SEX SLAVES OF EAST LONGSHOTT DOWN - PART VIII
by Infidel Dog





Chapter 26:- Waiting

Basil Lashmore put the phone down. At last, his constant phone calls
seemed to have a purpose. The BBC and ITN newsdesks had perked up
immediately he had told them his name and the first snippets of
information. The newspaper was sending a reporter immediately. That
meant thirty of them, and photographers camping outside the front
gate. The film crews would be trampling all over the lawn.

The newsrooms were looking up their atlases searching for Al Shafiz
airport. Bookings were made and reporters and news crews were piling
aboard Jumbos by the dozen. Local news agencies were alerted. Within
the hour of Basil's first disjointed phone call, a cameraman and a
recordist were pushing through the crowds into the Al Shafiz
International terminal building, looking for a group of European
schoolchildren.

The Lashmores' phone was permanently engaged. Caro tried again and
again, and eventually, she gave up.

Dawn Lashmore tried to comfort Janet. It was not easy. All Dawn knew
was that Candi had volunteered to stay in the harem because she had
been too big to fit into the van. And what was *that* supposed to
mean? She had her own feelings of hope, but even greater ones of
foreboding and dread. She had a feeling that her children were going
to be somehow terribly changed.


**********

The train squealed to a halt, and spewed its passengers on to the
platform. Mansoor and Adnan, with Piers tagging along disconsolately
behind, threaded they way into the terminal building. There were a
number of people with cameras, cynical, travel-weary men who looked
the sort of people you saw in every country of the world. How had they
arrived so quickly? Where were they lurking that they could have
crawled out of the woodwork at such short notice?

The television news crew were prowling round the terminal building,
trailing a little crowd of curious hangers-on. No group of European
schoolkids was in evidence. The director was getting more and more
frenzied at the thought of missing some imaginary deadline. The
cameraman hefted his camcorder on his shoulder and peered around the
crowded building. The sound recordist, umbilically connected to his
colleague, waved his fur-covered mike like a small dog on a stick, and
retreated into his private sound-proof world inside his headphones.

Even Mansoor had difficulty spotting the girls. Piers eventually
pointed out Cinders, and they saw Frida sitting next to her on a
hard-looking bench. A further scan saw Emily giving them a little wave
of recognition, and they spotted the immense bulk of Kitty in her
all-enveloping dress, with little Toots hiding behind her.

Caro and Erica were at the telephones again. Caro's number was still
engaged, Erica could get no reply from her parents' number. They
spotted Mansoor and nodded toward the British Airways desk. In
apparently leisurely manner, they met five yards short of the desk and
exchanged words while not looking at each other.

"I got through to my parents", said Caro, "but the money ran out. So I
don't know whether they got the message about where we are, or even
what country. I can't get back to them, now, the phone's busy the
whole time!"

Mansoor nodded. How about Erica? No luck. No reply. Mansoor nodded and
moved away. Caro, meanwhile, had caught a glimpse of the clerk at the
British Airways desk, a young woman who looked friendly but harrassed,
dealing with crowds of passengers with pointless enquiries, always the
same. Caro edged closer.

"Excuse me?"

The clerk looked round, wondering who had spoken. It couldn't be this
Arab woman in front of her. Mechanically, she addressed the woman in
Arabic. Caro shook her head and tried again.

"Excuse me."

The clerk's blue eyes widened. "You're English?" she said in wonder.

"Yes!" Caro leaned closer and whispered. "Can you write this down? My
name's Carolyn Lashmore. I was kidnapped a couple of weeks ago ..."
the clerk nodded eagerly, remembering the story "... and we've
escaped. We're all in this building. There are seven of us girls, and
my brother. I've tried phoning home, but got cut off. Can you get a
message back to this number, it's in England. Please!"

Could she? The clerk was thrilled to the core at being caught up with
an international sex-slave scandal. She could hardly wait to get on
the phone. She could see the headlines already. 'Airline Girl Rescues
Harem Slaves'.

But Caro hadn't gone away. She wanted to say something else. "If you
hear any news, from my parents, can you give me a call? You'd better
not call my real name. Make it ... Mrs Zulfiqar."

The clerk waited until Caro had gone, then picked up the phone and
dialled the number she had been given. Minutes later, she made another
call, then another.


**********

The phone hadn't stopped ringing. Dawn snatched it up again. "Hello?"
Another damned newspaper. She wanted her family to ring, not these
shitting reporters! She answered as briefly and as courteously as
possible, then put the phone down.

It rang again. "Mrs Lashmore? We will fly you to Al Shafiz Airport.
You are booked on a flight leaving Heathrow at 2.30. Two places, Club
Class. A car is on its way to you now. Can you be ready?"

Dawn had been ready to snap at whoever was on the phone. This took the
wind out of her sails completely. She could only gasp and stammer her
thanks. At the other end of the phone, the reporter slammed the phone
down and punched the air in triumph. Around him, the office went wild.


**********

Everything happened fast after that. A limousine whisked the Lashmores
to the airport, where they were met by a representative of the
newspaper and hurried into a lounge to be photographed looking drawn
and anxious. They didn't need to try very hard to assume the
expression. They signed an official-looking piece of paper promising
exclusive rights to their story to the newspaper, in return for an
undisclosed sum. Their air fares, plus the fares for the seven girls
and a boy, would of course be paid.

"Seven?" cried Dawn. "We've only got three children, Carolyn, Piers
and Lucinda. Who are the others? Have they brought Candi with them,
after all?"

"Have they brought candy?"asked the reporter, bemused. They'll get a
meal on the flight. The important thing is to get them out of the
country ..."

"Candi is my daughter's friend from school. Candi ... Candice
Freshwater."

"From Longshott, is she, this Candi?"

"That's right. But we understood she'd had to stay at the harem. She
volunteered to stay because there wasn't room for her, or something.
It was such a short call before she got cut off, and so complicated."

The reporter made a note on a page of his notebook, tore the page out
and signalled to a young man by the door. Running through his head
were the headlines, 'My Daughter Gave Freedom For Harem Escape Kids'.
Or words to that effect.

He was too late. Janet Freshwater had already received a visit from a
Sunday tabloid reporter.

The Lashmores passed through the formalities without fuss and were on
board a 747 within minutes.


**********

A call for Mrs Zulfiqar to go to the British Airways desk caused
Caro's stomach to do a cartwheel, and made Mansoor jerk upright. It
was good news! Caro's parents would be arriving at 5.45, and would be
installed in a VIP lounge as soon as the flight landed.

Mansoor found some food for the girls, and delivered it to them where
they sat, in clusters of two and three, dotted about the terminal
building. He delivered the good news to them along with the food,
about the flight from England and the Swedish Embassy official's
visit. Bolstered by the news, they suddenly realised they had not
eaten since the night before, and they were starving. The ex-harem
inmates, especially, missed their food, accustomed as they were to
three huge meals a day. All they had to do now was wait for the
arrival of the flight.

Erica had given up trying to reach her home by phone, but taking
Caro's advice had approached the SAS desk and persuaded the staff
there to contact the Swedish Embassy. A sceptical telephone operator
had eventually passed her message, and they had promised to send
someone to the airport within an hour or two.

She whispered the news to Caro, who wondered whether she should have
called the British Embassy, but she decided that as help was on the
way, she would sit and wait. Caro placed an arm round Erica's
shoulders, and squeezed gently. The girl smiled at her and rested her
cheek on Caro's shoulder. Within seconds, it seemed, she was asleep.
It was 4.10.


**********

Lucinda was frightened. This hadn't worked out too well. She was
paired off with Frida, two young ones together. True, wrapped up like
this, their age was not immediately obvious, but there was always
something about the movements of their heads, their body language,
that gave away their youthfulness. And Cinders *felt* young. All these
people, these strangers, were against her, and if they got half a
chance, would turn her over to the harem authorities. There would be a
reward, for sure. The Pasha would pay well to get them back.

She glanced in Adnan's direction. He was nearest to them, about ten
metres away, by the left luggage lockers. He looked back at her,
nodded with a barely noticeable movement of his head, then his gaze
passed right through her before flickering away across the room. Still
three-quarters of an hour to go.


**********

Another train had arrived. The crush of passengers, which had dwindled
slightly during the afternoon as local Middle Eastern flights had
left, suddenly built up again. Emily found herself wondering if there
was going to be anyone left in this God-forsaken country by nightfall.
She managed to attract Mansoor's attention, just for reassurance, and
was strangely comforted when he nodded and gave her a small, private
smile.

Idly, she scanned the crowds, still coming in through the main
entrance. The she saw something that made her feel physically sick.
Wearing Western clothes with a traditional headdress, standing head
and shoulders above the rest of the travellers, was a face she thought
was oddly familiar. He was looking round to left and right. The
hawk-like nose, the slight twist to the lips. The bruise on the
forehead. The bruise! Suddenly she knew where she had seen that face
before.

It was the eunuch from the harem gates.

In panic, she scanned again. He wouldn't have come here alone. Was
that another of them? A tall black man was also craning his neck to
see over the heads of the crowds. She had to get to see Mansoor. But
the policeman wasn't looking her way. Having exchanged glances with
Emily, he would now not look her way for another two or three minutes.
The harem heavies could be here by then.

She bent and whispered to Kitty and Toots to stay where they were,
then slowly started to move across the crowded floor toward Mansoor.
It was taking for ever! At last, she reached his side.

"Psst! Mansoor!"

"What is it? You're supposed to have stayed with Kitty and Toots."

"No! Two men have come in. From the harem. One black, the other one
the eunuch from the gate."

"Okay. Don't look at them. I'll contact Adnan and we'll think of
something. Get back to Kitty and keep out of sight as much as you can.
They'll probably take a look round. Don't look at them. They won't
know *your* face anyway, although Kitty and Toots might look
familiar."

"Thanks, Mansoor. Be careful!"

"Okay. And Emily."

She turned and looked at him for the first time. Concern showed in the
deep, dark eyes. "Take care, my love, and don't worry. I'll look after
you!"

Emily's knees turned to jelly. She gave Mansoor a frightened little
smile, then turned away to hurry back to Kitty. Shit, she thought, and
I'm supposed to be the one who prefers girls to men! She returned to
Kitty's side, the girl's greenish blue eyes looking up at her as if in
reproof for leaving them. Once more, she looked around for the two
men, becoming panicky when she failed to find them at first. Then she
saw them; one, then the other, and she was relieved to have found
them, yet horrified at the same time. They were closer. And it was ten
minutes past five. Still thirty-five minutes to go.


**********

Mansoor had the eunuch in his sight. Adnan was keeping a watchful eye
on the black one. He was probably a eunuch, too, not that it mattered
much right now. The men were searching sections of the crowd, each
taking an area of perhaps ten metres square, and walking slowly
through it, apparently casually, but Mansoor could see they were
tensed and ready for action. As they walked, their heads constantly
turned from side to side, and they studied every face in the crowd.

At this rate, they would discover at least some of the girls in the
next ten minutes, and they would have swept the entire area of the
room in a further twenty. The flight was due in another twenty-five
minutes, but it would have to unload and the passengers would have to
be shepherded through customs and immigration. There was not going to
be time before the flight arrived. It was too much to hope that the
eunuchs would fail to recognise any of the girls through their
disguises.

Mansoor edged closer to the phone booths, then slipped into a vacant
alcove, dropping coins into the slot and gazing vacantly round the
room while waiting for his connection. It rang, and a voice answered.
"How soon", Mansoor asked, "we have half an hour at the most, and the
heavies are here."

"We're trying to contact the helicopter, Mansoor. It will be three
hours by car, but the chopper can do it in twenty-five minutes, flying
in a straight line."

"Where is it? What's going on?"

"It was investigating a crash inland from your position. As soon as we
can raise him on the radio, we can get him diverted your way. The only
worry is going to be if Zulfiqar comes in. He's going to have your
balls, he said. He thinks we're sending the chopper to the airport to
collect a VIP off the British Airways flight. That's what we've told
him."

"How many men on her?"

"Three. Not enough, but we can't spare any more without blowing the
whole thing."

"Okay, thanks. Look, I'm sorry to push you when you're doing your
best. Have me paged as ... Mr Ackerman."

"Ackerman? Where'd'ya get a name like that? Hey, you don't *look*
Jewish!"

"You can never tell, these days", he said, and replaced the receiver.
Twenty minutes, and the black one was closing in on Cinders and Frida.


**********

Lucinda tried to appear casual and unconcerned. She bit a chunk off
her bread roll, and polished a tomato gently against the side of her
soft breast as she sat on the straight-backed seat. Frida was
pretending to sleep, but Cinders could feel the tension in the girl's
body against her shoulder.

The black man came within a couple of metres, searching in all
directions. She hadn't seen this one around the harem, so he might not
have seen *her* before, unless he had been in the habit of lurking
round the physician's department at measuring time. She bit into the
tomato and the juice squirted on to her lap. She dabbed at it quickly
without thinking, pressing her arm against the top of her dress in
such a way as to reveal the hugeness of her breast.

She gasped, an icy feeling gripping her, not daring to look. But
nothing happened, and when she looked up from beneath the pulled-down
headdress, the black man was several paces away, heading in the other
direction. He looked back once, appearing to study her intently, then
turned on his heel and stalked off. Cinders was trembling all over,
and Frida was whimpering softly, feeling the closeness of danger. Even
when it had passed, the girls were still holding hands, gripping hard
to stop them shaking.


**********

Adnan relaxed a little as the man turned away from Cinders and Frida
for the second time. The next danger from the black man was Caro and
Erica, but he was still thirty metres away from them. There was a
clatter from above his head as the mechanical indicator changed to
show the flight from London as 'on time', and due at 5.45. Fifteen
minutes.


**********

Emily knew that if the eunuch got a glimpse of Kitty or Toots, they
were all done for. She was going to try and move them to an area
already searched by the men. Better get them over by the entrance,
they had started there. The only trouble with that was, they would
have to cross the full width of the hall to get to the VIP lounge when
the flight came in.

She gave Toots a nudge, and the girl stood up, causing some stares
from nearby men. Together they lifted Kitty into a standing position.
Oddly, Kitty drew very little attention. Draped as she was, she was so
huge, she could only be a fat old lady. Nobody in the world could have
breasts that big, after all! They slowly made their way across to the
doorway, and Mansoor, watching them, frowned, then nodded his approval
at the move.

They were just in time. The eunuch had apparently been about to search
another area, then had turned abruptly and homed in on the spot they'd
just vacated. Emily didn't need any more shocks like that!

Mansoor turned reluctantly away from Emily, searching again for Caro
and Erica. There they were. They'd apparently had the same idea as
Emily, and were slowly wandering across to the entrance, but on the
other side of the doors.





Chapter 27:- So Near ...

The arrivals indicator clattered again. Triumphantly, it showed the
arrival of the British Airways flight from London (LHR), now
unloading. The girls saw it, the two groups, on each side of the main
doors, and the two youngsters close to the left luggage.

The announcement, when it came, brought their hearts into their
mouths, all of them. "Mrs Zulfiqar", it boomed, "please go to the VIP
lounge by the British Airways desk."

Caro took the first hesitant step across the hall. She was going to
take a wide sweep away from the eunuch, to her right. The way seemed
clear for the two young ones to go straight to the lounge door,
although they would have to wait until someone let them in.

Emily was set to lead her little group, which could move only slowly
with Kitty, in a semicircle to the left. Mansoor was in the middle of
the hall, and the two groups of girls would pass either side of him,
each about twenty metres away.

Adnan had been moving around to take a position beside the British
Airways desk, which was thronged with travellers, and offered good
cover. Piers was now leaning against the wall of the lounge itself, no
more than a few strides from the door. And why not, the harem guards
weren't apparently looking for him, for some reason. Probably poor
communications.

Another call came through for Mrs Zulfiqar, and Caro set off across
the crowded floor. There was a minor commotion just inside the
entrance doors to her left.

Emily noticed it, too. Someone had just come in and was standing slap
in the middle of the entrance, staring around the room in a commanding
manner.

Erica gasped, and gripped Caro's arm.

Toots and Kitty froze, trembling, and clinging tightly to Emily.

"What's the matter?"

"It's Hassan!"


**********

The thrice-accursed car was held up at every turn all the way from the
harem to Al Shafiz. I jumped out and literally ran up to the entrance.
There was a British flight due at any moment, and I didn't want the
kids escaping on it. It was unlikely, of course, they had no
documents, and would never get out of the country, but it was a risk
not worth taking.

Inside the door, I searched for the two eunuchs. Clowns, both of them,
but thorough. If the girls were in here, they'd find them. *There* was
one, and there was the other. Still searching, then. I looked around
myself, and saw a couple of small figures, one of them rather bulky,
hurrying towards the British Airways desk. Moving too quickly.
Suspiciously quickly.

The black eunuch had spotted them, too, and he whistled to his
colleague and pointed. They both set off in the direction of the two
figures, and would certainly intercept them before they reached the
desk. So far, so good. What about the others? Round to the right, I
saw a movement, and a familiar girl's face, I thought. The Swedish
one, Erica, the one with the huge ornaments and the laced-up khoosh! I
set off after them, and cut off the corner. I would be able to head
them off by the time they reached the desk.

Then I stopped for a moment. What about the major prize? What about
Kitty? If she was here, the Pasha would gladly trade her for all the
others. I abandoned the Swedish one with the big puss and turned to
look for the one with the world record tits. The clowns would catch
the other one as soon as they had dealt with the little ones.


**********

Mansoor spotted Hassan, and got his first clear look at him. But he
knew without a doubt that this was the man from the harem. A quick
glance showed that Caro and Erica were on the move, and Hassan was
after them, then he stopped and looked round again.

Emily! She was already on her way, and Toots and she were hustling
Kitty as fast as she could walk in the direction of the British
Airways desk. Hassan would surely see them at any moment. Mansoor took
a last look round, and to his relief saw the door of the VIP lounge
open, with a uniformed official standing in the doorway. The two
heavies skidded to a halt in confusion, and could do nothing as the
two tiny figures in black dresses scuttled in through the door.

Two safe!

Now, Emily. Please, Emily, be careful! He started in the direction of
the lounge door, feeling in the small of his back, tugging his shirt
free from his trousers and whipping out the small automatic from its
hiding place.

Caro and Erica were nearing the lounge door, but they could see the
two heavies barring the way. They weren't looking directly at them,
but were staring around the room, as if seeking directions. The girls
stopped, wondering if they dare walk boldly up to the door, pushing
past the eunuchs. They set off, taking one step in the right
direction, when the gate guardian spotted Erica, and pointed. They set
off toward the girls, leaving no doubt as to their intentions.

They had gone no more than a couple of paces when a figure dashed from
the crowd, right between the heavies and the girls. He stopped and
stared at the eunuchs for a second, long enough for them to recognise
him. Adnan!

Then he was off, skirting the edge of the hall in the direction of the
telephones and the toilets, with both heavies in full cry after him,
yelling and hurling unfortunate travellers out of their way like rag
dolls. Caro and Erica gasped, then ran forwards, stopped at the door
of the VIP lounge, yelled the magic word "Zulfiqar" at the uniformed
official, and disappeared inside!

Erica, making ponderous progress, tried to cut straight across to the
lounge, but her course was taking the three of them closer to Hassan.
The black figure was no more than ten metres from them now, and a
smile of triumph was beginning to spread across his face.

Mansoor was still too far away to reach the girls before Hassan did,
and the hall was far too crowded to take a shot at him. He struggled
to reach them, but it was like wading through quicksand. In the back
of his mind, he was aware of a tumult across the hall, and hoped that
Adnan was creating a diversion of some sort.


**********

I had them in my grasp!

The huge one, and dammit, the little black one that was thrown out and
should have been killed last year! And another one, a skinny bitch.
Ten metres, and they are mine.

Shit! The little black one has made a run for it. I took a few steps
to my left, and the little she-dog was running straight at me! I made
a grab at her, but she dodged away. I tried again, and again she got
away. I clutched at her dress, and dived, but the dress ripped and I
fell down, clutching an armful of useless fabric.

Screams went up all around me as I lay on the floor. I threw the black
girl's dress away and set off after the other two. They had gone
another ten metres now, and were perilously close to the door of a
room which was open. There was some sort of flunkey standing in the
doorway, watching.

Then the skinny bitch let go of Kitty, said something to her and gave
her a little push to send her on her way. She came running at me with
her fingers outstretched like claws. I tried to thrust her aside and
get after the big Swedish one, but the bitch clung to my arm,
screaming. I swung my right fist and felt it thump into her face, and
she went limp. I still had to shake her free from my arm, she clung on
all the way to the ground. Then I was off, after the big prize, Kitty.
She would never escape me now!


**********

Mansoor cannoned into a fat woman and fell back several paces,
grunting. He saw Toots run at Hassan and make him fall over, and she
disappeared for a few seconds, then suddenly appeared amid screams
from the travellers, making for the VIP lounge at a bouncing run,
stark naked. The little minx deserves a medal, Mansoor thought, but he
recoiled in horror as Emily left Kitty to make her own way and turned
at bay to tackle Hassan.

She wrestled with him frenziedly, grabbing at his arm, but suddenly,
Hassan swung a punch which connected, and Mansoor watched aghast as
Emily slid to the floor, senseless. He started in her direction,
heedless of Hassan now in full flight after Kitty, who still had five
metres to go to safety.

"Police! Stand still or I'll shoot", he yelled at Hassan, but the
swine ignored him, knowing that no policeman would open fire in a
crowded airport lounge. He was within one step of grabbing Kitty, when
he suddenly crashed to the ground with a yell of pain and rage.

Kitty reached the doorway and friendly hands helped her through,
turning her sideways to allow her breasts through the doorway one at a
time. Hassan was struggling to his feet, but already, the hall was
ringing to shouts of "Police, stand still! Everybody on the floor!"
and Mansoor knew his colleagues had arrived. Just too late to see the
fun, but just in time to make an arrest.

Hassan scrambled to his feet and made a dash for the entrance, weaving
through the prone bodies, but two policemen, guns drawn, headed him
off, and he surrendered tamely, being led away with a last glare over
his shoulder in the direction of the VIP lounge.


**********

Two more armed policemen grabbed Adnan as he fled from the two
heavies. They immediately put on their most innocent expressions and
melted into the crowd.

The police hustled Adnan away to a van, where he was handcuffed. He
was content to wait in safety until Mansoor could come and bail him
out.


**********

Mansoor carried Emily into the lounge and laid her gently on a table.
She had a bruise on her face right between the eyes, both her eyes
were closed and puffy. She stirred, and tried to get up.

"Mansoor! I want Mansoor!" she muttered faintly.

"Emily, it's all right! I'm here." He placed a cool hand on her
bruised forehead, then bent and kissed her gently on the lips. Emily
closed her eyes and lay back with a little smile on her face.

The uniformed official had darted out and picked up Piers after his
Rugby tackle on Hassan had left him dazed and bruised on the floor. He
was holding his arm carefully, and the official made him hold his hand
over the opposite shoulder. "It is broken, the collarbone", he said,
and Piers winced from the pain as Lucinda and Caro came to his side
and gently held him.

"Here they come, they're here", said someone, and the door at the far
side of the lounge opened. There stood Basil and Dawn Lashmore, and
half a dozen reporters and cameramen from the same tabloid that had
paid their air fare.

The couple blinked in amazement at the sight in front of them. A crowd
of girls in black Arab-style dresses, all enveloping. One tiny black
girl was draped in a tablecloth which failed utterly to conceal a pair
of gigantic breasts.

Caro spoke first. "Mum! We made it!" Dawn slowly came forward and took
her daughter in her arms. She held her at arms' length shaking her
head, tears flowing down her cheeks, as Caro turned to her father, and
Lucinda detached herself from the crowd, and threw herself against her
mother.

Dawn held her child for perhaps ten seconds, murmuring softly into her
hair, then she stood back and looked at the girl in sheer disbelief.
"Is that you in there, Cinders?" she gasped.

Cinders nodded. "They made me grow, Mum, not as much as Kitty, but
pretty big!"

"Yes, I can see that, darling. She took the girl in her arms again,
feeling the huge mounds pressing against her lower stomach." This was
going to take a lot of getting used to, she thought. And what about
the others? She looked about at the other girls. Candi wasn't amongst
them. Oh, poor Janet!

Piers stood in front of his mother. "You can't squeeze me, Mum, I've
broken my collar-bone!" He seemed proud of his injury. She kissed him
gently and squeezed his free hand.

"Now, who are these, Caro?" she asked. The others would need a
mother's welcome, too, even if it wasn't their own mother. Caro did
the introductions. This is Frida, and Erica, Emily over there on the
table. That's Mansoor with her, he's a policeman."

An off-duty policeman, thought Dawn, judging by the way he's holding
Emily's hand.

"This is Kitty", Caro indicated the girl whose black dress revealed
the outline of an ridiculously large bust, and Dawn held both Kitty's
hands while gazing at her in awe.

Basil couldn't take it all in, either, looking from one to the other
with total disbelief. Erica spoke.

"We're Swedish, Mrs Lashmore, our Embassy is sending someone for us.
Then we will go home, yes?"

"Yes, darling, you'll be going home. That's you, and Kitty?"

"And Frida. We are all friends in Sodertalje."

"And this is Toots!" said Caro finally. Toots put a hand out to shake,
but almost lost control of her tablecloth and changed it into a
curtsey at the last moment.

"Please t'meet ya, Miz Lashmore", she chirped, and grinned hugely as
Dawn held her arms wide for her to get a cuddle. Almost wide enough,
but she managed it in the end.

"Where do you live, Toots?" Caro and Lucinda pricked up their ears.
Toots had never talked of her home at all.

"I dunno. I bin away two years now. I never had no Mom and Daddy!"

"You've got one now, darling, for as long as you need one", cried Dawn
and her two daughters clung to her while she hugged little Toots again
and the cameras flashed amid a chatter of motor-drives. They'd never
be able to print it, as Toots's tablecloth gave up the unequal
struggle halfway through the embrace. No doubt, the pictures ended up
on the finishing-room wall.





Chapter 28:- Home

The Jumbo wheeled round to a halt and the doors opened after a brief
pause. The rest of the passengers experienced a slightly longer pause;
as the Lashmore family, together with Toots and a whole bunch of
pressmen and women, made their way into a slightly more well-appointed
VIP lounge.

Someone had telephoned ahead, and there was a change of clothing for
all the kids; jeans and sweatshirts for Piers and Caro, maternity
dresses for Lucinda and Toots, although Toots's was rather on the
tight side. They changed gratefully out of their borrowed clothes and
felt a little more human.

There was food laid on, too, fish and chips for all, thick bread and
butter and mugs of tea. The press withdrew while the family and Toots
sat down to eat, and gradually they all relaxed. From time to time,
one or other of them would burst into tears, and the others would join
in to make them better.

Then they arranged themselves tastefully, keeping Cinders's and
Toots's breasts hidden as far as possible while they prepared for an
interview with a selection of the press and a single television crew.
'Ten minutes only, ladies and gentlemen, please', then they were out
of the terminal by a side exit, straight into a limousine for the
journey back to East Longshott Down.

The story came out over the next few days. Janet Freshwater came round
and the girls did their best to reassure her that Candi was fit and
well. Janet's eyes goggled at the sight of Cinders's development, and
the phenomenal Toots. "Is Candi ... well, is she big like you two?"

"Sort of", said Cinders, wrinkling her nose. "She's big up top, but
she's big everywhere else as well. They gave her injections like me,
but they've been feeding her, too!" There was nothing like the truth
to reassure an anxious mother. At last, when Janet stood up to leave,
and run the gauntlet of the TV and press camped outside, Piers spoke
quietly to her.

"I'm going to get Candi out of there, Mrs Freshwater", he said
fiercely. "If it's the last thing I ever do, I'm going to bring Candi
home!" he said it with such conviction, Janet had absolutely no doubt
he meant it.

Emily had stayed behind! The newspaper had offered to take her along
on the flight home, but she clung to Mansoor, although it was hard to
say who was clinging tighter.

As the girls had left the lounge back at Al Shafiz, hugging Emily one
at a time, she whispered to Caro. "We've got a job to do, Mansoor'n
me. We're gonna get Candi out of that place and get her home to her
Mam. An'if ah can persuade him, we'll come back and see you all at
Longshott!"

Caro couldn't say a word, she just clung to her friend helplessly.

"You'd better go, pet", Emily said softly, "Ah do fancy yer, honest,
but I think Mansoor needs a good woman to look after him as well!"





<end of Part VIII>

Parts I to VI were posted in alt.sex.stories at weekly intervals
before these two episodes. Part VII was posted with this one.
They are also available from ftp.netcom.com /pub/ac/acotto/stories
Alternatively, contact gspot@nildram.co.uk