“Miss… Wake up… Miss… Can you hear me?”
I awoke feeling extremely groggy and disoriented. My eyes were too tired to open. I was certain that it couldn’t possibly be morning already. Better to just rollover and go back to sleep.
“You’re going to be OK… I need you to try to stand so I can… unfff… get you down…”
It sounded like the voice of a young woman, but the voice wasn’t familiar. She was shaking me, moving me around. I realized that I wasn’t in my bed. I wasn’t even lying down! That didn’t make sense… how could I be asleep while standing up? My limbs were numb and tingly and I could barely feel a thing. Apparently most of my body parts were still asleep, so I didn’t see any point in letting my brain wake up and spoil my nap. I groaned, hoping that the young woman would take the hint and leave me alone...
“Miss!!”
I felt a SLAP right across my cheek! …How dare she!
And another SLAP!
“WAKE UP!!”
I tried to open my eyes and give her a piece of my mind, but as my eyelids cracked open the light flooded in painfully and I snapped them closed again. I tried to cover my eyes, but my hands seemed to be tangled up or something and they couldn’t reach my face. The only sound that came out of my slack mouth was a moan accompanied by a little embarrassing drool. I was trying to wake up, but the fog of sleep didn’t seem to want to go away. The more I tried to wake up, the more my head seemed to throb. The numbness was lifting only to be rapidly replaced by pain. It felt a bit like a hangover, but much worse.
“Miss!! Please! I’ve already called the paramedics, but I don’t think you’re going to want them to find you like this!”
Something weird was covering most of my face… something soft… but with a slight chemical smell. I couldn’t use my hands to brush it away, so I tried to move my head from side to side to shake it off. My head just seemed to roll around limply as if my skull was too heavy for my neck to control.
“Let’s get these panties off of your face so you can catch some air…”
I felt the young woman remove the soft cloth from my face… wait… did she just say panties? Fresh air rushed into my lungs and that helped immensely. I began to gasp reflexively and the sudden rush of oxygen throughout my body started to revive my limbs.
“Oh, wow… no wonder you were so out of it. These used to be soaked with chloroform, but it seems to have mostly evaporated.”
Chloroform?…Oh god, the intruders! They drugged me! I had to wake up! I started to panic and my eyes finally snapped open.
My predicament became immediately clear to me. I was tied up in a spread-eagle pose with my naked body on full display between the bookshelves in the main atrium of the library entrance. I almost passed right back out from the sudden shock.
“Easy, easy… you’re going to be ok... Miss, if you can understand me, I need you to try to stand up. You’re too heavy and I can’t untie the knots unless you can give me a little slack.”
I struggled to get my legs to respond, trying to get my footing under me to take some of the weight off of my arms so that my rescuer could work the knots in the ropes. My stockings were slippery on the hardwood floor, but I managed to stand on my tip toes just enough to relieve the tension on the ropes. My knees were wobbly and I would have probably fallen over if not for the support of the ropes. I couldn’t feel anything past either of my shoulders. I looked up at my completely numb hands, but they might as well have belonged to someone else.
As my awareness returned I realized that this poor young woman was getting quite an eyeful of my naked body and I blushed from head to toe. Fortunately she seemed to have her attention on untying the knots, or at least she was polite enough not to add to my embarrassment. As she finally managed to untie the last knot on my right side, I suddenly lost all support on that side of my body. My legs buckled and I started to fall. Suspended only by the ropes still on my left arm I swung over towards my left and slammed my arm and ribs into the bookshelf, knocking the wind out of me.
“Oops! …Sorry… sorry… I should have realized that might happen… Hold on, just two more knots…”
It took several more minutes to finally get me completely untied. This time the young woman held me up and supported my weight as she unthreaded the final knot. I allowed myself to sink back into her soft sweater as she slowly and gently eased me to the floor. My head ended up resting in her lap and we both took a few moments to catch our breath from the effort of getting me down.
“Th… thank you... I’m… my name is Chrys… Chrys Kent… Thank you…”
“You’re welcome. I’m Amanda Jones and I am so sorry that you got caught up in all of this mess.”
“Are you a student? How… how did you get in here? The library isn’t even open yet.”
“I am a student, but I’m not from around here. I spent most of last night hiding in the hedges outside. I watched a team of armed men carrying a lot of heavy crates from a truck trailer into this library. It took them several hours, but eventually they emptied the trailer, then piled into the back of the truck and drove off. I waited awhile, didn’t see any signs of activity inside, and then I broke in the same way that they did. I was hoping to find whatever it is that they left behind, but then I found you. I’m just sorry I didn’t come in sooner or I might have been able to help you. I had no idea they were putting you through all of this.”
Clearly Amanda knew more about what was going on than I did. I should probably have been upset with her for breaking into the library, but given the circumstances I was glad that she did. The feeling was starting to return to my arms and hands. I flexed my fingers and looked down at myself to check for injuries. Immediately I realized that my abdomen was covered with a splotch of dark red!
“Oh my God, I’m bleeding!”
I started to panic, but Amanda held me still and gripped my hand to comfort me.
“No, no… you’re ok. It’s just red ink of some kind. Those goons were just trying to deliver a message.”
I checked myself out again and realized that I was seeing upside-down lettering that spelled out the words “No Talking”. It really did look a lot like blood. Obviously this was a threat, probably from the one called Matteo, and he obviously didn’t want me to go to the police with what happened last night. He probably also thought it was funny to humiliate me and string me up as a “No Talking” sign at the front entrance of the library.
“Message received… loud and clear.”
Amanda frowned and shook her head sadly. As I looked up at her she grabbed the lower hem of her sweater and lifted it up and over her head, revealing her nicely-toned stomach muscles and slender athletic build. She was wearing a simple but nice tan bra underneath. I couldn’t help but to find her attractive and she smelled amazing. I blushed and turned away from her, and then realized how ridiculous that was since I was almost completely nude myself. I couldn’t figure out why she suddenly felt the need to take off her clothes until she offered the sweater to me.
“Here… you need this more than I do.”
Oh, of course. I thanked her again and sat up slowly. I managed to slip the sweater over my head and pulled it down as much as I could. It fell to just about the level of my crotch. If I pulled it down in the front and back it would just barely cover me. It wasn’t very modest, but it was better than nothing at all. The idea of trying to walk up the stairs to retrieve my clothing from the administrative wing made my stomach lurch, no way was I up for that. I turned to Amanda and grinned sheepishly.
“Thanks… and now I guess we’re both quite a sight.”
“Ha, yeah… That should give the EMT’s something to talk about.”
I rubbed my arms to try to restore some of the feeling in them and to distract myself from staring at Amanda.
“I think I’m ok now, but I guess it won’t hurt to let the paramedics check me out. My arms are going to be sore and bruised and I still have a bump on the back of my head from last night.”
“Well, let them check you for a concussion... I know what it’s like to be roughed up like that.”
“You do? Sounds like you must lead a very exciting life then, Ms. Jones.”
“Sometimes it’s more exciting than I’d like it to be. Last week I was in Greece, and then Turkey, then I spent a few days locked in a shipping container onboard a C-17. It’s a long story. I’ve been tracking the group that attacked you across the globe for several weeks now.”
“Wow! VERY exciting indeed… May I ask why?”
“One of them took something from me and I’m trying to get it back. Her name is Rachel Fox.”
Amanda seemed to have a sad look on her face when she said Rachel’s name. Obviously these two had history. I didn’t want to pry, but I needed to understand what had happened to me last night.
“Rachel Fox… I remember that name... She was one of the intruders.”
Amanda nodded. “I can’t believe she did this to you. This is not at all her style. It’s sloppy and violent and completely unnecessary. You’re just an innocent bystander. Stripping you, stringing you up, threatening you like this …seems a little excessive, not to mention unprofessional, for a smuggler with her level of skill.”
“I don’t think Rachel had much to do with it. She seemsto be the one in charge, but I don’t think she is in full control of that gang of thugs. I think the one that did this to me was a man named Matteo. He’s definitely a brute.”
“Ahh… well, that makes sense. Rachel has fallen in with a bad crowd, several in fact. Her treasure hunting habit requires a lot of capital. Many of her ‘investors’ are extremely dangerous people. I think Matteo is one of Giuseppe’s mercenaries. Giuseppe probably has Matteo looking out for his interests, to make sure that Rachel delivers whatever it is that she’s supposed to deliver. Rachel is very smart and capable, but if Matteo is this unstable then she might be in more danger than she realizes.”
“Amanda, do you know what this is all about?”
Amanda shrugged and looked disappointed. “I wish I did. Rachel and her team collected several crates in Turkey from a private art collector and then had them shipped here, but I don’t know what they contain. I suspect its some sort of black market deal to avoid seizure of the items by customs. I think Rachel is just a currier. She’s probably only doing this to repay some of her debt to Giuseppe. All I know for sure is that someone in your library must have wanted whatever is in those crates very badly to go through all of this trouble and expense.”
I shifted through the events from the previous night in my mind. A lot of it was a blur thanks to the chloroform, but I could remember hearing them doing something in the administrative offices.
“I think the library’s Regional Manager might be involved in all of this. She’s my immediate supervisor and her name is Ms. Pryor. I’m pretty certain that they were trying to get into her office last night.”
“Hmmm… what do you know about her?”
“Actually, I‘ve never even met her. We’ve exchanged a few emails, but she doesn’t work out of this library unless she’s in town. I know that she doesn’t come to this branch very often, and that most of my fellow department heads are afraid of her. I’m told that she is very strict. I have no reason to suspect that she’s some sort of criminal, but I suppose it’s possible. I’m relatively new here, so I wouldn’t really know.”
Just then we heard the sound of an approaching siren and could see flashes from emergency lights outside of the library windows. The paramedics had arrived.
“Ms. Kent… Do you think you could get me into the Regional Manager’s office? I’d really like to know what Rachel has been up to and this might provide me with some clue as to where she’s going next.”
“I don’t have a key. It’s usually locked up and it’s off limits, even to me.”
“Well, if Rachel can get in there, then I suspect that I can pull it off as well. I’d like to come back later tonight and investigate further.”
“Amanda, these people are dangerous. Who knows what we might find in that office. I was lucky to make it through the night… and I’d be in even worse shape without your help. I certainly don’t want you getting hurt.”
“I understand, Ms. Kent, believe me… but I can take care of myself and this might be the only way for me to pick up Rachel’s trail. I’ve been following those crates around the world for days and I’d really like to know what they contain that could possibly be worth all of this trouble. Aren’t you just a little curious?”
Amanda was giving me a sly grin. She could tell from the look on my face that I was eventually going to agree. The truth is… I was EXTREMELY curious! I was too afraid to go to the police with my story, but there was no way that I could just forget about my ordeal and let it go either… especially if the Regional Manager of the library was involved in something ongoing and illegal. I needed to know what was going on and the answers were most likely to be found in the Regional Managers office. I didn’t have a key to it and I didn’t know how to pick a lock, but I suspected that Amanda Jones might have that under control. I needed her help as much as she needed mine.
“OK… tonight at 2:00am. The maintenance staff will be gone by then. Knock on the south entrance door and I’ll let you in. Let’s find those crates and get to the bottom of this mystery.”
I was frightened and nervous… but I have to admit that it was more than a little thrilling to be doing a little amateur sleuthing. Amanda was younger than me by several years, but it was comforting to have someone with her obvious expertise and experience along for the adventure.
Amanda smiled as she helped me to me feet.
“Great! I’ll bring my tools. See you tonight, Ms. Kent!”
Amanda Jones and Rachel Fox are the OC's of
and are used with permission.Amanda is an extremely customized 3D model. Hopefully I succeeded at capturing her spirit, if not her exact likeness.
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