Female Prey & the Elusive Prey (26 page)

Barbara held her dress out at arms’ length and looked at it wistfully. “But I carried it all the way here!”

“You can still wear it if you want. I’m not telling you not to.”

In the end, Barbara left her dress hanging in the closet of their suite and complained about it all the way to the hotel restaurant.

“Stop whining,” Kimberley told her after they were seated in a booth. “I already checked, and there’s no dress code for this place. Anyway, you look fine.” She cast an eye at Barbara’s denim-sheathed legs. “I just hope you aren’t planning to wear those tomorrow. They look good, but they’re kinda tight, aren’t they?”

Barbara laughed. “More than ‘kinda’,” she admitted. “But don’t worry. I know better than that. Loose-fitting clothes for the trail.”

“You have learned well.” Kimberley chuckled. “Now, let’s see what’s on the menu.”

The food here was good. The service was excellent. Kimberley greatly enjoyed her broiled salmon, while Barbara tore into her steak as if she’d never had lunch that day or anything at all to eat yesterday. Between bites, they scanned what they could see of the restaurant, nudging one another as they spotted some man giving them the eye. While they attracted a fair amount of attention, none of their admirers tried to approach them. Kimberley wondered about that. Maybe it was another one of the rules that they had here. Well, it didn’t really matter. She was sure that they had gotten enough notice so that some of them were already trying to find out more about them. There was bound to be some way for a curious, imaginative and determined man to get information here. She was sure of it, and smiled to herself at the thought of how much buzz they might be creating tonight.

They had finished dessert and were enjoying their last cups of coffee when Barbara nudged Kimberley particularly hard in the ribs, almost making her spill her cup.

“What?” Kimberley hissed angrily. “What is it?”

“It’s her. She’s coming over here,” Barbara murmured.

“Her who? Joanna?” Kimberley scanned the room. “Oh…her…”

Cat waved happily at them as she approached. She was wearing a very short black dress and low heels, and she definitely did not have “cheerleader legs” as Kimberley had surmised. She looked tiny, doll-like, even fragile.

“Hi, guys,” she grinned as she reached their table. “Don’t worry, I’m not planning on staying. I just happened to see you two on my way out, and I wanted to apologize for bending your ears half off this morning and for dragging you all over the town with me.”

“Oh…hey…no problem!” Barbara smiled back.

“No problem at all,” Kimberley chimed in. “In fact, you were really kind of helpful. You told us a lot of stuff we didn’t know about before.”

“Oh, good!” Cat leaned closer across the table. Her voice dropped almost to a whisper. “To tell the truth, I go on talking jags when I’m nervous, and I’ve been nervous all day. Can I ask a small favor of you two?”

“Uh…sure.” Kimberley shot a quick glance at Barbara, who shrugged. “What is it?”

“Well, they’re taking me to the slave market in the morning. I was thinking…I’d kinda like it if you two could go with me…not to be slaves yourselves, of course! Just for a little…moral support? I’ve already checked, and it’s okay with them. You can be with me until I’m taken upstairs…I know it’s a lot to ask, but…” She didn’t finish the sentence and looked at Kimberley and Barbara hopefully.

She looked even tinier and more fragile that way, and Kimberley couldn’t find it in herself to say ‘no’. She looked over at Barbara again. Barbara only raised an eyebrow and shrugged again.

“Well…sure…I guess we could,” Kimberley said. “We were planning on an early start tomorrow, but I guess we could put it off for a little while…”

Oh, thank you!” Cat beamed. “I’m a little scared…well, actually, I’m a lot scared, but I made up my mind to go through with it. Having you two go with me, even only partway, will help a lot! Thanks again! They’ll come to get me at 6:00 AM. Can you still make it?”

“Uh…sure. Why not?” Kimberley gulped. They’d already agreed. How could they back out now? But this meant a wake-up call for 5:30 at the very latest. More like 5:00 AM, given how long it usually took Barbara to get moving in the mornings.

“Thanks,” Barbara muttered sourly after Cat had left.

“What, ‘thanks’?” Kimberley retorted. “You could have said something at any time.”

“I was hoping that you would.”

“Well, I didn’t. We’ll just have to get to bed early, okay?”

“Okay,” Barbara sighed. She shook her head sadly. “I hate mornings.”

Chapter Four

It took Kimberley a while to realize that the telephone in their suite did not have a snooze button. She was ready to smack it with her hand one more time when her sleep-fuddled mind concluded that perhaps this was not an alarm clock. Yawning and blinking, she picked up the receiver, “Yes?”

“This is the wake-up call that you requested.” The voice at the other end was male and bland, as if he were little more than a machine performing an appointed task.

“Oh…” Kimberley yawned again. “Thanks. What time is it?”

“It is now 5:03.” Still bland…or should it be called ‘professional’? Why was she wondering about such things at such an unholy hour?

“Got it…thanks again.” She mumbled into the receiver before fumbling it back into place. She very much wanted to just go back to sleep, but she’d made a promise last night, hadn’t she? And Barbara had promised as well… Sleepy as she was, Kimberley managed to smile wickedly. It was time to wake Barbara up!

“Couldn’t we at least get some coffee or something first?” Barbara yawned as Kimberley shut the door to their suite behind them.

“We could have if you hadn’t taken so much time to get moving,” Kimberley snapped back. “We can always get some later, when we come back.”

“Uh-huh…” Barbara yawned again. “And you still intend to go out to play in the woods today?”

“With you or without you.” Kimberley grinned. “I also told you to turn in early last night, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah…” Barbara waved a hand. “You tell me a lot of things.”

“And you hardly ever listen.” Kimberley laughed. “Come on, now, we made a promise. We’re supposed to meet her by the front entrance.”

“Is the sun even up yet?” Barbara whined as she followed Kimberley down the hallway.

The sun wasn’t completely up, but enough of it was poking above the horizon to send long shadows down the main street. The early-morning air felt cool on Kimberley’s face. Cat hadn’t arrived yet, but there were three men already waiting on the wide front porch of the hotel. One of them was Mr. Brown. Kimberley hadn’t seen the other two before. They were younger than Mr. Brown, but still about ten or fifteen years older than Kimberley and Barbara, lean and deeply tanned, dressed as Mr. Brown was in jeans, work shirt and boots.

“Good morning, ladies,” Mr. Brown greeted them. “Good to see you again.” His smile looked sincere enough, but Kimberley was certain he was looking forward to meeting them in the future under very different circumstances. She wondered if Mr. Brown or either of his two sidekicks here, ever sampled any of the slaves they were tending…or was any sampling just an extra benefit from whatever kind of training they put those captives through? She smiled sweetly at the three men, imagining them standing around her cage, just looking at her, and thinking…

“Good morning, Mr. Brown.” She nodded towards him. “It’s good to see you again, too. Who are your friends?”

“Mr. Green and Mr. Black,” Mr. Brown replied, indicating which was which with a small gesture. Green and Black nodded and smiled at the two women in turn.

“Ah…I see…” Kimberley nodded again. No doubt any additional sidekicks would be Mr. Gray, Mr. Gold…how many colors were there, anyway? She thought back to the huge box of crayons she’d had as a child. Was there, somewhere in this strange town, a Mr. Burnt Umber?

“You came!” Kimberley and Barbara both turned around to see Cat hurrying towards them, smiling widely. She was wearing one of the hotel bathrobes. “Thank you both SO much!” She gave Kimberley a quick and surprisingly strong hug, then did the same to Barbara, who grunted with surprise. “I wasn’t sure you’d be here!”

“Hey, I made a promise.” Kimberley tried to make it sound like not such a big deal, but it certainly seemed important to Cat.

“You ready, Miss?” Mr. Brown interrupted.

“Oh! Yes, I guess I am.” Cat’s exuberance evaporated and once again she looked tiny and fragile.

“Shed the robe, then,” Mr. Brown ordered. He turned to Kimberley and Barbara. “You two can tag along, but no talking, and no trying to interfere or you’ll be escorted right back here. Understood?”

The two women nodded. Mr. Brown sounded rather stern about it, and there was no doubt in their minds that he meant exactly what he said. Cat, in the meantime, had taken off her robe. That was all she had been wearing, apparently. Naked, she looked even more helpless than before. She smiled crookedly at Kimberley, as Mr. Green yanked her hands behind her. Kimberley had expected them to use rope to bind her, but instead, Mr. Black produced a long, thin strip of plastic and circled her wrists with it while Mr. Green held her arms tightly. Kimberley heard a zipping noise as he drew it tight. She’d seen that kind of thing used by police in newscasts. Cat winced as the plastic was drawn even tighter, but made no sound of complaint. Mr. Black then grabbed a fistful of Cat’s short hair, pulling her head back while Mr. Green continued to hold her by her arms. Mr. Brown now walked towards her, pulling something out of a jeans pocket.

“Open wide,” he ordered Cat. She did, and he stuffed what looked like a hard rubber ball into her opened mouth. He held it in place as Mr. Black buckled it in place with a strap that ran straight through the ball. Kimberley had seen pictures of ball gags before, but this was the first time she’d seen one used in person, so to speak. It seemed to stretch Cat’s jaws uncomfortably, but aside from one tiny grunt, Cat still made no noise.

Cat had a lovely little body, Kimberley thought. There was nothing immature about it. It was just a well-sculpted woman’s body in a smaller than usual size. Mr. Black gave Cat’s rump a pat…as if she were a pet he was fond of, Kimberley thought. Mr. Green let go of her arms, and Mr. Brown turned her around and got his own grip on her hair. He began to steer her towards the steps leading down to the street. Kimberley noted that Cat’s breasts had dark areolas, about the size of fifty-cent pieces, and her nipples were swollen. She was sure it wasn’t just from the cool morning air. As Mr. Brown began guiding his tiny captive down the wide stairs, Kimberley realized that she’d agreed to accompany Cat all the way to the slave market. Barbara also seemed mesmerized by the whole procedure. Kimberley gave Barbara a hard nudge with her elbow to bring her around before hastily setting off to follow the little procession. Mr. Green and Mr. Black fell in to either side of the two.

The whole thing had taken no more than a minute, Kimberley was sure. On one side of that minute, Cat had been greeting and thanking them. Now they were on the other side of that minute, following a bound, gagged and naked woman towards what, exactly? Kimberley wondered. She very much wanted to find out. Beside her, Barbara trudged along, yawning.

Yesterday, Cat had walked to the hotel straight down the middle of the wide street. Today, she was going in the opposite direction straight down the middle of the street, held and herded along by Mr. Brown. Kimberley wondered if all the women who decided to go straight into the slave market were taken to it in this particular way. If so, then it made some sense for them to have kept the roadway a mix of dirt, sand and sawdust. Cat’s bare feet left small tracks in it, alongside Mr. Brown’s larger boot prints.

The nearer they came to the side street that led to the slave market, the less eager to get there Cat seemed to become. Soon Mr. Brown had a grip on one of her arms as well as her hair, hustling her along. Kimberley had seen bar bouncers use a similar technique on unruly patrons. Was Cat beginning to regret her decision? Kimberley knew all about that. She also knew just how useless it was. Up to a point, they gave you plenty of opportunities to back out, but after that point, you had no more choices at all. Cat was now on the wrong side of her minute for choosing.

They reached the side street, and now Cat began to struggle, trying to dig her heels into the soft, yielding street. She was trying to protest too, but the ball gag turned anything she tried to say into high-pitched whines and grunts. Mr. Brown barely seemed to notice. He was more than a head taller than she was, and in spite of his lean frame, must have outweighed her by at least two-to-one. All he did was tighten his grip and shove her right along. Kimberley shivered. What was Cat suddenly so worried about? Or…maybe she wasn’t worried, just putting on an act to get everybody’s juices flowing? Up ahead, the opened doors of the slave market looked menacing in the early morning light. Mr. Brown ushered Cat in. Kimberley and Barbara followed, still escorted by Mr. Green and Mr. Black.

Once they’d entered the slave market, all of the fight seemed to go out of Cat. Mr. Brown still held her as tightly as before, but now she trudged along obediently, making a whining, keening noise. They headed towards the raised platform at the end of the building. There were short flights of steps up either side of it. Mr. Brown steered Cat up the left-hand side and then onto the platform. The steps were just wide enough for two people to use at the same time. Kimberley and Barbara went up side by side, followed by their escorts.

Mr. Brown forced Cat to her knees, then onto her belly. He signaled to his companions to come over.

“Hold her down and hold her still,” he ordered them. Mr. Green sat down, straddling Cat’s legs, holding them down with his weight, his hands on the backs of her thighs. Mr. Black knelt so that Cat’s head was between his knees. He gripped Cat’s forearms in his hands, pulled them up into the middle of her back, and then leaned down on them. Cat’s naked flesh was now pressed tightly down onto the rough plank flooring of the platform.

Kimberley wondered why they were doing this. She looked at Barbara and shrugged questioningly. Barbara only shook her head once and shrugged back. She didn’t know what this was about, either. Kimberley wanted to ask Mr. Brown about it very badly, but he’d gone off behind the thick black curtain at the back of the stage, and they weren’t supposed to speak anyway. For a long, long, long moment, she and Barbara just stood there, listening to Cat’s muffled moaning.