Chapter 12: Things Look Promising


    Chapter 12: Things Look Promising


    “Mark’s not here,” I told her, “so if you need someone to help you practice, I’ll be happy to stand in for


    him.”


    “Oh, would you!? That would be great!”


    I had trouble not grinning from ear to ear.


    The way her breasts were pushing against that blouse was not helping me keep calm.


    “I’m sure Ste will loan us some of her ropes.”


    There is a God in Heaven!


    Just then, Ste hopped down from the stage and came up to us. I noticed that the Japanese males


    sitting not far off were keeping their eyes on her. Understandable, when you consider how very fine that


    body is and how it was shown off in the leotards she was wearing right then. It was so skin-tight that I


    was certain there were no panty lines, which meant no panties. No bra shape under the stretch


    material, either. This case was getting better and better.


    “I’ll do a quick rehearsal this afternoon,” she told us in that honey-dripping, husky,e-to-the-


    bedroom voice of hers. “To make sure the equipment is properly set up. You two can watch, if you like.”


    ze smiled and added, “Then we’ll go out to dinner afterwards and make ns for finding this Sorren


    guy. I’ll check with Mr. Grudge back at thepany to see if there is any new information.”


    I hoped the dinner was better than the lunch. The restaurant we went to had the funniest stuff, like


    bowls of noodles with weird things floating among them. I watched Ste and Tara picking up pieces of


    raw fish and dipping them in sauces before eating them. Ugh! I prefer my fish well cooked, thank you.


    The afternoon rehearsal went smoothly. It began with the assistants filling the tank with water. Then


    Ste came back on stage, having switched her leotards for a tiny bikini that left damned little to the


    imagination. Oh, and a pair of high heels that matched her bikini - both ck. She lifted her arms as if


    there were an audience, then walked over to where Tara awaited. A small table had been set up next to


    the tank and on that were several coils of rope. After showing off that gorgeous body to the non-


    existent audience, she turned her back to the seats and Tara stepped up with the first coil of rope.


    Ste spread her feet apart and put her arms together behind her. With those high heels, it was a


    rather erotic sight, I can tell you. Nice legs. Nice ass. I was getting pretty horny. It has been sooooo


    long since the day Linda Goodbody dumped me.


    I’ve been around some kinky people and have seen plenty women being tied up. In fact, there was this


    one sister at Alpha Alpha Alpha who… Well, never mind. I know good bondage when I see it. And the


    ropes Tara was putting on were well done. They were tightly applied, cinched down and knotted not


    once but several times and where the fingers could never reach.


    When her arms were tightly bound, both at wrists and elbows, she turned around and braced her


    bound arms and bottom against the side of the tank. She put her legs together and Tara knelt to begin


    binding the ankles. When she finished with that, she bound her legs higher up, both above and below


    the knees. It was a pretty nice, neat job and obviously tightly applied. She would have a lot of difficulty


    wiggling out of those ropes.


    Tara helped ease Ste down to the stage floor where she sat with her legs bent to show off their nice


    shape. From overhead I heard a hum and that hoist was lowering the steel cable. Tara took it in her


    hands and guided it down to Ste’s ankles. It stopped so she could bind the ankles to the hook at the


    end of the cable. She wound the rope numerous times around the ropes on the ankles and the hook.


    There was no question that there were enough to take Ste’s weight without the slightest chance of


    breaking.


    I expected the hoist to start up again, but instead Tara took something off the table and walked around


    behind Ste. I was surprised to see that it was a ball gag! She put it in front of Ste’s face, who,


    obligingly, opened her mouth to ept the rubber ball. Tara strapped it tightly in ce, you could tell by


    the way the leather straps cut into the sides of her mouth. I had seen enough girls gagged to know that


    she would not be pushing this one out.


    Then the hoist began to take up the cable. Tara knelt by Ste as her legs were lifted, then helped ease


    her down so that she would not fall back. In a minute, the lovely young woman was being lifted by her


    ankles higher and higher. When her head was just a little bit above the top of the tank, the hoist began


    to move back on its rail. Ste moved over until she was suspended directly over the tank. Her lovely,


    long golden hair was hanging straight down; the end could be seen spreading out in the water. Then


    she was going down.


    No, I don’t mean that way. She was being lowered into the water, head first. I watched as her head


    appeared beneath the top edge, then her breasts came into view. Lower she went until her bound


    ankles were visible in the water. At that point the hoist stopped. For a brief few seconds, nothing


    happened. Ste was totally under the water, head down, and tightly bound. And gagged. The tank was


    not much wider than her body, and I had to wonder, even if she could free herself from the ropes, how


    could she move around enough to get her head above water? Her long hair spread out like a halo


    around her head.


    Then Tara pulled a curtain across the front of the tank. She walked to the side of the stage and brought


    out arge clock set on a table with rollers. There were only two hands on the face, one for minutes


    and one for seconds. The second hand was already half way around one circuit and the minute hand


    moving off the top notch and slowly creeping down. The clock face was unusual in that it was not


    divided into twelve numbers but only five. It would take five minutes for the slower hand toplete


    one revolution.


    You could feel the tension in the air. There were only a few of us watching, but everyone was on edge,


    both afraid and excited by this challenge to death. I could see no way that Ste could possibly escape


    from certain drowning. She might be good, but no woman tied as tightly and well as she was could free


    herself. Not to mention being hung upside down underwater.


    The steel cable above the tank moved a bit, as if she were struggling at the end of it. It shook a couple


    times, and swayed a little. Then it went still. The minute hand kept creeping along. There were five


    marks along the edge of the clock, one for each minute that had passed. It was nearing the three-


    minute mark when I began to wonder if something had gone wrong. I know that some people can hold


    their breath for over two minutes, but while upside down in water and struggling? As the hand neared


    four minutes, I began to wonder if someone shouldn’t go up there and pull that curtain aside to see if


    she was in trouble. But the only person near the curtain was Tara and she was making no move to


    touch it.


    Four minutes and a handful of seconds. Then four and a half. As the hand neared the top of the face


    and five full minutes, I was ready to jump up and run up onto the stage. Something had to have gone


    wrong! The cable had not moved or shaken for a long time. I could just imagine her body hanging down


    in that water, lungs filled with water and lifeless eyes on that gorgeous face.


    I started to rise from my seat when ze put a hand on my arm. “Don’t worry,” she said. “She’s a


    professional. She knows what she’s doing.”


    This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.


    Amazingly, ze did not seem concerned at all. I know I was, and the men sitting to our right looked


    rather nervous. Even Tara had concern in her eyes, even though she was still smiling. Why didn’t she


    pull that curtain away?


    All kinds of idea shed into my mind. If something was wrong, why was Tara waiting so long? Seemed


    to me that a reasonable precaution would have been to have a time limit. If Ste was not out by that


    limit, go and save her!


    ze’s advice or no, I was on my feet and about to vault onto that stage when Tara finally moved. With


    maddeningly slow movements, she walked to the edge of the curtain, took it in her hand, and pulled it


    dramatically open.


    Where I had expected to see a dead body, there was Ste, pushing thest of the ropes away from


    her ankles. She was upright in the tank and no longer attached to the hook. As soon as she was free of


    thatst bit of rope, she kicked her legs and lifted her head above the top of the tank. She tilted her


    head back and gasped for air. It was then I saw that the ball gag was still in her mouth. At that point,


    the hoist began to rise again and she reached behind her head with one hand while hanging onto the


    top of the tank with the other, and unbuckled the gag.


    The gag came out and she sucked in much-needed air. She put her foot in the hook as it came to that


    level and took hold of the cable with her hands. The hoist lifted her out of the water, over, and, dripping


    water on the stage, down to where Tara was standing. She stepped off the hook and it rose behind her.


    Ste took a bow, arms lifted high, and struck a pose with one leg shifted forward and chest thrust out.


    She held that for a few moments. I could just imagine that she was epting the apuse of the


    audience. Then she walked off the stage, high heels clicking on the wooden floor.


    That was quite a show! I had no idea how she managed to free herself from those ropes. Nor how she


    managed to hold her breath for so long. I could see what ze meant when she said that the crowds


    loved her shows. Hell, just seeing her in a bikini was worth the price of admission.


    A whileter, she and Tara came back, dressed now in less revealing clothing but still looking good. I


    was dying to ask her how she did it, but had to put it off since we were heading out for dinner.


    I tell you, these Japanese people eat funny things. And you should have seen the look the waitress


    gave me when I asked for Chicken Chow Mein. Shessh! Ste finally rmended some dish with


    chicken chunks in a rather good teriyaki sauce. The sd they served before was rather small and very


    tart. It didn’t even have any lettuce in it at all. Ste and Tara were digging into that raw fish stuff.


    Almost enough to turn your stomach!


    When the meal was over and we were sitting there on the floor (another barbaric practice they have),


    drinking some funny tasting rice wine, we finally got down to business. Making sure that the waitress


    was not around, ze told us what she had heard from the U.S.


    “They have tracked several encrypted emails between Dr. Sorren and a Japanese business man


    named Janichi Watanabe. He owns, among other things, a pharmaceuticalpany called ‘Koriyama


    Pharmaceutics’. So far, they have not been able to decrypt those emails.”


    “Is thispany located in the city of Koriyama?” asked Ste.


    “ording to what Mr. Grudge said, yes. He gave me some addresses. I think that out first move


    should be to check them out.”


    Sounded like good logic to me.


    I was surprised to find it was a little hard to get to my feet. And I only had a dozen or so tiny cups of


    that rice wine stuff.