TAKEN FOR A RIDE
I was kneeling on a Mailgirls mat on the fourth floor of the tower in between deliveries when I saw Barbara approaching. "Go put away your MMU, take a shower and meet me in the executive parking lot in thirty minutes," she said, then turned and walked away before I could respond.
For Barbara to seek me out like this rather than summoning me to her office was very unusual and a sudden unease came over me. Had Barbara found out? Already?
Yesterday, two weeks after my first phone call with Mariko in the Hiromoto safe room, I'd been summoned back there. "Tell me everything you have seen and heard as a mailgirl relating to company business," Mariko had told me over the phone. "Do not concern yourself about whether it is important or not. I will decide what is worthy of passing on to Mr. Hiromoto and what is not." So I'd spent nearly thirty minutes telling Mariko everything I'd learned about DDE's projects and plans, both rumored and real. I knew some of it was dated information that had already been made public but I also told her things I knew were privy to only a few people at the highest level. Many executives and managers loved to make us lowly naked mailgirls wait while they were on the phone or discussing business with colleagues in their office and they thought so little of us that they had no concern about what we might see or hear.
I thought that I'd feel some sense of shame or guilt about passing on DDE secrets to a foreign company but afterwards I was surprised to find that I didn't. Although I'd been a mostly willing participant since becoming a mailgirl I hadn't forgotten the lies and deceit that had been used to lure me into this life in the first place. DDE had cynically turned a bright, well-educated young woman with a promising future into a naked delivery girl and I no longer felt any loyalty to the company whatsoever.
What did concern me though was Barbara finding out about this and what she might do to me if she did. Mariko had said that my visits to that office would never be recorded on my log but Barbara always seemed to know everything. I told myself that she wasn't omniscient and couldn't keep track everything going on in the sprawling DDE complex, but now she had suddenly broken from routine in ordering me to meet her and that had me worried.
Back in the Mailgirls locker room I quickly showered and re-applied my makeup, then made my way toward the executive parking lot beneath the tower wearing only the metal collar that was now a permanent fixture around my neck. Barbara was already waiting for me as I entered through the door that led into the parking area. "Follow me," she ordered.
It was mid-afternoon and no one else was in the lot as she led me to her car, a black Lexus sedan. The side windows of the car were tinted and I saw a mirrored image of myself in them as I approached. It still struck me as odd whenever I caught a glimpse of my nude body in public places and saw what others were seeing.
Barbara unlocked the doors with her key fob. "Get in the back," she ordered. I opened the car door and saw a towel on the seat, placed there presumedly to protect the leather from my lady juices. Next to it was what looked like a folded black scarf. I crawled into the back seat and shut the door as Barbara got in up front behind the wheel and turned to look back at me. "Buckle up and tie on the blindfold," she ordered. My world went black as I tied the black scarf around my eyes.
I heard the engine fire up and felt the car begin to move. My uneasiness continued to build as the muted sounds of city streets and traffic reached my ears. Once again Barbara was ripping me out of my comfort zone and taking me on a journey into the unknown.
I call it a comfort zone but those words probably don't really accurately describe any aspect of my life since meeting Barbara. Destroying my equilibrium might be a better description of what she was doing. Barbara always allowed me time to find a tenuous sense of balance before giving me another shove past my boundaries. This blindfolded car ride with no explanation about where we were going was something new and different and I was beginning to tremble with fear and anticipation of what might lie ahead. Would she order me out of the car somewhere in the middle of town to humiliate me in front of a bunch of strangers? Would she abandon me to find may way back home, naked and alone? Was I going to be whipped as punishment for spilling company secrets to Hiromoto? My mind swirled with possible scenarios as the car snaked its way through traffic.
We'd been driving for maybe twenty minutes when the car eased to a halt. Barbara turned off the engine and, without saying a word, exited the car and shut the door. I was left alone as I heard the electronic click of the door locks. My anxiety continued to escalate with each passing minute as I fought off the urge to lift the blindfold to try to see where I was. For all I knew Barbara was standing right outside of the car watching me to see if I would do that.
Finally I heard the sound of footsteps approaching. The car doors unlocked and my door was pulled open. "God dammit, Barbara, are you completely insane bringing her here like this?" an unfamiliar female voice said. Barbara simply laughed in response. "Get her out of there and bring her in through the back door," the woman ordered.
"Get out, Nine," Barbara commanded and I turned and slid out the door as Barbara shut it behind me. I felt Barbara's hands on my shoulders as she began guiding me forward.
"Why the hell do you have her blindfolded anyway?" the woman asked.
"For fun," Barbara replied.
Barbara continued to guide me over pavement, then grass, then up the stairs of a wooden deck before entering through a door. She walked me through several rooms before halting me and untying the blindfold. I blinked several times to adjust to the light and found myself in a large, well-appointed kitchen. Barbara opened a door revealing a wine rack, then pulled out several bottles and examined each of them before finding one she liked. She placed the bottle on a large kitchen island along with a corkscrew and several wine glasses. "Just help yourself to whatever I've got here, Barbara," the woman said sarcastically. Barbara ignored her.
"Pour each of us a glass of wine and bring it to us in the next room, Nine," Barbara said to me.
"Yes ma'am."
"Do you really call her Nine?" the woman asked incredulously.
Barbara laughed. "We have a lot to talk about, Joyce. Let's do it in the living room." Joyce followed her out of the kitchen and I marveled at the fact that Barbara remained in charge even in what was presumedly this woman's house.
I uncorked the bottle and began pouring the wine. Of all the possible scenarios that had played in my head as I rode here naked and blindfolded this hadn't been one of them. I felt a little better since this didn't seem to have anything to do with me revealing secrets to Hiromoto. I knew Barbara well enough though to know that she hadn't brought me here to just serve wine. She wanted this woman, whoever she was, to see me and the control she had over me.
I carried the two glasses of wine into the living room where the women were seated. Joyce thanked me as I handed her the first glass, her eyes roaming over my body. The woman was fortyish, slightly plump but still attractive with well-coiffed dark hair and manicured nails. She had the look of a professional woman and I guessed that she might be some type of business associate of Barbara's. They obviously knew each other well.
I got no thanks from Barbara when I handed her the glass of wine. "You can kneel on the floor, Nine," was all she said. I took my place on the carpeted floor facing the women.
Joyce laughed and shook her head. "You've got her well trained, I'll say that for you."
"She's had her moments of rebellion and insubordination, but she's learning."
The two women began chatting and I soon discovered that Joyce was a member of the city council and was running for mayor of Wildwood, the suburb where DDE was located. She was apparently locked in a tight race with the incumbent mayor. "I see you're still down three points in the latest poll," Barbara said to her.
Joyce shrugged. "It's within the margin of error and I've been gaining."
"Yes, you have been," Barbara replied. "That's why I'm here."
