Sooz Kink

in

‘The Activity Weekend’

Story by Peter Walsh

Caffeine. I needed another hit! Early morning gym sessions, spin classes and healthy beverages at the juice bar were a thing of the past. I now had unofficial life membership of Starbucks and seemed to live on double strength latte’s. At least my figure was still holding out, my work was my work out and it kept me trim.

SK Investigations was ten months old and I was earning a living at it, which was a good sign. Being a one girl band and having my office at home kept the overheads down. I had something approaching a client base and was in the fortunate position that I could turn work down! I was that busy! There was IT security work, insurance fraud chasing and that old chestnut-divorce. All steady and nothing too dangerous. All the same I had invested in a new security system at home and a cute little Smith & Wesson .38 from the ‘Lady Smith’ range. You gotta take precautions, honey, what can I say?

My work meant that I saw less of my friend Gita Wells. We had taken our Law degrees at the same time. We were also very alike physically, both tall and long of limb, about the same weight (though Gita would dispute this) and we both had long, dark hair. Our eyes were the deciding difference factor, mine are green, hers are brown. Gita was already a partner at a prestigious downtown law firm called Ramsden & Russell. Gita had specialised in corporate law had a hectic work schedule. The latter meant no sex and a diet of take-out food. I know! I’ve been there! The unwritten and unintentional vow of the modern professional woman-celibacy! What can I say?

I would always make time for Gita and we put our careers on hold for a time and met up. To my mild disappointment coffee was changed to lite beers at a discreet bar a block from where Gita worked. Gita had recently berated me about my caffeine abuse. She arrived looking great in a her tan business suit with it’s pencil skirt, sheer hose and beige 3” pumps. Her hair was down. Apart from looking great, she was also looking worried.

I was wearing a short brown leather jacket over a tight black top, a brown leather mini skirt, tan hose and knee high boots. My hair was loose over my shoulders.

‘My clients like it’. I told her, which was the unspoken, unwritten truth. ‘Gita, what’s wrong?’

Gita sipped her beer. ‘Ramsden & Russell are real big on projecting that the firm is like a family, we do things together. I heard them called Activity Weekends. They’re supposed to be fun but you have to take part, it’s like a test, you’re graded on the contribution you make-you know? If you don’t want to play it can effect your career’.

‘It’s for charity. I get kidnapped and people try and find me, the longer I stay lost the more they have to give to charity-they-being my friends at the firm’.

‘I’ve a feeling this could be against the law, kidnapping is a Federal offence’.

‘I know that’. Gita told me. ‘This is just for fun, for a good cause, there’s no danger-’.

‘Yes’. She sighed. ‘That’s where you come in. I want you to watch my back’.

Gita had volunteered for the stunt to score some points without really knowing what it all entailed. Two members of local drama company would play the kidnappers, on the Friday evening they would spirit Gita away to a secret location and keep her safe. In the meantime other members of Ramsden & Russell would follow a trail of clues which would lead them to Gita, they had twelve hours to find her. The longer the search took, the bigger the sum they would have to give to charity. If Gita was not found within the specified time, the sum was doubled. It sounded harmless enough but I could more than forgive Gita’s trepidation for obvious reasons. To make it exciting Gita had no idea where and when she was going to be kidnapped. To put her mind at ease I would shadow her and keep an eye on events.

Friday evening came about. The sky was clear and it was warm on the streets. Gita left the firm after the worst of the rush hour traffic had died down. Her red BMW convertible pulled out onto the main avenue. I was parked over the street in my ageing black MR2. I followed her. I drove at a discreet distance, keeping her in sight the whole time. I was aware of a dark blue van in my rear view mirror, it might be nothing but I kept checking on it’s progress.

The traffic thinned further as we reached Gita’s neighbourhood, an upper level income community of glass fronted apartments with perfectly maintained communal gardens and secure parking. I checked my mirror the van was still there.

Gita pulled over to the kerb near a local convenience store. I saw her get out and go inside the store. She was dressed defensively that evening eschewing the jacket and short skirt combo for a smart grey pants suit. Gita was playing safe. I was clad in my now favoured attire of matching leather jacket and mini skirt and my knee boots. They were comfortable and made me look good, what can I say?

I pulled over across the street and kept my eye on the front of the store. I then saw the dark blue van pull up behind Gita’s car. A man and a woman got out. Both wore dark turtle neck sweaters and black jeans. The woman was tall, blonde and athletic looking. The man was shorter, heavier and had close cropped hair. They waited by the van. Gita then emerged from the store, her purchases brown bagged. The blonde woman approached her. Gita was slightly startled but calmed down as the woman engaged her in conversation. I saw Gita nodding. The blonde woman turned and gestured to the man by the van who raised a hand in greeting to Gita. Gita was nodding again. The man got back in the van. Gita climbed back into her car with the blonde woman joining her in the front passenger seat. The van pulled out and a minute later Gita’s BMW was following it. Hmmmm.....

I followed Gita’s taillights past the out of town malls and into the older suburbs. Tidy, tree lined streets with majestic looking houses and the occasional white picket fence now presented themselves to me in the dying light. The van took a right turn down a narrow road, Gita followed and I duly changed course too. I had to hang back some, just to be on the safe side.

The van turned left into the drive of a large house with three distinct gables and a real estate agents sign. The van came to a halt and Gita’s car came to a stop behind it. The man emerged from the van and went into the house. Gita and the blonde followed. Gita seemed relaxed and was laughing at something the blonde had said. They followed the man inside.

My car was hidden in the shadows and I waited for twenty minutes before going in to check further, best to let things settle down. I got out of my car. My dainty little Smith & Wesson was in the right hand pocket of my jacket and my daintier little cell phone balanced it in the left one. I approached the house, always keeping to the shadows (where possible). The house was probably an attractive enough sight in the light of day but like most older houses it’s features became slightly sinister when the sun went down. Thankfully there was no gravel on the drive to loudly crunch under my boot heels. I crept past Gita’s car and up to the van.

I crouched behind the van and looked over the front of the house. Heavy front door, three upper and lower windows at the front. There was a light on in the window nearest the door, the curtains were drawn. I then heard the sound.

A very muffled sound came from within the van. I heard the sound of a body thrash about slightly. More stifled noises and sounds of restricted to movement. My hand touched the butt of the .38 in my pocket. I stood up from the crouch and turned my attention to the rear doors of the van. I reached out and tried to open them. They were locked. There were more muted sounds from within. I found my car keys. On the chain was a useful little tool (mail order) that was probably illegal but it was claimed it could open 90% of the worlds locks. In a couple of seconds I was opening the doors to the van.

I also kept a tiny maglite on the key chain and I shone it into the dark interior of the van. The beam of light fell upon a prone figure. I decided that this party was not there out of choice. It was a young woman, blonde, clad in just blue bra and panties. She was gagged and blindfolded with duct tape and tightly bound with a generous quantity of rope. I took a deep breath. Something bad was going down. Gita had been fully justified in her fears. She was in danger!

I had no time to even consider my next move. Something hard cracked me on the back of my skull and I did see stars before everything went black and I collapsed to the ground.

There was a throbbing pain at the back of my neck. It hurt to move my head. Somebody had hit me hard. I then thought to bring my hands up to touch the tender spot where the blow had landed and found I could not. I then tried to move any part of my body and again there was a negative response from my limbs. I groaned. Somebody had tied me up. I still couldn’t see anything even though I thought I had opened my eyes. Somebody had also thought to blindfold me.

I was tied securely to a chair. Hands bound palm to palm with rope and were connected to the horizontal support bar of the chair. More rope encircled my waist and held me to the chair's wooden frames, while my legs were bound together just above my knees and again at my booted ankles. Gauze pads were over my eyes, firmly strapped in place by duct tape.

‘I’m a Consulting Investigator!’ I interrupted him. There was then silence.

‘She’s come round’. The woman said. ‘I was afraid you’d hit her too hard’.

‘A gun!’ The woman exclaimed. ‘Why would such a pretty girl like you carry a gun?’

‘I live in a crappy neighbourhood’. I told her. She was to my right, the man to my left. Damn! My neck hurt! At least my long hair would cover the bruises.

‘Sooz Kink? Your license photo doesn’t do you justice’. The bitch was playing with me. ‘Now Sooz-can I call Sooz?’

My neck hurt and I knew I was in no position to bluff about anything. ‘Gita Wells is my friend, she told me about this deal her employers had set up, she was a little nervous and asked me to keep an eye on things’.

‘I take it the woman trussed up in the van is one of the real actors?’ I ventured. Shit! I hated the duct tape blindfold! I wanted to see these people.

‘Maybe?’ The woman answered me. ‘And before you ask, Ms Wells is unharmed, right now she is tucked up in bed and sleeping and how innocent she looks! We slipped her a sedative, by the time she wakes up, events will have run their course’.

‘Correct. Ramsden & Russell are a wealthy and influential firm and Ms Gita Wells is a very valued employee. They’ll pay to get her back and we’re not being greedy in our asking price’. The woman was smug and it annoyed the hell out of me.

‘Well, we are fairly positive you came here alone, your car has been hidden along with that of Ms Wells, you’ll just have to wait things out’.

I clamped my lips together and gave a quick shake of my head. I liked a lot of things in my mouth but gags were not one of them. No way was I going to co-operate! But this guy was a serious asshole. I felt a sharp three-fingered jab to my stomach which knocked the wind out of me. My mouth inevitably opened. I felt strong fingers cram a large quantity of cotton gauze into my mouth. Once my mouth was full of the gauze, I felt a finger press painfully against the muscles in the side of my jaw, my mouth closed up about the packing. I then heard the sound of duct tape being torn off a roll. My mouth was then covered by about a half dozen strips of duct tape.

‘You’ve certainly got it taped!’ The man laughed as he smoothed the tape down across the lower part of my face. I pulled my face away from his hands and shook my head in a muted fury. I drew in as much oxygen as I could through my nostrils.

‘You poor girl!’ The woman giggled. I then heard their combined footsteps as they walked away from me. I heard a door slam and the click of a key in a lock. I was then alone. Sooz Kink was bound, gagged, blindfolded and locked in a room. Right then I could not help myself, let alone Gita.

I sat and fumed. ‘C’mon Sooz!’ I had to do something! The generous amount of duct tape currently decorating my face was a major hindrance as were the tight ropes holding me to the chair. I then heard a noise. It was the sound of somebody squirming across the floor towards me, twisting their body. The sound of the struggle was punctuated by small ‘mmmf’s’. I then knew that I was not the only captive in the room. Somebody was trying to get closer to me.

‘mmmm-mmmf!’ I said in encouragement through the gauze and tape. Needless to say the progress of my unseen captive companion was painfully slow and I was mad about the fact that I could do nothing but sit there, still, blind and mute.

I felt a body roll against my boots and another little ‘mmmf’ sound. I knew that my captive companion was female. I heard and felt her wriggle around behind the chair to which I was bound, this girl was quite the contortionist!

She was then behind me and I felt her face at the end of my fingers. I felt soft hair, smooth skin and duct tape. ‘Mmmmmf!’ She wanted me to get the tape off her eyes and mouth. My fingers ran over her face to locate the edge of the tape, I was worried that I would hurt her but I had little choice in the matter. At least I had short nails. I located the edge of the tape which covered her eyes, I teased at it and then was able to get a proper purchase on it. I pulled at it and felt it come free. ‘Mmmmmf!!!’ I mumbled an apology through the packing and tape of my own gag. My fingers then moved down her face to work at the tape across her mouth. I mutely cursed my wrist bindings as my fingers fought with the tape on the girl's mouth. I again gained purchase and pulled. I heard some gasping and retching as the girl expelled her mouth packing.

‘Thank heavens!’ I heard a voice rasp from the floor behind me. She took several deep breaths. She once more had the gift of sight and speech. ‘Can you hear me?’ She dropped her voice to a whisper.

‘Good! I can’t feel my fingers but I’m going to try and loosen those knots on your wrists with my teeth-Ok?’

She nipped me a few times but she worked away at the knots on my wrist bindings with her teeth. After what seemed like a long time I felt them loosen. I flexed and twisted my wrists and suddenly the ropes fell away-paydirt! I moved my gloriously free arms. I wasted no time, with full feeling rapidly returning to my fingers, I ripped the tape off my eyes and mouth, spitting out the gauze packing. The latter felt good.

I blinked at the dark around me and as I freed the ropes about my waist I turned about to look at my liberator.

We were in a room with a carpet and a locked door, the only light slanted through a gap in the curtains of the window cutting the dimness. The only item of furniture was the chair upon which I sat. I loosened the rope about my knees and then those about my ankles and I was again glad I was wearing my boots. I then stood and winced at the mix of small pains in my body as feeling returned to it. I then went to free my companion.

Danni was a very cute little blonde, particularly so as she was just clad in her scanty blue undies. As quickly as I could I removed the bonds from her wrists, upper body, knees and ankles.

‘Who are these people Danni?’ I asked her as I toiled with a difficult knot.

‘The guy is my asshole boyfriend Neil, the woman-I don’t know who she is? All I know is that we were hired to play a game with this group of lawyers, babysit someone-y’know, pretend like they’ve been kidnapped until the others solve some clues and find them-y’know, I’ve done it before. But Neil is doing it for real this time!’

I told her about my role in the dangerous charade and about Gita sleeping the sleep of the innocent while we were all trussed up and gagged. I helped Danni to stand and felt the goosebumps on her bare skin, I shed my leather jacket and made her put it on. We went to the window, knowing the door to be locked. Danni had no idea where she was, the plan had been to look after Gita at a country hotel.

I cautiously parted the curtains and we both looked out. It was dark, well past midnight. We were one floor up. I saw a lawn which meant fifty yards of open ground before the tree lined road and possible help. The street lights cast long shadows across the lawn. Ivy snaked its way up the walls of the house below the window. If we got the window open, it would not be difficult for somebody to clamber down, drop a few feet and then run like the wind for a phone to dial 911.

The window was an old sash one and it made too much noise as we opened it but the plan was up and nearly running.

‘Stay here Danni-I’ll be right back!’ As I clambered out onto the window sill in an undignified fashion. Danni nodded and tightly clutched my jacket about her. I started my descent.

My short leather skirt rode up, the ivy scratched the back of my hands and wrecked my pantyhose as I climbed down the front of the house with zero technique. I fell the last couple of feet and landed on my butt. I picked myself up and ran towards the lights on the road.

With their chunky 3” heels, my boots were fine as a fashion statement and for walking from my car across level pavements onto office floors but less than ideal for making a swift getaway on foot. I stumbled along and my ankles painfully protested as I ran across the slippery grass. I then heard the thud of feet close behind me. Flight was no longer an option, I had to fight. I stopped, dropped and did a leg sweep. I was fighting blind but I had invested in enough classes to know I could make it all work.

I cut my pursuer down at the knees. Neil fell forward heavily onto the grass, gasping and cursing. I bounced back up on my feet, giving myself room. Neil rolled over and scrambled up. I got a good look at his face as he rushed out of his patch of shadow at me. I was going to kick his ass. ‘C’mon Sooz!’

I spun to the right and back kicked him in the side of the head, I spun to the left and the toe of my boot slammed into his stomach. Neil enjoyed another close encounter with the grass. He came back for more. I took a spin and kicked him high, took another one and kicked him low. Neil collapsed in an untidy heap at my feet.

‘Get up you pussy!’ I spat at him, recalling how he had slugged me earlier. Neil remained on his knees making retching sounds. I wished he would get up so I could knock him down again but he was not going to play anymore. Neil then looked up and despite his pain started to smile. What was this guy on? Then I knew the reason for his levity but too late.

A hand containing a folded white cloth suddenly appeared in front my face obscuring my vision. It was promptly applied to my nose and mouth. Before I could react I had already inhaled a substantial amount of the sweet narcotic vapour from the substance which wet the cloth. I then realised I had forgotten about the blonde woman. My eyes rolled towards the night sky as I passed out.

I looked down at Gita doing her impression of the ‘Sleeping Beauty’. Under the covers, breathing softly, serene expression, her hair a dark cloud on the white pillow. Did Gita know she sucked her thumb?

‘See?’ The blonde woman told me. ‘She’s safe and sound, she’ll sleep for another ten hours and then events will have run their course. She’ll wake up none the wiser-that is if we don’t tie her up and gag her like you and your little friend? We will if you don’t behave?’ She painfully squeezed my arm to emphasise her point.

‘Mmmmm-mmmmf!’ I shook my head at her words. This action made the pain behind my eyes much worse. Gita was much better off sleeping through this particular ordeal.

The room in which Gita enjoyed her induced slumber was the least ratty in the near empty house. It had an intact carpet and a large walk-in closet and the bed which contained Gita looked comfortable enough.

I was not sure how long the chloroform had kept me under, probably not very long but long enough for my ‘Hosts’ to subdue me again. The drug had left me with a headache and a further tarnished ego.

I was a mess to look at. Hair all wild, dirt on my face, my top torn, skirt twisted about, ruined pantyhose, my boots scuffed and dirty. My wrists were once more bound behind my back with several turns of rope, duct tape had been wrapped over the ropes, covering the knots. My mouth was again packed with gauze and covered by a mass of the sticky, silver grey material, wrapped about my head several times. However, my captors had been considerate enough to lift up my hair as the multiple windings of the tape had been applied to the lower part of my face.

The diminutive Danni stood in her underwear and my leather jacket, hands bound behind and gagged with duct tape in the currently approved fashion. She was in the grip of her former boyfriend. I took comfort from the fact that there was a large bruise forming on the side of his face. What can I say? The guy was an asshole.

She bobbed her head towards the closet. ‘Put them in there, we’ll hog-tie them’.

The closet was large and they made Danni and I lie on our fronts. In a short painful time they had made us secure on the splinter inhabited floor of the closet. My roped and taped wrists were pulled back and made fast to my now roped and taped ankles with further rope and tape. It was hell on the shoulders. Danni moaned softly through her gag in her discomfort as she was bound in an identical manner.

‘Now you girls stay put!’ The blonde mocked us and Neil laughed again. They shut the closet door on us and locked it. Danni and I were in the dark again while outside Gita slept.

The hours passed. The efforts in trying to get free of our strict hog-ties was not worth the pain that came with it. Danni and I were forced to just lie there and wait it out. I worked every muscle in my face to try and loosen the duct tape wrapped about my mouth, there was little give in it. What a way to spend the first part of a weekend!!!

I had no idea how long we lain on the hard floor of that dark closet when I heard footsteps and raised male and female voices in the room beyond the closet door.

‘Sure-she’s been drugged but not with anything bad, I’ve checked her arms-no needle marks’.

Danni and I had started a chorus of rather pathetic ‘mmf’ noises which seemed to be going unheeded. I got onto my side and with my shoulders on fire I slammed my boot heels against the door.

‘What was that? It came from that closet-check it out!’ The closet door opened and light flooded into the space.

‘Mmmmmmf-mmmmmmf!’ I rocked from side to side. ‘Who the hell are they?’ A voice said.

Two weeks later Gita and I met for coffee and this time I insisted we had coffee.

We were now at the stage when we could joke about the ordeal of the firms ‘Activity Weekend’.

‘A lot, more than a little but less than too much’. She smiled. ‘I pulled off a deal last week that more than covered it for them’.

‘They got away!’ I was still angry, that Neil and the blonde had successfully vanished with a large pay-day. Something told me I would meet them again and perhaps things would be different. Then I had something to tell Gita.