The Black Room (18 page)

Accepting the situation did not just make life easier, it also made it a lot more pleasurable. She moved her mouth back between Vanessa’s legs and began to lap lovingly at her.

‘Good girl,’ Vanessa breathed, tugging Kelly’s head away. She was smiling down at the redhead, a soft smile lighting her lips. ‘You took your punishment like a good girl.’

‘Thank you, Miss Byrne,’ Kelly said quietly.

‘There’s a change of clothes in that cupboard,’ Vanessa said, pointing. ‘Get yourself cleaned up and back working in the office. If you’re not there in twenty minutes, I’ll have to punish you again.’

Obediently, Kelly did as she was told.

*   *   *

Vanessa went to the cupboard and selected a change of clothes for herself. She cast a wary glance in Kelly’s direction as she stepped out of the short skirt she still wore. A wry smile twisted her lips and a look of recognition lit her eyes. She paused on the brink of saying something, then stopped herself.

She was used to thinking fast and making quick, yet solid, decisions. Even after the pleasant distraction of the afternoon, her thoughts were still crystal clear and her mental process was as sharp as ever. If Kelly was the person whom Vanessa believed her to be, she thought it would be more prudent to keep the knowledge to herself. The idea excited her and her smile broadened.

She washed herself quickly then stepped into a change of clothes. Her mood was brighter than it had been in days. Leaving Kelly in the en suite, Vanessa returned to her office.

*   *   *

Kelly could hear the woman talking on her intercom, barking commands and bawling irrefutable statements at her subordinates. She detested the sound of the woman’s voice and felt her loathing rise again. The memory of their intimacy was washed from her mind as easily as the remnants of their lovemaking were washed from her body. She was still aware that Vanessa was her superior and if the woman gave her an instruction she would have willingly obeyed it.

But she still hated the bitch.

‘Change of plan, Kelly,’ Vanessa snapped, appearing in the doorway of the en suite bathroom. ‘I want you in my office in two minutes.’

Knowing better than to argue, Kelly simply nodded and began to towel her body dry. She quickly stepped into a change of clothes and rushed into Vanessa’s office as she had been asked.

‘Kneel on the floor, beside me,’ Vanessa said sharply.

Blushing with embarrassment, Kelly knelt down. She knew the woman was going to invite other people into the office and the shame of further public humiliation left her feeling cold. Having Vanessa frogmarch her through the crowded typing pool had been a debasing experience. Kelly realised that whatever the woman had in store for her now would be just as belittling.

Vanessa pressed the intercom on her desk. ‘Send them in, Sally,’ she snapped. ‘All three of them.’

Kelly closed her eyes, wishing she could be somewhere else. The shadow of humiliation brought with it a dark arousal that she both loved and detested. It flavoured her excitement with an unsettlingly sweet taste.

In the darkness of her closed world, she heard the muted shuffle of footsteps against the luxurious carpet of Vanessa’s private office. When she heard the office door close she dared to open her eyes, so that she could brace herself for what was about to happen.

Staring at the room full of people, Kelly could not believe what she was seeing. Mistress Stacey sat in the chair facing Vanessa’s desk. Standing beside her were Russel and Helen. Both of the trainees looked nervous.

‘Have you got a problem, Vanessa?’ Stacey asked calmly.

‘Yes,’ Vanessa replied crisply. ‘A major problem if we’re being honest. One of the trainees is in need of a visit to the black room.’

Stacey frowned. ‘What’s been happening?’ she asked, casting a cursory glance over the three trainees. Her gaze rested on Kelly. ‘Is it her?’ she asked.

Kelly swallowed nervously.

She wanted to stand up and defend herself. It had not been her fault. She had accidentally bumped into Vanessa. It had not been deliberate or intentional. It had been a simple accident and she had been well and truly punished for it. She did not think she deserved a trip to the black room. That was taking things too far. Miserably, she closed her eyes and waited for the damnable Vanessa to condemn her.

‘No,’ Vanessa said. ‘Kelly and I had a little run-in earlier, but we’ve sorted all that out, haven’t we, Kelly?’

For a moment Kelly could not reply. She was so overwhelmed with relief that the effects were physical. She was not going to be sent to the black room and that thought took precedence over everything else. The sense of release the thought gave was almost palpable.

‘Kelly?’ Vanessa repeated, the word sounding cold and stark.

‘I’m sorry, Miss Byrne,’ she said quickly. ‘Yes. It was all sorted out. I am truly sorry for…’

‘Kelly isn’t the problem,’ Vanessa said, speaking over the submissive before she could finish her sentence.

‘Then who is?’ Stacey asked tersely. ‘If one of the trainees is slacking off, I need to know, Vanessa.’

Vanessa smiled tightly. ‘You are in a dominant mood today, aren’t you?’ she observed wryly. ‘I pity the poor thing who’s going to end up in the black room with you this evening.’

Stacey rolled her eyes. ‘Cut to the chase, Vanessa,’ she said dryly.

Vanessa smiled. ‘You know how security conscious I am around this place, don’t you? We have guards, we have stock controls, we have password-protected databases –’

‘This isn’t cutting to the chase, Vanessa,’ Stacey observed.

‘– and we have security cameras.’

Russel and Helen exchanged a nervous glance. It was a subtle gesture but it was noticed by both Stacey and Vanessa. From her position, kneeling at Vanessa’s side, Kelly saw the exchange as well.

Vanessa continued. ‘I keep the stationery room monitored because it’s one of the areas where we can lose a lot of stock. I’ve caught a couple of petty thieves in there before today. But I have to say the tape I’ve just received makes the whole monitoring system well worth the money I spent on it.’ She smiled broadly at Helen.

Stacey was frowning darkly. ‘What have you been up to Helen?’ she asked quietly.

Vanessa broke in. ‘This is the tape,’ she said, handing a VHS cassette across the desk. ‘You’ll see exactly what she was doing. I trust you’ll reward her accordingly.’

Stacey took the tape, her frown deepening. ‘Was she alone?’

Vanessa shook her head. ‘She’d taken Russel and Kelly with her but the dialogue leaves you in no doubt about who the instigator was. I’m sure you can still whip
him
into the sort of shape I’m wanting.’

Stacey nodded curtly and stood up. ‘I’m sorry they were such a disappointment to you,’ she said stiffly. ‘I’ll take them back to the hostel now and see if I can sort things out.’ She snapped her fingers, capturing the attention of all three trainees at once.

Vanessa placed a steadying hand on Kelly’s shoulder. ‘Can you leave this one with me?’ she asked. She smiled warmly at the redhead. ‘She intrigues me.’

Stacey hesitated before replying. She cast an unhappy glance between Kelly and Vanessa, obviously wanting to refuse this request. ‘It goes against company policy,’ she said carefully.

Vanessa smiled. ‘Some of the things you do in the black room go against company policy,’ she remarked. ‘But I’m not going to tell anyone about them.’

Stacey glanced at the woman, wondering if this was a threat. ‘OK,’ she said eventually. ‘But go easy on her, or I’ll have you in the black room.’

Instead of taking umbrage at the remark, Vanessa smiled indulgently. ‘If I was going to let anyone take me into the black room, it would be you.’ She waited while a reluctant grin surfaced on Stacey’s face. ‘After all –’ she grinned ‘– I know that, in the black room, you have a reputation for being the wickedest.’

Jo sat cross-legged beneath the doctor’s desk, cradling the telephone in her lap. The room was pitch-black and her eyes were only just beginning to adjust to the lack of light. It was not the most ideal place to use but she had no other options. The commonroom payphone was out of order and there were no other accessible telephones in the building. This was her only choice. She desperately needed to talk to Stephanie. She was already an hour past the contact time she had specified for herself. The simple problem of having no telephone was not going to defeat Jo Valentine.

Straining her ears in the silence, Jo listened for any sounds that could indicate potential trouble. It was after midnight and she knew all the trainees should be in bed by now. However, there were a handful of guards patrolling the hostel’s corridors, reinforcing the strict security with a heavy-handed presence. She doubted they would be thorough enough to search unlit rooms that were supposedly unused. Paid security was never that good. However, Jo’s well-developed sense of self-preservation told her that in these circumstances she had to err on the side of caution.

Satisfied that she was so far undetected, Jo cradled the handset of the telephone between her shoulder and her ear. She carefully dialled Stephanie’s number. In the silent darkness, the whisper of the dial tone was a deafening roar. Even though she knew this was just a cruel trick her nerves were playing on her, Jo felt her stomach do a nervous somersault. Admittedly, she had every reason to be nervous. The hostel was not a place for the faint-hearted. Her first day had already revealed that much.

She knew she should have suspected something after the incident with Mr Smith. Initially she had dismissed him as an exploiter: a lech who willingly took advantage of every new and vulnerable trainee. It had not taken her long to realise that he was motivated by a darker agenda.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the ringing tone in her ear. Mentally, she could picture the cordless phone in Stephanie’s apartment with its shrill tone. The thought was a small sliver of comfort in a bleak night. The phone was answered on the third ring.

‘Jo, is that you?’

‘Steph, I’m sorry it’s taken so long to call you,’ Jo began.

‘You’re whispering. What’s wrong? Are you in trouble? For Christ’s sake, tell me you’re out of that place.’

Jo was taken aback by the note of panic she could hear in Stephanie’s voice. Her partner was normally so cool and level-headed that Jo drew on her resilience for inspiration. For the first time since she had met her, Jo heard a ragged edge in Stephanie’s voice.

‘Christ, Steph!’ she exclaimed softly. ‘I’m OK. Keep a hold on things.’

‘Are you still in there?’ Stephanie insisted. ‘Tell me you’re not.’

‘Of course I’m still here,’ Jo replied, puzzled and more than a little unnerved by Stephanie’s reaction. ‘This is an undercover operation, remember. Much as I’d like to do it from the Presidential suite at the Hilton, that isn’t a practical solution.’

‘She’s still in there.’

Jo heard Stephanie say the words to a third person. In the dark, a frown furrowed her brow as she tried to imagine who Stephanie might be talking to. ‘Who’s with you, Steph?’ she asked carefully. ‘Is someone putting pressure on you? What’s happening?’

Jo struggled to control the rising surge of panic that welled inside her chest but the emotion continued to grow. She focused her thoughts clearly on the problem at hand and tried to ignore the mounting tide of her own fear.

‘Tell me, Steph,’ she said softly. ‘What’s happening?’

‘You have to get out of there,’ Stephanie said quickly. ‘I’ve been doing some research. Nick’s been helping me and it turns out that place is a black hole. People go in there and just disappear off the face of the planet.’

‘Is Nick with you now?’ Jo asked quickly.

‘Yes. I called him here when you didn’t ring me at eleven. He’s concerned about you. He said he’d warned you not to touch this case.’

Jo sighed with heartfelt relief. She could now see Stephanie’s panic for what it really was. Nick had been talking to her and filling her head with his stupid ideas about the dangers of the Pentagon Agency. Because she was alone, and had been given the time to dwell on these thoughts, Stephanie’s natural concern had blossomed into terror.

If she had been in the same room as Nick, Jo would have kicked him in the balls.

‘I know what this place is, Steph,’ Jo said quietly. ‘It’s nothing more than a training ground for submissives. I’ve almost got the case sorted. I should be out within a day or two.’

‘Get out now, Jo,’ Stephanie implored her. ‘I’m worried about you, Jo. I don’t want you being there.’

Jo smiled. Her heart missed a beat as she realised how strong Stephanie’s concern was. She must feel something for me, Jo thought, elated by the notion. She’s really worried. That has to be more than just friendship, she decided: that’s love.

‘I can think of lots of places I’d rather be,’ Jo said quietly. ‘But if I don’t get a result on this case Mr Rogers isn’t going to give me the rest of the pay packet I’m expecting.’ She considered adding that she had already earnt both the remaining envelopes, and then thought better about fanning the flames of Stephanie’s concern. ‘Kelly Rogers is a resident here at the hostel. I haven’t seen her yet but I’ve spoken to a guy called Russel who was with her this afternoon. She should be back tomorrow. I can talk to her then.’

Stephanie groaned wearily, an anguished sound that Jo found painful to hear. ‘You’re not listening to me, are you?’ Stephanie cried. ‘It’s dangerous, Jo. Get out of there.’

Jo tried to think of soothing words or an explanation that would placate her partner. Admittedly they employed a strict regime at the Pentagon Agency, but Jo felt sure she could handle any situation that arose. She realised a lot of the trainees were painfully submissive but that was only to be expected. It was not a sign of danger.

The telephone crackled and hissed in her ear, then Jo heard a man’s voice shouting sternly.

‘Will you listen to your bloody partner, Valentine? You don’t know what you’ve gotten yourself into. Get out of there now, while you still can.’

Jo glared menacingly at the telephone. ‘Fuck off, Nick,’ she snapped tiredly. ‘I’m not in the mood for you. Be a good boy and tell Stephanie that I’ll be OK, then piss off out of her apartment and leave us all alone.’

‘I’m saying this for your own good,’ he said stiffly.

‘And I’m saying this for your own good,’ Jo said angrily. ‘The next time we meet, make sure you’re wearing a steel-plated cricket box.’ She would have said more. A stream of insults was poised on the tip of her tongue and she could have happily torn a strip off Nick with all of them.

A flickering of light in the waiting room warned her the security guards were being more conscientious than she had anticipated. Speaking in a stiff whisper, she said shortly, ‘I’m hanging up now, Nick. Goodnight.’ Without waiting for a response, she replaced the handset firmly, careful not to make a sound.

There were two of them, both male. Jo guessed that neither of them expected to find anything out of the ordinary. Their conversation was muted but the little Jo could glean sounded mundane enough to ease her worries. This was simply a part of their regular night-time routine, she realised. They were expecting their patrol to be as dull and uneventful as it always was. Somehow, Jo doubted this evening would be either dull or uneventful.

Stealthily, she placed the telephone on the floor. Her concentration was focused on the two male voices in the waiting room and she strained to make words from the whispered mumbling.

‘…can’t do anything about it,’ one voice said quietly. ‘But if they make the league next year then…’

The other grunted something Jo could not hear. The beam of his flashlight was moving back towards the waiting-room door and she held her breath, hoping it would continue in that direction.

‘Wait a second, Terry. Shouldn’t the doctor’s door be locked?’

Jo bit her bottom lip and frowned. She had left the door slightly ajar after breaking into the doctor’s surgery. It was a modern security lock and she had not trusted her ability to pick the damnable thing a second time. They would almost certainly enter the room and Jo did not doubt they would discover her third-rate hiding place beneath the desk. She knew that some sort of action was required and she quickly turned over the available options in her mind.

‘Perhaps the doctor forgot to shut it on her way out?’ Terry suggested. The beam of his flashlight hit the door and a thin ray of torch-light pierced the black gloom of the surgery.

‘I don’t reckon she’s the forgetful type,’ the first guard replied. ‘I think we ought to check it out.’

‘Overzealous bastards,’ Jo thought sourly. She raised herself from the floor and slid easily into the doctor’s chair. In one hasty motion she reached beneath the hem of the short skirt she wore and removed her knickers. Without thinking about the consequences, she stuffed them in one of the drawers on the doctor’s desk.

There was always a way out of any problem, Jo thought, a smile twisting her lips. And she realised that, if she played this situation properly, she might get something out of it herself.

The door opened and the two men entered warily. The beams of their flashlights cut brilliant lines of light through the darkness. Jo stayed perfectly still as the torch beams criss-crossed and illuminated the walls and corners of the room. The brilliant white light touched on her, then moved on. For a moment she was filled with the hope that she would remain undiscovered. It was only a small hope, tinged with the sad realisation that she might miss out on her intended fun if that did happen. However, even before Terry placed his fingers on the light switch, she realised her discovery was inevitable.

‘Hello, boys,’ she said, blinking against the light that flooded the room.

‘Who the hell are you?’ the first guard asked incredulously.

Jo watched him glance at his colleague, as though the other man might know who she was. She suppressed a small smile of amusement as the man shrugged helplessly.

‘You keep an eye on her, Bob. I’ll go and fetch the night supervisor.’

‘Hold on a second, boys,’ Jo said softly. She climbed out of the chair and settled herself on the doctor’s desk, allowing the hem of her skirt to rise almost casually. Her warm smile was lewd and eager as she studied the two men. Terry, by the door, was tall and broad, struggling to keep his powerful athletic body in the confines of his security uniform. His colleague Bob did not have as imposing a physique but he still looked more than capable.

‘Do either of you two like to gamble?’ Jo asked, reaching into the breast pocket of her blouse.

Bob and Terry exchanged a wary glance.

‘Gamble?’ Bob asked. ‘I’ve been known to have the odd flutter.’

‘Should I fetch the supervisor?’ Terry asked from the doorway.

Bob waved a silencing hand in his direction. ‘Hold on a minute. We’re in no rush.’ Smiling at Jo, he asked, ‘Why are you talking about gambling?’

Jo grinned into his eager face. She held the doubleheaded sovereign in one hand and tossed it carefully into the air. She caught it lazily and then tossed it again. ‘We all know that I shouldn’t be here,’ she explained. ‘I was wondering if you wanted to toss for my future. If it’s tails, you can put the handcuffs on me and frogmarch me to one of the senior night staff.’

A broad grin split Bob’s face in two. He eyed Jo’s legs hungrily then shifted his gaze to meet her eyes. ‘And if it’s heads?’ he asked curiously.

Jo pretended to think about what to do if this was the outcome. ‘If it’s heads,’ she said carefully, ‘I suppose I would have to show you how grateful I am that you haven’t turned me in.’ To emphasise her meaning, she made a show of crossing her legs. For an instant her pubic bush was on full display to the pair. It was only a fleeting moment, but it was long enough to have its effect on both of them.

‘Are you in, Terry?’ Bob asked without looking at his colleague.

Terry gulped nervously.

Jo smiled at him and winked knowingly. She balanced the coin on her thumb and raised her eyebrows. ‘Well, Terry?’ she asked mischievously. ‘Are you in?’ She could see the bulging erection at the front of Terry’s uniform. She did not doubt that whatever his head was telling him, his body would elect for him to join the fun.

Terry nodded. The unhappy frown on his face showed he still had some reservations.

Jo grinned and tossed the coin. ‘What a surprise!’ Jo exclaimed. ‘It’s heads! Congratulations, boys. You two win the prize.’

‘Keep watch, Terry,’ Bob said, moving closer to Jo as he spoke. He took her in his arms and lifted her from the top of the doctor’s desk in one swift motion. ‘You’re the prize, are you?’ he asked.

She was pleasantly surprised by his unexpected show of strength. She was even more surprised by the hard bulge that shoved against the coarse fabric of his uniform trousers. ‘I’m the prize,’ she agreed. ‘Aren’t you lucky?’

‘I’m about to find out,’ Bob said with a wicked grin.

She rubbed herself against him. ‘It didn’t take you long to work up an appetite,’ she noted wryly.

Bob planted his mouth over hers. It was a passionate kiss, made more thrilling by the urgency of his desire. His tongue entered her mouth and she allowed him to explore her freely. Jo felt flattered by his eagerness to possess her and she shivered beneath his touch. His hands crudely caressed her body, his callused palms dragging roughly over the flimsy fabric of her blouse and skirt.

Jo moved her mouth away from his and pushed his head down, so he could pay attention to her breasts. Happily, Bob obliged.

‘Come and join us, Terry,’ Jo called. Her words were ragged with arousal. ‘Although it doesn’t have to be in that order,’ she added with a devilish grin.

Terry glanced nervously at her, then looked away. ‘I’m keeping watch,’ he replied shyly.

Jo frowned theatrically. Bob’s head had moved to her chest and he was sucking her breasts through the fabric of her blouse. His mouth had managed to find her nipples and he ran his tongue over the silky material, creating a scintillating frisson.