Cathy leaned back in her seat, resigned to her fate. In hindsight, it had been foolish and stupid, she knew better. But she had done it anyway, and now she must pay the price. If she had only stopped to think, listened, made the effort to understand, none of this would have been necessary. As she sat there, under the guard's watchful eye, she thought back, was it really only a day ago ?

It had been a Friday afternoon. Cecilia had called about the party, all their friends would be there, and Cathy looked forward to it. She had gone to her Master, told him about the party, how excited she was about it, and then waited expectantly. When he had said the simple, "No, your Master requires your presence elsewhere" with no other explanation, she was in shock. She had gone back to the living room to sit and think, getting angrier and angrier. If Master thinks so little of me, she thought, perhaps a weekend without me is what he needs.

That was the fateful decision. She rushed into the bedroom, threw some clothes in a bag, and headed for her car. A quickly scrawled note, "Gone for the weekend," was the only indication of her plans. She headed for the freeway, determined to go somewhere, anywhere, but far from her Master.

Heading down the freeway, there was the sign, "Los Angeles 300 Miles." Perfect, a weekend on the beach, and her Master would never find her there. Her destination set, and her fate sealed, Cathy headed for the City of Angels. Six hours later she was in Newport, deciding where to stay. A familiar hotel, a chance cancellation, her trusty credit card, and she had a hotel for the weekend. She went up to her room, unpacked her bag, laid back on the bed to rest after the long drive, and promptly fell asleep.

Waking at 2 a.m., she felt restless, too awake to go back to sleep, and besides, she had the entire weekend to herself. She did feel a bit apprehensive, worried about how her Master would react. Certainly he had long since found her note. She shrugged, smiled, and decided to take a moonlight drive along the beach.

Cathy showered and put on a casual dress. She grabbed her purse and headed for the underground garage. Although the hour was late, she remembered the attendant at the entrance and thought it would be safe. Going down the elevator, she again thought about her Master, the confrontation sure to happen when she got back. She knew her Master was a powerful, influential man with ties to many organizations; in fact it was part of his attraction. She wasn't too sure just how he would react to her unplanned excursion. After all, she had pledged herself to him, his obedient and unquestioning submissive girl, with no limits on what he might demand of her. When she got back he would be more appreciative of her. She smiled, thinking of all the clichés about absence makes the heart grow fonder and you never miss it till you no longer have it.

Exiting the elevator, she entered the garage and headed for her car. Always careful, she checked for strangers loitering or suspicious cars. The garage was nearly full since it was a weekend, but no one was there at the moment. She could see the outline of the attendant at the entrance. Satisfied, she headed for her car.

At the car door, she started to open her purse to get the keys, when a large strong arm circled around her from behind, pinning her arms to her side. She started to scream, yell for help, but the other arm came up, forcing a gag into her mouth. She started to struggle, readying a kick, when the man pulled her back, off balance. Just then a van pulled up, the door open, and a second large heavyset man jumped out, grabbing her legs. They quickly bundled her into the van, slammed the door shut, and began driving away. She struggled, trying to twist out of their grip, but they were too strong. It had been too fast for her to react or call out to the attendant, and the side of the van blocked his view of what had happened. She felt the van go up the garage entrance ramp and out into the street.

Inside the two men held her face down on the carpeted floor of the van. Quickly her arms were pulled behind her back, and she heard and felt the familiar click of handcuffs on her wrists, followed by some kind of closely fitting hobbles on her ankles. One man bent over her, whispered in her ear, "your Master requires your presence."

A cold chill ran through her on hearing those words. Instinctively she stopped struggling, allowing the men to continue without any resistance on her part. She now knew what was happening. The whispered rumors when she had visited with the other girls at special parties. Bounty hunters… slave catchers . Her Master had reacted swiftly indeed.

How had they found her so quickly? Then she realized, the credit card, pointing right to her hotel. Her Master had the contacts to find her, to have her brought back to him, and he had used them. She had underestimated his reaction to her disobedience. The men who had kidnapped her must have been waiting in the garage for hours, on the off chance she would come out alone.

While one man held her down, the other quickly and efficiently searched her, even to removing her shoes and jewelry. She pulled slightly on the handcuffs, testing them. From prior experience she knew she would not be slipping them. They were on her wrists snugly but not too tight, with just enough space to allow for circulation. She was not going to be able to escape their hold. She and her Master had played with handcuffs many times. She had never been able to free herself.

After the search was finished, the men pulled waist chains attached to the handcuffs around her body, locking them together in front of her. Her wrists were now held close against her back. With the hobbles, really nothing more than oversize handcuffs, fastened securely on her ankles she could barely move. Bound hand and foot she was easily controlled by her captors. Satisfied she could offer no resistance, one of the kidnappers helped her to a kneeling position.

Forced to turn to the back of the van, she saw a seat facing the rear door. One of the men picked her up and placed her in it. Quickly he fastened the seat belt and shoulder straps, immobilizing her, then attached the linking chain of her ankle hobbles to a ring on the van floor. Cathy pulled against her restraints, but in a few seconds it was obvious her abductors had come well prepared, there was no hope that she could reach the buckles of the straps to free herself. These men were professionals; they wouldn't make mistakes like allowing her to escape that easily.

Sitting in the back facing the rear of the van, both of the men watching her every move, Cathy began to realize just how serious a mistake she had made. She had disobeyed, even run away. Now she had learned her Master would not tolerate such behavior. Sitting there, bound and helpless, heading to an unknown destination, to face certain punishment from a strict Master, she felt a slow panic growing within her.

Could she bribe the guards? She turned to the one beside her, began explaining how it wasn't her fault, a misunderstanding, couldn't they free her and let her return to her Master? "Quiet, or you get a gag again, this time for the rest of the trip," was all the closer man said. The other man, behind her, had never said a word.

At that point she came to accept that matters were now beyond her control. She settled back in the seat, made herself as comfortable as possible within the restraints, and awaited her fate. Wherever they were taking her, it was outside the city. Already she had heard the traffic noise drop off. The back of the van had no windows, so she had no idea where they were going. She had lost track of direction as the van drove through the city streets. She was sure they were now on a freeway since the van was at speed and not stopping for lights, but she had no idea which freeway or in what direction. The front driver's section was partitioned off so she couldn't see out the front windshield, and there were no windows in the back. Very thorough on their part; no one could see her and no one would hear her over the noise on the freeway if she tried to scream for help.

They drove for hours with not a word spoken by anyone. She was sure there were at least three men in the van, the driver plus the two watching her. None of them said a word to each other, communications were by looks and gestures. By all appearances they were a well-practiced team. They had certainly done everything right when they abducted her. After what seemed to be several hours the van slowed, then pulled off the freeway down an off ramp. She heard the man sitting directly behind her get out, and then close the side door. She started to look over her shoulder, but the man to her side told her to keep facing toward the rear door. There were faint sounds, as if a heavy gate were being moved, then the van pulled forward a short distance. Again the sounds of a gate, then she heard the second man opening the side door and get back in. The van began moving again, still on a paved road but slower now.

Cathy had thought the trip was nearly over, but they kept going, perhaps another hour or more. All this time, she had not heard any passing traffic. Wherever they were heading, it was isolated. She was sure the stop had been to open a gate, so it was a safe assumption they were on some kind of private road. When the van door was open the outside air felt warm, so they were probably not in the mountains. She wasn't sure of the time but it was possible they had driven all the way to the desert. That would explain the temperature, the straight roads, and the lack of traffic.

Again they came to a stop. The man behind her got out, then closed the door. Cathy had tried once more to turn and see where she was, but the darkness hid everything. The guard next to her said nothing this time as she tried to look. She could hear voices talking outside the van, even heard her name once, but could not understand what was said. All this time she had been trying to move around, but the restraints held her close, so the remaining guard did nothing, although his eyes never left her. She had thought about calling out for help, but since her guard seemed unconcerned she would cry out that told her it would be pointless.

The conversation outside stopped as she heard the latch on the rear door of the van. It opened, and standing there in the light from the back van door was her Master. She started to speak, but he cut her off with one sentence, "I requires your presence, for an accounting." The words struck Cathy like a blow. She had disobeyed her Master, run away, now she had been brought to him to explain her actions. In her heart she knew she belonged to him, and she must now answer to him for what she had done.

"Release her," came the short, clipped command. The guard next to her released the seat belt and shoulder straps holding her in the chair. The man stopped, looked over to her Master, waited for a nod, then took out a small key and unlocked the hobbles around her ankles. Leaning over her, he released the lock holding the waist chains close around her body. Finally, the guard pushed her forward, then reached behind her and unlocked the steel handcuffs encircling her wrists.

She was free of her bonds, but as she gazed up to her Master, she saw the look in his eyes, felt his power over her. She sat very still, hands folded in her lap, head down, waiting for his command. "Out of the van, stand before me," he ordered, pointing to a spot near him. She immediately moved to obey, hoping she could somehow still please him, to somehow placate his visible anger at her disobedience.

She climbed out of the van and stood up, stumbling a bit as her sore body protested at the sudden activity after being confined for the trip. Then she recovered her balance and stood at the spot where her Master had ordered her. She turned to face him, mindful of her posture, keeping her back straight, her hands at her side, legs slightly apart, and her head down. She dared not speak, for she has not been granted permission to do so. He had taught her to stand that way.

Her Master gestured to the guard who had sat beside her all during the trip to this lonely, isolated location. He handed an envelope to the bounty hunter, "Good work, fast and efficient. As always your organization provides exemplary service."

"Thank you sir, your generous retainer guarantees we are available to you at any time," and then the men got in the van and drove off. Cathy was surprised at the word retainer . It seemed her Master had anticipated her actions even before she had decided to run off. Somehow he had known she would disobey and leave him without permission, and had planned for the moment.

As the van left, she saw for the first time she was standing in the driveway in front of a small building, nestled against the side of a mountain, seemingly built right into the hillside. Other than the building and the road, all she could see was barren desert and high mountains. The predawn light revealed little of the building, a single door in the front, what appeared to be a garage door on one side, and nothing else, no windows. Her Master turned back to her. Cathy looked at his eyes for a moment before quickly lowering her eyes, unable to meet his gaze. "Remove your clothing, now." As quickly as she could, off came her dress and underwear, in a neat pile beside her. Finished, she stood before him as before, arms at her side, legs slightly apart, and her head still down, open and vulnerable to her Master. She was grateful he had waited till the van left with the men inside. Still, she felt uncomfortable being outside without any clothing.

She stood there several minutes, illuminated in the dawn, waiting to be told what would be required of her. Her Master made no move. He looked at her, saying nothing, then slowly walked around her, inspecting. She stood very straight, very still, knowing she was being judged. He stopped, close in front of her, then reached behind his back and produced a pair of plain handcuffs. He stood there, looking at her, cuffs in one hand, as if waiting for something.

At first she was confused. What did he want of her? Then she knew precisely what he was waiting for. She held out her hands, wrists slightly apart, waiting to be bound, submitting herself to her Master's authority. He paused a moment, looking closely at her, then locked her wrists together. He held the connecting chain in his hand, controlling her. He turned, and began leading her toward the building door.