NOTE: This is part of a multi-chapter story of which there are forty chapters plus an epilogue. An uncompleted version of this story appeared here at Literotica a few years ago in case it looks familiar to you. The story has been revised and completed. Chapters 37 - 40 and the epilogue are all new material.
Richard was exasperated. He had been calling Deborah's cell phone number all afternoon, ever since he left the storage yard. Her cell phone was apparently turned off and he had gotten more pissed by the moment. He had left a message for her to call him at the hotel, but he had not heard back from her yet.
Richard was on his second cup of coffee now and getting ready to drive into the office when he decided to call her at the hotel himself. He wanted to catch her before she left the hotel to make the trip across the border. The man at the front desk answered the phone and Richard asked if she had gotten his message. The clerk explained that her message light was on and she had never called back to get the message. Richard asked for him to ring her room. Deborah picked up on the third ring.
"Hello," said Deborah. "Who is it?"
"It is Richard. I've been trying to get hold of you since yesterday. Your cell phone is turned off and you haven't returned my message at the hotel."
"Oh, my battery is almost dead, and I turned it off...and I didn't realize you had left a message," said Deborah.
Didn't you see the light on the phone?" asked Richard, perturbed.
"Oh, is that what that is for," said Deborah. "I'm sorry. What did you want? I was in the shower just now when you called."
"I just wanted to check in and make sure you understood what you needed to do one last time," said Richard trying to control his seething anger.
"I've got it, don't worry about it. We went over this several times now," said Deborah.
"Well, be careful when you leave the bank. It is a rough area down there and you'll be carrying a lot of money," said Richard, planting a seed. He did not want her putting two and two together later and coming up with his name.
"I will. I'm heading straight for the fat farm when I'm through. I could really use a massage," said Deborah, anticipating a day in the spa.
"Did you talk to Rebekah?" asked Richard. "Does she know you're going to be away for a few days?"
"Yes, I talked to her twice yesterday, on the way down, before I noticed my cell phone was going dead and again from the hotel last night," said Deborah. "I also called work and told them that I would be gone for a week," Deborah volunteered.
"That's good, very good," said Richard almost to himself. "That way you can enjoy yourself at the fat farm," Richard said, almost as an afterthought.
"Wish me luck," said Deborah brightly.
"I do indeed," said Richard, knowing that from now on she would need it.
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As Deborah hung up, she looked at the clock on the nightstand and saw that she still had time to have breakfast downstairs before she left for the bank across the border in Mexicali, just a few miles away. As Deborah got dressed, she looked in the mirror and she liked her new clothes. They did not scream white trash, like her former wardrobe.
Deborah finished packing her new bags and double checked to make sure she had the keys to her new locking metal makeup case on her key ring. She would store the diamonds inside the lotion bottles once she got to the fat farm, just like she had seen in the movies. The cash would go inside the empty soap boxes and toothpaste box in the case as well or be hidden in the clothing in her suitcase, if there wasn't' enough room, she decided.
As she closed the door behind her and took the bags to her car, she reminded herself to pick up her cell phone at the front desk where she had left it to be recharged last night. But she would wait and pick it up after breakfast on her way out.
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It took Deborah about 45 minutes to get across the border. The border crossing was much busier than she had remembered from the last time she had been to Mexicali a few years ago. It must be the added security since 9/11 she thought to herself. The bank was just a few blocks across the border in Mexicali and she was able to park directly in front. She was happy she would not have far to walk when she left.
Once inside the bank she went to the manager's desk on the right, as Richard had instructed her. She presented him with Richard's business card. He asked to see her driver's license and passport. When she told him that she did not have a passport, he asked for whatever additional identification she might have, such as a social security card.
The manager motioned for his assistant and handed her Deborah's IDs and said that they would photocopy them and return them. The manager gestured for Deborah to follow him and he led her to the safe deposit box cage at the rear of the bank. Once inside, the manager opened one of the medium size safe deposit boxes at the back of the room with his key and the one that Richard had given her and escorted her to one of the private cubicles where she could open the box.
Once alone, Deborah quickly opened the box and could see that there were two small felt bags full of what she assumed to be the diamonds. She opened one and verified the contents and then the other. There were several wads of 100 dollar bills and she stuffed all of them, including the bags of diamonds, in her new large shoulder purse, closing the safe deposit box and walking back to the front of the bank to get her IDs before she left.
Deborah reached for her cell phone in the outer pocket of the new purse and it was not there. Damn, she remembered. She had forgotten to get it back from the front desk before she left the hotel. It would not do her any good at the fat farm anyway, Richard had told her. She would just have to give him and Rebekah a call from there after she arrived and call the hotel and ask them to hold the cell for her until she crossed back over the border in a few days.
As she stood waiting for the manager, who was talking to another customer, she could feel the sharp point of a blade pressing against her lower back. Two men stepped up to her sides as the man with the knife behind her whispered in her ear.
"Walk straight out the front door and nothing will happen to you, otherwise I'll gut you like a fish," said the man in a sinister tone of voice as he pressed the knife point even harder against her skin and she could feel the blade point penetrate the material of her blouse and prick her flesh.
Terrified, Deborah did exactly as she was told. Once outside the men quickly pushed her in the back seat of the waiting Humvee and piled in behind her. They pushed her to a kneeling position on the floor in the back seat as they pulled a hood over her head and tied her hands behind her back with zip ties.
Deborah was frightened and confused, she had seen the emblem of the Mexican Federal Police on the vehicle as they pushed her inside. What was going on, she thought. Was this a kidnapping? Did this have something to do with Martin? She just did not know.
The vehicle drove slowly as it made its way through the narrow streets, but it was picking up speed now as it bumped along the road. It must be a dirt road, Deborah thought, as the vehicle rattled forward picking up speed. Finally, they turned right, and she could tell they were on a paved highway, picking up even more speed.
After driving for what seemed like hours they arrived at their destination. The entire time, Deborah constantly wondered if she would live to see her daughter again. The men had been talking excitedly the entire time in Spanish and she could only understand a few words, but she knew who the puta was that they were talking about.
