Chapter Eight
Vespa was just about able to walk when the door was unbolted and the powerful figure of the black man stepped back inside the tiny shower room. He grasped her arm, fingers digging into the flesh and led her back down the corridor a little way then unbolted a door on the side.
"Time for you to join the others!" he chuckled as he pulled her inside and Vespa gasped as she saw the selection of steel cages and two huddled occupants.
"What's this?" she cried out and tried to back out of the room but he simply tightened his grip on her arm and pulled her back inside, laughing at her feeble efforts to escape from him.
"This is where you wait until James requires your services...or decides to accept an offer for you."
"But I am Jake's!" Vespa cried out.
"Not any more. James likes you so he bought you off Jake. Five thousand pounds you cost, girl, so I hope you live up to your price!"
"He can't just sell me!" snapped Vespa, still trying to resist despite the futility as the man dragged her towards one of the cages.
"He just has, girl! Now stop struggling or I will have to subdue you!"
Vespa ignored his instruction. Instead, she kicked out at him but he simply caught her ankle and flipped her over onto the floor then reached up and took a collar from a shelf on the wall. He clicked it round her neck then stood up, watching her carefully as she slowly got to her feet and then raised her hands to explore the steel ring around her neck.
"No, it won't come off unless you know the combination. You will have to get used to wearing it while you are here as it is a very useful training tool, isn't it, girls?"
No reply came from the other two girls in cages nearby, one of whom was Astrid, Vespa suddenly realised as she noticed the long blonde hair. The other was the little Chinese girl, Huian, and she was curled up in a little ball of dejection against the steel bars of her cage.
"I'll give you a demonstration. If you're disobedient then this happens," murmured the man, taking a tiny device out of his pocket and pressing a button on the top.
Vespa jumped as Astrid suddenly jerked, hands flying to her neck. A strangled cry emerged past the ball gag in her mouth and her body tensed all over before she suddenly relaxed again.
"An electric current. That was a mild shock but I can turn it up a little if you want another look?"
Vespa stayed silent, mouth going dry at the thought of how difficult it was going to be to escape wearing such a thing. Had she really been sold like a slave back in ancient times? It appeared so and Astrid's position in the cage certainly reinforced Vespa's new status. It seemed that James didn't just like submissive girls but ones who had to suffer anything that he wished to do. Unable to think of a way out as there was no way she could defeat the massive black man despite her skills at unarmed combat, Vespa wearily opened her mouth when told to do so and suffered the indignity of having a large rubber ball gag pushed inside.
"See you later, Virginia," the man chuckled, stroking his crotch through his dungarees as he pushed her into a cage and padlocked the door.
The outer door to the room clanged shut and the bolt slid across and Vespa shivered at the sound, wondering how she was going to get out of the predicament that she found herself in. She would not have been too worried if it hadn't been for the collar but that was a game changer. Whoever was dealing with the captives would only have to press the button and she would be instantly incapacitated. Unless she knocked them out with one blow or a judo throw? That was risky though and she couldn't afford to try and fail as then they would be on their guard. It was why she had not fought as hard as she could have done against the black man, knowing that she was unlikely to be able to defeat him and not wanting to show that she knew some tricks. Keep your powder dry for the next battle as the army said!
Scuttling over to the side of her cage nearest Astrid, Vespa beckoned to the Swedish girl who stared back at her through dulled blue eyes. The tiniest spark of life flared within and Astrid moved closer, lifting her head until they were looking at each other through the bars, scant inches away. Vespa slipped a couple of fingers through the bars and Astrid responded, grasping them tightly, clearly grateful for the comforting touch of another's skin. Using her other hand, Vespa tried writing in the air, slowly and carefully spelling out the words. Astrid frowned and looked puzzled so Vespa tried again and this time the girl nodded and inched even further forward, raising her neck higher so that Vespa could get her fingers onto her steel collar.
Examining it, Vespa was disheartened to find that there were no obvious weak spots in the design. The hinges were almost set into the rest of the metal and there was no way of prising them open without a screwdriver. Even then, it would be difficult and if the tool slipped, it might go into the girl's neck and puncture an artery. There had to be something that she could do, she thought angrily, twisting the collar round until she could see the join and the tiny combination lock. Four numbers so too many different combinations to try. Would all the collars have the same one? That was a thought to bear in mind as she could wait until one of the other slaves had their collars removed and try and see what numbers opened it. What if they never were taken off though? Also, she would have to be very close to see which numbers were dialled into the lock. There had to be another way! Think outside the box, Vespa exhorted herself sternly as she looked at the metal circle. If you cannot get the collar off, then can you make it inoperative?
The sound of the bolt sliding back on the door made her jerk away from Astrid and she shuffled across to the other side of her cage and watched sullenly as Jake stepped in along with James.
"You've done well this week, Jake. Two new girls and both exceptional in their own way. This one," James remarked, pointing at Astrid, "is just so beautiful. True Scandinavian pedigree by the look of her. My latest acquisition though, Virginia, interests me greatly. Even when she should have been thoroughly broken, she still showed a spark of defiance in those dark green eyes. Look at her now, watching us like a cat through the bars of her cage. I think she might dig her claws into you, Jake, and savage you if she could!"
"I'm sure that you will soon tame her, James," replied Jake, smirking at Vespa.
"I will be doing my best," the older man replied as he took three bowls down from a shelf and filled them with water from a tap. After removing the ball gags from all three women, Jake took one and slid it through a narrow slot in the bottom of the cage door for Vespa while James pushed the other two bowls inside the other cages for Astrid and Huian.
"Drink up, girls," he stated, standing there and smiling as he surveyed his little menagerie.
Astrid and Huian bent down and started to lap up the water like dogs but Vespa sat back and just stared at her captor in defiance.
"Just as I thought, Jake...spirited and unbroken despite her ordeal on the bench an hour ago. It really is going to be a lot of fun breaking her in completely to my will."
"Perhaps I should have asked more for her?" ruminated the photographer, idly stroking the pocket of his trousers which bulged appreciably. Vespa wished she could make him eat the money, note by note, until he choked on it but any thoughts of that were suddenly jolted away as James took out one of the little remote control devices and pressed one of the buttons on top. Vespa jerked, hands clawing at her neck as pain shot through her body. It was like being hit with a charge from a mild stun gun, something she had experienced in her training for the military police, and her limbs went all loose and floppy for a few seconds.
"I told you to drink, Virginia. Girls who disobey get punished so I suggest you start lapping up your water!"
Vespa hesitated. Was there anything to gain by refusing and then suffering again? Almost certainly not so when she saw his finger start to move again, she shuffled forward, bent her head down and started to drink. Ironic clapping came from James and she flushed, vowing to get even with him if it was the last thing she ever did.
The two men walked back out and the bolt slid back into place and the three girls were left alone, trapped in their cages and united in despair. As Astrid curled up in a foetal position, Vespa noticed the raw red stripes on her bare bottom cheeks and realised that she must have been caned or whipped earlier that day. There had to be something that she could do to save them from being abused every day although she was damned if she could see what it was! Her only consolation was that at least Colonel Danvers knew that she had been going somewhere with Jake. Surely, if he did not hear from her within a couple of days, he would go and apply some pressure to the photographer. Would the man crack though? He had a lot to lose if he admitted anything!
Chapter Nine
Time passed slowly and Vespa started to feel hungry. She had not eaten much throughout the day and now it had to be heading towards midnight and her belly felt empty. She drank a little more water then found herself regretting it as she realised that there was nowhere for any of the captives to go to the toilet. Newspaper lined the bottom of the cages but there was nothing apart from her water bowl. Could she use that if she got desperate? Curling herself up like Astrid and Huian, Vespa eventually fell asleep despite her mind being filled with thoughts and fears.