Doug Page handed the bowl of salad to his daughter before grabbing a plate of warm garlic bread.
He felt the sweet sunlight hit him as they walked into the garden. He stopped to enjoy the sensation and to survey the scene.
The women were all amassed round his wife, cooing and congratulating her. This barbeque had been arranged to mark the announcement of a new addition to the family and now Fran had a look of fond fluster on her face.
Doug knew that the gaggle, comprised of her sisters and his mom, could be a daunting prospect. He set off to rescue her before his mom put her foot in it or said something she'd regret.
His mom could a bit of a bitch sometimes.
About half way, he caught up with Sarah.
"So how are things at Mom and Dad's?" He asked her. This was the first time he'd seen her since she started moved in with his parents for her first semester at Leetown College.
He and Fran had taken some time getting used to the quiet...though they'd found ways to enjoy their freedom...
Doug hoped that he'd kept his complex emotions from reaching his face.
"They're great, you know? They let me decorate the room above the garage exactly how I wanted it!"
"We'd never have considered purple walls back when I was her age...." Ruth, his mother, interjected as she forced her daughter-in-law into a lawn chair. "Doug, go and help your father with that case of beer."
Doug looked behind him. His dad did appear to be struggling a little bit. Doug frowned, the old man was in pretty good shape for his age and he always seemed so darnedly sure of himself. Could it be that age was finally catching up with him?
Maybe he'd start taking it easy, spend some time relaxing rather than devoting every second on his hobbies.
Doug set off to help, knowing as he did so that the assistance would be refused.
He shook his head; was he such a mystery to Sarah as his parents were to him? He hoped not, especially with the little one on the way. No, he strove to engage with his daughter, show his love for her. For his children there would be no subtle feelings of detachment and stoniness.
They'd know how much he loved them.
+++++++++++++++++
"Ha, caught you!" Janine exclaimed as she rounded the corner of the house.
Doug was startled by the sudden appearance of his youngest sister-in-law and he knew that he'd jumped guiltily.
"Uh..." He muttered, holding the cigarette awkwardly in his big hands.
Janice giggled then looked him up and down.
"Give me a drag and Fran doesn't have to know." She informed him as she joined him at his side.
Doug passed it to her without protest. It should have been an innocent action but not the way that Janice did it. There was definite something in the way her fingers lingered on his skin, an unnecessary caress.
Doug frowned and watched helplessly as the woman made a show of inhaling the smoke and exhaling even more slowly. The girl certainly knew what the sight of those lips could do to a man; even more so, the rise and fall of her chest.
Doug shook his head. Janice had been flirting with him futilely for twenty years, ever since he'd started dating her sister in high school. Not once had Doug ever reciprocated nor made any sign that she should hold out hope. The fact that she even tried made Doug dislike her immensely. Today of all days; he and his wife had a baby on the way!"
"Congratulations, Doug. I'd have thought that you and Fran would have been passed all that." Again, something in the way that she emphasised Fran's name. "Still, good to know that there's life in the old dog." She smirked, as she looked him up and down again appreciatively. Did her eyes linger on his crotch just a little too long....?
"Thanks Janice." He stated neutrally but shook his head when she offered him the cigarette back. "Best be getting back." He said coldly.
+++++++++++++++++
A week later.
Day One
++++++++++++++++++
Doug sat in his office. He was putting off heading home. Fran had gone to San Francisco to visit her folks who'd been unable to get to the barbeque and home wasn't home without Fran's warm presence to fill it.
The computer pinged and he clicked the link from Sarah.
His jaw dropped as he realised what he was seeing.
His daughter was sat in a white room. He couldn't take it in. He'd only spoken to her yesterday. His stomach churned at the sight of the blindfold and the electronic looking device attached to her neck.
He reached out to touch the screen instinctively.
"I have your daughter." Read a message box that popped up instantly. "I have no intention of hurting her."
"Who are you and what do you want?" Doug typed, wanting to scream it instead. His fingers were trembling with rage and fear so much that he was forced to type carefully. He'd give everything he had to ensure that Sarah got home unharmed...hell, he'd die for his daughter...
"I have no intention of hurting her." The screen read again. "It's you I want to play with, Doug. Her well-being, or lack of, is the prize."
Doug tried to work out if anyone could have any possible reason to target him or his family. It was crazy. They had no enemies. His head was spinning with the nightmare of it all.
The police. He'd call the police. They traced these Internet links and things all the time. They'd find Sarah and get her home.
"Tell no one, especially the police. You are being watched and I'll know if you transgress, Doug. The police will never be able to get to her before her pretty brains are sprayed across the tiles."
Doug swallowed hard. Never had written words on a screen been so menacing.
"Just play the game and you'll get the girl. Two hours. The Crowthorne Motel, Leetown. Room 6."
++++++++++++++
Crowthorne Motel, Leetown. Room 6. An hour later.
++++++++++++++
Doug threw his bag on the small bed and approached the laptop, which illuminated the dusty desk in the corner.
The screen displayed a website. It didn't appear to have a name, just decorated with the faces of a dozen or so people. Doug couldn't tell if they were experiencing pleasure or pain...
It wanted a password.
"XX61280HSOFODOUG/SARAH" Appeared in a conversation box in the corner of the screen.
Doug dutifully typed it in.
After several seconds a homepage showed up. 'Welcome to the World of Matchmaker' it read.
Doug paled. The Matchmaker didn't exist. He just didn't! Stories appeared every now again but nothing could be proved. His daughter was not, could not be, in the clutches of a serial killer...
"You sick son of a bitch. You better not hurt my daughter." He typed his response.
"Sarah is merely the carrot on the stick. If you prove to be a good daddy then she'll walk away from this. Matchmaker."
The cursor moved by itself to a link marked Archives. A list of names appeared, Doug and Sarah's at the bottom.
Doug scrolled down to it and clicked. A window opened and he saw purportedly live footage of Sarah in her cell. She'd been stripped down to her underwear. Doug felt acutely embarrassed to be seeing her like this but mainly he felt furious that this sicko had dared to touch his Sarah.
How many other perverts were watching her right now? Wanting Matchmaker to do his worst?
Her blindfold had been removed also. The obviously high quality cameras had chosen several effective shots that showed off the tracks of her tears.
Doug's fist pounded on the desk impotently and started to cry.
He cringed internally but studied his daughter's near-naked figure for any sign that she'd been injured in any way. She seemed scared but unhurt.
"Whatever you want, I'll do it." He typed when he had finally calmed down enough.
"Sit back and watch the show." Came the response.
+++++++++++++++++
Two women appeared on screen. They were only dressed in their underwear, showing off their full figures. Only the fearful expressions on their faces marred their beauty. The fact that they had explosives strapped round their necks may have had something to do with it.
Doug read the two biographies that came up next to the window. It seemed that the two stars of this video hated one another with a passion.
The blonde woman, Ann, was a nurse at the abortion clinic that the brunette, Sophie, had been arrested for protesting several times. Sophie was also dating Ann's ex-boyfriend, having converted him to share her Christian beliefs.
Matchmaker had demanded that they kiss and 'make up' so to speak.
Doug watched as they hesitantly approached each other. His head was spinning with thoughts. What did Matchmaker have planned for him? For Sarah? Would these women surrender to his will or forfeit their lives? With a huge amount of shame Doug realised that part of him wanted to see these gorgeous women have sex together.
He told himself that he didn't have to watch but as the pair joined together for their first tentative kiss he couldn't pull his eyes from the laptop.
After the initial shared awkwardness the old hatred reappeared and their lips locked together aggressively. Ann, the stronger female, shoved her partner down to her knees and forced her head to her breasts.
Sophie struggled momentarily before giving in and starting to lick Ann's exposed skin.
Doug was both sickened and aroused at the sight of what was going on. He'd never really watched porn before and this was something else, more real and graphic.
Lost in the scene, he turned up the volume.
"....fucking dyke. A fucking repressed Christian dyke! Do you let Tim fuck you so no one can tell that you're secretly craving pussy."
Sophie snapped and slapped Ann hard.
"Bitch!" She screamed as she pulled at the blonde's hair before here. "It's not my fault that Tim chose God over a slut heathen like you."
With that Sophie pushed her rival to the floor and sat on her face. Ann flailed around desperately, trying to shuck off the body that was grinding on top of her.
"I ain't going to die today. Eat me out you fucking Godless whore." Sophie yelled, using a hand to pull her panties to one side. "I'll bet you're fucking used to it."
The cameras zoomed in to show Sophie's unshaved snatch smothering the other girl.
Time stood still and then you could see the defeat in Ann's body language.
"Hmmm...oh...Jesus..." Sophie exclaimed as her lover and enemy used her tongue to slip into her virgin folds. Her startled expression mellowed as the sensation continued.
Instinctively the woman on top freed her large breasts and began to stroke them, caress them. She was a slave to her body now. She was cupping and squeezing her tits to maximise what she was feeling.
"Noooo....ahhhhh...." She breathed.
Her fingers slipped to her clit and she abandoned all her inhibitions, writhing and jerking wildly.
"Is....?" She muttered. "Oh.....?"
