The following morning...
Thursday, July 13th, 2017
09:00 GMT-4 (13:00 GMT July 13th)
The White House, Washington D.C.
United States of America
The Oval Office was a hive of activity that morning, mainly because of the young girl who was pestering her mother.
The President was very pleased when her phone rang and she moved over to her desk to answer it, ignoring her petulant daughter.
"Yes."
"I have the Deputy Director, Central Intelligence, for you Madam President."
"Put her through, please."
"Madam President."
"Deputy Director. Have you heard anything?"
"I have Arctic One on another line, may I patch her through?"
"Please do," the President replied as she waved at the Secret Service agent in the office. "Clear the room, please – that includes my daughter."
"But...!" Emma Adams began.
Once the room was clear of all including her protesting daughter, the President returned to the phone.
"Hello?"
"Good morning, Madam President," Mindy replied.
"Good morning, Mrs Lizewski; how are things up there?"
"Chilly," Mindy responded truthfully.
"I can only imagine."
"Mindy, please let the President know what you told me," Deputy Director Pamela Landy suggested."
"We have the location for their base and a whole lot more."
"Congratulations! Any injuries?"
"None, Madam President. We have a good idea of how many defend the main facility and we can definitely take them down."
"We have discussed things," Landy went on, "and we have selected Plan Delta Variant Three as probably the most likely to succeed in this instance."
"Hold on," the President said as she pulled a file from a drawer in her desk. "Here we are – Delta Three. I see. Yes – a lot of assets, most of which are either already in place, or on their way to their departure points. I'll speak with General Carter who will liaise with the British; their submarines are crucial to this operation."
"One way or another, ten days from now, it will all be over," Mindy said.
"I hope so, I really do," the President admitted.
"We need to keep this under wraps for as long as possible as I fear the Russians are wanting in on this and nobody at my end trusts their motives when worldwide nuclear devices are at stake," Landy added.
"I agree," the President confirmed. "But we need to be careful and not start a full-scale conflict against Russia over this. There will be hell to pay when the Russians get wind of the military resources which will be arriving not too far from their back doorstep."
"We cannot rule out the Russians putting in an appearance once the balloon goes up and the assault begins," Landy went on. "We know that they have submarines in the Arctic and we know that they have airborne troops at a high state of readiness. We can, of course, put a large force down on the ice for the assault but that assault force might also need to defend the facility from the Russians which was an added factor for selecting Delta Three. It is proving difficult to mobilise so many assets without anything leaking. As well as the Russians, the Chinese are poking their noses in and Chinese electronic intelligence has increased substantially since the Mediterranean Incident. The French are showing some significant concern as well as numerous other countries."
"Once I have passed the location of the Axis facility onto General Carter, we shall see what the British have to say and I will update the Deputy Director, Mindy, and that should get the ball rolling and get additional forces into your theatre of operations."
"Thank you, Madam President. It is getting a little lonely up here."
"Stay safe, Mindy."
"Will do, Arctic One out."
As the President replaced the handset, she felt a felling of foreboding that did not sit well. She then lifted the handset again and pressed a single digit.
"Get me General Carter, in this office, in ninety minutes."
She replaced the handset and then got up and walked out of the Oval Office to seek out her rebellious daughter.
Four days later...
Monday, July 17th, 2017
04:30 GMT-5 (09:30 GMT July 17th)
The Arctic
Victor Two One & Victor Two Two
The early hour made little difference as it was always broad daylight at that latitude.
They were twelve kilometres southeast of their main camp and below the horizon for either AoE site. Then, right on time, there was a roaring sound and a Royal Canadian Air Force CC-130H transport passed over them at about five thousand feet. The tail-mounted ramp was lowered and a dark object was shoved out of the back, followed by another. Both items plunged for just a second before a drogue-chute and then two much larger parachutes blossomed out above them, retarding their fall to a gentle glide. Within minutes, the two items were on the ground, just a few hundred yards distant and the two BvS Viking transports rapidly closed the distance and stopped within feet of the two objects.
The first was a fairly standard steel container which was painted in a dark grey and white mottled pattern as was the second item which was a pallet containing eight large fuel drums. With the assistance of the HIAB crane mounted at the rear of Victor Two Two, the container was lifted aboard the empty trailer and the fuel drums were placed atop the container and everything was securely lashed down for the next portion of the mini-operation.
Once everything had been checked and double-checked, Patrick and Jennifer moved their tracked vehciles off to their next destination.
A while and some kilometres later...
07:40 GMT-5 (12:40 GMT July 17th)
The Arctic
Victor Two One & Victor Two Two
A 'polynya' is a term borrowed from the Russian language which denotes a spot of open water that is surrounded by ice which does not freeze over. This spot of open water is caused by an upwelling of warm water or a melting affect caused by a coastline and can be very rare.
While a polynya is the most desired location to surface a submarine when cruising under the icepack, one is not always available. If unavailable, then a 'lead' is the next desired item which is caused by the movement of the icepack and the ocean currents. Leads can open and close at the whim of those ocean currents and the movement of the icepack. Either way, surfacing beneath the icepack for a nuclear-powered submarine is a nightmare for the submarine's commanding officer when a minor slip could allow a section of ice to pierce his hull and send the submarine and the crew plunging down below crush depth.
That morning, as the crews of Victor Two One and Victor Two Two watched a lead from one hundred yards away, they saw the thin (about a foot thick) crust of ice crack and then rise up vertically as something very black thrust itself through the ice in a controlled manner, stopping only once a dozen feet of steel had risen out of the lead. Up in the gun turret of Victor Two One, Ariana studied the submarine conning tower or sail and she studied the image she had on a plastic-covered recognition sheet she had secured inside her turret. It was very possible that a Russian submarine could be surfacing but with only three countries capable of under-ice operation, the odds were more that it was a submarine of the United States navy or Royal Navy. In this case, the tall, angular sail matched that of a British Trafalgar class hunter-killer submarine – in this case HMS TIRELESS.
"Arctic One, this is the number eighty-eight bus, dropping off passengers. Are you ready to receive, over?"
Patrick responded to the semi-cryptic radio message as he watched a periscope rise from the sail and stop, the upper end turning and focussing on the two vehicles for a moment before rising up higher and then scanning the horizon.
"Eighty-eight, we would be delighted. Arctic One out."
The submarine's hull was never visible but there was soon activity at the top of the sail as men appeared and a rope ladder was dropped over the side of the sail. More men, all clad in white camouflage clothing, lugging enormous rucksacks, descended the rope ladder before they then each took a leap onto the ice, scrambling swiftly to more solid ice, warily watching the two turreted machineguns which were aimed over their heads. All told, sixteen men left the submarine which began to hiss even as the last man leapt onto the icepack and the rope ladder quickly vanished from sight. The hissing continued as the periscope vanished from sight and the sail sunk down out of sight and then vanished leaving just some cracked ice to mark where the submarine had once been.
Jennifer and Patrick met the sixteen men a dozen yards from the two Vikings where recognition codes were exchanged and work began to unload the container.
..._...
Four hours later, the two Vikings were roaring over the icepack accompanied by sixteen Bombardier Lynx GLX 5900 FCE snowmobiles, four of which pulled a small aluminium trailer along on skis.
The trailers were filled with gigantic packs which each man had left the submarine carrying. The sixteen Royal Marines were four-sixths of a Brigade Patrol Troop which itself was part of the Surveillance and Reconnaissance Squadron which in turn was part of 30 Commando Information Exploitation Group which came under the command of 3 Commando Brigade. Their job was to provide initial reconnaissance of the Axis facility and place markers for the airborne elements and the sub-surface elements of the upcoming assault. Timing was key if the correct units were to be able to execute their orders simultaneously and strike at the Axis facility.
"Food, gentlemen?"
The sixteen Royal Marines were surprised to find a girl, clad in thick Arctic clothing from head to toe, holding a tray loaded down with foil-wrapped packages.
"I think I've gone to heaven," one chuckled as he figuratively broke the ice and reached past his colleagues and grabbed a foil-wrapped bundle which turned out to be a still-warm bacon and sausage butty. "Awesome!"
Very soon, all them men were eating and drinking mugs of steaming hot tea.
"We'd have come a few days back if we'd known this was bloody waiting for us!" the first man commented. Who are you?"
The girl pulled up her balaclava and grinned.
"I'm Ajax."
"Hello Ajax, and thank you for such a wonderful welcome."
"We aim to please – even the bloody bootnecks!" Cassie said.
"Bootnecks!" another marine exclaimed.
"My father commands a destroyer in the navy."
"Those butty's will get you a free pass, my lady."
"Nemesis . . . and this is Hit Girl."
The senior of the men stepped forwards.
"Captain Racell, ma'am."
"Welcome to my little patch of the Arctic, gentlemen," Mindy said.
"Thank you for matching us up with our equipment," the captain of Royal Marines responded.
"Now," Mindy went on, all professional, "you have a delivery for me?"
The captain dug deep inside his clothing and he pulled out a package which was manilla in colour and wrapped in heavy plastic.
"First class delivery, ma'am."
"Definitely!" Mindy chuckled as she took the package which was the size of a large file folder and about four inches thick.
"If you don't mind, we'll get down to business and sort out our kit before we deploy at sixteen hundred."
"Of course, captain."
Mindy took her package inside her tent and once Dave had entered and closed the opening, she unsealed the item.
..._...
The sixteen Royals had setup their own camp ten yards or so away from the edge of the Fusion camp.
Each man had a job to do and that varied from checking out the engines of the hastily assembled snowmobiles and refuelling said machines, to itemising their equipment and checking their weapons were functional and ready for use. Naturally, the array of advanced weaponry soon attracted several Predators who were drawn to the smell of gun oil like sharks to the scent of blood. Despite their work keeping them busy, the men began to notice that they were being observed, initially covertly and eventually blatantly overtly.
"What do you want?" a sergeant asked the pair of eyes staring at the missile launcher he held in his hands from barely two feet away.
"Nothing."
"Can you fuck off?"
"Is that an MBT LAW?"
"Now, what would a young lady like you know about that?"
The girl sighed.
"One-fifty millimetre diameter rocket which leaves the launcher at forty metres-per-second and travels at subsonic speed out to a thousand metres but valid ranges are twenty to six-hundred metres. Entered service in 2009 with the British Army as the Next Generation Light Anti-tank Weapon. Launcher weighs twelve and a half kilos and is three feet four inches in length."
The marine laughed.
"You like reading books, I see."
The girl reached over and she seized the man's assault rifle.
"Colt Canada C8 CQB – this is the L119A2 version." Expertly, the girl checked the weapon for a loaded round and that the safety was engaged before she ejected the full magazine and she handed it to the concerned marine. "5.56-millimetre with a decent nine hundred metres per second muzzle velocity and a balanced weight – you call this clean?" The girl looked up after having peered into the breech and down the barrel.
The marine responded with a silent indignant glare at the mere suggestion that his weapon was not clean. By this time, two other marines had noticed the commotion and had wandered over to observe their sergeant being lectured by a small girl about weapon handling. The look on their sergeant's face conveyed the fact that he would truly love to silence the girl but the man was too much of a man to strike a child.
"Is Rigour annoying you, Sergeant?" Dakota asked.
"Yes!" "No!"
The two responses came together and had the marines laughing.
"I was just trying to be helpful," Electra offered defensively.
"Your idea of helpful usually differs from that of normal people," Dakota pointed out.
"Like you're fucking normal, Arbiter!" Electra responded.
"Okay, okay!" the sergeant said, calming both girls. "It's not often that you travel to the Arctic and find a ten..."
"Almost eleven!" Electra interrupted and the sergeant grinned.
"Almost eleven-year-old girl who knows her way around a C8."
"So, the stories are true," another marine said. "There are stories about children who were trained to become assassins."
"We be those Predators," Electra said proudly. "So watch yourselves, or you might not wake up one morning."
There was a coldness not caused by the Arctic ice which pervaded the bodies of the marines as they saw that the 'children' around them were not what they seemed.
..._...
There was a 'knock' on the side of their tent and Marty's head appeared through the zipper.
"Mind if I intrude?" he asked.
"Sit!" Dave grinned at his friend who pulled off his gloves and woolly hat.
"Something juicy to tell us?" Mindy asked as she clocked the broad grin on Marty's face.
"Something just went bang!" Marty advised his friends. "Assets have reported a fire on the ice at Site B and extensive vibrations felt several miles distant."
"Must have been something we left behind," Mindy deadpanned.
"You do have a nasty habit of dropping things wherever you go, honey," Dave needled.
"She does; I have to agree," Marty teased.
"Our orders are as expected and all hell breaks loose at noon on Thursday, local time," Dave advised Marty. "We need to be in position sixty minutes before Zero Hour."
"Looking forward to it," Marty admitted dryly.
"You geeks ready?" Mindy asked.
"Yes – Abby has some bad memories to wipe over with fresh new ones and she wants to see the ice stained with Axis blood."
"Bit overdramatic," Mindy commented but then she realised that Abby was right. "Maybe not."
"Let's gather our troops and go through the plan with them," Dave suggested.
With that, the three of them pulled on their hats and gloves.
That same time, eighteen kilometres away...
16:00 GMT-5 (21:00 GMT July 17th)
Axis of Evil Site A
Not for the first time that day (or week), Raymond Ransom lost his temper.
"What the hell do you mean 'the command circuits are down'!?"
"Site B is the main command node which connects us to the outside world, sir," a wretched senior technician responded. "The nuclear triggers can only be programmed on a certain communications medium and that transmitter is based at Site B – it's a safety mechanism..."
"You want to talk to me about safety? Right now, you are not safe..."
Ransom's hands were shaking and his face was red with anger. Just four days, he had received word that the Site B computer facility had been boobytrapped and rigged with explosives – those Fusion bastards! It had taken over a day to get trained men onsite and it had not been hard for them to find the explosive devices – but another three days to identify them all. Then, just forty minutes ago, he had received word that Site B had gone off the air followed by his own men telling him that all connections to the outside world were down. Since then, they had managed to regain some basic satellite communications but it was just that: basic.
"Just one more day, GODDAMN IT!" he roared.
The codes were due to have been transmitted in twenty hours but now he had no idea when the systems would be operational again and he had an unfortunate phone call to make. He strode back to his office where he found his son standing at one of the windows.
"Out!"
The boy knew better than to argue when his father was angry, so he slunk out the door and headed towards the outside, grabbing his winter clothing as he went.
..._...
A familiar face appeared on the screen.
"I do hope that this is not bad news, Raymond."
Ransom glared at Noah Tremblay.
"As I mentioned the other day, Fusion are here, and they have destroyed the computer facility at Site B. We cannot command detonate any of the devices."
"That is . . . unfortunate," came the calm and measured response. "How long for repairs?"
"Three or four days, I have been told. I am hoping that we can be in a position to start the command sequences late on Thursday. We should then have the first detonation sometime early Friday morning."
"That will be . . . acceptable."
"I will keep you updated, Noah."
"Do that, Raymond."
The connection was cut before Raymond could say another word.
Thursday, July 20th
08:04 GMT-4 (12:04 GMT July 20th)
The Arctic: 3 hours 56 minutes to Zero Hour
It was the day of the big strike and a clandestine marker, essential to the intended paratrooper landing had failed, therefore, Mindy and Stephanie were heading out on a last-minute reconnaissance of the site and to replace that marker.
The pair headed out in Tango Hotel One, their eyes peeled for trouble. As was usual, the vehicle bounced across the decidedly-uneven surface formed by the icepack rising and falling over many years of movement. Stephanie, naturally, was excited by the impending doom which was to rain down upon the Axis of Evil in less than four hours and she was talking non-stop which was starting to grate on Mindy, just a little. Finally, they arrived.
"Thank fuck!" Mindy growled as she pushed open her door, leaving the engine running.
"You saying you don't enjoy my conversations?" Stephanie called out as she followed Mindy.
"Your 'conversations' tend to be a little one-sided," Mindy pointed out.
"Okay, I'll leave some gaps for you to chip in."
"Thanks!"
Mindy climbed over a small hillock before she stopped and stared down at the ground. The marker was a simply and encoded radio beacon which would begin to transmit at a set time, only this one appeared to have been battered senseless by something – probably a Polar Bear who had tried to see if the device was edible.
"You got the spare?"
"Yes, mother!" Stephanie grinned as she placed a similar, but less-mauled, device beside the first and they switched it on.
"Hit Girl, Battle Guy – marker is online; you can move out."
"On our way!" Mindy responded. "Let's go, Steph."
Stephanie scrambled up over the hillock and was back in the Toyota Hilux a full minute before Mindy appeared.
"You're slowing up in your old age," Stephanie pointed out.
"Bite me!"
Mindy shoved the vehicle into gear and headed towards their jumping off position.
..._...
They were just five kilometres from Site A and two kilometres from where the combined Fusion forces were gathering.
They crested a small rise and then there was the ominous sound of cracking and Mindy gunned the engine, urging the truck to move forward as she felt vertical movement. Then the vehicle began to roll, and no matter what Mindy did, the roll increased until the vehicle suddenly fell three feet, and as the snow settled, Mindy and Stephanie found themselves inverted and staring at ice through the cracked windscreen.
"Are you okay?" Mindy asked.
"My head banged against the side of the truck but I think I'll live," Stephanie replied.
"Let's get on the radio, and..."
The vehicle began to shake, and both Mindy and Stephanie both became aware of somebody at the rear of the truck.
"That was quick!" Stephanie commented.
"No way Dave could have got here..." Mindy began before the entire vehicle began to move and then the vehicle rolled over and over.
Mindy's head struck the side of the vehicle several times as the vehicle rolled; her woolly hat absorbing much of the shock but not everything as the vehicle finally stopped moving after it had rolled over three times and came to a rest on its wheels.
Mindy reached over to her daughter and shook her but Stephanie did not respond as she lolled in her harness, then everything went black as she herself passed out.
..._...
Mindy felt groggy as she regained consciousness.
As she struggled to consider her position, she heard the crunching of boots on snow. She instantly became alert and she opened her eyes, only to find the dark gaping muzzle of a gun in her face.
"Don't even think about trying anything," a voice suggested.
Mindy ignored the gun and she looked around for Stephanie, finding the girl lying on the snow, face down, with a gun to her head.
"Stephanie..."
"She's alive – just out of it for a bit . . . gives us time to sort you out."
Mindy studied her immediate surroundings and, apart from herself and Stephanie, there was a man standing with a boy of maybe twelve-years-old – otherwise, they were very much alone. The man was grinning as he spoke again.
"I have good idea who you are and I have a good idea what you are, so I am taking no chances with you. Therefore, as it is such a nice day, I want you to strip, so we can make sure that you have no surprises on you."
Mindy was startled by the request, but it appeared logical – he was obviously allowing her nowhere near his facility until he was absolutely certain that she was no threat to him or his operation.
"It's fucking twenty below and you want me to strip?" Mindy growled as she sat up.
"Better hurry up, then," the man prompted. "I would also point you towards your daughter's fingers – they should get frostbite in a few minutes; but hey, who needs fingers."
The bastard had removed the outer and inner gloves from Stephanie's right hand, exposing the bare skin beneath to the frozen ice and snow. Mindy was stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place. If she refused, Stephanie would lose a few fingers at best, . . . her entire hand at worst. She had no choice, but she knew that she would freeze the moment she began to undress. Her mind was racing to figure out a way out of the situation, but nothing immediately came to mind. Dave was a few kilometres away and probably watching with no way to assist.
The main assault was still a while away – she had to stall . . . but without dying of hypothermia along the way.
..._...
Okay, how to undress while keeping as warm as possible for as long as possible?
Inevitably, she would be all but naked – maybe, he would stop at her underwear – but she would have to try and remain as warm as possible, if only to help the unconscious Stephanie. Mindy quickly settled on a plan of action, and with the man and the boy watching expectantly, she stood up and pulled off her mittens, keeping on her fingered gloves. She then unzipped her jacket and instantly felt the cold chill invading her upper body. Quickly, she pulled her arms out and then spread the jacket out on the section of snow where she sat, and she pulled off her woolly hat, dropping it beside her jacket. The grin on the boy's face really irked Mindy and it caused her anger to rise as she pulled off the first of her three layers of thermal upper clothing. She dropped the long-sleeved top beside her woolly hat and tried to ignore the increasing cold enveloping her upper body. The second layer came off and joined the first. Then she took a deep breath as she pulled off the third layer, a thin thermal vest with long sleeves, and she dropped it onto the growing pile of clothing.
She immediately realised that the final upper item of clothing would be embarrassing to remove as it was a sports bra and not a normal bra which she could just unclip and remove. Instead, she would have to haul it off over her head and expose her breasts to the pre-teen boy who appeared wide-eyed at seeing an adult woman undressing before him – the bastard might have seen it as erotic, but Mindy did not; no fucking chance! Without further hesitation, she swept the sports bra off and the boy whooped with joy as he laid eyes on Mindy's bare breasts. Instantly, her nipples hardened to the point of being painful as the cold invaded every part of Mindy's exposed upper body. Quickly, she dropped the sports bra and she swept up her jacket, pulling it back into place and zipping it up.
"That's cheating, but I will allow it," the man said as he gently replaced the inner glove on Stephanie's hand.
Mindy sighed with relief as she got on with her ordeal. She sat down on top of her growing clothing pile, using it as insulation from the ice while she attacked her gaiters with growing anger, throwing both down beside her as each was removed. She pulled at the laces of her boots, trying desperately to think of a way out of her situation. She heaved off each boot in turn, dumping them beside the gaiters. She could feel the cold in her feet already, and the cold was worming itself under her jacket and chilling her – she had to hurry. She pulled off her thick outer socks, then the thinner inner pair – her toes instantly felt the cold, as did the rest of her feet and her ankles. Next came the most humiliating part. Mindy realised that she would have to stand up to reach into all three layers covering her lower body and push everything down to her knees. She would then have to sit back down to push everything off over her feet. Full of reluctance, and ignoring her audience, Mindy stood up and she reached into her waistband and gripped hold of everything, then pushed the layers down. The intense cold struck her butt as more and more areas of bare skin were exposed, not to mention her thighs which quickly began to shudder with the cold as they froze. Mindy was struggling to breathe as she began to shiver, but before she could sit back down to swiftly push off her clothing, the man called out an order.
"Jacket off!"
"Bastard!" Mindy breathed as she pulled off the jacket, seeing that the man was covering Stephanie's right hand with her outer glove – it was a fair exchange.
The bitter cold hit Mindy with a vengeance, considering that she was naked from the knees up. It was minus twenty-three degrees Celsius, but the day was clear, and there was barely any wind – thankfully. It was, however, just as it always was, broad daylight, and Mindy's pale skin as she stood with nothing to cover her body above her knees, would be plainly visible for many kilometres. Aiming for her pile of clothing, Mindy dropped onto her bare backside as the boy chuckled excitedly. The heat in her cheeks as she turned red with humiliation did nothing to warm her up. With two quick movements, Mindy pushed the trousers and thermal underwear off her feet, and she stood back up, dropping the clothing on the pile. She stood on her jacket, keeping her bare feet well away from the surrounding snow as she stood completely naked – naked as the day she was born – with every part of her body very visible; her breasts with their ruby red nipples, her gradually returning dark pubic hair, the lot. She stood facing the man and the smirking boy with her arms at her sides, not wanting to give them the satisfaction of seeing her flinch away or attempt to cover up.
"You . . . seen . . . enough, little boy?" Mindy growled, her teeth chattering with the cold, the rest of her body liberally covered in goose bumps as she shivered involuntarily.
"Not yet," the boy said as he stepped closer to Mindy and got a good look at her barely covered vulva.
..._...
The boy picked up Mindy's right glove and he threw it six feet away.
Mindy was unsure what the boy was doing, but the instruction came very quickly, and Mindy's temper worsened.
"Walk to the glove," the boy ordered.
It was only six feet, but it was through deep snow, and Mindy was stark naked with nothing on her feet. Mindy knew that walking just one foot in the deep soft snow would be a killer, quite literally, let alone six. She had no choice, but if they wanted her alive, they would have to take her inside soon . . . once they got bored with humiliating her. Mindy steeled herself for the extreme cold of the snow and she stepped off her jacket. Her bare foot kept sinking into the soft snow until she was knee deep in the stuff. She involuntarily screamed out as her body reacted badly to the extreme drop in temperature in her legs and she began to hyperventilate and shiver more violently. It took everything that she had to reach the glove as her bare feet could not gain any grip on the snow and she had lost all feeling in her toes. Then she slipped and fell with the last step and she landed on her back before rolling onto her front atop the glove. As she struggled to her feet, shivering more violently than ever, she considered the show which she had given the man . . . and the boy, who was laughing hard at Mindy's unintended antics.
"Enough!" the man said, and he dropped Mindy's boots beside her, along with her jacket, woolly hat, and scarf. "Put them on."
Mindy forced herself to sit up and she quickly pulled on her socks and boots, struggling with her frozen fingers and trying to ignore the painful agony in her buttocks and her vulva as they froze – she missed her pubic hair which might have provided some small insulation from the snow. The jacket came next followed by the woolly hat and scarf. Mindy savoured the limited warmth provided as the feeling slowly came back to her toes with a lot of pain thrown in for good measure.
"Here," the man said as he threw Mindy one of her thermal tops. "Dry yourself off."
Mindy scowled as she dried both legs and then cringed as the boy watched her wiping her buttocks and then rubbing her vulva and between her legs. When she was done, she was walked towards a parked Mitsubishi Shogun 4x4. With relief, Mindy noticed that Stephanie was standing, a little groggily, but she was standing. Her expression was one of confusion.
"Why were you naked?" she asked.
"A long . . . and very cold story," Mindy replied, her teeth chattering.
"Take the jacket off," the man ordered as they reached the 4x4.
As Stephanie gaped with surprise, Mindy dropped the jacket and the man handcuffed her wrists ahead of her with plastic zip ties – two sets. The man hung the jacket over Mindy's shoulders, and she pulled it close as the man waved her into the backseat of the 4x4. The doors were closed once Stephanie was aboard, and Mindy felt the warmth from the heater – the engine had been running all the time she had been stripping out on the snow. It was not much warmer inside the 4x4, but it made a huge difference as Mindy wore nothing but socks, boots, a jacket, and her woolly hat with scarf. The boy had scooped up all of her clothing, including all of her weapons, and dropped them into the back of the 4x4. Stephanie's clothing had been rifled while she was unconscious, and she shrugged her shoulders to indicate that her weapons were gone.
"Now comes the part that my son is looking forward to – his name is Todd, by the way, and I am Raymond – Raymond Ransom."
..._...
The boy, Todd, turned around from his place in the front passenger seat and he looked directly at Stephanie.
"Take off your clothes – everything," he ordered.
"Fuck you, you little whelp!" Stephanie retorted.
"I really hate having to do this," the man, Ransom, said as he stopped the 4x4.
He climbed out and he opened the rear door beside Mindy. Without any preamble, he yanked Mindy out of the vehicle, and he pulled the jacket away from her body, slamming the car door shut and climbing back inside. Stephanie scowled at the boy as she rapidly began to pull off her clothing, knowing that Mindy could not stand any more of the cold for very much longer. It took the girl a little over a minute to strip down to her underwear, but her heart sank as the boy waved for her to continue and she pulled off her sports bra and pushed her boy shorts down and off. The boy leapt out of the car and Stephanie screamed when a burst of cold air swept in from beside her as the boy reached in and he grabbed up all of her clothing, getting a good look at Stephanie's naked body while he was at it.
Stephanie was puzzled as to why all of her clothing was being removed and placed in the back of the 4x4 while Mindy had been allowed to retain her socks, boots, and jacket. Then she screamed again when another icy blast of cold air met her from the other side as a frozen and shivering Mindy was pushed back into the car and wrapped up in her jacket again. The 4x4 lurched forwards for another hundred yards before it came to a halt again.
"Out!" the man directed as he and the boy jumped to the icepack and opened the rear doors. "You won't need that," he added as he pulled the jacket away from Mindy and threw it back into the vehicle.
Mindy stood out on the snow, naked but for her socks and boots, with her scarf around her neck and woolly hat pulled down firmly over her ears. She began to shiver straight away, and her teeth chattered. Part of her wanted to cry, but she knew that the tears would freeze instantly and hurt her further. Stephanie was shaking too as she gingerly stepped across the compressed snow in bare feet. The shock when she had stepped out of the 4x4 had been extreme as her feet had first tasted the cold snow and her naked body had been fully exposed to the freezing arctic air. Mindy pulled Stephanie to her and Stephanie stood on Mindy's boots, not so much for warmth as to not allow her feet to get any colder.
"Very sweet," the boy commented as Mindy and Stephanie wrapped their arms around one another to share bodily warmth. "Hot too, seeing two naked girls cuddling outside."
"Fucking pervert!" Stephanie forced out through her chattering teeth.
The youngster had never been so cold in all her life and she was struggling with it rather badly.
"Get her ready," the man told the boy before he turned to Mindy.
As Mindy watched, the boy pulled Stephanie away from her and he stood her on a small pile of snow before he went and gathered some items from the back of the 4x4 and took them over to Stephanie, dumping them on the ground beside her feet.
"Now," Ransom began. "I want to know what is out there. How many people? What weapons? What is the threat?"
"Fuck you!" Mindy growled as she shivered uncontrollably, her arms across her bare chest and her hands tucked under her armpits for warmth.
Stephanie glared at the boy as he wrapped a thick leather belt around her middle, pulling it very tight. The boy grinned as he took in Stephanie's small breasts and her thickening pubic hair. Stephanie growled as the boy 'accidentally' rubbed his fingers through that pubic hair, touching her labia beneath.
"Enjoy . . . it . . . it will be . . . your last, you . . . you . . . little fuck," Stephanie forced out through her chattering teeth.
The eleven-year-old's mind was struggling to focus and talking was difficult as her body shivered violently. A rope was attached securely to a carabiner on the front of the belt and the boy attached the opposite end to the front of the 4x4. He pushed a confused Stephanie forwards and the girl took small steps with her frozen feet as she was pushed towards a section of flattened snow and ice.
"Last chance, Mrs Lizewski," the man said as the naked Stephanie was stopped by his son and told to stay where she was as he backed off slightly.
"I . . . I . . . will never . . . reveal . . . anything."
"Your choice."
With that, the boy stabbed at the ice around Stephanie's feet with a ski pole and as Mindy watched in abject horror, the apparently thin ice gave way and Stephanie dropped through the ice and there was a large splash as the girl hit the Arctic Ocean a distance beneath.
"Stephanie!" Mindy exploded.
Her eyes never left the cracked ice and the hole where her daughter had vanished.