The Lockbox - Part One

Content Labels: Abduction

Ben waved his transponder button in the direction of the parking monitor; a green light flashed at him, and the gate lifted as an empty box was brought to the closest loading zone. Like many other people that lived at the edge of the city, there wasn’t enough room for him to park his truck at his apartment. He could pay for a space underground at his apartment, but those spaces cost almost as much as the apartment itself. For a fraction of the cost, he could park in a carbox complex just a couple of blocks away. Stacks upon stacks of boxes, each holding a vehicle. The automation that brought you an empty box, and carried away the full one with your vehicle, was pretty impressive, but he really didn’t give it a second thought anymore. He put the car in gear and started to roll it into the box.
He stopped the vehicle, idling as he peered into the slice of box that his headlights illuminated. Was there something in the box? It looked like there was a pile of cloth rolled up in there. It happened; things dropped off onto the floor as people pulled out. There was even a bin out front to toss things in; it happened so often. Ben stopped before his car rolled over the cloth, parked, and went to see what it was. As he got closer, he made out a shoe at one end and some hair at the other. A dead body? No, it groaned as he pushed it with his toe. There was a person there. As the person rolled toward him in their sleep, he saw that it was a girl. And a rather pretty girl, at that.
 
Ben wondered if she was lockboxing. He’d read an article on his newsfeed about kids in the city, especially homeless youth, hiding out at vehicle carbox lots, and sneaking into the empty boxes as vehicles were pulled out. They got a safe dry place to hide for the night, and when another vehicle came to use the box in the morning, they ran out. It was illegal for a person to be in a carbox, of course, and not very safe, as they were locked in there until the box got called up to use again – with no guarantee of when that would be. But being out on the street all night wasn’t exactly desirable, either. If they got caught, they spent the night in jail – and that was still safer and warmer than the street.
 
Lately, though, the practice had become a new fad among kids that weren’t street kids. Kids would run into the carboxes and their friends would make bets as to how long they would be locked inside. There were even a couple of reports of kids using carboxes to make out and have sex.
 
This girl didn’t look homeless. She also didn’t look like she was in here on a bet. She was wearing a business suit, the skirt wadded up almost to her ass. One shoe had fallen off, laying on the ground nearby. As his eyes adjusted to the light cast by his vehicle headlights, Ben saw that her hands had been duct-taped together, and so had her ankles. She was starting to wake up; he had to think fast about what to do about her.

PART TWO