Very Early, Sunday Morning

The night air was cold, and the wind had whipped the dark clouds overhead into tattered streamers. The car park was around the corner, five minutes walk away. After only a moment's hesitation, I slipped off my jacket to put it over Penny's shoulders. Mrs. Jones noticed out of the corner of her eyes and even in the dark I saw her raise her eyebrows at me. Penny just grinned in thanks and pecked me on the cheek.

"Hey, the old clichés are the best," I explained.

"I'm not complaining — I'm the one with the jacket! Now, where is that limousine, Mother?"

The wind dropped as we stepped around the corner of the building, and I felt a moment of relief — until we were stopped. By Murdoch, Burke and Cribbens standing right in our path.

"Pilsbury, my dear chap! How nice to meet you here! And your lovely companion. Your lovely COLLAR companion. Did you really think no-one would notice?"

Why does he do it, I wondered. Is there some etiquette about chatting to your victims before hitting them? "Notice what, Vince?" My voice, cool as a cucumber, surprised me. I stepped in front of Mrs. Jones and the girls, wondering if I could keep the goons occupied long enough for them to get away.

"Nice of you to wrap it up for me, it looks good enough to fuck. Or shall I say fuck it up?" The other two laughed, dutifully.

"Not a good place, Vince. Too many people around, or hadn't you noticed? Oh, and I believe you know Mrs. Jones, here?"

"Yes, I know the interfering old bag well enough, and she's not going to rescue you now," he growled.

"Out of our way, boys," snapped Mrs. Jones, and marched forward as if he wasn't there, For a second he almost stepped back, and I thought that it was going to work. But his hand suddenly in front of her halted her like a brick wall. She gasped as Burke and Cribbens each took an elbow and held her firmly.

"Jasper, Nigel — take Mrs. Jones and escort her over to her car. Make sure that she doesn't leave her parking space for a bit. We don't want to be disturbed for the next few minutes, do we Pilsbury?"

I thought she was going to let fly at them but she stopped and turned coldly to Murdoch. In a tone that raised the hairs on the back of my neck, she said quietly "Be careful, young Murdoch. A mistake now could cost you dearly. I hope you are prepared to take this to the finish."

"Just get her out of here!"

Christ, I thought as I watched her march off with the two goons, dragging them in her wake. He was obviously a lot braver than I was, or a lot more stupid.

He turned back to me. All pretence at cool had evaporated. "Enough playing around, just hand the fucking thing over. Gimme the zapper, NOW!"

I patted my trouser pockets in a pantomime display, and suddenly realised that the pretend was real. "Sorry, Vince, it doesn't seem to be on me." So where was my lovely new bracelet? With my fone in the changing room of course. What an idiot!

For a second, I thought he was going to swing at me, and I almost flinched. But he reached in his pocket, and dragged out a large black zapper. I recognised it as a police GP model and my heart sank.

"YOU! Get over here NOW!" he shouted at Annie, pointed the thing at her and pressed the button.

The result was disappointing. Annie flinched, but then just glared at him. "I think you are making some kind of mistake," she grated through clenched teeth.

Frowning, Murdoch thumbed the button again and again, while he waved it at her. There was a cry of pain behind me, and the sound of some one falling over. I realised that it was working — he had it on wide beam, and other collars were being caught in the broadcast.

Penny reacted faster than I did. "Drop it Murdoch," she threatened, and leapt forward to slap it out of his hand.

"Stupid bitch," he snarled. He punched her in the stomach, hard. She collapsed, gasping. The world froze.

Have you ever actually been in a fistfight?

I used to imagine what I would do. I would be so calm and collected; you know, I would side step the baddy, trip him up, and do the clever moves like in the thriller vids. I would be able to see what was happening and of course, he would end up on the ground while I danced away. But now I know. Now I know what really happens.

It doesn't hurt. Something hits you, shoving you off balance, but it doesn't hurt. Not yet. Your knuckles bleed after you have thrown them hard, really hard, at that head, but they don't hurt either. The 'red mist' is real, although it's not actually red. You really can't see. You don't know what you are tearing at, hitting at, breaking. A body has weight, the weight of a slab of dead meat as you punch into it. Time doesn't slow down; oh no, each swing and lurch and gasp takes all the time there is and no time at all, for it all happens too fast to follow, and it is over before the pain catches up with you and you are standing but swaying looking down on the man twisted on the ground and now suddenly the side of your head throbs like hell and you can see Annie also standing over him, holding her wristand with that beautiful dress torn and ripped but breathing and grinning so fiercely, and you realise with amazement that you have just won.

Then it hurts.

He hit Penny! I turned to see her sitting on the ground, winded and holding her stomach but evidently not too badly damaged. "Hey are you all right?"

"I'm fine, just take care of that bastard."

I returned my attention to Murdoch who was groaning and getting up.

"Fuck off, Vince, and don't come near me or mine again!" I threatened, ready to launch into him again if he moved towards us. But he was up and lurching away from us, toward the Sheriffs car parked on the far side of the road.

I was suddenly aware of the ring people now standing around us, and the noise of congratulations and questions.

"Good show, Pilsbury!"

"I'd have been right in there but I could see you had him!"

"Are you alright, do you need anything?"

I was turning gratefully to the one voice which had offered assistance, when a different girl's voice cried out; "Look out, he's coming back!" Sure enough, Murdoch was climbing out of the car, with something in his hand. It was dark but as he waved it towards us I had a bad feeling, and I pulled Penny to her feet.

The shot, when it rang out, sounded curiously flat and unreal. Just as I had never been in a fight before, neither had I ever heard the sound a gun actually makes.

"Come on!" I cried, and grabbed a girl with each hand to drag them around the corner, while people screamed and ran in all directions.

"Back in the Hall," I shouted, and we started for the door just fifty yards off. He reached the corner before we got there but he was obviously no marksman because the next shot also missed us. I knew that because I heard the plunk and saw the splinters as it buried itself in the door above our heads.

I slammed it behind us and looked around while Penny was scrabbling at the door itself. "I can't shut it properly — you need a key!" she cried.

I could see no one around who could help us, so I dashed for the corridor to the left, the one not leading to the ballroom. "Come on, this way!"

One turning and we discovered it was a dead end. I took one step back the way we had come, only to hear the noise of the outer door bursting open. "Quick, into a room," Penny cried, and tried the nearest handle. It was locked. The footsteps of someone running down the hallway towards us sounded terrifying in my ears. That one was locked too.

"In here!" I shouted as the second one I tried yielded. I stood back to let the girls in, so I was able to see Murdoch in all his fury skating round the corner and wrench the revolver up towards me. The shot was very loud in that confined space as I slammed the door shut.

Shit. It was a solid door, sturdy as only the Victorians knew how, but there was no bolt, and no key in the lock. I grasped the handle desperately, determined not to let him in.

"Here!" cried Penny, grabbing something off a hook on the wall by the side of the door. It was the key, and she had it in the lock and turned before the thud of Murdoch's boot hit the oak boards.

"I'm coming to get you!" Murdoch's voice sounded all the better for coming from the far side of a thick door, but we needed another escape route. I turned with urgency to see where we were. It was a cleaner's store, perhaps eight feet square, containing shelves, a sink and a pile of old curtains. The only window was up near the ceiling, and about a foot square. There was no way out.

"A weapon, there must be something I can use as a weapon!" I muttered, hunting desperately through the paper towels and cleaning fluids.

"Here, how about this, Boss," said Annie, handing me a bottle. I turned it round to read the label. 'Ammonia — handle with extreme care' it said. I unscrewed the top and the fumes assailed my nostrils. For the first time in some minutes, I began to feel like we were on a more equal footing.

The sound of the next shot was deafening. "Stay away from the door!" I warned, although we were all flat back against the shelves already. Then I looked at the position of the bullet hole and cursed. He was going for the lock.

Another one. My ears were ringing. The smell was unpleasant; acrid and hot, but although he had hit it, the lock was holding. And ... yes! Footsteps! Voices!

Another shot, this time not at the door. The sound of confused shouting, and more footsteps. Murdoch's voice; "Out of my way! I'll shoot — don't think I won't!" but sounding fainter.

Then silence.

Hardly daring to breath, I held my ear to the door for a long minute.

"I think he's gone."

"Wait a minute!" said Penny urgently. "Don't go out there yet, he might be waiting."

I nodded and slumped down to the floor, my back uncomfortable against the shelving. God, I felt tired. It must have been the reaction. Looking around, I saw Annie still frowning in worry, but Penny was grinning from ear toear.

"You did it James! You were magnificent! Were you really going to take him on with a bottle of ammonia, against a hand gun?"

The shudder caught me by surprise. I suppose I had been going to do just that. "If it was that or hand over Annie," I shrugged.

"Boss," whispered Annie, looking stricken. "You risked your life for me. You mustn't do that. I could have gone with him, it would not have been too bad."

I returned her stare levelly, while I screwed the top back on the bottle. "Not your call, Annie. You are my responsibility, and it is up to me to protect you." I softened my voice. " And I will never abandon you to that monster. It would have been worse than you could possible imagine. I have seen how he treats his own collarmaid, and he doesn't even have a grudge to settle with that one."

Annie's face was shifting. Oh hell, I thought. She was going to start blubbing any second now. I reached out to put my hand on her shoulder as she knelt there. "Shush. It 's going to be alright." She said nothing but lifted my hand to press it against her cheek. I let her hold it there for a moment.

"How are we all, anyway?" I asked the room in general.

"I'm not going to be doing any sit-ups for a while, but I think I'll live," replied Penny, dryly.

Assessing the damage, we had actually got off pretty lightly. Annie had torn that lovely dress, and was nursing a sprained wrist. I could see a couple of bruises on her, but otherwise she seemed unharmed. I had cut knuckles, really tender ribs on my left side, and the lump on the right side of my cheek was going to be a shocker in the morning, but generally I was good. I could hardly believe our lucky escape.

"How the hell did he get hold of a revolver?" I wondered aloud.

"I bet he filched it from his father's gun cupboard," Penny said darkly. "Same as that 'General Purpose' zapper. Where else could he have got that from?"

Sheriffs men, militiamen, collar-school teachers, even bouncers; they all had GP zappers. They worked differently from the standard ones; they were not tuned to any one collar, but just zapped any restrained person unfortunate enough to get in the beam, and laid them flat on their backs. From what I had heard, they were not actually that difficult to get hold of. But the revolver, now, that was another matter. The Guards took gun control very seriously, and unlicensed possession was an automatic collar if you got caught.

"I hope he gets it in the neck from his dad when he gets home."

"More than that I would think," said Penny. "Even Sheriff Murdoch is going to have a hard time sweeping this lot under the carpet. My Father might be hopeless in a lot of ways but he has always protected Mum, and when he hears of how they manhandled her, he is going to be like a terrier. He won't let go of this until it is settled one way or the other. As for waving that thing around, blasting away at us; well that was attempted murder, and a dozen people must have seen it. That's a lot of witnesses to intimidate."

"I just hope you're right." A thought occurred to me. "But it was lucky the zapper wasn't working properly. What do you think happened there, Annie?"

"It did work I'm afraid, Boss."

"What? But you..."

"I pretended, Boss. I think Mr. Weller's alteration helped, and I just ... well I couldn't let him know he was right, could I?"

I stared at her in amazement for a second. "You brave amazing girl, you. How did I ever deserve one like you?" She tried to shrug off my hug and the kiss on her forehead, but I could see she was pleased.

"Anyway, let's see if the coast is clear. Your mother must be worried sick by now, Penny."

I stood up to try the key in the lock, and frowned. It was stuck. I jiggled it a bit, and then tried to twist it. No joy. Hell, of course, the thing had been shot up. I wondered how it looked from the other side.

"Hmmm. We may have a little problem." I tried to pull the key out, but I couldn't do that either. This was not looking good. Surely it just needs ... I leaned on it as I twisted it, hard. Yes, something was yielding! I took a breath, while the brass loop dug into the palm of my hand, and really pushed. There was a snap — and I was looking at half the key in my hand.

"Shit. That's all we needed."

"What's happened?"

I showed Penny the broken shaft of the key in my hand. She took off a shoe, went over to the door and banged on it, really loudly. "Help! Is anyone out there? HELP!!!"

I winced and put my hands over my ears. "I don't think anyone's there, Penny."

"What do we do now?"

"What can we do? Nothing but wait until the cleaners arrive in the morning."

What was it, half an hour later? We were still sitting on impromptu seats of folded curtains on the floor. The desultory conversation had faded out ages ago. It was not that uncomfortable, and I was wondering if we should try and arrange ourselves so we could get some sleep. Having said that, Annie was wriggling from side to side as if something had got between her legs.

"Are you alright, Annie?" I asked with some concern. She blushed and looked down.

"Yes Boss, it's just I need to use the toilet. I'm bursting to do a wee." Penny and I could not help smiling at each other.

"That has got to be the least of our worries," I reassured her, looking around for a bucket or container. There was nothing obvious. "You may have to use the cleaner's sink. Can you get up there?"

It was big rectangular china sink in the corner of the room, set low and obviously destined to take a bucket for cleaning the floors.

"Are you sure you don't mind my doing it in front of you, Boss?" asked Annie, hitching up the hem of her dress to attempt to climb up on the thing.

"Anything to stop you jiggling," I smiled reassuringly.

"Here, just take the lot off," said Penny. "It's already torn, and you'll just ruin it otherwise. We're both girls and you can't tell me he's never seen you in the buff before."

Blushing a little but only hesitating for a second, Annie reached behind her neck for the clasp, and was surprised when Penny took the cloth in her hands. "Arms up." instructed Penny. As the collargirl complied she slipped the dress off over her head. "Well, don't you look delicious" remarked Penny, gazing unashamedly at the body of my collar, now revealed. I could see Annie struggle not to cover herself as she kept her arms down and stood still to be inspected.

Then Penny amazed me.

"Sorry," she said, "you are beautiful, but we should not embarrass you." She leant forward and kissed Annie on the cheek. "Go on and don't worry. James and I will look away." She took my arm and turned us towards the door.

It was all very well not watching but in that tiny room the sounds were impossible to ignore. We heard her struggle up onto the china, then a pause, then the unmistakable hiss and splash of water hitting porcelain. It was unfortunately interrupted by a slither and a yelp of distress from the girl. We spun round to see her struggling to extricate herself from the bottom of the sink.

I could not help turning, to see her legs waving wildly in the air as she struggled to get out of the bottom of the sink. "Annie, let me help," I called and grabbed her arms to help her out.

"It's difficult to balance," she explained, now crimson. The flush spread all the way down to the top of her breasts and I had difficulty in pulling my eyes away. "Could I hold your arm?" So with her clinging to my shoulders I stared at the ceiling and hummed to myself while I waited for her to continue her task.