Order To Go

He kept his thoughts to himself as he drove back to his house in the early dawn, thinking over what he had been able to do so far that night.  He’d had a good meal, talked to a nice girl, and started his plan into motion.  Not a bad start to a very busy 24 hours.

“Hiya, Honey.  I’m Peggy, and I’ll be your server tonight.  Can I get you something to drink?”

He looked up at the waitress, in the regulation black vest top and white shorts, and smiled.

“Your phone number would be nice, but I’ll settle for a cold beer and a burger.”

“You choose the burger, and I’ll get the menu.”

He watched her walk off between the tables, her bum swaying as she moved, and knew he’d made the right decision coming there that night.

Pulling into the driveway of his house, he stopped for a few minutes to watch the sun come up over the horizon.  There was no sound apart from his engine cooling down, and the birds greeting the morning.  He liked it that way – it meant he had time to get things ready.

“Can I get you anything else, Honey?”

“No, that’s great thanks.  I hope to see you again real soon, Peggy?”

That was how he head left the girl in the bar – but it was now 1 am, and he was sitting in his car watching the staff leave the restaurant.  Finally, he saw her come out of the rear entrance, and walk down the car park towards him.  He took the damp cloth in his hand and stooped down as she walked past the car.  Silently, he let himself out and grabbed her across the chest, holding the rag to her face as she struggled to remain awake.

Finally, her head lolled back and she collapsed into his arms.  He let her drop to the ground, and rolled her over onto her stomach.  There was no sign of anyone having witnessed the attack, so he pulled some rope from his back pocket and started to tie her wrists together behind her back.

A few minutes later, he was placing the girl’s limp body in the trunk of his car.  He had bound her ankles with more rope, as well as her legs above her knees, and placed a white pillow case over her head before loosely tying it so that she could not shake it off.  Gently closing the door, he got in and drove out of the car park.

“Well, might as well get started,” he said to himself.  Gently easing out of the car, he opened the front door of his house before coming back and opening the trunk.  The girl hadn’t moved – in fact, she was snoring by the sound of it as he picked her up and placed her over his shoulder.

“Come on then, Peggy,” he said as he took her through the front door of the house, into the main living room.   There, in the centre of the floor, was a large coffee table in front of a couch.  Moving quietly, he laid Peggy down on her stomach onto the table.

Kneeling at her head, he slowly removed the hood and brushed her blonde braided hair back from her face.

“You’re going to wake up soon, so I need to make sure you won’t say anything we’ll both regret,” he whispered as eh took a roll of duct tape, tore a strip off, and gently pressed it over her closed mouth.  Two more strips followed, and then he laid her head gently to one side.

“I also need to make sure you don’t hurt yourself,” he whispered as he gently bought her bound ankles up behind her knees, and secured them to the ropes around her wrists with a further length.  He stood up and looked at the girl, still sleeping as she lay there.

“Man, I need a strong coffee,” he said as he stretched and yawned.  “After that, I need to make a couple of phone calls, so you just stay there.”

Peggy slowly opened her eyes, her mind still befuddled and feeling cloudy.  The last thing she remembered clearly was leaving the bar that morning, walking across the car park……  After that, everything felt a blur.  All she knew was she really needed to get up, stretch and find out what had happened.

She tried to bring her arms up, but something was preventing that happening.  She tried to raise her head, but it felt stiff and cold, as if she was on a hard surface.  Her sight was beginning to come back into focus, but she didn’t recognise the room she was in.

Peggy tried to call out, but for some reason she wasn’t able to speak very clearly.  Raising her head and neck, she slowly looked round.  “I’m on a table?”  She thought to herself.  “Why can’t I speak then?”  Glancing down, she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the glass top, and suddenly felt very awake indeed.

“Tape?  There’s tape over my mouth?”  She thought, and looking over her shoulder she could also see the rope around her raised ankles.  “Oh god, I’ve been kidnapped,” she thought, and she started to try to scream out in panic.

“Oh, you’re awake, Peggy.  Good – I was beginning to think I’d used too much chloroform last night.”

Peggy looked to her left, where the male voice had come from, and recognised the customer from last night who had wanted her telephone number.  She struggled to try and get her wrists free, and more muffled sounds came out as she screamed.

“Peggy, don’t struggle or scream, or you’ll do yourself an injury,” the man said as he sat down.  He was still dressed in the scruffy white t-shirt and jeans of the previous night, and had cup of coffee in his hand.  “Please, try to remain calm.  I promise you I’m not going to hurt or harm you – unless you make me do so.”

Peggy laid her head down and looked at the man.

“Now, I have to admit that beautiful as you are, you’re only my guest because I need your daddy to do something – or rather, not to do something today.  If he does as I ask, then you’ll be free tonight.  All right?”

Peggy wondered what he meant – her dad was a local policeman, who wasn’t going to give into this creep just because he had her hostage.  Would he?

“Now, you’re thinking he won’t do that, but I told him a few minutes ago if he didn’t – you’d be gong home in a take out bag.  Lots of them.  So, I think he’ll look the other way this morning while I pay a visit to the bank downtown.  He loves you very much, you know.”

Peggy had tried hard to stay calm, but at that she started to shake.  Was this really how he was going to leave her?

“Now,” he said as he put down his coffee cup, “I’m afraid I can’t leave you like that.  It’s too easy fro you to get away.  If you promise not to scream, I’ll get you out of those ropes for a minute and get you a drink.  Do you promise not to scream?”

Peggy nodded, and the man smiled.  “I’ll be right back,” he said as he picked up his cup and walked out of the room.  A few minutes later, eh returned with a glass of juice and a large knife.

“Just to show I mean business,” he said as he put both to the side, leaned over Peggy and started to untie her ankles from her wrists.

Helping Peggy to sit on the table top, he untied her ankles and slowly peeled the tape away from her mouth.  Holding the glass to her lips, he allowed the frightened girl to take a sip of the fruit juice.

“Why are you doing this?”  Peggy asked as he put the glass down.

“Just business, darling – I need to make a withdrawal from the bank, and your daddy is going to look the other way for a couple of hours in return for you getting home safely.  Here, have another drink.”

“So what are you going to do with me?”

“That’s another very good question Peggy.  Do you think you could walk if I helped you?”

Helping her to her feet, the man slowly walked Peggy over to a room at the rear of the house.  Sitting on the floor was an old wooden chair, painted green with a floral pattern.  It had arm rests, and looked like it had been there for some time.

“I’m going to leave you in this chair while I pop out for a little while.  I’ll leave the television,” he said pointing to an old black and white set in the room, “on to keep you company.  Oh, I’m afraid there’s something else I have to do first.”

“What’s that,” Peggy asked, but as she did so the man pushed her into the chair and left her alone for a minute, only to return with more rope and the large knife.

“I’m sorry I have to do this, Peggy,” he said as he took the knife and cut the shoulder straps of her vest top, before pulling it off to reveal her bare upper body.  Taking her bound wrists, he brought them behind the back of the chair, and secured them to the crosspiece of the chair with a fresh length of rope.

“I liked that top,” Peggy complained as he started to wrap rope around her chest, trapping her petite breasts between the loops and securing them to the back of the chair as well.

“Sorry, but can’t have you running off,” the man replied as he walked round, bent down and pulled her ankle over to a front leg of the chair, securing it there with rope before starting on the other ankle.

“Open wide,” he said as he stood beside the bound girl.  Peggy looked up at him in disgust, but he just smiled back as he pushed a part of the top he had cut off into her mouth, before covering the lower half of her face with silver tape.

Walking to the other side of the room, the man carried over the old television and put it on a table in front of her, switching it on and tuning it to the local network.  “I won’t be too long, Peggy,” he said as she looked at him.  “Try and enjoy your stay.”

She listened as the front door closed and a car receded into the distance.  Peggy tried calling out, but the added cloth in her mouth meant that no legible sounds were escaping from her gagged lips.  She then started to try and free herself from the ropes.  It proved too difficult, however, as the knots were well out of reach of her fingers.  Slumping in the chair, she decided to make the most of it and watched the channel.

She must have fallen asleep, for suddenly she realised that the sun was shining through a window at the other side of the house.  Looking at the television, she saw there was news bulletin on…

“To repeat the breaking story, police have foiled an attempt to rob the First National Bank in the centre of town today.  Officers lay in wait as a man in his forties walked in and attempted to hold the teller at gunpoint, then shot and arrested the perpetrator.  Officer Jim Hammond made the following statement.

‘We had a tip off that an attempt would be made today, and I’m glad to say that apart from the man in question no-one else was hurt.  I also need to send a message to a girl called Peggy – help is on the way.”

At that, Peggy looked up as her father burst into the room, accompanied by two fellow officers.

“Peggy, are you all right,” he said as he ran to his daughter, who nodded with tears in her eyes.

“The idiot actually thought we would let that plan work,” he said as he peeled the tape away and took the cloth out of her mouth.  “Your boss rang first thing this morning – the closed circuit cameras caught you being abducted last night.  I’m sorry I couldn’t come sooner, darling, but we had to catch him in the act.”

Peggy didn’t respond – she was cold, hungry, scared, but she was free, and crying seemed the best idea to her at this time.