Amy groaned into her gag miserably as she stumbled down what she assumed was a long, straight hallway as best she could, given the short hobble rope binding her legs together, leaving just enough slack for her to take short steps. She could only assume the shape of the hallway, due to the thick band of cloth bound tightly over her eyes, leaving the helpless girl completely in the dark.

“Not much further now, my dear, and then you can join your friends…” the phantom taunted, jerking sharply on the rope in his hand. The other end of the rope was tied around Amy’s neck, yanking the captive girl forward. She whimpered fearfully into her gag, shuffling quickly to keep from falling over. With her hands tightly lashed behind her back, she had no way of breaking her fall, should she lose her precarious balance.

About fifteen minutes ago, the door to Amy’s cell had opened and the phantom rushed in. Any hope the girl might have had that she could overpower him and escape was quickly crushed. Ignoring her frantic struggles, the larger man had scooped his frightened prisoner up and threw her down, roughly, on the thick mattress.

Rolling her over onto her chest, Amy’s captor quickly pulled her arms behind her back and efficiently lashed them together with rope. Grabbing her kicking feet, he loosely bound them as well. A wad of cloth was jammed in her mouth, a second cloth, rolled into a band was pulled between her teeth to keep her from spitting the gag out. Another was bound over her eyes. A final rope was tied around her neck as a makeshift leash and he was done.

“Here we are, and I see my other two guests haven’t gone anywhere…” The phantom said with an evil chuckle as he dragged his struggling prisoner through a doorway. Amy heard the gag-muffled sounds of two other captives coming from inside the room.
“Lllrrreee? Iiccoorrriiaa?” She grunted into her gag. They moaned miserably in reply as she was led over beside them and forced to her knees on the concrete floor. She felt her captor loosen the bonds of her feet for a brief moment, before binding them together, tightly. The remainder of the rope was pulled forward and used to quickly tie her hands to her feet, leaving her hogtied on the cold floor.

“Now, I’ll go see how our final guest is doing, while you settle in…” the phantom said, standing up. Amy heard his footsteps echo in the large room as he walked over. “She’s still wandering around in the basement…” he said with a chuckle. “I suppose I might as well fill you three in on what’s going on here. Let you prepare yourselves for what’s next…”

Amy trembled with fear, realizing she was about to find out what lay in store for her and the others as the phantom walked back across the room to her and the other helpless captives. She felt him crouch down over her and reach behind her head. A moment later, the cloth fell away from her eyes. Amy blinked, momentarily blinded by the sudden light.

As her vision returned, the young woman raised her head, looking around the room, eyes wide in amazement. The floor of the room was not concrete, as she’d thought, but rough cut stone, as were the ceiling and walls. It looked as if the whole room had been carved out of the rock with hand tools. It was, roughly, twenty feet by ten feet, the ceiling six feet high.  

A number of ancient looking wood beams spread along the room helped to hold up the stone roof. Hanging from nails stuck in these were several electric floodlights that lit the space. Between two of the posts, taking up most of the long wall, was an enormous metal console of some sort. It looked like something out of a Steampunk novel, made of brass and covered in a huge assortment of switches, levers and buttons. Behind it, Amy could see a number of brass tubes ascending up the side of the rock face, disappearing into a shaft cut from the stone.

The phantom had also been making modifications to the control panels. On a small, simple wooden desk, beside it, was a computer, with three large screens side by side. The young woman could see, on the monitors feed from what she assumed were hidden surveillance cameras around the mansion. Scattered on the floor around the desk was a mess of discarded food wrappers and empty beer cans.

The phantom, meanwhile, moved over and quickly removed Victoria and Hilary’s blindfolds as well. The two gazed in amazement, grunting into their gag as they took in the strange sight. The phantom meanwhile stepped back and sat down on the chair at the desk, turning it around to face them. In the light, Amy could see the phantoms robes were nothing more than ordinary cloth, daubed with some sort of glow-in-the-dark paint. Underneath the hood, he had on a pair of night vision goggles.

“Extraordinary, isn’t it?” He said, waving a hand to take in the machinery. “It’s not just the house, too. These tunnels are quite extensive; even I haven’t explored all of them. Some of the tunnels go all the way to the coast.”

The phantom leaned back in the chair. “The man who built all of this was a smuggler, by the name of Ezekiel Horace, back in 1873, both as a home and a base of operations for his smuggling ring. What were they smuggling?” he asked, tauntingly. “Well, to be perfectly blunt: women. There was quite a market back then, for pretty young women from good families in the slave markets of the east.

The three girls listened in frightened amazement as he continued his story. “Ezekiel and his men lured the girls here, as visitors and took them captive. There’s quite an extensive dungeon underneath the mansion, as I’m sure you noticed…” he nodded to Amy. “When the tide was right, the unlucky girls were carried down the tunnels to a waiting boat and then to a Middle Eastern slave market or wherever they finally wound up.

The phantom paused a moment. “Of course, it couldn’t last. I’m not really sure what happened, all we know is, one day Ezekiel and his men were found dead in one of the rooms. Apparently, they’d had a disagreement and killed each other in a shootout. The house already had a bad reputation, with all of the mysterious disappearances, it was believed to be haunted, and so the building was left alone for years…”

“…until I found it.” He continued, in an excited voice. “Quite by accident, I had to leave in a hurry and needed a place to lay low for a few days and thought this would work well enough. Imagine my surprise when I stumbled across these tunnels. Down there, I found this:” he held up a small, leather bound book.” It’s Ezekiel’s journal, which explained all of that. I also found the designs he made for the mansion and all of the traps. Most of them were disabled, of course, but as you’ve seen, I’ve got most of them up and running now. I was looking for a new place to set up operations and this is perfect for my needs…”

A low, evil chuckle escaped his hood. “You see, I’m in the same business as Ezekiel and his gang was, all those years ago. There are still places around the world where young women can fetch a high price from the right buyer. Young ladies like you four, in fact…”
Along with her two friends, Amy whimpered into her gag in fear. The phantom was a white slaver! Which could only mean…

“Unfortunately, I don’t have any orders for four teen snoops right at the moment.” The phantom taunted, evilly, enjoying his captive’s fear. “Like I said, I had to leave my old base of operations in a hurry, but not to worry. I’m sure I’ll find buyers for the four of you soon enough. This place is perfect for my needs. I’m thinking of turning it into a Bed and Breakfast. Women check in, but they don’t check out…” He laughed evilly.

“But, before I can do that, I need to buy this place and, unfortunately, I’m not the only one interested. There are other people who have their eyes on this mansion and I can’t outbid them. So I hit upon the idea of dressing up as a phantom. It gives me some cover while I make repairs to the place and I can scare off any other potential buyers…”

Just then, there was a beeping sound from the computer. The phantom turned around and glanced over the screen. “Well, well…” he said. “It seems your friend has finally made her way out of the basement. What can we do to mess with her…” he leaned over one of the diagrams, tracing a line with his finger. Turning to the control panel, he reached up and pulled a large lever. There was a rattle of gears as machinery turned. The three girls watched, helpless, as the phantom worked the levers and switches, seemingly at random, keeping an eye on Beth’s progress via the security cameras.

“Muahahaha!!! You might as well give up now…sooner or later you’ll fall into my clutches, just like your friends! Ahahahahaha!!!” the phantom called out, tauntingly, into a microphone. He continued to mock Beth as he worked the controls with increasing tempo.

Amy hung her head and silently prayed. If Beth got away, she could go get the police. They could be rescued. Amy shuddered to think what would happen to them if she failed. If she were captured too…

“Aha! Finally!” The phantom crowed, hunched over the video screen. “You know, I almost thought she was going to get away for a minute there…” his three captives wailed miserably as he turned back towards them. “I need to go get her now.” He crouched down over Amy, grabbing her discarded blindfold. Quickly, he tied it back over her eyes, plunging her into darkness. “You three sit tight now and don’t go anywhere!” The three sobbed miserably as they listened to his footsteps echo down the tunnel, slowly fading to nothing…