Tara Knyveton-Soames was the Head of the Dealing Room at under thirty years of age and her reputation within the bank was awesome. Whatever target came down from above Tara would ensure that it was met; she was ruthless and had an incredible mind for detail so her finger was on the pulse of everything which happened in her little empire. Hardly anyone knew what she was paid but she was the darling of the top floor so her salary would certainly be huge and more than enough to cover the cost of her luxury flat with its panoramic views of The Thames. She did not seem to have any kind of private life; someone who works twelve hour days has little time for any life outside of work.
She knew that she was known behind her back as the Ice Maiden and it was said that the only thing which caused her pulse to race was a computer screen showing all figures in green. But everyone needs a safety valve and someone living in Tara's high pressure world certainly needed a release.
The Friday before Bank Holiday Weekend Tara left the office at seven PM much later than anyone else and, as she sat in her Porche in the office car park, she dialled a number on her cell phone. The voice which answered had a slight foreign accent. Tara gave a code number and some brief details and the voice gave a curt response.
"The usual preparation." Then the call was cut off.
Back at her flat Tara began to make the usual preparations beginning with a scented bath and then taking great care with her makeup and her hair. She was at the appointed meeting place ahead of time wearing a thin summer dress which showed just enough cleavage to be alluring without being tarty. She wore pearl drop gold ear rings and white high heeled sandals. As per instructions she carried no bag and her flat keys were in the pocket of her dress.
Her heart was pounding as she stood on the busy street corner looking around her. Looking just right had been important because if they came to the meeting and saw that she did not look her best they would simply drive past. The dialogue inside her head was intense. She tried to tell herself that she was an adult simply engaging in recreation but another voice cancelled that one out.
"You are standing on a street corner hoping that you have done enough to make them stop and pick you up. You are nothing more than a cheap hooker desperate to attract what you need."
Suddenly a camper van pulled up beside her and the side door slid open. It was dark inside the van and she could just make out the two large men clothed all in black with black balaclavas over their heads. One of them gave an order.
"Get in bitch."
As soon as she placed one foot inside the van things happened very quickly. Her hair was grabbed pulling her forward onto her face on the coarse carpet of the van, a black hood went over her head and she heard the door slammed shut as the van pulled away. Her hands were yanked behind her back and cold handcuffs were snapped into place.
While she was still gasping for air inside the hood she felt the straps of her expensive dress cut away and then the cold steel blade was against her skin and her bra straps were severed allowing her dress and bra to be dragged down almost to her waist so that her naked nipples were being ground into the floor. Her head was now crushed between the floor and a large shoe and she heard the harsh voice threatening her.
"You make one sound or one move and you get a whole world of pain."
As the man kept his foot on her head the other must have knelt beside her as she felt hands go under her body and viciously maul her sensitive breasts before yanking her dress up and painfully groping between her legs. The pickup was always the same but, once she was in their hands, she had no idea what they would do. It changed every time and there was no safe word, no way of making them stop. She was playing by grown up rules and she just had to trust them (she had only a sketchy idea of who they were) that they would ensure that she survived and that they would not hurt her so badly that she would not return for more. Her only guarantee was that if they did hurt her too badly she would not come back and they would lose a good customer. She knew that probably at this very moment a large debit was on its way to her credit card account bearing the innocent narrative "Personal Consulting".
It felt like a very long drive with many stops probably at traffic lights where other vehicles must have been very close to the van but no-one had the slightest idea of what was happening behind the blinds in the back of the camper. Tara was not mauled constantly but this somehow made it worse because she had no way of knowing when they would start again or where their coarse hands would go next. The men were experienced at what they did and were able to build their victim up to a state of sexual arousal and keep her there with every nerve screaming for release. And all the while the dark voices inside Tara's head were telling her that she deserved this; she needed to be punished for all her short-comings which she kept so well hidden from the usual world in which she moved.
When the van came to a halt the door was slid open and hands under her arms dragged her out so that her feet were on the ground and she was dragged half walking, half sliding. One shoe had come off in the van but she could not manage to dislodge the other one so she was adopting a strange hopping gait as she was forced into a building where she felt the hard concrete floor beneath her feet. All sight was blocked by her hood and her hands were still firmly cuffed behind her back.
Eventually she was pulled to a stop and left to stand unsteadily by herself as her hood was pulled away and she was blinded by spotlights from close in front of her. She knew this place from past visits; it was a huge space which might once have been a factory. The bricks in the walls were black possibly due to paint or perhaps just from decades of grime and filth. At odd places in the walls and floor were sturdy metal fixings which may once have anchored huge machines and iron gantries ran overhead. Up very high were small windows which were so filthy that they let in little light even in daylight and most of the light came from neon strips suspended from the gantries.