Chapter 4
Pretoria, South Africa
The door opened and The Boss, Sue and another woman walked in. Penelope recognised her as the same woman that she had taken care of earlier. The woman glared at Penelope with barely disguised hatred. Penelope responded with raised eyebrows and a wink. Mel made a move toward the captives. “There will be time for getting even later Mel,” Boss said and raised a hand. “Everyone has left apart from us so let’s get moving. Bring the van round.” The man jumped up from his seat and scurried out the room.
“Just as I had a strong hand…” the woman said, disgusted as she placed her cards on the table. “I don’t trust the big one not to give us any problems. She seems feisty.” Big one!? Well, Penelope was tall but that was just good genetics. Plus, she was right. Penelope was going to try and make a move when they moved her. It made sense.
“What do you suggest?” Boss asked.
“Think I may have an idea,” Mel said, suddenly grinning. “Sue, hand me her bag.”
“mmmooohhh,” Penelope mewed knowing exactly what Mel was thinking. Sue handed the bag to Mel and the tall woman started to rummage through it. Eventually she pulled out a small bottle.
“I guess this is what I am looking for.” Mel put the bag down on the table and unscrewed the top from the bottle.
“What’s that?” Sue asked.
“Hopefully what she used to put me out with,” Mel replied as she sniffed the contents of the bottle and scrunched up her nose. “Yeah, that is definitely the scent.” Mel looked around. “Anybody have a cloth of handkerchief?” Mel looked at Penelope. “It doesn’t have to be clean.” Penelope rolled her eyes. Boss pulled the pocket handkerchief from the breast pocket of his suit and handed in across.
“Don’t worry, it’s clean,” Boss said. Mel founded the handkerchief into a pad and then laced it with the contents of the bottle. “What is it anyway?”
“Chloroform…ether…who cares,” Mel said as she made her was across to Penelope and knelt down. “As long as it puts her to sleep. Would you like some of your own medicine?” Mel asked.
“mmuuppff…” Penelope moaned and shock her head.
“Pity you don’t have an option then.” Mel pressed the handkerchief over Penelope’s nose and gagged mouth. “This the correct procedure?”
“uummppff…” Penelope moaned as the sweet-smelling fumes caught her nostrils. The natural reaction was to shake your head to try and remove the offending handkerchief that was forcing you to inhale it’s harsh, soporific fumes. Unfortunately, bound and gagged as she was Penelope could do nothing to prevent the oncoming forced slumber.
“MMMPPPHHH!” Grace cried.
“Quiet girly or you will get the same treatment,” Mel sneered.
“uuuhhhmmm…mmmooohhh,” Penelope moaned. It hadn’t been long but Penelope could feel the drug start to have an effect. Her mind was starting to fog and she could feel her arms and legs She knew what was coming and what made it worse was the look of glee of Mel’s face as she applied the handkerchief laced with chloroform. The fumes invaded Penelope’s nostrils every time she had to take a breath, “mmmuuuhhh,” she moaned, although it was barely audible through the gag and chloroform laced handkerchief. As she continued to inhale the fumes Penelope felt very groggy and was struggling to keep her eyes open and her chin dropped onto her chest. Then jerked back up and then after another breath Penelope’s head lolled off to one side.
“That’s it, almost there…” Mel stated. As Penelope’s eyes closed over. “That’s it.” Mel removed the handkerchief and stood up. “Are you going to behave?” Grace nodded. “Good.” They then made final preparations for leaving. The woman untied the ropes from around Grace’s legs and help her up onto her feet before shoving her in the direction of Sue.
“Take care of her.” Grace whimpered. Then Boss and Mel pulled the unconscious Penelope up and onto Mel’s shoulder. “I will grab the rest of the stuff if you head out.” They made their way out of the office, along a short corridor and out through a fire door. There was a small parking area where the man was standing next to a van holding the sliding door open. They all piled in. Penelope was deposited on a pile of odd sections of carpets and Grace forced down beside her and her legs bound. The man waited for the woman to jump in before closing the door and getting into the cab. The Boss was behind the wheel, started the engine and pulled away.
Outside Pretoria, South Africa
The sun was peaking in from a high-level window as Penelope looked around at her surroundings. She was in a barn. A reasonably large barn with stalls and a lot of straw on the ground. Penelope was in one of the stalls. Her arms were stretched above her head and tied to a solid looking beam. Fortunately, if you looked at it that way, she was also strapped to a pole about six foot in height which took some of the strain from her shoulders. Very good quality rope, Penelope knew about such things, encircled her body just above and below her breast, stomach, thighs and shins. Her legs were still tied together as they had previously been in the office. Penelope wasn’t going anywhere. “oohhmm…uummff…” she moaned as she gave her wrist bonds a try. No give. And, she was still gagged. Penelope had no idea of how long the journey had taken. She had a vague memory of coming round in a moving vehicle before the distinctive smell of chloroform overcame her again and everything went black. Penelope heard some movement and craned her head to look under her left armpit across the barn. Grace was lying bound and gagged on an old mattress that have been shoved into the corner of a horse stall opposite. The young girl was also awake as there was the occasional bit of movement. Penelope decided to just hang around and see what happened. Then there was a bump followed by a loud creak. Then the sound of footsteps behind her and Boss, Mel and Sue appeared in front of Penelope. “Good morning. Sleep well.”
“uummppgg…ggoohhh…” Penelope mumbled and shook her head.
“You are as well taking that gag off now Sue.” Sue nodded and approached. Penelope angled her head so that the shorter woman could get easier access to the back of her head and the knot on the vice like scarf. It took a bit of picking but Sue eventually got the knot loosened and removed the scarf and then the sodden handkerchiefs from Penelope’s mouth before steeping back.
“Those will need washed,” Mel commented. Penelope grinned.
“Shall get straight to the point.” Boss stated. “Why were you sneaking around in our club?”
“Honestly,” Penelope started, taking a breath. “I just want the girl.” Penelope looked over to where Grace was lying. Penelope could now see Grace’s face as she had squirmed around so that she could get a look at what was going on.
“Who sent you? Who are you reporting to? Are you with law enforcement?” Boss rattled off the questions.
“Nobody, I was there of my own free will. Nobody. Absolutely not,” Penelope replied. “That satisfy you.”
“Surely, somebody must have sent you to spy on us?” Penelope shook her head in response.
“Look, all I want is the girl. Let us go and we walk away. No recriminations. No retribution and no authorities. I can arrange for compensation.” Boss titled his head slightly. Penelope could see the cogs turning.
“Ask her about the marker?” Mel said.
“What about that?”
“No idea,” Penelope answered truthfully. She was in the dark about that and keen for information on exactly what that was. “Did it say who had laid the marker?”
“We are asking the questions,” Boss growled.
“Sorry. Thought that it may help if I knew who placed it.”
“What do you know about our operation?”
“I. Don’t. Care. About. That.” Penelope said and sighed. “Look, you can check your CCTV. I was not snooping around. I was just trying to get the girl. No photographs, no stealing. Just the girl. As I said earlier. Give me her and let us go.”
“We have an investment in her.”
“What, now after tying her up and bringing her out here. I doubt it.” Penelope said. “There could also be compensation paid. I have access to funds.” Boss seemed to consider this.
“We can’t trust her boss,” Mel said. The man started to pace around, clearly thinking things through. Any move to dispose of two people would attract attention. It would be better to just let them go and getting paid to do it would be a bonus. Penelope knew that he was thinking about it, she just had to convince him now.
“Look, all that you have to do is MMPPHH…” Penelope felt a hand clamp over her mouth. It was Mel’s.
“Would you just be quiet,” the tall woman hissed.
“Alright Mel, take is easy. Joe and I are going to head back to the club. See if we can find out more about this marker,” he looked at Penelope. “We may be able to make some money and get rid of you without taking any chances. You stay here with Sue and take care of these two.” Decisions made Boss turned and left. Mel awaited until the man had left before removing her hand form over Penelope’s mouth.
“Looks like it’s just us girls,” Mel stated.
“Cool...let’s put on silk pyjamas, make popcorn and have a pillow fight…” Penelope said not trying to hide her sarcasm. Mel clamped her hand over Penelope’s mouth and her other hand started to aggressively massage Penelope’s left breast. “mmmppggg…uummppgg…”
“Oh, we are going to have some girly fun before you leave.” This carried on for a minute before Mel removed her hands. Without their boss around the two women seemed unsure what to do. Penelope decided to try and push the issue to give herself an opportunity to get free. Probably better to try and get it whilst the boss was away.
“Any chance of a toilet break?” Penelope asked. Mel and Sue looked at her. “Ladies have requirements.” Mel and Sue looked at each other. “I will forgo the popcorn.”
“Aright,” Mel said and started to work on the ropes that were holding Penelope in place. “Sue, find something else use to stuff gag this one.” Penelope sighed as Mel removed the ropes holding Penelope to the post and then walked behind Penelope and started to work on the rope that held Penelope’s arms above her head. As Mel worked Penelope felt the tension in the rope relax and then finally end altogether and her arms feel with her bound wrists hitting the top of her thighs. Then caused her to lose her balance and she toppled over.
“Hell,” Penelope commented as she slowly lost her balance with her legs tied and eventually hit the hay covered ground. “Thanks for the help there.” Mel and Sue appeared in Penelope’s vision. Mel had an amused look on her face but said nothing as she knelt down and untied the ropes around Penelope’s before helping her to stand up.
“Not going to say thanks?” Mel asked as she took the length of rope that had been used to hold Penelope’s arms aloft and wrapped it round her torso so that it pinned her forearms to her stomach. Penelope grunted as the rope was knotted tightly.
“What about Grace?” Penelope nodded her head.
“She stays here until you come back,” Mel confirmed. “Then pretty girly can have her turn.” Mel’s arm reached out and Sue handed over a red and blue patterned bandana. “Sue will stay and keep her company.” As she spoke Mel balled up the red bandana. “Now, open wide.” Penelope wasn’t that bothered and opened up to allow the waded-up material to be inserted into her mouth. Once Mel had finished that job, she used the other bandana to cleave gag Penelope, knotting the bandana behind her captive’s head.
“mmppffhh…” Penelope mumbled, giving her head a shake.
“Let’s go,” Mel said as she grabbed Penelope and led her toward the door. As they passed Grace, lying bound and gagged in a stall, Penelope made eye contact and winked. They walked to a small door at in the main door of the barn and Mel opened it and then roughly pushed Penelope out and into the light. After a quick squint Penelope took in her surroundings. Basically, nothing but fields and trees as far as the eye could see with a couple of other barns and a nice-looking house straight ahead. “Over in the house.” Penelope nodded and walked toward the house, Mel staying a couple of paces behind. “Nothing silly now. Even if you make a run for it. What happens to Grace?”
“mmpphh…ggummm….” As if she would leave Grace.
“Couldn’t make that out.” It wasn’t that long a journey to the house and soon Penelope was taking the short flight of stairs onto the porch. Stopping at the door. Mel took the stairs and as she went to pass Penelope slapped her hard on the ass. “You know. You have a great body.” Mel opened the door and invited Penelope to enter. “Perhaps we could have some fun.”
“uummppfff…” Penelope mumbled.
“Up the stairs.” When Penelope entered there was a wooden staircase on her right. She slowly started to climb the stairs. There was a creak with every step. That creaking doubled when Mel started to climb after her. Deliberately, Penelope slowed, allowing Mel to catch up with her. “You teasing me with that fine ass of yours now?” Penelope stopped about two thirds of the way up the staircase and allowed Mal to catch. “That is nice...tight….” Penelope felt a hand rub over her ass and closed her eyes. “I knew you were kinky.” The hand roamed for a couple more seconds before Penelope spung around and smashed her right foot into Mel’s stomach. There was a look of shock on the woman’s face for a spilt second and then gravity took over and she tumbled backward down the stair. There were a couple of thumps and then Mel crashed into a heap at the bottom of the stairs and didn’t move.
“mmiitt…” Penelope mumbled as she slowly walked down the stairs. After carefully treading around Mel, she bent down and made sure that the woman was still breathing. Thankfully she was. Then it was a quick look through the glass in the door to make sure that Sue hadn’t heard anything. Penelope had taken the gamble that there was nobody in the house and it seemed to have worked. Looking around Penelope quickly identified that the kitchen was toward the back of the house and hurried through. Pulling open drawers, she eventually found what she was looking for. A very sharp knife. Now, with your wrists tied and arms pinned it wasn’t easy but she managed to get the knife into a position where she could move it up and down against the ropes around her wrists. It took more time than she would have liked but after some effort Penelope saw the ropes fray and they fall away from around her wrists. “eemmffoomm…” she cried into the gag as she slipped off the rest of the rope before reaching round and untying the bandana at the back of her head. This allowed her to spit out the second bandana that was in her mouth. Picking up the rope Penelope headed back to the foot of the stairs to find that Mel was still unconscious. “What shall we do with you?”
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“I am really sorry about this,” Sue said as she sat in the stall staring at Grace. “I didn’t sign up for this. The job description was strictly IT and a bit of helping out around the club. Then, they pay you well, then it is just the odd favour and before you know it, they have dragged you all the way in.” Sue locked eyes with Grace. “There isn’t a way out.”
“mmppffhh…” Grace moaned.
“Sorry, I guess that you knew that.” Sue’s shoulders slumped and she pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, as if hugging her legs. “I would take that gag off but Mel made me promise not to.” Grace just looked at Sue. “Speaking of Mel, they do seem to have been away for a long time now.” Sue craned her neck to look out of the stall and back to where the door to the barn was. It was still closed.
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“Hopefully that should do it.” Penelope stood back and admired her handiwork. After getting free she had managed to woman-handle Mel from the bottom of the stairs, up to the top, along a short hallway and into a bedroom. Form there Penelope’s slightly wicked side bubbled over. She had stripped the woman down to her underwear before throwing her onto the bed. Taking a length of rope Penelope looped it around Mel’s left wrist, tied it tightly and secured the other end to the top right corner of the bed. Then she repeated the process with Mel’s right wrist, left ankle, right ankle, until the woman was securely tied spread-eagled on the bed. To finish off Penelope had raided the drawers and found a pair of female socks that she had popped into Mel’s mouth before sealing them in place by wrapping some silver duct tape that someone had handily left lying around on the floor around Mel’s head on a dozen occasions. Just then a low moan escaped Mel’s gagged mouth. A smile crossed Penelope’s face. “Wakey, wakey.” Penelope watched on as the stunned woman gradually regained her senses.
“ummppff…ooommmnnn…” Mel moaned and looked around at first her left and then wrists, confused as to what had happened. Not really understanding where she was or how she had gotten here.
“Hi!” Penelope said and waved. Mel turned and focused on Penelope. It took a second for the gears to grind and Mel to make the connections.
“UUMMPPFF!” The woman started to struggle furiously and thrash around, trying to free herself of the tight ropes binding her to the bed.
“Oh, not so fun when the shoe is on the other foot. Is it Melanie?” Penelope grinned and Mel stopped struggling just long enough to glare at Penelope before resuming. “As much as I would like to stand here all day and watch you struggle and fail to get free. You won’t get free by the way, I am too good with the knots, I have to get away. Good luck explaining how this happened to Mr Bossman.” Then with a wave Penelope left the room, closing the door behind her. Leaving the muted sounds of Mel grunted and straining to get free behind it. Now, just to take care of Sue and get out of here. Penelope didn’t think that would be an issue, she didn’t think Sue had it in her to put up much of a fight. At the bottom of the stairs there was a sideboard. On the sideboard was a bowl. In the bowl were some keys. Penelope had a rummage through and found a set with a BWM badge. “That should do.” Should be another problem solved. Grabbing the knife that she had used to cut the ropes that had been binding her Penelope headed out the door and across the yard toward the barn. Without stopping Penelope opened the door and burst through into the barn.
“What…” Sue jumped up from the stall as the door burst open.
“You!” Penelope pointed at Sue and strode purposefully toward the stall. Penelope was a tall woman and could be physically intimidating when the situation needed it, especially when she had a knife in her hand.
“Wait!” Sue put her hands up and took a step back, then another, eventually stopping when she hit the wooded fence. “Don’t hurt me.” Penelope entered the stall and glanced down at the bound and gagged Grace.
“MMPPFFHH!”
“We are getting out of here young lady,” Penelope said with a smile before turning her attention to Sue. “The question is what are you going to do about it?” Penelope’s blood was pumping but she could see that Sue wasn’t going to cause her any issues.
“Just take Grace and go” Sue said.
“I was hoping that you were going to say that.” Penelope took a step back and nodded at Grace. “Put your arms down and do something useful by untying her.” It took a second for Sue to compute the information before she hurried across, dropped to her knees and started to work on the ropes that were holding Grace tightly bound. It took a couple of minutes but Grace was eventually free of her bindings and gag. The young woman sprung to her feet and embraced Penelope. The older woman blushed at the outward sign of affection and stood ridged as Grace buried her head into her chest.
“I knew you would come for me Penny.”
“Well, sorry it took so long…anyway...we should get moving.” Grace released her grip and stood beside Penelope. They both looked at Sue. “You know that we need to tie you up before we leave.”
“Do you have to?” Sue said.
“Sorry, can’t trust you not to raise the alarm.” Sue could see the logic in that. “Also, give you some kind of cover with the rest of them. I assume that they won’t be too happy to find that we are gone.” Sue nodded and then lowered her head. “Just turn around and put your hands behind your back.” Sue spun around and put her arms behind her back. Penelope picked up the rope that had bound Grace and quickly wrapped the rope around the woman’s wrists before cinching the rope and knotting it professionally out of reach of prying fingers. During the process Penelope could feel Sue flinch. “Does it have to be that tight?” Sue asked.
“Yip,” Penelope replied. “Has to be realistic.” Grabbing a longer piece of rope Penelope started to wrap it around Sue’s body, pinning her arms to her body. As she worked Penelope spoke to Grace. “Find something to gag her with. Something clean.”
“Do you have to gag me?” Penelope sighed as Grace shot off to search.
“If you aren’t gagged then they will wonder why you didn’t call for help.”
“There is nobody else here,” Sue pleaded.
“You wouldn’t know that,” Penelope stated. Sue sighed, resigned to her fate. Putting a hand on Sue’s shoulder Penelope eased the woman down onto the ground and then used a length of rope to tie Sue’s ankles together. Just as she finished knotting the rope Grace returned carrying two bandanas.
“Will these do?”
“Ideal,” Penelope said and held out a hand. Grace deposited the bandanas in Penelope’s hand. As she balled-up one of the bandanas Penelope tapped Sue on the shoulder. “Open wide.”
“Really, do you ha..mmmuuurrr…” Sue mumbled as Penelope took the opportunity to cram the bandana into the bound woman’s mouth. That was quickly followed up by the second bandana being used as a cleave gag to hold the stuffing in place. Penelope made sure that both ends of the bandana were tightly tied together. Sue moaned and groaned as the gag was applied. Satisfied with her handiwork Penelope stood up and looked down.
“Just relax and lie still Sue. It will go easier that way.” Sue mewed a response but didn’t move. Penelope looked at Grace and smiled. Grace smiled back. “Let’s get out of here.” They both started to walk towards the door. Penelope and Grace left the barn and looked around. “Thanks Penelope,” Grace said, taking deep breathes and enjoying the feeling of freedom.
“I would leave that for now.” Penelope said pointing toward another barn and started to head in that direction. “Wait until we are on a plane out of South Africa.” Grace stood for a second before heading off after Penelope. After reaching the door to the barn Penelope paused. It was locked.
“Bugger!” Looking at the keyring Penelope noted that there was a small key on it. “Let’s try the side.” Walking around they found a small, single leaf door about halfway along the side of the barn. The key fit the lock perfectly and Penelope turned it smoothly and opened the door. Once inside Penelope found the light switch and the interior was illuminated.
“Whoa!” Grace exclaimed on seeing the cars lined up in the barn.
“Typical guy. Who needs this many cars?” Penelope raised the fob and pressed the unlock button. The indicators on a black BMW flashed twice. Fortunately, it was at the front of the barn. “Get in the passenger seat.” They both hurried toward the car and jumped in. Looking around Penelope found the ignition button and the engine roared to life. After a quick adjustment to the seat and mirrors Penelope looked around the interior of the car. “Door…door…door…” Then suddenly there was a buzzing noise. Penelope looked around and saw that Grace had pushed a button on a device that was attached to the rear-view mirror.
“My dad has the same set up in his garage,” the younger woman smiled. Penelope nodded and looked down. The car was a stick shift so she slipped it into first and as soon as the door opened enough gunned the engine and let the car roar out of the barn and onto the dirt road, spinning the wheel Penelope let the car slid to the right and sped out of the yard. “Who taught you how to drive?”
“Just get on that sat nav and look for Kitty Hawk Aerodrome.” As Grace punched in the letters Penelope concentrated on steering the speeding vehicle along the dirt track. As they burst around a corner Penelope saw the junction with the main road appear.
“Left,” Grace said. Using the handbrake Penelope eased the car into the turn before flooring the accelerator. She would hammer it for ten minutes to put as much distance between them and this location as possible before slowing down as not to attract attention.
