by Tessa Valmur
‘All of you wait here, Kachasa, come with me.’
Ricardo beckoned the bearded giant to follow him and the two men stealthily made their way further down the twisting track and soon were lost to view.
‘Kachasa,’ said Hamilton, ‘is the man who tried to ravish Catherina. I am surprised that Ricardo has continued to keep him as one of his bodyguards. Whilst the man seems now loyal to a fault there’s something about him that I just don’t trust.’
‘He must have been pretty stupid to have tried it on with his boss’s daughter?’ Tanya suggested.
‘He was drunk at the time: Kachasa is the name given to cane alcohol that they distil. He was so fond of it that the others made it his nickname. He was lucky he got away with a knife in the buttocks and nothing worse.’
Tanya glanced at the other men and the two young girls. No one spoke, no one moved, the jungle was still all around them and as the minutes slid past the tension grew even more palpable. After maybe half of an hour, it was Catherina who broke the silence.
‘The river is less than ten minutes from here; they should have sent someone back by now if it was safe to go on.’
‘What do you want to do, Catherina?’ asked Hamilton.
‘We have little choice,’ answered Catherina, ‘we go forwards but be ready to fight.’
Tanya watched as both sisters drew their revolvers from their holsters and with Catherina taking the lead, the party edged cautiously forwards.
The last few hundred yards of the track were the steepest and narrowest as it plunged down the hillside to the little stretch of mangrove where there was a sand bank and the wooden jetty had been constructed. Tanya and Hamilton were now at the rear of the party except for the young lad who was carrying the two-way radio. As she slithered down the track, grasping over-hanging branches to steady herself, Tanya glimpsed through the foliage the dark green water of the river and the sliver of dull yellow sandbank. She could just see the jetty and the speedboats but there was no sign of Ricardo or the others.
Tanya and Hamilton were still on the jungle track and, leading the party, Catherina was cautiously advancing over the sand towards the boats her revolver in hand when suddenly she raised her hand urgently to her cheek and even as she turned around, Tanya watched speechlessly as Catherina stumbled then dropped to her knees. The next second one of the men gave a cry of alarm and snatched a small dart that protruded from his shoulder.
‘Back! Back!’ shouted Julietta but even as she began to retreat, she too was hit by one of the darts and she only managed to stumble a few yards before she fell into the sand. Tanya needed no encouraging and with Hamilton hard at her heels they fled, brushing aside the youth burdened with the enormous two-way radio strapped to his back. There were a couple of gunshots and then in reply two or maybe three machine guns shattered the silence. From all around the undergrowth erupted as men with blackened faces and camouflaged jackets burst from their hiding places, each man armed with a machine gun. They had the path and the only line of retreat covered and Tanya lurching up the steep and slippery path came face to face with two soldiers who grinned delightedly when they saw that they had caught such a pretty girl.
Tanya and Hamilton were marched at gun-point back down to the sandbank where they found a dozen or more soldiers and two loin cloth clad natives who were holding long blow pipes. Two of Ricardo’s three men lay dead and the third stood passively whilst his hands were bound behind his back. Half a dozen soldiers were clustered around the Catherina and Julietta and having stripped the girls of their weapons they were binding their hands behind their backs.
‘They’re not dead?’ Tanya asked.
‘Evidently not,’ answered Hamilton, ‘the blow pipes must have fired not poisoned darts as is usual but darts tipped in some drug strong enough to knock out the person on the receiving end.’
‘Look, there’s what’s-his-name!’ Tanya blurted, seeing the bearded giant emerge from the trees, an evil grin on his face.
‘Kachasa!’ Hamilton spat out his name, ‘I knew he couldn’t be trusted. I bet he was the one who told the army of Ricardo’s whereabouts. He must have been biding his time he could get his revenge.’
Tanya and Hamilton were questioned by the commander of the soldiers but he seemed convinced that both Tanya and Hamilton were actually just two more of Ricardo’s followers. Despite their protesting their innocence, both were, like the sisters, subjected to having their hands bound behind their backs. They were then marched across to the speedboats where they saw Ricardo, bound hand and foot in one boat, half covered by a blanket. He was only semi-conscious and his face bore an ugly bruise across one side.
‘Put the girls and the old man in the other boat,’ ordered the Lieutenant commanding the soldiers.
One of the soldiers had a two way radio and with it news of the successful ambush was relayed and a few minutes later a large, olive green speedboat came roaring up the river, one soldier steering the outboard engine from a centrally mounted steering wheel and another soldier leaning on a heavy machine gun that was mounted at the prow.
‘Well men, we’ll be well rewarded by nightfall,’ announced the Lieutenant, ‘there is a heavy bounty on Ricardo Rueda’s head and you’ll all get your share. What’s more, by nightfall we can be back at base and we’ve got his daughters for company!’
There was a rush of laughter from the men. Tanya was prodded at gunpoint onto the military speedboat and behind her Hamilton followed, grumbling under his breath at the way they were being treated.
‘Sergeant, take three men in one of the bandit’s boats and take responsibility for Rueda. We’ll keep him separate from his daughters.’
The Lieutenant then walked onto the jetty and looked down at where Ricardo lay in one of his boats, bound and bruised.
‘If you try to escape, one of your daughters dies, understood?’ he warned.
Ricardo nodded grudgingly. The Lieutenant then turned to the two sisters who, having regained consciousness, were being led onto the jetty.
‘If either of you tries to escape, your father will be executed, understood?’
Both girls nodded sullenly. Tanya watched as the evil bearded Kachasa strolled onto the jetty and staring lecherously at Catherina, made his way to the end of the jetty where the Captain stood overlooking the boat where Ricardo was held prisoner.
‘You won’t forget my reward, will you?’ Kachasa said, loudly enough for everyone present to hear.
‘Of course not,’ answered the Lieutenant, ‘why don’t you say goodbye to Signor Rueda, he’ll not be coming back to the jungle from the capital, you can be certain of that. If he’s unlucky they’ll leave him to rot in prison but I shouldn’t be surprised if he faces the firing squad. Pity, given my way, I’d hang him.’ The Lieutenant spat contemptuously.
Tanya watched as Kachasa walked up to the end of the jetty and looked down at Ricardo and he gave an evil laugh then spoke.
‘Can you guess my reward?’ he taunted, ‘your daughter who likes to play with fire and knives... well, tonight I’ll be playing with her and this time her hands will be well tied from the start!’
‘Good luck you piece of scum,’ answered Ricardo, ‘I should have killed you when I had the chance!’
‘Too late now, such a pity; well, it’s time we say goodbye and think of me tonight when you’ll be well on your way to the capital and your daughter Catherina will be submitting her tender young body to whatever pleases me! Isn’t that right, signor?’
Kachasa turned to the Lieutenant for confirmation but was met the soldier’s fist which connecting with his bearded chin, knocked him backwards and with a resounding splash Kachasa tumbled into the river.
‘Get the girls in the boats!’ he ordered.
From her vantage point, Tanya saw Kachasa tread water for a moment and then he angrily began to swim around the
posts of the jetty, the wooden decking being just a little too high for him to reach from where he’d been knocked over. By the time Tanya had been cajoled at gunpoint to climb onto the military boat, she saw the bearded giant wading angrily ashore. All the time the Lieutenant was watching him and he had drawn his revolver. Kachasa never made it to dry land. With a horrible scream, whilst the water was still around his thighs he lunged out and fell face first. Tanya watched him try to make a few more desperate steps. The murky green water around him was churned to foam and turned crimson. The bearded face was dragged under the water and Kachasa vanished from sight. For a few more moments the water seemed to boil but then it went eerily calm.
‘Piranha fish,’ announced Catherina, matter-of-factly from her seat alongside Tanya.
‘What a way to go,’ said Hamilton.
‘No more than he deserved,’ Catherina spat and she glowered around at the soldiers guarding them. Last to board the boat was the Lieutenant and once he had seated himself on one of the simple wooden benches, he ordered the boat to be cast off.
‘So it seems as if Kachsa will not be sampling the delights of your tender young body tonight then after all?’ he announced cheerily. ‘I had planned to amuse myself with young Julietta so maybe you would like to watch?’
The Lieutenant was addressing Catherina. Tanya could see her almost visibly boiling with anger but there was of course nothing she could do.
‘I dare say that would amuse you.’ Catherina answered icily.
‘You could offer to take her place if you wished and I would promise you that I would not touch your younger sister as long as you submitted to me. Is that not a tempting offer?’
For a moment Catherina glared at the man.
‘Don’t trust him!’ blurted Julietta.
‘My dear girls, you can trust me, I give you my word as an officer and a gentleman: if Catherina agrees to submit to my every whim, I will promise not to touch Julietta.’
‘Very well,’ said Catherina, ‘I agree.’
‘Excellent,’ the Lieutenant clapped his hands in approval, ‘ then tonight I have your company for my pleasure and my men can have your younger sister!’
‘You bastard!’ swore Catherina.
The Lieutenant just laughed before turning his attention to Tanya.
‘So just where do you fit into Ricardo’s little following?’
‘My father kidnapped her,’ said Catherina quickly.
‘Really? You expect me to believe that?’ scoffed the soldier.
‘It’s true!’ objected Tanya.
‘I don’t really care who you were; if you’re someone important then after a few days I’ll have to hand you over to the authorities but if not then I think I’ll keep you as a servant for my household. I’m sure I can find a good use for you. Either that or I’ll maybe sell you; I know some people who need girls like you,’ the Lieutenant said enigmatically and with a smile that did nothing to reassure Tanya about her fate.
***
Her arms ached so much that Tanya began to sob plaintively. It felt like it had been hours since she had been given some water and food and the men had left. To her left, Julietta hung from her arms, bound the same way and beyond her was Catherina. Tanya gazed up forlornly; her arms were fully extended above her, her wrists bound together with rope which in turn was tied to another length of rope which hung down from one of the wooden beams that held up the old corrugated tin roof of the hut in which they girls were being held prisoners.
The journey to the military camp had taken three hours by boat and when they arrived they saw that the camp was no more than a few huts at the edge of a friendly native settlement beside the river. The soldiers had pretty much stripped the girls of their clothes; Catherina was left wearing only a her short sleeved black shirt and her briefs, the younger Julietta had been stripped of all her clothes except for her underwear, a skimpy black bra and a matching thong. Tanya had been left her T-shirt but nothing else except for the lacy, dark red briefs she’d been given for the journey by Julietta.
The hut where they were held had a small hole in the centre of the tin roof and directly below it there was an old wood-burning stove from which ran a leaking tin pipe that went out through the hole in roof. Smoke seeped from the stove-pipe but at least the hut was warm inside. It was dark now and in the late afternoon there had been a sudden downpour and the rain had continued steadily ever since and the temperature had dropped noticeably. The girls’ clothes were soaked through by the time they had arrived at the camp and despite the little stove giving off some meagre heat Tanya’s T-shirt still stuck damply to her skin.
Patrick Hamilton had been taken elsewhere and after the three girls were left strung up, their bare feet just brushing the bare floorboards, the soldiers had left, not even bothering to leave a guard, evidently confident that the girls could not escape. Gazing up at her hands Tanya quickly realised that with the rope bound once again in a figure of eight tightly around her wrists the soldiers’ confidence was hardly misplaced. She and Ricardo’s daughters were indeed as helpless as flies in a spider’s web.
When the soldiers returned, there were a dozen of them and it was evident that they had not just fed but had enjoyed some drink as well. They were now in good spirits and their Sergeant, a short but stocky man in an olive green vest that left his powerfully muscled and tattooed arms exposed, circled the dangling girls, his dark eyes gleaming with satisfaction and anticipation as he feasted on their nakedness.
‘Our Lieutenant says that we are not to touch you,’ he announced as he stopped before Catherina. ‘He will be summoning you later, when he is rested. He turned his attention to Julietta and Tanya.
‘So that leaves you two for us!’
Tanya looked nervously at the man as he fingered her damp T-shirt. He then drew a short bladed knife from a sheath stitched to the side of his boot and with it he cut the T-shirt with a couple of assured strokes at the shoulders and ripped it from her trembling body. Grinning with pleasure he slipped the tip of the knife underneath the fabric of Tanya’s bra between her breasts and he pulled the knife towards him. For a moment the bra stretched and then the cotton tore, exposing Tanya’s generous breasts. One of the soldiers stood behind the Sergeant said something in Spanish and several of the men seemed to mutter their agreement.
‘Very nice,’ nodded the Sergeant, ‘we shall have some fun with you.’
Tanya closed her eyes for a moment, holding her breath as the man caressed both her breasts before turning his full attention to just her right breast which he proceeded to fondle with both hands, squeezing her breasts and lifting it in his palms so he could appreciate its full weight and size.
‘How old are you?’ he demanded.
‘Nineteen,’ Tanya answered.
‘English?’
‘Yes, English.’
‘Virgin?’
‘No.’
‘Pity, but no surprise; you look like the sort of girl who likes good fuck, yes?’
Tanya hesitated for a second and the Sergeant took her silence for an answer and turned and addressed one of his men.
‘Her tits are like ripe melons; firmer and bigger than any of our girls. Get me a candle and some rope, I think we should give the English girl a treat.’
‘Please...’ Tanya began but the man turned and caught hold of her jaw with one hand encouraging her to be quiet.
‘There’s no need to thank me, not yet anyway,’ the Sergeant grinned.
Tanya could do nothing but hang from her painfully extended arms whilst several of the soldiers, upon the Sergeants instructions, bound her breasts with a rope drawn about them in a figure of eight. The Sergeant then lit a candle and with one hand stroked one of Tanya’s rope-trapped tits.
‘No, please... don’t...’ Tanya begged.
Ignoring her plea the m
an held the burning candle above her bound breasts and a second later Tanya felt the first drops of hot wax splash against the bare skin of her tits.
‘Oww! No...stop it! Please!’ Tanya shook her head urgently. She tried to twist away but two soldiers held her by the shoulders. More wax dripped down onto her breasts, the stinging pain making her eyes smart and then as more liquid wax splashed down Tanya burst into tears.
‘Had enough?’ the Sergeant asked, smiling sadistically as he watched the tears run down Tanya’s cheeks. Tanya nodded urgently and to her relief the man blew out the candle and tossed it aside. Tanya gazed down sorrowfully at her rope bound breasts; the cones of tender flesh that remained exposed by the ropes were spattered with wax. The Sergeant took hold of the rope that bound Tanya’s right breast and used it to lift her breast then with his other hand he fingered her nipple.
‘So how many you let fuck you?’ he demanded.
‘Not many,’ Tanya lied between sobs.
The man laughed and shook his head. Tanya felt his thumb and finger trap her nipple and steadily apply more pressure until she couldn’t take any more and she tried to pull free. The two soldiers holding her by the shoulders tightened their grip and all Tanya could do was writhe helplessly whilst her nipple was mercilessly squeezed, pulled and rolled between the man’s finger and thumb and her poor nipple throbbed with discomfort.
‘I will spend some more time with you soon enough,’ the Sergeant turned from Tanya and focused his attention on Julietta.
‘So, you are signor Ricardo’s youngest daughter?’
‘And you are the son of a monkey!’ spat Julietta.
The Sergeant grinned for a moment as he digested the insult then he turned to his men and pointed to the table beside the stove in the middle of the room.
‘Take the youngest of Ricardo’s daughters and tie her down over the table; on her back. It’s time she had her welcome drink that I know you have all been saving up for her.’
