Lot number two was a Japanese airline hostess, who had been drugged in a nightclub and had woken to find herself in a packing crate, marked "Fragile - with care". Lot number three, a Swedish blonde who had been backpacking across Europe when she was abducted, went for a similar price to the Japanese girl. Both of them had exhibited submissive natures and had taken to their training very well. The bidding was brisk and slightly better than average, thought Delgardo, as he called for lot number four.
He would be glad when today's business was concluded. He always felt anxious on the actual auction days. Not because of the auction itself, but because of other considerations. Most of his prospective clients were dangerous people on the wrong side of the law and they attracted too much unwanted attention. There had been, he was sure, several occasions when some had been followed to Rouassa. Probably by the authorities of their country, who had been tracking them. Sinister boats, planes, and foreigners suddenly appeared in Karunga then disappeared as suddenly as the visitors to the auction did after they'd bought their new acquisitions. Delgardo had even wondered whether some criminal ring was watching his operation and was preparing to take control of it.
'Lot number four ladies and gentlemen...'
The English girl was led in on a collar and leash. She had been strapped to a cross that Delgardo had designed himself. Made from bamboo, one length of the cross held the girls arms outstretched, while the other length ran the length of her spine. The poles pressed against her back and held her arms drawn slightly back so that she was forced to maintain an upright stance with her breasts jutting forwards. Her nipples, bound with the invisible thread, stood proud from her dark areoles.
Two leather straps were fastened to the bottom of the pole and these had been fed between her legs and pulled tightly back over the insides of her thighs before being screwed back onto the bamboo pole. The straps drew the globes of her arse apart then prevented her from closing her thighs. This way her sex was kept clearly on show. Another leather strap was drawn tightly under the girl's breasts and fixed to the pole. It served not just to keep the girl strapped to the pole but exaggerated the prominence of her breasts by pressing tightly against her rib cage under their swell. Her whole body had been oiled so that her tanned skin shone. With her sex now shaved the delicate pink folds of flesh were clearly exposed as she was made to parade around the hall.
'Lot four: English, mid-twenties. Lovely condition, freshly broken in. She responds well to the whip and she makes for a challenging ride. She's very bright and as you'll see from her background notes, she was a British secret agent. She's probably trained in hand to hand combat so don't take any chances with her, her bite will be worse than her bark.'
A ripple of laughter went through the crowd. The English girl looked up at him, glaring with anger. She seemed to snarl silently at him, her generous bow shaped lips curling back and exposing her clenched teeth. The crowd laughed and Delgardo smiled to himself.
Amongst Delgardo's henchmen was an old, alcoholic German dentist. An hour ago, Delgardo had leant in the doorway of the room he used and had watched him at work. Zoe had been strapped down onto his dentist's chair and a ring gag forced into her mouth to keep her jaws held open. Delgardo's henchman had then applied a modified filling cement over the tops of the girl's molars. The gag was then removed and her jaws were forced closed and held.
With the paste set hard, Zoe's teeth were effectively clamped together, making it impossible for her to speak. After a day the paste would begin to dissolve but for the moment all she could do, as she was paraded around the auction hall, was to snarl like a captured wild animal.
Delgardo looked down at the English girl and smiled with satisfaction.
'So who would like to open the bidding?'
Immediately a hand was raised.
'Any advance upon...'
His sentence was never completed as another hand was waved.
'Now, is someone going to give me a figure more like her true worth. Nice firm arse, well muscled legs: all in all a fit body. Imagine what she'd be like under your control, ladies and gentlemen. Come on now, how often would you have the chance to make a British Secret Service agent submit to your will? Remember her training and look at the photographs in your catalogue. Imagine having her body bound for your pleasure.'
The bids came thick and fast and Delgardo had to keep his excitement firmly under control. He had already taken the bidding well past Auda's reserve for her and he would take fifteen percent of her sale price. It was remarkable, he mused, how much some people would pay for a slave, when if you had the nerve they were just there for the taking.
'Generous breasts, a very appealing pussy. Look at those wide, dark eyes. Imagine them watching you as you gave her a good whipping. Would anyone care to advance the bidding?'
It was a three way bid now between two regular clients and an unknown Englishman who had signed in as The Colonel and had put his address in the guest book as Shrevra, Jalhor Province, India. The last bid, by The Colonel was going unchallenged and Delgardo suspected that the bidding for the English girl was just about concluded.
'Any more bids? Going once, going twice...'
A hand came up. It was one of his regulars: a Brazilian businessman who had bought many girls from Delgardo. Amongst his various enterprises he ran a dungeon that was used for photographs for a website. A website with a very high access charge because of the nature of the photographs.
'Right then, is that the final bid? Going once, going twice...'
The Colonel raised his hand again. The Brazilian looked crestfallen.
'So, it is with the gentlemen on my right. Going once, going twice... going three times... sold!'
Vanessa sat on the sun deck, a large gin and tonic in one hand, idly flicking through a glossy magazine when she sensed the boat move fractionally sideways. She looked up from the magazine for an explanation. Auda had anchored the boat mid-stream about half a mile from the fort, so as not to draw attention to it. He had taken Zoe to the auction in the small speedboat and had left Basil on the yacht with Vanessa.
'Basil! Is that you?'
With no answer immediately forthcoming she stood up. She was about to call out again when she thought she heard hushed voices. Standing up on tiptoe on her bare feet she looked around. The water on one side of the boat had telltale ripples as if something had disturbed it.
'Hey! Vanessa! You call?'
She looked around and saw Basil emerging from one of the deck doors.
'I just thought...'
Her sentence died in her throat as she saw two men appear from behind the life raft capsule and dash towards Basil. One held a machete and the other a large, serrated edged diver's knife. Basil, seeing the look of alarm on her face, swung around and then bounded away across the deck, the two men in pursuit.
Vanessa was agonising over what she should do when she saw two more men climb over the side of the yacht and now she heard the dull scrape of their little boat against the side of Auda's yacht. She swore at their bad luck, the boat had a good arsenal of guns but Basil had appeared on deck unarmed. The main galley was nearest her and she knew there was a revolver kept there. As fast as she could, she ran, but already they were after her.