Chapter 1

It was supposed to be a simple assignment. Just get inside and take a few pictures of some documents, download some files off the computer, and get out. Simple stuff for someone with her training and abilities. Hell, one of the inside men even left a window cracked open slightly for her! It shouldn’t have taken more than ten minutes at most and she would make an easy 20 grand. But it’s those easy jobs that you have to watch out for – they have a way of getting real complicated, real quick!

Beverly Richardson was an independent private investigator. But business had been extremely slow for some time, and she was having a hard time keeping the lights on. She had already taken out a small loan just to keep going, and was having a hard time trying to pay that back. So when a phone call came in for a job it seemed like a godsend.

Beverly was a bit taken aback when the caller identified himself as “John Doe”, but as a private investigator she was used to a certain amount of cloak and dagger. And when her mystery employer explained that this was going to be a case of corporate spying, she was again a bit reluctant. However, she was assured that in this case, the company she would be investigating was allegedly committing violations of the patent laws by using proprietary processes and equipment to imitate products her employer’s company produced.

Things seemed on the level, and after hearing of the seeming injustice, she was more inclined to go along with the plan. Especially when her benefactor said she would earn twenty grand upon successful completion of her work.

According to Mr. “John Doe”, she was to get inside the Visicorp offices through a back window that an “inside man” would leave slightly ajar for her. Once inside, she was to make her way carefully to the main office. There, she would access the main computer using a password she would be supplied and download some files onto a flash drive then erase them from the computer.

After that was done, she was to head to the Research and Development labs and take some photos of certain equipment and parts that they had allegedly copied from the company hiring her so that a lawsuit for patent violation could then be begun. Beverly was warned that there were a couple security guards that patrolled, but she was assured that the areas she would be in were relatively safe. She would have to be careful, but it wasn’t too big a concern.

It all seemed to be pretty well planned and the risks were manageable ... the money was certainly going to help her business out. So she agreed and they set up a method of confirming the job was done and payment could be made.

The job was to be carried out the Friday night before the big Memorial Day weekend. It would be a three-day weekend so no one would know anything was wrong until the following Tuesday morning, when the employees of Visicorp came in to begin their work week.

Beverly arrived at the Visicorp offices late that Friday night about 2:00 am and parked down the street in a dark alley so it couldn’t be seen by anyone driving by (just in case the security company came by and saw a strange car at the Visicorp offices). From there, she snuck up to the back window that was to be her access point. Sure enough, it was left open just enough so the lock wouldn’t catch yet be unobtrusive to most people’s view.

Beverly climbed in through the open window and then shut it as she found it so she could use it to make her getaway. She made her way stealthily to the main office and once inside she was able to access the companies main computer quite easily. The password worked flawlessly and within a minute or so she was downloading the needed files to the flash drive.

Once the files had been downloaded, she shut the computer down and started off to the Research and Development labs to finish her job. But unknown to her, this was going to be her downfall. The administration at Visicorp had only that week installed silent door alarms on some of the doors in the building.

The system wasn’t completely installed, but one of the doors that was armed now was the door to the R&D labs. So when Beverly got there and opened the door, it tripped the silent alarm, notifying the main office of the security company who then got hold of the guards there at the Visicorp building.

Beverly was busy taking the pictures she needed and she didn’t hear the door open. She was focused on getting good pictures and getting the hell out of there. Suddenly a lightning bolt hit her and all the muscles in her body locked up. She heard thunder in her ears and fell like a stone onto the lab floor, confused ... she was inside, how could this be? Then she saw him – a big burly man in uniform standing over her, a Taser in his big meaty paw.

“Well, well ... look what we have here!” he said. “Mr. Davis will be interested in this!” He picked up the stunned Beverly and sat her in a chair, handcuffing her wrists behind her and through the chair so she couldn’t get away. Once she was safely away from where she could do any damage, the security guard stepped out of the room and radioed his office. They got in touch with Mr. Davis, the head of Visicorp and he came right down to see this trespasser for himself.

About twenty minutes later, Mr. Davis arrived and the security guard took him back to where Beverly sat on the floor of the lab, now tied up securely with some rope the guard had found in a utility room. Propped up against the wall, Mr. Davis took an armless, four-legged desk chair and set it over her roped, extended legs and sat down in it, looking at the bound woman only a few inches from him.

He didn’t say anything for a few moments, just watching Beverly as she sat there bound and wriggling against the ropes that held her. Finally realizing it was useless, she gave up struggling and just sat there. They stared at each other until Mr. Davis spoke.

“Now suppose you tell me who you are, what you are doing here at this time of night, and who sent you,” he said. Beverly didn’t say anything at all.

“Mr. Davis, sir, she had this camera and this flash drive on her when I caught her. She didn’t have any identification or anything on her though,” the security guard informed him.

“Okay, thank you,” he said to the guard. He took the camera and flash drive from the guard. Taking out the memory card from the camera he set the camera back on the desk. “I’ll just keep these, if you don’t mind,” he said to Beverly.

“Now then, back to you. Who are you?” he asked again. Again, no response from Beverly. “I see. Okay then, What are you doing here – I assume it some kind of spying, but what were you after?” Mr. Davis asked. But the bound woman wasn’t giving up any information. He tried once more. “Who sent you?” But Beverly was steadfast.

“You know miss, it would be in your best interest to be cooperative. I have you on breaking and entering, trespassing, and I’m sure I can come up with a charge or two more, if I really thought about it,” he said, “Now shall we try this again?”

Beverly’s only response was to spit in his face, a move which angered him. He grabbed her by the throat holding her tightly so she couldn’t breath, tied as she was she was helpless to fight him. “That was a mistake young lady. I have tried to be patient and nice, but you have just pushed me past that. So be it. I have ways of finding out what I want to know,” he said menacingly.

He wiped the spit off his face and got up from the chair, going over to the desk and bringing back a brown glass bottle and a rag. “Now you are going to take a little nap and when you wake up, you will be in a different place and talking to an associate of mine ... she is better equipped to extract information from uncooperative young spies. And she has a special penchant for beautiful young women – she is going to enjoy you!” he said.

With that he opened the bottle, soaking a white rag with the contents of the bottle and put it over Beverly’s mouth and nose. Beverly screamed into the rag and struggled, but only for a moment or two ... then the lights dimmed and finally went out completely.

“ohhh ... my head...” Beverly groaned as the fog started to lift in her head. She opened her eyes slowly, waiting for them to come into focus. When they did, she wasn’t happy with what she saw. Just as Mr. Davis had promised, when Beverly woke up she was in a strange new place. It was dimly lit but she could see she was surrounded by concrete walls with no windows.

It was a small sized room, about twelve foot square she figured, with only a door to break up the wall surface. She was laying on a metal-frame bed with only a mattress, no bedding of any kind. Her heart panicked when she also saw that her left ankle had a metal shackle on it which was attached to a strong chain, the other end of which was welded securely to the bed frame. It was obvious she wasn’t going anywhere – she was trapped.

“Hello! Is anyone there?” she called out, wondering if there was anyone who could hear her. There was no answer. “Hello? Please can anyone hear me?” she repeated. Still silence.

She lay there on the bed wondering what was to become of her. Surely she hadn’t been just left in an abandoned building to die of thirst or hunger. Someone has to know she is here. After a couple minutes, which seemed like ages for Beverly, she heard what sounded like footsteps coming down a hallway. The sound stopped outside the door and then she heard the jingling of keys. She sat up wondering who it was come to get her. The door opened and misery herself walked in.

“Ahh, I see we have woke up from our little nap! Are we well rested?” she hissed, as she stepped into the room.

“Please let me go,” Beverly whimpered. She didn’t like the looks of this woman.

“You want to go already? But we haven’t had a chance to talk yet. And I have so many delightful games planned for us!” she cooed evilly.

“Please...” Beverly whimpered again.

“Nonsense. Now roll onto your belly so we can get started. I’ve cleared my day for you and I want to get on with it!” the woman said.

“No, please!” Beverly said, scooting back on her bed and shrinking into the corner.

The woman walked up to her and that’s when Beverly noticed the cattle prod in her hand. It was a slim white rod, about three feet long, with a round handle at one end and two prongs at the other. She walked up to Beverly and touched the metal prongs to her thigh.

Instantly she felt the same lightning bolt as she did when the security guard “Tased” her. Only this one was even worse. Every muscle in her body locked up and she looked at the woman with wide eyes and an open mouth. She was unable to scream since she couldn’t breath ... she just froze solidly in place. For three or four agonizing seconds she was hit with this full body convulsion until the woman pulled the cattle prod away from her and turned it off. Beverly collapsed in a heap still spasmming from the electricity as it left her body.

Beverly was flipped onto her stomach, her arms pulled behind her back and handcuffed behind her. Then she was released from her ankle shackle. She was sat up and steadied until she was able to stand on her own, then the woman grabbed a big handful of Beverly’s long dark chocolate-colored hair and hauled her to her feet. “Now if you are finished screwing around, let’s go!” she said, starting to walk out of the room.

Walking briskly, Beverly was taken out of the room she woke up in and down the hall to another larger room. The woman walked fast and Beverly could barely keep up. It didn’t help that the woman was considerably taller than Beverly with a longer stride. Beverly stood 5’5” tall in her stocking feet as she was now, while this woman must have been around 5’10” tall. In addition, she wore thigh top leather boots with, Beverly estimated, a 6” stiletto heel putting her at 6’4” tall.

“Welcome to my fun house!” the woman said. She pushed Beverly into the room and Beverly’s heart dropped – the room looked like a cross between a mad scientist lab and a 11th century dungeon! There was several evil-looking torture apparatus ... like a St. Andrews Cross, a spanking bench, a pyramid-shaped frame with straps attached, a leather covered sawhorse, and other devices. Beverly gasped in shock as she looked at the various implements.

“Yes, it is nicely equipped, isn’t it? I have spent a lot of money to make my little playroom suitable, and I am pretty proud of how it has come out,” the woman said. She led Beverly over to one area of her dungeon playroom where there was an overhead hook hanging from a pulley on the high ceiling. “Stand right there. Don’t you move or you will live to regret it!” she grabbed Beverly’s cheeks and shook her head for emphasis.

Then she went across the room to a large cabinet and got out a few things and came back setting the selected items on a small table. She went over to where a small, but powerful, winch had been mounted on the wall and flipped a switch. The winch came to life, lowering the hook down from the ceiling. The woman came back to Beverly and unlocked the handcuffs from her wrists only to replace them with heavy leather wrist cuffs.

The cuffs had a little padding and a buckle that locked on so even if she could use her hands, she couldn’t get them off. Once her wrists were cuffed and locked, the woman put the ceiling hook through the strong D rings on the cuffs and using the winch, brought Beverly’s arms up until she could just touch the ground with her tip toes.

“There that should do nicely. Now before we begin, I think some introductions are in order. My name is Mistress Payne. That’s right. But you shall call me Mistress. We are going to be together for awhile, I expect, so we might as well learn to get along. And that means you do as I say immediately and without question, understand? If you do not ... well, I have ways of getting your cooperation from you. Very delicious ways too!” she said, menacingly.

Beverly watched the Mistress as she went on, “Now Mr. Davis wants me to ask you who you are, what you were doing in his office and who you work for – the same questions he apparently asked you when you were caught trespassing and breaking into his company. So shall we start with a name?”

Beverly knew she wasn’t supposed to give out any information. Her reputation as a private investigator was built on not divulging information. And she sure wasn’t going to tell someone who worked for the very people she was hired to spy on! But she also knew that this woman was not going to take flat out rebellion like Mr. Davis did either. So she played the ignorant card.

“Please ... I don’t know anything!” she whimpered, hoping that this woman – although severe on the outside – has some kind of feelings on the inside.