Struggling, the prisoners could do nothing to escape their fate. Fowler only laughed, his narrow eyes mirroring the evil burning away at his soul. Suddenly his expression became stony. Moving towards the middle-aged woman, he took out his penis and waved it threateningly in her face. 'There's plenty of time for this,' he said menacingly, kneeling between her feet. 'Plenty of time for a good fuck, don't you agree, Mrs Evans? Think of it as your last request. Well, mine, anyway!'
Eventually reaching the cottage, Jo dumped her heavy bag on the ground and crouched behind some bushes, wondering whether anyone was inside or not. Throwing a stone at the front door, she waited. 'Good,' she whispered, creeping across the lawn with the bag. 'I don't want to kill anyone.'
Strategically placing six bombs around the cottage walls, she set the timers and made her escape into the woods, only resting when she was a good two miles away. Pulling her radio out, she switched to channel twenty and called Fowler.
'Good!' he responded excitedly to her news. 'So how long before the place goes up?'
'About ten minutes.'
'And how far away are you?'
'A couple of miles, I suppose, why?'
Guffawing uncontrollably, Fowler managed to tell Jo the horrifying truth. 'I can't stop laughing!' he spluttered. 'God, you're a stupid bitch! Emily Johnson is in the cottage! She's tied to an armchair awaiting her fate!'
Dropping her bag, Jo froze. Her big blue eyes filling with tears, she listened to Fowler's insane laughter emanating from the radio. Her stomach churned and her legs turned to jelly as the laughter droned on, punctuated with graphic descriptions of what was about to happen to Emily's body. She could never reach the cottage in time, she knew. But she couldn't stand there doing nothing.
Her heart pounding, her eyes blurred with tears, she sprinted through the woods towards the cottage, wailing for Emily, her sorrow for all the wrong she'd done her. Tripping over a fallen branch, she lay prostrate, clutching handfuls of leaves and dirt in her agitation as she sobbed hysterically.
The massive explosions shook the wood, reverberating through the trees - through Jo's torn mind. Squeezing her eyes shut, she wished she were dead. Banging her fists, her head on the ground until blood poured from her wounds, she eventually passed out. 'It was the cottage!' Fowler yelled as he rushed through the woods with Swain. 'They've blown up the bloody cottage!'
'Christ! They'll be dead!' Swain cried as they arrived to see smoke billowing from a pile of rubble. 'Now we're in trouble!'
'No we're not,' Fowler reasoned, his thin lips curling into an evil grin. 'No one will know that the women were in there. Don't you see? The EFW have dealt with the problem for us.'
'We must tell Evans!'
'Why? He thinks his wife ran off somewhere. He doesn't need to know about this. And no one will miss the girl, will they?'
Making their way back to the centre, Swain asked Fowler the EFW's motives for destroying the cottage. 'They probably didn't want us to use it as part of the escape routine,' he replied unconvincingly. 'I reckon Kelley will give up when she discovers what she's done to Emily Johnson.'
'Possibly, but there again, it might strengthen her resolve.'
'No, I don't think so. Anyway, Evans is bound to find out sooner or later so...'
'How?'
'Well... I'll tell Kelley, and she'll tell Evans.'
'She wouldn't admit to murder! Anyway, it might be best not to tell her.'
'I already have. I guessed it was the cottage and...'
'You never stop to think, do you, Ron? You just rush into things without planning, thinking. It seems odd to me that they blow up the cottage within hours of you taking Emily Johnson there.'
'What are you getting at?'
'Nothing. I just find it odd.'
'They wouldn't have done it if they'd known she was there, woman!'
'No, but if someone had told them to destroy the cottage knowing that the girl was in there...'
'That's ridiculous!' Fowler blasted. 'Who would do that?'
'I wonder, Ron - I wonder.' Hannah picked up the microphone and called Jo again. Throwing it down impatiently, she turned to see Julia climbing down the ladder. 'Where the hell have you been?' she asked angrily.
'You told me to bugger off, so...'
'I can't make contact with Jo. She went off to blow up that cottage near the centre, and I've heard nothing from her since.'
'Why blow the cottage up?'
'I have my reasons.'
'Well, don't worry, she'll be all right.'
'But I am worried! Where the hell is she? And where the hell is Diana? I haven't seen Maria for ages. Everyone's gone missing!'
'I don't know! I'm sure they're all right, Hannah.'
'Mary's on leave, Maria's disappeared, and Jo, and Diana, by the look of it, and Emily...'
'You know why, don't you?'
'No, I don't!'
'There was a lot of talk about... Well, you and Emily.'
'What about us?'
'You know, the things you did together. And no one liked the way you... the things you did to Rebecca and Rose.'
'So everyone's buggered off because they didn't like... bloody stupid! Anyway, what do you think?'
'Nothing. It's up to you what you do, and who you do it with. Frankly, I don't care any more. I only wish we could on with the fight instead of having to put up with all this about lesbians!'
'We've no one keeping watch up the tree, no one to get supplies, no one to... Will you go to the cottage? See what's happened?'
'All right. What are you going to do?'
'Take Rose to join Rebecca. I've found somewhere safe to keep them. Take a radio, and keep in touch - I don't want you disappearing too!' Fowler entered Richard Evans's office and sat down. 'Hallo, Richard. You wanted to see me?' he said cautiously.
'Yes, I do. Things couldn't be worse! What the hell are you doing about my daughter?'
'Everything I can, Richard, I promise you.'
'Well, it's not enough! Anyway, I didn't only ask you to come here about Rebecca. There's someone I'd like you to meet in the office next door. But before I have her brought in, I want to ask you something. In your considered opinion, how effective do you think the correction centres are? I mean, they were initially set up to try and change the way some women think, but now, from the reports I've been getting, they seem to be nothing more than sexual torture chambers.'
'What reports?'
'That's my business, Ron. Are the centres worthwhile? Do they have any real value?'
'Yes, of course they do! We are freeing several women every week, women who have come to see that their protests are futile.'
'I've heard that you're making a lot of money from the women.'
'No, that's not true. The centres are doing a good job. All right, my methods may not suit everyone, but they work.'
'I may well call in and see for myself sometime - I won't say when, of course. Now, I'll have my visitor brought in.'
Two security officers marched a young blonde into the room and stood her before Fowler. The petite girl was no more than eighteen, and Fowler couldn't conceal his wicked grin as he looked down to her small, rounded breasts. Her big blue eyes mirrored her fear as she gazed at him, suddenly realizing her mistake.
'This is Roxanne Kelley,' Evans revealed.
'Hannah Kelley's sister?' Fowler gasped, dragging his gaze from the girl's breasts to her pretty mouth.
'Yes. She came to talk to me about amnesty for Hannah. She's worried about her safety, you see.'
'Richard, let me take her back to the centre.'
'No, I can't allow you to...'
'You do want Rebecca back, don't you?'
'Yes, of course I do!'
'Then I promise you that I'll have her returned to you within hours of me taking this little... Roxanne Kelley to the centre.'
'All right, but no rough stuff, Ron! Do you understand?'
'Please!' the girl screamed. 'Don't let him take me, Mr Evans!'
'It's all right,' Fowler appeased, his narrow piercing eyes afire with lust. 'There'll be no rough stuff.'
'Take her to the centre!' Evans conceded.
Struggling as she was led from the office, Roxanne caught Fowler's eyes. Winking at her, he licked his lips and smiled as she screamed for her freedom.
'I'll look forward to seeing you later!' Fowler called as the door closed.
'No dirty stuff, Ron!' Evans warned.
'No, no dirty stuff,' Fowler repeated, imagining the young girl naked and chained. 'No dirty stuff.' Her hands tied behind her back, Rose followed Hannah through the forest, asking for the third time where she was taking her.
'We'll be there in a minute!' Hannah snapped.
'Bad mood? Just come on, have you?' Rose asked sarcastically.
'You'll bloody well come on in a minute if you don't shut up!'
'Things going wrong for you? Why not just give up?'
'Right, this is the place!' Hannah exclaimed, leading the way through some brambles. 'Here we are - an old World War Two air raid shelter. Well hidden, off the beaten track, it's ideal!'
Tied to a chair, Rebecca looked up as the girls entered the large concrete bunker. 'I'm cold!' she complained.
'Don't worry, as soon as I've put someone in charge of you both, I'll have this place transformed. I may even make it my base,' Hannah replied, tying Rose to another chair.
'The spy will tell my father where we are,' Rebecca warned.
'No, she won't. The spy, as you so aptly call her, doesn't know about this place.'
'I wouldn't be too sure of that.'
'Anyway, I know who she is,' Hannah smiled.
'She's bluffing!' Rose rejoined.
'Am I? Let me tell you this - not only do I know who she is, but I have plans for her. Anyway, I have things to do. I'll bring you both some blankets later, and I might even warm you up a little - if the fancy takes me!'
'You talk of women's rights on the one hand, yet you lower yourself to Fowler's level on the other!' Rebecca accused. 'Why not admit it? You have no concern for anyone or anything other than yourself! All this is just a game to you, isn't it?'
'It's far from a game! And as far as lowering myself to Fowler's level is concerned, I look at it this way. He fights dirty, below the belt, literally! All I'm doing is using the same methods. Someone like Fowler isn't going to listen to reason. He only understands sexual abuse. And you two condone it!'
'But you love to play around with women's bodies. You're nothing more than a lesbian!'
Hannah contemplated her naked prisoners, deep in thought. She
had
become a lesbian, she was sure. But was it so very wrong for a girl to love another girl's body - the soft, gentle, curvaceous femininity of the female form?
Sitting with her legs slightly parted, Rebecca's voluptuous shaven lips swelled between her young thighs. There was no confusion in Hannah's mind now - she wanted to kiss Rebecca there, lick her sweet groove, bring out her tiny clitoris.
'I
am
a lesbian,' Hannah admitted.
'You're worse than a lesbian! You whip us, thrash us and...'
'Shut up, Rebecca! You enjoyed it as much as I did, if not more! Can you honestly say that you don't have lesbian tendencies? No, of course you can't!'
'All right, I may have enjoyed it, but you instigated it. I had no choice! Any normal woman would come if she had her clitoris rubbed, her pussy fingered, her...'
'You both enjoy my attentions, so stop talking rubbish! Anyway, I've things to do. I'll tell you this before I go - I'm becoming increasingly pissed off with everything. This is no kind of life! Evans may well have had a vision of a new country, but Fowler is holding him back, not me. Instead of blindly backing him, think about the future, women's future - your future. You say that I lower myself to Fowler's level, that's as may be - but you've seen nothing yet! When I return, I'll show you both what Fowler really does to those poor girls!' Roxanne Kelley turned to face Fowler as he flung the steel door open and walked down the steps to the basement room. 'How sweet you are in your little summer dress!' he exclaimed as he placed a chair before her. 'Take it off for me and we'll see what you're wearing underneath!'
'No, please - I don't want to!'
'Of course you want to! Or would you prefer me to take it off for you?'
'No, I...'
'You don't want
this
, do you?' he asked, dangling a leather whip before her as he sat down.
Unbuttoning the front of her dress, Roxanne slipped it from her shoulders to reveal her tight bra to his piercing eyes. Letting the dress fall to the ground, she crossed her arms in an effort to conceal the swell of her young breasts. 'Red bra and matching panties,' Fowler breathed, his narrow eyes feasting on the bulging red material between her thighs. 'How I love young girls! Tell me, my dear, are you a virgin?'
'No, I...'
'Oh, so you have a boyfriend, do you?'
'Yes.'
'Tell me what he does to you. Does he lick between your legs, suck your cunt?'
'No.'
'What a waste! Tell me, do you suck his cock?'
'No.'
'Oh dear, how sad. I think I'll have to teach you a thing or two about sex, don't you?'
'No, please...'
'Have you ever been licked by another girl? A school friend, perhaps?'
'Of course not!'
'Then I'll have to ask Lesley Swain to teach you about lesbian sex, won't I? You'll love fingering and licking her pussy as she sucks between your young cunt lips!'
'Please, I don't...'
'How about masturbation? Surely, you masturbate?'
'No!'
'No? Have you never slipped a vibrator between your girlie lips and stiffened your little clitoris?'
'You're perverted! Of course I haven't!'
'Oh, come on! Surely you've slipped your fingers between your pussy lips and rubbed your little spot?'
'Never! And I wouldn't tell you even if I had!'
'Then I think that's where we'll start. You can lie on the table and masturbate while I watch. Now then, which are you going to take off first, your bra, or your panties?'