Chapter 20: Day 369

The one-week window for our swap had come and gone. I was still Kara, and Peter was still himself/herself. Carol and I were happy, and life looked good. It was Sunday, just before noon, and I had rented a car so that we could take a little trip. The phone rang and I answered. Carol listened as I said, "Just got in? It went as I said? You're there now? OK, I'll be there as soon as I can. Goodbye."

"Are you going out, Mistress?"

"Yes, Slave Carol, and I want you to come along. Better take a heavy coat. It may snow."

We went to the car and drove north towards Connecticut. I said to Carol, "Sweetheart, do you trust me?"

"With my life, Mistress."

"Good, because I would never do anything to harm you. But I fear that you are going to be a little upset today. We are going to meet with Mr. Barrington."

As soon as I said it, she started to tremble. I pulled her close to me and said, "Don't worry. I promise that he won't hurt you ever again. Please believe me."

"I trust you, Mistress. But please don't be upset if I tremble a little."

"There's no need." I gave her a sinister little smile. "Mr. Barrington and I have reached an understanding. He won't be harming anybody."

When we arrived in Greenwich, I drove straight to Barrington's house, parked the car in the driveway, and walked up to the house with Carol. She clutched at my arm as we walked. As soon as I rang the bell, a very large man whom I recognized at once as Barrington, opened the door. He stepped back so that we could enter.

I said, "I have the contracts. Let's go into the kitchen and get that out of the way."

He escorted us to the kitchen and we sat at the table. Carol had hidden behind me the whole time, visibly frightened of Barrington. I had set up our camcorder on the counter by the sink, and started it. Then I laid out the contracts on the table and he looked at them.

He gruffly said, "Turn that off," nodding towards the camcorder.

I looked at him for a few seconds, then got up and turned off the camcorder. "What's the matter?"

"I've been thinking about this deal. I'm not sure that I'm willing to sign these papers. Maybe I'll just keep everything."

"Do you think that's wise?" I asked.

"I already have what I want. Why should I give you anything now?"

"How long do you think that you'll keep what you have if you renege on our deal?"

He looked thoughtful for a minute. "Are you saying that you could undo things."

I just nodded once, slowly.

He scowled. "Alright, you win."

I got up and turned the camcorder on again. Barrington took the papers and signed them in full view, with the camcorder acting as witness. When that was done, I put them away and stopped the camcorder.

Sitting back down at the table, I said, "You said that everything went well. Tell me about it."

He began, "We met, as you had instructed. At midnight we drove to the rendezvous spot and waited for the contact to show. A little past 1 AM, we must have fallen asleep in the car because I don't remember anything for several hours. When we awoke, we returned here to sort things out. Then I called you."

"Where's Sharon?"

"Come with me, I'll show you." He led the way to the basement and opened a thick steel door that led to a small, concrete-walled room. There were no windows in the room and it was black as pitch inside. He turned on an interior light by a switch on the wall just outside the room. As soon as the room was illuminated, we saw a young blonde girl of about 23, who was chained tightly against the wall. She was naked from head to foot, and was trying to scream through an extremely effective gag. The manacles on her wrists were connected to chains suspended from high up on the wall behind her, and kept her standing on her tip toes, while a spreader bar kept her ankles about two feet apart. A chain around her waist held her against the wall. Around her neck was a collar identical to the one that Carol wore. Carol was visibly shaken and wanted to go to the girl. I held her back. As we walked out of the room, I had to pull Carol with me. Barrington closed and locked the door, then turned off the light, leaving the girl in complete darkness. We went back upstairs.