Tessa Valmur - Bought and Sold

'What the hell have you two been discussing?' Zoe demanded angrily.

The man gave an enigmatic smile and opened the RangeRover, silently suggesting that Zoe climbed into the car.

'No, hang on a minute; I want a reassurance from you that we're going straight to the British Embassy. You told me that you were paid to free me.'

'That is true and I have already been well paid. Vanessa here has pointed out that it might be more rewarding for me if I sold you on the open market.'

'What the hell are you talking about?' Zoe demanded, backing away from the man defensively.

'The truth is that what the British Government values you at is a lot less than I could get for you as a harem slave here in El-Saram. Or indeed if I sold you on the international market, you would fetch an even more attractive price.'

'You unscrupulous bastard!'

Zoe turned and fled, driven by the one immediate thought of escape. Should she try to get to the tower and find a weapon or should she try to run into the dark and hope to escape under cover of dark. At least she was free, for the moment!

She hadn't covered more than a few yards though when she was knocked sideways by a rugby tackle from the Sheikh's servant. Using her training from the SES she lashed out at the young man catching him by surprise with the ferocity of her attack. A sharp blow from the edge of her hand knocked him backwards and she scrambled back to her feet. She felt his hand grasp her ankle and she kicked out with her other foot. The youth rolled sideways to evade her attempted kick and clasping her ankle with both hands he pulled back fiercely throwing her off balance.

'Uhh...'

Zoe landed in the sand, momentarily winded. She twisted her body, stumbling to her hands and knees only to feel a hand clutch the waistband of her skirt and jerk her backwards.

'Let me go!'

Before she could recover herself the young man swung his weight over her chest then pinned both her arms with his hands. Zoe was about to kick out at him when she felt someone drop their weight onto her legs.

'I've got her legs,' the blonde girl laughed, 'Auda, bring us a rope!'

Zoe struggled frantically but with two people pinning her down her efforts were futile. She looked up to see the sheikh come striding towards where she lay held down, a coil of rope in his hand.

'You can't do this to me! Damn you! Let me go!'

She felt the rope being tied around her ankles, her legs being pulled together and she thrashed them furiously but the girl had her weight on them whilst the man bound the rope tighter and tighter until her ankles were secured together. She was then rolled onto her chest and her arms were pulled behind her back. The men held her arms still while the blonde girl bound her wrists together.

'Tie another rope around her arms above her elbows, Vanessa,' Auda ordered.

Zoe grunted with the discomfort of having her arms drawn close behind her back as the girl wrapped a rope in a figure of eight around her arms, binding them above the elbows as instructed.

'You'll never get away with this!' Zoe hissed angrily.

'Who's going to stop me?' the man asked arrogantly. 'The British Government believe you're held prisoner by the El-Saram secret police. What will they think when I say that I couldn't find you? How can they prove otherwise?'

Zoe sighed with dismay as the men lifted her onto their shoulders and carried her across to the RangeRover. A moment later she was lying along the back seat and the engine roared into life. From the front passenger seat the blonde girl turned and looked smugly at her, her generous bow shaped lips curved into a sadistic smile, her large blue eyes glittering with mischief.

Vanessa leant back in the leather seat and pushed her sunglasses up from the brow of her nose until they rested in her hair over her eyes. The tinting of the RangeRover windscreen meant she didn't have to squint, though outside she could see the fishermen now shielding their eyes from the sun as they gave up repairing their nets and moved to the shade. The outside temperature gauge on the dashboard read 34c then even as she stared at it, the little green figures flicked to 36c. Same as me, she thought, smiling to herself, stroking her hands down over her breasts. Her T-shirt clung damp with sweat, hugging her generous curves. She idly picked at the loose strands on the cut-off jeans where the denim finished high up her thighs.

She flicked through the radio stations on the car radio but there was nothing in English with a clear enough reception to make it worth listening to. She picked up her can of coke and shook it experimentally. There was still a little left but when she put it to her open lips the fizzy drink was disgustingly warm from where it had been sitting on the dashboard. She peered out of the car but there was no sign of Auda. She gave a bored sigh and glanced back over her shoulder. Their prisoner looked up at her expectantly.

'Comfortable?' Vanessa asked, cynically.

The girl tried to say something but her words were incoherent, muffled by the folds of silk that filled her mouth and were held in place by a scarf drawn tightly across her mouth. Vanessa watched as the girl wriggled, struggling to lift herself up so she could see out of the door window. With her arms pinned behind her, she had to struggle for a moment before managing to haul herself up into a sitting position. Vanessa observed her as she looked anxiously out of the tinted glass. I've got a pretty good idea how you're feeling, she thought. Well, you can just lie there and enjoy the feeling of helplessness.

Vanessa looked out of the rear window of the RangeRover. Auda's luxury cruiser, sixty-four feet of state of the art marine technology lay quietly at anchor, dominating the tiny and primitive fishing port. They had reversed the two vehicles right up along the jetty and Basil had set to unloading their equipment. With a high tide Auda had been able to bring his cruiser into the harbour and his sleek little speedboat was now being winched up behind the cruiser.

By the time Auda signalled to her that he was ready to take their unwilling passenger onboard; the jetty stood deserted of activity. The nearest group of fishermen sat clustered under an open sided tent of brightly woven fabric that had been erected on the beach and which lay surrounded by nets, wicker baskets and vast sails of white cotton awaiting repair.

Vanessa opened the RangeRover door and swung her legs around, sliding her bare thighs off the sticky leather seat and dropping her feet down onto the stone cobbles of the jetty. The heat rolled over her like a wave. Auda's servant was stacking the last of their equipment up against the side of the jetty. Seeing her he waved and walked across to where she stood gazing down at the emerald water.

'What an amazing place,' Vanessa gazed around her. Out at sea she could see small islands of golden sand dotted with palm trees, then looking behind her she took in the immense sweep of the sand dunes that swept down to the shore. On the horizon some camels moved in convoy, laden with goods, a man sat on the leading one, his head sheltered from the sun by a fold of his cloak held above him by a stick. Looking down the coast in the distance she could see the shimmering steel on the oil refinery.

'We're ready to take the girl on board.'

'Okay,' Vanessa nodded and turned back to the RangeRover.

She saw Auda moving along the side of the luxury cruiser, dressed now in traditional flowing Arab garb. He jumped down onto the jetty and walked past them, waving a wad of bank notes in one hand.

'I'll be back in a few moments. Basil, get Miss Farquerson on board and then get these vehicles moved.'

Vanessa watched him stride past them before turning to his servant.