Partners in Crime
By Peter Walsh
Part One
Caroline and Penny listened intently to all the sounds in the house. They knew that they were not alone. They could hear voices, footsteps, doors opening and closing and occasionally the radio or TV. There was activity beyond the locked door of the small room in which they were being held prisoner. However there was little they could do to change their helpless predicament in the fact that both Caroline and Penny were securely bound and gagged.
The two friends sat side by side on the carpeted floor in a room with freshly painted white walls and no furniture. Their backs were propped up against the wall. Like Penny, Caroline had ceased in her efforts to try and wriggle free of the ropes that held her fast. They had been tied up by experts.
Their wrists were crossed and bound behind their backs and tight turns of rope about their upper bodies trapped their arms to their sides. Their legs were bound just below the knees and just above the ankles. If Caroline and Penny’s respective bindings matched and so did their gags. Mouths that had been packed with generous wads of cloth and then sealed shut with several wide strips of black tape.
All Caroline and Penny could do was make themselves as comfortable as the circumstances would permit and wait. But what were the pair waiting for? In an odd way it was fortunate that they were gagged; any conversation might have involved too many anxious questions. The friends had been kidnapped and were being held prisoner in a house somewhere.
They both still wore our attire. The same garments as when they had been abducted. They were minus our jackets. Penny still wore her light blue cashmere top, pleated grey skirt, flesh tone tights and black loafers. Caroline wore a white blouse, a black pencil skirt, black tights and some black high heeled shoes.
Penny was worried about Caroline. Blonde, blue eyed and slim her friend was a head shorter and four years older. She was a bundle of energy in her work as a Solicitor but she was not that physically robust. They had been treated roughly but not brutally so far in their ordeal. Penny knew Caroline could not endure much rough treatment, the abduction and being bound and gagged had already probably extracted a toll on her strength. As for herself Penny was not sure how much violence and discomfort she was equipped to take. Penny was an attractive tall and trim brunette with grey eyes. The kidnap was a case of far, so good for Penny but she was hating every minute of it.
Penny looked up at the skylight window for probably the hundredth time and observed a clear blue sky above; the window was slightly open and provided welcome ventilation as well as light.
She flexed her mouth beneath the layers of black tape stretched across it. Penny had pondered over the possibility that if she and Caroline were able to rid themselves of the gags they could try and shout for help. This was far easier said than done. It would take a great deal of painful body contortion and awkward picking with numbed fingers to free their captive mouths and then what? They might not be heard beyond the confines of the room and the kidnappers might inflict some unpleasant retaliation on them. The friends exchanged glances and shook their heads in mutual resignation. They would stay gagged into unwilling silence.
The abduction had been swift and frightening. Caroline had met Penny at the college where she taught for a music concert by some of her students. They had intended to seek out somewhere for a late supper when the attack took place in the long shadows of the college car park. Assailed seemingly out of nowhere by foes of almost unbelievable strength. Black gloved hands closing over their mouths, being bundled into a vehicle and driven away at high speed. They had been shrouded in blankets and ordered to keep still and silent or they would be killed. After perhaps thirty fear-filled minutes the vehicle had come to a halt and still covered by the blankets Caroline and Penny were pulled out of it. The friends had been propelled up three flights of stairs and then the blankets were whipped away. They were relieved of our jackets, watches and the contents of their pockets and then forced down onto the floor. Caroline was parted from her favourite and most expensive handbag. The pair were then bound and gagged with a supernatural swiftness. Once secured they were left lying on the floor of the darkened room and heard a door being shut and locked.
They had no idea of the passage of time. Night became day with the light streaming in through the skylight window in the ceiling. Caroline rested her head on Penny’s shoulder and managed to snatch small amounts of sleep. Fear and apprehension kept Penny wide awake.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
It was getting dark again when the friends had visitors.
Two Amazonian women entered the carpeted space of captivity. Caroline and Penny looked up at them somewhat fearfully.
‘Don’t they look cute all tied up K?’ The first one commented to her companion.
‘They do indeed K’. Came the answer.
The first of the fearsome females was easily six feet tall in her white Reeboks. She was fantastically toned without an ounce of surplus on her awesomely athletic frame. She also had curves in all the right places. She was dressed in a clinging short sleeved black top with a wide belt about her middle her long legs poured into blue jeans. Her hair was to her shoulders and was a mix of wheat and red gold. Her face was far too strong featured to be termed pretty; she was beautiful. Her grey eyes scanned the tied up twosome with some amusement.
Her partner was practically her twin in physique but her hair was a mass of dark and shining curls. She was also strikingly strong featured. Her wide spaced dark brown eyes were also seeing the funny side of our helpless plight. She wore a tight pink top and blue jeans tucked into some comfy looking cowboy boots.
‘Hi folks’. The fair girl greeted the captive pair. ‘My name is K and this is my friend who is also called K, think of us as the two Ks. We’re your Kidnappers for tonight and for your immediate future’. She had a moderately strong Australian accent.
‘Sorry for the fact that you are all tied up but this is for our benefit and not yours’. The dark girl was speaking now. ‘We have to keep you both out of sight for a time and don’t want you to be loud or restless’.
‘Caroline? Can I call you Caroline?’ The fair girl asked the well dressed but bound blonde.
Caroline’s blue eyes were wide and quite terrified over the mass of black tape gagging her mouth. She nodded slowly with her consent for the girl to be familiar.
‘Caroline, you are the main reason behind this little adventure, we were after you but decided to take your teacher friend too. If you don’t give us the goods, she gets the slaps. We don’t want to hit you, you look a bit like my auntie but you’re much better groomed. Anyway we are going to have a little chat about things tomorrow and if we don’t get the gain-she gets the pain’.
‘Mmmmmph!’ Caroline shook her head.
‘It’s up to you Sweetheart’. The dark girl then said. ‘Right K?’
‘Too right K! Now what would you two like for supper?’
* * * * * * * * * * *
After another uncomfortable night in the bare room Caroline and Penny were given time for a toilet break and a chance to freshen up. They were then given breakfast by the two Ks but the best thing was being free from the ropes and gags. Both Caroline and Penny knew that this would be a temporary respite.
Their captors clearly meant business and had introduced their charges to what they called ‘Our Italian mates’. The latter were a brace of dark and deadly looking Beretta automatics. The two Ks were prepared to use lethal force if the need arose.
Penny enjoyed hiking and swimming and had already weighed up her chances against the athletic Amazonian pair who had made her and Caroline prisoners. They were younger, fitter, stronger and probably a great deal meaner. Penny might risk a roughing up herself but Caroline’s safety and well being was way too precious to her. Penny would go along with the events as they unfolded but that did not mean he had to like it.
Caroline felt uncomfortable and dishevelled in her now rumpled work attire. It was hot and stuffy in the room where she and Penny were kept tied up. She had un-tucked her blouse, loosened a few buttons and rolled up the sleeves. She had also taken off her black tights. Being bare armed and bare legged during a work day (even a kidnapped one) was a professional no-no but needs must. Caroline tried to think what the Australian girls might be after? Was it to do with the ongoing difficulties in the Blackwood case? If it was the whole affair had suddenly become even more serious. Kidnapping one of the solicitors involved had taken events in a highly sinister direction.
Penny was also unhappy about the state of her clothes. However she kept all her garments on. She could stand perhaps another twenty four hours in her clothes before she wanted to burn them.
The two K’s got their captives ready to go downstairs for the business of the day. Fair haired K got Caroline to hold out her wrists in front of her and promptly tied them in a crossed fashion. Dark haired K pulled Penny’s arms behind her back and bound her crossed wrists there.
‘Shall we go downstairs?’ Fair K led the way with Caroline and Dark K prodded Penny along behind.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The rest of the house was sparsely furnished and looked and smelled like it had been recently subject to a major renovation.
‘Are we still in London?’ Caroline asked her striking looking captor.
‘That is for us to know and you to worry about Caroline’. Fair K told her.
The prisoners were escorted into a room at the rear of the house. There were some patio windows and Penny got a glimpse of a green lawn, a path and a shed. The room itself had a rectangular dining table and four matching chairs. There was a comfortable looking recliner by the windows. There was a Laptop PC on the table with the familiar display on its screen courtesy of Microsoft.
Fair K sat Caroline down on a chair in front of the laptop. Fair K then produced a length of thin strong rope and promptly bound Carline’s now bare ankles together.
‘I know you couldn’t run far in those heels with your hands tied but we don’t like leaving anything to chance do we K?’
‘Too right K!’ Dark K responded.
Fair K continued to take the lead. ‘As we need you to chat you don’t get a gag Caroline but your poor teacher friend gets the full treatment. Fix her up K!’
Penny was then steered to another of the straight backed chairs by Dark K. Her bound arms were threaded over the back of the chair and her wrist bindings were made secure to the back of it.
Dark K looped several tight turns of rope about Penny’s chest, two above her breasts and two below, further binding her to the chair. She then tied a few similarly snug ropes about Penny’s waist. More thin rope was used on Penny’s nylon clad ankles and then fastened to the central column under the chair. Dark K then set about binding Penny’s knees.
Penny looked down at the stunning looking dark haired girl who was tying her up. She rested on one denim clad knee as she carried on binding Penny’s legs. Penny was impressed by the girls concentration and dextrous technique.
‘Where did you learn to do this?’ Penny was compelled to ask.
Dark K looked up and grinned. ‘My cousin Dee’.
Caroline looked across and her brow was creased with concern for Penny’s plight. Fair K then squeezed her shoulders which wordlessly communicated that she should devote her attention to what was in front of her.
Dark K finished binding Penny to the chair and then went to fetch some items from the end of the table. Items Penny had not noticed until now. There was a roll of wide black tape, two large wads of cloth and two long black nylon scarves. Penny knew that these materials were shortly to be utilised as gags, one for her now and probably one for Caroline later.
‘We don’t want any noise out of the teacher while we’re working’. Fair K gave Caroline’s shoulders another squeeze.
Caroline looked on in horror as Dark K set about gagging Penny. She and Penny had been un-gagged and re-gagged about seven or eight times now but Caroline regarded it as a none too subtle torture.
Dark K wadded up the cloth and gripped Penny’s nose forcing her head back and her mouth open. She deftly crammed the cloth inside Penny’s mouth and by exerting pressure on her jaw got her to close it. Tearing off a long strip of the wide black tape Dark K stretched it across Penny’s mouth and smoothed it down. She added five more strips in quick succession. Dark K’s long fingers made sure every strip of tape stuck true to her captives mouth. The taping completed Dark K got one of the black nylon scarves and folded it over a couple of times until it was of a suitable shape to tie over Penny’s lower face. Penny grunted as Dark K bound the folded mass of black nylon over her already well gagged mouth. She made a tight knot behind Penny’s head trapping some of her hair in the process.
Dark K then patted her captive on the top of their.
‘There! The teacher is tied up so tight she can’t even twitch and gagged so she can’t muster a squeak!’
The two K’s laughed.
Caroline saw the look in Penny’s eyes over the wide black nylon band masking her lower face. She had seen that look before, the resigned look of when her friend didn’t like something but was obliged to go along with it.
‘Now playtime’s over Caroline!’ All levity was gone from Fair K’s tone. ‘We want everything on the Blackwood merger that is on your files. You know all the passwords and the account numbers, we also need all the names-’.
‘I can’t do that’. Caroline looked up from the screen and over her shoulder at Fair K. ‘It is unlawful and unethical, my firm could be sued and I could be barred from ever practising again’.
‘You’ll do everything I tell you Caroline or would you like to see your friend crippled? Show her K?’
Dark K lifted up sleek and lethal looking Beretta and Caroline saw that a stubby silencer had been attached to the weapons muzzle.
‘Shoot Penny in the right kneecap K’.
Penny helplessly bound and gagged shut her eyes as Dark K took her aim.
‘Please no!’. Caroline called out, tears were spilling down her cheeks. ‘Please don’t I give you what you need-mmmmmphf!’
Fair K swiftly gagged Caroline with her hand.
‘Not so loud Caroline! Now? Shall we try again?’
With trembling fingers Caroline set to work on the keyboard of the laptop.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
In an hour Caroline gave the two Ks everything they needed.
They both seemed pleased.
Fair K closed up the laptop and tucked it under her arm.
‘Big payday ahead K!’ She told her companion.
‘Serious money K!’ Dark K answered. For the last hour her gun had been unwaveringly trained on the captive Penny. She now held it at her side pointing at the floor. Penny relaxed in her tight bindings.
‘What happens now?’ Caroline asked the two Ks, her voice was barely above a whisper.
‘We have someone to see in a few hours Sweetheart, someone who is very interested in everything you’ve given to us’. Fair K told the slim blonde solicitor.
‘Who?’
‘Don’t be silly Caroline! Nobody you need or want to worry about’.
Dark K was now standing behind Penny’s chair and had her hands resting on the shoulders of it’s bound and gagged occupant.
‘We need time to glam ourselves up for the meeting K, what about our friends here?’
‘Yes indeed, we were going to have to leave them at some time or another?’ Fair K pondered.
‘I can’t be arsed with getting them upstairs again. It would mean a whole lot of untying and retying and I’ve got the teacher all tied up just the way I want her’. Dark K playfully stroked the top of Penny’s brunette head.
‘I know. Leave her as she is. We’ll tie Caroline to that recliner, dope them both with that chloroform stuff, cover them with those dust sheets and draw the curtains. They’ll keep nicely until we get back’.
Caroline did not like what she was hearing one bit and neither did Penny judging by the look in her eyes. There was only one thing left for her to do and suddenly a risk worth taking. Caroline decided to scream.
Unfortunately her mouth was dry and she needed to inhale a sizeable amount of air to effect a good vocal performance. Her sudden and loud intake of breath gave her away.
Suddenly the muzzle of the gun in Dark K’s hand was pressed against Penny’s temple.
‘If you scream-she gets her brains blown out’. Fair K told Caroline.
Caroline did not scream.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Caroline was already bound albeit in a far less secure fashion than Penny. Her wrists were secured in front of her and the ropes chaffing the skin of her bare ankles already made her regret taking her tights off.
Fair K stood with her hand firmly covering Caroline’s mouth while Dark K got the items ready to gag her. Caroline fortified herself to receive the same treatment as Penny. It was swift in coming and quite ruthless in application.
Fair K’s hand left Caroline’s mouth while Dark K crammed an almost too large wad of cloth inside it. Working together the two Ks applied the strips of black tape over the captive solicitors mouth.
‘One!’ Fair K laughed.
‘Two!’ Dark K giggled.
‘Three!’ Fair K tittered.
‘Four!’ Dark K chortled.
‘And five!’ Fair K sniggered.
‘Yes and six!’ Dark K added almost triumphantly.
‘You certainly have got it taped Caroline’. Fair K told her unhappy prisoner.
Caroline scowled at them and shook her head angrily. Dark K then added the further insult by tightly binding the black nylon scarf over Caroline’s taped up lower face. The wide band of secure folds of black nylon covered all of the gagging tape.
Caroline looked to Penny for any type of assurance but the hostage music teacher was a forlorn captive figure in her chair by the patio windows. Dark K had tilted Penny’s chair and dragged it over there a few moments before. The girl was very strong. Penny’s chair was close to the recliner to which she shortly was to be secured.
‘Up you come!’ Fair K lifted Caroline up from the chair by her elbows.
Caroline moaned through her multi-layered gag as she was virtually lifted off her feet and carried over to the recliner. Both of her black shoes fell off and she suddenly felt oddly vulnerable in having her feet exposed.
Penny sat a prisoner in his chair, a picture of almost hostile passivity. There was nothing she could do to help Caroline in any way. Bound, gagged and helpless. All she could do was glare over her gag at the two Ks as they played their games with Caroline.
With Fair K gripping her elbows and Dark K now holding onto her bare and bound ankles Caroline was placed in an angled prone position on the recliner.
‘Got the rope K?’
‘Enough to tie her ten times over K’.
With Caroline in position the two Ks set about tying her down on the recliner.
Penny could not help but be fascinated as the two Ks worked their rope wizardry on Caroline. Soon Caroline had ropes networking down almost the whole length of her body. Just as there was no escape from the chair to which she was tied, the chances of Caroline liberating herself from her bonds were a very definite zero.
Caroline kept her eyes shut as she felt each rope tighten about her slim frame. She knew she could never get free. Even though her wrists were bound in front of her, numerous other tight ropes allowed no movement of her arms. She hated the gag like never before. She had to concentrate on a regular pattern of breathing through her nose.
‘All done Caroline!’ Fair K announced.
Caroline opened her eyes and nearly wept when she saw what the Australian Amazons had inflicted on her. The number of ropes holding her captive on the recliner was ludicrous. She saw Penny shaking her head in disbelief. The music teacher was perhaps three feet away but it may as well have been a hundred with the way they had been tied up and gagged by the two Ks.
‘Got to get a move on K’. Dark K said closing the dark purple curtains around the patio windows. ‘I’ll get the covers if you do the honours with the chloroform’.
‘I’m on it’. Fair K assured her partner in crime.
Dark K left the room while Fair K liberated a small bottle filled with a clear liquid. She held it up and looked at the contents.
‘I need something to put it on?’ Fair K mused to herself. ’I know!’
She briefly left the room for the kitchen and came back holding a folded white tea towel. Fair K promptly dampened the towel with some of the liquid from the bottle.
‘You two get to have a little chloroform party, who wants to go first’.
‘Mmmmmmph! Mmmmmph!’ Caroline and Penny shook their heads in frightened unison.
‘You’re the closest’. Fair K told Penny and reached over and covered her face with the towel.
Penny groaned through her gag, tried to pull away, attempted to hold her breath but in exactly thirty seconds she was unconscious. Fair K kept the towel over Penny’s face for a short time to ensure the drug took full effect. When the towel was removed Penny’s head drooped down and his chin rested on his chest.
‘I hope the teacher has sweet dreams’. Fair K then turned to Caroline. ‘Now Caroline! Take your medicine and don’t fight it’.
Caroline did not make it easy for Fair K but the girl was strong and very determined. Soon the drugged towel was firmly clamped over Caroline’s face. Pretty soon she had no option but to inhale the stupefying fumes of the chloroform.
‘That’s better’. Fair K playfully whispered to the now unconscious Caroline. Dark K then returned with the clean dust covers.
Penny and her chair of captivity were enveloped with one of white shroud like covers. It was tucked in all over her and a rope about her upper body and one about her legs made sure the cover would remain in place.
‘Look at sleeping beauty’. Dark K giggled as Caroline and the recliner vanished under the second cover. Once it was snug about the slumbering captive the cover was made secure with ropes over Caroline’s shrouded chest and thighs.
‘Good job K’.
‘Too right K’.
‘Shall we make ourselves gorgeous?’
‘You mean more gorgeous than we are now?’
‘We can but try K’.
‘What about these two?’
‘Too risky letting them go just yet. You fancy a trip to the country after we get our business done?’
‘Sounds like a plan K! They coming with us?’
‘They certainly are!’
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Caroline dawdled in the shower as if trying to wash away all traces of her captivity. Fair K did not hurry her. Plus there was also the impending luxury of a change of clothes.
‘We got a few things from your flat’. Fair K had told her.
The bathroom in the house was clean and serviceable. Caroline dried herself down with a large white towel. She felt guilty with her rush of comforts. Penny was still bound and gagged downstairs in the care of Dark K.
Caroline blinked at her reflection in the mirror tiles and wiped away the condensation to get a better look. Her skin was pleasantly pink from the shower. Her head still throbbed from the after effects of the chloroform, her blue/grey eyes were slightly red but she felt better by the second. She pushed back her damp blonde hair and thought that her forty-three year old skin was in good shape. Her dear friend Penny always said that the world should envy her cheekbones. Caroline smiled, she had been telling her that for quite a few years now. Poor Penny, tied, gagged and tormented by Dark K. Caroline wished they were both a long way away from this house, the two Ks and the whole kidnap ordeal.
The terror of her confinement on the recliner still lingered at the back of her mind. Waking up from the drug and being trapped in a world of white under the dust cover. Tied up, tied down, gagged twice over and literally under tight wraps. Caroline was stricken with a quite dreadful panic for several minutes until she was able to compose herself. She would lay still and await developments. Another dreadful thought which assailed her what Penny might be going through. Bound to the chair just a few feet away. It was hours before she heard the voices of the two Ks and became aware of them standing over her. The ropes outside the dust cover were loosened and it was lifted off her bound body. Caroline blinked up at the two formidable girls with discomfort misted eyes.
‘Did you miss us?’ Fair K asked Caroline.
‘I bet they both did’. Dark K added.
Caroline thought the girls looked quite stunning in their amazingly well cut black business suits with the pencil skirts.
Their endless legs clad in sheer tights ending in black high-heels that must have been difficult to walk in.
Caroline looked past the girls at Penny. Penny was still on her chair, tied up in a shroud-like dust cover. She was probably furious about the situation.
Caroline finished her shower and dried herself off. Fair K took her to one of the small bedrooms and Caroline saw one of her black holdalls on the narrow bed. Fair K left her alone to dress.
Caroline almost attacked the bag for its contents. There were several changes of underwear, her entire stock of spare pairs of tights, three tops, three skirts and a light fleece jacket. The only footwear item were her new pair of knee length boots, toffee coloured and with a wedge heel. The boots had rapidly established themselves as a favourite with Caroline.
A rap on the door from Fair K was indication that she should be quick about things. Caroline started to dress herself. White bra and panties, sheer tights, beige top, blue denim skirt and she sat down to zip on the boots.
‘I’m ready’. Caroline called out.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Dark K had removed the tight scarf from around her lower face but Penny was still effectively gagged by the tape over her mouth and the cloth packing inside it. She was also still tied up to the chair.
Dark K lounged on the recliner to which Caroline had been tied. All evidence of Caroline’s imprisonment had been removed from the scene. Caroline was being allowed to shower and change clothes. Penny knew that both would do a great deal to ease her distress. But when would it be her turn?
Penny could not help but look admiringly at Dark K. She was a beautiful young woman, Amazonian in the best sense of the word. Her mass of dark hair, classic cheekbones and incredible dark eyes. She looked terrific in her business suit and the swish of nylon as she moved her long legs was a sexy sound. She had kicked off her heels and she wriggled her stocking clad feet in evident relief.
‘They look good but you don’t want to keep them on for too long’. Dark K had told her prisoner. Penny had a similar pair of shoes in her wardrobe at home but so far had not had the courage or the occasion to wear them.
Penny then made an attempt at conversation with the girl, foolish with a gag in her mouth but she would try all the same.
Surprisingly Dark K was able to translate the muffled garbling of the hostage.
‘What are we going to do with you?’
Penny nodded.
‘Well, our business is pretty much done here so we’re getting out of town tonight. We’ll hide out in the country for a week or so and then make our getaway proper. You and your friend are coming with us. We hold you both hostage until we’re ready to make our break then we let you go’.
Penny almost slumped in his bonds. There was no immediate end in sight to the ordeal. She again attempted communication.
Dark K frowned slightly as Penny spoke through her gag of cloth and tape as if listening intently to the content.
‘What keep you but let Caroline go? No way, we keep both of you. Caroline suggested almost the same thing to K, we keep her but let you go. You and your solicitor friend are staying with us’.
Penny tried something else.
‘You mean if I take the gag off you won’t make any noise?’
Penny nodded.
‘Well Sweetheart I shall have to just think about that won’t I?’
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Caroline and Penny lay side by side on the mattress in the back of the van as it sped through the city of night. The mattress was dry and smelled clean and the van was a new model so the ride could have been worse.
The two Ks had secured their captives for the journey. Caroline and Penny had their wrists and elbows bound behind their backs and their knees and ankles bound together. Each of their mouths were stuffed once more. If anything, the two Ks had managed to get even more cloth in before sealing their lips with strips of black tape. Caroline and Penny were also blindfolded with cloth pads taped over their eyes and their ears were plugged with wax plugs. The captive pair had also been covered with a blanket.
Caroline was uncomfortable in her bondage but drew solace from her clean comfortable clothes and her fine boots. Somehow the boots made her feel less vulnerable, protecting her legs to the knee and more practical then the smart shoes she always wore for work. They also gave added protection against the ropes binding her ankles. Bound, gagged and blindfolded under the blanket the blonde solicitor had manoeuvred herself close to Penny’s back and rested her forehead against it. If she was able to sleep in the tight discomfort this might help.
Penny felt Caroline move closer to her. Penny had also enjoyed the luxury of a shower and a change of clothes. Clean white bra and panties, new tights, clean dark cashmere top and a short black skirt. Penny still wore her black loafers. Blind, mute and deaf the brunette teacher felt particularly helpless. The Australian girls had carried the friends to the van slung over their shoulders like they weighed nothing at all. Penny wanted to fight back but when and how?
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The two Ks finally broke free of London and relaxed slightly. They had ditched their business suits and changed into the less formal attire of T-Shirts, jeans, boots and leather jackets. Both of the Australian girls carried their guns close to their persons.
‘Do you remember how to get to this place K?’ Dark K asked Fair K who was driving the van.
‘I do’. Fair K replied.
‘’What’s the name of it?’
‘Penn-by-the Brooke’.
‘Stupid name! All these Brit places have such daft names!’
‘What does it matter K? We’ll only be there for a short time and the cottage is alone for half-a-mile in any direction’.
‘Should we pull over and check on our little birds?’
‘No K. They’re all trussed up like a pair of Christmas turkeys, no worries there’.
‘Right. How far off this place are we?’
‘About another hour I reckon’.
‘Good! I could do with a beer!’.
‘I could do with about six K’.
Both the girls laughed.
‘What do we do with our two friends when we get to the cottage?’ Dark K asked Fair K.
‘Stick them in the cellar’.
‘Does it reek down there?’
‘No, it’s all been done up, warm and dry’.
‘Do we keep them tied up?’
‘Best to I reckon’.
‘I reckon too’.
The van continued on the M1 motorway for another thirty minutes. There was little traffic on it at that late hour. The van exited the motorway at the required junction and was soon on darkened country roads. Caroline and Penny captive under the blanket in the back of the van and thought about what future misfortunes awaited them.
Nobody in the van had any idea that they were being followed at a discreet distance by a black BMW.