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Freddie had got an office for me in the
run-down block that he used on the edge of the city. �FC Enterprises� it said
on a dingy plate by the door. The whole building looked pretty dingy. The up
side was that I could get to
Upstairs there were researchers and the
accounts department. I was sitting in my office, going through my thoughts
after my visit to the Prep Centre. What worried me was how normal it all felt,
how easily I seemed to have slipped into accepting the ideas, the whole basis
behind this bizarre business. A few weeks ago I wouldn�t have believed there
was such a place as the Prep Centre in the heart of
I was thinking about the trip up to the Sales
Centre when the phone rang.
It was Freddie. �Morning,
�Yes, sure,� I said, �she�s a friend of
Rebecca�s, works for Atlantic Airlines too. They used to crew together
sometimes.�
�Word is that you two used to �crew�
together occasionally as well when Rebecca wasn�t around?�
As I was beginning to appreciate, Freddie�s
intelligence network was extensive.
�That was a long time back,� I said.
�Good, good. Then you won�t have any
objection to us adding her to the collection?�
As always I was non-plussed by Freddie�s
matter-of-fact approach. Thinking about it, compared with the rest of what I�d
been involved in over the past weeks, it was hardly much of a problem. I hadn�t
seen Mandy for six months � somehow she and Rebecca had always been on the same
trips for a while. And anyway it hadn�t been much more than a shared physical
thing � Mandy was fairly energetic between the sheets, if you know what I mean
� so I couldn�t say that I had any real reservations about Freddie�s proposal.
�No,� I said, �not really.�
�Excellent, excellent,� beamed Freddie. �Thought that would be the case. It�s just that she�s been
kicking up a bit of a fuss over her friend�s disappearance and that could be a
bit inconvenient. I thought you and Harry could deal with it. You seemed to get
on all right with the last one.�
I was conscious that I hadn�t been more
than a spectator at the garage job but Freddie didn�t seem to want to be
diverted by practicalities. �Sure,� I said, feeling less than confident, �leave
it to me.�
�And make it quick can you,� Freddie came
back. �I�d like to get her in before she causes any ripples.�
Harry was hardly what you could call happy when I spoke to him. The broad gist of his remarks was along the lines that he thought we didn�t really have enough time to do a proper job and that flight attendants were always a problem, �cos you never knew if they were going to get re-rostered and you�d find all your plans in the skip. Since it was my fault (not sure I quite understood that bit) I could do the hard work.
I say the broad gist because it was
sometimes quite hard to make out his exact meaning in between the various
expletives.
We talked through Mandy�s likely
whereabouts. Harry�s view was that her flat was the best bet � he was fed up
with trying to find good pick up points in airports and the muzak in Heathrow
Terminal 3 drove him mad. He also �suggested� that I could make up for the fact
that I�d obviously caused all this rush by setting up the snatch myself.
I gave her a call. She was pleased to hear from me. She was worried about Rebecca. �So am I�, I said, �why don�t I come round and we can talk about it.�
�I�d like that,� she said.
So that evening I was standing outside her
door with a chloroform soaked pad in a sealed plastic wallet in my jacket pocket
and very clear instructions from Harry once again not to �fuck this one up
either.�
Amanda let me in. She was looking cute.
Like I say, I hadn�t seen her for a while. It looked as if she�d dropped a few
pounds. She was wearing a shirt and jeans, they were tight and I liked the
effect. She�d left the shirt unbuttoned enough to show a hint of cleavage. I
guessed that her thoughts weren�t entirely on Rebecca. She fixed us both a
drink.
�Have you heard anything from Becky?� she
said. �We were supposed to do a trip together on Monday and she didn�t show up.
It�s not like her and I know you two were, well, seeing quite a lot of each
other.�
�No,� I said, peering at the vodka and
tonic she�d brought. �No, I haven�t seen her for a while. Things were, well,
you know how it is.�
�She didn�t say. I mean I thought you were
still together. If I�d known I might have given you a call.�
�That might have been nice.� I downed the
vodka. She smiled in return.
�Can I get you another?� She sank her own
drink.
�Mmm, please.�
Amanda picked up the two glasses and headed
towards the kitchen. I followed her and thought that now was as good a time as
any to make my move. I slipped the plastic wallet from my pocket and pulled out
the pad. I caught up with her just as she reached the refrigerator looking for
some ice. I was surprised how easy it was. The pad went over her nose and
mouth, her arms flew out and the glasses cart-wheeled across the room to
shatter on the floor. She gave a muffled squeal as she gasped for breath but all
that did was to give her more of the drug. I got my other arm around her chest.
That stopped her arms flailing. She tried to break free of my grip but I had
her held tightly and soon her struggles subsided. I felt her go limp and let
her slide to the tiled floor of the kitchen. �How easy was that?� I thought.
�Even quicker than Harry had said.� I pulled out my mobile to give Harry a
call. No bloody signal.
I went back into the living room and the
signal improved. I tried Harry�s number again �Hi,� I said. �Smooth as a nut.
Bring the car round the back and we can go out down the fire escape as we
agreed.�
�O.K.� said Harry. �Open up, I�ll be there
in a minute.�
The fire escape was through Mandy�s bedroom
window. Sure enough, moments later, Harry appeared outside. I pulled up the
window and he climbed in. He looked around. �Where is she then?�
�In the kitchen,� I said, pointing the way
out through the bedroom door. �She went out like a light. It was even easier
than you said.� He followed my pointing finger.
Harry came back almost immediately. �In the
kitchen, you said?�
�Yes, sure why?�
�It�s just that there�s a lot of broken
glass in there but, unless this lady is particularly petite, I don�t see her
there.�
I barged past him into the kitchen but sure
enough Amanda wasn�t there, just the broken glasses and the discarded
chloroform pad.
�You did give her plenty of it?�
�Yeah sure. Well, hey, I�ve not had any training in this. How am I to know?
Look she can�t be far away. She can�t have gone out through the front door, I�d
have heard her. She must still be in the flat somewhere.�
�Let�s hope so. We�d better go look, hadn�t
we?�
Harry started checking the cupboards in the
kitchen. I went back into the living room. As I stepped in, she was standing behind
the door. I didn�t hear anything until she hit me with the vodka bottle. The
next thing I know is I�m on the floor with a headache worse than the one I had before
my first lunch with Freddie.
Moments later Harry came back into the
living room. He was half pushing, half carrying a struggling Amanda. He�d got
his hand over her mouth but underneath it I suspected that Mandy�s language was
every bit as colourful as Harry�s had been earlier.
�I think you lost something,� said Harry,
grinning. �Now if you could find something to make sure our young friend
doesn�t wander off again and something to keep her quiet too, that would be
really helpful. And you,� he turned to Amanda, �quit struggling or you�ll get
another dose of that pad and I�ll keep it on for long enough this time. Plus
it�s covered in broken glass which will make a mess of that pretty face of
yours.�
I had a look around her bedroom and grabbed
a couple of scarves and some pantyhose. I took them back to the living room
where Harry had wrestled Mandy to the floor and was sitting astride her back. I
tossed him the stuff. �Yeah,� he said. �That�ll do.� He pulled Mandy�s wrists
together behind her back and tied them there before tying her ankles too. He
rolled her over on to her back. She was scowling at the two of us.
�What the hell is this all about, Larry,�
she gasped, �Is this some kinky game? What on earth�s going ounggh.�� Harry cut her off by wedging one of the
scarves into her mouth. He tied a knot in the middle of the other one, pushed
that into her mouth over the other scarf and knotted it off behind her head.
Amanda gave a groan.
Harry sat her up and turned to me. �Now why
don�t you go pack the young lady�s case like we agreed and we can be on our
way?�
Embarrassed by my poor showing. I scuttled off to do as he asked. The idea was to make it look like she�d decided to go away for a few days. So I picked out a selection of clothes and underwear and put them in a case. Harry had said to bring her work uniforms and airport passes as well, so they went in too.
It didn�t take long but by the time I�d got
back Harry was already amusing himself. Somehow Mandy�s blouse had come
unbuttoned and Harry�s hands were all over her tits. She was wriggling to avoid
his attentions but the panty hose knotted around her wrists and elbows meant
that she wasn�t having much success. The scarves made sure that her objections
weren�t heard.
�Hope you don�t mind Larry,� he said. �I�m
a sucker for a well filled blouse, if you�ll pardon the expression and this one
had a rather pleasant pair of tits inside it. You got the case? OK, let�s take
little Mandy here for her trip.� He reached down, picked her up and threw her
across his shoulder. She kicked out a bit until he slapped her backside. �Don�t
be a silly, girl,� he said, heading for the bedroom and the fire escape. I
followed him carrying Mandy�s bag.