Her act was a straitjacket escape but not of the usual type. Her straitjacket was
custom made and far more restrictive than the normal. The top part was much as a normal
straightjacket, with sleeves for the arms that wrapped around the front and were attached
to the back of the jacket, forcing the arms into a tight wrap around the body. The top
part was buckled on with leather straps and padlocks, all quite tight and secure. But
then the jacket differed from the norm. There was the normal crotch strap, a wide leather
strap passing between the legs and tightly buckled to prevent the jacket from being pulled
up. But there was a second part, a leather sheath that covered her legs from the hips
down to the ankles. That sheath had a dozen straps to hold her legs together, along with
hasps to attach locks. After the sheath was secured on her legs, they would be bent
double and a wide strap used to bind them in that doubled-up position. There were then
several straps from that leg-binder up to the top part of the jacket to secure it and
prevent it from being pulled off the legs. When it was finished, she would be strapped
tightly in leather from neck to ankles and with her legs folded. It was a position from
which no one should be able to escape. Most of the normal ways of working your arms out
of a straightjacket would not work because of the straps holding the top to the bottom
parts.
She would be put in those leather restraints and then gagged. She would be picked
up and placed inside a steel barred cage and locked in. The cage would be atop a table
about four feet off the floor. A short curtain would be pulled around the cage, covering
only from the top to the table level. All under the table would be completely visible to
the audience.
The escape was a double one; first the straightjacket then the cage. The only
negative part of the escape was that it took time. The cage was not large and gave her
very little room to move around in. The locks were rigged to open by themselves two
minutes after being locked. When the lock closed, it punctured a small vial of acid that
then ate through a tiny metal clip. As soon as that clip was weakened enough, the lock
could be shaken and would open by itself. Working her arms out would not be too hard
because all the straps were not buckled as with a normal straightjacket, but locked
closed. With the locks literally falling off, she could wiggle out of the leather
restraints. The only problem could arise from one or more of the locks failing to
disengage properly. Because of that, she had tested over fifty locks to perfect the
mechanism, and was confident that they would not fail her.
She would have a pick hidden in her rather brief costume and use that to unlock the
locks on the cage.
Her best time at doing all this was five minutes and eighteen seconds. That was a
bit long to make an audience wait with nothing happening on the stage, so, as she climbed
the stairs to her apartment, she was thinking about what might be done as a diversion
during that time.
Shedding her clothes, she entered the bathroom and took a shower. When she
emerged, damp all over, she failed to notice the dark figure hidden behind the door. A
sudden shock jolted her body, and then everything went black.
From his secret observation center, Carl Hardson watched as the figure dressed in
black placed the stun gun up to the back of Mistress X’s neck and as her body jerked
backwards then collapsed to the floor.
He was most interested to see what the figure would do next. Leave her there and
go sabotage her equipment? Or would he sabotage the naked woman lying at his feet?
Hardson had to switch cameras as the figure carried the unconscious woman down the
stairs and over to her equipment. What now? The figure placed her on a table and looked
around at the cages, chains and locks and boxes of leather restraints. What was he
looking for?
He found what he was looking for in a cardboard box. From that he pulled several
coils of rope, white nylon and about a quarter inch in thickness. Going to the naked
woman, he began binding her body. The arms were bound behind her, the elbows very tightly
together. Then he wrapped rope around her waist and arms, and cinched that down as
tightly as he could. The man watching on the monitor could see how it cut into her
stomach – it was that tight.
He bound her legs together, as usual at the ankles and again above the knees. A
rope then went from the ankles up to the elbows and was used to pull her legs up into a
classic hogtie. Only he pulled very hard and forced the feet up higher than her bound
wrists, almost all the way to her bound elbows. Her body was forced into an arch by the
tightness.
This was a very tight hogtie, and one that most people could never get out of, even
a professional escape artist. Hardson noted that as the man tied her, he seemed to be
exuding hatred with the viciousness with which he bound her. Did he hate this woman? Or
all women?
The hogtie was very tight and secure, but he was not finished with the unfortunate
woman. From his pocket, he pulled a ball gag and forced it into her mouth. When it was
buckled tightly, he tied a short rope from the back of the gag strap to her ankles and
pulled until her head was lifted and pulled back. She was beginning to moan, perhaps
coming out of the stunned condition.
From his pocket, he took a small role of duct tape that he wrapped around her head,
completely covering her eyes. Then he stepped back and looked at his work.
There was no question that if she were not already feeling pain, she would as she
awoke more. It seemed every muscle in her body was strained by the tight ropes. This
kind of hogtie was only used when you wished to punish the victim. It was uncomfortable
at the very start and became extremely painful before very long passed. A few hours of
this kind of hogtie would be agony for any woman.
The figure then picked her up like a piece of luggage, using the rope between her
ankles and elbows as a handle, and carried her over to the steel barred cage that was part
of her act. He inserted her into the cage and closed the lid. Ignoring the locks lying
around, he tied the lid shut with numerous windings of rope. The knots were tied very
tightly and in a dozen places to make it difficult to get out of the cage. Which was
clearly a case of overkill, since it was highly unlikely that Mistress X could possible
free herself from the hogtie ropes.
For minute, the figure just stood there, looking at the secured package he had
created. Then he draped a tarp over the cage and left.
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