Destined for Algeria Ch. 13

"I'm setting the rules for today." Ally announced. "And I'm going to be the one having fun so you two had better learn to get along."

The room fell silent apart from the sound of Ingrid's cuffed hands trying to chop up her food with the edge of a spoon against the bottom of her bowl.

"let's get you away from her and somewhere safe." Ally whispered, loudly into Tess's ear, smiling and winking at Ingrid as she looked up at him in response to this latest derogatory comment.

Tess followed Ally outside, leaving Ingrid to finish eating.

"You will get me out of this won't you?" Tess asked, with her head down, concentrating on keeping up, with her shuffling feet.

"If I find some blades today then of course." He replied. "In the meantime, if you're going to need the toilet in the next few hours then you'd better use it now." He said, pausing outside the ablutions outhouse, hinting for her to go inside without him. "I just have to make another quick video for Ingrid's husband and then I'll be back."

Tess watched the only person who could help her walk towards the main house and disappear through the doorway before she made her own move to enter the middle outhouse via one of the brown wooden doors.

Within their privacy Ally explained to Ingrid about his need to keep Tess's trust and not to be seen ganging up on her. He didn't tell Ingrid why he needed to go out but he announced that she would be wearing her own leg cuffs again, to prevent her from running away.

"Are we still ok Ally?" She asked, giving him the puppy dog eyes treatment to keep him interested.

"Absolutely." He replied, stroking the back of his index finger against her cheek. "We need each other. Right?"

Ingrid smiled, confident that she still had his attention.

"Hold that smile." He said, pulling one of his phones from his pocket. "We need to make another video for your husband, to prove how well I'm treating you."

Ingrid sat up straight in her chair and tossed her light brown hair over her shoulder with a flick of her neck.

"You said you'd ask him for more money remember?" Ally said, reminding her of last night's suggestion.

With Ingrid looking at the back of his phone, Ally gave her the thumbs up to acknowledge the recording had commenced.

"Hi. It's me again." She begun, smiling into the camera. "I'm still being treated well but these guys are getting a bit impatient and are threatening to do things to me if you don't hurry up and deliver the money. You should have it all by now and I know for a fact that you can transfer the full amount, so stop fucking about and send us the money before I get hurt."

Her use of the words 'SEND US THE MONEY' passed through both Ingrid and Ally's grammar filters without concern. Ally stopped the recording, content with having no cause for editing or making another before sending it.

"Are you through with Gus now?" Ingrid asked.

Ally bent down to Ingrid's feet under her chair and locked both cuffs in turn around each of her ankles before answering.

"I have no more business with that cunt, if you understand where I'm coming from." Ally replied, confirming his dislike of the man. "You're welcome to try and make amends with him if you wish but the general gossip around his complex when I was there picking up Tess, seemed to be that he's still out there, hell bent on finding you."

"He is such an asshole." Ingrid agreed, "But if you have no feud with him and you're serious about getting married then you could ask him to get you in touch with a man who would be willing to perform the necessary requirements for the two of you, on the quiet."

"How do you mean?" Ally asked.

"I was witness to a wedding when I was last there." Ingrid replied, "I didn't ask too many questions but it was clear that the poor young woman didn't want to go through with it. There was no ceremony and everybody dispersed immediately after. Just don't tell Gus that it was me that recommended him."

"That sounds like his kind of business through and through." Ally said, "No. I'll keep him at arm's length for now, thank you."

After these words of assurance, he bent down once again, this time to fit the padlock through the two outermost links of the connecting chain, shortening the gap between her legs to just two inches.

"Hopefully he still thinks I'm in Morocco or even Gibraltar by now." She said in a very by the way fashion, not making any reference to, but completely accepting her legs being locked together in such a way, as though she agreed with his decision to do so.

"Hopefully." He said, jangling what looked like the keys to her leg cuffs, in front of her face, from one finger. "Ok. New rules. I'm going to lock Tess in the old ammunition store and give her these for you to go and retrieve from her."

"Why?" Ingrid asked.

"Because I'm going to bring you the key for her locked gates, to use as a bargaining chip." Ally explained. "Your task is to not give her the key or let her out. You can be as nice and convincing as you like, or you can threaten her in whatever way you want, to get the keys to your leg cuffs from her. But if you give her your key or let her out of there, then you will have lost your authority over her."

"So what's the challenge?" Ingrid laughed, drawing a smile from Ally as he turned and walked away.

Tess used the toilet and wondered around the courtyard for five minutes until Ally re-emerged from the main building after locking Ingrid's legs up and explaining the challenge ahead of her. He led Tess back into to the old ammunition store where she hobbled herself through the gates, to once again join him inside.

Ally placed the bunch of three little keys into the palm of her hand and looked her in the eye. "These are for Ingrid's leg cuffs, which she is now wearing over in the house."

The feeling of honour at being trusted with the keys soon disappeared as she watched him abandon her and swing the gate closed, turning and removing the key once he'd locked it behind him.

"I'm going to give this gate key to Ingrid." He said, "So you both have the ability to free each other. It will take her some time to reach you but when she does, your challenge is to get her to unlock this cage before you unlock her ankles. Ok?"

"Well, yes. But why?" Tess enquired.

"Because after what she did to you on the boat, do you really trust her?"

With an unfamiliar grin, she put her face up to the bars. "Why are you doing this?" she asked, "Why not lock her in here and leave me all the keys?"

Ally reached through the bars, grabbed hold of her head and kissed her, "It's a chance for you to get a little revenge and make her squirm for her release." He said, stepping backwards to walk away. "I call the shots, not her, so don't take any shit ok? But remember, most of all, don't unlock her leg cuffs first, because she can't be trusted."

As Ally walked away Tess looked down at the bunch of three keys he'd entrusted her with. Hanging down all together, the bite marks of all the keys teeth lined up identically, telling Tess that they were all one of the same type meaning that the locks they fitted on Ingrid's ankles must be both keyed alike for them to work. Unbeknown to Tess, Ally still held onto the padlock key which he'd used to shorten the chain between Ingrid's legs.

She watched him begin the routine of opening the compound's large wooden gates and driving his van out of the courtyard, followed by his quick reappearance to close and lock them behind him, before he could finally set out on his planned journey.

Not long after the noise of the van had faded away, Tess noticed Ingrid's head appear, quite low down through the doorway of the main building, followed by the slow emergence of her shoulders behind.

"What are you doing?" Tess called over to her.

"This fucking hurts." She replied, referring to the pain in her knees and the palms of her rigid cuffed hands where she persevered in her attempts at crawling along the rough ground.

Tess looked on with curious delight at how Ingrid's progress failed to increase or gain momentum as she struggled to traverse the course terrain beneath her.

Ingrid endured a long enough struggle before the reason for her difficulty became clear to Tess, which received her approval with a smile at the unfortunate position Ally had left her in.

Her leg cuffs had once again been joined together with the padlock, allowing such restricted movement that walking proved more difficult than crawling.

"Throw me the keys." Ingrid impolitely demanded, having had the same brief from Ally about the whereabouts of the keys to her shackles.

"Can't." Tess replied.

"Throw me the fucking keys will you!" Ingrid repeated, still crawling and clearly in pain from the ground beneath her where even the smallest of stones created agony as her weight pressed it into her kneecap.

"I'm in no position to throw anything. You'll have to come in here and get them." Tess explained. He gave you the key right?"

"He didn't give me the key so that I could let you out." Ingrid replied, "He gave me the key because I'm in charge."

"You look really in charge from where I'm standing." Tess laughed.

"Watch your mouth bitch. Or I'll add a few more days onto those chains of yours." She croaked, still slowly approaching the bars that partitioned her from Tess.

"If you want these keys, then obviously you're going to have to open this gate." Tess insisted.

Almost at her destination, Ingrid gritted her teeth and endured the final few feet, without answering.

"Where are the fucking keys?" she demanded once more.

"Gate first." Tess bargained with a sly smile on her face, watching Ingrid struggle to her feet by inching up the bars of the gates between the two of them.

"You've just earned yourself three more days." Ingrid announced, "Now pass me the keys."

Tess raised one eyebrow and pointed with her eyes towards the lock in the middle of the two closed gates.

"If you don't do as I say by the time I count to one, then you'll be spending the rest of your life in those fucking things. NOW GIVE ME THE KEYS!" Ingrid shouted, almost sounding desperate.

"Ally told me that I'm not allowed to give them to you." Tess lied. "He said that you'll try and test me by threatening me and insisting that I hand them over to you but if I do, there will be severe consequences for me when he returns."

"If you don't give those to me right now, then I'll make sure the consequences are so unbearable that you'll be pleading for his choice of lame punishment over mine." Ingrid threatened. "Now give them to me!"

Tess stood her ground, apprehensive about using the same technique that Musser had used on her handcuffs as his parting gift that day on the boat.

"The gate." Tess insisted.

Ingrid put her face closer to the bars to speak "That's an extra week!"

Not at all phased by Ingrid's time extension, Tess casually crouched down, then lay on her side before her custodian, in a convincing show of submission.

"Here. Move your feet closer." Tess commanded, twisting her waist belt and reaching her key loaded fingers towards the gap in the bars where Ingrid stood.

Content with winning the battle, Ingrid shuffled her feet as close as she could to allow Tess to free her legs from the closely connected ankle shackles.

Tess almost chuckled to herself as she inserted one of the keys into the bottom of the lock and covertly bent it over, purposely snapping it off in the mechanism.

"Wrong key. Must be the other side." Tess innocently announced, hinting for Ingrid to shuffle her feet around so that she would be able to unlock her other leg first.

Now in position and unsuspecting, Ingrid stood motionless, holding on to the bars with her resin cuffed hands. Tess then inserted a second key from the bunch that Ally had entrusted her with and repeated her act of snapping it off in the lock, as before.

The satisfaction tempted Tess with a cry out in rejoice but she chose to savour her moment of celebration until she could look directly into Ingrid's eyes.

"There you go." Tess said, standing up again in front of Ingrid, rattling the remaining working cuff key and the two broken ones all attached to the same keyring. "Now that makes two of us."

Confused as to what Tess meant by this and to why the shackles remained about her own ankles, Ingrid looked down at Tess's waist high, cuffed wrist.

The sight before her, of the two broken keys and the single one still intact, portrayed an immediate understanding of what had just happened.

Ingrid's bowels twitched in realisation as her eyes shot up to meet those of Tess's standing before her.

The smirk that greeted Ingrid confirmed her worst fears, forcing her to commit one final act of desperation by lowering herself to her knees in front of Tess and checking the locks for herself.

Ally had driven to a hardware store, safely far enough away from the blockhouse to send his next untraceable ransom video to Ingrid's husband Kristofer, not only proving her safety but this time with Ingrid's message, pushing for more money.

As soon as the message sent confirmation arrived, he switched the phone off and turned on his other phone, to continue chatting with his online friend Mandy, from the sex shop back in Wales, where he'd purchased the leg cuffs, currently attached to Ingrid.

He apologised for not being clear about inviting her out for a drink in the UK because of his current situation of working away. Ally then began tempting his prey with the delights of traveling to sunny Algiers where she could fly over and meet him for a week or two, to indulge in cocktails on the beach in the sun. Ally found pictures of a stunning hotel and told her that he could call in a favour from a friend, who would arrange her a stay there, free of charge if she wanted to come over. Mandy responded with positive and keen messages, diverting the conversation towards the question of flights.

She felt special, yet intrigued, when Ally told her that she had the perfect bargaining chip at her fingertips, in exchange for which, he would pay for her flights. When pressed for an answer, he explained how he hadn't been able to take his mind off the time when she'd demonstrated the display handcuffs using his wrist and wondered if she would be able to bring a pair of them out with her, in her hold baggage.

Mandy's immediate reply came as one full of domineering confidence, almost ridiculing him for wanting her to handcuff him, promising him an enjoyable time of submission for the whole duration of her visit. This distraction from the truth would play a key part if he were to go ahead and lure Mandy into the same fate as Tess and Ingrid. Once she'd landed, he could have a message waiting for her when she turned her phone on, telling her to get a taxi to a location, where he would be able to pick her up and whisk her away, out of sight from any airport security cameras.

With the trap almost constructed, he signed himself off, explaining he had to work, then climbed out of his van and into the hardware store.

The selection of padlocks caught his attention as he walked towards them, halting him in his tracks to admire the most suitable to replace the single links holding Tess's wrists to her waist belt. Carrying two, medium sized, reassuringly bulky locks with him, he headed towards the tool section, looking for a pack of blades to fit his hacksaw.

Standing in front of the correct blades, hanging from the single wall prong pointing towards him, he paused for a moment before committing to unhooking them.

Ally kept his hands by his side and thought deeply before making his next move.

Tess couldn't have been cut free until this afternoon anyway and she's volunteered me an extra day, so surely that means she shouldn't be released until this time tomorrow? He convinced himself.

Holding onto this thought, he resisted temptation and headed to the cashier carrying only the two padlocks, leaving the hacksaw blades on their display hook behind him.

He intended returning in the morning to send his next ransom message so he would be able to purchase them then.

Ringing around, he began enquiring about the renovation of the historic blockhouse, looking for some idea of a start dates so that he could build up a timeline and coordinate individual trades to start work. The conclusion of his calling around told him that there seemed to be a lot of unemployment and plenty of tradesmen who could begin immediately.

He'd been given the contact details of a Scottish man named Frank O'Donnell, known as Don, who had retired in Algeria after project managing the build of a hypermarket and lived not too far away. Ally knew exactly what needed doing, he just had to measure up and find out the availability of materials to get the project underway.

Back at the blockhouse, Ingrid had completely blown her top after having the keys to her leg cuffs snapped off in their locks, meaning they would now need specialist attention to be removed from around her ankles.

As Ingrid struggled to her feet, she trained her eyes on the single remaining key, accompanied by the two snapped off stubs, on the same key ring, dangling down from Tess's finger.

With the other two keys broken, she couldn't compare their identical profiles and had to assume that the remaining key would remove the padlock which had been used to shorten the chain between her ankle cuffs.

Without proper prior consideration, Ingrid unlocked the right hand side gate of the old ammunition store and hopped with both feet together, steadying herself with the bars of the gate to her left.

Tess having the upper hand, knew she could out run Ingrid but chose to remain standing still, just to gloat about her superiority for a little longer.

This proved to be a miscalculated gamble which quickly backfired as Ingrid dived towards Tess, and managed to grab hold of a clump of her long fair hair with her two cuffed hands, before falling to the ground, dragging Tess down with her.

The two girls immediately screamed at each other and began tussling on the floor in whatever ways their bondage allowed, resulting in a small cut to Tess's forehead.

With the use of her legs, Tess managed to crawl on top of Ingrid's chest, turn her body enough to place her knee on Ingrid's throat and rip her own hair free of Ingrid's cuffed clutches. Tess rolled away backwards, onto her side, then onto her front, where she stood up from her knees.

Ingrid also rolled over and stood up but not quick enough to catch Tess, who now shuffled her way out of the open gate of the old ammunition store, bumping it closed behind her and sharply straining her cuffed wrist against her waist belt to turn the key. Once locked, she removed the gate key and stepped away from the bars behind her.

"GET BACK HERE AND GIVE ME THAT KEY YOU FUCKING BITCH!" Ingrid screamed, as she watched Tess turn around and admire her achievement, delighted to be holding all the keys in her hand.

"Here you go." Tess replied, "The deal was for us to swap keys, so here's the key to your leg cuffs, as requested." With a flick of her wrist, she tossed the third duplicate leg cuff key through the bars of the locked gates and took a further step back to safety.

Convinced she had the correct key, Ingrid hurried to unfasten the padlock, which currently made walking an impossibility by bypassing the chain of her leg cuffs and holding her ankles tightly together.

Picking the keyring up from the floor, it didn't take her long to realise that the remaining, intact key, wasn't for the padlock at all. Not only did it not fit in, but the numbers engraved onto the remaining parts of the broken keys, matched the numbers of this third key, meaning that it too was meant to fit into the locks of her leg cuffs. Try as she did with her fingernails, she couldn't remove the parts of the broken keys that Tess had snapped off, from within the barrels of either ankle cuff.