Chapter 1: Alice

Alice gradually came out of the thick fog of sleep. As she woke, she noticed nothing was right.

First, the mattress was too thin and hard to be her bed.

Second, when she opened her eyes, it was not different from having her eyes closed. Pitch black. No light filtered in from streetlights outside, or from the hall under the bedroom door. Just black.

Third, she was in some kind of vehicle. The room was constantly moving and swaying. Probably in the back of an eighteen wheeler.

Fourth, she found that she could not move her hands. There was some kind of collar around her neck, and each hand was shackled at the wrist onto opposite sides of the collar.

The last two incongruities, and by far the worst, she noticed simultaneously: she was completely nude, and she was not alone.

"Wh-who's there?" Alice cried out.

"Hey!" called a woman's voice. "Sleeping Beauty is awake."

Alice shrieked and bolted. She tried scampering to her feet, but the shifting floor and being unable to use her hands made that impossible. She landed hard on her left shoulder.

The same voice cried out, "Hey hey! Calm down! We're all just like you. Naked, shackled, and in the dark."

A pair of elbows tried, unsuccessfully, to comfort her. "I'm Miranda Lind. What's your name?"

"A-Alice Rhodes," she stammered.

"We all were knocked out and put in here, you just happen to be the last to wake."

"How long have I been..."

"The first of us woke about eight hours ago."

"I've been asleep all that time?"

"I've been awake for about six," said Miranda.

"Where are we?"

"No idea."

Alice sat back against a padded wall, pondering her situation. "Why are we here?" she asked Miranda, finally.

"Most of us pissed off the mob in some way. I was police detective. My partner and I were part of a drug sting. We spent two years establishing ourselves. Now it's blown all to hell. Ed is almost certainly dead."

"I gotta pee," Alice said, abruptly.

"There is a hole in each corner. Follow any wall and you will find one. You can squat and do your business."

Alice crawled on her knees and elbows. Most of the girls she bumped into were extremely skittish, being just as out of their element as her.

After finishing her business, she crawled back, whispering "Miranda?" at each girl she bumped into.

At last, a familiar voice replied, "Alice? Is that you?"

After Alice settled back against the wall, Miranda said, "Alice, I want you to meet Angela Matzke. She's a pharmacist."

"Nice to meet you," said a smooth alto voice. "Well, not that nice... But you know."

"A pharmacist? How did..."

"Some rather imposing fellows wanted me to fill a bunch of phony narcotic prescriptions. I refused."

Alice interjected, "But I've never had anything to do with criminals. I'm only sixteen."

"Sixteen?!" the two exclaimed together.

"I'm a junior in high school."

"That is puzzling," said Angela.

"What do your parents do?" asked the policewoman.

"My mother died four years ago. My dad owns a boat dealership. My sister, Tania, is in sixth grade."

"How has business been for you dad?'

"Well, he doesn't talk about business much."

"Any strange visitors to your home lately?"

That made Alice pause. "Now that you mention it, there have been people visiting my dad at night."

"Have you ever seen them before?"

"I never saw them at all. I would be upstairs that time of night, either doing homework or watching TV. Dad would always hustle them into his office or kitchen before I could look downstairs."

Miranda, was silent for a minute, then finally spoke. "I think your father was in debt. Got a loan from some shady people. He used you as payment."

"No," whisper Alice. "Daddy would never do that. He loves me."

"Maybe I'm wrong," said Miranda. "Maybe you were kidnapped. What's the last thing you remember?"

"Going to sleep in my bed," she whispered. "The doorbell had just rang."

"Your father probably had no choice," said Angela.