One Last Strip Tease

Chapter 2: The Abduction

Screaming at the top of her lungs, Laurie's sharp teeth bit down on the sleeveless arm smothering her face, as it dragged her into the back seat of the car. A male voice cursed loudly. Her donkey kicks landed squarely on a thigh and knee bone. More cursing let loose behind her.

Somehow, she was restrained, and the thudding of the car doors sounded like nails hammering into her coffin. Suddenly, her mother's face and voice popped into her head, and she felt a new rush of adrenaline and strength.

“Remember," her mother lectured while pausing their favorite movie, Miss Congeniality, “SING! Solar plexus, instep, nose, groin!" As a young teen, she practiced the moves over, and over again with her mom. Sometimes they'd laugh hysterically while doing so, and other times they would practice dead seriously. The moves were like second nature now.

First, she threw her clenched fist backward into the paunchy stomach of the guy sitting on her left. “Omph!" he exclaimed. Then she smashed the small toes of the guy on her right. “Ow!" he yelped.

Before she could punch anyone in the nose or yank anyone's groin, her arms were gripped so hard on both sides, she could feel bruises forming beneath her coat.

“Who are you? What do you want? You have the wrong person!"

Useless words of protest tumbled from her lips.

The men didn't reply. Didn't even look at her. Only the sounds of the traffic outside and the tires spinning through the snow were heard. The eerie silence was scarier than their grim, unreadable faces.

“Please!" she insisted. “You have the wrong person, I swear! I haven't done anything!"

The car turned right on Wilmer St. and soon entered the freeway, heading northbound at excess speed. She muttered a prayer under her breath that the police were looking for her.

“Where are you taking me?" she asked, trying to stay calm. “I have a right to know."

“You'll see," a clipped voice in a heavy Spanish accent said.

“Who's your boss!" she demanded.

The driver of the car laughed mockingly and sneered, “You're like a squashed bug to him, Laurie Winters."

She gaped at him in horror. “How do you know my name?" In the back of her mind, she was starting to connect the dots. “You're the creepy guy who called me, aren't you?" she said with a dawning realization.

Had they also kidnapped her mother? “What did you do to my mom? Where is she?" She heard her heart thud rapidly in her ears. Had they hurt her?

“Esta bien," a smooth voice replied in perfect Spanish. “She's fine," he repeated. The man in the passenger seat turned to inspect her, and under his intense stare, she kind of felt like a squashed bug. “Soy el jefe. Hablas Espanol?"

She shook her head, no.

The man chuckled. “Just a little, huh?" he pinched his forefinger and thumb together. His words were playful, but his voice was hard.

When she continued staring blankly, the man said curtly, “Si, as I said, I'm the boss."

Suddenly, he chuckled again. “You liked Miss Congeniality, huh? I recognized your cute little moves. That was a great movie, wasn't it? My daughter's favorite. So, let me guess? A punch to the nose was next?" he chuckled but didn't really sound amused. The paunchy man to her left groaned in exasperation.

She tried not to let her fear show. “Yes. Where is my mother?" The boss' face was conventionally attractive, and his clothes looked expensive. She felt nothing but revulsion for him, for all of them.

“Why don't you tell me? Then again, I doubt she has what it takes to repay me. You'll do much better at the club." The boss' eyes scraped over her and landed full of lust on her breasts, eyeballing them as though he could see through her winter coat.

She froze. “W-what are you talking about? What c-club?" They were still on the freeway, passing by so many people who had no idea she was a victim of kidnapping.

“A t***y club," the lanky guy whose foot she stomped on said with a snicker.

“No. Take me home. This is kidnapping. It's illegal!"

Were they going to force her into the s*x trade? They could do it over her dead body.

The men burst out laughing.

“She's funny."

“Stupid more like."

“Perfect, the stupider ones have bigger t*ts. I'll bet her t**s are huge, man."

“Shut up, idiota!"

The car merged into the far-right lane, and she moved quickly having saved her best moves for last. Her mother's face had appeared before her and she'd said, “Punch him in the throat. Do it fast."

Clenching her fist and keeping her wrist as straight as possible, she swung at the throat of the guy sitting unaware to her right, and hearing his satisfying choke, did another favorite move, “the bend and snap," from Legally Blonde. Rearing back her head like an angry bull, she head-butted the chin of the guy on her left and heard bones cracking. Hoping it wasn't hers because there was a sharp pain in her head, she lunged for the door.

Like a feral animal she pulled at the door and when it didn't budge, frantically looked for the lock, but it was a high-tech car with strange buttons. Before she could unlock the car, pain exploded in the back of her head, and she crumpled forward into oblivion.