A Removal of Diamonds · Part 2

A Removal of Diamonds · Part 2 (2/2)
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nd at this stage it becomes necessary to gag you madam."

"That's quite unnecessary," fumed the very upset manager, "And furthermore I…." But Beryl had had already taken a prepared gag out of one of their boxes and deftly thrust the rolled toweling in the centre of it into Odelia's mouth then swiftly knotted the trailing strips at the back of her neck. The captive manager gasped and her eyes bulged as she was deprived of speech.

"You'll be far more comfortable if you let your jaws relax and don't try to talk at all," she was advised. "And meanwhile, those two girls of yours seem to be somewhat late this morning, don't they?"

Those ladies were not really late. They had already met downstairs, come up in the lift and were making their way along the corridor.

They had both been with Gemstones for years and were completely trusted. They were —

Betty, managerial assistant. Age thirty five, full figure, short dark brown hair with an attractive oval face. She was very good at her job. And Sally, receptionist, whose desk had just been taken over by Sarah. Age twenty nine, slightly taller than her companion but with a somewhat lesser figure. She had black hair and a capable look about her. Each wore a well fitting business suit and a hat, Odelia insisted on this. Both were dressed for inclement weather. Betty wore a grey overcoat, buttoned to the throat, Sally a belted raincoat which emphasized her trim figure. Both carried handbags.

The pair walked to the door of Gemstones and were surprised to find it open. Usually they pressed the communications buzzer and Odelia, already inside, let them in. They went in and were astonished to see Sarah seated behind Sally's desk. "Good morning ladies," she greeted them with a cheerful smile. "Things are going to be different today. If you'll both step into the staff room please, we'll work things out." Still smiling, she indicated the door.

Both women stood where they were. "Who're you?" asked Betty, puzzled, "And where's Mrs Abrams?" Neither were inclined to move. They looked quickly at each other, then back at Sarah.

"Mrs Abrams is busy at the moment, a little tied up you might say," said the bogus receptionist. "Now if you'll just come this way." She stood up.

At that moment moment Liz, wearing her Crystal Cleaners uniform, came out of the staff room. "Hello girls. We've been expecting you. Step in here please," She smiled too but also held a gun in her hand, pointed at Betty and Sally who simply stared in amazement.

Seeing that all pretence had been abandoned, Sarah moved from behind the desk and, taking each of the new arrivals firmly by the forearm, marched them into the staff room. As she passed Liz she murmured quietly, "If you and our colleague can look after them, I'd better stay here at the desk. Those couriers could arrive at any time." Liz nodded and, still pointing her gun at the two captives, followed them and closed the door.

Inside the staff room Betty and Sally looked incredulously at Odelia, seated, bound and gagged and in a partial state of undress. "Well ladies," said Beryl, standing beside her, "As you can see, Mrs Abrams is definitely not available. And we haven't got much time left. Will you please put your things on the table and sit down here." She indicated two chairs alongside the bound manager.

Both women stood still, apparently stunned into immobility. Liz acted for them. She took their handbags, removed their hats and put these on the staff room table. "Sit on the chairs," she ordered. Betty, her face freezing into a resentful glare, did so reluctantly. Sally by now somewhat distressed, was pushed onto her seat by Liz. Teardrops trickled down her cheeks. "It's alright love," she was soothingly told, "Just relax, be quiet and keep calm and you'll be OK." Liz, who was as tough as nails, could be compassionate if required.

Swiftly, the two invaders began to tie the Gemstones employees to the chairs they sat in. First they crossed their hands behind the chair backs and bound them securely around the wrists. Next they tied their upper arms to the sides of the chair and then lashed their waists to the back supports. They worked quickly and in silence, the only sound being the rustle of the cloth strips on the waterproof fabric of Sally's raincoat. Finally they knelt and bound both women's ankles and, last of all, their legs above the knees. Both victims were quiet throughout. Betty, sullenly silent but Sally was obviously upset.

"Well now." said Beryl, "Thank you for your co-operation girls. The only thing that remains is to gag you both." She rummaged in the box on the desk and produced two such already prepared items.

"You don't have to do that," said Betty tartly. Sally began to sob.

Liz took both gags from her partner and moistened the cloth wads of each at the kitchenette sink. She smiled at the distressed Sally.

"It'll be more comfortable if you just let your jaw go completely slack. You'll hardly notice it. Now, open your pretty mouth." This comforted the worried girl somewhat and she submitted to being gagged. Beryl had to force Betty's gag into her less than willing mouth.

"Now that is a lovely picture," smiled Beryl as she looked at the entire work force of Gemstones International as they sat bound and helpless in a line of chairs in their own staff room. They in turn looked back at her over their gags. Odelia, mewing and muttering, Betty, silent and scowling, Sally, still somewhat tearful. "We now await that consignment of goodies you've been expecting. Don't worry, we'll take good care of it." Odelia and Betty looked furious. "Meanwhile, I'll get used to the opening and closing of that safe of yours." She turned and went into Odelia's office.

And the consignment was not far away. Down in the basement car park a small van marked Security Couriers had driven in and parked near the vehicle Beryl and her team had arrived in. Two people, a man of about fifty and a woman in her mid thirties got out. Both wore zipped leather jackets with insignia, peaked caps and black uniform trousers. Both had holstered pistols. The man carried a flat metal strong box attached to his wrist by a chain.

They went to the security manager's office and though obviously not expecting to find it locked, read the notice Beryl had taped to the inside of the door over an hour before. This was carefully typed on a sheet of Gemstones stationery and said the manager would be away from his post for two hours and that they should go to the office of delivery on the third floor. The letterhead was genuine and had been obtained with some difficulty by the group and the message itself was well worded and typed. It appeared quite authentic. The two read it, accepted it and walked to the service lift.

Up on the third floor they walked along the corridor and pressed the attention buzzer on the Gemstones door. This was always kept locked, no one was admitted until they had been verified by the receptionist or management.

And in this case they were admitted by Sarah, playing to perfection the part of the well groomed, smartly dressed concierge of an upmarket, prestigious business firm. She smiled as she opened the door. "Come in. You're expected. Mrs Hirschel will see you in her office."

The man looked at her questioningly, "Mrs Abrams not here now?"

Sarah continued to smile. "She's overseas at the moment. In South Africa. Mrs Hirschel is filling in until she returns." The man nodded.

The choice of the name Hirschel was a good one. It was that of a family well known in the world of precious gems. "She'll be very pleased to see you." She walked with them across the reception area and opened the door to the office.

"Come in please," said Beryl, getting up from behind the desk. She was also smiling pleasantly and expertly played the well dressed, coolly efficient lady executive, "I'm very glad you're here. We've been waiting for this for some time." She talked knowledgeably about the origin of the gems and the journey they had made to get there (her organization really did their homework in these matters) and signed the receipt book the male courier produced from inside his jacket. "Please put them in here." She pointed to the wide open safe in the corner.

The man took a key from his lady partner, unlocked the chain from his wrist (it was security procedure the key should not travel with the goods carrier) and put the metal strongbox into the safe. He then turned and handed it to Beryl as it was the key to the box itself. She accepted it then knelt, closed the door of the safe and adjusted the lock. She had familiarized herself with this procedure while waiting for them. "I'm glad that's safe in there," she said with apparent relief, "Now, is there anything else that needs to be done?" She hoped they would both go quickly.

But they stood there. Finally the man smiled and said, "Mrs Abrams usually gives us a cup of coffee. We've been working since before seven."

"Of course," said Beryl with an obliging manner she did not feel. Nothing should be allowed to arouse the suspicions of these two. A departure from accepted procedure might just do that. "I'll arrange it." She walked to the door of the reception office.

"Hazel," she said to Sarah, using the name they had agreed on, "Can you organize three cups of coffee please." She nodded toward the kitchenette. The look on her face told all that needed to be said.

"Of course, Mrs Hirschel." The look on Sarah's face showed she understood. She went into the kitchenette by the connecting door.

Though everything had gone well in the managerial office it was not quite so in the staff room/kitchenette. Each one of the bound Gemstones people could hear what was being said in the main office and all were reacting differently. Liz had put crisscross strips of duct tape over their already gagged mouths. Betty and Sally were enduring in agitated silence but Odelia had been infuriated by the presence of an impostor sitting in her chair and dealing with people she should have dealt with. Her mewing and grunting might have become audible if she had not been anesthetized with chloroform from the box on the trolley. She now sagged in her bonds, sleeping peacefully. Her gag had been removed.

Liz was standing guard over her other two charges with the chloroformed pad in her hand ready to silence them if necessary when Sarah told her they had to produce coffee for the couriers.

The kitchenette had an elaborate and expensive coffee making machine and it said a lot for the resourcefulness of the pair that they were able to operate it and produce three cups of coffee within minutes. Liz produced a tray and Sarah found milk and biscuits in the refrigerator. They even located some paper napkins.

In a little over seven minutes after being asked Sarah was walking back into the managerial office with the required refreshments. By then the two couriers were sitting on chairs in front of the desk behind which Beryl was playing the gracious hostess. "Thank you Hazel," she smiled. The beaming waitress handed a cup of coffee to each and placed one in front of Beryl. Then she handed a plate with folded napkin to all and put the tray of biscuits in the middle of the desk where all could reach it. "Thank you, that will be all," she was further told. Smiling, Sarah withdrew.

The next fifteen minutes was given over to sipping coffee, munching biscuits and small talk about the heavy traffic they had encountered on the way from the airport where they had taken delivery and the likely problems on the route to their next job. Beryl encouraged conversation on this easy subject, all of it audible to the bound and gagged Betty and Sally.

Eventually they finished, stood up and were escorted to the front door by a still smiling Beryl. Standing in the corridor the man grinned and said, "You know, your young lady makes much better coffee than Mrs Abrams' girl ever did. She seemed to have no idea." Sarah, seated at her desk, acting the part of the busy receptionist, lifted her head and smiled her thanks. In the staff room the tied up Sally also heard and was mortified.

Twelve minutes later Security Couriers were driving out of the garage, thinking only of their next assignment.

The trio would not be long behind them. All three were quickly back into their Crystal Cleaners uniforms. Beryl reopened the safe, took out the strong box and everything else of value there. She stowed it all in one of their boxes and put it carefully in the trolley. Liz and Sarah washed and dried the coffee things to remove fingerprints, not out of any sense of tidiness. They were all wearing their cleaners' gloves again.

"Well ladies, it's been nice working with you," Beryl addressed the securely bound Betty and Sally. Sarah checked their bonds and made sure the gags were firmly in place. Liz had untied the still unconscious Odelia and was now giving her another dose of chloroform.

The staff room was equipped with a long, flat topped seat, covered with soft quilted padding, evidently a place where the the ladies might lie down if they felt unwell. Beryl eyed it and said, "I think we might put Odelia on that. She might fall out of that chair, the way she's lolling around."

"The very least we can do," commented Liz. "She's been so co- operative." Together they picked up the unconscious manager and placed her on the seat. Her skirt that Beryl had worn was neatly folded and considerately put under her head. The suit jacket was thoughtfully draped over the back of the chair she had been removed from. The other two watched them mutely over their gags and tape.

"Well girls, time we were off," said Beryl, "Thank you again for your assistance. Madam will untie you when she wakes up. You can thank her for us." The uniformed trio, caps, gloves and glasses firmly in place pushed their now laden trolley out of the Gemstones premises and down the corridor.

Fifteen minutes after the couriers they too were driving out of the building.

"Well," commented Beryl as they got on their way, "A rewarding morning. I'll phone Trish and tell her she can leave her charges too. I trust she's given that security man and his wife an entertaining time."

The others laughed.

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A Removal of Diamonds · Part 2 (2/2)
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