with as little noise as possible Gillian entered the room. She instantly paused in surprise at the sight that was in front of her. The room was a large studio apartment with a double bed off to one side. It wasn’t this that caused her to pause but the fact that Hayley was lying bound and gagged on the bed with the lady thief standing in the middle of the room with hands on hips. Gillian decided that she had to take action right away.

 

As Gillian crept toward the unsuspecting woman whose back was toward her she made eye contact with Hayley. Hayley picking up on the silent signals went about distracting the lady thief by suddenly struggling against her bonds and screaming behind her gag.  The lady thief didn’t notice the danger until it was too late; Gillian rammed home her advantage by grabbing her around the waist with her left hand and clamping a chloroformed soaked cloth over her nose and mouth. The woman tried to twist free of Gillian’s grasp, but found her efforts thwarted as the arm that encircled her waist only tightened further, drawing her close. Gillian could sense that the woman had held her breathe, desperately tried not to inhale the fumes given off from the chloroform. Gillian didn’t panic and bided her time, waited for a moment, and when the woman didn't take a breath, used the arm wrapped around the woman’s waist to force the air from her lungs. The woman gasped as the air was forced from her lungs, and involuntarily took a deep breath, drinking deeply of the drug on the cloth. Gillian began to feel the fight drain from the woman as she continued to inhale the fumes, her muscles started to relax as the chloroform did its work. As the fight drained from the woman Gillian felt her body go limp but held the cloth tight for another couple of seconds. Finally, satisfied that the woman was helpless, Gillian released her grip and let her slid to the floor.

 

Gillian stood over the lady thief until she heard “MMPPHH, MMPPHH” and remembered that Hayley was lying bound and gagged on the bed. Gillian made her way across, untied a cloth from around Hayley’s mouth. Hayley then spat out a rag that had been stuffed inside her mouth.

 

“Took your time, I was starting to run out of conversation.” Hayley said by way of greeting as a smile broke out across her lips. “Nice technique there by the way, I obviously taught you well.”

 

“What happened?” Gillian asked as she made her way back across to the lady thief, rolled the unconscious woman onto her stomach and went about binding her wrists and ankles with cord.

 

“The lady thief there made me at the party and when we got back here she pulled a taser and forced me onto the bed. I let her tie and gag me as I knew you would ride to the rescue at some point. The bitch was planning to sell me to white slavers, said she would get good money for me as well.”

 

Gillian had to smirk as this. She had no doubt that Hayley would have fetched top dollar. Gillian finished gagging the lady thief and paused for a second, once again astounded at the striking beauty Hayley possessed, especially in the figure hugging black dress that she was wearing on her curvaceous 5ft 9” frame. The woman had a killer body that made other women jealous and men drool. Haley also possessed sharp features, deep blue eyes and luscious long dark blonde hair.

“Nice technique with the binding. Now that you have done her it’s time to do me?” Hayley said mischievously. Gillian walked back to the bed and picked up the cloth. Gillian paused and freshened up the cloth with a dose of chloroform then thrust it at Hayley’s face, clamping it firmly over her nose and mouth. Hayley’s eyes widened in shock over the top of the thick cloth at the suddenness of Gillian’s actions. The thick cloth muffling any noise that could have escaped. Hayley instantly recognised the familiar aroma of chloroform coming off the cloth. They were pretty strong; Gillian must have been liberal with the dosage. Hayley wasn’t fussed as she wasn’t interested in fighting the effects of the drug. Relaxing and taking long deep breathes Hayley inhaled the fumes, feeling the effects as her arms started to tingle.

 

“MMPPHH, MMPPHH, MMPPHH” Hayley said excitedly from under the cloth and began to shake her head violently. Gillian removed the cloth.

 

“What’s the matter Hayley?”

 

“Almost forgot” Hayley said slightly woozily, suffering from the effects of the chloroform. “The stuff is in a hole in the wall behind the cabinet over there” she indicated with her head. “Right, now finish the job.”

 

Gillian replaced the cloth over the lower half of Hayley’s face and Hayley took deep, steady breaths until she felt her head start to ache and eyelids feel heavy, very quickly thereafter everything went dark. Gillian quickly gagged Hayley, although not effectively by just using the cloth as a cleave gag. Gillian then searched behind the cabinet and found the hole in the wall. She quickly found the items that they had been sent to collect and placed them in her pocket. She then scattered some of the other stolen items around the room so that they would be obvious to anybody that entered the room. Taking a final look around Gillian exited the apartment and down the stairs. Gillian engaged the lock on the door at ground floor level and let it close solidly behind her as she excited the building. Planting her feet on the ground Gillian swung her elbow and flung it backward smashing the bottom left pane of glass on the door. Hopefully the police would believe that entry had been forced. Taking care not to be noticed by any neighbours she made her way to her car and after transferring the retrieved items into her rucksack started the engine. Before heading back to base she dialled 911 on a disposable mobile. “Hello police? Yes I would like to report some strange noises. I think it could be a burglary in progress.” Before ending the call she gave the address of the apartment she had just exited. Pulling away from the curb she headed back to base to await Hayley’s return.

 

Rhiannon was glad that the conference was coming to an end. Four days of lectures and networking events had worn her down. It was the final evening and she was attending the formal dinner dance that would officially signal the end of the conference. She had considered not attending and either getting an early night with a bottle of wine or trying to get a flight but thought that she might enjoy the evening. Wearing a flowing red dress with matching heels and shawl she entered the hotel’s public bar from the large hall that was hosting the final throws of the party. The hotel where the conference was being held had several bars and Rhiannon was hoping to get a bit of piece and quiet, making her way to the bar to order a large glass of red she didn’t notice the familiar face sitting at a table at the back of the bar.

Christina had taken a seat in the shadows towards the rear of the bar where she could observe everyone that entered the bar through either entrance, the one to the large function hall and the second that took you out to the main lobby of the hotel. In order to blend in with the conventioneers attending the dinner dance she had dressed for the occasion in a figure hugging black dress. She had to admit that it was great to glam up and put on a nice dress, make up and jewellery. It made a change form the usual practical clothing and she had already had two serious offers from male admires that she had managed to politely fend off. Unwilling to take the chance of being recognised by Rhiannon she nursed her own drink as her target took her time over two large glasses of red wine. After completing her second glass Christina watched as Rhiannon settled the tab and exited the bar into the main lobby. Christina guessed that Rhiannon would be heading to her room. It was time to put her plan into action. Ms Scott was in for a shock in the not to distant future.

 

Christina didn’t want to follow Rhiannon directly through the hotel. She had made discreet enquiries earlier and confirmed what room Rhiannon was in. Instead Christina exited the bar through an unmarked exit into a service corridor. Making her way down the corridor she rounded a corner to find a man arguing with a young woman. Well argument suggested that it was a two way thing but the man was clearly berating the young woman. Christina noted that the young woman was wearing a uniform; she assumed that it was a staff uniform and a plan formed in her head.

 

“What’s the problem here?” Christina asked as she approached. They both paused and turned to face the new arrival. The man paused for a second, slightly shocked by the new arrival. Christina could see that the man’s face was getting to the deep red stage. “Why so upset with the shouting and gesticulating dude?” Christina continued putting on a fake Californian surfer accent.

 

“Dealing with idiots like this its no wonder I get upset. What would you do if you were me?” the man shouted at Christina indicating the young woman when he said the word idiot.

 

“Shoot myself” Christina replied, levelling her gaze at the man. Christina could see the man was shocked by the reply. Probably not used to woman or other staff answering back the man started to realise that she wasn’t going to back down and didn’t know where to go so she let the uncomfortable silence grow.

 

“Can I ask you a question?” the man finally said after a pause deciding to change tack “What are you doing here?” the man straightened his back to try and look all authoritative.

 

“You answer mine first” Christian replied “What are you going to do for a face when King Kong wants his ass back?”

 

This got a laugh from the young woman that she just about stifled. The man stewed in silence and unable to come up with a response turned and left. Christina watched as the man hurried away, embarrassed about being bested by a woman. Turing round she now focused on the young woman wearing a waitress uniform standing next to her.

 

“Thanks for helping me out” the young woman said.

 

“I wouldn’t thank me just yet Monica” Christina replied noting the name on the nametag. The girl paused, a perplexed look breaking across her face at this comment. Christina reached into her small purse and produced a bottle of perfume and a handkerchief. Christina sprayed a healthy amount of the perfume onto the handkerchief.

 

“What’s that scent?” the young woman required, wrinkling her nose.

 

“Chloroform” Christina answered as she thrust the cloth over the other woman’s nose and mouth, using her momentum to push the young woman against the wall and pin her in place with her body.

 

The young woman recoiled in shock at the sudden turn of events. In shock at being attacked by the woman who had just helped her Monica tried to wriggle free but her attacker had the leverage. She was pinned against the wall with a damp handkerchief smothered over her the lower half of her face, completely covering her nose and mouth forcing her to inhale the sweet smelling fumes coming from the chloroform on the handkerchief. She had involuntarily taken a couple of deep breaths when forced against the wall the wind had been knocked out of her. She had no option but to continue to take breaths. Monica could feel the drug start to have an effect as her limbs started to feel heavy, looking at the woman that was holding the cloth she noted that a reassuring smile had broke out across the woman’s face. “Don’t worry, just relax and take some deep breaths. It won’t be long until you go to sleep.” Monica felt her eyelids start to go heavy and eventually she couldn’t fight any longer, closed her eyes and slipped into unconsciousness.

 

Christina watched the young woman’s eyes close and felt her body slump against her own. She removed the handkerchief from overt he woman’s nose and mouth and slipped it into the top of her dress, her cleavage holding it in place. Luckily the young woman was light and Christina was able to manoeuvre Monica over her shoulder and carry her along the corridor to a storeroom that she had noted earlier. Christina opened the door and carefully deposited the young woman on the floor. After closing the door Christian searched the young waitress and quickly found what she was looking for, an electronic key card that would allow access to most of the doors within the hotel. This would allow her to move freely around the non public areas of the hotel. Not having prepared for this she didn’t have anything to bind the waitress with. Unlike the chloroform (no woman should leave home without it) there wasn’t room in her purse. It was a storeroom so there should be something Christina thought to herself. She scanned the shelves and finally found a roll of duct tape. Grabbing it Christina used it enthusiastically to bind the young waitress’s legs and arms, practically mummifying the poor girl. Christina then took a rag from a nearby shelf and checking it was clean stuffed it into the young woman’s mouth, using several strips of tape to hold it in place.

 

Christian pulled her phone from her purse and found the number that she was looking for ands typed Room 613 confirmed. Meet in corridor; then headed toward the fire escape stairs to walk up the sixth floor.

 

Michelle hurried around the corner of the hotel toward the rear goods entrance. During the induction on her first day she was informed that under no circumstances were staff to enter the hotel this way but on this her fifth day she was running late and using this entrance would save her some time and keep her new boss from warning her about her time keeping for a second time during her first week. A colleague had shown her the short cut and explained that for some reason the hotel’s CCTV system didn’t cover this particular rear door. She didn’t mean to be late but got caught up chatting with some friends at the gym after a fitness class. It took a bit of effort to keep her 5 ft 4” frame in the best shape now that she had hit her mid twenties but it was worth it to maintain the natural gifts that she had been bestowed. Michelle opened her large purse and removed two items, an elastic band and the key card that she had been given she started working as a maid in the hotel. When swiped in the electronic locks that were on all of the doors throughout the hotel the key card would allow access to all bedrooms, cupboards and almost every other room. Michelle placed the card between her teeth as she used both hands to tie back her long black hair with the elastic band. As she approached the rear fire escape which she planned to use to enter the hotel she was glad that nobody else was about. About ten paces from the door Michelle stopped as she heard an engine approach the loading bay. She immediately looked around for somewhere to hide but quickly decided that this would be childish and beside she thought a delivery man wouldn’t want know that hotel staff were not supposed to use this entrance. She relaxed as she recognized the vehicle reversing into the loading bay as an ambulance. Michelle stood transfixed as the vehicle stopped short of a ramp. The engine shut off and both doors opened simultaneously as two female paramedics exited the cab.

 

Kirsty stood down from the driver’s side of the ambulance and closed the door. She made her way briskly round to the rear of the ambulance, opened both doors and stood back to let her partner enter the cabin. As she waited for her partner Kirsty took the opportunity to survey the loading bay area and it was then that she noted the young woman dressed in what looked like a maid uniform standing on the elevated platform above her.

 

“Katie, come and have a look at this” Kirsty said over her shoulder to her partner as she started up the ramp toward the young woman, “we may have got a very fortunate break.”

 

Kirsty reached the top of the ramp and paused for a second, then affixing a smile that she hoped exuded friendship made her way across the platform toward where the young woman was still standing close to the goods lift and an emergency exit. About halfway across the gap she raised her hand and said “Good evening. I was told someone would meet us. Did the manager send you?”

 

“No” Michelle replied with a slightly bemused look on her face

 

“Would you be able to help us anyway? We need access to the hotel. Apparently somebody is in need of assistance.”

 

“Ah…yeah sure. My card gets access through that door and a lot of the internal doors. I can take you to the manager’s office or reception if that would help.”

 

“That would be great.” Kirsty replied. Michelle made toward the door but stopped when the paramedic said “but first could you give my partner and I some help with carrying equipment from the ambulance.”

 

“Sure. No problem”

 

They both started back toward the top of the ramp. Kirsty couldn’t help notice that the young woman acted slightly guilty as if she wanted to get out of the loading bay quickly, like she shouldn’t be there at all. “Popped out for a sly cigarette?” Kirsty enquired.

 

“No, nothing like that. Just running late for my shift and shouldn’t really be using this entrance. Don’t tell the manager.”

 

“Let’s just call it our little secret” said Kirsty. This elicited a smile from the young woman wearing the maid uniform.

 

They reached the bottom of the ramp where they were met by the other paramedic. “Thanks for the help” Katie said to Michelle. Before she could reply Michelle suddenly felt the first paramedic’s arms wrap around her body pinning her arms to her sides, in shock Michelle dropped both her purse and key card onto the hard floor of the loading bay, she went to say something but when she opened her mouth the second paramedic who had quickly closed the gap between them stuffed a cloth into her mouth, muffling any noise to make it useless even trying. The second paramedic then bent down and grabbed her legs. In her confusion it took Michelle a couple of seconds to process what was going on. They were carrying her toward the rear of the ambulance. It wasn’t until they were half way that she started struggling. She thrashed with all her strength but she had no leverage, all she succeeded in doing was losing a shoe, both of these woman were larger and stronger the Michelle plus they had the advantage of surprise. Despite her squiring as much as possible the two paramedics easily got her into the rear of the ambulance and forced her down onto a stretcher. She continued to struggle as they first secured her left and then right wrist to the stretcher using thick padded straps. Michelle tried to plead with them to stop, to ask what was going on but they didn’t respond to her muffled pleas. It was then that she remembered the cloth wedged in her mouth and started to work it free. Just as she got it free and spat it out the second paramedic clamped a firm hand over her mouth forcing the back of her head down into the soft pillow below. Michelle looked on as the first paramedic exited the ambulance and closed the doors behind her.

 

There was silence in the back of the ambulance; the only noise was Michelle breathing heavily into Katie’s hand. “Calm down and stop struggling. No point in continuing that now. Not with your hands secured to the stretcher.” Michelle’s brown eyes flashed with fear at what was going on and then suddenly calmed as a look of resignation washed over them. “That’s better”, Katie said whilst nodding “I am going to remove my hand but no shouting. There is nobody to hear you anyway.” Michelle sighed from under Katie’s hand and slowly nodded. Once the hand was removed from over her mouth Michelle watched in stunned silence as Katie went about quickly and professionally securing her to the stretcher. Katie began by using a strap to bind Michelle’s ankles together. Then she used thick, padded straps placed across Michelle’s ankles, thighs, waist and chest to secure her to the stretcher. Michelle grunted in protest as each strap was put in place and tightened against her body.

 

“Why are you doing this?” questioned Michelle as Katie turned round to retrieve some items from a bag that was sitting on another stretcher opposite the one that Michelle was now securely bound to.

 

“This isn’t anything to do with you honey.” Katie replied “from your prospective it was just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now don’t panic but I need to give you something to knock you out. I can’t stay here watching you and I need to know you won’t be causing any trouble.” Panic instantly flooded through Michelle and she made to scream but Katie had anticipated this and moved quickly to place her hand over Michelle’s mouth again.

 

After several seconds of pointless struggling against her bonds Michelle’s muscles relaxed as she submitted to the situation, stopped struggling and nodded for Katie to remove her hand. Her shoulders slumped in defeat as she sadly accepted her fate. Once the hand was removed Katie picked the large white cloth and dark colored bottle that she had place on the stretcher. “You were being so co-operative and I understand the panic so I’m going to make this as easy as possible for you. I’m going to pour some chloroform onto this cloth and hold it over your nose and mouth. You just lay there and take nice, deep breaths things will go fine. I’m not going to lie to you it isn’t nice being chloroformed for the first time; you’re going to feel really light headed and a little bit dizzy. Then your head will spin. Don’t fight it. Just relax and breathe it in. You’ll start to feel really tired and then after about ninety seconds you will drift off to sleep. That’s it.” Katie gently squeezed Michelle’s shoulder as a gesture of support before placing the cloth over Michelle’s nose and mouth.

 

Michelle recoiled from the strong smell of the chemical’s fumes as the cloth was placed over the lower half of her face. Her assailants hand was expertly placed so that the cloth was clamped around her nose so that no air could enter and dilute the pungent fumes. Michelle had heard of the drug before and had seen many examples of it supposedly being used on actresses on television but nothing could prepare her for the real thing. The fumes had a sickly sweet smell that invaded her nostrils. After she had taken a couple of breathes her head started to ache and her vision started to blur. As she continued to breathe in the fumes she eventually started to feel her eyelids getting heavy and darkest descend around the edge of her vision. She had started out fighting against the sleepiness but now she recognised that resistance was futile and took deep, even breathes eventually succumbing to the effects of the chloroform and slipping into unconsciousness.

 

Whilst her partner was securing the maid in the back of the ambulance Kirsty picked up the items that were dropped during the struggle. Keeping the access card she depositing everything else in a nearby bin made her way up ramp, across the loading bay and toward the emergency exit door. Kirsty stopped at the door and mentally crossing her fingers swiped the access card through the reader. After a brief delay the light on the reader changed from red to green and she heard the lock disengage. Pulling the door open she stepped into a fire escape corridor and made her way towards another door that having studied layout plans of the hotel knew would lead her into a stairwell which should climb to the upper floors.

 

Once the young woman in the maid uniform had closed her eyes Katie removed the cloth and placed in on the stretcher. Katie then placed a thick pad over her mouth and used a bandage wrapped around her head several times to keep the pad in place. Not the best gag Katie thought but it would do for the moment. As she checked the equipment on the stretcher for the final time the doors to the rear of the ambulance opened and Kirsty leaned in. Glancing at the young woman bound to the stretcher Kirsty said to Katie “Come on I have got the goods lift down to this level and it is waiting for us”. Katie nodded and slung a backpack over her shoulders and loosened the locks that held the remaining empty stretcher. The two women then removed it from the back of the ambulance. Closing the doors behind them they made their way toward and then into the lift, moving the empty stretcher between them all the time keeping a watch for anybody lurking around the area. Once in the lift with the doors closed they could relax a little. Kirsty leaned over and pushed the button for the 6th floor. Katie took a quick glance at Kirsty “Upward and onwards.” The comment was met with a frosty glare.

 

 

Taking the key card to her room from her purse Rhiannon approached the door and paused before entering, she couldn’t quite put her finger on it but she felt uneasy, like something was wrong. Looking in both directions down the corridor the only other people she could see were a man and woman using each other as a crutch to stay upright walking away from her. They had obviously enjoyed the last night of the conference Rhiannon thought to herself. Putting it down to paranoia after her recent experience of being held captive Rhiannon used the electronic key card to unlock her room and enter. Letting the door close behind her she made her way over to the luxurious queen size bed and collapsed face down in exhaustion. She hadn’t planned to but Rhiannon could feel herself starting to drift off.

 

She must have dozed as she next thing she raised her head from the pillow she there was a noise that was coming from the corridor outside her room. There was then an electronic sound that could have been the lock disengaging. That couldn’t be right Rhiannon thought, it could only be the maid service and they wouldn’t come until the morning. Quickly checking the clock next to the bed to make sure she indeed hadn’t slept all night.

 

Rhiannon rolled over and off the bed, heading for the door. As she entered the short corridor that leads from the bedroom to the door Rhiannon was shocked to find that she was face to face with two female paramedics. The two quickly pounced on Rhiannon and forced a cloth over her face, instantly she recognised the chemical smell coming from the cloth as chloroform. Quickly getting over the shock she tried not to panic with the cloth placed over her mouth, she knew that this would cause her to inhale more of the fumes. Rhiannon reacted by trying to scream for help but the sound was effectively muffled by the soft thick cloth that one of the paramedics had pressed over her face. The two women forced her back deeper into the room and finally on her back onto the bed. The two women had the upper hand and Rhiannon didn’t know if she could fight them off. The struggle meant that she involuntarily began to take deeper and deeper breathes drawing the fumes from the liquid deep into her lungs. After a while Rhiannon began to notice that her arms and legs were starting to feel numb and her strength was ebbing away she now knew that this was the chloroform having an effect on her. The edges of her vision blurred and she knew the game was up, she was going out and there was nothing that she could do. Her last thought was that she hoped that she wouldn’t be in to much trouble when she woke up.

 

Once Rhiannon was out cold the two fake paramedics quickly went about their work, whilst Katie began to strip the woman lying unconscious on the large bed Kirsty removed two compression sacks from a storage area on the stretcher. Kirsty made her way to the far side of the bed and deposited the two large bags onto the bed. Opening them in turn Kirsty removed a down suit and a large overfilled sleeping bag and laid them both out on the bed. Katie by this point has finished stripping Rhiannon and had removed an adult diaper from her rucksack, carefully sliding it under Rhiannon’s bottom Katie used the strips to keep it secured in place. Next Kirsty and Katie combined to put the unconscious Rhiannon into the thickly padded down suit, securing her wrists, ankles, legs and arms with straps. Finally between them Katie and Kirsty manoeuvred Rhiannon into the thickly padded overstuffed sleeping bag and secured the zipper so that there was no way that Rhiannon could get loose. They stood back and admired their handiwork, Rhiannon looked snug and secure. No chance of her getting loose.

 

With Kirsty taking her shoulders and Katie her legs the two women lifted the securely encased Rhiannon onto the stretcher carefully lowering her head onto a pillow. Kirsty quickly used a number of thick, padded straps to secure Rhiannon to the stretcher. Katie then pulled a blanket over Rhiannon to disguise the fact that they had strapped down inside a thickly padded sleeping bag. If they got seriously questioned they would say that it was a new system for transporting patients as safely and comfortably as possible.

Christina entered the room just as Kirsty and Katie completed putting their target on the stretcher and had really enjoyed coming up with this part of the plan to get Rhiannon out of a crowded hotel. Christina had read somewhere that it was sometimes best to hide in plain view and had the idea for members of her team to pose as paramedics and just walk out with Rhiannon on a stretcher and into the back of a waiting ambulance. Nobody was going to stop emergency services taking a sick woman to hospital. It was brilliant even if she did say so herself. Christina led the way towards the elevators with her two colleagues’ just behind with the stretcher bearing their captive.

 

The door to the bedroom opened and Hayley entered, trudged wearily to her bed and collapsed fully clothed on top of the duvet. “Be a dear and give me a hand taking off my boots would you.”

 

Gillian finished checking her old e-mails, including a strange and brief one from a former college professor and walked across from the desk where she had been sitting to where Hayley had collapsed and asked “How did you get on?” as she raised each one of the prostrate Hayley’s legs individually and removed her heeled shoes.

 

Placing the back of her hand against her forehead and raising her voice slightly Hayley replied “Oh, officer the man was a brute, a large foul smelling brute. He attacked that other woman and came after me. A cloth was placed over my nose and mouth and I passed out. There must have been some kind of chemical on it. I really can’t remember anything else apart from coming round bound and gagged on the bed” removing her hand she continued “I thought it was a great performance. They definitely believed it. A job well done young lady. Let’s celebrate with a drink!” as she produced a bottle from her bag, raising it high one handed whilst lying flat on the bed. Gillian took the hint and went to get two mugs from the bookcase on the other side of the room. The first drink quickly became a second then a third. They two woman enjoying themselves so much that Gillian didn’t notice the small light flashing on her mobile phone indicating that she had mail.

 

“How did you explain away the numerous pieces of stolen property around the room?”

 

“I denied all knowledge. I told the police that the woman had invited me back from the party to get some peace and quiet.” Hayley replied. “The young officer tuned a bit red in the face after I gave him a wink I can tell you, might have been his first day. Anyway the lady thief was led away to answer some awkward questions.”

 

The following evening Gillian sat distracted at her desk and did not notice Hayley approach until she asked “Zip me up would you” and spun round in a swish of fabric so that her back was to Gillian. Gillian got up almost robot like to help her friend with getting ready for the night shift and zipped up the corset on the large gown style dress that Hayley was wearing. “Thanks” Hayley said glancing over her shoulder as she crossed the room gracefully toward the door. A couple of steps short Hayley paused and turned round. “Are you okay honey? You’ve seemed a bit distracted all day.”

 

“Nothing serious; just got a couple of things on my mind.” Gillian didn’t tell Hayley about the e-mail that she had received last night whilst they were celebrating. It contained a photograph of her friend Rhiannon Scott and it wasn’t a holiday snap. In it her friend was securely bound, gagged and clearly in distress. The picture was accompanied by a simple message; well it wasn’t so much a message as some demands, two to be precise. The first was to hand across information on work from her former mentor Professor Sarah Smart, which was a problem as she didn’t have it. The second was to aid the escape of Linda Reddick, which was a problem as she was currently held in the facility that she worked at.

 

“Alright if you need to talk about it give me a shout.” Hayley replied as she put on the short down filled jacket, flicking her long blonde hair out from under the collar. After pausing to check how she looked in the full length mirror next to the door she left the room with a wave goodbye.

 

 

Rhiannon had now been conscious for some time. She sat on the edge of one of two single beds in the room and surveyed her surroundings. It was a relatively large twin bedroom, tastefully if sparsely furnished with a small en suite bathroom. She noticed that there was no door to separate the en suite from the main room and also no handle on the inside of what she assumed to be the door out of the room. In addition to that security feature the windows didn’t open, she had tried earlier both of them earlier. There was a nice view of large, well maintained lawns and gardens out of both windows. However there was a lack of clarity to the view that led Rhiannon to conclude that it was one way glass. The bathroom had a toilet, shower and small cabinet containing toothbrushes, toothpaste and shampoo. Everything a woman could want when being held captive against her will. Getting up she walked across and stood started to pace the room, with a slight waddle. Rhiannon was wearing a one piece down filled nylon suit, she had also checked and the thick padding that she had felt around her waist and groin had indeed turned out to be a diaper. That told Rhiannon that she could expect to be restrained in the very near future.

 

“Well at least they’ve given us something to sleep in” Michelle said gesturing toward what she believed were sleeping bags sitting in bags at the end of each bed. Rhiannon paused and turned to stare, she had completely forgotten that there was somebody else in the room. Rhiannon had to admit that she felt bad about hardly engaging the other young woman in conversation but at the present time she had other things on her mind.

 

“You don’t know how right you are” Rhiannon said out loud, although she quickly regretted it. From past experience she could guess what fate awaited in the form of restraint the two young women later on but thought it best not to worry Michelle about details at this time. No doubt she was already struggling with her current predicament.

 

The door opened and two women entered. Michelle and Rhiannon both recognised the taller of the two from when they were kidnapped from the hotel the previous evening. The second was unfamiliar to Michelle but Rhiannon knew her instantly from an earlier encounter. “Rhiannon Scott we meet again” Christina said with enthusiasm “I wish I could say that it was under different circumstances but I would be lying”

 

“So you two know each other then?” Michelle asked Rhiannon.

 

“Firm friends” Christina added with a smile before Rhiannon could respond. Michelle turned her attention to Christina and asked “What’s with the puffy suits?”

 

“A combination of comfort and practicality”, was the reply. Michelle just nodded like this simple reply was all that was required. Rhiannon stared at the young woman in amazement. Despite being bound, drugged, abducted and brought to this room, in some unknown location she really hadn’t grasped the situation that they both found themselves in. Rhiannon wanted to grab the girl and explain to her they were being held by a very profession group of woman at an unknown location and nobody was going to be looking for them.

 

“Right as much as I am enjoying our little conversation its time to get you all settled in for nice relaxing and restricting period. Probably best that you take a nice nap as well.” Christina said and made her towards the bed where Michelle was sitting. “Let’s start with the new kid.”

 

“What do you mean?” questioned Michelle, a slightly concerned look spreading across her face.

 

Rhiannon’s patience with her fellow captive finally wore out and she snapped “That sociopath is going to tie us up, put us in some kind of sleeping bag contraption and then knock us out with chloroform. And do it all with a smile on her face.”

 

At this outburst Christina turned her attention to Rhiannon and shot her an admonishing look. Michelle tried to scramble away from the two women toward the top of the bed however her progress when halted when her back hit the headboard.

 

“Nowhere to go Michelle” Christina taunted.

 

“Please don’t do this” Michelle pleaded “I just want to go home.” She struggled as Christina and Kirsty lunged at her, making a grab for flailing limbs.

 

“Enough of this nonsense, Kirsty hold her whilst I get the chloroform.”

 

Rhiannon looked on with sadness as Christina and Kirsty wrestled with Michelle trying to pin her down on the bed. Kirsty eventually managed to get a firm grip of one of Michelle’s arms and wrench it in an awkward position which illicted a scream of pain from the young woman.

 

“Michelle please calm down. There is no point in fighting them.” Rhiannon said as calmly as possible. “It doesn’t hurt if you don’t fight and the way they use the bondage is actually comfortable, or as comfortable as it can get judging from my previous experience.”

 

At this all three woman struggling on the other bed paused and turned to look at Rhiannon. “Look just watch while they restrain me.” Rhiannon moved to the end of the bed and retrieved the bag containing what Michelle had incorrectly guessed was a sleeping bag. Well Rhiannon thought she wasn’t far off the mark. After opening the cloth sack Rhiannon unfolded the sleeping bag and laid it on the bed. She used her hands to smooth it flat and once again took notice of the smoothness of the fabric and also how much more padding it had in comparison to a regular sleeping bag. Rhiannon then stood at the side of the bed and stared at Christina and smiled. “Ready when you are.”

 

“Okay then. Wrists together in front of you please.”

 

Rhiannon complied with the instructions and watched as Christina approached with a pair of padded cuffs and used them to secure Rhiannon’s wrists firmly together. Kirsty went into her bag and produced several other padded straps of various lengths and placed them onto the bed. Christina picked up the largest of the straps and after pushing Rhiannon’s bound wrists above her head placed the strap around her waist and tightened it in place. Christina then brought Rhiannon’s wrist back down and used clasp built into the cuffs to lock them to the strap around her waist severely restricting their movement.

 

“Put you legs together,” Christina commanded

 

Rhiannon did as instructed and Christina used three more straps to secure her legs together in three places, at the ankles, just below the knees and across the thighs. After checking that all of the straps were secure Christina moved around the now securely bound Rhiannon and fully unzipped the sleeping bag that was lying on the bed. With her freedom of movement restricted Rhiannon clumsily moved toward the bed and with help from Kirsty managed to bump and slide her way into the sleeping bag that would confine her for what Rhiannon hoped would not be a long period of time. Once Rhiannon was lying in the sleeping bag Christina folded the top back across and carefully zipped it up back up and locked it in place. Rhiannon then fidgeted about trying to find the most comfortable position. After a couple of seconds she found it and stopped, once again marvelling at how comfortable she felt despite her bonds.

 

“Now I think its time for a relaxing nap.” Christina said allowed as she produced a cloth from her pocket and poured chloroform onto it. Christina leaned over and clamped the cloth over Rhiannon’s nose and mouth making sure that it was snugly in place so that Rhiannon was forced to breathe the fumes from the chloroform that had been soaked onto the cloth. Rhiannon did not recoil as the now familiar scent of chloroform invaded her nostrils. Having now been knocked out with chloroform on a couple of occasions she was accustomed to the pungent odour of the liquid’s fumes. Relaxing and taking deep breathes she felt the drug start to have an effect and take her toward the inevitable outcome. Rhiannon felt her arms and legs begin to tingle and then as she took further deep breaths she could feel her eyelids getting heavy and started to see her field of vision narrow. Eventually Rhiannon resistance to the drug crumbled and her eyelids fluttered for the last time and closed over. Linda removed the cloth for a couple of seconds and then put it lightly over the lower half of Rhiannon’s face again allowing her to breathe in more of the fumes. Christina did this on several occasions so that Rhiannon got a heavy dose of the anaesthetic.

 

“Are you going to do that to me?” Michelle questioned. “It didn’t look too bad.”

 

Gillian had decided that she had run out of options, she couldn’t see any other way forward. As much as she valued her current colleagues, especially Hayley she couldn’t just ignore her friendship with Rhiannon. That and the ordeal that Rhiannon had been through and was now seemingly happening for a second time, that Gillian felt responsible for was forcing her to act. The e-mail had arrived into her personal account whilst she was celebrating with Hayley a couple of evenings ago. It contained a photograph of Rhiannon bound and gagged and a list of demands that would have to be complied with to secure her release. Gillian had replied confirming that she would comply. One of the demands was to help Linda Reddick escape and it was this demand that Gillian was about to embark on at the moment.

 

Gillian knew that she had already made the decision to proceed the moment that she had lifted the tazer from the security office on the third floor of the facility, the same floor where she shared a room with Hayley. The taser was a weapon that was not used very often. Even the threat of using it struck fear into most women, which was obviously the point. She knew this because of the hushed tones that were used to describe it and its affects around the place. Even having one pointed at you did seem to have an effect on people, an effect that she had experienced first hand. Gillian stood up from the desk and put on her full length down filled jacket, checking her pockets to make sure that she had everything that she needed. Satisfied that she did Gillian made to exit the room grabbing a backpack from her bed before exiting the room. Before she did though she quickly scribbled something onto a piece of paper and thrust it into a pocket.

 

Gillian had come up with a brief plan but was going to have to make most of it as she went along. Making her way toward the guard station she hoped that as it was late in the evening and the nightshift had just come on duty that people would be a bit more relaxed, hearing a noise from around the corner Gillian flattened against a wall and took a quick glance around the corner. Seeing Hayley standing in the middle of the corridor gave her cause to pause for a couple of seconds. It was certainly now or never. Taking and exhaling deep breathes to keep her calm Gillian moved away from the wall and tuned into the corridor walking up behind Hayley who was making the rounds on this floor. Somehow despite how she felt Gillian managed to sneak up behind Hayley and quickly clamped her hand over Hayley’s mouth and pull her in close, jabbing the twin prongs of the tazer into fleshy part on her body between the hips and ribs.

 

“Hayley please relax and don’t struggle. I don’t want to use the tazer but I will.” Gillian thought Hayley didn’t seem to hear what she had said as Hayley had frozen a spilt second after feeling the prongs jab into her side. “I would like you to reach down and remove the belt with your equipment from around your waist and let it drop to the floor. Then I am going to remove my hand from your mouth. Do not shout for help. Please then place both hands with fingers laced together behind your head and walk slowly toward the guard station. Once you reach the guard station turn and face the wall.” After what seemed like longer but was probably only couple of seconds Hayley nodded her understanding almost imperceptibly and slowly moved her left hand down toward her waist and, undid the buckle holding her equipment belt that contained her radio, handcuffs, chloroform and other items and let it slip to the floor. Now was the test for the threat of the taser Gillian thought as she removed her hand from Hayley’s mouth. Hayley silently stepped forward and placed both hands behind her head, interlocking her fingers. Good start Gillian thought as she bent down and picked up the belt, clipping the buckle and slinging it over her shoulder. She now needed a second bit of luck, that Gayle wouldn’t be watching the CCTV camera as they approached the guard station. Gillian followed Hayley at a distance of a couple paces as they walked down the corridor, around a corner and toward the guard station. As they covered the distance toward the entrance to the guard station Gillian realised that her good luck was indeed going to continue. If Gayle had noted the strange site of Hayley walking to the station with her hands behind her head Gayle would have come to investigate or raised the alarm in some way. Just before Hayley turned into the guard station Gillian quickened her pace so that she was right behind her and the two women entered almost as one. As she entered the guard station Gillian saw that Gayle had been sitting engrossed with something on the internet rather than the CCTV screen she should have been paying attention too. Gayle spun round on the seat as the two women entered and her face instantly broke into an expression of confusion at seeing Hayley with her hands behind her head. “What’s going on ladies?” Gayle questioned trying to comprehend the situation. Hayley just shrugged and nodded toward Gillian standing behind her.

 

“Bit of a jailbreak Gayle” Gillian said raising the taser and giving it a bit of a wave so that Gayle could see it clearly. Gayle eyes were drawn to the device and Gillian was once again shocked at the look of fear and concern that crossed Gayle’s face. “As I explained to Hayley I don’t want to use this but will if I have to. Now please do as I say and we can all get through this unscathed. Please take off you belt and put it on the counter on top. Then stand up and join your Hayley facing the wall with your hands behind your head. Thanks.” Gayle slowly got up from the seat and complied with the instructions. Once both women were stood facing the wall Gillian made her way over to the counter and picked up the electric key card that would open all of the doors on that level. It was held in the guard station for security purposes. Each individual had a security card but it only opened certain doors.

 

Turning to the two women facing the wall Gillian said “Right ladies please walk slowly toward Suite 4 and stop before the door, turn and face the wall.” After a quick glance between them Hayley and Gayle turned and slowly made their way out of the guard station, turned and made their way toward the suite as directed. Gillian followed a couple of paces behind, close enough to use the taser, only stopping to close the door behind her. After a brief walk along the corridor Hayley and Gayle paused and turned to face the wall. They had arrived at suite 4. Gillian walked around the two women, giving them enough room that they couldn’t make a lunge for her. Gillian went up to the door and swiped the access card. On hearing the electronic lock disengage Gillian pushed the door open, stepped back noting that both Hayley and Gayle had glanced across indicated that they should enter the suite. Gillian could tell that both women were slightly nervous as to what she had planned for them. Gillian was tempted to explain but thought that the element of fear of the unknown was helping to keep them unbalanced. Gillian has chosen this suite on purpose as it had recently been vacated by the previous occupant and hadn’t been restocked. It also had two separate beds. Hayley and Gayle both stopped in the centre of the room. Gillian also stopped and took a moment to gain composure. This would be the tricky bit.

 

“Hayley please go to the first bed lie down and cross your wrists behind your back” Gillian noted a glance between Hayley and Gayle and sensed that she had to take action at this moment to remain in control. She strode purposefully forward and jabbed Hayley in the side with the taser. It elicited the desired reaction as Hayley hurriedly made her way over to the bed, lay down with her face on the pillow and crossed her hands behind her back. “Thank you Hayley. Ladies I know that we are friends but next time you do not obey a command the taser will be fired up.” Next Gillian held out two lengths of cord toward her and said “Gayle please use the cord to tie Hayley’s ankles and wrists together. Securely please as I will be checking your work. After you have finished please sit down on the end of the other bed” Gayle reluctantly took both lengths of cord and walked across to where Hayley was lying on her stomach on the bed. Quickly and professional Gayle bound both Hayley’s ankles and wrists and did so properly so that there was no wiggle room, loose knots or likelihood of working free quickly. Hayley for her part accepted the situation and bonds without fuss as her colleague secured her wrists and ankles. Whilst Gayle was binding her wrists Hayley tried to talk Gillian round. “Look I don’t know what you are trying to do but whatever it is this is not the right way to go about it. It’s not too late to change you mind and we can all sit down and discuss this.”

 

“Hayley please be quiet,” replied Gillian with enough force to let Hayley know that there would be no change of mind “I don’t want to gag you at the moment.” It was hard to tell given their relative positions but Gillian was sure that Hayley’s shoulders slumped as she turned her head and buried her face into the pillow. Gillian turned to the second bed and found that Gayle was sitting on the end of the bed that was positioned about five yards from the first. Gillian crossed and stood in front of Gayle and handed her another length of cord. “Please use this to tie your ankles and then lie face down on the bed and place your hands behind your back.” Gillian watched as Gayle tied her own ankles and then as gracefully as you could with your ankles bound and wearing a dress with such a large skirt manoeuvre herself up the bed until in a position where her head would touch the pillow when she lay down. Gayle then placed her head on the pillow and slowly spun around until her face was on the pillow and then crossed her wrists in the small of her back. Gillian then used the final length of cord that she had brought to secure Gayle’s wrists and checked the bindings that Gayle had tied on her own ankles and on Hayley. Satisfied that they were secure Gillian then moved to where she had placed Hayley’s belt and removed the bottle of chloroform from the pouch where it was stored. Gillian really didn’t want to sedate Hayley and Gayle but she knew that they would try and get free of their bonds as soon as she left and if they were unconscious it would at least give her more time to free Reddick and get out of the building. Grabbing a soft thick cloth from her pocket she moved across the room and stood beside Hayley who still had her face firmly planted in the pillow. Gillian removed the top from the bottle and poured a liberal amount of the chloroform onto the neatly folded cloth. Hayley seemed to sense Gillian’s presence and turned her head so that she could look at Gillian. Hayley then registered the cloth.

 

“Is there any need to dose me with chloroform and put me under?” Hayley questioned of Gillian.

 

“Unfortunately there is. I know that the moment that I leave you will try and get loose. Knocking both of you out will give me a bit more time to get out of the building before you commence that exercise. I don’t really want do this but I have no choice.”

 

“This is becoming something of a habit.” Hayley said with a slight grin, recognising the tension in Gillian’s demeanour. “Okay I understand. Just get on with it. I’m not going anywhere but the sooner you use the chloroform soaked cloth the sooner I regain consciousness and can start coming after you. Just please be gentle. I want to wake up looking this pretty. Part of being a damsel in distress is looking beautiful” Hayley said managing to maintain a glint in her eye.

 

At that point Gillian lowered the cloth and as gently as possible placed it over the lower half of Hayley’s face. Gillian pressed slightly to ensure that the cloth was securely over Hayley’s nose and mouth, banishing any fresh air and forcing Hayley to inhale the fumes from the chloroform on the cloth. Hayley said something as it was placed over her face but any noise was muffled by the cloth. As Gillian watched Hayley relaxed and took steady deep breathes, calmly inhaling the fumes until she after thirty seconds Gillian could see that they were starting to have an effect, Gillian could see that Hayley’s eyelids were growing heavier and she had to fight to keep them open. Gillian kept the cloth in place for a couple of breaths once Hayley’s eyes closed to ensure that she was totally out then removed it. The Gillian produced a fresh cloth and a scarf from one of the pockets in her jacket. Gillian scrunched up the cloth in her hand and as gently as possible placed it into Hayley’s mouth then used the scarf to secure it in place. Gillian was about to move onto Gayle when she had a thought. Gillian then left the chloroform soaked cloth on the pillow next where Hayley’s head was placed. Gillian figured that Hayley would continue to inhale the fumes whilst the cloth was moist and it would keep her out for a bit longer. Moving round to the second bed after grabbing a fresh cloth from Hayley’s equipment belt she once again removed the top from the bottle of chloroform and soaked the cloth with the liquid. Gayle had squirmed round and watched the interaction between Hayley lying on the bed and Gillian so she knew what was coming.

 

Gillian thought that it didn’t really matter as they would probably spend most of the next day being interrogated by the internal security team to make sure that they weren’t helping Gillian with her scheme rather than innocent victims. Gillian knew at this point that it may have looked better if she and Hayley had made a move and forced Gillian to use the taser. They had surrendered a bit too meekly perhaps but it was too late for that know as Gillian clamped the chloroform soaked cloth over Gayle’s nose and mouth. Unlike Hayley Gayle did instinctively try and fight off the cloth and the fumes for a couple of seconds but then quickly realised her mistake. As Gillian was aware any exertion whilst having a chloroform soaked cloth held over your nose and mouth only made you take deeper breaths, inhaling more of the fumes. Gillian expertly held the cloth in place over Gayle’s nose and mouth as Gayle continued to breathe in the fumes, eventually succumbing to their affect and falling off the edge into a deep, if not relaxing sleep. Gillian removed another cloth and a second scarf from her pocket and used them to gag Gayle in the same simple and effective manor that she had gagged Hayley. Once again she left the chloroform soaked cloth on the pillow so that Gayle would continue to inhale a good dose of the fumes whilst unconscious.

 

Gillian stopped for a minute to collect her thoughts then made a move; she had to keep the momentum going as now there was no going back. The next shift wouldn’t be on deck until 7am but she wanted to be as far away as possible when her actions were discovered. Gillian grabbed a pair of handcuffs together with the keys, the bottle of chloroform and some fresh cloths and placed them into the pockets of her jacket along with a wallet containing her ID, purse, mobile and the security key card for the floor. She didn’t plan to use them at any point but thought that she should be prepared. After checking that both of the women that she had bound, gagged and chloroformed were comfortable and in no danger she placed a folded up sheet of paper under the pillow that Hayley head lay on and then left the suite and locked the door behind her using the key card.

 

Walking briskly along the corridor Gillian returned to the guard station and turned off the power to the recording hard disk for the CCTV system. It might have seemed like a token gesture but anything that gave her a slight edge was worth doing at this point. Gillian then closed and locked the door to the guard station and made her way along the corridor to Suite 8 where Linda Reddick was being held. Gillian knew that as a top category guest she would be kept restrained for most of the day. Using the key card she gained access to the suite. The lights were on a motion sensor and were activated as soon as she entered the suite. Gillian removed her backpack and dropping at at the door took a moment to look around the suite it was similar to Suite 4 except that there was only one double bed rather then two singles. This was where Linda Reddick was securely bound and restrained at this moment. This was when she came face to face again with Linda Reddick for the first time since the incident at Gillian’s flat three months ago that had changed her life so dramatically. Gillian had been kept away from Linda for obvious reasons.

 

Locking eyes with the woman Gillian began “Linda we haven’t got time for details at the moment but I am here to get assist you in escaping.” Gillian could see that Linda was surprised by this turn up by the look in her eyes and the almost inaudible mumbled response through her gag. “I am going to untie you now so please no funny business and I will explain everything in more detail when we are long gone from here.” Linda nodded her head in understanding. Linda was lying in a restraining bag that was ironically her own invention that Gillian suggested that her team adopt for this particular captive. It was like a large sleeping bag except with more padding, elasticated sides that restricted movement and zips that prevented you from getting out. Working quickly she found the small key and unlocked the small padlock holding the zip, fully unzipped the restraining bag its entire length and flung it open to reveal Linda’s bound body. At this point Linda was making noises that Gilliam presumed were about getting her gag removed but Gillian though that she could get that herself later. Once again starting at the bottom she undid the straps binding Linda’s legs together at the ankles, just below and above the knee and across her thighs. Finally she undid the lock on the cuffs binding Linda’s wrists and stood back. Linda took the opportunity to swing her legs round and stand up. Gillian had to marvel at the calmness of the woman as she started to work kinks out of her neck with slow and steady movements.

 

Gillian had turned and made her way toward the backpack that she had dropped on entering the suite. Linda took this as an opportunity to remove the gag that she had been wearing practically for three months. Locating the buckle behind her head by feel Linda undid the strap and released the thick pad that had been placed over her mouth. Then finding the end unwound the thick padded bandage that had been wrapped over her mouth and behind her head several times. When that was removed she was able to spit out the cloth that had been placed in her mouth some hours earlier.

 

“I bet you never thought you would be doing this?” Linda said across the room to Gillian. Gillian crouching over the backpack turned and shot her a dirty look. “As hard as this might be to believe Linda” Gillian replied as she made her way back toward Linda, “this actually isn’t about me helping you. I need you for something. As I said we don’t have time to chat it through at the moment so put on these clothes and we can get out of here.” Linda physically recoiled as Gillian thrust a pile of clothes against her chest. Linda let the clothes fall on the ground as Gillian spun on her heels and went to wait at the door, pointing at her watch as she did so. Linda didn’t need to be told twice she quickly shrugged off what she had been wearing. “Look out” Linda heard Gillian say as she looked up to find something being hurled toward her. As Linda caught it one handed she noted that it was deodorant. Linda used the spray over her entire body, dropped the can to the floor and started to get dressed, underwear followed by jeans, jumper, sneakers and a short down filled jacket.

 

After completing getting dressed Linda joined Gillian at the door. Gillian said “Right lets get one thing straight on this little venture and that is I am in charge. You do what I say when I say it or we are going to fall out. Do you understand?”

 

“Yes” Linda replied “so let’s get moving.”

 

“Before we go any further take this” Gillian said handing over Gayle’s ID card. “You will need it to exit the building. I have dealt with the guards on this level which means if we keep to the main stairwell we just have to get past the guard at the main door. Just swipe the card to get out and don’t look directly at the guard. You look enough like Gayle, it’s her clothes you have on, in terms of height, build and hair to pass as long as there isn’t too much scrutiny.”

 

As both vehicles exited out of the motel parking lot Hayley pulled out from the curb and followed at what she hoped would be a safe distance. Keeping the vehicles in sight was relatively easy on the city streets as Hayley had basic training on this as the police academy. Soon however the busy city streets faded into smaller county roads as they exited the built up areas into more scenic surroundings so Hayley was forced to drop back a little from the small convey. After following for forty minutes Hayley noticed the turn signal on the van come on and slowed down to give the vehicles more space. After dropping back to what she thought was a safe distance to allow the two vehicles to turn from the main road without being spotted Hayley maintained her slow speed and cruised past the turn off. It looked to be an entrance onto a long driveway; solid looking gates blocked any thought of following. Standing on each side of the entrance were solid brick pillars with large brass plaques bearing the name The Chester Institute.

 

Hayley spent the next twenty minutes making left turns driving around what she believed to the boundary of the property that the two vehicles had turned on to. Unfortunately she couldn’t see much from this level due to a combination of the perimeter wall, large trees and thick hedges. After passing the entrance again she was starting to give up hope but after making another left turn she noticed a track off the right hand side of the road. Swinging her car onto the track she had found a single track access road that quickly ascended through the some woods. Hayley found a passing spot halfway up the hill and pulled in. Crossing the track and making her way further up the hill on foot she turned round and found that she now had an excellent view of the property spread out below her. The estate consisted of three large buildings and several smaller ones dotted around lush green lawns. Two of the larger buildings were connected but the third sat off by itself in a separate compound that was surrounded by what looked like a tall fence. In addition to the buildings the complex also had a swimming pool with bar, tennis courts and a small golf driving range.

 

Leaning against a tree Hayley pulled her phone from her pocket and opened the interest browser function, selected a search engine and entered The Chester Institute. When the results were displayed Hayley was surprised that she had to scroll through many entries before finding something substantial. It was an article about the Institute and its director, Elizabeth Crawford. The article was mainly about the director’s charity foundation but the place was billed as a retreat where women could come and relax or receive treatment for various ailments. It did seem strange for such a place to be so publicity shy, so much so that they didn’t have a website. At the bottom of the article it had a note that visits were by appointment only with a telephone number. Nothing ventured noting gained Hayley thought to herself as she selected the number and pressed the call option.

 

Despite her best efforts Hayley couldn’t get an appointment that day so had to bide her time until the following morning. Arriving early Hayley approached the reception desk having entered the main building through the large double wooden doors. The young woman instantly looked up and flashed a high wattage, toothy smile in her direction. “Good morning and welcome to the Crawford Institute. Can I take your name please?”

 

“Hayley King, I have an appointment.”

 

“Miss King, nice to met you. Please take a seat over there” the receptionist she indicated a section of the large room stocked with couches and coffee tables, “and my colleague Cindy will be with you in a few minutes.” Hayley nodded her appreciation and made her way across to the very comfortable looking couches. Hayley took a moment to take in her surroundings. The sumptuously and tastefully decorated interior of the property hadn’t come cheap. Whatever business was being carried out within the walls of the compound was obviously profitable. Hayley waited as instructed and was soon approached by a young woman that was almost the identikit of the receptionist, big smile, tastefully expensive outfit and a neat, well kept appearance.

 

“Miss King my name is Cindy and I will be your guide for your tour this morning.”

 

“Thanks Cindy. Please Hayley is fine. Ms King makes me feel even older than I actually am. Please lead on.” With that Cindy turned and headed toward a door at a brisk pace. Hayley tagged along a couple of paces behind. Hayley caught up with the young woman at a door and paused. Cindy tuned round and produced a card that she almost waved in Hayley’s face. Cindy proceeded to explain how at the Chester Institute that their client’s privacy and security was at the top of their list of priorities. Cindy then swiped the card to disengage the electronic lock that held the door closed, opened it for Hayley to enter the corridor on the other side before closing it behind both of them.

 

Hayley stayed a pace behind Cindy as they toured the large house. Cindy settled into what Hayley assumed to be the standard sales pitch about the history of the building and the various courses and treatments on offer at fabulous prices. Hayley had to admit the building was spectacular but that was not what she had come here for. During the tour Hayley asked the occasional question without arousing suspicion but was more concerned with having a good look around and had specifically noted the high level of security, CCTV systems and locks on every door. Trying to keep her bearings Hayley thought that they were now at the back of the main building when she noticed a large door in the external wall that she thought was strangely positioned. Pausing she asked Cindy where this door led.

 

“That’s the path out to our more secure facility. I don’t want to say too much but our more delicate clients stay there for treatment. I haven’t been inside, only specially trained staff members are allowed.” Hayley nodded and followed Cindy as the young woman carried on with the tour. Hayley had gotten into the building and really needed to have a look around on her own to confirm if her friend was being held at the facility. For that she would need to get rid of Cindy in some way and unfortunately she couldn’t just lose her. Given the security provisions around the building if she went wandering off it was sure to raise an alarm so that left only one option.

 

“Could I have a quick look in one of the suites on this level?”  Hayley asked.

 

“Yes, no problem.” Cindy paused for a second then walked on. “Suite 124 is free and we can have a look in there.” Cindy opened the door and held it for Hayley to enter. Cindy then closed the door and started toward the large bay window where she stopped to admire the view of the gardens.

 

Hayley felt sorry for what she was about to do to the young woman but she didn’t have any choice. Closing the distance to Cindy quickly Hayley grabbed her from behind wrapping her right arm around Cindy’s neck, taking care that her bicep and forearm where pressed against either side her unsuspecting targets neck. Hayley then started to apply pressure to both sides of the neck by squeezing her forearm and bicep together. She then grabbed the forearm of her left arm with her right hand and used her left hand to press Cindy’s head toward the elbow of her right arm. Cindy had shaken off the initial shock of the attack and was trying to free herself of Hayley’s grasp by flailing wildly and slapping at Hayley’s strong arms but it was already too late. Hayley could feel the strength starting to drain from Cindy as she struggled to breathe. The struggling got weaker and weaker until Hayley eventually felt Cindy go limp. Hayley immediately relaxed her hold and gently laid the young woman down on the lushly and no doubt expensively carpeted floor. Hayley picked up the dead weight of the young woman and dragged her toward the bed, once there Hayley heaved her onto the bed. Continuing to improvise Hayley looked around the room to find something to bind the woman. Settling on the wardrobe Hayley approach and flung open the doors and found what she was looking for, a selection of complimentary bathrobes. Pulling the cords from three of the bathrobes she hurried back to the unconscious woman on the bed. Flipping her onto her stomach Hayley gathered both of the woman’s hands in the small of her back and used one of the cords to securely bind the woman’s wrists together. Once the wrists had been secured Hayley used the second cord to bind the woman’s ankles together. They using the third cord Hayley tied the woman’s wrists and ankles together, hogtying the poor young woman. Delving into her pocket Hayley produced a clean handkerchief, balled it up and forced it into the woman’s mouth. It didn’t fill her mouth completely but it would do. Lastly Hayley removed the silk scarf from around her neck and tied a knot in the middle. Placing the knot in the bound woman’s mouth she tightly tied both ends at the base of Cindy’s neck. Hayley detected the first signs of Cindy starting to regain consciousness and took that as a sign to make a quick exit but not before checking Cindy’s pockets and taking her security card.

 

Hayley spent the next half an hour searching round the main building but couldn’t find anything that would suggest that kidnapped women were being held there unless there was a secret entrance that she couldn’t find. Hayley thought that the best bet would be the second building where the more delicate clients were located but she had tried the door that lead there and Cindy’s security card hadn’t opened the door. Suddenly Hayley was aware of a commotion and the sound of several people heading in her direction. Hayley decided that this was not the natural sounds of this facility which meant that they were probably looking for her; either they had discovered the bound and gagged Cindy or the failed swipe of the security card had set off some kind of alarm. Hayley decided that these women would probably subdue first and ask questions later so made her way round to the where she had earlier found some vacant suites, unlocked one and made her way inside. Hoping to hear what was going on she left the door slightly ajar and listened intently behind the door. Hayley waited for what seemed like a long time before hearing several people hurry past. Hayley realized that she had been holding her breath and let it out as she opened the door to leave. As the door opened Hayley found herself confronted with a tall, angular brunette with a serious expression on her face and hands on her hips. Both women paused for a split second before the brunette said

 

“Hi I’m Kirsty and what do you think you are doing?” before she launched herself at Hayley forcing her back into the room.

 

Hayley and Kirsty wrestled 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. Hayley 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, Hayley lost her balance when her heel got trapped in a rug that was on the floor allowing Kirsty to gain an advantage and pin Hayley on the bed, this meant stalemate at the moment but for how long. The door to the room that was only slightly ajar suddenly burst open. Hayley managed to twist around and saw two women dressed identically as nurses come rushing in and made straight for the bed looking to assist Kirsty in subduing Hayley. Now Hayley knew that she was in trouble. A third woman stopped at the entrance to the room and looked around, sizing up the situation. This woman was wearing a nice pantsuit and so was probably in charge.

“Quick, keep her quiet” Christina shouted from the doorway “Use the chloroform!” Christina casually closed the door and turned to usher some nosy individuals congregating around in the corridor who had been drawn by the commotion away from the area. “Come along ladies; move along, nothing to see here. Don’t worry just one of our more troubled guests having an episode.”

 

Hayley was struggling valiantly against her three assailants when she saw one of them lean across and lift one of the luxurious pillows from the top of the bed, going into a pocket the assailant produced a bottle and poured a liberal amount of liquid from the bottle onto the pillow. It took Hayley a few seconds to grasp what was going on; it dawned on her just before the chloroformed soaked pillow was smothered over her face. Hayley tried to work herself free but with her arms and legs pinned, and useless as she attempted to somehow reach up and pry the chloroformed soaked pillow away from her face. As she feared the powerful vapours 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. Hayley 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. Hayley managed to turn her head sufficiently to escape the direct contact with the liquid but it was just delaying things briefly, her limbs became increasing numb, her eyelids fluttered uncontrollably and then everything went black as she slipped into unconsciousness. Kirsty noted that Hayley had stopped struggling. To check Kirsty lifted Hayley’s left arm and then let it go, it instantly fell back to the bed. Kirsty nodded to her colleague holding the pillow over Hayley’s face who removed it at once.

Although the ceiling in the room was nicely decorated Hayley was starting to get bored staring at it whilst trying to keep her mind occupied. Hayley had no idea how long she had been held captive, it could have been days. She had come round on a couple of occasions but had been knocked out again quickly. In addition to chloroform her captors had used gas. They had wheeled in tanks on a trolley and placed a rubber mask over her nose and mouth. It had been night, night time soon after that. After initially coming round and taking a couple of minutes to regain her sense of equilibrium Hayley quickly confirmed that her legs were securely bound at the ankle, just below the knee and across the thigh by what felt like thick straps. Her wrists were bound together with padded cuffs and her arms were pinned to her body by two more thick straps. To increase the difficulty of escape she was secured inside one of the bondage contraptions that Gillian had told her about when they discussed her ordeal at the hands of her captors. Raising her head Hayley could confirm her suspicions. It looked like a large mummy shaped sleeping bag but it had been overstuffed with extra down and padding to bulk it up and narrow the inside of the bag. The outside of the bag was puffy with deep creases forming around each baffle which had elastic installed so that it tightly fitted around whoever had the misfortune of being restrained in one, which at this point was her.

Hayley had earlier been squirming against her bonds; trying and failing get some purchase that may aid her in getting free from the smothering embrace of the sleeping bag contraption that she was secured in. All she succeeded in doing was making a noise as the nylon of the sleeping bag rubbed against the nylon of what felt like a one piece suit that they had put her in. The nylon shell was soft and silky on both the inside and outside surfaces. Hayley had also noted a thick padding around her groin and butt. Once again going from her conversations with Gillian she assumed that a disposable adult diaper had been placed on her before she was bound, the thought made her blush with embarrassment. She had felt the need to relieve herself growing for the last fifteen minutes and knew that she would have to relax and let it out soon. She only hoped that the diaper would be effective. Hayley hadn’t been gagged which she felt was strange given how much care had been taken with the rest of her restraints although at this point she was grateful for small mercies.

Laying her head back on the two soft, thick pillows under her head she had assessed her current situation. Not good would be the kindest assessment. She was lying bound and she saw no easy way of escaping plus stupidly she had not informed anybody of her plan. Someone would come looking for her eventually, her dad would see to that but they wouldn’t know where to start. This was starting to develop from a serious problem to a mini crisis. Hayley twisted her neck to look toward the window and saw that the sun was starting to go down as without warning the door to the room opened and a tall woman entered carrying a tray. Hayley watched the young woman approach the bed in the reflection of the window and turned her head to watch her directly as she placed a tray onto the table beside the bed. Hayley noted with interest that the tray contained both a drink and a sandwich.

 

“Hi Hayley nice to see that you are awake, I hope that you are comfortable” Hayley nodded as despite the bonds she had to admit that the combination of the suit and sleeping bag was very comfortable. “My name is Jessica and I will be working the night shift and taking care of you tonight. I am going to let you out so that you can have something to eat and then unfortunately I have to secure you again for the night. Kirsty said that you were spunky so I should let you know that even if you were to overpower me you can’t get out of the door. There is a CCTV camera pointed at it from inside the suite and I have to signal my colleague to disengage the lock remotely from the security office.”

 

“I understand completely” Hayley replied meekly. It was true that her first thought had been to get the better of this young woman named Jessica, strike while the iron was hot, but the CCTV and remote lock was a neat security trick that would need a bit more planning to circumvent.

 

Jessica leaned over and unlocked the zip on the right hand side of the sleeping bag and used it to fully open the bag down to the feet and then flipped it open. Hayley swung her legs out and with some help from Jessica managed to get into a sitting position. Jessica next undid the two straps that secured Hayley’s arms to her body and dropped them both onto the bed to use later on. Jessica stood back and placed the table and tray in front of Hayley and beckoned for her to start eating. Hayley paused for a second and waited for the cuffs and leg restraints to be removed but when it was clear that Jessica had no intention of removing them Hayley began to eat the sandwich and accompanying chips whist taking occasional draws from the straw in the diluting juice. The cuffs made it awkward but not impossible for Hayley to eat and she must have been hungrier than she thought as she ate quickly. Whilst Hayley was eating Jessica busied herself around the room, tidying, filling draws and laying out supplies.

 

“Hayley do you need a fresh diaper” Jessica called across the room. Hayley’s face instantly flushed as she remembered that she did need freshened up in that area but didn’t reply right away. “I take the lack of response as a yes. I know it is embarrassing as a fully grown woman but you will get used it and provided you behave you will be able to use the en suite during the day.” Hayley didn’t like the sound of getting used to anything that went on in this place.

 

Jessica stood in front of Hayley and placed the fresh diaper on the bed. “Right I really should knock you out before I change your diaper but it is easier if you are conscious and help a bit so if you promised no funny business then the chloroform can wait for a bit.” Hayley weighed up the options briefly in her head. On the one side she didn’t want to seem too compliant but if she was going to be naked and exposed in front of this woman then she would rather to it awake so she nodded almost imperceptibly and lay back on her back with her head on the pillows.

 

Jessica smiled and said “Please raise your hands above your head.” When Hayley complied Jessica undid the straps binding Hayley’s legs and pulled down the zip on the front of the nylon down filled suit. It had been well designed and the zip went all the way past the crotch for ease of access. Hayley stared at the ceiling and tried to conceal her growing embarrassment but was sure her face was bright red. Hayley felt the Jessica undo the adhesive straps holding the soiled diaper in place. Hayley felt a tap on her hip and took this as sign to raise her hips up from the bed. Jessica removed the diaper and slipped the fresh one under Hayley’s raised hips. Hayley then dropped her butt back onto the centre of the fresh diaper and Jessica quickly and professionally folded the front of the diaper over and secured it in place using the adhesive straps. Giving the diaper a pat Jessica said “There we go. That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

 

“I suppose not, given the circumstances” replied Hayley

 

“As I said in the morning I can let you roam around the room for a bit. Now time for you to get some sleep”

 

Hayley nodded and went back to staring at the ceiling whilst Jessica prepared a cloth and soaked it with chloroform.

 

“As you have been co-operative I will make this easy for you. I will go easy with knocking you out.” Jessica leaned forward and held the chloroform soaked cloth under Hayley’s nose. Hayley wrinkled her nose at the familiar scent of the fumes hit her. Taking short, sharp intakes of breaths Hayley started to feel the effects of the drug. Hayley relaxed as her vision started to darken at the edges. Continuing to take deep breathes Hayley thought that this was starting to happen on far too regularly a basis for her liking.

 

 

 

The door to the Commissionaire’s office opened and a young patrolman hurriedly exited the room looking decidedly pale. Yet another omen of bad portent thought Detective Natalie Twain as she sat in the wooden chair and waited her turn with the city’s top cop. She had been called in from suspension to meet with the legendary cop. Twain didn’t know what the Commissioner wanted but it must be better than sitting at home reading the newspapers for anything that was or could be crime related. Twain admitted that she was a crime junky, devouring every story in both the written press and the twenty four hour news networks when not actually tracking down criminals. There was a buzzing sound from the desk of the Commissioners secretary and with a smile the woman indicated that Twain should enter the office.

 

“Good morning Detective and thanks for coming in. Please take a seat,” the Commissionaire offered, gesturing to an empty seat on the opposite side of the large desk positioned in the centre of the room. Sitting down Twain looked at the various plaques and photographs that adorned the walls then quickly restored her full attention to the Commissionaire. The Commissionaire was a large man in both size and presence. He was tall and broad and had worked his way up through the department from patrolman to his current position.

 

“I appreciate you current situation with the department,” the Commissionaire continued “but I have a delicate matter that requires immediate attention. I made some enquiries and looked through your file, very interesting by the way Detective and I think that you are just the person to help me out.” This did pique the Detective’s interest. What matter could the Commissionaire be alluding too she wondered?

 

“I haven’t heard from my daughter for almost a week now. This may sound corny but we talked or at least texted each other every day. If she was going away for work or a holiday she would always let me beforehand.”

 

This news did dent Twain’s enthusiasm slightly. She didn’t fancy tracking down some wayward college kid who was probably lost her phone or in the huff. On the other had it never hurt to have someone of the power and influence of the Commissionaire owe you a favour.

 

“I appreciate that this may sound like just tracking down some daft kid but I don’t think that is the case. Now this next bit of information goes no further than this office Detective. My daughter works for a government agency and I think that her work may have something to do with her disappearance.”

 

Twain leaned back in her chair. That little titbit of information did idea make it a bit more interesting. Given the family she assumed that this government agency could be some arm of federal law enforcement.

 

“Okay. I am interested. Do you have any further information?”

 

“Yes. As a concerned father I had a tracker put onto her vehicle. I thought that it would be prudent given her line of works. The tracker charged when the car was running and it stopped transmitting three days ago. I had the information for the previous two weeks downloaded and printed out this morning,” the Commissionaire said as her slide a file across the desk toward the detective. “It should give you somewhere to start. I have also written my direct line and mobile number on the inside. I would be grateful if you could keep me informed of progress.”

 

“Lastly do you have a photograph of your daughter that I could have Commissionaire King?”

 

The Commissionaire leant across his desk and picked up one of the photo frames that were grouped on one side of the desk, spun it round and handed it to the Detective. Natalie had to admit that the rumours were turn, his daughter was truly stunning, a real knockout. “This is my daughter Detective Twain, her name is Hayley.”

 

 

 

Hayley was once again taking in the delights of the ceiling when she heard a noise that she was sure was the door opening. Craning her neck to try and get a view if what was happening, which was difficult considering the thick hood of the sleeping bag that she was encased within. She gave up on trying too get a look at what was going on and concentrate on listening. Hayley decided that a number of people had entered the room and going by the noises they were making one of them was gagged. After a while Hayley felt someone working at the lock that held her bag closed and then heard the zipper and felt a slight decrease in pressure from the tightly compressed padding around her body as the bag was loosened. Hayley wondered what was going on as the bag was flung open.

 

“Please sit up Ms King” the woman in the nurse’s uniform instructed. Hayley complied, with a bit of help from the woman. Hayley was then freed from the bindings around the rest of her body, arms and legs before the woman turned and left. In her shock Hayley followed the woman as she left the room and closed the door and didn’t notice the figure sitting on the other bed. Finally Hayley noticed the other figure.

 

“MMPPHH” Hayley mumbled before realising that she was still gagged. Quickly she reached behind her head and undid the knot and removed her gag. “Gillian!” Hayley exclaimed practically launching herself at her friend.

 

“Nice to finally see a friendly face” Gillian replied once she had managed to untangle herself.

 

“Are you alright honey?” Hayley asked Gillian, “you look a bit rough.”

 

“Fine now thanks. I feel a lot better after seeing you Hayley. They were interrogating me for what seemed like ages about some research that one of my former college professors was doing. They think that she gave me something or sent me something. I don’t know which but I couldn’t tell them anything” Gillian replied.

 

“So that’s what this is all about.”

 

“How did you end up captured?”

 

“Well I followed you to the motel and from there onto here. That was when I decided to launch a reconnaissance mission that would lead to a rescue.” Hayley said.

 

“This is some rescue” Gillian stated, a smile breaking out despite the situation.

 

“Right honey lets make the best of the situation that we find ourselves in. We need to come up with a plan of action but first I am going to have a shower.” Hayley stripped off the down suit and walked into the bathroom with a slight waddle due to the diaper that she was wearing and closed the door behind her. Hayley turned on the shower to full power and almost full heat. Taking off her bra and the diaper she stepped under the powerful rain of water and allowed it to flow over her body.

 

After Gillian had taken a shower and returned to the room Hayley made her way across to the wardrobe and opened the door. After surveying the choices Hayley turned round and addressed Gillian “Okay, do you want the blue nylon down filled suit or the red nylon down filled suit?”

 

“You look good in blue Hayley so I’ll take then red”

 

“Okay not exactly my first choice but a girl has to make the best of things.” Hayley finished putting on the suit, partially zipped it up then struck poses in the mirror as if modelling the garment. “Right that’s enough fun. Let’s work out how we get out of this mess!”

 

 

Twain approached the garage and stopped before entering the workshop. After looking through the tracking data supplied by the Commissionaire the last location of the Hayley King’s car was somewhere on this street. Twain had walked its length twice and unable to see the vehicle decided to begin enquiries with this garage. She waited a couple of minutes before two rough looking mechanics noticed her from under the bonnet of a what looked to Twain like a high end European sports car.

 

“What can we help you with darling?” the smaller of the two asked whilst wiping his hands on an oily rag. The larger one crossed his large, meaty arms and grinned like he was the only one that had just heard a decent joke.

 

“I am looking for a dark gray Dodge Avenger. A very specific dark gray Dodge Avenger and I think that it was brought in here four days ago” Twain said whilst surveying the inside of the garage for said vehicle.

 

“Sorry I don’t think that we can help you with that. Haven’t seen a car like that but we may have something else that you like.” The smaller man said, a thin smile now spreading across his lips. What was this? Were these guys auditioning for the grinning idiot museum? Twain thought; time to change gear a bit.

 

“Right guys I am with the police department and an investigating a serious crime. Just give me the information that I am after and I will be on my way otherwise I might call a friend at Grand Theft Auto and get them down here.” The expression on the faces of both men instantly changed. They both started to move forward with purpose, one of each side of the detective.

 

“Now that wasn’t very nice” sneered the smaller of the two as they approached in an aggressive manor. This was about to get interesting Twain thought to herself as she pulled her trusty collapsible baton and prepared for action.

 

Twain sat back in her car and plugged her phone into the hands free device. Selecting the mobile number that she wanted she heard first the dial tone and then the number being dialled through the sound systems speakers.

 

“Afternoon Detective”

 

“Afternoon sir, hope that I didn’t catch you at an awkward time.”

 

“No please continue Detective.”

 

“I managed to track down the car to a well know chop shop. I had a friendly chat with two nice mechanics and the car was dropped off by one of the local car thieves. The thief claimed that they found the car on a local street with the keys in the ignition.” Twain paused, unsure of how to continue.

 

“Give me the rest detective.”

 

“Well after further questioning the mechanic mentioned that the thief saw who left the vehicle. It was and I am quoting here sir, a smoking hot broad.” Twain replied.

 

“Could….he have been…erm”

 

“Talking about your daughter sir? I thought of that. The description of the woman that abandoned the car didn’t match your daughter.”

 

“Thanks detective. I have been making some enquiries myself and have managed to get you an appointment with somebody that worked with my daughter. I will text you the details. Hopefully they can help.”

 

“Thanks sir.”

 

Gillian and Hayley both turned to the door as it burst open and four women entered the room. Three of them were dressed identically as nurses and quickly closed the ground toward Hayley who stood up. That didn’t last long as the three nurses launched themselves at Hayley tackling her onto the bed, forcing her face down onto the mattress.

 

“Hey! What’s going mmmppphhh……” Hayley didn’t get to finish her question as one of the women forced a large cloth in her mouth. Gillian looked on, shocked at the sudden attack as the same woman placed a thick cloth over Hayley’s mouth and used a thick bandage to keep it in place, wrapping it around the lower half of Hayley’s face several times. A fourth nurse wheeled a gurney into the room and between them the four women managed to force the still struggling Hayley onto the gurney and used a number of heavy duty restraints to strap her down. Gillian was stunned then felt fingers lightly on her chin, gently turning her head so that she was face to face with Christina. “Gillian its decision time, either tell me what I want to know or I take your friend away and have a lot of fun with her.”

 

“Honestly I don’t know what you are talking about Christina?”

 

“Okay then Just remember; what happens next is your responsibility” Christina said to Gillian the turned to her colleagues that had strapped Hayley to the gurney. “Take her away.” Gillian watched as the gurney with her friend strapped to it was wheeled toward the door. Gillian panicked, racking her brain. Then suddenly something sprang forward from her memory. The desperation of wanting to spare her friend further discomfort must have helped her dredge something up.

 

“Wait, wait a second” Gillian shouted springing to her feet. “There was an e-mail from Professor Smart, something about a book.” Christina signalled to her colleagues and the gurney with the still struggling and complaining behind her gag Hayley paused just before the door.

 

“I’m going to need more than that.” Christina said with a smirk.

 

“Wait it was something about a book. Just give me a minute and I will get there!” Gillian paused for a moment. “It isn’t easy remembering a single e-mail amongst the hundreds that I get every week.” Suddenly it came to her. “Right that’s it. Now I remember, I thought that it was weird or cryptic at the time. All it said was my favourite book in her favourite place.”

 

“Well that’s a bit vague.” Christina said. “I am going to need more than that.”

 

“If you let me finish I will fill in the blanks Christina” Gillian said with a sense of frustration. “The book would be the Color Purple and her favourite place would have to be the College Library. Professor Smart used to love the silence of the place.”

 

“Thanks for that. I will arrange for that to be checked out. Now ladies please make our guests comfortable for the night. They both look a bit tired so perhaps a nap is in order.” With that Christina left the room and headed to meet the woman in charge.

 

 

Natalie once again found herself sitting across a desk from a figure of authority. Looking around the office Natalie noticed that the shelves were filled with books and board games, backgammon, chess and scrabble amongst others.

 

“Thanks for taking the time to see me Ms Martinez. Hopefully the situation has been explained. I really need to have a look at the room that Hayley and Gillian shared. There may be some clue that could assist in my investigation.”

 

“Yes the situation has been explained fully. I appreciate that Detective but it is a firm rule that only staff and of course detainees are let beyond the final door and into the main facility”, Martinez responded.

 

“Is there any way around the rule?”

 

Martinez leaned back in her seat and considered how best to phrase her next statement “You aren’t going to like this but I think that we can bend the rules of this occasion if and only if you agree to be bound and blindfolded when taken to the room and on the way back then I will agree to your request.”

 

Natalie mirrored the body language of the woman sitting across from her, leaning back in the chair and ran the options through her head. Natalie noticed that she was biting her bottom lip like always when she had take a course of action that she wasn’t keen on. She didn’t the idea but if it was the only way forward then she would have to agree. “Alright I agree.”

 

Martinez nodded and picked up the phone form her desk, “Can you get one of the on duty girls down to my office?” She listened to the response and thanked the person on the other end before replacing the receiver and turning her attention back to the detective. “Please empty all of your belongings onto my desk and I will return them when you are finished.” Natalie once again hesitated, it was final decision time, but reckoned she had to get access to search the room. Natalie emptied her wallet, keys, notepad, pen and other items onto the desk, and then paused for a second before also reluctantly removing her trusty extendable baton from her belt and tossing it onto the pile.

 

There was a knock at the door and Natalie spun round to see an attractive young, dark haired woman wearing what looked like to her very much like wedding dress enter. After briefly explaining the situation to the young woman Martinez said “Gayle please escort Detective Twain to Hayley and Gillian’s lodgings and allow her full access to search. Usual precautions will prevail for transport of non employees.”

 

The woman called Gayle nodded her understanding and turned her attention to Natalie, “Please stand and place your hands behind your back.” Natalie did as instructed and despite knowing what was coming she still recoiled in shock once the young woman started to bind her wrist using strong, thin cord. Once the bindings on her wrist were complete Natalie gave them a wiggle but there seemed no opportunity to loosen the cord. Next Gayle produced a padded sleep mask with from her belt and slipped it over Natalie’s head and positioned it over her eyes, shutting out all light and blindfolding her comfortably and effectively. Natalie now felt a sense of helplessness as she was now completely at the mercy of these two women. “Please open your mouth Detective.”

 

“Why do I have to do that? Going to search my oral cavity?”

 

“No Detective unfortunately the rules are that you also have to be gagged.” Martinez said from across her desk. Natalie’s initial reaction was as usual to react with anger but at the last moment managed to gain control, nodded her head and opened her mouth. Gayle produced a thick cloth, scrunched it up and forced it between Natalie’s lips into her mouth. Natalie made muffled noises in slight protest as the cloth was secured in place by Gayle with a scarf tied at the nape of her neck, forcing the cloth further into her mouth.

 

Martinez handed Gayle the detective’s notepad and pen. “Detective I appreciate that this is uncomfortable position and you will be unnerved but please relax and trust Gayle to look after you. I have given her your notepad and pen for you to use. If anything happens please obey the instructions of the staff and you will be fine.”

 

The Detective attempted a response but it was muffled effectively by the gag and she sighed in frustration. Natalie felt the hem of Gayle’s dress against her legs as the young woman lightly took hold of her upper arm and starting to guide the detective out of the door and along a corridor. Natalie felt ill as ease walking along blindfolded with her arms bound behind her back but tried to relax and follow the light touches and instructions of the woman guiding her. After a short walk they stopped at what Natalie assumed to be a door. Natalie heard what she believed to be an electronic lock disengaged and a door open before she felt the grip on her upper arm tighten and took this as a sign to start walking again.

 

Exiting the lift Gayle spoke again, “We will just head left detective, around a corner and Hayley’s room is at the end of the corridor.” Natalie again mumbled a response through her gag. “Thanks detective. Don’t worry it takes a bit of time to get used to wearing a gag. Hopefully you don’t wear it long enough to become accustomed.” Natalie assumed the young woman was just teasing and made the comment with a smile, in a tease the new girl kind of way but had to admit that statement did make her slightly nervous. After walking along to the end of the corridor Natalie felt Gayle pull back slightly on her arm. Natalie had by this point lost all sense of her bearings and was dependant on Gayle for all direction. “That’s us arrived outside the dorm detective. I will just open the door and let us in.” Natalie relaxed and waited to be guided into the room. Once both women were inside Natalie felt Gayle move around behind Natalie and first removed the blindfold and then the cord that bound the detective’s wrists behind her back. Natalie blinked her eyes against the lights and looked around the large room. Natalie rubbed her wrists where they had been bound and surveyed the room. It was a large room with two double beds, ample closet space, two desk and a sofa positioned to face a mid size television. “Right detective I will leave you to it and come back in about an hour to check how you are going. Please under no circumstances leave the room.” Natalie turned and went to respond until she remembered the gag was still in place. Reaching around behind her head she undid the knot on the scarf then removed the cloth from her mouth, working her jaw to get it used to moving again. Natalie placed the both parts of the gag on the nearest bed where Gayle had left the blindfold and cord and hoped that she would be able to convince Gayle not to use them on the way back.

 

Dropping down in frustration onto the couch Natalie threw her head back and stared at the ceiling. She had spent the past forty five minutes searching the room thoroughly and found nothing of interest, well not to the case that the Commissioner had given her anyway. There was nothing in the room that wouldn’t normally be found in a flat shared by two women in their mid twenties. Well except from the tools of the particular trade that they had chosen. After staring at her reflection in the dead television screen for a couple of minutes her attention was drawn to a desk where a laptop sat open. She sat on the chair and ran a finger across the mouse pad, trying to fire up the computer. Nothing happened. Determined not to leave empty handed she found what she thought was the problem, lack of power. The power cable was plugged in so she switched the socket on and was rewarded with a lights flickering on the side of the laptop followed by a distinctive ping as the screen came to life with instructions to enter a password. Looking at the desk there were no pictures or anything that might give a hint at the password required to gain access to the computer. There was a phone in the room and she decided at this point that with nothing to lose to try something. Picking up the receiver she started hitting the numbers until someone picked up. “Switchboard, where would you like your call directed”, said a well spoken female voice on the other end of the line.

 

“Human Resources please”, Natalie replied and was instantly met with a ping as the call was put on hold then redirected.

 

“HR. How can I help?”

 

“This is Gayle. I am trying to get information on Gillian Young. I am trying to log onto her computer but its password protected.” Natalie finished then mentally crossed her fingers that it would be this easy.

 

“So you were thinking about simple stuff like date of birth, mother’s maiden name and stuff like that.”

 

“Exactly” Natalie said and thanked her luck

 

“No problem. You got a pen and I will give you what we have. Let’s start with date of birth and work form there. September……………”

 

Natalie leaned back and grinned. It had only taken ten minutes once she had the information from Gillian’s personnel file. The password had been a combination of date of birth and her middle name. Given her lack of time, the real Gayle would be back in five minutes Natalie made her way straight to e-mail folder and looked through the most recent e-mails. Finding nothing interesting Natalie switched focus to the deleted items file where she found one that didn’t look quite correct, from an old College professor. Just as she finished scribbling something in her notebook a loud siren went off and a red light started flashing above the door. Without thinking Natalie grabbed her notebook and securing it in her inside pocket headed for the door.

 

Natalie came round the corner just as two women exited the lift. Given the way that they were dressed Natalie assumed that they were staff or guards or whatever they like to call themselves responding to the alarm. The two women spotted the Detective and immediately headed in her direction looking decidedly like they meant business. It was then that Natalie realised that she had made a mistake in leaving the room. Natalie quickly raised her hands, palms towards the women in a gesture designed to say “Hey, calm down we are all friends here” but it wasn’t going to work. The woman approached her and without warning the first grabbed her right arm and moved behind her, using her other arm to grab her around the waist and pull her tight against her body, the second grabbed her left arm and held it aloft. Natalie was about to try and explain the situation but just as she was about to begin the second woman used her left hand to smother a large cloth over the lower half of her face, completely covering her nose and gaping mouth. Natalie recoiled in shock and tried to shake free of the two woman but they had a strong grip and obviously had experience in subduing struggling women. It wasn’t until a couple of seconds later that she noticed the strong, sickly sweet smell invading her nostrils. It must be coming from the cloth she thought. It was then that her brain clicked into gear, it must be chloroform. They were going to knock her out like some damsels form an old movie. She had never been rendered unconscious before and had no desire to be now. Natalie had already started to feel slightly light headed and now started to seriously struggle against her two attackers but all this did was increase the amount of breaths and fumes that she inhaled. Natalie was now panicking as she could feel her arms and legs start to tingle as they starting to not quite respond to the instructions from her brain; the world was starting to spin around. Despite her best efforts Natalie could no longer fight the effects of the drug. Her eyelids felt like they had weights attached to them and she could no longer keep them open. It was then on the brink of succumbing to the chloroform’s fumes that it struck her about the dresses. It was two fold, the reason that they wore them. It made them stand out and as she had just found out you pause and it costs you a second or two react.

 

Natalie gave her head a shake, trying to clear the fuzz from her mind and get her eyes to focus properly. Instantly the throbbing behind her eyes, like a mild headache sharpened into pain and the dizzy sensation got worse. Quickly she decided against that course of action. She closed her eyes and would wait it out. After a reasonably short period of time her head felt almost normal and looking around she realised that she was back in the room that she had been searching not that long ago, or at least she believed not to be that long ago. She had no idea how long she had been out. Natalie quickly discovered that she had been securely bound. Her wrists were bound behind her back again but this time her arms had also been secured to her body using more cord. This time her legs had also been bound at the ankles, below her knees and across the thighs. In frustration Natalie screamed but the gag muffled most of the sound and it barely registered as noise. She had not enjoyed submitting to her earlier bondage and certainly objected to her forced sedation and current predicament and struggled for a bit to try and get loose but after a couple of minutes decided it was a waste of time. Despite her best efforts she could not loosen any of the ropes. These women were obvious good at this. She had no option but to wait until someone came to untie her. Then a thought crossed her mind. What if nobody did!

 

After what seemed like hours the door to the room opened and Martinez entered. Natalie instantly noted that she was now wearing a similar dress and jacket combination to the other woman that she had seen rather than the more relaxed ensemble she had sported earlier when they met in her office. Natalie studied Martinez closely as she made her way over to the bed and addressed Natalie with a serious expression.

 

“Good afternoon detective. Sorry about the current confinement but I did warn you about staying in the room should anything happen.” Martinez stated as she made her way across to the bound woman on the bed.

 

“Mmpphh, mmpphh, mmpphh!” Natalie’s reply was unintelligible through the gag.

 

“Please don’t hold any grudges against the girls. They were only doing their job and following standard protocol in that situation, finding an unidentified person in this section of the facility.” Martinez sat down carefully on the bed beside Natalie taking care to flatten the large skirt on her dress. Martinez leaned over and undid the knot on the scarf that had been tied over Natalie’s mouth. As soon as she was able Natalie tried to spit out the cloth that had been stuffed in her mouth but due to the tight fit couldn’t get it out. Noticing that she was struggling Martinez pinched an edge of the cloth that was peaking from Natalie’s mouth between two fingers and gently removed it.

 

Martinez turned away and if talking to the wall started “I am tempted to keep you here as a guest detective. It would teach you a lesson about following instructions. During our telephone call The Commissioner mentioned that you had problems in that area, issues with authority, not really a team player, that sort of thing. Not the kind of things we tolerate in this organisation.”

 

Now having full use of her voice Natalie responded “What are you saying Martinez. You want to keep me hear. You have no reason to detain me any longer, untie me now and let me go now! Before I have you charged with unlawful detainment” Natalie tried to sound calm and in control but inside was starting to panic. Once again Natalie strained at her bonds in an attempt to find a weakness in the knots but once again it proved useless.

 

“Now, come on detective a woman in your position can’t really be making demands.” Martinez responded; a playful smile at the corners of her mouth as she looked on at the detective struggling against the bonds. Martinez then dug into her jacket pocket, feeling around for something by touch. “Exactly who knows you came here and when would they notice you were missing?”

 

“Look I don’t know what game you are playing at lady but let me go before……..”

 

“Before what detective?”

 

It was then that Natalie noticed what the other woman had been retrieving from her pocket. It was a very large wad of cotton wool and a small glass bottle. Natalie quickly put two and two together when Martinez opened the bottle and started pouring a generous amount of the liquid from the bottle onto the cotton wool.

 

“Please Martinez, come on I don’t want that stuff again. It wasn’t a great experience the first time. Look let’s talk th…..mmmppphhh.” the protests were cut off as Martinez pressed the soaked wad of cotton wool over Natalie’s nose and mouth. Whilst placing her free hand on the back of Natalie’s head to prevent her from moving it away from the chloroform fumes coming from the chemical on the cotton wool.