“And when you get a chance, go check on the audio-visual equipment in room 219. The last speaker there said some of the equipment was causing trouble.” Zaire said. The man nodded and hurried off. The young woman turned her attention back to the convention floor. The companies and groups that had set up booths were in full swing, as hundreds of convention goers wandered among the displays. Zaire nodded approvingly. Except for the usual hiccups that were inevitable in an event this big, there hadn’t been any serious problems so far. With luck, nothing would…

“Excuse me, ma’am.” Zaire turned to see one of her staffers, a pretty black woman, standing behind her. She didn’t recognize the woman, even though she was wearing a staff uniform, but that was hardly surprising, with all the new staff they’d had to hire for this event.

“What is it?” Zaire asked.

“Well, we’ve had a pipe burst in the Emerald Ballroom on the second floor and the room is flooded.”

Zaire had to force herself not to swear. “The big stewardess’ training session is going to be in there!” She remembered because the woman holding the panel had been very specific about the need for a large room for her panel. There were only a couple rooms in the entire convention hall that would fit and most of them were already reserved for other events. Zaire hurried down to the other end of the floor to check. Sure enough, another woman in a staff uniform was posting a sign on the door. It said, “Room Closed due to Maintenance Issues.” “Where can we move it now?” She said, thinking out loud.
         
To her surprise, the staff woman had followed her. “What about the Opal Ballroom?” she suggested. “The one down on the first floor.”

Zaire thought for a moment, mentally picturing a floor plan of the convention hall, figuring out which room the other woman was talking about and running through the planned schedule of events. The Opal ballroom was on the far corner of the building, away from anything else that was going on, but it was big enough… she nodded. “Yes that would work perfectly.” Had Zaire stopped to think for a moment, she might have wondered how this unknown woman knew which room to suggest, but she didn’t. She was too preoccupied with everything that had to be done to put the changes into order.

With a quick word of thanks, Zaire hurried off. She hurried past the regular elevators, which were crowded with guests. Just past them, tucked behind a corner were the staff elevator. Her staff key called the elevator down. She hurried up to the fifth floor. Passing by the security office without a glance, Zaire walked to a door marked “Communications Office”. Inside, three young women sat at the desks. The staff secretaries were busy answering phone calls, e-mails and taking care of the usual memorandum that came with any large office.

“Neema!” Zaire said, crossing the room to a young black woman wearing business clothes.

“Yes ma’am?” the pretty secretary asked, looking up from her computer.

“We’ve had a slight change of plans. The training panel for flight stewardesses…we need to move it to the Opal Ballroom. There’s been a slight problem with the old room. I’ll have to make sure maintenance is notified.

“Right.” The younger woman said. She quickly typed on the computer, changing the online schedule to reflect the change. Reaching over to her phone, she punched in the number for the PA system. “Attention, Ladies and Gentleman. We have an announcement to make…” the young woman could be heard throughout the building. “The Flight Stewardesses Training Panel at 11:30 in the Emerald Ballroom has been moved due to a maintenance issue. It will now be held at the same time in the Opal Ballroom on the Ground Floor. Repeat, the stewardess’ panel has been moved to the Opal Ballroom on the Ground Floor.”

She had just set the phone back down when a voice from the door made all of the women turn. “That’s just what I needed to hear.” A woman said. Standing at the door was a black woman wearing a stewardess’ uniform. She was holding a gun in her hand. “Hands up! All of you!” She ordered. Stunned the four women obeyed. Their unknown attacker walked into the room. Following her was another black woman wearing a staff uniform, also carrying a pistol.

“What is the meaning of this!?!” Zaire demanded, indignantly. “Who are you!?! What do you want!?!”

The first intruder looked towards her. “You don’t need to know who we are. As for what we’re doing, you’ll find that out soon enough and what I want at the moment is for the four of you to go and stand up against that wall…over there.” She gestured with her pistol. Keeping their hands raised, the frightened secretaries stood from their desks and shuffled to the wall and stood, facing it.

Zaire followed after them. “You won’t get away with this! Security has this whole building under surveillance!”
         
“Not anymore.” The other woman said, walking behind the manager. “We’ve already seen to them.” She grabbed the young woman’s raised arms and twisted them behind her back. Zaire winced as the zip-tie was tightened around her wrists. “They’re are prisoners now. You’ll be joining them soon enough.” Zaire was silenced by this revelation. A moment later, she was literally silenced by a wadded up ball of cloth the woman stuffed in her mouth. She gagged, trying to spit it out. Before she could, her captor tied a band of cloth over her lips. Several more quickly followed, ensuring her gag would be staying in for the time being.

The woman went down the line to the next girl in line, a pretty 19-year old who’d only started working here a month ago. She whimpered as she was bound and gagged. The other two got the same treatment. Their captor stepped back. While her partner kept their prisoners covered with her pistol, the other pulled out a small radio and held it to her mouth. “We’re done here.” She said, “We’ll swing by you and collect your three. Do we have a clear route?”

A moment later, someone on the other end answered. “Yes, but be quick about it.”

“Alright, ladies.” The other stewardess growled. “We’re gonna go for a little walk right now. Don’t try anything crazy and you won’t get hurt!” The four captives grunted into their gags in fear as they were herded out the door and into the hallway at gunpoint. The kidnappers brought them to a halt outside the security room. One of them walked to the door and tapped out it. A moment later, the door opened. The four women moaned as the security guards were pushed out into the hallway to join them, helplessly bound and gagged captives like them. The three guards groaned, seeing their coworkers captured, having been unable to do anything to stop this.

The captives, now seven, were marched down the hallway again. After a moment, Zaire realized they were heading towards the staff elevator. Using her staff key, their abductors called the elevator up. “Get in.” They ordered as the doors opened. The captives were packed inside, pressed together in the confines of the elevator. One of the kidnappers pushed the button for the parking garage underneath the convention hall. The elevator hummed a moment, quickly descending.

When the doors opened again, the captives could see the dimly lit concrete walls of the parking garage. Nearby, a large moving truck was parked a few yards away from the elevators, waiting for them. A tall black woman, dressed in casual clothes, got out of the van. She smiled, watching the group of bound and gagged women stumbled out of the elevator, towards the truck. Walking around, she unlatched the back of the truck and lifted the door. As she did, a chorus of muffled groans came from inside.

As the captives shuffled towards the truck, they could see four more women lying, bound and gagged in the back of the vehicle. They were completely naked, save for the tape that covered their eyes and mouths and circled their hands and feet. Zaire guessed the intruders must have kidnapped these four for their clothes and badges. “But why keep them prisoner afterwards?” She thought to herself. “And why kidnap us as well?” She whimpered in fear, not liking the answers to those questions.

The woman in civilian clothes lowered a ramp from the truck down. “Up you go!” The kidnappers ordered. The captive women hesitated. They had little idea what was going on, or why they were being abducted, but they knew for sure that getting into the back of the truck was a bad thing. They hung back, grunting into their gags fearfully.

Unfortunately, the women didn’t have a choice. Frowning, the woman in the staff uniform stamped forward and seized the girl closest to the ramp. “Come on! Up and In! Get Moving!” she said, shoving the girl up the ramp. The secretary squealed, stumbling up into the back of the truck. Zaire was the next to be grabbed. With a groan, she wobbled up, the next girl close behind her. Pretty soon, all of them were inside.

Their kidnappers were right behind their captives. They forced the women to sit down on either side of the trailer. Working quickly, they bound the prisoner’s feet with more zip-ties. As they walked back out of the trailer, Zaire heard them speaking. “This batch is secured. We’ve got another pair to deliver. After that, get the truck into position for the final phase.” With that, they closed the truck back up, latching the doorway shut. Inside, the captives sobbed as they were plunged into darkness…

***

“I’m telling you, we’re lost.” Tanisha said, looking down the hallway.

“I’m positive the room we’re looking for is somewhere around here.” Akinyi replied.

The two young black women were walking down an empty hallway of doors, somewhere on the fourth floor. They were dressed alike: in dark blue jackets with gold stripes at the cuffs and epaulets, matching dark trousers with black dress shoes. They had on peaked caps with winged insignia attached to the front. The two friends were both pilots for an international airline.

“Check the booklet again.” Tanisha said. “I’m pretty sure there aren’t any events on this floor today.” Her friend started digging through her bag for the small, paper booklet they’d gotten when registering.

Just then, Tanisha heard footsteps coming from further up the hallway. A second later, a staff women came around the corner in view. She was pushing a small laundry cart, filled with what looked like sheets. “Hang on a sec…” she told her friend. “Maybe we can ask this lady here.” She walked forward, calling out. “Hey, do you think you can help us? We’re trying to find the panel on Industry Networking.”

The staff woman stopped and turned as the two pilots walked over to her. “um…yes…yes! I think it’s one floor down, take a left from the elevators.” She said, hurriedly. With a nod, she turned and began pushing her cart forward again. She’d made it a couple yards when there was a muffled moan from inside the cart.  

“What was that?” Akinyi said, perking up.

“I didn’t hear anything.” The staff woman said, fidgeting. A second later, there was another moan, slightly louder.

“What’s in the basket?” Tanisha said, walking over. She reached down and pulled the sheet on top aside. “Oh my God!” Her eyes widened in shock. Sitting at the bottom of the cart were two young women. They were completely naked and bound hand and foot. Tape covered their eyes and mouth. The captives grunted into their gags miserably.

“What’s going on here!?!” Tanisha said, turning to the staff woman. She froze as a gun suddenly appeared in the other woman’s hand.

“Sorry about this. It’s unfortunate you two had to get mixed up in this, but I need you to raise your hands.” The kidnapper said with a sigh. Numb with shock, the two pilots raised their hands. “Now, up against the wall. Like that. Hands behind your backs, so I can tie you two up…”

***

“Mmmppphhh!!!” Tanisha and Akinyi groaned into their tape gags. They squirmed, fighting against the plastic zip ties that held their hands and feet in tight bondage. Beside them, the two cleaning women moaned as well. The laundry cart was big enough for two captives, with four women sitting inside, they were pressed close together, unable to move in the slightest without rubbing up against each other.

“Oh, you be quiet.” Their kidnapper chided the two cleaning women. “It’s your own fault. If you two hadn’t mouthed off at the wrong time, these two innocent ladies wouldn’t be in this mess and you’d have more room. Now there’s no more room for anyone else, so if you four don’t keep quiet, I’m going to have to shoot someone and it might be you!” Ignoring their frightened sobs, she straightened up against and pulled out a radio. “I ran into a small snag on the way.” She reported. “Picked up two more ladies who were too curious for their own good.” Below her, Tanisha and Akinyi whimpered.

“Is the situation under control?” A woman on the other end asked.

“It is. I got them trussed up no problem and there’s no one else around.”

“Do you think the two are worth collecting with the others?” The voice said.

The kidnapper glanced down at the two pilots who stared back up, expressions of horror on their cute faces. She grinned. “Yes, I definitely think these two are worth collecting.” She slid the radio back into her pocket. “Now come on. You four are going on a long trip…” The four women sobbed as she threw a blanket over them, hiding them. Slowly, she wheeled the laundry cart towards the staff elevator…