“Coming!” Ruth Brendon called as the front door bell rang again. The 28-year old woman made her way up the hall to the entryway. She’d just gotten home from work half an hour before, so she hadn’t had a chance to change out of her work clothes; a light grey vest top over a white blouse, dark grey skirt and hose. She’d kicked off her heels, so her feet were bare, apart from the pantyhose.

“I’m coming!” She called, irked somewhat, as the doorbell rang a couple more times, insistently. Whoever was out there was in a hurry. Ruth shook her head, her dark, shoulder length curls swaying. If this was another pushy door to door salesman or surveyor…

“Yes? What can I…” Ruth started to snap as she opened the front door. She didn’t get a chance to finish. No sooner had the door opened a crack, then It was forced all the way open. The young woman briefly saw a man, tall, thin, greying hair, dressed in workman’s coveralls, forcing his way into the house. He waved a pistol, the black bulk of a suppressor making the barrel even longer, in the woman’s face.

“Down! Down on the ground now!” The man shouted at her. Taken by surprise, terrified by the sudden invasion, Ruth couldn’t muster effective resistance as he seized her by the arm with his free hand. She was spun around and pushed forward, back into the entry hall. A booted foot hit her legs, just below the knee, dropping her to the ground. Another rough push sent her onto her belly. Before she could rise, she felt the barrel of the pistol press against the back of her head.

“Stay down! Don’t move!” The man growled.

Tears welled up in Ruth’s eyes. Only a few seconds had passed since she’d opened the door, but now she suddenly found herself in the middle of a home invasion, a gun to her head. “Please!” She begged. “Don’t hurt me!”

Her captor’s only reply was a sharp cuff to the side of her head with his free hand. “Shut up!” He turned to speak to someone behind him. “Move the bitch’s car out of the garage and bring the van in.” he turned back to her. “Where are the keys? Tell me!”

Terrified, Ruth answered. “In…in my purse. On the k…kitchen table.”

“Check her purse.” Ruth’s captor called back. Ruth heard a second man reply in affirmation and hurry past the two of them, headed for the kitchen. “Now, hands behind your back. Now!”

As the sobbing woman hurried to obey, she heard him pull some things out of the pockets of his coveralls. The moment Ruth placed her hands behind her back, she felt gloved hands seize them, placing them together, palms facing outward. She felt a plastic being drawn around her wrists, then gasped in pain as the zip-tie was pulled tight, the hard-plastic cutting into the soft skin of her wrists.

“Please! It hurts!” Ruth pleaded as tears flowed freely. This earned her another rough slap from her captor. The helpless woman moaned in dismay. Why was this happening to her? She wondered miserably.

Ruth’s captor pulled something out of his pocket. One hand grabbed Ruth’s hair and pulled, yanking her head back up from the carpet, eliciting another yelp of pain from the poor woman. As she cried out, his other hand came around, forcing something between her lips. She grunted in confusion as the thick rubber ball slipped behind her teeth. The plug helped to muffle her cries and sobbing to a quiet whimper. She moaned again as she felt leather straps coming from the sides of the ball being pulled behind her head, where her captor buckled them. As he yanked the straps tight, the ball was forced deeper into her mouth, straining her jaws further apart.

“Alright bitch! Time to go!” The man growled, grabbing Ruth by her bound arms. She sobbed as she was pulled to her feet. Before she could find her balance, he gave her a shove, grunting, “Move!” for emphasis. Helpless, she stumbled down the hallway, struggling to keep on her feet as he shoved her this way, then that.

Ruth was hurriedly marched to the garage door and through it. Inside, like the man had ordered, the young woman’s small, silver car had been removed, and in its place parked a large grey utility van. The second man was currently seated in the driver’s seat, the van idling.

“Inside!” Ruth’s captor ordered. The young woman shrank back, eyes going wide with terror as she realized this wasn’t a simple robbery, but a kidnapping. She turned to her captor, shaking her head as muffled pleas slipped through the ballgag filling her mouth. Unfortunately for the young woman, she wasn’t in a position to stop her abduction from happening. With a frown, the kidnapper grabbed his bound and gagged captive, roughly spinning her around and pushing her once more towards the van.

“Inside!” He repeated, grabbing the handle on the back door and swinging it open. Ruth’s terror only increased as she saw what was inside. Two more women lay on the floor of the van, obviously captives like her. Their hands were tucked behind their backs, likely zip-tied like hers were, and their feet had been strapped at the ankles as well. Rubber ballgags, like the one wedged between Ruth’s teeth forced the women’s mouths into wide grimaces, turning their frightened cries into unintelligible groans. The wide-eyed looks of terror they gave their new companion were unmistakable.

“Well, Miss Brendon, let me introduce you to Miss Smith and Miss Brown.” Ruth’s abductor said with a laugh, indicating the other two captives. Grabbing her at the waist, he lifted the frightened young woman up and spilled her over on her belly beside the other two. A moment later, she felt his hands at her feet, grabbing them. Briefly, she considered kicking him, but feared what he might do if angered. Before she could work up the nerve, he slipped a tie around her ankles, strapping them tightly.

Ruth squirmed, helpless in the back of the kidnappers’ vehicle, as her captor closed the van door, eliciting whimpers of fright from the whimper. He went around and joined his partner in the passenger’s seat. The other man must have taken the remote from Ruth’s car, because the garage door opened, so they could back out onto the driveway, closing behind them. Then they were on the street, quickly driving away…

***  

Sitting in the driver’s seat, David briefly glanced up from the road to the mirror they’d installed on the windscreen of the van. It wasn’t pointed out the back of the van but rather into the interior, so he could check on the three captives lying together on the floor. The newest of the trio, Ruth, had finally started to calm down, as she realized struggling wasn’t likely to get her free of her bonds, and anyway, there was nowhere for her to go, locked in the back of the van with her two kidnappers so close by. Later, she might cause trouble, if she thought she had a chance at escape or rescue, but for now, they could turn their attention away from their current load of captives and towards the next.

“One more pickup today?” David asked the man seated beside him in the van’s passenger’s seat.

“Yep.” The other man replied with a nod. David didn’t know his name, when he’d been recruited the man hadn’t given one and the other members of the team only referred to him as ‘Boss.’ David heard papers rustling in the seat beside him as the older man flipped through the thick binder he had with him. The Boss had easily half a dozen thick binders, outlining every step of his plan and countless contingencies, though he only shared whatever details were absolutely necessary with the men he’d recruited.

This one seemed to contain dossiers on each of the women they’d abducted, based on weeks of surveillance prearranged routes for the kidnappings, safe houses, fallbacks if one of the snatches went awry. David had to admit, this was one of the largest schemes the small-time thief had ever been a part of. Three weeks ago, when the boss had picked him, he’d been doing a string of small time burglaries, snatch and grab jobs mostly. If this worked, his share of the haul would be worth more than he’d made in the last two years of slim pickings.

The Boss found the right file. As they drove, he filled David in on the details of their next target. “Valerie Parker.” He told him. “23-year-old, blonde, coed. Has a small rented house with two other girls.”

“Won’t they be a problem?” David asked. The boss had only mentioned picking up one other girl this evening, not three.

The boss shook his head. “Nope. One of them had a class this evening, the other works the late shift at her job. They both drive, so we’ll circle the street, see if their cars are gone, then go in. Same routine as before; knock on the door, wait for her to answer, secure the broad, move the van in and move her out.”

“Easy.” David replied. They’d used the routine multiple times before in the last couple of days.

The Boss grinned. “Then how about for this one, you take care of the grab? I’ll handle the van.”

“You sure?” David asked, uncertainly. He’d tied up a few people before, if one of his break-ins happened to get interrupted if the housewife hadn’t left yet, or got back early. Just enough to slow them down long enough for him to get out of the house and far away before they struggled free and called the cops.

“Yeah. It’s easy enough. Just show her your gun, tell her to get on the floor. Most bitches, they see a scary man with a gun, they cooperate. If she doesn’t, if she gives you some lip or tries to run or fight, just give her a smack or two…not too hard, just enough to let her know who’s boss. When she’s on the floor, zip-ties on her wrists, ankles, ballgag in the mouth, get her to the van. Easy as that.”

“Right…easy as that.” David had a minute to steel himself, before they arrived at the flat in question. Frank parked, then turned to check over their three current captives. They’d quieted down on the drive over, even Miss Brendon, but no telling what they’d do if they heard a pedestrian coming by. Still, Frank growled at them to stay quiet, hoping they’d be too scared to try anything for the short time it took the two kidnappers to deal with Miss Parker.

Meanwhile, David got out. The van had the logo of an electric repair company stuck on the sides, with a removable decal so they could swap it out as needed. With their jumpsuits, they looked like any other handymen, here to do some work. Still, David felt uncomfortable, showing his face without a mask. With luck, given the dark, any passersby wouldn’t get a good look at them. Of course, all the girls had gotten a good look at both their faces, but the Boss had said that didn’t matter, they wouldn’t get a chance to tell any cops. David didn’t know what that meant precisely, though he wondered if he should feel guiltier over what he was doing with Frank and the others.

When Frank had finished putting the fear of god into the women, he got out and joined David. The two walked up the front path to the door. David slipped a hand into his pocket, feeling for the butt of the gun hidden there. His heart pounded. After a quick breath to steady himself. He reached up and rang the doorbell.

He tensed for a moment, but nothing happened. After half a minute, he rang the bell a second time, then a third. On the fourth, they heard an exasperated female voice call back, “I’m coming!” and muffled footsteps coming to the door. A minute later, the door opened. David recognized her from the photographs in the Boss’ file; tall, slender, blonde, pouty lips and cute dimples. She was dressed casually in a white tank top and grey shorts and her long hair was tied back in a ponytail.

For a second, both David and the girl stood silent, uncertain what to do. David remembered the instructions he’d been given. He pulled his pistol out. “Get down on-“ He started.

Unfortunately, Miss Parker didn’t play along with the drill. She reacted quickly, spotting the gun. She started the slam the door shut. Before she could, the boss’ foot shot out, getting between the door and the jamb, keeping her from closing it all the way. Even with his heavy boot on, he grunted slightly.

“Get it open!” He growled at David. Together, the two pushed their shoulders against the door, throwing it open. Standing behind the door, still trying to force it closed, Valerie was thrown back, falling to the ground inside. Before she could get up, the two rushed inside, slamming the door shut behind them.

“Don’t get up!” David yelled, standing over her.

“Fuck you! Bastard! Let me go!” She said, starting to get up. David gave her a kick to the side, sending her sprawling out again. He knelt beside her, pressing his gun against her head. It was unloaded, probably couldn’t have fired, even with bullets, but she didn’t know that. She quieted down in a hurry, not wanting to give him a reason to use the gun.

“Okay kid, you’ve got things in hand. I’ll see if anyone heard us, then bring the van in.” The boss said, running past David to the garage.

“Put your hands behind your back!” David ordered. Glumly, Valerie complied. David set the gun down on the ground and fumbled for the bundle of cable ties. Valerie had been waiting for him to do something like that. Without warning, she rose to her knees, and tried to run for the door. At the last moment, David grabbed her by one ankle and pulled her back down.

“Let me go, bastard!” She swore, kicking at David. A few of her awkward blows landed and David grunted in pain. The young woman fought wildly, but David had strength and weight on his side. Eventually, he got his captive back on her belly, pining her down with a knee to her back. Roughly, he grabbed her flailing arms, twisting them behind her back. She grunted in pain, but David had run out of sympathy for this particular captive. After tying her feet, David took a fair bit of enjoyment stuffing the ballgag between her teeth, cutting her off mid-profanity, and yanking the strap as tight as he could, eliciting groans from his captive.

Valerie struggled fiercely for a minute longer, kicking and bucking while grunting into her gag as loud as she could. After that, though, realizing she was truly helpless, the fight went out of her. Tears welled up in her eyes as she trembled in fright. Something that sounded like pleasing escaped the ballgag.

“Sorry, lady.” David said, panting slightly from his exertions. “If you think I’m gonna let you go after all it took to strap you up, you’ve got another thought coming.” Instead, he reached down and picked her up, tossing the young woman over his shoulder. She wailed into her gag, not liking that bit. She liked it even less when David set his hand onto her bottom to keep her steady. Valeria squealed indignantly but could only squirm as he carried her to the garage.

The boss was waiting with the van. Valerie gave another squeal of fright as she joined the other captives, but a few minutes later, they were once more on the road, heading back to the kidnapper’s base of operations…

***  

Half an hour later, the van pulled up outside the warehouse the kidnappers had been using as their base. No sooner had they arrived, then a man in the same workman’s clothes David and his boss wore, stepped out. He gave the van a quick look over, unnecessary since they’d been under covert surveillance since they’d turned onto the street, then unlocked and opened the wide double doors, allowing the boss to drive the van straight into the warehouse. He nodded to the other man, the boss had called him Mr. Green, as they passed.

The inside of the warehouse was dark, the high, dirty windows only letting in a pale, weak light. Large shipping containers, stacked two or three high, filled most of the space, looming in the shadows. Some were left over from the warehouse’s previous tenants, who’d suddenly gone belly up under unusual circumstances. Others, the Boss and his team had brought in and filled out for their own needs.

The van pulled down the gap left between the dense containers and into the clearing left in the center of the warehouse floor. Behind them, Green closed the doors behind them, adding to the interior gloom.

“Let’s get the ladies unloaded and introduce them to the others.” The boss said, nodding his head to the four captive girls in the back. They’d begun to get more agitated now, realizing they’d arrived at their destination, wherever that was. They squirmed in their bonds, whimpering in fright.

David nodded, unbuckling and climbing out of his seat. He went to the back of the van to where the women lay. David pulled a knife from his belt and extended the blade, eliciting more gag-muffled squeals of fright from the girls until he bent over and grabbed Miss Brendon’s feet, pulling her over and they realized all he intended to do was cut the ties binding her feet. She gave a grunt of disappointment when he made no effort to free her hands or to remove her gag, which David could see she was finding very uncomfortable, wedging her jaws apart, the straps cutting into the sides of her mouth and the way the gag caused her to drool, uncontrollably.

“Out you go.” David said, reaching past her to open the back of the van. The boss, joined by Green, were standing outside and grabbed Ruth, pulling her out of the van and setting her on shaky feet. Meanwhile, David cut the strap binding Miss Brown’s ankles. The sobbing redhead was passed out the back to Green and the boss and stood beside the trembling Miss Brendon.

“No kicking now.” David sternly warned Valerie, before freeing her feet. He gave the same warning to Miss Abigail Smith, who’d been a similar handful when they’d captured her, though the boss had handled her much easier than David had with Valerie.

Just as they had all four girls out of the van, standing uncertainly in a single line, one of the containers opened. Inside were the computers hooked up the ring of cameras and motion sensors they’d set up around the warehouse’s perimeter. A fourth man, he’d called himself Mr. Blue, poked his head out from where he’d been monitoring them. “Red and Brown are coming back with their load. Just rounded the corner.”

While David and the boss kept the captive in line, reminding them of their pistols, Green ran to the doors to let the new arrivals in. A moment later, another van, identical save the logo on the side, pulled up alongside theirs. Two more kidnappers, Mr. Red and Mr. Brown got out and opened the backs. From inside came a wail of more bound and gagged captives. One at a time, they were pulled out and lined up opposite the others.

The new captives were a close match for the first group; a trio of women, all young and very pretty, ballgagged and bound with cable ties. The only difference was, Red and Brown had gone ahead and stripped their captives. The three newcomers were completely bare of any clothes. Their faces flushed red as they stumbled out of the van, under the leering gazes of their kidnappers.

“Doesn’t seem fair, though.” Green said with a grin, eying the blushing beauties. “One group getting stripped while the other gets to keep their clothes. Why don’t we see what they’ve got under there?” He turned his leering grin to David and the boss’ captives. The four expressed their thoughts on the idea as loudly as they could with gags in their mouths, grunting indignantly, but they quickly learned how much their thoughts and feelings mattered to their captors: none at all.

“Well,” the boss said, enjoying the looks of fright on the women’s faces. “We were going to sooner or later. Might as well go ahead.”

At the boss’ order, David went down the line, cutting the ties binding the girls’ hands behind their backs. “Don’t try and take the gag off.” He growled to the first girl who’d started to raise her hands to unbuckle her ballgag. Meanwhile, the men surrounded them, pistols drawn, reminding the captives they had no choices in this matter.

“Clothes off, ladies.” The boss ordered. “Everything.” Glumly, the captives complied, slowly peeling off their blouses and shirts, pants and skirts. A further barked order from their captors and they reluctantly took off their underwear, to stand before the men completely naked, faces blushing red with shame.

“Hands up!” He ordered, as the girls had instinctively moved to try and cover their naked bodies and try and preserve some shred of modesty. “Put them on top of your heads.” Whimpers rose from the four, but they had no choice but to raise their hands, exposing their breasts and cotches to the leering gazes of the men.  

After a couple minutes happy perusal of both groups of naked girls, the boss announced they’d had enough enjoyment. “Time to get these lovelies stored away.” The captives moaned into their gags, not liking the implication of the word “stored.” Guns drawn, the kidnappers lined their prisoners up and marched them across the warehouse, half with their hands still bound behind their backs, half with their hands still on the backs of their heads.

Eventually, they came to two black storage containers, side by side. The boss unlocked the door of one container and opened it. As it did, the captives could see the two containers had been joined into one larger one, by having the walls between them cut out. The large space had been converted into a makeshift dungeon. Chains ending in shackles hung from rings bolted to the metal walls.

About half the shackles were already occupied by half a dozen young women. Like the newcomers, they were naked and ballgagged. They knelt, resting on thin cloth pads provided for them, hands raised and shackled above their heads. As the doors opened, the captives looked up, eyes red with tears and wide with horror, the shock of their captivity was just as fresh for them as the newcomers. They’d been abducted only the day before.

At gunpoint, the new arrivals were herded into the holding cell and split up. The three from Red and Brown’s group had their hands cut free, then promptly locked into the metal cuffs. David and the Boss’ girls joined them. In the end, thirteen girls knelt, shackled and sobbing.

When the last girl was locked up securely, the abductors turned to leave, eliciting whimpers of fright from all. When the doors closed, they would be plunged once more into pitch darkness. The boss fitted the lock back into place and closed it with an audible click.

“Alright. That’s the last of them.” He said with a grin. “All that’s left is to deliver them tomorrow…”

***  

By the time they had locked the girls up, the hour had grown late. While Green took over duty watching the camera feeds, the rest of the men went to another container they’d fitted out with a number of military cots to get some sleep.

The next day passed slowly. They’d grabbed all the girls they needed to, at least according to the boss, and they wouldn’t need to be delivered until that evening. For security reasons, he didn’t want anyone going out of the warehouse unnecessarily, or any signals going out, no cellphones, no internet.

Several of the men were put to work getting the vans ready for one last trip; new paintjobs, new decals, new plates. When this was over, they’d be going to the junkyard and the crusher, but for now, a new look would help if anyone had noticed a strange van around the time one or another of the women had disappeared.

The rest took turns looking after the captives. With thirteen women chained up, they had their hands full. While one looked after the rest, the others uncuffed the captives, one at a time, and took her out of the shipping containers turned dungeon. Food and water, a chance to stretch their legs and use the warehouse’s single toilet. They kept the women gagged, except when they needed to eat and drink, promptly re-gagging them afterword without letting them speak.

Other than that, the girls were off limits to the men. The Boss was insistent, as he had been when recruiting them. They could look all they wanted, but touching, or anything else, save what was needed to control them, was strictly forbidden. So, after the vans had been prepped, and eying the naked ladies lost its novelty, the men fell back to playing cards, reading what scant material they had with them in the warehouse, and twiddling their thumbs.

The highlight of the day was twice, once in the afternoon and again in the evening, when two of them were sent out in one of the vans to pick up takeout for the men and their captives. The new looks passed the test, no one gave them a second glance on their way out and back again.

“Alright.” The boss finally announced, as evening was quickly progressing to night. “Time to move them out.”

One at a time, the captives were unchained from the sides of the container. Immediately, her hands and feet were bound again with more of the kidnapper’s endless supply of zip-ties, before moving on to the next girl. As each was secured, another of the kidnappers hoisted her over one shoulder, each taking full advantage of the opportunity to feel the helpless women up, and carried to one of the waiting vans. Soon, both were filled with half a dozen or more squirming, sobbing captives.

“I’ll take one van. The kid will take the other.” The boss said, nodding his head towards David. “The two of us can handle this lot from here on out. The rest of you clear out the warehouse. Nothing that could trace the women, or us, here. Then get lost. You’ll get your shares of the money in a couple days, in the manner we agreed upon.” There was some grumbling from the men, but none said anything out loud.

The boss gave David the address. “But follow me, I’ll be taking a scenic route, avoid some traps.” With a nod, David turned and climbed into his van.

“You ladies settle down back there!” He called back to the sobbing captives. “We’re going for a little ride and then this will all be over. Keep quiet and all of you will be fine.” David felt a little guilty for the lie. Whatever the Boss had planned for them, David knew a ransom was unlikely and release even less so for the women. Still, they wouldn’t find that out until later, and if it kept them quiet in the meantime, it would be too late for them when they finally discovered that.

Up ahead of David, the Boss climbed into his van. He must have been giving the same sort of lie to his batch of captives, because there was a pause between him getting in and when the van turned on. A minute or two later, it rolled forward. David put his into drive and followed, through the door Green opened for them.

As the Boss had said, he took a circuitous route, sticking to side streets and even back alleys, until they were out of the city. David had some close moments where he almost lost the other van, but he got lucky and the Boss was stopped at a red light further ahead, long enough for David to catch up again.

Then they were out into the country, following a winding, two-lane road. David kept his eyes peeled. The last thing they needed was for some highway patrolman, behind on his quota for tickets to pull one of them over. David still had his pistol, but it was still unloaded, and anyway, David wasn’t sure if he could kill anyone, even a cop. Fortunately, they didn’t run into any trouble. The two-lane asphalt soon gave way to a two-lane gravel road, then a one lane dirt road, little better than a trail, which would its way through the thick woods, which grew dark and menacing as the sun set behind the hills.

The first clue David had that they’d arrived was when the van in front of him suddenly lit up its break lights. David stopped to, waiting as the Boss got out, leaving the van running. He walked forward and began to pull on a metal gate. It, and the brick wall it was attached to, were so overgrown with vines and weeds David hadn’t noticed it until just then. Rusted hinges squealed as the Boss shoved it open, at least far enough out of the way to let the van’s pass by. Then, he got back in the driver’s seat and slowly pulled through, followed by David.

Alerted by the presence of the brick wall, David was able to spot the signs of the house grounds that had been here once, though completely overgrown by trees and undergrowth from the surrounding forest. At the far end of what had probably once been a stately drive, the two came once more to a stop in front of a large, imposing Victorian mansion. It was three stories tall, or had been once. Much of the upper floors had collapsed in on itself. The outer walls were overgrown with ivy and the windows, many of them smashed in, were dark.

The boss got out of his van and walked around back to unlock the doors, so David did likewise. Opening the back of the van, the Boss reached in and pulled out the squirming bundle of one of the captives, setting her, still tied hand and foot, on the gravel road beside the van. David followed his lead. Ruth shivered as she was lifted out of the van, made warm by the seven struggling bodies inside, and into the cold night air. A soft whimper of fright escaped her gag as she looked up at the imposing ruin to which they’d been brought. Her next shiver had nothing to do with the cold.

Ten minutes later, thirteen bound, naked captives sat on the driveway in front of the abandoned mansion, shivering and moaning to one another in fright. The boss motioned for David to start untying their feet, doing the same himself. “Stay seated! Don’t try and run.” He sternly told the first woman as he knelt to cut the zip-tie around her ankles. “Both of us still have our pistols.”

David repeated the warning as he knelt with his knife as well. Ruth nodded, whimpering in her gag. Valerie looked like she might for a moment, just to spite his words, but a look out at the gloomy woods that stretched out for miles around them dissuaded her. They got all of the women free and onto their feet, with none of them trying anything. With that accomplished, the boss ordered the women to follow him towards the house. He told David to follow behind, pistol drawn, to keep the bunch moving. Do so he did, pushing and shoving a few hesitant captives, almost as scared of the gloomy house, as of the men and their guns…almost. Whimpering into their gags in terror, they stumbled up the steps of the house to the front doors.

They paused there. The thick, carved oak slabs had weathered the years and climate somewhat better than the rest of the house, blocking the way in. This was helped by the large, modern and unrusted padlock on the front, which had obviously been added much later. The boss produced a key and opened it. The inside of the house was an inky black void until he pulled out a flashlight and switched it on. David got out his own. The swung the beams around, revealing the remains of the entry hall.

“In.” The boss ordered, stiffly, gesturing with his pistol. Heads bowed miserably, the captive women shuffled in. The inside of the house was close and stuffy, smelling heavily of mold and dust. Wreckage of furniture and upper stories where they had fallen in were scattered here and there. Despite that, David found their path had already been cleared of any wreckage. From the disturbance in the dust, and the way the Boss unerringly followed the existing path, David guessed the older man had been here earlier and prepared the place for their arrival. One more step in his elaborate, mysterious plan.

As they progressed deeper into the house, David worried one of the captives might slip away in the dark. With only his flashlight, there was no way David could keep his eye on all thirteen of them. He worried they might reach whatever destination the boss had in mind, only to do a head count and find themselves short a girl.

To his surprise, though, none of the captives showed any signs of wanting to escape. Rather, they huddled ever closer to each other, and the men and the thin beams of light their flashlights provided.

“I guess I wouldn’t want to be here all alone in the dark either.” David thought. The place was right out of a Hollywood set designer’s vision of a haunted house. The old, crumbling walls, wallpaper peeling, dusty carpets mildewing underfoot, tattered paintings and wrecked furniture speaking to a grandeur long passed. The place creaked and groaned, the way of all large, old houses, but one had little trouble turning them into wandering footsteps following, closing in. When the wind blew through the shattered windows, David could almost imagine hearing disembodied voices. He had the strong feeling of being watched by some almost inhuman presence.

How much scarier must this place have been to the captive women, naked, gagged, hands tied, reliant on the two men for their light, who had the addition of two armed kidnappers, hustling them towards an unknown destination beyond the usual frights of the house?

Partway down the last hallway, the party turned suddenly through an opening. David guessed the opening had, at one time, been concealed in a wall, but over time and decay, the wall had collapsed inward, and been cleared away, revealing the opening. Beyond was a large spiral ramp, heading down into the earth below. As they descended, the captives only reluctantly and with shoves and curses from their kidnappers, the architecture changed from Victorian to something almost medieval or even more ancient, walls of irregularly shaped blocks fitted like a vast jigsaw puzzle.

The captives fright grew more and more the deeper they got. David worried what would happen if one of them lost her head with fright entirely and ran for it, despite the threat of the kidnapper’s guns. With the guns loaded (at least David thought the boss’ was unloaded as well) they’d have no way to stop her and, having seen their bluff successfully called, the other captives might take the opportunity to try and run for freedom as well.

He was thus relieved when, as they reached the bottom and the ramp turned to a tunnel, stretching forward, they saw lights up ahead, the warm friendly glow of artificial light. That helped to calm the women’s fright, somewhat, as well as David’s.

It was replaced, as they came to the end of the tunnel, with amazement. The tunnels led to a large, domed chamber underneath the mansion. It had been set up with a battery generator, powering several large flood lights, which illuminated the room and, by the door, several heavy-duty plastic containers and a pair of hand trolleys, the modern, mundane equipment clashing with the strange, primitive room they found themselves in.

But the thing that focused David’s attention straight away was the box in the center of the room. It was a massive thing, the size of a small shed, twenty feet on a side, made of heavy slabs of the same, dark grey stone as the rest of the chamber. Carved across every inch of the stonework was a strange alphabet of runes David couldn’t recognize.

“Over here.” The boss ordered, directing David and the captives to one corner of the room, in front of the stone box. The two helped the captives down into a sitting position. Another bundle of zip-ties was produced and their feet once more strapped tight. The women sat, murmuring to one another through their gags as they looked around the room, eyes wide in fright and wonder.

Meanwhile, the boss took David over to the box. As David got close, he could see one side piece was not attached to the rest of the stones. A shallow grove in the center showed how it could be slid aside. Grunting and cursing the two men heaved the heavy piece away, opening up the space inside. The inside closely matched the dimensions of the outside, less the thickness of the stone and was carved with the same strange symbols.

“Alright. Let’s get them inside.” The boss said, nodding to the women.

“Inside?” David asked, in confusion. The other man nodded. Reluctantly David followed him. The kidnappers picked up two of the women and carried them the short distance to the opening, setting them down inside of the box. It took a moment for the captives to realize what was going on, by which time two more had been picked up and carried over to the strange container. The captives started to struggle, sobbing into their gags, but there was little they could do to stop their captors. David felt somewhat guilty, as the last girls went inside, and the boss motioned for him to help with the doorway. Inside, the captives wailed in terror, realizing they were going to be sealed inside. A few girls closest to the door started to squirm, trying to get out, but kicks from the kidnappers forced them back inside. Their screams were cut off as the door slid shut, fitting back into place with a thud.

“Now what?” David asked, anxiously.

“We wait.” The boss replied, checking his watch. “Couple more minutes till midnight.”

David glanced at his own watch as well, his eyes going back and forth between it and the box. The door fit close to the opening, the rest of the stones seemed sealed together some way. It was hardly airtight, but he doubted much fresh air could get in around the cracks. How much air was in there to begin with? And how quickly could thirteen panicking captives use it all up? Nothing could be heard of the women inside, though David was sure they were screaming and struggling for all they were worth in the pitch darkness.

The minutes slowly ticked by. When they got close, the Boss started counting down the remaining seconds. “Ten…nine…eight…seven…” Just as he said “one…” there was a sudden change in the room. The electric lights flickered wildly, while on the stones, the runes flashed red, so briefly David wondered if he imagined it. The room lurched under David’s feet, it felt as if he was being pulled towards the box in the center. His ears popped, as if there’d been a sudden change in the air pressure.

A second later, everything was back to normal, or at least it seemed so to David. He looked over at the Boss, eyes wide, mouth open to ask questions that didn’t seem to want to come out. The older man simply nodded his head. “Get the door open.” And stepped towards the stone slab. David hurried to join him, heaving on the stone. When it opened a crack and no chorus of gag-muffled screams escaped, David feared the worst. He expected they’d open the box to find it filled with a dozen plus one bodies, suffocated inside. Instead…

“No way…” David muttered in disbelief. The thirteen girls were gone. In their place were piled and piles of gold coins. “Where did they go?”

The boss shrugged, walking over to the stack of plastic containers. “No clue.”

“But…” David stuttered. “But you must know. This was your plan. You knew this would happen, right?”

“I knew it would happen, yeah.” The other man replied, dragging a couple of them back. “Doesn’t mean I know everything that happens. All I know is, bring ‘Thirteen unspoilt maidens and place them in chest by midnight tonight for a great reward.’ And as you can see,” he waved a hand at the mass of treasure at their feet.

“But how did you find out?” David asked.

The boss sighed. “This is the…fifth year I’ve done this. Before, I was helping another fellow do the same thing. He was ready to retire, so he took me down here, showed me the chest and the gold and told me what to do. He didn’t tell me anything else, on account of the man who told him didn’t tell him anything else. Whoever started this originally, whatever being he made a deal with, or who knows what, it’s been lost to time.”

“But the girls…” David began, struggling to take all this in. Thirteen girls a year, and he’d been doing it for at least five years, and probably plenty years before that. How many unfortunate women had been dragged down here over the years.

“Forget them.” The boss said, waving his hand dismissively. “They’re gone. Maybe some aliens beamed ‘em up and are probing their asses, maybe Cthulhu is gnawing on their tits, maybe they’re giving Satan’s horny cock a blow job right now, wherever they are doesn’t matter. What matters is this.” He reached down and began to scoop gold coins into the box, motioning for David to do the same. He walked over and knelt, picking up one of the coins. It was of solid gold, about an inch in diameter and a little thicker than a quarter. On the front and back were the same odd runes as were on the chest.

Working together, the two men quickly scooped up all of the coins into three of the plastic boxes. David grunted, dragging them over to the tunnel with the trolley. The boxes were small, but the gold was heavy. He was already dreading the long trip up the spiral ramp and out of the house to the vans.

“When we’re out of here, we’re going to deliver the gold.” The boss told him. “I’ve got a couple contacts I’ll introduce you to. They’ll melt these coins down into proper ingots, sell them discretely on the market and give us the cash. I’ll give you your cut and take you to meet some other people.”

“What? Why?” David asked, still unable to believe all that he had just witnessed.

“You’ll need to know them for next year.” The boss replied.

“Next year? Why? Won’t you handle that stuff again?” David replied. He didn’t mention, he also wasn’t sure he wanted to do this again next year, bring another batch of innocent girls down here, to whatever fate this group was currently experiencing.

“Nope. I’m retiring. After all these years, I’ve saved up enough in offshore accounts, I want to enjoy my golden years.” The boss said with a grin. “Like old Tom before, I’m passing on this job to someone else and that someone is you.”

“Me!?! But why?” David asked, overwhelmed. “What about the other guys?”

“There good guys, sure.” The boss replied. “They take orders well enough, but none of them have much imagination, they don’t have the initiative to take charge of something like this. Besides, after I deliver their payment, they’re out. They’d probably have some trouble taking orders from the Kid anyway. The guys I’ll introduce you to will help set you up with a team of your own.”

“But I don’t know anything about…about doing this kind of thing.” David said, shaking his head.

“Don’t worry. Before I disappear, I’ll teach you a thing or two. And I’ll give you my binders. They’ve got all the details you’ll need. I had plenty of girls I was looking at who didn’t make the cut this year.” He grinned. “But maybe next year you’ll pay them a visit. You’ll need to find a couple more captives to reach thirteen, but it’ll get you started. Trust me, you’ll do fine.”

“Besides,” he added. “There’s another reason I want to make sure someone’s following in my footsteps. There was one other thing my old boss told me about this ritual. He said, whatever you do, don’t miss a year. It would be bad.”

“Bad?” David replied.

The boss shrugged. “That’s what I said. All he could tell me was, that’s what he’d been told, another bit of advice passed down from the first bastard to find this damned chest. I figure, whatever’s taking the girls, giving us the gold, maybe giving it some broads once a year keeps it content, dormant, right? And maybe if it doesn’t get its yearly pussy, it gets mad and comes down here to get some anyway, right? And that would be bad.”

“Bad…” David repeated, shaking his head. He still couldn’t help thinking of the girls.

“Come on.” The boss said, placing a hand around his shoulder. “Let’s go cash in this gold. Nothing salves a guilty conscience like money. And then…” he shrugged. “We’ll get you prepared for next Halloween…”