Destined for Algeria Ch. 14

Tess and Ingrid's faces were a picture when they saw what Ally had brought home to them.

Ally quickly stocked it up with supplies, emphasising his rush to get the two girls out of the way.

He bent down and kneeled at Tess's feet.

"Shoes off in there I'm afraid." He said, tugging at the laces of her ankle boots.

"Oooh. Very posh." Tess joked.

"Yours too." Ally said, looking up at Ingrid, who, with her hands cuffed in front of her, had the ability to remove her own.

Leaving their footwear outside, he made sure they sat in the back with the curtains drawn so that nobody would be able to see them, on the journey up into the deserted rocky mountains of the Sahara.

He pulled up on a large, flat area, in the basin of a hidden dip of the land. A quick scout around outside made him happy and so he went inside to explain the situation to his two apprehensive passengers.

"Ok." He said. "I'm going to have to leave you two here and take the motorbike back to the Blockhouse to meet a man."

"What about our shoes?" Ingrid asked.

"You won't be needing them out here." He said, "I don't have to warn you about the dangers of walking around out there for any length of time in the heat of the desert, do I?"

"We won't." Tess replied, feeling the weight of the cuffs on her ankles above her heals, where the boots no longer provided support.

"Good. I'm going to leave those chains locked together, so that if one of you has an insane idea of wandering off in bare feet, then the other one will hopefully be discouraging." Ally said. "Remember this. Two beautiful pale skinned girls like you, chained up the way you are will get you sold to the people who I'm trying to protect you from, so if someone does come visiting, you should lock the door and hide quietly in here from them."

"How long are you going to be?" Ingrid asked, rubbing her collar, still trying to come to terms with it being around her neck.

"An hour." He said, "Maybe two."

Ally unstrapped the bike from the bracket at the rear and kick-started its engine into life.

"Before I go, am I still able to trust you both or do I have to take any further precautions?" He asked over the noise of the bike engine.

"No. you can trust us babes." Tess replied.

With all the keys in his pocket, he snaked his way out of the hills, back to the empty Blockhouse for his meeting with Don.

The Scottish architect Don, fell in love with the place even before he'd set foot inside the fortified walls. He needed no description of the job requirements, taking over and walking Ally through the order of which job should go first and how long it should take. He gave Ally his opinion about replacing the floor beams or simply covering them over with new floorboards. He suggested the same with the roof, showing him the problems from standing in the middle of the courtyard.

Don's assessment pleased Ally, not because of cost but the timing of the whole job and his problem of hiding the two girls out of sight.

The water amenities were the absolute essential topic but once again Don seemed to have this covered, like he'd done it a hundred times before. He told Ally that he needed a septic tank which could be emptied from outside the gates. A small, solar and battery powered water pump would replace the hand pump and be more than enough to feed water around at ground level.

"Then you can get rid of that stinking shit bucket in the corner." Don laughed, exaggerating the stench by turning and pretending to throw up.

Ally agreed. "What about availability of workers and materials?" he asked.

Don laughed, "There'll be a wealth of people wanting to jump on this job." He reassured Ally. "Employment out here is quiet, and skilled workers are doing menial tasks to pay the bills. And with regards to materials, if you've got the cash, then it'll be here in the morning."

Ally nodded in approval. "When do you think you could start?"

"Ha ha." The Scottish man laughed again. "I've already started. I'll have to make a couple of phone calls first but again, if you have the cash, I could get a team digging that hole for your cesspit in the morning. Probably even this afternoon they're so desperate for work."

"Tomorrow?" Ally asked.

"I know. That's too soon." Don replied, looking at his phone. "Realistically when would you want the work to start?"

"Tomorrow?" Ally repeated.

With his phone to his ear, Don nodded and smiled, turning away to walk around the courtyard and continue his conversation alone.