Hasina was not in a good mood. The senior flight stewardess walked briskly down the hallway. She was a striking woman with a nice body kept fit and trim even at 40, thanks to regular visits to the gym. Hark dark brown skin was only starting to show a few, faint wrinkles here and there on her face. Her tummy was well toned and her breasts still fairly perky and round. Her dark hair was tied back in a proper bun. That, and the pair of reading glasses perched on her short nose were the only admissions she gave to her age.

“Tell me again why they had to move my seminar to the other side of the building!” Hasina asked her assistant, angrily. Dalia, her assistant, was a dead ringer for Hasina twenty years younger, right down to the same, proper hairstyle and glasses. They were dressed the same as well in the uniform of their airline: flared jackets of a dark purple, left unbuttoned to show off their white dress shirts, left unbuttoned at the top. Below, they had matching, knee-length skirts. Yellow scarves tied at the necks added a contrasting color to the outfit, while black stockings, and heels completed it. Dalia was carrying a computer bag with her computer as well as a stack of files with the notes for their presentation clutched to her chest.

“I don’t know ma’am.” The younger woman replied, hurrying to keep up with Hasina’s quick pace. “They said something about a pipe bursting in the old room. I guess this room was the only other one they had that was big enough for your panel.” This room happened to be on the far corner of the convention hall on the ground floor, far away from anything else that was going on. The two women hadn’t seen anyone else in the last five minutes. Near as they could tell, this part of the building was deserted.

Hasina sighed. She’d liked the old room. It was up on the second floor, right in the center of everything going on, very easy to find, to get to. Now, she’d be lucky if everyone attending didn’t get lost trying to find the room.

Finally, they came to an impressive set of double doors. Gilded letters overhead said that this was the Opal Ballroom. Inside was a large room, well decorated. The floor was wood panel and empty, except for a portable screen, set up beside a long table, near the center of the room.
There were two young women in the room, setting up chairs in front of the table. They had on staff uniforms. Hasina walked over and began chiding them to set up faster. “The panel will be starting in five minute!” She said, or rather it won’t if you’re still setting up chairs when they get here…assuming they can even find this room after you moved it!” Dalia, meanwhile, unpacked the laptop and was setting it up with the audio-visual equipment in the room.

After they’d finished putting out chairs for the listeners, Hasina had the two bring in another cart with chairs stacked on it and begin setting them up in two columns of 3-seats each, with a space between them, to simulate the seating arrangements on an aircraft for demonstrating. While they were doing this, the stewardesses here for training began coming into the rooms in ones and twos. They were all young, pretty black women wearing the colorful uniforms of half a dozen different airlines. Slowly, they took their seas, filling up the room.

“Is that everyone?” Hasina said, when her watch showed it was time to start. Beside her at the table, Dalia pushed a button on the laptop, bringing up the first slide in the presentation. Hasina was about to speak, when the door opened and three more young women came into the room, looking sheepish as they took their seats on the back row. Altogether there were between 15 and 20 women in the room.

“Well then…” she said after another minute had passed without anyone else showing up late. “Let’s begin. Welcome, ladies, to this training seminar for better practices for flight stewardesses…” Hasina began, launching into her lesson. “I hope this will prove useful and informative for everyone present…” She carefully put on a tone of cheerful interest, one she’d perfected through many flights dealing with crying babies, airsick tourists and irate passengers. Dalia followed along, turning to the next slide whenever Hasina reached that point.

Neither of them, nor their crowd of listeners, noticed as the two staff women slowly made their way towards the doors of the ballroom. Quietly, they opened one of the doors. Standing outside were two more women, wearing stewardess’ uniforms. As they slipped into the room, one of the staff women closed the door and locked them shut with a key.

When Hasina finally noticed the four as they made their way towards the front of the room, she assumed the two newcomers were just late. Then she noticed the pistols the four were armed with. Before she could say anything, one of the stewardesses raised her gun and fired. The gun had a suppressor attached to it, so the sound was rather like a loud firecracker, unlikely to be heard by anyone outside the room.

It was certainly loud enough to get the attention of everyone inside the room, however. Every eye in the room turned to the intruder, wide with shock. A few women screamed, other jumped to their feet…

“Everyone stay calm and keep quiet!” The woman who had fired shouted in a stern voice. “If you do what we say, you will not be harmed! Try and resist, and we will shoot you, simple as that.” Her companions had spread out, surrounding the crowd of startled ladies. A murmur ran through the crowd of women as they struggled to comprehend what was happening.

“What is the meaning of this!?!” Hasina said. “What do you intend to do with us!?!” She struggled to maintain her calm, stern expression, despite the gnawing fear inside her. As the gunwoman strode up to the table, casually waving her pistol towards the older woman, Hasina lost her focus. She shrank back, fear evident on her face. “You…you won’t get away with this, you know…”

“I wouldn’t be so sure, but since you asked…” the intruder said. She leaned in close and whispered something to Hasina. Whatever it was, no one else in the room could hear, but the older woman suddenly went pale.

In a weak, trembling voice, she turned to address the crowd. “Ladies, I suggest that we do as these people say. They are in earnest and I believe if we do not obey them, they will hurt or kill all of us.”

The leader of the intruders ordered the women to move from their seats towards one side of the room and line up, facing the wall. Slowly, the frightened women shuffled silently towards the edge of the large room, under the careful watch of the cruel gunwomen. Hasina and Dalia walked over, hands raised, to join them.

While this was happening, one of the intruders jogged across the ballroom to the opposite side. Tucked in one corner, behind a column, was a small door marked with an exit sign. She eased the door open and poked her head through. It opened out into a small parking lot, tucked behind the hotel. Tall hedges screened the lot from both the outside and the rest of the hotel. It was normally used to allow caterers to bring food in for events being held in the ballroom unobtrusively.

Occupying the parking lot was a large moving truck. A pair of young women dressed in street clothes were standing by the back of the truck. Lying at their feet were several cardboard boxes. When the women at the door whistled at them, they picked up the boxes. The three quickly crossed the room to where the rest of their team were holding the stewardesses at gunpoint.

“Let’s get these ladies ready to move out.” The leader of the kidnappers said. A few of the women whimpered in fright, hearing this, but a few growls from the gunwomen patrolling up and down the line of captives quashed any thoughts of resisting.

The other kidnappers opened the boxes. Inside the first one were plenty of shiny pairs of steel handcuffs. The second held a similar number of black, rubber and leather ballgags. One of the women picked up the first box. She held it while the others grabbed cuffs out of it. “Hands behind your backs! Now!” they ordered. Moaning with fright, the stewardesses hurried to obey. Many were crying as their captors slowly moved down the line, shackling each of them in turn. Anyone who tried to resist was swiftly dealt with. When they reached the end of the line, they started from the beginning with the box of gags.

“Open up, bitch!” One of the fake staff women ordered. Hasina grunted angrily as the large rubber ball was forced between her teeth. Beside her, Dalia whimpered as her captor pulled the straps of her gag tight, forcing the rubber plug deeper into her mouth, before buckling it on tightly.

The whole process of shackling and gagging their captives took the intruders almost fifteen minutes. The entire time, the frightened women hoped desperately that someone might come along and notice what was going on. No such luck. They were far enough away from the main area that no one heard their muffled sobs or the orders their captors barked at them.

When the last frightened girl had been roughly grabbed, the kidnappers tossed the empty box aside and drew their pistols out again. “Start moving!” the leader ordered. She grabbed the nearest girl and shoved the frightened captive in the direction of the side door. The mass of captives slowly shuffled towards the door, herded along at gunpoint.

Outside, the kidnappers had backed the truck up, almost to the door. The back of the trailer was open and the ramp was lowered. The kidnappers formed up, on either side of the ramp, two on each side, with the last two behind, driving the mass of women forward, forming a corridor up to the truck. They brandished their guns, crushing any thought their captives might have had of trying to run for it. The terrified women had only one way to go: up the ramp into the truck, to join the bound and gagged captives already inside.

Pressed forward by the ones behind them, the women at the front stumbled up the ramp inside. The rest quickly followed. In moments, the last girl disappeared inside the truck. No one saw what had happened. Four of the kidnappers got inside as well, to keep their prisoners in line. They raised up the ramp and shut the trailer. The other two climbed into the front of the truck. They started it up and slowly drove away from the convention center…