“So there’s no doubt about it?”

“I’m afraid not. Half an hour ago, someone accessed the ‘special files.’”

“Do we have any idea who?”

“Not entirely. The best we’ve managed is to narrow it down to which department the request came from.”

“Who’s department was it?”

“Sharon’s.”

“Shit!”

“It might not be her, could be someone on her team.”

“No shit. If she knew she’d be in here right now, blackmailing us for a promotion or a cut of the action. So either she’s not sure of what she found and is double checking before she makes her move, or it’s one of the others. Any chance we can find out?”

“Possibly, but it could take a couple days.”

“No, too risky. The longer we wait, the more time they have to show those files to Sharon...or the police.”

“How do we know they haven’t already?”

“We can’t...but if they have it’s all over anyway. Nothing we can do in that case. Best thing is to proceed on the assumption they haven’t figured it out yet, deal with them and hope for the best.”

“But if we don’t know who on the team it was…?”

“It’ll have to be a clean sweep...all of them.”

“Even Sharon?”

“Especially her.”

“Alright, I suppose we don’t have much choice. Bad luck for them, but that’s business.

“So what’s the best option for dealing with them?”

“I know a team that handles these sorts of ‘cleanup’ jobs. They’re professional, quiet and under the circumstances won’t cost us much.”

“What’ll they do with them? Kill them?”

“No. But you can be sure all of them will be going someplace far away where we won’t need to worry.”

“I suppose it’s best I don’t know...get in touch with them. Tomorrow night, that’s when we need this done. I hate waiting even that long, but we’ll need the building empty and I guess they’ll have things to prepare too.”

“Can we be sure all of them will be in the building after hours?”

“I’ll take care of that, don’t worry...oh and I have an idea, a way we can turn this to our advantage. When you’ve contacted your team of “cleaners” let me know, I’ll have some special instructions for them.”  

“Understood…”  

***

“I can’t believe it!” Amanda growled angrily, striding into the conference room. She dropped a stack of folders onto the long, polished oak table, sending a few sheets sliding in different directions. “It’s amazing...some people!” The young African-American woman grumbled.

“Which someone’s are you talking about?” Linda asked in reply. “The bosses who decided they had to do a comprehensive audit on the financial’s for the Henderson account, and it absolutely had to be done before the market’s open next week. Never mind it’s a Friday afternoon and the building is closed tomorrow…” She walked to the table and set down her own stack, with slightly more care. “Or Sharon, who ever so graciously volunteered her team for this vital task?” The short brunette adjusted her spectacles.

“She’ll go for anything that makes her look good to the suits upstairs. She’s hoping they’ll give her Matthew’s slot when he retires in the spring.” Hope added, coming in to add a third stack to the growing pile. “Not that the old boy’s club upstairs will give it to her.” The tall curvy blonde shrugged with an air of “What can you do…”

Amanda Miller, Linda Tompkins and Hope Evans were three young women, all in their mid-twenties who had started working at Worldwide Industrial Solutions corporate office within the last three years, but had already started rising. For all their griping about the ‘old boy’s club’ of senior managers running the company and the glass ceiling, all of them were quite ambitious and wanted to be the ones to finally break through it. But none were quite as ambitious as their boss Sharon Cooper, who at 36 often acted as the ‘big sister’ of her small tight-knit group of girls, helping them advance their careers and in return using them to advance her own.

“Well...more of these where we got them.” Hope said, nodding to the stack of files they were supposed to audit, making sure the physical records matched the computer ones and that nothing had been changed or lost.  As she turned to the door, Hope casually tugged out the wrinkles in her business jacket. Part of the three ladies’ plan of advancement was looking the part. Whether that meant countless hours at the gym keeping fit or making sure to dress in expensive business dress in professional black and gray, tailored to fit and flatter their trim figures perfectly. Amanda and Hope were in skirts, with stockings and heels while Linda was in a pantsuit.

At the moment though, such attention to appearance was wasted. While the three had been bringing the first load of files up from the records room, everyone else in the office seemed to have left for the day, eager to get the weekend started. Even the janitors who normally stayed late vacuuming the halls and emptying wastebaskets had called it a night early. As the three women made their way back from records, each with another armload of files, the corridors and empty offices were still and quiet. It was almost spooky, being alone in the big building, normally so busy and bustling...

Well, not entirely empty. As they got back to the conference room they’d claimed for the unexpected and unappreciated assignment, the three young ladies were met by two more girls. The two waved as the others got closer.

“Sharon to us this afternoon.” Hannah said. “She asked if we would stay late and assist with some sort of special project.”

“Anything we can do to help.” Ruth added, eager to please.

Ruth Friedman and Hannah Wong were two of the company’s current batch of interns. Both recently turned 20, Ruth was a short, curly haired brunette and cute as a button while her friend Hannah was a tall, striking girl of mixed Chinese-American heritage. Her hair, dyed a vibrant emerald was cut in a daring pixie cut.

Both were dressed rather more casually then the professional trio. Ruth had on a light brown sweater dress, belted at the waist with a wide, gold-buckled belt and calf-high boots while Hannah wore a black tailored vest over a white blouse, tight black pants and Doc martins.

“Well, you can start by getting the door.” Amanda said, stumbling forward under her load of files. “Sorry you two got roped into this.” She added when they were in the conference room, the long table groaning under this second load.

“It’s no problem.” Ruth said.

“We didn’t have plans tonight anyway.” Hannah picked up. “And besides, Sharon said we could tag along with you when she took you guys out for drinks at Harry’s later...though I guess that was intended to be a surprise.” She corrected, seeing the three women’s reactions.

“Don’t worry, we’ll pretend to be surprised when the time comes!” Linda reassured the younger girl. “At least Sharon knows how to make things up to us. After all this…” She gestured to the stacks of files. “I’ll need a drink.”

“Well come on girls…” Hope said with a shrug. “The sooner we get through all this, the sooner we can get that drink.” The five women set to work, divvying up the files. After setting up their laptops and bringing up the relevant files from the company servers, they got busy flipping through page after page of financial documents, comparing them to the electronic spreadsheets. About ten minutes after they had started, Sharon came into the room.

“Sorry I’m late, ladies.” She said as she entered. Sharon was a tall, striking woman, her narrow face framed by flowing locks of Auburn hair. Often, like tonight, she liked to accentuate it with a dark maroon business jacket and matching skirt. “I was just letting security know we’re going to be here after hours. There isn’t anyone on duty tonight, so they’ve set the alarms for most of the doors already. If we need to get in and out, they want us to use the door to the west parking lot. It’s the only one that won’t set the alarm off.”

“And speaking of…” Sharon glanced over at the two interns. “Why don’t we get something to eat?” This was met with universal agreement. “Is the place on third alright with you gals?” This also passed by unanimous vote. While the others wrote down their orders, Sharon spoke to Ruth and Hannah. “Just put it on my card.” She said, handing over her corporate expense card. The two interns nodded and, list in hand, headed off to pick up the food.

“Well, while we’re waiting, how have you girls come along so far?” Sharon asked, looking over their progress. She nodded, happy with what they’d done already. Moving to the end of the table, she set her bag down and took out her laptop.

“What I’m wondering…” Hope said, glancing between the pages and her computer. “Is why they suddenly got the urge to do this now?”

“Who knows?” Amanda replied. “Maybe they’re worried someone made a mistake somewhere and all the numbers are off. Or maybe someone’s been fudging paperwork, skimming off the expense accounts and all that.” She grinned. “Maybe one of the suit’s has been doing something naughty and they’re going to jail soon!” The four of them chuckled at the thought.

Linda chuckled along, but she was thinking...about those files she’d seen the other day. It hadn’t been intentional. A wild goose chase through the system in search of some missing reports took her to a folder buried deep among the old records. Only these ones weren’t old; only from a month or two at the most and some of them much more recent then that. Something related to the pension system, though none of the other files were even closely related to that. And though it wasn’t her department, something about the files had seemed a bit off…

At the time, she’d dismissed it as unimportant. Works-in-progress or just speculative docs which had somehow gotten mixed up and buried in an unrelated folder and lost. People were always complaining about that, like her own missing reports. And if they were just that, unfinished work or guesswork it would hardly be surprising whoever made them had given them up for lost, rather then trawling through the whole system looking for them. But now, all of a sudden and with no warning, this strange audit of the records? Could they be related? Linda was just about to bring it up, when Sharon’s phone ran...

“Hello?” Sharon answered, stepping away from the table. “Oh yes, we’ve started on the new project...no, I don’t think it’ll take us long...another half hour tops, I should think...yes, they’re all here with me, why?...oh, I see...well, thank you very much...alright, bye bye. Christ...that asshole.” Sharon muttered after hanging up the phone. “Oh, Linda, did you want to speak with me?” Sharon asked, stepping around the table towards where Linda was working.

The younger woman was about to answer, when outside the conference room, there was a sudden tramping of feet coming up to the hallway. That was all the warning they got before the door to the conference room was flung open and three men rushed in. They were all alike, so far as the women could see: tall and burly, dressed in dark jackets and trousers. Whatever differences in looks they might have were obscured by the balaclavas each wore. These were black to, except for a colored patch on the front, each of a different color. Two of them had black duffel bags slung over one shoulder. All of them held pistols, pointed at the stunned women.

“Nobody move! And don’t scream either!” The man, wearing a mask with a red patch, growled. “Just stay calm, do what we tell you and you won’t get hurt.” Any thoughts the women might have had, that this was just surprise training drill or a dump practical joke by their coworkers were instantly dismissed. This was too frightening to be anything but real. A few of them had started to rise from their chairs in alarm. They sank back down while the other stood still, too stunned by the sudden and violent intrusion to react.

“Please!” Sharon said, in a voice of affected composure. “There’s no need to violence. We aren’t going to-”

“Shut up!” Red snapped, cutting her off. He strode across the room to thrust his gun in her face. “You’ll talk when we tell you, and you’ll stay quiet the rest of the time, got it!” The other three women cried aloud in fright for their boss. Sharon went pale and nodded her head. Red glanced back over his shoulder at his two friends. “Get the rest of these ladies secure.”

“Right, Red.” The man with a blue patch replies. Going to the table, he unzipped his bag and dumped its contents out. Four large black ballgags stood out atop of a mound of braided nylon rope secured in neat hanks. The four women stared at the pile, unconsciously giving a low groan as they realized they were about to be tied up and gagged. The four ballgags in particular frightened them. Four gags for four women. This was no random break in. These men had expected to find four women here tonight and had come prepared to render them helpless, silent prisoners.

It was the third man, Green, who snapped the three out of their daze. Waving his pistol in the right direction he growled, “Come on, bitches! Quit daydreaming and get on your feet! Stand against the wall, facing towards it! Nice and slowly! And keep your hands up!”

Sharon watched in mute horror as her three assistants slowly got to their feet, hands raised and shuffled over to line up against the wall. She wanted to protest, but the words died in her throat from terror. At any rate, her attention was pulled away by Red who grabbed the nearest laptop and pulled it over to her.

“Is this yours?” He damned sternly.

“...yes.” Sharon admitted in a quiet voice, nodding her head.

“Log in.” He ordered. Meekly, she did as he said. Turning the laptop away from her briefly, he opened the browser and navigated to the company’s servers, seeming to know what he was doing and where he was going, finding his way through with little trouble. After a second, a prompt popped up, asking for a password to access the restricted parts of the system. He turned the laptop back to her, motioning for her to enter it.

“...no!” Sharon said, nervously. She knew all the damage someone malicious could do with access to those files, and these three men certainly fit that bill. “Please! I can’t!” She was cut off from further protestations as Red wordlessly delivered a hard slap across her face. Tears welled up in her eyes at the stinging pain.

“Enter the password.” Red growled. “Otherwise it might go bad for you...and your friends.”

Sharon knew she didn’t have a choice. Fighting back a sob at the pain of her stinging cheek, she slowly tapped out the password. The system accepted it with a happy chime and they were in. Before she could do anything else, if she could even think of something she could do in her terrorized state. Red roughly pulled Sharon out of her seat. After giving her a shove in the direction of the other captive women, he sat down in her place and began doing something in the system.

The other women had, in the meantime, been forced to place their hands pulled behind backs and bound, palms together, at the wrists. Blue had gone back to the table for the gags and was busy strapping the first one in Linda’s mouth.

As Sharon stumbled over to join the rest, Green grabbed her and pressed her roughly against the wall. Her arms were yanked back and her hands pressed together. She winced, biting back a cry as the rope dug into her wrists. Their captors were evidently quite experienced at this part of their trade. Two or three turns around her wrists, then a quick cinch in the middle and a tight knot completed Sharon’s binding. It took only a minute or two to render her helpless.

By that time, Blue had gagged Amanda and Hope. As soon as Green had stepped back, Blue moved into his place. “Open wide!” He ordered, bringing the ball around in front of her face. Seeing no way out of it, Sharon glumly opened her mouth, groaning as the large ball was pressed between her teeth until it slipped in. The straps were then pulled back around her head and buckled tight, eliciting more groans of discomfort. With the women secure for the moment, the two men spun them around so their backs were against the wall. Then after another reminder to them not to move, Green called over, “All four secure, Red.”

Their leader was still sitting at the computer, watching the screen but no longer typing. “Good. This is going to take some time, so sit the ladies down.” The two men complied, leading their captives back over to the conference table and pushing them into the chairs. Grabbing more rope from the pile, they started tying the women’s feet as well. Linda winced, biting on the rubber ball between her teeth as the coils tightened around her ankles. Already, her hands were half asleep, her wrists rubbed raw by the binding and from the feel of things her feet would soon go the same way. Desperately, she wished these men would finish up whatever they were doing here and go. With luck, she and the others wouldn’t have to spend too much time tied up before being found and rescued.

Beside her, Hope squirmed uncomfortably in her chair. As she’d dropped down into it, her skirt had ridden up, enough that as Green crouched down to tie her ankles, he could clearly see the hems of her stockings and, above the inch or two of bare thighs, catch a glimpse of her satin panties peeping out between her legs. After yanking the knot tight, he rose, running a hand up her calf to her thigh, sliding up under her skirt. She closed her eyes, letting a soft whimper escape her gag.

This caught the attention of Red, who looked up. “Green!” He snapped, “Now’s not the time for that. Finish tying the last lady.” He gestured towards Linda. She sat very still as Green huffily stood and grabbed another hank of rope, but despite her best efforts not to further rile him, she had her feet tied with particular tightness. The other women, meanwhile, let out a quiet groan of relief, tempered by Red’s words that this wasn’t “the time for that.” But would that time come? Desperately, they prayed it wouldn’t.

After he’d finished, Red sent Green out of the room. “Go check the security office. Make sure you shut off the right cameras and delete the footage.” He grabbed Sharon’s ID-badge from off the table and tossed it to Green. Grumbling, the other intruder did as instructed as Red returned to his own business on Sharon’s laptop. Blue went around the room, collecting the other women’s computers, phones and handbags which were deposited in the second dufflebag. That done, he leaned against the conference table, keeping watch over the captives. The tightly bound and gagged ladies sat uncomfortably, fidgeting and grunting from time to time at the discomfort of their bonds as the minutes slowly ticked away.

Over Blue’s shoulder, Linda got a glimpse of movement from the conference room door. At first she assumed it was Green, coming back from his errand, but then to her shock and hope, she saw the face peeking through the narrow window pane was that of Ruth. Linda forced herself to be still and quiet, to not alert Blue despite her every urge to scream to the other woman, both a cry for help and a warning not to come in and fall into the clutches of the intruders like the rest of them had. These men had evidently only expected to find four women here tonight. They must have missed the two interns leaving and, in the shock and terror of it all, the four captives had forgotten all about them until now, as they returned from grabbing food.

Fortunately, Ruth seemed to realize what was going on immediately. Linda saw the younger woman’s face shift through a range of emotions, from shock and alarm, to fright and finally settling on something approaching resolve. In that moment, she vanished from the window. Cautiously, Linda raised her head, glancing first at Blue, then over to look at Red. Neither of them seemed to have noticed the young woman outside. Linda sank her head back down, praying frantically that Ruth and Hannah could get away and bring back help…

***

Ten minutes earlier, the two had returned from getting food for everyone. The office building was dark, save for a couple lit windows on the third floor which was the conference where, they believed, the other women were still hard at work on their assignment, little guessing the frightful scene going on up there.

“Hope everyone’s not too hungry…” Ruth said as they got out of Hannah’s car.

“Not our fault the place was so crowded.” Hannah bristled. Ruth merely shrugged and pointed towards the side door Sharon had pointed out.

Carrying the bags of take-out food and a cardboard drinks carrier, the two interns started across the parking lot. This late in the evening, the lot was mostly empty, except for a few cars they recognized as belonging to the four other women, plus a utility van they didn’t.

“Maybe someone else is working on some of the wires.” Ruth guessed. They gave it no further notice and soon reached the side door. Sure enough, it was unlocked and, with some juggling of bags and things, got it open. The hallway inside was mostly dark, save for the emergency lights, but they managed to find their way to the elevators without much trouble and rode one of them up to the third floor. The corridor immediately off it was dark as well, but they could see a gleam of light from around the corner, coming from the conference room.

Ruth reached the door first and was about to go in but, like with the side door, she found it difficult to work the knob with her hands full. As she was fumbling around for it, the young woman happened to glance in through the window. What she saw stunned her, first in shock and disbelief and then with mounting horror as the reality of the situation sank in.

Just inside the door, with his back to her, was a tall, burly man, leaning against the table. It was while she was trying to figure out who this strange man was, Ruth realized he was wearing a ski mask. Then her gaze went past his shoulders and she saw the other women. They were seated in four conference chairs, but their awkward poses, legs closed tight in front of them, arms pulled stiffly behind their backs suggested to Ruth they were tied up. This thought was further supported by the gags each woman had in her mouth and the looks of terror on each of their faces.

As Ruth scanned the row of captives, her gaze caught Linda’s. The other woman’s eyes widened and she seemed about to say something, but her eyes went to the man and then somewhere off to the left, doubtless to another man Ruth couldn’t see from the narrow field of view provided by the window.

Hurriedly, before she was noticed, Ruth backed away from the window, almost bumping into Hannah, who was coming up behind her. The other intern started to say something. Ruth frantically shushed her, fearing even that quiet sound would be too loud and give them away.

“There’s two men in the room!” She whispered urgently. “At least, I think there’s two...They’ve got the others tied up!”

“You’re joking…” Hannah started to say, but she could see from the look on her friend’s face she was being serious. “What are they doing? What do they want?”

“I don’t know…” Ruth replied. “They must be burglars or something.” So far as she knew, nothing Worldwide Industrial Solutions did was special enough to attract industrial espionage, at least, nothing she’d been allowed to work on so far, but she was only an intern. And the fact there were two burglars here meant there had to be something worth stealing…

“Well, what do we do?”

“Call the cops! I...I don’t know anything else we can do.” Ruth answered. “Let’s get somewhere further away, in case one of them pokes their head out or hears us.”

Quietly as they could, the two interns set down their bags and drinks and crept away from the conference room, looking for someplace they could duck into and make a phone call, but all the other offices and rooms along this stretch of hall were locked tight for the night. Their best bet, it seemed, was to take the elevators down a floor. By unspoken agreement, the two turned and went around the corner to where they were. They had just reached the elevators when, with a soft chime, the doors of one of them slid open and a man in a jacket and ski mask stepped out.

The man was just as surprised to see them as the two women were he, but the man recovered faster and acted. Ruth and Hannah were just turning to start to run when he pulled a small pistol from the pocket of his jacket and cocked it. In the empty hallway, the click of the hammer was very loud and the young women realized what it was at once.

“Freeze!” The man barked, pointing the gun. “Hands up!” The two knew they were caught. Their captor stood between them and the elevators. Going back would buy them a few seconds, if they could get around the corner, but in a straight hallway, with all the doors locked, they’d be easy targets, even in the dark. Not to mention, they’d only be running back towards two more intruders. Trembling with fright, they raised their hands in surrender.

“Turn around! Start walking, nice and slow!” These further orders were given in the same brusque tone.

As the two young women were marched back up the hallway to the conference room, Hannah risked a glance back over her shoulder. “What do you want?” She asked fearfully. “What are you going to do with us?”

Her only answer was a growl and another barked command. “Shut up bitch! Keep looking forward!” Silently, they crossed the rest of the way back.

Inside, the arrival of the two interns, hands raised in surrender, brought groans of dismay from the four earlier captives. They could realize easily enough their best chance at rescue were now prisoners like them. Glumly, Linda and the others wondered if they would be forced to wait, trussed up like this, until the weekend staff came and found them in the morning.

Green, meanwhile, had quickly told his two partners how he’d returned from the security room, where he had shut off the security cameras and erased the footage for that evening. “These two must have been bringing back food for the rest. There were some take out bags in the hallway.”

Red rose from Sharon’s computer and examined the two young women who stood trembling with fright. “Hmmm...we weren’t expecting any of the interns…” He paused a second, thinking as his eyes ran over their fit young bodies. Then he seemed to come to a decision. “Tie them up with the others.”

Ruth and Hannah were led over to the wall and, like the other women, ordered to face it, placing their hands behind their backs. Ruth glanced back over her shoulder as she moved to obey. She flinched, seeing Blue grab several hanks of rope from the pile on the table. Green took one of the coils and each advanced on one of the young women. As before, they worked swiftly and efficiently, binding them tightly.

“What about gags for these two ladies?” Blue asked after knotting off Ruth’s bonds.

“Maybe one of the other ladies would be kind enough to donate some cloth for them.” Red suggested with a smirk. The four women in question, as they worked out where said cloth would come from, grunting their thoughts at this suggesting, but it was evident they would, literally, have no say in the matter. Chuckling, Green turned and advanced on Hope, drawing a small, but sharp looking folding knife from his belt. She squirmed, giving a frightened whimper, but all he did was reach down and grab the hem of her skirt. A quick slash and the ruined garment was pulled away from her body. Her checked flushed red as she found herself bared below the waist, but for her panties and stockings.

Green, meanwhile, busied himself slicing the skirt into several long strips, much to Hope’s further dismay. The skirt alone, to say nothing of the rest of her outfit, had cost her no small amount. When the men had enough material to work with, they turned back to the two interns. The young women tried begging, but like their coworkers went ignored. Each had one or two of the more ragged bits of cloth stuffed in her mouth to pack it full. Longer strips, knotted in the middle, served to prevent them from spitting the gags out.

Bound and gagged, Ruth and Hannah were marched over and set in chairs beside the other women, six helpless and terrified captives, praying their ordeal would soon be over. Their captors were evidently thinking the same thing. While Green kept watch on the women, his gaze always drifting back to Hope and her panties, Blue went and walked over to Red, annoyance evident in his body language.

“This is taking a bit longer then expected…” Red told him in explanation. “I’m just running the final confirmations now…” He gave a sigh of relief. “Looks good. Okay, we’re done here…” At this, the six captives gave a long sigh of relief. It lasted until he finished packing up the computer with the other electronics the trio had confiscated. Then, turning to the women, he added casually, “Let’s get these ladies ready to go.”

There was a second of stunned silence from the ladies in question. Then they began to scream into their gags and sob with fright as they realized this wasn’t simply a robbery, after which they’d be left tied up, shaken by their ordeal but otherwise unharmed. This was now a kidnapping. Where and for what purpose they couldn’t know, but a thousand frightening possibilities were quick to mind.

But as opposed as they were to it, the simple and awful truth was, there was nothing any of them could do to prevent their imminent abduction. They were reminded of that fact as the three men drew their pistols and pointed them threateningly at their captives.

“You’ve got a simple choice ladies.” Red told them in a grim tone. “You can decide to come along with us, easy and quiet. Or you can decide to stay and we’ll just shoot all of you before we go. What’s it going to be?” Slowly, the screams and sobs died down as his words sunk in. “Do you want to come with us?” He asked, his mouth bending up in a smirk. Numbly, the six women nodded.

With their captives thoroughly cowed for the moment, the men went to work. One at a time, the ladies had their feet untied and were stood up, pushed into line with one another. More of the rope was used to tie each captive to the woman in front of and behind her, tethering them at the waist into a long file of bound prisoners.

“Get moving!” Green growled, giving Hannah a rough shove. She stumbled forward until the rope between her and Ruth snapped taut, jerking the brunette forward. Reluctantly and frightened as they were, the captives had no choice but to follow their kidnappers out the door, each woman dragging the next along behind her. While Blue and Green herded them out into the dark hallway, Red cleared up the conference room. Everything from the cut ropes to the women’s purses, even the untouched takeout boxes Ruth and Hannah had brought back were collected and brought along. Nothing would be left behind to show what had happened here tonight.

Down the hall and around the corner, the kidnappers called the elevator. When it arrived, they forced the women to get in. Between the six of them, the three men, and all their bags it was a tight fit, everyone squeezed together, to the dismay of the women and, doubtless the amusement of their captors, but the doors slid shut and they descended to ground floor.

Out of the elevator, they retraced Ruth and Hannah’s route through the dark building to the south exit. The empty halls echoed with the clacking of the women’s heels on the tile floors and their muffled moans of terror as they stumbled through the dark. The men brought their captives to a halt just by the doors. Blue ran outside. A minute later, the women saw he’d gone and fetched the odd utility van from the far end of the lot. Blue backed it up almost to the building, leaving just enough room for the doors at the rear of the vehicle to swing open. They were leaving no chance of any passersby seeing the bound and gagged women being loaded into the van.

“In you go!” Green growled, grabbing Hannah and lifting her into the back of the van. The line joining her to the others was undone and the rope used to once more lash her feet together. He rolled her further up towards the front where, kicking and squirming, she got into a sitting position with her back to the side of the van.

Meanwhile, the same process was repeated with Ruth and then the other four, Sharon last of all. The six captives were arranged sitting up with their backs against the walls, facing each other. Blue and Green both piled in the back with them while Red got in the front and started up the engines. A wail passed through the women as they felt the van roll forward, thudding as it dropped back off the curb and onto the parking lot once more. Soon, they were out on the road proper and driving away.

The ride in the van seemed to stretch on interminably. At some point, the occasional twists and turns stopped and the captives felt the van speeding up as they got on the highway. After another hour or two had passed, the noise of the other cars outside seemed to diminish as they left the city and struck out into countryside.

Then that continued, hour after hour, only the occasional swerve or bump breaking the endless monotony of the van ride. Green and Blue were quiet, saying nothing to each other or to their captives. For the women, a new feeling came into their experience. Thus far, they’d been pretty much terrified out of their wits, wondering what was going to happen to them and if they would live past the night, but after several hours of confinement in the van with no change to their situation, it was hard to go on being terrified and the women found being kidnapped could also be boring, maddeningly so.

Their few attempts at conversation were handily defeated by the gags they wore and at any rate were, along with any attempts to move from their position, or even just shift to try and mitigate the discomfort of sitting, bound hand and foot for several hours, quite discouraged by foul looks and growls from their guards. So as the trip stretched on interminably, all they could do was sit, staring across the dark interior at each other, or try to doze as best as their tight bonds allowed.

Finally things changed, abruptly and without warning. The relatively smooth drive along the highway was suddenly changed to the jarring bumps of a country dirt road, and a poorly maintained one at that. It grew steadily worse and worse, till one wondered if they had left roads behind altogether and were trying to drive across open countryside. Unsecured in the back, unable to steady themselves with their bound hands and feet, the women were tossed around quite roughly.

After a few minutes of this, the van suddenly came to a halt. The women had not yet recovered from the final minutes of the drive when the doors were flung open by Red who brusquely ordered them out. Muffled cries of fright filled the interior as the women’s earlier fears returned with full force. They were hardly allayed when, one by one, the women had their feet untied and were lifted out of the van and set on the side of a dirt road, or more accurately, trail. All around them, all that could be seen were miles of empty prairie, dark in the predawn hours, no lights to be seen save stars overhead. Had the men driven them out here for execution? Would their kidnappers go to the trouble of digging a shallow grave or just shoot them here and leave them on the side of the road?

As it turned out, neither was to be the case, though they would find it hardly better. After lining the women along the road, facing the open van doors, Blue went down the line, untying their hands, growling a warning to the women not to remove their gags. Even so, they were quite grateful for this respite from being bound, though they couldn’t know how long they had to enjoy it. Red and Green stood by, pistols at the ready should any of their captives make the mistake of trying to run. Not that there was anywhere for them to go with miles of wilderness all around.

“Alright ladies…” Red said when the last woman, Hope, had been untied. “If you would all be so kind...strip!” The women made no move, too surprised by this order to react. He waited a second, then said, more forcefully. “I said strip! All your clothes off! You can do so voluntarily, or my associates here can assist you.” Even covered by their masks, the leering eagerness of the three men was obvious and sufficient motivation for most of the women.

Without much enthusiasm, they began to slowly undress. At their captor’s instructions, the discarded items were placed back in the van: jackets, skirts, pants, shoes and, after some additional prodding from Red, panties, bras, hose and stockings, formed a growing pile on the floor of the van. Only the jewelry they wore was diverted into a big plastic bag held by one of the men. There were a few quiet sobs as a particularly cherished keepsake was surrendered.

The only holdouts were Ruth and Amanda who, as the rest of the women stood; red-faced, shivering and trying as best they could to cover themselves with their hands, remained defiantly clothed. This didn’t escape the notice of their captors. Red glowered and gestured to them. “I said strip!” He growled. Ruth shook her head, trembling, while Amanda grunted something doubtless impolite through her gag. The rest of the ladies watched, frightened, wondering what was going to happen.

“One last chance.” Red said, his voice deadly serious. “Your clothes are going in the van, whether you’re wearing them or not.” As he said this, Green had taken out a small gas can and was busy splashing the engine of the van with it. He came around and began to soak the interior and the pile of discarded clothes as well.

That was enough to overcome any last resistance from the holdouts. With a frightened yelp, Ruth hurriedly undid her belt and pulled her dress up over her head. Amanda continued to grumble but she slipped off her jacket and began unbuttoning her blouse to the grins and chuckles of the men. Their clothes soon joined the others and they stood, like the rest, naked apart from the gags in their mouths. That wasn’t to last. After Ruth and Amanda had gotten back in line, Red ordered them to place their hands behind their backs. Glumly, the women complied, all too aware of how this exposed their naked bodies to the gazes of the men. Red certainly leered as Blue and Green went down the line, tying each woman’s hands together once more.

“Now…” Red ordered when this was accomplished, “Start walking! Don’t worry, it’s not far!” With mute resignation, the six captives turned, forming a line once more and set off, shuffling up the road. They hadn’t gotten far when there was a sudden ‘whumpf!’ and an orange light lit up the road ahead of them for some yards. The women at the back of the line felt a sudden head behind him as the gas-soaked van suddenly went up in flames, along with their clothes, phones, IDs...everything. Moaning in fright, they had no choice but to continue on.

It wasn’t an easy march. The dirt trail was rough and irregular with plenty of ruts and potholes to trip an unwary captive and shrouded in gloom once they’d gotten far enough away from the burning van. None of the women wanted to find out what the men would do if one of their captives twisted an ankle and couldn’t keep up the brisk pace they demanded. Even where the road was more level, there were still countless rocks and stones, painful for the barefoot women to walk over.

Fortunately, as promised, the trip was not long. After they’d gone a little less then a mile, they came to a battered old pickup truck, parked slightly off the road, screened somewhat by a stand of gnarled mesquite trees. Red had hurried on ahead and started it up with a wheeze. He pulled it onto the road and backed it up, the lowered tailgate towards the rest of the group stumbling up the road towards it. As they approached, the women guessed they were going to be loaded onto the truck for the next stage of their journey.

This was, of course, distressing to the women, but in some ways a little relieving. It didn’t seem likely their captors would go to the trouble of switching vehicles to foil pursuit, just to take their captives someplace else to be killed. Though they still had little clue what lay in store for them, and the possibility of a violent end remained, it had at least been pushed back from the immediate present to some future date and, one they could hope would be put off for good by rescue or escape, if the opportunity were to present itself.

Red stopped the pickup and hopped out. In the meantime, Green climbed up into the open bed. With their hands tied, there was no way the women could get up, so Blue grabbed the closest of the captives, Linda, and lifted her up into the waiting hands of Green. She gave a squeal, not least because, after handing her off, Blue put a hand on her bottom, to help boost her the rest of the way into the truck, while enjoying the opportunity to palm her naked rear. The men, of course, only chuckled at her indignant grunts.

Linda was carried up to the front of the dirty truck bed and set down, first onto her knees and then onto her belly, so she lay flat, perpendicular to the truck. It had been equipped with a second stash of rope for the men to use, stuffed in a canvas sack in one corner. Opening the bag, Green took out several coils of cord. The first he used to tie Linda’s ankles together, then the second was run from bound ankles to bound wrists, roping her into a strict hogtie. She could only groan as the pull of the rope bent her shoulder back and pulled her into a taut bow.

While Green was busy with this, Blue and Red, the latter climbing into the truck as well, started on the next woman, Hope. She soon found herself lying right beside Linda, with Green lashing her into an equally strict hogtie. Sharon was next in the truck, and so on, until all six women lay hogtied side by side, filling the bed of the truck.

“Six pretty hogs, trussed up and ready for market!” Red teased as he and the other two men watched their captives squirm and sob in discomfort from the strain of the ropes. The last thing the men did was take a blue tarp and pull it over the back of the truck bed. They spent a few minutes securing it down so it lay tat over the captives in the bed. The tailgate was raised up and locked in place, then the three men climbed in the can and the truck started rolling.

This second part of the journey seemed to go on as long, or even longer then the first. Most of the time, they seemed to bounce down more of the bumpy, teeth-jarring dirt roads as before, but every so often the truck would pull out onto a paved road and the ride would smooth out for a bit before they inevitably left it behind for another dirt trail. On these occasions, the women could sometimes hear other cars passing by, more frequently as dawn came and the sun began to rise though little of it slipped beneath the tarp covering them.

It was maddening to know that other people, possibly rescue, were so close at hand and yet tantalizingly just out of reach, but no matter how hard they screamed they couldn’t make themselves heard over the noise of the road and no matter how frantically they struggled the ropes lashing their naked bodies remained as tight as ever. Inevitably, the truck would pull off the highway for another plunge through the country back roads and another chance would be lost. The helpless women could only wonder how many more chances they had left, and what would happen to them when those changes were all gone…

Eventually, the trek along a particular rough and winding dirt trail ended not with another paved road, but with the truck coming to a halt. The engine cut off and they heard doors open and slam shut. But despite this, the men didn’t come and unload their captives straight away. Instead, the women heard footsteps crunching on gravel, drifting away until they couldn’t hear anything.

Ten long, uncomfortable minutes passed. Were the men coming back? Had they been abandoned here? Under the heavy plastic tarp under the full glare of the late morning sun, it became stiflingly hot for the women. Their naked bodies were drenched with sweat. How long could they last, in the dark, airless hell before passing out?

The sound of footsteps coming back was a cause for relief for the captives, but also puzzlement. From the sound of the boots tramping towards them there were more then three men coming back to the truck. The cords holding down the tarpaulin were undone and with a sudden whoosh it was pulled away, exposing the six naked, hogtied women. They blinked, blinded by the sudden daylight even as they moaned in relief at the sudden rush of fresh air over their sweaty bodies.

“There! Didn’t I tell you these were choice goods!” Red was talking to someone. Craning their heads up, the women could see the leader of their captors perched on the tailgate, looking down at them with his usual leering grin. Beside him was a strange man. He was in his mid-40s, with a dark, lined face and a big, bushy mustache. He had on a broad cowboy hat and a denim jacket with a silver bolo tie.

“Yes, they are nice” The man replied, his voice tinged with a slight accent. “But there are six senoritas here, you said four the day before.”

Red nodded. “We were expecting four…” He said pointing out Sharon and the other three. “But we would up picking up two extras along the way.” He pointed out Ruth and Hannah.

“And I’m glad you did.” The other man replied. “They certainly look promising, but I still want a closer look…” In the bottom of the truck bed, the six captives sobbed with fright as they were discussed by the men so casually, as if they weren’t there or were inanimate things, not people.

“Of course.” Red said and he gestured. As the two dropped down out of the captive’s limited field of vision, Green and Blue came forward and lowered the tailgate. Reaching in, Green grabbed Ruth by her bound ankles. She squirmed and struggled, but could do nothing as she was pulled to the edge of the truck bed. The hogtie rope was cut and she was lifted out and set down on her still tightly bound feet.

This gave her an opportunity to look around. They had stopped in another stretch of arid plains, far from civilization. The landscape was empty, apart from a pair of buildings directly in front of her. One was a crude shed of corrugated sheet metal, worn and covered in a thin patina of rust. It was about one and a half stories tall and thirty or forty feet square. Beside it was a larger building, also of worn metal siding but bigger. It had the look of a barn, with large sliding doors out front, open about a foot or two at the moment. Through the gap, she could see the snout of an old prop cargo plane poking out.

But the young woman’s attention was soon taken up by things closer at hand. Six men had come out to the truck to inspect her and the other captives. Three were their abductors, looking hot and sweaty now in their masks and jackets. The other three were strangers. In the lead was the older, mustachioed man she’d got a glimpse of before. With him were two other men, younger, but similar in looks. Both were in jeans with boots, one cowboy, the other plain work boots. One, with a dark brown mustache, similar to his boss’, had on a navy blue button up shirt with torn off sleeves and a stetson while the other, with a thick stubble, was in a dirty white t-shirt and ballcap.

The older man came forward, so he stood right in front of Ruth. She would have shrunk back, would have run for the hills, if she thought she had a chance, but her bound ankles made that impossible. With a look of lust, the man reached up with both hands and seized the young woman’s large, round breasts. Ignoring her indignant squeals, he began to squeeze and grope them.

“Not bad…” The man said. “Good shape, weight, firmness…” His tone was less of the lustful rapists and more like someone tallying up the qualities of a new car or some other piece of merchandise. After ten or fifteen seconds of this, Ruth’s breasts seemed to pass muster. While one hand continued to paw at them, the man’s other hand drifted further down. Ruth’s face went white and she clamped her legs together tightly, but he had little trouble forcing his fingers between her thighs and then upward to stroke her crotch. She gave another loud squeal as two of his fingers slipped inside her, feeling around with a practiced touch. The whole thing took maybe thirty seconds but within that short time, Ruth had never felt so violated.

As the young woman hung her head, tears welling up, the man stepped back giving a sharp, meaningful nod. One of his men came forward and, with little ceremony, seized Ruth around the middle, lifting her up and throwing her over one shoulder. He turned and carried her towards the metal shack. At the same time, Green and Blue had already grabbed the next captive in line, cut her hogtie rope and slid her out of the truck.

Hannah was trembling as she was stood up behind the truck. She hadn’t seen what had happened to Ruth, none of the women could see anything from their position but the blue sky overhead, but what they’d heard was more then enough. Despite her wariness though, the plain fact was, there was still nothing she could do. Like Ruth before her, all Hannah could do was stand and endure the man’s lewd ‘inspection’ of her most intimate parts. By the time she was also judged acceptable, she was crying as well. The man’s second assistant grabbed the young woman, tossing her over his shoulder to be carried off to the shack. On the way, he passed the first, returning empty handed, who rejoined the party just as Amanda was stood up for her inspection.

In the end, all six seemed to pass whatever test the men had subjected them to. Sharon was the last to be unloaded. She bit her gag, fighting back tears at the callous way she and the other women had been so casually violated. As she was hoisted up and hauled off with all the ceremony of a sack of potatoes, she heard the leaders of the two groups talking as they shook hands.

“Pleasure doing business with you again. The money will be sent the usual way.”

“Thanks! I hope to have another load to bring in about two or three weeks. There’s a private yoga class we’ve been keeping an eye on. Still some details to work out, but there’ll be some choice pieces…”

“I look forward to seeing them!”

Sharon, meanwhile, was carried to the shack and through a rusty metal door. Inside, it was near pitch black. What light there was seeped in through the small gaps between the different sheets of metal forming the walls. It was also hot as an oven inside, though barely noon yet. The only ventilation in the closed space came from a small oscillating fan in some dark corner of the place. The shack reeked of sweat and worse.

As Sharon’s eyes adjusted from the bright sun outside to the gloom inside, she beheld the worst sight so far for her and the other kidnapped women. The shack was a single room, the floor dusty concrete. Close by the door was a small living space with a couple cots, a battered old sofa and a rickety card table where a game seemed to have been in progress when it had been, presumably, interrupted by the arrival of the kidnapped women. Another sturdier, though no less battered, table held what looked like radio equipment, a computer and a police scanner.

But it was the rest of the shack that took her full attention. It was filled with wire-mesh cages, lined up along the two far walls in an ‘L’ shape. They were about the size of large dog kennels, though the occupants were not dogs. Right away, Sharon spotted the other five women, peering around their new accommodations with eyes wide with horror. But in addition to them were five or six other captives she didn’t recognize. They were, like the newcomers, all young women and, as best she could tell in the dim light, fit, trim and pretty. That, and that they were also all naked, bound and gagged.

Sharon’s captor carried his struggling burden up the rows, past those cages already occupied until he reached an empty one. A hatch at the top of the cage was lifted up and Sharon lowered inside. She struggled to get up in spite of her bindings. When she at last got to her knees, her head brushed the top of the cage as it was lowered back down, preventing her from rising beyond an awkward crouch, bent over almost double in the tight confines. She gave a quiet whimper as her captor fitted a heavy padlock to the cage, locking her in.

“Like we told the others…” He wagged a finger at the frightened captive through the bars of the cage, “Keep quiet in there, don’t cause trouble or we’ll make things worse for you!”

“I’m already naked and tied up…” Sharon thought, bitterly. “In a chicken wire cage in a shack God-knows-where. How much worse can things get!?!” But as she knew she definitely didn’t want to find that out, Sharon kept quiet but for a low moan of fright as she nodded her head. This seemed to satisfy their new captors who returned to the card table. Sobs and whimpers, though muted, echoed through the shed as the men resumed their card game, paying the miserable women little attention.

The captives certainly had plenty of reason to feel sorry for themselves. What had at first seemed an ordinary robbery had become something much, much worse. None of them doubted, seeing this place, that they had just been sold to a gang of human traffickers. While they could still pray for rescue and hope for some change at escape, each knew with growing dread their most likely fate was to be trafficked out of the country, never to be seen again. Just another half-dozen among the hundreds, if not thousands to disappear into the underground world of the modern white slave trade. Doomed to spend the rest of their lives working in some hellhole brothel or as the helpless plaything of a cruel master.

If the women had any doubts about that, they were dispelled by the words of the boss of the group, as he came back inside. “A dozen beauties!” He said, going down the line, leering into each cage and its frightened occupant. “Felipe, go make sure the plane is fueled up and ready to go. We’ll wait until nightfall, then take these lovelies to market!”

***

“It’s a disaster, a goddamn disaster!” Peterson grumbled.

“And what’s worse, we never saw it coming.” Richards agreed. The two gray-haired gentlemen, dressed in dark business suits were seated in Peterson’s office. The small bottle of scotch he officially didn’t keep in the bottom desk drawer made an appearance and not its first that morning.

Two night’s ago, someone had accessed restricted areas of the company’s systems, including those controlling payroll and the pensions. They’d managed to move almost two million dollars in funds out of the company coffers into dummy accounts and from there to parts unknown.

That same night, Sharon Cooper and several of her close associates had had access to the otherwise empty building and someone, using her credentials had disabled the security and automatic notification systems which would have alerted people to the theft. Since then, the women seemed to have vanished. Earlier that that, the police had reported finding a van, matching the description of the thieves getaway vehicle abandoned on a remote country road, completely burnt. A few scraps of cloth, burnt electronics and half-melted id badges pointed to it being on the right trail, but unfortunately one which seemed to have already gone cold.

“Plus however much she’d embezzled from us before now.” Peterson added. When they had finally noticed the theft, much too late to do anything to stop it, the company’s accountants had quickly turned up additional evidence, buried deep in system files and records, that someone had been siphoning funds from the pension system for several years. No one knew how much, and finding that out would take months, maybe years, but given what had happened there was only one real suspect.

“What I wonder is, why now?” He continued. “Her scheme seems to have been raking in the cash, year after year, without us ever suspecting a thing. So why throw that away now with a crude smash and grab job?”

“My fault, probably.” Richards replied, lowering his head apologetically. “We’d just started an audit of all records, getting everything in order if we do proceed with that merger, starting with all the materials relating to the Henderson account. Nothing connected with payroll or pensions…”

“But doubtless she realized sooner or later she would be exposed and decided to take the money and run.” Peterson filled in.

Richards nodded. “I should have been more suspicious when she volunteered to take care of the audit herself. But I didn’t think anything of it. You know how ambitious she’s always been.”

“You couldn’t have known.” Peterson reassured the other man. He sighed. “The board is going to have my head for this.” He muttered bitterly.

“Mine too.” Richards added, in a more composed tone. “I worked with Sharon that whole time and had access to the same files she did. I never noticed anything amiss, never had the slightest suspicion...if I’m lucky, I’ll be allowed to resign gracefully rather then being fired.” His face cracked a wry smirk.

“You don’t seem too put off by the prospect.” Peterson replied. He looked pale himself and a little green around the edges, though it could have been the fact his coffee the last two days had generally been more scotch then coffee.

“Oh...I’ve laid a little bit by.” Richards said, chuckling a bit, as if at some private joke. In his inebriated state, Peterson didn’t notice.

“I hope to hell they find those damn bitches.” Peterson growled. “Won’t save my career, but it’d do me good, knowing they’re locked up somewhere like they deserve.”

Richards nodded. “So do I, but I don’t think there’s much chance from what I’ve heard. By now, I bet they’re on some sandy beach on an island somewhere on the other side of the globe…”

***

Far away on some remote corner of the globe, the evening tide rolled and crashed against the sandy beaches of a small island. It had a name, though, and on every map below that name was the word: “Private”. Anyone who ignored that and tried to approach the island would be met ten or fifteen miles out by speedboats carrying men with automatic weapons and politely dissuaded from coming any closer. Unauthorized personnel were strictly prohibited on account of the private biological research facility and nature preserve located on the island. Had anyone managed to elude the unwelcoming party and reach the shore, they would find the real reason much different. A few had, though thus far none had managed to leave the island afterwords.

In a large auditorium, deep within the thick jungle covering most of the island’s interior, a crowd waited, murmuring to themselves as they waited, watching the, currently empty, stage. It was slightly raised and had a long walkways projecting out from it, into the audience. A hush fell as a middle-aged man in a dark suit came onto the stage from the left side. He crossed over, coming to stand at a small wooden podium on the far right. He stood there for a second, looking out as if studying the crowd and gauging their mood. Then he spoke;

“Alright folks, we all know what we’re here for and how this works. I know you’re all anxious to begin so let’s go ahead and bring them out!”

This was met by general approval from the audience who started clapping. It rose, many adding hoots and cheers to the tumult, as another man, younger then the first but dressed similarly, came out onto the stage from the same side. In his hands was a long chain. The other end ran to a small metal collar locked around neck of a young woman who stumbled out onto the stage, dazzled by the noise and the bright stage lights. The chain then ran to the collar of the next girl who followed her, and the next. Soon, the line stretched a dozen long across the length of the stage.

All of the women were dressed alike...which was to say they weren’t dressed at all. Apart from the steel collars encircling each girl’s throat, they were completely naked, exposed to the hundreds of eyes looking up at them from the audience. Much as they doubtless wanted to, none of them could make even the slightest attempt at covering their bared breasts or crotches. Handcuffs kept their arms pulled firmly behind their backs. Similar fetters were locked around their ankles, limiting their gait to a short hobble as they shuffled into place, heads cast down, trying not to look out at the crowds watching them hungrily. When one or two looked up, glancing about the auditorium nervously, the crowd could see thick ballgags strapped tight in the women’s mouths, muffling their terrified moans and sobs.

Sharon and the others were at the front of the coffle, looks of mute terror on their faces as they came to a halt, the line of nude, shackled women stretching across the length of the stage, a few paces behind the podium and the start of the catwalk. Even now, after several days of brutal and degrading captivity, it hard seemed real to them, like this was just a long, unusually real nightmare. They didn’t want to believe that their old lives, their homes, families, their ambitions of moving up the ranks at work, were over. They didn’t want to believe that all the future held for them was a life of cruel bondage. But what they wanted didn’t matter anymore.

“Get a good look folks.” The man at the podium said, though the audience hardly needed the encouragement. An excited chatter filled the air. “Here’s the first set of girls up for sale tonight and I think you’ll agree they’re a fine bunch of slaves.” A chorus of low moans came up from the girls in question, the chains rattling lightly as they trembled in fear.

A third man came onto the stage, from the right, joining the one holding the front chain of the slave coffle. Sharon was untethered from the rest of the women and the lead from her collar handed to the newcomer. She stumbled forward, out of the line, at a sharp tug from the man. He led her up the catwalk, at a slow pace she could easily maintain even with the leg irons. Sharon shuffled along, face burning crimson as she was aware every eye in the audience was now examining her naked figure from every angle, judging her with cruel calculation, mentally assigning her value, not as an individual or as a woman, but as a slave, as property.

At the end of the catwalk, the slaver did an about face, taking Sharon back towards the stage. At the other end he did the same, so she was forced to walk the shameful length three times in total before being brought to a final halt at the end, surrounding on three sides by a sea of leering faces. Behind her, the auctioneer spoke up. “And here is Lot 1 tonight, acquired only three days ago, she is fresh and untrained…”

“Now, what am I bid for this slave…”