Re: To Steal a Spacesuit, Vol. 4: A Most Wanted Woman
Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2020 4:27 am
Oh, don't worry Esercito - the color guard girls will be very clothed. (At least, until they're not... 
)
---------------------------------
"We'd better hurry up down here," Sonja noted. "What if Lorelei notices we're missing?"
"I doubt she's keeping such a close eye on all her women," Chandra replied. "Besides, it's not like she's gotten suspicious of us before now."
Sonja nodded. "True, but we'd best not push our luck."
In a dim storage room, the two women had changed out of their typical FBI gear and were now dressing in the uniforms of the compound's prison guards - buttoning the blue shirts, zipping up the black skirts, and lacing up the black boots.
"Think this will work?" Sonja asked. "What if those entrance guards recognize us from earlier?"
"We'll just be extra careful," Chandra said. "Think you can manage that?"
Sonja scoffed. "Of course I can. I'm just saying..."
"We can't worry about that now. The important thing is rescuing Lucille."
Chandra turned to the room's two other occupants. "And making sure those two don't sound the alarm."
The two unconscious women sat on the cold storeroom floor, tied back to back, thick cloths filling their mouths. They were prison guards, although you couldn't tell by looking at them, as both had been stripped down to their underwear. One of them, a toned and tanned brunette, wore a white comfort bra with a purple dotted pattern and figure-hugging pink panties, while the other, a muscular Asian woman, was left in nothing more than a green triangle bra and matching boyshorts.
"Don't think they'll be causing any trouble," Sonja observed as she completed the change into her disguise. "Come on."
They approached the prison entrance with trepidation. Thankfully, the uniforms did the trick - they were allowed in with only a casual glance.
"You search the eastern block," Chandra said. "I'll take the west. Hopefully, one of these cells will have Lucille in them."
Twenty minutes of searching, however, proved fruitless. Dozens of criminal men and women were housed in the underground prison, but Lucille was not among them.
"Find anything?" Chandra asked once the two women reconvened.
Sonja shook her head. "They must've taken her to a regular prison instead."
Chandra sighed. "We came all this way for nothing."
"What now?"
"I don't know," Chandra admitted. "Let's return to our quarters and get some sleep. We'll figure out our next step in the morning."
***************
Linda flexed her fingers over her laptop screen, typing away. Despite the late hour, she was still hard at work.
Linda had found the credit card number Betty had given Rucon and was now attempting to hack into the woman's bank account - perhaps learn of the woman's whereabouts through recent spending activity. It was a long shot, but...
Her eyes lit up. "Bingo."
Betty's credit card had been used mere hours ago to check into a posh hotel in Orlando. Finding the hotel's website, Linda used some more hacking tricks to bypass their security and locate the room number - Room 514.
"Aren't computers wonderful?" she chuckled. "Time to go pay our elusive friend a visit..."
***************
Their exercises complete, the Jacksonville Jades headed for the parking lot. The bus was waiting.
None of the chatting girls, nor their coach - who was quite preoccupied taking notes for the next day's tournament - payed very much attention to their driver as they stepped on the bus, and thus they did not realize that poor Marissa had been substituted for. They also did not realize, as they took their seats, that one of their number was missing.
Pleased with the effectiveness of her disguise, Farah began driving.
It was a two-hour drive from Jacksonville to Orlando, and the girls settled in comfortably - perhaps a bit too comfortably. Slowly, one by one, they began to feel drowsy. Their eyelids flickered, their heads drooped, their breathing slowed. By the time the bus had pulled off the I-95 highway, all seven girls, along with their coach, were fast asleep.
"Seems like you all enjoyed my 'specially treated' supper," Farah chuckled as she pulled the bus to a stop by the side of the road.
Indeed, the narcotic she had slipped into the soup pot had done its work marvelously. As she moved down the aisle, inspecting each girl in turn, she was delighted to see how unconscious they were - likely to stay asleep till sunrise.
Well, except one. The brunette at the back of the bus was stirring ever so slightly. Farah recognized her as Priscilla, the fussy girl who hadn't been keen on eating too much.
"Naughty girl," Farah clicked her tongue. "Can't have you waking up too soon, can we? Let's fix that right up."
From her jacket she produced a small syringe filled with red liquid. After finding a soft spot on Priscilla's inner elbow, she injected the girl with the powerful drug.
Priscilla gave a start; then, with a soft moan, she slipped into unconsciousness.
"Sleep tight, my darling," Farah said. "I'll just get you out of those uncomfortable clothes."
So saying, she unzipped the back of Priscilla's green leotard and worked it off her arms, down her legs, and off her body. This left the tall athlete in her violet sports bra and matching tall panties.
"Hold that pose, dear," Farah smiled as she pulled out a roll of duct tape.
Two minutes of thorough taping and gagging later, Priscilla was the picture of helplessness, ankles and wrists bound and mouth fully silenced. Her slow breathing timed to the steady rise and fall of her breasts.
"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Farah turned to the other six unconscious color guard girls.
"Hm," she chuckled. "I'm gonna need more tape."
*******************
Bobbi lay the file down on Bridget's kitchen table. "I decided to take the whole thing, instead of just snapping photos," she explained. "Make sure we don't miss anything... and besides, I doubt they'll notice it's gone."
Bridget flipped through the thin file. "Not much to miss," she observed. "It's from 2007... Karima al-Bariqi, nineteen years old. Ran with an all-girl gang of vandals... Targeted statues and federal buildings until she was caught... Served a night in jail and was let go."
"Any leads?" Felicia inquired.
Bridget glanced at the end of the file. "Here's something... Karima begged the police to let her go... Said she was caring for her cousin... A girl named Farah Fayad."
At that moment, there was a knock at the door. Before any of the women at the table could move, it opened.
In walked Zuhal, humming nonchalantly, a bag slung over her shoulder. She shut the door behind her. "Oh... hi, girls!"
Felicia and Bobbi exchanged a glance of horror, then immediately jumped up and struck defensive poses.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Felicia said furiously.
"Getting her ass kicked, I'd say," Bobbi added.
Zuhal blinked, then glanced at Bridget. "You didn't tell them?"
Confused, Felicia turned to Bridget. "...Tell us what?"
Bridget smiled nervously. "Well, I... ahem..."
Zuhal chuckled. "Sounds like you got some 'splainin' to do..."
*******************
Although the island was purposely separated from the outside world, occasional voyages out in the ocean were necessary to test the waters and ensure that they were stable - that is, that the volcano the island was built around remained dormant. Although its last eruption had occurred sometime in the 1970s, recent seismic activity in the surrounding waters suggested that another eruption was imminent.
Always one to take caution, the researchers had issued a thrice-weekly voyage to the ocean beneath them to check that seismic readings were stable. Each voyage consisted of a crew of three scientists, who would take a small but powerful submarine down to explore and affirm.
On this day, the scientists recruited for the job were all female. The blonde, fair-skinned Dr. Helene Bond; the brown-haired, tan-skinned Dr. Ava Nichols; and the dark-haired, dark-skinned Dr. Laura Graves. All their women were tall and fit, their brains seemingly belied by their beauty.
At this hour, the three women were dressed in their form-fitting dark blue scuba suits and flippers, and were currently heading from their labs to the underground submarine launch.
As they rounded a corner in the hallway, Lucinda appeared before them, still dressed in her gold security uniform.
"Good evening, doctors," she said with just the hint of a smile. "Apologies for the inconvenience, but I was told to run a quick security evaluation on the three of you before you board the submarine."
The three scientists looked puzzled. "We weren't informed about the need for a security evaluation," Dr. Bond said.
"It was a very last-minute decision," Lucinda explained. "With rumors percolating about impostors on this island, it was decided to conduct more general screenings of personnel, particularly before outgoing assignments." She flicked her thumb in the direction of a nearby security office. "It shouldn't take more than a few minutes."
Dr. Nichols checked her watch and nodded. "Very well... Just so long as it's quick."
Lucinda grinned as she led the women toward the dark room. "Don't worry... We'll make it very quick."
She allowed the three scuba-clad scientists to enter the room, then followed them, shutting the door behind her.
"Hey, it's dark in here," complained Dr. Bond. "Where's the light switch?"
Suddenly, Dr. Nichols made an "Uuuunnnggghhh!" sound and fell to the floor.
"Ava? What happened?" Dr. Graves asked. She couldn't see a thing.
"Get the light!" Dr. Bond called out. "It must be around here somewhere."
Dr. Graves groped around in the dark. "I think I found - oouuugggghhhh!" She, too, fell silent.
Dr. Bond was getting scared. "Girls, are you okay? Speak up!"
She found the light and flicked it on. She gasped at the sight of her two unconscious friends on the floor... and the sight of the three grinning women in security uniform standing over them.
"Good evening, Helene," Dr. Chen smiled. "So nice of you to join us."
"Who... who are you?" Dr. Bond gasped. "What have you done?"
"Merely what had to be done to your friends," Dr. Che explained. "And we're likely to do it to you as well... unless you cooperate. Understand?"
Dr. Bond nodded, still trembling. "What do you want?"
'Your scuba gear," Dr. Chen responded. "And that of your friends. Start stripping."
Aghast, but with no other options, Dr. Bond grasped the zipper at the neck of her outfit and slowly pulled it downwards.
"We're not getting any younger," Dr. Chen snapped.
Dr. Bond shimmied out of the scuba suit, revealing a blue-green dotted bra and matching panties. She kicked the scuba outfit aside and tried vainly to cover her modesty.
Dr. Chen laughed. "Come now, Helene, we're all girls, are we not? Besides, I'll need your hands behind your back."
As she held up a coil of white rope, Dr. Chen turned to her two cohorts. "Come on, strip the other two. We're already behind schedule."
Lucinda nodded and smiled. "Yes, ma'am. Come on, Mer."
Meredith nodded. "... Sure. Let's do it."
Twenty minutes later, in the underground docking bay, the other scientists were getting restless.
"Where are they?" one of the doctors asked. "The sub was supposed to have left by now."
Her friend looked up. "Finally."
Three women in scuba gear and flippers stepped into the room. Their faces were covered by dark oxygen masks and goggles, but the names on their IDs read Bond, Nichols, and Graves.
"Come, come, hurry up," the older woman chided them. "We need to get moving. Step into the submarine and go."
Wordlessly, the three women nodded. They headed for the small blue-grey submersible, disappearing inside one by one.
Then, with little fanfare, the transport disappeared beneath the water.
"Should be back in about thirty minutes," the head scientist said.
But in fact, the submarine would not be coming back... not ever. And no one on the island knew it - except the three women initially destined to be its passengers.
In the dark security room, those three women struggled against the ropes which bound them and the tape which gagged them. Dr. Bond, down to her blue-green dotted bra and panties, squirmed helplessly. Dr. Nichols, left in her orange demicup bra and pink triangle panties, moaned pathetically. And Dr. Graves, stripped to her grey floral-pattern bra and matching panties, simply lowered her head and sobbed.
As the submarine cut through the underwater grime and plant life, Dr. Chen checked the dashboard gauges approvingly.
"We should have enough gas and oxygen to return safely to Florida," she announced. "I was afraid we'd have to stop at the Bahamas to refuel, so this is an excellent stroke of luck."
"The Bahamas..." Meredith smiled. "We were planning to go there, weren't we, honey?"
Lucinda returned the smile. "Yes, dear... but later. For now, dear Julia is piloting."
Meredith nodded, but she felt a bit perturbed. Lucinda seemed to be taking an interest in "dear Julia" - more than in her own wife.
Dr. Chen, for her part, kept her eyes on the radar screen as she navigated through the water.
Bridget... Karima... and all their friends... they would pay. They would most surely pay.
*****************
Atsuko stirred, and her eyes slowly opened.
She was in a dimly lit room - a storage house, judging by the metal siding on the walls. She was tied to a chair - still clothed, thankfully.
Oh god, she thought, where's Carolyn?
"Hi, sis."
Atsuko yelped, nearly tipping over her chair. Toshiko grabbed it at the last second.
"Whoa, whoa. Easy, girl. Can't have you getting another nasty fall."
Atsuko blinked. "Who are..." Her eyes widened. "No."
Toshiko flipped on an overhead light. "Yes."
"Toshi? What the hell?"
"I know, I know... It's been a long time... I can explain..."
"You died... eight years ago! What happened? How are you..."
"I didn't die." Toshiko held up a hand. "It was all a trick."
"What?"
Toshiko pulled up a chair. "You're a little hysterical now. I understand. Take a deep breath and..."
"What happened?"
"I..." Toshiko paused. "I fell in with the wrong crowd. Got in trouble with the Feds. Didn't want you or Mom to know, so I sent my car into a ravine. Everyone thought I died in the crash, and I got to start over."
Atsuko simply stared at her, mouth agape.
Cassandra and Marina watched from the doorway.
"Can you believe this?" Cassandra whispered.
"Not at all," Marina replied. "Wish we had some popcorn."
Atsuko found her voice again. "Where's... where's Carolyn?"
"Your friend? She's in the other room. I wanted to talk to you privately."
"She's not my friend," Atsuko said adamantly. "She's my wife."
"Your wife?" Toshiko's eyes widened. "You mean you're..."
Atsuko nodded.
"When did that happen?"
"When I started college... a few months after you died... or didn't die, I guess. I met Carolyn on my first day. She was my roommate, very nice and friendly. My boyfriend broke up with me second semester... He said I didn't seem interested in our relationship. I came to my room that night crying... Carolyn comforted me... and... one thing led to another..." She smiled wistfully. "Most amazing night of my life. And I never had a boyfriend again."
Toshiko chuckled. "What did Mom say about it?"
"It took me a couple of years to tell her," Atsuko admitted. "You know Mom... she's very adamant about the Bible. But she eventually came around."
Toshiko laughed. "Yes, that sounds like her."
Atsuko got serious again. "Okay, for real... why am I here? And why am I tied to a chair? You going to kill me?"
"No, no!" Toshiko stood up and stepped around to the ropes binding her sister's wrists. "I just... had to make sure you weren't dangerous. What were you doing in the Cerberus building?"
"I work there," Atsuko explained. "Although I was... there for other reasons. What were you doing there?"
Toshiko smiled as she cut the ropes. "We really have a lot of catching up to do."
****************
Farah pulled the bus into a vacant lot just outside of Deltona.
Maxine was waiting as she stepped off the bus. "Any trouble?" she asked.
Farah smiled. "See for yourself."
Maxine looked on the bus. All seven drugged girls, plus their coach, were seated unconscious, stripped down to their bras and panties - a variety of greens, reds, golds, and blues - and were securely zip-tied and tape-gagged.
Farah popped the luggage compartment doors beneath the bus, revealing Marissa and the eighth color guard girl, similarly stripped and secured.
"This seems excessive," Maxine noted.
Farah laughed. "You wanted my help to get revenge on Adelaide at the color guard tournament," she said. "And help you I will. But in the process, I'm happy to make some extra money on the side..."
Maxine nodded. "Fine. I'll call my slave trade contacts."
She pulled out her cell phone and began to dial. Farah smiled at the bus and its prisoners.
There were three other color guard teams set to compete at the tournament tomorrow afternoon. And by the following evening, Farah intended to "collect" all of them.
******************
"What the hell were you thinking?" Bobbi hissed.
"I... wasn't," Bridget admitted. "She barged into my apartment... Took me by surprise. But I think she could help."
"Help?" Felicia asked incredulously. "This woman has worked with Karima and with Dr. Chen. She's tried to kill us multiple times. And you think she wants to help?"
"Why didn't you tell us earlier?" Bobbi added.
"Girls," Bridget said, her voice taking on a greater air of authority. "Girls, listen close. Karima is still out there. She tried to kill us last week, and came very close to doing so. The only reason she's no longer after us is that she believes we're already dead. If she learns otherwise, she will try again."
Bobbi and Felicia listened, and nodded slowly.
"We need to stop Karima before she stops us," Bridget continued. "We need to make sure she's locked up in maximum security. Zuhal knows how to stop her. So, much as I hate doing so... we need to work with her. For now."
Felicia nodded again. Bobbi folded her arms.
"Fine," she said. "But I don't trust her. Not a bit."
"I don't blame you," Bridget said. "But she's waiting in the other room. Come on."
The trio exited the kitchen and headed for the living room, where Zuhal was admiring some of the framed newspaper clippings in the wall.
She smiled as the women approached. "Hey, Baxter... You're quite the newshound, aren't you? Lots of impressive scoops here."
Felicia and Bobbi simply glared at her.
Bridget cut to the chase. "You said you would help, Azimi. What've you got?"
"Well," Zuhal held up Karima's file. "Not much here, I'll admit. This 'Farah' woman sounds familiar... I met someone with that name not long ago." She smiled, remembering her little escapade with the handball team.
"But I'm not quite sure it's the same Farah... anyway, there's only one other place we can go to find detailed information on Karima. The place where they store all the info about the world's most dangerous criminals."
"What are you saying?" Bridget asked.
"I'm saying, dear girls..." Zuhal paused for emphasis. "We're going to break into the FBI."
)---------------------------------
"We'd better hurry up down here," Sonja noted. "What if Lorelei notices we're missing?"
"I doubt she's keeping such a close eye on all her women," Chandra replied. "Besides, it's not like she's gotten suspicious of us before now."
Sonja nodded. "True, but we'd best not push our luck."
In a dim storage room, the two women had changed out of their typical FBI gear and were now dressing in the uniforms of the compound's prison guards - buttoning the blue shirts, zipping up the black skirts, and lacing up the black boots.
"Think this will work?" Sonja asked. "What if those entrance guards recognize us from earlier?"
"We'll just be extra careful," Chandra said. "Think you can manage that?"
Sonja scoffed. "Of course I can. I'm just saying..."
"We can't worry about that now. The important thing is rescuing Lucille."
Chandra turned to the room's two other occupants. "And making sure those two don't sound the alarm."
The two unconscious women sat on the cold storeroom floor, tied back to back, thick cloths filling their mouths. They were prison guards, although you couldn't tell by looking at them, as both had been stripped down to their underwear. One of them, a toned and tanned brunette, wore a white comfort bra with a purple dotted pattern and figure-hugging pink panties, while the other, a muscular Asian woman, was left in nothing more than a green triangle bra and matching boyshorts.
"Don't think they'll be causing any trouble," Sonja observed as she completed the change into her disguise. "Come on."
They approached the prison entrance with trepidation. Thankfully, the uniforms did the trick - they were allowed in with only a casual glance.
"You search the eastern block," Chandra said. "I'll take the west. Hopefully, one of these cells will have Lucille in them."
Twenty minutes of searching, however, proved fruitless. Dozens of criminal men and women were housed in the underground prison, but Lucille was not among them.
"Find anything?" Chandra asked once the two women reconvened.
Sonja shook her head. "They must've taken her to a regular prison instead."
Chandra sighed. "We came all this way for nothing."
"What now?"
"I don't know," Chandra admitted. "Let's return to our quarters and get some sleep. We'll figure out our next step in the morning."
***************
Linda flexed her fingers over her laptop screen, typing away. Despite the late hour, she was still hard at work.
Linda had found the credit card number Betty had given Rucon and was now attempting to hack into the woman's bank account - perhaps learn of the woman's whereabouts through recent spending activity. It was a long shot, but...
Her eyes lit up. "Bingo."
Betty's credit card had been used mere hours ago to check into a posh hotel in Orlando. Finding the hotel's website, Linda used some more hacking tricks to bypass their security and locate the room number - Room 514.
"Aren't computers wonderful?" she chuckled. "Time to go pay our elusive friend a visit..."
***************
Their exercises complete, the Jacksonville Jades headed for the parking lot. The bus was waiting.
None of the chatting girls, nor their coach - who was quite preoccupied taking notes for the next day's tournament - payed very much attention to their driver as they stepped on the bus, and thus they did not realize that poor Marissa had been substituted for. They also did not realize, as they took their seats, that one of their number was missing.
Pleased with the effectiveness of her disguise, Farah began driving.
It was a two-hour drive from Jacksonville to Orlando, and the girls settled in comfortably - perhaps a bit too comfortably. Slowly, one by one, they began to feel drowsy. Their eyelids flickered, their heads drooped, their breathing slowed. By the time the bus had pulled off the I-95 highway, all seven girls, along with their coach, were fast asleep.
"Seems like you all enjoyed my 'specially treated' supper," Farah chuckled as she pulled the bus to a stop by the side of the road.
Indeed, the narcotic she had slipped into the soup pot had done its work marvelously. As she moved down the aisle, inspecting each girl in turn, she was delighted to see how unconscious they were - likely to stay asleep till sunrise.
Well, except one. The brunette at the back of the bus was stirring ever so slightly. Farah recognized her as Priscilla, the fussy girl who hadn't been keen on eating too much.
"Naughty girl," Farah clicked her tongue. "Can't have you waking up too soon, can we? Let's fix that right up."
From her jacket she produced a small syringe filled with red liquid. After finding a soft spot on Priscilla's inner elbow, she injected the girl with the powerful drug.
Priscilla gave a start; then, with a soft moan, she slipped into unconsciousness.
"Sleep tight, my darling," Farah said. "I'll just get you out of those uncomfortable clothes."
So saying, she unzipped the back of Priscilla's green leotard and worked it off her arms, down her legs, and off her body. This left the tall athlete in her violet sports bra and matching tall panties.
"Hold that pose, dear," Farah smiled as she pulled out a roll of duct tape.
Two minutes of thorough taping and gagging later, Priscilla was the picture of helplessness, ankles and wrists bound and mouth fully silenced. Her slow breathing timed to the steady rise and fall of her breasts.
"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Farah turned to the other six unconscious color guard girls.
"Hm," she chuckled. "I'm gonna need more tape."
*******************
Bobbi lay the file down on Bridget's kitchen table. "I decided to take the whole thing, instead of just snapping photos," she explained. "Make sure we don't miss anything... and besides, I doubt they'll notice it's gone."
Bridget flipped through the thin file. "Not much to miss," she observed. "It's from 2007... Karima al-Bariqi, nineteen years old. Ran with an all-girl gang of vandals... Targeted statues and federal buildings until she was caught... Served a night in jail and was let go."
"Any leads?" Felicia inquired.
Bridget glanced at the end of the file. "Here's something... Karima begged the police to let her go... Said she was caring for her cousin... A girl named Farah Fayad."
At that moment, there was a knock at the door. Before any of the women at the table could move, it opened.
In walked Zuhal, humming nonchalantly, a bag slung over her shoulder. She shut the door behind her. "Oh... hi, girls!"
Felicia and Bobbi exchanged a glance of horror, then immediately jumped up and struck defensive poses.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Felicia said furiously.
"Getting her ass kicked, I'd say," Bobbi added.
Zuhal blinked, then glanced at Bridget. "You didn't tell them?"
Confused, Felicia turned to Bridget. "...Tell us what?"
Bridget smiled nervously. "Well, I... ahem..."
Zuhal chuckled. "Sounds like you got some 'splainin' to do..."
*******************
Although the island was purposely separated from the outside world, occasional voyages out in the ocean were necessary to test the waters and ensure that they were stable - that is, that the volcano the island was built around remained dormant. Although its last eruption had occurred sometime in the 1970s, recent seismic activity in the surrounding waters suggested that another eruption was imminent.
Always one to take caution, the researchers had issued a thrice-weekly voyage to the ocean beneath them to check that seismic readings were stable. Each voyage consisted of a crew of three scientists, who would take a small but powerful submarine down to explore and affirm.
On this day, the scientists recruited for the job were all female. The blonde, fair-skinned Dr. Helene Bond; the brown-haired, tan-skinned Dr. Ava Nichols; and the dark-haired, dark-skinned Dr. Laura Graves. All their women were tall and fit, their brains seemingly belied by their beauty.
At this hour, the three women were dressed in their form-fitting dark blue scuba suits and flippers, and were currently heading from their labs to the underground submarine launch.
As they rounded a corner in the hallway, Lucinda appeared before them, still dressed in her gold security uniform.
"Good evening, doctors," she said with just the hint of a smile. "Apologies for the inconvenience, but I was told to run a quick security evaluation on the three of you before you board the submarine."
The three scientists looked puzzled. "We weren't informed about the need for a security evaluation," Dr. Bond said.
"It was a very last-minute decision," Lucinda explained. "With rumors percolating about impostors on this island, it was decided to conduct more general screenings of personnel, particularly before outgoing assignments." She flicked her thumb in the direction of a nearby security office. "It shouldn't take more than a few minutes."
Dr. Nichols checked her watch and nodded. "Very well... Just so long as it's quick."
Lucinda grinned as she led the women toward the dark room. "Don't worry... We'll make it very quick."
She allowed the three scuba-clad scientists to enter the room, then followed them, shutting the door behind her.
"Hey, it's dark in here," complained Dr. Bond. "Where's the light switch?"
Suddenly, Dr. Nichols made an "Uuuunnnggghhh!" sound and fell to the floor.
"Ava? What happened?" Dr. Graves asked. She couldn't see a thing.
"Get the light!" Dr. Bond called out. "It must be around here somewhere."
Dr. Graves groped around in the dark. "I think I found - oouuugggghhhh!" She, too, fell silent.
Dr. Bond was getting scared. "Girls, are you okay? Speak up!"
She found the light and flicked it on. She gasped at the sight of her two unconscious friends on the floor... and the sight of the three grinning women in security uniform standing over them.
"Good evening, Helene," Dr. Chen smiled. "So nice of you to join us."
"Who... who are you?" Dr. Bond gasped. "What have you done?"
"Merely what had to be done to your friends," Dr. Che explained. "And we're likely to do it to you as well... unless you cooperate. Understand?"
Dr. Bond nodded, still trembling. "What do you want?"
'Your scuba gear," Dr. Chen responded. "And that of your friends. Start stripping."
Aghast, but with no other options, Dr. Bond grasped the zipper at the neck of her outfit and slowly pulled it downwards.
"We're not getting any younger," Dr. Chen snapped.
Dr. Bond shimmied out of the scuba suit, revealing a blue-green dotted bra and matching panties. She kicked the scuba outfit aside and tried vainly to cover her modesty.
Dr. Chen laughed. "Come now, Helene, we're all girls, are we not? Besides, I'll need your hands behind your back."
As she held up a coil of white rope, Dr. Chen turned to her two cohorts. "Come on, strip the other two. We're already behind schedule."
Lucinda nodded and smiled. "Yes, ma'am. Come on, Mer."
Meredith nodded. "... Sure. Let's do it."
Twenty minutes later, in the underground docking bay, the other scientists were getting restless.
"Where are they?" one of the doctors asked. "The sub was supposed to have left by now."
Her friend looked up. "Finally."
Three women in scuba gear and flippers stepped into the room. Their faces were covered by dark oxygen masks and goggles, but the names on their IDs read Bond, Nichols, and Graves.
"Come, come, hurry up," the older woman chided them. "We need to get moving. Step into the submarine and go."
Wordlessly, the three women nodded. They headed for the small blue-grey submersible, disappearing inside one by one.
Then, with little fanfare, the transport disappeared beneath the water.
"Should be back in about thirty minutes," the head scientist said.
But in fact, the submarine would not be coming back... not ever. And no one on the island knew it - except the three women initially destined to be its passengers.
In the dark security room, those three women struggled against the ropes which bound them and the tape which gagged them. Dr. Bond, down to her blue-green dotted bra and panties, squirmed helplessly. Dr. Nichols, left in her orange demicup bra and pink triangle panties, moaned pathetically. And Dr. Graves, stripped to her grey floral-pattern bra and matching panties, simply lowered her head and sobbed.
As the submarine cut through the underwater grime and plant life, Dr. Chen checked the dashboard gauges approvingly.
"We should have enough gas and oxygen to return safely to Florida," she announced. "I was afraid we'd have to stop at the Bahamas to refuel, so this is an excellent stroke of luck."
"The Bahamas..." Meredith smiled. "We were planning to go there, weren't we, honey?"
Lucinda returned the smile. "Yes, dear... but later. For now, dear Julia is piloting."
Meredith nodded, but she felt a bit perturbed. Lucinda seemed to be taking an interest in "dear Julia" - more than in her own wife.
Dr. Chen, for her part, kept her eyes on the radar screen as she navigated through the water.
Bridget... Karima... and all their friends... they would pay. They would most surely pay.
*****************
Atsuko stirred, and her eyes slowly opened.
She was in a dimly lit room - a storage house, judging by the metal siding on the walls. She was tied to a chair - still clothed, thankfully.
Oh god, she thought, where's Carolyn?
"Hi, sis."
Atsuko yelped, nearly tipping over her chair. Toshiko grabbed it at the last second.
"Whoa, whoa. Easy, girl. Can't have you getting another nasty fall."
Atsuko blinked. "Who are..." Her eyes widened. "No."
Toshiko flipped on an overhead light. "Yes."
"Toshi? What the hell?"
"I know, I know... It's been a long time... I can explain..."
"You died... eight years ago! What happened? How are you..."
"I didn't die." Toshiko held up a hand. "It was all a trick."
"What?"
Toshiko pulled up a chair. "You're a little hysterical now. I understand. Take a deep breath and..."
"What happened?"
"I..." Toshiko paused. "I fell in with the wrong crowd. Got in trouble with the Feds. Didn't want you or Mom to know, so I sent my car into a ravine. Everyone thought I died in the crash, and I got to start over."
Atsuko simply stared at her, mouth agape.
Cassandra and Marina watched from the doorway.
"Can you believe this?" Cassandra whispered.
"Not at all," Marina replied. "Wish we had some popcorn."
Atsuko found her voice again. "Where's... where's Carolyn?"
"Your friend? She's in the other room. I wanted to talk to you privately."
"She's not my friend," Atsuko said adamantly. "She's my wife."
"Your wife?" Toshiko's eyes widened. "You mean you're..."
Atsuko nodded.
"When did that happen?"
"When I started college... a few months after you died... or didn't die, I guess. I met Carolyn on my first day. She was my roommate, very nice and friendly. My boyfriend broke up with me second semester... He said I didn't seem interested in our relationship. I came to my room that night crying... Carolyn comforted me... and... one thing led to another..." She smiled wistfully. "Most amazing night of my life. And I never had a boyfriend again."
Toshiko chuckled. "What did Mom say about it?"
"It took me a couple of years to tell her," Atsuko admitted. "You know Mom... she's very adamant about the Bible. But she eventually came around."
Toshiko laughed. "Yes, that sounds like her."
Atsuko got serious again. "Okay, for real... why am I here? And why am I tied to a chair? You going to kill me?"
"No, no!" Toshiko stood up and stepped around to the ropes binding her sister's wrists. "I just... had to make sure you weren't dangerous. What were you doing in the Cerberus building?"
"I work there," Atsuko explained. "Although I was... there for other reasons. What were you doing there?"
Toshiko smiled as she cut the ropes. "We really have a lot of catching up to do."
****************
Farah pulled the bus into a vacant lot just outside of Deltona.
Maxine was waiting as she stepped off the bus. "Any trouble?" she asked.
Farah smiled. "See for yourself."
Maxine looked on the bus. All seven drugged girls, plus their coach, were seated unconscious, stripped down to their bras and panties - a variety of greens, reds, golds, and blues - and were securely zip-tied and tape-gagged.
Farah popped the luggage compartment doors beneath the bus, revealing Marissa and the eighth color guard girl, similarly stripped and secured.
"This seems excessive," Maxine noted.
Farah laughed. "You wanted my help to get revenge on Adelaide at the color guard tournament," she said. "And help you I will. But in the process, I'm happy to make some extra money on the side..."
Maxine nodded. "Fine. I'll call my slave trade contacts."
She pulled out her cell phone and began to dial. Farah smiled at the bus and its prisoners.
There were three other color guard teams set to compete at the tournament tomorrow afternoon. And by the following evening, Farah intended to "collect" all of them.
******************
"What the hell were you thinking?" Bobbi hissed.
"I... wasn't," Bridget admitted. "She barged into my apartment... Took me by surprise. But I think she could help."
"Help?" Felicia asked incredulously. "This woman has worked with Karima and with Dr. Chen. She's tried to kill us multiple times. And you think she wants to help?"
"Why didn't you tell us earlier?" Bobbi added.
"Girls," Bridget said, her voice taking on a greater air of authority. "Girls, listen close. Karima is still out there. She tried to kill us last week, and came very close to doing so. The only reason she's no longer after us is that she believes we're already dead. If she learns otherwise, she will try again."
Bobbi and Felicia listened, and nodded slowly.
"We need to stop Karima before she stops us," Bridget continued. "We need to make sure she's locked up in maximum security. Zuhal knows how to stop her. So, much as I hate doing so... we need to work with her. For now."
Felicia nodded again. Bobbi folded her arms.
"Fine," she said. "But I don't trust her. Not a bit."
"I don't blame you," Bridget said. "But she's waiting in the other room. Come on."
The trio exited the kitchen and headed for the living room, where Zuhal was admiring some of the framed newspaper clippings in the wall.
She smiled as the women approached. "Hey, Baxter... You're quite the newshound, aren't you? Lots of impressive scoops here."
Felicia and Bobbi simply glared at her.
Bridget cut to the chase. "You said you would help, Azimi. What've you got?"
"Well," Zuhal held up Karima's file. "Not much here, I'll admit. This 'Farah' woman sounds familiar... I met someone with that name not long ago." She smiled, remembering her little escapade with the handball team.
"But I'm not quite sure it's the same Farah... anyway, there's only one other place we can go to find detailed information on Karima. The place where they store all the info about the world's most dangerous criminals."
"What are you saying?" Bridget asked.
"I'm saying, dear girls..." Zuhal paused for emphasis. "We're going to break into the FBI."
the story is fantastic so far and promising
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