Snatched

Jack decided not to return to work that afternoon after his divorce hearing. Distraught as he was, he wouldn't be of much use anyway. He went to a sports bar where he could watch the game, get a decent meal, and drown his sorrows before returning to an empty apartment. It was 11 pm by the time he slid his key in the door in what was going to be the end of a shitty day. Once inside, he locked the deadbolt, tossed his keys on an end table, and walked in darkness toward his bedroom.

Suddenly a light was abruptly turned on and two burly men were immediately exposed, seated on his couch. "Mucho gusto, muchacho," one of the interlopers said.

"What the hell? Who, who are you and what are you doing in my apartment? I don't have any money hidden anywhere if you've come to rob me," he asserted defiantly. Jack noticed that a thorough search of his apartment had been performed. His things were strewn everywhere.

The intruders chuckled. "We have no interest in your dinero, Mr. Calisher. I'm Hector. We're not here to rob you."

"Then what is it that you want? I'm nobody special. You must be at the wrong place," he insisted.

Hector pulled out a revolver and aimed it at Jack. "As long as you do exactly as we say, you will not be injured. Resist us in any way, muchacho, and you may have trouble walking for a long time.

He then commanded, "Turn on your computer and open your email, NOW!"

Jack hurriedly complied not knowing what they wanted of him. He decided to cooperate with them to avoid injury. There were two of them and either one could easily handle him alone, he surmised. Hopefully, they'd leave once they got what they wanted. Once he pulled up his email account, he was handed a typed letter.

"Copy this word for word, letter for letter in an email addressed to all of the partners at your law firm and also copy it to every employee. Do you understand?"

Jack nodded and began typing the following:

To all partners and employees of A, B & C Law, LLP,

After my successful establishment of our new West Coast office and my subsequent divorce which was pronounced today, I am hoping that all of you will understand that I need some time to regroup. I realize that this is extremely short notice, but I've decided to take a much-needed month-long leave of absence. I plan to do extensive traveling and will be out of touch for the duration. I'm leaving my cell phone behind in my apartment. Redistribute my caseload as you think best. Please forgive my abruptness but I don't want to lose my toehold on sanity. I'll miss all of you while I'm on sabbatical and hope to return refreshed and ready to tackle the world.

Thank you all for your understanding,

Jack Calisher

Once the thug compared and confirmed the accuracy of the newly constructed email, and verified that it would be going to all of the correct individuals, he told Jack to press 'send'. He was shaking as he did so, realizing that whatever this was, would be a month-long process. He was terrified of what might be coming next.

The thug asked, "Are your utilities covered in your apartment rent?"

"Yes, I'm renting on a month-by-month basis and utilities are included in my rent."

"Go online and make next month's rent payment with your credit card. Go ahead, muchacho."

Jack knew little Spanish, but he did know that muchacho was Spanish for boy. They were talking down to him. He promptly paid the next month's rent in advance. Jack was no fool. He knew that sending that email to his coworkers and paying his rent in advance would preclude any sense of foul play concerning his unexpected absence, and plausibly explain why he would be unreachable for a month, regardless of how uncharacteristic it was for him.

"Okay, I've done everything you've asked me to do. Will you let me leave now?"

"Leave? No, muchacho. You haven't taken your vacation yet. There are big plans for you."

They watched TV until late into the night. Finally, at 2:00 am one of the thugs went outside and checked for any potential observers. Upon his return, the three of them quietly walked out together toward the parking lot. They had Jack lock his apartment door with his keys. He was still wearing the same clothes; he had his wallet and keys with him but nothing else. He was told that if he made a sound or called out into the night, he'd severely regret doing so, therefore he remained silent.

They approached a nondescript white van in the parking lot. As they arrived, the side door was quietly opened, allowing them entry. Once inside, Jack saw Anthony, his paralegal, bound and gagged. They had used large heavy-duty cable ties to bind his wrists and ankles. Jack was immediately given the same treatment as the van made its way to an unknown destination.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A month ago, Cindy had gone to her first obstetrical/gynecological appointment by herself owing to the early stage of her pregnancy. Her doctor primarily advised her on the importance of prenatal vitamins, diet, and exercise for a healthy delivery. On this, her second appointment, she urgently wanted me in attendance because she would be receiving her first ultrasound. It was critically important to her that I emotionally connect and bond with her baby. Of course, I wanted nothing to do with the spawn of her affair. That's what I considered it. However, as I hadn't served her divorce papers yet, I felt the necessity to play the role of a caring husband, so I accompanied her. I smiled and pretended to be happy about her being with child. I think I appeased her adequately.

Saturday afternoon, Cindy received a call from Donna asking to meet us at a restaurant to catch up. She was impeccably dressed and felt as if a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. She was positively radiant.

"Thank you guys for meeting me this evening. I haven't been this happy in quite a while. In case you haven't heard, my divorce from Jack was finalized yesterday in court. I'm single now!"

Cindy was stunned to hear the news. She, like Jack, had hoped for a last-minute reconciliation. He'd told her that he owned Donna as well as her. If he truly owned Donna, how could this divorce happen? She was unsure how to process this unanticipated circumstance. If there was no longer a foursome, how could Jack orchestrate the couples' swap between them that he had talked about so much with her? She decided to set aside her thoughts on that subject and engage Donna to learn more.

"Okay, Donna. We've been friends forever. Micah and I have been very patient with your secret concerning your new boyfriend. Where is this new man that you spoke so highly of as the new love of your life? Will he be joining us tonight? We're very anxious to meet him."

Donna responded with a big smile, "He and I have talked about it and he agrees with me not to make a spectacle of our relationship. I mean, I just received my divorce yesterday. We both think it best to let the dust settle a bit before running around together for people to gossip about. Thank you, Cindy, for being patient with me so far. Please bear with me and wait a little while longer. Is that too much to ask?"

"Of course, not," Cindy frustratingly lied. She had hoped to glean the information Jack had been seeking. Cindy had no idea why Donna remained so tight-lipped. Since she initiated the invitation, Donna insisted on paying for our dinner. We had a long enjoyable evening together laughing and cutting up as before, but with one missing partner. Furtively, Donna and I were thrilled for one of the two cheating assholes to be out of the picture. She never mentioned him again that night. I was anxious to expunge Cindy from my life in the same manner. When we finally arrived home that night, Cindy put on a full-court press.

"Micah, you and I have gone long enough without sex. You're a red-blooded man and you have needs. My needs are going unmet. We're still married, and I've been back from my abduction for nearly three months. You're a hero for God's sake and I want to reward you intimately for your heroism in saving Jenny's life. I'm very hurt by your constant rejection. I need you to man up and make love to your wife like you're supposed to."

"I see. Well, let me ask you a few questions to help me understand where we are in our marriage if you don't mind."

"Okay, please go ahead."

"Do you still keep your pussy shaved for another man against my wishes?"

"Yes, but I don't see how that matters a bit since you haven't even seen me down there once, since I've been back."

Chapter-17

"Next question, will you let me take that horrid necklace off of your neck?"

"I told you I can't take it off. It is my honor-bound collar."

"That's what I thought.

"That being the case, do you continue to maintain that another man owns you, and his ownership over you still supersedes our marriage bonds?"

She hesitated to hear it put to her in those terms but honestly again softly replied, "Yes."

"As your husband, I acknowledge my shortcomings concerning our intimacy but with good reason. You shave your body for another man against my wishes. You openly wear his symbol of your bond to him around your neck with pride. You remind me that he has total command over you and my desires are secondary. You ask me to have sex with you solely because he commanded it. I watched those recordings of you with him. I no longer believe that you were raped, not from day one. And you expect me to embrace all of that and make passionate love to a woman who says she belongs to someone else? Wow, I imagine that those are the words that every husband wants to hear. What's not to love about that? I'm astounded at all the wonderful progress you've made with the shrink." I said sarcastically.

Cindy had the good sense to turn her eyes away. Then she defiantly fired back. "If you're not man enough to take care of my needs, then perhaps I will have to go somewhere else for that."

"Oh yeah? Are you going to pick up a stranger in a bar just to get laid?"

"Maybe. Maybe I won't have to go to a stranger. Jack is single now and free as a bird. I'm going to go to his place and spend some time with him. And if he's of a mind to fulfill my desires, perhaps I'll let him do just that."

I tried to act surprised, "Jack, huh? My best friend? If he touches you, then I'll know his friendship with me means nothing. The two of you will blow up our marriage and my longstanding friendship with him in a single knock-out blow." She said nothing in reply but stomped off to her bedroom.

Sunday afternoon, right after lunch, she took an overnight bag in her hand as she headed to her car. "I have no idea when I'll be back. Don't wait up for me."

"I don't believe you care but I want you to know that if you become intimate with Jack or any other man, I will divorce you immediately. But don't worry about me. While you're gone, I'll be looking online for the best divorce attorney I can find."

Believing Jack to be a superior attorney to anyone I could find to represent me, she merely smirked at me and drove off in a huff.

At 1 am, Cindy came dragging in with her suitcase. She tried to be quiet but woke me anyway.

"Was it everything you hoped it would be?" I inquired impertinently.

"With a concerned look on her face, "He's not home. I knocked repeatedly on his apartment door but he never came to the door. His car is parked in his assigned spot but I never saw him. I waited all afternoon, evening, and night. I guess he went out with friends in their car. Do you have any idea where he might be? Have you heard from Jack?"

"Not directly," I stated, "But indirectly I have."

"What do you mean?"

I handed her a printed copy of Jack's email sent to all of the partners and employees of the firm.

"While I was surfing online for a divorce attorney, an email notification popped up so I checked it out. His divorce must have affected him much worse than we thought. He said nothing to me. Did he ever mention to you where he might be going?"

She looked truly shocked. She couldn't imagine Jack taking a month off like this without saying a word to her. "I have no idea, Micah. This is as much of a surprise to me as it is to you."

"Does that mean you had to resort to the bar scene to pick up a stud to fuck?"

"FUCK YOU," she angrily spat. For your information, I sat in the car all night waiting for Jack to return. I didn't go anywhere except to a fast food place for a quick bite to eat."

"I guess that leaves us both unfulfilled then." We both slept in separate bedrooms again for the night.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The next day, a courier delivered a letter addressed to Cindy at her school where she taught art. The courier insisted that she sign for it personally in his presence. When she opened it, she was shocked and fearful at the same time. The letter was eerily similar to the one left for Micah, at her reported kidnapping.

Mrs. Albright,

My friends and I are borrowing Jack Calisher and his paralegal for a while. We have wanted to fuck him for months. We take what we want. He is alive and well for the time being. How long that continues to remain true is up to you. If you fully cooperate with our demands in every way, then they will be returned unharmed. We plan to use both Jack and his paralegal, Anthony, for our pleasure for at LEAST one month. By the way, this note is not traceable. The only fingerprints on it are yours. Do not go to the Police. If you do, or if you fail to follow all of our instructions to the letter, then we will double the time we keep them with us to two months, minimum. We WILL know if you contact law enforcement. We have connections.

You will find a USB memory device in the envelope. It has an application procured from the dark web. Attach it to your computer and turn it on. It will verify that the computer is yours and not law enforcement's. Trust me, it can tell the difference. It will install a link on your desktop to access a dark-web-generated cloud account, then it will erase itself. It is a single-use-only application. I wouldn't take the chance of wasting it on the Police.

After Jack and Anthony have pleasured all of us to our complete satisfaction, we will post video highlights of our sex sessions to the cloud account. You are to use the installed link to watch every second of each of the videos as they appear. We want you to watch and listen to Jack VERY closely and count the number of genuine orgasms you honestly believe EVERY person experiences with him in each video. The next day, you are to post the number on Facebook, by itself, with no accompanying comment, just the number. If the number is zero, then enter a 0. No one else will know what it means but us. Watch him closely and don't miss a moment of activity. If you ever guess incorrectly, then his time with us doubles. Mrs. Albright, we must warn you that your cooperation with what he is doing with us is essential to our needs. Defy us, and you might never see him again. All further instructions will follow in the videos.

We ask for a measly $50,000.00 for his safe return. Jack told us that you were the person most likely to pay his ransom. Until we have our money, we plan to make uninhibited use of his body to fulfill our desires. Go to work as usual and act normally around others, ESPECIALLY your husband and Jack's ex-wife. They are NEVER to know anything about this. It would humiliate Jack terribly if they learned of this. Don't spend any extra time away from your job or home outside of your normal routine schedule. If you do, we'll know. Again, what happens to him is up to you.

Jack's secret admirers.

Cindy had to take a seat to prevent fainting. Is this why Jack wasn't home yesterday? Is this some sick joke that is being played on her? Jack and Anthony happened to be the two men who were complicit in her kidnapping ruse. Who authored the note? Who else is involved? Who are the 'us' referred to in the note? Who are these women who have somehow taken him for sex and ransom money? Where is he? Have Micah or Donna somehow discovered our deceit and are turning the tables? She wouldn't have any potential clues until the first video was released. She had to act normal. She took a deep breath and returned to her classroom.

At home that evening, Micah appeared utterly oblivious to her consternation. He didn't act coy or give her a wink. If he was the one behind this, then he was playing it exceptionally cool. She detected no perceptible difference in his behavior. Although she was still pissed at Micah for his recalcitrance about intimacy with her, she felt that she needed her marriage to remain viable for now. She followed the instructions in the letter and installed the link. There was a video snapshot of a page of instructions on how and where to transfer the $50,000 into a foreign crypto account. She was unable to complete the transaction online, so she made plans to visit her bank tomorrow. She surmised that the fifty grand was the amount suggested by Jack to his captors as the amount she would be able to raise without raising any eyebrows. Though she hated giving up such a large sum of cash, she would do anything to free Jack from an ominous fate. She decided to recheck the cloud account at regular intervals.

~ ~ ~

Donna called me at work from her office the next morning. We decided to meet for lunch.

"Hello, Micah. Thank you for meeting me today. I hope this doesn't put a fly in the ointment of any of your plans."

"Hi, Donna. As usual, it is always great to hear from you. I'll gladly meet you anywhere, just the two of us."

"That's good to know. How are things between Cindy and you now?"

"Nothing's changed really. She went to Jack's over the weekend and waited for him for hours. Had he been there, I'm sure they would have had sex again. I think she's run out of patience with me. I cannot muster forgiveness. I'm still on track to divorce her when the time is right."

"Jack wasn't home? What a shame," she feigned. "And just when do you think the time will be right to divorce her? She asked coyly.

"Justice has already struck, and we're now living in the silence before the thunderclap. It won't be long now. I'd say more, but as I mentioned before, we both need plausible deniability."

She smiled and replied, "Okay, I won't press you for details right now. But one day I hope you will fill me in on this plan of yours."

"Trust me, I will Donna. It truly makes my day seeing you like this. When this is all over, I'm going to be calling on you. I know you're free now to do as you please with any man you wish, but I'd like to have first dibs on you when the time is right."

"My dear Micah. In case you didn't know it already, as the old song goes, I only have eyes for you." The two clasped hands grinning at the table for a minute before resuming their meal. They parted company promising to remain in close contact.

Cindy made the transfer from her bank on her afternoon lunch break so as not to draw unwanted attention. She hoped that Micah would not suddenly ask about the money that she had just wired to parts unknown. If he did, that would point to his involvement in the scheme. But then again, why would he do that? She'd already encouraged him to spend it on them any way he wanted. He'd expressed no interest in using it for his benefit. She felt confident that Jack would reimburse her after ransoming him from his predicament. She felt queasy about watching Jack have sex with other women. It wasn't surprising that his sizable cock would be in great demand. However, she wasn't looking forward to viewing his exploits on video.