Sky vs. Spies

Fiction by Frank Knebel

Chapter 11

Rowlands dropped a doubled loop of rope over Amy’s head and shoulders and, when it had fallen just below her breasts, pulled on the free ends to tighten the noose. The young deputy’s open, buttonless uniform shirt was pulled farther apart, and she gave a little mew of discomfort as the rope pinched the bare skin just under her bra. Rowlands lifted the free ends over her head and circled her body several times. Duncan was looping more ropes around the attractive brunette’s waist, further pinning her arms. He paused for a moment to pull Amy’s shirt open a bit more to better display her thinly covered breasts.

     “That’s better,” he said. Somehow neither his leer nor his grin put any color into his pale, rather wasted face. “We want a real good look at that nice set of yours, Deputy.”

     Amy glared at him and tried to say something through the sizable rubber ball.

     “A lotta spirit too,” he noted. “I like that in a woman. At first, anyway.”

     Rowlands ran out of rope. He anchored the free ends and tied them off.

     “That’s enough o’ that, Duncan,” he said. “If this little lady’s hands weren’t cuffed behind her, she’d probably tear you apart. Gentry learned the hard way.”

     Duncan ogled the helpless woman.

     “Fortunately for me, she is all tied up.” He finished his tying and reached up to push the shirt back off her shoulders. He slid his index fingers under the straps of her bra. “This way we can get a lot better acquainted.”

     Before he could slide the straps off her shoulders, Amy kicked him in his left shin. As he yelped in pain and hopped on his left leg, she kicked that shin too. Rowlands could not help laughing. Duncan leaned over to massage his legs for a moment, glaring at Amy. When he straightened up his body, his right hand kept rising, as if he was preparing to slap the bound woman. Rowlands stepped forward and grabbed Duncan’s wrist. His eyes glinted dangerously.

     “What’s the matter, Duncan? You want me to tie her feet so you don’t get hurt?”

     “You saw what she did!” he screeched.

     “Yeah, and you had it comin’. Now shut up and let’s finish with her so we can get outta here.”

     Duncan bent over and rubbed his left leg again.

     “Little wildcat,” he mumbled.

     Rowlands reached over to the seat of the car and picked up a roll of adhesive tape.

     “If you’ve got so much fight left in you, why don’t you go back and tangle with those deputies some more?”

     “I tell you I got one of ‘em,” Duncan protested. “If Wilke hadn’t lost his head and made a run for it, I might’ve got the other one too.”

     Rowlands took two pieces of rope from the seat and, with a skeptical look, tossed them to Duncan. He put his hand on Amy’s shoulder and backed her to the car.

     “Sit down, Deputy,” he said. After he helped Amy find the backseat, he turned to Duncan.

     “Tie her feet and legs. And be careful.”

     Rowlands tore some strips from the tape roll and plastered them over the lower part of Amy’s face, sealing the gag. The bound woman did not resist as Duncan bound her ankles together side by side, then tied her legs above the knees.

     “Get in,” Rowlands told Duncan. “You’re driving.”

     Duncan opened the front door and sat behind the wheel. Rowlands turned to the car behind them. Lynch and Joanna Dorrin had just finished binding Julie’s legs and taping over her gag. Lynch lifted Julie’s legs into the backseat, closed the back door, then took his place at the wheel. Joanna waved to Rowlands.

     “We’re ready,” she said.

     “Follow us,” said Rowlands.

     Before getting into the backseat with Amy, he carefully picked up her bound feet from the ground and put them on the floor. He then circled the car and got in the other side.

     “We’re going to have a nice, quiet ride here, Deputy,” he said. “Just remember: if I have you get down, you stay down. Understand?”

     Amy looked at him reproachfully. Slowly, reluctantly, she nodded.

     “Good.” He looked her up and down, keeping his eyes on her face for a few seconds. “You’re a good-lookin’ woman, Deputy, and you’ve got a lot of spunk. But if you want some friendly advice, if I were you I’d watch that spunk in front of the Boss Lady. Make it easy on yourself.”

     The car started. Duncan pulled onto the road and accelerated. Rowlands stared out of the open window, looking blankly at the arid landscape around them for a few moments.

     “Something’s not right with her,” he added softly. “She’s twisted.”

     Amy was now staring at Rowlands. He looked back at her, apparently startled that she was listening so attentively.

     “Just some friendly advice,” he repeated.

Lynch followed Duncan and Rowlands.

     “We are heading in the direction of Ryder’s ranch, are we not?” asked Mrs. Dorrin. “Why did Rowlands choose this way?”

     “He figures that they’ll expect us to get as far east as possible,” Lynch replied in his grating voice. “So our best chance is to go in the direction they’ll least suspect. By the time they find out what we’ve done, we’ll be long gone.”

     “Very good. Yes, very good, indeed,” said Joanna. She looked at Julie beside her. “We wouldn’t want the Captain to miss any of the hospitality we have planned for her.”

     She reached over and began unbuttoning Julie’s blouse. The wide-eyed captive writhed ineffectually.

     “Oh, come now, Captain,” chided Joanna. “My nieces tell me that they had you at a much greater… disadvantage, shall we say? They were very disappointed that we were unable to entertain you like that. But rest assured that the fun was only delayed.”

     She finished with Julie’s blouse buttons and spread it open.

     “Oh, my,” Joanna said. “Such an attractive bra, and such lovely breasts, Captain! It’s a shame that a uniform should cover such bounty. Let’s see what other treasures I can discover before we arrive home.”

     As Julie squirmed and protested into her gag, Joanna reached over and unfastened her belt.

Sky Ryder was back in the air. He flew north to Summer’s ranch and checked the traffic on the road, but Merrill’s was the only car he saw. A look at the fuel gauge told Sky that he could not remain on patrol for much longer. Guessing that the gang would head east, away from the most likely route that reinforcements would come, Sky turned that way.

     No dread he had ever experienced as a combat pilot could compare with that he now felt at the thought of Copper, Julie, Amy, and Summer all being in the hands of the gang. If his analysis of the situation was right, none of the women were in mortal danger yet. He guessed that the gang had discovered that the balloon payload had been found and would probably offer to trade the women for it. And that presented a serious problem. Sky was the only one who knew where it was.

     After a twenty minute search, he checked the gauge again. It was time to refuel. There was still no sign of anyone on the road below. It would be the better part of an hour before he could get back out here. By then, it would most likely be too late. The gang would probably have slipped away. But an airplane needed fuel to stay in the air.

     Reluctantly, Sky set a direct course for the Kermit airport.

Copper Ryder and Summer Smithers sat at the shallow end of the pool of Joanna Dorrin’s rented house. Their bound legs hung over the side; their bound feet were in the water. Donna and Myra had chased Bradford and Klee into the house and drawn the drapes over the glass doors leading to the living room. Both girls were now busy with the two cinderblocks they had moved to the edge of the pool several feet away. They had strung rope through the openings of the blocks and tied them off, leaving a small loop at the middle of both blocks to which a thin metal O-ring was threaded. Once that was done, as though performing a synchronized demonstration, both girls took a short length of rope and fashioned a small running noose on one end. Then they each took a metal clip, the type opened by pressing the thumb against a springy piece of strong metal, and attached them to the tiny nooses.

     “All set?” Donna asked Myra.

     “Ready.”

     Still synchronizing their movements, the two both reached down and grabbed the bottom hems of their clingy tops from their jeans. As one, they pulled the tops off over their heads and tossed the inside-out garments onto a nearby lounge chair. Both then unbuttoned their jeans, slid them down their legs, and stepped out of them. They tossed the pants away, then pulled off their boots. Keeping their eyes on the prisoners, they reached behind their backs to unhook their bras and slid them down their arms. Both girls were grinning broadly as they stripped off their panties then threw the underwear with the rest of their clothing. The two naked beauties then took up the prepared ropes and lowered themselves into the pool. Donna took her rope and ran the free end around the seize in Summer’s ankle bonds, leaving the clip and about a foot of rope extended in front of Summer’s bound ankles. Myra did the same to Copper.

     “Which one first?” asked Myra.

     Donna studied the two with exaggerated care.

     “The taller one, I think.”

     The two girls took Summer on either side and stood her up in the water.

     “Let’s hop now, Mrs. Smithers,” said Donna, giving the naked prisoner a light swat on the backside.

     Assisted by her two equally naked captors, Summer hopped into deeper water. When the water was just short of shoulder high, Donna and Myra stopped her and turned her around to face Copper.

     “That’s perfect,” said Donna with an approving nod. “Now for the other one.”

     They repeated the operation with Copper though, being about four inches shorter, she did not get as far into the pool as her neighbor. She was left a couple feet from and facing her fellow prisoner.

     “Now for the blocks,” said Myra.

     Donna stepped between the two bound women.

     “Now don’t fall down, you two,” she warned with a smile. “You’ll miss the fun.”

     Copper watched the two breathtaking nude beauties lift one of the cinder blocks from the pool’s edge and bring it beside her.

     “One… two… three,” counted Donna.

     Both girls took a deep breath and went under water. Copper could see them place the block just in front of her feet and clip the ring connected to her tied ankles to the O-ring on the block. Then the two surfaced. After a couple of gasping breaths, the two grinned at one another.

     “One to go,” said Donna.

     As they headed back for the other block, Copper struggled to free her wrists.

     “If I had known they meant to do this,” the girl thought, “I’d have tried to rush them back at the plane. I’d rather be shot than drowned while bound and gagged!”

     She continued to struggle desperately with her bonds, taking care not to lose her balance. Any fall would be fatal.

     The two girls did the same to Summer, placing the block in front of her feet and attaching the clip to the ring. They surfaced and grinned at one another again, then at their captives. They nodded to one another. Donna waded over to Summer, Myra to Copper.

     Copper closed her eyes and waited for the pull on her feet, the first sign that she was to be dragged under. She thought of Sky, her happy life at the ranch, and ruefully cursed her love of adventure.

     But the only thing she felt was Myra peeling the tape from her gag. She opened her eyes and found not only was it true, but Donna was doing the same to Summer. After a sigh of relief, the girl became wary again. What could these two be up to?

     After balling up the tape and tossing it onto the patio, the girls stepped behind their prisoners and untied the ballgags. They also tossed these onto the deck as Summer and Copper tried to work the stiffness out of their jaw muscles. Almost immediately, the two girls grabbed their prisoners in tight embraces from the front, putting one arm around them and using the other to cover their mouths.

     “You two probably want to know what this is all about, don’t you?” asked Donna.

     The two hand-gagged women could do nothing but look at their captors.

     “Well,” she continued, “we’re not going to drown you, if that’s what was worrying you.”

     Both prisoners sighed through their noses.

     “We’re going to play a little game,” said Myra, wrapping a leg around Copper and pressing her breasts against her captive’s. “At least it’s our variation on an old game.”

     “You’re probably heard of bobbing for apples,” Donna said. “Well our game is called ‘Bobbing for Nipples’.”

     Both prisoners squealed in alarm into the hands that covered their mouths.

     “You have to stay under water until you find one of our nipples with your mouths,” Myra explained. “Then you have to give it a good going over. When we’re satisfied, we let you back up for air.”

     “Are we all ready?” asked Donna. She looked at Summer. “We’ll go first, Mrs. Smithers. Take a deep breath now.”

     She removed her hand from Summer’s mouth and took hold of the ropes around her upper torso. When she pulled, Summer’s face disappeared under the water though Copper could see the top of her dark-haired head pressed close to Donna’s body. The blonde did not react for a moment, then gasped softly and half-closed her eyes.

     “Oh, that’s good,” she murmured. “That’s the way to do it.”

     Myra had wrapped herself around Copper like a constricting snake. She leaned over and whispered in her ear.

     “I hope you’ve had some experience with women, Miss Ryder. I can be kind of hard to please in this game.”

     After what seemed like an eternity, Donna released Summer’s ropes and the brunette’s head reappeared. Donna waited as Summer gasped for breath for a few moments, then clamped her free hand over her prisoner’s mouth again.

     “Not bad for your first time, Mrs. Smithers,” said Donna. “Of course, the best thing about this game is, like all games, you get better with more practice.”

     “My turn!” cried Myra. She grinned at Copper and took her hand from the girl’s lips, grabbing the upper body loops. “Breathe real deep now and…”

“We just passed Ryder’s ranch,” Duncan reported. “You can get up now.”

     Rowlands rose from the back seat. As they approached the ranch he had pushed Amy down so that her legs were on the floor and her upper body was on the seat and warned her to keep low. He had hunkered down beside her, holding her with one arm. They had been face to face, though upside down, for the time that it took to pass the house, and Amy had been able to read his face during the time. She had seen him look her lush torso up and down, noted the hunger in his eyes and felt the pressure of his arm on hers and his hand on her hip. But once they were past the ranch, he straightened up and took his arm away immediately. She looked up at him with her clear blue eyes from the seat.

     “You might as well stay down there, Deputy,” he said. “Just in case, we wouldn’t want you to see the way to our hideout. As a matter of fact…”

     He searched his pockets until he found the roll of tape. He tore four more short pieces off.

     “I shoulda done this right away, I suppose.”

     He kept looking at her, as though reluctant to break eye contact. He leaned over and gently turned her shoulders so she was looking straight up. He began sticking the tape over her eyes. She gave a soft mew of disapproval, but did not resist.

     Duncan looked in the rearview mirror.

     “Taping her eyes, huh? That’s a good idea. Not that she’ll ever be able to tell anybody where we’re takin’ ‘em.”

     “What’re you talking about?” asked Rowlands, continuing to work.

     “Well, we’re gonna get rid of ‘em after we get the goods, aren’t we?”

     Amy breathed in sharply.

     “Kill a woman cop?” Rowlands asked sarcastically. “Brilliant! They’d be twice as determined to bring us in if we did that. ‘Never Kill Cops’ and ‘Never Kill Women’ are the first two rules on my list.”

     He pressed the last piece of tape over Amy’s eyes.

     “Nah. We’re gonna trade this little sweetheart and the others for those gadgets they took off the balloon. They’ll be four times more anxious to deal with us now.”

     Unconsciously, Rowlands dropped his arm onto Amy’s side again and gave her a reassuring pat. Amy felt strangely comforted by his words. As the two men continued to talk, Amy turned over more onto her side. Rowlands’ hand slipped down onto her nearly exposed breast. He stopped talking and drew it away hastily.

     Amy thought about what would happen when the gang tried to trade her and Julie (and were there others?) for the instruments from the balloon. Would Sky and the Sheriff agree? And what would happen after the trade was done?

Summer spat out pool water and breathed as deeply as she could as she watched Myra react to Copper’s stimulation of her breasts. The brunette gasped and giggled as Copper’s head bobbed and moved around Myra’s left breast. Summer looked pleadingly at Donna, but the blonde was wholly absorbed in her cousin’s expressions of sensual pleasure. Though Donna was no longer hand-gagging her, Summer said nothing. She had tried to reason with Donna before her second and third dunkings but they had ignored her, and her pleas had left her short of breath. Since then she had not attempted to speak.

     Myra let go of Copper’s chest ropes, and the petite blonde’s head emerged from below the surface. She coughed and spat out water between breaths.

     “All right, Summer,” cooed Donna. “My right boob this time, if you please.”

     Summer took as large a breath as she could. Donna waited until her prisoner was ready, then pulled Summer’s chest ropes to force her face under water. Summer opened her eyes and pressed her cheek against Donna, searching for her nipple. Finding it quickly, she put her lips around it and began stroking it with her tongue. For the present, Summer’s mind was a blank, without any sense of outrage or humiliation. She merely functioned, as she knew she must to survive. She had seen that neither Donna nor Myra would hold them under long enough to really be dangerous. They were merely toying with their prisoners. It was difficult to decide whether it was sexual pleasure or the pleasure of power was their chief satisfaction here. Probably a mingling of both. But the important thing was to survive.

     Donna released the ropes above Summer’s breasts, allowing her to raise her head again. As she gasped for air, she wondered how much longer the game would go on.

Fred Merrill drew his car up to the front gate of the Flying Coronet ranch. He had spent nearly two hours in a vain search for any signs of the gang. Since he had no radio, he decided to return to the ranch to see if Sky or anyone else had a lead.

     Wes Donovan was still on guard in front. He waved as Fred walked up the path to the porch.

     “Hey, Wes.”

     The muscular cowboy merely nodded.

     “Did Sky call in, Wes? You know there was some trouble during the search this morning.”

     Wes nodded again.

     “Figgered as much. Two Sheriff’s cars and an ambulance came by while back. They had Joe and a couple o’ the boys with ‘em.”

     “Any news from Sky?”

     Wes rubbed his chin.

     “I heard the Lady Sarge talkin’ on the radio. Saw Sky out that-a-way” --- he pointed northeast --- “headed fer town a half hour or so ago. Musta needed gas.”

     “Anything else happen here?”

     Wes shook his head.

     “Nope. A few minutes ago, two cars come by headed north is all.”

     Merrill was instantly alert.

     “Two cars? What kind? How many people in ‘em?”

     “Good sized four-doors. One black, one dark gray. Only one man in the first, one man drivin’ a woman in the second.”

     Merrill leaped off the porch and ran to his car.

     “I’m goin’ after ‘em, Wes. Have the Sarge tell Sky or the Sheriff. I’ll report back when I can.”

     Wes Donovan calmly watched as Merrill jumped into the car and lurched away with a squeal of tires and a cloud of sandy dust. He scratched his chin as the car disappeared.

Sky Ryder looked out of the airport office window as two men refueled the Hummingbird. He took up the microphone of the office radio.

     “Sky Ryder calling Sheriff’s Car One. Calling Sheriff’s Car One. Do you read me, Winch? Over.”

     “This is Car One,” replied Sheriff Winchell. “I read you, Sky. Where are you? Over.”

     “I had to return to the airport for gas, Winch. I’m going to bring Tim out to fly Ted’s plane back to the field. We’re almost ready to take off. Where are you, Winch? Over.”

     “I’m at the ambush canyon, Sky. Joe Bailey and a couple of your men have started back for your ranch with your car and horses. Two of my cars and two State trooper units are out looking for the gang. I’m still waiting for Doc Barton and the ambulance boys to finish with Ben and the man you and Al captured. Over.”

     “Give Al most of the credit for him, Winch. Over.”

     “He says he’s really glad you were around to help chase away the other man. Over.”

     “Listen, Winch, there’s something I need your help with. Can you wait there for me? I’ll see that Tim gets in the air and be with you as soon as I can.” He looked at his watch. “Say forty five minutes? Over.”

     “If you say it’s important, I’ll be here, Sky. Over.”

     “Good. I’ve got an idea what the gang wants with the hostages they’ve taken today. And it’s not an easy decision to make. Over.”

     “See you when you get here, Sky. Sheriff out.”

     Sky put down the mike. He beckoned to Tim and walked quickly toward the door to the field, Tim following.

Copper and Summer sat at the edge of the pool once again. Neither woman was gagged; both were breathing almost normally again. After a good half-hour or more of play, Myra and Donna had unhooked them from the concrete blocks and helped them hop to the shallow end. They allowed the prisoners to sit while they recovered the blocks from the bottom of the pool.

     “Are you all right, Copper?” asked Summer.

     The young blonde coughed out more pool water.

     “I guess so,” she replied. “I mean, I’m as all right as I can be for being half drowned while forced to suck on a woman’s breasts!”

     Summer tried to swing some very wet, dark hair out of her face.

     “I know what you mean,” she gasped. She looked earnestly at her neighbor. “But we’re alive, and we’re going to do whatever we have to do to stay alive.”

     Copper looked up at her. Summer tried to smile. Copper nodded.

     “Okay, Summer,” she said. She looked down at the ropes around her body. “I guess there’s not much else we can do, is there?”

     Donna and Myra, both still nude, came toward them carrying large pink towels.

     “Well, ladies,” said Donna. “That was so much fun that we hated to quit, but it’s time to dry off.”

     “I hope we’ll get to play again,” added Myra with a smile.

     Donna tossed her towel onto a patio chair.

     “We’re even going to untie you so you can get yourselves nice and dry.”

     Myra raised a .38 revolver from under the towel and pointed it at them.

     “And we know you’ll be very good girls while you’re free.”

     Donna pulled Copper’s legs out of the pool and opened a small pocketknife to cut her ankle bonds. She looked directly at Copper.

     “And don’t get used to being untied. It’s not going to last.”

Captain Julie Atkins lay on the floor of the backseat of Joanna Dorrin’s car. During the trip, Joanna had removed the attractive officer’s slacks, socks and boots, rebound her legs and feet and blindfolded her with several strips of adhesive tape.

     “Discomfort is the key, Captain,” Joanna said quietly. “There are many forms of torture we could apply to you and your friends, but the simplest and easiest is merely to keep you uncomfortable for a long period of time. Uncomfortable and well aware of your helplessness.”

     She leaned back in the corner of the backseat opposite the driver, stretched out her legs and rested the heels of her boots on Julie’s shoulder.

     “You shall soon tell us about the recovery of the instruments,” she continued. “Though that is no longer so important. I believe that Sky Ryder has them now and that he and the Sheriff will be quite anxious to trade them with their evidence of spying for you and your friends. You see, we have not only captured you and the lovely deputy, but also his niece and her friend Mrs. Smithers.”

     Julie gave a mew of alarm.

     “The value of having so many hostages is that if one or two are needed to demonstrate our … How shall I say it? … determination, we have an expendable prisoner available.”

     Again Julie protested into her gag.

     “Oh, never fear, my dear,” cooed Joanna. “You are not one of the expendable ones.”

     The car passed a slow-moving pickup truck.

     “Not too fast, Lynch,” Joanna commanded. “We wouldn’t want to attract the attention of any deputies watching for speeders.”

     Lynch chuckled a moment before replying in his hacksaw voice.

     “I haven’t seen a deputy the whole way around town. They’re all looking for us south and east of here.”

     “Nonetheless, be careful, especially about passing trucks. I wouldn’t want anyone to see the Captain’s plight before we choose to reveal it.”

     With a malevolent smile, she pressed her heels into Julie’s shoulder. The helpless woman groaned into her gag.

Merrill swung his car around the heavily laden pickup truck and continued north. In the flat, barren landscape between Sky’s ranch and Kermit, it had been relatively easy to keep the two cars in sight at some distance. A few more miles north of town and they would encounter better-watered, hilly country dotted with pine forests. He might easily lose them before long. But the big foreman sensed he was on the right track. This was more or less the route taken by the kidnappers in laundry truck a few days before. With a little luck, he could narrow the search area considerably.

     He accelerated a bit, trying to close the distance without seeming obvious. The sun was now to his left. The day was wearing on, but there was plenty of daylight remaining.

Sky Ryder and Sheriff Winchell walked briskly through the canyon headed for the tiny group of trees ahead.

     “It sounds reasonable, Sky,” Winchell was saying. “If they didn’t get the payload, they’ll probably want to swap the women for it. But you know that we can’t give it to them.”

     “We have to, Winch,” Sky said grimly. “They have Copper and Amy and Julie and Summer. From what Julie and the others told us about those two sadistic young women, there’s no telling what they might do to any women hostages.”

     They stopped walking. Winchell took off his hat and mopped his brow.

     “Sky, I know how you love Copper. I love her too. I’ve watched her grow up here. And you know how I feel about Amy Cole. Both of them are like my own daughters. And I know that there’s something between you and both Julie and Summer, or there was something at one time. But no matter how we feel about them, we can’t betray the government.”

     Sky looked earnestly at his old friend.

     “I wore a uniform for five years, Winch. I know what it means to be loyal to our country. Julie’s in uniform and it’s her duty to take risks. Amy wears a different uniform, but danger’s also part of her job. But it’s different with Summer and Copper. They’re just ordinary people. And our country can’t just ask ordinary people to sacrifice themselves for it without being able sacrifice some things for them at times.”

     He started walking again, heading for a rocky formation against one of the canyon walls.

     “I’m the only one who knows where the instrument pack is, Winch. And I’m going to trade it with that gang in order to get Julie and Copper and the others back. I just wanted you to know about it first.”

     The two men stopped near the canyon wall. Sky sat on his haunches and reached into a little opening in the rocks. He pulled hard on something hidden there. After two or three tries, he pulled the pack out of its hiding place. Winchell looked at the instruments and raised an eyebrow.

     “All of this has been over that?” he asked.

     “It’s gotten five men killed, several more wounded, and five headed for prison,” Sky replied.

     The Sheriff shook his head wearily.

     “Well, the government might not agree with you, Sky. But in this case, I do. We’ll make the trade if they offer.”

     Sky grinned and clapped Winchell on the shoulder.

     “Let’s get this back to my ranch. We shouldn’t have too long to wait.”

At the sound of approaching cars, Donna and Myra leaped off the sofa where they had been lounging and ran to the front window. Both girls were now dressed, though barely. Myra wore short shorts and a halter-top, while Donna favored cut-off jeans and a bandeau top that left her midriff bare. Neither girl wore anything on her feet. Parting the drapes enough to peek out, they saw the two familiar cars pull in the drive and stop in front of the house. They watched eagerly as their Aunt Joanna supervised the unloading of their human cargo. The bound, tape-gagged and tape-blindfolded woman Rowlands hoisted over his shoulder wore a deputy’s uniform. The one held by Lynch wore only an open white blouse, a bra and panties.

     “That’s the Captain!” cried Myra, pointing as Lynch lifted her onto his shoulder. “I’d know those legs anywhere!”

     Donna licked her lips.

     “The other one must be the woman deputy some of the men had a run-in with the other day. She’s a pretty fine looking piece herself.”

     The two hurried to the door and opened it just as Joanna reached for the knob.

     “What did you bring us?” the nieces asked in excited chorus.

     Joanna smiled at the two.

     “Rowlands told us that you were also successful this morning. What have you done with them?”

     “We played with them in the pool!” Donna said proudly.

     Joanna’s smile turned into a scolding pout. One eyebrow went down.

     “I hope that doesn’t mean that---“ she began.

     “Oh, no!” Myra said hurriedly. “They’re all right. We’ve got them all tied up in Donna’s room.”

     “Tied up good and tight,” added Donna.

     “Well done,” said Joanna. She stood aside to allow the men to carry the two new captives in the door and stand them in the center of the living room. “Very good, Rowlands. Take the men to the kitchen and get them something to eat. Do not come out unless we call you. And make sure the guards are alert.”

     Rowlands nodded.

     “Come on,” he told Lynch and Duncan.

     The three disappeared into the kitchen, closing the door after them.

     Joanna Dorrin inspected the two bound women. The blindfolds and their long car ride on the floor of the back seat had made the two prisoners somewhat unsteady on their feet, so Donna had to support Amy Cole while Myra did the same for Julie. Donna reached across Amy’s front and spread her open shirt more.

     “M-mmm,” hummed Donna, stroking her hand across the Deputy’s chest as Amy mewed indignantly into her gag. “Great boobs for a cop.”

     “Two fine specimens of American womanhood,” said Joanna. “You may remove the blindfolds, girls. Then I want them both stripped. They must be made ready for a long, hot evening.”

“Does anybody want more coffee?” asked Sergeant Connie Wade.

     She stood in the kitchen doorway holding a coffeepot and looked into the living room at the weary, anxious faces of the men.

     Deputy Harry Tyler was pacing in front of the radio set beside Sky’s desk. He kept looking at the telephone at the side of the desk and turning his hat in his hands.

     “I know it’s tough, Harry,” said Sheriff Winchell, seated on the couch across the room. “But why don’t you just sit down and try to relax.”

     Tyler looked guiltily at him.

     “Sorry, Sheriff,” he said. “The waiting just kind of gets to a guy.”

     He sat down in the desk chair, still playing with the brim of his hat.

     Sky smiled at Connie.

     “No thanks, Sergeant,” he said. “The last thing we need out here is more caffeine.”

     She returned to the kitchen.

     Winchell and Sky turned their eyes back to the magazines they were holding but not really reading. Tyler stood up again and resumed his pacing. Winchell was about to say something, but Sky smiled and shook his head. Sergeant Wade entered the room with another bottle of Coke.

     “It’s a good thing caffeine doesn’t put me on edge,” she said taking a sip from the bottle. She looked at one of her fingernails and began biting it.

     The phone rang. Sky rose and picked up the receiver.

     “Hello… Yes, this is Sky Ryder… Yes, we know… I’ve got them here… I won’t agree to anything until you let me talk to Copper. Then we’ll discuss a trade.”

Joanna Dorrin put her hand over the mouthpiece of the phone. She turned to Myra.

     “You were right. He wants to speak to his niece.”

     She stepped over to the couch where Julie and Copper, both nude and bound, sat with Donna and Myra respectively draped around them, both girls with one hand covering the prisoners’ mouths. As Joanna lowered the receiver to Copper, Myra reached around her and gave Copper’s breast a squeeze. Amy and Summer, nude, bound and gagged and seated in chairs opposite the couch on the other side of the glass-topped coffee table, watched them apprehensively.

     “Be careful what you say, Miss Ryder,” Myra warned with a grin.

     She took her hand away. Joanna took her hand from the mouthpiece and put the instrument to Copper’s mouth and ear.

     “Hello, Sky,” the girl said. “This is Copper… Yes, we’re all right, aside from being kept tied up and gagged most of the time.” She hesitated and flushed. “And with no clothes on… Okay… Yes, I believe you.”

     “Enough,” spat Joanna.

     Myra hand-gagged Copper again as Joanna took back the receiver.

     “You are convinced, Mr. Ryder? No harm will come to any of them if we get the balloon instruments. Now here is what I want you to do---“