Collared

Nicky seemed moody and lost in thought on the cab ride back to the office.

"Are you thinking the same thing I'm thinking, that we should've taken the mailgirl deal?" I asked. Still shaken from our disastrous appointment with Ultra, Lynn's whispers haunted me a ghost in a Dickens novel.

"Mr. Brooks was right," Nicky said. "There's something wrong with our business. With the type of sales we've been having, we should be buying a car right now not pleading for our freedom. I'm going down to the bank and have them check and see if there's some type of screw up and they've deposited our funds into the wrong account or something. I've got to get to the bottom of this."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Start calling all of our friends."

"You want me to ask our friends for money?" I'd be humiliating."

"Which would you rather, call our friends today or be repo'd tomorrow."

"Anything but that."

"We should have been calling everyone weeks ago. If we had, we'd already have the money by now. We've let our pride get in the way of our sanity."

"What do you want me to tell them?"

"The truth and ask for anything they can spare. Take twenty dollars if that's all they've got but they've got to wire it too us before noon or we're screwed."

"We're behind over $30,000.00. There's no way that we can raise that."

We had great friends but they weren't rich. Being in our late 20's, most of our friends were in their 20's or early 30's and didn't have much cash to spare. Further, now that you can get yourself repo'd if you fall behind on your credit card, your car payments, or your student loan, people are thriftier with their savings. You never wanted to be stuck without at least a couple paychecks worth of cash or, if you lost your job, you could lose your freedom.

"We don't need to get caught up, we just can't fall three payments behind. The law doesn't allow repossession until after the third month. If we could just get ahold of $11,000.00, it would buy us a month and that's all we need."

The cab stopped and let me out in front of our offices. Nicky continued on to the bank and I went inside and started calling. Begging for money was so embarrassing that I cowered with each phone call. Thankfully, our friends were very understanding and passionate about our situation. They wished we'd come to them earlier and gave what they could. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. Most of our friends were starving artists, struggling models, or unemployed actors, as well as a host of other people just getting started in life with low paying jobs and lots of bills. They tended to spend their entire paycheck on rent and food. None had substantial savings and few had any real money to offer. On such short notice and with such poverty stricken friends, as the clock neared noon, I was still short in the count.

I didn't try calling family, because there was none. Neither of us had parents. Nicky's were lost in a car crash, while I lost my mother to cancer. My father had never been a part of my life and neither of us had siblings. Part of the bond between Nicky and I was that we the closest thing each other had to a family.

The deadline was noon. If we didn't get another extension, Ultra would declare the loan in default and we'd be down to 24 hours. Unfortunately, as noon arrived, we didn't have enough money to make a payment and we still hadn't heard from Attila.

"What did the Bank say?" I asked Nicky as she returned from the bank.

"The money's not there," Nicky said as we walked into her office and shut the door. "I had them look up, down, and sideways, and they don't have our money. It never made it to the bank."

"Uhh," I groaned.

"How much money did you raise from our friends?"

"A little over $7,600.00. If we could give them another week, they could double it."

"We don't have the time." Nicky lamented. "Did you thank them?"

"Profusely."

"We should have asked for some donations from our better customers. Many of them seem to really like us and we could offer them half priced coupons. I just never dreamed it would come to this." Nicky shook her head in disgust. "Did you check to see if any of our invoices came in?"

"Only a couple of small ones, less than a thousand dollars."

"That's not enough. We're still $2,500.00 short."

"What now?"

Nicky looked at the time and grimaced. It was noon. We were now officially out of time.

"Now we wait for the courier and hope for the extension. If we get it, I'll do a full audit of the books tomorrow, call every customer, check every credit card transaction, go over every invoice and bank statement until I figure this out."

"And if we don't?"

"Then we need to get Attila off their ass quickly and give us a loan or . . ." Nicky shook her head.

"Or what?"

"Or we consider our options."

"What options?" I asked. "We're out of time."

Nicky started to say something but was interrupted by Lori on the intercom.

"Two men from Ultra are here to see you," Lori said.

Nicky flinched at Lori's announcement and looked troubled, really troubled.

"Don't worry," I said. "It's the special courier Mr. Brooks promised."

"Not likely," Nicky said, looking downright frightened.

"Why not? It's noon and Mr. Brooks said the courier would come at noon."

"Lori said there were two men to see us. Couriers don't work in pairs, they come alone. Slavers work in pairs."

Slavers were bounty hunters who specialized in the repossession and capture of slaves.

"Shit!" Panic griped me. "What do you think they want?"

"Let's hope it's not us."

"I thought we had at least another 24 hours."

Nicky steadied herself, glanced in a mirror, adjusted her hair, and took a deep breath.

"So did I. Let's hope we're right."

"What else could they want?"

"I don't know but Ultra didn't send slavers over here to tell us that we got the loan extension." Nicky said. "Whatever it is, it's not good news."

"You don't think they're going to repo us right now do you?"

"We're about to find out," Nicky said as she steadied herself before heading out her office to meet the Ultra representatives. Nearly catatonic in fear, I followed.

Two men were standing at Lori's desk, one Hispanic, one Caucasian. Nicky was right, they looked like slavers. Tall, burly, and intense, they were dressed in really cheap, ill-fitted, nylon suits, truly hideous ensembles. If it weren't for the fact that they were probably here to repo us, I'd have given them my card and insisted they come and see me.

Slavers always carried either a briefcase or a bag; it's where they carried the shackles and slave collars. And, sure enough, the Hispanic man carried a large briefcase which he dramatically plopped on Lori's desk. When the briefcase hit the desk, it gave off a distinctive metallic "chunk" sound like it was full of chains. I swallowed hard.

"My name is Charlie Davis and this is John Rodriguez. We're here on behalf of Ultra Venture Credit."

"You're here to talk about our loan?" Nicky asked nervously.

Caught off guard by the naiveté and optimism of Nicky's comment, both of the men fought back laughing.

"No ma'am. We're not here to talk," Mr. Davis said. "It's past that."

"Then, what do you want?" I asked in a quivering voice.

Mr. Rodriguez popped open the briefcase and, as the chains and slave collars spilled onto the desk, I yelped in terror and clapped my hand over my mouth while Nicky clinched her teeth.

"Pursuant to paragraph 48 of your loan agreement, when a default of the loan is declared, Ultra has the right to install a tracking device on its collateral and quarantine its movements," Mr. Davis said as Mr. Rodriguez handed him a collar.

Nicky looked horrified, "You're going to collar us?"

I knew all too well what that meant. Once a lender declared a loan in default, they had the right to place a slave tracking collar on their collateral just before the repossession. Everyone knew that to be collared meant that you were about to be repro'd.

"Turn around," Mr. Davis said as he took Nicky by the shoulders, firmly turned her around, moved her hair aside, slid the slave collar on her neck and, with a metallic click, snapped the ends together locking the slave collar around Nicky's neck.

Stunned, Nicky glanced at herself in the mirror and pulled at her collar as Mr. Rodriguez handed Mr. Davis another slave collar.

"Your turn," Mr. Rodriguez said to me as he put his hands on her shoulder and twisted my torso until my back was to Mr. Davis. Too shocked to resist, I stood still as I was fitted with a slave collar, letting out a faint squeal as it clicked around my neck.

Mr. Davis tossed an envelope on Lori's desk and said, "As of right now, you're both confined to the city limits. If either of you try to hide, run, or damage your collars, Ultra will have the right to immediately repossess both of you."

"I'll see you girls tomorrow," Mr. Rodriguez said as he dangled a set of leg chains before us. The slavers found their own way out.

"This can't be happening," I said.

"Looks like your pussies are about to go on parade," Lori giggled. "I sure wouldn't want to be in your shoes right now. You girls are going to get yourselves stripped and shipped tomorrow."

Shocked at her lack of empathy as well as her abhorrently offensive behavior, I glared at Lori, "That's a really ugly thing to say."

Although Nicky tolerated Lori because of her skills, Lori and I never quite found a way to like each other and our relationship had soured to the point that we were only barely cordial. I wanted to fire her but Nicky nixed it claiming we needed her. Although occasionally Lori and I traded vailed insults disguised as faint praise, Lori's celebration of our collaring was a new low.

"It serves you right for missing my paycheck," Lori said. "Now you can find out what it's like to work without pay."

"You know we're both as sorry as we can be about that and I promise you that we'll pay you just as soon as we get some money," Nicky said.

"It's alright, don't worry about it," Lori said dismissively. "I'll put my claim for wages in after your auction. Once they sell you off, I'm sure they'll be plenty of money to cover my missing paychecks."

"I'm sure it won't come to that," I said.

Lori laughed, "You dream. Girl, they don't collar you unless they're serious and you just got collared. You're three months behind on your loan and you can't even make payroll. Face it, by this time tomorrow, you're going to be repo'd."

"We've still got that loan with Attila Finance. If we can get that approved, we'll be alright."

"I wouldn't bet on it, you're out of time," Lori said as she looked at me. "Ultra's going to auction off your pretty little twat in a couple of days and I'm going to come and watch just to see the expression on your face."

Furious, I simmered in anger and started to say something before Nicky cut in front of me and held up her hand in a stop gesture to silence me. Nicky was on much better terms with Lori and she was generally much better behaved and more polite to Nicky.

"Do me a favor," Nicky said to Lori calmly. "Call your contact at Attila and find out what we need to do to get that loan approved right now. Tell them it's absolutely imperative that we have the money by noon tomorrow."

"What if I can't get anyone?"

"Call every five minutes until you do. As of right now, that's your only job. Understand?"

"I'll do what I can do."

"Thanks. I know we haven't been the best of employers lately, but I'll make that up to you just as soon as the Attila money comes in. They'll even be a bonus. You've been a great employee and we really appreciate you."

"Thanks, but I'd appreciate it a lot more if you paid me."

"You made sure to send the photos with the loan package?"

When using yourself as collateral for a loan, the sexier you look, the more money they'll lend you. So Nicky had us both pose for photos in scandalously skimpy lingerie as well as some implied nudes and had Lori send the photos along with a video of the photoshoot with the loan package. After all, when you're trying to save yourself from slavery, it's no time to be shy. At the time I thought the Attila loan was unnecessary and that the photos were humiliatingly misogynist, an embarrassing overkill; now I wished we'd made loan applications with six companies and posed fully nude.

"Yeah, I sent your pornography."

"Good. Talk to me just as soon as you know something."

Picking up the envelope left by Mr. Davis, Nicky walked back into her office. Furious, I followed her back and shut the door.

"That went great," Nicky grumbled as she plopped down into her chair and adjusted her collar. "We should've seen this coming."

"Why don't we fire that bitch," I asked.

"Because right now we need her. I agree she's way out of line and I know she's downright psycho at times but she really knows accounting, taxation, banking, and she's a master of all of our accounting and our billing software. It's really hard to find people that are so talented that are willing to work at the wages we can afford."

I had to admit that Lori was a wizard with our banking and billing software and she was the only one of the three of us that understood the employment, income, and sales tax accounting. Of all the people we interviewed, she was the lone applicant who really was qualified for the job.

"Add to that, she's the one working on getting our invoices paid." Nicky said. "Even more importantly she's been the one handling our loan with Attila. Besides, at this point, we don't have either the time or the money to hire anyone else."

Since the cash crisis, Nicky and I threw ourselves into selling as a way out of our financial hole and left recovery of the back invoices, as well as pursuing the Attila loan, with Lori believing that we could dig our way out by increased sales and that the invoice situation would correct itself within a few weeks. Despite our surprising success in sales, we had almost another $70,000.00 in work in progress, Lori's success at both collection of the slow invoices and at obtaining the Attila loan had been disappointing and I wished that either Nicky or I had spent a little more time on the projects.

Not only were the past invoices not collected, even the invoices from our recent sales didn't come in and suddenly, and most unexpectedly, we found ourselves out of time. With all the invoices outstanding, I'd never have dreamed that we wouldn't be able to come up with the money to pay Ultra in time but we didn't. Now that Lori seemed elated at our demise, I wanted to fire her ungrateful ass immediately.

"That was one of the rudest things I've ever seen."

"Do you blame her? She's hasn't been paid in two months."

"She's actually enjoying this," I fumed.

"I know the two of you have had your differences but get over it. We've literally bet our ass on this company and, in case you're not keeping up with current events, we're in a really tight spot at the moment. Right now, we need all the help we can get. Whatever the problems between the two of you, they end now, OK? If her behavior doesn't get a lot better, I'll fire her after we get out of this mess but right now I need her."

I mumbled something that could charitably been mistaken as an affirmation before looking at the slave collar around my neck in the mirror in dismay, and groaning, "This is terrible."

"It's about to get a lot worse. Lori's right. If we don't come up with the money by noon tomorrow, we'll be repo'd."