The first of the Christmas lights glowing in the otherwise dark neighborhood provided an appropriately festive look as Ted stepped out of the house. His breath fogged as he glanced up and down the street. The dark-haired, middle aged man pulled his dark woolen jacket tighter around himself. It hadn’t snowed yet, but it was only a matter of time.

“Maybe we’ll have a white Christmas even…” He thought to himself.

After a long moment, Ted concluded the street was deserted, unsurprising for 1 AM on such a cold night in early December. He’d have preferred no Christmas lights, festive though they were, but that wasn’t going to happen this time of year. As long as there was no one up to see anything, a little extra light wouldn’t matter. Shivering slightly, he turned and walked back into the house.

Things were just as he’d left them. The three coeds who rented this house lay face down on the floor of the living room. They had their wrists and ankles crossed and taped together. More bands of the duct tape were plastered over their mouths and eyes, so the only thing showing between chin and brow was a narrow strip at the nose.

Closest to the door was one Amanda Miller. A curly haired brunette, she was dressed in an old t-shirt and flannel pajama pants. Ted and his partner Steve had found her snug in bed when they’d broken in a little over an hour ago.

By contrast her two roommates were dressed for a night out. Samantha Blake, a tall athletic redhead had an appropriately festive red and green party dress on while Michele Garcia, a short curvy dark haired girl had on an oversized holiday sweater and dark leggings. The two had been at a holiday party. They’d just gotten back fifteen minutes ago to find their roommate bound, gagged and blindfolded on the floor and two men with guns waiting for the coeds to return. The young ladies soon found themselves right beside the unfortunate Amanda, tied up and gagged as well.

“Coast’s clear.” Ted told Steve. The tall, thin man with sandy brown hair grunted in acknowledgement. “We can get going.” This brought a few murmurs of relief from the girls who began to hope that this nightmare they found themselves in might be nearly over.

“Ok ladies, let’s get going…” The groans of relief turned to moans of shock and horror as the captive girls realized the intruders were planning to take them too. Fortunately, the multiple layers of tape, and the cloth packing beneath the gags, kept the racket to a minimum as Steve and ted freed the girl’s feet and stood them up.

“Come on, get moving!” Ted said in a threatening tone. He jabbed the barrel of the pistol into Amanda’s back. The replica pistol, actually, but none of the girls had known that as they’d meekly surrendered and let themselves be tied up. Had they know, things might have turned out far differently for the three coeds, but they hadn’t and didn’t. Amanda gave a whimper of fright and shuffled forward a few uncertain steps, disoriented by her blindfold. Steve, meanwhile, gave the same instructions to Samantha and Michele. The three young ladies, guided by their captors’ rough shoved, stumbled out of the house into the cold night.

The van was parked on the street, a little ways down from the house. A risk, as the captives were marched out towards it, but less of one then having the small, nondescript utility van right in front of the house when the two party girls got home. Fortunately, the house it was in front of was empty, the owners having gone on vacation a few days before.

As it was, they were completely unnoticed reaching the van. Ted unlocked the back doors and swung them open. “In you go…” He teased, giving Amanda a prod forward. She grunted, flailing blindly as her legs encountered the bumper of the van, but eventually, she got a leg up over the edge and half-climbed, half-fell inside the vehicle. “That’s it, lie down. You’ve had practice at that.” He said and pushed Samantha in beside her. He had to roll her aside to make room for Michele but soon the three girls lay side by side.

Taking out the previously used roll of tape from his jacket pocket, Ted secured the captives’ ankles together once more. Michele tried a few awkward kicks, but Ted easily grabbed and held them together long enough to get three or found turns of tape around her ankles. The young woman groaned in frustration. Her roommates moaned in fright.

“Sit tight, ladies. We have a bit of a trip.” Ted told them. Grinning at their muffled cries of distress, he shut and locked the back doors, then walked around to the front of the van. While he’d been busy with the girls in the back, Steve had climbed into the driver’s seat and started up the van. Ted blew through his fingers and wished the van’s finicky heater would finally kick in. He gave little thought for the three bound and gagged captives in the back that didn’t have the benefit of his jacket, except to note their frantic, but futile struggles as the van pulled away from the curb and onto the road.

For the next hour, things were quiet. Steve kept the van to the back roads and aside from the rare passing car all was dark outside, save the narrow strip of road caught in the van’s flickering headlights. The two men were silent. Steve was a poor conversationalist at the best of times. Ted had long ago given up trying to get more then one or two words out of him at a time. In the back, the girls had finally settled down, realizing all their struggles and screams were accomplishing nothing and settled down to the despondent sobs and whimpers that usually followed the initial resistance.

The chime of Ted’s phone broke the silence. With a little surprise, he took it out, wondering who would be calling. This was his work phone, and there were precious few who had the number for it. The caller ID was scrambled, unsurprisingly. The people who did call had precautions of their own.

“Ted here.” He said, answering the call.

“Hey…” The voice which replied was that of David, one of Ted’s best customers. “Lovely weather in Portugal lately.” As best Ted could tell, David had never been to Portugal and he couldn’t comment on the weather there either. The code phrase was not one Ted had ever heard before, but that was the point. Had David used one of the recognized code phrases, or reused one Ted had heard before, it was a signal something was wrong and someone was trying to get him to be indiscrete on a tapped line. The gibberish phrase meant all was well and they could speak freely.

“But hopscotch’s not my game.” Ted gave a similar nonsense reply to let David know his end was, he hoped, free from coercion or taps as well. “What’s on your mind? I’m in the middle of a job here.”

David chuckled. “Anyone I might be interested in?”

“Oh, I’ve got three lovely ladies in the back, but I’m afraid you’ve been beaten. Yuri’s already made an advance just off their preliminary pics. Probably wants them for his new joint outside Moscow.” A sudden chorus of horrified moans from the back told Ted his unwilling passengers had been listening in and had now realized they’d just been kidnapped for the white slave trade. Frantic sounds of struggling following this unwelcome revelation.

“Too bad…” David said with a sigh. “But at least you won’t have to deal with them long?”

“Not too long. Depends where Yuri wants us to deliver them and how long it takes to arrange their trip. Things have been tricky shipping to Eastern Europe lately. Still, I don’t see it taking more than three or four days to get them on their way.” The squeals of fright from the back intensified.

“Well then, would you be available to help me with a little…holiday project?”

“What sort of project are we talking about?” Ted asked.

“Just a few last minute gifts on my Christmas shopping list.” David replied. “Unfortunately, my friends have, shall we say, specific requests and I need help finding the items. I’d appreciate the help, your usual rates, plus a bonus for the urgency?”

“Alright.” Ted said, after a long pause. “I can’t make any promises, but send me your list and I’ll see what I can do…”

***

A couple hours later they were back at Ted and Steve’s remote base of operations. The three coeds were safely locked away in the basement in the cages they would call home for the next few days, until they left on their one-way trip abroad. The two slavers were in the ‘office’ a small room on the ground floor with desks and a couple computers they used for the research and admin parts of the job. Ted had downloaded David’s list from the secure email account and was looking it over.

“Well, David’s friends certainly know what they want…” Ted said tutting. “A personal trainer, a barista, a ponygirl, all with specific requirements… Listen to this: must be at least 5’10” or more, pale skin tone, brunette. Must have a lively and determined demeanor.” Ted read off the description. “This one even sent a picture…” He turned to the jpeg attachment. It was a group shot, a dozen or so young women in the skimpy uniform of a certain chain restaurant. Three of the faces were circled.

“Like toys in a catalog.” Ted replied, shaking his head. “Still, we’ll do our best to give them what they want.” He glanced over at Steve. “I’ll let you handle this trio for now, see if you can find what place this is. Hopefully it’s some place local, but if we need to factor in travel time better to know it now then two days before Christmas.” Steve’s answer, as always, was an affirmative grunt.

“Meanwhile…” Ted said, standing up. “I think I know where I can find a personal trainer who will fit the bill…”

***

 “Good job today!” Casey said with a big grin. “You’re coming along great. Just keep up with those exercises I showed you, ten or fifteen minutes in the morning. I’ll see you next week!”

Across the gym, Ted watched as the young woman wrapped up things with her current trainee. Casey brushed a few strands of dark brown hair that had escaped her tight ponytail during the last half hour of rigorous aerobics, then bent to pick up her water bottle from beside the bench where it say, incidentally giving Ted a good view of her shapely legs and firm rear well showcased by the tight spandex exercise pants she wore.

“Brunette, check. Tall, check. Athletic, check.” Ted mentally went over the list of requirement’s David had provided for the personal trainer. “Intelligent to boot.” Aside from being a personal trainer, Miss Casey Lawson was working towards her degree as a nutritionist, part of a holistic approach to health and wellbeing, Ted had found out. He’d been interested in the 23-year old trainer even before David’s request came in. Quite aside from her qualifications as a personal trainer, Miss Lawson had the sort of fit, toned body and cheerful, pretty face that would make her an attractive piece to many of Ted’s clients. It had been only a matter of time before he picked her up.

“At least this way,” Ted thought, “She’ll still be able to use her talents and education, instead of just ending up some rich bastard’s personal sex toy…” Not that she wouldn’t be used for that too, of course. Ted ogled her surreptitiously, as she straightened up, wiping the perspiration off with a small hand towel, then draped it around her shoulders where it joined her dark blue sports bra as the only things concealing the perky mounds of her breasts from every male eye in the room.

“Well, enough fun.” Ted thought, switching off the treadmill and stepping down. “Time to go to work.” He knew, from previous visits to the gym, that Casey had met her last client for the evening. If she followed her usual pattern, the young woman would spend another hour or so, on her own exercise routine before returning to her lodgings on campus. Ted had considered picking her up there, but dismissed the location as too busy and thus too risky. There was likewise no good place between the gym and there that would make for a good spot to ambush her.

The best time, he’d eventually decided, was at the end of routine when she relaxed in the gym’s steam room before hitting the showers and going home. It was usually deserted at this time of the day and had the advantage of being separated from the other areas of the gym and being close to one of the back doors.

Collecting his gym bag, Ted left via the front doors, making sure people saw him go, a good hour or so before Miss Lawson’s disappearance. “Too bad I had to sign up for the 6-month membership.” Ted thought. “Still, at least I’ll get more out of it then a broken New Year’s resolution…”

Outside, he went to the rented car he’d acquired under a false identity for this job. He left the parking lot and circled the neighborhood so he could get into the service alley behind the gym. It was empty and quiet. Unlike the 24-hour gym, all the other shops in this complex had closed for the night.

Parking it where he had easy access to the trunk and could drive out in a hurry, Ted changed out of his workout clothes into a nondescript t-shirt and jeans. A ski mask would conceal his face once inside. A second, smaller gym bag held his gear.

The cheap lock on the back door took mere moments to pick. Ted cracked the door an inch and peered through. Seeing the hallway on the other side was clear, he pulled the mask down and stepped inside. Just around the corner were the doors to the steam rooms. A quick glanced through the glass window showed Casey inside, wrapped in a towel. The young brunette was alone.

Turning the knob, Ted threw open the door. He’d considered a couple of ways of making the actual snatch. Chloroform would have been simplest, but seeing the fit, athletic woman going to down on the weight machines had made the kidnapped reconsider his chances against her in a struggle. He still had his fake gun, and though it would be risky if she didn’t play along, Ted knew he had to take that risk.

“Don’t move.” Ted growled in the sharpest tone he could manage. Casey had turned as soon as she heard the door open and found what, to her, looked like a real gun pointed in her direction. “Scream and you’re dead!” He growled.

Ted saw the thoughts going through the young woman’s head: the initial shock and terror shifting to a quick mental calculation of how long it would take help to come, assuming her cries could even be audible in the noisy gym through two doors, versus how long it would take Ted to pull the trigger. She went pale, but kept silent.

“Good girl. Keep being smart like that and you won’t get hurt.” Ted said. “Lie down on the bench.”

The thought of what Ted’s intentions towards her might be rose in the young woman’s mind. Her cheeks flushed and she raised one hand to clutch the towel that was all she wore tight around her.

“No, I’m not here for that.” Ted told her. Which was true. He personally had no intentions on the young woman. Her future owner certainly would, but Ted would let her find that out in her own time. Meanwhile, he needed her cooperative. “I just need to tie you up.”

Still somewhat hesitant, but realizing she had no choice unless she wanted to test his reluctance towards shooting her, Casey turned and leaned over, lifting her legs onto the wooden bench, and crossed her hands behind her back. Wary in case she was waiting for him to lower his guard, to try something, Ted moved over to secure her. The plastic zip-ties weren’t much, especially for so athletic a captive, but he needed to move quickly, in case anyone else came into the steam room. A few quick tugs at the wrists and ankles and the trainer was tied, for the moment at least.

“Open up.” He ordered. As Casey reluctantly complied, he forced a ballgag into her mouth and buckled it on tight. Turning from her for a second, Ted leaned his head out. The coast was clear. The young woman gave a cry of alarm as she was suddenly lifted from the bench and slung over Ted’s shoulders.

Casey squirmed as Ted carried her away from the steam room. The young woman gave a cry of alarm and redoubled her struggles once it became apparent to her that she was being taken towards the back door and much further than that. Ted struggled to keep a grip on her the last dozen paces to his car, but it was far too late for her efforts to change anything. He roughly dropped her into the open trunk.

Taking some rope from his stash, Ted got busy properly securing the young woman. Casey struggled frantically, but she had the disadvantage of having her wrists and ankles already zip-tied and lying in the cramped trunk. Within a few minutes, Ted had her trussed up tight. The zip ties were replaced with rope, binding ankle and wrist, as well as elbows and knees. Ted tied a rope harness around Casey’s shoulders and a tight crotch rope. To put these on, of course, he had to yank away the towel leaving the young woman completely naked. She squealed indignantly, and again when the ropes pulled snug against her sex, but it was long past the point where she had any say in how things would go for her from now on.

Ted wrapped things up with a hogtie which would have been punishing on anyone less fit and flexible then the young personal trainer, and finally wrapped her up in a thick quilted blanket he’d had lining the bottom of the trunk. Besides keeping his captive at least somewhat warm for the trip back, it would, along with her gag, keep Casey muffled the whole time. After making sure her face was clear and she could breath, Ted shut and locked the trunk. He got in the car and started driving off.

One crossed off the list…

***

“Boss…”

“Hzzwah?” Ted groaned blearily.

His partner gave Ted another prod. Grumbling, the professional slaver rolled over on the battered couch in the break room of their hideout. Only a couple hours before, he’d gotten back from his late-night visit to the 24-hour gym where he’d picked up Casey.

The frightened girl had spent the whole trip struggling frantically against the strict hogtie she’d been placed in, without success. He’d undone the hogtie and released her ankles, but left her knees tied and the crotch rope in place to tease her the whole way from the garage down to the basement dungeon. The dimly lit room with its stark steel cages was frightening enough, before considering the fact three of the cages were each occupied already with a single young woman, naked apart from the collars each had at her neck, the cuffs on their wrists and ankles and the gags they wore over their mouths. Ted had picked up the three coeds the night before on another job. In a few days, they’d be taking a one-way trip to somewhere in Russia.

Casey, meanwhile, was soon forced into one of the yet unoccupied cages and hogtied once again. Ted liked to go heavy on the bondage for his captives, at least for their first day or two. Once the initial shock of their abduction and the fact they were going to be sold wore off, most settled down, realizing further resistance was pointless and lighter restraints were all that was needed to keep them under control. For those that continued to cause trouble, things could be made…worse.

By the time Ted had the former trainer bedded down and locked up it was nearly 4 in the morning. He’d staggered upstairs and collapsed on the couch to try and grab a bit of sleep. Only now, less then two hours later, he was being woken up by his partner.

“What is it?” Ted grumbled, having regained enough consciousness to form coherent words.

“Found them.” Steve said. In his own laconic way he held up a tablet to Ted’s face, showing an article for the online edition of the local paper of a nearby town. The headline for the short blurb read: “Waitresses from local Restaurant Peeper’s to run Toy Drive at this year’s Winter Festival.” Below, the picture of the article showed a dozen or so young women in tight tops and short, short pants posing for the camera in front of the restaurant.

It took Ted’s sleep deprived brain a moment to recall why the picture seemed so familiar. Then he recalled a similar, near identical one he’d seen recently, with three of the faces circled, and how he’d asked Steve to try and track them down. He quickly spotted the three in question: a tall, leggy blonde, a shorter brunette beside her and, halfway down the row, a smiling, curly haired redhead. The caption for the picture identified the three in question as Denise Stanton, Nancy Harris and Heather Smith.

“This is perfect!” Ted said. “This is…” He read through the article with a bit more attention now he was fully awake. “This is today! Steve, what are we going to do?”

“Move fast.” He mumbled, monosyllabically.

Now completely awake, Ted sprang to his feet, fumbling for his shoes. He hadn’t had time, or energy to take off anything else before collapsing on the couch. In a few minutes of frantic action, the two had donned disguises, figuring false beards and sunglasses more useful in the crowds then ski masks. They  threw some rope and things in the rental car and sped onto the highway. Ted hated using the same vehicle a second time, but hopefully Miss Lawson’s disappearance hadn’t been reported yet. After this job, though, they’d have to get rid of it. It would be too hot to risk doing anything else. “Goodbye deposit.” Ted grumbled.

A quick trip to the toy department at Walmart gave the two a reason to be at the event and a pass through the Starbucks in the parking lot gave Ted enough will to live as they arrived. The Winter Festival was being held at the local community center. People crowded into the main hallway which was decorated for the event and a small ensemble from the local High school band playing Christmas tunes gave it an appropriately festive air.

Scanning the place, Ted soon spotted how the toy drive was being run. The gorgeous women he’d seen in the picture were going around the place, dressed in skimpy Santa costumes, large sacks in their hands, collecting donations from the crowd.

“This won’t work.” Ted thought silently. “Way too public.” He continued to scan, spotting two of the girls they’d come here for, working the line of people waiting for cookies and coca. Just then, Steve nudged him. “What?” Ted asked, turning. He followed his partner’s pointing finger to the far corner where their third girl, carrying a full sack, was stepping through a set of double doors.

“Must be where they’re storing the donations.” Ted said. “Let’s check it out.” The two pushed through the crowds, as quickly as they could, until they reached the doors the blonde girl had disappeared through. Mentally rehearsing his excuses should the room on the other end prove more crowded than expected, Ted turned the knob and stepped through.

As he’d guessed, the room they entered was a large storage space, whatever tables or chairs or other sundries it normally held currently in use for the event. In the meantime, it was being used as a collection point for the toys that were being donated. To his relief, at the moment, the room was empty apart from one of the waitresses, Denise Stanton he recalled from the article. She was busy emptying out the sack, sorting the toys into different cardboard bins. Focused on this task, the young woman hadn’t noticed the two men who came in behind her.

Silently, Ted reached into his jacket pocket and took out a small zip-lock baggie. Inside was a folded square of cloth, soaked in a special chloroform solution. He’d brought it, like the ropes  in his other pocket, more in hope then actual expectation of using it, but risky as it was, this was too good an opportunity to pass up. He motioned for Steve to watch the door, should any of the other girls come in unexpectedly. Then he began to creep up behind the unsuspecting blonde.

Denise had just dropped the last toy in its appropriate bin when Ted struck. The motions were familiar enough for him to be routine. One arm around the young lady’s torso, pulling her back and up against him, the other arm coming up to clamp the drug-soaked cloth to her face, taking care to cover mouth and nose.

The young woman gave a gasp of shock at the sudden and unexpected attack, inadvertently taking in a large whiff of the chemicals. Belatedly, she started to struggle in Ted’s grasp, but she wasn’t nearly as strong as his previous captive and her frantic motions only served to speed up the chloroform’s work. Within moments, Denise was out cold.

Lowering his victim to the ground, Ted got to work securing her. Two lengths of cord tied her wrists and ankles well enough, but he was stumped for a gag until his gaze fell on a roll of packing tape, doubtless intended to seal up the bins once full. A few strips pressed over Denise’s lips would serve to keep the young lady silent when she came to.

Just then, Steve signaled from the door with a note of alarm. Someone was coming! Hurriedly, Ted looked for a place to stash his captive. His eyes fell on the long, red sack Denise had so recently emptied. Rolling her limp figure over, Ted pulled the cloth sack over her head. By the door, Steve gave a second, more urgent signal before ducking out of sight. With a last effort, Ted pushed Denise’s bound, booted feet all the way into the sack and yanked the draw strings shut. He leaned her up against one of the bins, hoping the sacks contents wouldn’t be immediately obvious from its shape, vaguely outlining the figure of the young woman inside. Then he scurried for cover behind a table.

Not a second too soon.  Just as Ted got behind it, the door opened and two more of the Santa-waitresses came in, looking to deposit their bags of donated toys. To Ted’s relief, they didn’t spot him or Steve, nor did they pay any attention to the sack containing the bound and gagged Denise, instead busying themselves emptying the toys into the bins.

A hurried glance out from his hiding spot told Ted neither of the girls were their remaining two targets. One was a darker skinned African-American, the other Latina. None the less, he was tempted, both were quite fetching in their skimpy costumes, but the risk of trying to take two captives at once, with the crowd so close at hand made him reconsider. The girls finished their task and left, little guessing one of their friends had been bound and gagged mere feet away or of how close they’d come to joining her in slavery.

About ten minutes later, the door opened again. It was a single girl this time and, fortunately enough, one of their two remaining targets, the brunette, Nancy Harris. She crossed the room to the bins, not far from Ted’s hiding place. As soon as her back was to him, Ted poked his head out and gestured to Steve. Taking the chloroform pad out once more, he began to creep up behind the young woman.

Unlike Denise, Nancy was less distracted and turned just before Ted reached her, but with her back to the bins and him between her and the door, she had nowhere to run to. Her bright green eyes went wide seeing the older man and the drugged cloth in his hand. “No…no! Please don’t!” She pleaded, shaking her head. Her begging fell on deaf ears. In a sudden lunge, Ted pounced, his free hand grabbing at her arm to keep her from getting away while the other clamped the chloroform pad to her face. She swooned and went limp.

The process with Denise was repeated on Nancy. Her hands and feet were bound with cord and packing tape used to seal her lips. Ted emptied the last items from her bag and, with Steve’s help, lifted her up and set her down feet first inside it. He cinched the top shut over her head and set the sack beside Denise’s.

Again, the two hid and waited as more of the girls came and went, without giving the slavers any chances to bag them without too great a risk. Finally, a tall, statuesque redhead came in by herself. Heather Smith, the last of the three selected for enslavement by Ted’s client. She strode across the room with her sack, oblivious to the trap she was walking into.

But not, as it turned out, the girls who had already fallen into it. Just as Heather reached the bins, one of the girls, Ted wasn’t sure who, gave a low quiet moan as the drugs faded from her system enough for her to come to. It was too soft to be noticed in the main room, above the hubbub and tumult of the crowd, but more than enough to catch the attention of the pretty redhead standing mere feet away.

“What the-“ Heather started, turning to the two sacks. One of them rustled and let out another soft moan. Ted grimaced. Now or never. He leapt from his hiding place, not bothering to creep up on the young woman. Not that he needed to. Her focus was entirely taken up by the sack she was examining. Heather had just gotten the drawstring untied and loosened the top enough to open it. She let out a frightened cry, seeing the distressed face of Nancy looking up at her.

The captive girl saw Ted coming up behind and frantically grunted through the tape over her lips, trying to warn her friend, but all she accomplished was to provide the last, fatal distraction. Before Heather had realized what the other girl was trying to say, Ted pounced, clamping the cloth to her mouth and nose. She gasped in shock, breathing in the drugged fumes. Soon, she slumped to the ground. While Steve got busy tying her up, Ted bent over the open sack. Its helpless occupant squirmed and whimpered as she saw the drugged cloth descend over her face, but she was still tied helpless. Soon, she was out cold once more.

“Well, that’s done.” Ted said, regarding the three sacks, their curled up occupants faintly outlined in the red cloth. “Now, we just need to get them out of here…” He looked around the store room for something they could use. Besides the bins of donated toys there were some leftover decorations, couple trees, spare rolls of garland and lights and at the back a sleigh Ted guessed was meant for a parade. The painted, plywood frame was assembled over a small cart designed to be towed by a car.

“That should work.” He thought, and pointed it out to Steve. His partner got the idea at once. Together they piled the three sacked captives in the back, filling it up. Ted tried his best to arrange them, leaning against one another, so it would be less obvious that each sack held a bound and gagged girl inside. Then he and Steve pushed the cart towards the double doors and out into the busy festival. In their plain jackets, Ted hoped, they would look like just another couple of workman, moving some piece of decoration out for the festival.

The plan went out with only slight difficulties. At one point, about halfway across the room, the two were approached by one of the organizers wondering where they were taking the sleigh. Ted did his best to play dumb, just saying ‘they’d’ said to go ahead and bring it out while Steve kept the sleigh moving. Just before the got to the doors, Ted had a moment of panic as one of the sacks started squirming and moaning again, but fortunately amid the greater noise of the crowd, her feeble cries went unnoticed.

Out in the parking lot, Ted waited with the sleigh while Steve brought the car around. One at a time, the sacks and their struggling occupants were transferred to the back seat. Leaving the sleigh on the side of the road, the two piled in the front and hurriedly drove off. The three girls were well awake now and making a racket. Ted worried what would happen if they had to pull over and deal with them on the side of the highway, but fortunately, the ropes and the sacks were enough to foil the captive’s efforts and they made it back to base without needing to take any drastic steps.

Unfortunately for Ted, there was no chance for rest just yet. Once they had parked the car they still needed to unload their three new captives, pull them out of the sacks and march them down to the dungeon where they were greeted by the sobs and moans from the four prisoners already caged. In the rush that morning, there hadn’t been time to see to the three coeds or Casey the personal trainer who had been kept caged up for several hours by that time.

The three new captives were quickly trussed up and put in their own cages. Ted and Steve saw to the needs of the other four, taking them out to stretch, relieve themselves and get some food and water. Then back into the cages they went. He kept watch over them while Steve drove the rental car out to a remote backroad with a can of gas, torching the last bit of evidence connecting them with the four abductions within the last 24 hours.

Finally, when Steve had gotten back, smelling slightly of smoke, Ted went back to the couch and collapsed into a welcome sleep. Two entries crossed off the list…