Guise, p.14
Guise, page 14
Abruptly, Darwin was back, looking into Patience’s worried eyes. The cell phone lay forgotten on the bed, musical laughter drifting from it.
“Nothing to add?” asked the bright voice, sounding disappointed. “A pity really. Most people at least beg or threaten a little before understanding. I was looking forward to something special with the other one. She is quite a cutie, however, on to business.
“In an hour, I will call you on this phone with instructions. Follow them, and no one gets hurt. Don’t and,” again there was a muffled cry, this one higher in pitch.
“Do we have an understanding?” After a pause, the voice added, “This is where you respond.”
“Yes,” stated Darwin, still disoriented from his out of body experience.
“Excellent hon,” chirped the voice. “Now, I know you are probably thinking all kinds of heroic thoughts right about now, along with some rather unchristian ones about yours truly.
“The later I can forgive. Under the circumstances, I would probably do the same in your position.
“However, let’s take care of those nasty heroic thoughts right now. Contact the authorities and I’ll know. I’ll not just know; I’ll take it as a personal affront. I don’t let that kind of thing slide. Your lady friends might just get to see my bad side. Understood?”
“Yes.”
“Perfect,” purred the voice. “I know you are worried about your friends, but they are in good hands. Or at least caring and gentle ones. I’d let you talk to them, but they are kind of tied up at the moment.”
The woman laughed at her own joke.
“That’s it for now,” she continued after a moment. “I suggest you head on up to your condo and wait for my call. Try and relax and all of this unpleasantness will be behind us before you know it. Okay sweetie?”
“Sure,” said Darwin through gritted teeth.
“Good. One last thing. That private investigator with you, who has been listening in on our talk. Naughty of you not to tell me she was there by the way. I don’t think we need to involve her in this any further. You don’t want someone like her interfering and placing your friends in jeopardy, do you?”
“No,” agreed Darwin cautiously, looking at Patience.
“Wonderful. So here is what you are going to do to ensure she doesn’t become a bother. Take the toys your kinky friend brought with her and use them. Once you’re done, send me a picture. She’ll be fine there until we finish our transaction and your friends come home.
“If you don’t I will be forced to find a means to motivate you. I think we both know how I would do that. Well, maybe not exactly, but you get my meaning.
“You have five minutes.”
The line went dead.
CHAPTER 19
Darwin stared at the phone for a moment before flipping it closed. He turned to Patience.
“What do we do?” he asked.
“Stupid,” spat Patience, quietly to herself.
“What?”
“They set up a camera in the main room to see who came in. That’s how they know I am here. I should have checked when we came in. I can’t believe I made such an amateur mistake.”
“Can’t we jam the camera or destroy it?”
“The damage is already done,” replied Patience, gnawing her lower lip. “Besides, that might just tick them off.”
The phone dinged. Darwin opened it and saw a text message: 4:45.
“They are going to hold you to the deadline,” said Patience, heading into the main room. “If you don’t do what they want, your girlfriends will suffer.”
“But there has to be something we can do,” protested Darwin, following her.
“Given time, yes. We don’t have that luxury. They are counting on that.”
“So, what, I lock you up and leave?”
“Exactly.”
“I don’t like that.”
“That makes two of us, with my displeasure probably edging out your own. However, right now, we need to buy some time and the only way I can see us doing that is by following their instructions.”
The phone dinged again.
Darwin looked at the message and blushed. He showed it to Patience. It read: Have PI strip 2 undies. Can’t b 2 careful. 4:23.
Patience shook her head and started to undress.
“What are you doing?”
“What they want,” she replied, sitting down on the couch and taking off her shoes. “Get the cuffs,” she instructed.
Darwin picked up the cuffs and set them in a neat row along the edge of the table. He began unlocking each one.
“You know,” said Patience, slithering out of her pants. “I pictured our first time a little differently.”
“What!?” exclaimed Darwin, dropping the lock and cuff he was working on.
Patience chuckled.
“Sorry,” she said, pulling her sweater over her head. “Just trying to lighten the mood. How about you put the cuffs around my ankles while I put them around my wrists?”
“Sure,” agreed Darwin, trying to avoid looking at Patience casually sitting there in nothing but a red lace bra and thong. He dropped to the floor and began fumbling the restraint around her right ankle.
The phone dinged again.
With a growl of frustration, Darwin looked at the message: Lock ankles together. Hands behind her. 3:30.
He showed the message to Patience.
“Here, let me,” she said, brushing Darwin’s hands aside. “By the way, what happened to you before?”
She affixed a cuff around her left ankle and used a lock to connect the D-rings on each together. Handing him an open lock, she turned facing away from him and put her hands behind her.
“What?” asked Darwin, distracted. He stood frozen for a moment, staring at her naked back with her wrists held next to each other over her tailbone. Tentatively, he reached out and slid the shackle through one D-ring and then another. He closed the lock with what seemed like a gunshot click.
Patience turned back and tested the locks. Her hands and feet were secure.
“Before, when you seemed to pass out.”
The phone dinged.
Darwin looked at the message: Don’t forget bit gag. 2:57.
He reached over and picked up the device by one of the rings. The phone dinged again, startling him and making him drop it onto the coffee table.
The message read: Lock it under her hair. 2:54.
“Come on then,” said Patience, shaking out her hair. “Just put the bit in my mouth and when I lean forwards, move the hair out of the way before you lock it in place.”
“All right,” said Darwin, awkwardly moving the rubber bar towards Patience’s’ mouth. Just before he placed it between her teeth, she looked him in the eye.
“We’ll get them back,” she said earnestly.
“Right,” agreed Darwin, placing the bit between her teeth. She leaned forward and Darwin brushed her hair to the side as he slid the strap around the back of her neck. He couldn’t help but notice that her hair was very soft and smelled faintly of grapefruit.
He tightened the strap, eliciting a muffled squeak as he pulled some hairs.
“Sorry,” he mumbled, taking a step back to look at her.
The phone dinged with more instructions: Put on floor & lock wrists & ankles together. 2:12.
Gheez. What is with them.
Darwin showed Patience the latest message. She shook her head and shrugged. He helped her stand and take a couple of hopping steps to an open area of the floor, all the while trying to ignore the tantalizing things the motion was doing to her mostly naked body. Holding her shoulders, he helped her kneel and then lay down on her side. While he went back to the coffee table to fetch a lock, she folded her legs getting them close to her hands.
“I don’t know about before,” said Darwin, answering Patience question to help distract himself. “It was like I was suddenly there looking down on where Yoki and Bo were.”
Darwin knelt beside Patience and passed the shackle of the lock through the D-ring of the cuff around her right ankle. He grasped her hands and pulled them close, arching her back slightly. He quickly looped the open lock through the D-ring of the cuff about her left wrist, and snapped it closed.
As he finished, he caught a glimpse of the tattoo on her buttock. Before he could stop himself, he rolled her onto her stomach to get a better look at the tattoo. It was a rendering of a sleeping hedgehog.
Darwin lightly brushed his fingers across the tattoo, a wistful look on his face.
Patience twitched beneath his hand, rolling onto her side. She looked up at him with a mixture of surprise, confusion, and excitement.
Darwin snatched his hand back as if scalded.
The phone dinged once more. Glad for the first time since he had picked up the flip phone, Darwin looked at the latest message: Cleanup time. Everything in backpack. Backpack in trash. 1:35.
Darwin went to the coffee table. As he started to load everything into the backpack the phone dinged once more.
Darwin just stared at the message: 1 last thing. Use knife 2 cut away bra & thong. She won’t be needing them. 1:30.
The phone dinged again: Tick tock. 1:15.
Darwin looked over to where Patience lay on her side, watching him. Her brow was furrowed in puzzlement concerning the last two messages.
With a slightly shaky hand, Darwin dug into the backpack and found the small gravity knife. After playing with it a little, he got the blade to spring out. Knife in hand, he moved to Patience. Kneeling before her, he licked his dry lips.
Patience watched him with wide eyes, laying very still. Darwin showed her the texts.
“Sorry,” he whispered. He gently rolled her onto her stomach and clumsily unhooked her bra. He then carefully sliced each strap. After that, he cut both sides of her thong. Reverently, he rolled her onto her side once more, facing away from him, and pulled the ruined garments away from her.
Patience blushed as she fidgeted in her confinement.
Darwin’s eyes darted around the room, refusing to look anywhere near her.
The phone dinged: Time 2 finish. Need 2 pics. Front. Back. All of her. 35.
Darwin activated the camera. Somehow looking at her through the lens made things worse for him. He took a picture of her. He stood and walked around in front of her and took another picture. He sent both pictures.
The phone dinged: yum yum. Thnx. Backpack in trash. 10.
“Crap.”
Darwin grabbed the backpack and ran to the kitchen, thrusting the backpack into the trash can. He stood there waiting, staring at the phone. Long seconds passed.
Finally, the phone dinged: Good boy. Here’s a reward.
Two more texts arrived on the phone. Each was a picture. The first showed Yoki bound with tape and secured to a chair. Tracks of tears could be seen on her cheeks. The second showed a frantic Bo looped in tape with a female hand holding her left breast.
Another text came: U hav gr8 taste. Time 2 go. Talk soon. Ttfn.
Darwin stared at the phone. He knew he was supposed to leave, but he was having trouble just walking out and leaving Patience naked and helpless on the floor. However, he was worried about what would happen if he didn’t leave.
The phone dinged: SCAT! 10-9-
Darwin made a hasty dash for the door. With a look back at Patience, he quickly opened the door and closed it firmly behind him. Once outside, he sagged against the door, trying to comprehend what was going on.
With mechanical steps, he ascended the stairwell to his unit at the top. He unlocked the door and entered, closing and locking the door behind him by long habit.
Eventually, Otaku came over to see what was going on with the retarded kitten he had been watching over for years. He found Darwin standing by the front door, staring into space. He strutted over and rubbed himself against Darwin’s legs, a guaranteed maneuver to get him out of whatever meaningless funk he happened to be in and focus him on something of importance like petting him.
Darwin reflexively reached down and picked up the purring animal. Cradling him in his arms, he walked over to the couch and sat down, rubbing the appreciative animal’s head.
Otaku squirmed free and paced back and forth across Darwin’s lap, all the better to give him access to both sides of him. After a couple of minutes, he decided his job of cheering up his companion was accomplished and he jumped down and left the room.
“How did I wind up in this situation?” Darwin asked himself. “I mean; this kind of thing doesn’t happen to real people. It only happens to people on TV. It certainly doesn’t happen to someone like me.
“What am I going to do?”
Darwin thought back on the recent events in his life. Ever since he had awakened to find Patience in his home things had been spiraling out of control. It was as if he had woken up in a strange parallel dimension where he was the star of some kind of bizarre science fiction drama series.
You had the guardian figure. A hot PI who shows up time and again to save him from menacing forces with strange powers trying to take over the world, but somehow constantly being thwarted by him.
You had the romantic interest. The college sweetheart, unexpectedly reunited with the hero she had been harboring feelings for all these years. The only thing standing in the way of their happiness were those same, mysterious forces who now were threatening her to get at him.
There was the surprise romantic rival. She added an unanticipated twist, offering the hero something he hadn’t been aware he was longing for. She was an innocent girl caught up in things, a victim of poor timing and circumstances.
Looming over everything was the enemy. Or enemies. Shadowy figures working for a hidden organization, with a secret agenda, that involved him. Now they were moving against not just himself, but those close to him. Or whom they believed to be close to him.
And then there was the hero. The figure at the center of all of this. An everyday man thrust into things beyond his understanding. An individual harboring fantastic, unrealized potential that he didn’t have the time to deal with because evil forces were focused on stopping him.
“Where’s the comedic sidekick?” he asked. “Or the wise mentor who has secretly been watching over me in anticipation of this very situation happening, but now reveals themselves and gives me quick training in order to combat my enemies.”
Otaku stopped his passing through the room to stare over at Darwin. He gave him a soft meow, licked his side and headed for the kitchen and food.
“And there goes the boon companion,” said Darwin to the cat’s retreating back. “Ever present to provide a common man viewpoint while supporting the hero. Listening to the hero’s plight as he dispenses surprisingly insightful comments in a casual off-handed manner. A beacon of normality in the turbulent waters of drama.”
Darwin sat brooding.
His thoughts swirled around and around, examining the same facts over and over. He felt helpless and scared and angry. The more he sat and thought about things, the angrier he got. He was angry about not knowing what was going on. Angry about people making decisions for him. Angry about people threatening him and now his friends.
Angry with himself for letting all of this happen.
“Seems like it is time to nut up or shut up,” he declared.
“Which are you picking?” asked a pleasant voice.
CHAPTER 20
Darwin turned to the front door and saw Patience closing it behind her. She dropped a squirming body onto the floor and headed for the kitchen. Darwin looked at Patience and then at the petite redhead struggling on the floor, before following Patience into the kitchen.
Patience finished a soda and tossed the can into the recycling bin.
“That was good,” she said, stretching.
“How?” asked Darwin.
“There’s a reason I wanted to put the cuffs on my wrists,” said Patience. “You put them on loose enough, you can look helpless, but slip your hand out with a little work.”
She didn’t mention the part where she had dislocated her thumbs in order to free herself.
“But won’t they see you have escaped?”
“Nope,” said Patience casually, heading to the main living area.
“Why not?”
Patience thought about what she had done in spoofing the camera. The system was a simple device without any recording capability. It transmitted its signal a short distance, in this case, to the observer who had been watching from the parking lot. From there, she assumed that person had passed it along or just given a verbal commentary to the ultimate destination. Simple, efficient, and impossible to trace to a distant source.
Using some built-in hardware, she had tapped into the signal and made a short recording of her struggling. Using the recording as a start, she had run a program that created additional footage based on the recording and interwove the two, making a much longer recording. Once that was done, she overrode the signal from the camera with the short film she had created, and affected her escape.
The observer never noticed.
“I looped the feed,” she told Darwin, stopping by the redhead who looked up at her, green eyes flashing malice.
“Who’s this?” asked Darwin looking down at the woman trussed up on his floor. She was a small woman dressed in a purple skirt, white blouse, and purple jacket. Loops of grey duct tape were wrapped around her ankles, knees, wrists, elbows, waist, chest, and mouth.
“Meet Sheryl Louann Freemont. A twenty-three-year-old administrative assistant with an impressive police record, covering breaking and entering, theft, larceny, extortion, prostitution, assault, and aggravated assault.”
“Um, okay,” said Darwin, fidgeting as the woman glared from Patience to him. “Why is she tied up and laying on the floor of my living room?”
“An early Christmas gift for the man who has everything?” quipped Patience.
