Sky and the Starlets

Fiction by Frank Knebel

Chapter 2

Julie Ryder grunted into her gag as Arlene tightened the loops of rope around her ankles. The masked woman looked at her captive.

      “What’s the matter, Mrs. Ryder?” she asked in a sympathetic tone. “Too tight?”

     Julie took a slow deep breath. She made no attempt to answer, but looked steadily into the inscrutable eyes of her captor. Arlene gave the ropes a savage yank. Julie mewed in pain and alarm.

     “Is that better?” cooed Arlene.

     Jones, the lean driver who stood leaning on the Jeep and watching, laughed. The husky man looked up from his task of tying Copper’s ankles side by side.

     “Take it easy, Arlene.” he growled. He pronounced ‘Arlene’ like a New Englander, with barely any ‘r’ sound: more like ‘Ahlene.’

     “Let ‘er have some fun, Dugan,” said Jones in a southern-accented voice. “After all, we don’t want ‘em runnin’ back to their plane.”

     “We’ll make sure they don’t get too frisky,” he replied irritably. “We also don’t want anyone losing a foot. Slack it off, Ahlene.”

     Arlene loosened the ropes a bit and tied a secure knot. Dugan had finished tying Copper’s feet as well. The two bound women sat with their backs against a large rock with their knees drawn up almost to their chests. Their legs were now bound together at the knees and ankles. When Arlene was finished, Dugan nodded to her.

     “Okay. Let’s roll ‘em over.”

     Dugan pulled Copper away from the boulder, tipped her over on her side and rolled her on her belly. Arlene did the same to Julie. Both women mewed in surprise and alarm as they were manhandled. Dugan produced another piece of rope.

     “Take it easy, girls.” He pronounced it like ‘gulls.’ “Just one last touch.”

     He took Copper’s bound booted feet in one hand and pushed them back toward her derriere, forcing her legs to bend. The girl mewed in alarm and tried to look back at him, though she knew at once what the ‘last touch’ was going to be. He looped the rope around the seize in her ankle bonds and drew the ends up to the set of rope coils around her body just above the waist. He tied the ends off around the body loops, effectively hogtying the girl.

     Copper mewed into her gag in frustration and looked over to see what Arlene was doing to Julie. The blond was performing the same action on her prisoner. Julie exchanged a hopeless glance with Copper.

     “I’m being a real sweetie with you, Mrs. Ryder,” Arlene said in her insincere, singsong tone. “I’d really like to anchor these ropes to your hands, but we really don’t want to hurt you.”

     Jones gave a short laugh.

     “Beautiful! Just beautiful! They’re really fixed up good!”

     He sauntered over for a better look, squatting down near Julie. The helpless brunette glared up at him.

     “And speakin’ o’ beautiful,” he went on, “they’re a coupla mighty fine lookin’ babes.”

     He reached out to stroke Julie’s hair.

     “I wouldn’t mind ---”

     Dugan grabbed his arm and swung it back. With a profane exclamation Jones stood up. Dugan raised himself up as well. Jones leaned forward menacingly.

     “Hey!” yelled Jones. “What’s that for? You their chaperone or somethin’?”

     Though Jones was several inches taller, Dugan stood firm, pointing his index finger at Jones’ chest.

     “You just keep your mind on what you’ve been paid to do, Jonesey. Have fun on your own time.”

     For a few seconds the two men remained in their challenging postures. Finally Jones relaxed and leaned back.

     “Sure, Dugan,” he said lightly. “Whatever you say. I didn’t mean nothin’.”

     “Come on then. We’ve got more to do. Let’s get stahted.”

     He strode purposely toward the Jeep followed by Arlene. As she passed Jones reached out and took her by the elbow.

     “You’d be a lot more fun than either of those two, Arlene,” said Jones with a tilt of his head toward Julie and Copper.

     Arlene pulled her elbow away.

     “Get lost.”

     Dugan had taken his former place in the passenger seat of the Jeep. Arlene climbed into the rear again. Jones sauntered back to the vehicle and slid into the driver’s seat.

     “Let’s go, Jonesey,” barked Dugan.

     The Jeep roared away. Julie and Copper exchanged another look. The two women were being left hogtied and gagged in rugged, arid country miles from help of any kind. They both began struggling with their bonds.

Gloria, Jackson and the other driver stood at the rear of the truck watching the single engine plane taxiing down the road as the Jeep returned. The engine roared louder as the plane gained speed and lifted into the air. Jones pulled the Jeep close to the panel truck with Dugan’s side toward the closed rear doors. The Jeep stopped but none of the three passengers got out.

     “Are they fixed up?” Dugan demanded.

     Jackson did not answer directly but motioned to the driver. Both men grabbed a door handle and swung it open. Joan and Diana lay on their sides on the floor of the open rear cargo space. Both women remained securely bound and tightly gagged, but now both were also blindfolded. Jackson reached in and took Diana by the hair, turning her head so that Dugan could inspect the job.

     “Nice work, eh Dugan? Cloth pads over their eyes, bands tied around their heads to hold the pads and then a few pieces of tape over everything just to be sure. They won’t see anything.”

     Dugan checked Diana’s blindfold then motioned to Gloria to turn Joan’s head so he could do the same with hers. With a satisfied grunt, he nodded.

     “Okay,” he said. “We can get rid of the masks.”

     All six of them pulled off the hoods or handkerchief masks. Dugan had a toad-like face: broad with a balding pate and a wide mouth. Jackson’s face was round, youthful and smirking. Jones was lean and hungry, with a perpetually cunning, though not particularly bright, expression. The muscular driver had very dark curly hair and a mustache.

     The two women, though both attractive, were as different as the men: dark-haired Gloria had wide, dark eyes and rather overly arched penciled eyebrows that gave her a nervous, almost frantic look while blond Arlene’s face was calm to the point of being an expressionless mask.

     “What a relief!” said Gloria, wiping her face. “It’s too hot here for that.”

     “You girls keep those masks handy,” said Dugan. “You just may need ‘em. Go on, Ahlene. Get in.”

     The blonde gracefully hopped down from the rear of the Jeep and climbed into the back of the truck.  Jackson helped Gloria inside.

     “Make certain they don’t get loose,” Dugan reminded them. He motioned to Jackson and the driver. “All right. Close ‘em up.”

     The two men swung the rear doors shut.

     “You two know what to do?”

     They nodded.

“Remember, Baynes: not too fast. We don’t want to attract attention.”

     “I got it,” the driver replied.

     “All right. Get stahted.”

     Jones started the Jeep as the two men proceeded to the cab of the truck and got in. Jones headed south toward the main road. The truck followed.

Sky Ryder raised himself out of his seat and looked over the nose of the little plane.

     “See anything?” asked Ted Barry.

     The tall rancher shook his head as he resettled himself in his seat.

     “No sign of Winch or any of other cars.”

     “Well, we just passed Kermit. The Sheriff had almost twenty minutes’ start on us. We’ll catch ‘em pretty soon.”

     Sky rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

     “I’d feel better about things if we could raise Copper and Julie on the radio.”

     “It is odd that neither we nor the airport can get through.”

     Sky took up the radio handset.

     “Calling Sheriff’s Car One. This is Sky Ryder calling Car One. Come in, Winch. Over.”

     Sheriff Winchell and Deputy Barnes scanned the skies to the rear and sides of the northbound patrol car.

     “This is Car One, Sky. We can’t see you yet. What’s your position? Over.”

     “We’re approaching the Kermit airport. We can’t see you anywhere ahead. What’s your position, Winch?”

     “We’re about twelve miles west of Nolan Wells. No sign of any planes set down on any roads that we can see. Over.”

     Deputy Sue Kendall raised her radio microphone. Deputy Amy Cole in the driver’s seat pointed into the side mirror.

     “This is Car Four, Sheriff. We’re about five miles behind you. I think we can see Sky and Ted’s plane behind us. Over.”

     Deputy Andy Rivera looked at Deputy Harry Tyler behind the wheel of their patrol car. Tyler nodded. Rivera raised the handset.

     “This is Car Five, Sky. We’re east of the mountains heading north. We haven’t seen or heard anything yet, but we’ll have a close look at Red Lake and some of the little roads around there as we go by. Over.”

     Ted Barry smiled at Sky.

     “Sounds like Winch has most of the force in action.”

     Sky nodded.

     “But Harry and Andy can’t go very fast on an unpaved road like that.” He spoke into his handset. “Be careful out there, Harry. That’s rough country. Over.”

     Tyler took the mike from Rivera.

     “The road’s baked pretty hard, Sky. There’s a lotta dust, but it’s level. We’ll be careful. Over.”

     “Car One, this is Kermit control.”

     Dispatcher Bonnie Johnson looked up uncertainly at the tall blond woman of about forty who stood looking at her over the duty desk with a coldly imperious expression.

“Sheriff, theyuh’s a woman heeuh who wants to know wheyuh Miz O’Connuh and Miz Malloy are. Ovuh.”

     “Who is this woman, Bonnie?” asked Winchell. “Over.”

     Bonnie glanced meekly at the commanding face again.

     “Some lady named Gregory. She claims t’ be theyuh agent from Hollywood.”

     The woman scowled angrily.

     “Claims to be!” she cried. “I’ve shown you my credentials, young lady. Now I insist on seeing someone in authority here! I want to know what’s happened to Joan and Diana!”

     She fumbled with the gate in the waist-high partition that separated the waiting area from the actual office. Deputy Lew Hansen slid off his stool behind the desk and stepped over, blocking her way. He smiled patiently.

     “Sorry ma’am. Only authorized persons beyond the gate.”

     “Well, I insist on being authorized, young man! I must find out what’s become of my girls. They’re long overdue at the airport.”

     “And the Sheriff himself and five deputies are working on it, ma’am,” Hansen said soothingly. He extended a hand toward a bench at the front of the room. “Won’t you have a seat? You’ll be much more comfortable while you wait. Maybe you’d like some coffee or a soft drink?”

     The woman hesitated. The deputies writing reports at desks had stopped and were watching her as were the several people in the waiting area. Her displeased expression remained, but she evidently felt that she could not continue to make a scene in the face of the young man’s courtesy. Without replying, she turned abruptly and took a seat on the bench.

     “Please let me know when you hear anything.”

     She had said it with less heat, but the ‘please’ was obviously a verbal formality.

     “We certainly will ma’am,” he said.

     He turned. Bonnie looked up gratefully. Hansen rolled his eyes expressively.

     “What’s going on there, Bonnie?” demanded Winchell.

     “It’s all right, Sheriff. Y’all keep us infoamed on whatch’all find, heauh? Kermit Control out.”

     Deputy Barnes looked at Winchell.

     “A good day to be out of the office, eh Sheriff?”

     Winchell shook his head.

     “Missing planes and Hollywood too. Slow down a bit, Charlie.” He took up the handset again. “We’re going to slow down so you can catch us, Sky. Unless they landed on the main road, we’ll probably need you to spot for us. Over.”

     “Good idea, Winch. We’re coming as fast as we can. Sky out.”

     The three vehicles and plane headed north on converging courses.

Julie Ryder tried once more to slip her wrists from the loop of cords that bound them. There was no result. Since her arms were bound too tightly against her back to allow her much leverage in moving her hands, she made a maximum effort to straighten her legs. She hoped that the rope that connected her bound ankles to the set of wraps around her lower body might pull them down from her arms. But this failed to work as well. She grunted in frustration.

     She looked over at Copper. The blonde was also struggling energetically but uselessly. Julie tried to call to her to save her strength. At first Copper did not understand Julie’s muffled warning, but at last she nodded and stopped to rest.

Julie knew that their situation would soon become desperate. Though it was now October, it was a bright and warm day. The greatest danger to the bound women was lack of water, and useless physical activity would dehydrate them even more than the heat and dryness. Their only hope was to get back to the Hummingbird and the extra water. Was the plane still there? Julie believed that it was; she had heard only one plane take off, and the noise seemed to be that of a single engine plane. She had to check.

 Slowly and effortfully, Julie squirmed to the side the few feet necessary to see around the rocky ridge between the two captives and the bit of paved road where they had landed an hour or so ago. It was difficult work, pushing herself along with alternately with her knees and her chest, but finally she achieved her goal. The Hummingbird was where they had left it, about three hundred yards from where they lay. But with both women securely hogtied, three hundred yards was little different from three hundred miles. It had taken an enormous physical effort for Julie to move two or three yards. And even if they could somehow crawl to the plane as they were, there was no way they would be able to reach the cabin several feet off the ground. Somehow they had to free themselves.

 After a short rest, Julie started back to Copper. With great difficulty she was able to roll over a couple times making the return much faster. With her head she beckoned to Copper to try to get closer. When the blonde was next to her, Julie motioned to her to roll on her side. It took several times to make this clear, but finally Copper understood and nodded. Copper rolled onto her right side, Julie on her left. Their searching fingers touched. Julie wrapped her hand around Copper’s fingers, indicating that Julie would try to untie Copper first.

“Not much of a chance,” Julie thought grimly. “Here I am trying to untie knots I can’t see while bound and gagged myself. Well, it’s about the only thing I can try.”

She went on with her hopeless task.

“It went pretty smooth down there, Patricia,” said the pilot.

     The woman looked up from her compact mirror, powder puff poised over her right cheek.

     “So what do you expect, Mr. Jarvis? A medal?”

     She returned to her makeup adjustment.

     Jarvis ignored the sarcasm of her tone. His face was rather handsome, but showed signs of hard living, of living in harsh outdoor conditions as well as overindulgence. His voice had a grating quality similar to that of Dugan’s but was pitched a couple steps higher.

     “No, but I thought you might be a little pleased with the performance of the team I helped put together.”

     Patricia snapped the compact shut and dropped it into her bag. Her tone was very feminine and sugary, dripping with obviously insincerity.

     “Why I thought that Dugan was the one who hired everybody, including you. I’m sure that he’ll think that he’s the one who should be congratulated.”

     “Well, of course, he did hire me,” Jarvis admitted agreeably. “Since I was one of the first one, I helped him find the others.”

     “And a fine group they are, too. A regular human zoo. Dugan’s a giant toad, Jackson’s a rat, Baynes is a mule and Jones is part wolf and part skunk. Oh, and let’s not forget the ladies. Gloria’s as calm and reliable as a squirrel and Arlene’s as trustworthy as a Gila monster.”

     Jarvis laughed unpleasantly.

     “Pretty harsh judge of character, aren’t you?”

     She looked up coyly.

     “Do I exaggerate?” she cooed.

     He looked down into her very attractive, inscrutable face.

     “You have a better opinion of me, I hope.”

     “I will, if things keep going well,” she said. “We might even ---”

She stopped. He was looking intently to the south. He pointed.

“Look. Cops.”

She shielded her eyes from the lowering sun and peered ahead. Jarvis reached down and produced a pair of fieldglasses, which he handed to her.

“Here. Try these.”

She trained the glasses on the area ahead and adjusted the focusing drive.

“You’re right,” she said. “Two cars of ‘em.”

“And that’s not all,” he added pointing to the southwest.

Even without the binoculars she could see the small plane. It was still some distance away but was headed directly for them.

“Do you think they’re looking for Ryder’s plane?” she asked calmly.

“I wouldn’t doubt it. If Ryder’s wife and niece told the Kermit airport what they were doing, it’s very likely that at least part of the message got through. You’d better warn Dugan.”

She took the radio handset from its hook.

Arlene unbuttoned the top two buttons of Joan’s blouse. The bound girl mewed into her gag and tried to twist away, but Arlene held her easily.

     “Whatsa matter, Honey?” asked Arlene. “You don’t want to show your cleavage to Gloria and me? I can’t understand why. There’s yards and yards of it on billboards all over Hollywood. And in a couple weeks it’ll be on display in theaters all over the country. Why not show a little to us?”

     She ran her index finger between the bound blonde’s breasts. Joan shuddered and tried to pull away again. Arlene pressed her other hand on the actress’ shoulder to keep her in place and repeated the action several times. She looked over at Gloria.

     “Try yours. See if she likes it better.”

     Gloria looked down at Diana. Now her wide-eyed look made her appear frightened rather than frantic. She hesitated, but after a few seconds reached down and touched the buttons of Diana’s blouse. The girl protested into her gag and shook her head.

     “I guess...” Gloria started. “I guess she doesn’t like it either.”

     She had tried to sound coolly threatening like Arlene but sounded nervous and unsure. She looked like a student pressured by others to misbehave while the teacher was watching. She fumbled with Diana’s buttons, finally opening the top two. Gingerly she poked her finger into the helpless blonde’s cleavage.

     Arlene laughed.

     “Who’d have thought that a girl with a body like yours could be so clumsy! Here. You do it like this.”

     She put her hand on Gloria’s and guided her strokes between Diana’s breasts. The prisoner flinched and continued to shake her head, though her gagged protests were less loud.

     “I hope our little friends are enjoying the ride back there,” said Jackson.

     The two women turned. Jackson had swung around in his seat to have a better look at them. Baynes looked back over his shoulder only to have Jackson slap him lightly on the arm.

     “Keep your eyes on your driving.” He looked back at the women again. “Yeah, it sure would be fun to come back there and join you. I’ll bet we could ---”

     A woman’s voice interrupted him.

     “Jackson! Jackson! Come in Jackson. This is Perry.”

     He turned and took the radio microphone from the set.

     “This is Jackson. What’s up?”

     “Cops are up, Jackson. They’re on the same road you’re on, maybe ten or twelve miles away. You know what to do?”

     “Got it. How about Dugan? Did he hear?”

     Dugan’s voice came from the speaker.

     “I heard, all right. Just watch for my signal.”

     “You’re the boss.”

Patricia Perry hung the radio handset on its hook.

     “Okay, Jarvis. Get us out of here.”

     “I doubt that they could be looking for us,” he said, though there was uncertainty in his voice.

     “Maybe not, but I don’t want to take any chances.”

     Jarvis turned the plane’s nose directly west and pushed on the throttle.

The truck followed the Jeep for another half-mile or so. As they approached a small stucco ranchhouse on the north side of the road, Dugan stuck out his right arm. Jones pulled the Jeep between the rear of the little house and the ruins of a small barn standing behind it. Dugan hopped nimbly from the Jeep and trotted back to the truck cab. He pointed to the back door of the house.

     “Get the back of the truck as close to that door as you can, then get out and open up,” he told Baynes. He looked at Jackson. “You help us move the women.”

     As Baynes moved the truck forward, Dugan walked quickly to the back. After a brief scan of the road behind them, he opened both doors. Gloria peered out uncertainly.

     “Give me a hand, Gloria,” ordered Dugan. “You get her feet.”

     He took Diana by the shoulders and pulled her from the truck. Gloria climbed down and took the girl’s bound feet. Jackson and Arlene did the same with Joan. Baynes jumped from the truck cab and opened the back door of the house. As Dugan passed Baynes he gave another order.

     “Okay. Go help Jonesey switch the cars.”

     Baynes nodded and jogged over toward the barn where Jones waited.

     The door they went through opened on the kitchen of the house. It was a very old-fashioned one, with wood-burning stove and a pump at the sink but aside from the sand that had been blown through crevices in the doors and windows it was clean. The last occupants had moved out rather than abandoning it. Though the kitchen was small, the lack of a table or chairs made it seem spacious. Dugan stopped near the door to the next room.

     “Okay,” he told Gloria. “Let’s put her down her.”

     They lowered Diana to the floor. Dugan pointed to the floor beside Diana.

     “Put the other one next to her.”

     Jackson lowered Joan’s head and shoulders. Arlene simply dropped the girl’s legs. Joan cried out into her gag.

     “Easy there, Ahlene,” growled Dugan. “The merchandise isn’t to be hahmed.”

     “Sorry,” Arlene said without conviction.

     “All right ladies,” Dugan announced to the bound starlets. “The first paht of your little trip is over. But don’t worry: there’ll be others to take you the rest of the way.”

     He gestured to the other gang members and led them out the back door. The truck was still outside the door, but in the dusty yard beyond now sat a dark blue sedan. Jones was in the driver’s seat. Baynes parked the Jeep beside the barn and shut off the engine. He then trotted back to the truck as Jones moved the sedan closer.

     “All right, Ahlene,” said Dugan. “You get in front with Jones. Gloria rides with me in back.”

     “What’s the idea?” asked Arlene, obviously unhappy about sitting next to Jones.

     “We’ve got to look like two happy couples on vacation,” said Dugan.

     Arlene pouted.

     “I don’t want to sit with Jones.”

     “Oh, let’s just get out of here!” Gloria said fretfully. “I’ll ride with the creep if you don’t want to, but let’s get going!”

     Dugan smiled slightly as he watched the women go to the car. He motioned to Baynes and Jackson.

     “Get that truck moving, Baynes. We should go faster than you, but give us a minute before you staht. Remember that it can’t look like we’re together.”

     “Right,” said Baynes.

     Dugan headed for the truck. He was close enough to hear Jones as Gloria slid into the seat.

     “You gonna be my wife, Gloria? Good! Now you just slide over real close, hear? I like us t’ be a cozy couple.”

     “Knock it off, Jonesey,” Dugan growled.

     When Dugan closed the door, Jones put the car in gear and drove onto the road. Baynes waited for exactly sixty seconds before following. The car was already well ahead.

In the kitchen of the tiny ranch, Joan O’Connor and Diana Malloy struggled gamely with their bonds. The bound, gagged and blindfolded girls were quite helpless, but had to try to free themselves; it was the only alternative to being carried away to whatever sinister fate someone had planned for them.

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