R.O.N. (Remain Overnight)

I usually kept things strictly professional with the clients. They were all very wealthy, some of them famous, and as a result most of them were jerks who felt they were entitled to treat you with contempt.

Of course there were plenty of nice ones, too, like Leticia, the sexy Brazilian executive who was the only passenger on today's flight. I'd flown her once before, on her trip up from Rio to Hilton Head, and she'd been very sweet and a little flirty. She'd half-jokingly asked me to induct her into the mile high club, and had I thought her serious I'd have been severely tempted, but I would have never risked losing my job.

I was tempted even more when we landed and she embraced me as we disembarked and gave my bum a hard squeeze, told me thank you for the wonderful service, and then surreptitiously slipped a card into my hand and whispered into my ear that if I called the number on the card any time over the next week that her driver would bring me to her suite for as long as I wanted to stay. In between these advances she had insisted that I sit and talk with her. I told her that was against the rules, but when she told me that she was the client and she made the rules I felt I couldn't say no.

We'd built a rather good rapport, and I was excited when my regularly-scheduled hop hauling some GSA employees to Cleveland for a junket was swapped out for Leticia's return to Rio. She seemed a little more serious this time, as if her business decisions had been a little stressful, but she was still very nice to me. So I normally didn't joke with clients, but I decided to bring her a glass of her favorite wine unbidden and serve it by asking the classic, "Coffee, tea, or me?" with a wink and a smile.

She returned the smile, took the wine, and replied, "My dear Ethy, I've already chosen you, which is why you're not on your way to Cleveland right now." She nodded to someone behind me just as I felt a figure approach. I could tell by the smell of his cologne and the fact that I'd brushed past him a thousand times in the cabin that it was Brian, the co-pilot. Before I could utter a word his arm was around me and a wet cloth was thrust over my face. I began to kick and thrash but he simply lifted me off my feet and leaned backwards.

"Sorry Ethy," I heard him say, "but for what Leticia is paying us I can put my kids through college, retire, buy a ski lodge in Aspen, and get that Porsche I always wanted."

"I thought you had no children, Brian?" Leticia said, echoing the thought that briefly passed through my panicked mind.

"Oh, that's right. I guess I'll just have to spend it on myself, then," he laughed, squeezing me tight. I squealed and breathed in more of whatever was on the cloth. My ears were buzzing and the cabin lights were growing hazy.

"Don't hurt her, Brian!" Leticia commanded sternly.

"She'll be just fine, don't worry," he replied, then whispered in my ear, "It's kind of a shame to lose you, Etherea, you really are the best flight attendant we have, even if you've always been impervious to my advances. So just breathe deep and relax, you being a lesbian you might even enjoy your new life. Leticia will take very good care of you."

"If resisting your advances makes one a lesbian then there aren't many straight women on the planet, Brian," Leticia said dryly.

I struggled for a little while longer. It felt like an eternity but was probably only a few seconds. Everything began to grow dark and my limbs began to feel very heavy. I felt lethargic, then sleepy. The only sounds in the cabin were the engines, my own muffled screams, and an occasional grunt from Brian as he struggled to keep me in his grip. I stared down at Leticia and couldn't make out the look on her face. Concern? Excitement? Satisfaction? Perhaps all three. Then everything went dark.

I don't know how long I was out. Minutes, hours, it was impossible to say. I felt as if I was emerging from a long, dark tunnel. "Make sure she's as comfortable as possible," I heard Leticia say. I felt myself being adjusted in a seat. I tried to get up but couldn't, and I realized my arms had been tightly bound. My eyes opened and I saw Leticia sitting on the edge of the seat, Brian standing behind her.

"Where did you learn to tie ropes like that?" Leticia asked Brian as she stroked my cheek.

"I was an Eagle Scout and I was in the Navy," he chuckled.

"She looks very secure," Leticia said, wadding up some silk fabric and forcing it into my slack mouth then tamping it in tight with her thumbs.

"Oh, she's not going anywhere," Brian said, handing Leticia an expensive silk scarf. "Even if there were anywhere to go."

Leticia nodded and wrapped the scarf around my head to hold the wad of stuffing in my mouth as Brian turned to go back to the cockpit. "We'll be there in about 45 minutes," he said. Leticia looked at him and nodded once more as he padded away, then she looked back to me.

"Wet eee hooo!"* I protested weakly into the very stifling gag.

She simply smiled and shook her head. "No, Etherea, the only place you'll be going is with me. In my country, with my wealth, one takes what one wants. I want you. And now I have you," she grinned, taking a rag from her lap and holding it over my face. I began to panic and struggle as I breathed in the same cloying, sickly-sweet smell from before. "Your pilot and co-pilot will sadly tell investigators that you had been talking about exploring some parts of the city that are a little...dangerous. Places a pretty young American tourist shouldn't go..." she continued as my struggling and moaning began to slacken. "....places where a woman like you could easily disappear without a trace."

I tried to scream but all that emerged was a ragged "mmmmph!" My eyelids kept closing and it was getting harder and harder to keep them open. "They will quickly close your case," Leticia continued, her smile broadening, "and the only person in the world who will know exactly where you are will be me." My eyes shut and I began to fall into darkness, as if I were plumetting into an abyss. I felt her soft lips press against my forehead and then brush against my earlobe. I heard her whisper softly, her hot breath in my ear, "Sleep deeply, my sweet. Soon we will begin our new life together."

The thought briefly passed through my mind that my RON might last a little longer than expected. Then nothing as the abyss consumed me.

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*Translation for those who don't speak gag talk: "Let me go!"