George Perry - The willing wife

"They didn't tell us to strip her either. When we rehearsed the plan, we just tied her hands and got out fast. Remember?"

"Yeah, yeah… but what's a few minutes?"

"Don't be a shithead. If someone knocks on the door we're in big trouble. Come on, let's get out of here fast."

"Balls!"

"Okay," Tom called to the others. "That's enough. Let's put the show on the road. And fix her clothes… and put her drawers back on… I don't want to get my ass chewed out. Let's go. We've been here too long already."

The younger boys obeyed his commands without hesitation. They dressed Jan quickly as best they could. Hooking her bra gave them the mast trouble and they put her slacks on backward, but Jan felt a sense of security just being covered again. Her whole body seemed to sigh with relief and she felt more relaxed now.

"Now get her out in the trunk of the car!" Tom snapped, taking one last look around the house to be sure they hadn't forgotten something.

"Hey!" Al said. "Maybe they've got some money laying around the place."

"Forget it," Tom answered. "We haven't got time to go searching for it. But get her purse. We may want her identification." He went to the kitchen window and watched as the others packed Jan into the trunk of the old Chevy. Tom was satisfied. He turned to give the kitchen a last check and saw Al at the refrigerator filling a brown paper bag with food. It reminded him of his own hunger and the fact that they had had only a hamburger each for the past twenty-four hours.

"Nice going," he told Al. "See if there are any cookies and other stuff too." He took Jan's purse from Al's arm and quickly searched it for money. His eyes widened when he found over a hundred dollars in her wallet. He'd never seen that much money before.

"Is there enough there to buy gas, for the trip back?" Al asked over his shoulder.

"Yeah," Tom answered, pocketing the money. "We'd be in some fuckin' trouble if there wasn't," Al said, his head in the refrigerator. "Shit. There's enough food here to feed an army."

"We ain't got all day, so take what you can and let's go."

"That's it," Al answered, closing the refrigerator and picking up the three paper bags he had filled. "The kids are gonna shit when they see all this stuff," he added as he started out the door.

"Yeah… and when we get the ransom money we'll all start eating like human beings."

Once Jan resigned herself to the fact that she couldn't do anything about her predicament, at least at the moment, she reined and settled into a comfortable position in the semidark trunk. Without thinking, she reached up with her bound hands and removed the tape from her mouth. The simplicity of the act brought her attention to the fact that she could just as easily untie her hands too. But she hesitated, considering the possibility that if they stopped the car and opened the trunk they would realize their mistake and tie her hands behind her back. She decided not to take any chances at this point and left them tied.

Gradually the panic and fright eased from her body and mind, leaving her remarkably calm, she thought with surprise. She was relaxed, composed and probably less nervous now than her captors, she decided.

"This is unbelievable," she said in a soft whisper, wishing she had a companion to share the experience with. "So far they've bungled everything! I've seen their faces and even know their first names. They tie my hands in front of me so I can remove the gag and even open the knots with my teeth, or wait until they stop the car and start screaming for help. They're so bad at kidnapping that I expect to awaken at any moment and find it was all a stupid dream. They could have done better by just following the script of even the worst television plot!"

The sound of her own voice was reassuring and made sense. She decided she would take her own advice: wait until the car stopped, then start screaming and kicking to attract attention. The only drawback in her plan was the realization that she might only get one chance to try it. If it didn't work the first time, she was certain they would gag and bind her so she couldn't try it again. So she'd have to wait until she was absolutely certain someone was close enough to hear her. A parking lot, if they stop to eat, or if they stop for gas, she decided.

Confidence surged through her and she was certain she'd be back home before nightfall. Within minutes she realized her opportunity was probably about to materialize. The car turned, and the motion of it seemed to indicate they were entering a parking lot or gas station. The car stopped and she strained to hear the sound of voices. She forced herself not to be impatient and it paid off, she realized, because the first voices she heard were the boys. There were three or four of them, talking, whistling and making noise right outside the trunk.

Gas! her mind screamed. They were getting gas! There were other voices, but she couldn't tell how far away they were with all the noise the kids were making outside the trunk. Then the noise stopped abruptly and the car was moving again.

Gradually she talked herself out of the depression this setback had created, telling herself there would be other opportunities. But she never quite gained the confidence she had had before they stopped. She was nagged now by the fact that her captors were a little more clever than she had given them credit for being. And as the trip dragged on and on, her loneliness began to work on her nerves.

After what seemed to her like hours and hours, the car began to slow down and pull off the road. She was suddenly alert again. She wondered if this was the last stop. The end of the trip, where they would either kill her, or possibly hide her until the ransom was paid and then kill her. She quickly placed the tape back on her mouth and waited, knowing the place was secluded simply by the lack of any sounds of traffic. The trunk opened and she was blinking at the sudden brightness that rushedin. She looked up into the faces of Tom and Al.

"We thought you'd like to stretch your legs," Tom as saying as they helped her out of the trunk, holding her up until her legs regained circulation.

"Yeah. And maybe take a pee, like the rest of us," Al added with a grin.

Jan shot him a look of utter disgust. She hadn't liked him from the moment he had entered the house. His face had a rodent-like appearance, and his straight, stringy, dirty-blond hair kept falling across his beady eyes. She judged him to be about nineteen years old, five-foot-six and skinny. Tom, on the other hand, was lean in an attractive way, about twenty close to six feet tall, with black wavy hair.

"Don't pay any attention to him," Tom was saying as he led her away from the car. "If he doesn't knock it off, I'll have to show him who's boss."

They had certainly picked a deserted place to stop, Jan noted as they walked toward a field of grass and clover. The trees and landscape suggested northern Massachusetts, or possibly New Hampshire. Then were too many trees to see any great distance, but in the area she could see, there wasn't a structure in sight. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of the other boys grouped around a big oak tree. They were obviously emptying their bladders, she decided.

"Look, Mrs. Latimer," Tom said, taking the tape from her mouth. "If you have to go, you better go now. We've got a good trip ahead of us and I'm not stopping again."

She realized he was talking with a normal, sincere voice now and she felt better. "Yes," she answered softly. "I would like to… go… but not with everyone watching."

"The other kids will be in the car, but me and Al can't let you out of our sight."

"You're too fuckin' soft." Al cut in, taking Jan by the arm and pulling her to a nearby tree. "You gotta piss, lady, piss!" He pulled her slacks and panties down in one fast jerk and stepped back. "We all saw your goodies back at the house, remember?"