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Larra stared open-mouthed at the English-born
German spy. Then she regained
her composure.
“Featherstone,” she
repeated. “What are you
doing here?”
“I might ask you the same,
Larra
blanched. Although only a few
months had passed since her last encounter with Featherstone,
(See Larra’s Arctic Adventure) it seemed almost like a lifetime
ago. Her contact with him had
been far from pleasant and she had tried to put him from her
mind. And now here he was again,
the vicious German agent who had raped both her and Melissa; taking the
girl’s virginity in the latter’s
case. She could hardly believe
what she was seeing.
Featherstone smiled
mockingly. “You thought
me dead didn’t you? Well,
I very nearly was thanks to you.
But I am a survivor. It
takes more than a carnivorous plant to kill
me. Not that
it didn’t leave me with a few scars. Even that strange radiation
in the underground world couldn’t save me from
that. He pulled back his sleeve,
revealing a right forearm that appeared to have been badly
burned. “I’ve got a
few more like that,” he continued, his smile turning to a menacing
scowl. “But don’t worry
I’ll come up with a way to pay you
back.”
Larra had no idea what Featherstone was talking
about. The last contact she and
Melissa had with him had been when he had brutally raped Melissa and left
her to die. Then he had simply
disappeared in the underground world.
Larra had supposed him dead, killed by the many dangers of the
subterranean world of
Pelucidar.
Nevertheless, his words had the desired
affect. She shuddered slightly,
but tried to keep Featherstone from seeing her
fear. She remembered how she
had been captured and raped by the treacherous English
spy. But she had managed to defeat
him. She feared to think what
sort of revenge would satisfy him, but if her past suffering at his hands
was any indication, she could expect it to be very painful and
degrading.
Featherstone turned to
Andreotti. “Capitano, may
I suggest that these women be given adequate food and
water? For what I have planned
I want them in the best of condition.
They will need all of the strength and stamina that they
have. But be very careful with
them. Make sure they are heavily
guarded and kept bound at all times.”
“As you wish, Reginald,” Andreotti
replied, using Featherstone’s first
name. He looked a little dubious
about the danger he faced from the captives, but he did as Featherstone
instructed.
Larra and her companions were marched to the
center of the camp. Here there
was a slightly larger tent, one large enough to hold all of
them. Under heavy guard, they
were herded into the tent.
“Kneel,” Andreotti ordered, pushing Larra to the
ground. The other guards did
likewise, forcing all of her companions to their knees as
well.
“Untie them one at a time,” Andreotti
ordered, “and then replace their ropes with
chains.”
They dealt with Larra first, removing the
bonds from her wrists. A leather
collar was placed about her neck and locked in place with a
padlock. Then metal bands were
placed just above her elbows and also locked in
place. A chain connecting the
two bands was run behind her back, allowing her arms limited freedom of
movement. She could move her
hands far enough to reach her mouth, but not enough to use them in a
fight. Finally, leg irons replaced
the rope tether on her ankles. Two
soldiers then escorted her out of the
tent. As she left, she saw Jia
Li being given the same treatment.
The Italians were unloading the chains from a large wooden
box. Larra wondered why the Italians
had such a good supply of chains.
It was almost as if they were expecting to take a large number of
prisoners. But chaining prisoners
was not normal practice in war, and was expressly forbidden by the Geneva
Convention.
She was taken over to a tent where several
men were engaged in cooking the daily meal and ordered to sit on the
ground. She was brought water
first, and then a bowl of some sort of macaroni
soup. Her chains allowed her
to take it in her hands and use the spoon
provided. She was soon joined
by Jia Li, who was now chained as she
was. Within ten minutes all of
Larra’s other companions showed up.
All of the women ate ravenously, and drank as much water as was given
to them. As they finished,
Featherstone and Andreotti strode up.
“I trust you ate well, ladies,”
said Featherstone. “Now
I suggest you get some rest.
Tomorrow you are going to need it.”
None of the women liked the sound of that
veiled threat, but after marching through the desert all day, they were more
than ready to sleep. They were
moved over to the center of the camp.
There a heavy stake had been driven into the
ground. Larra was chained to
the stake and the other women were chained to
her. They were not provided with
any blankets or mattresses, but all of the women were so tired that they
just curled up and went to sleep.
Larra awoke
shivering. Next to her, Jia Li
and Melissa were trembling as well, and she could clearly hear the sounds
of Katie’s and Amy’s teeth
chattering. Although the heat
of the day was like being in an oven, the desert nights were often
cool. Since none of them had
been provided with a blanket, they were all feeling the effects of the
cold. Silently she looked about
her. A few feet away three guards
were huddled about a fire, engaged in
conversation. None of them appeared
to be paying much attention to the five women, and there was no reason why
they should. After all, what
could five women chained together and fastened to a stake
do?
Larra pulled her feet up as high as she
could. They had been searched
for weapons and their pockets had been emptied, but no one had thought to
remove Larra’s boots. Her
manacled arms could just reach the boot
laces. Slowly, so as not to attract
attention, she unlaced the top of her boots and then reached
inside. Her fingers encountered
a small knife, which she pulled carefully from its
sheath. She looked again toward
the chatting guards. They seemed
absorbed in their conversation. One
of them threw another handful of branches on the fire, sending up a shower
of sparks.
Ever so slowly, Larra rolled toward Jia
Li. She could not reach her own
manacles because of the way that she was chained, but she could reach Jia
Li’s. By the light of the
fire, Larra could see the beautiful Manchu girl give a nod of
understanding. Moving as slowly
as Larra she shifted her position so that Larra could reach the bands above
her elbows. Larra pushed the
thin blade of the knife into the lock
mechanism. It was a rather crude
lock and after a little bit of manipulation there was a quiet
click. Larra caught the manacle
before it fell. If she had not,
the noise of the clanking chain might have alerted the
guards. Jia Li now had one arm
free, and she took the knife from Larra.
It was but the work of a few minutes to pick the lock of her remaining
armband and then deal with both of Larra’s manacles as
well. By this time, the other
women were aware of what was going on, and they lay quietly, waiting their
turn. After releasing Larra,
Jia Li unlocked the manacles holding Melissa prisoner, and she in turn unlocked
Amy’s manacles. That left
only Katie, and here they ran into a
problem. Try as she might, Amy
was not familiar enough with picking locks to release
Katie. Finally, Melissa took
the knife from the South African beauty and crawling stealthily over to the
American girl, worked the blade into the lock
mechanisms. Her more skillful
manipulation of the knife soon had the girl
free.
All of the women were still lying side by
side, as if they were still chained and
helpless. Now, however, came
an even more difficult problem.
They were free, but lying in plain sight of the
guards. How could they escape
from the camp without being discovered, and where would they
go? The desolation of the
Larra raised her head cautiously, at the same
time motioning for the other women to remain
still. There was a chance provided
the guards were as lax as they appeared.
She waited and watched. Time
passed. Without a watch there
was no telling exactly how long it took, but eventually one of the so called
guards wrapped his blanket tightly about him and leaned back against the
trunk of a date palm. A few minutes
later the sound of his snores indicated that he had drifted off to
sleep. The other two guards were
not far behind. One of them actually
got up and strolled over to the prisoners, but he did not check their chains,
and Larra and the other women lay quietly as if
asleep. The man muttered something
in Italian and turned away. It
was well for him that he did. Larra
did not want to kill if she could avoid it, and that is exactly what she
would have done if the guard had investigated more
closely.
Returning to the fire, the soldier joined
the other man. Pulling a blanket
over his shoulders, he gazed into the
fire. After a few minutes his
head dropped. Already the other
remaining guard was curled up in a fetal position by the
fire. Larra waited a few minutes
longer and then motioned to her
companions.
Ever so carefully so as not to rattle the
chains, the five women crept away from the
fire. The cold of the night was
temporarily forgotten as the excitement of the moment warmed
them. Except for the few sentries
by the fire, the camp seemed almost completely
unguarded. Larra was amazed at
the lack of security. It was
hard to believe that the Italians even realized that there was a war on and
that they were in the middle of enemy
territory. Once away from the
glow of the fires, Larra indicated the direction of the supply
tent. She had marked its location
when entering the camp. Quietly,
and grateful for the sandy ground that deadened the sound of their footfalls,
the five women made their way to the
tent.
They took only what they needed to
survive. Burdening themselves
with extra weight would slow them too
much. They needed only enough
food to last just a few days, provided Larra’s calculations as to their
location were correct. She was,
however, quite certain that the Italians had taken over Siwa, that meant
that they would have to head for the next British base at
Baharia.
It was a trek of almost a hundred
miles. But they had very little
choice.
Loading packs and duffle bags with what they
could conveniently carry, the five women crept from the
tent. Lara led them straight
to where the camels were tethered.
She actually had no desire to use the recalcitrant animals, but she
had little choice. Heading off
into the desert without transport would be equivalent to committing
suicide. They might have sufficient
food to last them until they reached the next British base, but there was
no way that they had enough water.
Only the camels could provide the muscle power to carry enough water
to reach Baharia. The problem
would be getting the obstreperous animals out of the camp without waking
everyone in it. But she had a
plan for that.
Lara had found a case of flares and a flare
pistol in the supply tent. They
would provide the perfect distraction for her intended
escape. Before leaving the tent
she had upended several gallons of
gasoline. All it needed was the
right spark to set it off. Several
of the camels grunted as the five women
approached. Larra took the flare
pistol from her belt and aiming at the entrance to the tent, pulled the
trigger.
Larra and the other four women didn’t
wait to see the results of the flare, but immediately broke into a run toward
the tethered camels. Behind them
the camp brightened as the flare struck and exploded, igniting the
gasoline. Flames shot twenty
feet into the air, completely engulfing the supply
tent. Almost instantly, the shouts
of startled men filled the air.
Roused out of their sleep, the Italians poured from their tents stumbling
in the glare of the fire and the wild shadows crated by the blazing supply
tent.
Larra and her companions darted amongst the
camels. The disturbed beasts
milled about confusedly, yanking on their tethers as they sought to break
free. Each of the women took
one of the trailing ropes, and untying it from the peg securing the animals,
hauled them away from the camp.
Larra handed her rope to Melissa, and using a knife she had retrieved
from the tent, cut the ropes securing the remaining camels allowing them
to stampede out of the camp. Using
the stampeding animals as cover, the five adventurers fled with them, guiding
the animals they were leading toward the other side of the
oasis. There was still one more
thing to do before they headed off into the
desert.
Away from the glare of the fire, darkness
closed about them. Despite the
protests from the camels, the five women led them determinedly toward the
other side of the oasis. The
Siwa oasis actually covered quite a large area, encompassing an ancient town
along with a few modern buildings constructed under British
rule. The Italians had chosen
to camp on the edge of the town, near the large desert pool that provided
life in an otherwise desolate landscape.
Larra did not want to delay any longer than necessary, but heading
out into the desert without water would be sheer
stupidity.
As quickly as they could, the five women led
the protesting beasts to the edge of the
water. Larra had appropriated
a number of water bags from the supply
tent. While Melissa held her
camel, Larra filled them one by one, handing them to Jia Li, who tossed them
across the back of the bad-tempered
camels. Of the five women, the
Manchu girl was the only one who had any experience of camels, having worked
with the Asian variety in northern
The filling of the water bags and the loading
of the camels seemed to take forever, although the actual elapsed time could
not have been more than a few minutes.
Larra kept her eye on the camp.
The silhouettes of the Italians could be clearly seen against the
glare of the fire. Incredibly
there did not seem to be any pursuit.
Larra began to harbour grave doubts about the quality of the soldiers
in Mussolini’s army.
At last Jia Li signaled her
readiness. Taking the leads on
each of the camels the five adventurers headed toward the
desert. Larra had no particularly
immediate destination in mind; she just wanted to get as far away from the
Italian camp as she could before morning.
After that she could attempt to find her way to the next British base,
or at least to a town where she might be able to send a message to the
military. They made no effort
to mount up. The camels were
difficult enough to ride under normal
circumstances. Stressed by the
unusual activity in the camp and the flaring light of the fire, they would
have presented much more of a challenge than any of the women could have
handled, with the exception perhaps of Jia
Li.
As the light of the fire dimmed and the shouts
of the Italians faded, Larra began to breathe a little
easier. They seemed to have made
it out of the camp, now they had to put distance between themselves and the
enemy. She kept up a steady
pace. She wanted to be several
miles away from the Italians before
morning.
Featherstone stormed about the
camp. Livid with rage he swore
at the panicking Italian soldiers.
He had no doubt as to who had created the chaos in the
camp. “Should have killed
that bloody bitch when I had the chance,” he
muttered. Somewhere in the darkness
he knew that the half-breed archeologist who had foiled him in their last
encounter was making good her escape.
He vowed that she would not get away this time, and when he caught
her…
An authoritative voice announced the presence
of Andreotti. Of all the Italian
officers he had met, the tall captain seemed to be the most
competent. As for the
rest… Featherstone swore
again. He was having serious
doubts that any army run as poorly as the men Mussolini had sent off to war
could win any battles except against the most incompetent of
enemies. But that was not what
concerned him right now. He knew
that as the Italians milled about the British adventuress and her companions
were escaping into the desert.
He turned to his
adjutant. At least he had one
man he could trust,
Obersturmführer Dieter
Sturm of the Schtuzstaffeln.
“Grab a few of these clowns and find that bitch,” he
ordered. “She can’t
have gone far yet.”
Sturm clicked his
heels. Featherstone
winced. It was an annoying habit,
but he was willing to overlook it.
The SS officer was one of the few men capable of carrying out any
order he gave without question.
Sturm hurried off. A few
seconds later he could be heard barking orders in
Italian. He had no rank in the
Italian army, but he had something
better. Most of the Italian soldiers
were afraid of him. In a few
minutes he was moving off trailed by several members of the rank and
file.
Sturm’s actions attracted Andreotti’s
attention. The Italian captain
swung on him, angry that a German officer was taking command of his
men.
“Sturmbannführer,
I must protest this exceeding of your
authority. This operation is
purely Italian.”
“Come come, Capitano,” he Featherstone
replied. “Are we not both
after the same thing, the defeat of the
English? Sturm will return your
men when he has finished with them.”
Andreotti was not mollified, but there was
little he could do. Featherstone
outranked him, and he had been given express orders to cooperate with the
strange Englishman. Why the Italian
high command had chosen to give him such authority he did not know, but he
did not want to risk his career by annoying the German
agent. Even the general in charge
of the Italian battalion did not dare question the Englishman too
strongly. However, if he could
not stop the German from using his men, then at least he could go along with
them. Barking orders at a half
dozen confused soldiers, he commanded them to fall in behind him and took
off in Sturm’s wake.
Featherstone watched him go, a half smile
on his face. Andreotti was the
only Italian soldier he felt he could trust to actually do something when
asked. The fact that the Capitano
hated his guts did not bother him as long as he got things
done. In war it did not matter
so much whether or not a leader was liked just so long as he was
obeyed.
The five women hurried through the darkness
still leading the camels. Larra
did not want to chance riding them until she was sure that she and her friends
had time to get used to the cantankerous
animals. They were amongst the
dunes now and their progress had slowed.
It was almost time to give camel riding a
try. At that moment there was
the sound of a rifle shot. Larra
whirled toward the sound.
“Get going,” she said, “I’ll try to slow them
down.” She drew the flare
pistol from her belt. The one
thing she had not been able to find in the supply tent was any sort of
weapon. She had, however, picked
up a few extra flares.
She waited as her companions hurried past
her. “Mount up and get out
of here,” she ordered.
“I’ll follow. And
no arguing.” She added the
last in order to quell any opposition.
In the darkness she could not see the faces of her companions, but
she knew how stubborn they could be in their
loyalties. She hoped they would
realize, however, that there was no point in staying behind out of devotion
to her. Without weapons they
would be of little use and would just endanger themselves and her as
well.
There was a second
shot. This time Larra saw the
muzzle flash. She tightened her
jaw. Now she had a point to aim
at. Aiming slightly higher than
where she had seen the flash she squeezed the trigger on the flare
pistol. The flare exploded just
beyond the where she had seen the muzzle
flash. The exploding flare flooded
the area with light, allowing Larra to see that she was being chased by about
a dozen or more men. Their shouts
of fear and surprise told her that she had done more than just illuminate
them. “That should slow
them,” said Melissa.
Larra fixed a glare on her youngest
companion. She wasn’t really
surprised that Melissa was still with
her. In the short time since
she had known the Canadian girl, she had learned that she had a mind of her
own. Not yet 20 years old, Melissa
had matured rapidly. More rapidly
than Larra would have liked. The
girl had been subjected to brutal rape and torture during Larra’s 1939
expedition to arctic
“I thought I told you to leave,”
Larra whispered fiercely. She
was not a woman who liked being
disobeyed.
“Did you?” Melissa answered
innocently. “I must have
misunderstood.” She was
holding a tent pole in her hands as a makeshift
weapon. In recent weeks Larra
had been tutoring her in the use of the
bo, the Japanese quarter
staff. It was obvious that she
intended to use her newfound skills if she got the
chance.
Larra shook her
head. It was pointless to argue
now, but she did not think either of them would have much of a chance armed
with the limited weapons they had at their
disposal. It was time to follow
the others. First, however, she
would give her pursuers one more thing to think
about. She fired the flare pistol
again, but this time turned her eyes away from
it. She wanted the flare to destroy
her pursuers’ night vision and make her escape in the dark while they
stumbled about in confusion.
As the flare burst overhead she joined Melissa
in retreat. The girl had held
onto the camel Larra had taken for herself, as well as her
own. Now it was time to mount
up and make good their escape. At
that moment, however, a series of shots sounded just in front of
her. Both camels roared in pain
as they were struck with multiple rounds.
Their gangly legs buckling the camels fell, leaving Larra and Melissa
facing in the direction of the shots.
They were in a hollow between two
dunes. Coming around the corner
were a number of shadowy shapes. It
was from this direction that the shots that had killed the camels had
come. Behind them, their original
pursuers were closing in. They
were trapped between the two forces.
The situation seemed hopeless.
Armed with only a tent pole and a flare gun between them, the two
women faced overwhelming odds, but neither Larra not Melissa was ready to
give in.
Instinctively they knew that their best chance
of survival was to close with one or other of the enemy
groups. Only by moving to close
quarters and provoking a melee would they have any
chance. At such close range the
use of firearms would be almost as dangerous to the users as it was those
being shot at. Additionally,
Larra suspected that their pursuers wanted them alive, although she could
not be absolutely sure of that.
However, the alternative was to surrender without a fight, and that
was not in the nature of either her or
Melissa. And there was also one
more factor. It they could tie
up the pursuit, it would expedite the escape of the other members of
Larra’s team.
They chose the pursuers who stood between
them and their escape route. Their
sudden charge into the group of men seemed to catch them completely off guard
and they were among the surprised Italians before their attack was even
anticipated. Larra took out the
first two men she encountered with a rapid combination of kicks and punches
that scored to the body and head of her opponents and dropped them to the
sand. Melissa, fighting alongside
her, used her tent pole like a lance, driving the metal shod tip into the
midriff of the first Italian she encountered and then neatly reversing the
makeshift staff and rapping the next man sharply over the
head. Four down, but these opponents
were replaced almost immediately by several
more. In the darkness it was
difficult to make out exactly how many men they
faced. They seemed to come at
them in a steady stream, and from behind them came Featherstone’s voice,
“Take them alive. I want
them alive!”
Larra
and Melissa hardly felt reassured.
The English spy had deprived Melissa of her virginity by raping her
in as brutal a fashion as he could
imagine. And he had more than
had his way with Larra on several
occasions. Capture would mean
rape and torture at the very least.
Nothing else would have motivated Featherstone to be even remotely
interested in their welfare. The
fear of falling into his hands provided more than enough
incentive. They fought furiously,
casting caution to the winds and hurling themselves pell-mell at their
assailants.
To the bewildered Italians it was as if a
couple of desert whirlwinds had plunged into their
midst. Larra and Melissa seemed
to be everywhere, striking, spinning, jumping, kicking, and driving all before
them. In short order the sands
were littered with the groaning bodies of defeated opponents and the Italians
were close to breaking. It was
then that the other party of pursuers entered the
fray. The reinforcements proved
just enough to turn the tide in favour of the wavering Italians. As Larra
took out yet another opponent, driving her foot into his solar plexus, she
was struck from behind by a rifle butt between the shoulder
blades. The blow temporarily
paralyzed her and dropped her to her
knees. Melissa, seeing her
mentor’s plight immediately came to the rescue, driving her makeshift
staff into the forehead of the man who had dropped
Larra. But the distraction proved
enough, allowing the man she had been fighting to get close enough to tackle
her. She went down in a heap,
several more men piling onto her.
In a few seconds, her arms and legs were pinned and she felt the dreaded
touch of rope as her arms were forced behind
her. A few feet away, Larra was
in the same predicament. The
dazed adventurer was held down by several soldiers, while her arms were
immobilized. It was all over
in a few moments. Melissa and
Larra were wrenched to their feet and presented to the triumphant and angry
Featherstone.
“Bitch,” said
Featherstone. “You never
learn.”
“Ugnh!”
Larra’s breath
was driven from her body as he slammed his fist between her
breasts. Still dazed by the blow
that had dropped her, Featherstone’s sneak punch caught her off
guard. She doubled over, fighting
to force air back into her lungs.
Featherstone hit her again; this time driving his fist into her face,
splitting her lip and straightening her
up. He followed this up with
a punch to her ovaries followed by one more to her
cheekbone.
“Ahh, that felt good,” the English
spy said in his upper class accent.
“I always get such satisfaction out of teaching you a few
manners. Now for Miss
Gallant.” He stepped sideways,
confronting the struggling Melissa, who was giving the two men who held her
all they could handle even with her hands bound behind
her. Featherstone swept his eyes
over her body. In the glare of
the flashlights Melissa’s every curve
beckoned. He licked his
lips. In the struggle her shirt
had been torn open revealing the high curve of her breasts, barely concealed
by her lace brassiere. “Put
her on her knees,” he ordered.
Breathing heavily, Melissa fought to stay
on her feet as her captors pushed her
down. Visions of what Featherstone
had done to her on their first meeting swept over her mind with the force
of a gale. That first encounter,
when he had held her down and torn her virginity from her body was indelibly
imprinted on her mind. She would
never forget the pure horror and degradation of that brutal
violation.
Featherstone looked down on the girl bowed
before him. Her heaving bosom
drew his eyes like a magnet attracts iron
filings. He licked his lips again,
remembering the sweet taste of Melissa’s sweat covered nipples and the
virgin tightness of her vagina just before he ripped her virginity from her
body forever. “Miss
Gallant,” he said, “I was going to wait until tomorrow for this,
but I see that you are eager to start
early.”
He widened the top of her shirt, flicking
the buttons undone one by one.
“Gutless bastard,” Melissa spat, “you haven’t
the courage to stand up to a woman without two dozen men to back you
up.”
“Perhaps,” replied Featherstone
quietly. He slipped his hands
under the cups of her bra, feeling the sensual touch of her nipples in the
palms of his hands. Gently, he
closed his hands, squeezing the soft
flesh. “Perfect,” he
said. “Just as I
remember.” He turned to
Sturm, who had come up out of the
darkness.
“
Sturm
grinned. He had been told by
his superiors that working for Featherstone would require duties a little
out of the ordinary, but being invited to rape one of the most beautiful
women he had ever laid eyes on was something that he had not
expected. Stepping over to the
still dazed archeologist, he lifted her to her
feet. Larra swayed, barely able
to stand. Gripping the front
of her shirt with both hands, he ripped it open with such force that the
buttons flew in all directions. A
lecherous grimace creased his face as he snapped her bra revealing as perfect
a set of breasts as he had ever seen.
Bending his head to bite her left nipple he reflected on how much
he was gong to enjoy this assignment.
His teeth closed on the rigid bud, eliciting a moan of pain from his
victim. His member stiffened
in anticipation. Yes, this was
going to be a most enjoyable assignment.
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