When Anton Janacek received the news that he was to be transferred back to Prochody jail to be interviewed about an historical rape allegation he went berserk. Arianne Voric watched with deep satisfaction as the three woman restraint team went in to his cell. They were very good. Their special training in techniques of control meant that the prisoner stood no chance. Their leather covered truncheons rained blows down upon Janacek's body, his fate was sealed from the very first blow. Whichever way he turned he presented an easy target for at least one of the guards, who took full advantage of their superiority of numbers. His squeals had no effect on them, it fact it arguably drove them on as they enjoyed giving the beating. Within a minute the multiple blows had him down and out and he was soon trussed at their booted feet, his wrists locked into rigid restraint cuffs behind his back. His face distorted as a laced combat boot forced him down into the concrete floor, incongruously feminine laughter filled the cell as the guards celebrated an easy victory.
Two of them dragged him out to the waiting van and threw him carelessly into the reinforced cage for transport to Prochody. "Use a body cage" said Arianne. The cages had been banned everywhere outside China where judicial torture was still surprisingly widespread. Recently they had been reintroduced by the Ausitanian justice department, a move that Arianne had strongly supported. Without doubt it was a very cruel, inhumane device but it was entirely consistent with the firm line being taken with violent criminals. It looked like a rectangular lobster pot made of heavy gauge galvanised steel wire. A man's body just about fitted inside one with his legs folded up behind him. It was intended to prevent any movement of the prisoner and was equipped with handles at either end to allow it to be carried, a task sometimes delegated to other prisoners. Two of the guards forced him inside and locked down the latches.
A few groans still came from inside as the cage was loaded into the rear of Arianne's silver estate car. She slid the load area cover over to hide the nature of her cargo and slipped into the driver's seat. On her arrival at Prochody she was greeted by a guard with two male orderlies who removed the cage from the car and carried it down past the holding cells and dropped it on the floor of the newly equipped interrogation centre.
Both Arianne and Veronika now slowly circled the body cage that had been placed in the centre of the dungeon floor, only the regular click of their heels on the granite floor broke the silence. They stood on either side of the cage. The guards truncheons had clearly done their work efficiently, Janacek's back and shoulders were heavily bruised by their impact, large areas discoloured by areas of blue and purple marked his pounded flesh.
Arianne applied a stiletto boot heel to the edge of the cage and found one of the most marked parts of his back to put pressure on. She wore her knee high boots as an extra weapon, the black leather reflecting mobile pools of light from the wall lamps. The pointed tip of her boot found it's mark and the dungeon resounded to his anguished cry. "I think that I am going to enjoy this" she said.
Once removed from the body cage Arianne fitted him into her favourite piece of equipment, a device known as "The Kneeler". Another product of the Chinese grey market in products designed purely for torture it consisted of a pair of steel ankle fetters connected by a short length of steel chain to a circular clamp that hinged into two parts. Once secured about the wearer's scrotum just behind the testicles the key was removed leaving it locked into place. Removal was impossible without resort to the key. The length of the connecting chain was chosen so that it did not allow it's wearer to adopt any other position than kneeling or squatting. Within a very short space of time this applied pressure to the muscles of the calfs and thighs leading to acute fatigue and often cramps. In addition to this any movement on the part of the wearer tightened the chain and pulled the scrotum painfully away from the body.
Arianne had passed many an enjoyable hour as she sat and savoured the pain of a victim locked into such a device, enjoying every twist and turn of the hopelessly shackled man. Many a macho type had ended the evening sobbing at her feet as she informed him that it was time for her to take to her warm, comfortable bed whilst he looked forward only to a long night of agonising torture on the cold floor of a prison cell.
Janacek cursed loudly as Arianne fitted him into the kneeler. His wrists were still handcuffed behind him and he was totally at her mercy. The two women retired to the adjacent office for coffee leaving him marooned in the centre of the dungeon floor. She explained "Leaving them like that for a bit serves to increase their isolation, it begins a spiral of despair and that is important in softening them up for a confession. You see some respond best to physical pain, others to psychological torture. I find that it's the combination of the two that cracks the tough nuts. We will leave him for an hour or so then begin to work on him in earnest."
Veronika poured the coffee. They had gone upstairs past the rows of holding cells to her office. She studied her tutor's profile as she raised the cup to her crimson glossed lips. Arianne possessed an unusual beauty that was complemented by the luxuriant gloss of her auburn hair. The police officer found herself briefly pondering her own sexuality for a moment before realising that the magnetism of this woman was about far more than sex. For the first time in her life she found herself in the company of a woman who was in complete control of her own destiny, someone who had the confidence and the ability to steer her life on the exact course that she chose without the need for any great adjustment or the input of others, she really was a round peg in a perfectly circular hole.
"So how did you get into this job?" She found herself wanting to know more about this remarkable woman. She was well aware that this could easily slip into hero worship. Arianne finished her coffee and placed the cup back on the desk and leant back, her long booted legs crossed, the heel that she had pushed into Janacek's back described little circles in the air.
"I started off as a medical student, I did a couple of years at university in Vienna before switching to criminal psychology. That was a subject that had always fascinated me. As a matter of fact I don't view those two years as time wasted, they provided me with a valuable insight into physiology, it's so important to know both the body and the mind, it's surprising how the two aspects come together in interrogation. Good torture is all about getting the combination correct, get it right and there isn't a man alive you cannot crack."
"And do you enjoy your work." She realised as soon as the words had left her mouth that it was a superfluous question.