chillifactory

Hi,

My name is Paul Thompson, most people know me as Chilly (long story) and I currently live in Tonbridge, Kent in the UK.

I've been writing on and off for around twenty years I guess, I've had nineteen short stories published to date but 85 Levels of Deception is my very first novel, and I have another three lined up in my head, all with completely different themes.

The challenge for me with this novel has been to complete it because I, like everybody else suffers from writer's block on occasion or my mind set isn't right.

I think I'm getting there with it, I'm not expecting a best seller but I do believe whole heartedly that I'm learning my own methods of how to write a novel.

I hope that you all enjoy reading it.

Paul

9
Jasmine Fashions, New Kent Road, North Lambeth, London
Wednesday 26th January 2011

At three thirty in the morning even the New Kent road was deadly quiet apart from the odd car or truck passing through so when Jade Harris heard two doors quietly closing outside of her bedroom window downstairs in front of her shop she sat bolt upright in her bed.

It was a cold and wet night outside and the three men dressed in black complete with balaclava's walked quietly up to the brown front door which led to the flat and one of them easily picked the lock and pushed opn the front door to Jasmine Harris's flat.

They quietly crept up the carpeted stairs and knew exactly where they needed to go in the flat to find her, somehow they had studied floor plans of the place.

All three quietly walked past the kitchen door which was open allowing minimal light inside the hall due to the street lights shining in from outside.

The man in front quietly opened the bedroom door and as he stepped inside his two companions followed him in and as he reached the bed he saw that she wasn't where she was supposed to be.

Confused, he turned to his two companions who looked back at him with equal confusion, they had seen her go up from the shop earlier and she hadn't left and  they had been watching it all night and all three looked to each other with confusion.

The third man into the room shrugged his shoulders because he had no clue as to why she wasn't here and the second man looked to their leader too who now turned to face his two colleagues but when he did so they watched his eyes widen in terror.

Just that day on her way back from Carmen's house Jade Harris had purchased herself a very heavy wooden baseball bat from a sports shop and had been hiding behind her bedroom door since she had heard the lock being turned down at her front door.

Jade Harris had trouble sleeping.

She quietly moved forward behind the third man who entered her bedroom and with a scream swung the bat as hard as she possibly could and as it connected with the back of his head a cracking thud was heard.

The man immediately dropped to the floor with blood seeping out of his ears as she swung again, this time aiming for the second man, Jade had caught them all completely off guard.

The second man fell over her bed and landed on the floor at the other side although she had missed him by about two inches and now she had her bat raised ready again for the leader who had also stumbled backward onto her bedside table with a blood splatter across the wall behind him and his face was also covered in blood from the third man who had entered the room.

Jade pulled the bat way behind her head once again and was about to swing with all of her might and he immediately put his arms up over his head in an attempt to defend himself as much as possible but he genuinely believed that he was about to die just like his fallen colleague had but then there was a sound, a 'SNAP!' and Jade Harris stood motionless for a few moments, staring into his eyes as he slowly lowered his defensive arms, staring back at her.

On the other side of Jade's bed, his conscious colleague had managed to compose himself while she was about to take on the leader of the group and her intention had been to batter them all to death with her new defensive weapon but he had calmly removed the Tazar gun from his inside pocket, charged it and carefully aimed it at Jade Harris's chest and right now, 5000 volts were surging through her still body until eventually she too slumped to the floor.

Jade could only see white lights as the intense pain completely immobilised her now rigid body and she laid there completely defenceless.
The petrified man sitting right in front of her who's head had only just escaped the swing of her bat quickly rifled through his jacket pockets and found a white paper mask and then he reached into his inside jacket pocket and took out the small brown bottle of chloroform which he poured into the mask with his trembling hands.

Jade's eyes were flickering and she was still semi conscious but he quickly held the mask over her face.

Her arms flayed but she couldn't stop him as she was barely conscious which didn't last for much longer and then Jade Harris fell into unconsciousness.

He secured the mask to her face while his conscious companion attempted to revive the unconscious one who's condition was thanks to Jade's bat and heavy swing to his head.

He looked up.  ?I think he has a fractured skull.?  He told the leader who was looking out of the window.  ?We'll deal with it as soon as we can, right now we have to get out of here.?  He responded.   ?Go an open the back of the van and I'll carry her down.?  He added and his colleague nodded and ran.

He then checked on his fallen colleague.  He shook his head.  ?He's dead.?

Jade had become a victim of circumstance, she had been in the wrong place at the wrong time but had lessened the abductors in numbers by one.

7
Jasmine Fashions
New Kent Road, North Lambeth, London
Tuesday 25th January 2011

Despite the fact that Jade had already put a hundred thousand pound cheque into her account which merely joined the twenty three thousand that she had already saved from working in her former profession, the fact that Carmen insisted that she pay minimal rent on the shop and the flat upstairs was thrown in meant that the young woman with an inventive streak had the best start in business possible.

When Carmen had first shown it to her it was an empty space with a shop counter and dirty white walls and a threadbare red carpet in a shop which actually sold bathroom equipment but even back then Jade could envisage her own shop inside that dirty hovel

When she had finished painting, the inside of the shop had dark and deep red walls with pictures of fashion models tactfully placed and boxed shelving for piles of denim jeans and the like.

There were two full length mirrors screwed into the walls and she had knocked through into the store room so that she now had two changing rooms which were equally as tastefully decorated.

The shop had racks and racks of the latest fashion clothing which quickly filled the once empty space with a counter, a new electronic and digital till and credit card machine.

The sign writers had been a month ago after the shop front had been repainted and electronic security roller shutters had been installed too and in the mornings when Jade pressed the button to raise them up the sign writing displayed.  Jasmine Fashion'

Jade Harris had found her independence.

Delivery drivers had learned to detest her because it was becoming widely known amongst the driver community that even if the box carrying her purchases was even slightly damaged it was sent back, she wouldn't even look inside and she got into so many arguments with delivery van drivers because of her stand up attitude.

But today she had been busy with a group of young girls who had come to the shop from school and were keen to try on just about everything that was in the shop and that included the accessories and so when a driver delivered some boxes with thirty two denim skirts, Jade for the first time ever didn't check them because the young ladies in her shop were her priority, she was trying to turn her shop into an after school hang out and get to know the local community.

However now it was twenty three minutes past eleven at night and Jade was laying in her bed upstairs from the shop in her new flat and there was just one thing on her mind, keeping her from sleeping.  ?I need to check on those skirts first thing in the morning.?  She said as she laid in her bed.

Jade had trouble sleeping every night and tonight it was the turn of the skirt to keep her awake, last night it was thinking about the old days after a night out with Carmen and April, the night before it was VAT, the truth was that Jade was just having trouble sleeping.

Two hours had passed and she still laid there looking for new problems to keep her awake and she wondered how Carmen ever slept with so much business around her now, before it was so easy, she had her client list for the day and she catered for whatever floated their boats and then went home for the night. this was so much harder.

She looked over to her red digital alarm clock which told her that it was now thirteen minutes past one and Jade sat up in her bed before sliding her legs out and slipped her feet into her pink fluffy slippers.

She then walked from her bedroom along the short hallway and into her recently decorated kitchen and made herself a cup of hot coffee before she checked herself in her full length mirror and in her two piece pink pyjama set and slippers with a coffee in one hand and her keys in the other Jade carefully walked down the stairs toward her brown front door which was right next door to her shop.

Before she opened the door she rehearsed her physical actions which were to be open the front door and check to make sure that nobody was outside on New Kent road because that would be highly embarrassing to walk out there in her pink pyjamas and matching fluffy slippers courtesy of April.

If the coast was clear she would step out and slip the roller shutter key into the lock and turn it so that the shutters went up high enough for her to open the glass door where she could then step inside the shop and close and lock the door behind her, after dis-enabling the security alarm system.

She replayed it over in her head again, New Kent road during the day was quite manic for traffic as well as pedestrians but at night it was very quiet and besides it had rained which often kept people in their homes.

She turned the latch of her front door and slowly opened it before she popped her head out and looked right and it was clear so she turned her head to the left and that's when she saw the sliver van across the street with it's back doors wide open.

Jade closed the door to a little so that she wasn't seen and then slowly looked through the small gap again and that's when she saw two men walking toward the back of the van.

Jade's eyes widened as she watched the two men carrying an unconscious person, a woman and as she focussed herder she could see that this woman wasn't old, she was quite young in fact with a head of flowing blonde hair, in fact Jade remembered seeing her across the street moving in a few days ago.

She could see that the girl was wearing something white over her face and it looked like a mask, something a paint sprayer might use or something like that and her hands had been bound together in front of her with tape.

Slowly and quietly Jade closed her front door and cringed as the latch made a quiet 'Click!' as it locked again and then she leaned her back against the inside of her front door.  "Holy **** ****!"    She quietly said to herself before running back up her stairs and into her flat where she ran straight into her bedroom and picked up her phone and called Carmen.

It took Carmen a few moments to answer her phone and when she finally did so she could tell by Jade's voice that something was very wrong indeed and she told Jade to calm down and think rationally.   "Y....You know those abductions on the news?"   Jade asked her and Carmen confirmed that she knew what Jade was talking about.

Jade took in a deep breath after Carmen again asked her to calm down.  "I think I just saw one of those abductions Carmen."  Jade told her, still working on breathing properly but she was beginning to calm down for her friend.
Eventually Carmen asked Jade to explain everything which her young friend did in great detail and now Carmen asked Jade if she knew whether they were still there or not?

Jade looked over at her bedroom window.  "I don't know, should I sneak a look?"  She asked but Carmen told her to stay away from the window and she had one more question for Jade and that was "Did they see you?"

Jade confirmed that they didn't see her, she had made sure.   "Carmen they were right across the street!"  Jade began again.

Carmen told Jade to get dressed, she would organise a cab for her and she could come over to Carmen's mansion and explain everything and then they would decide what to do, the truth was that Carmen wanted Jade to do nothing and just stay out of it.

They hadn't seen her because the two men were too busy carrying the subdued woman to notice Jade Harris standing at her door watching in horror, but their two colleagues sitting in a car as look outs from her left had watched Jade witness the abduction of twenty year old Kerry Mathews who had just moved into the flat across the street from Jade after living on the streets of London for the past two years, they knew exactly where she was and how to get to her and they knew that Jade Harris had seen them take the young girl.

5 Albion Road, Hounslow, London
Saturday 22nd January 2011

The time was six minutes past three on a wet morning but at least it had finally stopped raining in London for the time being and the house which had been boarded up in Albion road in Hounslow for over a year was in total darkness.

The original owner of the property had died some time back and as far as anybody knew had no living relatives which meant that the property remained unoccupied until the squatters had moved in some four months ago and it was they who lived temporarily in it now until such time as an eviction order could be processed and they could be forcibly removed which was scheduled for three weeks and one day from now, an eviction order which would never be carried out.

The Silver transit van rolled into the drive silently as the driver had turned off his engine and allowed it to slide into the drive with complete stealth and out of the passenger side stepped out a tall figure dressed completely in black with a black balaclava with just two holes for his eyes to see.

His name was Manuel Bonitez from Spain and he was the leader of this team of  four, two of whom stepped out of the double doors at the back of the silver transit dressed identically to him, the fourth, the driver remained inside the vehicle at his wheel in case a quick departure was required.

Manuel and his two colleagues very quietly made their way to the green front door where he used a key to open it effortlessly and then pointed so that one of his colleagues could produce a small pair of bolt croppers to cut the two security chains inside which the squatters had installed themselves and then the two chains quietly fell.

Manuel pushed the door open and quickly surveyed the area of the hall inside before indicating with his left hand for the other two to proceed inside which of course they did immediately upon his signal as the front door quietly 'creaked' as he held it open and he thought to himself how noise was so accentuated and enhanced in the dead of night as he shook his head to himself.

Once inside with the front door ajar he pointed to a room on the left.  "Dos en el primero hay."   He whispered to the other two in his native Spanish tongue.  "Two in here first."   As they all stepped up very silently to the door where he had indicated.

Manuel Bonitez pushed down on the brass handle and very quietly the dirty white wooden panelled door swung open to reveal a man and a woman asleep on a double sized mattress on the floor which was surrounded by food cans, clothing and other waste which was yet to be discarded and he then motioned his two former Spanish Army colleagues inside.

One of his colleagues made his way to the left of the mattress where the woman was facing away from the man next to her while his other colleague, the taller one made his way to the right to where the man was facing his girlfriend's back and both were unconsciously oblivious to the fact that they were no longer alone.

Manuel produced one paper mask which he then doused with chloroform and then handed to his friend on the left before pulling out the second white mask from his pocket which he also doused and handed to the tall man on the right.

They both watched him in the darkened room as he looked down at the unwitting sleeping squatters. "Ohara."  He whispered in Spanish.  "Now."

Both men knelt down simultaneously, the one on the left gently pushed the paper mask in his hand toward the sleeping woman's face without actually touching it whilst covering his own so that the rising vapours didn't have any effect on him, allowing her lungs to fill with chloroform and hopefully she wouldn't even rouse from her slumber.

The tall Spaniard did the same to the man while kneeling very carefully on the mattress behind him before he was able to slip the two white elastic bands attached to the mask around the sleeping man's head and he knew nothing ever of what had just happened to him.

Suddenly however on the other side of the mattress the woman's eyes opened as her lungs filled and stared into the Spaniards eyes.

Quickly and without even thinking about it he strapped the mask to her face and she gave out a muffled plea as he pulled back the duvet, took her wrists in both of his hands and crossed them, and held them onto her own chest as she stared up at him, her eyes bulging as the chloroform finally took effect.

Manuel looked at his watch and knew that since they had arrived up to this point had taken them seven minutes and he pointed his finger.  "Upstars."   He whispered.  "Upstairs."

they soon reached the landing of the upper floor while Manuel doused three more masks this time and handed one to each of his colleagues. "Coaccion de la nariz."  He told the shorter colleague.  "Cover your nose."  So that he didn't accidentally render himself unconscious too.

The other two entered a room while Manuel took on one by himself this time, a young man who was fast asleep facing away from him.  "Perfecto."

Manuel moved closer and knelt down beside the mattress and held the white paper mask next to the man's face and allowed him to breath in until he slipped the white elastic over his head, attaching the mask to his face, this one never regained consciousness thanks to Manuel Bonitez and his ruthless efficiency.

The other two came out of the other room where they had subdued two more women and Manuel pointed to the next room.  "Una mujer que."  He told them "One woman there." And pointed to himself indicating that he would deal with her. 

He then pointed to the room at the end of the the long hallway.  "Hombre y la mujer no."  He whispered to them.  "Man and woman there."   And with a finger indicated that they would be dealing with them, so they entered that room.

They waited while he doused two more masks for them to take with them and then they headed into the end room and Manuel waited this time for them to re-emerge some five minutes later before he stepped inside the last room where a single woman slept soundly and was facing him.

Manuel was confident as always and his arrogance allowed him to open the door and walk straight over to her where he quite nonchalantly placed the mask directly over her face and of course she immediately woke up.

His brown Spanish eyes stared down into her eyes as she muffled pleas and tried to scream to her friends for help but of course none would be coming and Manuel knew that, they had already been dealt with of course.

As her focus drifted with her state of consciousness he smiled down at her as she tried one last time to free the mask from her face as her eyes became heavier and heavier.  "Shh."   He told her with a smile and her eyes finally closed, allowing him to wrap the white elastic around her head.

They immediately began to carry their unconscious victims out of the house where they were loaded into the van one at a time while the driver stood watch and as his two colleagues laid the last man inside and climbed in behind him, Manuel looked at his wrist watch, the time was 3:39am and he knew they needed to improve on their times, that took thirty three minutes.

But at ?2000 a head, they had just earned ?16,000 which in his eyes was a good night's work.

The van pulled away and headed out of Albion road where it turned left onto Hibernia road and headed to the A314 Hanworth road where it could now travel the back roads east toward London's docklands area where they would offload their cargo.

It had gone completely unnoticed for months by the police because as far as the other residents of Albion road were aware was that finally the squatters had moved on and had probably gained entry into somebody else's property.

A neighbour next to the house had told his friend.  ?Good riddance to them.?  But unbeknown to him and everybody else, they had all been sold into slavery.

It would take the authorities weeks, even months to realise that they were not just taking the roaming homeless from the streets, Indigo concentrate their efforts on anybody who would not attract immediate attention.

2
Thursday April 16th 2009, Docklands area, East London

Over three years earlier...

It had just gone twenty minutes past four on a rainy afternoon in London's docklands area and inside number twenty seven Lourdes Avenue a single figure, a woman dressed in a red shiny skin tight leather cat suit and thigh length black patent leather boots with a six inch heel which tapped loudly, strolled through the tiled hallway of the house toward the kitchen, her incredibly tight outfit 'creaking' and 'squeaking' with each and every movement.

Her jet black hair was up in a ponytail high at the back of her head and her make up had been very heavily applied, accentuating her dark brown and almost hypnotic eyes, her heavily painted red lips slightly parted as she placed the long black leather riding crop onto the kitchen table and then sat down where she unfastened the long black mane at the back of her head to reveal her real, shoulder length black hair.   "A cup of tea would go down really nicely right now April."   She said as she shook her hear so that it now fell naturally.

The woman sitting at the kitchen table in skin tight red leather was thirty one year old Carmen Richardson, a high class prostitute who also owned the house at Lourdes avenue.

Carmen picked up a hand held mirror and begin to pull away the long black false eyelashes as she stared and at that moment the door at the opposite end of the spacious kitchen where Carmen had just entered swung open and a second woman, quite a bit younger than Carmen walked inside and went through the same procedure.

The young woman in the skin tight black rubber mini dress with knee length patent leather boots with shiny silver buckles running up the outsides, placed her long black leather riding crop onto the table and then removed her own long black ponytail and placed it next to the crop on the table before she too sat down and gave her dark hair a good shake.  "How did he do this time?"   Carmen enquired as she stared into the hand mirror, still removing her false long eye lashes. 

The twenty six year old Jade Harris picked up her own hand mirror and began to remove her false lashes too.  "Sixteen minutes precisely."  She told Carmen who giggled as she continued to concentrate on the job at hand.   "He pays five hundred and fifty pounds for an hour and never makes it to twenty minutes!"   Carmen said and giggled again and Jade nodded.  "He's getting quicker if anything."  She replied as she peeled a long black fake eyelash off in one single movement.

Carmen watched her friend now.  "How do you do that?"  She asked.  "Mine come away in four thousand pieces and you still manage to take them off in one."  She told Jade who laughed.   "Maybe you're just heavy handed Car."  She answered as she removed the second one in a single movement too.

Just then a third woman walked into the room, she was a little plump, wearing a thick white chunky woollen pullover and faded blue denim jeans and she walked straight over to the kitchen work surface and switched on the kettle.  "Who wants tea?"  She asked and both women sitting at the table replied affirmatively.

After a few minutes April Glover sat down at the table with the two prostitutes where they all enjoyed a cup of tea at the end of their working day and April turned to Jade.  "How long did winkie William last this time?"   She enquired.  "Sixteen minutes."  Answered Jade to another giggle from Carmen.

April pondered.  "Isn't that a new record?"  She asked and Jade nodded as she continued to stare into her hand mirror and remove her heavily applied make up.

April Glover was the same age as Carmen, thirty one, they had known each other since school and had remained best friends ever since.

She had long auburn curly hair which tumbled down over her shoulders, She was five feet six inches tall and generally wore her three quarter length black leather coat with everything.  "I paid the water, gas and electricity bills today."   She told Carmen who nodded as she removed the last obliterated piece or fake eyelash.  "Thanks sugar."  Carmen replied and continued with her make up removal as April now started to count the days takings.

Just then there was a knock at the front door and April dropped the huge wad of cash back down onto the table.  "Blast, I lost count."  She said and then looked to Jade and then Carmen.   "Shall I get that then?"  She asked and Carmen's deep red shiny lips grinned.  "That's the general idea, you are the maid after all."   She giggled as she reminded her best friend.  "You tag em and we bag em."  Jade added with a giggle of her own.

April stood up and walked out to the front door.  "I hope it's the Jehovah's again, she loves them."  Carmen said with a snigger in her tone and Jade laughed.  "You'll soon know by the thumping sound."  She replied as they both continued with the removal of make up while April's muffled voice could be heard out at the front door talking to a man.

When April eventually returned to the kitchen she sat back down at the table and started to count the vast amount of cash once again.  "Who was at the door?"  Jade asked her and April looked over at Jade and dropped the cash again as she had once again lost count.  "Do you think I might have five minutes to count out your wages young lady?"  She asked and Jade smirked as she wiped her face with a small cotton ball.

April began to count again.  "But who was at the door?"  Carmen asked this time, and once again April dropped the cash.  "Neither of you are going to get paid at this rate!"  April said as she looked directly at Carmen and then to Jade.  "It was another estate agent asking if we wanted to sell the house."  She told them both.  "Ok?"  She asked and received no reply so she picked up the cash once again and began counting.


Carmen looked over to Jade with a grin and gave her a sly wink of her eye.  "What did you tell them?"  She asked April who stopped counting and glared over at her.  "Can you count cash and talk about something else at the same time?"   She asked and Carmen grinned at her.  "I don't need to, I have you for that."  She said with a laugh and Jade couldn't help it, she laughed too.

April looked at Jade and then at Carmen.  "You two think you're funny, don't you?"  She asked and the both nodded, both grinning and so April placed one twenty pound note in front of Carmen and one twenty pound note in front of Jade.  "Don't spend it all at once!"  She told them both.

At some point later, April did inform them both that the man was from Stevens and Simpson properties and she had informed him that other estate agents had already enquired about the house which was definitely not for sale.

He had told April that his company were very keen to buy up the land in the area and most houses had already been bought around the area, something that April was more than aware of.

The three women had this conversation in the past and all agreed that they liked working here and that Carmen shouldn't sell it and as it was a joint decision in her eyes, no more was ever said about it apart from when April confronted potential buyers at the front door.  "Please read the letter that we sent you last week Ms Richardson."  He told April before he left, she hadn't told him that she wasn't in fact Carmen Richardson.

Eventually Jade was given her five hundred pounds wages in cash for the day and left the house to go home to her own flat in Pimlico while Carmen went home to her flat near Euston railway station and April went home to Potters bar, none of them lived at the house in the docklands, it was a building strictly for working purposes only.

Just under a week later, after work and before they all went to their own homes they decided to stop off at the local Cafe which was just around the corner from Lourdes avenue because Carmen had something that she wanted to say to them both.  "I found the letter from Stevens and Simpson properties and  they're a huge outfit."  Carmen told them both.  "And here's what has me thinking."  She continued to explain.  "The letter we received from them is a hand written one from the CEO himself."  Carmen added.

Jade looked to April.  "The big guy at the top."  She told her and April nodded.  "Thanks."  She replied, blissfully ignorant.  "I've been invited to his personal office in Kensington on Tuesday next week."  Carmen added. 

Jade shrugged her shoulders.  "Go and see him, what have you got to lose?"  She asked and April agreed with Jade.  "The worst that can happen is that you fall head over heels in love with Mr big shot."   She giggled.

They all agreed that on Tuesday Carmen ought to go to Kensington just to see what they were willing to offer her for the house.

It was just after ten in the morning on Tuesday the twenty eighth of April of 2009, April was sitting in the kitchen reading the daily newspaper while Jade Harris was upstairs with a new client, Carmen had gone to Kensington to meet with Mr big shot, as April referred to him.

The kitchen door opened and Jade walked in wearing a straight bright red shoulder length wig, long bright pink eye lashes, a see through pink baby doll nightie with a shocking pink bran and panties set underneath complete with pink stockings and suspenders, even the slippers on her feet with bright pink with a pink fluffy ball on top of the toes and she was holding a bright pink feather duster.

April looked up at Jade.  "Wow!"  She commented and Jade ignored her.  "You look, what's the word I'm searching for?"  April asked as Jade sat down at the table and sipped on the tea which April had already made for her.  "I look like tinkie bloody winkie!"  She replied and April sniggered.

Jade frowned as she looked at April.  "He's supposed to be wearing this!"  She told April who's mouth opened but she didn't know what to say at first but eventually found the question.  "So why are you?"  She asked and Jade waved her hand.  "Long story."

A couple of minutes later, Carmen walked in through the front door and sat down at the kitchen table but said nothing at first.  "How did it goe with Mr big shot?"  April enquired as she sipped at her tea again.

Carmen nodded.  "I couldn't remember the way back here."  She told April who checked her forehead.  "Did you bump your head?"  She asked but Carmen shook her head and then looked to Jade.  "Who the hell dressed you this morning?"  She asked and Jade slumped onto the table.

Carmen was looking very professional in a dark pin striped suit jacket with a matching tight knee length pencil skirt with seamed stockings and black patent leather court shoes with a small heel, her black hair had been cut into a straight shoulder length bob.

Now Carmen looked at Jade again.  "You look like miss piggy."  She told the younger woman as she returned her attention to April.  "We sat down in his huge office, drank posh coffee, and he came straight out with it and offered me four point six million pounds."  She told April and then smiled at Jade who sat upright again.  "How much?"  She asked and so Carmen repeated the amount.  "They need this house in particular to make way for a through road."  She told them both.

Jade stared at Carmen.  "Y...You said yes, right?"  She asked Carmen who slowly nodded her head.  "Actually I got him up to four point nine mill."  She told Jade.

April had been sitting there the entire time staring at Carmen with her mouth open and Carmen pointed a finger at her.  "She died, look."  She said and watched April, waiting for her to blink, which she eventually did.

April closed her mouth.  "You said yes, right?"  April asked, exactly the same question as Jade had asked earlier and Carmen nodded.  "Twice now."  She confirmed, a sarcastic response which went way beyond April.

Carmen now looked to Jade again.  "Are you supposed to be Barbie or something?"  She asked and Jade shook her head.   "He's supposed to have worn this."   She told Carmen who nodded and then looked back.  "Then why..."  And Jade waved her hand again.  "Long story!"

There was a long pause of silence in the kitchen now before suddenly all three women jumped up and began screaming while dancing around the kitchen which continued for a good ten minutes before April sat down completely out of breath.  "I need a smoke!"  She said as she lit up at the kitchen table.

Eventually Jade and Carmen calmed down and joined her ten minutes later and all began to talk about what the future could possibly hold with five million pounds. "Four point nine!"  Carmen pointed out to Jade.  "It'll be five by next week if we don't let you near a shop!"  Jade giggled.

Jade had been sitting in the kitchen for just over two hours when all three of them looked up to the ceiling at the 'thudding' sounds coming from upstairs. 

Jade placed her hand over her mouth.  "Oh **** I really ought to untie him!"  She said as she ran up the stairs.  "And there goes the pink peril!"  Carmen sniggered.

Carmen turned to April.  "Why is she dressed like that instead of him?"  She enquired and April waved her hand.  "Long story!"  She said and they both giggled.

Nobody had seen a single client in the house for over six weeks due to Carmen's windfall and that they had to clear the house of many items that might stir some interest when it no longer belonged to the Carmen.

One Thursday afternoon the three of them were sitting in the same Cafe where they had before because Carmen had something that she wanted to say and both Jade and April had already guessed the obvious.  "I guess it's obvious that I'm finished with the game."  She told them both, April nodded her head but Jade faked a look of shock.  "Really?"  She teased.

Carmen handed a cheque written out in April's name for ?100,000.  "That's for you."   She told her long term friend and then passed one over to Jade for the same amount and without even looking at it the younger woman slid it back across the table.  "It was your house Carmen, it's your money and I'm not in the habit of scrounging."  Jade told her which made Carmen smile.

She knew that this was going to be a difficult task, one of the things that she loved about Jade was her hard working morals to get whatever she wanted and not take from anybody.  "Jade it was our house."   She said as she passed it back across the table and then winked at Jade.  "You either take it or I just put the money into your account."  Carmen told her with a grin.

Jade looked at the cheque.  "A hundred grand you tight cow?"  She asked with a beaming grin on her own face now.

April was staring at her.  "You're a dopey cow, you just tried to give it back!"

This was Carmen Jade and April in their every day life, they always laughed with and at each other, nothing had changed because of Carmen's new found vast wealth.

It was Jade who Carmen turned to.  "I don't want you carrying on in the game without me."  She told her and Jade shook her head in agreement.  "I'd already decided that if you're quitting which you obviously were going to, so was I."   Jade assured her.  "I have some new ideas."  She added which raised Carmen's eyebrows.  "Go on."  She urged Jade.

Jade put her cup of tea down onto the table.  "I was thinking about a shop, selling clothes."  She revealed.  "It's been something I've always wanted to do and I have some good ideas for it."  She told Carmen who remembered, they had discussed this a few times in the past.

Now Jade looked to Carmen.  "Have you got any plans?"  She asked and Carmen nodded.  "And don't laugh until you hear all of it."   She told Jade before she revealed her own plans for the future.  "Property development."  Carmen told them both now.

Both Jade and April looked surprised.  "You know as much about property development as I do and I don't even know what it means."    April pointed out which brought a smile to Carmen's face as she reached into her brand new black leather hand bag and took out her little black book  which was full of council officials, magistrates, Solicitors and Barristers, two high court judges, a deputy chief of police, council officials and two property developers.  "You're right, but these know everything between them."  She told April.

April grinned now.  "You sneaky cow."  She told Carmen who now returned her attention to Jade.  "Will you come and work for me for a little while?"  She asked and Jade shrugged and laughed at the same time.  "Sure, but I know as much as she knows about property development."  She also reminded Carmen.  "And she doesn't even know what it means!"

Carmen nodded her head with a playful grin still evident.  "I need you, especially in the beginning of this project because you have certain qualities that I don't know anybody else has."  Carmen told her as Jade picked up her cup of tea and sipped it.  "Such as?"  She asked and Carmen's grin broadened.  "You could charm the knickers off a nun!"  Carmen told her and Jade almost spat out her tea as Carmen gave her another wink of her eye.

Carmen looked at Jade and then April.  "Don't you just love reinvention?"   She asked and April nodded.  ?I might if I knew what it was.?  She told Carmen with a confused look.

On Thursday July 9th 2009 C.R. Properties was established and began trading and in December of 2011 C.R. Properties had amassed as staggering ?157 Million, Carmen Richardson had become one of the wealthiest women in the country, not completely but definitely largely due to her little black book..

In the September of the same yes 2011, Carmen had bought out a chain of shops which she immediately closed down because it was in fact only the properties that she was interested in, Carmen had inside information as always of which run down areas were due to be targeted for regeneration thanks to the pages of her contact book.

One of those particular shops was ideal for somebody else and when Carmen showed Jade the empty shop on New Kent Road in north Lambeth which had a flat on top of it, Jade fell in love with it and began her own adventure Which she called 'Jasmine Fashion' and before long the name was at the front of her shop which she had redecorated inside herself and also the flat upstairs, Jade Harris had new found total independence.

Contined...

From a white painted brick building on Miguel's left a man appeared, a fat man in a military uniform and he had a small machine gun slung over his left shoulder and he immediately smiled to Miguel as he recognised him.  "Hello Miguel, sehingga baik untuk bertemu lagi teman saya."  The Soldier said with a smile.   "Hello Miguel, so good to see you again my friend."

Miguel Sanchez faked a smile in return but in truth he was keen to get this cargo offloaded and head back to Binamu.  "Saya telah kargo di belakang."  He told the solider.  "I have cargo in the back."

The fat man in his 40s nodded with a grin as he licked his lips and strolled to the back of Miguel's truck and when he roughly pulled back the canvas flap at the back, bright sunlight burst inside, blinding Theresa as well as the blonde girl on the floor.

The blonde squinted out to see the shape of a lone figure looking in with a broad grin on his face and then he looked up to Theresa who he had obviously seen many times before and nodded.

Suddenly the broad bight sunlight had vanished and the back of the truck was once again thrown into relative shade and the blonde tried to recover her vision.

Suddenly the truck began to roll forward again and at first on the same unsteady ground but then she noticed that it had now gently rolled onto flat and smooth tarmac and then she heard the large gates closing behind her and knew that they were inside some kind of compound.

She had enough sense of mind to try to figure out how she and her two unconscious companions would eventually escape from this place wherever they were and began to count the turns which the truck would make and judging that they were travelling at around five miles per hour she could maybe formulate an escape later.

It travelled straight ahead to begin with for about thirty seconds before making a hard right turn and then travelled straight again for another fifteen seconds, then straight again for another fifteen seconds, straight again for eight or nine seconds before it slowed to a stop.

Now she heard the drivers door open and then soon after slam shut again and foreign speaking voices could be heard at the front of the  truck.

She looked up at Theresa who was staring at the closed canvas flap, obviously waiting for something that she knew would happen as the same voices now travelled along the side of the truck behind her until they were directly at the rear of the truck.

Suddenly the canvas flap was violently  pulled back and that same bright blinding sunlight burst inside, blinding both her and Theresa who was still sitting on the wooden bench, waiting with an anxious look on her face.

The blonde girl could only squint out at the four, maybe five figures standing outside of the truck staring back in at her and her two unconscious companions.

As her vision began to clear and her eyes could focus she saw that outside of the truck were in fact five men dressed in military uniforms, wherever she was, this was that country's soldiers.

The furthest on her right was a very large man in height and in stature, he was around six feet tall and very round and she saw that he had three stripes worn on his short sleeved, crumpled beige army shirt and as he was doing most of the talking, a language that she didn't understand, and she did know a little Spanish so she concluded that she wasn't in Spain just as she had suspected, but he, the large round man seemed to be in charge.

He then said something to his comrades which provoked laughter amongst them and she assumed that it was obviously some kind of sexual connotation.

Theresa was smiling at them all but she had no idea of what the conversation had been about either because she, unlike her husband didn't speak fluently in five different languages, she was limited to Spanish and English only.

Suddenly and without warning the huge man reached forward and grabbed the red rope which was tied so tightly around her ankles and for the first time she lost her cool, this woman wasn't used to being treated in such a way and she kicked out with anger and frustration, but of course her hands are tied behind her back and her legs are tightly tied together and she was already no match for this enormous man as it was and he man handled her with ease as he picked her up and threw her over his right shoulder.

He said something again either to her in his native tongue or to his comrades who all laughed regardless of who he was speaking to and then his huge hand **** down with a heavy thud only her soft bottom cheek before he said something more which provoked more laughter.

She bounced on his shoulder as he walked away from the group, holding her legs quite effortlessly with one hand while her left bottom cheek seemed to attract the intense heat of the sun after his huge paw had crashed down upon it.

She was helpless to do anything as she looked up and saw that one of her blonde companions was being lifted onto a shoulder in the same way and just then a young woman walked behind dressed in the same uniform as the men but hers was pressed and neat and her hair jet black hair was up and for a brief moment her dark brown eyes met with the blonde's eyes and this woman very nearly smiled to her.

As the blonde girl looked back at her the woman soldier looked straight ahead and their silent conversation was over as quickly as it hadn't begin.

The sun was beating down onto her vulnerable and helpless body over his shoulder as he kicked a steel door in front of him open and stepped inside, into a not cooler but less intensely hot but still stifling hallway with green wooden doors on either side, all the way to the opposite end.

The hall was dimly lit and as he carried her down to the bottom end she could now for the first time smell the stench of his stale body odour as she bounced around on his wide shoulder until he stopped outside a door at the end of the corridor.

She guessed that he had been wearing the same clothes for days judging by the stench od stale sweat and had probably slept in them too by the crumpled creases as he fumbled around in his trouser pocket in search of a key while effortlessly holding her over his shoulder with his right hand by her bare legs.

Just then she heard a large bang as the first door that he had carried her in through was kicked open again and one of her  unconscious companions was carried in just the same way as she was being carried now and bright sunlight burst in showing tiny particles of dust floating around in the stale air and then it swung shut again as the fat man unlocked this door and carried her inside.

As soon as she was carried inside the stench of stale body odour worsened and she knew without even looking that others like her were being held in this room against their will.

When she did finally look over his right shoulder she could see a young blonde woman crouched in the corner on a dirty urine stained mattress on the floor who was completely naked and she could see a thick and long rusty chain from the girl's neck and the other end was attached to the wall behind her somehow.

Now she turned her head to her left and saw one, two, three and a fourth girl on disgusting urine stained mattresses, the stench was foul largely due to the fact that she could only breath through her nose at this moment in time as he unceremoniously dumped her down onto a similar mattress on the floor beneath the tiny barred hole in the wall.

Just then the metal door is kicked open again and one of her still unconscious travelling companions, still wearing the white paper mask strapped to her face is carried in and dropped onto a dirty mattress across the room and the metal door closed itself shut again.

The fat man was now leaning on her and leaning over as he reached for something above her head, something that she hadn't noticed and as she looked up she saw the tiny barred hole about twelve feet above her head and other than the metal door it was going to be the only exit, the only escape route out of this place.

Her eyes turned to him as he stared down at her, she could see the dark patches of sweat under his already stained armpits which somehow enhanced the stale stench and as he smiled down at her he revealed his yellow tobacco stained teeth beneath his black and greasy bushy moustache.

Suddenly she heard a rattle of chain and quickly realised what he was about to do and so she kicked her bound legs and tried to turn onto her side, anything to get away as she screamed obscenities at him which were nothing but muffled noises through the silver tape pressed very firmly over her closed lips.

Now to her horror she felt what he was reaching for, it wasn't a chain to fasten around her neck, as she felt the inside of the rusty steel collar she had renewed fight and again tried to kick out and scream as she felt the warm steel loosely around her neck as he pushed the bolt through two eyelets and then fitted the nut, screwing it to finger tight.

She was still kicking and screaming as he picked up the small silver adjustable spanner which had been laying next to her head and he began to fasten the nut so that it would become impossible for her to remove it once her now tied hand were free.

She had been chained up like an animal abuser might mistreat a dog.

During the trauma she hadn't even noticed that the third woman had been brought in until the fat man on top of her threw over the small spanner to whoever had brought the second girl in and eventually he climbed his fat gross body off her and spoke to his two friends in his native tongue before he walked past Theresa Sanchez who had been thoroughly enjoying the ordeal from the now opened door.

She smiled down at the blonde.  ?I think that he likes you a lot.?  She told her and then stood up straight, turned and walked away out of sight and the swinging steel door closed behind her.

She looked over to her right and saw that the other two women were being chained exactly how she now was and she thanked heaven that they had not suffered the same ordeal that she had as they were completely unconscious throughout.

Eventually the two other men left and she heard the key again turning inside the lock, this time to prevent anybody from entering and more importantly from leaving, the small store room where they were all being kept in chains, nine blonde women in total, fell into silence apart from the sounds of conversation outside, the birds singing and the sound of the waves rolling onto the nearby shoreline.

The heat in this room was stifling and to make matters worse the duct tape pressed firmly across her mouth was restricting her breathing, she looked up at the tiny hole directly above her head with vertical bars.

The trauma combined with the lack of oxygen, and the stifling humidity caused her eventually to pass out for four hours and when she woke it was due to a sound, that same key turning inside the lock of the battered rusty green door in front of her.

When the door opened she saw the huge man who walked in and stood over her before he knelt down and took out his huge sharp knife and she gasped with fear in her eyes.

He then used it to cut the rope from her ankles and then up above her knees so that her legs were now free and she breathed out a sigh of relief through her nose as the tape was still pressed firmly over her closed mouth, which his fat dirty fingers gently traced the outline of her lips.

She tried to turn herself over so that he could now cut the rope from her wrists, freeing her hands but instead his huge paw grabbed her hip and pulled her back.

She stared up at him and saw his smile, revealing once again those disgusting yellow teeth as she felt the blade of his knife slide up her right thigh beneath her shorts, the cold steel against her bare skin, he sliced through one leg of her shorts and then turned his blade to the other.

Her eyes widened as she realised what he was doing and she was completely helpless to prevent it as he climbed on top of her and said something in his native tongue, something that she obviously didn't understand.

And then she felt the steel of his knife again, this time cutting away the waistband of her underwear.

He and others would visit her and the other blonde women in that room again and again and again, every day for the foreseeable future...

It had been raining now for the past six hours when the silver transit van pulled up in Adenmore road and immediately the headlights went out.

Anton Augustin was in charge of the team and was sitting in the passenger seat staring down the road at where the special refuge had been set up next to Catford Bridge train station. "Ca este."  He turned and told the driver.  "That is it"  . As he pointed to the large Victorian house directly next to the station entrance which was completely deserted at this time of the morning but they were already running late after several detours because Anton Augustin had seen a police patrol car and they desperately avoided any contact with it.

He stepped out of the passenger side of the van and walked around to the back and opened the double doors to allow his two other colleagues to step outside. "Mergem." He told them both.  "We go".

The three men walked the fifty or so yards toward the train station before Anton Augustin used a key to quietly gain access through the main front door. 

The three of them crept up the carpeted stairs where there were three bedrooms and three young homeless men slept in beds provided by the borough council.

Anton Augustin pointed to the room furthest along the narrow hall and one of his colleagues crept along and waited outside it while he pointed to a second door and the second man copied it, waiting for instructions to go.

Anton then pulled out his Tazar gun and pressed a black button arming it and his two friends did exactly the same.

His brown eyes studied both of his friends to ensure that nobody was panicking before he held up three fingers for them to see which turned to two, then one and last a clenched fist and they all opened their doors simultaneously and entered.

From the hall the three 'CLACK!' sounds could be heard as the electrodes contacted the three sleeping bodies as the voltage powered through and rendered each of them completely helpless regardless of whether they had woken or not, nobody could move and if anybody was wakened there was no way that they were going to be able to do anything to prevent their own abduction.

Anton Augustin stared down at the motionless man who's body was still violently juddering from the trauma that it was undergoing now.  "Putem fi repede cu aceasta."  He calmly said.  "We can be faster with this."

Because Anton Augustin had served as a Major in the Romanian Army he was a perfectionist who knew full well that his team would need to improve and his biggest fear was that one day one of them would accidentally electrocute themselves when the Tazar gun was sitting in a pocket.

He took out his mobile telephone and pressed a number from his personal directory while his companions began to bind the three men with silver duct tape at the wrists, ankles and over their mouths.  "Deschida usile si acolo conduce aici acum."  He told the transit van driver.  "Open up the doors and drive here now."

The van driver jumped out and opened the back doors of his van before he jumped back into the driver seat and started the engine, leaving his headlights off and then pulled up right outside the safe haven.

Anton's two companions carried first one of the paralysed men out where he was unceremoniously slumped before returning to the house and collected the second.

Anton watched as they carried the third man and placed him in the back and then they both climbed in too and Anton slammed the door shut behind them.

Anton climbed into the passenger side of the van. "Utilizarea traseu trei."  He told the driver. "Use route three"  As they had pre planned routes to avoid detection from the police and more importantly now, the new hidden cameras which had been installed.

Catford Bridge was one of just seven refuges in London which could not be supervised that night and the Romanian team knew it.