“Okay, tell me what it is…” Michael said, glancing across the small table at his best friend, John. 

“Huh…what do you mean?” The other man said, clearly taken by surprise by the question. The two 20-something men were in a small corner coffee shop, as was their usual weekly habit, to keep in touch now they were both out of college. 

“You keep looking at your phone like you’re expecting a call.” Michael said, nodding to the device on the table.

“oh …yeah…hoping more like it. It’s…it’s Wendy.” John said, a little reluctantly. 

“Dont tell me you two had a fight?” Michael said, with a note of concern. 

John hung his head down. “Worse…she ghosted me. It’s been three days and she hasn't responded to any of my messages!” 

“Oh! I’m so sorry! The two of you seemed so perfect for each other.” Michael replied, apologetically. John had met a gorgeous girl, Wendy, a couple of months before and for the last couple weeks they’d been going steady. 

John shrugged, taking a sip of his coffee. “I even swung by her apartment yesterday, but no one answered the door.” He sighed. “It’s always the same! I meet a nice girl, we hit it off, start seeing each other regularly, then they ghost me!” 

Michael reached across the table to pat his friend’s arm, reassuringly. “Don’t let it get you discouraged. If I know you, this time next week, you’ll have some other girl, just as nice, hanging on your every word!” John nodded, smiling, though it was obvious his mood was still quite low. 

The two friends finished their coffee and left the shop together. They walked a block before parting ways. Michael waved to the departing John, then continued another couple blocks to his house. Going in, he locked the front door, hung his jacket in the hall closet, then went upstairs. At the far end was a door, like all the others, save that it had a surreptitious lock on the outside. Slipping the key in, he unlocked the door and stepped through. 

“Mmpphh!” Wendy groaned miserably through her gag as she heard him come in. The young, auburn haired woman was just as Michael had left her an hour ago when he’d left to meet up with John: lying on the rickety bed that was the room’s only furnishing. Her hands were raised over her head and lashed to the headboard with soft, strong rope. Her feet were likewise tied to the baseboard, stretching her slender body out invitingly. 

A padded leather blindfold was strapped across the frightened woman’s eyes, while a thick panel gag was pressed tightly to her lips, the built-in rubber plug muffling her frantic grunts, enough to keep them from alarming Michael’s neighbors. Aside from these, the helpless girl wore nothing at all. The pajamas she’d had on when Michael had abducted her from her apartment three days before were nothing but cinders in the house’s fireplace. Her captor had stripped the young woman, after getting her back here, then photographed her to send in to his bosses. 

“Hard to believe John got to enjoy this for the last six weeks.” Michael mused, running a hand across Wendy’s body. She squirmed, but tied up like she was, she couldn’t stop him from taking advantage of her helplessness. “I did hate to do this to him again, especially after Jane…and Samantha, and…uh…what’s her name, that cute asian chick…” Michael had to admit, his best friend did have a talent for attracting pretty girls. If he hadn’t been too kind hearted, Michael might have recommended his organization bring the other man in as a ‘talent scout’.  “But the end of the quarter was coming up and I was still one girl short of making quota.”

He gave Wendy a reassuring pat, though from her frightened whimpers, she found it anything but. “Just be patient a little longer…then I can get you crated up and send you off to your new owner…”