Sisters 18

»Who is it?«

»Police! Open up!«

The three girls twitched and exchanged nervous glances. Why had the Police come to their room? Had Isabelle just parked in front of a fire hydrant or had someone somehow found out that they were inflicted in a crime.

»One moment, we just have to get dressed!«, Isabelle responded, looking for a pair of trousers whilst Tao slid into the bathroom. Samantha still sat on the bed, undecided what to do. A moment later, the door burst open. In stepped a man in a uniform.

»How dare you?«

Isabelle put her hands on her hips whilst being very aware of her bare legs when she saw that the man was not alone. Behind him stood three more men who were dressed in civilian clothes. Three men she recognized all too well.

»Don`t bother dressing up for us!«, Marc said with a wolfish grin as he followed the Policeman inside the room. He was holding a gun and pointed it at Samantha whilst Hank and Aaron also entered, closing the door behind them.

»Where`s the Asian bitch?«, Marc asked, grabbing Isabelle`s chin painfully and pressing her against the wall whilst Hank approached Samantha, drawing a gun, too. Meanwhile, the Police Officer looked quite uncomfortable, but didn`t intervene.

»I am here!«

To Isabelle`s surprise, Tao stepped out of the bathroom. She wondered why she exposed herself, but then, she remembered that the room only had a ventilation system instead of a window and also offered no place to hide. The men made the three girls line up in front of the bed. Marc let his eyes wander over them before he said:

»Put them under arrest – Officer!«

The Policeman gulped, but he produced three pairs of handcuffs. Isabelle asked:

»What are we accused of?«

Marc slapped her cheek.

»You are accused of being bitches!«

Samantha wanted to get against him, but Isabelle stopped her. Her cheek burned and she was angry, but she also knew that this wasn`t the time to get into another fight. Marc grinned down on them as the Policeman one by one tied their wrists behind their backs. Then, he grabbed Tao`s hair.

»Where are my gun and my phone?«

»I-In a dustbin, somewhere o-outside the town!«, Tao gasped as he pulled on her hair and forced her head backwards. Marc pushed her onto the bed and whilst Hank and the Policeman guarded the captives, he and Aaron quickly searched the room and the bathroom.

Isabelle forced herself not to look at Tao. She had been lying, since they had decided to keep the guns hidden under the seat of the car. The phones of the other two men had indeed ended up in a dustbin, but Marc´s phone had been in Tao`s hand when the thugs had knocked at the door.

However, when Marc searched the bathroom, he also didn`t find anything. Well, that was except for the bunch of panties he was carrying in his left. There were four pairs he tossed on the bed: the still damp white silk ones Isabelle had borrowed from Michiko, her pink ones she had worn before and also the white cotton ones she had been wearing during the flight. The fourth were also white, but considerably smaller and belonged to Tao.

»It seems you have expected us – since you already prepared some gags!«

Unlike Isabelle and Samantha, Tao had never been gagged with another woman`s used underwear before. With a mixture of disbelief and contempt, she looked at Marc.

»You will not put any of these in my mouth!«

Marc grinned and then, his hand darted forward, again grabbing Tao`s scalp. He forced her on her knees and then, he reached for the pink pair, bringing them to his nose.

»Hm, the scent of sweat!«

Isabelle could not help blushing. She had been wearing these panties during the long hours when she had been tied front to front to Samantha and they had both sweated profusely when trying to free themselves. Marc balled up the panties and pressed them against Tao`s face. The Vietnamese cringed and tried to avoid it, but he forced her to smell the used underwear.

»Leave her alone, fuckhead!«

It was Samantha who made a desperate attempt in trying to look threatening, despite having her wrists cuffed, being just 5`3`` and only wearing her robe and panties. Not taking the panties from Tao`s face, Marc snarled:

»Hank, Aaron! Teach her some manners!«

Samantha instinctively shied back when Aaron approached her, but at the same moment, Hank grabbed her from behind and slung his arm around her throat. The girl croaked and tried to shake him off, but already, her cheeks reddened from her effort to catch breath. Aaron ripped her bathrobe open, exposing Samantha`s ample breasts.

Isabelle got up and shouted:

»Stop!«

To her surprise, her voice had sounded so authoritarian that the men indeed stopped molesting Samantha and looked at her. Quickly, she continued:

»Please, don`t hurt my sister! Otherwise, I am not sure what I will do!«

Marc, having recovered from his surprise, chuckled:

»You will do whatever the fuck we tell you!«

He raised his gun, but Isabelle looked at him calmly.

»You can shoot me – and I don`t want to die. But even less, I want you to hurt Samantha – and besides, a shot may alert the Police!«

This made the Policeman look uncomfortable again, but now, Marc had come to the conclusion that a shot might indeed raise too much attention. So, he grunted:

»I will let her go – for the moment! But for that, you will not put up any resistance if we gag you! If one of you tries the slightest piece of shit, you will regret it!«

Isabelle nodded and as a sign of giving in, she opened her mouth. Marc looked at Tao who stared daggers at him, but also opened her mouth, allowing him to stuff the sweaty panties into her mouth. Except for a retching sound and a slight widening of her eyes, the Asian endured getting her mouth packed with the mass of foul tasting cloth without any motion. Marc completed her gag with some ten rounds of tape and then used an additional three rounds to blindfold the girl. Then, he turned towards Samantha, grabbing the white cotton pair that Isabelle had worn two days before.

Hank had let her go, but Samantha offered no resistance, too, when she was gagged with her sister`s panties. Isabelle even noticed a glance of gratefulness, since she had interrupted the two men molesting her.

»Nobody can stop them from continuing what they intended«, she thought, but when the men had wrapped tape over Samantha`s lips and eyes, she just said:

»Would you mind closing her robe?«

Marc laughed out, but the Policeman now pushed Hank aside and closed Samantha`s robe, even tightening the belt. The look he gave Marc told him that he should better not say anything wrong.

He now took the silk panties and found that they could be pressed into a smaller ball than the others. To Isabelle`s dismay, he wrapped Tao`s panties around them before working the whole mass into her oral cavity. So, she would also not be spared having to chew on another woman`s used underwear.

Once Isabelle had her mouth taped and was blindfolded, Marc said:

»Now, Tom, just take care that nobody enters the corridor whilst we get them to the freight elevator!  Cheer up, nephew, your part in all that is over!«

Isabelle was grabbed by her arm and forced to walk along the corridor before she was pushed inside the lift. She felt something soft, but couldn`t tell whether it was Samantha or Tao. Once the elevator had reached the ground floor, they heard the opening of a car`s side door and moments later, they were pushed inside a van that obviously had already been standing there. Isabelle`s hope that someone would notice their predicament didn`t come true.

When the door had closed, Marc announced:

»So far, I have never even considered human trafficking! But after all, there is a first time for everything, don`t you agree?«

***

When he was both waiting for the rain to stop and for Vinh to call him, Mike looked at the woman that had stumbled into his way. She was a brunette in her early thirties, he guessed, with shapely legs and nice breasts. Both, he could admire due to her nudity and he wasn`t sure whether the guy he had hit with the plane had been chasing her. Of course, he could simply have asked her, but Mike decided to wait with ungagging her until he knew what he was about.

To his surprise, the woman was distracted more by Guylène`s presence than by the fact he hadn`t freed her. First, he thought that she had just been frightened, but then, he noticed the truth: these two knew each other.

»So, either is she one of her former business partners – or one of her former victims!«

He decided to have a look for the weather, but when he went to the window, a shot was fired and the fraction of a second later, a bullet hit the wall beside him. Mike threw himself to the ground and then made the two women lie down, too.

»The guy you were running away from – was he alone?«, he asked the naked woman. Cordelia mewed through her stifling gag, but then, she pulled herself together and nodded. Mike drew his gun and crouched beside the window.

»It seems that he has a rifle, so unless he doesn`t get impatient and tries to storm this hut, I can`t get him over the distance! However, I still might have an ace up my sleeve!«

He took out his cell phone and dialed Vinh. The Vietnamese answered his call after the second ring, but what he had to tell wasn`t that comforting.

»So, you have lost her and you have no idea where exactly you are. Well, I am under siege, but at least, I still have my captive!«

They decided to text each other instead of talking and Mike then brought his head close to the window opening so he could have a look outside. There, some 200 yards away, he spotted a large flat building that looked like a barn or pigsty and in between was an open field that had once been covered with concrete, but now, dandelions and other grass was growing in the cracks. Some 30 yards away, he saw a rotten sign with the pictogram of a helicopter on it.

He looked at the naked woman, considering taking off her gag to ask her what she knew, but that had the risk of her yelling and so, he decided for another option and once again took his phone.

***

Caine cursed. His shoulder hurt less since he had taken two painkiller pills, but it still felt numb and hindered him in using his rifle properly. Otherwise, he never would have missed the guy whom he had seen clearly in the scope. However, he was sure that he had no rifle and so, all he had to do was waiting.

***

Strange enough, the thunderstorm had led to a peaceful hour at the flat where Michiko and Akiko were kept. Hitoshi had turned the couch towards the window and they had sat down side by side, watching the force of nature.

The Yakuza was sitting between the two girls who were still merely restrained with ankle cuffs and their gag masks and despite the couch being a bit narrow for three persons, he had not taken advantages so far. However, Akiko had realized that the air in the flat that had no heating system had become quite chilly and she had tried to cuddle into the couch`s corner without pressing her nude body against Hitoshi too much. Then, however, she saw that the man was a bit distracted from both her and the thunderstorm.

When their mother had been pregnant with Akiko, their parents had left the three years old Michiko alone to attend a doctor. Of course, she had not been entirely alone, but the maid had left her in her room and watched a TV show and forgotten about the little girl, even when a thunderstorm had hit the area. The lightning and thunderstruck had frightened little Michiko and since then, she had still some fear from thunderstorms. Of course, as a grown up, she did not hide under the bed or start screaming, but she still felt a bit uneasy when she had to witness such an event.

Almost involuntarily, she had cuddled against Hitoshi who had put an arm around her. Though he was very aware of the naked beauty so close to him, he had done nothing more than to caress her hair and to hold her tight. And Michiko had relaxed, though at the same time, she was very excited. Hitoshi`s fingers brushed over her neck and she felt a blissful tingle.

»If his hand would wander down my body, I – wouldn`t resist!«

Michiko knew she wasn`t falling in love: the man still was a criminal who wanted to ruin her father`s life and career. In addition, he had kidnapped her and Akiko and had humiliated them. But on the other hand, he was also a man.

Since she had reached puberty, the rebellious Akiko had seen her elder sister as something asexual; as a woman who had her feelings under control and who would have preferred to bury her nose in a book than to even laugh in public, let alone flirting with a man.

Indeed, Michiko`s goal was to concentrate on her career and to make their father proud of her. However, it was what she considered her duty, not her passion. Deep inside, she had buried these passions, but she was aware that they were there. And some of these passions were more than just the dreams of an innocent girl about a fulfilling love.

Michiko`s thoughts were haunted by memories of how the very fingers that were just playing with a stray of her hair and brushed over the soft skin of her neck had touched her – further down. She cuddled closer to Hitoshi as another lightning lit the room and the man grinned and whispered:

»The Gods really must love you – after all, they are taking flashlight photos of you!«

It was either a lame compliment or a childish joke, but Michiko couldn`t help giggling behind the rubber ball in her mouth. On Hitoshi`s other side, Akiko rolled her eyes and let out a snort. Hitoshi turned towards her and said:

»Sorry, Akiko-chan, but making compliments is something the Yakuza doesn`t teach you! But may I confess that you are the second most beautiful in this room?«

Akiko shook her head and showed him her middle finger. Suddenly, Hitoshi`s hand darted forward, grabbing her finger. With an angry look, he hissed:

»Is that what you call respectful behavior?«

Abashed by his sudden ferocity, Akiko shied back, letting out a mew. Hitoshi`s look softened, as did his grip on her finger. With an almost apologetic smile, he bent forward and kissed the tip of her middle finger.

»Forgive me, Akiko-chan, your constructive criticism was absolutely justified!«

He held her hand for a few seconds longer before he let her go, turning back towards Michiko.

»Sorry, but complimenting one girl without setting back the other would be a problem even under the best circumstances!«

The comment Akiko mumbled through her gag didn`t sound very polite, but Michiko just saw the look in Hitoshi`s eyes and when he took her hand, she didn`t shy back. And when she felt his breath on her knuckles when he placed a kiss on the back of her hand, the shiver she felt was not one of fear.

***

»Uuhhmmph! Mmhhmmm!«

Cordelia was getting angry. She had realized that the man who had literally come down from heaven had saved her from getting caught by Caine again, but then, he had cuffed her hands and she was still naked and gagged. In addition, for some terrible reason, he had brought Guylène with him!

The man had drawn a line on the floor and told them to stay behind that.

»According to what I can see, he won`t be able to fire beyond that angle, so, if we stay behind this line, we should be on the save side!«

They had obeyed, since Caine had already once fired at the cabin, but now, the man was busy with his cell phone, obviously sending messages to the guy he had spoken to previously. Again, Cordelia moaned and he looked up:

»Patience, I soon will have time for you!«

He sounded as if she had been a naughty child disturbing a lesson and Cordelia mmphed indignantly. Little later, the man put his phone away and rummaged through his jacket. He then produced a trenched packet of cigarettes and looked at them, fishing out one that seemed to have survived the thunderstorm. When he lit it, Cordelia stared at him: she knew little about being under fire, but she definitely knew that lighting a fire was a very bad idea if there was someone with a rifle waiting to shoot! The man smiled:

»You are thinking of Hector Hugh Munro, aren`t you?«

Cordelia frowned. Hector Hugh Munro, aka Saki, had been a writer of black humored short stories. During the Great War, he had deliberately served in the trenches and in 1916, he had shouted at one of the men under his command to put out his cigarette. Thus exposing his position to the German snipers, he had been shot. Cordelia nodded and the man took another drag.

»Well, the enemy already knows where we are. I just hope that you are precious to him!«

»Mhhmm?«

»If he wants me dead and you back alive, he will just wait, since we can`t get away. But if he doesn`t care about you, he might decide to solve the problem by using a rifle grenade.«

Said grenades could be fired by rifles and one would be enough to shatter the inside of the cabin. The two women stared at him with widened eyes and Mike showed them a grin of which he hoped it would look confident:

»For the moment, it seems that he wants you back alive – and he can`t just come close, for he knows that I am armed, too. So, we will now rely on a lesson I took from ›Hunt for Red October‹!«

The two gagged women looked at him as if he had lost his marbles. This time, Mike`s grin was real and open.

»The most important thing in playing ›Cat and Mouse‹ is to know who is the cat!«

***

Vinh looked at the photo Mike had sent him. It was a screenshot from Google Earth, showing him a few buildings that looked quite shabby. On a small cabin beside a field, Mike had marked a red cross and written:

»We are here!«

Beside this hut, there was a larger oblong building and on that, Mike had painted another cross. The words beside it said:

»Guy with rifle!«

Mike had also written that he was on Comino, the third and smallest of Malta`s three main islands. Positioned between Malta and Gozo, Comino had only two permanent inhabitants since the only hotel had closed down a few years before. Now, many tourists and also some Maltese visited the island to enjoy the beaches, but during the nights, Comino was quite empty.

In the South, there had been a quarantine station for pigs. The government had sent spot checks of imported pigs to Comino per helicopter and kept the animals at the pigsty to see whether they were contaminated. Some years ago, the station had been abandoned, but the buildings were still there and since they were still inside a restricted area and also nobody had a reason to go there, it was an ideal hideout.

Vinh now had an idea where Mike was – on the next island, since he had landed at the Northern coast of Malta. To be exactly, he was at a place with the picturesque name »Paradise Bay«. From here, it was just a mile`s walk to the ferry station that would allow him to get to Comino. However, due to the thunderstorm, the next ferry would be tomorrow at 9 am.

»I could ask Mike if he has some sandwiches with him«, Vinh thought, checking his watch. Now, it was close to 6 pm. He shook his head. The whole horror trip with the plane in the thunderstorm and then the parachute landing had just lasted for some hour, though Vinh felt as if it had been ages.

The ferry harbor offered little more than the landing port, a bar and two or three shops. Vinh looked at Comino that was less than a mile away. For a moment, he thought if he should swim there, but then, he spotted an old iron boat bouncing in the brackish water near the ferry port. Carefully, Vinh looked around. There was a man putting back a rack with sunglasses in front of his shop, but he obviously thought that the Asian climbing down the rocks towards the water was just looking for a place to pee, for he didn`t take further notice of Vinh.

The boat had no engine, but Vinh spotted two oars lying inside it and according to the way the boat looked, nobody would miss it too soon. After another look over his shoulder, he entered the small vessel and loosened the rope.

»Cavalry to the rescue!«, he texted to Mike before he began to pull towards the open water. The boat was a bit ponderous, but he guessed that he was making some two to three miles an hour.

»Maybe the slowest cavalry attack in history! But anyway, I am also lacking a gun and a tangible idea what to do once I am on that island, so what?«

***

Linh crawled from the small cave where she had waited for the thunderstorm to stop. In her hand, she still held the rock she had grabbed as a weapon against her brother in law if he would manage to find her. However, it seemed that Vinh had lost her track and now, she could concentrate on other things – like finding some clothes.

Having ungagged herself, she had finally decided to put on the white panties the man had stuffed into her mouth. Not only were they damp, but they were also a bit too wide, forcing her to tie a knot into the waistband to make them fit.

»At least, I am better off than I have been yesterday!«

Linh still shuddered from the memory of the chair she had been tied to for days, unable to move, hear, see or speak, and repeatedly stimulated by the two vibrating plugs, one in her butt and the other in her-

However, now, her tormentor, Guylène, had also been captured – by the same man that had once overpowered her, leaving her to the cops back in France. Somehow, he had bonded with her brother in law and they had now taken her to Malta, of all places.

Carefully, Linh peeped over a rock and saw a remote house that was little more than a hut, but a satellite dish indicated it at least offered electric currency. She could see no car and hope grew within her: if the owners had left, she could break in and get herself some clothes, perhaps, even some money or a weapon!

She was just about to run the 50 yards towards the back door when she heard the sound of an approaching car. Linh cursed and ducked behind her rock. It was a van approaching the house and when it stopped, a man jumped from the passenger seat. He was holding a gun and securing the area: had he worn a tuxedo, the parody of a special agent would have been complete. From the driver`s seat, now another man appeared, also having a gun tugged into his belt. Linh frowned: these men definitely weren`t harmless people returning home from a shopping trip! The only question was if this was better or worse for her in her current situation.

Now, the van`s side door opened and Linh was hardly surprised when a third man stepped out, forcing a bound woman to follow him. He seemed to have grabbed her from her sleeping room, as she was wearing just a bathrobe. Her hands were cuffed behind her back and rounds of silver duct tape were wrapped around her head at eyes and mouth. She looked about Linh`s size and had long red hair.

Letting the woman stand beside the car, the man now went back inside, only to make another redhead stumble outside the van. Now, Linh felt even more excited: this woman, clad only in a T-Shirt and panties, was gagged and blindfolded with tape, too, but she had a strong resemblance to someone she knew: Isabelle Marceau, the Policewoman at Saint-Martin-dans-les-Alps, who had been investigating at Guylène`s chalet. In the end, when she had made her escape, Guylène and her new accomplices had left Isabelle bound and gagged in the cellar, where the same guy that had suddenly appeared and overpowered her, Linh, seemed to have rescued her before vanishing into thin air.

Linh had seen Isabelle once or twice during her trial and she was almost sure that this captive of the three men was her. She was almost waiting for the man to now take Cordelia from the van, but instead, it was a petite black-haired woman.

»Chết tiệt!«

The woman was an Asian and to Linh, it was as if she was looking into a mirror – a mirror in which her spitting image was wearing a bathrobe and also was bound and gagged.

The third captive was Tao, her twin sister!

***

Vinh`s knowledge of Comino consisted of the images he had found on Google and the Wikipedia article he had quickly read. So, he only had a vague idea where the abandoned pig farm was, but he was sure that finding it on the small island would be his smallest problem.

A bit harder would be to find a decent landing place. Comino had a steep rocky coast and though the sea was quiet now, there were some waves and Vinh landed in the water when he jumped from the boat onto a rock.

Within a minute, he had managed to climb onto said rock, but now, Vinh was facing another problem: his cell phone had become wet and now, the display was dead. With a curse, he threw it into the water. At least, he managed to grab the boat`s line and tow it to the rock before climbing the few yards towards the surface.

Vinh saw a tower to his left and knew that this was the view tower, one of the island`s few sightseeing spots. The pig farm was close to it and so, he reached the rotten fence after a few minutes. He took out his knife, though he knew that it would be of little use against a man with a rifle. Then, he slipped under the fence and carefully climbed upon a hill from which he could see the heliport of which Mike had sent him a picture.

Right in front of him, there was the pigsty and behind it, he could see the small cabin in which Mike was hiding. And somewhere inside that pigsty, there was at least one armed man. In addition, he had no possibility to communicate with his friend.

Well, almost no possibility!

The sun was in the West now, meaning that it was shining into his face. Also, he was behind the guy in the pigsty. So, Vinh turned his left arm so the glass of his watch reflected the sun. Though he had served in the Vietnamese forces, Vinh had forgotten about Morse code and he just hoped that Mike would see his signals.

***

Some 250 yards away, Mike was feeling as if he was watching a very boring TV program. He now sat leaned against the wall facing the pigsty and looked at the partially intact window opposite to him. In the reflection, he could see the pigsty without exposing himself to his opponent`s fire. The broken and dusty glass didn`t allow him to see details, but at least, he would be warned if the man would try an attack.

»At least, for another hour or so!«

The sun was beginning to set and once it was dark, not only would this advantage be gone: in the night, his enemy would be able to sneak closer and perhaps throw a smoke grenade or something else that would push the scale even more towards his advantage. Then, he saw the light.

First, he thought it was just a random reflection, but then, he saw that some small spark was blinking above the roof of the pigsty.

»W-R-G-F-S-T!«, he spelled, trying to read the signs. Mike nevertheless felt a wave of relief.

»Ladies, the cavalry has arrived – though I am afraid they are either dyslexic or don`t know how to use Morse code!«

He had texted Vinh, but so far gotten no answer. Obviously, Vinh had lost his phone or it had got destroyed.

»All right, let`s hope that Vinh and I have developed a band of mutual understanding during our time together, so he will understand what I am trying to tell him!«

Mike knew that Vinh had no gun. However, his advantage was that the other man had no idea that there was someone else. So, if he managed to distract him for a while, Vinh could perhaps get himself into a better position.

He let his eyes wander through the small cabin. It was »what you see is what you get« – a room of some ten square meters, the floor covered with dust and pieces of broken glass. The only piece of furniture was a broken desk made of plywood.

»Well, who would have thought that my new job would once force me to return to the desk!«, Mike thought as he carefully grabbed one of the desk`s legs.

***