They'd found the road to nowhere. Off the M4 was a road sign; "Brickspan Highway" That's what Fran saw. But now she queried why there were no other vehicles to be seen. There was something very odd about the scene.
It was 1981 and the war had been over for years but the scene took on the look of a battle zone
Let's stop, take a look up the map." Tom suggested.
He scanned the road map spread across his lap, sweat forming little droplets upon his brow in the heat of midsummer's day.
"No such road or highway mentioned on here as Brickspan," he reckoned. "In fact, I don't know where the hell we are. Look, we have just come down the M4 right? - And we've taken a turning which doesn't exist. This is no new road; it looks more like that old wartime runway we saw in Lincolnshire. Are you sure you saw the sign, Fran? because I didn't"
"Yes, I did see the sign," Fran replied with some indignation. "And the name of the place where we saw that old runway was Metheringham. I appreciate your interest darling in the old world war two airfields but please, no more. Let's live in the present. Life must go on and we are on honeymoon, remember!"
"You are dead sure then that sign actually said Brickspan Highway, Fran? Looks more like a dust track than a highway."
Fran wanted out. Tom was getting niggled. Lately, he was always like this under pressure - trying to edge the blame onto her. She wondered if she should have taken up her former boyfriend's invite after all, Mathew was really something, but he was also Tom's brother, so she had to play it cool.
But she clearly remembered those passionate intimacies she'd shared with Mathew and he was game for anything. He had time for her but it was turning out that bloody Tom seemed more engaged to his obsession into the past.
Even now with her passion over spilling and being deprived by Tom she was immersed in those episodes shared with Mathew and remembered how he fucked her so beautifully over the snooker table and sometimes over the sink when he was helping her wash up, and all that going on whilst her new husband was in the shower.
Mathew claimed that she was fully fledged and wanted some of the action, after all Tom was his twin and they had shared most things so far!
Fran was so primed up now and felt she could not get enough of Tom, so his brother stood as a good stand in. She felt no guilt because Mathew seemed so much alike, except for his sexual preferences and that is what made Fran close to him.
That time over the billiard table was quite unexpected, when she was just placing the balls for him. She could not help it if, by bending over the edge, she was such a temptation to him. She couldn't help it either if she enjoyed the sensation of his sniff as he kneeled behind her and then the very well defined thrusting eminence into her newly initiated quinny, so wet and ready for more attention than Tom was able to give when he made her a woman.
Equally enjoyable was when he had her over the sink, it was so lovely, her hands all sudsy and sliding over his beautiful form as he fucked her full throttle. And not one plate was broken but she was, because she had her first anal fuck despite her early protests. But Mathew showed he a new way which was equally as divine.
Again, Mathew said in defence of his taking her that she had a very desirable butt made more tempting in her pretty lace red panties.
But Fran said he had no need to defend himself because it was absolutely lovely and secretly, she hoped that Tom would want her that way too.
Since she'd agreed to marry Tom she always wanted to spend her honeymoon in Britain, but right now she'd rather be back home in Montreal. She expected a little more attention from her brand new husband. This was a special time, not an in depth survey of Britain's past.
Already a week had passed and every day Tom was obsessed in history. Is this how it was going to be? Had she found something in Tom she didn't know about? Last thing she wanted was to spoil the honeymoon. But right now, her patience was being severely tested. Quietly she was masturbating whilst thinking of Mathew and his prominence, her passion unfulfilled and so demanding.
"I tell you without doubt I saw the sign." She replied sharply. Her brunette hair was blowing in the stiff breeze that seemed to come up from nowhere.
Curiosity persuaded Tom to continue: "Let's just carry on for a while, darling. You never know what me may find."
She had to go along with him. His grandfather was a Royal Canadian Air Force pilot during World War two and unfortunately lost his life at Metheringham. He needed to see the former airfield. Perhaps it was just the sad association with the place. His grandfather's crippled bomber didn't quite make the landing on return from a German bombing mission. This was why she held back - just for now anyway.
An hour later, still nothing had passed either way. The terrain was variable - no buildings, grazing animals, just - nothing - after a gusty night the day was fine, apart from the stiff breeze, just a few puffs of white cloud. But it was becoming hotter as the afternoon came in.
"Where the hell is we?" Tom yelled. The heat was getting to him now. Fran insisted they should turn back and Tom knew she was right. He instantly responded and Jan sighed with relief.
Two hours later they still hadn't reached the M4 where they'd earlier turned off.
"This is being frantic time," Fran said pointing at the fuel gauge. They were nearly out of gas.
"Keep your eyes skinned for a gas station," Tom shouted.
Something loomed up. It wasn't a gas station. It was a square structure with a large wheel.
"I guess it's a mine shaft," Fran speculated.
They pulled up. Fran was right, it was derelict.
Deadly silence, except for an occasional creaking sound made for a spooky scene.. They waited, hoping someone was around who could help but there was nobody, the place was deserted.
"Well, we are nearly out of gas, darling, so it's sleeping in the car tonight. We are bound to see someone on the morning that can help." But Tom didn't sound confident.
"Some honeymoon, Fran griped, "spending the night in the car. We've been there, done that, before we were hitched."
Tom's face lightened. Worried frowns changed to a nonchalant grin. "I remember it well, darling."
Fran turned to capture the moment in the eyes of the guy she'd met at high school. The very dishy dark haired young man with the most deep brown eyes she'd ever encountered. Now he seemed he was interested in the girl he married again and she felt a tingle in her spine.
She remembered his car that old wreck on wheels, an old clapped out Ford Anglia she'd teased him about. He went on to qualify as a medical laboratory technician and she took natural history. They both achieved professional standards. But she too, clearly remembered the first time they spent a night together, when she discovered they were right for each other in every way and this was the lifetime guy for her.
They made themselves as comfortable as possible in the back but there wasn't much room for stretching out. They had just one blanket Fran snatched from the boot, which was ample because the night was clammy. They just snuggled up close to each other and Fran felt less scared now. Tomorrow was another day. Something would come up.
She soon lost her senses as they deeply kissed. It was quite romantic really in the car. This hadn't happened since their early dating days. But they'd discovered much about each other since those times so there was no awkward fumbling - save a few slight adjustments given the very limited space, which gave rise to riveting bouts of shared laughter.
As she felt his deep bonding, she knew she was wrong even to consider she had made a mistake in rejecting Mat. He was a good lover okay but Tom had the edge, and besides it was full package, she could never have loved Mat as she did Tom. They soon reached their Waterloo, Fran crying out: "Tom, Tom!" as they felt the essence culminating their love together. She could never get enough of him and wanted more, she took him this time and was soon taken in the current of their shared passion; he was hers despite his shortcomings.
During the night Fran heard the mine wheel turning, she was sure of it. There were men's voices too, or a man's voice. Wiping the condensation from the window she saw a dark figure and immediately woke telling Tom who reluctantly ventured out to investigate. He returned assuring her that nobody was out there - that it was a trick of the shadows in the moonlight.
Fran hugged up to him trying to sleep but it was too scary. No sights excepting the shadows and no sounds now - as if they were in the middle of nowhere.
In the morning Fran complained she'd hardly slept. She was sure she had heard that wheel turning. Tom said he was still tired too so after some refreshment they put their heads down again. If anyone came they would be bound to see them and perhaps come to their assistance.
They came too just after noon and were ready for something to eat again. Fran brought something out of the cool box in the boot and was relieved that they came well stocked with food and drink. They managed to freshen up too with the aid of wet wipes and a container full of water which was a blessing.
Afterwards, Fran felt she just had to step along to the entrance of the mine and shout down the old shaft. She noticed an almost concealed tunnel alongside the shaft which spiralled downwards into what appeared to be a gallery and being Fran was intent to investigate.
The young adventurous Girl Guide she once was, started to come out; when she went pony tracking with her colleagues in the Rockies, stopping for picnics in the caves. The head girl dissuading them from going too far inside, should they encounter a wild animal.
She remembered taking such trips with her uncle too. But now he had passed on. There was only Tom to stop her and he was too obsessed in his map right now to notice. She'd do her own thing. It was a bit scary but at least there were no wild animals to contend with in Britain. Might do Tom good to realise she also had her own particular interests. It might pull his attention a bit.
She trundled forward into the tunnel. She could see quite well as beams of sunlight projected inside. She gingerly approached the open area which circled the mine head and peaked down the shaft again and then upwards to see how far down she had progressed.
Then she heard a noise, a sort of shuffling sound. She paused and froze as she felt a tremble shoot up her spine. She heard it again: softer this time and assumed it was probably a rabbit or something.
Then she heard Tom calling her name twice. So he had missed her, big deal! He wasn't far behind, she could hear footsteps. She'd let him sweat awhile deciding not to respond. But almost at once she heard another sound. It was a deep cough; like a man's cough nearby. She swung around in absolute fear and saw a figure in the shadows - just like the one she'd seen through the car window during the night. She wasn't imagining things, it was real enough.
The dark figure instantly emerged, spun her around by grasping her waist and she felt his firm strong hands encircling her. She could barely see his face in the shadows.
"Don't be scared, Sweetie pie. I won't hurt you if you are good. It's not every day I have such a gorgeous wench come visit me."
In her rising panic Fran's first notion was to scream. Now she really wanted Tom to know where she was. A rough hand came down and pressed into her mouth stifling the screams. She felt another hand encircle her again, half pushing, half lifting her along through a dark passage. Then at the end of the passage, some light again. She was frantic now, it was all happening at once, like it was one big nightmare.
The guy still held her from behind but she felt the enormity of his form and the strength in his arms. How she's wished she'd taken that self-defence course like her friend, Patsy back home. But she held the old fashioned notion that if things got serious then Tom would always be around to protect her. But where was he now?
She was forced into a caged area which must have been the lift the miners used. Relieved she was wearing her jeans. She was panting in a jumble of fear and anger. She begged him not to hurt her as he angrily scorned her for screaming. He told her just to do as she was told and she wouldn't get hurt. With the light just getting through the shaft she could just make out through an open door, the other side of the cage, she saw an assemble of bedding, china, a teapot and an old wardrobe in a wide area which resembled a cave.
But what really concerned her was when her assailant closed the cage door behind him and turned a lock. There was no escape, worst still; there was no apparent way Tom would be able to gain access for her rescue.
The guy was frantic; yelling at her that she would be punished like his mother punished him when he was a naughty boy. She just couldn't believe what he was telling her to do. His features were still difficult to make out in the shadows but she knew he had a beard. Her whole form was quivering now in sheer fright. Was this really happening to her, what should she do, just scream and fight? - That would probably make things worse.
He ordered her to remove her jeans and panties, and after some deliberation he roughly helped her remove them, grabbed them from her and sniffed the gusset of both garments. Then he asked her to put her jeans back on because she looked good in them and very spankable.
She looked up and caught the expression in his face. She could see him now when as he moved to where the light was coming through. She reckoned he was in his early forties, and although his scowl was ugly he had a fresh and handsome face. Not the sort she'd expect to be violent, and this gave her some hope. Perhaps, just perhaps; if she played her cards right she could win him over and calm him. If she could humour him awhile until Tom arrived, perhaps she could make a run for the door, undo the lock and, with Tom's help, escape.. Yes, that's what she'd do. But she already had doubts when he made his next move...
"I told you, over my knee!" he yelled threateningly. He'd grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and, seated on an old chair pulled her across his lap and pushed her head down until it almost reached the floor the other side. She felt his fingers clutching the waist band of her jeans as he held her into position.
She remembered once how it was when once her step father gave her the hiding of her life because she'd accidentally thrown a dart into her sister's groin. She attempted to struggle free but he yelled he could make it worse for her unless she took her punishment.
"Now I'll show you how they used to discipline their women in the old times, a woman should know her place."
She just froze and hoped the nightmare would soon be over. Then she felt the sting of the first agonising slap of his hand. Several more followed and she felt her back writhing until she cried for mercy.
"What kind of man are you?" she screamed. "This isn't the dark ages. Treating me like this."
"That's what I do to my women if they play up. You are the one who came to see me. You thought I didn't recognise you didn't you? I've seen you in all those films. I know who you are."
Fran was kneeling on the floor rearranging her jeans, struggling to resist the tears of pain. But she was relieved this guy now held back, he showed no sign of any intention to touch her, hadn't even attempted to strip her. Not like her step father did. Something she'd never told Tom.
She wondered what exactly he wanted of her. Surely Tom must have heard the racket, would he come soon?
This guy was obviously a deranged soul needing guidance. She looked up and told him she was on her honeymoon, if he'd got her confused with someone else, he was mistaken and he shouldn't have done that to her. No way.
"Any minute now my husband, Tom will come," she advised. But inwardly she doubted if Tom could match up to this guy's aggression and strength, even if she managed to get the door open for him. Tom was about ten years younger but comparatively slim to him.
"Tom tom, that's what they call a sort of drum isn't it - a tom-tom? Hope you've drummed something into him," he sneered with a grating laugh, "he has no chance of rescuing you, Sweetie Pie. You are for me. I've been looking for a woman for a long time, a woman like you, and I guess you fit the part in more ways than one. I need someone to do my chores, my cooking while I hunt for food and, of course, to keep me warm in bed. Can be mighty cold in here at night you know. You seem to have the attributes for that, Sweetie Pie. But remember, not to make me mad because you know what you'll be in for - and mind, it can be a lot more severe." He pointed to a horse whip hanging on a hook.
Fran still had a notion this guy was not all bad. It was just something about his disposition. He normally spoke with a gentle voice, like now. Her belief in human nature was such that we all inherit a bad streak which, if recognised could be remedied. She was a good natured person. But at the same time she wanted badly that Tom would soon turn up.
She was still suffering. The pain had been such that now a kind of numbness had set in; it was the same after the thrashing from her step-father all those years ago.
"Fran, Fran, where the hell are you?"
Thank God it was Tom. It seemed as though he was there, with them. She gave out a yell but down came a hand across her mouth again. Her assailant replied instead:
"Come and join us, Tom. That is your name isn't it? Well, not join us exactly. You can sit outside the cage and watch, so to speak. Simply watch, like I was doing last night, you two in the car. I could do with some of that I reckoned. Now it's my turn, fair's fair."
Tom had found his way to the cage and clutched the steel uprights, his face alight with anger and frustration.
"You just let her go my friend. She's my wife and I love her so let her free now!"
Tom was like an enraged animal attempting to find a way through the steel bars. Everything was going through his mind. Here he was - out in the wilds, no chance of contacting the police.
"If you are thinking of rescue, Tom - forget it. And if you reckon on bringing in the police little Sweetie Pie here will be no more. So you see you have no option."
"Who are you?" Tom yelled. "You must be mad. Look, you have to let her go. I'll give you money, is that what you want? I've plenty of it. What do you say?"
This was desperation time.
"Tom-tom, I have no need of money. All I need at the moment is on tap. How can I give up such an opportunity bestowed upon me by the Gods?"
Tom turned to Fran now. He asked if she was alright. He realised it was hopeless attempting to bribe this guy.
The way she looked at him Tom surmised she had some sort of plan; just to hold calm for a while until they could sort something out.
"My name is Rick by the way, since no one has asked." Fran's assailant was cool now and friendly in a sarcastic sort of way. He ignited the wick on a miner's lamp and his features were now clearly visible. He did not look so bad in Fran's eyes. Even Tom was surprised; this guy had a certain aura he could not define. He wondered what he was about, why was he here. Was he just content to live this way or was he on the run? He employed a calmer attitude and spoke carefully now.
"You don't look a bad sort of guy, Rick. I reckon you are the type who could pick up a girl easily. There's plenty out there without picking on someone's wife. Come on, Rick. Let's be sensible about this. Let her go and I'll keep quiet." Report Story "Are you good at catching rabbits?" Rick asked, ignoring what Tom had said.
Fran broke in, she had to say something. She'd show him she could be calm too:
"Tom catch rabbits?" That's a laugh. He'd avoid killing a snail out of choice."
"Well, we've got to eat otherwise we'll starve. I've only enough stock for one and that'll last me two days."
"We don't need to eat, Rick. Just let her go and we will be off." Tom begged.
Rick snarled: "Now that wouldn't be very polite of me. Shoving you off just as I'm getting to know you. Especially with your wife here. Got to sample the goods"
He turned to Fran, his eyes dropping, taking her all in.
"Well I guess when you two get hungry you will kill a rabbit or two," Rick grunted.
For the next half hour or so the threesome just squatted silently. Occasionally Rick eyeballed Fran then turned smiling to Tom. One guy to another Tom knew exactly what that smile meant and his mind was working overtime trying to figure out a solution.
"Truth is, I'm generally shy of girls," Rick announced, abruptly breaking the silence. "But with Fran here - I feel I know her. She's been in films, I've seen her. Guess she denies it because she shuns publicity."
"Fran's not even interested in acting," Tom ascertained. "She works in natural history."
"You don't have to act to be in films not in the kind of films I mean and I can teach her a lot about natural history," Rick intervened with that wicked smile again.
"Now you are insulting Fran," Tom yelled angrily. "She would never do that for a living"
Then, perhaps, Tom-tom, there's something you don't know about," suggested Rick. "I've seen her and what she did and that's fine with me."
Tom turned to Fran but she just sat quietly, putting her finger against her lips and gently nodding her head sideways. She went along with the idea that there just had to be a way out and considered she could only go along with this and wait for an opportunity to escape. She'd find his weakness then she'd pounce with all her feminine know how.
Tom was thinking on similar lines. Keep the guy calm and take it from there. But the thought of him touching Fran would be too much; he'd have to do something, even kill the guy if necessary.
He heard Fran's words in his mind concerning his reluctance to kill even a snail. Now he was thinking about killing a human being!
Fan broke the silence now. She needed to relieve herself urgently. Asked Rick what the arrangement was.
"The arrangement is for you to struggle behind the aperture in those rocks behind, and do the necessary. There's an underground stream below from which I get fresh water so it's fairly hygienic. It also avoids the shaft getting flooded at this level."
"You're quite an intelligent guy, Rick," complimented Tom in his quest to find a solution through the process of conversation. But his efforts were ignored. He noticed with some concern that Rick's head was turned facing the area where Fran had moved.
"Rick!" Tom tried again to attract his attention.
"Sorry Tom. I guess it is something to do with living out here in the wilds. Watching animals pay so much attention to bodily functions. I guess I must have Sweetie Pie now."
"You can't do that, she's my wife. You are flirting with death, fella!"
Tom was really enraged.. Standing up and trying to bend the steel canopy above him in his endeavour to find a way through.
Rick just looked at him open mouthed: "Sorry, mate. It's just the call of nature after all. Like Sweetie going for a pee. That's what got me thinking about it in fact. Look, you can either watch or go away for a few minutes because me and she are going to be busy.
"Think of it this way, mate. You had yours last night and it's been twelve months since I had a woman."
In a frail attempt to stop Rick Tom threw a large rock aiming for the head. It slammed into the steel caging and fell heavily to the ground.
Rick just stood there and laughed: "Well, you've certainly got guts, Tom-tom but I would not suggest you try that again because I may decide to be really nasty to Sweetie. I'm simply going to have a nice cosy time with her so take it easy".
"What makes you think she wants you?"
"She will, I've seen it in her eyes. A guy knows these things, you know that - or perhaps you don't. Besides she knows it's for her own good."
Fran knew the score. Knew what she must endure. If there was a way out of it she would find it. She would try. But failing all else she gesticulated to Tom just to be calm and wait. There was simply no other solution.
It was hard but he would stay. He certainly couldn't leave her now. At least he would be there.
As Rick started to kiss her gently and find the zip of her top Fran tried all the things women do to avoid an unwanted union. This was looking as though it was pure **** yet he was so gentle, so tender with her that is did not seem like that at all. But she noticed a rapid change in his mood when she did try to resist and felt he was on the edge of being much worse than a gentle lover: forceful but gentle. She conceded she'd have to submit and asked him to be kind to her.
"Like this?"
Tom cradled his face in his hands, hardly daring to look at the predicament that Fran had got herself into. If only she'd waited for him earlier before coming inside of this spooky place.
But the sounds were apparent and the end could not come quickly enough. Tom was almost in tears; his frustration was driving him mad. Poor Fran, what did she do to deserve this.
"Are you alright, Fran?" Tom yelled afterwards. She just put her fingers to her lips again and nodded, as if reassuring him she was okay.
"You have chosen well in Sweetie, Tom-tom," Rick blurted. "She is a delight and I look forward to sharing many more with her. You've read the Kama Sutra, Tom-tom?"
For a brief moment Fran and Tom exchanged glances again and there was just a hint of a stupid idea in his mind that maybe she enjoyed it. But it was crazy thinking. Fran was in a catch 22 situation and so, he reassured himself, she had to simulate the part. She was obviously playacting. He admired her for taking it so calmly. But she was always philosophically endowed.. But he was relieved to know that Rick had taken her kindly.
He figured that for Fran, the only way she could cope was by turning off. Not to think about it. She too was relieved Rick was gentle after the punishment he had earlier dished out. She
Just loved Tom and sex was relative to her love for him. Without love it was irrelevant for her. It was like just going through the emotions of a physical unemotional act with another guy.
"Okay, Rick, you've had your way with Fran so now you can let her go. You must know she loves me; there is absolutely no future for you with Fran. Isn't that right, Fran?"
Tom was reasoning with Rick, hoping she would give the message to him and that he would now see sense.
But Rick was adamant that Fran had feelings for him, kept on muttering that she had come deliberately come for him, knowing where she could find him.
The guy was crazy, irrational and needed urgent treatment. Fran knew it and Tom knew too.
The rest of the day passed slowly. Some conversation came from Rick. Tom used all his know how attempting to find out what this guy was all about. Was he on the run, what were his plans and so on?. But not much information was coming out of his mouth.
Tom figured that as the evening closed in, perhaps an opportunity for rescue and escape may arise. When Fran felt it was alright, he went back to the car to get some food and drink and, to see if there was anybody around out there. But no luck, he could not see another soul.
He returned and pushed some tucker through the bars for Fran to pick up. When she did that, when she came so close to him, just the other side of the bars; she whispered that he should not be concerned, that she would find a way to catch him off guard and then they could make for their escape.
After they had eaten Rick threw a blanket out to Tom saying he would need it, that it got mighty chilly in the night that he could spare one of his anyway because he had Sweetie to keep him warm. Then he dowsed the light.
But Tom knew he would not sleep very well.
He was stirred several times during the night by the familiar sounds given to copulation and he remembered Rick's reference to the Kama Sutra. Once more he felt sickened by the whole situation. Frustrated that he was a stone's throw away from Fran, yet unable to do anything to ease her burden and worrying about what all this would do to her. Okay they had been living together for two years before they were hitched but he knew her desires, her likes and dislikes.
But they loved each other; everything between them had been shared under the cloak of a very deep and meaningful loving relationship. Here was a complete stranger taking his wife, taking something which was his.
During the latter part of the night he heard those familiar sounds again. But it was different now, not like before when Fran was obviously under duress - telling Rick she did not like doing this or that: going through his mind constantly the thought of what that might be. There were certain things that he knew Fran disliked.
But now the quiet protests were absent but he could still hear the sounds. He was imagining it all, that's it. Yet the sounds of pleasure came not only from Rick but from Fran too.
He heard the sounds she made during their oral encounters, when she sucked him so fervently, Fran made no secret about how she loved to suck cock, it was divine, soothing and a great way to get primed for the ultimate fuck. In fact once she started it was hard to get her to leave off, so that he had enough erection left to finish the love in.
Those sounds were obvious and he knew she was enjoying him right now.
Tom recognised the sounds given of Fran only too well. This was too much. He shouted out and ignited his cigarette lighter: "What are you doing, Fran?"
His imaginings seemed to be correct, confirmed in the yellow glow. He saw Fran's head rise as if in a trance. They were both naked on a mattress sprawled across the floor. He saw Rick's head rising and falling and then hers. How could she do that!
How could she be so benevolent to him?
Yet the flickering flame of his lighter was casting many shadows which were constantly moving. It was as if his mind was delving and emerging into the shadows, conjuring pictures that could be false. Could she be drugged? He speculated. That's it, that's why she's acting that way, the bastard has drugged her, that can't be the real Fran. She has to be devoid of her true senses. His mind was working overtime again. But this was the only feasible explanation. Several times during the night, when he managed to doze, he had been stirred. But now this: it was ugly, it was unbearable. He begged with Fran to pull herself together, did she not know what she was doing with a complete stranger.
But there was no reply.
Tom was relieved to see the light of dawn, sending beams of sunlight through the top of the mine shaft. He saw Rick stirring and told him it was unfair to have put Fran through all that, something she had never gone through before.
But Rick ignored Tom and turned to Fran: "Your Tom-tom, he's so naive isn't he? And he's supposed to be your lover?"
He turned to Tom now: "Of course she has done it all before, tell him, Sweetie Pie, She's done everything. You are a really sad guy. I can tell you she is a really experienced girl. Nothing we have done during this wonderful night was by instinct alone so you'd better face up to that, Tom-tom. Better go off and play your drum elsewhere. Can't you tell? She prefers me. I make love to her like no other man does. I make her feel like a real woman, knowing how she likes to be dominated. She has whispered all those things into my ear which makes me believe you have been nothing to her. Better go off, Mr nearly man, go and check your masculine attributes. Are you a real man for instance? Not from what Sweetie Pie tells me."
"Fran, Fran: what is this idiot saying?"
Fran looked up only when Rick pulled away from her, as if still in a trance: pulling a blanket over herself. Tom saw how she grabbed Rick's arm: attempting to hold him there. Almost, almost as if she was pleading her assailant not to leave her. Like she was ******* of her husband's presence.
"Has he given you drugs, Fran? I cannot accept what he is saying is true. If this is a ploy, darling you really don't have to go to these extremes.
But Fran remained silent, her eyes half closed.
"Of course she hasn't been drugged," Rick contended, "at least not by me. I don't need drugs
But from what I hear, you bloody well do: just to love a woman the way she needs to be loved. And you saying she's innocent of what she has enjoyed with me. I told you about those films didn't I? Well, you ought to talk to Sweetie Pie about her past. How she made porno's in Canada, how surprised she was to discover they were on sale here when she was assured they were only intended for the Japanese market. Her thinking that nobody over there would recognise her. But it's a small world. I remembered her and the wild frantic fantasies I then had started to come true."
"When did she tell you that? I can't believe that of Fran, not Fran" muttered Tom.
Rick added; "Little whispers in my ear, during the night? Right, Sweetie Pie?"
At last Fran spoke. She issued her words carefully and told Tom it was all true. That she never wanted to tell him for obvious reasons. When she met Rick, she felt love for the first time, Real love and no way did she want to risk losing it.
"I guess I haven't changed. Tom. It would have come out eventually. Already I have my doubts about you. Your interests are not my interests as you always assume. Rick here is no maniac. I feel I know him and he is not a bad guy. He has simply escaped from the rat race out there and this is how he has chosen how to live. I can help him gather himself again. He needs me much more than ever you will need me, Tom. I'm sorry but that's how it has to be."
"Good for you, Sweetie Pie. That's telling him. Got the message, Tom-tom? Get on your way, mate and don't return. She and me need more time to ourselves. We have got a lot of learning to do about each other and a lot more of what we have already been doing, right, Sweetie Pie?"
Fran lifted her head to reach Rick's and kissed him passionately, slipping her hand around the back of his neck, pulling him down...
Rick looked up ate Tom, reached to lift something from a drawer in his locker and threw a small brown envelope out to Tom.
"Perhaps these will convince you, Mr nearly man."
Tom opened the envelope and pulled out some photographs. They were clearly pornographic but no way could he ascertain the girl was Fran. A certain likeness, yes but it wasn't Fran doing those gross things. Then, seeing the third picture Tom realised: .the girl had a scar on her right thigh. It wasn't Fran and he immediately denied that it could be Fran.
"You should see the videos then. They be a little clearer, you can see her moles too. But you will have to visit the local pub for that. The George it's called. We have a special viewing in the back room every Friday evening. But with me here having the real thing I don't think I'll bother this week. If you want further proof, just mention my name to Dave the landlord on Friday. He'll show you."
Rick turned to Fran once more, telling her to say out loud the things she was whispering in his ear during the night.
"No need," Fran assured, Rick. "You have got me now; you have no need to prove anything to him just to keep me. That comes voluntary, darling."
It was as if Rick had changed her. She was no longer the woman he knew or even wanted to know. It had all been a big mistake. It was Just one big horrible mistake. But he knew it would still be hard to get over her.
Tom could take no more. Either he had gone completely berserk or Fran had. He still had his reservations and had no intention of giving up that easily.
"I'll be back, make no mistake. I bet the police want to know your whereabouts and what about you kidnapping Fran?"
"What's he on about, Sweetie Pie.. You did come to see me didn't you? You know where your bread's buttered and who will treat you the way you want to be treated."
Tom could take no more. He made his way back to the exit. He had a lot of thinking to do. He needed time and space to work it all out.
Tom's eyes stung as he reached the exit of the mine shaft, the strong rays of morning sun now beaming through. He tried starting the car just in case, but there was no response and anyway, the battery was flat. He looked behind him - imagining it had all been a bad dream
And there was Fran scurrying after him.
But he needed to be positive. He started walking.
He needed help to get to Fran. . He walked on for a mile roughly, still occasionally glancing behind, just in case Fran had got away and seen the note he'd left on the windscreen, saying which direction he had taken. In the starkness of the day he was now convinced that it had all been part of Fran's plan, to make out she was in love with Rick.
But still there was no sign of life, it was a baron place.
An hour later he was relieved to see a dust cloud rising in the distance. He soon made out that a Land Rover was heading his way. He started to run, sweating profusely under the hot sun. When the vehicle arrived it stopped abruptly and four men in army uniform jumped out. One, a sergeant was ahead of the rest and wore an angry expression.
"What the hell do you think you are doing trespassing on Ministry of Defence Property? This is listed as a dangerous restricted zone and any moment now all hell will let loose when the army commence manoeuvres."
"Manoeuvres. Restricted property? That explains all," Tom yelled.
"You are under arrest," the sergeant advised, "we need to know what you are doing here, didn't you see the sign?"
"All In saw, sergeant was a sign indicating Brickspan Highway."
"He's right," a corporal broke in, "I've got it over the radio. We seem to have had visitors over the weekend that have dispelled with the MOD sign and replaced it with the one he saw: Brickspan Highway."
"That's what the yanks nicknamed this place during the war," the sergeant recalled, "someone's idea of a joke no doubt. Well, sir, it seems my apologies are due. You're not a yank are you?"
"No, I'm a Canadian, visiting Britain on honeymoon."
"Honeymoon?" the sergeant queried. "So where's the wife. Broken up already have we?"
Tom explained what had happened and said his wife was in crucial danger.
"Double crucial danger, sir. They are about to blow up that mine any minute. Corporal, get on to HQ. Stop the missiles!"
"Too late, sergeant they are on their way."
"Firkin hell!"
"Then let's get the hell out of here. We are not in the immediate vicinity but we have to scarper at the double. Come on, sir, jump into the vehicle quickly."
Tom was stunned as the Land Rover sped away. Then they heard the explosions behind them, clouds of surging black dust and smoke belching up in the distance.
The vehicle stopped at a safe distance and the occupants turned to take in the scene.
"That was the old mine just went up, sir. You sure your wife was in there?"
Tom was not afraid to hold back the tears. The sergeant didn't need an answer.
"Sorry, sir but this other guy, the one you said was holding your wife. What was he like; can you give us a description? ... All in your own time, sir. It could be that after you'd left the mine he pulled out too, if he knew what was good for him. Let's look on the bright side, sir shall we. Now what about this guy's description?" Report Story When Tom rendered the full details the sergeant turned to his men and everyone was silent.
Then the sergeant spoke, his voice had softened: "You say this guy's name was Rick - and the girl, you wife - what did he call her? Was it Sweetie Pie?"
"That's right, Sweetie Pie. Well, it's not exactly a name exactly is it, sergeant;? he may have called all the girls he fancied that. Bit of a pervert anyway and the sooner we get to him the better."
"No point, sir, we will search for your wife of course but we will never find Rick, He's long gone."
"But I saw him with my wife, God! Don't you understand what I'm saying?"
"I do, sir but you are not the first to have seen him. Story goes: and it has been confirmed, Rick was an old soldier based near here in the last war."
"Wrong, sergeant. He wasn't that old!"
"Hear me out, sir. Just hear me out: Before the war Rick worked in the mine. During the war he was heavily wounded and it seems he had a thing for going back into the past, visiting the mine after it closed. He even set up residence there. Made himself quite comfortable taking in scraps of furniture he found dumped. He had a good supply of fresh water from a natural stream which ran along a seam in the rock face and through into the disused mineshaft, keeping it from flooding. The locals knew about him. He was quite harmless and well liked locally. Used to visit the local pub called The George - now long gone, once or twice a week when they'd set him up with a free pint or two in return for some light bar duties. His diet mainly consisted of rabbit and any vegetables he could scrounge locally and whatever the land had to offer. He knew how to survive all right with his army training.
"Now, it did seem he had a feminine admirer who visited him once or twice. She was reported to have stayed with him in his humble abode. He called her Sweetie Pie but eventually she wanted a normal life, kids and all that sort of thing but he would did not relent apparently, so she left him.
"The guy was shattered. He was found drowned at the bottom of the mine shaft a week later. That was back in the fifties. You are not the first one to have seen his ghost. Can't understand why you never realised this area was a training area. You, must have seen the tank tracks?"
Tom was in a world of his own, thinking about this ghost and how everything seemed to fit together. He just nodded his head.
"Well, as you say, you are on honeymoon so I guess we can forgive you, sir."
The sergeant turned and pointed: "Look, is that your wife driving that car?"
Tom turned and immediately recognised Fran at the wheel.
"There you are, sir. She wasn't in the mine at all!"
An army vehicle followed the car and the driver said he'd found this crazy lady in the middle of the danger area it having run out of petrol with a flat battery. He replenished her tank from his spare petrol can and got her started with a jump lead and got her away from the mineshaft in the nick of time.
The sergeant yelled he had to go but told them the direction how to get back to the M4.
"What the hell happened to you, Fran? Thought I'd never see you again," Tom spluttered.
"And you," she returned: A fine gallant husband you are. Okay so I was crazy losing myself in the mine but you could have hung on. I guessed you had gone to get help and hung around in the car after I eventually found my way out of the shaft. That's when this dishy corporal came to my rescue. Steaming he was: He didn't pull any punches. Said he wanted me the hell out of there pronto as he filled my tank and made bloody sure of it."
"What about Rick. I mean are you okay? These guys are telling me he was some kind of spirit from the past"
"Rick, who's Rick you crazy man? He was just a figment of our imagination. Well we shared the fantasy didn't we? Just to pass away the boredom waiting for someone to come and help us. I knew though it was you all along. The disguise was good, the mask very life like - and the beard, crazy, crazy stuff. But it was all just too bizarre. It just had to be you. There were times I thought not. The intimacy we shared seemed to be different. They say lovers know each other in the dark but that's why I enjoy being with you, Tom. It is like going through the motions in a theatrical farce. Good stuff though - running in and out of that so called impregnable cage - on the outside you were Tom talking to this guy called Rick whom I felt sure at the time was there too, very clever stuff, Tom. Then you appeared close to me again and then you were Rick. How did you do that by the way?
"You have a weird imagination, darling Tom, very clever too. I knew what you were up to, having me in different ways, some of which would be a turn off in normal circumstances. You couldn't fool me, Tom. But no problem, I'm not complaining although the tanning perhaps was a little harsh. The Porno's pictures were a bit over the top too but. Like a good girl I didn't want to spoil the plot so I went along with it. Well I didn't want another tanning did I? That was so cruel, Tom but it was fun I guess. Albeit scary at first but as soon as I guessed it was okay.
But you didn't have to disappear like that. I could have been killed by a missile!"
"I was worried, honestly, Fran - when the mine went up. Thought I had really lost you. I like living dangerously, Fran but this time, perhaps we both did go a bit overboard," Tom confessed.
Indeed, he knew even his fantasies would not go that far. But there had been times in the past when his mind had run away with him. Oddly though, he distinctly remembered speaking to someone else, besides Fran, in that mine.
"So it's back to the drawing board then, Tom? Fran giggled, "well that was always fun and now we are married, watch this space!"
But Tom knew there was another presence in that place. He would never call Fran Sweetie Pie!
It was 1981 and the war had been over for years but the scene took on the look of a battle zone
Let's stop, take a look up the map." Tom suggested.
He scanned the road map spread across his lap, sweat forming little droplets upon his brow in the heat of midsummer's day.
"No such road or highway mentioned on here as Brickspan," he reckoned. "In fact, I don't know where the hell we are. Look, we have just come down the M4 right? - And we've taken a turning which doesn't exist. This is no new road; it looks more like that old wartime runway we saw in Lincolnshire. Are you sure you saw the sign, Fran? because I didn't"
"Yes, I did see the sign," Fran replied with some indignation. "And the name of the place where we saw that old runway was Metheringham. I appreciate your interest darling in the old world war two airfields but please, no more. Let's live in the present. Life must go on and we are on honeymoon, remember!"
"You are dead sure then that sign actually said Brickspan Highway, Fran? Looks more like a dust track than a highway."
Fran wanted out. Tom was getting niggled. Lately, he was always like this under pressure - trying to edge the blame onto her. She wondered if she should have taken up her former boyfriend's invite after all, Mathew was really something, but he was also Tom's brother, so she had to play it cool.
But she clearly remembered those passionate intimacies she'd shared with Mathew and he was game for anything. He had time for her but it was turning out that bloody Tom seemed more engaged to his obsession into the past.
Even now with her passion over spilling and being deprived by Tom she was immersed in those episodes shared with Mathew and remembered how he fucked her so beautifully over the snooker table and sometimes over the sink when he was helping her wash up, and all that going on whilst her new husband was in the shower.
Mathew claimed that she was fully fledged and wanted some of the action, after all Tom was his twin and they had shared most things so far!
Fran was so primed up now and felt she could not get enough of Tom, so his brother stood as a good stand in. She felt no guilt because Mathew seemed so much alike, except for his sexual preferences and that is what made Fran close to him.
That time over the billiard table was quite unexpected, when she was just placing the balls for him. She could not help it if, by bending over the edge, she was such a temptation to him. She couldn't help it either if she enjoyed the sensation of his sniff as he kneeled behind her and then the very well defined thrusting eminence into her newly initiated quinny, so wet and ready for more attention than Tom was able to give when he made her a woman.
Equally enjoyable was when he had her over the sink, it was so lovely, her hands all sudsy and sliding over his beautiful form as he fucked her full throttle. And not one plate was broken but she was, because she had her first anal fuck despite her early protests. But Mathew showed he a new way which was equally as divine.
Again, Mathew said in defence of his taking her that she had a very desirable butt made more tempting in her pretty lace red panties.
But Fran said he had no need to defend himself because it was absolutely lovely and secretly, she hoped that Tom would want her that way too.
Since she'd agreed to marry Tom she always wanted to spend her honeymoon in Britain, but right now she'd rather be back home in Montreal. She expected a little more attention from her brand new husband. This was a special time, not an in depth survey of Britain's past.
Already a week had passed and every day Tom was obsessed in history. Is this how it was going to be? Had she found something in Tom she didn't know about? Last thing she wanted was to spoil the honeymoon. But right now, her patience was being severely tested. Quietly she was masturbating whilst thinking of Mathew and his prominence, her passion unfulfilled and so demanding.
"I tell you without doubt I saw the sign." She replied sharply. Her brunette hair was blowing in the stiff breeze that seemed to come up from nowhere.
Curiosity persuaded Tom to continue: "Let's just carry on for a while, darling. You never know what me may find."
She had to go along with him. His grandfather was a Royal Canadian Air Force pilot during World War two and unfortunately lost his life at Metheringham. He needed to see the former airfield. Perhaps it was just the sad association with the place. His grandfather's crippled bomber didn't quite make the landing on return from a German bombing mission. This was why she held back - just for now anyway.
An hour later, still nothing had passed either way. The terrain was variable - no buildings, grazing animals, just - nothing - after a gusty night the day was fine, apart from the stiff breeze, just a few puffs of white cloud. But it was becoming hotter as the afternoon came in.
"Where the hell is we?" Tom yelled. The heat was getting to him now. Fran insisted they should turn back and Tom knew she was right. He instantly responded and Jan sighed with relief.
Two hours later they still hadn't reached the M4 where they'd earlier turned off.
"This is being frantic time," Fran said pointing at the fuel gauge. They were nearly out of gas.
"Keep your eyes skinned for a gas station," Tom shouted.
Something loomed up. It wasn't a gas station. It was a square structure with a large wheel.
"I guess it's a mine shaft," Fran speculated.
They pulled up. Fran was right, it was derelict.
Deadly silence, except for an occasional creaking sound made for a spooky scene.. They waited, hoping someone was around who could help but there was nobody, the place was deserted.
"Well, we are nearly out of gas, darling, so it's sleeping in the car tonight. We are bound to see someone on the morning that can help." But Tom didn't sound confident.
"Some honeymoon, Fran griped, "spending the night in the car. We've been there, done that, before we were hitched."
Tom's face lightened. Worried frowns changed to a nonchalant grin. "I remember it well, darling."
Fran turned to capture the moment in the eyes of the guy she'd met at high school. The very dishy dark haired young man with the most deep brown eyes she'd ever encountered. Now he seemed he was interested in the girl he married again and she felt a tingle in her spine.
She remembered his car that old wreck on wheels, an old clapped out Ford Anglia she'd teased him about. He went on to qualify as a medical laboratory technician and she took natural history. They both achieved professional standards. But she too, clearly remembered the first time they spent a night together, when she discovered they were right for each other in every way and this was the lifetime guy for her.
They made themselves as comfortable as possible in the back but there wasn't much room for stretching out. They had just one blanket Fran snatched from the boot, which was ample because the night was clammy. They just snuggled up close to each other and Fran felt less scared now. Tomorrow was another day. Something would come up.
She soon lost her senses as they deeply kissed. It was quite romantic really in the car. This hadn't happened since their early dating days. But they'd discovered much about each other since those times so there was no awkward fumbling - save a few slight adjustments given the very limited space, which gave rise to riveting bouts of shared laughter.
As she felt his deep bonding, she knew she was wrong even to consider she had made a mistake in rejecting Mat. He was a good lover okay but Tom had the edge, and besides it was full package, she could never have loved Mat as she did Tom. They soon reached their Waterloo, Fran crying out: "Tom, Tom!" as they felt the essence culminating their love together. She could never get enough of him and wanted more, she took him this time and was soon taken in the current of their shared passion; he was hers despite his shortcomings.
During the night Fran heard the mine wheel turning, she was sure of it. There were men's voices too, or a man's voice. Wiping the condensation from the window she saw a dark figure and immediately woke telling Tom who reluctantly ventured out to investigate. He returned assuring her that nobody was out there - that it was a trick of the shadows in the moonlight.
Fran hugged up to him trying to sleep but it was too scary. No sights excepting the shadows and no sounds now - as if they were in the middle of nowhere.
In the morning Fran complained she'd hardly slept. She was sure she had heard that wheel turning. Tom said he was still tired too so after some refreshment they put their heads down again. If anyone came they would be bound to see them and perhaps come to their assistance.
They came too just after noon and were ready for something to eat again. Fran brought something out of the cool box in the boot and was relieved that they came well stocked with food and drink. They managed to freshen up too with the aid of wet wipes and a container full of water which was a blessing.
Afterwards, Fran felt she just had to step along to the entrance of the mine and shout down the old shaft. She noticed an almost concealed tunnel alongside the shaft which spiralled downwards into what appeared to be a gallery and being Fran was intent to investigate.
The young adventurous Girl Guide she once was, started to come out; when she went pony tracking with her colleagues in the Rockies, stopping for picnics in the caves. The head girl dissuading them from going too far inside, should they encounter a wild animal.
She remembered taking such trips with her uncle too. But now he had passed on. There was only Tom to stop her and he was too obsessed in his map right now to notice. She'd do her own thing. It was a bit scary but at least there were no wild animals to contend with in Britain. Might do Tom good to realise she also had her own particular interests. It might pull his attention a bit.
She trundled forward into the tunnel. She could see quite well as beams of sunlight projected inside. She gingerly approached the open area which circled the mine head and peaked down the shaft again and then upwards to see how far down she had progressed.
Then she heard a noise, a sort of shuffling sound. She paused and froze as she felt a tremble shoot up her spine. She heard it again: softer this time and assumed it was probably a rabbit or something.
Then she heard Tom calling her name twice. So he had missed her, big deal! He wasn't far behind, she could hear footsteps. She'd let him sweat awhile deciding not to respond. But almost at once she heard another sound. It was a deep cough; like a man's cough nearby. She swung around in absolute fear and saw a figure in the shadows - just like the one she'd seen through the car window during the night. She wasn't imagining things, it was real enough.
The dark figure instantly emerged, spun her around by grasping her waist and she felt his firm strong hands encircling her. She could barely see his face in the shadows.
"Don't be scared, Sweetie pie. I won't hurt you if you are good. It's not every day I have such a gorgeous wench come visit me."
In her rising panic Fran's first notion was to scream. Now she really wanted Tom to know where she was. A rough hand came down and pressed into her mouth stifling the screams. She felt another hand encircle her again, half pushing, half lifting her along through a dark passage. Then at the end of the passage, some light again. She was frantic now, it was all happening at once, like it was one big nightmare.
The guy still held her from behind but she felt the enormity of his form and the strength in his arms. How she's wished she'd taken that self-defence course like her friend, Patsy back home. But she held the old fashioned notion that if things got serious then Tom would always be around to protect her. But where was he now?
She was forced into a caged area which must have been the lift the miners used. Relieved she was wearing her jeans. She was panting in a jumble of fear and anger. She begged him not to hurt her as he angrily scorned her for screaming. He told her just to do as she was told and she wouldn't get hurt. With the light just getting through the shaft she could just make out through an open door, the other side of the cage, she saw an assemble of bedding, china, a teapot and an old wardrobe in a wide area which resembled a cave.
But what really concerned her was when her assailant closed the cage door behind him and turned a lock. There was no escape, worst still; there was no apparent way Tom would be able to gain access for her rescue.
The guy was frantic; yelling at her that she would be punished like his mother punished him when he was a naughty boy. She just couldn't believe what he was telling her to do. His features were still difficult to make out in the shadows but she knew he had a beard. Her whole form was quivering now in sheer fright. Was this really happening to her, what should she do, just scream and fight? - That would probably make things worse.
He ordered her to remove her jeans and panties, and after some deliberation he roughly helped her remove them, grabbed them from her and sniffed the gusset of both garments. Then he asked her to put her jeans back on because she looked good in them and very spankable.
She looked up and caught the expression in his face. She could see him now when as he moved to where the light was coming through. She reckoned he was in his early forties, and although his scowl was ugly he had a fresh and handsome face. Not the sort she'd expect to be violent, and this gave her some hope. Perhaps, just perhaps; if she played her cards right she could win him over and calm him. If she could humour him awhile until Tom arrived, perhaps she could make a run for the door, undo the lock and, with Tom's help, escape.. Yes, that's what she'd do. But she already had doubts when he made his next move...
"I told you, over my knee!" he yelled threateningly. He'd grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and, seated on an old chair pulled her across his lap and pushed her head down until it almost reached the floor the other side. She felt his fingers clutching the waist band of her jeans as he held her into position.
She remembered once how it was when once her step father gave her the hiding of her life because she'd accidentally thrown a dart into her sister's groin. She attempted to struggle free but he yelled he could make it worse for her unless she took her punishment.
"Now I'll show you how they used to discipline their women in the old times, a woman should know her place."
She just froze and hoped the nightmare would soon be over. Then she felt the sting of the first agonising slap of his hand. Several more followed and she felt her back writhing until she cried for mercy.
"What kind of man are you?" she screamed. "This isn't the dark ages. Treating me like this."
"That's what I do to my women if they play up. You are the one who came to see me. You thought I didn't recognise you didn't you? I've seen you in all those films. I know who you are."
Fran was kneeling on the floor rearranging her jeans, struggling to resist the tears of pain. But she was relieved this guy now held back, he showed no sign of any intention to touch her, hadn't even attempted to strip her. Not like her step father did. Something she'd never told Tom.
She wondered what exactly he wanted of her. Surely Tom must have heard the racket, would he come soon?
This guy was obviously a deranged soul needing guidance. She looked up and told him she was on her honeymoon, if he'd got her confused with someone else, he was mistaken and he shouldn't have done that to her. No way.
"Any minute now my husband, Tom will come," she advised. But inwardly she doubted if Tom could match up to this guy's aggression and strength, even if she managed to get the door open for him. Tom was about ten years younger but comparatively slim to him.
"Tom tom, that's what they call a sort of drum isn't it - a tom-tom? Hope you've drummed something into him," he sneered with a grating laugh, "he has no chance of rescuing you, Sweetie Pie. You are for me. I've been looking for a woman for a long time, a woman like you, and I guess you fit the part in more ways than one. I need someone to do my chores, my cooking while I hunt for food and, of course, to keep me warm in bed. Can be mighty cold in here at night you know. You seem to have the attributes for that, Sweetie Pie. But remember, not to make me mad because you know what you'll be in for - and mind, it can be a lot more severe." He pointed to a horse whip hanging on a hook.
Fran still had a notion this guy was not all bad. It was just something about his disposition. He normally spoke with a gentle voice, like now. Her belief in human nature was such that we all inherit a bad streak which, if recognised could be remedied. She was a good natured person. But at the same time she wanted badly that Tom would soon turn up.
She was still suffering. The pain had been such that now a kind of numbness had set in; it was the same after the thrashing from her step-father all those years ago.
"Fran, Fran, where the hell are you?"
Thank God it was Tom. It seemed as though he was there, with them. She gave out a yell but down came a hand across her mouth again. Her assailant replied instead:
"Come and join us, Tom. That is your name isn't it? Well, not join us exactly. You can sit outside the cage and watch, so to speak. Simply watch, like I was doing last night, you two in the car. I could do with some of that I reckoned. Now it's my turn, fair's fair."
Tom had found his way to the cage and clutched the steel uprights, his face alight with anger and frustration.
"You just let her go my friend. She's my wife and I love her so let her free now!"
Tom was like an enraged animal attempting to find a way through the steel bars. Everything was going through his mind. Here he was - out in the wilds, no chance of contacting the police.
"If you are thinking of rescue, Tom - forget it. And if you reckon on bringing in the police little Sweetie Pie here will be no more. So you see you have no option."
"Who are you?" Tom yelled. "You must be mad. Look, you have to let her go. I'll give you money, is that what you want? I've plenty of it. What do you say?"
This was desperation time.
"Tom-tom, I have no need of money. All I need at the moment is on tap. How can I give up such an opportunity bestowed upon me by the Gods?"
Tom turned to Fran now. He asked if she was alright. He realised it was hopeless attempting to bribe this guy.
The way she looked at him Tom surmised she had some sort of plan; just to hold calm for a while until they could sort something out.
"My name is Rick by the way, since no one has asked." Fran's assailant was cool now and friendly in a sarcastic sort of way. He ignited the wick on a miner's lamp and his features were now clearly visible. He did not look so bad in Fran's eyes. Even Tom was surprised; this guy had a certain aura he could not define. He wondered what he was about, why was he here. Was he just content to live this way or was he on the run? He employed a calmer attitude and spoke carefully now.
"You don't look a bad sort of guy, Rick. I reckon you are the type who could pick up a girl easily. There's plenty out there without picking on someone's wife. Come on, Rick. Let's be sensible about this. Let her go and I'll keep quiet." Report Story "Are you good at catching rabbits?" Rick asked, ignoring what Tom had said.
Fran broke in, she had to say something. She'd show him she could be calm too:
"Tom catch rabbits?" That's a laugh. He'd avoid killing a snail out of choice."
"Well, we've got to eat otherwise we'll starve. I've only enough stock for one and that'll last me two days."
"We don't need to eat, Rick. Just let her go and we will be off." Tom begged.
Rick snarled: "Now that wouldn't be very polite of me. Shoving you off just as I'm getting to know you. Especially with your wife here. Got to sample the goods"
He turned to Fran, his eyes dropping, taking her all in.
"Well I guess when you two get hungry you will kill a rabbit or two," Rick grunted.
For the next half hour or so the threesome just squatted silently. Occasionally Rick eyeballed Fran then turned smiling to Tom. One guy to another Tom knew exactly what that smile meant and his mind was working overtime trying to figure out a solution.
"Truth is, I'm generally shy of girls," Rick announced, abruptly breaking the silence. "But with Fran here - I feel I know her. She's been in films, I've seen her. Guess she denies it because she shuns publicity."
"Fran's not even interested in acting," Tom ascertained. "She works in natural history."
"You don't have to act to be in films not in the kind of films I mean and I can teach her a lot about natural history," Rick intervened with that wicked smile again.
"Now you are insulting Fran," Tom yelled angrily. "She would never do that for a living"
Then, perhaps, Tom-tom, there's something you don't know about," suggested Rick. "I've seen her and what she did and that's fine with me."
Tom turned to Fran but she just sat quietly, putting her finger against her lips and gently nodding her head sideways. She went along with the idea that there just had to be a way out and considered she could only go along with this and wait for an opportunity to escape. She'd find his weakness then she'd pounce with all her feminine know how.
Tom was thinking on similar lines. Keep the guy calm and take it from there. But the thought of him touching Fran would be too much; he'd have to do something, even kill the guy if necessary.
He heard Fran's words in his mind concerning his reluctance to kill even a snail. Now he was thinking about killing a human being!
Fan broke the silence now. She needed to relieve herself urgently. Asked Rick what the arrangement was.
"The arrangement is for you to struggle behind the aperture in those rocks behind, and do the necessary. There's an underground stream below from which I get fresh water so it's fairly hygienic. It also avoids the shaft getting flooded at this level."
"You're quite an intelligent guy, Rick," complimented Tom in his quest to find a solution through the process of conversation. But his efforts were ignored. He noticed with some concern that Rick's head was turned facing the area where Fran had moved.
"Rick!" Tom tried again to attract his attention.
"Sorry Tom. I guess it is something to do with living out here in the wilds. Watching animals pay so much attention to bodily functions. I guess I must have Sweetie Pie now."
"You can't do that, she's my wife. You are flirting with death, fella!"
Tom was really enraged.. Standing up and trying to bend the steel canopy above him in his endeavour to find a way through.
Rick just looked at him open mouthed: "Sorry, mate. It's just the call of nature after all. Like Sweetie going for a pee. That's what got me thinking about it in fact. Look, you can either watch or go away for a few minutes because me and she are going to be busy.
"Think of it this way, mate. You had yours last night and it's been twelve months since I had a woman."
In a frail attempt to stop Rick Tom threw a large rock aiming for the head. It slammed into the steel caging and fell heavily to the ground.
Rick just stood there and laughed: "Well, you've certainly got guts, Tom-tom but I would not suggest you try that again because I may decide to be really nasty to Sweetie. I'm simply going to have a nice cosy time with her so take it easy".
"What makes you think she wants you?"
"She will, I've seen it in her eyes. A guy knows these things, you know that - or perhaps you don't. Besides she knows it's for her own good."
Fran knew the score. Knew what she must endure. If there was a way out of it she would find it. She would try. But failing all else she gesticulated to Tom just to be calm and wait. There was simply no other solution.
It was hard but he would stay. He certainly couldn't leave her now. At least he would be there.
As Rick started to kiss her gently and find the zip of her top Fran tried all the things women do to avoid an unwanted union. This was looking as though it was pure **** yet he was so gentle, so tender with her that is did not seem like that at all. But she noticed a rapid change in his mood when she did try to resist and felt he was on the edge of being much worse than a gentle lover: forceful but gentle. She conceded she'd have to submit and asked him to be kind to her.
"Like this?"
Tom cradled his face in his hands, hardly daring to look at the predicament that Fran had got herself into. If only she'd waited for him earlier before coming inside of this spooky place.
But the sounds were apparent and the end could not come quickly enough. Tom was almost in tears; his frustration was driving him mad. Poor Fran, what did she do to deserve this.
"Are you alright, Fran?" Tom yelled afterwards. She just put her fingers to her lips again and nodded, as if reassuring him she was okay.
"You have chosen well in Sweetie, Tom-tom," Rick blurted. "She is a delight and I look forward to sharing many more with her. You've read the Kama Sutra, Tom-tom?"
For a brief moment Fran and Tom exchanged glances again and there was just a hint of a stupid idea in his mind that maybe she enjoyed it. But it was crazy thinking. Fran was in a catch 22 situation and so, he reassured himself, she had to simulate the part. She was obviously playacting. He admired her for taking it so calmly. But she was always philosophically endowed.. But he was relieved to know that Rick had taken her kindly.
He figured that for Fran, the only way she could cope was by turning off. Not to think about it. She too was relieved Rick was gentle after the punishment he had earlier dished out. She
Just loved Tom and sex was relative to her love for him. Without love it was irrelevant for her. It was like just going through the emotions of a physical unemotional act with another guy.
"Okay, Rick, you've had your way with Fran so now you can let her go. You must know she loves me; there is absolutely no future for you with Fran. Isn't that right, Fran?"
Tom was reasoning with Rick, hoping she would give the message to him and that he would now see sense.
But Rick was adamant that Fran had feelings for him, kept on muttering that she had come deliberately come for him, knowing where she could find him.
The guy was crazy, irrational and needed urgent treatment. Fran knew it and Tom knew too.
The rest of the day passed slowly. Some conversation came from Rick. Tom used all his know how attempting to find out what this guy was all about. Was he on the run, what were his plans and so on?. But not much information was coming out of his mouth.
Tom figured that as the evening closed in, perhaps an opportunity for rescue and escape may arise. When Fran felt it was alright, he went back to the car to get some food and drink and, to see if there was anybody around out there. But no luck, he could not see another soul.
He returned and pushed some tucker through the bars for Fran to pick up. When she did that, when she came so close to him, just the other side of the bars; she whispered that he should not be concerned, that she would find a way to catch him off guard and then they could make for their escape.
After they had eaten Rick threw a blanket out to Tom saying he would need it, that it got mighty chilly in the night that he could spare one of his anyway because he had Sweetie to keep him warm. Then he dowsed the light.
But Tom knew he would not sleep very well.
He was stirred several times during the night by the familiar sounds given to copulation and he remembered Rick's reference to the Kama Sutra. Once more he felt sickened by the whole situation. Frustrated that he was a stone's throw away from Fran, yet unable to do anything to ease her burden and worrying about what all this would do to her. Okay they had been living together for two years before they were hitched but he knew her desires, her likes and dislikes.
But they loved each other; everything between them had been shared under the cloak of a very deep and meaningful loving relationship. Here was a complete stranger taking his wife, taking something which was his.
During the latter part of the night he heard those familiar sounds again. But it was different now, not like before when Fran was obviously under duress - telling Rick she did not like doing this or that: going through his mind constantly the thought of what that might be. There were certain things that he knew Fran disliked.
But now the quiet protests were absent but he could still hear the sounds. He was imagining it all, that's it. Yet the sounds of pleasure came not only from Rick but from Fran too.
He heard the sounds she made during their oral encounters, when she sucked him so fervently, Fran made no secret about how she loved to suck cock, it was divine, soothing and a great way to get primed for the ultimate fuck. In fact once she started it was hard to get her to leave off, so that he had enough erection left to finish the love in.
Those sounds were obvious and he knew she was enjoying him right now.
Tom recognised the sounds given of Fran only too well. This was too much. He shouted out and ignited his cigarette lighter: "What are you doing, Fran?"
His imaginings seemed to be correct, confirmed in the yellow glow. He saw Fran's head rise as if in a trance. They were both naked on a mattress sprawled across the floor. He saw Rick's head rising and falling and then hers. How could she do that!
How could she be so benevolent to him?
Yet the flickering flame of his lighter was casting many shadows which were constantly moving. It was as if his mind was delving and emerging into the shadows, conjuring pictures that could be false. Could she be drugged? He speculated. That's it, that's why she's acting that way, the bastard has drugged her, that can't be the real Fran. She has to be devoid of her true senses. His mind was working overtime again. But this was the only feasible explanation. Several times during the night, when he managed to doze, he had been stirred. But now this: it was ugly, it was unbearable. He begged with Fran to pull herself together, did she not know what she was doing with a complete stranger.
But there was no reply.
Tom was relieved to see the light of dawn, sending beams of sunlight through the top of the mine shaft. He saw Rick stirring and told him it was unfair to have put Fran through all that, something she had never gone through before.
But Rick ignored Tom and turned to Fran: "Your Tom-tom, he's so naive isn't he? And he's supposed to be your lover?"
He turned to Tom now: "Of course she has done it all before, tell him, Sweetie Pie, She's done everything. You are a really sad guy. I can tell you she is a really experienced girl. Nothing we have done during this wonderful night was by instinct alone so you'd better face up to that, Tom-tom. Better go off and play your drum elsewhere. Can't you tell? She prefers me. I make love to her like no other man does. I make her feel like a real woman, knowing how she likes to be dominated. She has whispered all those things into my ear which makes me believe you have been nothing to her. Better go off, Mr nearly man, go and check your masculine attributes. Are you a real man for instance? Not from what Sweetie Pie tells me."
"Fran, Fran: what is this idiot saying?"
Fran looked up only when Rick pulled away from her, as if still in a trance: pulling a blanket over herself. Tom saw how she grabbed Rick's arm: attempting to hold him there. Almost, almost as if she was pleading her assailant not to leave her. Like she was ******* of her husband's presence.
"Has he given you drugs, Fran? I cannot accept what he is saying is true. If this is a ploy, darling you really don't have to go to these extremes.
But Fran remained silent, her eyes half closed.
"Of course she hasn't been drugged," Rick contended, "at least not by me. I don't need drugs
But from what I hear, you bloody well do: just to love a woman the way she needs to be loved. And you saying she's innocent of what she has enjoyed with me. I told you about those films didn't I? Well, you ought to talk to Sweetie Pie about her past. How she made porno's in Canada, how surprised she was to discover they were on sale here when she was assured they were only intended for the Japanese market. Her thinking that nobody over there would recognise her. But it's a small world. I remembered her and the wild frantic fantasies I then had started to come true."
"When did she tell you that? I can't believe that of Fran, not Fran" muttered Tom.
Rick added; "Little whispers in my ear, during the night? Right, Sweetie Pie?"
At last Fran spoke. She issued her words carefully and told Tom it was all true. That she never wanted to tell him for obvious reasons. When she met Rick, she felt love for the first time, Real love and no way did she want to risk losing it.
"I guess I haven't changed. Tom. It would have come out eventually. Already I have my doubts about you. Your interests are not my interests as you always assume. Rick here is no maniac. I feel I know him and he is not a bad guy. He has simply escaped from the rat race out there and this is how he has chosen how to live. I can help him gather himself again. He needs me much more than ever you will need me, Tom. I'm sorry but that's how it has to be."
"Good for you, Sweetie Pie. That's telling him. Got the message, Tom-tom? Get on your way, mate and don't return. She and me need more time to ourselves. We have got a lot of learning to do about each other and a lot more of what we have already been doing, right, Sweetie Pie?"
Fran lifted her head to reach Rick's and kissed him passionately, slipping her hand around the back of his neck, pulling him down...
Rick looked up ate Tom, reached to lift something from a drawer in his locker and threw a small brown envelope out to Tom.
"Perhaps these will convince you, Mr nearly man."
Tom opened the envelope and pulled out some photographs. They were clearly pornographic but no way could he ascertain the girl was Fran. A certain likeness, yes but it wasn't Fran doing those gross things. Then, seeing the third picture Tom realised: .the girl had a scar on her right thigh. It wasn't Fran and he immediately denied that it could be Fran.
"You should see the videos then. They be a little clearer, you can see her moles too. But you will have to visit the local pub for that. The George it's called. We have a special viewing in the back room every Friday evening. But with me here having the real thing I don't think I'll bother this week. If you want further proof, just mention my name to Dave the landlord on Friday. He'll show you."
Rick turned to Fran once more, telling her to say out loud the things she was whispering in his ear during the night.
"No need," Fran assured, Rick. "You have got me now; you have no need to prove anything to him just to keep me. That comes voluntary, darling."
It was as if Rick had changed her. She was no longer the woman he knew or even wanted to know. It had all been a big mistake. It was Just one big horrible mistake. But he knew it would still be hard to get over her.
Tom could take no more. Either he had gone completely berserk or Fran had. He still had his reservations and had no intention of giving up that easily.
"I'll be back, make no mistake. I bet the police want to know your whereabouts and what about you kidnapping Fran?"
"What's he on about, Sweetie Pie.. You did come to see me didn't you? You know where your bread's buttered and who will treat you the way you want to be treated."
Tom could take no more. He made his way back to the exit. He had a lot of thinking to do. He needed time and space to work it all out.
Tom's eyes stung as he reached the exit of the mine shaft, the strong rays of morning sun now beaming through. He tried starting the car just in case, but there was no response and anyway, the battery was flat. He looked behind him - imagining it had all been a bad dream
And there was Fran scurrying after him.
But he needed to be positive. He started walking.
He needed help to get to Fran. . He walked on for a mile roughly, still occasionally glancing behind, just in case Fran had got away and seen the note he'd left on the windscreen, saying which direction he had taken. In the starkness of the day he was now convinced that it had all been part of Fran's plan, to make out she was in love with Rick.
But still there was no sign of life, it was a baron place.
An hour later he was relieved to see a dust cloud rising in the distance. He soon made out that a Land Rover was heading his way. He started to run, sweating profusely under the hot sun. When the vehicle arrived it stopped abruptly and four men in army uniform jumped out. One, a sergeant was ahead of the rest and wore an angry expression.
"What the hell do you think you are doing trespassing on Ministry of Defence Property? This is listed as a dangerous restricted zone and any moment now all hell will let loose when the army commence manoeuvres."
"Manoeuvres. Restricted property? That explains all," Tom yelled.
"You are under arrest," the sergeant advised, "we need to know what you are doing here, didn't you see the sign?"
"All In saw, sergeant was a sign indicating Brickspan Highway."
"He's right," a corporal broke in, "I've got it over the radio. We seem to have had visitors over the weekend that have dispelled with the MOD sign and replaced it with the one he saw: Brickspan Highway."
"That's what the yanks nicknamed this place during the war," the sergeant recalled, "someone's idea of a joke no doubt. Well, sir, it seems my apologies are due. You're not a yank are you?"
"No, I'm a Canadian, visiting Britain on honeymoon."
"Honeymoon?" the sergeant queried. "So where's the wife. Broken up already have we?"
Tom explained what had happened and said his wife was in crucial danger.
"Double crucial danger, sir. They are about to blow up that mine any minute. Corporal, get on to HQ. Stop the missiles!"
"Too late, sergeant they are on their way."
"Firkin hell!"
"Then let's get the hell out of here. We are not in the immediate vicinity but we have to scarper at the double. Come on, sir, jump into the vehicle quickly."
Tom was stunned as the Land Rover sped away. Then they heard the explosions behind them, clouds of surging black dust and smoke belching up in the distance.
The vehicle stopped at a safe distance and the occupants turned to take in the scene.
"That was the old mine just went up, sir. You sure your wife was in there?"
Tom was not afraid to hold back the tears. The sergeant didn't need an answer.
"Sorry, sir but this other guy, the one you said was holding your wife. What was he like; can you give us a description? ... All in your own time, sir. It could be that after you'd left the mine he pulled out too, if he knew what was good for him. Let's look on the bright side, sir shall we. Now what about this guy's description?" Report Story When Tom rendered the full details the sergeant turned to his men and everyone was silent.
Then the sergeant spoke, his voice had softened: "You say this guy's name was Rick - and the girl, you wife - what did he call her? Was it Sweetie Pie?"
"That's right, Sweetie Pie. Well, it's not exactly a name exactly is it, sergeant;? he may have called all the girls he fancied that. Bit of a pervert anyway and the sooner we get to him the better."
"No point, sir, we will search for your wife of course but we will never find Rick, He's long gone."
"But I saw him with my wife, God! Don't you understand what I'm saying?"
"I do, sir but you are not the first to have seen him. Story goes: and it has been confirmed, Rick was an old soldier based near here in the last war."
"Wrong, sergeant. He wasn't that old!"
"Hear me out, sir. Just hear me out: Before the war Rick worked in the mine. During the war he was heavily wounded and it seems he had a thing for going back into the past, visiting the mine after it closed. He even set up residence there. Made himself quite comfortable taking in scraps of furniture he found dumped. He had a good supply of fresh water from a natural stream which ran along a seam in the rock face and through into the disused mineshaft, keeping it from flooding. The locals knew about him. He was quite harmless and well liked locally. Used to visit the local pub called The George - now long gone, once or twice a week when they'd set him up with a free pint or two in return for some light bar duties. His diet mainly consisted of rabbit and any vegetables he could scrounge locally and whatever the land had to offer. He knew how to survive all right with his army training.
"Now, it did seem he had a feminine admirer who visited him once or twice. She was reported to have stayed with him in his humble abode. He called her Sweetie Pie but eventually she wanted a normal life, kids and all that sort of thing but he would did not relent apparently, so she left him.
"The guy was shattered. He was found drowned at the bottom of the mine shaft a week later. That was back in the fifties. You are not the first one to have seen his ghost. Can't understand why you never realised this area was a training area. You, must have seen the tank tracks?"
Tom was in a world of his own, thinking about this ghost and how everything seemed to fit together. He just nodded his head.
"Well, as you say, you are on honeymoon so I guess we can forgive you, sir."
The sergeant turned and pointed: "Look, is that your wife driving that car?"
Tom turned and immediately recognised Fran at the wheel.
"There you are, sir. She wasn't in the mine at all!"
An army vehicle followed the car and the driver said he'd found this crazy lady in the middle of the danger area it having run out of petrol with a flat battery. He replenished her tank from his spare petrol can and got her started with a jump lead and got her away from the mineshaft in the nick of time.
The sergeant yelled he had to go but told them the direction how to get back to the M4.
"What the hell happened to you, Fran? Thought I'd never see you again," Tom spluttered.
"And you," she returned: A fine gallant husband you are. Okay so I was crazy losing myself in the mine but you could have hung on. I guessed you had gone to get help and hung around in the car after I eventually found my way out of the shaft. That's when this dishy corporal came to my rescue. Steaming he was: He didn't pull any punches. Said he wanted me the hell out of there pronto as he filled my tank and made bloody sure of it."
"What about Rick. I mean are you okay? These guys are telling me he was some kind of spirit from the past"
"Rick, who's Rick you crazy man? He was just a figment of our imagination. Well we shared the fantasy didn't we? Just to pass away the boredom waiting for someone to come and help us. I knew though it was you all along. The disguise was good, the mask very life like - and the beard, crazy, crazy stuff. But it was all just too bizarre. It just had to be you. There were times I thought not. The intimacy we shared seemed to be different. They say lovers know each other in the dark but that's why I enjoy being with you, Tom. It is like going through the motions in a theatrical farce. Good stuff though - running in and out of that so called impregnable cage - on the outside you were Tom talking to this guy called Rick whom I felt sure at the time was there too, very clever stuff, Tom. Then you appeared close to me again and then you were Rick. How did you do that by the way?
"You have a weird imagination, darling Tom, very clever too. I knew what you were up to, having me in different ways, some of which would be a turn off in normal circumstances. You couldn't fool me, Tom. But no problem, I'm not complaining although the tanning perhaps was a little harsh. The Porno's pictures were a bit over the top too but. Like a good girl I didn't want to spoil the plot so I went along with it. Well I didn't want another tanning did I? That was so cruel, Tom but it was fun I guess. Albeit scary at first but as soon as I guessed it was okay.
But you didn't have to disappear like that. I could have been killed by a missile!"
"I was worried, honestly, Fran - when the mine went up. Thought I had really lost you. I like living dangerously, Fran but this time, perhaps we both did go a bit overboard," Tom confessed.
Indeed, he knew even his fantasies would not go that far. But there had been times in the past when his mind had run away with him. Oddly though, he distinctly remembered speaking to someone else, besides Fran, in that mine.
"So it's back to the drawing board then, Tom? Fran giggled, "well that was always fun and now we are married, watch this space!"
But Tom knew there was another presence in that place. He would never call Fran Sweetie Pie!
