A Night in the Desert

Chapter III

Sue Ann was paralyzed with fear and shock. Her worst nightmare come true, she had been discovered. She stood in the glare of the flashlight like a deer frozen in headlights. She couldn't move or speak. The bright beam blinded her, she couldn't see who was standing behind it. Panic seized her, she started to turn and flee, her only thought was to cover herself and run away. The first step brought her tumbling back to reality as the leg irons grabbed her ankles, stopping her flight before it even began. In her terror she had forgotten her bonds. She staggered, off balance, and then began to fall. She tried to reach out to break the impact, but her hands remained secured behind her back.

A hand grabbed her upper arm, halting her fall. She managed to get her feet back under her and regained her balance, only to trip up on the leg cuffs again as the man forcibly spun her around and pushed her face down onto the hood of her car. The impact stunned her; she would have dropped to the ground except the stranger was holding her pinned against the car.

"Listen carefully, don't try to talk. I know what you are doing out here, I've been watching you since you arrived. This is what will happen now. You are going to do exactly what I tell you." His voice was low but firm. Sue Ann was hypnotized by it, listening to every word. He grabbed the chain linking her wrists together, yanked on it. "Remember these? Don't even try to defy me; you are in no position to do anything except obey. Don't try to move or speak, keep your head down. And don't be so foolish as to try and run away. You've done a good job on yourself, you know you can't get away from me." She heard that tinkling sound again, next to her ear. "Hear this? I have the keys now. When, or if you are released depends entirely on what I decide to do. I hold your freedom in my hand."

It wasn't supposed to happen like this, Sue Ann thought. She had been very careful, planned in detail for every contingency. He had her bent over the hood of the car, her head turned to one side facing away from the windshield. She managed to get her legs under her again, but she couldn't move. She couldn't think, something deep inside her mind had roused. The man stood up, no longer pinning her against the car, but she was still incapable of movement or speech. His voice had taken control of her. All she could focus on were his words, she felt compelled to obey him. In some small part of her brain a voice was saying it was just a defense mechanism because of her vulnerable condition, nude and tightly bound. Probably something she had studied in a psychology class from college days, but it made no difference. For the moment this faceless stranger had fully dominated her, physically and mentally.

"Stand up, eyes straight in front of you, don't try to look around," he ordered. She stood up as he held onto her arms, never wavering her gaze, eyes fixed straight ahead. He covered her eyes with a scarf or some kind of bandana, tying it in a knot behind her head. A simple but effective blindfold, she couldn't reach it with her hands. He checked it, then turned her around to face him. She could sense his presence very close to her, a glimmer of light from the flashlight crept in from the edge of the blindfold. "Hmm, I don't think you need to be searched, there's very little you can conceal dressed like this," he laughed as he spoke. Sue Ann felt her cheeks blush and lowered her head. She was acutely aware of just how exposed she must appear to him.

She felt his hand on her as he grabbed the lock holding her waist chain in the front. He pulled at it, checking to make sure the padlock wouldn't open by itself. He turned her, then reached back and tested the handcuffs on her wrists. He pulled at the ring holding the cuffs to her waist, determining how much play she had, and the limits to her reach. He had one hand on her cuffs, she felt the other on her leg as he knelt to test the leg irons around her ankles.

"You did well in your choice of restraints. Quality make, secure, very difficult to remove without the key. You have the shorter length chain on your ankle cuffs, an odd choice. It must have been especially difficult to walk all that distance. The waist chain is a nice touch in combination with the handcuffs. Far more effective than simple cuffs behind the back, but you already know that, don't you?" He turned her back to where she was facing the car again, his voice barely above a whisper as he stood close behind her. She could only nod in agreement; he had not given her permission to speak.

She heard the car door next to her open. He grabbed her arm, led her around to the open door. "Sit down" he ordered as he pushed down on her hair so she wouldn't bump her head. She sat down, sideways in the seat. He picked up her legs and helped her turn to sit facing forward. She felt the seat belt across her waist as he buckled it around her and then pulled the belt strap tight. He did the same with the shoulder strap, effectively tying her down in the car seat. "Stay here" he told her, "Don't move." Not that she could. Just as she thought, without hands the seat belt and shoulder strap made a most effective seat restraint.

Her door closed. She couldn't see or hear where he was, but she knew better than to try twisting in the seat to reach the seat belt buckle. He was right; she had done well, too well. Until she could somehow get out of her chains she had no choice but to do whatever he told her. The fact she had been blindfolded was actually a good sign. If he intended to murder her he wouldn't have bothered to conceal his identity. She did look at her situation realistically. She was isolated, powerless, nude, and completely controlled by a faceless stranger, someone who seemed intent on using that control to his advantage. He could act with impunity; there was nothing to link his identity to her. He could throw her on the ground, rape her to his heart's content, and what would she tell the police? That she had been attacked while innocently standing out in the open stripped and locked in chains, at a remote desert mine? Oh yeah, they would take that seriously, she thought to herself. That was assuming she would ever get out of this alive. It would be just as easy for him to rape her then toss her down a mineshaft.

She still couldn't hear him. The car cut off sounds from outside. Somehow she knew he was still there, watching her. Time to rethink her plan; she pondered what she could do. Her immediate course of action was simple, do whatever he told her. Whatever was coming might not be pleasant, but as long as she was alive and in one piece she could live through it. Wasn't that the advice the experts always gave? Cooperate with your attacker, don't fight back. That was ironic; resisting wasn't an option when trussed up with handcuffs. Providing she could survive the next few minutes, she decided she would try to get him to remove some of the restraints, or at least take off the waist chain. Any little bit of freedom she could gain from him would give her a better opportunity to escape. If she could get her hands in front, and somehow get hold of the car keys, she was sure she could drive even in handcuffs and leg irons. What she would do once she escaped was another matter.

The driver side door opened, she heard him get in and sit down next to her, then shut the door. He checked her seat belt and shoulder strap to see if they had been loosened, then he verified her restraints were still locked onto her. His hands touched her body as he tested her bonds, sometimes lingering a bit too long. She tensed at his touch, but found she could not draw away. She was terrified but at the same time very calm. Nothing she could do would change what he was going to do to her; it was as if she had become an object he owned. "Very good" he told her, "you follow orders well. Continue to face forward, do not turn your head, and make no sound. For now you will sit quietly and listen to me." His hand went to her knee. Her heart raced, but she forced herself to remain still. "You are afraid, aren't you?"

"You should be afraid. You don't know who I am, what kind of a person I might be. All you know is I have the keys, the keys to your freedom. Right now, right this moment, I own you ." He put a hand around her throat, under her chin. "Your life is in my hands. Feel that? Feel the fear?" She nodded, trying not to let her inner panic and fear show through. "It's not just fear though, you feel something else, don't you? Something you don't want to admit is in you. Something that drove you to come out here tonight?"

Sue Ann reeled in an inner turmoil. How could he have known? His words had torn away the illusion of calm resignation. Own he had said, and at that moment he captured her real emotions in a single word. The secret behind her fascination with bondage, with watching the prisoners at the jail, even her adventure tonight, all came down to some feeble attempt on her part to feel owned, completely, totally, by someone whom she could not influence in any way.

Entirely by chance this man had seized not only her body but her mind, her soul as well. She felt a wave of desire sweep over her, more than anything in this world she wanted this man, to please him, to serve him any way he demanded of her, with nothing in return for herself. She wanted to be used, to be possessed, treated as property. Her own body betrayed her as her nipples hardened, triggered by sexual desire. Thoughts of escape vanished; the last thing she wanted now was to be separated from…she didn't even know his name. Who he was didn't matter now; she didn't care. All she knew was that she was his prisoner, his captive love slave, his to do with as he pleased.

He pulled back, laughing. "You have it bad, don't you?" Suddenly he grabbed her breast, squeezing her nipple. She gasped uncontrollably, arching her back between the shoulder strap and seat, struggling to touch him with her imprisoned hands. "Oh yeah, you got it bad all right. Settle down, face front, no sound." Immediately she sat up, her head pointing straight ahead. She wanted to plead with him, tell him how she felt, beg him to touch her again, to use her, but his command silenced her as effectively as a tight leather gag.

He traced a finger along her leg. She clenched her manacled hands into fists, struggling to control herself. His touch felt like fire. It was all she could do not to scream out her passion. He leaned close to her, speaking in a low voice close to her ear, "Lucky for you I was the one that found you. Someone else might have left you out here, or tried to help by rescuing you from your predicament. I know better. You don't want someone to come along and take these off.' He reached behind her back and jerked on the handcuff chain. "You want someone to come along and take away the keys, but leave these on." He pulled at her wrists again. "You have no idea what's going to come next, and that's the way you really want it. Whatever happens, you couldn't help yourself. No control, no responsibility. That's what you want, isn't it?"

Sue Ann nodded meekly. She wanted to shout out her need, beg him to take her. Everything in her fantasy had come true with a startling speed. Here she was, the prisoner tightly restrained in chains, controlled, no, dominated by a powerful yet entirely unknown man. If only he would allow her to speak.

"You want to tell me something, don't you?" he asked. She nodded; maybe he would lift his prohibition now and allow her to talk. "Perhaps another time, but for now you will remain silent. I'm enjoying this, you know? It's not every day an attractive woman walks up to me naked and in chains."

"I'm not going to hurt you, provided you behave. One piece of advice, if you try something like this again don't go overboard on the restraints. Your setup would be fine if someone else was here with you, but by yourself it's too dangerous. What would you have done if the keys had really disappeared? Do you think you could make a twenty mile hike locked up like that?"

Sue Ann shook her head. He was right, except he didn't know about her other set of keys down at the shed. He did have a point though, if she had jammed a key trying to get the handcuffs off she would have been in serious trouble, even life threatening. What concerned her most were his intentions now. She really didn't need a safety lecture, but she wasn't going to tell him that. In fact it looked like she wasn't going to tell him anything unless he allowed her to talk.

"Listen carefully. I'm going to unlock your handcuffs to relieve some of the strain on your arms. As I release each wrist, you will place your hands in front of you, a palm on each knee." Once more he grabbed her throat, forcing her head back against the car headrest. "Understand, any deviation, any hesitation, the least sign of disobedience, and you go back to hands behind your back. Not only that, you'll have a long walk all the way back to the highway. Oh yeah, I know about the extra keys in the shed too."

Her heart fell. He did know; so much for her half-formed idea to make some kind of escape. He unbuckled the seat belt and shoulder strap, and then made her lean forward in the seat. His hand was on her left wrist as he inserted the key and turned it to unlock the cuff. He pulled her wrist free of the steel bracelet and brought her arm around, placing her hand on her left knee. "Keep it there" he ordered. He freed her other wrist and brought it around, again placing her right hand on her right knee. He left the open handcuffs dangling from the ring on her waist chain.

She hadn't realized how sore her shoulders had become. It felt like she had been carrying hundred pound weights all day. She wanted to stretch, rub her wrists, but it seemed as if her hands were glued to her knees. She took his implied threat all too seriously; she dare not move either hand.

"This is what you will do next. You will remain as you are now. Face straight ahead; do not turn your head to either side, and do not move your hands. I am going to stand up for a few minutes outside the car. While I do that, you will slowly count backwards from one hundred, out loud so I can hear you. If you go too fast, or if I hear you miss a number, I will make you start over. Disobey me and you will spend all day hogtied in the trunk of the car, then I'll leave you by the side of the highway the same way." He opened the driver's door and got out. "Start counting now, and do it slowly."

She started counting, "100, 99, 98…" She thought about being left in her car trunk all day. The heat would be miserable, and then to be left along the highway too. No, she concentrated on her assignment, carefully pronouncing each number so he could hear it. "75, 74, 73…"

"Stop!" he ordered, standing outside her door. "Too fast, start over and go slower."

"100." She paused. "99." No word from him, maybe she had the timing right now. "98." It would take her several minutes to count at this rate. "97." At least those sadistic handcuffs were off. "96." She still had the leg cuffs on, a smart move on his part. "95." She couldn't run away even with her hands free, he'd catch her in seconds. "94." She had no doubts he was strong enough to easily overpower her. For all she knew he was standing just outside her door, watching every move she made. "93." Maybe this was some kind of test?

Sue Ann continued to count down. It seemed to take forever, but he still hadn't stopped her. What was he doing? All she had to do was reach up and take the blindfold off. Except she still couldn't move. It wasn't chains holding her now; the invisible bonds created by a few words from him held her hands down as securely as the handcuffs. "20…19…18." She was getting close to the end. What would he have her do next? "3…2…1." She finished. All the way through and he hadn't stopped her.

She felt warmth on her face. A few glimmers of sunlight worked past her blindfold. It must be dawn, she thought. She waited for her next task. Maybe he would drag her out of the car, throw her over the hood, and then use her roughly. Should she say something, tell him she had finished? No, his instructions were only to count, nothing else. Best if she waited.

She had no idea how long she had been waiting, sitting immobile in the car seat. It was definitely getting hot in the car, and her bladder was making demands. She couldn't wait much longer without making a mess in the car seat. She had to risk it. "May I speak?" she asked.

No answer, nothing but the quiet of the morning desert. "Please, may I speak? I have to go to the toilet," she pleaded. Still no answer. She didn't have too much time left. She took a deep breath, then reached up and took off the blindfold. The glare from the rising sun dazzled her eyes. She shielded them with one hand and looked all around. No sign of anyone.

She opened her door and stepped out. She still had those leg irons on. It was going to be a long walk back; she almost would have preferred he had taken the leg restraints off and left the handcuffs on. Looking around the mine site there was no sign of anyone else, not even tire tracks or footprints other than her own. She headed for the nearest bush to relieve herself. He had left her in little better shape than when she had arrived at the car last night. No clothes, no car keys, and no cuff keys. If he knew about the extra set at the shed it was likely gone too. Even her bicycle would be useless with her ankles chained together. Her call of nature answered, she slowly walked back to the car, still hobbled.

She did have one piece of clothing, the bandana he had used for a blindfold. It would keep the sun off her head, which would help a little. She turned to pick it up from the car seat. Underneath on the driver's seat were her keys, all of them. Immensely relieved, she grabbed them and sat back down. Off came what she now looked on as her worst mistake in the whole plan, the leg irons around her ankles. She stood up, unfastened the waist chain and dropped it on the car seat, along with the leg chains now lying on the floorboard. Free at last, she stretched and took her first full steps since last night.

Next she needed to get dressed. She opened the trunk; everything was still there, food, water, and her extra clothes. She managed to get into her shorts and a top while eating and drinking at the same time. She wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible. She noticed the red streaks the handcuffs had left on her wrists; without a doubt she had some matching ones on her ankles. She closed the trunk and got in on the driver's side. First thing, she locked all the doors. She figured her mysterious stranger had left but she didn't want to take any chances. She stuffed the leg irons and handcuffs under the passenger seat.

Her car started on the first try; she had been afraid he might disable it. She drove down to the shed and stopped in front. She hesitated before getting out of the car. He might be here, waiting for her just inside the open doorway. She shook her head; thinking like that could lead to paranoia. She got out of the car, opened the trunk, went in to the shed and got her bicycle. The lockbox was still next to it, where she had left it last night, along with the bag containing her clothes. She put the bike in the trunk, closed it, and went back to get the box and bag. Those went in the back seat. She took one last look around. The wind had come up; she saw the mesquite swaying back and forth, but nothing else, not even a jackrabbit. Whoever he was, wherever he had come from, he was gone now.