by sstudent_uk
| Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 |
Becca had lost all track of time and did not know how long she had been conscious she figured that hours had passed since she had been abducted, since she had been chloroformed. Now she lay on a hard floor, her arms bound tightly behind her back, her ankles bound tightly together. Her eyes were closed; she felt what she supposed were cotton wool balls pressing down on her eyelids secured by some form of tape or bandage. A thick rag had been forced in her mouth and secured tightly, then covered by some adhesive tape, which had been wound tightly over it. She could not speak or see, totally helpless and at the mercy of whomever had kidnapped her.
She remembered... fragments of what happened, it had begun with a phone call from control that had instructed her to report to headquarters immediately. She had returned home sometime later feeling very tired the meeting had been long and tedious. So tired was she, that the signs there being an intruder in her apartment were not noticed immediately, and then it had been too late. Something hit her from behind; Becca sank to the floor her world now a spinning vortex of stars and swirling colours. Before she could react she was grabbed from behind her arms were pinned to her body by a strong arm and a thick pad was forced over her mouth and nose. A sweet sickly aroma began to assault her senses, the word shot into her mind in a second 'Chloroform!'
The world around her began to grow dim her vision blurring as the drug began to sap her strength. With all the strength she could muster Becca kicked back slamming the back of her head into the face of her attacker. There was sickening thud and cursing as her attacker was clearly caught by surprise at her maneuver, his grip on her was lost and Becca was able to take in fresh air. Before she could get her bearings he was on her again. This time he grabbed her around the waist pulled her against him as he fell back onto the sofa then locked his legs around her as he forced the thick cloth back over mouth and nose. Becca was held firm no matter how she tied to break free, the chloroform was slowly sapping her strength, and her arms were becoming so very heavy. "That's it Black Cardinal struggle, as hard as you can, breathe in the chloroform and go to sleep, sleeppppppp, sleeeeepppp".
Becca was slowly descending into blackness, he was too strong, she had no leverage and could not break free of his iron grip and the chloroform was overpowering, she was being suffocated by its cloying sickly odor. Becca sank into the black abyss, his laughter echoing in the distance. "Sleeeeppppp".
Now, she lay helpless in her attackers clutches, everything was quiet. Becca could hear nothing, she suspected she was alone. But she could not be certain, she lay in silence allowing her strength to return and awaiting the arrival of her captor.
"Are you hungry?"
Becca reacted startled. He was in the room, she had not detected his presence, and no doubt he had been sitting quietly gloating.
"I said are you hungry?"
Becca did not make any response, she was very hungry as it happened but she did not dare acknowledge him.
"You've been unconscious for some considerable time, I'm sure you're hungry, but if you choose to play tough lady that's fine by me. I however will have something to eat".
The smell of bacon and eggs wafted over her. Becca started to twist at her bonds trying to loosen them.
"Oh you really are quite entertaining Miss Cardinal I could watch you struggle away all day, please do continue".
Becca grew angry at his taunting. "MmmmmmPPPPphhhh". She screamed through her gag.
"Oh bravo, bravo. You really are an intriguing specimen".
Becca stopped her struggles; all it was achieving was providing him with a perverse form of entertainment and depleting her energy. She lay still her heart pumping like mad from all her exertions.
She heard his footsteps as he approached, felt his hands brush her thighs. "Oh so lovely, so very lovely". He cooed. "Now Miss Cardinal would like to talk?"
Becca's initial reaction was to shake her head; the last thing she wanted to do was to talk to this fruitcake. But commonsense over rode her initial thoughts. She had to find out who he was and what he wanted with her. Slowly she nodded.
"If you plan to try and cry out, let me tell you that you are in a cellar and there is no one around who will hear you. Besides if you do try to cry out I will use the chloroform again. Do you understand?"
Becca nodded.
"Very well". He said.
Becca felt the tape being peeled away then the pressure on her mouth was released as the thick cloth was removed.
"There, how's that?"
"Better, thank you". Becca responded, then mentally admonished herself.
"I'm so pleased to be able to talk to you at long last".
"Who are you and why have you brought me here?" Becca demanded.
"My, my, we are spirited aren't we".
Becca was beginning to become angry, she had to fight to maintain control.
"Ah, Miss Cardinal I have so wanted to meet you for such a long time. In answer to your questions, my name is Stannous, Karl Stannous".
"Karl Stannous the industrialist? And the second richest man in the world".
"Oh I see you have heard of me! I am delighted".
"What do you want with me?" Becca demanded.
"Well Miss Cardinal that is as you Americans say the $64, 000 question. Quite simply I want you to become part of my collection".
Becca was stunned. "Collection?" She exclaimed.
"Of course, I have chosen you to become part of my collection of rare and unique art".
"You're insane!"
"Oh, I assure you, I'm quite sane Miss Cardinal. I have scoured the world seeking objects of beauty, exquisite objects that are rare and unique. I have the most extensive art collection in the world and you my dear are to become the next addition".
"You'll never get away with this, my people will track you down and then you will be sorry".
"Ah yes, the all powerful Section Two, defenders of the free world. They will of course be searching for you; having by now deduced that you have been abducted and no doubt turning the globe upside down in trying to determine who was responsible".
"It's just a matter of time before they find me". Becca stated.
"I very much doubt that, they have no reason to suspect me. They will conduct extensive inquiries but they will not find you Miss Cardinal to all intensive purposes you have vanished from the face of the planet".
Becca felt a deep sinking feeling in her stomach; somehow she knew he was right. Why would Section Two suspect him? They would certainly go after all her old adversaries and discover that they were chasing their tails. She was alone and could expect no help.
"I would love to continue our chat but I have much to do, so I'm afraid we must end here".
"What happens now?" Becca asked.
"Now? Now, Miss Cardinal you must go to sleep while I have you moved to you new home". Stannous produced a cloth and a small bottle of chloroform. Which he began to pour the liquid onto the cloth.
Becca caught the faint smell of the drug and started to struggle at her bonds. "You, you don't have to drug me again, I won't give you any trouble, I..."
"I'm sorry Miss Cardinal but I do not believe you, you are an exceptional woman being Section Two's top agent. I do not expect you would go without putting up a fight... I do not wish to have any of men injured. Besides; I don't want my prized acquisition getting damaged".
With that Stannous forced the chloroform soaked pad over her mouth and nose. Becca shook her head trying to keep the pad away.
"No, don't do this! Nnnnooommmppphh!"
"Just breathe Miss Cardinal and go to sleep".
The sweet cloying smell began to take effect, bound tightly as she was Becca couldn't fight.
"That's good just inhale the fumes and relax". He cooed"
Becca felt him stroke her hair as he spoke soothingly to her. Slowly she sank back into the warm blackness. His patronising voice angered her, clearly he was enjoying chloroforming her.
"That's it, don't fight it, just relax Miss Cardinal and sleeeeppppp, Sllllleeeeepppppppppp".
Becca awoke in a groggy haze. She sat up slowly, trying to focus on her surroundings. She was in a small room that looked exactly like her bedroom of her apartment. She could move free now being untied. Slowly she stood her legs a little unsteady. Becca began to take in her surroundings, sure enough the room did look exactly like her own, yet it was bigger, wider.
"I'm pleased to see you are awake Miss Cardinal".
Becca turned Karl Stannous stood watching behind what looked like some kind of transparent wall.
"How do you like your new home? I had it designed to look just like your apartment, I even brought your clothes along".
Becca opened the large wall closet and sure enough her clothes hung there along with others she had not seen before.
"You see I have provided you with everything you could wish for. I want you to be happy here".
"Happy!" Becca exclaimed I'm nothing more than a zoo animal kept caged for your warped amusement, how can you possibly expect me to be happy?"
With that Becca picked up a chair and threw it at the transparent wall. It bounced off harmlessly.
"Oh, jolly good Miss Cardinal. Jolly good!" Stannous exclaimed. "I can see you are going to be a delight to get to know.
"I wouldn't count on that Stannous". Becca replied defiantly.
"We'll see Miss Cardinal, we'll see". With that the lights outside Becca's cell went out Stannous vanished and she was left alone.
As best as she could tell her cell consisted of three rooms. The bedroom with a large bathroom which had the wc, shower cubicle and bath tub. The third room was small consisting of a sofa a large arm chair, a book case consisting of a selection of her favorite authors. Lastly a rather up market CD player with a wide selections of disks again all to her taste in music. Becca was unsettled by this clearly Stannous had conducted some intensive research on her tastes prior to having her kidnapped. Stannous was a very dangerous man, Becca realised she was in dire peril.
Becca's sleep was troubled, yet she could not ascertain why? Over the years she had taken on many deadly adversaries, yet Stannous unnerved her. He clearly was a meglo-maniac, totally without scruples or conscience. He thought nothing of others, his only agenda seemed to be acquiring the things he wanted regardless of weather it would break the law. To him the end justified the means. The way he brushed aside possible retaliation from Section Two if they discovered her whereabouts, as being of no consequence; that if nothing else worried Becca. No one dismissed Section Two if they had any sense.
Becca awoke to see a breakfast tray on her bedside table, how it gotten there she did not know.
"Good morning Miss Cardinal".
The lights outside the transparent screen came on to reveal Karl Stannous.
"Please do not let me stop you having your breakfast".
"I think I'll pass". Becca spat.
"Oh I really must insist you eat I would hate for you to become ill".
"I'm not hungry".
Stannous just smiled. "As you wish."
"What do you want Stannous?"
"I thought I'd take you for a walk, would you like to be let out of your room?"
"Out of my room?"
"Yes I'd like to show you something".
"Ok' lets go".
"Not so fast Miss Cardinal. I have two conditions".
"What are they?" Becca asked.
"Firstly, you have your breakfast".
"And the second?"
"The second is you get cleaned up and wear that rather sexy tight fitting black jumpsuit and boots hung up on your closet door".
Becca turned to see her jumpsuit. He had thought of everything, a surge of anger began to rise within her, stannous was exceptionally adept at manipulation.
"Alright". She replied.
She ate her breakfast slowly trying hard not to show she wasn't hungry, which of course she was. In fact she was ravenous. Stannous sat watching her as she ate clearly enjoying the spectacle.
Finally Becca picked up her jumpsuit and entered the bathroom. She showered ensuring there was plenty of steam to stop any hidden cameras spying on her.
When she entered her bedroom, she stood before Stannous hands on hips.
"This what you wanted?"
"Magnificent!" He exclaimed "You truly are a work of art Miss Cardinal, perfect in every way".
Becca suddenly noticed a wheel chair by her bed.
"Please sit in the wheel chair Miss Cardinal and place your arms on the side rests".
Reluctantly Becca did as she was directed. Then with a loud click her wrists and ankles were suddenly locked in place by metal manacles.
"I apologise for the restraints but they are quite necessary".
Becca watched helplessly as the transparent screen began to silently rise allowing Stannous to enter her cell. The metal restraints held her fast.
"Now you are secure I will give you a tour of my collection".
Becca sat quietly as he wheeled her out of the cell and down a very long corridor. Passing through a pair of large ornate wooden doors into a huge room. This Becca realised was where he kept his art collection of which she had become its most recent addition.
The collection room was enormous, along the walls were various pieces of art some obscure and unknown. Others however Becca could identify. As Stannous pushed the wheel chair through the room she gasped, no it couldn't be! Could it? There on the wall hung the Mona Lisa and the Laughing Cavalier.
"So what do you think of my collection Miss Cardinal?"
"It's a very impressive range of fakes and Copies".
Stannous laughed out loud. "Fakes? Copies? Oh dear lady do you honestly think a man of wealth and power like me would surround himself with mere fakes and copies?"
Becca was startled. "You mean to say, that, that all these are..."
"Genuine. Yes everything here is as you Americans would say, the real McCoy. Everything is the original. From the Mona Lisa to the Venus de Milo".
Becca was speechless. It wasn't possible surely.
"Allow me to show you the prize exhibits of my collection Miss Cardinal".
Becca was taken to a far alcove the Egyptian section, there she noticed a number of sarcophagus.
"These belong to the Pharaoh Ramesses the great and his Queen Neffertiri. Archeologists have been searching for them for over a century. Their bodies were thought to be lost, desecrated by tomb robbers. But here they are resting in peace as they should be".
Becca said nothing she was dumbstruck he truly did have a fantastic collection.
"This will be of interest to you Miss Cardinal".
Becca turned and gasped.
"I see you recognize it. As you should, I doubt there isn't a man or woman alive in the western world who would not know this world famous artifact. The golden death mask of the boy king Tutankhamun".
"You're going to tell me that that is the original as well right?"
"It is the original Miss Cardinal, as discovered by Howard Carter when he opened the tomb of the boy king. The mask is priceless and one of my favourite acquisitions.
The tour continued Becca was shown rare paintings, unknown De Vinci's as well as many of his drawings. All totally unique and irreplaceable.
"So let me get this right all these are the genuine articles and the objects in museums and collections around the world are all..."
"Fakes and copies as you stated earlier".
"But if that's the case, why..."
"Why hasn't anything been said? Why haven't governments and collectors around the world cried foul play?"
Becca nodded. "Exactly, Section Two would have been alerted immediately".
"The reasons Miss Cardinal are two fold. Firstly, for the most part no one is aware that they have a fake/copy. The substituted articles are of such high quality that it would take a time consuming and very thorough examination by an art expert to be totally sure. Secondly, if it is discovered the embarrassment would be so acute that no government or collector would want to admit to being in possession of a fake/copy. The ramifications would be quite dire".
Becca sat quietly assimilating this information, he was right the political implications alone were explosive, governments could topple and countries descend into chaos.
"Is there anything you don't own?" Becca asked.
"There is much I have yet to acquire Miss Cardinal. I do not possess the original Magna Carter of England, or its royal crown jewels, which are held in the vaults of the Bank of England. The one's shown to tourists in the tower of London, are of course fakes/copies, those British are so clever, I must confess those fakes/copies are fantastic pieces of work. Then of course there is the United States Constitution as signed by your founding fathers. I will eventually add them to my collection, it is just a matter of time".
Becca was astounded at his matter of fact manner, his arrogance, yet she realised there seemed very little that he could not accomplish.
Stannous began to wheel her out of the collection room, back past the immense collections of priceless art.
"So where do I fit in to all this?"
"What do you know of Mata Hari Miss Cardinal?"
"Mata Hari? She was a woman spy during the first world war, as I recall she was caught, tried and convicted of espionage, and shot".
"Indeed she was, Mata Hari was the most effective female spy of her age. Beautiful, sexy and shrewd, the perfect woman. You my dear Miss Cardinal are her; or rather her embodiment in the twenty first century".
"I think you over estimate me Mr Stannous, I'm no Mata Hari". Becca replied quite bemused. "In comparison you are, Miss Cardinal, in every way and more besides. That is why I brought you here. Mata Hari was the greatest female spy of her time. You are the greatest female spy of your time. Like Mata Hari, you are the perfect woman and now you are part of my splendid collection".
"I hope you enjoyed the tour Miss Cardinal".
"Yes, it was very informative". She had replied, her mind reeling from what had taken place.
"I'm so pleased, you now understand why I brought you here, and why you are so special to me".
Before Becca could respond he had clamped a face mask over her mouth and nose, there was a hiss as gas was activated. Unable to move Becca was quickly overpowered and sent into a semi conscious state by the noxious vapours. Stannous activated the transparent screen to her cell, pushed the wheel chair inside then deactivated the manacles holding her before lifting her limp form and placing her on the bed.
Becca felt herself floating, warm, comforting and relaxed.
"That's it My Mata Hari relax". Stannous cooed, stroking her hair. "You are so lovely, such perfection".
Becca felt the mask on her face again. "Now sleep my lovely, sleep". There was another hiss and Becca had passed out.
Now she was alone in her room, the drug beginning to wear off. There was no doubt in her mind that Stannous was mad, completely mad. He had accumulated a fantastic collection of art, of that there was no denying, a collection he had forced her to become part of.
Becca forced herself to stagger to and enter the bathroom, there she closed the door and switched on the shower and ran the hot water tap to the bath tub. Once there was sufficient steam in the room to obscure any cameras she slipped her right hand into the side of her boot and pulled out a thin strip of metal. It had a small red diode on the top. She pressed the diode it clicked and changed colour to a flashing blue. Becca smiled, Section Two had located her, the cavalry was on the way, her miniature distress beacon had been activated by them after her abduction. Now all she had to do was get out of this cell.
She pulled out a similar looking strip from her other boot then walked out to her bedroom. The strip was about twenty centimeters in length, Becca licked it then pressed against the transparent screen in a circle, then stood back. There was a crackle then the strip suddenly burst into flames for a few seconds before exploding. The screen disintegrated.
Becca ran down the corridor, as sirens began to sound, she figured her escape had been detected. Two armed men suddenly appeared from behind the corner. Before they could react Becca kicked one against the wall and felled the other with a kick to the stomach and a karate chop to the neck. She picked up a pistol of one of the unconscious men and hurried on. As she rounded the corner she almost ran straight into Karl Stannous, the look on his face was one of surprise.
"Hold it right there Stannous". She shouted bringing the pistol to bare upon him.
"What? How did you escape?" He asked clearly shocked in seeing her.
There was the sound of loud footsteps and three running figures appeared in dark combat fatigues appeared. Becca recognized them immediately as Section Two's assault team.
They stopped upon seeing her. "Well, well, isn't that typical we come all this to rescue you Black Cardinal and it appears you don't need rescuing after all".
Becca smiled. "It's good to see you too. Place Mr Stannous here under arrest, and book him on charges of kidnap, art fraud and grand theft".
"Is that all?" The leader of the team asked clearly amused at the situation.
"I think that'll do for now". Becca replied "You'd best inform Control we have a major art collection here that needs to be placed in top security storage".
Stannous stood watching Becca and smiled as he was led away by the Section Two agents.
"Until we meet again my Mata Hari". He cooed.
"Until we meet again Mr Stannous, say in about a few centuries or so after the courts are done with you". Becca replied.
Becca walked over to the waiting helicopters of Section Two, she would be flown to base for medical checks, debriefing and then home. She watched as Stannous was escorted in handcuffs onto one of the waiting aircraft. For a moment their eyes met, he smiled at her before boarding. Something inside Becca told her that she would see more of Karl Stannous.
THE END?