“I’m heading out to lunch. You girls think you can handle things till I get back?” Mr. Jones called from the door.

“Of course, sir.” Katherine said, keeping her tone polite. She waited until her boss had turned his back and was out the door before she let the scowl slip into her face. “Bastard.” She grumbled.

Working as a salesclerk for the “Forever Promise Jewelry” store wasn’t a bad job, good pay, reasonable hours and she loved working with all the expensive, beautiful jewelry they sold. The only problem was the owner and manager, Mr. Jones. As far as he was concerned, it was still the fifties, at least as far as his working relationships with his female employees.

He habitually referred to them in the most condescending tones, acted as if they were completely helpless and lost without a big strong man around to give them instructions. And their work uniforms: low cut white blouses, short black skirts, high heels and black stockings. With Katherine and Jennifer, the other salesclerk walking around like that, it was no wonder he was continually pushing the boundaries and had even got handsy with Katherine a few times, same with Jennifer.

Of course, he’d always been careful to do it only when they were alone, so it would be a case of ‘He said-She said.” And he’d made certain to get across to “his girls” if they tried to make something of it, he’d see to it they couldn’t get another job in the state, let alone this town. So Katherine put up with it and prayed for the day he’d slip up enough she could finally nail his creepy ass.

“Did Mr. Jones head out?” Jennifer asked, as she came out from the back.

She kept her voice even and polite, right up until Katherine nodded and said “He’s going out to lunch.”

“Good. With luck that’s the last we’ll see of him all day.” Jennifer said. They knew from experience when Jones went “out to lunch” in the middle of the work day, it meant he was meeting up with the guys for wings and beers at the local strip club. He’d usually call in, his voice slurred and the sound of traffic to tell them he was heading home and they should lock up at the end of the day.

“Maybe we’ll actually get some merchandise sold without him driving off every customer that comes in.” Just as he was sure he was God’s gift to women, Mr. Jones also thought he was the greatest salesmen too, and just like his charms with the ladies, he was terrible at it, always driving off customers with his hard sell tactics. If the store hadn’t had the best selection of jewelry in the county, they’d have lost every customer years ago.

Sure enough, not long after Mr. Jones had headed out, the door opened and a young lady came in, looking for a necklace. Katherine led her over to their selection, already mentally composing an argument that a pair of their nice diamond earrings would complement that necklace perfectly.

“This one, with the emerald accents would look great with your eyes...” Katherine said, taking one out of the case and showing it to the other woman. While she was doing that, the door opened again, the chime playing softly over the smooth store jazz. At first, Katherine didn’t turn around, assuming it was another customer and that Jennifer would take care of them. She was ready for the other saleswoman to give a cry of alarm. In front of Katherine, the auburn haired woman also cried out in fright, wide eyes peering over Katherine’s shoulder.

Dropping the necklace onto the counter, Katherine spun around. She gasped, her own eyes going wide. A trio of burly men had come into the store. That was about as much as she could tell, though. All three wore dark windbreakers, the collars turned up, baseball caps pulled low and sunglasses to obscure their features. But as to what they were, it was pretty obvious from the pistol’s in their hands that they were here to rob the place.

Immediately, Katherine’s eyes darted to the silent alarm. She silently cursed. There were two in the front of the store, one by the cash registers, the other on the other side, near a display of tiaras. Unfortunately, at the moment neither of the saleswomen were near either of them.

“Please keep quiet ladies!” The lead burglar, wearing a red baseball cap, announced. “This is a robbery. Don’t cause trouble and you won’t be hurt. You two!” He gestured over to Katherine and Jennifer. “Hands up! Don’t even think of reaching for the alarm!” The two hurried to comply. As they did, he waved with his pistol. “Both of you out from behind the counter. Go stand with Red here...that’s right, up against the wall!”

Katherine glanced over at Jennifer as they slowly walked out of the counter, still keeping their hands raised. Jennifer looked scared. Katherine was too. “It’s just a robbery.” She thought, trying to calm herself. “They’ll just take the jewels and get out.” The thought of her boss’ reaction when he heard about this, especially since she knew he was months behind on his insurance premiums, brought a brief smile to her face. “He might just drop dead from a heart attack.” She thought.

“Ok girls. Where’re the Ice?” Redcap growled. The two stood confused a moment, glancing at each other. Seeing their confusion, he growled again. “The ice, the diamonds! Not this cheap stuff for tourists. I mean the real stuff. $3 million dollars worth of untraceable stones. We know they were smuggled here, so where are they?”

Hurriedly, Katherine thought, knowing if she didn’t say something, it would go badly for her and Jennifer. It didn’t surprise her Mr. Jones was caught up in something illegal like dealing in smuggled jewels, just as she wasn’t surprised he hadn’t bothered warning her or Jennifer to be careful in case his schemes went wrong.

“Our boss must have been handling them...” She started, then had a flash of insight. “Two nights ago, he brought a briefcase with him. Wouldn’t let either of us touch it, kept it with him the whole time.”

“Yeah? Where’s this briefcase then?” Redcap growled.

“He took it into his office, in the back. That’s where the store safe is.” Hurriedly, she added. “He’s the only one who knows the combination, though...”

“That won’t be a problem.” Redcap said, and to Katherine’s relief, didn’t sound as angry. He turned and nodded to another of the crooks, wearing a blue baseball cap. “Go get it open.” The other man, a safecracker apparently, merely nodded, walking past the three frightened women and disappeared into the back.

“Don’t think just because it’s gaudy knickknacks for tourists we aren’t going to take the rest of this stuff.” Redcap continued, while the sounds of the safecracker going to work cames from the back. He looked at the two salesclerks. “Which of you ladies wants to help us with that?”

“I’ll do it.” Jennifer said, a moment before Katherine spoke up. “I don’t care much if you take every last jewel in this place. Serve the bastard right.” Taking her employee key, she went and began to open each and every cabinet in the front of the store. Redcap followed, pulling out a bag and hurriedly stuffing gems in. Between handfuls, he called over to the last of the burglars, a man in a Yankees ballcap. “Oh, while we’re doing this, see to the other ladies.”

Yankee nodded. “Ok girls, turn around and cross your hands behind your backs.” He growled. Glumly, Katherine and the red-haired customer obeyed, turning in place and putting their hands behind their backs. Katherine had been steeling herself for this moment since the start of the robbery, when they would be tied up by the crooks.

Even so, she trembled a bit, hearing the tearing of duct tape behind her. A moment later, she felt the sticky tape on her wrists. The man wrapped several layers of tape around, trapping her arms together, then tore off the end and smoothed it. He moved over and did the same with the redhead. When her hands were tapped, Yankees went back to Katherine and tore off another strip. Reaching around her head, he pulled the strip over her lights. Surprised, Katherine gave a squeal, muffled by the gag. A few more strips reinforced it, until the lower half of her face was covered in silver bands. Again, once he finished with her, he moved over and did the same with the customer.

Satisfied they were secure for the moment, Yankees turned them both around and helped them to get down into a sitting position against one wall. He then stepped back and leaned against a plinth, the bust on it already relieved of its diamond studded tiara by the industrious Redcap who’d taken Jennifer to the back room to relieve the store of its entire supply of merchandise.

Minutes dragged on, turning into an hour, then two. After a while, Redcap returned with Jennifer and a loot bag bulging with goods. The other salesclerk had her hands taped and was gagged as well, and sat down beside Katherine. They kept waiting, the two crooks growing more impatient with their safecracker. Redcap disappeared into the backroom again. Whatever he said to the safecracker must have worked, because not long after, both of them returned, Redcap carrying the briefcase Katherine had seen her boss depositing two days ago.

After the sturdy lock on the safe, the cheap combination locks on the briefcase proved a minor inconvenience and soon the thieves had the briefcase open. They ooohed loudly as they gazed at the contents. “Now that’s a good bit of ice.” Redcap said, mesmerized. After a moment, he brought himself to close and lock the case again.

“Ok...they’ve got what they want, now they’ll leave us and go...” Katherine thought hopefully. But she was disappointed. After gathering up everything to go, the thieves went over to where the three young women sat.

“We’ve got what we came for, but we want a little insurance while we make out getaway.” Redcap said. “So you three are coming with us.” As the women grunted frantically into their gags, the thieves hauled the women to their feet. Helpless, they were dragged to the back of the store, where a service door opened to the street behind the strip of stores for deliveries. A white van was barked immediately in front of the door. Katherine caught a brief glimpse of the logo for a cleaning service on the side before she was tossed into the back of the van, followed a second later by Jennifer and the redheaded customer. Before the women could get up, one of the thieves went to work, taping their feet together. He finished by sticking three strips of duct tape over their eyes as blindfolds.

Squirming in the back of the van, Katherine listened as the thieves climbed in, depositing their things. One of them started the engine and the van started to roll forward. Soon they were out on the street, driving away.

“Whoohoo!!!” One of the men cheered. “We’re rich, man, we’re rich!”

“Not just yet. We still got to deliver the goods and get paid. Then you can start thinking about that beach bungalow in the Maldives.”

The van drove for what seemed like hours to the helpless captives in the back. Any thoughts Katherine might have had of tracking their progress by turns was quickly given up. It seemed they were deliberately going around in circles, maybe to fool the prisoners in the back, maybe to throw off anyone following them, she didn’t know. Eventually, they pulled to a stop. The thieves turned kidnappers got out and walked around back. A second later, the doors at the back of the van were opened. The three women squirmed, grunting loudly through the tape gags.

“Easy ladies. Just a pit stop, dropping off this ice.” Redcap told them, his voice taunting.

Another group of people approached. Katherine heard them talking.

“You got the stuff?” A man with a gruff voice said.

“Yep. $3 million in untraceable Ice, plus all the regular stuff from the store.” Redcap said. “You got the money?”

“Yeah...” Their buyer started, then he seemed to notice Katherine and the others in the back of the van. “Who’s that?”

“The bitches working at the store, plus someone who was browsing.” Redcap said. “Took ‘em in case we ran into trouble.”

“What do you plan on doing with ‘em?” Katherine strained her ears, whimpering into her gag.

“Well, figured we’d need to lie low a bit after this, let the heat die down before we split.” Redcap told him. “Couldn’t hurt to have a little entertainment on hand.” Along with the other two, Katherine moaned into her gag in horror. “After that...I don’t know. Probably drop ‘em off on the side of the road, let someone find ‘em after. Ain’t much they could tell the cops anyway.”

“Fine. So, what do you say to $300K? All in cash, clean, non-sequential.”

“That was just for the ice. The rest of the jewelry should add another $150K, at least.”

“$350K total.”

The two men haggled for a bit. Finally, the buyer seemed to have an idea. “I tell you what, $400K for the Ice, the jewelry...and you throw in the girls to. I’ve got a contact that’ll get a good price for them.” Inside the van, the girls in question started another chorus of terrified moans. It rose as Redcap spoke up.

“It’s a deal. Pleasure doing business with you...”