My consulting company, based in Seattle, had been retained by the ownership of a group of convenience stores to assist them in either upgrading their locations or selling the business. As our first priority, we wanted to visit some of the representative sites. We decided to do the most remote locations first and get them out of the way.
This trip would take us into the wilds of western Washington and northern Idaho. Flying there would not be feasible so I rented a van for us. This was a potentially important client so I would be going personally. I was taking along two of my most trusted associates, Brooke and Kathy.
Brooke was about fifty. But she looked significantly younger and was quite attractive. She had a slender build on her 5"4' frame. Her short blonde hair was always stylishly arranged. On one occasion, I was at a sports bar with some colleagues. One of the men commented, referring to my employee Brooke, "Honestly, I would pay money just to see her naked. I am not talking about 'doing' anything. I mean just to see her. I would pay money for that." Others at the table nodded in agreement.
Kathy, at 45, was also attractive but not the well-preserved beauty that Brooke was. Although not overweight by any means, she did have a little more meat on her bones. I had dated Kathy for a time and was interested in her. But she was very reticent. She was coming out of a bad marriage and still had something of the "all men are jerks" mentality. So we had left it just on the basis of friendship and I thought that, maybe over time, she would become more available.
For the first night, we were going to stay in a small motel in a small town in western Washington. It was really the only thing to be found. This area was definitely off the beaten track. We initially headed east on the interstate. But eventually we had to be taking secondary roads. And these seemed to go on and on and on. It did not seem that we were ever going to get back to civilization.
Suddenly, I heard a loud "pop" and the vehicle became unmanageable. With difficulty, I pulled to the side of the road. Exiting the van, I immediately saw the blown out tire on the front driver side. Checking in the back, I found we had no spare. Cursing the rental company, I at least remembered that I had AAA coverage for such events. But when I pulled out my phone, I discovered to my chagrin that our location was now so remote that I had no coverage. We were stranded in the middle of nowhere and with no way to contact anyone for help.
The three of us stood there for a considerable time, brainstorming what to do. We never saw a soul. Then, eventually, I saw a vehicle approaching in the distance. Standing in the middle of the road, I frantically waved my arms in an effort to get them to stop. If we could not get help from them, there was no telling how long we would be stuck there.
The vehicle was actually another van. Seeing our distress, it pulled to a stop in front of me. As the driver got out, I immediately had reservations about the desire to obtain assistance from him. He was heavily tattooed, with long shaggy hair and a beard. Trying to hide my feelings, I pleasantly described our predicament to him. As I talked, four other men of roughly similar appearance came out of the van.
When I finished, the driver smirked at me and snapped, "We can definitely help you out. First of all, the three of you will turn around and face your van." Insulted, I protested that this was totally inappropriate. But then one of the others grabbed Brooke and roughly turned her around and slammed her against our vehicle. The driver repeated, "I said turn around and face your van." It was clear that they meant business. We could not hope to fight our way out of the situation and no other help was likely to be forthcoming. I tried to reason with him. Impatient, he grabbed me and threw me against our vehicle. Seeing that, Kathy turned herself around and complied with their demand.