Chapter 9: Island Girl

"It's very good of you to see me, Mr Glennis," I smiled extending my hand to the tall, distinguished looking grey haired man was welcoming me into his island home. As we walked down the pier, towards a path that led away from the palm trimmed beach, two heavily set men passed us. They headed towards the seaplane that I had just left; no doubt to collect the "cargo" that I had shared my flight with.

"It's my pleasure, believe me. And it's Steve, please. I've had the benefit of Clegg's services down the years and I'm happy to do him a favour. I hope you didn't mind coming out with my latest shipment."

"No, not at all," I replied. "She was pretty quiet. No trouble to anyone."

The two men came back along the jetty. One had the helpless, blindfolded and gagged girl that had been strapped into the Beaver's back seat, tossed across his shoulder. "Excuse us, Sir," he said.

My host waved them through, "Of course. Carry on," he said before turning to me again. "You're new to this line of work he tells me."

"Err, yes, it's a sort of career change for me," I replied

"That's OK. It's not the sort of job you'd necessarily go to straight from college. Plenty of people in this business start at your sort of age. Now how can I help?"

"Well, I'm trying to understand a bit more about Clegg's customers. What their needs are; why they do business with us. That sort of thing."

"Fine. Well I guess we'll take a bit of time, let you see how I put Mr Clegg's products to use and so on."

"Fine by me. Where do we start?"

"Oh, right here I think. Do you fancy a drink?"

I certainly did. It was pretty hot and, although the deck was shaded, the white sands in front of the villa seemed to be throwing heat at the building. I was happy to accept his offer. He pressed a button on the wall beside the couch. Moments later a slight, Chinese girl appeared, her slim figure modestly covered by a one-piece bathing costume. "Hi," she said. "Can I get you guys something?"

"Yes, please Sukie," my host replied. He turned to me "Beer OK?" he asked.

"Sure," I replied.

"Better make that two, please," he said to Sukie who smiled again and disappeared. As she did so he turned to me sensing my confusion. "You're wondering if she's one of my slaves or something else," he said. "Well, just because I want them to stay doesn't mean they all have to be kept in chains, you know. It's not such a bad place after all and anywhere else is a real long swim from here, unless she was to try to stow away on the seaplane or the supply boat." Sukie reappeared carrying two bottles of chilled beer on a tray. "Tell Larry how you came to be here," he said to her.

Sukie smiled shyly and sat at our feet. "It's not such an interesting story," she said. "I'm from L.A. originally. I was working there in a jewellery store. A guy came into the store one day and asked me to serve him. He wanted to buy a bracelet. It was rather nice - gold set with rubies. He had me model it for him. Said I should always wear bracelets because I had such slim wrists. Said he wanted it for someone special."

"And then what happened?"

"He paid for it and left." She giggled and played with her hair. "Oh, you want all the gory details. You men are all the same. Well, Steve obviously has some friends who are very good at helping him get the things he wants. And one of the things he wanted was me. Maybe two days later, a uniformed chauffeur arrives at the door of my apartment. I mean can you imagine! He gives me a small box. Inside it is the bracelet and a note on headed paper from a down town restaurant, 'Have dinner with me?' it said.

I just thought it was so romantic. I followed the chauffeur down to the road and out front was this enormous limo — you know the sort of thing; stretches two blocks, blacked out windows, bright chrome. As we drove off I thought, is this wise? I've no idea who this man is, really. I was thinking if this driver takes one wrong turn then, I'll be on my mobile faster than he can think. But it's fine. He drove me to the restaurant. I felt like royalty. When I arrived they took my coat, showed me to a table.

"Then they said there was a phone call. I went to a booth and picked up the phone. There was a quiet hiss and I woke up with a headache, bouncing around inside a wooden crate with cuffs on my wrists and ankles and a ball strapped into my mouth. I guess that bit wasn't so romantic."

Steve smiled. "My friends have ways they find hard to change," he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Anyway the crate was in a truck. It's transferred to a 'plane. It ended up here. Steve makes it plain that he wants me to stay. So I do. Of course I know if I tried to leave he'd kill me. But it's nice here." She gave a half smile that lacked any sincerity. "Now if you'll excuse me."

"Sure, Sukie," said Steve. "Run along." I watched her neat backside as she walked back into the house. Steve looked at me. "Do you want to try her?" he asked.

"But isn't she, well, I thought..."

"She's only one of the girls here. She does what I want her to and that includes looking after you if I like it. Just because I don't keep her with chains on doesn't mean I don't own her. Do you want to try her? I meant it. Freddie said to look after you. Said you'd just split up with your girl or something."

It seemed impolite to refuse the offer and it had been a while. "Something like that," I said, " Yeah, that would be great."

It was after dinner when she came to my room. It was hot. I was laying on my bed, the ceiling fan spinning slowly above. She'd let down her long, straight, jet black hair. It almost reached the hem of a skirt that came barely below her hips. Her hands were behind her back; I guessed they were strapped or chained there. She wore a ball gag like a necklace, the ball at her throat. She smiled, still without warmth and then looked down at the floor. "Steve said I should be nice to you," she said.