by Robin Roseau
"Thank you."
* * * *
I sluttied up.
We drove back to the motel. I took off my bra and opened my blouse several buttons. I took the rattier of my jeans and turned them into an expensive pair of cheap cutoffs. I asked, "Can someone do some trampy makeup for me?"
It turns out Angel and Scarlett could.
We collected together when I was ready.
"You look ridiculous," Lara declared.
Then I had achieved my desired look. "I want it to look like I walked," I said. "I wish I had a pair of heals, but this will have to do. Drop me off two blocks away and I'll walk the rest of the way. I will insist he take me home after a drink. That shouldn't be hard to accomplish. And once we're inside, I want those doors slammed open within a maximum of five minutes. I'll try to talk him into another drink first, but I'm betting on him being awfully grabby."
I turned to Lara. "You must not watch. You'll lose it, and I need you with a cool head. I am counting on you, Lara. Hold it together. If we screw this up, Virginia is going to die, and I might too."
"Don't worry about me," she said.
I turned to the other enforcers. "When you take us, do not worry about being gentle with me. You don't have to go out of your way to be rough, but make it real. I am going to struggle, so expect it. I won't try to get away; I am going to act like I am in a complete panic. Expect me to put on an Academy-awards-winning performance. Do not take me seriously unless I use your real names."
We had our plan.
Greg had a few extra devices for me to wear in my clothing. "Tracking devices," he said. "Short range, but we'll be able to follow you if he tries to take you somewhere else."
They dropped me off exactly where I wanted, and I walked the rest of the way. I intentionally arrived ten minutes late, then looked around. Tim was hovering near the door and practically pounced on me ten steps from the entrance. I let him take my arm and he pulled me to the bar.
"What will you have?" he asked.
"I don't know. What are you having?"
"A beer," he said.
"Two beers then," and he ordered them.
He drank his beer half down in the first gulp. I worked mine. I wasn't half done when he finished his.
"Another one?"
"Oh honey," I said. "I'm so small, if I have another one, I'll pass out. Then how will we have any fun? But you go ahead. I like my men to have a good buzz on."
That was all the encouragement he needed. What an idiot.
He wanted to dance. I wanted to get him home so we could get serious. "Oh honey," I said. "Lara gets back at midnight, so we only have a couple of hours. She gets real jealous when I do this without permission. You know?"
He nodded.
"So maybe we could, you know. Go to your place. We can have some real fun in two hours, can't we?"
"Sure," he said. "We could."
I let him take my arm on the way out of the bar. He tried to feel me up. I let him get away with it. His hand froze while feeling my nipple.
"I thought you said you were pierced."
"I am," I said. "But I took them out. Lara really likes them, but she made me angry, so I took them out. She'll make me put them back in next week, but right now I am punishing her."
"You could do better than her," Tim said.
"Maybe I could," I said. As if. I slipped out of his arms and climbed into his SUV.
He only ran two stop signs on the way home. He offered to take me to some park, but I told him I wanted to do it in his bed. "I think that's really sexy. Maybe next time, I could, you know. Tie you up. Would you like that, baby? I'm real good at tying someone up."
He gulped but didn't say anything.
As soon as we were in the house, he was all over me.
"Oh baby," I said. "We have time. Do you have any beer?"
"What?"
"Beer. Baby, do you have any beer?"
"You said you'd fall asleep."
"I'll only drink half of one."
"All right," he said. He went to the refrigerator, and as soon as his back was turned, I made sure the doors were unlocked. He handed me a cheap can of beer. He hadn't even opened it for me.
What a gentleman.
I opened the can and took a slug, then let him pull me deeper into the house. We had gotten a few steps when he stopped, then stepped past me and locked the door, including the deadbolt.
Oh well. That might slow Elisabeth down by a half a second.
I let him pull me into his arms and accepted a sloppy kiss at the corner of my mouth. Yuck. Then I pushed him away.
"You know what I like?" I asked him.
"No."
"Stay there," I said. I sat down on the sofa. "I like to watch my guy get undressed. Slowly."
He set his beer down, and it took him about two seconds to get his shirt off. So much for slowly. He dropped his pants, then slid his undies around his ankles and stood up.
I had to suppress laughter. Let's just say, the wolves I'd seen were somewhat better endowed. His package was standing rigidly erect, pointed straight at me, and I realized about the last thing I wanted was that thing inside me.
"Do you have the protection, baby?" I asked. "You have to put the protection on. If I get pregnant, Lara will know, and she'll make me tell. You do not want Lara to get angry at you, Timmy. You really don't."
"Oh," he said. "Right." He rummaged through his pants and held up a tiny tinfoil package.
I was listening, and I heard attempts to turn the front and back door handles. I heard the count down, three-two-one, and then both doors slammed open.
Elisabeth came through the back door. Karen came through the front door. They were dressed all in black and wearing masks.
I screamed and threw myself on Tim, wrapping my arms around. "Tim! Who are they? Who are they?" I held his arms to his sides, and as small as I was, I was stronger than he was.
Karen, Serena, and Eric took Tim to the floor, wrenching him away from me. Elisabeth, Scarlett and Angel had me. I continued to scream, but not loudly. I didn't want my voice to carry.
"Shut up!" Elisabeth said. She slammed my head against the floor, but she banged her knee against the floor at the same time, making it sound like I had hit my head a lot more firmly than I had.
I switched to whimpers, begging them not to hurt us, begging Tim to tell me who they were.
They rolled us both onto our stomachs, and out came the tape. They taped me up first, then Tim. Then they shoved a rag into Tim's mouth and taped it in place, finally pulling a cloth sack over his head and taping it lightly around his neck. They made sounds like they were doing the same to me. I took the cloth, but they didn't tape it.
"Bring them," Elisabeth said. They rolled us both up in painter's tarps and carried us outside, tossing Tim into one of the waiting SUVs and me, gently, into the other.
Lara was waiting for me. Everyone climbed into the cars, and we were off. Angel pulled the tarp down from around my face.
"Perfect," Elisabeth said.
I spit the gag out.
"God," I said. "Thank you. I don't know what I could have done to delay much longer."
Elisabeth started laughing. "She had him out of his clothes and standing there with a condom package while she sat coolly on the sofa. Brilliant, Michaela."
"Thanks," I said. "When you tape me up, please don't tape my hair."
"You and your hair," Lara said. But her lips were tight.
"Elisabeth, nice trick with your knee."
"Thanks," she said. "I thought of it on the spot."
"I'm going to say this once more. Do whatever it takes. Whatever. It. Takes."
Lara was silent, then finally nodded.
It was a fifteen-minute drive. We parked in front of one of the sheds. Angel said, "Michaela, look at me."
I turned to face her. She smiled, patted my cheek, then held the cloth up. I nodded and opened my mouth, and she gently pushed it in.
"We're not going to tape your hair," she
said. "Just your mouth. We know you aren't going to spit it out." She ripped a piece of tape off and put it over my mouth, then added a second one to make it look more convincing. "Ready?" she asked. I nodded, and she gently lowered a sack over my head and taped it there.
There was a rap on one of the windows. It rolled down and I heard Karen say, "He pissed himself in the car and he's crying into his gag."
"Good," said Lara. "This shouldn't take long."
"Keep it convincing anyway," Elisabeth said. "Lara, trust the fox. Trust me."
"I hate this."
"So does she," Elisabeth said. "But she owes a lot to this family, and we owe a lot to her, and we are going to do what is required to help them."
"I know. All right, do it. I can't go in; he'll recognize me."
"All right, Michaela," said Elisabeth. "Let us get you out of the car, then start doing whatever acting you are going to do. I recommend scared."
Gentle hands lifted me, and I felt myself passed out of the car, then three wolves carried me into the shed. They set me on the floor gently. I started crying immediately. I wasn't sure I was convincing, so I thought about my sister, and it didn't take long before the tears became real.
There were more footsteps and I heard Tim moaning and crying. It was impossible to tell what he wanted from around the gag. They dropped him, and I heard a cry of surprise and pain. I heard chairs moved around, then Tim was picked up and shoved in a chair. They left me on the floor. I listened as they removed Tim's hood. Then they roughly picked me up, shoved me into another chair, and yanked the hood from over my head. I stared at Tim, five feet away, begging him with my eyes and crying.
Then I glanced around at the wolves. Elisabeth, Serena, Eric, Karen, Scarlett and Angel were here. They were all wearing sweatshirts with the hoods pulled up and masks over their faces. Those that could had hidden their more feminine curves, knowing their size would make them look male instead of female.
Scarlett and Angel were attending to me. Serena, Eric and Karen were managing Tim. Elisabeth stood between us. She began speaking.
"You both know what you've done," she said. "You are both going to confess. No one needs to get hurt." She looked fiercely at both of us. "Well, not permanently hurt. I think there might be a little hurting before we're sure you've told us everything we want to know."
I increased my sobbing, trying to say around the gag I didn't know what I'd done. Tim, however, had his eyes wide and was full of fear. He looked guilty as shit, but we already knew that.
Elisabeth turned to me. "We'll start with you, sweetie." She didn't sound at all sweet. She took two steps to me and ripped the tape from my mouth. I spit the gag out and immediately began protesting I didn't know what she was talking about.
"Please don't hurt me! I don't know what you want. Tell me what you want, and I'll tell you anything you want to know. Please don't hurt me!"
She slapped me, rocking my head back, and I tasted blood. I purposely spit some of it out so Tim could see.
He started screaming into his gag, and then I smelled fresh urine.
"Where," Elisabeth asked. "Is Virginia Callahan?"
"Who?" I asked. "I don't know any Virginia Callahan!"
She slapped me again not remotely as hard this time, but I spit more blood up anyway.
"String her up!" she said.
Angel roughly grabbed my legs and Scarlett tied rope around them, being very firm.
"What are you doing?" I screamed. "I don't know any Virginia Callahan! I don't know why you're doing this! Stop! Stop!"
They ignored my protests. Angel made a point of hanging rope over the rafters, the rafters I had carefully made out of two by sixes, and attached a hook to the bottom. Elisabeth, Angel and Scarlett picked me up and I began screaming. "Please don't hang me! I don't know anything! Please!"
They hooked my feet to the ropes and lowered me, letting me swing back and forth, dandling from my ankles.
"Please don't do this," I said. "I don't know anything."
Elisabeth explained what was going to happen. She told me if I confessed to everything I had done, they wouldn't hurt me anymore. They would even let me go, once Virginia was free. No cops or anything. They just wanted Virginia safe and sound.
"But if we don't get her back," Elisabeth said. "You are both going to die. Slowly. Very, very slowly."
And then they began to spin me.
What a waste of a fine meal. I let them crank me up twice before I threw up. I did what I could to aim at Tim. I could have lasted a lot longer, but I didn't even try to hold on.
They took me down right away, not wanting me to choke to death, shoving me back in the chair.
"I don't know anything," I said when I could finally speak. "Please, I don't know anything."
"We'll see," said Elisabeth. "Once you see what we do with your boyfriend, maybe you'll be more willing to talk to us. We promise, if you tell us everything, we'll stop hurting you."
Damn, she was good. She had me convinced.
She turned to Tim and ripped the tape off him savagely, intentionally hurting him. He cried out, and as soon as the gag was out, he begged her not to hurt him, he'd tell him everything he knew if she just promised not to hurt him.
I was disappointed. I wanted him to suffer for what he had done.
"All right," Elisabeth said gently. "Tell us what you and Harvey Block did with Virginia Callahan."
"What?" he said. "Mr. Block? Mr. Block didn't do anything."
"Liar!" Elisabeth said. She hit him, and she wasn't gentle. He began crying again. "I see you aren't convinced." She knelt down and pulled a knife from a sheath on her ankle. From her pocket, she produced an old fashioned cigarette lighter. She lit the lighter then started passing the blade through the flames, heating it up while Tim watched.
"You don't think we're serious, do you, Tim?"
"I do!" he yelled. "Oh god! I do!"
Elisabeth turned to me, approaching. "I think, Tim, you need to understand just how serious we are." She stood over me, holding the heated blade, and I was filled with dread. Then Angel handed Elisabeth a different knife, and I recognized one of my silver ones. I glanced at Angel, and she was holding a raw piece of chicken breast. I couldn't see Tim, which means he couldn't see me. I looked up at Elisabeth and nodded once.
She shifted to the side so Tim could see then pressed the silver blade against my cheek.
Silver burns a were, and it hurt like a son of a bitch, but not enough I couldn't block it off. I started screaming anyway.
At the same time, Angel used the flame from the lighter on the chicken, causing a burning sound and smell.
Elisabeth held the knife against my face for ten seconds before pulling it away. Then she switched knives with Angel, grabbing the lighter as well, and began heating the knife again.
"So, Tim," she said. "If we did that to her, just think what we'll do to you."
I knew the silver burn would look a lot like any other burn, and Tim stared at my violated cheek. I reduced myself to sobs. Elisabeth let Tim get a good look at my face then blocked his view with her body. Angel bent over and whispered in my ear, "Okay?"
I nodded once and focused on taking the pain out of the burn. I didn't want to outright heal it yet, but I could make it bearable.
Elisabeth advanced on Tim, still heating the knife.
"It wasn't Mr. Block!" he yelled. "It wasn't Mr. Block! It's Lane Harris!"
"Lane Harris?" Elisabeth asked. "Who the fuck is Lane Harris?"
"Mr. Block's foreman!" Tim yelled. "He approached me, told me he might be able to hire me on. Construction pays real good. Real good, he promised me, but he wouldn't have any jobs because some busy-body was interfering with their work. He said he won't hurt her. He'll let her go when this is over. She hasn't see our faces, and he'll let her go!"
"Where is he keeping Virginia?" Elisabeth asked.
"His basement! I swear, she's fine. She's in a storage room in the basement! He's feeding her and everyth
ing. No one has touched her!"
Elisabeth continued to question him for the next half hour. She made him scream a few times, but she didn't do any real damage. His story didn't vary except in minor wording changes, and I believed he was telling the truth.
We had to protect my cover. "Separate them!" she said. "If we get Virginia back alive and unharmed, we'll let you both go. If she's been harmed, anything that has happened to her happens to both of you tenfold. You better hope she's not hurt!"
They gagged us both again then pulled a hood over Tim's head. Scarlett, Angel and Karen carried me out then stood me on my feet. I healed the burn on my cheek, and when Elisabeth stepped outside, I smiled broadly at her.
She stepped close to me. "Do you believe him?" she asked.
"Oh yeah," I said. "God, you are scary."
She smiled and kissed my forehead.
"You are very brave," she said. "Let's go. We'll untape you in the car."
Rescue
Lara was waiting next to the car, and she looked like a wreck. They carried me to her, and she took me away from them, holding me tightly against her.
"I'm fine," I said. "We got it."
"I heard." She was crying. "You were screaming."
"An act, honey. You know that. Elisabeth was practically kissing me."
"She better not have!"
"Just on the forehead," I said. "Please, Lara, can we go?"
She set me gently in the car, following after me. We all took off leaving Serena to manage Tim. She was more than a match for one human. I hoped she was taping him to the chair with a few rolls of duct tape.
Someone produced scissors. Lara cut the tape from me, but it was still sticking to my skin. I closed my eyes. "Just peel it off, as fast as you can," I said. I felt multiple pairs of hands pulling the tape off. I cried out, but then it was over and Lara was crushing me to her.
"Breathe," I said. "Let me breathe."
She relaxed her hold just enough, and we drove back to Ashland that way.
By the time we got to the motel, Greg had all the information he needed.
"Lara," I said. "You and I will scope it out."
"And me," said Elisabeth.
"We'll go see what we can see," I said. "Then we'll come back and plan this. I want her rescued tonight, if it's feasible."