By Historian
Part Two
Anne started to struggle with her ropes. “Don’t strain yourself,” the Bee said. “That should be enough to hold you for half the night.”
“She came with friends, Della,” Little Bo Peep said. ‘Three to be exact.”
“We can handle them.”
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Drea was worried. For several minutes, she had seen nothing of the “Royal Flush”, which she still believed to be incomplete. Worse, she hadn’t seen Anne for a while either. Naturally this put Drea at a disadvantage. She couldn’t very well look after Ellie, keep an eye out for the rest of the hand, or find Anne all at the same time.
Summer and Krystie came up to her. “We can’t figure out who makes the Royal Flush,” Summer said.
“Worse, we haven’t seen Anne anywhere,” Krystie chimed in.
The three asked a few questions of the other partygoers and discovered Anne had been seen following a bee. When they discovered which direction Anne was heading, Summer and Krystie decided to go and look for them while Drea kept close to Ellie. They found the door easily, and on seeing Anne as a captive, they immediately rushed in. Almost immediately, they were pounced upon and hands were clamped over their mouths. As graceful as Summer was on the ten-meter platform, she was no match for the bigger and stronger Pirate. Krystie had a good backhand, but it did her no good against the Bee. Like Anne they were surprised by the presence of Little Bo Peep.
“Now what?” Karen King asked.
“We have tape,” the Bee said. “Also, we can make use of this Golden Lasso.”
The Flying Ace picked up the roll of duct tape and tore off two strips. She placed them over the captives’ mouths as the Football Player took Summer’s lasso. The Bee and the Pirate used the tape to secure their captives’ wrists while Karen set two chairs back to back. Summer and Krystie were made to sit it the chairs and had strips of tape wrapped around their ankles. As a final piece of bondage, the Golden Lasso was wound around the pair.
“There,” the Bee said with a satisfied smile on her face. “That should make our job a bit easier.”
“Do you think it’s wise to just leave them here, Della?” the Football Player asked.
“They’ll be here for quite a while, Monica. Besides since we have no weapons, that’s all we can do.”
“Do we go now?”
“We still have time,” Della said. “I want to get to know this one better. There’s something familiar about her, and she seems to be a feisty one. Besides, she and her Old West saloon girl friend have been eyeing us all night.”
All the while, Anne was struggling frantically against her ropes. Della went over to Anne and painfully pulled the tape from her mouth. “Who are you?” she demanded.
Anne gave her name, and nothing else. “Anne Thorne,” Della repeated. “I’ve seen your name in the school paper. You’re a swimmer but there’s something else about you that’s escaping me right now.”
“Last year, beginning of the fall semester,” the Flying Ace said. “Her friend went missing and she organized the search parties.”
“You’re right, Sheila. So you decided to play private eye again, eh.”
“Why not?” Anne said. “What did Ellie ever do to you?”
“Do you want to handle that one Monica?”
“Her father’s a lawyer,” Monica said. “My Dad ran a small business until he was sued by somebody wanting to make a fast buck. Her old man represented the guy. Said it was Dad’s fault he got hurt. The jury agreed, gave the guy five million dollars and bankrupted Dad. Not only that, the business went under. Twenty people were put out of work. That’s twenty taxpayers, twenty consumers, twenty people somebody depended on thrown out of work. Trial lawyers are the biggest threat to this country; doctors are afraid to practice medicine because of lawsuits. Small businesses are a lawsuit away from going under. I had to drop out of college because my family couldn’t afford it any more and because my father is supposedly rich, I can’t qualify for financial aid. Trial lawyers are getting rich off of fat legal fees while small business owners are driven into bankruptcy and poverty. There’s nothing that can be done about it, because Congress is overrun with lawyers.”
It was a sad story and one Anne sympathized with. The irony was she completely agreed with Monica about the trial lawyers. There was one not so minor problem though: “You’ll be making a mistake you’ll never be able to reverse,” Anne said. “Don’t go through with it, and I’ll say this was all just some stupid prank gone wrong. Summer and Krystie will go along, too.”
Anne’s fellow captives grunted through their gags and nodded vigorously. “You spoke of taxpayers,” Anne continued. “How much do you think it would cost to keep five people in a Federal prison for twenty years?”
“Enough talk.” Della said as she tore a fresh strip of tape from the roll. “It’s almost time.” She placed the strip over Anne’s mouth and smoothed it down so there would be no lose edges.
“Monica, Shelly, Karen. You three strip, then get the van,” Della ordered.
The three shed the football uniform, pirate garb, and Bo Peep outfits respectively. Monica and Shelly had each worn a tank top and shorts, while Karen wore regular underwear. She reached into a bag and pulled out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. After the three left, Sheila lowered the goggles of the flying helmet. “With that she should harder to identify,” Della said for Anne’s benefit.
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Drea was in a quandary. It was bad enough Anne had disappeared, but now she couldn’t find Summer or Krystie either. Should she search for her missing friends and leave Ellie alone? Or should she ask Ellie to come with her. After some deliberation, she decided to search for her friends on her own. If she could find them without any trouble, well and good, but if she encountered the five would-be kidnappers, even accompanied by Ellie, she doubted her ability to successfully drive them off.
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Anne continued to struggle wildly, but the ropes refused to budge. During the course of her struggles, she broke the heels on both her shoes. Summer and Krystie did no more than make unintelligible noises behind the tape, which sounded fairly anxious to Anne. No big surprise there, Anne thought. I’m anxious to get out of here, too.
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Before Drea could start her search for her friends, she saw the Queen Bee and the Flying Ace emerge from the study area. The Flying Ace’s goggles were down over her eyes, almost like a mask. She saw the pair hovering around the sidelines, until Ellie came close by. The two accosted Ellie and were soon whisking her away from the party, back to where they had come from.
Drea went across the room, though she had to dodge partygoers as she went. She saw her quarry disappear behind a door. She wanted to go in after them, but decided to maintain a safe distance.
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As soon as they were behind a door, Della and Sheila bound Ellie’s wrists. A large handkerchief, folded over and knotted in the center, was produced and the knot placed in her mouth and the ends secured behind the back of her head. A second handkerchief, not knotted, was used as a blindfold. Shelly and Monica appeared. “Karen has the van ready,” the latter reported.
“Good,” Della said. “You two take her out there while Sheila and I change our clothes. The two returned to the room. Della removed her mask and wig and pulled out the hairpins, which allowed her glossy dark hair to tumble down past her shoulders. In short order, she slipped off her shoes, pulled the Rugby shirt over her head, and slid of the black hosiery. “Della, I’m having trouble getting my boots off,” Sheila said.
Della, in bra and panties, went over to the chair in which Sheila was seated and helped her remove the boots. Sheila shed the remainder of her costume. She’d worn a t-shirt and shorts underneath her costume. With the aviator’s helmet removed, her blonde hair was loosened, albeit a bit unruly. She stuffed her costume in a bag. With that one of the way, Della donned shorts, a blouse, and sneakers.
Shelly and Monica returned and the four carried their bags, with Della being the last to leave. She gave a jaunty wave to the three captives before she finally left the room. As she closed the door, she noticed a somewhat tall young woman dressed as a Wild West saloon girl. She waved at new arrival and said, “Sorry but we have to leave early.”
As soon as the group was out of sight, Drea slipped into the room, where she found Anne, Summer, and Krystie bound and gagged. She rushed to Anne’s side and painfully pulled the tape from her friend’s mouth. “They just left,” she said as Drea worked on the knots restraining her wrists. “I’ll finish up here, you go and try to slow them down somehow. We’ll catch up.”
Drea left as Anne went to work on her ankle bindings. “It’s flats for me from now on,” Anne said as she kicked away the useless shoes. She quickly released Summer and Krystie.
“Take the rope with us, we just might need it,” she said.
The trio raced out of the room and toward the exit, where they found Drea in a fierce struggle with the would-be kidnappers. Della held Drea with a hand over the latter’s mouth, though the others had to fend off Drea’s kicks.
Anne leaped straight into the fray, and soon sent Monica and Sheila to the ground. Summer and Krystie wasted no time in pouncing on the two and binding their wrists. Anne soon had Della pinned to the side of the van and Drea was straddled over Shelly. Karen emerged from the van too late and was held between Summer and Krystie. “There’s nothing more any of you can do,” Anne said as she retrieved the roll of duct tape that had dropped during the fracas and tore off a long strip. In short order, Della, Shelly and Karen had their wrists bound with the duct tape. Next, the five would-be kidnappers were herded together and secured with the Golden Lasso. Drea went into the van, where Ellie sat on the floor, bound at the wrists and ankles, gagged, and blindfolded. “Everything’s all right,” Drea said as she unknotted the gag. “We’re calling Security.”
“I’ll get you for this,” Della vowed. “All of you.”
Some time later, Security arrived and took the five women into custody.
“I can’t thank you enough,” Ellie said.
“The Beta Nu Gamma pledge states members must develop strength of mind, body, and spirit,” Drea said. “When somebody comes to a member with a problem, we do whatever we can to solve it.”
“How did it happen? Or why?”
Anne repeated Monica’s story. Drea shook her head. “It’s too bad what happened to her father,” she said. “But what good would come from kidnapping Ellie? Funny thing, that’s what my dad wants me to be.” she asked said sadly. “I’ve already sent applications to Law Schools, though right now I’m not so sure I want to be a lawyer.”
“I never realized such things could happen after a lawsuit,” Ellie said. “I think I’ll have a talk with Daddy about who he represents. Or at least ask him reconsider what types of client he takes.”
“I gave them a chance to give it up,” Anne said. “But as you can tell, they didn’t take it.”
“I know who that bee is,” Drea said. “Her name’s Della Quinn. She very stubborn and very opinionated. A bit forceful, too. She probably thought up this whole scheme.”
Anne stopped by the sorority house long enough to get a pair of sandals. Sure, she’d lost a pair of shoes, but it was all for a good cause. The party didn’t break up until after midnight and when Anne returned home, she found Jack still awake and seated in his favorite chair. No big surprise there. “Anything interesting happen?” he asked.
“Oh, not much,” she said. “I got bound and gagged and we broke up a kidnapping attempt.”
She said it so flippantly Jack thought it was a joke, which was her intention. When he finished laughing, she kissed him on the cheek and said “Good night, Uncle Jack.”
With that, she went upstairs. In her bedroom, she took off her costume and carefully laid it on her desk chair. Bone tired, she threw herself onto the bed and soon drifted off into sleep.
The End