Belinda had seen Jenna only once before and that had been in the PTC Building when Belinda had received her judicial whipping. Luckily it had been Nazira, rather than Jenna who had administered it. Nevertheless, she found the meeting embarrassing. That did not stop her doing what she had to do.

'I'm obliged under the new company 'Code of Conduct for the Treatment of Slaves' to report an excessive use of force on a slave. The line manager of the slave or the person who administered the punishment, if different, is to be immediately suspended, restrained and subjected to the new Disciplinary Code' she said, reading from a document in front of her, to get the wording right.

She explained that she had a severely whipped slave in the Medical Centre and that slave, who was Julia Andrezzi, had not been admitted with the relevant documentation which detailed the offence for which a punishment had been awarded under the new Code of Conduct. Nor was there the necessary documentation filled in by the person who administered the whipping. That left her with no choice but to take this as a whipping that was not properly authorised and constituted an excessive use of force, given the scale of the injuries.

'Whoever administered that whipping needs to be punished.' she said 'Who's her line manager?'

'Well Julia is now the Marketing Director, surely you know that. So Mr Williams is her line manager.'

'Er...Yes. But he's in France, isn't he? It's the person who did this I need to have disciplined'.

Jenna nodded and took out her phone. She rang Andrea and asked her to come over as there was a problem with the injuries to Julia.

'Not severe enough for her purpose?' said Andrea, still in something of a bad mood.

'No, too severe by some way. Look, you had better come over.'

An hour after Julia was admitted, Andrea arrived to see what the fuss was about. 'I don't see the problem' she said to Belinda, 'She asked for it.'

Belinda was horrified. 'No one should suffer that level of punishment. I have no choice but to order your suspension and immediate restraint.'

'Do you realise who you are talking to?' said Andrea hotly, 'You can't do that'

'I know who you are' said Belinda 'And it gives me no pleasure to do this but my role here requires that I act, not sweep things under the carpet.'

Jenna was still in the room and realised that something potentially disastrous was about to happen. 'When you said Julia asked for it, what did you mean?' she asked Andrea.

'Well she said that she had orders to report on the medical centre and that actually being a patient was the best way to do it. So she asked me to whip her hard enough to put her into the Medical Centre as a genuine case.'

'And Julia is a masochist.' said Jenna. This last comment was directed more at Belinda than Andrea.

'Yes I know but the new Code makes no reference to that. My job description requires me to obey the new Code to the letter or else I must be whipped' said Belinda. 'My first duty anyway is to my patient and I will not shirk from that. She's been badly hurt and I can't ignore it.'

Then, realising she was becoming officious she added, less formally, 'What are we to do? I don't have any authority to set the Code aside, only Mr Williams can do that. From the little I know of Mrs Williams, I don't believe she's a sadist. I want a proper inquiry into what happened but I still have to order Mrs. Williams' detention. I can't take the risk of further harm to my patient or to others. If anyone can think of some alternative please tell me know'

'Further harm!!!' exploded Andrea. 'You think I'm capable of deliberately harming others without reason'

'At the moment I think you would cheerfully kill me but I also think that is not your normal reaction. You look stressed and you've been put in an impossible situation. I'll do what I can to bring Miss Andrezzi back to a state of consciousness where she can give valid evidence but that will take several hours.'

'Then Let Mrs Williams go, at least till you've interviewed Julia.' said Jenna, amazed at the turn of events.

'Yes let me go' said Andrea and then she stopped and took a deep breath. 'No, you had better restrain me, and call Nazira, she should be back at the Page building by now' Both Jenna and Belinda found that last statement amazing.

'I don't think there's a need for that' said Jenna. 'Let's just get it sorted,'

'Well actually there is a need for it' said Belinda. 'There's no other option available to us under the rules. Miss Kahn may know about something I don't, so that seems our best option.'

'Restrain me and get Nazira', Andrea said again, in a more composed voice.