The Rare Stamp

Had I known what the hell I was getting myself into, I may never have listened to that stupid girl.  By this point, however, it was a little bit late to have regrets about what I may or may not have heard.  The thrill of the hunt was in my heart and mind, and my friends and I were deep into our thing.

I was standing in the attorney’s office, watching she and her secretary stripping down to their smalls, while my gang were making preparations to stop them getting into our way.  Xenobia, Yvette and Zandra had worked with me for a few years, but for obvious reasons they preferred to be called X, Y and Z, while I’m A.  Short for Alicia, in case you were wondering, and we like to rob houses and sell what we find.

Young Mrs Green and Samantha had not expected our visit, that was for sure, but then why would they?  After all, we didn’t even know we were going to come here ourselves until that morning.

We came in, I pointed the gun at the two women and ordered them to strip, while X locked the doors and drew the blinds, and Y and Z unpacked the supplies we had brought with us.

Mrs Green was now standing there in a very tasty black lace bra and panties, with hose and heels, while her secretary was wearing a red body top with patterned stockings and heels.  They were holding themselves to try and stop the shivering, and Mrs Green was asking what we wanted.

Y and Z grabbed their wrists and pulled them behind their backs, and I watched as they started to wrap white rope around their wrists and tie them together.  Their elbows were next, which made them both push their chests out.  I always like this bit – the feeling of impotence they have and of control that we have.  Laughing, I kept pointing the pistol at them as my two friends wrapped long lengths of rope around their upper bodies, and X starts searching the filing cabinets for the stamp.

Yes, a stamp.  A very rare and valuable stamp, that we found out about the previous night, and like I say now if I knew then what was going to happen…..

The attorney and Samantha had now been made to sit on the floor, while their ankles were crossed and tied together; making sure the rope went between their ankles as well.  They were then rolled onto their backs, and their ankles pulled right back in order to make sure they were secured to their wrists.

“Why the hell are you doing this?”  Mrs Green asked as Y stuffed a handkerchief into her secretary’s mouth and firmly tied a purple scarf she had been wearing over it to keep it in place.

I knelt down and looked her in the face.  “We want the Russian stamp that Lord Ashton bought.  We know it’s here – why don’t you just give it to us?”

She stared at us in silence, so I motioned to Z who pulled a white scarf tightly into the attorney’s mouth and gagged her.  As the two others joined X in her search, I watched the two women rolling on the floor and thought back to the previous night.

The four of us were playing Surprise Visit, as we do on some nights, and as we searched the house a girl had come in to see what all the noise was about.  Silly girl – within five minutes she was standing straight up in front of us, in her purple sweater and dark purple skirt, with tape around her ankles, legs, arms and wrists, pleading with us to let her go.

Well, the four of us were laughing, until she said that her grandfather was Lord Ashton, and he would pay for her to be left alone.  Well, we knew of the richest man in the area, so we asked her exactly what he would do to see her safe.

“He just bought a stamp – a rare Russian stamp – that is worth nearly one million dollars.  If I tell you where it is, will you let me go?”

She was pleading with us, with her long brown hair and her tears, so we humoured her, and she told us that his attorney was dealing with the deal and had possession of the stamp until tomorrow morning.  So we thanked her, gagged her with tape and stuck her in the closet of the room we were in, while we continued to raid the house.

It was afterwards, as we were drinking and celebrating, that we realised she may just have been telling the truth.  So, next morning, X had looked up the attorney’s address, and well – here we were.

The two women were still struggling on the floor when the phone rang.

“Mrs Green?  This is Sally, Lord Ashton’s secretary.  Just wanted to let you know that the courier has delivered the stamp, and I will give him when eh returns at three this afternoon.”

The phone went off, and I pulled out her gag.

“Address?”

“Thompson House, top floor.”

“Thanks, bitch” I said as I pushed her gag back in, and the four of us set off for his office.

Getting into Thompson House was a cinch when you pretend to be cleaning staff, so by 2 pm we were going into Lord Ashton’s office.  Again, I swear if I knew what was going to happen later I would have thought twice, but the chase was everything….

His secretary, the aforementioned Sally, didn’t offer us any resistance when I pointed my gun at her – she’d obviously been well trained in these sorts of situations.  I cuffed her wrists together in front of her, and then X started to tie her ankles together.  She was a pretty thing, in a grey sleeveless dress and black wedge sandals, and her long dark brown hair fell around her face in a very attractive way.  If I wasn’t already attached, I may have fancied her, but not today.

X finished tying her ankles together, having cinched the ropes, and went on to lash her legs together above her knees.  Y took a roll of white adhesive tape from our bag, and I asked her where the envelope from the attorney was.  She pointed to a plain white card envelope on the table, and as I opened it X attached the rope to the cuffs, while Y smoothed several pieces of tape over her mouth.  She then started to tie her arms to her side, wrapping the rope around the back of the wooden chair she was sat in as she did so.

Z and I examined the stamp, which was in a clear plastic envelope.  It was a strange one, showing what must have been a Russian aviator, but the sales slip confirmed he’d paid just under a million dollars for it, so it was quite a find.

Sally looked over at us as Y secured the rope around her arms to the back of the chair.  I glanced at the clock, saw it was a quarter to three, so the four of us gathered up our stuff and made a run for it.

As I say, it was a good day, and I didn’t think any more of it for a day or two.  I’d arranged to go on a short holiday with Kay, my partner, to visit some friends in a town a few miles away, so I stashed the stamp with our other loot in a place I control and headed off, thinking nothing of what might happen.  You know what they say, though – shit happens when you least expect it….

Our friends had gone out for the day, which meant Kay and I had the run of the house.  As well as us, they had another girl staying there that I didn’t know, but she didn’t bother Kay or me, and we didn’t bother her.

Anyway, I left Kay in bed while I nipped out to get some bagels for breakfast.  I couldn’t have been gone for more than – what, ten, fifteen minutes top, but when I got back there was a surprise waiting for me.

I called out to Kay, and getting no reply I assumed she was still in bed.  When I got into the bedroom, however, I saw I was wrong.  Kay was not in bed – she was on the bed, and someone had left her in a state I did not like.

She stared out at me from under her fringe, dressed only in a pair of blue cotton panties.  Her wrists had been bound behind her back, resting on her cute bottom, and there was rope around her arms and chest above and below her pert breasts.  More rope was around her ankles and legs, which she was bouncing up and down on the mattress, and there was white tape over her mouth.  She was pleased to see me, but I knew she would not like been in this position.

“What the hell happened here?” I asked as I peeled the tape away from her mouth.  She coughed for a minute or two, and said in a hoarse whisper “You tell me – these two men jumped me the moment you left, but all they said was to pass on a message?”

“What message?”

“They want the stamp back.”

I started to untie her ankles, but she looked at me and said “Don’t – not yet anyway?”

“Sorry, Kay – I thought you….”

“I didn’t think I did – but, well, how do I look like this?”

I looked over her body, and a smile must have crept over my lips, for she then said “Take me, and do what you want with me.”

I knelt at the end of the bed, kissed her fully on the lips, and placed the tape back over her mouth as I started to rub my hands up and down her back and breasts….

Two days later, I was back in town, and I told X, Y and Z what had happened.  Nobody had tried to attack them, which I figured meant that whoever did this knew I was the only one who could return the stamp to him.

I don’t like being threatened, however, and I really don’t like my partner being trussed up to ‘send me a message.’  I asked the others to lie low for a while, and set out to return a few favours to Lord Ashton – starting with his granddaughter.

She lived in a penthouse flat in the village – the society pages had recently featured it – so I knew where to find her.  I also didn’t want to waste time, so that evening I decided to pay a little Surprise Visit of my own.

She recognised me as soon as she opened the door, and just backed off as I came in, gun pointing at her, and closed the door behind me.

“You’ve been a naughty girl, talking to Granddaddy about what you told us, haven’t you?”  I said, and she just nodded.  “Well, a friend of mine got hurt, and now I think I need to return the favour.  Take off that blouse.”

She slowly unbuttoned the grey silk blouse she was wearing, and let it fall to the floor revealing a white bra.

“Out of the trousers as well, sweetie.”

She undid the waist fastening of her grey slacks, and let them fall to the floor as well, so that she was standing there in her white knickers.  I motioned for her to turn around, and taking a zip tie from my pocket I quickly secured her wrists together behind her back.

“I didn’t say anything to him, I swear,” she said as I pushed her into the main room, and made her sit on a chair.  “He must have found out from someone else.”

“Do you know, I almost believe you, and you won’t be the only person I visit tonight, but I want a little payback first.”

I took a roll of black tape out of my pocket, and laid it on a coffee table.  “How’s your grandmother?”

“Lady Ashton?  Bedridden – granddaddy has a, well, a companion that he visits regularly when in this country.”

“Really – where does she live?”

She pointed with her head to a book next to the telephone, and told me to look under V.  There was an address, so I tore the page out and put it into my pocket.

“Purse your lips.”

As she did so, I tore strips of tape off the roll and smoothed them over her mouth, as she looked at me wondering what was going to happen next.  Her eyes widened as I removed my track suit top and stood there in a bra.

“I’m going to give you a lesson in pleasure before I go,” I said as I sat next to her and caressed her head in my hands….

Two hours later, I was opening the door to a penthouse flat on the other side of the village.  As I made my way through the building, I could hear the sound of a radio playing in a bedroom, so I slowly opened it.

Do you know, I didn’t know they still made those short black Teddy nighties, but this woman looked good in it despite her age.   She turned at the sound of the door opening, and would have screamed if I hadn’t told her to shut up.  She was lying there, with an opaque black top over her upper half, and just stared at me standing there with my rucksack and a gun in my hand.

She started pleading with me “Take what you want, I won’t stop you, just please don’t hurt me,” but I told her to just shut up and lie on her stomach, with her hands behind her back.  Opening my rucksack, I took out a nice length of rope and got onto the bed, straddling her back as I wrapped it around and between her wrists.  It wasn’t much work for me to cross and bind her ankles while I was there, and then to roll her over and sit her up while I wrapped yet more rope around her arms and chest.

“Why are you doing this?”  She kept asking.

“Your friend, Lord Ashton, did something to a friend of mine and I want my payback.”

“Freddie?  He wouldn’t hurt a fly.  Why would he….”

I’m sure she would have kept talking if I hadn’t stuffed a pair of panties into her mouth.  Retrieving my handy roll of duct tape, I tore off strips and smoothed them over her mouth before pushing her back down onto her side and telling her to shut up.

It was at this point that the phone rang.  We both listened as her answer machine started up.

“Hi – leave a message and I’ll call you back.”

“Victoria, are you there?”  The voice had a clipped, posh slant to it, and I wondered if this was Lord Ashton.  My answer came quickly.

“If the woman who called at my grand daughter tonight is still there, pick up the phone.  I want to talk to you.”

I left Victoria lying on the bed, looking over her shoulder and wondering what was happening, and went over to the table.

Picking up the phone, I said “What do you want, Freddie?”

“I would like you, young lady, to show a little respect and explain why you left my granddaughter like this.”

“I didn’t hurt her – just tickled her a little.  Besides, after what your men did to my partner…”

“My men?  I don’t even know who you are, and even if I did I would talk to you directly, not send someone to threaten you or anyone else.”

“I….. I don’t understand.”

“Listen – do you still have the stamp?”

“Yes.”

“You will not be able to sell it by whatever tawdry means you thieves employ – it is too rare and any appearance will set off the alarm bells.  I am prepared to make you an offer.”

“I’m listening.”

“Take the stamp round to the penthouse you are in at 8 pm tomorrow night, and you will receive a briefcase with $10,000 dollars in it.  In return, you stop attacking my family and…. Friends.”

“I have your word it was not you who told someone to attack my partner.”

“You have my word.  Do we have a deal?”

I stood there for a few minutes, looking at Victoria who was nodding her head while lying on her side.  I had no reason not to trust him, but if her didn’t set Kay up then who did?

“We have a deal, Lord Ashton.  What do you want me to do with Victoria?”

“Leave her – I will be there directly.  I think a sneak thief must have surprised her and tied her up, before being scared off by my arrival.  Do you understand?”

“I do.”

“Then I suggest you leave.  Now.”

The line went dead, and I picked up my rucksack and left by the front door.  If it wasn’t Lord Ashton that did this, then who did?

The next morning, I left Kay sleeping and made a phone call to the friends we had stayed with. I needed the  address of the girl that was staying there at the same time as us.  They gave me the information I needed, as well as her name, and asked if everything was all right.  I assured them they had nothing to worry about, and after putting the phone down I slipped on a blue denim short dress and some sandals.  I also checked and replenished the supplies in my bag – there were a couple of stops I needed to make today.

It was out in the ‘burbs that I found the other house guest.  She was a small woman, short brown hair, and when I knocked on the door she was wearing a short bath robe.  One look at me, and at the gun in my hand, and she was inviting me all nice and pleasant.

“Do you know why I’m here?”  I asked as we went into the front room and I drew the blinds.

“No – no I don’t” she said.  Her eyes were saying she did know, however.

“We met at our mutual friend’s house.  You remember me and Kay, don’t you?”

She nodded silently.

“Well, Kay hasn’t forgotten being grabbed, tied up and gagged by two strangers.  One thing still bothers me about that day.”

“whhhh …. What’s that?”

“How they knew Kay was alone.  You were the only other person in the house when I left, and when I got back you were out.  Suspicious, isn’t it?”

She turned and tried to run at that point, but I was a little too quick for her.  As I grabbed her collar, the bath robe came loose and she tried to slip out, but my hand was on her arm in a firm grip.

“Kneel down on the floor, with your hands behind your head, and when I’m finished we’re going to have a little chat.”

It only took ten or fifteen minutes to make her nice and secure, with her wrists crossed and tied behind her back, her ankles bound and rope around her arms and chest.  As I tied the last knot off, I stood back and looked at her kneeling there in just a pair of pink panties and a chain around her neck.

“Now, as I was saying – who did you tell that I had gone out?”

“I don’t know – I had a call to say that if I let them know when your friend was alone, it would be worthwhile for me.”

“What did you get?”

“A hundred dollars”

“How did you contact them?”

“I had a mobile number.  Honestly, I didn’t know any names, it was just a voice.”

I thought for a moment, then took my white tape and gagged the young woman with several strips.  Putting my hands on her shoulders, I leaned down and said to her “You think about helping strangers in the future.”  I left her there, and took her purse as I left.  If she got a hundred dollars, I wanted it back from her.

I had a horrible idea forming in my head as to what had happened, but first I had to take care of business – specifically getting the stamp to return to Lord Ashton.  I drove down to the storage area I used, hoping against hope that I was wrong.

It was an old lockup that I had the key for, but as I got out of the car I could see that the lock had been forced.  Slowly, I made my way round to the back door – yes, I had a hidden back door installed, so sue me – and made my way inside.

I could see a young girl searching through the boxes that were scattered around the floor.  She was wearing a black and white patterned summer dress, with a white belt around her waist, and cork sandals, and she was muttering under her breath about something.  Although she had her back to me, her long curly red hair meant that I knew who she was – and unfortunately I also knew who had set me up.

“Looking for something?”  I called out, and she spun round at the sound of my voice.  On seeing the gun in my hand, she raised her hands slowly.

“Zandra sent you to do her dirty work, didn’t she?”

The girl nodded – the hair had been a big giveaway that it was Z’s sister who was in the lock-up.

“Why?  We trusted each other – what happened?”

“Nearly one million dollars happened – you can’t blame her. Can you?”

Well, if I’m being honest I couldn’t, but it still hurt.  Mainly because, if Z had turned, then chances were good that X and Y were in on it as well.

“Put your hands behind your back,” I said as I picked up a length of rope from the floor.  The girl did as she was asked, so I went gentle on her but still made sure her wrists were firmly secured behind her back.

“I’m going to take you home, but I need to do a couple of things first.  Sit down on that box.”

As she did this, I took my cell phone out and made a call home.

“Kay?  It appears my friends have gone bad on me.  Can you call the number under ‘Removals’ on the phone and tell them to do a full clearout for me?  They’ll understand.

“No, no, I’m fine.  I’ll see you later tonight.  ‘Bye for now.”

Having arranged for the lockup to be cleared out, I moved a couple of boxes around and lifted up a flap I had made in the wooden floor.  Reaching in, I pulled out the white envelope, and checked the stamp was still inside.

“This is going to cost Z big time,” I said to myself as there was a knock on the lockup door.

Opening it, I recognised a couple of guys from the removal firm I used.

“Take everything to this address,” I said handing them a slip of paper.

“What about her,” they said pointing at my young friend.

“No – she’s coming with me.  I have to sever a few business deals.”

Z had no idea I was waiting for her when she walked into her house.  The first sign she got that something was wrong was when she saw her sister sitting on the floor, leaning against the couch.  As well as her wrists, there was rope around her ankles, and a length of rope was tied around her wrists and over and round her neck.  Blue cloth tape had been placed over her mouth, and as Z walked in she started to turn her head over her left shoulder, where the strap from her dress had fallen down.

“Mo?  What happened” she said as she walked in.

“I happened, Z.  You should never send a girl to do a woman’s work – you know that, don’t you?”

She really had not seen me sitting there in a chair, but the look on her face was enough to tell me that she knew I had guessed everything.

“How’s Kay?”

“Fine, thanks for asking.  We managed to make a game of the little surprise you pulled on her.  Who were they, anyway?”

“A couple of friends,” she said as she put her handbag on the couch.  “So, what happens now?”

“First, our business relationship is at an end, effective immediately.”

“What about the stamp?”

“Useless – we wouldn’t even get ten dollars for it.  It’s a forgery.”

Z sat down with a thump.  She was casually dressed – a white t-shirt and jeans – but I could see my little lie had deflated her.

“Then it was all for nothing….”

“No – I at least learnt I can’t trust you any more.”

“Have you told the others?”

“No – I wanted to make sure I returned your little sister home safely.  Now, we need to have a private chat – let’s go into your den.”

I waved the gun at her, and as her sister watched I led Z into the rear room that she used as a den and recreation room.

“Now what?”  she asked as I closed the door behind me.

“Here,” I said throwing her the roll of blue cloth tape.  “Tear off three strips and gag yourself.  I don’t want you alerting X or Y as to my coming to see them.”

Z nodded, and did as I asked.  I then threw her a length of white rope.

“Sit down, on the floor, and tie your ankles together.  Make it good – you know how tightly I can do it when provoked.”

Z sat herself down in front of the blue leather couch that she sat on to watch DVDs, and doubling up the rope she wrapped it around and between her ankles.

“Lie face down on the floor,” I said as I picked up a length of brown rope that had been left there from past games, and used it to tie her wrists behind her back and place her in a hog tie.  She turned her head and looked at me as I picked up her handbag.

“I’m going to see my former partners now.  Good luck in the future, Z – and never ever cross my path again.”

She tried to call out to me as I left, but I didn’t hear clearly.  I had an appointment to keep, and two more people to visit before that.

X looked like she was ready for a night on the town when I rang her doorbell.  She stood there, in her black top and white micro skirt, and looked at me in my denim dress.

“A – what are you doing here?  Y and I were about to go out – do you want to join us?”

“That’s very kind of you – do you mind if I come in?”

She looked at the bag I was carrying.  “Have you been somewhere?”

“Yeah, actually – I’ve just been to see Z.”

Y stood up as we walked into the room.  She had on a grey vest top and a pink leather miniskirt.

“You’ve been to see Z – how is she?”

“She’s a little tied up at the moment,” I said producing my gun, “and so will you two bitches be in a few minutes.”

Y had an ashen look on her face.  “You know, don’t you?”

I nodded.  “Into the bedroom – both of you – we have something to talk about.”

The two girls went in front of me into X’s bedroom, where there was a king size bed. 

“Stop right there,” I said as I put my bag down and opened it.  “Y, you get the honour of tying X up, as you seem to be genuinely sorry.”  I tossed a length of rope at her.  “Start with her wrists, and make sure it’s tight.”

She took X’s wrists, wrapped the rope around and quickly tied them together.  I tossed her another length of rope, and she made a lasso that she placed over X’s upper arms and chest.  Pulling tightly, she wrapped it round a couple more times before using the loose ends to further secure the other girl’s wrists.

“How did you find out?”  She asked as X sat down on the edge of the bed.

“It doesn’t matter now – our partnership is over, and you have to pay the price.  Tie her ankles together.”

X watched as Y wrapped the rope around her ankles, and cinched it off; making sure her black patent leather heels weren’t damaged.  I tossed her the roll of white tape, and told her to find something to put in X’s mouth.

“There are clean socks in the top drawer,” X said, and a moment later strips of tape were being smoothed over her stuffed mouth.

“All right, Y, your turn,” I said as X was pushed over to lie on her side on the bed.  Y stood in front of me, head bowed, and said “I’m sorry about Kay” as I started to tie her own wrists together behind her back.

“So is Kay,” I said as I wrapped rope above and below her breasts, pulled it tightly, tied it off and then wrapped the loose ends behind her back so that these new ropes were cinched as well.

“It was only business.”

“I know, but now you can work on your own.”  I made Y sit on the edge of the bed, and crossed her ankles to tie them together.  As with X, she kept her shoes on, in her case white high heeled sandals.

“Open wide,” I said to her as I stuffed a sock into her mouth, and slapped strips of tape over her lips.  Pushing her over onto her side, I watched as she snuggled up behind X on the bed.

“Are you two an item?” I asked as I watched Y rub her head against X’s back.  The two raised their heads, turned to look at me and nodded.  “Well, I hope you’ll both be very happy, but I never, ever want to see either of you again.  Understand?”

They nodded, and as I left the room I watched as X rolled over and looked Y in the eyes.  They started to nuzzle and kiss each other through their gags, and I left them to their own amusements.

Victoria answered the door when I rang it, dressed in a black leather skirt and silk blouse.  I handed her the envelope, and she handed me a briefcase, closing the door in my face.  I opened the case, confirmed the money was there, and left.

That, I thought, would be the end of it – except no-one had told me about my former partner signing up with you lot while I was on holiday.  I guess that’s why I here, in front of you now, have to explain why I attacked one of your members.  Well, now you know, and I call on you to make your own judgement on what has happened.

That’s all I have to say.  You, the Board, must now make your own mind up.