Part 3: In this part, The girls meet their villainous captor who invites them to dinner.
----Katie----Riding in the back of the truck was not fun. After all of the bumps, bangs, and sudden stops, I was beginning to appreciate the invention of seat belts more then ever. Add in the fact that both of us were bound and gagged...yeah, not fun. Linda was still crying. Can't say I blame her. I was scared too.
My thoughts then drifted back to what the Tall man had said earlier. Randy was waiting behind with Linda's Mother. How was her Father going to react? Hell, how was MY Dad going to react when he returns to pick me up? Boy was he in for a surprise, but then I remembered: So were they. There was no way that Creep would get the jump on my Dad.
After what seemed like forever, the truck slowed down for a ways, and then finally came to a merciful stop.
“Thnkk Ggd!” I snapped. A few seconds later the back door opened. The sun must almost be set, as it was still light, but only a golden hew remained. A group of at least six or seven men climbed into the truck to collect us, and drag us out. Once out of the truck, I could see we were taken to a rather large establishment near the coastline. I couldn't see the coast, but I could hear the ocean waves crashing in the distance.
The house looked very nice, and well kept. The lawn was large, and well trimmed. The trees and hedges that dotted it were also kept in good shape. As we were hauled up to the front door, we were greeted by a man wearing a well tailored gray suit with a black tie.
“Alright Mr. Sharp, where do you want um,” The tall man from before had asked. The man in the suit, who was likely named Mr. Sharp, was now looking us over. He looked to be in his late forties, or possibly his early fifties. He had a friendly face, and an almost deceiving pleasantness about him. It was like he couldn't be trusted. He examined us, and then frowned at The Tall Man.
“Take them to the guest room Tom, and make them more comfortable,” He instructed, and smiled warmly at us. A smile that made me nauseous.
After being dragged past what might be a living room, a kitchen, and finally up a flight of stairs, we were taken down a hall where we stopped in front of a door. The door was opened, and both of us were dumped onto the floor like bags of trash. I made my displeasure known.
“Yhh Jrrk!!” I barked through my gag. The men took no notice, and closed and locked the door behind us. This must have been the guest room that Mr. Sharp had mentioned.
It was quite large, and seemed to be made to accommodate two people. There were two beds, a dresser, two closets, and one more door. Maybe this one was unlocked. I crawled my way to the other door as best I could, and tried to stand up. I was just glad the handle was in reach of my hands. It was unlocked, but it also wasn't a possible way out, as it revealed a bathroom. I felt my heart sink just a tad, and slid down the wall back to my knees.
“Ktte, cmme hrr!” Linda had instructed to me. I shrugged at her, and made my way back over to her. She turned around, and motioned with her hands for me to do the same.“Ww mmght bh abbl t ffrr rrsslvvss frmm thsh,” She said. I think she was saying we might be able to free ourselves. I thought it was worth a shot. With the right mobility I could likely beat up any one of those guys outside.
I turned my back to Linda, and offered her my bound hands, so she could make the attempt. The problem was, as she pulled at my bonds, the zip ties just dug deeper into my wrists.
“Lndh, thsh ishnt wrrknng,” I said, after a few “ow” noises, and struggling with no effect.
“M trrng tt lssnn ih!” Linda had snapped back. The gags in our mouths were also proving to be a problem. I then tried a new tactic. I decided to see if I could slip my hands underneath my legs to bring them around front like I had before. I didn't have a chance to do this earlier with the men watching us. Thanks to my karate lessons from Dad, I was more then flexible enough to do this. But again, a sharp pain shot up my wrists, and foiled me once again. These guys were smart in choosing zip ties for means of tying us.
The sound of the door being unlocked distracted us briefly, and soon the door was opened. In walked Mr. Sharp, followed by the man I now knew as Tom, and a new face had entered. He, like Mr. Sharp, was well dressed in a white suit with a black tie. His short hair was slacked back.
“Ah, these must be our guests,” He said. He spoke with a smooth English accent just like Linda. Mr. Sharp was frowning.
“I said make them comfortable you idiot!” He barked at Tom. The Englishman seemed to share his sentiments.
“Indeed!” He added. “And Zip ties? Tom you should be ashamed of yourself.” He then motioned for his men to untie us, and remove the cloths from our mouths. After the hair raising experience, it was nice to just catch my breath.
“There was no harm done,” Tom argued. I flinched as Mr. Sharp, who had cut the zip-tie on my hands, took hold of my wrist, and presented it to Tom. It had a large red sore carved into it where the tie had been digging into it. Linda also had the same marks on her wrists.
“Look at this. You call this no harm?” Mr. Sharp barked. Tom was left speechless. “I must apologize for my colleague here,” He then said to us. The Boss then motioned his two colleagues to leave the room. Mr. Sharp nodded, and left with Tom at his side. Even with the door closed, we could still hear Mr. Sharp scolding Tom down the hall.
The Boss sighed, and shook his head. He then turned to face us again. I thought this might be a good time to mount our possible escape, but Mr. Sharp and Tom were right down the hall, and both were in a sour mood, so I decided against it.
“I must also apologize for the trauma you have undoubtedly endured,” He said. Linda was the first to speak up.
“Trauma? That's it?” Linda asked, flabbergasted.
“Yes, well, I assure you that wasn't supposed to happen,” He said, as he looked at us. “Anyways, I believe introductions are in order. My name is Derrick Bennett the Third,” He then greeted, with a quick bow. We hesitated a bit. This was someone we didn't know at all, and likely has bad intentions for us. Linda however gulped a bit when she heard him say his name.“Well? Don't be shy ladies. Please do introduce yourselves,” Mr. Bennett insisted. Linda took in a breath.
“I'm Linda, Linda Trotter,” She sighed.
“A pleasure to meet you Ms. Trotter, and again, you have my sincerest apologizes about what happened earlier,” Mr. Bennett said. Linda just shrugged. Mr. Bennett then looked at me expectantly. There was no getting out of this it seems.
“Kaitlin Narrows,” Was all I said.
“Kaitlin Narrows. Womanly, yet strong. It suits you well,” He said. I couldn't tell if he was sincere, or just trying to flatter me. “I'm pleased to meet you as well Miss Nar-” He started, but I cut him off.
“Just Katie please,” I insisted. Mr. Bennett nodded his acceptance to me.
“Right, now that the meet-and-greet is out of the way, I'm sure you girls are wondering why I went to all this trouble to bring you here,” He guessed.
“That's only one of many questions,” I responded. Linda nodding right along side me. Mr. Bennett smiled at us.
“We can discuss the whole thing over dinner. I would be honored if you would join me,” He then offered. We all looked at each other. What else was there to do? If it meant getting answers, then it was a good option.
“Sure,” We said.
“Then I suggest you get cleaned up and get dressed in something nicer. Dinner is usually a formal affair for me whenever I have guests. Anyways, I think you'll find something suitable in that closet there,” He said, and pointed to the closet in between one of the beds and the bathroom door. “Oh, and you'll find the shower through the door right behind you,” He added, though we already knew where the bathroom was. Did he have this all planned out? He then left us in the room, and locked the door behind him.
“What does this Nutcase want from us?” I asked, as I looked through the closet. It was filled with various dresses, and other ladies clothes in various sizes ranging from small children to tall adults. The doors on the outside had large mirrors on them as well. Rather like my closet door in fact.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Linda answered, as she also searched the closet for something nice to wear. “I know My Family has had a lot of competitors over the years, and that man might be one of them.” I frowned at her.
“Linda, I saw your reaction when he introduced himself. You know him,” I stated. Linda sighed.
“Not formally. I only know him by name,” she said. I nodded to show I was listening. “My Dad owns World Trotter Airlines, and Derrick was Dad's right hand man,” Linda explained. I turned my attention from the closet to her.
“So what happened?” I asked.
“To make a long story short, Dad caught him using the business for his own purposes. Smuggling to be exact,” She then said. My eyebrows popped up at hearing that.
“What was he smuggling?” I then asked.
“I don't know,” My friend said. “When I asked Dad, he refused to tell me.”
“It would seem that Mr. Bennett might be a bit pissed off about it,” I stated. Vengeance is a powerful motive after all.
“It can't be coincidence that we moved here from England just after the news announced that Derrick had escaped from prison,” Linda said. I nodded my agreement. "That reminds me, why aren't we trying to escape now that he's not here watching us?" Linda asked. I frowned at her again.
"Linda, do you know how many people he may have surrounding this place?" I asked her.
"True," She then sighed.
After that conversation was over, we both went back to looking through the clothes again. After passing over our options we came across a pair of dresses that finally looked like they would fit us. They were Double V-neck cocktail party dresses with knee length skirts, and ruched waists. There was only one question left.
“Do you want the blue one, or the burgundy one?” I asked Linda.
“I'll take the blue one,” She sighed. Now that our clothes were picked out, it was time to clean ourselves up.
Linda and I took turns using the shower. After that trip in the truck, a shower felt really good on my skin. Once I was done, I blow dried my hair, and it was now time for me to get dressed.
Author's note: These are the dresses that Katie and Linda will be wearing...
Katie's Dress
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/4 ... 2,200_.jpgLinda's Dress
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/4 ... 0,246_.jpg