Driving a used car with a radiator problem is not the best way to travel. But it was a 1948 Nash Ambassador with overdrive that Joy had gotten for seven hundred and fifty bucks. Three months ago, before she and Eric had bought it, she'd checked the steering gear, brakes, alignment, and front end herself and those were fit to drive. It was all they had to cruise so Eric was a bit of a grump when she did leave him behind.
Having been there only once, finding Eve's place was a bother. She thought of asking those teenagers she saw on bikes, but better not attract attention just yet.
Joy kept an eye out for cars tailing her. No need having the Reds sneak up. But it was safe, so she kept driving.
***
She hid in the restroom of the Diner, knowing the redhead would be in to clean it at closing time. Sure enough there she came. Rosie put the plug in the sink and ran water to wash it out. Tina took the three-quarters used roll of toilet paper from the spindle and came out of the bathroom stall. She got a handful of red hair and jerked the teenager's head back and jammed the toilet roll in her mouth.
"Ourummp?"
Tina's hand let loose of the red hair and went over the mouth and roll while her other arm went around the girl's waist and pinned her arms low. Then Tina stepped back and tripped Rosie and took her to the floor.
"Argah gag cuk" and more came from Rosie with the bouncing sound taking the tone of surprise, anger, and then fear as she hit the bathroom tile.
Tina swung her long legs to mount and pin the red haired gal. She pulled off the apron Rosie wore and tied it over the toilet paper roll.
"No one to bother you while you're cleaning," said Tina.
She rolled Rosie over and pulled her hands to the small of her back. The water from the plugged up sink overflowed the edges and rained down upon Tina's head…
Tina snapped out of the daydream she was having under the water falling from the mountainside. She stepped away from it and picked up the towel she'd brought and began roughly rubbing her body.
It would be nice to snatch the red headed waitress from the diner, no doubt. She couldn't take her there, have to wait until the big boob sweetie was on her way home. Maybe when all this was over.
Tina picked up the rifle and towel and walked to the cave. She already had a sweet young blonde ready and waiting, trussed and gagged and likely near the breaking point. Tina thought she'd go ahead and break her the rest of the way, get what she could before they had to put her and her pal in the ground.
It was late in the day and darker than before in the cave. Tina dumped her stuff, then realized a second before the first blow that the blonde wasn't still bound and gagged. The first blow lit up the cave. The second made it dark.
***
Looking at Chelsie's brown ankles helped Tommy keep pedaling away. Her ankles showed since she was hitching a ride on the rear carrier of Tommy's Monark red and white bicycle. Chelsie's cherry red moccasins were up past the bike seat and parked on the suspension, near the handlebars. Going up her long legs Tommy could see her pedal pusher length navy blue coveralls, and if he glanced back she'd be wearing her pink and white check blouse. Her black hair snaked out from under the blue bandanna she wore in the breeze as Tommy pumped away.
He was behind Rosie, who was firing down the road on her Huffy Dial-a-Ride bike. He didn't mind trailing because he could watch the muscles shimmy in her back.
When he'd rode to meet up with her and Chelsie he'd blinked several times seeing the strapless red and navy print sunbra Rosie wore and all the flesh for the sun to beam on. Plus her short, navy blue shorts showed parts of her legs he hadn't counted on ever viewing, way way down to her white canvas shoes.
"We're ready to go, can Chelsie ride with you?"
"Sure."
As they pedaled Rosie said, "Tommy has a suspect we're looking for."
"Who's that?" said Chelsie.
"Some big boobed woman that ate at the diner today."
"Ah oh, she sounds like trouble," said Chelsie.
"Come on you guys. Hey I never thought about that woman. I think she was too nicely dressed to be a traveling saleslady," said Tommy.
"You mean you think she was too stacked to be one," said Rosie.
"No come to think of it, maybe she's one of them, keeping an eye on Miss Regis and the other one. To make sure Miss Regis doesn't sneak away from them," said Tommy.
"One of them, what do you mean?" asked Chelsie.
"I don't know. You know they could be spies. "
"Big boobed spies," said Rosie.
"Will you quit talking about boobs?" said Tommy.
"Well your eye balls were falling out when that woman walked into the diner," said Rosie.
"You mean the way he looked when he saw your new top," said Chelsie.
"Yes," said Rosie.
"Nuts to you two. I'm trying to solve a possible kidnapping. Did you notice that Miss Grace is missing?" said Tommy.
"You're right, Christie hasn't been in the past couple of days," said Rosie.
"A nurse is busy," said Chelsie.
"But she usually shows at least one day," said Tommy.
"So there's a bunch of secret commies around here," said Rosie.
"Like Alger Hiss," said Chelsie.
"And they're going to carry out Stalin's secret war plan," said Tommy.
"I'm going to the cops," said Rosie.
She wheeled her bicycle around and headed to town.
"Wait," said Tommy turning sharply.
"Whoa," said Chelsie as she almost tumbled off the back.
"Now what?" said Rosie. She turned her bike and stood up on the pedals, gliding back toward Tommy and Chelsie.
"Let's not call the cops yet. It's still an open case. Let's get more facts," said Tommy.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. I didn't bring you two along just to have you run off when the going got tough," he said.
"All right then, let's keep going," said Rosie.
Now that she was riding behind Tommy's bike, she and Chelsie could exchange evil grins. They had their own secret plan for later.
And since they all knew the way there, they arrived much sooner than the slightly lost Joy.
"We better hide our bikes," said Tommy.
They did and then Rosie knocked on the door.
"What are you doing?" said Tommy in a "the house is on fire," tone of voice.
"You're the detective," she answered.
"What if there's someone in there, hiding and waiting to attack? Now they know we're here," he said in a "schoolmarm" way of speaking.
"They'll never take us alive, come on Chelsie," and the two girls rushed into the house.
***
Christie was in a rush. Binding a patient to a bed using sheets was one of many things they'd showed her in nursing school. So far she hadn't used that bit of knowledge, and she knew right now Tina needed a lot more binding then any unruly patient.
Christie dug through the camping supplies, and was not at all surprised to find rope. She also found a knife, her knife by golly, and used it to cut the cord and went back to the conked out Tina.
Tina had landed heavily face down. Christie was not concerned about her condition, other then wishing she stayed unconscious long enough to be trussed and gagged.
The hands first, Christie crossed them back and tied them wrist over wrist. A fresh memory of how tight Tina had pulled the rope on Christie made it easy for the blonde to keeping tugging the knots past any idea of just fooling around.
She crossed the black-haired woman's ankles and looped and knotted them with the rope, then took time to be a nurse.
The brain is rattled when you're knocked out and Christie knew it was possible she could kill Tina. She'd used cloth from her gag to wrap the rock she struck with. She was an assailant not an annihilator.
She checked Tina's scalp and found a big bump, but no blood. She rolled her on her back, watched her heavy breasts settle into place, and saw a slight movement. Tina was alive and breathing. Safe enough to gag.
She grabbed the damp towel Tina had carried. Christie used her knife to help tear it, then ripped what she needed.
One clump of cloth overflowed her hand; she lay it aside and used both hands to check out Tina's mouth. She hadn't broken a tooth when she'd fallen, no bruising or cuts on the full lips. She checked to see Tina's tongue hadn't fallen back onto her windpipe. Then she ratcheted the dark-haired woman's mouth as open as much as she could and began shoveling in the coarse towel.
She shoved her fingers in to the first knuckle, then began feeding more of the cloth into the mouth. Were Tina awake, even tied as she was, Christie doubted she could get this much gag in. But slack jawed Tina was not aware as her tongue was buried under the toweling. Christie packed until the cloth was past the front gums, then wadded up in either cheek. She pressed again, then released and grabbed up a thinner strip of the towel. She put it across the mouth, it slipped between Tina's lips as Christie threaded it under her ears and the mass of glossy black hair and pulled it tight behind her one-time captor's head.
She knew how tight her own gag had felt, and how much she'd put up with. She used a broader strip of towel to tie over Tina's mouth, knotting it back with the other one. She still believed it would slip off. She took a slim piece of torn cloth and ran it from under Tina's jaw up the side and atop the crown of her head, careful not to knot it over her bump. It added a vise- like gag to the stuffing and binding gags.
Christie stood up and wiped sweat from her eyes. She was still naked and took time to put on one of Tina's shirts. It came to mid-thigh only, but would do for now.
She sliced more rope, hoisted Tina to a sitting position, looped and tied rope around her torso, just below the breasts, added another loop below that, keeping her arms pinned to her side.
Christie sat her back and raised Tina's legs and tied rope above her knees to keep them together, then below the knees.
She got the campfire going again and tossed the whip on it. She tried on Tina's boots and then stuffed toweling inside to take up the spare space. It would be tough to walk in them, worse to go barefoot. She went out to check on where the horse would be tethered. It wasn't. They must have taken it back with them. Seemed a bother to take a riderless horse. Why not leave it with Tina?
***
A gun under your dress is a bother, which is a good reason to take it out. Joy wanted to take hers from the holster because there was some one in the house. Besides her.
She wasn't one hundred percent sure. She hadn't seen anyone parked outside when she pulled in. Eve had told her the door would be unlocked, so no surprise there. But standing in front of the picture window and looking at the front yard, she knew a party would be starting soon.
A quick hand over her mouth and the sound of her heels clacking on the floor as they pulled her into the closet near the front door. They'd wrap coat hanger wire around her wrists and gag her with some scarf Eve had left hanging there from last winter.
Or when she walked into one of the two bedrooms a red blanket would settle over her head and she'd be bumped over and bound with torn strips of bed sheet and gagged with a pillowcase.
Maybe they'd pull something out of the laundry bin that sat out in the short hallway leading to the bedrooms. Pull out stockings and panties and towels to truss her and muffle her with.
So the Reds were here. When you'd been on stage in burlesque like Joy you get a feel for eyeballs beaming on you. And she felt them now.
There were banks of plywood doors that concealed the utility units in the house and the one that led to the kitchen came open and out stepped the Reds Joy had thought about.
It was a redhead for sure and she held a rolling pin in her right hand and next to her was a redskin, or an Indian gal. She had a small fry pan in her right.
"Hold it there I've got a gun," said Joy raising her dress to get to her holster.
They didn't hold it, they came at her and Joy backed up and fell onto the couch in Eve's living room. The two gals ran up but hesitated, so Joy had her dress up over her thighs and when they saw the gunholster the redhead swung the wooden rolling pin. Joy ducked and the pin hit her in the upper arm.
"Youch!" said Joy as she dropped the gun and Chelsie kicked it under the couch. Joy hopped up off the couch, splitting between the two. She forgot her gun and with two hands grabbed the redhead's top and swung her so she bumped into her Indian buddy and those two floundered on the couch.
Joy looked at them, looked in one hand and saw she had torn the redhead's sun bra loose and tossed it back at her. Rosie dropped her rolling pin and caught her torn top, then dropped it and put her hands over her naked breasts, then made an angry sound and jumped off the couch and ran at Joy. Chelsie joined in.
Joy ran around the couch and Rosie followed and Chelsie climbed over and dove at Joy and then both went down and Rosie piled on. They kicked, scratched, pulled hair; the frying pan was swung and missed, then slapped away. Joy lost her high heels flailing her legs but got out from under the girl pile and jumped over the couch and sprinted in stocking feet out of the living room.
Eve's house had two bedrooms, one small one on the left, the large one on the right. Joy hung a right and tried to slam the door shut. Chelsie banged into it and Joy swung the door open and tripped the black-haired gal as she ran in, then shut the door and locked it. Joy grabbed a blanket off the bed and tossed it over Chelsie as she started to get up off the floor. She dove on top the gal to keep her blinded by the cover over her upper body.
Rosie banged and kicked the locked door. Inside Joy pulled the belt for her dress and looped and fastened it around Chelsie's middle, keeping her wrapped up. She sat on the Indian girl as Chelsie kicked and punched wild and blind. Rosie quit kicking the door.
Joy realized the gun was still out there.
She unlocked and spun through the door to see Rosie flat out fishing her right arm underneath the couch. Joy slammed on her back.
Rosie rolled empty-handed over on her back and scooted away from Joy. They got to their knees, then fell into a clinch with one another. Rosie tore loose the buttons on Joy's dress. Joy shoved her away and jumped to her feet. Rosie got up swinging and Joy backed off, then bent and drove her head into Rosie's middle. Rosie went back head over heels and hit her head hard on the floor. She got to her hands and knees and Joy mounted her back. She swung her legs around Rosie's torso, got a handful of red hair in her right hand and moved back. Rosie went with her and Joy wrapped her legs tighter, flung her left arm around Rosie's throat, let go of her hair and smacked a hand over her mouth and nose, then began squeezing.
"Grzzi!" was the last noise Rosie made on the air left in her. Then she smacked around with her arms fighting to break loose.
Joy tightened up on the panicked redhead, waiting. Then as Rosie started to ooze down, she said, "Quit fighting and I'll let you breathe again."
Rosie made a tiny up and down motion with her head and Joy released her mouth and nose, then rolled and flattened Rosie beneath her. She took her arm from her neck and pulled Rosie's arms back. She held her wrists with one hand and reached back with the other. She pulled off the right white canvas shoe and yanked the lace out. She took the shoestring and tied Rosie's thumbs together, then got off the red head.
Rosie loaded up on air. "What are yoummph!"
"Quiet." Joy looked, saw Rosie's sun bra back near the couch. She released her mouth and crawled over and got the top, then rolled back and pulled off Rosie's right white sock.
"You'll be in trouble for this. Ow!" said Rosie as Joy snatched a grip on her hair.
"Open your mouth sweetie."
"I'll bite your knuckles off. No don't igazup hog," she said as Joy socked her mouth full.
Again Joy mounted the redhead's back and worked the sunbra across her mouth. Rosie tried to shake it away, but Joy knotted the ends underneath the teenager's tangled mane of red hair.
"Guazapah unfurphim!"
"Just chew while I tie your toes."
Rosie did a drumbeat with her legs. Joy grabbed a foot and twisted a little toe.
"Orazuy!"
"Be Still!"
She took off Rosie's other shoe and sock, took the lace and tied her big toes together, then stood up to catch a breather. The bedroom door opened and Chelsie came on the run casting the blanket over Joy's head.
Joy whirl-a-gigged her way from under it. Chelsie ran by to the front door. Joy tackled her long legs and scrambled atop the brown girl. Chelsie got one leg free and under Joy's chin and brought it back down, flipping Joy to the right and off her.
Joy tried grabbing her legs and got a foot in the stomach. She scooted away from Chelsie and got up with her back to the front door. Chelsie rolled to her feet and threw a lamp at Joy. It missed right and smacked the front closet door.
They circled like grapplers doing a worked routine, then Chelsie ran back towards the kitchen shoving the couch out of her way. Joy followed, then ducked as Chelsie pitched an iced tea pitcher. It missed Joy's head and made a clean strike, smashing the screen of Eve's Crosley television set.
Joy spotted her Schuler Reform derringer.
"That does it, hold it right there or this warpath comes to an end."
Chelsie stared at the four barrels on the pistol in Joy's hands and swallowed hard, looked at the bound and gagged Rosie thrashing on the floor, and put her hands over her head.
"Don't shoot us please!"
"Don't worry kid. Don't say another word and start taking off your clothes."
Chelsie unbuttoned and pulled off the pink and white checked blouse, slipped off the cherry red moccasins and her socks, stepped out of the navy blue pedal pusher pants, and then slowly unhooked her bra and let it fall off. She peeled off her panties and stood there.
"No weapons. Good. Now you ruined the lamp and there won't be any test patterns showing on Eve's TV for a while. So yank the cord off both, then gently toss them to me."
It took a few minutes, but Chelsie tore the power cords loose and threw them at Joy's feet.
"Now face down on the floor, cross your wrists behind you and your ankles too. And don't look at the barrels on this pistol."
Chelsie lay prone and was stunned at how quick and tight she was tied. Joy used the lamp cord on her wrists and the TV cord on her ankles. She sat Chelsie up.
"This sock looks pretty clean. Open your mouth."
Chelsie did.
"Is that all? Wider than that sweetheart."
Chelsie opened more.
"Is that it?"
"Ah Uh," said Chelsie with a wide rounded mouth. "Opyum!" she bleated as Joy shoved a sock in it.
"Got it all in on the first try. Sorry to be mean." She picked up Chelsie's bra. "But you and your redheaded friend over there are where you're not supposed to be," she said as she put the bra over Chelsie mouth.
"Um grrrif," said Chelsie.
Joy removed the blue bandanna from Chelsie's black hair and tied that over the bra gag covering the girl's lower face.
"And as soon as I rest up from our tussle, I'm going to tie you up tighter, and gag you better, and when you're still and quiet, you can think about telling me why you're messing with Eve Regis.'
"Ifum moom ergun huise?" said Rosie.
"Olu pmifæ, began Chelsie. She was cut off by Joy tightening the bra to where it passed her lips and molded with her sock.
Joy got up, holstered her pistol, and sat in one of Eve's chairs.
***
Eve was still sitting in the shack, now watching Linda approach with a blade.
She cut her feet loose from the back of the chair. She slid the toothpick blade back into its scabbard and untied the over-the-mouth gag from Eve's head. Eve rolled her head until she could get her tongue behind the packing inside her mouth, and shot it past her lips and heard the soaked wad hit the wooden floor.
"I'll cut you loose and let you stretch out, then we better get ready for work."
Eve smacked her lips and worked her jaw muscles. Then she said, "You been up in a copter at night before?"
"Yes."
"You know it's tricky. I'll be in control in the air. You just sit and tell me where to go, but no smart aleck remarks. Just sit and think good thoughts about Joe Stalin."
"Maybe I should make you fly gagged."
"Not a good idea."
"Let's be comrades, until you can see your blond friend again."
She cut Eve's hands free and sliced away the rest of the rope.
"Time for us to be on the move," said Linda.
***
Other people were on the move. Joy was hauling the bound and gagged Chelsie and Rosie to Eve's bedroom. Tommy was waiting to make his rescue.
And Eric was on the road.
A scooter with a two-cycle engine won't get you there fast, but with Joy taking their only car some wheels are better then none.
Eric had built it from a kit, and while top speed was maybe twenty miles per hour, he was able to strap a good-sized carrying case on the foam rubber seat. A look inside would show some curious items.
Joy could handle herself, Eric knew that. It was love more then fear that made him follow. That and trying to make up for the times she had saved his bacon.
It was unlikely, but he had to believe that maybe just maybe while they were helping out Eve, there would be a time where someone would have to be tied up. Eric hoped a female. Something he had experience with.
***
Tina had no experience with her present situation.
Pain in the head and stiffness over her whole body. Then surprise when she discovered the stiffness came from lots of rope looping her naked body. She coiled and her muscles flowed from one end to the other like an anaconda. She was able to move a half- inch.
"Roumguph raffpop!"
The sound came from deep in her chest and started with the force of the roar of the MGM Lion, but after traveling through all the toweling packing and wrapping her mouth and face, it came out with the sound of a kitten in the bottom of a laundry bag.
She growled twice more before Christie heard it.
The blonde stood over the dark-haired trussed and gagged woman. She watched her heavy breasts shake as she tried the knots.
"You weren't out for longer than five minutes, so I'm hoping your diffuse brain injury is like those football players get."
Tina made animal sounds.
"The way your eyes are glaring, like you want to bite my jugular vein, shows you can focus, and your head injury didn't give you amnesia, or none that lasted."
Tina shut her eyes, sucked in air through her nose, and then contorted trying to snap the rope. Christie watched her muscles flex, heard a popping sound as the rope shifted on the woman's skin. But nothing gave, and Tina relaxed, snuffling hard through her nose.
"Now listen to me."
"Purger horrrump brisump."
"The horse is gone. Did the other guy take it?"
Tina yanked at the ropes.
Christie sat next to her, used the ropes around her torso to sit her up. She put both her hands in Tina's mass of black hair.
"You'd left me here bound and gagged but I can't do that to you. Now we can't ride out without any horse, and I'm not sure where we are. It'll be dark soon and we can't walk out at night. So we'll sit, and maybe I'll take the gag off. But if you give me any trouble, I will start out alone. Because you'd kill me for sure the next chance you get, plan or no plan."
Tina wiggled in the ropes, made garbled attempts at speech that did not have a friendly tone.
"I'll fix a fire for some supper, then I'll take the gag off. No talking during meal time."
"Harge ummph goozex," growled Tina.
Quickly Christie rolled Tina over on her stomach, then took the flat of her right hand and began striking the dark haired woman's bottom, She slapped one cheek, then the other back and forth.
"Urguss heirtler ummph. Oolog yurrumph!"
"You behave, I mean it. I burnt your whip so this is all I'll do."
Tina kept yowling and Christie kept spanking. Then Tina quit fighting the ropes and just started trying to move her bottom out from under Christie's stinging hand. Then Tina's howls became bleats, then whimpers.
Christie stopped the paddling, rolled Tina over and sat her up. The whip-wielding kidnapper now had tears of frustration rolling down her cheeks into the gag covering her face.
"Do what you want from now on out, I can't hit you anymore. But listen. If you help me get back to town, I'll leave you where you can get away. If me and Eve are safe and you help us get away from your Commie friends."
Tina quickly shook her head yes several times and right at the moment meant it. Until she was without the cord and mouth packing, sure she'd be a fine American gal.
***
Eve sat in her Hiller, the prop running over head. She waited for Linda to come out of the shack.
Inside Linda was setting a time fuse to burn up the shack, to leave no clues, including the radio she was set to use. Done with the fuse she sent her last message from that site.
"Pussycat to Pig pen, tell our friends at the cave we are in flight, Over."
Roger Pussycat, mate with you soon," said Olin.
He dialed the frequency to contact Tina and tell it was go time.
Eve watched Linda approach the copter, hoping she remembered the blades. No use losing her while Christie was in their hands.
Linda ducked and opened the canopy door and climbed in and shut it.
"Now lady pilot show me what a good choice you are for this mission," she said.
They lifted off into the darkness to head toward Dugay testing field.