Barbara gasped and backed away as Carlos appeared in the frame of the door with the limp form of Andrea draped over a wide shoulder.
Bound and gagged all I could do was watch helplessly.
Carlos had a large bruise on his forehead and if it was missing any particular colour of the rainbow I was at a loss to name it. His nose was also dripping blood and looked like it might have been broken.
Barbara backed into the chair in which I sat a prisoner and nearly fell over me.
‘Sit down and be silent!’ Carlos ordered her.
Barbara nodded fearfully and swiftly sat on the sofa with her hands in her lap, her fingers nervously intertwined.
Carlos dumped Andrea into a soft chair. She groaned and her head lolled back.
‘Stay there!’ He jabbed a long, thick index finger at Barbara. ‘Don’t move!’
‘I won’t-I won’t, I promise!’ Barbara tripped out her words.
Carlos glared ominously at her then turned and left the room.
Barbara sat in a state of frozen fright, Andrea groaned and I made all sorts of frantic noises through my gags, straining at my bonds.
Carlos was back in less than two minutes. He was carrying coils of rope, a roll of tape and some white tea towels. He threw one of the latter at the seated Barbara.
‘Gag yourself!’ He told her.
Barbara held the towel in her hands. She knew what she had to do but did not want to do it. She folded the towel over and over until it was bunched into a wad small enough to fit into her mouth. She opened her mouth with some trepidation and stuffed the wad in. She closed her mouth about the packing as best as she was able to and then retrieved the black nylon scarf. She made it into a long strip and bound it about her mouth completely covering her cloth stuffed mouth. She made the knot behind her head under her long hair. Her hands then returned to her lap and she folded them. Gagged, Barbara sat with an almost formal posture.
Carlos dropped to one knee and brought Andrea’s brown booted ankles together and deftly secured them with several turns of the white rope. Then he turned his attention to her knees and made them fast too.
Andrea groaned again but still did not move or open her eyes. Carlos allowed himself a satisfied grin. He turned to look at his two gagged observers.
‘When I hit somebody, they stay hit’. He told us.
He then got to his feet and went behind the chair and drew Andreas arms around the back of it. It was a stretch for her, no way were her arms long enough but Carlos somehow managed it. As her made her arms fast Andrea’s chest was thrust out, exaggerating her breasts. Rope was then passed above and below her breasts and about her middle. Her upper body made fast to the chair, Carlos came back round to the front and tied off Andrea’s ankles at an angle to one of the chairs stumpy legs.
It was at that moment that Andrea chose to revive herself.
‘What the f-Ummmph!’
A large wad of Welsh white linen was suddenly jammed into her mouth filling it to it’s capacity. Before the enraged Andrea had the chance to spit it out, a generous length of tape was strapped across the lower part of her face securing the wad in place. Two further strips at slight diagonals to the first quickly followed.
Andrea shook her head violently trying to dislodge the gag and wrenched at her bindings but after a couple of minutes of futile effort she gave up.
Her eyes blazed at Carlos over the silver-grey tape that masked the lower part of her face. The tables had been turned, Andrea was now a prisoner.
She kept up a stream of very muffled and disjointed abuse at Carlos through the packing in her mouth and the tape over it. This provoked Carlos into adding to her gag by securing a band of cloth over the tape, tying it off behind her neck. This measure ensured near silence from his captive.
Barbara sat with her head cast down, staring at her hands.
‘Lie face down on the sofa, hands behind you’.
Barbara did as she was ordered. Carlos picked up further lengths of rope and set to work on her.
I sat in enforced silence, seemingly ignored by all present.
Barbara’s wrists were bound behind her back and her elbows were lashed together. Her blue jean clad legs were secured at the thighs, knees and ankles. Carlos then bent Barbara’s lower limbs over until her bound ankles were about a foot from her bound wrists. Carlos then secured one to the other. I heard Barbara moan with the discomfort. Barbara was bound effectively and painfully.
Carlos then checked on Barbara’s gag and added some tape to compliment it. Barbara unlike Andrea accepted her lot and was still.
Carlos then turned his attention to me. I flinched as he approached my chair. He looked me over, checked the knots on my bonds, tightened the odd one but seemed satisfied. He then examined my gag. He could tell by the way my cheeks bulged under the length of cloth that half covered my face that my mouth was packed and that it was secured in place but it was still not quite what he had in mind. He went and got the tape.
Carlos wrapped the tape over the cloth gag with about six turns of the roll around my head. It tightened the whole gag package to an almost unbearable level. I was now unable to utter even the smallest of sounds.
Carlos then stepped back from me and addressed his captives.
‘I do not appreciate being threatened with a gun, struck, kicked and then tied up in a cellar but now things are as they should be’.
Andrea continued to keep up her muffled abuse but Barbara and I stayed still and very quiet.
‘I am still not sure of your plans’. He waved a hand in a sweeping gesture indicating both Andrea and Barbara. ‘Nor do I care. Paula is soon to return with her sister. Things will then start to get interesting. I was planning on leaving here with only two captives but now it looks like it will be five in total’.
Carlos was smiling.
My brow creased over my multi-layered gag. Five captives? Things were getting stranger and more confused by the minute.
‘I’ll need a bigger mode of transport’. Carlos told us. He then reached into the waistband of his black jeans and pulled out Andrea’s gun. He held it up to show her.
‘I don’t like these things’. He told her. He deftly ejected the magazine, unloading the weapon. ‘So this is going in the rubbish’.
Andrea made more angry sounds through her gag, her Irish eyes on fire.
Carlos then left the room, dimming the lights as he did so. My eyes drifted to the windows, it was now dark outside. Once again I had no control over events, so I settled down to wait enduring more bound and gagged tedium.
Andrea continued to fight her bonds and make more sounds of muted frustration. Barbara made only the occasional small sound and gave the occasional wriggle from her face down position on the sofa. I could not move an inch and my gag seemed to cover half my face making it numb. The only thing I could move was my head.
I was no longer afraid, just bloody angry. I could have lived without this ordeal of kidnap and double cross, not to mention my constant state of bondage that seemed to be an obligatory feature of it. I had a life to live. True it was not very exciting at present but I had small plans to change that fact. Being kidnapped and held prisoner was not one of them. I wanted to be back in my cramped and cold South London flat, telling my parents I was safe, going out to clubs with my friends, planning budget trips to hot and faraway places and hoping to meet the man that would sweep me off my feet. It was impossible to smile with the gag trapping my face but I managed to crinkle my eyes a little when I thought about the fact that Carlos was the only man in my life at that moment and all he did was tie me up.
I then felt Andrea’s eyes on me. She scowled at me over her gag. I returned the scowl with interest. I was still a captive but now so was she and facing an equally uncertain future. I took some satisfaction from the latter.
I then looked at Barbara lying bound on the sofa. I would have been lying to myself if I had said that her betrayal had not hurt. I had trusted and liked this attractive, older woman a great deal. I thought she had been a friend and but her captivity-though real-had been part of an elaborate conspiracy.
My thoughts were then interrupted by the sound of a cars engine. My fellow captives and I all raised our heads and listened with both hope and fear.
Carlos then returned to the room.
‘It is Paula’. He announced to us and then vanished from the room again.
I heard the car come to halt on the gravel at the front of the house. A car door opened and slammed. I heard boots crunch on the loose surface and the sound of a car door open. Then there was a voice.
‘Get out! Don’t struggle or I’ll hit you again!’ It was Paula’s voice. There was the tread of somebody else on the gravel, footing less sure. Sabrina?
I heard the front door open.
‘You did it then’. It was the voice of Carlos.
‘Here she is!’ Paula sounded pleased. ‘Get her inside. What about the others?’
‘All tied and gagged in the lounge including the visitor’.
‘Good! Take her in’.
They were then inside the house. The front door banged shut behind them.
My eyes widened with despair as my friend Sabrina Tate was pushed into the the room. So Paula’s plan had finally come to fruition, she had managed to kidnap her sister.
Sabrina’s long blonde hair was wild and awry. Her china blue eyes seemed full of pain and confusion-not to mention a little tearful. Those beautiful eyes became even wider as they scanned the scene before them.
I saw the wide strip of clear plaster across her mouth which was slightly open under it and I saw some of the white cloth packing protruding through her full lips. Her wrists were bound behind her back.
‘Ommmph!’ Sabrina commented.
‘Get her on the sofa Carlos-move Barbara over, tie her ankles and legs’. I heard Paula’s commanding tones.
Carlos gripped Sabrina’s arm and propelled her long and curvy frame towards the sofa.
Sabrina was wearing a black cashmere top, a red leather mini skirt with a teasing split, black tights and knee high boots of gleaming black leather.
I knew those boots were a favourite of Sabrina’s, they laced all the way up the front and had metallic 4” spike heels. Sabrina used to walk in the boots with a confident feline grace.
Carlos pushed Barbara up to the far end of the sofa, she moaned but did not resist. Sabrina was deposited on the sofa with a none too gentle push. She made an angry sound through the plaster and the packing that gagged her mouth. Carlos drew her booted ankles together and looped the white rope about them three times before tying a firm knot. The white rope stood out in pristine contrast to the gleaming black leather of Sabrina’s boots. Carlos then turned his attention to Sabrina’s knees just above the top of the boots. The rope hissed slightly as it encircled her black nylon sheathed limbs.
Sabrina’s shut her eyes tightly at the discomfort of the bonds.
I then looked at Paula who stood off to one side folding over another of the white tea towels into a wide band. There was an evil glint in her eyes. Paula was obviously enjoying her sisters pain and humiliation.
With Sabrina’s lower limbs secure Carlos stepped up and back. Paula then advanced on the helpless Sabrina, the folded cloth a tight strap in her hands. Paula swiftly and ruthlessly bound the folded towel about her sisters face, covering her already gagged mouth and the lower part of her face. She did not worry how much of Sabrina’s lustrous hair was caught in the knots.
‘There!’ Paula said, stepping back and admiring her work. ‘You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do that to you’.
Sabrina then raised her head and defiantly glared at Paula with her stunning eyes. To say that they were full of contempt was a distinct understatement.
‘Well, now we can at last get on with our plans Carlos, no more diversions or mistakes’.
Paula turned to look down at the captive Andrea.
‘I don’t know who you are but you made the biggest mistake of your life when you decided to mix it with us’.
Andrea again pulled at her ropes and made muffled threats. This amused Paula.
‘So what do I have now?’ Paula gestured theatrically about the room with it’s four bound and gagged captives. ‘A mercenary? A crooked lawyer? A stroppy little girl? A spoilt Daddy’s girl? What am I going to do with you all?’
Paula was really enjoying herself at the expense of her prisoners.
‘I intend to make money on all of you, one way or another. Somebody once said that greed is good, who was it? Anyway in the morning the serious stuff starts, it will mean that things start to get-Mffffffff!’
Paula never saw it coming. Carlos came up behind her and swiftly applied a cloth soaked with chloroform over her nose and mouth. He trapped her arms to her sides as she began to struggle, her eyes wide with fear and total surprise. Her hands shot up and tried to pull the hand holding the smothering cloth away from her face. Paula fought but in less than ten seconds she succumbed totally to the narcotic on the cloth and was limp in Carlos’ arms.
I recalled being chloroformed those nights before. It was not an experience I wished to endure again.
Carlos held the drugged cloth over Paula’s face for several long seconds until the only movement was the gentle rise of her chest as she breathed in and out. Carlos cast the cloth aside and pulled off Paula’s leather jacket and laid her face down on the carpet. He grabbed the ropes and began to tie her up.
Soon Paula’s wrists were secured at the small of her back, further held in place by ropes looped about her middle. Carlos then bound her black leather clad legs and her booted ankles. He pulled her head back and stuffed a wadded cloth between her slack jaws and rapidly taped it in position. A folded white towel was then tied over the tape and packing and tightly knotted at the nape of her neck. Carlos then let her head fall forward to rest on the carpet.
There were now five bound and gagged women in that lounge.
‘That is that!’ Carlos sounded pleased with himself. He then became aware of his bruised face and bloodied nose. ‘I need to clean up’.
He then went over to the window, it was now dark in that Welsh valley. He then turned to address his captives.
‘Tonight we shall all be going on a little trip, later you will all be-how do you say it-given the sack’. He laughed and then left the room.
Sabrina and I exchanged fearful glances.