They get captured by a rival gang

A part of Laura´s mind was grateful that she was captured by such a “peaceful” gang, she knew that if any other criminal group caught her in a similar situation her fate would be much more gruesome and painful.

Another part of her mind would have preferred that rather than be submitted to such a bizarre and embarrassing punishment, why couldn’t they just beat her up or something and be done with it?

Laura and Ari were standing at an open basketball court, with all but the street facing side covered in metal fences that didn’t conceal anything in particular. The Roughlases boss had found it so amusing that they were bound together by handcuffs that in addition to them their right and left ankles (corresponding to the hand they each have handcuffed) had being tied together with a chain bike lock, the bike lock itself was tied to the basket hoop pole with a chain taken from the factory. It was a long chain, they could move freely to any place within the court but not much farther.

For their “game” they had been given only a basketball, they had taken away the sign and had given them no additional clothes, they were still naked.

Flimsily tied at the bottom of the net were two keys, they were arranged in such a way that they were suspended horizontally in the air so that any ball that entered the net would dislodge them and make them fall to the ground. They were the keys to the bike lock and the handcuffs (the latter taken from Laura’s pants on the factory)

However making the shot wasn’t that simple. For starters the basketball hoop didn’t have a backboard so they couldn’t bounce the ball in, they had to make an almost perfect shot. Secondly, the pole was taller than usual, which meant the net was more high up than usual, meaning they needed the combined strength of at least two of their arms to have any hope of the ball reaching the net, and considering how they were bound together, that would require a lot of coordination between the two. The naked duo would be trapped and exposed out in the open court until they scored a shot and recovered the keys to free themselves and run for cover.

“…unless you would rather join my gang, then we´ll untie you, give you clothes and make you second in command” said the boss of the gang to Ari.

“I will never betray the Heartcrushers” Responded Ari

“I will” Interrupted Laura “Now get me ou…”

“That offer wasn’t for you, we found your cellphone and other stuff. We already know you work for the cops”

Ari gave Laura a dirty stare, she shrugged it off. It was worth a try.

“Well then, since you don’t want to join I’ll leave you to it”