Chapter 18: Invitation

"I insist," thundered the Emir, "If you are saying that she cannot be put aboard my private aircraft without anyone in Australia knowing it has been done, then I will get a new Head of Security in this embassy."

"Master, may you live for ever, it can be done, but it is illegal," protested the unfortunate guard.

"Under the Vienna Convention, in what country are we now standing?" demanded the Emir.

"Master, may you live for ever, the Kobekistani Embassy and its grounds are in Kobekistan, but..."

"But nothing. In Kobekistan who decrees what is the law?"

"You, Master, may you live for ever."

"Fine, persuade her to come into the Embassy without breaking Australia law. Drug her here, because I say it is legal. Put her in a crate and move it to the plane as a Diplomatic Bag. Would that not be entirely legal?" the Emir was really angry now.

"But..." the protest continued.

"Maktum, how long would it take to strangle this one?" asked the Emir.

Maktum moved forwards slowly, eyeing up the other Security guard.

"Perhaps five minutes, Master, if I did not hurry."

The Emir turned back to the unfortunate embassy official, "Your choice."

The man fell to the floor in obeisance, ~As the Master wishes.~"

"Good," said the Emir cheering up, "And if it is done in the next twenty-four hours you can keep your job as well as your life."

Twenty-two hours later the aircraft of the Air Kobekistani Royal Flight took off bearing the Emir home, and carrying a large crate of diplomatic material. The Australian customs officials were not in the least perturbed by the unusual size of the crate, assuming that the visiting head of state had been shopping, and was using the diplomatic bag privilege simply as a means of avoiding departure delays. Kobekistan, after all, was a good friend of Australia, buying a lot of meat and wool from their huge sheep farms and paying for it in crude oil.

Once in the air, the woman was unpacked from the crate and attended by expert medical staff who ensured that she was kept well fed and hydrated, while remaining fully sedated. She was also tattooed with a number indicating that she was an indentured worker whose contract was owned by the Emir. She had ceased to be Bridget Browne-with-an-e and had become Akilah, a slave in the royal household. Oddly, and at the Emir's express orders, she had been allowed to retain all her Australian clothing. Some garments had been removed to allow natural functions to take place without soiling them, but they had been carefully stored.

The Emir, meanwhile was amusing himself with one of the stewardesses, who was performing feats of near genius with her tongue on his genitals, in the vain hope of being invited into the Golden Palace harem. The virgin stewardess, carried on every royal flight in case the Emir, may he live for ever, desired one, was crying her eyes out at the rear of the plane. It was her tenth journey with the Emir and she had still not been deflowered. She had heard the tale of Arin, who was deflowered by the Emir during a flight and then immediately taken in to the Golden Palace. What she did not know was that Arin had been badly beaten on the only subsequent occasion on which she had shared the Emir's bed, and that after two years of use as a 'hostess' for the Emir's guests Arin had died while 'assisting' the Emir in an experiment with his late uncle's torture chambers.

On the ground in Kobekistan, Bridget was transferred, still sedated, to the Golden Palace where her Australian clothing was replaced and she was allowed to recover consciousness. There she found herself lying on an uncomfortable narrow bed in a small windowless room which looked to be some sort of school storeroom. Light was provided by a single bulb set into the ceiling well out of reach. The door had no handle on the inside and although she screamed and hammered on it for a while nobody came.

After a quarter of an hour of fruitless effort, she sat on the bed and tried to gather her thoughts. She had accepted an invitation to visit the borrowed apartment of the young English girl rugby fanatic whom she had just met in a bar and her last memory was of accepting a delicious drink of fruit juice from her. Clearly she had been drugged and was now being held, presumably for ransom, though who they thought would pay any large sum of money for her, she did not know.