Conumdrum Ch. 02

CONUNDRUM CHAPTER TWO What has Beth got into?

NOTE - In UK english, ass is spelt arse. An Ass is a type of donkey.

Matt's work went to pieces, and the business was carried by Janet his secretary. It was obvious to her that something was wrong, but she would not inquire. If Matt wanted her to know, he would tell her. It was after he had made a bad mistake on the roster for staff at one of their contracts that Matt had to try and explain what was going on. He found it difficult as he wasn't too sure himself. So much of what he suspected were ideas in his head, generated by feelings, and small clues. Janet listened carefully, not saying anything until he had finished. Even then she didn't comment for a minute, then shook her head.

"No! You are wrong. Elizabeth will not have left you. You are too important to her for that."

"How do you come to that conclusion, Janet?"

"Elizabeth came here to see me one day when you were away."

"Beth came here?" Beth had never shown any interest in his business. Janet had one of those womanly smiles on her face.

"Yes. I believe she came to check me out, make sure I wasn't a threat to you and her." Matt was totally surprised.

"I'm astonished. That doesn't sound like Beth in any way." Janet shook her head.

"How little you know about women, Mr. Bennett. Including your wife it would seem. Yes, Elizabeth did come to see me, and in the course of our chat said something to the effect that you were so important to her, that without you there would be no point in living." She paused. "Mr. Bennett, she loves you totally and unreservedly. She will not have left you." Matt took some comfort from this, but it still didn't explain Beth's behaviour. Janet seemed to have picked up on his worries. "Mr. Bennett. I feel that Elizabeth has some personal crisis she is trying to resolve, and this is why she has gone off. She will be back when it is sorted."

"I don't understand. Beth knows she could come to me and discuss anything. If that is the case we could resolve it together." Janet disagreed with him.

"No. You told me once about her demeanour at her brother's funeral. I think at the time you described her as unemotional. You saw a person who doesn't reveal their feelings. That is not the person who would come to you to discuss anything that was that personal. For her, it would be necessary to work it out on her own." Matt had to agree with this theory. That was Beth. Very self-contained, never revealing the depth of her feelings. Yes, she would do everything to overcome problems herself before admitting them to anyone else.

Matt felt better now, his mind illogically concentrating on the best interpretation that Janet had offered, and ignoring the other facts. His equanimity was to be seriously disturbed though, two days later by a call from Gary.

"Matt, I think you had better get over to see me as soon as possible."

"What's happened?"

"You won't understand it by my telling you, you need to see."

"O.K. Gary, I can get to you about nine tomorrow morning, will that suit you?"

"Yes mate. I'll be here."

It was a worried Matt who arrived at Gary's office in Neasden the next morning. Gary did nothing to relieve his worries as they sat down in front of the impressive array of computing equipment. They both had mugs of steaming tea.

"Right, Matt. I have isolated the file that was deleted, and I have to say that whoever put the site together was fucking brilliant. I'll explain why as we go through it." He loaded the file on to one of his screens and it opened. Matt's heart sank, the screen showed numerous pictures of women being tied up and slapped, spanked with paddles, or even one where the woman was whipped. The faces could not be seen, and the man administering the punishment would never be recognised either. He certainly wouldn't be wearing the black leather garments out in the street. They emphasised his muscular development in the shoulders and chest, and also his penis which sprang nakedly from the front of his split trousers. Gary interrupted Matt's thoughts. "Now most of these sites are pay per view. This one is free, and I'll show you why." He clicked on the 'Enter here' button. The screen dissolved and re-opened with a similar background, except the half dozen stills became two video clips. These featured two of the women previously seen, but now in larger format, the viewer could see the cheeks of their bottoms rebounding, one from the harsh slaps with a paddle, the other from the cuts of a cane. The blush of bruising skin was already noticeable on the first, and the red stripes where the cane had been laid on the other. Then the scene changed to the two faces of the women, and both exhibited total pleasure from the punishment they were receiving. Gary stopped the action.

"I've stopped this because I want to show you something. Did you notice when those action scenes were playing, a flicker across the scene?" Matt shook his head.

"I can't say I did." Gary nodded.

"O.K. I'll let it run again." He did so and suddenly Matt saw the very fleeting flicker.

"Yes!" he almost shouted.

"This is bloody good," Gary commented. "You don't see it at first, and it isn't obvious at any time, but if you watch that for long..well, I'll show you what it is." He closed the screen down and then turned on another. "I downloaded it onto this bit of kit, because I can slow the speed right down on this one. It's slowed down by a factor of eighty percent. Now watch!" The screen came alive with the scene they had watched before, but the action was so slow it was more like a collection of stills showing one after the other. Matt commented about that and Gary simply said, well that's all it is really.

Now when the flicker came up, Matt could see it was words overlaid on the screen. 'PAIN IS PLEASURE', then the next flicker said, 'PLEASURE FROM CONTROL' then another, 'CONTROL LEADS TO ECSTASY' and another, 'ECSTASY FOLLOWS SUBMISSION' the last one said 'SUBMISSION TO PAIN' The motto's then reverted to the first. They still went through very quickly and It was only because he concentrated that Matt could read them. He looked at Gary.

"What the fuck is this all about?" Gary didn't answer. Instead he turned on the first screen again.

"What else do you notice?" Matt looked carefully, trying to ignore the sight of the paddle and whip creasing the women's arses. He looked all around the screen, then said.

"There!" He pointed to the top middle of the screen. There was a badge motif of some sort, and it turned continually with what appeared to be a flashing light. "Good, you saw it, but only because you were looking for it." He turned the screen off, and showed Matt the slow version. Now he could see it quite clearly.

"If you watched that for long I reckon it could send you into a trance." Gary didn't answer at first then Matt saw him nodding grimly. He turned both screens off.

"That's what I thought, so I spoke to Hendy."

"Hendy? Christ! Is that crafty sod still around?" Henderson, well Dr. Henderson was another of those rather odd people who seem to be around when abnormal operations were taking place. He was a psychologist, who seemed able to get into the minds of the opponents they had to deal with.

"Oh yes! And still as weird as a nine shilling note. He'll be here soon. Now let's look a little further." He turned the screens on again. "See that button, right hand side, near the bottom of the screen?"

"The one that says contact."

"Yes, now when I clicked on that a telephone number came up." Matt knew what was coming.

"You're going to say it was the same number as the one on Beth's mobile."

"Yes, I'm afraid it is. That's why this site is free, they want to draw in those who could be seduced by it. Sorry." Matt was in misery for a moment. He didn't realise that his next words were said out loud.

"Oh Beth. What have you done?"

Gary waited until Matt had pulled himself together.

"You O.K. mate?"

"No, but I suppose I may has well find out the worst."

"Well it doesn't help anyway, but when you click that button it gives you the number then triggers a deletion, doesn't happen for forty-eight hours but it clears everything including the recycle bin. As I said whoever wrote this site was crack hot." Matt asked how that could be done. "It would be a virus, designed to attack one file only." Gary told him.

"Can we find who these people are?"

"Tried that. Come up against a blank wall. The site is hosted in the States. We can't find out anything from the host without a request from our government to the relevant department in Washington, even then it could take months. If these people heard about that they would shift the host to Russia or Mexico or somewhere. Then your problem starts all over again. Anyway, I suspect that we would only get a name of a company in the Caymans or somewhere else where privacy is more important than justice." He stopped the sequences and took them back to the beginning. "Oh and I tried to trace who owned that phone number. It was a disposable phone. Use it a few times and throw it away, get another with a different number. These people believe in covering their tracks."

"Yes, but they put that number on the site." Gary agreed.

"True, but I followed the links that your wife used and found the site on the internet yesterday. It's still the same but the number is different."

The weird Dr. Henderson rang the doorbell some forty-five minutes later. He greeted Gary then turned to Matt.

"Captain Bennett!' Matt shook his hand.

"Dr. Henderson, still trying to cure the loonies of this world?"

"Oh no. It's the psychiatrists who try to cure them. I am a psychologist, I just tell them how they can remain loony but be happy about it." He grinned. "Are you still going off to foreign parts and killing terrorists?"

"No, Hendy. I'm out of the army now. Besides soon the army will not have to go to foreign parts. This government is letting all the terrorists come here, so the army can stay home. Very convenient, and of course it saves a lot of money."

"You're a cynic, Matt." Gary joined the conversation holding more mugs of tea.

"Ah, cynicism is the refuge of sensible men, when the politicians lose the plot." Hendy liked to compose new platitudes. He took a sip of his tea. Then handed it back to Gary.

"More sugar please, Gary, then let's look at this stuff you told me about. I must say I'm intrigued."

Matt had no wish to see the files again so picked up the paper and read quietly while Gary and Hendy went through it. They rejoined him after some fifty minutes. Hendy was in a serious mood now.

"Gary's filled me in on what has happened, so the first question I am going to ask is, do you really think that your wife has been in contact with these people?" Matt was certain that she had.

"She had the number on her mobile as a received call, so she would have had to contact them to start with." Hendy nodded.

"Right, well from what I have seen, I suspect that this site was specifically aimed at women who have, or could assume a submissive character. The predominant colour of the messages is Red, which is supposedly very attractive to women; it is suggested that it relates to their sexual awareness. That is why I say the site is aimed predominantly at women. Men would not take as much notice of them. The speed at which they flash means that the messages are processed by the brain, even though the conscious doesn't appear to have seen them. But the sub-conscious does. This is called subliminal or sub-threshold stimulation. The target narrows then to women who have masochistic tendencies. Possibly latent, but the sights would intrigue them enough to make them want to find out more. The revolving motif is very hypnotic. Whilst it doesn't actually hypnotise it could induce a trance-like state which occupying the conscious mind, allows the brain to deal with the subliminal messages in the sub-conscious." Matt had questions galore, but allowed Hendy to go on with his summary. "Would you describe your wife as submissive?"

"Not the word I would choose. She has always been reserved. Naïve, yes. She is very self-contained, doesn't show her emotions."

"You say naïve. How does that manifest itself?"

"She has been very sheltered. She reads the newspaper and finds it difficult to comprehend that some people live on state benefits as a lifestyle, that some women have children by multiple partners, that children can leave school at sixteen without being able to read." Hendy nodded.

"I get the idea. I have to ask you a difficult question. Are your relations, I mean your sexual relations, good. Does she join with you fully?"

"She never initiates sex. But she never refuses me when I do."

"Ah! Was she knowledgeable about sex? Does she enjoy sex?"

"I think she does. She has said on occasions that she always has orgasms, although she isn't hugely demonstrative. She wasn't knowledgeable about sex apart from the basics. I think her mother had told her that it was something that women had to accept, and just explained the actual act and how it happened."

"Ah!"

Matt waited for the next question. "So she never initiates love-making, but never refuses. She is not active, but nonetheless has orgasms. Is that correct?"

"Yes. I think that sums it up."

"Well my friend, I think your wife is showing all the classic signs of a submissive. Now whether she is masochistic as well remains to be seen, but I suspect we will find out she could be." Matt was stunned. He had never imagined this at all, but why should he? This seemed to be an area he had heard and read about in a detached manner. As with so many people it was something he never thought that he would experience. These things happened to other people. Suddenly he had been catapulted into dealing with something that hitherto had been just academic. Hendy had kept quiet, allowing Matt to come to terms with what he had said. But he did have more to say.

"Matt, I am sorry, but I have to say this. You believe your wife is in contact with these people, and I think you are right. The fact that she has disappeared and has put up a smokescreen about her whereabouts convinces me that she could be with them as we speak. There's no easy way to put this, but I suspect they will be inducting her into their world of domination, she will have possibly been taken vaginally, she will have performed oral sex and swallowed their emissions, and she may have been beaten a little. Nothing heavy yet, that could frighten her off. Just a little pain and a little pleasure, a gradual introduction to their games. They will plan to sodomise her, but I doubt that will have happened yet. That could be something they will save for another time. If they order her back, and she goes back, it will signify that she has accepted their domination. Anal sex is very important in that it signifies their 'ownership' of her mentally and physically, but only happens when the submissive has formally acknowledged them as Masters. Now knowing all this, would you allow your wife back into your life? Before you answer I will say that I don't think your wife is acting entirely of her own free will. Having seen that web-site, I strongly suspect that it will have appealed to something in her psyche. There is an element of hypnosis being used to influence her. A submissive makes an excellent subject for hypnosis.."

There was silence for quite some time. Gary had left the office, so there was just Matt and Hendy. He came back just in time to hear Matt say.

"Yes. If it is as you say, I think now that I would. At first I thought there was no other avenue but divorce! But now?. She is my wife and I love her. My logic understands what you say, and whilst emotionally I am angry with her, the majority of my rage is directed at these people. Thinking about what you have said earlier, I believe that her whole life has conditioned her. A rigid, patriarchal family background. Her father had been in the forces, her brother was army, then marriage to me, another product of the army. All men used to giving orders. My passions tell me to blame her, but logically I cannot, if you are correct, and she has been hypnotised in some way. But I will say this, those bastards have messed with the wrong man, and they will pay big time!" Gary patted Matt on the shoulder.

"Still in touch with some of the old crowd, mate?"

"Still in touch? Hell, I employ some of them."

Hendy pierced the bubble of righteous anger.

"And how do you think you are going to find them, may I ask?" Matt had not thought this through yet, and used the simplest plan.

"Beth will tell me." Hendy shook his head.

"I doubt that she would, even if she knew." Matt was indignant.

"Of course Beth would tell me."

"Matt. Your wife almost certainly has been hypnotised. These people seem to understand a lot. A Post-hypnotic suggestion that she speaks to no-one about this would be pre-eminent. She will not be able to go against that suggestion. Moreover she probably doesn't know the whereabouts anyway, and before you shout at me, let me ask you this. If you were these people, would you allow your location to be known to anyone who could possibly reveal it?" Matt's army training answered that question.

"No, of course not."

"That is what I thought."

Gary came up with a suggestion.

"Would they have met Beth at a pre-arranged spot. Got her car under cover, then took her onward, probably blindfolded or drugged even. Just a suggestion, but that's how I would do it. It could also be why Elizabeth left her mobile at home. It may have been completely accidental, but! They may have told her not to bring it, and it had, from what you say been hidden. If she took it with her it only has to be turned on for a moment and it connects to the nearest mast. That would enable anyone who knew how to do it, to find the rough location." Matt was thinking now the heated anger was cooling to leave his calmer thoughts.

"You're right, Gary. They would certainly find a way of protecting their names and location, so something along those lines would be necessary." There was a terrible suspicion creeping into Matt's thoughts. Hendy voiced it before it had formed properly.

"I think Gary is right about something else. Drugs could have quite an influence here. If you are serious about finding them, if they call her again and if she does go back you will have to let your wife go. Then you can track her and follow them. If you decide this course of action. Matt, you cannot let on to your wife that you have any suspicions. Treat her in every way as normally as you can."

Matt knew that it had to be this way although it went against every fibre of his being. The very idea of letting his wife go to these bastards again was anathema, but his need for revenge on them was stronger. They had stolen something of him, when they took Beth, and they would learn that stealing from Matt would result in very painful punishment. It would be difficult to behave as usual, and he would have to have sex with her, she would expect that. But he had to convince himself that Beth had not planned or conspired to cheat on him, that it was hypnosis and probably being drugged that had brought this about. He cursed her naivety for not understanding what would happen. With the emotions subdued he could think logically. This was starting to feel like a military operation, and he had the training for exactly that. He would get the right team in, and plan, plan, plan for all eventualities.

He spoke to Hendy first.

"Thanks Hendy, for your advice, I shall need you again. Can I get in touch?" Dr. Henderson agreed, then went on.

"Matt, when this is over, you had better bring your wife to me. I shall need to hypnotise her myself, to try to overwrite the instructions left as post-hypnotic suggestions. I'll get her into a private hospital, there will be no records so her privacy is assured. I will want to talk to you as well. You will need to know things in order to rebuild your relationship."