John Jennings stood on the stern of the 'Eastern Paradise'. The ship wouldn't be long in sailing, it was due to depart tonight. He wasn't here on a holiday, he'd been given a mission. And Jennings was determined to accomplish it. He was a highly trained soldier, in the British army. He loved battle, and never backed away from any hostile challenge. He held a number of skills, that had helped him, and his people defeat some very nasty enemies. There had been threats directed at him, personally. However, Jennings always stayed one step ahead, and he'd never lost a fight.
He remembered his briefing, it had been short.
'Possible slavery ring operating on Thai owned cruise ship, 'Eastern Paradise' Confirm, and put a stop to it.'
Jennings agreed with that, and was looking forward to it. At the moment, he was waiting for his contact. He took out the photograph, that showed a young, and really beautiful Japanese woman. It was a nice photo, the girl was smiling at the camera. Jennings admitted, he was attracted to her, but was hoping she'd be the right type of woman. He'd worked with many women before, but hadn't liked their feminist attitudes. He always gave them a chance, and knew the flak, a lot of them had to put up with. However, it had only worked on rare moments, when the woman was spot on. He kept his fingers crossed.
He stared down at the Customs building, this was where his younger sister, Louise was. She was on an exchange programme with the Hong Kong customs force. It worked really well, both sides contributed a great deal to try and catch out the bad guys. Just then, his mobile rang, it was Louise.
'Hello, you OK?' he asked. It was good to hear her voice, he'd never seen her for a while.
'Hi, Where are you?' Her voice sounded warm.
'I'm not too far away, 'he admitted, 'how's the job going, enjoying it?'
Louise's reply was affirmitive, 'Pretty good so far. I've made a great friend, you would like her. '
Jennings thought he probably would. His sister had a great personality, she could be friends with anybody.
'I'm sure I would. When do you finish?'
There was a slight pause, as he heard her ask that. Then, she came back, 'Not for a while, have to do a lot of paperwork. 'She then told him, 'I was hoping to see you, any chance you can come down?'
Jennings so wanted to be with her, but knew that was impossible. 'I have something to do first, perhaps later?'
There was perhaps, a hint of disappointment he sensed, however Louise answered, 'Okay, but get back here, as soon as you can. '
Jennings promised her, that he would, he then told her, 'You know I will always be there for you. '
Her reply was tender, 'I know you will, take care, bye.'
Jennings had no idea how true those words were going to be. After he'd put the mobile away, he suddenly saw his contact coming towards him. For a moment, he was stunned, which made sense since the young Japanese woman walking up to him was really stunning. She was dressed in white cotton shirt, blue jeans, and wore a silk scarf tied down her front. She smiled warmly at him, as she said the pre-arranged code.
'You must be on holiday here. '
Jennings gave the correct reply, 'Only to meet a pretty girl. '
She then bowed politely to him, 'I am Kieko Yamamoto, Japanese naval intelligence. '
Jennings bowed repectfully back to her, and introduced himself, 'Jennings, British army intel. Nice to meet you, Miss Yamamoto. What do you have?'
She was holding a folder, and handed it over.
'It's a real hornets' nest here, the people involved are quite ruthless. They'll do anything to get what they want. '
Jennings opened the folder, and saw several photographs. There were two men, which he recogonised as Captain Liu, and the First Officer, Yee. He saw the third photo of a Chinese woman, her face showed no friendliness whatsoever.
'Charming bunch.' He handed the folder back. 'Anything else you can tell me?'
She showed worry for the first time, 'We can't find any trace of the missing girls, they've just vanished. '
Jennings asked, 'How many?''
She had to concede, 'There have been so many. It's been impossible to check. They know who to seize, and make sure nobody will ask questions. '
Jennings responded, 'Well, the bad guys' luck is about to run out. '
The girl smiled, pleased at what he'd just said. She then said, 'Will you excuse me? I have to get something from my cabin. '
Jennings nodded, then watched her leave. He stayed on the stern, watching the harbour activity going on around him.
On the bridge, Captain Liu was looking through a pair of binoculars, he was gazing intently at the customs building. He'd just heard some interesting news. The English girl came into his view, and he was pleased by what he saw. The girl had dark silky brown hair, a friendly face, and she looked damn good in that customs uniform.
He took away the binoculars, and passed on fresh orders, 'Take her. '
Then, Yee came up. He was grinning.
Liu asked, 'Good news, my friend?'
Yee nodded, 'It just gets better. We've found another pretty spy. A Japanese girl, only this time, there may be a problem. '
Liu understood, 'Our brave English hero, of course. '
Yee waited patiently, as Liu thought to himself.
Then, one of the crew came up to them, and reported, 'The Japanese woman is heading back to her cabin, shall we sieze her?'
Liu smiled, as he suddenly had an idea.
'Grab her, but don't take her down yet. I want to see if the man they've sent is as good, as they say he is. '
The crewman saluted, and left the bridge to carry out his orders.
Kieko entered her cabin, she wanted to make sure that her equipment would stay out of sight. It was a big relief to see, that nothing had been disturbed. However, she had forgotten to lock her cabin door, and didn't hear the silent footsteps coming up behind her.
She was only aware of somebody behind her, when a hand clamped a large cotton wool pad over her mouth. Stunned, Kieko reeled, as she recognised the smell. Chloroform! She desperately tried to free, but her arms were tightly imprisoned by her sides, and the pad stayed firm over her mouth. Within moments, she sagged limply in her captor's arms.
Then, she slowly opened her eyes, and as reality kicked back in, saw that she was still in her cabin. However, she now saw that she was sitting on one of the hard back chairs, and much to her dismay, now noticed that she'd been tied up!
Her hands were held securely behind the chairs back, her ankles bound together to one of the chairs lower legs. Loops of rope were wrapped around the seat of the chair, making her legs totally useless. There were also plenty of ropes wrapped over her waist, under and over her breasts. She couldn't move a muscle.
Kieko suddenly saw that she still wasn't alone. Yee was there, with another member of the crew. And Yee held something that made her freeze with fear. He was holding a large rifle, and was putting it in position on another hard back chair. The weapon was aimed straight at the girl. Yee smiled, just like a wolf who was about to grab his frightened prey.
'So nice of you to join us, my dear. Do you like our little toy?' He was pleased to see the girl still frozen, as she stared, wide at the rifle. 'It's time to play a little game, and you are the pretty damsel in distress in peril, waiting for the hero to make his timely entrance. Only this time, it won't be so easy. '
Kieko watched, as Yee produced a large ball of string. He attached one end to the trigger, and then went to the door to tie the other end on the handle.
He ordered his crewman, 'Gag the girl. '
The man grinned, as he stepped forward, producing a large white cloth, and he balled it up, Kieko just had time to shake her head in protest.
'No!Mmmmmfff!'
With ruthless efficiency, the man gagged her. He made sure the cloth stayed in her mouth, by tying another strip that cut deep in the corners of her lips. He fastened the cloth tight, at the back of her head with relish.
Kieko's eyes bulged, as she was now effectively cleave gagged. Then, Yee added, somewhat ominously, a silencer onto the rifle. Once he'd done that, he faced the bound and gagged girl.
'It will be interesting to see, how he's going to save you. For your sake, your hero had better not use the front door. '
Kieko's eyes grew wider, she tried to say something, but the gag was tight, and effective. She was helpless.
Yee, pleased, walked over to play his fingers through her hair. 'Such a pity, you would have raised an excellent price, my dear. '
She was now even more frightened. What was worse? Being sold as a sex slave, or this? Held as bait, where she may get killed!
'Well, we'll be watching to see how it develops. Goodbye, my dear. 'Yee tilted the girl's chin to plant an unwanted kiss on Kieko's cheek. Then, still grinning to themselves, both men left, Yee smiled, as he made the final adjustment on the door handle. He then, blew the girl a kiss, as he shut the door.
Kieko stared, her eyes huge at the rifle pointing straight at her. How was she going to get out of this? She sincerely hoped, that Jennings would get to her, but she was tied up too tight, and her gag made sure, that she wouldn't be able to warn him. Desperately, she tried to make an effort to undo the ropes holding her wrists, she mumbled through the gag, but realised, quite quickly, that it was a waste of time. She continued to stare in fear at the door, hoping Jennings would get to her.
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