Sophia’s Choice

Choosing wisely is sometimes difficult.

This one just popped into my head. I cranked it off rather quickly having a bit of a break between work projects. My first two stories were alternative endings of Klaximos’ story “Just Once… if you don’t mind” and GeorgeAnderson’s story “February Sucks.” I thought I’d dip my toes further into the water and try to do something original, rather than ride on the backs of better authors. Once again, this story is self-edited with help from Word, so all mistakes are mine. I hope you enjoy.

———- o ———-

Sophia Johnson groggily awoke, finding herself on a small cot in a small, dimly lit room. The room looked institutional rather than residential. It was a square room, approximately ten feet on each side. The light was coming from rectangular panels in the ceiling that was comprised of drop ceiling type rectangular tiles. Besides the cot, the only other furniture was a small, round shiny stainless-steel table accompanied by a single shiny plain, stainless-steel chair.

There were two doors on opposite sides of the room from each other, each situated in respective corners. The only window in the room was rather large — approximately four feet wide by three feet high. The window was on the same wall as one of the doors. Only blackness was visible through the window. She could see that the walls were large, beige institutional panels about four feet wide and each going from floor to ceiling. The floor consisted of patterned off-white commercial tiles, similar to those found in hospitals or similar facilities. A medium sized, maybe 40″, flat screen television was mounted in the center of one of the walls that didn’t have a door on it. The television was presently off, appearing as a flat black screen.

As the cobwebs and fuzziness cleared in her head, Sophia tried to recall how she ended up here. At his request, she had joined her husband, Tom, on his latest business trip to a somewhat impoverished, yet beautiful, area of Thailand. Joining them on the trip was Brad Bell, one of the members of the Executive Management Committee at the company that Tom founded some seven years ago. Tom had no idea, but Sophia and Brad had been having an affair for the past six months.

———- o ———-

Tom Johnson was brilliant, gentle, and kind. He stood around 5’10” and had light brown, often unkept hair, wore glasses, and looked like a somewhat nerdy college professor. While keeping himself in decent shape, Tom would never grace the cover of GQ magazine with his rather plain face and appearance. Even though he wasn’t an “alpha” male, like Brad, he commanded immense respect from the employees and management team at his software company.

Tom’s brilliance resulted in an innovative initial software package that he developed himself shortly after college. The software was a huge success and was in high demand by many large companies. The success brought in millions of dollars and allowed Tom to launch his company and hire more programmers and other staff to develop other products that Tom envisioned.

Sophia was popular in both high school and college. She wasn’t quite “beautiful” but she was very pretty, about 5’6″ tall and 120 pounds, having blond hair, blue eyes, medium sized breasts appropriate to her body size, and nice legs. Perhaps her best feature was her cute bubble-butt that pooched out nicely above her shapely legs.

She was equipped with an effervescent personality and the ability to strike up a conversation with almost anyone. In high school, Sophia was kind to those around her, rather than behaving like a stuck-up bitch like some cheerleaders. Her accepting personality often led to her attracting guys that she didn’t want to date. She learned how to let quell the romantic interests from these pursuers while still remaining friends and without hurting their feelings.

During high school, Sophia dated her school’s star quarterback during their senior year. She gave him her virginity on prom night. He, she found out, was not a virgin, having already sampled some of the sluttier girls from their class. After graduation, he attended a small, private school that offered reduced tuition in exchange for his playing on their football team. Her family couldn’t afford to send her to such an expensive private school, so the pair broke up and she attended the large state university located about two hours from her hometown. This is where she eventually met her future husband, Tom.

In college, Sophia was invited to join one of the best sororities on campus. She was a decent student, but not really dedicated enough to get great grades. Instead, she enjoyed partying at various fraternities around campus. Many of her boyfriends in college were from fraternities, especially the “jock” houses, as she found herself attracted to big, confident, athletic men. Her sorority was frequently asked to have a mixer with one fraternity or another. They tried to accommodate requests from many fraternities so that they wouldn’t get the reputation on campus as being too ‘snobby.’

On a Friday during her senior year, Sophia attended a mixer with her sorority sisters at what many openly considered to be a somewhat ‘mediocre’ fraternity even though one of her sisters was dating a nice guy from the house. The house had a mixture of guys — some were athletic, some were decent students, and most were just average. They were nice bunch of guys and were very respectful to their guests from the sorority. This was unlike some of the animals from the ‘jock’ houses that expected to get laid at the drop of a hat.

At the mixer, Sophia enjoyed some conversation, food, and a couple of beers. She was about to leave with Jan, one of her sorority sisters, and go party being held at one of the ‘jock’ houses. As they were preparing to go, Sophia overheard some of her sorority sisters talking with some of the guys about one of their brothers that hadn’t been able to attend. Apparently, that night this guy was being given a big award at a banquet with the award being given to him by the dean of the university. They said that Tom, the fraternity’s president, would be there shortly and that he regretted having to miss most of the mixer.

The description of Tom and his brilliance intrigued Sophia. While dating campus jocks was exciting, with some of them really knowing how to fuck, she knew that most, if not all, of these Neanderthals wouldn’t amount to much after college. None of them were talented enough to be professional athletes. In addition, their partying and general lack of intelligence meant that most had poor grades wouldn’t get decent jobs after graduating, if they even graduated at all.

With this in mind, Sophia told Jan that she wanted to stick around in order to meet this intriguing guy when he returned from accepting his award. Jan had a ‘friend with benefits’ that she had been frequently fucking at the ‘jock’ house for some time. With Sophia’s blessing, Jan decided to leave and go to the other party, and Sophia stayed behind so that she could meet Tom. Tom entered the house about thirty minutes later. She could tell that he was genuinely liked and well respected by all of the guys in the house. From the looks of him, she figured that he never would have been invited to join one of the ‘jock’ houses on campus.

She made her way over and struck up a conversation with him. Sophia found that he was very interesting and easy and fun to talk to and, despite his intelligence, she didn’t feel at all stupid around him. She found out that Tom had recently broken up with a long-term girlfriend whom he had dated for over a year and that he didn’t currently have a girlfriend. Sophia sensed that Tom was a guy that would really go places after college. She decided right then and there that she was going to join him for the ride.

Sophia used her charms to secure a first date with Tom and, on their first date, they had a very good time together. She cut off having sex with the ‘big men’ on campus as Tom was quite resolute regarding fidelity in his relationships. She knew he would break up with her if he found out she was out with another guy. Instead, Sophia devoted herself to Tom, giving him some amazing sex back in his fraternity room after their fifth date, a much longer waiting period her jock boyfriends had to wait to get into her panties.

As she had presumed, Sophia was far more sexual experienced than Tom. However, Tom was no slouch in the sack and was blessed with above-average equipment. Their love making was passionate and fulfilling and Sophia found that he gave her plenty of orgasms as well as a warm feeling of being loved that hadn’t been provided by her previous boyfriends.

They didn’t discuss it, but she got the impression that Tom had only slept with a couple of girlfriends before meeting Sophia. Sophia kept Tom happy in and out of bed. In addition, she did little things to make him feel like he was the one pursuing her when, in actuality, she was the pursuer and had her sights firmly set on marrying him. The day after they both graduated, Tom proposed. She couldn’t say ‘yes’ fast enough.

———- o ———-

Both families got along and the couple was married in Sophia’s hometown. They decided to move to the largest city in the state where Tom figured there would be plenty of work. Rather than going to work for a big company, Tom chose to be an independent consultant, using his connections from the university to land him gigs helping companies solve tricky computer software problems. He ensured that the contracts with his clients allowed him to own any intellectual property that he independently developed. While in high demand, Tom used his spare time to develop and patent his own software that ended up being the software that launched his company. At this point, he and Sophia had been married for around three years.

While being very busy, Tom was also very focused and self-disciplined, always making time for his wife so that their relationship wouldn’t suffer due to his business pursuits. Sophia had gone to work as a receptionist for a large law firm downtown. They didn’t really need the money because Tom made plenty, but it gave her the opportunity to associate and work with other adults and professionals. It also made her feel that she had an identity other than being Tom’s wife.

Given her bubbly personality and striking appearance, a few attorneys tried to seduce her, but she blocked all advances and stayed true to her marriage. She had to report one overly aggressive litigator to the firm’s HR director. After his reprimand, as the firm had no tolerance for sexual harassment, she found that other attorneys still talked, and even flirted, with her but none made her feel uncomfortable as they all knew that she was happily married. In addition, Tom’s new company was one of the firm’s clients as they handled his corporate and licensing work. So, in addition to sexual harassment issues, the firm also didn’t want to upset an up and coming client. Tom continued using a seasoned, solo practitioner that he had already been using for his patent drafting work. He just didn’t think the firm’s patent attorneys were nearly as good as his current patent attorney.

Five years after getting married, having worked at the law firm almost the same amount of time, Sophia decided to quit and work with various charities. Tom’s company had taken off and the small amount of money that she made as the firm’s receptionist was a small drop in the bucket. She enjoyed and kept busy with the charitable groups, serving on a few boards, and she liked the freedom and flexibility she had in her life.

———- o ———-

Sophia met Brad about a year ago at a party given in Brad’s honor at her and Tom’s expansive home. She felt an immediate attraction between the two of them. She found out that Brad had been a jock in high school, playing varsity on his school’s football, basketball, and baseball teams. However, unlike many jocks, Brad realized he wasn’t talented enough to make a living playing sports. Consequently, once in college, Brad stopped playing sports, other than intramurals for his fraternity. In addition, Brad was quite intelligent — graduating in the top ten percent of his high school class despite the demands of his many sports teams. Brad studied business and attended a state college located in a different state from the university attended by Sophia and Tom. While in college, Brad was also in a fraternity, joining one of the best frats on campus with extensive business contacts as well as many athletes. Their athletic prowess made his house the perennial champion of many intramural sports held between the various fraternities.

While dating many beautiful ladies in college, usually sorority girls, Brad kept his relationships at arm’s length, choosing not to get tied down to any one woman as he had greater plans. He also didn’t want any girlfriends keeping him from exceling at school where he maintained an almost perfect grade point average. During his senior year, Brad studied his ass off and scored towards the very top of the GMAT exam. He then applied to many of the best MBA programs in the country.

Despite his scores and grades, he received many more rejections than offers. However, he did receive offers to attend two of the top ten best MBA programs. Brad selected his favorite from these top two schools. Again, he worked his ass off for two more years in the MBA program, doing quite well and being sought after by many companies after graduation. Brad decided to join a consulting firm to have the opportunity to work for a variety of quality businesses. During his five-year stint as a consultant, Brad traveled across the country working for various clients on a wide variety of business problems.

During his last year at the consulting firm, Brad did a project at Tom’s company and the two men got to know each other, greatly respecting the other man’s talents. Tom saw Brad as exceptionally bright, very motivated, and he genuinely liked his often-unique ideas and recommendations. When the project concluded, Tom extended Brad an offer to join Tom’s company as part of his management team. Brad liked Tom and jumped at the opportunity to join a successful, growing company at such an early stage. At this point, Tom’s company was only about four years old. The compensation package was better than he was making as a consultant and the new career had a much greater long-term upside potential. In addition, Brad was starting to tire of the constant travel required of a consultant, working almost every week in a city away from his home.

———- o ———-

About twelve months ago, having already proven himself as a good and competent manager, Tom selected Brad to be the newest member of the company’s Executive Management Committee (EMC). The EMC was headed by Tom and primarily worked on strategic matters and opportunities. Some, but not all, of the members of the EMC received small percentages of stock in the privately-held company. Brad felt that he was superior to most everyone on the EMC, so he felt somewhat snubbed when he didn’t immediately receive an equity share in the company when selected to serve on the EMC. Tom threw a party at his and Sophia’s home to honor Brad’s selection to the EMC. At the party, Brad and Sophia met for the first time.

The two struck up a conversation almost immediately. Sophia found that Brad was 33 years old, the same age as she and Tom. Brad looked more like the guys that she dated in high school and college. Standing around 6’3″ tall, Brad had dark, almost black hair, accompanied by broad, strong shoulders, a handsome face with a chiseled jaw line and piercing blue eyes. She could sense little or no body fat, unlike her husband’s slight love handles, and it appeared that Brad frequently visited a gym. She found herself thinking, Why couldn’t I have met this hunk earlier? A guy with so many physical attributes along with brains and ambition!

The two talked for quite some time. Brad was entranced with his boss’ lovely wife. Right off the bat, Brad made plans to seduce this lovely woman and figure out a way to get a piece of Tom’s business. He had never really envied anyone before, but at that moment Brad was intensely envious of Tom. The guy was filthy rich with his own business, power in the community, and had a fantastic wife with a great personality. He wanted what Tom already had, and he was going to figure out a way to get it.

Over the next six months, Brad worked steadily on building his relationship with Sophia without making it look like he wanted her for anything other than friendship. Brad was a frequent guest at their home, often regaling Tom and Sophia with stories about women he was currently dating. Given his looks and success, Brad had no shortage of attractive local women on his arm. Being on the EMC, Brad knew when Tom was out of town and used these opportunities to keep Sophia company while Tom was away. Brad told Tom whenever he wanted to invite Sophia to dinner or otherwise see her, explaining that she was a great friend and he valued her advice, especially with her opinions about the women that he was dating. Given his absolute trust in his wife coupled with Brad’s upfront nature in telling him when Brad and Sophia might casually get together when he was out of town, Tom trusted that the relationship was purely platonic and that Brad had no designs on Sophia. This was especially the case when Tom saw the numerous drop-dead gorgeous women that Brad frequently dated.

———- o ———-

About six months after first meeting, while Tom was out of town on another business trip, Brad invited Sophia over to his luxury condo for dinner and to ask her opinion about some art work he was considering. He let Tom know that he wanted to ask Sophia over for dinner and to help him choose a piece of art for his living room. He also told Tom that he had a date with a woman he recently met, so it wouldn’t be a late evening for Sophia as Brad had to pick his date up by ten in order to meet with some of her friends at a local nightclub. Tom was fine with the two having dinner and wished Brad good luck on selecting the artwork and on his date with his new lady friend.

During dinner, Brad put a very small amount of ecstasy and a tiny amount of Rohypnol in Sophia’s drink. He didn’t want to knock her out or make her feel like she had been drugged. Instead, he just wanted to take the edge off and make her receptive to the advances he planned on making after dinner. Of course, there really was no new lady friend, and therefore no need to leave to pick anyone up. Instead, he planned on waking with Sophia beside him after a long and satisfying night of sex.

Dinner was scrumptious as Brad had ordered it from one of the best restaurants in town. He put the small amounts of ecstasy and Rohypnol in Sophia’s second drink of the evening. Her strong first drink helped ease her senses, making it unlikely that she’d detect the small quantity of drugs in her second drink. After drinking the drugged drink, Sophia felt somewhat euphoric and uninhibited, and suddenly quite horny. She attributed the feelings to the alcohol and to the atmosphere, having no suspicions that her good friend would doctor her drink.

Seeing the effects of her second drink, Brad made his move. They were standing and looking at the artwork that Brad was supposedly evaluating for purchase. Quite casually, Brad put his arm around Sophia’s shoulders and pulled her close. The two often gave each other friendly hugs, but she had never been pulled in so closely and firmly by Brad. She looked up and found that he was looking down at her with lust in his eyes. Their mouths met for a sensuous open-mouth kiss, swapping tongues and spit with one other. The sloppiness of the kiss further enhancing the moment’s eroticism.

Soon afterwards, Sophia found herself in Brad’s bed and he was giving her the best fucking she had received in quite some time, maybe ever in her life. Sophia came so many times that she lost count. Even though he didn’t really need it, Brad had taken a Viagra to make sure he could fuck his new conquest as many times as possible, and for as long as she wanted. By rule, Brad only had relationships with single women. He had no trouble on one-night stands with fucking a married woman occasionally, just no relationships. He felt a perverse thrill of making an unwilling cuckold out of a woman’s husband, regardless of whether the man knew that Brad was currently fucking his wife. Making an unwilling cuckold out of his boss was an unparalleled power trip.

With Sophia, he planned on making an exception to his rule of about relationships with married women. He continued pursuing a sexual relationship with her over the next several months. He longed to woo her from Tom and, eventually, have her leave Tom in favor of himself. He didn’t know if he’d actually be willing to marry Sophia, she was a cheat after all, but he sure didn’t mind fucking her brains out. Getting his hands on some of Tom’s company, if not all of it, would be icing on the cake. He might be willing to marry to get much of Tom’s money.

The next morning, Sophia woke up feeling sexually satisfied, but quite guilty for betraying her marriage vows to Tom. She had never cheated on Tom before. Nevertheless, her guilty feelings were vastly outweighed by the incredible fucking Brad gave her.

“Oh Brad, we shouldn’t have done that. I feel terrible! I’ve never cheated on Tom before. He’s a great husband, he doesn’t deserve this kind of disrespect.”

“Sophia, darling, I think that the emotions and passion just got the better of us. I’ve always found you to be a beautiful and fascinating person. Until last night, I’ve always kept my lust for you under wraps. I feel bad too — not only is Tom my boss, but I also consider him to be a good friend.”

“What are we going to do?” Sophia inquired, snuggling in the crook of Brad’s arm and gently playing with his chest hair.

“Sophia, I don’t intend to hurt your relationship with Tom in any way whatsoever. I love you both too much to ever come between you. In addition, Tom could certainly ruin my career if he ever found out. However, right now my cock is starting to get hard again, and I really need to make love to you again before you have to go home.” While saying this, Brad turned and shifted so that his knees were on the bed between Sophia’s spread legs with his arms holding his body over hers.

“Oh Brad, we really shouldn’t,” Sophia said softly, as her hand wandered down to investigate Brad’s hardness. She found that, indeed, he was raring to fuck her senseless once again. The feeling of Brad’s cock, larger but not significantly larger than her husband’s, brought a wave of wetness to her pussy as she anticipated the sinful, adulterous act that they were about to commit. Instead of pushing Brad off of her, she found her knees widening further to accept his cock’s invasion of her body.

“Oh yes,” she uttered at her response to finding his hard cock. “Just one more time, lover, before I have to leave. Fuck me Brad. Fuck me hard, make me cum like the dirty slut that I am.”

Brad needed no further encouragement as he plowed his engorged cock into Sophia’s wet and open pussy, planting himself as hard and deep as he could on the first plunge. Sophia orgasmed almost immediately, her juices squirting out of her pussy soaking the mattress and Brad’s cock and balls. The two screwed like rabid animals for quite some time, Sophia enjoying several strong orgasms as she awaited Brad’s own eruption.

The two had shifted with Sophia now riding Brad’s cock as she had even more orgasms and squirted once again, this time soaking Brad’s taught stomach. Brad grabbed hold of Sophia’s nice-sized tits, squeezing and then pinching her nipples. The sensation causing Sophia to grunt through yet another orgasm. Brad then grabbed Sophia’s hips as she bounced up and down on his cock. Brad told her that she was going to cum one more time and then she was going to slide down and suck his cock, emptying his balls into her mouth, and swallow all off his cum, something she hadn’t done the night before.

Sophia was enraptured by Brad’s forcefulness; as well as by his depravity and insistence that she degrade herself by emptying his balls into her mouth and swallowing his sperm. She felt a sharp slap on her ass cheek as she rode Brad’s cock. The somewhat painful sensation sending her over the edge as she started to buck with another powerful orgasm. Brad continued assaulting her ass with occasional stinging slaps, telling her that she was soon going to taste and swallow his cum. The overt debauchery of their behavior caused her to squirt once again before her orgasm finally subsided. Brad now gently pushed her down to his cock, ordering her to clean her cum off his shaft and suck him to orgasm.

She complied obediently, quickly sliding down Brad’s athletic body and taking his hard cock into her mouth, sucking and licking the member clean, tasting her copious juices on his shaft. Brad took hold of the sides of her head with his large, strong hands and guided her mouth over the length of his cock, causing her to slightly gag when his cock hit the back of her throat. She then felt a slight change in his tempo as he reached and grabbed a fistful of her hair.

“That’s it… I’m going to cum in your pretty mouth and you’re gonna swallow every drop,” he said as he groaned. She felt the initial spurt of his jism shoot forcefully against the back of her mouth. This was followed by several more powerful spurts until her mouth was full of his cum. When Brad was finished cumming, she looked up at him and saw him smiling down at her. Wickedly, she opened her mouth, showing him the mouthful of cum she had collected. She then visibly swallowed the load and licked her lips. “Mmmm,” she said softly, “Thank you, that was wonderful.”

———- o ———-

At the time of the trip to Thailand, Sophia and Brad’s affair had been going on for about six-months. The sex was out of this world — far dirtier and more animalistic than the gentle lovemaking provided by her husband. While the sex was great, she found Brad to be somewhat demanding, and sometimes moody, both in and out of bed. This was in stark comparison to her kind and gentle husband. She also began to feel more and more guilt about the affair. Tom hadn’t done anything to upset her or cause her to betray him and fall into another man’s arms, and into his bed.

She told Brad a few times that they needed to cool things. Neither of them wanted Tom to discover their affair. Tom had said a few things making her wonder if he suspected, but he never challenged or accused his wife of having an affair. Every time she tried to pull away from the illicit affair, Brad would come charging back and fuck her with his magnificent cock. Additionally, finding time to be together wasn’t all that difficult, given Tom’s hectic work schedule and frequent business trips. Consequently, for now, Sophia was hoped to continuing to have her cake, and eat it too (along with frequent servings of Brad’s cum!).

The company paid for the threesome to fly first class from their home city in the states to a city in Thailand. They flew on Friday and spent Saturday and Sunday on a private beach that belonged to the resort at where they were staying. On Monday, they planned on having a driver take them to explore some nearby ruins up in the hills from the resort. The concierge said that the trip to the ruins was only about 90 minutes and offered magnificent views. From the resort looking up at the low mountains, several dramatic cliffs could be seen. The cliffs looked as though a giant had used an ax in order to cleave almost vertical surfaces that faced the sea.

The meetings between Tom and Brad and the Thai company were scheduled for Tuesday at a conference room at the resort. They deliberately left Wednesday open just in case further meetings were needed. If additional meetings weren’t needed, they could rest at the resort. Tom planned for he and Brad to have a Zoom call with rest of the EMC back in the states to discuss the meeting later in the evening when it would be early morning back in the U.S. The plan was to then take the long flight home Thursday morning.

At the resort, Tom and Sophia stayed in a suite on the top floor, while Brad stayed in a nice room a couple of floors below them. Over the weekend, Brad and Sophia found time for a naughty little “quicky” in Brad’s room. Sophia told Tom that she was going to check out the resort’s spa facilities, but snuck by Brads room to check out his cock instead. When Brad came, she made sure he came in her mouth instead of her pussy, just in case Tom was in the mood for some lovemaking later on. She didn’t think he would notice if Brad’s cum was in her pussy, but she didn’t want to take any unnecessary chances and she also felt that it would be disrespectful to give her loving husband “sloppy seconds.”

Tom and Sophia did enjoy a few rounds of lovemaking themselves. Unlike some unfaithful wives, Sophia didn’t reserve any particular lovemaking act strictly for her lover even though Brad had requested that she stop giving Tom blowjobs, or at least stopped swallowing. Sophia had very loving and strong feelings for her husband. She thought that abiding by Brad’s wishes would be far too disrespectful, especially given the fact that Tom was a really good husband, and a phenomenal provider. On Monday morning, before going to the ruins, Sophia woke Tom up with a fabulous blow job. She made sure that Tom came in her mouth and that she swallowed every drop, just like she did for Brad.

———- o ———-

Sophia slowly turned and sat down on the edge of the cot inside the small room. Her mind slowly cleared as she recalled the events of the morning that culminating with her finding herself in the present state. After a quick breakfast at the resort, the trio met outside and found that their driver for the ruins excursion had already arrived. A man, obviously Thai but a bit taller and larger than most, waved to them while he stood beside a light brown, late-model Jeep Cherokee. The vehicle looked impeccably clean and freshly washed.

The driver wore a khaki shirt and matching Bermuda shorts with a large hat to protect his head from the intense sun. The trio was similarly attired for a day of hiking and exploring the ruins. Introductions were made. The driver introduced himself as ‘Kittisak.’ He said he had water and other refreshments along with box lunches in a cooler stored the back of the Jeep. Kittisak informed them that the drive to the ruins would take about 90 minutes, at that some of the roads were pretty rough.

They piled into the vehicle. Brad sat up front with Kittisak and Tom and Sophia sat together in the back seat. Kittisak was obviously an experienced driver, especially given the roads they encountered. The first half or so of the journey was on a paved road that mostly hugged the coastline. The road was narrow with a few potholes, but was otherwise in decent shape. They then turned onto a dirt road, hardly visible from the main road, with this road snaking its way up into the mountains. They had been driving on the dirt road for about 20 minutes when Kittisak informed them that the ruins were about another 20 minutes away. The foliage was jungle-like and incredibly dense, greatly limiting visibility. Coming around a sharp turn in the road through the jungle, they found a large vehicle stopped in the narrow road with its hood opened. They had no other option other than to stop due to the dense, thick foliage on both sides of the dirt road.

As soon as they stopped, a gang of around a half-dozen masked men brandishing military style weapons jumped out from the nearby foliage and from behind the large vehicle. The masks black stocking style masks that each had a single oval opening that only revealed the wearer’s eyes and the bridge of their nose. Kittisak put his hands up and told his passengers to do the same.

As the men approached their Jeep, Kittisak said, “Everyone, please stay calm. These men likely just want money, so we’ll give them some and then we can be on our way,” he told his suddenly terrified passengers.

Kittisak unlocked the doors with the driver’s controls and each of the doors were yanked open by one of the attackers. One of the attackers was shouting loud, rapid instructions to Kittisak. Kittisak told his guests that they were being told to exit the vehicle and keep their hands up in the air. Before exiting, Sophia looked over at her husband with fear in her eyes. She found Tom studying the gang’s leader, listening to what he was saying, as though he was trying to understand the foreign language. He then looked over at Sophia, forced a quick smile and quickly said, “Go ahead, they’re not going to hurt us. Everything will be fine.” He and Sophia left out their respective doors where they were guarded by different members of the gang.

They stood there and each had their hands zip tied in front of them. They were then blindfolded by having large black cloth bags placed over their heads. Kittisak then said, “They’re leader says that some men in their camp speak English and that you are not to speak unless you are asked a question in English. Please do as they say. I’m afraid that these men are not the typical highway robbers that sometimes prey upon travelers in these parts.”

Upon being blindfolded, she recalled hearing Brad say, “What the hell is going on here!” and he was immediately silenced, sounding like one of the attackers had punched him hard in the stomach. She could hear Brad struggling for air as the attackers grabbed their arms and loaded them into their large SUV that had been blocking the road. They were placed side by side in the middle set of seats in the SUV. The vehicle had three rows of seats. Sophia could tell that was in the center seat and that Tom was on her right side and that Brad was on her left. She could hear some of the attackers sitting in the seats behind them, and at least two men in the front seats.

Terrified, Sophia felt the large vehicle travel further into the jungle. She could feel that they were increasing in elevation based on the pressure sensations that she felt in her ears. The trio kept quiet. The assailants talked amongst each other in what sounded like Thai, often laughing at something another said. After seeing Tom studying the men speaking Thai back at Jeep, she wondered if her brilliant husband could actually understand anything being said. At one point, when someone said something causing others to laugh, she thought she heard Tom gently, and quietly, give a short snicker.

After what felt like an hour of driving on bumpy, primitive dirt roads Sophia felt the vehicle stop and heard vehicle doors open at which time she felt the rush of outside air, humid but somewhat cooler now that they were higher in the mountains. She heard Brad and Tom being escorted away from the vehicle before she felt someone take her arm and lead her from the vehicle.

Sophia assumed that they were being taken to some jungle encampment occupied by more terrorists. She could hear a gas-powered engine, sounding like an electric generator, running nearby. She was surprised when she heard the ‘click’ of an actual door as she heard the sound of a real door being opened, not a tent flap as she expected. Escorted inside, Sophia was further surprised to feel air conditioning on her skin. She was escorted for some distance, sometimes feeling like they were almost going back and forth. However, she was disoriented and couldn’t actually tell which direction they were walking. The extent of the walking, however, alerted her that this was a larger facility than she expected. Maybe this is a military base and the trio had been mistaken for spies or something? This could all be a big misunderstanding with the Thai government. Tom seemed to understand what they were saying and didn’t seem to be as scared as he should be. Maybe he can resolve this quickly with the Thai leaders, she thought hopefully.

The guard escorting Sophia had them stop. She then felt a prick in her upper arm. She panicked for a moment, knowing that she had been injected with something. She found herself quickly succumbing to the drug and felt the guard lift her and gently place her onto the cot on which she awoke.

———- o ———-

Still not knowing why they had been abducted, Sophia decided to investigate, hoping she didn’t upset their captors. She stood and ensured that she wasn’t dizzy or light headed. Finding herself sturdy enough on her feet, Sophia went to each of the doors and gently tried the respective handles, finding each of them locked. She then went to the window and placed her face near the glass, trying to discern anything on the other side, but she only saw blackness.

Just then, she heard the television turn on and a video began to play. She saw a man on the screen, masked and similarly dressed like the assailants. Linda wasn’t sure if he was one of the assailants that abducted them on the road or a different man.

“Hello, Mrs. Johnson,” the man said in English but with a heavy native accent. “I apologize for your treatment earlier. I know that you might be scared, but we don’t intend to harm you. I’m afraid that you, your husband, and your friend are our guests because your husband’s company reneged on a very large deal with us, costing us millions of U.S. dollars.” This was news to Sophia, but she didn’t really follow activities of Tom’s company.

“We found out that Mr. Bell was the person that made the decision to renege on our agreement, but your husband ultimately approved that decision. While you were resting,” the man continued, “we talked at length with both your husband and Mr. Bell, separately. We placed each man in separate soundproof chambers so that neither man could hear our discussion with the other man. Needless to say, they were very interesting conversations.”

“You might be happy to know that your husband only wished for your well-being and safety, not seeming to care what we did with him. He said that you were aware of his Last Will and Testament that leaves you with everything, including his company, in the event of his death.” At the mention of Tom’s possible death, Sophia felt herself pale and slightly shake. No longer trusting her footing, Sophia sat down in the metal chair and continued watching the presentation on the television.

“In our talks with Mr. Bell, we learned that you and he have been having an extramarital affair for the past six months. He also said some things indicating that he is quite envious of your husband and that would like to take his place as the head of the company. He seemed to dislike Mr. Johnson for many reasons, but most importantly, because he has you as his wife. While Mr. Bell revels in his affair with you, I’m afraid to say that he is somewhat self-centered. He seemed most eager to provide us with information or anything that he thought might save himself from his predicament. In case you were wondering, we did not divulge the affair to your husband. In addition, your husband did not say anything during our extensive questioning indicating that he has any idea that you and Mr. Bell are having an affair.”

“Your abduction today was necessary in order to send a clear message to your husband’s company. That message is that the dishonorable breach of our agreement will not be tolerated. Consequently, either Mr. Johnson or Mr. Bell will die today. The other will be spared live in order to return to the United States and fulfill our agreement with the company.” Linda felt her eyes open wide at hearing these words and found herself exclaiming, “Oh no, please God, no!” However, the man on the television clearly couldn’t see or hear her.