Chapter 6 : Night Hawks

Confrontation

"I think we need to talk." Liz said bluntly. "I wasn't happy about things during the session with Sir Geoffery and I feel we have got some things that we need to sort out between ourselves."

Liz was surprised with herself. She wasn't usually this up-front, especially about personal relationships, even with her husband. Somehow, though, this was different. She had discovered this extraordinary new aspect to her life and she was determined not to let her enjoyment be spoiled by any issues that Julia had.

Her assertive approach startled Julia. "Oh," she said, "yes. Well, if you want to talk. Sure. What do you suggest?"

"Let's meet for a coffee. I know it's late but the new place on the edge of town will still be open, I'll meet you there in a quarter of an hour. OK?"

"Well, yes. OK."

Liz, pleased with how she had handled it, put the phone down and called to her husband Ben. "I'm off out for a while, love."

"It's almost 11:00 honey. Will you be OK?"

"I'm just meeting Julia for a coffee at that new place. I'll be back not long after midnight. Don't wait up," she said and headed for her car.

Diner Booth

She parked outside the Coffee Stop Diner just as Julia pulled up in her Toyota. The diner didn't look busy. It was hardly surprising given the time. There was just one other car in the car park, a battered old pick up. There were only a couple of lights on inside the diner but the door opened when they pushed it and although there was no sign of a waitress or any other customers come to that Julia and Liz chose a booth and sat down opposite one another.

Liz looked around. There was still no sign of a waitress. "All right," she said. "I'm going to be straight about this. Do you have some sort of problem with Hannah and me playing together?"

"Hey, hang on," Julia protested, "what gives you that idea?"

"You mean apart from the problems she had on the phone with you when we were together and the business at Terry's with Sir Geoffery's display?"

"I was just joining in, being part of the fun. Why should it be more than that?"

"It shouldn't but it is, isn't it? I saw the look on your face when you chose that gag. You were punishing me for something. Look if it's a problem with Hannah then fair enough. If you two have got some sort of exclusive thing going on then I don't mind. But I didn't think it was like that and I don't think Hannah does either. If you do, then you and she have some things to sort out."

Julia looked non-plussed by Liz's plain speaking. She opened her mouth to speak and then threw her hands to her mouth, a wide eyed look of fear on her face. As Liz was about turn to look over her shoulder at where Julia was staring she heard a rough voice say, "What the fuck!" and another say "Oh, shit man, this is more trouble!"

Off to the kitchens

Liz saw at once what had scared Julia. The two men were dressed in black and both wore sinister ski-masks covering their faces. The taller of the two was standing right behind Liz. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her from the booth. "Just keep fucking quiet, lady," he snarled, "or things could get really nasty." He pulled a knife from his pocket and with a click Liz felt a terrifying prick behind her ear as the blade touched her neck. Julia gawped in fright. He turned his head to his friend. "Grab the stupid looking one," he said. "We'll put them in the back with the others. But lock the fucking door first, this time."

The other man slid past Liz and her captor to shut the front door of the diner and then came back for Julia. He pulled her to her feet and the two girls were pushed forward towards the door that led through to the kitchens.

As soon as they got there it was clear that the men had more on their minds than robbery. On the floor of the kitchen, three of the diner's waitresses and the chef lay, bound, gagged and blindfolded with strips of grey tape. The three waitresses bore the signs of having given the men some sexual amusement, their pink, short skirted uniforms in varying states of disarray. All four reacted in fear to the sound of the men reappearing.

The girl nearest to them, who was struggling face down on the floor, had her skirt pushed up over her waist and her panties pulled down to where the strips of tape were wound around her knees. Behind her, a dark haired girl had been tied to the leg of the serving counter. Her dress had been pulled open at the front and her bra pushed up to expose her tits. The third had been tied kneeling by a chair; her wrists taped to the arms of the chair, her knees taped to the front legs so that she was facing whoever was sitting on the chair with her head at the level of their knees. From the wet streaks down the front of her dress that Liz could see as the girl struggled round to face them it seemed obvious that she'd been tied there and then forced to give one or both of the men a blow job while they sat in comfort.

The chef had faired no better. It looked as though her whites had been cut off her as she lay helpless. Now she was virtually naked, except for her cap, surround by tatters of her clothing that were only held to her body by the tape that had her helpless.

"Hullo again ladies, we were sure you'd be missing us so we thought we'd come back. Ain't that what you waitresses say, 'Come back and see us soon.' - eh, girls?"

The four of them squealed in distressed response.

"Don't worry ladies, we've finished with you," the man holding Julia said.

"This time..." Liz's captor cut in.

"But we've got two new playmates to deal with." Liz could see the look of fear on Julia's face as her captor said the word playmate. She was feeling scared herself but wasn't going to show it, if she could help it. "Right ladies, through to the office." He said as he wrenched Liz forward by her arm, slamming her against the door frame as he pushed her forward. The impact stunned Liz and she half stumbled, half fell into the room pitching forward on her hands and knees. "Stay down, there, darling." The man threatened.

"You can join her," the other man snapped as he pushed Julia down beside Liz.

The two girls looked around, in one corner was what had obviously been the men's main objective. A small safe sat on the floor with its door open and a few papers scattered in front of it. The rest was completely empty.

Then they saw the men's other victim.

The Office

The restaurant's manageress was sprawled on the floor beside the safe. She had been tied to a chair but she had tipped it over in her efforts to free herself and was now laying, half stunned, looking up at the two men and their two new captives. Her head was inches from the handset of a phone that she had knocked from the desk in an attempt to summon help.

The man that had grabbed Liz bent down and picked it up. "Now that was naughty," he said, chidingly. "And such wasted effort." As he put the handset back in its cradle he grabbed the phone wire, showing the woman the torn end where it had already been pulled from the wall socket.

The woman growled into her gag, drawing an amused chuckle from the man. He picked the woman and her chair up, set it back on its four legs, and pushed it back against a pillar. He shucked a black rucsac from his shoulder, rummaged inside it and pulled out a hank of rope. Swiftly he looped the rope around the girls waist pulling her back against the pillar, tied a few knots and then, cruelly, took another loop across her throat. "If you don't want to strangle yourself stay still," he snapped. "Understand?"