International Affairs 1

»Phew, what an Odyssey! But at least, it looks quite impressive!«

Cordelia White paid off the taxi that had brought her to the hotel in the small German town whose name she just could not remember properly. Indeed, the hotel looked like a chateau, though there were many hints that this was a modern building. Cordelia took her trolley and slowly walked across the main door.

Some two weeks ago, the invitation had reached her office. Actually, she had thought of not going to the conference. She had recently graduated and even gotten a position as an assistant professor and so, there was more than enough work for the 32 years old. However, the invitation said that also some eminent authorities of economics would approach and offer lectures and workshops and in addition, everything but drinks would be sponsored by some big companies and so, Cordelia had decided that her actual work could be delayed for five days.

It had taken her some ten hours by plane, train and finally by taxi to reach her destination, but now, she was there: Hotel International. Obviously, it was of higher standard than the usual functional conference hotels she knew from the past.

When she approached the entrance, Cordelia looked at herself in the reflecting window. She saw a tallish woman in a grey business blazer with a matching skirt, her shoulder-length brown hair looking a bit disheveled. Cordelia tugged on her skirt and controlled her appearance. She was proud of her long, shapely legs and therefore almost always wore skirts that were just decent enough for her to look professional, but also as short as possible to emphasize her legs.

At the reception, she did not have to rely on her little German, as the woman there was fluent in English. She handed her the key and also told her that already some of the participants of the conference had arrived. Cordelia had seen some archetypal businessmen hanging around in the lobby already, but nobody she knew so far.

Letting her eyes wander through the room, she went for the elevators, when she suddenly ran into another woman. She excused and the other woman, an Asian about her age, just smiled and told her that everything was okay. It was a minor incident, but then, a man suddenly approached and gently grabbed the Asian woman`s arm.

»Linh, we – oh! What a surprise!«

His friendly smile turned into a grimace and he stared at Cordelia who needed a few minutes to recognize the man. Involuntarily, she stepped back a bit.

»M-Mr. Drummond!«, she stammered.

»Dr. White!«, the man responded, uttering her title as if it was something disgusting. Then, pulling the Asian with him almost rudely, he quickly left. Cordelia went for the elevator and when she had entered the cabin, she let out a deep sigh.

»What is this impostor doing at an important meeting like that?«

It had been three years ago, when Cordelia had been working on her PhD thesis. Another PhD student had been Alexander Drummond, a man about Cordelia`s age who had been working on a similar subject and so, they had occasionally talked to each other and once or twice even had had a coffee. However, once, when Alex had been for lunch, Cordelia had approached his desk at the library. Her intention had been to see if he had borrowed a book she also needed, but then, she had discovered something else. On the display of Alex`s laptop, Cordelia had seen a few lines he obviously had written just before leaving. And these very lines Cordelia knew quite well from another scientific paper that was definitely not written by Alex. She scrolled back and found out that he had not marked it by a footnote. It was a case of plagiarism!

That very moment, Alex had come back and Cordelia had stammered something about the book she needed. However, later, she had given a hint to Alex`s supervisor. She had avoided meeting Alex for the next weeks, but a friend had told her what had happened: the supervisor had asked Alex about his progresses and had demanded to have a look on his thesis. Then, he quickly had found the parts Alex had »written« via copy and paste. And this marked the end of the scientific career of Mr. Alexander Drummond.

He had never blamed her, he had just disappeared. With his reputation as a researcher ruined, he had left the University and Cordelia had thought that he had found work somewhere on the free market. But now, he was here. And the look in his eyes had told her that he knew who had grassed on him and that he still held a grudge.

The elevator had reached the third floor and Cordelia quickly hasted for her room, not looking back. Had she done so, she would have noticed that the Asian woman had followed her via the stairways and carefully watched her entering room number 223. Linh smiled enigmatically and then, she went back to have a talk with Alex.

***

»Scheiße – oops!«

Katja Heller pressed her hand on her lips in a girlie-like manner immediately after the bad word had left her mouth. It wasn`t the way a grown woman behaved and Katja hated herself for acting that way, but she just could not help it. From the other bed, she could hear a laugh.

»Maybe, you should wash your mouth with soap!«

Katja grimaced.

»I just got startled! The guest next door just slammed his door!«, Katja apologized. With her 23 years, she was just six years younger than her room companion, but Ulinka Miotova always behaved as if she was much older and more grown up.

»Actually, you are nothing but a servant!«, Katja thought angrily. Though Ulinka had done nothing wrong especially, Katja hated her for just having to share her room with her.

Katja was not only the youngest member of the conference, having reached her M. A. just three months ago. She also was the daughter of Richard Heller, one of the sponsors of this event. However, Katja knew that she had passed University with top marks not because of her father`s wealth, but because of her skills and intellect. She was keen to prove it, but since there had been a hint about someone trying to kidnap the young blonde, her father had insisted on sending a bodyguard with her. He had just chosen someone to protect her, unfortunately, a woman. Unfortunately not because Katja would have liked to date her bodyguard, but because this meant Ulinka could also share her room.

Still angry about the lack of privacy, Katja ostentatiously stripped down to her black underwear and went into the bathroom, locking herself inside. Ulinka just shrugged and took her cellphone to contact her colleague.

She and Tina Junghans had been working together at the Würzburg police office and had even been involved in one of the most famous cases of the last decades: the case of the Defoliator.

The Defoliator had been a psychopath who had drugged women, just to display them in public, naked, bound and gagged. Ulinka and Tina had been the leading investigators in the case which most people had considered as being the work of some rude prankster. The truth, however, had been much worse – as she and Tina had found out.

In fact, it had been even two crimes that somehow had got linked together: the Defoliator, indeed a mentally instable man, had been led by his own therapist – who had also worked as a counselor for Tina`s and Ulinka`s team! Nicole Sutter had also been crazy and had used the Defoliator in her plan to become the most famous criminal in the history of Würzburg.

However, there had also been another man: a white slaver that had specialized himself, so to say, on more or less famous women. In the end, he had disappeared, taking with him not only his original target, a young author named Anne Rach, but also  the Lord Mayor of Würzburg, a young, attractive woman of 34, and also Nicole Sutter, the would-be famous criminal.

Both Ulinka and Tina had been closely involved in this case, but it had brought them no fame – or at least not the fame they had wanted. When they had chased down Nicole, she and her accomplice had overpowered them. And what had happened then still caused Ulinka to have nightmares.

The man had forced both Tina and her to strip completely. He even had forced them to take off each other`s panties. But this had only been the beginning of humiliations.

Next, the two policewomen had been tied into heavy armchairs and then, they had been gagged thoroughly. Not just with some cloth or tape, though. The man and Nicole had stuffed Ulinka`s mouth with Tina`s used panties and that of another woman, too. Tina had been gagged with Ulinka`s underwear, plus a second pair, too. The sheer thought still made Ulinka retch. To have her mouth full of the vile tasting cloth and how her saliva had soaked the giant wad, until it had ran down her throat, mixed with-

Ulinka shuddered, but her memory had her in her clutches now. Before the criminals had left, they had not only tied the two naked women`s legs in a way they offered a full frontal display to anyone that would enter the flat. They had also tied a rope between each girl`s legs and shove a vibrator into the crotch rope. Neither Tina nor her had reacted to these before their colleagues had freed them some two hours later, but it had been more than embarrassing to be found like that, naked, bound, gagged and helpless.

Of course, the police chief had offered them a fully paid therapy, but after their experiences with Nicole, neither Ulinka nor Tina could trust a psychiatrist anymore. And of course, their colleagues had kept the whole affair discreet, but none of them could have been sure what one of the men who had rescued them may have told his colleagues or friends on private. So, after a few weeks, the two policewomen had quit their service and decided to work as private investigators.

This was the reason why Ulinka`s current job was to guard the pretty, but also quite bitchy Katja. Her father had been impressed by her police background and the good reference the police had given her as a goodbye present. Actually, she thought that Mr. Heller was just overreacting, but he paid well and besides, she also had found work for Tina.

»Tina, how are you?«, she texted. The answer came immediately:

»I hate you for getting me into this!«, though toned down by a smiley. Ulinka smiled, too. She hadn`t told Katja, but her colleague was secretly working at the hotel, too. Some week ago, Tina had hired as a chamber maid. Since the hotel needed extra personnel for the conference, she had gotten the job – and hated it ever since. Tina had to wear a traditional maid`s outfit, complete with a white apron, a matching bonnet and a very short skirt. In addition, everyone from the regular employees to the manager and the guests were bossing her around. However, Tina now had a general key to all rooms and this could become useful if there was really something going on.

»Believe me, you wouldn`t want to change! Soon, I will strangle our bitchy Princess!«

Tina`s answer got interrupted; obviously, someone had seen her with nothing to do and given her some extra work.

»Poor us!«, Ulinka sighed and held her middle finger towards the bathroom door.

***

Alex sat in his armchair and let Linh massage his shoulders, but he was far from feeling relaxed.

»So, you say that Miss Traitor lives in Number 223, just one room next to the Princess?«

»Just as I said. However, I would suggest that we put business above personal revenge feelings!«

Linh knew about Alex`s grudge against Cordelia, though she was quite glad it had caused him to leave the University. After all, they wouldn`t have met otherwise.

She and Alex didn`t have a real relationship: they were business partners and got on well together – to a degree that they didn`t have to fake when they had to kiss in public and could share a room without problems. But somehow, none of them felt too attracted by the other.

Now, Linh felt Alex`s shoulders stiffen under her hands.

»Maybe, just maybe, we should consider combining business and revenge!«

Linh let him go and sat in the chair opposite to him.

»I am all ear!«

***

Cordelia woke up, startled, as the knocking on her door continued. Tired from the long trip, she had just packed her clothes into the cupboard, kicked off her shoes and put her jacket and skirt over the backrest of her chair before she had decided to lie down for a few minutes. Just to calm down before she would take a shower, change her clothes and get down into the lobby to meet some colleagues or get acquainted with new ones.

However, she had dozed off and now, the knocking came again. Still a bit sleepy, Cordelia stepped close to the door.

»Who is it?«

»Miss White?«, a female voice asked, »Do you have a minute, please?«

Cordelia hesitated. It could have been someone from the hotel staff, but on the other hand, they sure would have phoned her.

»Perhaps, I have lost something!«, she thought, only to be interrupted by another knocking and the woman again calling her name.

»Just a moment!«

She was about to open when she remembered that she was without her skirt. However, since she had already opened the door a few millimeters, she just hooked the locking chain and hid behind the door so her visitor, who was a female anyway, would only see her head.

To her surprise, the Asian woman that had been with Alex was standing in front of her door, smiling a bit forced. Involuntarily, she looked if Alex was with her, but the woman was alone.

»Miss White, my name is Linh Nguyen. I – I am the – partner of Alex, I mean, Mr. Alexander Drummond.«

»So?«, Cordelia answered, trying to look cool and unimpressed. Linh cleared her throat and said:

»Please, Miss White, Alex does not know I am here. However, he told me about your – your disagreements in the past.«

»Disagreements!«, Cordelia scoffed. However, she bit her tongue to not tell Linh that her partner was a cheater and a criminal in her eyes. Linh did not seem to have the intention to attack her on behalf of Alex. Instead, she seemed rather concerned.

»Miss White, there is something I would like to talk about with you – but not on the corridor.«

She still smiled, but as if she wanted to emphasize her position, Linh had put her hand on the door frame. Cordelia sighed. She had hoped to never see Alex again, but on the other hand she had no idea what exactly Linh had in mind and she was curious. So, after some hesitating, she said:

»Okay, Miss Nguyen, but«, she lowered her voice, »please allow me to put on my skirt before I invite you in.«

It took Linh a second to understand, but then, she giggled and nodded. Cordelia smiled, too, and turned towards the chair where her clothes were draped. Whilst turning around, she gave the door a push to close it. However, when she had already taken two steps into her room, she realized that a sound that should have been there hadn`t: the sound of the door slamming shut. When she now heard a faint rustling, Cordelia slowly turned around.

The door was open and Linh was standing in her corridor.

»Miss Nguyen, please, I-«

Cordelia put her hands on her hips and tried to look resolute, though she knew that she was just dressed in a slightly crumpled blouse. However, she then saw the small gun Linh held in her hand.

»Wha-what?«

Linh closed the door, still smiling. However, the look in her eyes told Cordelia that this wasn`t a joke. She stepped forward and Cordelia involuntarily backed away until her calves touched the bed.

»Sit down, Cordelia!«

Staring at Linh with widened eyes, Cordelia obeyed. Somehow, the fact that the woman had changed to her first name frightened her as much as the gun.

»Miss Nguyen, please, what-«

»Oh, call me ›Mistress‹, please«, Linh said in a way as if this was a cocktail party and she had just offered Cordelia to call her by her first name. However, when Cordelia again tried to speak, the smile on Linh`s face disappeared.

»Cordelia, I told you to call me ›Mistress‹ because that is what I am to you, whether you like it or not! And you are not speaking to your Mistress until you are allowed to! Is that understood?«

Now, Cordelia began to giggle. Sure, this was all a practical joke. Alex had persuaded his girlfriend to scare her as a revenge for what she had done to him. She even stood up and applauded.

»Okay, Linh, this was a good show, I-«

In a swift move, Linh grabbed her right wrist and a second later, Cordelia was bent over her bed whilst Linh was twisting her arm on her back, causing a flaming pain in her shoulder. Then, Linh bent over Cordelia who had opened her mouth to scream. Before she could utter a sound, however, Linh pushed the barrel of her gun into her mouth.

»This is not a joke, Cordelia! Did you get me?«

She pushed her arm a bit more upwards, causing Cordelia to whimper.

»I asked you a question, Bitch!«

Again, she sent another wave of pain through Cordelia`s shoulder and at the same time, Linh withdrew the gun from her mouth, but still held it close to her face.

»Y-yes!«, Cordelia ached, panting and with tears in her eyes. Linh again tortured her twisted arm, making her wince.

»Haven`t you forgotten something, Bitch?«

Cordelia stared at her tormentor with widened eyes, not knowing what she wanted from her. But then, just as when Linh was about to hurt her once more, she croaked:

»Y-yes, Mistress!«

Immediately, Linh let her go and stepped back. Cordelia remained lying on the bed, staring at the Asian with disbelief and massaging her aching shoulder.

»Just shake your arm, the pain will cease soon«, Linh said as if Cordelia had just stepped on a pebble barefoot. Again, she showed a smile that did not reach her eyes.

»Now, as you might have understood now, I am in control. That means that you will do as I say – or face the consequences. Is that understood?«

Cordelia stared at her, still waiting for this nightmare to end. This was absurd! However, when she saw the smile disappear from Linh`s face, Cordelia quickly said:

»Y-yes, u-u-understood!«, and then, after a pause of a second, she added: »M-Mistress!«

»Good! Now, catch!«

She tossed her handbag over to Cordelia who took it with trembling fingers. It took her three attempts to open the clips. Linh told her to take out a small plastic bag and empty it to the bed. Cordelia obeyed and found a roll of silver duct tape and a blue nerf ball.

A terrible suspicion rose within Cordelia`s mind what these were meant for, but when Linh ordered her to rip five pieces from the roll, each some six to eight inches long, she obeyed. Then, Linh said:

»Now, take the ball and put it into your mouth!«

»No!«

Linh raised one of her perfectly plucked eyebrows and Cordelia stammered:

»P-please, Mistress, no! I-I can`t!«

»You can, but you don`t want, Bitch! That`s a difference! But I am your Mistress and the one with the gun, so, your will doesn`t count! Do it, Bitch! Now!«

Somehow, Linh managed to sound threatening whilst she still smiled and was leaning against the wall almost relaxed. Cordelia`s eyes wandered from the ball to Linh`s eyes, then to the gun in her hand. She had no doubt that Linh would use it if necessary. In addition, this woman had already proven that she could hurt her even with her bare hands. As promised, the pain in her shoulder had gone, except for a slight warmth, but Cordelia was sure that Linh could do much, much worse.

Reluctantly, she took the nerf ball. It was light, but it looked huge and even huger when she slowly brought it closer to her face.

»Squeeze it as hard as you can and open wide«, Linh told her matter-of-factly. Cordelia pressed the ball and brought it to her lips, but hesitated as the material touched her teeth.

»Get on!«

Cordelia took a bit of the ball into her mouth. The foam material tasted vile and when she slowly pushed it further, she felt that it expanded in her mouth.

»Ihh cuuuhhht!«, she croaked, feeling that some drool ran down her chin as she tried to protest. Linh just looked at her with a cold expression, the gun still pointing on her.

Accompanied by much retching and moaning, Cordelia finally managed to get the whole ball into her mouth. She was panting heavily through her nose and trying not to choke on the material that filled her oral cavity and stretched her jaws.

»Wipe the saliva from your chin!«

Cordelia could not help blushing as she wiped over her lips and chin with her sleeve. She let out a groan, but Linh already had another order:

»Now, close your mouth as good as you can and tape it shut!«

Following that order made the gag feel even worse in her mouth, but Cordelia bit down hard on the ball and then placed the first piece of tape over her lips. Linh took care that she smoothed down the edges before she had to use the other four pieces to make sure her gag would stay in place. When Cordelia had finished gagging herself, Linh nodded slightly:

»Good! Next time you act so slow, you will get a worse gag!«

»Mmhhhmmph!«

It was not clear whether Cordelia was horrified about the idea of something worse than the giant ball that was almost choking her or the insinuations of Linh speaking of a »next time«. Her thoughts, however, were distracted by the Asian who ordered her to take two pairs of handcuffs from her handbag. They were heavy and made of steel; these were no toys from a sex shop, but the same cuffs the police used, though the chain connecting the cuffs was a bit longer and measured some foot.

Linh made Cordelia put one around each of her wrists and then told her to lie on the bed. When she stepped to the right side and grabbed the cuff around her right, Cordelia thought that the other woman now would tie her hands to the bed`s upper posts. She did, but not the way Cordelia had expected. She slung the chain around the post and then, Linh ordered:

»Now, bent your foot over to me!«

Cordelia moaned and shook her head no. Linh reached for Cordelia`s head, grabbed her earlobe with two fingers and squeezed it.

»Do you want to be naughty again? Do I have to punish you, Bitch?«

She squeezed a bit harder. Still, this was just a minor inconvenience, but Cordelia felt that this was just a harmless prelude to something painful. So, she raised her right leg and tried to get her ankle as close to the bedpost as she could. Linh helped by grabbing her foot and bending her leg down so she could tie the cuff around it. Then, she controlled the cuff around Cordelia`s wrist and made it one notch tighter before she went to the other side of the bed.

The inconvenient position became even worse when Linh had cuffed Cordelia`s other leg, too. Her thigh muscles already ached from the position and in addition, it forced her to lie there with her legs spread wide. She squirmed slightly and whimpered through her gag. When Linh stood up and stepped to the bed`s foot end, looking down on her victim, she could not help blushing all over as she saw her looking directly on her displayed white panties, clearly visible through the thin nylon of her pantyhose.

»So vulnerable!«, Linh purred. Smooth like a cat, she climbed on the bed and when her eyes met Cordelia`s she licked her lips. When the helpless girl let out a muffled cry, she giggled and took her handbag.

»Men! They always joke about our big handbags, but then, it`s us who has to take all their belongings for them!«

She opened the bag and then, she pointed at Cordelia with the gun.

»Mhhrrrmmmm!«

She squirmed in her bonds and screamed through her mouthfilling gag as Linh aimed at her head – and pulled the trigger. A small flame came out of the muzzle and Linh giggled:

»Alex wants to stop smoking and so, I have to keep his lighter!«

Whilst Cordelia was panting and trembling from a mixture of fear and relief, she put the toy gun into her handbag and took her cell phone instead.

»Speaking of Alex…«

She texted a short message and then put her handbag away. Then, she knelt right between Cordelia`s splayed thighs.

»He will be here in a few minutes. Are you anticipating it?«

»Uuuhhmmmph! Nnnnngg!«

 This time, Linh showed her a real, warm smile. Then, she formed an »O« with her thumb and index finger and brought her hand close to Cordelia`s exposed crotch.

»You will make a lot of new experiences – maybe not pleasant, but interesting!«

She let her index finger snap against Cordelia`s middle, enjoying how the helpless woman writhed and moaned.

***

Usually, Alex had quite good control over his temper, but when he read Linh`s message, he quickly grabbed a bag with several things a police officer would have found very interesting. Then, he hasted on the corridor where he nearly ran into a chamber maid.

»Sorry, Miss!«, he said without really looking at her and walked through the corridor, forcing himself to calm down a bit.

»Welcome!«, Tina whispered. Since most of the guests either wanted something from her or treated her like air (except for the few men who tried to get physical, of course), this man had almost been an improvement. She had remembered him since it had been her who had brought this man and his partner, a beautiful Asian, two Espresso on their room. The woman had given her 5 € as a tip.

Since she had been in the corridor before, she knew that the woman had left some 30 minutes earlier. So, the room was empty. Of course, she had absolutely no reason to enter the room of these two guests, but she had the key and she was terribly bored.

It had sounded like an adventure when Ulinka had suggested that they should quit the police service and become private investigators. Of course, Tina had known before that it would not be like in the movies, but for the last year, their job had consisted of observing potentially unfaithful wives and things like that. Even their current job, protecting a rich girl, was boring as fuck! So, Tina looked right and left and then, she carefully opened the door, ready to excuse herself if someone would ask her what she was doing.

She entered the room and of course, there was neither a sniper gun leaning beside the window nor a secret meth lab in the bathroom. Tina looked at the bed and laughed: on the nightstand, she saw something strange. It was a stick about ten inches in length and attached to it were several leather bands.

Tina, who sometimes explored the more adult aspects of the internet, recognized it as a Martinet, a small whip. A Martinet could cause considerable pain, but usually would not hurt the skin permanently. Obviously, the shy Englishman and his Asian lover had a kinky side.

Now, she carefully opened the cupboard, but it did not contain anything but clothes. Even rummaging through the drawers only revealed that the woman obviously preferred garters and stockings to pantyhose. Tina was about to leave the room before she would get in trouble when her eye fell on the floor. There, a cell phone was lying. Tina picked it up and found it still was unlocked. It seemed that the man had just received a message on WhatsApp, for the app still was on the display. The last message read:

»Want to join in some fun?«

So, the woman – Linh, according to her profile – had invited the man – Alex – to some romantic (or kinky?) meeting. Curiously, Tina scrolled upwards, but there were only a few messages; obviously, the cell phone was new. She went to the gallery to see if Alex had made some photos of Linh wearing the garters and waving the Martinet when she suddenly hesitated: there was a picture of a person she knew only too well: Katja Heller.

Quickly, she opened and enlarged the photo. It was indeed Katja, and the photo had been taken at the lobby. It was an absolutely harmless picture and perhaps, Alex just loved to look at other pretty girls, too. But given the fact that she and Ulinka had been hired to protect Katja, it was at least a little bit suspicious.

 She just wanted to text Ulinka when she heard a sound that sent a shiver down her spine: the turning of a key in the door.

***