Chapter six

Slowly, Janine regained her consciousness. She blinked, but everything remained black. Still drowsy, she wanted to rub her eyes, but her hands didn`t obey her.

Suddenly, everything came up to her mind. Helena! She had somehow got free and drugged her to sleep! Now, she was tied up hogtied and blindfolded, lying on the same training bench on which they had dropped Helena earlier.

„Mhhmppph! Uuhhmmphh!“

Janine realized that she was gagged, too. Something – obviously the scarf wad that had gagged Helena – was stuffed into her mouth and sealed in with tape. She tried to push against it with her tongue, but the tape was too tightly applied.

With dismay, she discovered from the touch of the bench`s upholstery against her back that she had been stripped as well, except for her bra. Strange enough, she felt that she was now wearing panties.

Bzzzzzzz!

A faint, buzzing sound came to her ears. The same moment, she realized a strange vibration in her pubic area. Janine shifted her hips. With embarrassment, she sensed that her vibrator had been taped to her intimate area.

„Nnnnnggg! Mmmhhmmphh!“

Janine squirmed in her bonds and tried to get it off, but to no avail. She could touch her bound feet with her bound hands, but she was unable to reach for her lap or her hooded head, for the bench was too wide.

In opposition to Helena, Janine`s knowledge about handcuffs was limited to the fact that they were meant to restrain people. She had never thought of being in a position where it might be necessary to get out of a pair of handcuffs herself.

„Mhhhmmmm! Uhhhhmmmphhh!“

Janine anticipated the humiliation of being found like this by her colleagues – or by the detectives whom she did not consider to be wholesome members of her team. Suddenly, she could hear the opening of the door.

„Wow! Is that still a part of the punishment or the reward for telling the truth?“

Janine recognized the voice as Britta`s. She moaned and calmed down, though she blushed violently under her hood. At least, now she would be free in a matter of minutes.

„Well, have fun. I would like to look and learn, but instead, I am entitled to learn something about modern art. See you later!“

„Mhhhhrrrrr! Hmmmmmphh! Mph! Mph!“

Janine bucked in her bonds and screamed into her gag. Was this private investigator just an idiot or thinking she was funny? But then, as the door fell close and Britta obviously had gone, Janine realized with horror the real amount of humiliation her current plight provided.

She was not wearing just some panties, but Helena`s panties – and obviously her bra as well! With her head hooded, Britta had thought that she was Helena and that the real Janine had left her to struggle.

„Mmmhhhhhhhmmmmmm! Uuuhhhmmmmmm! Nnnnnnnggggg! Mph!“

Janine fought like a lioness, but the bench was screwed to the floor and built from heavy steel. The handcuffs did not loosen a millimetre and her gag remained firmly in place. Though, it took quite some time till exhaustion stopped the frantic flailing and screaming of the furious police commissioner.

***

Some three miles ago, two even less decently clad women were fighting to get rid of their bonds and gags, too. The naked Loredana did so by still squirming on the floor, whimpering through the nerf ball and Angeliqque`s panties stuffing her mouth and flailing her legs, putting strain on both her and Angelique`s toes. As time had passed, her efforts had become weak, but she was still trying to get loose.

The equally naked, bound and gagged Angelique, however, was again thinking more methodically. Untameable Angelique – that`s what some people called her. The name actually derived from a series of adventure books, portraying a plucky joung girl named Angelique who had to get through some romantic adventures during the reign of Louis XIV.. Being a product of the fifties, these books – and the films – were rather trivial, but she liked the nickname somehow.

Thinking about nicknames, a strange thought came up in her mind.

„At least, he has called you Lili.“

Angelique didn`t like being called „Angie“, she preferred being called „Lili“ - not pronounced like the English „Lilly“, but accented on the last syllable, as usual in French. Many foreigners did not get that after knowing her for years, but this man had at least had the courtesy to call her the way she wanted.

„Anyway, I am far from including him in my night prayers“, she thought.

Angelique wondered who he was. First, she had believed him to be some kind of white slaver sent by Helena, but hadn`t he said that he was not one of her men? On the other hand, he knew who Helena was – and who she and Loredana were, too!

„Mhhhmmmmm! Hhhmmmmmph!“

Loredana was still trying to scream through her gag.

„Mph!“

Angelique tried to sound calm and reassuring. Since her gag was the same – well, maybe a bit worse since Loredana`s panties were more substantial than her`s - , Angelique knew that fuming into that gag only meant getting out of breath quickly. The nerf ball puffed out her cheeks and jaws from the inside, forcing her to chew on Loredana`s panties that were wrapped around it from time to time.

Angelique gulped. „Better think of something else“, she thought. She liked Loredana and she didn`t mind swapping clothes with her, but that definitely did not include used underwear!

Angelique examined her bonds for the umpteenth time. She had already tried to reach for the tape sealing her mouth, but her strained position did not allow her to get her hands close enough to her head. Rubbing the tape against the floor had not turned out to be successful either. There was no protruding edge on the tape and since it rounded her head several times, it would not have brought her anywhere, even if she managed to peel away the first layer of her gag.

With her hands cuffed behind the post, there was little more she could do. The shoelaces that tied her big toes to Loredana`s had resisted any attempt to wriggle them off so far, too. Anyway, even if she got her legs free, what would it get her? Of course, not longer being bound to Loredana would allow her to sit or even stand up. Perhaps, she could trample on the floor to alert someone – but whom?

Since the man had left, Angelique had heard nothing but birds – and their combined gruntings and moanings, of course. Angelique realized, that, even if she could somehow get rid of her gag, she would still be tied to the unyielding post with her hands behind her back – naked. For the moment, there wass no other possibility than to wait for their abductor.

„Mhhmmph! Uuuhhmm!“

Loredana`s screams for help became weaker. Angelique tried to console her friend, but all she could manage was a faint push with her right big toe to Loredana`s left.

„He can`t keep us here all the time. He will have to look for us, has to feed us – or the opposite, for what that means!“

Angelique could feel a slight urge to pee growing within her, but she fought it down.

Anyway, this man would have to release them sooner or later, and then, perhaps, they could manage to escape. She just had to remain calm and at the same time alert of any possibility to get free.

„Come on, Lili“, she said to herself.

***

„All right, how do I look like?“, Baker asked Hideki as he stepped out of the bathroom.

Hideki grinned: „Like an 80`s porn star trying to look like a Latin Lover.“

Baker frowned: „I thought, in Japan you are only interested in anime porn where monsters with tentacles hunt down innocent school girls.“

„By the holy shrine of my ancestors, if you don`t stop insulting me by thinking in cliches about the Land of the Rising Sun, I will commit Seppuku!“

„Sumimasen, cherry blossom!“

Both laughed. Baker had thought that, dressed and made up as he was, he had a resemblance to the late Raul Julia. He wore a short black wig with lots of grease in it, he had shaved his three-days-beard, leaving only a menjou that he had dyed with mascara. That, combined with some self tanning cream and brown contact lenses, made him look like a southern European – though a slightly sleazy one, he had to admit. He was wearing a tuxedo that had cost him some 1000€.

„And what do I look like?“, Hideki asked, posing like a model on the catwalk.

„Like someone about to be killed by Rambo or Chuck Norris somewhere in the jungle of Vietnam.“

Hideki wore black sport shoes, black tight trousers and a black long sleeved T-shirt. Around his waist, he had a black army belt with several small bags on it.

„Well, let`s go!“

They drove to a small parking lot, still some 500 metres away from Elodie`s mansion. Here, Hideki went under the car. Earlier that day, they had attached some straps that would allow Hideki to keep his position midway between the street`s surface and the hot muffler. It was a straining position, but a test had told the that Hideki could stay like this for at least some 15 minutes.

Carefully avoiding bumpers, Baker approached the mansion`s park`s entrance. Two security guards were checking the cars and their owners, but they only looked inside and told him to open his boot. A man in a suit noted his passport number. Baker had reported his wallet stolen late in the afternoon. Since this security was not linked to the police computer, they would not know about that, but it would enable him to get a new passport during the next few days, since he did not want to throw away the yet unblemished identity of Henri Reno.

Another man wearing a vest asked him if he wished his car to be parked.

„Ah, yes, that would be nice.“

Handing the man the keys and a 20€ quit, he walked towards the mansion`s entrance.

***

Many bondage movies include situations in which a woman reaches the throes of passion just because the thug has placed a vibrator at her pussy or attached it to her crotch rope. Most women in real life say that it is virtually impossible to stimulate a woman that doesn`t want to get stimulated. Janine was just about to find out that the truth was lying somewhere in between.

Had she been in a cool mood, the vibrator would not have had another effect than slightly annoying her. But Janine was aroused by a completely different emotion – fear from humiliation. During her successful years as a police investigator, she had cultivated her image as a cool and masterful, yet a bit whimsical person – a female Sherlock Holmes, as she liked to see herself.

But this image had already suffered a defeat when Sandra had discovered her bound and gagged in her own chair in nothing more than bra and pantyhose. Janine had presented herself as helpless. And now, this Britta had seen her in an even more humiliating predicament. Even if she managed to break free, the private investigator would know that it had been her who had been bundled up in front of her eyes.

„Mmmhhhhhmmppphh!“

Janine let out a groan of frustration when she suddenly felt a slight tingling growing in her womb. All the time she had deliberately ignored it, the vibrator taped to her pubic mound had done it`s work. And since Janine was in a rather emotional state, even more when Britta had mistaken her as Helena, her body slowly reacted.

„Mmph! Ummpph!“

„No! I must fight this!“

Janine forced herself to calm down and it worked – for the moment. Because now, some involuntary thoughts haunted her.

„What if I already reacted – only just a bit? Perhaps, there`s a wet spot on my panties?“

Janine was furious because the black hood prevented her from controlling her crotch area. Perhaps, a slight fragrance of her arousal was already noticeable in the room and only she did not know, because her nose was covered, too.

„Mmmph! Uuuhhmmpph! Nnnnng! Nnnnngg!“

Janine squirmed and shuddered. Again, the untiringly maschine had sent shivers through her loins. Again, Janine`s self-control enabled her to relax, but this time, it took her longer.

„I can`t stand this forever. Sooner or later, I will-“

Suddenly, the door opened and she heard someone approaching her. Moments later, she felt that the vibrator was switched off.

„No matter how important the informations are, I won`t allow people being treated like that. I am still representing an executive of a constitutional state.“

Sandra! Obviously, she was thinking that she was Helena, too!

„Mhhmmm! Hmmmmmmph!“

Janine felt the hood being pulled from her head and blinked into the totally perplexed face of her colleague.

Sandra did not believe her eyes. The sweat-covered, blushing face was definitely not that of their captive. Within the fraction of a second, three thoughts ran through Sandra`s mind.

First, she wanted to call the others, but she stopped herself. Anyway, they were occupied by standing around in the mansion`s hall wearing their best dresses and were keeping guests from leaving the public parts of the mansion. Sandra had been very glad that they were more than enough people upstairs and she could take a look at their „prisoner“.

The second thought was all too natural – she wanted to rip the tape from Janine`s mouth. But she hesitated, took her cell phone and made a photo of Janine being bound and gagged, clad only in bra and panties that weren`t hers.

„Mhhrrrrr! Mmmpphhh! Uuuhhmmmmmm!“

Janine furiously screamed into her gag and bucked in her bonds. How dared this idle girl to take a photo of her predicament.

„Don`t be afraid, Noone will ever see this – except if you keep on disregarding the rules in your fight against the law.“

Sandra waited for Janine`s vocal protests to calm down before she took her gag off.

„You will regret that“, she fumed at Sandra after she had spit out the soaked scarf.

Before Sandra could answer, a loud clang could be heard from upstairs, followed by some shouting and screaming.

***

Having released himself from the belts connecting him to the car, Hideki had crawled to a position from which he could observe the mansion. He could clearly see people standing or walking around, obviously chatting.

„Just wait for my diversionary tactic, then get in and hide somewhere“, Baker had told him. Hideki just wondered what it would be when the window some 20 yards away was broken from the inside.

***

Once in the hall, Baker had recognized the party as one similar to some he had been to during the last year. Obviously, Elodie Lasalle was just another bored rich who pretended to work by offering a luxurious ambiente for selling valuables. According to her profile, Elodie had studied history aof arts and Baker was sure she knew more about paintings than he did, but he was sure the main reason for her to organize these exhibitions was that „art dealer“ sounded somehow better than „spoiling the money my ex-husband has to give me“.

Baker could see the women that had participated in the abduction of Helena, except for Janine and the busty brunette – Sandra, in whose flat he had been, he remembered. The buxom dark haired that he had seen bound and gagged on the bed in that very flat, noe dressed in a darl blue cocktail dress, was standing near the bar – showing the slightly cramped appearance of a policeman who is on duty and tries to look like a civilian. Someone who obviously was a colleague of her was leaning towards a column and from time to time they exchanged views.

The two other girls he did not know either were guarding the stairs to the upper floors. The younger one sometimes showed her charming smile and explained some guests that they were limited to the first floor.

When he pretended to admire the artwork, Baker could see a slightly nervous Babette standing beside a smiling and chatting blonde. It was Elodie who just talked about the rise of prizes on the Asian art market. When he saw a man oppress a yawning, Baker decided it was time to start the show.

He had recognized a painting in one corner that for sure was a fake. He could tell so because he knew that he had sold the original to an Ukrainian art collector five months before. The lack of a secret little sign he always left on the things he stole told him that this was not the same picture he had had in his hands already. The fact did not matter for the show he had prepared, but Baker would have felt pity if he had to destroy precious and irreplaceable artwork.

„This! Is! A! Fake! These paintings are all fake!“, he cried.

Everyone in the room looked at him. Most of the people seemed more indignant than concerned and some even laughed.

„Such fakes ruined my business! But now, I will ruin the fakers!“

Baker now screeched, grabbed the picture and threw it to the crowd. Now, some women screamed and some champagne glasses got smashed to pieces on the floor. Baker could see the four policewomen approaching him.

„Only true art shall perssist! Doom to all fakes!“

He knew that his speech wasn`t very elaborate, but he wasn`t performing Shakespeare. When the policewomen were some three yards away, he reached into his jacket and drew a grenade.

„True art forever!“

Tiffaine and Valentine were washed away by the screaming and panicking crowd and had to fight to keep on their feet. Britta and Martina, who had little experience in handling armed assaults and no experience with terroristic attacks, just withdrew from the room. Baker pulled the splint and threw the grenade at the vanishing crowd.

Had it been a real grenade, this would have ended the lifes of several persons including him, but Baker was neither a psychopath nor a fool. The smoke bomb set off with a swish and thick pink clouds started to fill the room.

Baker took a small, but heavy marble bench and threw it through the window.

Beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep!

The alarm rose, causing a deafening noise. Earlier that day, he and Hideki had done extensive research on the internet about the company that had built the alarm system. This, and Baker`s „professional“ knowledge about such things, had told them that this kind of system actually provided two kinds of alarm: it would start a siren and at the same time, the police would be informed. Most museums and exhibition houses nowadays preferred the mute alarm, this feigning safety to the burglar and making it possible for the police to catch him in the act. But most private persons still preferred the deterrend effect of a loud siren.

Baker had chosen this room for one particular reason. When the clouds reached him, he stepped into the open chimney and, by ruining his suit, climbed up the narrow chimney stack. After some two yards, there was an iron barrier, but, like in most of these old chimneys, it was made just from tin and so he could knock it away, the sounds covered by the still sounding siren.

Coughing from the ashes that came down on him and from the smoke reaching the chimney from the room, Baker crawled into a room where he immediately headed for the door. He could hear the sounds of screaming and running people in the hall, but here, still nobody had come to watch. Taking off his shoes and raising his gun, Baker ran up the stairs, leading him to a corridor in the third and last floor. When he just reached the corridor, he could hear a ping and an elevator`s door opened up just beside him.

***

When the alarm rose, the security guards in the garden headed for the door. Hideki took the chance and sneaked towards the building. Now, it didn`t matter if he triggered the alarm for it was triggered anyway.

When crossing the corner, Hideki could see pink smoke coming from one of the windows. Whatever Baker had done, it had the desired effect. Without any difficulties, Hideki could open a back door with one of the picklocks Baker had given and explained to him.
Now inside, he could hear the sound of approaching feet. Quickly, he entered the next room – a large living room, leading to thhe terrasse. Here, he just hid himself under the couch and waited. Baker had given him some pills, originally developed for people on long distance flights, that would oppress the needs of nature, together with some caffeine pills. This would enable him to stay here for an entire day if necessary, but Baker had promised him that they would start their real attack during the next morning, when the police would have withdrawn again.

The door burst open and some people were running through the room, but the couch`s beetling upholstery protected Hideki from detection. So, when he was alone again, he even could relax on the thick carpet a bit.

***

Elodie was a charming and generous woman, but bravery was not one of her virtues. So, when she had heard the first signs of the upcoming panic among her guests, she had decided to take no risk at all. When she had heard the cracking of the window and seen people running from the exhibition room screaming and shouting, surrounded by thick clouds, Elodie had pushed the button for her private elevator. She called for Babette, but could not see her friend anywhere, and so, when the elevator arrived, she jumped in and pushed the button for the third floor, emitting a sigh of relief when the iron door had closed and the box went up, away from the terror and chaos in the hall.

When the elevator had reached the third floor, Elodie quickly stepped out. Suddenly, an arm was slung around her neck from behind and pressed over her lips.

„Mhhmmpphh! Uuuhhhhmmmmmmm!“

Baker dragged the moaning woman into the next room and closed the door with his foot. It was a guest`s bathroom of some two square metres. Quickly, Baker pushed up the skirt of Elodie`s dress.

„Mmmhrrrrr! Mhhmmmmph!“

The woman squirmed and flailed with her arms when Baker yanked her panties down.

„Be quiet, or you will die!“, he hissed into her ear.

Then he dumped her on the toilet seat with her skirt bunched up and her panties down and withdrew his hand, but pointed at her face with the gun.

„No sound, understand?“

Elodie just remained paralyzed, staring at Baker with wide, fearful eyes and not dearing to even breathe.

The same moment, footsteps could be heard from the corridor. Baker turned the key, positioned himself behind the door and put his left finger to his lips.

„Sshh!“

Two seconds later, the door was kicked open from the outside. A brawny man with a gun in his hand burst in – and bounced back when he saw the frightened Elodie sitting on the toilet.

„Oh, eh, hm, sorry, Mrs. Lasalle“, he stammered and left, hastily closing the door behind him.

When the corridor was silent again, Baker approached Elodie who still hadn`t moved or uttered a sound. As he stood some 20 inches in front of her, he could hear a babbling sound and Elodie looked at him with a mixture of embarrassment, fear and relief. The woman had peed with sheer fear.

„No problem, here`s the place for such things“, Baker said and quickly tied her up with three long zip ties – he actually did not like these because they created ugly red marks on the skin, but now, time was on the agenda.

He forced her to lie on the bathroom mat and tied her wrists and ankles. Then, he connected her arms and legs tie, putting Elodie in a hogtie. When he ripped off her panties and balled them up, the girl spoke to him for the first time.

„No, please, I won`t scream!“

„How could you, with these in your mouth?“, Baker answered and shoved the bunched panties into Elodie`s mouth, sealing it in with some rounds of electrical tape.

„Mhmmph! Uuhhmmph!“, the girl grunted and squirmed on the floor, revealing her bare butt since her dress now was totally crumpled.

Baker flushed the toilet, then, taking a careful look, rushed outside. With a mixture of precaution and some look, he managed to reach the bathroom at the first floor where he hid in a toilet and quickly ripped of the black wig and washed most of the creama nd the ashes from his face. He took off his jacket and changed his tie to a blue bow tie he had brought with him. Then, he stumbled out, calling for help and pretending that he had hidden inside when he had heard the noises.

Since there were some 200 guests at the mansion and the guards were busy in searching the house, Baker managed to reach his car and to leave the mansion together with some of the other panicking guests. The one security guard that tried to stop the car`s stampede until the police would arrive had to jump behind a tree to avoid getting run over.

When Baker was some 300 metres away from the mansion, he could hear the sound of approaching police cars, but obviously, they were thinking of a burglary and noone tried to stop him.

Unbeknownst to Baker or anyone else at the mansion, Helena, who had been hiding in the garden, had taken the opportunity to leave unseen, too. She was still dressed in Janine`s skirt and blouse, but nobody recognized that the fleeing woman was actually underdressed for such an event.

Helena wondered what had happened. She had seen the pink smoke and heard the running guards, but she was not sure why someone would attack an art exhibition.

„Maybe, she has become too influential to sone concurrents“, Helena concluded.

This was not of her business. Her problem was that she was free now, but still had nothing burt the clothes on her body – these even lacking a pair of panties. Helena had to get some money and a new passport before she could think about leaving the country.

Of course, she still had the stolen files, but without a computer, they were difficult to reach and even more difficult to sell.

The other possibility was a deal with the police – her unchecked departure against the whereabout of Loredana and Angelique. But these negotiations were quite difficult, too, for she neither had a phone nor a car nor even the key of the cellar where the girls were hidden.

„For the moment, all I can do is find a place to spend the night“, Helena thought.

So, after a while, she left the main street and started looking for a remote place where she could spend the next hours undetected and try to get some rest before she would start an attempt to save as much of her plans as possible.

***