'Until she talks.'
'Often they faint,' observed the older woman, 'but we bring them round again.'
'If it looks like she is resisting the pain there is a simple way to enhance her suffering.'
'Which is?' asked Mosafa.
'Bring the whip and show Major Mosafa,' ordered the Captain.
'I hope you enjoy this, English girl,' the woman whispered, teasing Zoe's slender back with the cool, long coil of the leather whip.
'The whip will jolt her body and then the weights will swing and give her maximum discomfort,' the Captain commented.
Zoe shook her head vigorously, groaning through the gag, to try to make them realise that she would talk now. If only they'd give her the chance!
'I think the bitch wants to talk,' laughed the Captain.
'Are you ready to co-operate then?' asked Mosafa.
Zoe nodded her head in agreement; she couldn't take any more of their punishment. She'd tried to hold out, but she couldn't bear the thought of worse than she was already going through.
'Excellent,' said Mosafa.
'Shall we ungag her?' asked the Captain.
'Yes.'
A moment later and the ball gag had been removed and Zoe was gulping air again through her mouth and flexing her aching jaws.
'Tell me who you are?' demanded Mosafa.
'I'm Zoe Farquerson... now please, let me go...' Zoe begged, breathlessly.
'Very good. Remove the weights and clips from her nipples as a reward for her honesty. Now tell me, who do you really work for?'
'The British Government,' Zoe admitted shamefully.
'And how would describe your work?'
'I gather information from overseas.'
'Excellent. Remove the cords from her breasts. She is becoming most co-operative and must be rewarded. So, you spy. This is what you are saying?'
'Yes, if you have to call it that,' sighed Zoe.
'So what are you doing in our country?'
'Collecting information about your dissident pre-democracy movement.'
'And I imagine you already know quite a bit about them? Names? Addresses? Plans?'
'No.'
'You lie.'
'No. I'm here to find all that out. As yet, I know practically nothing,' objected Zoe.
'She has plenty more she can tell us. This is just a start. I will want more time with her. I shall return this evening and have her moved,' announced Mosafa.
'What do you want done with her in the meantime?' asked the Captain.
'Keep her here until tonight when I return. You may in the meantime enjoy her as a reward for your good work. Encourage her to talk if you can. Make a note of anything she says. If she co-operates, reward her with leniency.'
'Understood, Major. I shall see if I can loosen her tongue a little more.'
'Enjoy your work, Captain.'
Zoe listened to the sounds of receding footsteps and the door closing. It had sounded as if two people had left the room. Mosafa and who else? She supposed one of the female guards must have left as well, except that they were wearing heavy boots and the neither of those footsteps that had left sounded like that, both were too quiet.
'Please let me down... my arms hurt so much...' Zoe begged.
The Guard Captain gave a short, contemptuous laugh.
'Gag her,' he ordered. 'Gag her, then whip her. I want to watch her being whipped until she's half-senseless.'
'You can't whip me... if you mark my body, I'll be able...'
The man cut her short with a harsh laugh.
'You don't understand do you? Now that you've admitted you're a spy, you've sealed your fate! The Major will be taking you this evening to a place where no one will find you! So, it's time for you to taste the whip!'
'No! You can't! Please!'
'Perhaps you'd care to give me answers to some of the Major's questions then?'
'All right,' sighed Zoe, 'I'll tell you what I know, but I'm afraid it's not that much.'
Zoe proceeded to divulge some of the secrets that she'd been told, but those she considered least important. She hoped that if she fed them some facts they might be content and she might be spared more torture. At least for a while.
'Is that all you know?' demanded the Captain.
'Yes, honestly.' Zoe replied, praying that he might now at least let her down from where she hung. Her arms were aching so much!
'Good. Very good.' The captain nodded with satisfaction then spoke to one of the female guards. 'Now gag her.'
'But I've told you all I can,' protested Zoe.
'So there's no need now to leave you ungagged!'
'This isn't fair!' Zoe shook her head as hands caught hold of her face and stilled her. Fingers dug into her cheeks encouraging her jaws to open.
'No, let me go! Let... me... guhh...'
Zoe tried twisting her head as the leather ball was forced back into her mouth. It was hopeless though and a second later the gag was in place and she could feel the leather strap tightening at her nape.
'Nnnnhh!'
'Cry all you want... struggle all you can... you can't escape what's coming to you now.'
Zoe closed her eyes, bracing herself for her first taste of the whip. Both the women had applied the gag to her, which meant that someone else must have left with the Major. So that's why they've blindfolded me, Zoe thought. Someone has been watching who I'd recognise. That could surely only be one person... Sir Rodney Stonefield!
She heard the woman take up her position behind her, heard the whip whistle once or twice through the air, then with a crack she felt searing white-hot pain against her legs. The whip hit her as it was almost fully extended and cutting through the air at its fastest. It lashed high across her thighs just below the swell of her rump making her jerk under the impact.
There was an agonising pause giving Zoe time to take in the sensation from the whip and time for her fear of the next stroke to gather itself. The impact from the second blow forced Zoe forward against her restraints. She grunted through the gag, her arms dragging down desperately against the leather that was tight around her wrists. Blindfolded, she had no way of knowing when the next blow would come, all she could do was hang by her arms, waiting nervously. She could feel the sweat trickling down from her armpits and throat around her breasts and down her sides. She was panting hard, the gag was forcing her to breathe just through her nose and her struggling had left her exhausted.
The woman brought the whip down again, this time harder still, making Zoe tug with her arms frantically. She tried closing her legs to protect herself but she couldn't. She could guess that the leather cuffs around her ankles had been clipped to either end of a leg spreader. Her own organisation used such devices. Two or three foot long metal poles with clasps at each end. She had helped strap a man's ankles to such a bar once. A spy they had been ordered to interrogate. She remembered how they'd drugged him then bound him for interrogation. The satisfaction she'd drawn from tightening the leather around his ankles then clipping each to either end of the steel pole so his legs were held wide for them. Naked and helpless he'd looked up imploringly at her and the other girl she was working with. After ten minutes he was begging them to stop, but for their own pleasure they had continued1/4 and now she was suffering just like he had. Zoe sighed through the gag then she was jolted from her memory by another stinging blow from the whip.
She implored the woman to stop but the rubber ball filling her mouth stopped any communication. Another blow sent a jolt like an electric shock through her. She heard the woman walk up behind her. Trembling uncontrollably, weakly, Zoe turned her head in the direction of the ominous boot-steps.
Zoe had always prided herself on her appearance and how in control of every situation she was. She felt confident she could charm or manipulate most people she came into contact with. Men especially were easy to control. But now she was helpless. She could imagine how she must look, panting through flared nostrils like some wild creature at bay. Her long hair tousled about her face, her naked body slick with sweat. She pleaded through the gag for the woman to stop but her begging sounded like nothing more than faint groaning. The woman laughed softly, then Zoe felt her delicately wipe the tears from her face, first one cheek and then the other.