“Well girls…” Emma said, resignedly, “I guess this is it. It has been a pleasure working with all of you, and I wish you all the best of luck in the weeks and months ahead.” The young blonde woman was standing by the counter of the shop, addressing the five women standing in front of her.

“I still can’t believe you have to close the shop.” One of them, a tall, slender brunette named Sally said. About a month ago, their employer had lost everything on some bad investments. As part of the bankruptcy process, she was forced to close up the antiques shop she’d inherited from her parents and liquidate its assets.

“Yes…” Emma replied, with a shrug. “But it can’t be helped.” The young woman had inherited the antiques shop from her parents. Long after the customers had stopped coming in and it was evident the shop was no longer profitable, she’d kept it open, unable to bear the thought of closing it. Trying to put off the inevitable had driven her to some reckless deals and now she couldn’t keep it up any longer.

She gestured to one side, where a second group of people in business suits were standing against the wall, two men and two women. “These people are here representing the organization that I borrowed money from. They will be overseeing the process of closing up shop, to make sure everything is carried out properly. Please comply with any instructions they give you and remember, everything has to be inventories and boxed up for the bankruptcy auction. The sooner we finish, the sooner we’re done for the day.”

She turned to the overseers. “Now, you wanted to look over the books?” One of them, a tall dark haired man named Smith, nodded. Emma started towards the manager’s office, followed by him and the second man, a short, burly blonde named Thompson. The two women, who appeared to be in their mid-twenties, a striking redhead and a busy blonde beauty, stayed behind to watch as the shop girls went to work, boxing things up.

Meanwhile, Emma unlocked the office and stepped inside. In the far corner was a small iron safe. She unlocked it as well and pulled out several binders recording the shop’s financial history. The numbers told of the slow decline in profits. Long after it became evident the antiques shop was no longer profitable, she’d held on to it, hoping for some way to make it work again. At the end was the sudden nosedive, when the young woman had gambled the last of her savings on one final attempt to bring in the money to keep the shop open and lost it all.

The young woman nervously handed the books over to the Smith, who had sat down at the manager’s desk. “I…I’m sorry things haven’t worked out.” She told him, as he looked over the books. “I really thought I could turn things around. I know I can’t pay back what I owe your boss…but the sale from this place…and the bankruptcy auction, they’ll bring in some money. Not enough to cover everything I borrowed, but a good amount of it and…and somehow I’ll find a way I can pay back the rest. I just don’t know how yet…”

“Oh, I know of a way we can get the money you owe.” Smith told her, setting the binders aside. “This shop and the worthless junk in it won’t be enough to cover what you owe, but you have one other asset here, which I think will more then cover your debt…”

Emma looked down at him, in curiosity and nervousness. “What do you mean? What other assets. You’re already taking everything. What’s left?”

“You and your employees, of course.” The man replied. As he said this, his companion suddenly appeared behind Emma and grabbed her. One arm went around her chest, pining the startled woman’s arms to her sides. His other hand clamped a cloth pad tight over her mouth and nose. “We’ll get far more for you at our own little ‘bankruptcy’ auction then the rest of this stuff would bring in.” He grinned. “As well as the other lovely ladies working for you…”

Emma shook her head, grunting frantically as she squirmed in her captor’s grasp. Tears welled up in her eyes, as she realized not only would she be punished for her mistakes, but her employees would suffer the same cruel fate and there was nothing she could do about it now. Already, the young woman could smell the knockout drugs that had been soaked into the cloth pad. She whimpered in terror, starting to feel woozy.

“Look on the bright side…” Smith teased, watching her feeble struggles with enjoyment. “…at least this way, they won’t have to look for new jobs. Ha! We’ve got a great career lined up for all of you. Foreign travel, working in exotic locales…room and board included, plenty of ‘job security’…just don’t ask about the retirement benefits. Ha!” Emma sobbed before she slumped over in her attacker’s arms, unconscious. He kept the cloth pressed over her mouth and nose for a few seconds more as he slowly lowered the limp woman to the ground.    

Grinning, Thompson put the cloth away and started undressing his victim. He unbuttoned her blouse and pulled it off, then yanked down her skirt. While he finished stripping her naked, Smith left the room and came back with a small briefcase. He set it on the table and opened it. Inside were plenty o neat coils of soft, white cord and half a dozen gags of various types. He picked up one coil and tossed it to Thompson before grabbing one for himself. Working quickly, they bound Emma’s hands and feet and then lashed them together tightly, hogtying her.    

Smith selected a large, black leather panel gag from the briefcase. Emma was just starting to come to when he slid the thick rubber plug between her teeth. Her eyes widened in shock as she found herself a helpless, bound and gagged captive. The tight leather muzzle muffled her cry to no more than a frightened whimper. Fresh tears welled up in the young woman’s eyes as she realized she couldn’t do anything to stop these two thugs from doing whatever they wanted with her…and with her unsuspecting employees.

“You just lie there, and think about your future as a salve!” Thompson taunted Emma, playfully swatting her naked backside. Emma whimpered into her gag, squirming around on the floor. Leaving her to struggle behind the desk, out of sight, the two men made for the door. “We need to go see to the rest of your employees. By now, our associates should have taken care of one or two of them already…”

***  

“Excuse me?”

Hannah looked up from the crate of old vinyl records she was sorting through. One of the overseers, the redheaded woman, was walking over to her.

“Yes, can I help you Miss…”

“Scarlet. You can call me Scarlet.” The woman said. “And you are?”

“Hannah Braunstein.” She said, straightening up. Her dark curly hair, and just a touch of an accent, marked Hannah as coming from Israel. She had on a light brown sweater and a long, dark green skirt. “What did you need?”

“My  partner, Mary, and I found something in the back we think might be valuable. We were wondering if you could identify it for us to be sure.”

“I’ll try. There’s a lot of old junk in the back we were never able to sell…” Hannah replied, following Scarlet out of the main shop where the others were working into the storage space behind the counter. The room was piled high with all sorts of things, stacked on rickety shelves. The area had a strong smell of dust and old paper. “So what did you two fi-Mmmppphhh!!!” Hannah cried out as she was grabbed from behind by someone. It was muffled by the rag which was pressed over her mouth.

As Hannah feebly struggled, she realized her attacker was the blonde woman, Mary. Scarlet turned, a grin on her face as Hannah whimpered in fright, smelling the chloroform. “What’s going on…” Hannah thought, the last thing to go through her mind before she slipped into unconsciousness.

When they were sure she was out cold, Mary and Scarlet laid their victim onto the ground. Eagerly, the two crouched down and began stripping her clothes off. “Wow. Isn’t she nice?” Mary asked, running her eyes over the slumbering young woman’s naked form. She loved jobs like this, both of them did, where the two had a chance to bind and gag pretty young women and then have some fun with their helpless captives.

“Think we should hang onto her?” Scarlet asked. “She looks like she might be fun and she has the cutest accent. She’d sound so cute, begging for mercy in our dungeon.” Mary’s uncle was one of the boss’ top lieutenants, and one of the perks his niece and her girlfriend got as a result, they were allowed to pick one or two of the girls abducted from jobs like this and keep them for themselves. They’d play with the unfortunate girls a bit, and then send them on to be sold once they’d gotten bored with their latest playthings and decided to get someone new.  

“I don’t know. Maybe. Still a few more girls to grab. Better wait till we’ve got all of them and decide then. Now, let’s get Hannah here tied up before she comes to.” Mary grabbed their bag of bondage supplies from the shelf where she’d stashed it and the two slavers went to work. Hannah’s hands were tied behind her back and her legs were bound at the ankles and at the knees. A rope ran from her wrists to her ankles, while another ran from her knees and looped around the back of her neck, folding the unconscious girl into a tight ball.

Scarlet pulled out two handkerchiefs from her pocket. While she folded these into bands, Mary scooped up their victim’s crumpled panties from where they’d been dropped on the ground. She rolled them up and stuffed them into Hannah’s mouth. One of the cloth bands was tied between her teeth as a gag and the other was used as a blindfold.

Scarlet found a large wooden crate, full of junk. Emptied out, there was just enough space to fit the captive girl. The two lowered Hannah in and covered her up with a couple musty rugs, leaving an opening for her to breath. Just as they finished, they heard a frightened sob coming from the crate as Hannah awoke to find herself in a terrifying predicament.

“I’m sorry. I don’t think any of your coworkers can hear you.” Mary teased the sobbing girl. “But don’t worry. They’ll be joining you soon enough…"