Tommy got off the floor and turned on the bedroom light. It was night outside. He hadn’t noticed how dark it gotten since all the fighting started. He looked at the trio. All had a wary look in their eyes; the blonde was leaning on her left side, Rosie and Chelsie wiggling on their bottoms.
"Huh e. En ah aww gah cuk hars," said Rosie.
"Is it true what you said to her about me being safe to go with? Silly to go with?"
"Uh uh. Darg kurk hoo ho," answered Rosie.
Then she and Chelsie looked at one another, then turned to him and they shook their heads yes.
"You still think that?"
They shook their heads no.
"Now we're still partners in this, but before I take your gags off, tell me, who's in charge?"
"Ooh oors," drooled Rosie.
"Aih aiga," drizzled Chelsie.
He sat behind Rosie on the bed and began working the gag knots free. As soon as he pulled the tissue packed hair net from her mouth he ran to toss the dripping mess in the bathroom wastebasket.
Rosie stayed busy swallowing. Her gag had become so soaked with saliva that it wouldn't take up any more of the drool in her mouth.
Chelsie had the same mess with her mouth, gasping when Tommy got the shower cap off her bicuspids and into the wastebasket. He sat behind Chelsie and began untying her hands.
"Sorry to have to see you naked," he said.
"That's her fault', said Chelsie.
Rosie licked her lips and said," what are we going to do with her?"
"Leave her there for now," said Tommy.
"We should tie her up even more," said Rosie.
"I plan on it," he said.
"We can handle that," said Chelsie.
Rosie said, " tie her up tight, and she makes a lot of noise through her gag. We have to have her quiet for when her Commie friends show up."
Joy growled she didn't have any commie friends. It came out sounding like, ‘"bockan oodle oo!"
"One of us should call the police," said Rosie.
"Yeah," said Chelsie.
"I tore the phone cord loose to tie her up with."
"Oh Tommy what were you thinking," said Rosie.
He answered loudly," I was thinking she was going to shoot me. I didn't see you being any help all googol-eyed and scared looking with your underwear stuffed in your mouth."
"All right you're a hero. Now would you please untie us!"
"I'm trying. These dang shoe strings are hard to get undone."
"We'll have to ride our bikes to get help," said Rosie.
"We'll figure that out later," he said.
"Come on we don't know what else is coming here," she said.
He stopped working on Chelsie's knots and got behind Rosie. He put his right hand under her jaw and clamped it shut.
"Mummph!"
"We're not at the Diner. Now be quiet."
"Muh hump eemum."
"Rosie be quiet, Tommy could you please finish untying me," said Chelsie.
"In a minute."
He took his hand off Rosie's mouth and got off the bed. He went over and opened the door to Eve's closet.
Joy had rolled on her back and was paying extra attention to this part of the show. Good to see the bad guys fighting amongst them. Now good old Tommy had one of Eve's cloth belts off a robe.
"Hey what's that for?"
"For you you little red-headed pest." "That's telling her," thought Joy.
Joy watched him as he did cross turns with the cloth belt, working up a bundle of blood knots in the middle of it. Wonder where he learned how to make a gag like that? Probably saw it on the cover of "True Detective Magazine."
"Come on Tommy untie us."
"Just a second Chelsie. I want the boss lady here to be quiet so I can work on your knots." From the floor Joy watched him take the belt by the ends and stand in front of the red head.
Rosie kept talking as he brought it toward her lips.
"I didn't mean anything. Look we got to get soma ell tee tee ar indy mumm."
Rosie gave up when he had the corners of her mouth pulled back by the belt and was tying the cloth ends behind her head.
He bent and got his face up to Rosie's.
"Here's the deal again. I untie Chelsie she unties you. We tie up the spy and wait to see if anyone else shows. We got all night, I can always come up with a story for Mom. Now are you going along with it?"
Rosie shook her head yes. Tommy went back to untying Chelsie.
Joy watched him work, seeing he was having a time of it with the knots she'd tied. Probably wind up using the scissors to cut away the towel. She didn't like hearing the two gals were taking charge of tying her up. But let them run a bunch of rope around her, some big crazy long length like Eve's clothesline. The longer the rope, the easier to get free. Unless they know what they're doing.
Joy shifted herself on the floor. These knots weren't getting any looser. She knew better then to try and talk through her gag. Instead she began humming sentences at the trio. With luck they'd care enough to try and figure out what she was saying. She looked at the light on the ceiling above her.
The light on the ceiling above blinded Eve when she opened her eyes. It was only one but seemed as bright as those she'd been running in. She wasn't running now. She couldn't move.
"Mummp?"
A head partly blocked out the light. A woman's face.
"Should we start taking notes?"
The voice didn't go with the face Eve had hovering over her. But now it spoke.
"sergeant you can remove the gag."
Eve tried to do it herself. Nothing was working for her. She couldn't raise her head. Her mouth felt plugged and sealed.
sergeant. So she was with the military. Well the sooner the gag came off the better for her to tell them her story.
The tape came off easy enough, the plug turned out to be a large wad of gauze bandages. Then the one working on her, Eve saw she was a blonde, fiddled near Eve's left ear lobe, unbuckling and pulling away a strap pinning Eve's throat.
The first woman's head floated back above her. Eve saw she had brown hair, wore a white smock.
"Your name please."
Eve had to warm up her voice. She got out, "Eve Regis."
"Miss Regis you were shot with a Bio-inoculator dart gun. A .08 inch dart. sergeant Burns administered intramuscularly an antidote of 5 mg of Nalorphine Hydrochloride. So we were, and still are very interested in keeping you alive. It didn't work out that well for your fellow traveler."
"Who?"
"The woman with you."
"She's dead?"
"Yes."
"Good."
"That just leaves you to tell us what's going on."
Eve did. Almost all, except for the part about getting Joy Karns to help out.
The blonde and another woman, a brunet, were writing it all down. The brown haired woman who was in charge listened. When Eve finished the woman said.
"That's interesting. We've been monitoring radio broadcasts that haven't told us much, enough to know to stake out the Proving grounds. You cut it close. We had to scramble to get out before the target demonstration. We left the other body.
Eve asked about the guinea pigs.
"Nice of you to care. We're still checking on them. You're clean, thank goodness. Now to learn more on your story, you'll take us to your house for a search. Then we may help you round up your friend, Christy I think you called her. Of course your story will have to prove true before we begin that search. sergeant Burns and sergeant Mallory will help you get ready."
"I didn't catch your name," said Eve.
"Professor Monica Powers. No need to remember, you won't be seeing much of us after this is straightened out, Unstrap her and give her a bubble bath."
If Eve had kept count she'd discovered there were twenty-seven straps between her neck and toes that had to be unbuckled before Mallory and Burns could sit her up. They helped her nicely to her feet, and not so nicely with a hammerlock on each arm, guided her from the room. Eve caught enough of it to see it was a laboratory, beakers and all. She wondered how long she'd been out, and what sort of tests had been done on her.
They marched her down a hall and inside a room with lockers and benches and a shower. Not exactly a bubble bath, but the hot water did help get over the wooziness from the drug.
She stepped from the shower; a couple of towels were on a rack to her right. She used them while looking down the other end of the locker room, where Burns and Mallory stood watching. They both wore khaki uniform in garrison style with open shirt, pistol belt, and field boots. The uniform fit like most women's military outfits, crummy. The two were young, like pretty carhops. Both wore their hair short.
"She looks a little like the Professor, you know how the Professor looks like Julie Adams, she looks like Jean Peters," said Mallory.
"You think? I never thought Peters and Adams looked alike."
"Peters is a little slimmer. Anyhow where'd you put her panties?"
"Locker number eleven. I'll get them," said Burns.
She clanged the locker door shut and she and Mallory walked toward Eve.
"This is all that's left of your clothes I'm afraid," said Burns.
"Thank you. Do you have anything else for me to put on?"
"Yes, in a bit, first we need to have you write down some information for us. And for that we need to go to another room. Can you walk without help."
"Sure."
They still gave Eve a little help, each holding lightly to an arm. Eve had no doubt they would snap a rear bent-arm lock on her in a flash should she not head the right way.
The room they went into was smaller then any yet, two chairs, one table. A pad and two pencils. They sat Eve away from the door, Burns stood behind her, Mallory took the other chair.
"Write down a diagram of your house, number of rooms, where they are, how to get in, all that. You'll be waiting in the car while we check it out. We'll go in without raising a fuss," said Mallory.
Eve took her time and neither of the other women seemed to be in a hurry. Eve finished and turned the pad over to Mallory. She looked at it, then nodded to Burns, who took Eve by the shoulders and stood her up.
"We're almost ready," said Mallory.
Holding firmer this time, the two walked Eve to yet another room. Eve didn't like the contents of this one. First thing she noticed was the straitjacket.
Burns picked it up.
"Take some time to drive there, this will make sure you leave the driving to us," she said.