The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

DAL-Ch10

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This is the final chapter of DAL in it’s current form.

The story however goes on.

So far it has been the adventures a single person, the main central character. That is over as of this chapter.

Their journey together continues, only now instead being int he first person, it will be a normal story.

As ‘Dance Card’ (DC) the story will be told in multiple view points and the third person. It will also include characters from the rest of the menagerie.

Look for it soon.

First chapter is almost ready for first beta reads.

Amaranth, Once you know, you never go back.
* * *

“So where does this mythical meeting where I may or may not be grilled on a spit with the rest of you take place?”

“They told us to make plans to vacation somewhere, they are coming to us so there is no chance of leaks compromising onsite security. Two thirds are bringing their families and two thirds are bringing their mistresses since this is supposed to be under the radar.”

“That’s.”

“I know. Some of them manage to keep things well separated. For others the affair is part of the job.”

“Someone please tell me the plan isn’t the most obvious thing in the world.”

“I wish we could.” Kara laughed, “But it is the perfect cover.”

“Mom and dad are going to kill me.” I muttered.

“But you’ll die so happy.” Amina cooed.

“Ok then,” I said desperately trying to tune Amina out, “How do we get two hundred of us to florida?”

* * *

“We fly.” Jan laughed.

“How?”

“What we have so far is the Saudi guy running around and we join him a few at a time on his plane. It has Saudi diplomatic immunity so no airport security issues.” Jan said.

“Why do I feel like the more I hear, the bigger the cluster it’s going to sound like?” I asked.

“Because it is.” Jan admitted, “We want nothing to do with any of this. This is not what we do.”

“I think the first thing I need to do ask you what my job is. You all are so much more qualified than I am at all of this it’s not even funny.”

“Seriously.” Jan said laughing, “What we really need is something we don’t have and haven’t needed before now.”

“What?”

“A general strategist.” Jan said seriously, “Up to now Mindy has handled all the strategy while we did the tactics. Mindy is gone now, for our purposes at least. We are literally as large as our current structure can handle, to go larger we have to have divisions. Now we have this craptastic opening to step from affiliate to partner, from junior to senior status and we have zero operating experience at that level. We have no idea what to watch for. What we really need is for you to watch over everything and tell us what you see.”

“Over watch?”

“Exactly. Like an engineering over watch. We can all do our pieces of the puzzle in our sleep. We need you to watch how those pieces go together with an engineer’s eye searching for structural flaws or stress points or any ramifications we miss.”

“I don’t have the slightest idea what I am looking for.” I told her.

“You’ll learn. We managers have discussed it and this is either the time to expand or begin folding things up to shutdown.”

“And that is the question isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“On one level what happens is girls mostly and a few guys are effectively kidnapped, conditioned and used as prostitutes or whatever.” I said reviewing as bluntly as I could for clarity sake, “I know the whole line about how careful Mindy is about only taking those who sex for or as a tool of barter so there are no innocents involved. However, I also know that there are a number of you that are true volunteers as well.”

“Yes and there are more than just a few. One of the things that puzzled Mindy was that those numbers keep growing despite knowing what they are getting into.”

“Yet I also know you can’t get enough volunteers to make up for the ones leaving. Then there are the other ten or so places like, us now I guess, who use their people like appliances. Am I the only one who is afraid one or more law enforcement agencies are going to start cracking down on them very soon. Whether that opens up more markets for or focuses attention on us is yet to be seen. And worst of all we now know that Mindy is somehow related to the Inverno Caduta thing a few years back which in a way makes us part of that as well.”

“With you so far.” Jan agreed somberly watching me navigate the maze to catch up with them.

“You said the bombers have had between your, our, still wrapping my head around it all. Have had tell tales between the normal ones for the others places and ours. To me that says high tech stuff in the hands of idiots.”

“So far we agree.”

“Unfortunately that leaves a number of questions. One; Are the Bunnies Mindy spoke of related to these religious people like we are? Two; If these bombers are related are they our problem or responsibility somehow? Three; Are the other places like but unlike us our problem? Four; Isn’t suicide level control second or third generation learning regardless of tell tales? Separating the mind like that is hard. Taking the body without cracking the mind is a bitch, suicide would involve cracking the mind then reassembling it stabily though completely differently.”

“Second gen.” Jan whispered in shock then grabbed her phone and dialed “This is Saraquel for Kingfisher, silent night.”

“What?” I asked.

“One moment.” Jan whispered then went back to the phone, “John this is Jan. The bombers are second generation, they exist so we will think they are first. Yes, exactly. I know, were working on the details now to see if we do it. CC us on the trace data, thanks.”

“Everything ok?” I asked confused.

“This is what we need, an outside viewpoint, we have zero experience at the impersonal. The bombers are second generation controls. It takes decades to achieve that level expertise. I, we, should have seen that right off, the lack of tells is from experience not tech. We looked at what we saw not what it was. There won’t be a lot of bombers, just enough to make us think they are struggling low tech imbeciles.”

“That means they already have sleepers in place.” I said as implications unrolled with what is my new normal speed, “They want the freeze, the lockdown, they have people in place and don’t want any to take their place. They want them prevetted before the emergency.”

“They vetted some people they somehow control among the communications techs.” Jan whispered as the scope of what could have been done came clear, “We have to take this on, we have to do this, we don’t have a choice.”

“I know.” I answered unhappily, “Is there any chance this is bull, any chance at all the bombers are not a distraction?”

“Not really.” Jan said unhappily, “We have to assume it is a distraction. Even Inverno Caduta relished life, though they would sacrifice if need be. Taking over or tapping everyone’s communications lines would be perfect.”

“But suicide bombers? Who is that crazy?”

“One moment,” Jan said, her face turning white as she grabbed her phone again and dialed another number, “Carmarthen this is the gypsum queen, foothold, we have a fox in the hen house. We have two candles burning in memoriam, please in the name of Dymphna, check on them.”

“Oh god.” Cindy whispered in obvious shock.

“You couldn’t have known.” Kara said looking at me and I was puzzled.

“Are you sure?” Amina asked.

“Yes.” Jan said sadly, “It fits to well.”

“How long?” Cindy asked.

“I think I need to go take a shower about now.” Jan said getting up to leave, “Then I’ll call John and make the arrangements. This means we proceed with the get together, get on logistics people, I’ll get the others started in their sections as well.”

“What’s going on?” I asked as Jan got up to leave. I stared in shock as Amina came over to hug me on one side while Kara did the other. I thought only Amina was crying until I saw the tears on Kara’s cheek.

“We’re behind the eight ball.” Cindy said flatly, “Events are running away from us and we still don’t have a grasp of the larger picture, we need one.

“Since you’re the one who hates him, you convince him.” Jan said at the door.

“I don’t like it, I just think it’s necessary.”

“Make your case then.”

“I will.”

“Were the have sex not make war kind.” Jan said holding the door, “Why can’t they just leave us alone, we don’t want to be involved. They’ve been planning on this for a while, I think Mindy has been the only thing holding them back, they’re afraid of her.”

“All the more reason.” Cindy said.

“I’ll be back later.” Jan said closing the door as her voice began cracking.

“You couldn’t have known.” Cindy said with sympathy puzzling me.

“Known what?” I asked.

“Erin and Rhea.”

“Oh crap.” I gasped as it came clear.

“We’ll know in a few days if it’s one or both or neither.”

“What happens to them if they are a trap for us?”

“We don’t know, this is our undiscovered country.” Cindy said gulping, “We boldly go because we are already here, but we don’t know where we are or where we are going. You want to ask now what, we don’t know.”

“Come here Cindy.” I said pulling away from Amina and Kara. I pulled her into a hug and nearly got me crushed when she finally returned it. I moved us to the couch where I sat with her next to me leaning into my lap. She laid her head on my lap latching onto my arm and pulling it into her hard as tears began. It was nothing sexual at all, just one mammal comforting another in her pain. I heard Erin and Rhea’s names murmured around the tears and the looks from Amina and Kara told me how hard this was on Cindy for some reason. Then Amina began working on my shoulders over the back of the couch, I relaxed and let the feeling carry me away. I woke some time later still on the couch with a warm body snuggled beside me.

“Hello.” I said with a smile before I even opened my eyes.

“Thank you.” Angelique said without moving.

“Angelique?” I gasped looking down. I had expected Cindy.

“They said you would need to rest for a while yet and not to wake you.”

“I must have needed that. I didn’t even feel Cindy get up or you lay down.”

“You held me closely in your sleep, that was nice.”

“Wait a minute, thank me for what?”

“Coming back.”

“Umm.”

“I haven’t minded Kevin a bit. Underneath it all, that hesitation of his, he really is a nice kid. His father practically drools on me though. Thank you for not having me do him as well.”

“Your welcome. I don’t want to umm.” I mumbled unsure of myself.

“You look at me different, even now.” Angelique said sadly, “Except in your sleep you won’t touch me at all will you?”

“I’m more than willing to hug you. I can be a shoulder for you.”

“But you see the child defined by my chronological age, not the young woman who’s body I have now.” She stated.

“Yes, that’s true.”

“Then I am sad. I found you in my heart, trapped with me. You let me out, you gave me back what I had lost. I let you into my head, I welcomed you into my body, then when you find out one little thing you shun me.”

“No Angelique, I do not shun you. I simply can not in good conscience give you what you want. You are too young to understand. I know you have been playing an older girl for years now, but you aren’t one. When you turn sixteen or thereabouts, we can talk about whether you want to join the arcade.”

“I have thought about it. I know that you did something to my mind to free me. I can feel your permission, your, access. Your ability to use my body if you want. I can tell that like I did for my father I will follow your lead, do what you want. The difference is I know you are there, I know what you can do and I also know you won’t abuse that permission, or me. By accident, or by design.”

“I would never.” I began and stopped when she cried.

“I know. I know I have to wait and it pains me. I know the arcade is a brothel. Everyone suspects, some know, but no one ever says. I can tell that Amina is yours, that a part of you is hers. I can see Kara cares for you as well, but she isn’t, I don’t know the word.”

“Amina isn’t mine.” I said then stopped at her knowing smile.

“I may not be grown yet, but even I know she is yours. Ask them, ask any of them. She shares you only because you share yourself.”

“I can’t even begin to imagine what you are going through right now.” I told her.

“I know you changed me, altered me, you are in my mind and I welcome you. I may not technically be any better off or have any more control of my body or my life, but now I know where I stand. For the first time in years, I know myself. I have no voice in my head whispering. I want what Amina has, I want that confidence, that strength, that something she has that scares jocks.”

“That’s just because she decked Carl through his cup.”

“No, that just affirmed it. They knew before but couldn’t believe without seeing, they do now.” Angelique laughs.

“What did they see before?”

“She is more than just darkness, she is that thing that waits in the dark, she is the thing the dark exists to hide. You are insane to share her bed or welcome her to yours.” Angelique says with a shudder, “Yet you are also safe, she loves you. It used to be a crush, puppy love, not now. It changed, it is deeper now, more. Assigning her to you is not an assignment at all. It is an acknowledgement of reality, nothing more.”

“You really think so?” I asked.

“Yes. I may be young, but I’m not blind.”

“Oh.”

“Don’t send me away please. I know I can’t stay here, but don’t send me back either. I accept that I have to wait, and I will. I will join your club, I will work in your burger joint. I am what I am, I like having you in my head. You, I can trust there.” Angelique said softly as tears formed, “I know this makes no sense to you, but us, females, girls, women, we need to know where we stand. We need to know the worst that can happen to us so we can plan for it.”

“You have a.” I began and she cut me off.

“No I don’t, I have no home. I have a house where my father is, where he lives. I know he just wanted what was best for me. I know he meant well. I know he tried.”

“He did not fail you from lack of effort.”

“He failed me because he reached for the moon and left me to foot the bill. I know he didn’t mean to do what he did, but I wound up in some bad situations, his voice whispering in my head to be a good girl through it all.”

“I can’t imagine.”

“No you can’t. I can’t even tell you what I felt, I try to forget.”

“I can ask Jan to help on that.”

“No, I also need to remember, I want, I have to know. Someday I may be able to forgive, not today, but someday, not soon, but eventually. If and when that time comes, I have to be able to remember or forgiving means nothing.”

“I think I understand.” I told her.

“Thank you.” She said, “Can I ask a favor?”

“No problem.”

“Can you give me the conditioning that Amina has?”

“No, at least not yet.”

“Please. I know my father was worried for me, I was a small child and severely underdeveloped. He did what he did to help me. I am advanced in body and still lag in my mind, you are correct about that, though I am loath to admit it. I need the guidance and confidence that Amina has, I can’t have you, I know that, but I need something.”

“I will ask Jan and company if you like, but I can’t make any promises.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that.”

“But the vote is theirs, I won’t override their decision.”

“I can ask nothing more I guess. I must admit though, it confuses me.”

“What does?”

“In so many ways you are in charge, you can tell them to have sex with strangers, yet you ask their permission or opinion on me, who is really in charge then?”

“That depends on what is happening, it’s hard to put into words. My job is somewhere between arbiter and general strategist. I am in charge of the big picture, yet I simply follow Jan or one the other section leaders lists on assigning things.”

“Then who is in charge?” Angelique repeated, more puzzled now than before.

“No one really, it’s more of a cooperative.”

“So really you have to listen to everyone, then decide based on the best you can figure out.”

“Basically, though if I ignore their collective wisdom and are wrong I can be replaced. I’m also I think on a kind of probation, they can’t be happy leaving part of their fate in the hands of a high school kid, no matter my references.”

“Yet for some reason they can’t or won’t stop doing what they do?”

“It’s complicated.”

“We’re early my lor, duh.” I heard as the front door opened and the three boobkateers entered then stopped staring at us.

“My lord?” Angelique asked looking at me with a smile.

“Front and center.” I ordered the three of them, “Then kneel.”

“Yes sir.” Big chest replied as they complied.

“Are you ready for assignment?” I asked.

“Yes sir.” Little chest replied, though her voice broke as she stared at Angelique.

“New toys?” Angelique asked laughing.

“These three are the ones who began Kevin’s social lessons.”

“So you three are the ones who got him started?” She asked darkly.

“Yes.” Little chest replied with a squeak.

“That explains so much.”

“It does?” I asked.

“Yes. Now I know why he seemed so hesitant and desperate. I knew there was some reason he wouldn’t talk about how experienced he both is and isn’t.”

“Oh.” I replied startled by her attitude.

“What happened if you don’t mind me asking.”

“I sent them over as a treat and they ran with the idea and did more than I had originally ordered.”

“Are you also responsible for Mark and Tim getting so many blow jobs from these three?”

“What?” I asked startled as the three gasped.

“I saw video. I hardly believed it, so I went and caught them at it.”

“Oh.” I commented and the three looked scared.

“The squad knows. No one had a clue why but there didn’t seem to be any coercion so it was chalked up to randomness. I ordered the squad to say nothing since it wasn’t interfering.”

“Thank you.” Big chest said.

“I’m guessing them showing up like this means they are to be headed Kevinward?”

“Yes.” I answered startled.

“Not hard to figure out. You haven’t sent me away yet and they showed up ready to be used. I have a very good idea of how interested you aren’t in them.” Angelique said with a grin.

“More or less.”

“Good. Then can I send them off?”

“Why?”

“So I can give them decent directions.” Angelique said suddenly sounding her official age instead of her real one. “You may mean well and be able to give out assignments to the full working girls with a proper background, but you don’t know near enough to send off these amateurs.”

“What do you have in mind?” I asked.

“How do you refer to them for an assignment?”

“I just call them Big, Mid and Little chest.” I admitted grimacing.

“You’ll learn there names once they earn them by acting enough like individuals to tell them apart by something other than cup size?”

“Exactly.” I affirmed startled.

“Hey!” Big chest yelped.

“Shush!” Angelique barked back and all three cringed away from her in silence.

“Impressive.” I laughed.

“They started this mess, they can help clean it up.” Angelique pronounced as though from on high, “I won’t tolerate amateur hour on my team. Anything, anyone they do at any time will be done well and with pride. They think sex appeal is all about tits and ass, it’s time they learn better and that learning starts now.”

“Yes mistress.” Little chest says quietly.

“Are you accepting Angelique’s authority?” I asked surprised by her words and her tone.

“Yes master.” She replied with only a bare hint of hesitation.

“Why?”

“We request that Angelique replace.” Little chest started in then big chest interrupted.

“Speak for yourself.” The other two started in.

“Shut it!” Little chest yelled back glaring at them then turning back to me, “We accept Angelique’s full authority as your voice on the condition that you remove Amina from our chain of command.”

“Why?” I demanded. I was puzzled but also alarmed. My oh so careful conditioning was having some rather unforeseen side effects and consequences.

“That pit viper you call a mongoose is bat shit crazy type insane. I’ve watched and rewatched the video of her with Carl and the girls step father today, if you can’t see it, you’re blind. I would feel safer as and in reality be better off as Angelique’s slave than Amina’s servant.”

“Do you two agree?” I asked the others and was surprised to see them nod in wide eyed agreement.

“I take it you are in their heads like you are in mine?” Angelique asked.

“Yes.” I answered getting more puzzled by the minute.

“Then how about I take them as founding members of the high school branch of the brothel, for now at least. I like the way Jan has run and Kara is running their team and intend to run mine the same way, I can begin with these three.”

“Umm.” I mumbled.

“You think any of them is qualified to run it?”

“No.”

“And right you are.” She answered smiling a smile I didn’t recognize.

“You three.” I said turning to them.

“Yes master.” They replied in triplicate.

“Are you accepting her as your mistress to me as your master?”

“Yes master.”

“And if I decide to give her the keys to control you, to take away choice?”

“It will be as our master wishes, but she will not need them.”

“You are that afraid of Amina?”

“Yes.”

Honestly,” Angelique said turning to me, “They’re right to be. You have to be the only one who doesn’t see it. You three understand that he controls me as much or more than he does you?”

“Yes mistress.”

“Interesting. You seem to accept it, why?” Angelique asked.

“Because we don’t have a choice.” Big chest said with resignation, “None of us qualify for any academic scholarships at all. Without the teams and the athletic scholarship that goes with them, we have no chance of college. The only way any of us could afford to further our education would be by selling ourselves. Without some kind of an organization that is just begging for STDs, or getting raped, or worse.”

“By accepting him,” Mid chest picks up, “by accepting his authority, we get a chance at the teams by keeping him happy with us until we qualify on our own, if we can. Further, they told us that if we can learn what he has to teach us, it will help us stand on our own.”

“You have to understand.” Little chest continues, “If we want to have any hope of getting anywhere in life we have to sell ourselves and our bodies to get the education that takes. By letting him into our heads as you put it, condition us, make us obedient to him, we get security, we get a family of sorts, we get to belong for the first time. We have a place we belong and are on the same level as everyone else and they all know what we are going through as well.”

“So while the idea that we will be having sex on command for years to come is kind of overwhelming to think about.” Mid chest resumes, “We also know that we will be taken care of. Job opportunities do not exactly abound and the economy is it’s own punch line. Besides, men are willing to pay a premium for young and we are young. We may not be all that experienced but we will learn as we earn and we can depend on them making sure we stay healthy doing it.”

“So out of all the choices available to us.” Big chest resumes next, “We chose to allow him to make us his to command and offer fealty, I believe that is the right word, to you as well to act in his stead when he is not present. While we may not understand it, everyone on the teams has told us the same thing over and over. We do believe there is something for us to learn, so we swear to do our best to learn the lessons we need to learn. Please master, mistress, command us.”

“You accept what ever assignment she gives you of your own free wills?” I asked.

“Yes master.”

“Be aware that if you accept this one, you are accepting them from now on. Because of the way the conditioning works only I will be able to countermand any orders she gives. That will kick in during this assignment and get stronger with time, every assignment you accept will give her more control until the point is reached where you will no longer truly have a choice.”

“We know and accept.”

“Then Angelique as my high school stable head, “ I said with joking aplomb, “what is your first official act of office going to be.”

“First,” Angelique laughed, “the torture. Your conditioning makes them want you to have them, they don’t get that right now, or even soon.”

“What?” Little chest asked.

“You don’t get to have him until you manage to acquire separate names. From this time forward you will refer to each other as Little, Mid and Big chest when in his presence or in a place he controls as long as there is no public presence.”

“Yes mistress.” They replied in triplicate.

“Good girls.” Angelique said and to my shock I saw shudders pass through them, “Your reward for him seeing fit to remember your names will be him having you. After which you will be allowed to refer to yourself and be referred to by your name. Until that time you are not people in my or his eyes, you are titles, functions, tools to do a job, nothing more.”

“Yes mistress.” They replied humbly.

“For my part I do not promise to be nice. However, I do promise not to be cruel. I may seem cruel, but I give you my word that I am not intending to be. You have a lot of habits to unlearn, if he had taken your minds like he could have you would already be done, but no longer yourselves. Is this acceptable to you so far?”

“Yes mistress.”

“Good girls.” Angelique said again and the three shuddered yet again, “For tonight you are going to be a fantasy for Kevin as a kind of reward slash consolation prize. In the morning, you will take him with you to camp. You will get whatever help you need in order to integrate him into the volunteers and help him fit in socially. Until the days before school begins there will be at least one of you in his bed each night.”

“Yes mistress.”

“You will also be working on socializing Mark and Tim as well while continuing as you have been with them. Think of them as homework, all three of them, though the latter two in different ways. There are lessons involved, try to find and learn them as you go about your duties, they will help you. I will see about getting you permission to have the latter two as well.”

“That’s kind of been seen to.” Little chest said with a gulp.

“How so?”

“Little chest there showed some initiative earlier so I gave her permission for Mark and Tim with the authority to authorize the other two.” I told her.

“Mind if I mod that a bit?”

“No.”

“Thanks. I leave little chest alone for herself, any of the three boys anywhere anytime she wants them, however, if the other two want relief they have to come ask me. Whoever stays with Kevin is of course going to do him.” Angelique said flatly then grinned brightly in obvious response to another thought, “Mid and Big chest will be authorized all right, in the boys rooms or the girls rooms. So if you want them you have to either go home with them, or bring them home. I know that’s kind of cliche, but I think it might help.”

“Yes mistress.”

“Good girls.” She said and I was shocked to see them react with a shudder yet again. “You will be being graded on several things at once. How well the boys advance on social, how well you three understand the lessons implied and last but not least, your abilities to articulate your own short comings as well as why they are short comings.”

“Yes mistress.”

“I am not going to be around for a bit, so in the mean time if you have questions you will ask Jan or Cindy. Until I return, take their answers and any orders as coming from me. I will inform them before I leave and they will be expecting questions so don’t be afraid to ask if you need guidance, answers or even opinions.”

“Yes mistress.”

“Now how about I go give Kevin his treat and let him know I will be gone for a while?” Angelique asked me with a grin.

“Go for it.” I told her not understanding yet why she was insisting she was leaving, or much of what was happening at that moment.

“With me.” She ordered heading for the door. “Yes mistress.” They answered in perfect triplicate as they rose to follow.

“By the way, I need to talk to you about recruiting.” Angelique said pausing at the door.

“When you get back.”

“Yes sir.” She replied and the door closed leaving me alone with my thoughts for a minute.

“Bet you didn’t expect that did you?” Jan asked entering from the kitchen.

“Wha?” I asked completely lost, I had no idea what had brought that on.

“No matter how far the pendulum swings it always tries to return to the mean.” Kara said as she followed Jan into the living room, “They are all used to being in a dominant position, relatively speaking of course. Now they are all dominated instead, so they seek to reestablish relative ranking between them. Since it is obvious to her that you won’t touch Angelique because of her age, she is retreating into her perceived job.”

“I modeled everything as closely as I could.” I said still in shock, “I saw nothing that more than slightly resembled that outcome.”

“The problem is some affects are synergistic not additive.” Jan said laughing.

“What happens,” Kara interjected, “is that the more things change or are changed, the more they try to stay the same. In this case, Angelique ran the team, now she runs them. Different authority yet the same relative positions. Learning these kinds of bounce backs is hard.”

“The effects are predictable,” I joked, “it’s figuring out which things are going to be effected that makes the puzzle.”

“True.” Jan agreed, “However we do have some good news.”

“Really?”

“Yes. We were able to contact Guide Tye. He has agreed to meet with us and discuss teaching classes in self defense.”

“Great, how though? Getting him to interrupt his perpetual tours is almost impossible.”

“Cindy was let us say, persuasive.” Jan laughed, “I guess they spent hours talking pressure points and techniques. She actually told him about what you pulled on her at the stadium. He was still laughing about it the next day, Cindy was muttering something about her being lucky you didn’t know the rest of the points or that you were to timid to use them.”

“They would hit it off.” I laughed, “He likes women with big attitudes or chests, as long as they have one or more attributes that stand out, he’s happy. She’s right on one thing though, if I had used some of the other points she could have been stuck there much harder and put through more, however that very well might have effected her performance.”

“Beware though, he was poking holes in your technique.” Kara laughed, “Mindy tried to hire him a couple of times before this, it was Cindy describing what you did that got him talking about more than just having a nice dinner date this time.”

“Great.”

“He told us he has been looking for an excuse to take a break for a while now. I guess being on the road six months a year takes a toll after a while. He’s known about us for years, never been assigned someone before though so we assigned Angi to him until the meeting in the morning.”

“We also told her to wear him out.” Jan laughed.

“Oh my.” I laughed.

“We also have an offer of a contract.” Jan continued.

“Contract?”

“Our Saudi guy, he wants to hire thirty one of us.”

“For what?”

“They bought some really nice American designed crypto equipment. It uses a floating key system that auto updates. However they don’t trust the US Gov very far.” Jan explained, “What he wants is those people to be given a key. Change to a state where they don’t know the key. Travel to the remote systems. Have a conference call. Change back to the state where they know the key. Enter the key all at the same time to synchronize the systems. Then exit the state no longer knowing the key they just entered. He wants us because after two days the information is gone, he figures some lucky slob in each place has a couple of good days, then the girls return. The local operators never know the key used to start the comms, no more key leaks.”

“Sounds, umm, dangerous.” I said then thought it further through, “Not really though, not after two days anyway.”

“Right.” Jan agreed, “However doing it will end us being small time. Mindy avoided going into Las Vegas or anywhere else truly big, this will not only allow us to go in, in a way it will obligate us.”

“This is getting big, in a hurry.” I commented.

“That’s why we need a general strategist. Unfortunately we can’t just put an add on craig’s list or in the classifieds. You’re young, but you’re here. We know we can trust you and that trust is more important than anything else is at this point. Amina’s father can help shelter us long enough to get our sea legs for these new shoals.”

“So what you need first is a best guess of the questions you need to ask.”

“Pretty much.”

“Right, I start by trying to figure where I’m supposed to start.”

“It’s a start.” Someone quipped and after the seriousness of the last few minutes we all broke down laughing, even Jan who sat down with us.

“It’s time.” Angelique said interrupting us a short time later after things had devolved to small talk.

“Time for what?” I asked offering her a coke.

“Thanks.” She said taking it with a smile looking for the bottle opener, “I’ve been thinking about things while you’ve been indisposed.”

“You have?” Amina asked surprised.

“About what?” Kara asked.

“That it’s about time I was on equal footing with you all.”

“You are.” Amina told her.

“No I’m not. He’s in my head, but he won’t even look at me like he does you all. So that kind of equality is out.” She said flatly, “I can feel the old me crawling out now that there is no longer a weight on my mind. My mind, my brain, my intelligence is mine again. My body is his but you all are careful not to tie down your minds or mine. Even my short time studying you all tells me that what was done to me is a stop gap measure only.”

“And?” Jan prompted.

“I want the rest of the package.”

“The package?”

“Whatever all it is you have.” Angelique said flatly, “There is far more to all of this than just having sex on command. He can command you, control you, yet he respects you and treats you as equals as you do him. I want, no need, the rest of the package so that I can achieve that level of respect with him and all of you as well.”

“That package is not why I like or respect them.” I told her.

“Not all no, but I am not going back to what I was. As a child or as what I was a few weeks ago. I refuse to stand by and let the world go by me ever again. I am not starting to walk when I’m sixteen, I’m hitting the ground running and I am never going to stop if I don’t want to again.”

“Are you sure?” Amina and Kara ask together.

“Yes.” Angelique stated flatly, “You are his management team, say yes and he won’t say no. He might argue with one of you or even two. He won’t however go against your collective vote. Say yes and he will do as I wish. I need this, I have to have something solid I can count on. I am floating, drifting, flailing along yearning for something, someone, I can count on. I have to know where I stand so I can be sure I’m standing at all.”

“You’re only fourteen though.” Amina says with an odd tone.

“So?”

“But.”

“You don’t have any idea what it is like to decide something, to want something, then to have that decision gone, to be doing what you don’t want to and not know it until later when you are you again.”

“Like remembering the assignment state.” Cindy said with a shudder, “Even considering the idea of having to remember that is to much.”

“With your controls I will always know my own mind. I will always know myself.” Angelique said flatly.

“There’s a problem with that Angelique.” Jan said seriously, “Orgasm drives the metabolism to sustain the controls and the advantages that come with them.”

“So?”

“Self stimulation if that is how you intended to shortcut that, will not work.”

“So you know I’ve been listening?”

“You are far from the only really smart person around here.” Jan said flatly, “I’ve been watching you since he went under. You’ve been lost. Kevin is a mere substitute for what you want.”

“So?”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Why not?”

“Because. I know by now you have a very good idea what the controls entail, I instructed the girls to be loose lipped around you so you could gather information.” Jan said smiling, “Where now he could order you to have sex who ever he said, if you did this, then any of us in management could do the same and after a short time you would forget doing it, never have a clue.”

“And?”

“And we would have to do that to you or the controls you seek for stability would fade.”

“You think I would feel you were being forced to betray my trust to help me?”

“Yes.”

“You wouldn’t, you would be treating me like one of you.”

“A compromise then.” Cindy interjected.

“Compromise?” Jan asked.

“Yes. I’m going to meet with Mr. Dest tonight and he has his son with him. Normally he just sends the kid to a movie or an arcade while we do our thing. Boy is about to turn sixteen.”

“You want me to do the kid while you do the dad?”

“You up for it?”

“This is a test.” Angelique stated.

“Yes.”

“Ok.” She replied with a gulp, “Tell me what to do.”

“Nope.” Cindy said flatly, “You want to prove you have what it takes. You choose to come along and do him. There will be no pay, no bonus, no advantages other than proving that you have the guts.”

“No.” Angelique said grinning, “The test is how I accept or decline, not whether I do or not. I told you all, I’m smart when my mind isn’t weighted down with thoughts and impulses not my own.”

“I’m not you.” I said.

“No, you’re not, but you won’t force me as a means of torture. If you wanted me to do the kid, you would simply tell me so or why then order me so I knew where I stood.”

“I say she does him, she’s in.” Cindy said flatly.

“Uncharacteristic of you Cindy.” Jan said looking curious.

“I know what it is like not knowing yourself. Were just an excuse for her, she wants to do this so she knows if she can. She wants to know if she can separate the act of sex from all of the emotional entanglements of feelings like she has for a certain young man.”

“And it is my turn to admit that I underestimated you Cindy.” Angelique said looking very surprised.

“I was recruited for a reason. I had a crush on my piano teacher as a teen. When my parents couldn’t afford them for a while he offered to continue with a promising student. What I didn’t tell or even hint to my parents was I paid for them myself.”

“Oh.” Is the collective comment of surprise.

“She has either puppy love or fascination. Give her a chance to separate them, to know herself and her own feelings. Let her find the difference between intercourse, sex and love. It is a common reaction to the first strong normally opposite gender taking of them seriously. Though she has been with I guess quite a few guys, only one has even thought to make sure she got something out of it and he went out of his way to be sure.”

“Wow.” Angelique whispers staring.

“What?” Cindy asks, “You think I’m just another pretty face?”

“It’s almost like listening to myself.”

“No.” I told her.

“Why?”

“I have to put my foot down and say no. I have to because of your own words.” I told her, “I say no because in your own words you need it.”

“I do.”

“No. You are not getting the full package. I am saying no because if you need it, then you do not know yourself. Without a sense of self, you become lost in it. The controls can eat you from the inside out.”

“No one can be a person and define themselves from the outside.” Jan said gently.

“Identity comes from with in.” Cindy added sadly.

“Angelique,” Amina said speaking firmly, then waited until she looked up, “Forget convincing them, you never will. Convince me. Make your case to me. Make it as often and as strongly as you wish until you succeed or give up. If you convince me that you want it not need it. If you convince me that it will help you, not hinder you. If you convince me that you can survive without it. Then and only then will I make you a promise. I will call for you to get what you want. I will ask him to grant what you want as a personal favor.”

“Amina?” I asked.

“She needs hope. She knows she has little chance of convincing me, that it is a false hope, but false hope is better than no hope.”

“And the horse may learn to sing.” Angelique interjects referring to the tale about a horse thief who wanted to spend a year teaching the king’s horse that he tried to steal to sing, at least he lived a year longer that way.

“And the horse may learn to sing.” Amina agrees with a laugh, “Just because it’s impossible now doesn’t mean you won’t find a way, or things might change.”

“For now I leave that in Amina’s hands.”

“Yet again you confuse me.” Angelique stated flatly, “I am yours, I belong to you, yet I am to be Amina’s project?"”

“We play to each others strengths.” Jan told her gently, “We all have different strengths and weaknesses. I am good on tactics and adapting them, yet overall strategy is still somewhat confusing to me. I am better at meeting goals than I am figuring them out.”

“I adapt.” Kara told her, “I adapt and overcome, that’s what I do.”

“Me,” Amina laughed, “I tend to bull my way through, “That’s why I know that if you convince me, I can convince him.”

“Then I have a goal, I will convince you.” Angelique said firmly.

“Jan, Cindy,” Amina said looking at them both, “Can I show her, tell her what happens, make sure she understands what happens to us?”

“If you think it will help I have no objections.” I told her as I stood, “I have some thinking to do, I’m going for a walk.”

“Thank you.” Amina said with an odd look.

“I think Jan can help Amina explain better than I can, mind if I walk with you?” Cindy asked.

“Sure.” I told her grabbing my coat.

“Penny for your thoughts.” Cindy said a mile down the road.

“What do you think?” I asked.

“About what?”

“How do I ask them whether to go ahead or not?”

“Ask them?” Cindy laughed, “Here you are with enough girls and women you can order to sleep with you to commit suicide the ecstatic way, and you want their opinions?”

“Control of the body is not control of the mind.”

“I’m glad you really get the difference.”

“It’s heavy.” I commented.

“It always is. Yet consider for a moment,“ Cindy said stopping me for a moment, “Mindy told me before she took off that she is sorry for involving you. She thought you were what she needed, you’re not, you’re what we need instead.”

“Why me?” I asked feeling the weight.

“You have a gift for seeing what is. I can’t tell you how rare that is, I just know it is because I have never met anyone else who can really grasp new things.”

“Everybody learns.”

“Yet not everyone integrates what they learn. You think we are really happy. Let me tell you, our greatest fear is that you will turn into a dictator. What will we do then?”

“Then decide to close it all down.”

“This is bigger than us now. This is going to happen whether it’s us or not.”

“You’re saying I have a responsibility to the working girls, or should I say victims, of the other businesses like us?”

“I’ll grant you that most, seven eighths, of us are not volunteers. However most of us come to understand where we were headed. We learn where we would have gone. Do you think for one moment that the competition gives a rats ass about who they take?”

“No.” I admitted.

“We vet our people, they just pick eye candy and make toys out of them. Other than some of the volunteers, each of us, every one of us, even your precious Kara used sex as a weapon or a tool to get what we wanted.”

“And that doesn’t matter to them?” I asked.

“No, they like virgins. They like breaking them in, even just breaking them. Think it through for a minute, look at the facts. They want us to host a get together. They want two hundred plus of us to act as guides and secretaries. This is a large international meet, with over two hundred, wrap your head around that number, power players attending. This is no mid level meet, this is varsity. There is no single meeting where a decision is made. This is the real power brokers sitting down and begin hashing out a new structure.”

“They’re moving, in motion?” I asked.

“Yes. Mindy has kept this from happening for years, they knew just as well as she did that she didn’t have all that long left. They are afraid of her, I don’t have a clue why, but it has to do with us.”

“They are afraid we are her heirs, not her replacements.” I said as it began to take shape.

“I think so. Only one player on this side gets how the controls really work. The US, Russia, China, UK, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Italy, The Vatican and Switzerland all know how to make bedroom toys, with varying amounts of interactivity beyond that.”

“They what?” I demanded scared.

“They all know how to make bedroom toys and sex dolls, that’s easy, but that’s all they are. Look at us, look at yourself, look at Angelique. You, an amateur made Arak and Angelique both. You actually grasp how the mind works. There are less than three dozen people left alive that really grasp that and actually get it. The rest are members of Inverno Caduta in one way or another. Literally the only person who can see the tech and the biology both at the same time, is standing here in front of me trying not to wet his pants as he finally begins to accept the stakes he has been hiding from.”

“I’m no one though.”

“You are someone now. There may be hundreds, may even be thousands who can grasp what you have, yet none of them were in the right place at the right time to see what you did of us and grasp what was done.”

“Then this whole meeting has gone from a what do we do about Mindy.”

“To a test of you. We are your sponsors and your protection. Amina’s Father is your introduction. Amina is your proof, she is a wild child, yet she accepts you. This is a test of ages, a coming of age, you will not leave this as you were. The child leaves to attend, that child shall die a quiet death and the man shall return.”

“So the decision is already made?” I asked.

“No, you can still leave, still leave the rest of us with no shelter. As they have feared Mindy for one reason, you must give a reason to both fear and more importantly, respect you.”

“Are you here to give me a talking to or as my bodyguard?” I asked as part of Amina’s words that didn’t fit, began to make sense.

“Umm,” Cindy replied licking her lips nervously, “We wanted to make sure you were ok, and stayed that way, we do have an interest you know.”

“Is it fall out from Rhea’s father?” I asked.

“No.”

“Do you even like me?”

“I didn’t.” Cindy admitted, “In fact I kind of hated you at first. What you did to me on that bench was beyond humiliating. I don’t mind bondage games all that much, I like things strong sometimes, but that, I wasn’t under orders, I was me, I mean really me. I was not just aroused, I was horny, really horny. I was trying to entice you to play a little more, maybe take me off to one side and get my horny off, sated, suppressed. Then I was trapped there. My arms wouldn’t move, my legs would barely move and I just thrashed. I was muzzled by a damn water bottle and every time I spasmed I drank from it like I was sucking someone off and swallowing, over and over. I was trapped for the first time in a body that although was mine, wasn’t responding. I was terrified you were going to have me right there on the bench and I would just lay there, and praying you would because the high from that right then would have been awesome and lasted. I was, am used to the idea that assignments go away, it’s actually kind of comforting. Yet I remember that, I remember the suck and swallow reflex coming to the fore, I remember wanting something bigger than a straw and knowing it was my body speaking, not me. That orgasm went through me, all the way through. When you left I was buzzed, I was high as a kite and didn’t care who knew it. I’ve seen the video one of the girls took, I just lay there and twitched like a puppet as you jerked off my strings. Once I came down I hated you, not for doing that to me, but for coming down. That was why I pulled that stunt in your room, I was pissed, aroused, drunk with anticipation and screamingly horny. I wanted that again so bad I thought I needed it and would have done damn near anything to get it. I took out my frustration on you with most of my endurance, that’s why you were so far gone, it lasted longer than you remember. I forced you to keep going until I was worn out.”

“I’m so sorry Cindy.” I told her, “I had no idea, I was just trying to do what they told me.”

“It’s ok, we understand.”

“Can you do me a favor then?”

“What would you like?” Cindy asked with a playful grin.

“Nothing like that at all.” I replied, “First, is Amina my body guard?”

“You figured it out?”

“Obvious once I bothered to look at unstated things. The advertisement of what no one wanted me to know stood out like a flair. Hidden expressions told what to watch for even if I didn’t have the brains to actually think things through.”

“We got word back when Amina was assigned. No one mentioned us ever doing guard duty so you would never have reason to correlate.”

“And I fell for it. I should have seen it from the way she fights, from the way you all move and the fact that I haven’t been alone except maybe at school or in my room for months now.”

“It’s complicated.” Cindy replied hesitantly.

“Then simplify it for me please.”

“And that is your answer.”

“What is?”

“You could order, yet you request. You could force, yet you ask.” Cindy replied after a deep calming breath with her eyes closed, “You are not Mindy. She has known for some time she was not going to be for much longer. Then what you did with Kara and Arak. They had the hardest time working around it, you embedded it deeply in her. You are not Mindy, you have the same kind of center, the same kind of strength, yet you are not her. We do not need another Mindy, we need something different now, not more, just not her.”

“When did this begin? When did she decide?”

“I, we, know you don’t remember the night Mindy questioned you. She was angry with you at first, you cost her a prime catch. Kara would be a prime earner, could go places and get in where any lessor person or product couldn’t, I hate admitting this but she could get in places I couldn’t. Your drink earlier that night was drugged, you were not completely in your right mind. The whole thing was a charade intended to blind you and bind you.”

“Oh.”

“Then she found what you are and changed her mind. She found a mind capable of grasping new things and changed course.”

“Why didn’t she ever say anything?”

“She did in her own way. Why do you think she took the deal with the club? That’s been an open offer for several years, she took them up on it the day after she assigned Amina to you.”

“Then the whole thing has been a show?”

“Partly. You’ve been manipulated the whole way.” Cindy admitted.

“Then what is Amina?”

“She is your body guard, had Carl stood a real chance, your order to her would have had no force. The show the first day with Carl was simple trouble prevention.”

“Why me?” I asked trying not to think about it too much.

“Mindy chose you. She has a real gift for seeing into people, seeing not just who they are, but what they can be.”

“Am I allowed any opinion?”

“Yes, you can walk away, you can leave.” Cindy answered.

“I’m surprised it’s you not Jan giving me this lecture.”

“It’s a talk not a lecture. If you decline, I take over and do the best I can.”

“You’ve been having me talk to my parents and say everything is fine while you take care of Erin haven’t you?”

“Told them you would notice anyway.”

“Anyway?”

“We have been encouraging you not to think about it or Dojo time guide Ty or a number of other things that would have kept you grounded. We needed you to be thinking for yourself and having your parents and the rest of your normal life to fall back on would have made our tests harder.”

“Did I pass?”

“We’ll know Saturday.”

“Now what?”

“Now you live your life.” Cindy told and I walked quietly with my escort for a long while after that.

“Here we are.” Amina said as we pulled into the parking lot of the UCBJ, officially opening Monday.

“Wow.” I responded staring, “You’ve done wonders with the place.”

“We try.” She laughed parking.

“How goes the hiring?” I asked dreading the answer.

“That’s why you’re here.” Amina laughed again while opening the door for me with a mock bow.

“What part of your interview in uniform was I unclear about?” I hear screamed as my first official sound in my new burger place, I got my tour later, work first. Angelique is having a fit and pissed.

“Fine, in uniform,” A five eight strawberry blond with smallish B cups and a miniskirt that looks pornish and not just because it is form fitting shear black with pink lines, “Just tell what this,,, sack cloth is.”

“Your uniform.” I interjected surprising everyone.

“What?” She yells in surprise at hearing a male voice as she turns to face me then stops cold, “You’re hiring geeks as well?”

“I don’t know,” I asked turning to Angelique, “Do I actually work here?”

“You draw a salary.” She replied with a grin, “With benefits.”

“Eww.” Several of the girls in the group of interviewees complained distastefully.

“It is standard policy.” I replied looking around the room and spotted a five ten brunnette in a smart business dress with some nice curves and low C cups. She drew my eye for not having a uniform in hand and for the look of ‘Preserve me’ on her face, “Is there a reason you don’t have a uniform as well?” I asked.

“Yes. Your uniforms are childish and I happen to have ID.”

“Show me.”

“Here,” She said coming over holding out a drivers license and offering to shake, “I turned eighteen on the fourth. Having actually read the employee hand book so thoughtfully provided I know who you are. So take your childish sack cloths and stuff them. I’ll wear what I damn well please with in guidelines. Jennifer Connoly by the way, Jen to my friends.”

“Welcome Jen.” I said shaking her hand then took the ID, “Now ladies and I use the term loosely I’m afraid. If you want to wear real clothes not those sack cloths you will need ID at least this good. Give me a reason to believe you or give it up.”

“Hey!” Jen sniped at me.

“You do good work.” I told her looking at the holographic overlay, “However the holographs are never centered.”

“They aren’t?” She asked startled.

“Still, good effort, we can use someone who can read and adapt. Angelique, Jen is highered. Anyone else not in uniform for their interview in five minutes is outta here.”

“Yes sir.”

“Just who do you think you are?” Sack cloth girl demanded.

“He owns the UCBJ twit.” Angelique told her laughing.

“That is just so wrong.” Sack Cloth girl commented as I exited, Jen in tow after I signaled her to follow.

“Where is Cindy?” I asked following Amina down a hallway.

“Up ahead.” She answered.

“No really,” Cindy was saying to someone on the phone, “You tell them we already filed all that paperwork and tell that union guy not to call again.”

“Yes,” She continued after a moment, “I mean that. We are not going union no matter what kind of threats you throw at us.”

“Yes.” She growled this time, “We will shut down rather than be forced into a union.”

“Really?” She asked sounding excited, “You will. You’ll take us to court to force us to join a food vending union? Please, please do so.”

“Believe it or not this is a privately owned institution, not a publicly traded company. None of those laws even apply to us anyway. Even if they did we wouldn’t vote to join a union anyway” Cindy laughed, “We actually get along with our boss and we wouldn’t stand for the pay cut.”

“Go ahead, send your process servers. Have them here at three, I’ll have our lawyers waiting.” Cindy said flatly then hung the phone up with exaggerated gentleness.

“Shall I have a punching bag added as office furniture?” I asked.

“Only if I get to have that jack asses picture on it.” Cindy fumed, “Claimed that since we are in Nevada we are required to be in some stupid food vending union.”

“That’s a lawyer problem, let them handle it.”

“I know, big picture, leave the details to the detail people.” She replied taking a deep breath, “So what can I do for you?”

“Actually just stopping in to say hi. Caught an applicant with really good fake ID, thought you might like to keep her close so you can keep an eye on her.” I told her handing over Jen’s ID.

“Good job.” Cindy said admiring it, “You do this?”

“Yes.” Jen answered confidently then looked down, “My cousin might have helped some.”

“Why didn’t you make it for over twenty one?” Cindy asked.

“Because I only have to be eighteen to get out of the sack cloths.”

“I’m going to regret this but when is your birth day?” Cindy asked.

“April first.”

“And?”

“I turn seventeen.”

“Why here?”

“Because you treat your people human.” Jen replied then cringed.

“Human?” Amina asked.

“Yes, human. We’ve heard of you even back home.” Jen replied then cringed again.

“Home?” Cindy and Amina asked as one.

“We used to move a lot.” Jen said with a gulp, ”We were near New Orleans when Katrina hit. We wound up in Texas in a trailer park. We weren’t locals and daddy refused to show ID just to be evacuated so we kind of borrowed some space on a truck. People on the other end found us and decided we had been through enough already, they stuck us where they had room, it wasn’t a nice bunch we found ourselves with. Getting out was hard, we were finally able to get out to visit some relatives near here. I ran away, my cousin he helped me, he hid me, even when the cops came looking for me to put me back in the camp with my daddy until I turn eighteen.”

“You a virgin?” Cindy asked bluntly.

“No,” Jen replied darkly as her accent began to slip and word choice changed, “A girl’s got to have more than rabbit food if she wants to stay healthy and grow up right though.”

“Do you want to survive or live?” Cindy asked.

“Survive or live?”

“Do you want to make enough money flipping burgers and delivering food to stay indoors, or do you want to make enough money to get real schooling?”

“What do I need to do?”

“Decide.” Cindy replied as she began looking through desk drawers.

“Here.” Jen said pulling a business card from a jacket pocket, “There is a rumor.”

“Really?” Cindy asked staring.

“Really. I was warned I would never be the same again, I don’t want to be.”

“Not so much my decision.” Cindy said looking at the card then at me.

“Is it legit?” I asked Cindy

“Yes. I know Breena’s hand writing and wording.” Cindy replied staring, “How did you get this?”

“From a lady my cousin knows. He said she used to be this high class working girl, now she’s a vet in a small town.”

“She always was crazy for animals.” Cindy laughed, “Takes in strays to now I guess.”

“I wanted to stay with her, she is a nice lady.” Jen admitted, “But she made me leave, said it wasn’t safe for me there.”

“Where is that?” I asked.

“Hole in the wall east of Vargas at the base of the mountains. She said bad things were happening in Vargas and that it could spread.”

“Then Jen is the message.” Cindy said sadly, “I hope Breena’s ok.

“She said not to go back.” Jen said softly, “Made me swear. Warned my cousin to leave, told him to run for it. I haven’t heard from my cousin for two weeks now.”

“What do you know about rumors?” Cindy asked.

“She said you could make me better.” Jen said quietly, “She said I could be more than just an itinerant’s daughter. She said I could be somebody, if I dared.”

“Aye.” Cindy said.

“Aye.” Amina chimed in.

“Are you two sure?” I asked.

“Yes.” Cindy replied, “I am. She is at her wit’s end. A sixteen year old runaway with no permanent home is going no where. While we can not give her a real home, we can offer the comforts of a family of sorts and enough resources to be on her own when she is done.”

“She can’t decide ten years all at once.” I said, “Can you put her in a hotel for a couple of days please.” I asked Cindy.

“Can do boss.” Cindy laughed holding out an envelope to Jen, “Think of this as either a handout or a signing bonus.”

“What?” Jen asked taking the envelope as though on fire.

“I’ll have someone give you a ride.” Cindy said, “There’ll be a room waiting at the hotel by the north truck stop.”

“Is there somewhere closer I can stay instead please?” Jen asked.

“Why?”

“I’ve been alone a lot, I don’t want to be alone right now.”

“Tell you what.” Amina interrupted, “I’m not using my office, it isn’t even setup yet. I’ll have someone grab you a cot and you can stay there. Take as long as you like, no hurry. Food’s not the best, but it’s free, all you want.”

“Why?”

“Because I’ve been lost. I know the feeling and I can’t leave someone lost like I was.”

“Thank you.”

“No, thank you. You give me a chance to make a down payment on settling a debt by giving that thank you to someone else, just like it’s supposed to be.” Amina replied looking at me.

“Sleep on it Jennifer.” Cindy said softly, “Be sure. This determines the next ten years so we need you to be absolutely sure before you make the final decision.”

“Thank you.” Jen replied fighting tears and followed Amina out.

“That girl is one of the big reasons we trust you.” Cindy said staring at Amina’s back going down the hallway, “And not just the stray either, thanks for the vote of confidence by the way.”

“I take it she was as bad as I’ve heard?”

“No, worse.” Cindy replied flatly, “She is a violence prone fully sociopathic psychopath with a hard on for those who abuse authority or misuse force.”

“You do realize those descriptions don’t really go together.”

“When the little words don’t say it all, make big ones.”

“I had intended to close it all down, to walk away you know.” I told her.

“We figured, we hoped you would change your mind, the stray shows you just might.”

“Why?”

“Because someone will always prey on the weak and the helpless. If it’s us, we leave them better off when we are done, not empty shells drained of humanity.”

“It’s wrong.”

“It’s what is. If we do nothing the other sick jokes of places like us are going to get them all.”

“Nobody should get them, not in that sense.”

“True, but would you rather it was us, or them.”

“You aren’t just referring to bed room toys are you?”

“No. Imagine someone like that taken in, programmed, brainwashed, made into an assassin or suicide bomber. You know it happens, that’s how we caught onto Erin.”

“That was a trap for us.”

“And next time it may be a trap for someone who can’t comprehend the need to shoot the bikini clad assassin planning to stab him or his protectee.”

“You’re in a fine mood today.”

“I hate unions.”

“That bad?”

“Yes.”

“Ouch, anything I can do?”

“When they picket let me put the ones outside in sack clothes, all of them, then the ones inside in string bikinis, all of them.”

“You’re the manager.” I joked.

“I just want to see if I can kill any of the picketers or union reps with coronaries or heart attacks.”

“An aneurysm might make a nice change of pace.” I joked.

“Forgot about those.” Cindy replied obviously adding it to her mental list.”

“Anything I should know?”

“Bad enough you have to get government permission to have a job, thank you INS, like finding a job worth having isn’t hard enough. Then to have to pay dues, yet more taxes, to be allowed to keep said job is just insulting.”

“Anything else I should know?”

“I just happen to like a merit based world that’s all. I don’t think time served should always trump ability.”

“You’re burger joint, your rules.”

“And that’s why we chose you. We don’t need someone to run our days, we need someone to guide our nights then look after our weeks and our months.”

“Because I take in strays?”

“In part.” Cindy replied looking in her minds eye at something I couldn’t see, only she could.

“What?” I asked.

“We know where we stand with you.”

“That’s it?”

“It’s enough.” Cindy replied smiling, “It’s enough and that’s good enough.”

“What else is there?”

“We are detail people, all we tend to see is details.” Cindy said looking toward me, but not at me, not seeing me, seeing something, someone else completely, “None of us are good with the big picture and we know it. The same things that make us useful to Mindy and attracted her attention make us less than ideal for the big picture. If any of us could plan like that we wouldn’t have needed her in the first place so we wouldn’t have come to her attention.”

“Then I think I know where I should begin.” I told her.

“Don’t forget, one of us stays near you.” Cindy reminded me.

“I know, just give me some room.”

“We know.” She replied and I left. I wandered, I spent time just walking across town. I went by school, wandered the campus, it doesn’t mean much to me anymore.

When I arrived home Amina and Kara seemed to understand my need for quiet. Neither spoke, they took turns staying with me as I worked through my thoughts. I dozed for a while in the living room with some program about testing urban myths on for noise. I woke to a silent Angelique going down on me with the boobketeers also silent kneeling behind her. All were nude and the three were on their knees hands behind their backs faces subserviently downward.

I was surprised, Angelique had either picked up on or been told I didn’t feel like talking, so it was turned into a lesson for the three boobkateers. No sound was made as they one by one came forward to take me in their mouths, hands still held behind their backs. Hand motions took the place of words as she criticized them then demonstrated the proper movements again. Then once more they came forward one at a time to repeat their earlier performance, it was better, yet still lacked something she was looking for since her movements were sharp. Again, she repeated what she wanted and they repeated as well, this time one of them, Mid Chest, did well enough for her.

I was motioned off the couch, so I stood and followed her into my room. I watched fascinated as this silent play was carried out. Mid Chest was laid on her back on my bed with her head hanging over the edge and her arms straight out, then the other two put up against the wall legs spread while holding there butt cheeks spread. With aplomb, Angelique motioned me to enter Mid Chest’s waiting mouth which I admit I did look forward too. Lips sealed but teeth never touched me. Angelique placed my hands on Mid Chests bare breasts and indicated to play with them. As I did she moved my hips indicating how far she wanted me to move in and out then I was nearly bit as she began stroking Mid Chest.

A grin and a frown from Angelique indicated I was to maintain rhythm but not release, I kept playing along, enjoying. The nipples under my hands grew firm and glances at the other two told me they were not looking forward to their turns. I grew curious when Angelique began inserting a vibrator in Mid Chest that I didn’t see where came from. I felt a gulp from Mid chest when it was turned on. Slowly Mid Chest’s breathing synchronized with the rhythm Angelique had given me so she changed her stroking as she indicated I could proceed to express my male enjoyment at my pleasure. I felt myself climax and spurt then I felt Mid Chest swallow and convulse in response. Leaving the vibrator in place, Angelique placed Mid Chest’s ankle’s together and laid a handkerchief across them and her crotch covering the still inserted and running vibrator. She then put one across her wrists as well. When I pulled back on Angeliques signal, Mid Chest remained there unmoving other than a random quiver.

Going to Small chest first as indicated I took her from behind and her hands went to the wall for balance. As before Angelique gave a rhythm and placed my hands. It was awkward for me and hard for Small chest to balance us, then as I kept it up Angelique pulled out another vibrator. As before the vibrator went in but this time without any stroking before, only after. Unmoving other than panting with me, Small chest quivered under me until I felt her release in spite of or perhaps because of it all. As I pulled back on signal, Angelique used a thin strap to hold the vibrator in place and Small chest continued to hold still, hands against the wall as I cleaned myself on a provided towel.

Big chest held still, yet nervousness was evident. Tremors shook her even before Angelique began to stroke her as I waited. When I smelled her responding Angelique inserted a vibrator and continued for some time before signaling me forward, only after Big Chest had begun to turn pinkish. As I entered her from behind, I could feel Big Chest trembling with something even before my hands had her breasts in their grasp. After that I could feel the tremors in her body and her breathing. I felt her release on my thrust and kept going as Angelique just watched then motioned me back. As before the vibrator was bound in place and she remained against the wall as I cleaned myself again.

I returned to the bed when signaled and took Mid Chest in the mouth again. Then to my surprise Angelique moved to kneel Mid Chest’s neck so she stood face to face with me though Mid Chest still sucked on me as an obvious substitute for what Angelique wanted. Then Angelique kissed me and pulled my hands to her. Her hands found my body and we moved as though standing together while played with a bare breasts and stroked her. Our movements moved me in and out of Mid Chest who stayed still and quiet, even when I climaxed again. She swallowed silently as Angelique continued with me. Finally Angelique herself trembled and moved off bright pink faced and motioned me back to Mid Chest’s bare and inviting breasts.

When I started to stroke Mid Chest Angelique shook her head no and did it for me. The silent unspoken orgasm that soon shook Mid Chest nearly got me bit as she convulsed, then I let loose my last time for what I new would be a while and Angelique actually smiled. As I stood there halfway breathless Angelique went to move the others off leaving Mid Chest bound only by the handkerchiefs that held her down by presence alone. Still panting in time with me, Mid Chest continued to suck on me gently as I absently played with her firm breasts and even firmer nipples while thrusting gently.

A while later Angelique returned and led me to the shower where she washed me. No attempt to have sex, she just washed me. When I was clean to her satisfaction, she led me back to my bed where the boobketeers were waiting. Much to my surprise a slightly pinkened Mid Chest still lay on my bed unmoved though I could tell she now wore a pair of my black contact lenses. Restrained by nothing more than the handkerchiefs she remained still, just waiting. Barely a tremble showed as I walked up to her. A big twitch shook her when Angelique snapped her fingers though, her mouth opened and I saw a gulp of worry. The desperately panting girl took me in her mouth and immediately began breathing with me.

That was when I finally actually noticed Small and Big Chest. Both now wore handkerchiefs settled on their wastes such that their hips were exposed. Though the front was covered, they were exposed in the back and were muzzled with the lightest of silk handkerchiefs covering their mouths. Then I actually thought to look and noticed Mid Chest similarly attired, though her mouth was obviously not covered.

When I looked around for Angelique I could see her covering her own nether regions front and rear though no where else. When I motioned I was laying down, Angelique uncovered Mid Chest’s feet then arms allowing her to rise after I withdrew. When I laid down and stretched out I was surprised when Angelique guided Mid Chest, who still had a humming vibrator in her, onto the bed then me into her mouth again as she knelt. I was amused and puzzled when a single handkerchief went around Mid Chest’s neck and was looped around her throat as her breath stirred my pubic hair, then I caught the message. I stayed in her mouth and she stayed working me. Her job and responsibility was to keep me fully erect in her mouth.

I wasn’t sure what to think when Angelique knelt Small Chest on my left and Big Chest on my right then placed my hands on their breasts. I was startled though when she spread my legs a little further to give Mid Chest a better position then draped handkerchiefs across my ankles then one across my throat. Angelique began a quick jab and stretch at pressure points and into muscles working her way from my feet upward. As she reached my waist Big and Small Chest’s began working on my arms and shoulders as I played with their breasts. My eyes were closed in carnal pleasure when a nipple entered my mouth, I knew it was Angelique’s, it had to be, no other uncovered breasts could reach me since my hands were occupied by the other sets not involved in sucking me off. A brushing against my rules for her, but not quite over the line. soon she was kissing me and I was kissing back.

I didn’t move as they worked, each on their individual job, I drifted then for a while, lost in feeling as each did what they did. My hands eventually fell to my sides as Small and Big Chest’s massage reached my chest and rib cage, as they began on my legs Angelique straddled me, placed my hands on her breasts and began to kiss for real. Then as I was surprised by being able to let go again she started in on pressure points in my neck and shoulders and I was going limp even as I let loose and didn’t want to stop. That was when I realized this was Angelique’s way of punishing me for my rules with her.

She had substituted Mid Chest for what she wanted for herself, then made it as intense as she could as a form of protest she knew would fail, yet had to try. I eventually tired and still they worked on me, no interruption. Angelique began to work her way across my shoulders and chest and I soon slept to the sensation and sight of her touch, and the feel of Mid Chest still substituting, moving in rhythm even then, mirroring Angelique’s every move. I went to sleep to that feeling, seeing Angelique work on me, feeling Mid Chest work me as a substitute for what Angelique couldn’t have. I woke with a silent Amina asleep against me holding on almost desperately in her sleep. Her not merely willingness, but actual desire to prove she could do more than Angelique was allowed stressed even my new endurance before she let up, allowing me pass out and sleep again.

I spent the next two days hardly speaking. I spent hours looking at the beds in my fort, just staring at them, wondering what kind of mind could have produced such hideous yet beautiful works of art, designed to change a person so much, yet so little. I walked in the parks where I had played with Arak so long ago. I watched movies. I was by myself, yet I was never alone. Amina was almost always nearby, though others were always around as they had been all along and I was finally noticing them.

It takes time to analyze your own life, to look at it. To come to know yourself as others have come to know you. I visited my friends, they are still themselves, yet I can see the echoes in them I can no longer see in my own reflection. Jan walked by as I sat at the mall, she understood my want, my need, for quiet, for solace, for solitude, she passed me a note and waited.

“We have made arrangements for a full company meeting Saturday. Cheer Camp is not being held and we are using the football bowl instead.” It said. As I read it I could hear her gentle tones, as though she had written it slow, the same way she talks.

“Jennifer committed. She wants in, we can use a good forger. Amina’s father, still officially her uncle for public consumption, has indicated he will be nearby awaiting the final decision while we meet. He is part of a dedicated task force providing security for a disaster exercise that is our cover.” The note went on.

“Hey.” Interrupted me and I looked to see Amina’s father slash uncle standing there ignoring the glare from Amina and two others I recognized but couldn’t recall their names. To my surprise Amina backed off and wandered away when he sat down.

“Hey.” I replied.

“Heavy thoughts?” He asked, obviously having a clue.

“Yes.” I replied wanting him gone.

“Have you decided?”

“No.”

“Any idea when you will? We have arrangements to make.”

“Tell you what.” I said disgusted, “Here’s where we start.” I continued and realized I hadn’t been trying to make a decision, I had been avoiding telling my self I already had.

“Ok.”

“Turn her loose.”

“Who?”

“Amina, release her.”

“I can’t.”

“Yes you can. Mindy is gone, we can’t find her. She took one of the guys and simply ran away.”

“So, and don’t panic about her, she can look after herself.”

“So there is no longer any reason to keep Amina like she is.”

“Yes there is.”

“No.” I replied and the anger I had been feeling for a while began to filter out despite me.

“You don’t understand.”

“Then explain it.”

“This alliance is delicate, a house of cards.”

“And?”

“And we can’t have any loose cannons, or operatives.” He replied.

“She is not a loose cannon.”

“She is my daughter,” He replied fiercely, “I know exactly how loose she is.”

“She has been kind, gentle and caring.”

“And loving.” He finished.

“Maybe, maybe not. How is she supposed to find herself if you have her wrapped in barbed wire and cotton swabs?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Then put it little words.” I told him irritably.

“One of those pedos she killed.” He said and stopped.

“Yes.”

“He was, is, related to a couple of very important people. We wanted him alive, we brought him back mostly, he’s still in a coma. His relative, childhood friend, freaked when shown evidence of what his friend is.”

“And?”

“He said he understood and would help us, help us take more like his friend down, but we had to keep Amina on a leash. The girl needs a keeper.”

“I take it this person is important?”

“He runs one of the intelligence over sight committees. Not the ones put on for public show and tell, one of the real ones.”

“And?” I prompted, not for the first time.

“Courtesy of him we are neither fish nor foul in federal terms. From time to time we need favors, the alliance actually got started for real when we managed to bring Mindy on board. Before that we were pissing at the tide.” He admitted reluctantly, “We did good work, but we drew attention because we didn’t get our favors the traditional Washingtonian way. Then Mindy supplied girls, high quality girls, the best most of them had ever seen. They didn’t don an identity though, they became it, literally. Then their world understood us, or at least the way we traded favors, after that and we took off. She did nothing direct, but we accomplished more in the first year after she joined than the previous ten.”

“Wow.”

“It got better. One of those supplied girls was caught on camera, we claimed it was photoshopped and you know how well that went over.”

“Not well.”

“Not well. Then the girl took a lie detector test, passed with flying colors. They eventually used hypnosis and she remembered being home at the time, even drugged her story stayed the same. With that we proved the picture was fake, in spite of it being real.”

“They liked that did they?”

“Yes. His friend is still in a coma though, he can’t forget that. He’ll be allowed to go soon, to pass on, it has been just long enough his name will no longer connect to the scandal. He wants, needs, to know that accidents like his friend will not happen again. He had been helping us for years and since the person was a friend of his we arranged for a clandestine meeting. It went bad, Amina was present as a decoy, not intended to be involved, just a teen along to make our lady look like something else.”

“What happened?”

“The relative and friend decided Amina looked better and got real insistent. Amina had to defend herself after the perp shot our other girl, she defended herself well, very well.”

“I take it she didn’t have to kill him?”

“Not at all, she was easily able to incapacitate him, but she didn’t stop there.”

“I don’t want and never wanted a sex slave.”

“She is not your slave.”

“Really.” I asked incredulously, “I can alter likes, dislikes, raise or lower her volition at will anytime I want and she obeys any, and I do mean any, direct order.”

“I know, we had to be sure.”

“I take it you’ve mixed up a few details for security reasons?” I asked.

“Yes. There are things you don’t need to know, things that can’t leak, even internally.”

“Then let me make this real simple for you. If I close this monkey shop I’m out and Amina has to be put with another handler which you already know won’t work well. Or I keep this business of kidnapping teenage or so girls that use sex as a tool or a weapon and making them even better at sex while educating the hell out of them. In which case I am not accepting Amina as my whatever the hell she is for even one more day.”

“And when she gets out of hand?”

“That’s to be decided by her. She signed on to hunt predators, not be a teen sex kitten fantasy doll to kill me starting with my libido.”

“My god, they’re serious, you haven’t seen it.” He exclaimed shocked.

“Seen what? I keep hearing about this out of control little snake, yet all I see is tightly wound little mongoose that hates being kept in a cage.”

“Damn.” He hissed glaring at me, “God damn it.”

“Don’t like facing a brick wall?”

“No. Tell you what.” He said then paused.

“I know my daughter,” He said speaking again after half a minute, “I know me and that tells me about her. If I free her, and I am saying if, then she stays with you.”

“Ok.”

“Even if you leave this mess, she stays with you.”

“Why?”

“I want her safe. You will either be in the middle of this mud bath now, or you will leave it. All the way in or all the way out is as safe as I can make her.”

“Ok.”

“However you are going to have to prove she will stay with you.”

“Prove?”

“Yes, prove. If I free her, she swears to obey you, totally and completely and stays with you. So much as one order she even hesitates to obey with enthusiasm and she is locked up just like she is now, or put on so short of a leash she can’t ever bark again.”

“That’s sick.”

“No, what is sick is judging my daughter by any other standards than she uses.”

“And?” I asked not wanting to hear the rest of it, but knowing I both needed and had to.

“You use her, I know this is my daughter I’m talking about here, but she has to know and accept your hand on her reigns or this is all for naught. Without an agency to hide behind she will get herself killed hunting her favorite targets.”

“That bad? Really?”

“Really! You are the only one she has ever behaved for. She even fought her father of record and myself both to do what she wants, she will cheerfully lie or whatever else it takes in order to hunt again.”

“Ow.”

“So if she is to stay with you free, you are to prove to us that the controls are not needed.”

“Do you have any real idea what you are asking?” I asked nearly beyond words.

“Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been about her? I know what she is. She went after her first pedophile on her own, before she could fight.”

“I heard.”

“You should have seen it. She hamstrung him on his right and cut a dozen tendons while nicking him all over, he was bleeding out by the time he got a hold of her. Had we been a few more minutes they would both have died. He was choking, hitting and cutting on her while he was running out of blood, he was so close to bled out an erection would have killed him. So don’t tell me I don’t know what I’m ordering you to do, how far to test, I know my daughter young man.”

“Obviously better than I do.”

“Yes, she doesn’t hide it from me. So the only way this works is not if you test her compliance, but if you prove it. I can’t believe she has changed in a few short months because I have known her all her life. If you want me, us, to believe, prove it.”

“Your sick.”

“And no cheating. She could tolerate that state used with the poor girl who was booby trapped in her mind, you have to do it, you yourself. She has to know it’s you.”

“Are you trying to make me back off?”

“Yes, I’m trying to scare you into it.” He replied with a flat laugh.

“Then I’ll ask Amina. I’ll just tell her the score and see what she wants to do.”

“If she chooses to stay with you controls intact, that is not a reason to shutdown, this is independent of that.”

“Ok, you tell her your conditions though.” I replied and left before my stomach rebelled.

“Good morning.” I said as false dawn became real. Around me, I could see over fifteen hundred girls and women, roughly two hundred boys and men. I spoke into a throat mike, they listened on ear pieces linked with a style of custom cell phone at their hips we issue to hires.

“Good morning.” I heard back from the managers as they begin getting everyone settled. The football stadium seating is mostly full. Somewhere between eighteen hundred and two thousand people fill them. No loud speakers were used this time. Our head sets were channel keyed, whoever was speaking at the podium was heard by everyone. If an individual had a question, it went to their manager who relayed it to theirs and upward. Anyone could speak to anyone if you knew their contact code.

“There are weighty questions before all of us. I realize most of you, us, have never met in person before, but believe me, there will be plenty of time to get to know each other.” I said as seats were found and my dried like a shallow puddle in a warm Nevada summer wind mouth stuck open, I took a drink of water and paused letting it settle.

“We are here to decide if we want to stay doing this, but that decision rests on another, we can’t really continue if we do not do this menagerie in Florida. Yet doing that rests upon the decision of whether to do another smaller mission for the Saudis. All of these decisions though rest upon many shoulders, not just the management’s. I know many if not most of you are not volunteers.”

“I am sorry about that, yet I also know Mindy, yes she has vanished, no we have no clue where she went and I am sorry abut that, didn’t choose people at random. She chose each and every one of you for a reason. Each of you that did not volunteer and a lot of those that did have used sex as a weapon or a tool of commerce.”

“You know yourselves, you know each other, some of you know me, most don’t, yet I have been asked to lead you. I have been asked to take the reigns that Mindy set down. I am not Mindy, different plumbing if nothing else. I think differently than she does. Unlike her, I am a real person. Yes. I said real person, the rumor of her not being quite a real person are quite true.”

“I could force, I have the codes, the phrases, but such is not my way. I am expected to use and trust you, you are asked to trust me. How then I ask, can you trust someone you don’t know. Simple, you can’t.”

“To tell you about me though, that tale would take days to cover from the time I was born, and most of it would mean nothing anymore. Instead, I will tell you not about who I was, not about who I am, but about how I became who I am. Then you will judge me, you will decide, you will choose.”

“You can choose to leave. You can choose to support another. Or you could choose to support and accept me. I have only my actions to fall back on. I can only be judged by what I have done.”

“Before you talk amongst your selves though, I have a tale to tell you. A tale about a young man who stumbled across this amazing group of people. This begins years ago, all the way back last spring.”

“To begin with, my name is Wilhelm Thomas Giles. You have to understand something up front, I was fifteen almost sixteen and Kara was barely nineteen, in college on dual Cheerleading and Volleyball scholarships, and my six year older hippy not quite really a stoner brother’s girlfriend. I never have figured out what she saw in him, as for what he saw in her, that is as they say, a lot more obvious.”