"Excuse me, are you Mr. Henderson?"
I looked up from my video poker game. "Yes..."
A black man, wearing a security guard uniform was standing next to me. His name tag said 'Phillip'. "Mr. Henderson, your wife has taken ill. We'd like to take you to her."
"Of course." I quickly cashed out and followed the security guard through the casino.
"Your wife is okay Mr. Henderson. She's in the back in our infirmary."
He swiped his card on a door and we entered a long hallway. I noticed cameras everywhere. All the doors had card access like in a hotel and several also had keypads. We came to one with placard that said Medical and the security guard swiped his badge and then pressed numbers in the keypad. A little light blinked red.
"Damn," he said. He tried again with the same result.
I started to get a little anxious. Another security guard approached from a side hallway. "Hey Dan," said my escort, "can you see if you can open this door?"
"Sure," said Dan.
Phillip moved back and Dan leaned over and swiped his card. I watched intently, anxious to see my wife. Suddenly I felt a prick on my arm and looked at Phillip. He had just stabbed a needle in my arm. "What the?" I stammered. Both men took an arm as the door opened.
"Don't worry Mr. Henderson; it's sort of a muscle relaxant."
Firmly holding my arms, they led me into what appeared to be some kind of control room. There were several blank TV monitors along one wall and what looked like a sound mixing station in the corner. "What's going on? What is this?" I said. My legs felt kind of rubbery and they helped me into a chair. "Where's my wife?"
"In a moment Mr. Henderson you'll see your wife," the black man said kindly.
They gently pulled my arms behind my back and I felt handcuffs click around my wrists.
"Sorry about this Mr. Henderson. We don't want you to get hurt."
"What do you mean? Where's my wife?" I was starting to slur. I couldn't move my legs or my arms. "What have you done to m, m, me?" I managed to get out before Phillip put a gag in my mouth and tied it behind my neck. The second guard went over to the consoles and began flipping switches.
"Relax Mr. Henderson," said Phillip, "you'll be able to see your wife in a minute. Here, let's lean your head back." He leaned my head back against the back of the chair and I stared at the bank of three TV screens that began to come to life one at a time. The screens displayed a fairly large room with what looked like twenty or more elegantly dressed couples quietly sitting around two sides of the room. All of them were wearing fancy full or partial face masks. Several large TV monitors were on in the room and all were focused on a door off to the side.
Dan quietly spoke into a microphone which came out the speakers in the other room. "Ladies and gentlemen, tonight we have chosen a young couple from the Midwest to be the subjects for this evening entertainment. Mr. Henderson is a respected banker in their hometown and his wife, Melody, works at home taking care of their two young children, Timmy and Margaret, who are with their grandparents while the Henderson's take a little Las Vegas holiday that they won on a local radio station."
All of the TV screens showed our latest family photo. I wanted to scream but all that came out was mumbled. Then the TV pictures went to a picture of Melody in a bikini taken ten years ago. "At eighteen Mrs. Henderson was second runner up for Miss Dairyland," continued Dan. "She should have won, don't you think?"
I saw several heads nodding agreement in the audience. "Although this picture was taken ten years ago, the years have been good to her," he went on. Half of the TV's kept the picture of her in her bikini and the other half switched to a collage of very recent shots of her working out in the gym in a brown leotard and tights. Her medium length blond hair was tied back in a ponytail and she looked like every man's dream. Then several screens shifted to a video of her leaving the gym and walking confidently to our minivan. A handsome young man walked by and they smiled at each other, but as he walked past we could see him turn his head back to admire her long legs and firm butt.