A Series of Unfortunate Encounters
Im a
professional I have trained for years, and I prepare for my work, whatever
the circumstances. What I have
discovered, however, is that you also have to be ready for the unexpected to
happen. Usually, that can be done using
extra materials I bring with me but a month or so ago, what should have been
a simple, straightforward piece of work took on a completely different meaning.
The target was
a large detached house in the North West of London the sort of place with
gates across the entrance, and a wall around the residence. The sort of place it should be impossible to
get into but inside the house was a large collection of coins, and of silver,
and I knew I could get a fair price for them.
It would have
been about eleven in the morning when I pulled up in my van, got out and rang
the intercom button on the outside of the gate.
The previous evening, I had sent a fake e-mail to say a delivery was
coming at that time, and I was wearing a light blue shirt and jeans, with a
baseball cap, playing the part of said delivery man.
The intercom
was answered by a middle aged woman, and I said I was here to make the
delivery. There was a buzz, and I
thanked whoever it was as the gates swung inwards. Getting behind the wheel, I drove up to the
front door, and got out, looking round as I walked to the front door.
The woman who
opened the door was in her late fifties, and wore a crimson blouse and a long
black skirt, her black shoes just appearing under the hem of the skirt. She also wore a leopard print scarf wrapped
tightly round her head and chin, in the Muslim style. I had expected that this was an Islamic home,
after all so I was prepared.
Which is more
than she was as she saw the gun I was holding in my gloved hand, and walked
slowly backwards as I came in, closing the door behind myself. Very quietly, I told her not to say a word,
but to put her hands on her head as I indicated she should walk down the
hall. I had a bag in my hand, with
everything I thought I would need in it, and she was nice enough to comply with
what I said.
I guided her
into the large dining room, and pulled a chair away from the table a nice
high backed one, with gaps in the chair back and a comfortable seat. Indicating she should sit down, I put my bag
on the table, and opened it to take out several lengths of rope, at the same
time reassuring her if she did as I asked, the worst that would happen is she
could not move or talk for a while.
She nodded, and
did not resist as I fed one arm through a gap in the chair back, and then the
other, before I crossed her wrists behind the chair back, and made sure they
were tightly secured together, keeping the rope in neat bands and also cinching
the binding before I tied them to the chair back.
She grunted
slightly as I did this, but as I said Im a professional. Reaching into the bag, I took out a longer
length of rope, and started to make sure she was firmly secured to the chair
back. Now dont worry I was respectful
of her faith and her modesty, so I did nothing to expose or embarrass her
beyond the fact the ropes was having on how her blouse fitted.
I adopted a
similar approach to binding her legs first crossing and securing her ankles
together, before I pulled them back and tied them to the chair back, and then a
final length around her legs below her knees, gathering her skirt around them
as I tied it in place.
As I stood up,
she looked at me and asked what I was going to do now. Well, I was honest I told her I was going
to rob the place, but first I was going to disconnect the telephone and make
sure she could not call out.
She looked at
me, as I took a long length of white cloth, rolled it into a tight band, and
then pulled it between her lips, making sure it went round twice before I tied
the ends together at the base of her neck.
She looked up at me as I smiled, and picked up my bag, telling her to
stay there and not struggle because if she did, she may hurt herself or
worse.
So there we are
the lady of the house secured, and I was free to get to work, which is what I
did. I disconnected the phone, and then
decided to make my way upstairs and work my way down to the ground floor.
Now, did you
spot what I had not done at this point?
Go on, Ill give you a minute
Thats right
I had assumed, given the hour, she was the only person in the house. So as I walked into the main bedroom, you can
imagine my surprise when I saw the woman putting on her pink cardigan, and then
staring back at me.
She was in her
early forties, and the cardigan matched the long coral pink skirt she was
wearing as well, a thin black belt visible as it hung loosely round her
waist. Under the cardigan was a white
blouse, and she also was wearing a scarf as a hijab in her case, a pink and
yellow striped one over a black scarf that covered her hair.
Unfortunate
but as I said, I was always prepared, as I pointed my gun at her and told her
to remain calm, to do as I said and everything would be all right. She looked at me, and asked where her
housekeeper was obviously, the woman I had secured downstairs.
I told her she
was secured and gagged something I was now, with regret, going to have to do
to her, so I asked her to turn round and put her hands behind her back. She nodded and did just that, staring out of
the window as I crossed and tied her wrists together with more rope, and then secured
her arms to her sides, a band above and a band below her chest. As with downstairs, it stretched her cardigan
and blouse, but her modesty was preserved.
She then walked
over to the bed and sat down, watching as I crossed and secured her ankles
tightly together, before I tied her legs together over her skirt. Looking at her, I then said it would be less
messy if she told me where her valuables were, and then I could gag her and
leave her in the room.
She said she
did not think she had much of a choice, but she told me where to look, and I
took her valuables as well as removing her rings and watch, before I took
from my bag a second long length of white cloth, rolled it into a band, and
passed it twice round her head, making sure it went between her lips and teeth
before I tied it off, and then helped her to lie on her side on the matress
using a length of rope to secure her ankles to the foot of the bed, and one
last length of rope to secure her wrists to the headboard.
So, lady of the
house secured, housekeeper secured, and I had obtained her valuables all I
had to do now was remove the battery from her mobile phone, and search the rest
of the house.
And, to be
fair, there were no problems as I went round the upper floor, loading valuables
from other rooms into my bag. I checked
on the lady, who was still there, and turned the radio on to keep her
entertained as I walked down the stairs.
The housekeeper was still in the chair in fact, she had fallen asleep,
so I figured I could relax a little while I went to the downstairs office and
opened the safe.
Good thinking
except as I put my bag on the office desk, and looked at the office, I heard
the front door open and close, and a young voice ask if anyone was home. Well, it would be rude not to reply, so I
stepped out, gun in hand, and said no-one else could reply at the moment.
I could see who
had called out one of two twins. The
girls were the same height, and identically dressed red long sleeved
sweaters, long skirts with a red, white, blue and yellow floral print, and
yellow scarves covering their hair and heads.
Not tied as a hijab, but still in a respectful manner. They both looked at me, and then raised
their hands as the own who had spoken earlier asked who I was, and what I was
doing in their house?
Well, I was
equally honest in replying, I told them I was robbing the house, their mother
was tied up in her bedroom, the housekeeper in the dining room and now I was
going to have to tie them up in the office, so they needed to come in there
now.
As they walked
past, they looked in and saw the housekeeper, and talked quietly to each other
as they walked in, their hands in the air.
I had a slight
problem though I had no more rope or cloths.
I was going to have to resort to my back up system not as comfortable,
but it would do the job. So I told them
to stand in the middle of the room, with their hands on their heads, and then
took from my bag the large roll of silver duct tape.
Walking behind
them, I took the arms of one of them behind their back, crossed and taped their
wrists together, and then wound the tape round their waists to make sure they
stayed in place. As I did this, they
talked quietly to each other in some other language, but seemed to be accepting
what was happening to them. Even the
fact I removed their watches and rings first.
I soon had the
wrists of the other twin secured in the same way, as they looked at each other
and tried to move their arms. With
little success, of course, as I told them to sit down, back to back, on the
carpeted floor. Helping them to do that,
I adjusted their skirts so that their legs were covered, and then taped their
ankles together, as well as their legs above and below their knees, over their
skirts so their modesty was preserved there as well.
I then wound
the tape tightly round their upper bodies, holding them together with grey
bands above and below their chests and yes, the jumpers stretched, but at
least this way I was sure they would not be able to move.
Finally, I left
them in the room for a moment, and returned with two clean handkerchiefs. Folding them, I placed one in each of their
mouths, and finished by winding the tape round their heads, covering their
mouths but with the scarves protecting their hair.
That used up
the roll, but I knew they would stay there quietly, as I managed to open the
safe and emptied the contents I could make use of in the bag. Oh they tried to move, and I could hear their
muffled attempts to talk, but as I said Im a professional.
Once I was
finished there, I made sure they were both al right, ran upstairs to check
their mother, and then back to the housekeeper satisfied, it was time for me
to move on to the other items in their front room.
I even put on
the CD player in the office, letting them listen to music and coincidentally
drowning out any calls they may try to make and walked into the front room
with my bag. The display cabinets were there
for the emptying, as I assessed and looked at the items.
Now, you may be
thinking, did this house not have a security system, CCTV, whatever? Oh it did but I figured I had time to
locate and remove the recordings for the entire day before I left. Both internal and external. So I continued with my work, smiling as I did
so. All four were secured and quiet,
and
Famous last
words as I heard the front door open and close again, and two women
talking. Picking up my gun, I walked out
of the room to see two women walking to the office, and looking in and then
into the dining room.
One of them
turned to try and raise the alarm but instead she raised her hands when she
saw me pointing my gun at her. She was a
little older than the housekeeper I guessed the grandmother and was wearing
a long white tunic with sleeves turned up just below her elbows, black leggings
and black shoes. Her tunic had a black
collar, and she was wearing a purple hijab over a black scarf.
The other woman
came back out similar age, wearing a long denim blouse over a grey and white
striped top, and white leggings with white sandals. She also was wearing a hijab over a black
scarf, in her case a light pink one.
The first one
asked if this was a robbery, and I nodded to show she was right, then indicated
the front room with my gun. She then
asked where her daughter was, so I told them to put their hands on their heads,
and to come up to the bedroom with me.
As we walked
in, the captive lady of the house looked up, and mumbled something
hnnmmm. Her mother the one in the
purple hijab told her not to panic, the girls and the housekeeper were all
right, and that she had done the right thing.
The other woman
an aunt presumed then said would I be doing the same to them? Well, I would need to, but I had no tape, and
no ropes left. So I said I would and I
asked her if she knitted. She nodded,
and I asked her to take me to where her knitting basket was.
It turned out
it was in the front room, so I instructed the two mature ladies to sit side by
side on a very comfortable leather couch, with their hands on top of their
heads. From the basket, I selected a
ball of blue wool, and made a small lasso at the free end, before I instructed
the lady of the houses mother to put her hands together, palm to palm, as if
she was in prayer.
Her sister
watched as I put the loop of wool over her hands, and pulled it tight round her
wrists, before I wound it round them a few more time, and then between her arms
to cinch the binding. From there, I
lowered her hands down so that they rested on her lap, and used the wool to
bind her legs tightly together below her knees, then played it out and down
before I secured and cinched her ankles as well, then cut it with enough of a
length to take it back up and tie it to her wrists.
As she tried to
move, the wool rubbed on her leggings, wrists and ankles, as I did the same to
her sister, making sure she was just as secured. Normally, I would have secured their wrists
behind their backs, but must needs must and besides, it was getting late.
Picking up two
cloth squares, I folded them and pushed them into their mouths, making them
promise not to spit them out as I checked the others. The housekeeper was awake now, and trying to
get free as she heard the others, but I made sure the knots were still tight.
The twins were
sitting in the office, praying I think under their taped mouths, and as I went
upstairs the lady of the house was asleep, snoring quietly as the dark stain in
the centre of her gag grew steadily larger.
Going back into
the front room, I used two belts from robes to cleave gag the last two
captives, before turning on the television, collecting my bag, and leaving the
house. Putting it in the back of the
van, I started the engine and drove off, the gates opening to allow me to leave
and then closing behind me.
Later that
night, I was at my home, having showered and changed. My fence was taking care of the goods, and I
could relax in the way I liked best. I
wrapped my pink dressing gown round myself, with my hair in a turban, and
poured a glass of Chardonnay as I sat down to watch Pride and Prejudice.
Like I said,
Im a professional and it made a change to have so many women to bind so they
felt their modesty was preserved. After
all, we women must stick together, no?
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