Improv Night

I only had one job to do – keep watch from an apartment across the road while the rest of my colleagues made a withdrawal from the bank, and inform them if any unwanted callers came. You know – staff working late, police, that sort of thing.

But for that very reason, it meant that whoever was in that apartment when I called needed to be kept out of the way, using whatever I could find in the home.

So I knew I had to work things out as I was going along, which was fine – this was why they paid me the money they did. So at about five in the evening, I walked down the street, wearing a red hooded sweatshirt and jeans, looking form side to side before I ducked into the building and made my way to the correct floor.

I looked around again, before putting on a pair of dark glasses and pulling the hood up over my head, taking from the front of the sweatshirt a small pistol before I knocked on the door.

It was opened by a woman in her forties - a Muslim woman, given her head and neck was covered by a grey scarf over a black one. The ends of the scarf fell over the top of a white silk blouse with a grey floral pattern, the outfit completed by grey leggings.

She was certainly surprised when she opened the door and saw me – especially when I made her walk back in and covered her mouth with one gloved hand, the gun pressed to her temple as I kicked the door closed. I asked if anyone else was at home, and she shook her head, then when I told her not to scream when I took my hand away, she nodded.

Taking her by the arm, I walked her into the kitchen area, surprised to see the “table” was a set of low couches either side of a low table. There were also a couple of folding chairs, and I told her to set one chair down and sit on it. When she had done so, I told her I needed to make sure she stayed there – and asked her if she had any tape.

She said all she had was Sellotape – and I saw the large, wide roll on the work surface. Well, as I said, I had to improvise – so I told her to sit with her hands on her head, before I took the roll and knelt down, putting the gun where I could get it and she could see it.

Tearing the end of the tape free, I wrapped it tightly round her ankles, holding them together as she watched, and then wrapping the tape round the legs of the chair t make sure it was more difficult for her to move them. I then stood up and walked behind her, taking her arms down and behind her before I taped her wrists together, and then took the tape round her waist and the chair back to further immobilise her.

I then kept wrapping the tape round herm trapping the front of her hijab to her blouse and further trapping her against the chair back as she tried to ask me what was going on. Well, I couldn’t tell her why I had broken into her apartment – I just needed to make sure she stayed well out of the way.

And that she stayed quiet – which is why after I had secured her, I tore the end of the tape free again, and stuck it to her cheek, before wrapping the tape tightly round her mouth, her hijab protecting her hair as I made sure could only let out a low mumble.

Her eyes spoke volumes, however, as I smiled at her and walked to the main room, looking out onto the street. I had some time yet before I had to get into position…

Which was perhaps just as well, as I heard the apartment main door open and close, and then heard a female voice call out “MUM!” I quickly made my way back to the kitchen area to see a twenty year old woman standing, staring at my captive as she looked at me and shook her head.

The younger woman – I could see from her face she was indeed her daughter – was wearing a red vest top and a wrap round short denim skirt, the tops of a pair of white ankle socks just visible over the edge of her floral print shoes. She was still staring at her mother as she shook her head and mumbled – and then she stood quite still as I told her to take another chair, and sit down next to her.

Her mother could only watch as I picked up the clear tape, and taped her ankles together before I secured them to the legs of the chair. I then slipped her shoes off, the younger woman wriggling her toes as I stood up and taped her wrists together behind the back of the chair.

After that, she just kept trying to talk to her mother as the bands of clear tape went round her upper body, trapping her back against the chair back and her arms in place. Her long red hair was falling over her bare shoulders as she tried to twist round – but apart from her words, the only other sound was that of the crinkling tape as they both struggled.

Now, Sellotape even when used in abundance, is not the best way to secure someone – but as I gagged the younger woman in the same way as her mother, I knew that combined with the gun and my personality would ensure I was kept safe for the moment. Especially when I lifted them both into the main room of the house, one at a time, and they watched as I sat by the window.

Smiling at them, I put an earbud in and dialled a number, then fed information into the phone as I watched my colleagues arrive outside the building. I was aware of the two women trying to talk to each other, hearing their mumbling as they tried to move, so occasionally I had to look over and put a finger to my lips to indicate they should stay quiet.

Eventually, my colleagues left the building opposite, and if I had had my way I would have slipped quietly out, leaving them to try and escape – but the sound of the apartment door opening and closing again meant I had to stay for a little while longer. I picked up the gun and stood behind the two women, waiting to see who would come in.

And who came in was a man, I’d say a couple of years older than the daughter, wearing a leather jacket over a black jumper and pants, carrying a work bag. He had short dark hair and a beard, but when he saw me standing behind the two women, he dropped the bag and raised his hands into the air, asking if they were all right.

I assured him they would be if he did what I said, but I also knew I was out of the clear tape. Looking at him, I asked if he had any tape in the bag – and to my relief, he said he did, as he showed me some reels of blue tape. The two women shook their heads, as I said I needed to make sure he was secure.

I could see they were sweating, and I also said I’d give them a chance to wash and change before I made sure they could not raise the alarm. So I told the man to take one of the chairs that were around a table – metal mesh chairs with a cushion on them – and hand me the roll of tape before he sat down.

I started by taking his arms behind the chair back, and taping his wrists tightly together, before wrapping the tapes round his body and the chair back with three bands – one round his waist, one round his stomach and the chair back, and one round his arms and upper body, so that he could only twist round. He kept talking to the two other women, as he tried to move – but I made sure he was going to stay there.

I then knelt in front of him and taped his ankles together, before I wound the tape up so that there was a blue sheath holding them together up to his knees. As I needed them to stay quiet a while longer, I asked him to open his mouth, and put a folded cloth into his mouth before winding the blue tape tightly round his head.

All three of them watched as I collected their mobile phones, and then disconnected the main phone in the house, before I found a pair of scissors and cut the older woman free. As I removed the tape gag, she told her daughter and the man not to try and escape – she did not want to be responsible if they were hurt – and to remain there while she went to the toilet and changed, with me going with her.

No I did not go into the room – but the door remained open before she came out, her brown hair now falling loose over a long sleeved peach top, and black tights with opaque panels as stripes. She stood there as I taped her wrists together behind her back with the blue tape and then walked her back into the room, moving a second chair so she sat next to the man with her arms over the back of the chair, before I secured her into place in the same way.

Once her legs were secured, and a cloth in her mouth with the blue tape wound around her head, it was the turn of her daughter. It was as I ungagged her that she asked the man if he was all right, and that she loved him – so this was her partner or husband.

She changed into a red checked lumberjack shirt over a white t-shirt, and blue denim leggings – bur fifteen minutes later, she, her mother, and her partner were exchanging glances as I taped over her mouth, the tape crinkling as they tried to move.

That, however, was not my concern then – my concern was that I needed to make my getaway, and leave them to try and escape…

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