Tom Daley hung in chains. He was naked apart from the tight, blue speedo which he had worn whilst he had been training at his pool.
His wrists were shackled and held somewhere high above his head. His arms were pulled painfully tight. His shoulder muscles complained as they supported the weight of his entire body. His feet dangled inches above a cold, concrete, dirty floor.
He could barely make a sound. Another of his training speedos had been stuffed in his mouth and was held in place with several layers of duct tape which had been wrapped several times over his mouth and around his head.
A camera flash repeatedly dazzled him as the harsh, unblinking eye of a camera repeatedly took his photo.
Somewhere behind the camera, Tom could just about make out the figure of one of his kidnappers. He was muscular and wore tight black leather jeans, a white t-shirt and a black leather jacket…he also wore a black gas mask. His face was hidden other than the dim suggestion of eyes seen through the circular eye pieces…
Tom had been taken from his training pool. It was late at night and he had just completed the last of his training dives. He had been walking back to the changing room. The water dripped from his tight, well trained body. His wet blue speedo clung to him like a second skin. No-one else seemed to be around. Other that Tom, the pool seemed deserted.
He had walked past a fire door when it suddenly burst open and banged loudly against the changing room wall. Three leather clad kidnappers rushed through the door, grabbed his arms and pulled him into his changing cubicle. A leather gloved hand locked itself over his mouth preventing him from making a sound. Strong hands pulled his wrists behind his back. Tom could not see who they were. They wore black rubber gas masks. Tom tried to kick out but a pair of arms wrapped itself around his legs and held them firmly.
One of the kidnappers reached into Tom’s kit bag and pulled out another of his speedos. The gloved hand grabbed his chin and pulled whilst also pinching his nose closed. His mouth was forced open. The speedo was quickly stuffed into his mouth. Tom tried to force it back out with his tongue but the leather glove once again locked itself over his mouth. Tom heard duct tape being pulled off a roll.
As Tom’s athletic body was held firm, duct tape was placed over his mouth and then wrapped repeatedly around the back of his head and back over his mouth. Each layer of duct tape pulled tighter. The speedo was held firmly in place in Tom’s mouth. He was silenced.
Tom tried to wriggle his body free as he felt more duct tape being wrapped around his restrained wrists which nestled in the small of his back..
Several seconds later, his ankles were taped together.
Tom had been subdued and restrained in less than a minute. He felt a wave of panic rush through his body.
One of his leather clad captors opened the changing cubicle door and took a quick look out. He nodded at the other two. Tom was thrown over the shoulder of one of the kidnappers and quickly carried out through the fire door into the night time and then into the back of a white, unmarked van parked close by in the shadows. All of the kidnappers bundled into the van and pulled the doors shut behind them.
It was dark in the back of the van and Tom struggled to see what was happening. He was dumped unceremoniously on the metal floor and before he had time to gather himself, further duct tape was wrapped below and then above his knees firmly holding his legs together.
Tom was then made to sit up and tape was wrapped around his arms and upper body pinning his already restrained arms to his sides.
Once restrained, his still wet body dropped back to the cold metal floor of the van.
Tom quickly noticed he was lying next to a long dark green metallic chest. It was approximately six feet long and a foot and a half wide. With a mounting sense of panic, Tom saw one of his abductors lean forward and open the top of the chest. Two of his captors then picked up Tom and and lowered him into the chest so he was lying on his front.
Tom lay face down and full length in the metal chest. There was no inner lining. His body shivered as his naked wet skin came into contact with the metal.
The chest was just wide enough for him. Tom turned his head on its side so his face was was not crushed against the metal base. He felt his bare feet come into contact with the bottom of his metal prison.
Tom felt a heavy strap being fastened around his ankles. It was pulled tight and he felt his ankles pulled towards the bottom of the chest. He could not move them. He felt another strap being locked around his waist and again connected to a point somewhere on the inside of the chest. Tom then saw hands reach down towards his head and fasten a final strap tightly around his neck. The other end of the strap was then pulled through an anchor point at the top of the chest and padlocked in place. Tom could believe what was happening to him.
Tom was then plunged into darkness as the lid of the chest was closed above him with with a loud metallic crash. The rattle of metal and several clicks suggested to Tom that his small metal prison has been locked from the outside.
Tom felt a surge of panic and then terror. He screamed and screamed but the speedo stuffed into his mouth and the layers of duct tape kept him silenced.
He desperately tried to jerk his body free from his restraints but the straps fixed to his body held strong.
Tom yelled again and again but little sound escaped from his gagged mouth.
There was a sudden vibration and Tom realised that the engine in the van had been started. He felt movement. The van was driving away from the pool.
Only minutes before, Tom had been training in his diving pool. But now, his still wet, speedo clad body lay firmly bound and secured in a pitch black metal prison.
Tom was being kidnapped…
