?Thank you ? have a good
night!?
Ai-Li closed the door of the
restaurant behind the last customer, locked it and placed the sign on the door
to ?Closed?.? It had been a long lunch
period for her and her fellow waitresses, and she walked back to the table where
Hui and Pin-Mei sat in
their tunics and long trousers.
Hui ran her hand through her bleached hair and let out a
sigh.? ?h஦lt;/span> xi覬t;/span> shǎng
d즬t;/span> nu󦬴;/span> zhuǎn
bi஦lt;/span> d즬t;/span> jiē
sh?/span> ? she said as she poured a glass of wine from the
bottle on the table.
?wǒ zhī d௦lt;/span>?? -?? d஦lt;/span> qǐ mǎ wǒ men yǒu wǎn shǎng lí¦¬t;/span> kāi ? Pin-Mei replied as she accepted the drink.? The three girls lived together in a house
some distance from the restaurant, and had a rare night off together to look
forward to.
Ai-Li sat down and looked at
her friends.? The shorter
of the three, she had dark hair cut in a bob that swept back from her face to
the nape of her neck.
?d௦lt;/span> d᦬t;/span> z੦lt;/span>
nǐ liǎng , r஧ wǒ men q?/span> huò¦¬´;/span> chuān
yī f?/span> ? she said as
she stood up.? ?See you tomorrow Geoff,?
she called through to the kitchen as the three girls let themselves out of a
side door and went up to their flat.
As the three girls climbed
into a cab, a young woman with short cut fair hair and a freckled face started
to make a call from her mobile phone.?
Watching the cab drive down the road, she spoke quietly before ending
the call and walking off down the street.
Fifteen minutes later, the
three women alighted at a semi-detached house set a little back from the road,
and walked up the garden path.? Pin-Mei drew a set of keys out of her handbag, and opened the
front door, dropping them on a table as they went in.? ?wǒ
sh즬t;/span> f஧ shuǐ h?/span> z੦lt;/span>?
she called over her shoulder as she made her way to the kitchen.? Hui picked up the
mail and started to sort through it, while Ai-Li started to climb up the
stairs, calling back ?nu󦬴;/span> me, shǐ
w?/span> yī gě kā
fēi, tò®§¦lt;/span> shí¦¬t;/span> wǒ yǒu
zh讦lt;/span> yǔ.?
A few minutes later, Pin-Mei carried three mugs of steaming coffee up the staircase
and left one in each of the other two girls
rooms.? Ai-Li said ?xi覬t;/span>
xi覬t;/span> ?as she started to towel her hair, while Hui made her own way to the bathroom.? Placing her cup on a bedside table, Pin-Mei started to remove her uniform, turning on the radio as
she did so.
With the combination of the
music and the running water, none of the girls heard the rear door in the
kitchen quietly open, nor did they hear the soft footsteps of the three women
as they entered the house.? All three
were similarly attired, and made their way silently
across the corridor.
At the base of the stairs,
they stopped and listened as Hui called out ?y?/span> sh즬t;/span> d즬t;/span>
z즬t;/span> y󵦬t;/span>?.? ?d੦lt;/span>?
was all Pin-Mei said as they listened to the sound of
footsteps running along the upstairs landing, before the sound of running water
came down again.
The lead woman signalled to
her companions, and all three started to climb the staircase.
Ai-Li was sat at a dressing
table, brushing her dark hair so that it fell around her face and behind her
neck.? She had put on a cream silk
sleeveless blouse, a short dark skirt, and short black ankle boots made of
leather, and was singing quietly to herself as she
plied the hairbrush.? Placing it back on
the table, she picked up a stick of lipstick and started to move it over her
lips when she heard the bedroom door open.
?r?/span> guǒ nǐ xiǎng
There was a woman standing
behind her, dressed from head to foot in grey with a hood over her head.? Where the face should have been visible was a
plain white featureless mask, which seemed to be looking at Ai-Li.
?shí¦¬t;/span> me guǐ...? was all
she managed to say before a grey gloved hand was firmly clamped over her
mouth.? As she looked in the mirror, eyes
wide with fear, she saw that there were two other women in the room, dressed in
the same way.? The woman with her hand
over Ai-Li?s mouth turned and nodded to the other two, who left them alone in
the room.? She then made Ai-Li stand up
before removing her hand, showing the Chinese girl as she did so a large pistol
which she silently placed in front of her.
?nǐ zěn me xiǎng?? Ai-Li said, but the woman in grey stayed
silent.? Instead, she motioned to Ai-Li
to place her hands behind her back, producing as she did so a long length of
brown rope.? The frightened girl looked
over her shoulder as the intruder placed her arms together behind her back,
elbows resting in the palms of the hands, and then wrapped the doubled over
rope around her forearms.
?bīng qiě wǒ men q?/span> yǐ zh즬t;/span> 河?
Hui was singing along to the Springsteen song as she
pulled her strapless black top over her chest.?
Opening her eyes, she looked at herself in the mirror as the bedroom
door opened.? Turning round, she saw the
two grey-clad intruders looking at her, their heads cocked to one side.
?shí e..... Ai-Li! Pin-Mei! Pǎo!!!?
Pin-Mei
poked her head round the shower door and called out ?nǐ
yu覬t;/span> mǒu sh즬t;/span>??? In Ai-Li?s
room, the woman in grey tied the last knot off on the ropes around her
captive?s chest, signalled with her finger to her lips not to say anything, and
led her out of the room.? Pin-Mei shrugged as she heard the sound of footsteps descending
the staircase, and went back to washing her hair.
Hui was watching as the long length of rope was passed
around her arms and chest below her breasts, before it was pulled tightly and
fed back through the loop made by the women when they had started to bind her
arms.? It had only taken five minutes,
but she was already unable to move her arms away from each other or from her
back.? Another pass was made above her
breasts, and then secured at her back before they led her out of the room.
?shòµ¦¬t;/span> yǔ wǒ shí¦¬t;/span> 分 zhōng , gū ni஦lt;/span>?, Pin-Mei called down as she came out of the bathroom, a towel
around her long dark hair.? She shrugged
when she heard nothing, and went back to her own room.
In the front room of the
house, the two girls were made to sit down on the floor as the three intruders
looked silently at them.? ?W試lt;/span> shí¦¬t;/span> me n஦lt;/span>
d௦lt;/span> nǐ
b?/span> yu覬t;/span>?? Hui said as they stood there, looking at them.? One of the women reached into a holdall that
was sitting on a coffee table, and produced two white cloths and more lengths
of rope.? Handing the ropes to the other
two, she watched as they knelt in front of their two captives and placed their
ankles together.
?Qǐng , gòµ¦¬t;/span> liǎo , nǐ sh즬t;/span> shāng
h馬t;/span> wǒ ,? Hui said as the rope was doubled over, passed around her
ankles and pulled tightly.? Although she
was wearing dark stockings, the sandals she was wearing as well provided little
protection to her ankles as they were pulled together, and the straps that rose
in a criss-cross fashion up her lower legs were little use as well.? She was thankful that she had a pair of black
elbow-length gloves on, as they provided some protection against chaffing
around her arms.
For her part, Ai-Li was
watching silently as the rope was wrapped around her ankle boots.? She just wanted this to end, and the fear in
her eyes was growing greater with each pass of the rope.? As the binding was cinched
by passing the rope between her legs. She looked up and saw the third
woman making small cloth balls from the white material, and realised what was
coming next.
?qǐng
, wǒ men qiāng b?/span> d੦lt;/span> shēng
hǎn , nǐ b?/span> xū yāo
s覬t;/span> zh?/span> wǒ
men? she said, but the grey clad captor just handed the cloth to one of her
partners, who knelt next to Ai-Li and gently pushed the cloth into her
mouth.? The third woman finished tying
some rope around Hui?s legs above her knees, before
gagging her with the other cloth.? The
two girls looked at each other as they heard their friend coming down the
stairs.
?Sh즬t;/span>
nǐ gū
ni஦lt;/span> zhǔn b試lt;/span>
One of the women nodded her
head, then motioned for Pin-Mei
to come into the room.? She walked slowly
in, looking at her friends as they stared back at her, the cloth sticking out
of their stuffed mouths, and faced the woman who seemed to understand her.? ?Wǒ . . .
.?? Wǒ qiāng zuò¦¬´;/span> r讦lt;/span> 何 nǐ w讦lt;/span> , d஦lt;/span> qǐng
bi覬t;/span> shòµ¦¬t;/span> shāng wǒ d즬t;/span> p鮧 yǒu.?
The Doll nodded, and
motioned Pin-Mei to turn around as she was handed a
long length of brown rope.? Looking over
her shoulder, she watched as the silent Doll placed her arms together as the
other two had, and wrapped the rope around her forearms in the small of her
back.? Pin-Mei
was wearing a gold top held up by a thin strap around her neck, a black microskirt split up the side and high heeled patnet leather shoes.?
She watched as the rope used to secure her arms together, holding her
arms in a box behind her back.
Looking round, she could see
Ai-Li and Hui struggling on the floor.? Hui?s breasts were
starting to come over her top, so she said ?Qǐng,
sh즬t;/span> t?/span> f஧
sōng.? Wǒ yǒu tīng yu覬t;/span> guō
zh試lt;/span> xiē f?/span> nǚ, 鲦lt;/span>
tā men sh즬t;/span> hěn jīng y?/span> tā men suǒ zuò¦¬´;/span> d즬t;/span>.? R?/span> guǒ wǒ
men zuò¦¬´;/span> děi xi஧ tā men w讦lt;/span>, wǒ men yīng gāi sh즬t;/span> hǎo bɑ.?? Ai-Li looked, up nodded and settled against
the couch they were sat in front of.? Hui grunted, but did the same.
By this point, the rope had
been passed around Pin-Mei?s arms and chest, above
and below her breasts, was now been passed between her arms and torso to
tighten the binding.? The Doll nodded to
the other two, who left the room as she helped Pin-Mei
to sit on the floor.? As her ankles were
bound together, she asked ?sh즬t;/span> nǐ liǎng ch?/span> lǐ zh試lt;/span>??? Hui nodded, while
Ai-Li started to silently cry.? The Doll
then took a piece of cloth, and stuffed it into Pin-Mei?s
mouth.
From the bag, the Doll then
produced three rolls of differing tapes.?
Kneeling next to Ai-Li, she tore a strip off a roll of thick brown
packing tape.? Pushing the cloth into her
mouth so that only a small piece was visible between her lips, she smoothed the
tape over the frightened girl?s mouth, and repeated the process three
times.? Stroking her hair back, she nodded
at her captive as she replaced the tape, and picked up a roll of white tape
from the bag.
Hui tried to twist her head out of the way as the Doll
came over, but she picked up one of the guns that was on the table and placed
it against the blonde?s head.? Hui glared back at her as the cloth was pushed into her
mouth, and then strips of white tape smoothed over her mouth.? Pin-Mei looked on
as the process was repeated on her, only this time with silver duct tape.? The Doll checked the ropes on each girl, and
as the three of them stared back she left them alone in the room, closing the
door behind her.
All three could hear the
sounds of drawers and cupboards been opened in the rooms of their house, but
other than that there was an eerie silence over the whole situation. Hui started to twist around, trying to find some give in
the ropes, but with little success.?
Looking over, the two girls could see the tears starting to come down
Ai-Li?s cheeks as she sat there, shaking slightly.? She then started to shake herself violently,
trying desperately to free herself from the ropes, but all that happened was that
she fell over onto her side, and started to move herself round so that her head
was at Hui?s feet.
Pin-Mei
sighed, and tried to rest her head on Hui?s shoulder
to offer some moral support.? Misjudging
the distance, she slipped onto the floor and looked up as the door opened and
the three Dolls came back into the room.?
The three bound and gagged girls stared silently at the intruders, who
in turn stared back, the featureless masks glowing in the dimming
twilight.? Each was carrying a small
canvas bag, and by the way they clinked the girls knew that their jewellery and
other valuables were about to leave their possession.
The Dolls looked down,
turned and left the room, closing the door behind them.? All three girls listened as the front door
was closed, and then started to scream through their gags, in the forlorn hope
that someone somewhere would hear their calls for help.