EXTRACT FOR
Kat & Mouse
(Author Unknown)

CHAPTER 1 - ANOTHER BORING DAY

    

    The assignment was as exciting as watching paint dry, but it was five C notes a day plus expenses, thought Katherine Maureen Sullivan, better known as "Kat" to her friends, as she crossed the causeway into Key West. Following the young couple's flight was like trailing a herd of elephants as she wove her way down the narrow streets, until she spotted their car in front of the motel. A steady drizzle fell as she locked her Porsche, pulled up the collar to her leather jacket and just in case, patted the cold steel inside her pocket. She ducked across the main drag toward the cheap motel squatted among the palm trees like an old bag lady. Except for the buzzing neon sign it was blacker than the inside of an inkwell. Kat's squeaking Nikes attracted a stray cat which followed her with ears up and mangy tail idly swinging. She shooed the cat away and turned the corner in back of the motel toward the lighted window, suspecting it was the room they had just checked into. She was right, as she peeked in and saw the girl immediately in the grubby room, standing out like a daisy in a weed patch. The chauffeur/boyfriend no longer in uniform was leaving for a six-pack in a torn T shirt and greasy jeans. The girl sat primly on the bed in her Donna Karon suit and watched him leave without any trace of emotion. The door slammed and she sighed and grimly looked about her. Kat quickly moved to the front of the motel just as the boyfriend crossed the street admiring her Porsche. Don't get any ideas Kat thought as she waited for him to pass her car and then strode down the front of the motel and knocked on the door. The girl answered immediately. Probably thought Kat was the boyfriend who forgot something. But she showed no surprise when she saw Kat in the doorway. 

    "Ashley Ann Atwood?" Kat flashed her ID in front of the kid's eyes. 

    "Yeah, yeah, what took you so long? Come in," the girl answered chewing on gum with a bored expression on her face. She sat back down on the bed and scanned Kat up and down. "Hey, Armani all the way. You must do okay," she said admiringly. "What'd mom say?" The girl became a poet without knowing it, thought Kat. 

    "My office called me in Tampa while I was on business. It took me a few days to finish up and trace you. Surprised to find you in the same neighborhood." Kat said matter-of-factly. "And you scared her to death with this little stunt of yours if that gives you any satisfaction." Kat sat down on the other bed and surveyed the dingy room.

    "Look! It was just to get her attention, ya know. I mean with stepfather!" She said stepfather as if she had just stepped in dog shit. She suddenly jumped up from the bed and went over to what could pass for closets and began throwing designer suits and dresses onto the bed. Without turning her head she knelt and pulled out huge suitcases from beneath the bed. "Can we leave now? I can't stand this dump another second, ya know." "You mean right now?" Kat shrugged. The girl was busy emptying the scarred bureau drawers, tossing underwear, bras, scarves, stockings, socks and tights in a flurry of activity as they floated in air and landed on the bed. 

    "Is that okay?" 

    "Well, I wasn't planning on checking in here for the night," Kat acknowledged. 

    "Good! There's a quaint hotel I know of. It's yucky old, but the best they have here. We stayed there once before." 

    "Your boyfriend and you?" Kat asked. The girl looked at Kat scornfully. 

    "No!" she answered coldly. "My so called boyfriend couldn't even afford to sleep on the floor in the lobby. I stayed there one time with daddy and mother." She said "daddy" as if he were the pope and "mommy" as if she were the scullery maid. 

    "You mean with your real father. Look, families do break up..." 

    "Can we check in there or don't you have the money?" Ashley cut her off. 

    "Yeah, that sounds fine," Kat acknowledged, staring at the kid as she threw her things into the suitcases. "What about your boyfriend?" For the first time that night Kat saw Ashley laugh. 

    "Bernard!" she spit out. 

    "Romance faded down the road, did it?" Kat smiled. 

    "Yeah! About the second day. He's such an animal. In bed he always was." Ashley grinned knowingly at Kat, as she sat on one of the suitcases and locked it shut. "But I didn't think he was an animal all the time. I mean he's so crude, so stupid, ya know. Like he doesn't have a clue. He licks his fingers when he's eating. So gross. And this is the only type of place he can afford?" Ashley looked about her in disgust. "Ugh! I'm getting itchy just being here."

    "Did you...?" 

    "Marry him? Marry HIM! Are you kidding. No way. It would be like marrying the Heap!" 

    "The Heap?" 

    "Yeah, you know. The guy who lives in the swamp." Ashley bounced up and down on the second suitcase and then stood up arranging herself and looked over at Kat. "I'm ready now." 

    "Yeah?" Kat eyed here warily. 

    "You may take my things out to your car now," Ashley stated. 

    "Look I was hired to bring you back, not as your maid." Kat stood up as well, her arms stuck in her jacket. There was a moment's silence as they stared at one another. Finally Ashley sighed and struggled with the suitcases as Kat opened the door for her. 

    "Neat car!" Ashley observed as she almost fell over dropping her heavy bags beside the Porsche. "You must do REALLY okay!" 

    "What about Bernard?" Kat later asked as she pulled away from the curb, while Ashley sat beside her filing her nails, her suitcases filling up the back of the car. 

    "Oh, he's probably trying to pick up some floozy at the bar," Ashley sighed, holding her hands up, studying her nails. "Who cares?" 

    "Right," Kat answered. 

    

    Who cares? After all, Kat was hired to bring the princess back to the ball, not the prince who now seemed to have changed back into a frog. By the time they reached the Connecticut thru-way on their way to the Atwood Estate in up-state New York, Kat heard more than she wanted to know about mother/daughter relationships. It was the same old story. Daughter doesn't approve of new stepfather, so she runs away with the chauffeur threatening elopement, knowing full well, her mother will keep it in the family and send a PRIVATE Detective in hot pursuit. Ashley had just been biding her time until Kat showed up. Kat glanced back at Ashley in the rear view mirror as she napped in the back seat amid her suitcases. Ashley seemed to have a designer outfit for every day of the year. Today she was dressed in a Margiela suit with matching turtle neck and tights. Kat sighed, it must be tough being rich. She kept the black Porsche at a steady speed in the left lane keeping an eyeball on the side mirror for Connecticut State Police.

    "Oh this is sooo rad!" Kat glanced back to see the princess had awakened from her beauty nap and was pawing in Kat's leather carrying bag. 

    "Stay outta there!" Kat snapped. "That's none of your business. Who gave you the right to rummage through my things, damnit? I have a mind to stop this car and..." 

    "Wow! Handcuffs! What's this?" Ashley held a belt with a large chrome loop through it? 

    "Damnit!" Kat sighed. She was not about to stop on the interstate. She was forced to humor her. They hadn't much further to go, until she could drop off the little pest. "It's a transport belt. Okay? Now leave things alone!" But Ashley was now dangling more cuffs connected by a two foot chain. She looked quizzically at Kat in the mirror. 

    "Those are ankle cuffs," Kat sighed. "Now put everything back where you found it like a good little girl," Kat said in a false sweet voice. 

    "Oh. This is so totally weird," Ashley exclaimed as she pulled out a rubber ball with a strap through it. "Where did you get all this stuff. Are you into bondage?" 

    "No DAMNIT!" Kat said in exasperation, cursing a slow driver in front of her, as she kept flashing her lights at the old biddy to move over. It was times like this Kat wished she had a battering ram attached to the front of her Porsche. 

    "Well, what are you doing with all this stuff?" Ashley teased. 

    "Put my things back NOW!" Silence came from the back seat. 

    "There's no need for you to go postal!" she said in a little voice. 

    "What do you mean postal?" 

    "You know like the post office workers when they go nuts and start shooting everyone in sight." Kat suppressed a grin as she finally passed the old cow in her fat Buick. She glanced over to see blue-white hair just peeking above the steering wheel. How in the hell did they see? Was there some sort of built in periscope in the dash? Kat wondered. She looked back at Ashley who was pouting in the back seat. Kat sighed. "Sometimes people don't volunteer."

    Ashley suddenly perked up. "You mean you bring them back in chains?" 

    "Chains? You make me sound like Captain Bligh." 

    "Captain Bligh?" 

    "Like some sort of ogre." 

    "Ogre?" 

    "Forget it. It's only police issue restraints." 

    "Cool! But this isn't!" Ashley taunted, waving the ball back and forth by its strap. 

    "No. It isn't," Kat sighed. "But an improvement over duct tape." 

    "It's a ball gag," Ashley announced triumphantly. I've seen them before in bondage magazines. So you're into bondage." Kat sighed. Damn kids these days. They knew more than was good for them. 

    "No," Kat said patiently, passing a semi, the driver leering down at her legs. "Actually I had a friend in vice who took me over to a boutique in the city one day after lunch and I bought it there. Some place called the Pleasure Chest. It seemed to better serve my purpose." 

    "Wow! They actually have stores?" Good, thought Kat. Something she didn't know. "Why did you buy it in the first place?" The kid had a one track mind, Kat thought. She felt like giving the truck driver the finger but she was moving too fast for him to see. 

    "You're not the first one to accompany me back to their parents. And sometimes they didn't want to come as readily as you did. And one time some kid yelled she was being kidnaped while I was paying the toll and I had to pull over, pull out all the official papers of signed consent, show them my ID and it wasted a hell of a lot of time." 

    "So you've gagged them too!" Ashley asked as she leaned forward. 

    "Yeah, I gagged them too. I used to use duct tape, but it was too messy. Especially on long trips when you have to feed them. Does that answer All of your questions?" Kat said impatiently, as she glanced in the rear view mirror to see Ashley now looking wide eyed at her with the ball gag thrust in her mouth holding onto the straps. She pulled it out with a loud plop.

    "But how did you get by the toll booths then? Someone in chains with a big ball in their mouth?" Kat sighed. The kid wouldn't stop with her questions. 

    "They rode in the back strapped in their seat belts. If you've noticed, the glass is tinted." Kat slowed down as she saw a trooper parked in the median. "And after that, I made damn sure I had enough change." 

    "Totally rad," Ashley exclaimed. 

    "Now put my things back, please. I'll not ask you again." Kat picked up speed as the trooper disappeared from sight in her mirror. For the rest of the trip they rode in silence. In fact too silent. Until Kat crossed the state line into New York and then turned off the interstate onto a two lane highway leading to Ashley's home.

    

    "There's a little picnic area up ahead. Would you mind stopping?" Ashley requested quietly. Kat looked back at her puzzled, but soon saw the picnic tables off the road in a grove of trees. What the hell, she needed to stretch anyway. She pulled into the deserted rest stop and killed the engine. There was little traffic passing by, as Kat got out of the car and stood up straight pulling her shoulders back. Ashley slid out of the car and stood before her holding the cuffs. 

    "What's this? I thought I told you to put those things away." 

    "I want you to do me up?" Ashley shyly said. 

    "Do you UP?" 

    "Yeah and gag me too!" Ashley began talking fast. "I want you to tell my mom I fought you all the way back. Tell her I was a wildcat and you kept me-... chained and gagged the whole trip." 

    "Come on, Ashley." 

    "No, I'm serious." 

    "Well, forget it. If that's why you wanted to stop, we better get going..." 

    "Waiiit!" Ashley said in a sing-song voice. Kat was becoming impatient, 

    "WHAT?" And then watched curiously as Ashley pulled a fat lump of bills from her pocket.

    "I was going to share this with Bernard, but he turned out so squirrelly. I decided to keep it." Ashley thrust the wad into Kat's hand . Kat looked down to see a huge roll of one hundred dollar bills in her palm. Kat quickly and expertly flipped through the bills. 

    "It's five thousand dollars." Kat shrugged, "Or thereabout." Kat looked at Ashley, puzzled. "It's all there. You can count it if you want," Ashley pleaded. "Please it'll be worth every penny to see the look on mother's face." Kat squinted her eyes at Ashley. "Where did you get five thousand cash?" 

    "I saved from my allowance," Ashley answered simply. Some allowance, Kat thought. 

    

    It was such a pleasure to drive in silence, Kat thought as she glanced back at Ashley in the back seat. Ashley wanted the whole nine yards, so she was quite secured in Kat's transport restraints and securely buckled into the back seat of the Porsche as they sped along. Who was she to argue if Ashley wanted to rent her restraints at an exorbitant fee, Kat thought. It was probably petty cash to the Atwoods. Besides she could use the peace and quiet. Ashley had chatted away non-stop since they had left the motel. Kat could see drool beginning to drip onto Ashley's expensive suit from the tight ball gag. Should have warned her about that, Kat shook her head. Still it was Ashley who demanded her to tighten the gag up an extra notch. 

    "Tighpher!" Ashley had said. 

    "What...tighter?" 

    "Yeafffth!" 

    "Okay kid, it's your jaw." Kat had been sorry she had mentioned the blindfold as she fed the one handcuff through the loop on the belt buckle around Ashley's waist and fastened it home on her other wrist, so both hands were held tightly against the belt in a prayerful position. But it was Ashley who had curiously brought it up as she had held out her dainty ankle to be cuffed to the other as Kat knelt before her. 

    "Do you blindfold people too?"

    "Sometimes... it seems to help them quiet down." 

    "I want that, too." So Kat had to wearily dig down to the bottom of her bag and pull out the leather padded blindfold, which she had also purchased at Pleasure Chest. Who was she to argue? She was getting paid for it. Might as well give Ashley full value for her money. Then after gagging Ashley per her directions, which even made Kat recoil at the sight of the tight strap pulling back Ashley's mouth in an odd smiling grimace. The ball in her mouth almost buried from sight. Then she quickly buckled the blindfold over Ashley's quite excited eyes. The kid's enjoying this, Kat suddenly realized as she carefully helped the now blind Ashley into the back seat, holding down her head and guiding her into the back seat. As Kat leaned over Ashley to buckle her in, Ashley coyly leaned against her. Kat could smell her perfume as Ashley nuzzled her. 

    "Thankphew!" she had gurgled around her gag. It was a strange intimate moment and Kat immediately sprang from the car, studying Ashley who seemed to be grinning around her gag. It seemed to be a mocking grin. It unnerved Kat. 

    "Hey, my pleasure. For five thousand I'll lock you in the trunk!" Kat tried to sound normal but her voice was a little shaky. Ashley just blindly nodded her head and sat contentedly back in her seat. The kid's just a little crazy, thought Kat. And when she brought Ashley (sans blindfold) into the huge hallway to confront her mother who had been on her way to the stables, there seemed to be more anger than shock in Tracy Margaret Ann Marigold Vandermieson Atwood's face. 

    "SO! This is how my daughter is brought back to me!" Kat thought she detected a slight German accent in her speech as she faced this formidable woman in riding britches so tight one could see the dimples in her huge buttocks. She stood hands on hips, her booted feet planted on the parquet floor as if commanding an army. A riding crop casually held in one hand. Kat had spoken to her several times on the phone, but this was the first time she had seen her. No wonder the daughter ran away, Kat thought. 

    "What is that...THING in her mouth!" Ashley's mother said in disgust. 

    "Oh, I'm sorry!" Kat exclaimed, suddenly realizing she had carried out her part of the bargain with Ashley.

    

     She had been so distracted by the mother's presence, she had forgotten to retrieve her restraints. She began to unbuckle the gag from the back of Ashley's head. 

    "Leave it!" the mother barked. 

    "Mawpher?" Ashley looked askance at her mother. Startled, Kat asked. 

    "Leave it?" 

    "It flatters her." the mother snorted. "I rather like it. Perhaps my daughter will let me speak for a change, instead of always arguing." 

    "But I have to take these back," Kat pulled the cuff keys from her pocket." 

    "Leave them as well. Leave everything! Just leave us alone for now, will you?" the mother snapped. "Mawphfffer??" Ashley's mother's eyes narrowed. 

    "You'll be reimbursed. Include it in your bill! Now if you don't mind, I thank you for returning my daughter to me, but I should like to speak to her alone, NOW!" her voice was colder than an eskimo's igloo. "MAWWTHPHFFFERRR!!" 

    "That will be all," she stared through Kat. 

    "Sure, no skin off my back," Kat shrugged and then remembered. "Um, I'm sorry to have brought her back like this but she fought me like a wildcat all the way." 

    "MAWWWTHHPHHHHERRR!!!" Ashley looked at her mother wild eyed over her gag and then plaintively looked at Kat. 

    "Oh, I'm quite sure that she did," the mother looked curiously at Kat's jacket pocket. "What's that? Sticking out of your jacket?" Kat looked down. 

    "Oh, just a blindfold." 

    "Leave that as well, please." There was no question this woman got what she wanted, Kat thought as she handed over the blindfold and then feeling a little guilty left the great hall and slammed the ten foot carved oaken door behind her. After all, she HAD completed her assignment.

    

    Kat drove down the thru-way toward her home in Brooklyn, humming along with the classical music playing on her CD. Born in Bay Ridge, she had moved closer to the city, purchasing a brownstone on DeKalb Avenue, across from Fort Green Park. A tough neighborhood but allowing her to get a deal on the house. She smiled to herself, remembering the look on Ashley's face as she frantically chewed on her ball gag and pleadingly gurgled Kat's name, as Kat closed the door. Things had not worked out as Ashley had planned. She rode through the tunnel off the West Side into lower Manhattan and then into Chinatown and across the Manhattan Bridge into Brooklyn. She turned left at the old Paramount theatre and headed up DeKalb past the Brooklyn Tech High School. Further up, she pulled into one of the rare brownstones to have a garage. She clicked the automatic door opener and was soon inside with the door closing behind her. The garage was a necessity in the area. Her Porsche would have been gone in seconds had it been parked on the street. She sat in the car for a few minutes unwinding, looking forward to a hot shower. The brownstone was a sanctuary and she reveled in the quietness of the big old house, somewhat insulating her from the busy neighborhood street noise outside. But oddly enough, it was too damn quiet. And then she realized that Inga Prozinski (her maid, cook and confidant) would be at the races. Kat didn't mind her passion for the horses, but she was such a poor better, always asking for advances in salary. So many times, Kat had lost count. She finally left her car and trudged up the stairs and opened the door into the hallway. She threw her jacket onto the office chair in the alcove as she passed. But then suddenly stopped. Something was wrong. She backtracked. Her damn computer was missing! Where was her fax? Kat nervously glanced about her. DAMN! Her TV, VCR, stereo were missing in the adjacent living room. She hurried through the rest of the house. Damn, damn, damn. She had been cleaned out, she cursed as she stood in the kitchen. The microwave and demitasse coffee maker, toaster, toaster oven, can opener, knife sharpener and mixer were no longer on the counters. Of all the things she suddenly missed the most, was the coffee maker. She was so looking forward to a mug of hot cappuccino. She clenched her teeth as she checked the security system at both the front and back doors but found nothing wrong. Somehow the bastards had gained entry without setting off the alarm. She would have a chat with security in the morning. She quickly ran upstairs checking the rest of the house and found that anything which was not nailed down was gone. Except for her books in the library Kat noted with satisfaction. She knew books had no street value. She pulled out the DosPassos's USA Trilogy set and opened the safe behind them. Nothing was missing inside. Like most moronic thieves these days, they just took what they could see and carry. Her modem, scanner and printer were gone and she cursed the fact she would have to begin all over again programming a new computer. She went back to the kitchen and fixed herself some instant, which she hated but it was better than nothing and went upstairs sipping the foul-tasting brew. She threw her clothes on the bed and went into the bathroom and filled her hot tub. At least they didn't steal the hot water heater. She sighed and sank into the tub and relaxed. She was insured. She'd call the agent tomorrow. She mentally tabulated what was missing and felt it looked like a gang had hit her place. She'd call up Melody in the morning too. Melody worked vice, but she knew the streets. Perhaps she'd have a clue. Several hours later, Kat crawled beneath the sheets and absently reached over to set her clock radio and forgot it was missing as well. She cursed and stretched. She was going to have a nice LONG talk with security. She laid back against the pillow and closed her eyes.