Chapter 1
The previous twelve months had been kind to the King Detective Agency. Hayley supposed that the publicity of being involved in taking down part of an international criminal enterprise didn’t hurt. Alright so her main involvement was being kidnapped and held captive by that international criminal enterprise but fortunately the press coverage hadn’t lingered on that element of the story. This increase in publicity had led to a bundle of new clients beating a path to her office door. Some of these new clients were wealthy individuals; others were corporations and some were insurance companies. In fact the case that Hayley was currently working on was an instruction on behalf of a large and well known insurance firm. The King Detective Agency had been hired to investigate the disappearance of a valuable painting owned the De Havilland sisters, who were wealthy socialites. The loss adjustor appointed to investigate the claim believed that the sisters were committing fraud by submitting a false claim relating to the alleged theft of two high valued paintings. He had shared his suspicions in Hayley’s office last week and had tasked Hayley with finding some proof. The De Havilland family were one of the oldest and well known in the area and had made their fortune generations ago in transport and then diversified into hotels, although the rumours were that the company had recently hit hard times and was losing money. Hayley had guessed that this could be the reason behind the false insurance claim and why she currently found herself in the lobby of The Grand Bay Hotel, the oldest and most prestigious hotel in the De Havilland portfolio. Hayley had been in the hotel before, mainly for functions in one of the vast halls with her father, the Commissionaire of the local Police force.
Hayley strode purposefully across the entrance foyer toward the reception desk, “Hayley King for Ms De Havilland.” The concierge looked up from the computer screen and looked at Hayley.
“Do you have an appointment?” the young man asked.
“Yes.” Hayley had always favoured the direct approach. The concierge paused for a moment, staring at Hayley. They both knew full well that neither De Havilland sister would ever arrange an appointment at the hotel; business was always conducted at their downtown offices. The concierge picked up the phone handset and dialled an internal number before walking away toward the end of the desk so that Hayley couldn’t overhear the conversation. During the conversation with whoever was on the other end of the phone the concierge took several furtive glances toward Hayley who just tried to look confident, like she belonged. The concierge eventually ended the call and walked back toward Hayley.
“Ms De Havilland will see you shortly. Please take one of the elevators to the top floor and one of my colleagues will meet you.”
“Thanks you” Hayley replied before making her way to the bank of elevators taking in the foyer at the same time. If you just glanced the interior it looked great but if you took a closer look you could tell that the place was tired and in need of decoration. It wasn’t exactly being caught red handed but every little detail help you to build the picture Hayley thought. The centre of the three lifts was lying open and without hesitation Hayley entered and pushed the button for the top floor.
During the elevator ride to the top floor Hayley had the chance to admire her outfit in the mirror that took up the entire rear wall of the car. Hayley had decided to have a change of her usual work wear. She was wearing a light blouse with a skirt and dark boots rather than her usual dark blue jeans and tight sweater combination. The lift stopped at what Hayley took to be the top floor. The doors slid open and Hayley found that she was face to face with a smartly dressed young woman of about twenty five, the nameplate read Julie. “Please follow me Ms King” the woman said before setting off at a brisk, businesslike pace down the corridor with Hayley struggling to keep pace behind. They reached a door that was almost hidden in the wall. The young woman opened it with a key and beckoned for Hayley to go through it, after a slight pause Hayley stepped through the door and into a small landing and found a set of steps in front of her. There must be another level that the paying guests didn’t have access to. As they walked up the steps the Julie explained as if reading Hayley’s mind. “This leads to the private quarters of Ms De Havilland.” There was another door at the top of the flight of stairs and there was an awkward moment as Julie had to squeeze past Hayley in order to open the door. Once Julie had opened the door she entered with Hayley following close behind into a large living space that was tastefully and expensively decorated. Julie escorted Hayley toward two large settees and a coffee table located in the centre of the room. “Please take a seat. Ms De Havilland will be with you shortly.” The smartly dressed hotel employee bid Hayley farewell before turning and leaving the room, leaving Hayley to her own devices. Hayley placed her bag on the floor and spent the next couple of minutes either checking her phone or glancing at her wristwatch. Eventually she couldn’t resist and started to snoop about and started to look behind the various doors that led off from the living room.
“Bingo!” Hayley said quietly once she had opened the fourth of the five doors. The previous three doors had hidden two bedrooms and a kitchen, behind door number four was an office. Hayley looked round and seeing nobody was about slipped between the door and the frame, leaving the door slightly ajar. It was slightly dangerous and she was taking a chance but these were the decisions that you had to make at times as a Private Investigator. Knowing that she wouldn’t have much time Hayley went straight for the wooden desk on the far side of the office and started sifting through the papers lying on the desk with her back to the door, scanning them for any useful information. Hayley didn’t expect to find a receipt for the sale of the paintings or something similar but at the bottom of the pile were invoices from an international shipping company that may be interesting. Cursing that she had left her phone in her bag so couldn’t take a photograph Hayley went back to snooping through the paperwork. Totally engrossed in searching through the pile of papers lying on the desk Hayley failed to notice the door swing open further. Hayley continued to look through the papers and came across a shipping manifest from the same company for something to the Emirates. Hayley thought that this was strange as during her research she had not found any business dealings that the De Havilland company had in that part of the world. Then on suddenly hearing a noise close behind her Hayley spun round and found two women standing side by side. “Apologies,” one of the women said.
“That’s alright you just startled me a bit is all,” Hayley said regaining her composure. After that initial surprise Hayley’s brain had kicked into gear and she recognised the two women as Louise and Judith De Havilland. Louise, the older of the two with blonde hair stood to Hayley’s left and Judith, dark haired and taller and broader than her sister was to the right.
“No not for that, for this,” Judith said before clamping a cloth over Hayley’s nose and mouth. Louise stepped slightly to the side and flung both arms around Hayley, pinning her arms to her side to stop Hayley using them to fight off the cloth wielding attacker.
“Now relax and go to sleep like a good little nuisance….we can’t have you causing a kerfuffle dear.” This prompted a muffled grunt from the girl detective, who had instantly recognised the sweet smelling odour coming from the cloth. As Hayley fought in vain to fight of both her attackers and the effects of the chloroform, her eyes darted and searched frantically left and right for help or something that she could use to break free. There was nobody and nothing close enough to aid her in her fight, which Hayley knew from experience that she was in danger of losing. Hayley could feel her muscles start to relax, the light tingling sensation spread over her body and then her vision started to blur. Once that happened Hayley knew she was going out, eventually Hayley’s eyes rolled up in her head and her eyelids slammed shut.
“A kerfuffle; how quaint.” Louise De Havilland commented as she released the unconscious Hayley and allowed her to slump to the luxuriously carpeted floor. As both women stood over Hayley lying motionless in the centre of the room Louise asked “Why did you use the chloroform on the detective?”
“What did you want me to do? Hit her over the head with a club. I’m not a brute Louise, I've always preferred to use chloroform on women. Simple, easy to come by, has minimal after effects and is far more refined. Beside, I asked some questions about our friend when after I spoke with the concierge and she had a reputation for feistiness, better that we take no chances. Knock her out and then deal with her when she is sleeping.” Louise nodded in response to the explanation of her sister before asking.
“What shall we do with her?”
“Let’s get her to my bedroom first. There are plenty of scarves to tie her up with. It will give us time to decide what to do. We need her to disappear…. I just need to work out how” Judith stole a glance at the unconscious woman lying at her feet taking in her curvaceous 5ft 9” frame. The woman had a killer body that made other women jealous and no doubt made her popular with the male of the species. Hayley also possessed sharp features, deep blue eyes and luscious long dark blonde hair. After a couple of seconds eyeing up the woman the sisters bent down and picked Hayley up from the floor, Judith lifting from under the armpits and Louise grabbing the ankles.
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Hayley came to sitting on a hard backed chair, well sitting was probably the wrong description; she was practically attached to the thing using scarves. Starting from the bottom the sisters had tied a scarf around each of her ankles to secure them to the legs of the chair; there were also additional scarves just below her knees which were also tied to the chair. Long silk scarves have been used across her thighs and around her stomach to further secure her to the chair; finally her wrists and arms were tied to the chair with even more scarves. There was a dull ache at the back of her head and her mouth felt rough, yes definitely chloroform on that cloth. It had been almost a year since she had had the pleasure of that particular drug being used on her and her body must have lost some of its resistance. Looking around the room it was clear that she had been moved from the office into one if the bedrooms that she had seen behind the doors off the living room.
“I see sleeping beauty is awake” said a voice from behind her. Hayley turned her head and followed as the two women walked round and stood in front of her, the De Havilland sisters Judith and Louise. Although the younger of the sisters by two years it was rumoured that Judith was in charge. She had jet black hair and wore simple black rimmed rectangular shaped reading glasses. Both were dressed in a slightly old fashioned way, sensible dark coloured dresses with cardigans over the top. Both sisters had been married and widowed.
“What are you mmmmm” Hayley got half way through that sentence before realising her mistake. Opening her mouth allowed Judith who was standing on the right of the two to cram a white wad of cloth in her mouth. Hayley tried to turn her head, but the woman’s free hand grabbed her chin and pressed Hayley's cheeks forcing her mouth open to accept another wadded up piece of white cloth. “Don’t worry they are nice, clean ladies handkerchiefs.” At this point Hayley didn’t care if they were clean, she didn’t want them in her mouth. The large wad of handkerchief was forced deeper into Hayley's mouth. Hayley retched, but the wad was pushed in further expanding into her cheeks, cotton and hint of lavender flavor filled her mouth. "Just a little more my dear, you have a big mouth and it requires a lot of stuffing to keep you quiet. So I'm sure we can find some more room in there somewhere.” Hayley thought that she was going to choke for a second, but was helpless to prevent what was happening. Finally after more prodding and probing the handkerchiefs were stuffed in place and Hayley found that her mouth was completely filled with cotton. Hayley watched on as the other sister picked up a silk scarf from the large pile sitting on top of the chest of drawers and carefully folded the triangle into a band and pout a knot in the middle of the silk. The woman forced the knot into the soft wad of cotton that stuffed Hayley’s mouth, Hayley wretched and groaned at the same time. The ends of the scarf were pulled behind Hayley’s head and a knot tied, the knot compressed and forced the cotton was deeper into Hayley’s mouth.
To Hayley's dismay she realised that they hadn’t finished gagging her yet. Judith took a pink chiffon scarf from the assortment on the table, and shook it out to confirm that it was a large square before folding it in into a three-inch rectangular band, they grabbed a couple of large white handkerchiefs and folded them into a pad just big enough to sit over someone’s mouth. Hayley hated being gagged and she shook her head defiantly as the woman approached. But in the end she sat still as she could do nothing to stop the unpleasant procedure from continuing, and she knew that it could be worse if she struggled. The woman went behind Hayley after placing the folded handkerchiefs over Hayley’s stuffed mouth tied the scarf over her mouth, pulling it very tight. The soft material moulded itself around Hayley's face and compacted the knotted cleave gag and the packing in her mouth. Finally they took another large silk scarf folded into a band and used it to blindfold the bound detective. With that last flourish completed the sisters stood back to admire their handiwork. Hayley started to wriggle around in the chair. “Now don’t struggle. You brought this on yourself by snooping around. When we heard that there was a young woman going round asking questions we had to take some action.” Judith said as she made her way out of the room with her sister trailing just behind, leaving Hayley alone with her thoughts. Hayley couldn’t believe her bad fortune, due to fly out to Europe in two days and here she was being kidnapped by a pair of middle aged women. Hayley tried to cry out, more out of frustration than anticipation of getting help but the gag was just too effective. The gag kept Hayley quiet in many ways. By holding her mouth open, it made sure that she could not form words. By plugging her mouth with cloth, it made sure that she was muffled such that very little sound got through. Hayley did not try to fight it, though her arms strained involuntarily, wanting to pull the gag off with her hands. But her hands were useless, secured to the chair with silk scarfs that were tied so securely they may well have been metal cuffs. She couldn't even move her mouth and working the gag with some hope of dislodging it was simply impossible. All only thing that she could do was relax and wait.
A couple of hours later
The door opened and Hayley heard footsteps approach. “I think that we will move you onto the bed where you will be more comfortable.” Hayley nodded her agreement; that did sound like a good idea. What came next was totally unexpected. A soft cotton cloth, probably a handkerchief similar to those that had been stuffed into her mouth, was placed over Hayley's nose. Instantly, she knew it was chloroform. She squirmed and tried to avoid the inhaling the fumes, but the woman easily held it in place. "Please stop fighting the drug. It will do no good to resist. When you wake up we will discuss what we do next. Until then it's better if you sleep. So breathe deeply and let the chloroform do its work, again" Being blindfolded and gagged, Hayley couldn't see her vision get blurry, but she felt the weakness in her arms and legs before slipping into unconsciousness.
The pounding at the back of her head told her that she was awake and the stinging sensation of the light on her eyes told her that the blindfold has been removed whilst she was out. Hayley was lying on her stomach on a large double bed. Quickly assessing her bonds Hayley discovered that she no less securely bound than she had been earlier on the chair. Hayley rolled over onto her back and glanced down, her legs where after noting that her boots had been removed were secured in four places by scarves and there were two further scarves around her torso securing her arms to her body. There was also what Hayley assumed to be a scarf tightly binding her wrists together and the mouth silencing gag remained welded in place. Deciding that she had to at least try Hayley twisted this way and that on top of the bedding trying to get free of the scarves but after an exhausting five minutes and with her chest heaving with the effort discovered that the knots were not for coming loose. Her experiments in calling for help through the gag also came to nothing. She could not form words because handkerchiefs wadded in her mouth, tangled her tongue and helped to reduce resonance. It was difficult to move her jaws, and the padding covering her mouth muffled the sounds that did filter through. She could hear herself, and the faint strangled mewing that came out she knew would only be heard by someone in the room. Anyone in any adjoining room, never mind the hotel corridor would be totally oblivious to her cries.
Not long after she had finished struggling Judith De Havilland entered the room and sat on the bed next to Hayley. “Looks like you have been having a struggle. Your reputation for spunkiness seems to be true but I could have told you that there was no way to get loose.”
“MMMRRRPPPHHH” Hayley tried to shout from behind her gag but very little noise escaped. Judith De Havilland clamped her right hand over Hayley’s severely gagged mouth and placed the index finger of her left hand to her lips in a be quiet gesture. Hayley blew out loudly through her nose in frustration as Judith picked up the old fashioned phone from the bedside table and punched a button before putting it to her ear, all the while continuing to keep her right hand firmly clamped over Hayley’s gagged mouth.
“Front desk, this is Judith De Havilland. Please mark Ms King as having left the hotel.” There was silence as whoever was on the front desk responded. “Yes, she will be leaving with us through our private entrance.” Another silence before Hayley heard Judith sign off by thanking the person on the other end of the line. Judith then hung up the phone and removed her hand from over Hayley’s mouth. “You will note that we have used the finest silk scarves to bind you dear. We believe in being civilised and that women; especially one as alluring as you should be bound with a woman’s touch.”
“MMMPPPHHH” Hayley screamed in frustration from behind her gag whilst writhing in her bonds on the bed.
“Now don’t go getting upset young lady. It won’t do any good. I can assure you the knots on those scarves are quite secure. If you keep that up I will be forced to use the chloroform again, purely to stop you from injuring yourself” Judith said as she got up from the bed. “Anyway I suspect that you are wondering what we are going to do with you. Well I like surprises so wouldn’t want to spoil it for you.” Leaving that statement hanging in the air Judith left the room, closing the door behind her. Hayley had another attempt at loosening the scarves that encircled several parts of her body but found that Judith De Havilland was correct in her assessment of the knots. Hayley was unsettled at some of the things the woman had said during that exchange, especially the hint that she had experience of dealing with binding women. Hayley did have to wonder how you got that experience and decided that it wasn’t something that she wanted to find out.
A couple of hours after Judith De Havilland left the room the door opened again, Hayley lifted her head off the pillow far enough to see both sisters enter the room. They both had on coats, scarves, pairs of gloves and carried bags. Obviously they were planning on going somewhere. “Right Hayley lets make a move” Judith commented. With the assistance of the De Havilland sisters Hayley managed to squirm over to the edge of the bed and into a sitting position where Louise untied three of the four scarves binding her legs and then slid Hayley’s boots back on. They then helped Hayley into a standing position, Louise knelling down in front of her.
“Don’t worry this isn’t what you think” Louise said before she hiked up Hayley’s skirt and fiddled around with the scarf around her thighs. Hayley looked down not knowing whether to be offended that Louise had assumed that Hayley would have jumped to that conclusion. Once the scarf had been adjusted Hayley realised that Louise had altered the bindings so that she could walk but her movement was restricted, effectively hobbled.
“Hayley behave and we won’t have to get rough with you.” Judith said. “Or we can get the chloroform out again. I if didn’t know better I would say that you even enjoyed being chloroformed.” Hayley knew that they wouldn’t get rough but she had no interest in being chloroformed again so that threat did work. Hayley nodded to confirm that she wouldn’t be difficult, well at least for now, she would obviously have to bide her time before looking for a opportunity to escape. Judith grabbed her arm and led her towards the door that Louise was holding open. Once through that door Judith encouraged Hayley across the large main room, Louise scurrying past them to open another door on the other side of the room that the small group passed through into a narrow corridor. They tuned left and walked down the corridor, stopping in front of a set of elevator doors, Judith pushed a large button on the wall. “This is our private elevator.”
“Nobody has the code to use it but us” Louise added. Hayley had a quick look around and also noted the lack of cameras in the area. The three women waited on the elevator to arrive, once it had the sisters’ hustled Hayley into the car, Louise punched a four digit number into a keypad before selecting basem*nt level on the control panel. As the group rode silently downwards Hayley was starting to give more credence to those rumours about what had happened to the husbands of Judith and Louise De Havilland. Both sisters had married in their early twenties, both to men in positions of power within businesses that were seen as competitors to that of their own families. It seemed that both marriages were happy, children followed not long after but soon tragedy struck. Judith’s husband was killed in a skiing accident and Louise’s husband eighteen months later in a diving accident. At the time of the incident both deaths were officially declared as accidents but the rumours continued to circulate. Hayley made a note to get Natalie to look at both cases when she got out of this situation.
The lift doors opened to give a view out into a basem*nt car park. Hayley could see concrete pillars and a ramp that she assumed lead to an exit at street level. Judith held up her hand before stepping out into the car park, taking about ten paces before looking around, checking for prying eyes and then beckoning for Louise and Hayley to exit the elevator. Louise nudged Hayley and she started to walk, well with the way the scarf was bound around her thighs it was more like a shuffle. They arrived at where Judith was standing, still scanning for prying eyes and then all three made there way toward a large black SUV parked in the corner of the car park, Hayley noted that the vehicle also had tinted windows. When they were about ten paces away Hayley saw the lights blink as the locks were disengaged. Judith opened the near side rear door and with a little help Hayley managed to get up into the vehicle and seated, not comfortably with her arms pinned behind her against the leather upholstery. Judith engaged the child lock before closing the door. Hayley was briefly alone in the back seat before Louise jumped in the other side, wasting no time in tying Hayley’s ankles together with a scarf and putting the seatbelt in place. From the front seat Judith said "Louise, Miss King needs to be sedated for the journey. Would you care to do the honors?” Louise nodded and took the proffered dark bottle and white handkerchief that Judith held over her shoulder. Come on ladies, not again! Hayley thought as the sweetly scented handkerchief loomed in on being placed over her nose.
The suspension in the SUV was getting a decent work out when Hayley regained consciousness. Then once she had recovered most of her senses from being chloroformed for the third time that day she had a look out the window in an attempt to determine where they were. The vehicle was making its way down a dirt road along the side of a small airfield. “Welcome back Hayley.” Judith said, Hayley looked round and made eye contact with Judith via the rear view mirror. “We have almost arrived at our destination.” Hayley tried to relax as there wasn’t much that she could do anyway. At the end of dirt road Judith De Havilland turned the large SUV through an open gate and onto smooth tarmac, as they passed through the gate Hayley noted the man standing guard. If she didn’t know better she would have sworn that the man had a gun shaped bulge under the light jacket he was wearing. Judith De Havilland obviously knew where she was going as she manoeuvred the SUV toward a hanger in the furthest away and most private corner of the airfield. The SUV stopped next to a door in the side of the hanger. The De Havilland sisters both exited the vehicle and after unlocking the seatbelt and untying the scarves around her ankles and thighs assisted Hayley in getting out of the vehicle. Judith approached the door and knocked on it, a strange pattern of knocks. Obviously some kind of pre-arranged signal Hayley surmised. The door opened and Judith entered, Louise pushed Hayley to encourage her to enter, which she did. On entering the hanger Hayley found that Judith De Havilland was in conversation with two people, a man of average height and build wearing grey cargo pants and a black t-shirt and a blonde woman wearing the exact same outfit. Perhaps it was a uniform Hayley thought, or they got it buy one get one free. Hayley also noted that both carried guns in shoulder holsters. “This is package that I was telling you about on the phone Fabien” Judith said indicated toward Hayley.
“Well you were right Judith, she is indeed an alluring proposition” Fabien said. “Heather, can you show Louise where to the stash the young lady at the moment. They we can discuss business.” The course of action seemingly agreed Hayley was roughly grabbed by the woman named Heather and dragged toward the back of the hanger with Louise De Havilland trailing a couple of paces behind.
“Don’t mess with me lady” Heather hissed into Hayley’s ear. There was a definite hint of a South African accent Hayley thought. She was led to a small room that contained several items of furniture, wooden desks, chairs, cupboards, metal lockers and a couple of army cots with bare mattresses. “Tie her on one of the cots. Make sure that she can’t get loose. I don’t want to have her running around.” Louise led Hayley to one of the cots, Hayley looked around to find that Heather had taken position, arms crossed and jaw set blocking the door. Perhaps it still wasn’t the time to make that move Hayley thought. Without being asked Hayley sat on the bare mattress on one of the cots, Louise delved into her bag and removed a selection of scarves which she used to bind Hayley’s at the ankles, just below the knees and around the thighs. Hayley, with experience of being abducted and bound knew without being asked what her captor would want so swung her legs onto the bed and lay down, getting as comfortable as possible. “Nice and submissive, keep that up and you will be fine” said Heather. Louise took another scarf and tying one end to the scarf around Hayley’s ankles and the other to the metal cot.
“Are there any pillows in here?” Louise asked Heather.
“It’s not a bloody hotel!” was the response. “Take a look for yourself. If you are going to hang around make sure and lock the door behind you and bring the key.” After issuing that order Heather turned and stormed out of the small office. From her position lying on the cot Hayley watched Louise search through the various cupboards and lockers before she found a pillow.
“Sorry it’s the best that I can do” Louise said almost apologetically as she slipped the pillow under Hayley’s head. “Better than nothing I suppose.” Louise dumped Hayley’s bag on a desk in the middle of the room before exiting the room and as instructed locking the door behind her, leaving Hayley alone with her thoughts.
Hayley was lying down on the cot bed trying to work out if there was any way that she could reach her bag that the Louise De Havilland had tantalisingly left on the desk in the centre of the room. After around an hour of lying uncomfortably on the cot bed, at least when she had been abducted and held captive by Elizabeth Crawford and her gang she had been bound in relative comfort the door opened and the De Havilland sisters came back into the room. “Louise, remove the gag from our young friends mouth. Even if she does scream her pretty head off there is nobody around to hear.” Judith said. “Well nobody that will care.” Hayley was really starting to dislike Judith De Havilland very much. Anyway Hayley was not going to object to the gag being removed, her jaw ached and so she sat still and let Louise play with the knots holding the scarves in place until they were both free of her mouth which allowed her to spit out the now saliva sodden was of cotton in her mouth. “Don’t worry we have brought plenty of fresh handkerchiefs and scarves to gag you with.” Louise held a plastic water bottle to her lips and Hayley drank gratefully. She whispered a scarcely audible “thank you,” her mouth parched from hours of wearing the gag. “Now, would you like to tell me what you have planned for me?”
“Straight to the point,” Judith said. “Then I shall do you the same courtesy. A woman of your beauty will make a fine prize in certain parts of the world. It will compensate us for the trouble that you have put us to.”
“Trouble!” Hayley said. “So far al you have done is put me out and tie me up!”
“I am not saying that I didn’t enjoy certain parts of it but it was still not what I had planned.”
“So I am to be sold to the highest bidder then. Thanks, awfully," said Hayley, sarcastically. Hayley made the statement as fact rather than asking as a question. “My friends and colleagues will come looking for me Judith.”
“I am sure that they will” Judith responded “but by that time you will be safely out of the country.”
“Can I ask where?”
“I didn’t ask. Our friend Fabien, in addition to being a top class forger and mover of how shall I phrase it………. slightly warm paintings and antiquities has a side line in transporting pretty young ladies to those that have contacts to pass them further on.” Hayley, concentrating entirely on Judith failed to notice Louise who was now sitting beside her produce a large white handkerchief which she then poured some liquid onto from a dark bottle. Hayley’s nose wrinkled as she caught the scent a split second before the handkerchief was clamped over her nose and mouth. Hayley started writhing frantically, trying to escape from the fumes that would render her unconscious, Louise unprepared for that kind of reaction was thrown off the cot and onto the floor, relief was short lived though as Judith pushed Hayley down onto the cot, her head landing on the pillow. “Quick Louise hand me that handkerchief.” Louise, now back off the floor did as instructed before grabbing hold of Hayley’s legs, leaning on them with all her weight to prevent Hayley from kicking out.
“Wait you don’t have to so do this” Hayley pleaded, staring at the handkerchief that Judith De Havilland had hovering with menace above her head. Judith just smiled before placing the handkerchief back over Hayley’s nose and mouth.
"This is the best result you could hope for, my dear. The only other alternative was…well…not very pleasant. Breathe deeply; close your eyes and go to sleep.” Hayley could not believe it, about to be knocked out again. This would be the fourth time in a single day, surely a record. Even for her! “When you wake up this time we can put you in the specially designed casket for transport.” Hayley had no real wish to find out exactly what that was but try as she might she could not shake off the De Havilland sisters and the exertions only meant that she inhaled more of the fumes from the chloroform soaked cloth clamped over the lower half of her face. Hayley quickly realised that resistance was futile and stopped struggling, resigned to her fate. Taking deep breathes the end came quickly and everything went black.
The sun had set about half an hour or so again by Hayley’s reckoning as she lay on her side on the cot. Hayley was once again bound to the cot and her gag had been replaced. At least they had used fresh handkerchiefs and scarves, small mercies Hayley thought. When she had first come round there has been a lot of noise coming from outside the room, the sounds of preparations being made, heavy items being moved, orders being issued, people moving around but everything had been quiet for a while now. Hayley guessed that the preparations had been completed and they were now just waiting for the correct time to leave. Suddenly a loud bang came from the main hanger followed by the unmistakable sounds of a commotion, then there was a creaking noise and then Hayley heard the sound of wood splintering and wriggled on the cot into a position where she could see the top of the door over the desk in the middle of the room. “Anybody in here” said a familiar voice. Hayley moaned and groaned into her gag, the De Havilland sisters having kindly reapplied the same severe gag as earlier and thrashing trying to make as much noise as possible to attract attention. The sound of the footsteps got louder as they rounded the desk, a set of legs appearing in front of Hayley.
“MMMPPPHH” Hayley moaned into her gag, relief flooding through her body.
“Aren’t you glad that I put that tracker application on your phone Hales.” Natalie Twain said, looking down at her bound and gagged friend. “Now let’s get you untied.”
Half an hour later
“I can’t thank you enough Natalie. I thought that I was in real trouble this time” Hayley said to her friend as they walked back into the main hanger. Looking round Hayley took note of the multiple Police officers searching the premises; she also noted Judith and Louise De Havilland, their friend Fabien and several other men being led toward two waiting Police vans in handcuffs. “Did you round them all up Natalie?”
“We think so. Managed to take the guard at the gate without alerting the rest and caught them on the hop. It looks like we arrived in time as they were just putting the final crate onto the plane.”
“Not quite the last crate. They were planning to take me with them and sell me to the highest bidder.”
“Well then we can add human trafficking to the list of charges when we work them out.”
“There was a woman with a South African accent, around five feet eight, long blonde hair, grey eyes, mid to late thirties, black t-shirt.” Natalie shook her head and gestured for a nearby uniformed colleague to who walked across. Natalie gave him the description and asked that he put out a call so that all units in the area looked out for women matching that description. Then Natalie walked towards the crates that some uniformed officers had removed from the hold of the plane sitting in the centre of the hanger. Hayley decided to tag along a couple of steps behind. Natalie nodded to a large Sergeant who picked up a crowbar. “Shall we see what is in the box?”
The following morning
Hayley was sat in the coffee house round the corner from her flat with the paper spread open across the table in front of her. Leafing through the pages Hayley found the story on page 7, the reporter had a crush on Hayley so had worded the story so that she was portrayed in a slightly better light. He had done a good job. As Hayley read the article it came across like she had made a genuine contribution toward the discovery of the missing pieces of art rather then being chloroformed, abducted and tracked using a phone application. Just as she was about to flick toward the sports pages her phone vibrated, checking the screen Hayley noticed that it was the office and snatched it up from the table, “Hi Lori” Hayley said cheerfully greeting her receptionist who had replaced Michelle about three months previously. Michelle had left and moved away after a whirlwind romance with a finance executive. Being honest Hayley was glad that Michelle had left as it saved her a difficult decision. As the business has grown it had become clear that Michelle didn’t have the required skills to run the office, her leaving had allowed Hayley to employ somebody with a bit more experience.
“Lucas called to confirm if you were going to be coming in today.” Hayley suddenly remembered that she had agreed to meet with Lucas to go over cases and other issues that may arise when she took her trip to Europe.
“Yes” Hayley replied looking at her watch and calculating how long it would take her to get to the office, “I will be in around half past.” She quickly finished her coffee, folded the paper and put it back into her bag. Making sure that she had everything Hayley started walking toward the office.
The offices of King Investigations
Sitting in her office Hayley heard a rap on the frosted glass pane in her door. “Come in Lucas” she shouted, the silhouette gave it away. The door opened and in entered her latest employee, Lucas Walker. The increase in the amount of work that the firm had taken on had necessitated that Hayley take on another investigator to help out. After interviewing several applicants she had decided to employ Lucas Walker. Although he didn’t have a lot of experience he was enthusiastic and they clicked both things Hayley put high on the list of things that she looked for in someone that she worked with. Lucas took the seat on the other side of the desk and smiled; Hayley returned the smile and pulled up a file on her laptop. “Let’s get started shall we.” Lucas nodded and they two investigators spent the next hour going through Hayley’s current cases and anything that needed followed up or could come up whilst she was away. The meeting finished Hayley closed her laptop after e-mailing a copy of her notes and itinerary for her trip to Lucas.
“Thanks for taking the time to brief me, especially after what happened yesterday.”
“That’s fine and believe me I have been in worse situations” Hayley replied. “If there is anything urgent then call me but I will be checking the e-mails occasionally whilst I am away.”
“When do you head off chief?” Lucas asked getting up from the seat.
“Tomorrow evening. And don’t call me that. That’s what the officers on the force call my dad.”
“Okay chief. Take care” Lucas responded with a smile before heading out the door. Hayley leaned back in her chair. Take care, she thought. It was a three week holiday in Europe. What could possibly go wrong?
