A Cat Called Kat

Chapter Thirteen - A Little Light Torture

The length of the journey felt about right and, when I heard the sound of the tyres change, I sort of guessed that we were on the lovely white gravel drive that led down to La Villa Strangiato.

I was still thinking about this when the van came to a bit of a skiddy stop - that sort of worked with those white chippings too. And then I was being helped out of the van and the lovely, familiar smell of the herbs and flowers cut through the bag over my head.

It just didn't work with the horrible, terrifying things that they were doing to me.

One man fell in on either side of me and they started to march me across what I guessed was the courtyard behind my old room. They pretty much had to carry me down some stairs into a cool cellar type place and then along something that felt and sounded like a corridor. Then they dragged me into a room and untied my arms

But my relief didn't last very long as my wrists were clipped onto chains, up above my head. The same thing happened to my ankles and then the chains were tightened until I was stretched out into this upright sort of cross shape.

And then, without a word, they left me like that.

I guessed they were trying to frighten me.

And it was definitely working.

But the invisible Caroline was there in the back of my head. 'Keep thinking!' she was telling me and at last her calm control cut through my panic thing.

Terri would be back in La Conia by now and Caroline and Master would have them out of there within minutes. So there was no point in trying to hide La Conia... but I couldn't tell them about Uncle Alfredo. I just couldn't.

So that meant I was going to have to throw Father Dominic under a bus.

Hopefully they'd have some sort of scruples about torturing a priest.

They left me hanging around like that for ages and eventually I needed to make a bit of a show of how frightened I was. It was a horrible feeling as the... well... liquid fear flowed down my legs and puddled round my feet. It didn't quite work with the whole 'keeping your dignity' thing but there wasn't an awful lot I could do about that.

Then, after a wait that lasted pretty much forever, I heard the sound of footsteps in the corridor again.

"We've been told to just soften her up a bit," a man said from over by the door. "Put the frighteners on her but no real damage." It took me a couple of seconds but then I worked out that they didn't know that I could speak Italian and, after all the time I'd spent chatting to Zi'Anna, I could more or less follow the rough local accent they were talking. Probably best not to let them find out.

"And nothing sexual," the man went on, "or he'll..." I couldn't quite work out the next bit but I could sort of tell it was nasty and anatomical.

The gag was taken off me without removing the bag that was still covering my head. "Who are you..." I gasped, "and what do you want?"

"Being silent!" the same voice said in some sort of English. "You are answering only our question."

Some sort of stingy cane bit into the back of my bare thighs. I mean... it hurt a bit but it was nothing like as bad as the whole 'punishment fits the crime' thing. But I still gasped, "No! Please!" because I guessed that was what they wanted. If they just wanted to soften me up, that's what I was going to let them think they were doing.

"I say being silent!" he shouted in my face and I got three more of the stingy whacks. I did a bit of quiet whimpering because I guessed that was what they would want but I didn't say anything else.