A Midwinter Kidnapping (FF/F, F/FF, F/F) (Part 4 now up! 4/29/24)
Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2024 4:50 am
(Posted this on DA and thought it wouldn't hurt to share here as well. Hope you enjoy!)
There was still a lot of work to be done this school term, but tonight was a respite for Charlotte. She had the opportunity to see the Göteborg Opera’s production of Verdi’s La Traviata. The production was fabulous, world-class in every sense of the word. She had listened to a few recordings, but nothing compared to seeing it performed live. To use the old cliche, it was larger than life. And just as she’d hoped, there were moments where she felt tears streaming down her face.
“So, was it as good as you hoped?” a voice asked, and Charlotte was startled, nearly dropping her coat, scarf and gloves from her arms. She’d be so sucked up in her own thoughts that she had nearly forgotten her friend, Karin.
“Yes… oh, yes….,” Charlotte said, sounding like someone who had just fallen in love. Her boyfriend, Marcus, was originally supposed to come along, but had suddenly come down with food poisoning (or so he said, that is…). Karin had little taste for opera as far as Charlotte knew, but she didn’t feel comfortable going to this thing alone, so she invited her to tag along, and her best friend had loyally obliged. “I just hope that you had fun, too, I know this isn’t exactly your thing. And, you know, we’re kind of the youngest people here and all…”, she said (this last she made sure to say extra quietly).
“I really liked it!” she responded, as Charlotte began to slip on her coat and gloves. “You’re right, it’s not something I’d probably listen to a lot in my spare time and I may have benefited from reading a summary of it on Wikipedia, but I’m super glad I came with you. It was a beautiful performance. You have good taste”, she complimented. Charlotte felt a huge smile form on her face.
“Do you want something from me? You seem awfully eager to flatter me”, she quipped.
“Well, now that you mention it… a quick coffee, maybe?” she suggested. Charlotte pulled her phone from her purse and examined the time, 11:07 PM.
“Okay. Just a quickie,” she said, smiling. The cold night air bit her face as they stepped outside the opera house to travel a few blocks to the coffee shop around the corner. Activity for the night was starting to die down, fewer people were on the streets, almost certainly opting for the warmth of their homes instead of a night out. A quick beverage to warm their bones would hit the spot.
Neither of them had any clue that they were being closely observed.
***
Jelena examined the contents of the duffle bag one final time: rope, zip ties, bottles of water, wads of cloth, a thick stack of Swedish kronor held together with a rubber band, ibuprofen, ski masks, nitrile gloves, and of course, duct tape. Three big rolls of it. She honestly didn’t know why they bothered bringing any other bondage items, the tape was more than sufficient as far as she was concerned. But it didn’t hurt to have all the bases covered, she supposed. She let her partner Teresa rummage through it as well, who gave her an approving nod.
It was early March., that time of year when you can smell spring ever so fairly when you stepped outside. But winter still held a firm grasp on the night air in Gothenburg, even with a leather jacket and gloves on. Jelena actually preferred the city’s Swedish name, Göteborg; it was just much more melodic sounding. She wished she wasn’t here on business and could actually enjoy herself a little, this seemed like a lovely place to live.
Actually, she wasn’t called Jelena, nor was her partner named Teresa. They’d taken on assumed names as an extra level of protection in case this whole plan went south. If they were caught and imprisoned, there would be only so many things they’d be able to tell the interrogator because they simply didn’t know each other well at all. The less information they had, the better.
Jelena (aka The Woman Who Called Herself Jelena) had had an in-person meeting with an anonymous man—where exactly he fit into the leadership of this scheme, she did not know— who guaranteed that they’d never have to spend a night in jail if they were caught, a lawyer would be there within two hours to bail them out. She later realized that it probably wasn’t very wise to put faith into the promises of a middle-aged man who wore a medallion that sat atop an extremely hairy chest… but for an offer this good, could she really be blamed for taking leave of her senses?
Their assignment was ripped right out of a mystery-thriller: kidnap Charlotte Dahlquist, daughter of Magnus Dahlquist, a wealthy pharmaceutical tycoon and philanthropist. While he wasn’t a donor to any political party, he gave large amounts of his wealth to important organizations (namely those devoted to environmental causes) that ruffled the feathers of certain individuals on the other end of the ideological spectrum, at home and abroad. In addition to extorting a hefty ransom from him, he would be required to cease his contributions to these organizations immediately if he wanted to see his daughter again, or face the consequences.
In any event, none of it mattered a fig to Jelena. She was a mercenary, simply here to do a job and get paid. No foul play involved, her conscience would be clear (she hoped so, at least). Worst case scenario, if they failed the mission and couldn’t find an opportunity to snatch her from the street within a week, there would be no repercussions to face, they just wouldn’t get paid. But if they did succeed, Jelena’s bank account would grow by quite a few euros, enough to finally be able to put this life behind her. Maybe move far away from Europe to a place where her past sins had little chance of catching back up with her, perhaps Australia or New Zealand. She could picture standing on one of those beaches right now, the salt water waves crawling beneath her feet…
There was another factor influencing her decision to take on this little escapade, however: Jelena wanted the experience of being a kidnapper. As far back as she could remember, images of bondage and gags intrigued her. She relished the idea of someone breaking into her home, tying her hands behind her back, slapping tape over her mouth, and carrying her off someplace for an indeterminate period. She may have found being the victim slightly more appealing, but assuming the role of the captor was just as exciting. The fantasy she had of using the stickiest duct tape she could find on a person and taking away their ability to move and speak was utterly thrilling to her. If she could have the chance to gag somebody and reduce their speech to muffled hmmmph’s, she thought she just might die and go to heaven. And abducting a wealthy businessman’s daughter was pure melodrama; that was just as exciting as the bondage part of the whole experience.
They were only given one photo of their captive-to-be (being related to an important public figure, she seemed to have taken great pains to keep her social media presence to a minimum), and wow, Jelena didn’t think they could’ve found anyone better. This young woman was, quite simply, sunshine personified. She had long blonde hair that occupied a shade somewhere between dark and strawberry, and possessed an irresistible smile. She was charmed that this young woman, who was financially set for life and could pursue any vocation she could possibly want, opted instead to be a nurse. Something about that just warmed her heart.
In a way, this was really a spy mission. They would tail Charlotte’s every move 24 hours a day and then pounce when the moment was right (if such a moment ever arrived, that is). They’d snatch her off the streets and take her off to a secluded cabin in the woods about 100 kilometers away from Göteborg, where they would stay until further instructions were given. They wouldn’t be required to contact her family to make the demands, their employer would see to that. For some reason Jelena thought you’d really made it in life when other people did that sort of dirty work for you.
Despite the best efforts of Jelena and Teresa over the course of the business week, it looked like this endeavor was going to turn out to be a flop. Their main problem was that she seemed to be such a homebody, coming home to her apartment just before late afternoon ended and staying in the rest of the day. You would think that the daughter of a fairly important person would be predisposed to being more extroverted, go figure. They would have to find an opportunity to strike late at night. 11:00 PM at the earliest, but preferably more around midnight or even 1:00 AM. They needed as few witnesses as humanly possible, and they weren’t going to pull that off if she didn’t go out anywhere. Weren’t girls in their early 20’s supposed to stay out late and have fun? Go out dancing and all that jazz?
Guess I’m just out of touch with the youths these days… Jelena thought resignedly.
But it looked like their patience just might pay off. After staking out her apartment for several tedious days, they finally spotted her leaving her unit dressed in formal attire. Jackpot! She was actually going somewhere.
Teresa tailed the Uber which was taking Charlotte downtown this evening, swerving through traffic like a stunt driver on an obstacle course. Jelena could hear shouts of foreign words outside (which she supposed was profanity) as her partner unflinchingly cut off other drivers on the road to keep the Uber in their sights. There was a close call where they nearly lost it, but finally it came to a stop at the opera house. Ah, a classical music lover, how classy, Jelena thought. She was falling more in love with their victim-to-be with every passing moment.
And here they were. Both women sat in the Kia which had been provided for them and waited, keeping their eyes open for that window of opportunity that seemed so close at hand. A custom Spotify playlist of Jelena’s favorite music played over the car’s speakers. It contained artists such as Tears for Fears, Depeche Mode, Björk, and Kate Bush. All songs that she had heard a thousand times, but could listen to a thousand more. Besides, consuming things that were familiar helped to ease the nerves. Anxiety was a luxury that neither of them could afford during this task. That’s how mistakes were made.
She had offered Teresa to add her own choice of music to the playlist, but she politely declined. Jelena couldn’t quite figure out what to make of her partner. Her hair was nearly jet black and she had olive skin, which made her wonder if her partner hailed from Spain or somewhere thereabouts. She also seemed to be a woman of few words. Jelena wasn’t sure if she didn’t have a strong grasp of English or if she was just fairly distant. But given the ephemeral nature of this partnership, her taciturn disposition was probably for the best.
They were parked outside the concert hall, some two hours had passed since she’d gone inside and Jelena was growing impatient. Had they simply missed her? Finally, a throng of opera goers began to exit the venue. Illumination was becoming more spare, but she managed to catch a glimpse of their girl, but she winced a little when she noticed that she had a friend at by her side. A minor snafu, but no problem. They would likely split up eventually. There was a sizable pocket in the lining of her coat, and she inserted her ski mask and pistol inside of it. She opened the door a crack and looked at Teresa for approval, who gave her a thumbs up. It was go-time.
***
Jelena tailed the two young women on foot while her partner crept along side her in the car. It was growing chillier, and even with her gloves on she still had to stick her hands inside of her pockets. A few blocks later, they entered a small coffee shop. She gave another frustrated sigh; they were so close to having her in their grasp and she was anxious for the right moment to come. She took a deep breath and just accepted this as another inevitable obstacle that needed to be overcome. A little extra caffeine wouldn’t hurt either, this was potentially going to be a very long night.
The shop was empty except for the three women. Jelena had to pull off the tricky balancing act, she couldn’t stand too close to the girls or stand to far away as to arouse any suspicion. But it proved to not be too terribly difficult a task, as both of them were quite occupied by the conversation they were engaged in. Despite that it was nearly closing time, the baristas served them promptly and didn’t seem to be rushing them to leave. Jelena wasn’t much of a coffee drinker and ordered the most basic thing on the menu and took packets of cream and sugar to go with them. She tried drinking it black and winced. Damn, Grandad, how did you ever manage to drink it like this for 70+ years…?
She grabbed a newspaper from a rack and pretended to read it while she kept watch over the two ladies with her peripheral vision. Eventually though, she allowed herself to view them with both eyes. She could hear their conversation quite clearly even at this distance, though her Swedish wasn’t very good and she could make out only occasional snippets of what they were actually saying. But based purely on their body language, the friendship they shared was delightfully wholesome. They were all smiles, laughing together and clearly taking joy in being in each other’s company. Witnessing that kind of authentic human connection made Jelena’s heart glad. And a little guilty about what she was planning to do.
Twenty minutes later, one of the girls left a tip at their table and exited the shop. Jelena didn’t care about being rude and neglecting to leave one of her own at her own table, her heart was racing now. The time was so agonizingly close.
She stepped outside and quickly slipped her leather gloves back on. Teresa had the Kia idling by the curb and looked questioningly at Jelena. The streets were probably as bare as they were going to be until daybreak. Jelena maintained her gaze on both women, they hugged and looked as if they finally going to part ways, but they continued their conversation. This was so frustrating by now that it was almost comical. Their window of opportunity was here and this other girl was messing it up for them.
And then Jelena noticed something: one of the streetlights next to the ladies was burned out. That would reduce their visibility at least somewhat. And if worst came to worst, could they just kidnap them both? No, way too messy. If they were fast and clean, which she genuinely believed they could pull off, they wouldn’t run the risk of being identified. Jelena looked at Teresa, put on her ski mask and pulled out her gun. She gave the signal to follow her.
“Hey!” Jelena called as she approached both ladies. They looked at her and immediately recoiled when they realized she was holding a gun. She had a moment to realize that they were officially at the point of no return. They were really going through with this. She pointed at Charlotte and said in the best Swedish she could muster, “You’re coming with me,” she said with deadly authority in her voice. What happened next occurred startling fast, so much so that it was difficult to recount even in the days to come. One thing was certain however, it began with a scream.
“HELP!!!” Charlotte screamed at the very top of her lungs. The Kia was parked right beside them and the back door already open. Jelena made to grab her right there but felt another body tackle her, the sheer surprise of it knocking the wind out of her. She felt a knee kick her in the stomach and gasped for air. For one horrified moment she believed that they were going to run away, but with one final burst of energy she grabbed at another body and rolled around on the pavement. She felt blindingly certain that someone was going to walk away from this with a broken bone. It was just a tangled mass of bodies piled on the ground. Teresa stepped out of the car and intervened. The darkness was total, no streetlight illuminated their movements. Jelena found herself pushing one of the ladies into a row of trashcans lined up by the street and they all fell with a loud crash. Before she even realized what was happening, she suddenly found herself tossing one of the girls into the backseat and Teresa gunning the accelerator before the doors could be closed. All of this happened in the space of a minute.
***
If either Jelena or Teresa believed that the worst part of the job was over now that they had the girl in their clutches, they were in for a rude awakening. It was as if a violent tornado was sweeping through the car’s interior. While Teresa drove, Jelena ripped away her mask tried to pin the girl down and shove the cloth inside her mouth, but she resisted and kept rolling out of her grasp. The screams were ear-piercing, it was so loud that she genuinely feared that someone outside would hear the commotion inside the car and give a vehicle description to the police. As this chaos unfolded, music continued to play through the car speakers and Jelena noticed that the current track cued up was “Orinoco Flow” by Enya. Between the stark counterpoint this song provided and the adrenaline flowing through her veins, she found herself laughing. “Shut her up!” Teresa yelled from the driver’s seat. This uncharacteristic outburst startled Jelena; it was utterly surreal to hear her raise her voice like that. She was well and truly scared by this point. She had made sure to prepare herself for the worst case scenarios to occur, but hadn’t expected the wheels to fall off so goddamn fast like this. She desperately worked to get their captive on her back, her energy simply didn’t seem to dissipate. Eventually her persistence paid off, as she finally got a firm grip on her shoulders and forced her on her back. She snatched the wad of cloth that had been left in the cup holder.
“Hush, hush, sweet Charlotte…” Jelena said serenely as she shoved the cloth inside their captive’s mouth.
“N-mmmph grrmmmph!” she grunted as her speech was finally and blessedly stifled. Jelena still had adrenaline pumping through her system and their victim was sapped of energy. She unzipped the duffle bag to retrieve the duct tape, but Teresa made a sharp turn and everything spilled out of the bag, and Jelena hit her head against the car window. Charlotte nearly escaped her grasp, but she managed to exert her body weight against her just in the nick of time and keep her still. She could see a stray zip tie that was just barely visible from the outside light. Using one final burst of strength, Jelena turned her on her back and fastened the tie around her wrists and swiftly tightened it.
Now the hard part was over and the fun could begin. Jelena retrieved the duct tape sitting on the floor and began to wrap Charlotte’s ankles, that loud shhhhhhrikkk noise filling the car.
“Nmmm nmmm hmmmmph…..” their captive whined, her muffled speech sad and pitiful. Between that and the sound of the duct tape ripping, those were Jelena’s favorite noises in the whole wide world. Their prisoner was quite immobilized by now, but she couldn’t stop at just the ankles, she had to wrap up the knees and thighs as well. God, she could listen to that sound all day long.
Oh! But she’d nearly forgotten the best part. Normally she would’ve settled on the traditional single strip gag, but she was a little ticked right now and had to exact the tiniest bit of retribution. She sat Charlotte up and pushed the cloth all the way into her mouth. She took the tape and began to wrap it all the way around her head, stopping at about five turns. That wonderful noise that sounded like fabric ripping was sending her heart off to the races. She had her fully muffled by now, you could practically hear the cloth in her mouth keeping her cries in her throat.
“Lmmm gmmmph plmmmph!” their captive begged, shaking her head, a small tear forming in her eyes. Jelena patted her on the cheek and kissed her forehead. She couldn’t wait to get a better look at her once they reached their destination. She threw a blanket over her.
“Stay under there until we stop. You should be able to breathe”, she instructed. Charlotte continued to buck and squirm beneath the blanket, the crinkling of the tape keeping her bound was audible. Jelena climbed into the front seat. She thought that half an hour had passed since they had obtained their objective, but in reality it had only been ten minutes. The worst of the work was really over now. She didn’t want to doze off, their destination was less than an hour away, but she closed her eyes and the tiredness carried her off.
***
“Are you sure you can’t remember anything about your friend’s kidnappers? Anything at all, even if it doesn’t seem the least bit important to you”, the female detective asked.
Charlotte sat in an examination room in a hospital, she couldn’t have told you which one it was. It was well after midnight by now, maybe closer to 1:00 AM. She still felt dizziness and mild pain, but nothing excruciating. She was dressed in a hospital gown and noticed her clothes in a pile on the floor. She noticed her mother sitting by her side. One moment she and Karin were walking from the coffee shop, the next she was on the ground and a car was zooming away into the night. She had never been so dazed in her life. This all felt like a dream.
“It was so dark, I could barely see anything…” she muttered. And then the words of the detective sunk in, and everything started to fall into sharper focus with horrifying clarity. “Mom, where’s Karin?” she asked. Her mother looked at her gravely. Charlotte burst into tears.
***
The crunching of a dirt road underneath the car snatched Jelena from her brief slumber. The car’s headlights spotlighted a small cabin just ahead. They’d get the girl taped to a chair inside, take turns keeping watch throughout the night, and wait for further instructions.
The cabin they’d found was withered from disuse. A pane of glass in one of the windows had been broken and had to be covered with tape so as to maintain some form of insulation. What little there was, at least. It smelled musty inside, dust coated the table and few chairs which had been left behind. An old timey alarm clock had been left on the fireplace mantle, suggesting that this residence hadn’t been used for quite a long time. They were basically camping out here, as there was no electricity or running water. An outhouse stood a few meters outside of the cabin, and Jelena was sure glad it was pitch black inside of there because she didn’t want to think about what horrors could be seen based on that smell….
They were roughing it, no doubt about it, but they had their prize. Jelena was about to live out her most deeply desired fantasy. When the Kia came to a stop, she switched on the dome lights and ripped away the blanket covering Charlotte up. Only… this didn’t look like her. Not at all. Jelena was in denial at first, and then cold reality set in: they were in a real fucking pickle. “No…. oh god, no, no, no….” she said blankly, shaking her head in disbelief. “What is it?” Teresa asked, and Jelena silently handed her a picture of Charlotte Dahlquist. Teresa regarded it, and then regarded their current passenger sitting in the back seat. She looked at the picture again, then at their passenger once more. “Aww, fuck.”
It wasn’t Charlotte they had abducted, but the friend she’d been with this evening. Her terror-filled eyes silently regarded her captors, her dark brown hair was disheveled, and her eyebrows were arched high. The duct tape wrapped around her head prevented a single peep from coming out. Only five layers had been wrapped, but her cheeks still bulged out. She made a bunch of unintelligible muffled noises, and Jelena thought that one of them sounded quite a lot like, “What are you going to do to me….?”. She went over possibilities of where to go next with this, and let out another sigh of exasperation.
“Let’s just get her inside”, she said. And with that, the two women grabbed their newly and mistakenly acquired prisoner by the arms and dragged her inside. A chair was waiting in the center of the den, and Karin was forced into it. While Teresa collapsed onto an inflated air mattress in the corner of the room and bundled herself up in a thick blanket, Jelena flicked open a pocket knife and Karin let out a muffled shriek. She put a finger to her lips to be silent, and her captive obeyed, staying still as she swiftly cut away her zip ties and tape bindings.
Her freedom was very short lived, as Jelena pulled out the still full roll of duct tape. She certainly didn’t want to inflict any pain or discomfort, but she was livid at what a disaster this operation had turned out to be, and meant to keep her prisoner immobilized. She thoroughly taped her ankles to the chair legs and her stomach to the back. For some reason she loved this latter part, there was something so intimate about touching someone there. She continued with taping her wrists behind her back as well and wrapping over and under her lap to the chair’s seat. All those bands of silver totally immobilizing her, it was a lovely sight. This mix up was going to take some serious problem solving to make right, but after getting to strap down her captive, she couldn’t help but feel a little better. Having to explain this to their employers was the furthest thing from her mind right now, at this moment she was living fully in the present. Despite the explosive ripping noises of the duct tape, Teresa’s sleep remained undisturbed.
Karin mewled sadly through her gagged mouth, and Jelena felt a sense of pity for her. She’d just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. So she gave her a tight hug.
“You’ll be fine. We’ll feed you in a few hours, just get some rest and everything will be okay. Promise”, she said, enjoying this dual role of captor and comforter all at once. She draped a big blanket around the girl and patted her on the head. The moon shone bright that evening and reflected off the duct tape around her mouth.
Outside, a light snow was beginning to fall.
There was still a lot of work to be done this school term, but tonight was a respite for Charlotte. She had the opportunity to see the Göteborg Opera’s production of Verdi’s La Traviata. The production was fabulous, world-class in every sense of the word. She had listened to a few recordings, but nothing compared to seeing it performed live. To use the old cliche, it was larger than life. And just as she’d hoped, there were moments where she felt tears streaming down her face.
“So, was it as good as you hoped?” a voice asked, and Charlotte was startled, nearly dropping her coat, scarf and gloves from her arms. She’d be so sucked up in her own thoughts that she had nearly forgotten her friend, Karin.
“Yes… oh, yes….,” Charlotte said, sounding like someone who had just fallen in love. Her boyfriend, Marcus, was originally supposed to come along, but had suddenly come down with food poisoning (or so he said, that is…). Karin had little taste for opera as far as Charlotte knew, but she didn’t feel comfortable going to this thing alone, so she invited her to tag along, and her best friend had loyally obliged. “I just hope that you had fun, too, I know this isn’t exactly your thing. And, you know, we’re kind of the youngest people here and all…”, she said (this last she made sure to say extra quietly).
“I really liked it!” she responded, as Charlotte began to slip on her coat and gloves. “You’re right, it’s not something I’d probably listen to a lot in my spare time and I may have benefited from reading a summary of it on Wikipedia, but I’m super glad I came with you. It was a beautiful performance. You have good taste”, she complimented. Charlotte felt a huge smile form on her face.
“Do you want something from me? You seem awfully eager to flatter me”, she quipped.
“Well, now that you mention it… a quick coffee, maybe?” she suggested. Charlotte pulled her phone from her purse and examined the time, 11:07 PM.
“Okay. Just a quickie,” she said, smiling. The cold night air bit her face as they stepped outside the opera house to travel a few blocks to the coffee shop around the corner. Activity for the night was starting to die down, fewer people were on the streets, almost certainly opting for the warmth of their homes instead of a night out. A quick beverage to warm their bones would hit the spot.
Neither of them had any clue that they were being closely observed.
***
Jelena examined the contents of the duffle bag one final time: rope, zip ties, bottles of water, wads of cloth, a thick stack of Swedish kronor held together with a rubber band, ibuprofen, ski masks, nitrile gloves, and of course, duct tape. Three big rolls of it. She honestly didn’t know why they bothered bringing any other bondage items, the tape was more than sufficient as far as she was concerned. But it didn’t hurt to have all the bases covered, she supposed. She let her partner Teresa rummage through it as well, who gave her an approving nod.
It was early March., that time of year when you can smell spring ever so fairly when you stepped outside. But winter still held a firm grasp on the night air in Gothenburg, even with a leather jacket and gloves on. Jelena actually preferred the city’s Swedish name, Göteborg; it was just much more melodic sounding. She wished she wasn’t here on business and could actually enjoy herself a little, this seemed like a lovely place to live.
Actually, she wasn’t called Jelena, nor was her partner named Teresa. They’d taken on assumed names as an extra level of protection in case this whole plan went south. If they were caught and imprisoned, there would be only so many things they’d be able to tell the interrogator because they simply didn’t know each other well at all. The less information they had, the better.
Jelena (aka The Woman Who Called Herself Jelena) had had an in-person meeting with an anonymous man—where exactly he fit into the leadership of this scheme, she did not know— who guaranteed that they’d never have to spend a night in jail if they were caught, a lawyer would be there within two hours to bail them out. She later realized that it probably wasn’t very wise to put faith into the promises of a middle-aged man who wore a medallion that sat atop an extremely hairy chest… but for an offer this good, could she really be blamed for taking leave of her senses?
Their assignment was ripped right out of a mystery-thriller: kidnap Charlotte Dahlquist, daughter of Magnus Dahlquist, a wealthy pharmaceutical tycoon and philanthropist. While he wasn’t a donor to any political party, he gave large amounts of his wealth to important organizations (namely those devoted to environmental causes) that ruffled the feathers of certain individuals on the other end of the ideological spectrum, at home and abroad. In addition to extorting a hefty ransom from him, he would be required to cease his contributions to these organizations immediately if he wanted to see his daughter again, or face the consequences.
In any event, none of it mattered a fig to Jelena. She was a mercenary, simply here to do a job and get paid. No foul play involved, her conscience would be clear (she hoped so, at least). Worst case scenario, if they failed the mission and couldn’t find an opportunity to snatch her from the street within a week, there would be no repercussions to face, they just wouldn’t get paid. But if they did succeed, Jelena’s bank account would grow by quite a few euros, enough to finally be able to put this life behind her. Maybe move far away from Europe to a place where her past sins had little chance of catching back up with her, perhaps Australia or New Zealand. She could picture standing on one of those beaches right now, the salt water waves crawling beneath her feet…
There was another factor influencing her decision to take on this little escapade, however: Jelena wanted the experience of being a kidnapper. As far back as she could remember, images of bondage and gags intrigued her. She relished the idea of someone breaking into her home, tying her hands behind her back, slapping tape over her mouth, and carrying her off someplace for an indeterminate period. She may have found being the victim slightly more appealing, but assuming the role of the captor was just as exciting. The fantasy she had of using the stickiest duct tape she could find on a person and taking away their ability to move and speak was utterly thrilling to her. If she could have the chance to gag somebody and reduce their speech to muffled hmmmph’s, she thought she just might die and go to heaven. And abducting a wealthy businessman’s daughter was pure melodrama; that was just as exciting as the bondage part of the whole experience.
They were only given one photo of their captive-to-be (being related to an important public figure, she seemed to have taken great pains to keep her social media presence to a minimum), and wow, Jelena didn’t think they could’ve found anyone better. This young woman was, quite simply, sunshine personified. She had long blonde hair that occupied a shade somewhere between dark and strawberry, and possessed an irresistible smile. She was charmed that this young woman, who was financially set for life and could pursue any vocation she could possibly want, opted instead to be a nurse. Something about that just warmed her heart.
In a way, this was really a spy mission. They would tail Charlotte’s every move 24 hours a day and then pounce when the moment was right (if such a moment ever arrived, that is). They’d snatch her off the streets and take her off to a secluded cabin in the woods about 100 kilometers away from Göteborg, where they would stay until further instructions were given. They wouldn’t be required to contact her family to make the demands, their employer would see to that. For some reason Jelena thought you’d really made it in life when other people did that sort of dirty work for you.
Despite the best efforts of Jelena and Teresa over the course of the business week, it looked like this endeavor was going to turn out to be a flop. Their main problem was that she seemed to be such a homebody, coming home to her apartment just before late afternoon ended and staying in the rest of the day. You would think that the daughter of a fairly important person would be predisposed to being more extroverted, go figure. They would have to find an opportunity to strike late at night. 11:00 PM at the earliest, but preferably more around midnight or even 1:00 AM. They needed as few witnesses as humanly possible, and they weren’t going to pull that off if she didn’t go out anywhere. Weren’t girls in their early 20’s supposed to stay out late and have fun? Go out dancing and all that jazz?
Guess I’m just out of touch with the youths these days… Jelena thought resignedly.
But it looked like their patience just might pay off. After staking out her apartment for several tedious days, they finally spotted her leaving her unit dressed in formal attire. Jackpot! She was actually going somewhere.
Teresa tailed the Uber which was taking Charlotte downtown this evening, swerving through traffic like a stunt driver on an obstacle course. Jelena could hear shouts of foreign words outside (which she supposed was profanity) as her partner unflinchingly cut off other drivers on the road to keep the Uber in their sights. There was a close call where they nearly lost it, but finally it came to a stop at the opera house. Ah, a classical music lover, how classy, Jelena thought. She was falling more in love with their victim-to-be with every passing moment.
And here they were. Both women sat in the Kia which had been provided for them and waited, keeping their eyes open for that window of opportunity that seemed so close at hand. A custom Spotify playlist of Jelena’s favorite music played over the car’s speakers. It contained artists such as Tears for Fears, Depeche Mode, Björk, and Kate Bush. All songs that she had heard a thousand times, but could listen to a thousand more. Besides, consuming things that were familiar helped to ease the nerves. Anxiety was a luxury that neither of them could afford during this task. That’s how mistakes were made.
She had offered Teresa to add her own choice of music to the playlist, but she politely declined. Jelena couldn’t quite figure out what to make of her partner. Her hair was nearly jet black and she had olive skin, which made her wonder if her partner hailed from Spain or somewhere thereabouts. She also seemed to be a woman of few words. Jelena wasn’t sure if she didn’t have a strong grasp of English or if she was just fairly distant. But given the ephemeral nature of this partnership, her taciturn disposition was probably for the best.
They were parked outside the concert hall, some two hours had passed since she’d gone inside and Jelena was growing impatient. Had they simply missed her? Finally, a throng of opera goers began to exit the venue. Illumination was becoming more spare, but she managed to catch a glimpse of their girl, but she winced a little when she noticed that she had a friend at by her side. A minor snafu, but no problem. They would likely split up eventually. There was a sizable pocket in the lining of her coat, and she inserted her ski mask and pistol inside of it. She opened the door a crack and looked at Teresa for approval, who gave her a thumbs up. It was go-time.
***
Jelena tailed the two young women on foot while her partner crept along side her in the car. It was growing chillier, and even with her gloves on she still had to stick her hands inside of her pockets. A few blocks later, they entered a small coffee shop. She gave another frustrated sigh; they were so close to having her in their grasp and she was anxious for the right moment to come. She took a deep breath and just accepted this as another inevitable obstacle that needed to be overcome. A little extra caffeine wouldn’t hurt either, this was potentially going to be a very long night.
The shop was empty except for the three women. Jelena had to pull off the tricky balancing act, she couldn’t stand too close to the girls or stand to far away as to arouse any suspicion. But it proved to not be too terribly difficult a task, as both of them were quite occupied by the conversation they were engaged in. Despite that it was nearly closing time, the baristas served them promptly and didn’t seem to be rushing them to leave. Jelena wasn’t much of a coffee drinker and ordered the most basic thing on the menu and took packets of cream and sugar to go with them. She tried drinking it black and winced. Damn, Grandad, how did you ever manage to drink it like this for 70+ years…?
She grabbed a newspaper from a rack and pretended to read it while she kept watch over the two ladies with her peripheral vision. Eventually though, she allowed herself to view them with both eyes. She could hear their conversation quite clearly even at this distance, though her Swedish wasn’t very good and she could make out only occasional snippets of what they were actually saying. But based purely on their body language, the friendship they shared was delightfully wholesome. They were all smiles, laughing together and clearly taking joy in being in each other’s company. Witnessing that kind of authentic human connection made Jelena’s heart glad. And a little guilty about what she was planning to do.
Twenty minutes later, one of the girls left a tip at their table and exited the shop. Jelena didn’t care about being rude and neglecting to leave one of her own at her own table, her heart was racing now. The time was so agonizingly close.
She stepped outside and quickly slipped her leather gloves back on. Teresa had the Kia idling by the curb and looked questioningly at Jelena. The streets were probably as bare as they were going to be until daybreak. Jelena maintained her gaze on both women, they hugged and looked as if they finally going to part ways, but they continued their conversation. This was so frustrating by now that it was almost comical. Their window of opportunity was here and this other girl was messing it up for them.
And then Jelena noticed something: one of the streetlights next to the ladies was burned out. That would reduce their visibility at least somewhat. And if worst came to worst, could they just kidnap them both? No, way too messy. If they were fast and clean, which she genuinely believed they could pull off, they wouldn’t run the risk of being identified. Jelena looked at Teresa, put on her ski mask and pulled out her gun. She gave the signal to follow her.
“Hey!” Jelena called as she approached both ladies. They looked at her and immediately recoiled when they realized she was holding a gun. She had a moment to realize that they were officially at the point of no return. They were really going through with this. She pointed at Charlotte and said in the best Swedish she could muster, “You’re coming with me,” she said with deadly authority in her voice. What happened next occurred startling fast, so much so that it was difficult to recount even in the days to come. One thing was certain however, it began with a scream.
“HELP!!!” Charlotte screamed at the very top of her lungs. The Kia was parked right beside them and the back door already open. Jelena made to grab her right there but felt another body tackle her, the sheer surprise of it knocking the wind out of her. She felt a knee kick her in the stomach and gasped for air. For one horrified moment she believed that they were going to run away, but with one final burst of energy she grabbed at another body and rolled around on the pavement. She felt blindingly certain that someone was going to walk away from this with a broken bone. It was just a tangled mass of bodies piled on the ground. Teresa stepped out of the car and intervened. The darkness was total, no streetlight illuminated their movements. Jelena found herself pushing one of the ladies into a row of trashcans lined up by the street and they all fell with a loud crash. Before she even realized what was happening, she suddenly found herself tossing one of the girls into the backseat and Teresa gunning the accelerator before the doors could be closed. All of this happened in the space of a minute.
***
If either Jelena or Teresa believed that the worst part of the job was over now that they had the girl in their clutches, they were in for a rude awakening. It was as if a violent tornado was sweeping through the car’s interior. While Teresa drove, Jelena ripped away her mask tried to pin the girl down and shove the cloth inside her mouth, but she resisted and kept rolling out of her grasp. The screams were ear-piercing, it was so loud that she genuinely feared that someone outside would hear the commotion inside the car and give a vehicle description to the police. As this chaos unfolded, music continued to play through the car speakers and Jelena noticed that the current track cued up was “Orinoco Flow” by Enya. Between the stark counterpoint this song provided and the adrenaline flowing through her veins, she found herself laughing. “Shut her up!” Teresa yelled from the driver’s seat. This uncharacteristic outburst startled Jelena; it was utterly surreal to hear her raise her voice like that. She was well and truly scared by this point. She had made sure to prepare herself for the worst case scenarios to occur, but hadn’t expected the wheels to fall off so goddamn fast like this. She desperately worked to get their captive on her back, her energy simply didn’t seem to dissipate. Eventually her persistence paid off, as she finally got a firm grip on her shoulders and forced her on her back. She snatched the wad of cloth that had been left in the cup holder.
“Hush, hush, sweet Charlotte…” Jelena said serenely as she shoved the cloth inside their captive’s mouth.
“N-mmmph grrmmmph!” she grunted as her speech was finally and blessedly stifled. Jelena still had adrenaline pumping through her system and their victim was sapped of energy. She unzipped the duffle bag to retrieve the duct tape, but Teresa made a sharp turn and everything spilled out of the bag, and Jelena hit her head against the car window. Charlotte nearly escaped her grasp, but she managed to exert her body weight against her just in the nick of time and keep her still. She could see a stray zip tie that was just barely visible from the outside light. Using one final burst of strength, Jelena turned her on her back and fastened the tie around her wrists and swiftly tightened it.
Now the hard part was over and the fun could begin. Jelena retrieved the duct tape sitting on the floor and began to wrap Charlotte’s ankles, that loud shhhhhhrikkk noise filling the car.
“Nmmm nmmm hmmmmph…..” their captive whined, her muffled speech sad and pitiful. Between that and the sound of the duct tape ripping, those were Jelena’s favorite noises in the whole wide world. Their prisoner was quite immobilized by now, but she couldn’t stop at just the ankles, she had to wrap up the knees and thighs as well. God, she could listen to that sound all day long.
Oh! But she’d nearly forgotten the best part. Normally she would’ve settled on the traditional single strip gag, but she was a little ticked right now and had to exact the tiniest bit of retribution. She sat Charlotte up and pushed the cloth all the way into her mouth. She took the tape and began to wrap it all the way around her head, stopping at about five turns. That wonderful noise that sounded like fabric ripping was sending her heart off to the races. She had her fully muffled by now, you could practically hear the cloth in her mouth keeping her cries in her throat.
“Lmmm gmmmph plmmmph!” their captive begged, shaking her head, a small tear forming in her eyes. Jelena patted her on the cheek and kissed her forehead. She couldn’t wait to get a better look at her once they reached their destination. She threw a blanket over her.
“Stay under there until we stop. You should be able to breathe”, she instructed. Charlotte continued to buck and squirm beneath the blanket, the crinkling of the tape keeping her bound was audible. Jelena climbed into the front seat. She thought that half an hour had passed since they had obtained their objective, but in reality it had only been ten minutes. The worst of the work was really over now. She didn’t want to doze off, their destination was less than an hour away, but she closed her eyes and the tiredness carried her off.
***
“Are you sure you can’t remember anything about your friend’s kidnappers? Anything at all, even if it doesn’t seem the least bit important to you”, the female detective asked.
Charlotte sat in an examination room in a hospital, she couldn’t have told you which one it was. It was well after midnight by now, maybe closer to 1:00 AM. She still felt dizziness and mild pain, but nothing excruciating. She was dressed in a hospital gown and noticed her clothes in a pile on the floor. She noticed her mother sitting by her side. One moment she and Karin were walking from the coffee shop, the next she was on the ground and a car was zooming away into the night. She had never been so dazed in her life. This all felt like a dream.
“It was so dark, I could barely see anything…” she muttered. And then the words of the detective sunk in, and everything started to fall into sharper focus with horrifying clarity. “Mom, where’s Karin?” she asked. Her mother looked at her gravely. Charlotte burst into tears.
***
The crunching of a dirt road underneath the car snatched Jelena from her brief slumber. The car’s headlights spotlighted a small cabin just ahead. They’d get the girl taped to a chair inside, take turns keeping watch throughout the night, and wait for further instructions.
The cabin they’d found was withered from disuse. A pane of glass in one of the windows had been broken and had to be covered with tape so as to maintain some form of insulation. What little there was, at least. It smelled musty inside, dust coated the table and few chairs which had been left behind. An old timey alarm clock had been left on the fireplace mantle, suggesting that this residence hadn’t been used for quite a long time. They were basically camping out here, as there was no electricity or running water. An outhouse stood a few meters outside of the cabin, and Jelena was sure glad it was pitch black inside of there because she didn’t want to think about what horrors could be seen based on that smell….
They were roughing it, no doubt about it, but they had their prize. Jelena was about to live out her most deeply desired fantasy. When the Kia came to a stop, she switched on the dome lights and ripped away the blanket covering Charlotte up. Only… this didn’t look like her. Not at all. Jelena was in denial at first, and then cold reality set in: they were in a real fucking pickle. “No…. oh god, no, no, no….” she said blankly, shaking her head in disbelief. “What is it?” Teresa asked, and Jelena silently handed her a picture of Charlotte Dahlquist. Teresa regarded it, and then regarded their current passenger sitting in the back seat. She looked at the picture again, then at their passenger once more. “Aww, fuck.”
It wasn’t Charlotte they had abducted, but the friend she’d been with this evening. Her terror-filled eyes silently regarded her captors, her dark brown hair was disheveled, and her eyebrows were arched high. The duct tape wrapped around her head prevented a single peep from coming out. Only five layers had been wrapped, but her cheeks still bulged out. She made a bunch of unintelligible muffled noises, and Jelena thought that one of them sounded quite a lot like, “What are you going to do to me….?”. She went over possibilities of where to go next with this, and let out another sigh of exasperation.
“Let’s just get her inside”, she said. And with that, the two women grabbed their newly and mistakenly acquired prisoner by the arms and dragged her inside. A chair was waiting in the center of the den, and Karin was forced into it. While Teresa collapsed onto an inflated air mattress in the corner of the room and bundled herself up in a thick blanket, Jelena flicked open a pocket knife and Karin let out a muffled shriek. She put a finger to her lips to be silent, and her captive obeyed, staying still as she swiftly cut away her zip ties and tape bindings.
Her freedom was very short lived, as Jelena pulled out the still full roll of duct tape. She certainly didn’t want to inflict any pain or discomfort, but she was livid at what a disaster this operation had turned out to be, and meant to keep her prisoner immobilized. She thoroughly taped her ankles to the chair legs and her stomach to the back. For some reason she loved this latter part, there was something so intimate about touching someone there. She continued with taping her wrists behind her back as well and wrapping over and under her lap to the chair’s seat. All those bands of silver totally immobilizing her, it was a lovely sight. This mix up was going to take some serious problem solving to make right, but after getting to strap down her captive, she couldn’t help but feel a little better. Having to explain this to their employers was the furthest thing from her mind right now, at this moment she was living fully in the present. Despite the explosive ripping noises of the duct tape, Teresa’s sleep remained undisturbed.
Karin mewled sadly through her gagged mouth, and Jelena felt a sense of pity for her. She’d just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. So she gave her a tight hug.
“You’ll be fine. We’ll feed you in a few hours, just get some rest and everything will be okay. Promise”, she said, enjoying this dual role of captor and comforter all at once. She draped a big blanket around the girl and patted her on the head. The moon shone bright that evening and reflected off the duct tape around her mouth.
Outside, a light snow was beginning to fall.