MICHAEL"Richard..." I hesitate, not sure how much I can say to James´ billionaire partner."What?""I know you think...""Yes?" He sits back in his chair, hands clasped behind his head. "Come on. Out with it. If it´s something awkward, it´s better dealt with.""I think that you and James both think of Charlotte as a sub. Intelligent and pretty, but just a sub. And she´s not. There´s a lot more to her than that. If she can´t get what she wants by... legitimate means, she´s perfectly capable of taking matters into her own hands."He says nothing, considering my words. I push my case. "I know she looks like Beth, but she´s had a fight on her hands all her life. It´s second nature to her. She´ll not simply accept it.""You think not?""She ran from the home half a dozen times.""And was caught and returned every time.""She was a child then. She not now. She´s intelligent, devious and she´ll follow through to get what she wants. For God´s sake, bring her in on whatever

CHARLOTTEThey think they have trapped me.The concierge has been told not to let me out of the building. Ross sits outside by the lift. Cameras scan the corridor outside the apartment. And they think I don´t know that my parking pass has been invalidated, so I cannot exit from the car park.To Hell with this!-----My plans in place; my car keys are in my pocket, my Master´s parking pass with it, exchanged with my own while he was showering..."How´s the work going, Charlotte?" asks my Master.Standing up from a large map of the City, I explain my various markings. "I´ve been plotting out where all the public cameras are along through-routes. There are a lot of them online available for anyone to view. I thought I might be able to use them spot some kind of pattern for the route they could have taken with Beth."I´m talking hogwash. My real reason for interest in those cameras is quite different.My Master raises his eyebrows. "Good idea. Any luck with it?""No, no

CHARLOTTESitting quietly, I look carefully around me, trying not to be conspicuous about it. I am inside, in effect, a tin box. Will the tracer signal get through this?Almost certainly, no...We have changed cars twice, and now I am locked in the back of a truck. I still have three tracers with me, all different, but the odds are that, just now, no-one can pick up the signal from any of them.Master, Michael, where are you? Are you looking for me?At some point, presumably, I will be taken from the truck to... who-knows-where? Perhaps the signal will be detectable then, at least while I am outdoors. But it may be brief. Will someone be watching the monitor then?And, when all is said and done, despite my anxiety, I need my captors to take me... wherever they are taking me...Don´t give them trouble. Don´t make them tie you up. Keep your hands free...I am being guarded. A man with a gun and an unfriendly expression sits by the tailgate, blocking my exit. However

MICHAELWe sit, parked up by a diner, James with his eyes fixed on his laptop screen. I stare into space. He glances up at me."What are you thinking about?""What do you imagine?""Well, of course, Charlotte. Something specific?"I stare up into the car roof for a moment, caught between embarrassment, the knowledge that Richard is seated right behind us, and the need to unload some stress."I was thinking about that noise she makes. You know the one, when she´s good and aroused, getting close to coming, sort of a cross between a moan and a wail..."His face twitches and he looks away. "Yeah... it´s a good sound isn´t it...""Shall we move on? See if a different area gives us a signal?""Yes, I think so."BETHI can´t believe it, but we have left our pursuers behind us under the trees. We are in the parking lot of a diner, closed now for the night, but just off the main highway. The forest closes behind us, but ahead, dissolves away to more open ground. In the nig

MICHAELIn the apartment, Charlotte charges straight into the bathroom, strips off, dropping her clothes to the floor as she vanishes into the shower. The clothes are disgusting. I scoop them into a plastic waste bag and dump the lot, hovering over the laundry chute, before settling for the garbage. She herself, even under the clothes, is filthy.In the lounge, James and I wait together. "What´s our line?" he says quietly. "How mad at her are we?"How do I answer that?The woman I love abandoned me and left me numb with fear for her..."Hugs first," I say. "Mad later... Mmmm... I´m just going to take a look at her, now the worst of the dirt should be off. See what state she´s in."With the shower running, dousing herself from the head downwards, facing up into the water stream, she doesn´t hear me enter. On her arms and shoulders, down her thighs, all over her body, she is covered with bruises, just fading to blue and purple. And clean, her face shows more bruising; over on