Ted sat at his computer, working. On one of the two computer monitors was a live feed of the basement dungeon, showing the long row of cages. Four of them were occupied at the moment. In the one closest to the camera 23-year old Casey Lawson lay curled up. The personal trainer wore nothing apart from a collar at her neck, a ballgag in her mouth and leather cuffs on her wrists and ankles. At the moment, the latter were unattached. Miss Lawson had done a good enough job convincing Ted and his partner Steve she could behave herself to have earned what freedom there was to be found in a 4x4x5’ steel-barred box.
By contrast, the tall, statuesque redhead in the cage beside her sat with his back up against the rear wall, but not by choice. A web of leather straps pinned her there, while further straps folded her legs into a strict frogtie. A spreader bar fixed just above her knees forced them apart. Her ballgag was supplemented by a padded leather blindfold.
Heather Smith, a former waitress hadn’t taken the news that she and her two coworkers were going to be trafficked into the white slave trade very well. Truth be told, none of them had much liked learned they were going to spend the rest of their lives in bondage, but unlike the other two, Heather still seemed to think she could do something about it, even if, at the moment, what she could do was limited to squirming and moaning.
Of course, those could also have to do with the two very large metal intruders jammed up between her legs, buzzing madly at a low pitch, calculated to tease the young lady without every giving her relief. A few hours with no outside stimulus but her strict bondage and the continuous edging should give her some perspective on her current place in life. In the cages nearby, Denise Stanton and Nancy Harris had to be pretty grateful their own hands were merely cuffed behind their backs as they knelt in their own cages.
The rest of the cages were, at the moment, empty. The three coeds Ted and Steve had caught the week before were gone, finally being delivered to their new owner. Steve was, at that moment, driving the three hogtied in the back of their van, to a small remote airstrip to meet a private plane which would take the girls on the first leg of a long, circuitous journey that would end at their new home somewhere in Eastern Europe. But those empty cages wouldn’t stay that way for long…
Already, the slavers had checked off two entries on David’s Christmas list. Three more remained. Ted’s mind was focused on the next item and the requirements: “Ponygirl - must be at least 5’10” or more, pale skin tone, brunette. Must have a lively and determined demeanor.”
Ted’s usual go to, for clients looking for slaves that could be trained as ponygirls was sports teams and athletic departments, both High School and College. It meant you got someone with the physical fitness needed to handle her intended role, plus the promotional materials put out by many schools and teams made finding girls, even for the most demanding of clients like this one, a simple matter.
“Simple…” Ted said, sarcastically. The problem was, most clients looking for ponygirls didn’t want them a week before Christmas. Most of the usual sports that supplied his ponygirl candidates: soccer, volleyball, track, were between seasons and with schools out for the holidays and no regular practices of matches, that made tracking down the girls much much harder.
“I should have looked to see if anyone fit the bill at the gym…” Ted said, glancing back to the cell feed and Casey the now ex-personal trainer. It wouldn’t have worked, he knew, grabbing two girls in different parts of the gym the same night, and going back would have been a worse idea, but some of those girls looked pretty fine running on the treadmills as they practiced for the next 5k…
“There’s an idea…” Ted mused. He turned back to the other monitor and his research. The browser tabs of different Women’s and Girls’ sports team were closed, save a couple he saved for later use. Some of those girls would be getting a visit in the New Year…
Opening a new tab, he quickly typed out a search. A few results down, he found what he was looking for: “Rudolph’s Reindeer Run 5K event.” To be held tomorrow in a town within easy driving distance. “Perfect.” Ted nodded. Making a note of the location and the prep work he’d have to do for the next day, the slaver settled in to watch Heather’s amusing struggles…
***
Katie Howard sprinted across the finished line of the Reindeer Run, finishing strong. The 28-year old brunette pumped her fist in the air excitedly. This had to be her best time yet. Panting from the exertions of the last couple of kilometers, Katie high-fived and shook hands with some of the other runners. She took a welcome water bottle from one of the event volunteers. As she drank, she reached up and pulled off the bright red sweatband letting her curly, shoulder length brown hair fall, framing a pretty face, pale though currently flushed from her exertions and the cold December air. As she finished, pulling a jacket over her t-shirt and running shorts, Katie little suspected she was being watched…
Ted stood in the crowd of cheering onlookers, clapping as more people came across the finishing line. From his position, far enough back not to be noticeable but close enough to get a good look at the runners coming across; his gaze fell on the brunette woman as she celebrated a respectable time with the others. He’d noted her, along with several other potential brown-haired candidates, at the start of the run. Now her display of celebration seemed to clinch things. She definitely fit the bill of: Lively and determined, and her placement in the race qualified her as a top notch ponygirl-candidate.
Keeping far enough back to avoid notice, Ted stalked Katie as she wrapped up and headed for her car. He spared some attention to the surrounding area, knowing if there were too many people he would have to hold off. Now he had her face and name, and if he could get at some of the race’s records far more, he had ways of tracking her down again, but fortunately for him Katie had finished early enough most of the crowd was still congregated at the finish line waiting for other people to cross. The parking lot was mostly empty, except for a small family piling into an SUV on the far side. They drove off, leaving Ted alone with his target, for the moment at least.
Katie, still oblivious to the danger she was in, had gotten her car unlocked and was depositing her things in the backseat. Seeing his chance, Ted picked up the pace, creeping up silently behind her, and drawing out the chloroform pad once more. Once he got within distance, he sprang forward.
Given how she was bent over, leaning into the open car door, Ted had to practically throw himself on top of her to get his arm around and clamp the drug-soaked pad to her mouth and nose. That proved to be a bit of luck. Katie reacted quickly, starting to struggle almost as soon as she became aware Ted was on her. She was not only nearly as fit as Casey, but she was far more spirited and stubborn. It was partly why she had been chosen, of course, but it did make grabbing her far more difficult.
Had they been on even footing, Ted had no doubt she’d have slipped free in a moment and would be halfway across the lot by now, screaming murder. But unfortunately for the young lady, things were hardly fair for her. The narrow car door limited her ability to slip free of his grasp and she had a much harder time throwing the weight of the larger man off her back. And on top of that, she was exhausted after so long a run.
So Ted merely hung on, keeping the pad pressed tight as she bucked wildly and shook her head, trying to get clear of the pad long enough to get a lungful of clear air. Eventually, and far sooner with her frantic struggles, Katie had no choice but to breath, drawing in the chloroform with the badly needed air. With her heart pounding, the drugs spread fast. Almost immediately, her struggles began to weaken. Slowly, she sank to the car seat. Ted hung on a minute longer, making sure she got a full dose. He didn’t want her coming too early like Denise had.
When he was sure she was out cold, Ted straightened up, giving a quick glance to see if the brief commotion had attracted any attention. It hadn’t. A small group was coming up the lot, but fortunately from the opposite side, so the body of the car had blocked the attack from their view.
As casually as he could, Ted lifted the limp form of Katie all the way into the car. He arranged her in a seated position, her lolling head resting on one shoulder and pulled the seatbelt on. With luck, no one would question a runner taking a nap after running a 5K. Rooting around at the foot of the seat, Ted found where Katie had dropped her keys and drove the car out of the lot.
His own van was parked in another, more discrete lot a couple blocks away. Parking the young woman’s car, he transferred her to the back of the van and got to work binding her wrists and ankles. A soft groan and a lurch warned Ted his captive was starting to come to. Katie came to just as Ted stuffed the ballgag between her lips. She groans, shaking her head to try and dislodge the gag, but Ted was able to get the straps pulled round and buckled it on tight. The runner started to buck and kick, awkwardly at first, and then with more force and direction as the knockout drugs wore off.
“Whoa! Hey now!” Ted said sharply, his efforts at hogtying her foiled for the moment. “You cut that out! It won’t do you any good!” Katie paid him little attention, continuing to struggle as she grunted loudly through her gag. Ted pulled out the chloroform pad and held it where the young woman could see it and get a faint whiff of the drugs. “Do you want me to drug you again?” He asked sternly. He didn’t want to use the chloroform again so soon, not if he could help it. He’d already given her a heft doze earlier and a second drugging might have bad effects on the young lady, but if it was the only way to keep her under control long enough to get her back to the dungeon, that was a risk he was willing to let her take.
Fortunately, this argument was more persuasive. Katie hadn’t enjoyed being drugged once and didn’t want to experience it a second time that day. With obvious reluctance, she quieted down and lay on her side, looking up at him with a confused look, wondering why this was happening to her, why she’d been chosen by Ted to kidnap. The fear showed she had some imaginings, though if she knew the full extent of what lay in store for her, she’d doubtless still be struggling, chloroform of no.
But for the moment, she reluctantly submitted and let Ted finish tying her arms and legs, followed by a quick chest harness to anchor her hogtie. She groaned in discomfort as she was bowed back by the strict ropes, but Ted figured she was fit and flexible enough to take it, and he needed to make sure she wouldn’t be trying anything during the drive back.
Leaving her to squirm and moan, Ted started the van and drove off, mentally checking the third entry off the list…
***
The smell of roasting coffee filled Ted’s nostrils as he entered the shop: rich, dark and heady with subtle, yet complex aromas. He suppressed a grimace. He was getting sick of the smell of coffee. This was the third shop he’d visited today and he’d stopped at even more the day before. But one of the entries on David’s Christmas list was for a “Short, curvy blonde haired, blue eyes barista” and ted wanted to try his hardest to find someone who fit the bill.
Unfortunately, as Ted came in, the girls on duty at the counter included a tall African American, a rather fetching Hispanic and a thin girl with pink hair, tattoos and piercings, but no short, curvy blondes. Still, it would be suspicious of him to turn and go after taking two steps inside, so Ted got in line. He scanned the chalkboard menu for anything else, but like all the other boutique coffee shops he’d visited, this place did only one thing, even if they did it well. Ted got in line and ordered what was far from his first coffee of the day.
Grabbing it from the pink-haired punk, Ted found a spot where he could sit and watch the front counter. He’d timed thing, hopefully, near the change in shifts, to maximize his chances of find a blonde barista. As he waited, he sipped his drink. It was, sadly enough, terrific coffee, even if he wasn’t in the mood to enjoy it right then.
Somewhere among the place’s kitschy décor, a clock chimed the hour. The three girls on duty finished with their current customers and, one by one, retreated to the back of the shop to finish their day. They were replaced by three new baristas. The first two were guys, useless to Ted, the third a dark Indian girl. He sighed. No luck here. He mentally crossed this one off his list of high end coffee shops in town and dredged up the name and address of the next.
Ted had just gotten up from the table to leave when the front door flung open and a young woman rushed in. She was short, curvy with light blonde hair in a pixie cut, wearing a festive Christmas sweater and scarf. As first, Ted took her for a customer, slightly more desperate for her caffeine fix than most, but she ran past the counter to the back of the shop and disappeared from sight. A minute later, she reappeared, the holly bedecked sweater supplemented by a brown apron.
As casually as he could, Ted pantomimed realizing something. He turned on his heel and got back in line. At the front, he pretended to fish for his wallet as an excuse to let the person behind him cut ahead, which meant he wound up at the register manned by the blonde girl.
“What can I get you today?” She asked, smiling cheerfully. A quick glance at her name tag gave the girl’s name as Elizabeth Wilkins. Ted ordered one of the more complicated drinks, to go. He watched the barista get to work, skillfully getting the drink together with obvious experience.
“Oh yes…” Ted thought smiling. “She will definitely do.”
“Here you are sir.” Elizabeth handed over the drink; little imagining what was going through her customer’s mind. “Hope you enjoy!”
“I’m sure I will.” He replied, paying for the drink and dropping a couple dollars in the tip jar. As he left the shop, Ted took a careful sip of the hot drink. It was delicious.
Late that evening, Elizabeth was cleaning up the shop. She’d volunteered to stay late, in order to make up for being late that afternoon. Her coworkers had said their goodbyes and gone home for the night, leaving her alone in the shop. Or so she thought. The young woman was just shutting off the lights, getting ready to lock up when she suddenly became aware of someone behind her. They must have been hiding in the back while she tidied up. Before she had a chance to react, a hand was clamped tight over her mouth while another pressed what could only be the barrel of a pistol into her back.
“Don’t struggle. This is just a robbery. Cooperate and you won’t be hurt.” The man growled.
Elizabeth’s heart raced as she raised her hands. She’d never imagined anyone would want to rob a coffee shop, even if they did charge $7 a cup…
“That’s good. Now, I need to tie you up, so you don’t cause trouble while I search this place and get out of here. You’re not going to scream or struggle, right?”
Elizabeth gave a frantic nod, too scared by the gun at her back to think of resistance. The hand over her mouth was withdrawn, as well as, to her relief, the gun from her back.
“Lie down and cross your hands behind your back.” The man ordered brusquely. Trembling, the young woman did what she was told. She let out a quiet whimper as she felt gloved hands take her own, followed by the sharp ripping of duct tape as the sticky bands were wrapped around her wrists. The process was repeated with her ankles, securing them as well.
“Open your mouth.” He ordered. Elizabeth started to protest, but no sooner had she opened her mouth to speak when a wad of cloth was pushed in. Before she could spit it out, more tape was wrapped over her mouth, sealing the gag in. As the final part of her bondage, another band went over her eyes, leaving her in complete darkness.
“Now…” The man said, after a moment’s thought. “I can’t have you hear. Someone might see you.” That made sense to Elizabeth, much as she would have preferred being found and rescued. The front of the store was all glass. Lying on the floor here, she’d be visible to any passersby.
“I’m going to move you to the back. Your coworkers will find you there in the morning.” The man said. Elizabeth gave a quiet moan at the thought of being left tied up all night, but she didn’t struggle as she felt his hands lift her up off the ground and throw her over one shoulder. The young woman was carried across the room to the door to the back of the coffee shop. She heard it open and shut behind them. The man carried her this way, then that. Was he trying to find a good place to keep her? At last, she was set down.
Elizabeth tried to work out exactly where she was now, having gotten turned around along the way. Beneath her was carpet, rough and scratchy, while to one side she felt a wall, hard and cold. Nothing in the coffee shop matched those two disparate elements, not to her mind…
With a scream of terror, Elizabeth realized where she was, just as she heard the door of the van slam shut, trapping her inside. She struggled helplessly against the tape binding her as her kidnapper started the engine and drove off into the night…
***
“Hmmmppphhh!!!” Katie grunted angrily through the thick ballgag, shaking her head. The chain shackling her wrists together behind her back rattled loudly as the young woman shook her fists defiantly.
With a weary sigh, Ted gave the leash in his hands another sharp yank, jerking the younger girl forward a few hobbling steps, made awkward by the fetters locked around her ankles. The tall brunette recovered, planting her feet once more and refusing to move until Ted gave another sharp yank.
In the 3 days since Ted had abducted her from the Reindeer Run 5K, Katie had proved to be one of his most trying prisoners, spirited and stubborn, as fit a veteran marathon runner. Even Heather had, by now, realized continued resistance was useless and had mostly quieted down; kneeling in her cage with only surly looks and suggestively garbled gag-talk betraying her thoughts about the two men who had kidnapped and enslaved her and the other women.
“Come on you…” Ted said, tugging again. Ordinarily, he’d have punished such resistance sharply. A couple hours in a sense-depriving bondage hood with plugs buzzing away inside her, or hanging upside down by her ankles would have made Katie a lot more compliant…but David’s list had requested the ponygirl be lively and spirited and Ted didn’t want to break her of those qualities before delivering her to her new owner.
So, he tugged and pulled and cursed, dragging the young brunette back to the dungeon and shoved her into her empty cage, pausing only to clip the chains on her wrists to those at her ankles. The makeshift hogtie wasn’t much, not to a fit and flexible runner, but it made Ted feel better as he slammed the cage shut and locked it.
By contrast, Ted’s most recent acquisition, Elizabeth Wilkins had assumed all too readily the proper attitude of subservience that would be required from her as a slave. As Ted had observed at the coffee shop she formerly worked at, the ex-barista had a naturally subservient attitude and an eagerness to please. While she was, doubtless, no happier about her enslavement then the other girls, Elizabeth was learning to make the best of her new position.
Ted had little trouble getting her out of the cage and leashed for the short walk to the dungeon’s rudimentary bathroom and shower facilities and back again. He gave a quiet sigh of relief after locking the cage door once more. That was all taken care of…at least until it was time to take the girls out again to get their afternoon exercise.
“I swear, I’m never keeping this many captives at one time…” Ted grumbled. “It’s just too many for one guy…” But a quick glance around the dungeon and the half dozen pretty, naked captives looking at him through the bars of the cages was a good counter argument. At any rate, though, they’d be out of his hair soon enough. Only a few days until Christmas Eve and the girls met their new owners. But before that could happen, he had one more entry to cross off…
Leaving the girls and the dungeon, Ted went back upstairs to their office. Steve was busy at the computers, researching. There were plenty of ways of finding girls online. Social media was a veritable gold mine for people in their line of work. Thousands of girls, all trying to promote themselves, little realizing who might notice them. Schools and company websites often had a surprising amount of information about their students and employees. And there were a number of databases which could, with the right help, provide a treasure trove for the aspiring slaver.
“And yet we’re still coming up empty…” Ted thought, silently, taking a seat at his own computer. Asians were easy enough, teens the same. Getting girls that were busty and hot, almost a given. Twins now, that was tricky, but usually doable. Put all of them together, though, like the final request on David’s Christmas list…that was another story.
Fortunately, the two of them weren’t working on this one alone. Ted had realized pretty quickly this would be a tricky one and so he’d reached out to some contacts ‘in the business’ as it were, to see if any of them could find something that fit the bill. So far, all the replies they’d gotten had been distinctly negative, but that was about to change, as Ted noted, logging into the secure email channel used for this kind of business correspondence. One new message had come in since he’d last checked.
“This might be what you’re looking for. –PP” the message read and below were several web links. The first was for a YouTube video. Ted clicked on it. It was a couple minutes long, shot on someone’s phone from the ratio. They were standing in line to see Santa at some mall or another. Ted watched impatiently, resisting the urge to fast forward as the person slowly moved forward.
Finally, they rounded a corner in the line and the camera person panned to sweep across a large mall concourse, decorated for Christmas. In the center was an elaborate “Santa’s Workshop’ set up, with a façade, mounds of fake snow and Christmas trees piled with presents. The fat man was at the center of course, on a large throne, a fidgeting toddler on his lap, but Ted’s focus went immediately to two of the elves working the line nearby: a pair of pretty young girls of distinctly Japanese heritage and, judging from the way they filled out the short green dresses and candy-cane stripped stockings, just what his client was looking for.
“What mall is this?” Ted started to rewind the video to see if the camera caught a name or some other identifier, but he looked back to the email and saw, below the first link, his contact had thoughtfully provided the geolocation information which soon led to a name: Hillsboro Shopping Center and an address in a town about two hour’s drive from them.
“Done very professionally.” Ted thought. He quickly typed a reply: “Thanks! Owe you one!” Then he turned to Steve. “Come on, we’ve got a lead. I just hope the mall’s not too crowded…”
It was. With only days before Christmas, the mall was packed with shoppers trying to get the last few items crossed off their list like Ted and Steve were, in a way. The concourse with Santa’s workshop was likewise thronged with parents and kids hoping to get a word in with the big man before the Christmas Eve deadline.
“This is never going to work.” Ted told Steve. The two were in an upper mezzanine, looking down at the busy scene below. They’d already spotted the two sisters, at the moment escorting tykes to and from Santa’s chair. Now, they just needed some way of grabbing the two with several hundred witnesses, at least, hanging about.
“And we can’t expect them to head off somewhere more convenient.” Ted thought. The way the crowds were packed, the girls would be busy until the mall closed. Worst case, he supposed, they could wait till then and try and follow the girls back home, but the parking lot was just as crazy with shoppers coming and going and in this crazy holiday traffic no guarantee that could follow the girls anywhere.
Ted was still mulling this problem over when the mall’s PA system cut in through the looping Christmas music and announced “Dereck, please report to Station B. Dereck, please report to Station B. Thank you.” Ted was struck with an idea. He fumbled for his phone. One of the things they had prepared before coming, besides donning disguises and stuffing their jackets with the tools of their trade, was to get a floorplan of the mall, complete with all the backrooms and hallways customers never saw, as well as all the entrances and exits.
A quick scan of the layout showed where, Ted hoped, the PA announcements were done from: a small assistant admin office at the north edge of the building, set apart from most of the rest by the back. It was also close by one of the emergency exits leading out to a secluded part of the lot normally used for deliveries.
“This should do perfectly.” Ted said. “Come on.” He gestured to Steve. His partner didn’t bother asking questions but followed him back down to the ground floor and then to a far corner where the crush of holiday shoppers wasn’t so oppressive. There, tucked away behind a decorative pillar was a plain door, unremarkable but for the discrete ‘employees only’ sign on the front. Ted ignored it, reasoning that most of the staff, particularly security, would be far too busy with the chaos out front to deal with them, if they even noticed the two men out of all the temporary staff hired for the holidays.
Sure enough, the two went unchallenged and all but unremarked before they arrived at the assistant admin’s office. By a stroke of luck, as Ted peeped in through the narrow window in the door, he saw it was empty, aside from a woman with curly auburn hair seated at a computer. He nodded to Steve and reached into his jacket for the fake pistol inside.
As the two men rushed in, the woman at the desk turned, revealing a young, round face dappled with freckles, pretty in a girl-next-door way. Her light blue eyes widened in shock as two men in jackets, false beards and sunglasses leveled pistols at her.
“Don’t move!” Ted growled, menacingly. “We don’t want to hurt you…Stacia.” He read her name off the tag pinned to her brown cardigan. “We just want your assistance for a moment…”
That, and the guns, seemed to cow the young woman for the moment. While Steve lashed her to her chair with some rope, Ted locked the door to the office and taped a few paper notices to the window in case anyone walked past.
“Now, just make a quick announcement. Exactly like we told you and nothing else, understand?” Ted told the young woman, holding the gun up threateningly. Stacia went pale and nodded.
As Ted thumbed the switch for the PA system, Stacia spoke. Her tone wasn't entirely calm, but not so distressed as to be noticeable, Ted hoped. “Mei Takahashi, please report to the assistant admin office immediately. Mei Takahashi, please report to the assistant admin office immediately. Thank yo-.” That last word was slightly cut off as Steve shoved a ballgag in the young woman’s mouth.
“That was excellent.” Ted told her. “Keep it up and you’ll get out of this alive.” Though perhaps not free, Ted thought, watching the young woman struggled against the ropes binding her to her chair, particularly noting how her chest filled out her cardigan quite nicely. She wasn’t on the list, “But I may as well get something to leave under my own tree…” He thought with a grin. They could always move her on to another buyer later.
In the meantime, there were two other girls to capture. Steve had taken up position at the door, keeping watch through a gap in the papers. When he saw their first target approaching, he signaled Ted and unlocked the door.
A second later, Mei came through the door. The teen elf had a look of puzzlement on her face, doubtless wondering why she’d been called here unexpectedly. It turned to a look of terror as she saw the trussed up and struggling Stacia and Ted behind her holding a pistol. Then, Steve closed and locked the door behind her and the teen realized she was trapped.
The usual questions came spilling out from the young lady: “Who are you? What do you want?” Followed swiftly by “Do you have to tie me so tight?” and “Is it necessary to gag me-mmpphh!” as she was forced to lie down and swiftly trussed up and gagged, her questions still unanswered.
“Now, just as before…” Ted said, unbuckling Stacia’s ballgag. The young woman balked for a moment, having seen what happened to the last girl she summoned, but with the gun in her face she had no choice. On the ground, Mei moaned into her gag in dismay as she heard the message the other woman was forced to give:
“Hina Takahashi, please report to the assistant admin office immediately. Hina Takahashi, please report to the assistant admin office immediately. Thank you.” Again, no sooner had she finished saying that then the gag was forced into her mouth once more and buckled on tight.
A few minutes later, Hina walked in to the office and, like her sister before was immediately taken captive at gunpoint, forced to lie down beside her sister and had her hands and feet tied and a gag buckled on. Ted stood over them, admiring the two teens as they squirmed and struggled against the ropes.
“Oh yes, I think he’ll be quite pleased with you to.” Ted mused aloud. The sisters could easily guess the meaning of his words and they sobbed, struggling all the harder without success.
Steve, meanwhile, had ducked out of the room to find some method of moving the girls out. He returned, rolling one of the large trash cans used by the janitors. One at a time, the sisters were lifted up and lowered inside. It was cramped and the teens were pressed together, but Ted and Steve got both of them inside. Some loose papers and things from Stacia’s waste basket did an adequate job of concealing the girls from casual observation. They didn’t need anything more. This corner of the mall was mostly empty. The passed no one and only saw a few people at the far ends as they wheeled the bin to the back door. Inside, the girls whimpered and sobbed.
Steve made short work of the alarm on the emergency exit and they got outside. He watched the bin as Ted went and fetched their car, pulling around and backing in to screen the girls from sight as they were lowered into the trunk. Leaving Steve at the driver’s seat, Ted took the rolling bin and went back to the admin office.
Stacia was where he’d left him, give or take a foot or two. He saw, in time, she’d have managed to scoot her chair close enough to the desk to reach the PA system and summon help. She wouldn’t have the chance now.
“I hope you didn’t think we’d be leaving you behind, did you?” Ted taunted, walking over to the young redhead. Stacia whimpered and sobbed, realizing she was going to be taken as well. Ted removed the roped lashing her to the chair but left the coils binding her wrists and ankles. She was tipped over into the bin and pushed down out of sight. It was a short trip back to the back door and she soon found herself squeezed into the trunk with the two sisters.
“Now we just need to get these ladies back home…” Ted thought, dreading the traffic…
***
“And you were able to get all of them?” David asked. He was a short, stocky man with a short, dark beard. He was dressed, in honor of the evening, in a fine suit with a festively red scarf at his neck.
“Everything on your list.” Ted told him. “See for yourself.” He gestured.
“Oh my, I see that. Quite well to. And I love the presentation…” David smiled. “My friends will be glad of their presents, I’m sure.”
Half an hour later, a small group of well-dressed men and women had gathered in the dark room, seated with David who was giving his usual Christmas speech. “And now, ladies and gentlemen, without further delay, to your gifts this year…”
That was the cue for Ted and Steve. The lights came on illuminating the scene they had set up at the front of the room. Their small audience ooh’d and awe’d enthusiastically at the sight.
On the left hand side, inspired by how they’d been kidnapped originally, the three waitresses were set up in another mock-up sleigh, surrounding by banks of fake snow. Denise had been put back into her Santa outfit, modified with black leather belts and polished buckles circling arms, legs and torso. A white beard covered the blonde’s mouth, concealing the tape silencing her.
Her two friends were likewise in the sleigh, their heads poking up out of the sacks of presents. Inside, more straps kept the two of them fixed in place. Their lips had likewise been taped up, but the duct tape was patterned to look like Christmas wrapping paper.
At the front of the sleigh stood Katie. The runner had been fitted with ponygirl tack, polished brown leather straps and brass buckles gleaming under the spotlights, but to fit the scene some modifications had been made. The usual long, flowing ponytail was replaced with a short, pert deer-like one, though it had been applied the same way, much to the young woman’s distress. Fixed to the head harness was a band across the top, from which sprang a pair of short, white horns. Finally, the usual pony bit had been swapped for a ballgag, of bright red, translucent plastic. Inside, a small LED made the whole thing light up, winking brightly every few seconds.
Standing beside the sleigh were Santa’s two elf assistants. Mei and Hina were once more in their elf costumes, like Denise’s supplemented with straps, theirs white to complement the green dresses they wore. Their cheeks had been rouged and clear plastic applied over it, fixing their lips in fake smiles.
On the right side, opposite the sleigh and attendants, a Christmas tree was set up beside a fake fireplace. Casey and Elizabeth were set up there. Like Heather and Nancy they were bagged, theirs shaped to resemble oversized Christmas stockings. The brightly colored spandex bags were pulled tight against the young woman, thin enough it was quite evident they wore nothing else, besides the same straps as the others and more wrapping-paper-tape gags.
“Well, all I can say everyone…” David grinned as the crowd moved forward, “Is Merry Christmas.” The eight girls moaned into their gags as the men and women rushed forward eager to unwrap their Christmas presents…