Lisette and the Cyber Geeks
by
Brian Sands
Camouflage, April Telek, Bindher.com
Chapter Ten
Lost in Transit
"I should have guessed," said Lisette. "It was too easy,"
"Much too easy. But I’m going to make it a lot harder."
With the hand that was not holding the gun, Mrs Alvina Gamms indicated another chair towards the far side of the room that was identical to the one in which Chérie Chalmers sat.
"Make yourself comfortable. Place your handbag on the desk as you walk past. You won’t need it. You’re not going anywhere."
Lisette obeyed. The chair’s seat was padded with soft leather, as were the armrests. Mrs Gamms walked behind the desk, reached down to a drawer, opened it, and pulled out a handful of thin leather straps, all the while keeping the gun trained steadily on Lisette The small buckles of the straps glinted like baleful eyes in the light of the desk lamp. The woman walked back around the desk to face Lisette and threw one of the straps to her. It was a short strap.
"Fasten one of your ankles to the chair leg," she ordered.
Lisette bent and carried out the command. When she straightened up, a second short strap was tossed to her.
"Now the other ankle ... Good girl. We’re going to get along famously together."
The uncertain, bumbling manner the woman showed earlier had evaporated.
Lisette bit her lip. With both ankles fastened to the legs of the chair, any sudden movement to wrest the gun from the woman was out of the question. Another strap fell into her lap, longer that the ankle ties.
"That one goes around your waist," explained Gamms, "Make sure you pass it through the central slat in that chair, and buckle it tight ... Ahh no. Pull it a notch tighter, dear. Maybe you’re the sort who doesn’t give in easily. Well, we’ll see about that!"
Lisette continued to follow the step by step procedure as directed by the woman with the gun, knowing that it was going to leave her as helpless as Chérie Chalmers, who was watching the proceedings with tears running down her face. How long has poor Chérie been tied up like that? thought Lisette.
Another leather strap was given to her and she was ordered to fasten it around her body like the last one, only higher up so that it passed just below her breasts.
"Well now," said Lisette’s new captor, "Word has gone around that you’re an accomplished escape-artist. Even our specialist in those matters had a hard time keeping you under wraps."
Lisette grimaced. "You mean that woman Sigrid ... or is it Miss Wimple you’re talking about?"
"Oh yes. Either one. But I’m different. I’m a harmless old lady. I take care over little things, like your librarian acquaintance does. But I take more care than both of them put together. I won’t make the same mistakes. Now ... Put your arms behind you around the back of the chair ... Excellent ... Cross your wrists."
With a sinking heart, Lisette did as she was told. She was continuing to regret her totally unearned reputation. A thin strap went twice around her wrists before its end was threaded through the buckle and drawn very tight. A second strap followed which crossed her wrists independently, in the plane opposite to the first so that her wrists, still tender from the bondage of forty-eight hours ago, were held in a rigid criss-cross. Mrs Gamms made sure that the cuffs of Lisette’s blouse were not in the way. Lisette gasped under her breath.
"Too tight? Too bad. You’re a big girl. You may be a professional escape-artist, but in other matters you’re an amateur up against professionals. If you sit very still, like your lawyer friend over there, your pain will be at a minimum. Miss Chalmers, who has told us a lot about your organisation, is easy to deal with. She’s fit and athletic, like you, but she’s not as strong and so is easier to handle. Your arms are of course tied behind you to make it harder to get free, which you won’t manage. If you panic and start to struggle you will only hurt yourself."
"I know this is a cliché," said Lisette, "but what are you going to do with us?"
‘Didn’t darling Sigrid or gentle Dorothea tell you when one of them had you in her clutches?"
Lisette shook her head.
"Well, in that case, I’m not going to tell you."
Without another word and oblivious to Lisette’s questions, Mrs Gamms used several more straps on her new prisoner. Working methodically, she buckled one around Lisette’s upper body above her breasts and through the slats of the chair-back and another across her lap and under the seat of the chair, tightening them both so that Lisette was pressed firmly into the chair’s back and seat respectively. Then, one by one, she tightened each strap, at Lisette’s thighs, around her waist, around her body below her bosom, and above her breasts. Shorter straps were fastened around Lisette’s upper arms and the side frames of the chair, and the same was done for her legs just below her knees, strapping them immovably to the legs of the chair. The woman stepped back and looked at her handiwork. Lisette felt as though she was welded into the chair. Experimentally, she tried to move, but her efforts failed completely.
"That will keep you sitting pretty until I can phone in to HQ. You will then be interrogated, like your companion here. Oh, she is kept gagged, by the way, because we don’t want you exchanging information between each other. Shortly, you will be gagged too."
"Are you going to kill us?"
"That’s our usual procedure."
Gamms smirked at the look of fear on Lisette’s face.
"On the other hand, you are prizes because of your knowledge of the organisation you work for, so we may delay the final step ... Well now, I’ve gone and revealed it!"
"You won’t ..."
"Get away with this? Come now, a smart woman like you using such a tired cliché! Anyway, that’s the cue to shut you up."
Mrs Gamms walked back to the desk and took from the drawer a swatch of heavy black silk. She returned slowly to Lisette, folding the scarf over and over to form a thick bandage about two inches wide. She stepped behind Lisette and from one side brought the scarf over her head.
"Open your mouth."
Lisette was bound fast There was nothing she could do to stop the indignity from being inflicted upon her. Obstinately, she allowed her lips to part and her mouth to open a little, an action that reminded her of an uncomfortable visit to a dentist when she was a small girl.
The thick, soft material was pushed into her mouth between her teeth and the ends brought around behind her head. Lisette felt movement in the gag as a single knot was made at the back, then it was snugged firmly in place, the cloth pressing into the corners of her mouth. Gamms paused a moment, took a deep breath, and pulled the knot tighter, putting so much effort into it that she grunted. She quickly tied off the second knot to secure the gag in place before it could slip. Lisette’s jaws were drawn apart. She could not close her mouth. She looked up at her captor and tried to speak, but all that came out was a faint cough in the back of her throat.
Mrs Gamms laughed softly.
"Sigrid likes elaborate gags, Dorothea likes layers of applied tape, but I always say that one can’t go beyond the simple solutions to a problem. I favour a minimalist approach for keeping nosy - and noisy - young women quiet. Your mouth will remain stretched open, which means that you shan’t be able to form words, and over time your palate and throat will dry out after initial drooling. Then any sound you will still be able to make will be only a faint croak. Your young friend has been gagged like that since early this morning soon after she woke, and look how quiet and docile she is!"
Lisette now understood why the Chalmers girl was sitting so still. The poor girl was exhausted After the many hours that had passed by, her bonds and gag must be insupportable, and any additional movement agony, like straining against the straps or attempting to work the gag out of her mouth. Lisette tested her own bonds. She could hardly move, and the pain at her wrists forced her to stop exploring with her fingers. Now it’s my turn, she thought in frustration. The bitch is right, there’s no way I can get out of this. I’m just as securely tied up as I was at the hands of Dorothea Wimple. But there is Don when I need him. She consoled herself with the thought that this time she had again left a message for Caisson.
Mrs Gamms inspected her two prisoners, clicking her tongue in satisfaction.
"That’ll hold you till I get back ... And long after I get back, of course. I have to do something about your car, can’t leave it standing in the street. And a few things need to be organised. In the meantime, do enjoy each other’s company. What a pity you can’t exchange notes. I’m sure your experiences would be interesting, though, on the other hand, there is a lot of boredom in being held bound and gagged for hours."
Gamms walked to the door and turned. "You won’t need the light. We must conserve power for the national grid, do our little bit."
The light was switched off and the door closed after their captor.
Now that they were alone, Lisette redoubled her efforts to get her hands out of the straps that so intricately bound them. But she found that her earlier test had been quite enough. The agony in her wrists made her stop, and the pain only eased when she allowed her hands and fingers to hang loose. There was no give in the rest of the straps that held her body and ankles. She had begun drooling around her gag, as Gamms had predicted. But now her mouth was drying out. Her own torment was beginning. She was in for the long haul.
She looked across at the woman sitting opposite her. The room was not completely dark. Light from a street lamp filtered in through the spotlessly clean window so that she could see the outline of Chérie’s body. It’s already as late as that, thought Lisette. In fact, the light glanced across Chérie so that, when Lisette’s eyes became accustomed to the gloom, the girl’s naked thighs could be seen clearly from below the lace hem of her slip, and her full breasts also. One breast had slipped almost out of the lacy bodice, a pointed nipple showing. Chérie’s face was in partial shadow, but the outline of her open mouth with the black cloth tied tightly between her jaws like a bit was also visible.
Lisette could not take her eyes off Chérie’s breasts. She had never seen a woman tied up, aside from the chance reflection of herself caught in a mirror ... where was it? - probably at the Vellum house. The girl was somewhat the worse for wear. Lisette detected shadows under her eyes, and her platinum hair was mussed up. But she was incredibly beautiful all the same. Lisette’s own breasts were round with pointed tips, but smaller. They suited her, and she would never change them, but she sometimes wondered what it would feel like to be "well endowed," as people so coyly put it.
The girl was barely moving, and did not appear to be interested in Lisette’s presence. As Lisette watched, Chérie’s head drooped towards her chest. The poor girl must be exhausted. How long would she have been held prisoner? Let’s see. I slept through yesterday after being kidnapped the day before that. Then there was the encounter with the flower nursery, another day. Also my car abduction with Vellum, Kidd and Sigrid. And, before that, the time in the warehouse when we found her photograph. Assuming that Chérie was kidnapped a little earlier, perhaps before I had even met Don in the little cottage, she must have been in their hands for five or six days. A shiver went through Lisette. Almost a week held prisoner by the gang, and probably tied up most of the time. And they talked about interrogation didn’t they?
I hope she manages to find some sleep, she thought tenderly. I wonder why they removed all her clothes? She was probably wearing a business suit when she was captured. Her memory went to the photographs showing a frightened Chérie bound and gagged sitting on the ground of a gravel driveway with trees in the background. No ... Chérie was wearing a one-piece dress that came to just above her knees, and with long sleeves. It had looked as though it was of fine knitted wool. It was a perfect dress to be complemented by a full slip and, a few days ago, the weather had been cool, with that approaching storm. They probably left her in her slip to intimidate her. Had she been wearing a bra? She definitely was not wearing one now. She would have had to, with breasts like that. So they took it off her as well as her dress? And was she in panties or not? Lisette could not tell from the way Chérie was sitting.
Where was she kept all this time? In this house? It seemed unlikely. The kidnappers - or was it several gangs? - went in for moving their captives around. Oh no! Don won’t be able to find me if we’re moved.
Lisette’s abrupt attempt to struggle in response to that worrying thought ended almost before it began as agonising pain shot through her wrists and up her arms. She almost blacked out. Her face felt hot and sweat broke out on her forehead and neck. Like Chérie, she allowed her head to droop and her body to relax into the strict bonds to try to reduce the intensity of the pain.
*
Lisette must have fallen asleep, against the odds. But she was rudely awakened when the main light burst on and what seemed to be a crowd of people entered the room. The sudden start she gave triggered a wave of agony through her hands and arms and brought her to full wakefulness. The crowd turned out to be Mrs Alvina Gamms, Madame Red Vellum, Doctor Bombadil Kidd and, her bulk looming in the rear, Sigrid, an unpleasant smile of anticipation on her broad face. The sight of the big woman galvanised Chérie Chalmers into movement but, with a faint gurgle, the young woman subsided, although she continued to look up at Sigrid with wide terrified eyes.
"Well, well," said Vellum sweetly, "Together again." She took Lisette by the chin and waggled her head about, the movement sending stabs of pain through her shoulders. "And together we’ll make sure you do not play any more of your escapology tricks ... I can understand how you got away from us when the wheel was being changed, but I don’t know how you did it with our other operatives."
So it must be a single large gang, thought Lisette. I’ve been walking into one trap after another! She glared back at Vellum over her gag.
"Hmm. Take note everyone. This one has spirit," remarked Vellum as she released her hold on Lisette’s chin.
"Ve shall see," grated Sigrid darkly.
Lisette saw Chérie Chalmers staring at her intently, apparently becoming aware of her fellow-prisoner for the first time.
"I say, we really must secure the women and be on our way," piped Doctor Kidd from the other side of the room where he had begun caressing Chérie’s naked shoulders.
"I haf more rope," contributed Sigrid. "But zey need to be made even more qviet, like leetle kittens."
"I’ll take care of that," said Mrs Gamms.
Sigrid knelt on the floor at Lisette’s feet and began to undo the straps that held her ankles to the legs of the chair. When they were free, she gathered Lisette’s feet together and began tying her ankles with a long piece of coarse rope. She worked very quickly but, by the time she had finished, Mrs Gamms had re-entered the room.
"I’ll fix this little one’s mouth," Gamms said to Sigrid, "then you can finish trussing her up while I attend to the other girl."
"Ver’ well," replied Sigrid, a fixed smile on her face.
They don’t like each other, thought Lisette. She stored the knowledge in the back of her mind for possible future use. Maybe, if her mouth was free - and the gag had to come off some time - she could talk to one of those women and fuel her hatred of the other.
Mrs Gamms held several of the frayed table napkins in her hands, some already prepared for their purpose. One was folded into a tight pad. The other had been made into a narrow bandage from corner to corner. Lisette’s mouth was already stretched wide open and it was an easy matter for Gamms to stuff the wadded napkin into the front over the silk scarf and then to tie the other napkin across it to hold it in place. Packing and bandage both went between Lisette’s jaws so that, when the knot was tied tight and doubled, her mouth was stretched even wider. She could not possibly form a word, much less a sentence, and the thick material of the napkin - it felt like linen - blotted up most of her involuntary retching sounds. Lisette knew that any concerted effort to call for help would only induce a fit of choking. It was very little reassurance to know that at least the gag was clean.
"There," said Mrs Gamms quietly in Lisette’s ear, "No one will hear your whimpering from inside the car."
"Ze boot," corrected Sigrid under her breath. The horrible woman had been tying Lisette’s legs together at the knees while Gamms was gagging her.
As Gamms moved off towards Chérie Chalmers, thoughtfully folding one of the napkins into a triangular bandage, Sigrid hauled Lisette to her feet where she stood swaying helplessly, her legs now securely bound together. Sigrid stared intently into Lisette’s face.
"Ropes can slip on clothing, even when they are ver’ tightly tied. So zat nice jacket comes off. Zat means your arms haf to be made free, ver’ temporary, but vith zose bu’ful legs tied, you can’t run away, hein?"
The straps were being unfastened even as Sigrid spoke. When they came free, Lisette’s arms and wrists hung uselessly by her side. She could give no resistance as the jacket was pulled down over her arms and tossed into Kidd’s hands. From the corner of her eye, Lisette observed the man raise the jacket to his face and rapturously breathe in its woman scent. Then she was distracted by the next indignity, for Sigrid had pulled off her shoes and was unbuttoning her shirt with one hand while supporting her prisoner upright with the other arm hooked around her back. The folds of what had earlier been a crisp clean cotton garment were drawn away to expose the white lace bra that Lisette wore beneath it. The shirt was pulled down off her arms and also thrown into Kidd’s eager hands. Lisette ignored the excited snuffling sounds that followed, for Sigrid had undone the button of her skirt and was pulling open the side zip. Lisette’s skirt fell to the floor about her feet. It was followed by the black waist slip of pure silk that she always wore for comfort over a suspender belt. There was a faint hiss of static electricity as its folds clung against her nylon-clad legs.
"Ahhh,’ Sigrid caught her breath in a female modulation of Kidd’s rapture. ‘Zo ver’ pretty! Ze black stockings and ze garter belt ... ze white string panties ‘n lace bra. I vill haf fun vif you my dear. Then der sveet herr doktor shall also haf his fun."
Lisette tried to express her revulsion through the look in her eyes, but she guessed that a captive’s round pleading gaze was all that her kidnappers mind-set wanted to see.
Mrs Gamms finished her work on Chérie, and now came over to support Lisette, while Sigrid, breathing excitedly, worked behind her. Sigrid began binding Lisette’s arms tightly elbow to elbow, then passing to her wrists. The coarse rope was used this time instead of narrow leather straps, which Lisette saw were being packed meticulously by Kidd into a large pillowcase together with her business suit, blouse and half-slip. Gamms saw where she was looking.
"You won’t see those clothes again, dear. We have to take them with us because we must leave no trace of your presence here. Stripping you and the other one down to your bare essentials has several purposes. Wearing only underwear can sometimes discourage escape. It does in the case of our Miss Chalmers, who is oh so prissy about certain things. But I doubt whether it will work with you, though she is wearing only a slip while you are clad in rather fetching underclothing that would do a fetish shop proud! Mister Kidd likes to watch the Chalmers woman bounce in her bonds and slip, if you know what I mean. He will devise a little game for you too, I’m sure ... Is she secure?"
"Ya, mein kamarad."
Sigrid had completed winding more rope around Lisette’s body and upper arms, framing her breasts in the rough coils and anchoring her forearms even more tightly against her lower back with more rope wrapped about her waist. The coarse fibres were already chafing her arms and body painfully.
As they lowered Lisette to her chair, Mrs Gamms continued her gloating monologue.
"However, removing your clothes and subjecting your body to certain, ahh, handling, is a means of keeping you docile, breaking your spirit. Miss Chalmers here was so cooperative that she was allowed to rest for hours without being bound. But I am afraid that for you, dear, with your quick wits and apparently supernatural means of escape, there will be no such privileges. You will be kept bound all the time to prevent further escape."
"Ach! Kom!"
Sigrid now had Chérie Chalmers tottering on her feet. Mrs Gamms turned from Lisette to lend a hand.
Chérie’s lower face was now completely covered by the triangular folds of a napkin that bulged in the centre where the wadding had been fitted. As she swayed on her feet in the hands of Gamms and Sigrid, Lisette saw through the translucent lace of Chérie’s slip that indeed she was not wearing any panties, as Gamms had said. The poor girl was almost out on her feet, so that her two captors decided to lower her to her knees in order to truss her arms behind her back with rope as they had done with Lisette. Neither of them took any notice of the one breast that was now completely free of the slip’s bodice. It swayed with Chérie’s movements, much to the delight of Doctor Kidd.
All this time, Madame Vellum had been pacing the floor, alternately glaring at her watch and glancing out of the window, and hissing softly under her breath. She was clearly begrudging the minutes it took to tie up their two victims.
"Come along, won’t you?" she snarled in a paroxysm of impatience. "Boompsie, go get the cars ready. We have to take Miss Ruisseau’s car as well - can’t leave it here. She will of course ride in the boot, as Sigrid so rightly points out. Leave the boot’s lid open so there’s no further delay. And the Chalmers girl can go in the boot of our car. Make sure that they can’t move around in there. Oh, and blindfold them ... Alvina, that’s a little point you failed to mention to Miss Ruisseau. A blindfold makes the captive more docile, and makes a search for the means of escape more difficult ... Are there any of those table napkins left?"
"In the kitchen dresser," replied Mrs Gamms laconically. She was already heading towards the door.
"They are a good size, and they have a nice texture."
Mrs Gamms bustled in almost immediately, folding one of the table napkins as she came. She tossed one napkin to Sigrid and turned to Lisette with the other.
Lisette did not see Chérie being blindfolded because her own eyes were quickly covered and the cloth bound tight. To the clucking sounds of impatience made by Madame Vellum, Lisette was lifted out of her chair and laid on her side. She felt another piece of rope go round her ankles. Her knees were bent back, and what must have been the other end of the rope was threaded between her bound wrists and back to her ankles. When the rope was tightened and made fast, she was in a hog tie with her feet only inches from her hands. It was far more extreme than what she experienced in the Bodley Library. It not only kept her in a helpless bundle unable to find any leverage for moving around; she also could not move without inflicting more pain upon herself from the scratchy ropes.
Lisette guessed that Chérie was being tied in the same way, but she heard no sound from the girl. Our gags are really tight and absorbing any noise we can make, she thought.
She felt herself lifted and carried. The cool night air caressed her almost naked body for a few paces before she felt herself lowered ... into the boot of her own car! She was again laid on her side. The cashmere blanket was thrown over her and the lid of the boot came down with a whump of trapped air followed by enclosing silence. Seconds later, she felt the car vibrate as the ignition turned, followed by movement. It was the second ride of her life in the boot of a car.
*
Lisette managed to get the blanket off her face, but she remained hot and thirsty under the blindfold and the mouth-filling gag. She tried to follow the car’s route by the corners it turned and the sounds made by the tyres on the road, and at one point she thought she recognised the thrum-thrum of the tyres as they crossed one of the bridges that linked the city to the countryside. But the stuffiness of the boot and the coverings over her face sent her into a daze in which she lost all track of time. Oil or petrol fumes in the narrow space made her feel sick. And she lost consciousness, regaining it every so often at different points along what seemed to be a never-ending journey.
She was unaware that the car had stopped, and she only regained a semblance of consciousness when the cool air of a country night bathed her body as she was lifted out of the boot and carried for what seemed a long distance. Lisette lost consciousness again.
When she again came to, Lisette found herself as her captors had left her, still bound in the rough ropes in the hog tie, still gagged and blindfolded. She seemed to be lying on a mattress. She could not tell how large or small the room was in which she lay, for no air stirred across her skin to give her a feeling for her surroundings. Everything was quiet. She moved slightly and instantly regretted it. I’ll try to relax in these ropes, like I did before, she said to herself. It seems to work. Lisette wondered where Chérie was. The girl was probably not in the same room with her.
Although the blindfold made all sounds dull to her ears, Lisette heard the key turn in the lock as someone opened the door and entered the room. Fingers worked on the knot at the back of her head and the blindfold came away. Through tears caused by the glare of the room’s bright light, Lisette saw that it was Madame Vellum. With a small keen-edged knife, the woman sliced through the ropes that held Lisette’s hog tie, took her legs, and gently straightened them. Lisette grunted faintly through the gag in pain, but she tried not to show it. Vellum played with the ends of Lisette’s hair that lay close to her neck, spilling from under the gag.
"Those women are a little too impetuous. But impetuosity can be a commendable trait, especially in our business ..."
Drugs? thought Lisette. Is she going to tell me about their activities?
"However, it is not always possible to hold you gagged and bound all the time, however much we might wish it. You might become useless to our purpose."
Lisette shivered. What purpose could that be?
"So you will only be tied up and gagged for most of the time."
Wonderful! thought Lisette ironically.
"And - you may not know it - but the journey you have just taken in your own car took us three hours. That’s a long time to spend tied up so tightly. I would not like it myself. So ..."
The woman sliced through more ropes and Lisette’s legs and arms were free. Only her wrists remained bound.
"Now, about your gag," the woman continued. "That can come off for awhile and you will be given something to drink, and food. You must be desperately thirsty by now. Even if you could scream or call for help, and in your present state I doubt it very much, no one will hear. If you choose to do so, after you have had a good drink of water and got your vocal chords back, we will of course hear you. And Sigrid will gag you again with much pleasure. Or Boompsie might like to do it. I don’t think you should be left alone with him for very long ... So I’m asking for your cooperation."
Lisette nodded wearily.
"Good."
Vellum leaned forward and untied the linen knot at the back of her head. Gingerly she plucked the wadding out, then began work in the very tight knot in the silk tied between Lisette’s teeth.
"Be patient. This is a good scarf," observed Vellum, "and I don’t want to cut it. It will be used for the same purpose later. There ... "
The woman sat back on her haunches and watched as Lisette gingerly moved her jaw from side to side.
"I’m not playing a version of ‘good cop, bad cop’ or ‘good guy, bad guy’ you understand? I’m just being practical. Our superiors will advise us what to do with you and your young friend in due course."
Lisete nodded again but did not try to speak. She had already enough experience of being gagged for long periods to know that it was pointless.
"Excellent. Now ... On your feet! Come and meet the others."
Lisette climbed unsteadily to her feet - her hands were still tied behind her - and walked shakily towards the door ahead of Madame Vellum who, as a sort of afterthought, cut through her wrist bonds as they went.
Lisette was uncomfortably aware that she was clad only in her intimate underthings. Her bra and panties were expensive and stylish. They had been chosen in the expectation that Don Caisson would see her in them later that evening, not lecherous Bombadil Kidd. Her uplift bra was designed with half cups only for support. And although her panties hid everything that mattered, they were brief and string-sided. Worse still was being seen in stockings and suspender belt. Mrs Gamms’ insulting comment that they belonged in a fetish shop rang in her ears.
The living room presented the same people as before, captors and captive, but this time they were seated in an arresting tableau. Lisette’s eyes went immediately to Chérie Chalmers who half lay on a sofa, her eyes closed, her platinum hair spread on a cushion like a halo, a totally exhausted look on her face. In an armchair close to her sat Bombadil Kidd who never seemed to tire of ogling Chérie’s breasts, both of which now lay exposed. Mrs Alvina Gamms reclined in an armchair at the opposite end of the sofa. She was observing Kidd narrowly, a smile of disgust playing about her mouth. On the other side of the room stood Sigrid, bulking against a large picture window that looked out onto a broad green field where one tree could be seen in the far distance.
"Here we are," said Madame Vellum with ironic cheerfulness. "A short respite for our two captives."
She pushed Lisette into another armchair where she sat, shakily nursing her bruised wrists.
Sigrid scowled. "The wimmin, zey should be ..."
"Gagged and bound, I know," replied Vellum testily.
She walked across to a table and poured water from a large carafe into a crystal glass.
"But how many times do I have to tell you that we are not in the business of kidnapping, or murder for that matter," she continued. "The circumstances were forced on us. First this nosy young lawyer, and now a Revenue auditor ... Drink this!"
She placed the glass in Lisette’s hands and she sipped the cool water thankfully.
Madame Vellum sat in the fourth armchair.
"It is, need I tell you, a most delicate matter that can only be solved by our superiors. We must take their advice on how to deal with these two nuisances. And, in the meantime, make sure that they cannot be free to tell all that they know. But we cannot torture them ... at least beyond a certain point ... Boompsie, please put Miss Chalmers’ breasts back in her slip and take your eyes off her for awhile."
The man obeyed sullenly. Sigrid continued to scowl, but held her peace. Silence fell on the small group. That silence made it possible to hear far distant sounds from outside, vague shouts, high-pitched voices. Madame Vellum looked up.
"What is it?" she asked uneasily.
They listened tensely, all except for Chérie who seemed dead to the world.
After several seconds, "Bloody hikers en’it?’ rasped Kidd.
Madame Vellum drew a deep breath. "Of course. Silly of me to forget. The regular Saturday hares and hounds as performed by the local village children and young swains.’
Lisette looked across at Chérie, a faint light of hope in her eyes. But the girl did not stir.
Madame Vellum snapped her fingers peremptorily. "Sigrid, take charge of Mam’selle Ruisseau please. Boombsie and I will escort Miss Chalmers. You may have to carry her, Boompsie"
"The cellar, Madame?"
"Exactly, Sigrid dear."
Taking the now empty glass from Lisette’s hands, Sigrid took her firmly by both elbows, drawing them back, and frog marched her out of the room and along the passage to stone steps that evidently led to the cellar door. Madame Vellum and Bombadil Kidd followed on either side of Chérie Chalmers, holding the girl’s arms, carrying her between them.
Mrs Gamms unlocked the cellar door with a huge bunch of keys. It came open on silent, well-oiled hinges. They’ve used this place a lot, Lisette deduced, as she was hustled down narrow wooden steps to a carpeted floor. Kidd left Chérie’s side and walked across to the far end of the cellar, returning with a wooden chair in each hand. He stopped and placed one chair on the floor with its back against a wooden post that supported the ceiling, then walked on and deposited the second chair against another pillar. Sigrid walked Lisette halfway across the floor and stopped.
"Kneel down girlie, an’ lie on ze face."
Lisette obeyed. Sigrid knelt beside her.
"Be nice girl an’ put ze arms behind. That’s the idea. Cross ze wrists."
As Sigrid twisted thin cord around her wrists, Lisette looked up and saw that Madame Vellum was doing the same with Chérie, only the platinum blonde was standing with Kidd holding her shoulders from in front, a salacious grin on his pudgy face. As Chérie’s arms were bound back at the elbows, Lisette felt the same being done to her.
More precautions are being taken with their two nuisances, thought Lisette ... People running past the house, through the fields ... We’ll be gagged, but it may be possible to call for help ... unless the gang stay in the room with us. Lisette knew that it was a very thin hope. But it was unlikely that Donald Caisson would find her so she had to try to live up to that reputation of being an escape artist. She did not feel very confident.
To be Continued ...
ã Brian Sands 2004
ã Brian Sands 2004