Wine and other Goods 8

Two more hours had passed at the hut where Kaede was held prisoner. As promised, her captors had removed two more belts – to her relief, those crushing her breasts and pulling her upper arms together. In comparison, it felt like she had been given a great gift, though her elbows were still strapped together, though there was a vanishing red rope mark on her breasts, and though the price had been clamps biting into her nipples. She was still firmly gagged, and she still had to sit uncomfortably on the pallet, and yet, Kaede felt as if she was regaining a little strength.

Elena and Marina had almost been jovial, though Kaede had not been able to enjoy the video clips they had shown her on her own phone: Luna, clad in her lacy underwear, peeing into a bottle, Angelina presenting her ample boobs to the camera and talking about them – and a variety of clips that were of mediocre quality and showed Laya doing a strip dance on a wall by the river.

»So far, we haven’t found a video of Verena, but-«

Marina excused herself when she received a call on her own phone, and she left for the adjacent room. Elena brushed over Kaede’s breasts, but the Japanese barely reacted, as she was trying to understand what the other was saying. Any hint on what this was all about would be a step towards the arrest of these two and their ominous boss, and an end thot he whole ordeal.

However, it was the person on the other end doing most of the talking, and when Marina returned, her smile didn’t help to raise Kaede’s confidence.

»Cherry Blossom – do you like your current position?«

Kaede frowned. She knew that this was the prelude to yet another perfidy, and Marina obviously wasn’t waiting for an answer.

»We have to go on an operation – and we can’t leave you here, can we? What if you manage to make yourself noticeable, and the neighbours find you?«

»I mean, we could hide her in the hole we dug behind the hut – but what if we have an accident, and she perishes?«, Elena added, causing Kaede to shiver. Marina had opened the cupboard and heaved a large trolley suitcase out of it.

»Uuuhhmph! Nnnnggg!«

»Come on, be glad we don’t use yours! This one’s at least twice the size of your suitcase, you will feel like in one of these tiny Japanese apartments!«

Kaede didn’t have to say much in the discussion about her transport. Two of the belts came to use again as they tied her arms to her torso, and the removal of the clamps from her nipples and earlobe were only a minor relief. The last belt was slung around her neck, with the buckle open, so marina had a noose that would tighten if she pulled on the other end.

»Just hold still if Elena frees your legs!«

Kaede ached when she was able to stretch her legs again, and it took the help of Elena and several attempts before she was able to stand on them again, panting and trembling. Marina, still holding the leash in one hand, steadied her whilst Elena fetched a metal bucket. When she guessed its purpose, Kaede shook her head. The brunette looked at her as if she was a stubborn child.

»Pee now, or pee inside the suitcase, I don’t care! I mean, it’s not me who will bathe in her own-«

Kaede groaned, and when Elena placed the bucket behind her, her chest heaved. She didn’t try to fight when the brunette lowered her panties to her elbows, but she was blushing all over. Marina chuckled.

»Come on, it’s just us girls here! Or, if you hesitate for too long, Elena will film you, and then, it will be the whole world, too!«

Letting out a fluttering breath, Kaede squatted, staring at the floor when she relieved herself. The splashing sound made her cheeks burn even more.

«Mhmm? Uhhmph!«, she protested when she was led towards the bed, forcing her to step out of her panties. Elena picked the garment up.

»You want them back?«

Glancing at her, Kaede nodded – regretting it immediately when marina tightened the grip on her leash, forcing the Japanese to hold still when Elena pulled the panties over her head, taking care the crotch part was over her nose.

»I bet you now miss the smell of your shoe!«

Ignoring her fuming, they used the spare belts, finally the one around her neck, to tie her into a tiny ball. Four were used on her legs, tying them together at the thighs, above and below the knees and at the ankles, and Elena used a thin cord to also tie Kaede’s big toes. She was forced to bend forward, and a belt was buckled tight under the backs of her knees and her nape, so her forehead was pressed against her knees. With the final belt, her calves were secured to her thighs. Together, the two women now placed Kaede inside the suitcase. It was made of hard plastic, but with a padding on the inside, meaning that Kaede, who barely fit in, was further stashed. She mewed with horror when the lid was closed, and it took her some time hyperventilating and writhing until she realised that at least, some air came in, though she was in complete darkness.

The suitcase was raised, and after a few minutes in which her captors obviously packed a few things, it was rolled forward. According to the sound of the small wheels, they were passing some gravel path, and after some minute, they stopped, and Kaede could hear the sound of a whistle, accompanied by some rattling. When the noise had ceased, the trip went on, and she was stowed in the trunk of a car that drove off. Kaede screamed into her gag; it was rather an expression of her sheer frustration than an actual call for help.

***

The guesthouse »Pension Kleist« was the second hotel at Klausenfeld, and it had the advantage that, despite being close to Bingen and directly at the Rhine, it was secluded, allowing meetings in private, or just withdrawing from the public for a few days. It was run by an elderly couple, and they knew Luna from since she had been a little girl. Therefore, Mr. Kleist was more than unhappy to tell her the sad truth:

»It is still after-season, and so, we only have two double rooms left, Mrs. Carstens!«

To his surprise, the CEO didn’t mind having to share the room with one of her companions, and none of them complained that the rooms were at the backside of the house, only allowing a glimpse on some vineyard, but not at the river.

Quickly, they had decided that Luna would share a room with Laya whilst Angelina and Verena would take the other one.  The rooms were clean, and each had its own bathroom; the only slight problem was that both hade one French bed instead of two single beds. Luna shrugged.

»They always say that bonding with employees is so important! At least, it looks wide enough for the two of us!«

She insisted that Luna would use the bathroom first, and she quickly brushed her teeth and changed for her burgundy red silk pyjamas. Back at the bedroom, she saw that Luna had changed into a lacy white babydoll and was just draping her bra, panties, garters and lacy stockings over the backrest of one of the chairs. She smiled as if Laya had caught her in doing something slightly indecent.

»You know, these help me not to forget I am a woman when I try to kick some mal asses!«, she stated, as if Laya had questioned her choice of underwear. Luna quickly used the bathroom and then slipped under the blanket she and Laya would have to share. Laya couldn’t help gasping when her CEO’s feet touched her calf.

»Sorry, are they cold?«

»A- a little«, Laya breathed, and Luna chuckled.

»You sound like my ex!«

When Laya blushed, she added:

»Don’t worry, I am not into women – but right now, I am preferring you to any man I know! Can you live with that?«

Laya nodded, and with a slightly forced smile, she whispered:

»You – you may warm your feet if you want to – just your feet!«

Her ex had sometimes called her a human radiator, for she always seemed to stray heat, and he had joked that she was an ideal sleeping partner for the winter, but terrible in summer. Now, Luna carefully pushed her icy feet between her calves, and though it felt a bit awkward, Laya pressed them between her lower legs. When Luna touched her shoulder, she stiffened, but the gesture was just friendly.

»We will get through all this, won’t we, Laya? We are strong enough to free Kaede and get these bastards behind bars, whatever it takes!«

Laya felt less confident, but she nodded.

»If anyone is tough enough, it’s you!«

Luna’s lips trembled, and suddenly, she cuddled against Laya, hugging her. She responded to the embrace, and though their breasts touched, she also felt covered, and she decided that she could stay like this for a while. Laya giggled.

»So, I am sleeping with my boss – and I haven’t even asked for a salary raise!«, she thought. Luna didn’t ask why she was chuckling.

Still in a close embrace, both girls were soon sleeping soundly.

***

In the adjacent room, Angelina and Verena were lying side by side, both dressed in T-shirts and panties. The reporter suddenly got up and went for the bathroom, only to return with the two toothbrush cups little later. Throwing them onto the bed, she then rummaged through a plastic bag she had brought from the village’s only shop, producing a small bottle containing some golden liquid.

»What are you trying to do? Fill me up, so you can have your way with me?«

When it came out, her voice became hoarse, as Verena remembered that just some hours ago, three women had had their way with her. Angelina just grinned.

»In your dreams, Blondie! However, I think that we have earned ourselves a little nightcap!«

She poured liquor into the two cups, handed one to Verena and raised hers.

»To Kaede’s save return – and to our revenge on these bitches!«

Verena drank, coughed and grimaced.

»Phew, that tastes like the stuff my Mom used to clean the drain!«

»So, you would have preferred the eggnog? Anyway, you are right, it tastes horrible!«, Angelina replied. She cocked her head, focussing Verena.

»Never have I ever ignored my tastebuds, just to get drunk!«

She sipped from her drink, and with a chuckle, Verena did the same. She pondered before she looked at Angelina.

»Never have I ever – done things my parents were never allowed to know after I had drunk too much!«

Again, both girls drank, and Angelina seemed to think of something more specific.

»Never have I ever – used my feminine charms to get the information I needed from someone!«

Verena was reminded of Gabelstein by these words, and she hastily drank. Oppressing her insecurity, she scolded Angelina:

»Hey, shouldn’t you drink to that, too? I bet that you are – oopsie!«

She had nearly spilled her drink, and Angelina chuckled.

»Getting wasted already? Really, I – huh!«

She got up and rushed to the bathroom. Verena noticed she had left the door open and waited for the splashing sound of the reporter relieving herself, but instead, she heard an oppressed scream, followed by a clattering.

»Angie? Whassup?«

Verena jumped up; obviously, she either had had one too much already, or she had moved too quick, for she staggered and had to reach for the cupboard not to fall. Her vision blurred, and she stumbled towards the bathroom. There, on the floor, she saw Angelina, not moving at all.

»A– A – A –«, she croaked, trying to spell the reporter’s name. She sank to her knees, the features of Angelina and the room exploded to indistinct forms, and then, everything went black. Verena collapsed on the carpet.

***

A smile appeared on the lips of Marina when she looked down at the bed that was dimly lit by the moonlight coming through the window.

»Cozy!«, she whispered, and Elena nodded. Laya and Luna were still cuddling as they were sleeping side by side, their foreheads slightly touching. Soundless, Marina moved to one side of the bed, Elena to the other. The blonde raised three fingers of her left, and Elena nodded: on three.

The two each drew a spray can and held it close to their respective victim’s face. Marina dropped one finger, and they placed their thumbs on the trigger. The second finger fell, and both Marina and Elena held their breaths, though they were wearing COVID masks anyway.

On the dropping of the last finger, both girls pressed the trigger, spraying some of the gas into Luna’s and Laya’s faces. With a drowsy mumble, both girls blinked, followed by a panic-driven opening of the eyes. Laya gasped, and Luna tried to raise a hand. Then, both girl’s eyes twisted, and they sank back onto the pillows.

Marina opened the window to let in fresh air, and they kept on the masks, so the effects of the gas would not turn against them. Marina took off her backpack and opened it, taking out a coiled rope.

»We’ve got 40 to 45 minutes!«

***

 Verena shivered, and she tried to pull her blanket over her body, only to realize that she couldn’t. She shifted her position, and now, her head touched something hard and smooth.

»Mhhm?«

She opened her eyes, and all at once, several information was hammered into her skull: her arms were tied behind her back, in a way that made her shoulders hurt, and she had something wrapped tightly around the lower half of her face. It kept a massive wad inside her mouth, and Verena realized at the same moment that it was a pair of panties when she found out she was once again stark naked.

Her legs were unrestrained, but she could hardly move them, as she was sitting inside some kind of box with smooth walls. It wasn’t pitch black dark, but only very little light came in through some gaps above her head, and there was a stale smell. Verena moved her feet, touching the wall of her prison with her toes, and she began to breathe heavier.

»Uuuhmmmph! Mmhhmmmm!«

When she intensified her struggles, she sensed that the box was moving, too. In addition, she noticed that the lid had flapped a little; just a few millimetres, but it obviously wasn’t locked! With renewed energy, she threw herself against one of the walls. The box swayed, threatened to fall back into its old position and then, it toppled over.

The lid opened, and Verena pushed herself out of it. She felt cold air and some rough surface under her bare skin, and there were suddenly voices. A lot of voices.

»What the fuck? Sebi, come here!«

It wasn’t only Sebi that followed the order. Verena saw herself surrounded by about half a dozen men in uniforms, Police uniforms, and behind them she saw several more people, some of them wearing bathrobes.

»Verena? Oh my God!«

It was Angelina, and when she tried to get through the barrier of Policemen, Verena saw that she was wrapped into a blanket.

Meanwhile, Sebi or one of his colleagues had approached her, and to her astonishment, he did not free her, or cover her bareness, but checked her body and the box she had been in, turning out to be a blue plastic dustbin.

»Looks like she’s clean!«

»Well – release her!«, his colleague replied, and he tried to shoo the other people away. The Policeman worked quickly and cut through the zip ties that tied Verena’s wrists and elbows, but until then, everyone at the yard had seen her nude front, and she was sure that more than once, she had seen the flash of a cell phone camera.

»Can you do the rest by yourself? There’s a medic over there, but-«

»I will take cate of her!«

Angelina squatted beside her, draping her blanket over her shoulders. Underneath, she still wore her T-shirt. She helped Verena to peel the tape off her mouth whilst the Policemen shouted orders and approached the house.

»They left me – bound and gagged – alarm was raised – sent me outside!«, she uttered pieces of information that made no sense in Verena’s confused mind. Impatiently, she ripped the last tape from her lips and pulled on the dense packing. She worked out a sopping ball of cloth, and when it landed on the ground, Verena saw it was peach-coloured. Angelina scoffed.

»That explains what happened to my panties! These bastards!«

She lifted her T-Shirt a bit, revealing she was wearing a tiny red thong that looked too small for her. Verena recognized it as her own.

Aided by Angelina, she came to her feet, and the reporter wanted to lead her to the ambulance car. However, Verena pointed at the guesthouse.

»What happened? Where are Laya and Luna?«

A very upset hotel manager approached them, and after a while, they had been told that some 30 minutes earlier, at about the same time when Angelina had managed to free herself from her bonds and gag, another guest who had been forced to do an early walk with his dog that suffered from a weak bladder, had discovered a bomb attached to one of the doors. The scared man had raised the fire alarm, and so, there were now not only the fire brigade and the ambulance, but also several Policemen, including an expert in defusing bombs.

»Oh my God, Laya! And Luna!«

Verena rushed towards the house, followed by Angelina. She lost the blanket when she darted up the stairs, only to stumble into a Policeman that wanted to scold her when they heard a man from the door of Laya’s and Luna’s room:

»All clear, guys! It’s just a dummy!«

There was a collective breath of relief, and the man came to his feet, in his hands some red sticks taped together with black tape and connected to some wires and a blinking display. He handed the fake bomb to one of his colleagues, and when his eyes fell on the naked Verena, his face showed a mixture of surprise and amusement.

»Kommissarin Beil?«

Blushing all over, Verena shielded her breasts with her arm and cupped her pubic mound with the other hand. She forced herself to answer the man’s look.

»Currently out of duty!«

With the commotion settled, they could now hear some faint mewing from behind the door. Whilst the Policemen, including Verena, knew that a fake bomb could be just a distraction from the real one, Angelina lacked such knowledge. She jumped forward and tried to open the door.

»No, you fucking-«

The insult never left the man’s mouth, as the door that had not been unlocked swung open, allowing them the sight of the woman sitting in the bed. Her eyes and mouth were hidden under layers of white tape, but what caught the eyes of the people on the corridor were her ample breasts that were bare of any textile.

Laya’s arms were tied behind her back; according to the way she thrust out her breasts, they had also tied her elbows. Her upper arms were also secured to the bedframe, and her ankles were tied with a long rope that ran under the bed, forcing her to sit with her legs spread wide. She was also crotch-roped, and tied to that rope were the feet of another naked woman squirming on the crumpled bed sheets.

She was tied at wrists and elbows, too, and her legs were tied together not only at her thighs, above and below the legs and at the ankles, but also her insteps and big toes were bound, the latter fixed to Laya’s crotch rope. The woman wasn’t blindfolded, but also thoroughly gagged, and Verena, now once again covered by the blanket Angelina had put over her shoulders, stared with disbelief: this wasn’t Luna, but Kaede!

»Uuhhmmm! Mmhhmmmm!«

With a mixture of professionalism, curiosity and a little gloat, three men started working on the two women’s bonds. Verena looked around. Where was Luna?

A splashing sound made her twitch, and Angelina pointed at the bathroom door, opening it. Luna was sitting on the toilet, naked, bound and gagged like the others, and in her struggles to make herself noticeable, she had accidentally flushed the toilet. She still wore her glasses, and a pink rash of embarrassment covered her cheeks and cleavage.

Several minutes later, all five were sitting in a smaller dining room beside the main one, all now equipped with blankets and sipping from some tea. The medic had finished checking if they were physically hurt, and an obviously not too sensitive men of the forensics team asked which panties belonged to whom, wielding a few evidence bags. The medic wanted to scold the man, but Verena held him back.

»It’s not his fault – and he has to do his job, no matter how disgusting it may be!«

Pointing at the peach coloured Lycra panties, she added:

»These are Angelina’s – and they were used to«, she gulped, »to g-gag me!«

The forensic, an archetypal nerd with thick glasses, raised an eyebrow.

»And who is Angelina?«

The reporter raised a hand.

»That’s me, Angelina Neumann! I was gagged with hers, by the way – but I am still wearing them!«

»But – these are evidence!«, the forensic insisted. With an annoyed grunt, Angelina rose and disappeared in the toilet, only to come back a minute later, handing the red thong to the man who put it into another plastic bag.

Laya and Luna had already known that they had been gagged with each other’s panties, and to none of them, it had been a pleasant experience. Luna was pale as a sheet, with only two red spots on her cheeks, and Laya’s cinnamon cheeks looked olive. However, the Sri Lankan managed to get to her feet and also staggered towards the bathroom. When she returned, she held something in her left.

»The – the garters and stockings of – of my boss! They – they must have put them on me!«

With Kaede’s gag already identified as being Luna’s panties, the man finally disappeared, leaving them alone with the medic and the only female member of the Police squad. She looked at them and focussed Verena.

»Do you feel able to follow us to the Department?«

Verena frowned.

»Like that?«

She pointed at the blanket, being her only garment, with her chin. Her companions were little better off. The Policewoman sighed.

»The forensics should be ready by now, so, you may get upstairs and put on some clothes! However, I recommend you to come with us! Whoever pulled this stunt has also called the press, and right now, there are some two dozen journalists just waiting for you to show up!«

She spat the word »journalists« as if it was something disgusting, and Verena involuntarily glimpsed at Angelina, but the reporter didn’t react. She forced a grin on her lips.

»Yesterday, I was ordered not to show up at the department before next week! However, you may take us to the dungeon!«

The others seemed a bit concerned, and Verena had to explain to them that the »dungeon« was just a nickname for an old bomb shelter in the cellar. It had been out of use for decades, but it offered a bathroom with a shower and also some bunk beds.

So, after another 15 minutes, the five now provisionally dressed women left the guesthouse, shielded by some Policemen by the crowd of journalists who took photos and bombarded them with questions. According to how specific some of these were, the kidnappers had already provided the press with some information.

In the Police van, they were alone except for the driver, and Verena looked at her companions.

»Now, we have to do our reports, so my colleagues can try to finally get these bastards behind bars! Of course, you may call a lawyer first!«

Kaede shook her head.

»Our company’s law firm’s in Tokyo – and I think after what I endured, reporting it to one of your colleagues won’t be worse!«

Her determination gave Luna the strength to insist on doing her report, too, and neither Laya nor Angelina had a lawyer anyway, and they also didn’t want to involve yet another party.

At the Police Department, Verena spoke to one of the higher ranking Officers, and after a while, she returned to the dungeon where the others were waiting.

»We may stay here for the night! It’s a bit frugal – but they will get us some towels and some food, and at least, this place is saver than any other place we could withdraw to!«

The shelter room only had a few barred skylights, but Verena was right: even if their kidnappers knew where they were, they would not risk breaking into the Police Department.

***

The interviews by Hauptkommissar Eichinger took some time, and Verena, who had made the start, had more than once felt tempted to grab the pen the man had constantly been playing with and ram it into his eye. Eichinger wasn’t overly insensitive, and he also wasn’t keen on hearing raunchy details from an embarrassed woman, but he was meticulous, and, in Verena’s eyes, not in a good way.

So, he had insisted on not interviewing them altogether, so they would have been able to support each other emotionally and would also not have to repeat every detail and only emphasize the similarities and differences in their predicaments. Also, Eichinger insisted on her describing the whole ordeal very detailed – so that Verena had all but asked him whether he wanted to reinact the whole ropework and gagging with his wife.

After an hour, it had been Kaede’s turn, and Laya felt a little relief when she left the cellar room. Of course, it hadn’t been the Japanese’s fault, but Laya still shuddered from the memory of how she had woken up and, before getting the slightest chance of coping with being bound, blindfolded and gagged with another woman’s used panties, had felt the other’s toes and soles brush over her pubic mound in her desperate struggles, pulling on Laya’s crotch rope in the progress. Somehow, the fact that all the time, she had been thinking that the woman tied to her in such an embarrassing way had been Luna now had the effect that she also avoided eye contact and talking to her boss.

Angelina seemed quite calm, and she was typing something on her phone. Maybe, she was already turning their latest predicament into a story.

Kaede’s interview didn’t last long: she spoke fluent German, albeit with an accent, but Eichinger had spoken to her in an overly accentuated way and very slowly, as if Kaede was slow in the uptake. So, her answers had been monosyllabic, and she had withdrawn as soon as possible.

»Maybe, you show him your passport before the interview, otherwise, he will rely on Pidgin German when he talks to you!«, she remarked sarcastically when Laya was next to be interviewed. To her surprise, someone she knew was waiting on the corridor.

»Colin? What are you doing here?«

»I am working here!«

His smile vanished, and with a lowered voice, he added:

»Are you okay? I heard what happened and – I mean, I didn’t hear everything, just – enough to feel concerned!«

Laya felt her cheeks turn hot, and she could all too well imagine what the young Policeman had overheard from his colleagues. However, his concern seemed genuine, and Laya tried a confident smile that turned more into a grimace.

»I’ve been better – but if you can get me a coffee after the interview, I think I will see another day!«

His grin returned, being a bit mischievous.

»This time, I can even ask whether you like milk or sugar without getting – distracted!«

He glimpsed at her breasts just short enough Laya could take it as a joke. She playfully waved her index finger.

»Don’t forget I know where your mother lives! What would she say if I told her how her son behaves at work?«

***

In the shelter room, Kaede had taken a piece of paper and a pen and started to write down something. Verena had looked over her shoulder, but since she had written in Japanese, it could have been a recipe as well as a confession that she was behind all that had happened. Finally, Angelina no longer could hold back her curiosity and asked what Kaede was writing down.

»I am collecting evidence!«

Of course, this made her friends even more curious, and with a fine smile, the Japanese added:

»I tried to write down every detail from my memories that may be helpful in narrowing down where these villainesses have their hideout! So, as I already told your – meticulous colleague, it was more a hut than a house, but clean and stable, and it had electricity and running water!«

Verena’s professional instincts came to life.

»Maybe, it was some hut at an allotment garden company!«

Kaede nodded.

»Outside the hut, I was either blindfolded or stowed in a suitcase, but it took them some 15 minutes to get me to the guesthouse – and shortly before they put me into the trunk, they had to wait at a rail crossing, to let a train pass!«

In Verena’s head, this information began to build a Venn diagram. She spontaneously hugged the Japanese.

»Thank you! I may be suspended, but a true Policewoman is never out of duty! Let’s just hope I’ve got internet access in this bunker!«

***