As the gathering broke up for the evening, Katie and Kim left together, walking through the lamp-lit streets. They parted their ways near Katie’s home, leaving Kim with a twenty-minute walk home along a main street. She felt safe on the main road as she passes three pubs, a petrol service station, and a small row of shops with a fish and chip shop and a Chinese takeaway. There were plenty of people in the vicinity until the last five minutes of her walk. Turning into her street, where she has a small flat on the first floor of a Victorian house, she could see her home a couple of hundred feet ahead. As she was lost in her thoughts, a car screeched to a halt in front of her. She froze as the same two men who approached her earlier snatched her and dragged her into the back of their car.
Between them they tied her hands with PlastiCuffs and placed a dark-coloured hood over her head.
“Scream and you’re dead. Do you understand?”
Terrified and shaking, Kim nodded compliantly.
“Right, you pretty little bitch, we want to know everything. Why were you friends with Ian? What goes on in that meeting, and what have you told your friends? And one way or another, you’re going to tell us.”
One of the men remained in the back seat with Kim while the other took the driving seat.
They set off and appeared to be driving around aimlessly. Kim had no idea where she was. They obviously stopped at some traffic lights and Kim heard the 10.30 p.m. chimes of the old clock in the docks. She also heard the huge cranes loading the containers. They run twenty-four hours a day and their motorised noise is unmistakable.
The car came to a halt and Kim figured that they must be near the dock.
The driver got out and the two men dragged her into a darkened room. She heard background noise, and it sounded like a pub.
They spread her on her front, belly side down on the top of a table, and tied her hands and ankles to the table legs. They removed the pillow case but gagged her with some cloth. She adjusted her eyes and recognised the worn carpet of the dockside tavern. She’d been there a couple of times, but it was a real rough drinkers’ haunt and not a place for nice young ladies and their friends.
“Right, young Kim, we want some answers to our questions. And if we don’t get the right answers, you’re in more trouble than you can imagine.”
Kim looked the man in the eye defiantly.
“I’m sure that you’ll take that look out of your eyes when we’ve finished with you.”
“Let’s get started. Question one. Why were you friendly with Ian? What was your relationship with him?”
He gently removed the gag and warned, “Scream and you’ll pay for it dearly.”
She went to speak but screamed instead and felt a monstrous blow in her kidney area. The pain seared through her body. She tried desperately to scream again but her cries were muffled for fear of more maltreatment, the torturous pain in her back causing tears to flow freely down her face and onto the carpet.
“I told you so, didn’t I?
“Now, I need an answer!” the other man intervened.
He waited; she had no gag. She was waiting for the pain to subside so that she could speak.
She spluttered out, “We went out for a couple of drinks. He's a nice … he was a nice, shy lad — that’s all. I arranged a couple of blind dates for him but he blew it both times. I was arranging another. That’s all, honestly. I don’t know anymore.”
“Liar!”
“How did he come to be in possession of a ship’s manifest? A manifest that you have access to?”
“I don’t know, I don’t know.”
“And how come he sent you photos of some of the loads on the ship which he worked on? Why would you need those?”
“He sent me random photos, ships, cargo, monuments. He was always sending something. Perhaps it was just his way of being friends, I don’t know why.”
“What happens in those meetings you go to?”
“Have you been spying on me?”
“Yes, we have. Now answer the question!”
“We have talks about the oceans’ cleanliness. Tonight, we had a talk by some doctor about the effects of plastic on marine life. It’s all harmless. But why do you want to know?”
“That’s our business. Now, what have you been telling your friends?”
“About what?”
“About anything, especially about ships and cargo, and your friend Ian.”
“Nothing, I’ve told nobody nothing! I was going to tell the police that I knew Ian, but didn’t want to get involved.”
“Why not? He was your friend.”
“I was scared.”
“Of what? You’ve done nothing wrong … have you?”
She fell silent. They’d touched on a nerve.
They repeated the question and she hung her head in silence.
One of the men replaced her gag.
“Have it your way then.”
Both men then left, locking the door behind them. She tried to wriggle free but was going nowhere with the PlastiCuffs holding her firmly in position. She surveyed the dingy room. It had seen better days. Nowadays, it was a closed-off area to what would have been a thriving dockside tavern years ago. But since the advent of health and safety, most of the daily drinking binges had stopped and reduced trade.
***
She heard the key in the lock and the familiar voice of her questioner.
“Come on in fellas, look what we have for you!”
She realised what was in store for her and panicked, falling sideways while still attached to the table.
“Pick her up now lads. She’ll be no good down there, will she?”
A couple of strong older men heaved her up. They wreaked of ale. Apart from her captors, she counted five men.
Then she felt someone behind her lifting her skirt. She shook her head violently, pleading under her gag for them to stop. Then she felt her underwear being torn from her, leaving her fully exposed. She felt helpless and began to sob uncontrollably.
“It’s no use crying. I told you that you’ll come to your senses. But first a little lesson. Well, four or five to be exact.”
The pair of captors took up position on a table next to the small bar which had its grill closed. They started laughing and opened a bottle of whisky. They were sat right in front of her, about two metres away. They just watched, waiting for her humiliation to begin.
Two scruffy, unkempt men stripped off their clothes.
One stared directly into her face. He was old, unshaven and repulsive. He lifted her by her hair.
“I’m going to remove this gag and replace it with my own for starters.”
Her eyes widened as he untied the gag, and behind she could feel someone taking up position. As the old guy lifted himself to her mouth, she opened her mouth and bit as hard as she could. The man stumbled backwards in pain, clutching his manhood. The group laughed at his misfortune and the door opened.
One of the captors rose from his seat and moved towards him.
“Sorry mate, this is a private party. You need an invitation.”
Her eyes met his for the briefest of moments. He was different. He was scruffy, unkempt but had an air about him that she couldn’t determine. She thought, oh no, not another one.
“I like to party too. Why wasn’t I invited?”
He wandered around the room with a confidence, a presence. He approached her and the men around her. He ran his fingers through her hair, then trailed them across her spine, and said, “This looks to be a fine party. I want to join in.”
Feeling somewhat uncomfortable, the captor replied, “Sure, why not.” He pointed to the old guy who was clutching his manhood. “He won’t be needing any action now and we could do with increasing the numbers. Hey, aren’t you that lone fisherman that’s always out on the quay or out to sea in mad weather?”
“Yep, that’s me. I’m the mad one.”
Noticing that the two men had a bottle of whisky to themselves, he approached them and asked, “What do I have to do to get a drink around here?”
One of them poured him a glass and offered it to him.
“Thanks,” said the fisherman, swallowing the contents in one. Then, in a low tone, he said, “Now, what you’re doing here isn’t nice for the lady. It’s not a nice way to treat someone.”
Surprised, and somewhat entertained, the two men looked at each other and laughed.
The fisherman continued. “Now gentleman, I’m giving you the opportunity to stop this now. Tell these drunken beasts that the show’s over and that you’ll buy them drinks all night long. Then untie her and let her go. And that’ll be the end of it.”
One of the captors put the whisky bottle down firmly on the table and stepped into the face of the fisherman. “I think that you’d better leave if you want to stay healthy. Go on, go! Go while you can!”
There was an uneasy silence.
“Okay, okay,” said the fisherman, who reached over and poured himself another glass, sunk it down in one and headed for the door.
For a brief moment there was tension in the room until all of the men started laughing, “Carry on boys, don’t mind us. Let’s get on with it!”
Kim couldn’t make out what was going on between the fisherman and the pair. She just knew that she was about to endure the most hellish time of her young life, and there was nothing that she could do about it. Her tortured mind wasn’t prepared for anything like this.
They all watched as the fisherman stopped and locked the door. He turned to the group and it started.
The fisherman assessed the men in front of him. He thought, take on the two hubristic captors first, then maybe one or two might join in, and then the remainder will fall by the wayside and disappear. He purposefully walked over to the first captor who by now is leaving his seat, and as soon as he has turned to face the fisherman, he stepped forward to a now running fisherman and received a mighty blow to the jaw. He reeled backwards, knocking over a chair and the small table with a bottle of whisky and glasses. His friend, in the meantime, had pulled out a knife and was in a wide stance approaching the fisherman. He slashed diagonally a couple of times and made no contact as the fisherman expertly evaded the movements. He moved forward, thrusting the blade towards the fisherman who this time stepped inside of the movement, grabbed the wrist of the right hand, and allowed the man’s momentum to continue, swivelling his body with the wrist in his grasp. The man came crashing down to the ground, releasing the knife, and the fisherman thrust his boot into his chest. He was left clutching his chest and gasping for breath. By this time, the first captor had regained his footing and was heading towards the fisherman. He charged, grabbing him with wide arms, and they both tumbled. The fisherman launched a barrage of short jabs to the man's torso and he recoiled in pain. Once on his feet, the fisherman looked over to his audience, all of which were getting dressed and raising their hands as if to say, This is nothing to do with me, leave me out of it. The man on the floor just managed to get to one bended knee before the fisherman unleashed a mighty blow on the back of his head and he crumpled to the ground.
"I guess it’s show over for you guys. You'd better leave."
The unshaven, unkempt fisherman produced a folded blade from his pocket and cut Kim's ties free. He helped her to her feet and she rubbed her wrists and ankles to regain some circulation.
"Come on, let's get out of here."
"Thank you, thank you. How can I ever repay you?"
"You don't need to thank me, and you certainly don't have to repay me. What they were doing was plain wrong and somebody's got to do something about it."
They left the room and made their way down a darkened corridor to an emergency exit. The fisherman pushed the emergency exit bar on the security door and it flung open. They were in the car park near the entrance.
“Oh god, that’s their car, the silver Mercedes. They’ll be coming after us, won’t they?” said Kim in a worried voice.
"Just wait here for a minute, just by the wall out of sight."
The fisherman darted quickly across the car park, knelt down by the side of the Mercedes and punctured two of its tyres before returning to Kim.
He appeared out of the darkness. "It’s okay, come with me. Did say you that have nowhere to go?”
“They grabbed me outside of my flat. Which means that I’m not safe there. I literally have nowhere to go.”
With a slight reluctance the fisherman said, “Look, I have got somewhere that’s safe. You can come with me if you like, it’s your choice."
Kim thought for a moment. She had no choice; she had no plan of what to do next.
She humbly replied, "Yes, please, I need to be somewhere safe, but only temporarily until I figure out where to go and what to do."
"Okay, that's fine. This way then. We need to stay in the shadows."