Quick Summary: Karen tries to make their first anniversary memorable for her husband even though she’s out of town.
Quick Notes: This was written for Darkmind’s Anniversary Expo (July 2006) and was also inspired by bobwhite’s The Adjustor, because really, with telepaths running around, someone would figure out how to make a profit from neutralizing them. Thanks to bobwhite and Villainy for the beta. I hope I did your comments justice.
On Cake, Ethics, and Unorthodox Requisitions
by Bad Penny
The house smelled like lemon cake. Tony paused in the hallway, halfway out of his coat, halfway convinced he was imagining the scent. Karen was supposedly away snaring a target in Hartford—her final field assignment if things went well. He wouldn’t mind having her home every night, though he did feel a twinge of guilt at his selfishness. Karen loved field work, but even she admitted her role as bait was dangerous. There was always the risk her talents, and her mind’s flexibility, wouldn’t be enough to protect her if her partner wasn’t strong enough to neutralize their target.
If her partner wasn’t strong enough to subdue their Hartford target, Karen could, conceivably, be back, but Tony would have heard if they had to abort. Tagem was a small enough company that everyone knew everything. Hell, everyone knew about their engagement, and then their wedding plans, almost before they did. That was the downside of working with a bunch of nosey telepaths.
On the plus side, they never had to mention where they were registered.
He definitely smelled lemon cake. And grilled steak. He finished shrugging out of his coat and collected his thoughts. Concern for Karen, tucked away in the lockbox along with his fears. Mental blocks, up.
Tony took three deep breaths and sent himself into a minor trance. He stretched out his awareness, feeling around the house.
The cats sat sunning themselves in the bedroom window. Their thoughts were filled with birds and sun and annoyance at being inside when they could be outside hunting yummy things. As far as they were concerned, there was nothing out of the ordinary in the house.
That made him pause. They had the cats not only because Karen adored them, but also because they were more sensitive to mental manipulations. They served as an alarm system of sorts.
And, he realized when his awareness reached the kitchen, someone had circumvented them.
The woman in the kitchen was not Karen, though on a first probe, she felt like her. Tony pulled back his awareness and strengthened his shields. A trickle of cold sweat ran down his spine. He ignored it and hung up his coat, trying to salvage the rest of his homecoming routine.
Shoes off and placed neatly in the rack by the door. The shoes in Karen’s spot were the strappy high heels she wore on special occasions. Tony’s hands shook as he fished out his keys and placed them in the bowl on the table by the door.
Today was their first wedding anniversary. If Karen’s Hartford target had been too strong, and her partner had realized it too late...
Well, he’d kill the kid himself if the target hadn’t taken care of him.
He tucked most of his anger and terror away in his lockbox. He’d need some of it to stay alert and sharp, but the rest was a liability.
Composed, Tony continued his routine. “Karen?” He started towards the kitchen, keeping a tight reign on his thoughts.
The woman in the kitchen giggled, the pitch a little higher than Karen’s, but if he didn’t already know it wasn’t his wife waiting to greet him, he probably wouldn’t notice the difference.
He steeled himself and stepped into the kitchen. The woman was young, no older than twenty-two, and a close match to what Karen had looked like at that age. She was a little shorter than Karen and had a softer kind of leanness, not the taut muscles Karen worked so hard to maintain.
“Welcome home!” She smiled brightly.
Tony could only gape. Her pleated black skirt skimmed the top of her white, lace-trimmed stockings. She wasn’t wearing a bra, and her sheer white blouse left nothing to his imagination. This was...well, not what he expected. Maybe the office was playing a trick on him. Or maybe the girl—she looked hauntingly familiar, and not just because of her resemblance to Karen—intended to lull him into a false sense of security.
If that was her plan, it wouldn’t work. Lulling was one of Karen’s specialties. He was practically immune. Tony couldn’t decide if he wanted to growl or laugh.
She started towards him, then paused mid-step. Her expression went slack, and when she spoke again, her voice was deeper. “Karen says not to worry. She’s fine, though she knows you’ll call to check on her. I’ll wait.”
Her eyes fluttered closed, and she slumped into a loose stance. Like a doll awaiting orders, Tony mused. Another one of Karen’s specialties. He unclipped his cell phone from his belt and hit Karen’s number on the speed dial.
Karen answered on the first ring. “Happy anniversary, baby.”
Tony frowned. “Karen.”
“Oh, right, the safe words. Pickle, argent, wiggle, lance.”
“And the other safe words, my gift-wrapped peppermint minx?” Their system wasn’t perfect. It depended on Karen being strong enough to protect her first set of safe words and the part of her unconscious mind that held her trigger phrase.
It also depended on him being able to speak her trigger phrase clearly and without laughing—something of a difficulty since he picked silly phrases, as directed by company standards.
Sometimes, Tony thought Thornton slipped in some company standards, like the trigger phrases for domestic partners, just to get a giggle out of people following them. With all the mental alarms and booby-traps Tagem implanted in its agents’ minds (per government standards, Thornton insisted, but everyone knew who had a hand in drafting those standards), the extra level of security provided by his trigger phrase wasn’t really necessary.
Nor did it do much for his peace of mind. If Karen’s Hartford target was good enough to slip past her defenses, he could also be good enough to bypass the alarms their overseers at Tagem had placed in her mind. He’d have no way of knowing.
Still, it was nice to hear Karen’s breathy sigh over the phone. Her flat reply of, “Scoop, conquer, lick, safe,” sent a tiny thrill through him despite his trepidation.
He wasn’t entirely comforted, but he released her from her trance. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“Giving you a present. Since I can be there in person to cook a proper anniversary meal.”
Tony stared at the girl, still slumped over like a doll. He could have handled this being an office prank—some of their coworkers were twisted enough to think a programmed girl was an appropriate consolation prize since Karen was out of town—but coming from Karen, it felt so wrong. “If Thornton finds out—”
Karen interrupted him. “I got clearance from Thornton.”
“What?”
“I got clearance from Thornton,” Karen repeated, and then, anticipating his next question, quickly added, “She’s the target Lexi and Geoff nabbed in Toronto three months ago, the one about to steal the info on Flexzer’s new drug patent.”
Oh, yes, Tony was familiar with that file. He had audited it after the field work was complete. No wonder the girl looked familiar.
“She also, incidentally, was about to ruin a 50-year marriage. Thornton thought it would be fitting if, as a part of her restructuring, she helped us out on our first anniversary. Since we can’t celebrate it together.”
“Did he?”
“Call and ask him. I’ll still be here. We’re not planning to nab our target until tomorrow afternoon. The Feds are here ‘supervising’ our activity.”
“Lucky you.”
“Mmmhmm. Now I know why Thornton pulled me off my new job for one last hurrah. But I’m keeping you from verifying your little gift with him.” She blew a kiss into the phone.
“Stay on the line,” Tony said. He crossed the kitchen to the land-line phone on the wall. “I am at home, remember?”
Karen giggled.
Thornton wasn’t at the office, so Tony dialed his cell. His boss sounded entirely too cheerful when he answered. “Tony, my boy. How goes the anniversary?”
“I think Karen may have sent me a present.”
“Ah, yes, the Toronto-Flexzer target. Nice tits, eh?”
Tony found himself taking a closer look at the girl. “Yes.” He cleared his throat, remembering he still had Karen on his cell. “So Karen had your approval to do this?”
“Of course.” Thornton laughed. “It’s not very nice taking your lovely little wife away from you on your first anniversary. Granting her request was the least I could do.”
“It’s also not very nice using this girl as a puppet. Sir.”
“The target,” Thornton said coolly, “had no qualms about ruining the marriage of a man who happens to be very devoted to his wife, not to mention one of my close friends. The target is lucky I did not instruct your lovely little wife to completely dismantle her mind and leave her a drooling idiot.”
Tony held in a sigh. This was the one thing he hated about his job. Their targets, horrible as they were, were still human. Some, like Karen’s current partner, eventually became Tagem employees. This particular girl wouldn’t—Thornton would veto the idea, even if her restructuring made her a prime candidate—but it still didn’t make using her right.
But Tony knew better than to argue with Thornton when he was using that tone. “I’m sure I’ll enjoy Karen’s gift. Thank you, sir.”
“Enjoy yourself, Tony. See you tomorrow!”
Tony could picture Thornton’s lewd wink as he hung up the phone. He made a mental note to avoid his boss tomorrow. Karen’s gift left a sour taste in his mouth. Thornton would pick up on his distaste.
“Oh, don’t be mad,” Karen said. “It was either this or make her a drooling idiot. And she’s just there to cook and clean and look pretty, though, ummm, if Thornton asks, you may want to mention a strip-tease or something. Your lovely little wife does not approve of hanky-panky, but the boss wanted her to do something.”
“Karen.”
“’Doting little wife’ will pull her out of her current trance. Better say it soon or the lemon cake will burn. Bye!”
“Karen!”
She hung up on him.
Tony stared at the girl for a long time, watching the shallow rise and fall of her chest. Her cherry-red lips still glistened, slightly parted in a tiny smile. The circles of pink blush high on her cheeks emphasized her doll-like state. Karen, playing to his kinks. He should be touched.
The oven timer beeped, startling him out of his near trance. The girl didn’t react. He went to the oven and checked on the cake. It wasn’t quite done, so he reset the timer for ten minutes and went to stand in front of the girl again.
On the one hand, it was awfully sweet of Karen to arrange this for him. He looked at the counter and noticed the recipes fanned out before him. She was recreating their first dinner together, which was doubly sweet.
On the other hand, this girl wasn’t Karen. As horrible as her actions were, she was now being used like the people she manipulated. It wasn’t right.
Ethics were a bitch sometimes.
He dialed Karen again.
She answered on the second ring. “It’s just dinner!”
“Did Thornton really ask you to turn her into a drooling idiot?”
“Yes. He was pretty mad. But Lexi managed to get to the wife before she filed for divorce, so he calmed down.”
“Not much.”
“No, not much, but enough.”
The silence stretched thin. Finally, Karen said, “It really is just dinner. It really is okay. And the girl will really leave once she’s washed the dishes. She’ll go back to her safe house and not remember a thing.”
“It’s not right.”
Karen’s shrug was almost audible. “It’s what we do.”
He sighed. Yes, it was what they did. Arguing about it wouldn’t change the nature of their job. They destroyed people, then remade them into something more useful. Or into something harmless.
It had been done to him once. Hell, maybe even by Karen. Wouldn’t that be fitting? Remade into a more useful man by the woman who, ten years later, would become his wife? “Thank you for thinking of me. Happy anniversary, babe.”
“Yeah.” Karen sounded sad, picking up on his mood, no doubt. “Happy anniversary.” She paused. “I’m sorry.”
He hung up and stared at the girl again. “Doting little wife.”
She came alive, all bright and happy and ready to serve. Tony cut her off as she inhaled to blurt out something in her bubbly not-quite-Karen voice. “You’ve already served dinner, and the dishes are done. Go home.”
She looked confused. “But...I don’t remember, and—”
“You’re not supposed to.” He took her arm and guided her out of the kitchen and into the entrance hall. “Thank you for the lovely evening. It’s late now. You should leave.”
“Oh, but...” She toyed with the hem of her too-short skirt and bobbed up on tip toe. “There was something else I was supposed to do, wasn’t there?”
He shook his head. “You’ve done all you were supposed to.”
“Oh.” She settled back down. “It’s just, I don’t feel like I’ve done everything.”
Tony found her coat and helped her into it. “But you have.” He kissed her cheek and scooted her out the door before he thought too hard about the fact she was wearing Karen’s perfume. “Everything except go home.” He dipped into her mind and found Karen’s instructions. He crossed out the ones she hadn’t completed, leaving the order to return to her keeper.
She turned at the bottom step. “You really had a nice time?”
He nodded.
“Good.” She looked thoughtful. “That’s important.”
“I know. Good night.”
He didn’t wait for her reply, just shut the door and returned to the kitchen where the oven timer was beeping wildly.
The lemon cake was perfect. There was probably a message in that if he wanted to admit he was being a fool. He hated admitting he was a fool, so it took two slices before he was willing to even consider the possibility.
He called Karen again after he had put away the leftovers, washed the dishes, and taken a long, hot shower. She sounded annoyed when she greeted him.
“Problem?” he asked.
“Ryan just left. There’s been a change in plan. Apparently, the target knows we’re here and has cut a deal. We will now hand over our file and remain on call in case something goes wrong during his surrender in the morning. Why they’re giving him time is beyond me, but what do I know? I’m just bait.”
“Bait who will be paid either way.”
“True.” She sighed. “But still. Things were a lot easier before Conklin came on the scene.”
“Careful. Mentioning her makes certain people angry.” Tony forced his tone to be light and teasing, but was a serious warning. Thornton wasn’t exactly rational when it came to Conklin. Somehow, she had gotten her hands on the files of some of Tagem’s less than legal neutralizations. Well, really, all of their neutralizations were less than legal, but there were the ones that pretty much followed proper legal procedure (if one ignored the telepathy used to subdue the target), and then there were the ones that didn’t even pretend to respect the law. Conklin had not been amused when Thornton pointed out that most of those takedowns had been at the behest of her employer.
And Thornton had not been amused when Conklin managed to convince her superiors that recruiting home-grown telepaths to become government agents would help keep companies like Tagem from thinking they were above the law. He had been somewhat mollified when Tagem won the contract to train said government telepaths, but not enough to make mentioning Conklin in his presence a good idea if one valued one’s hearing.
Karen sighed. “Point. We are on a company line, but one would hope we’d be allowed some privacy on our anniversary.”
“I think the best we can hope for is an illusion of privacy.” He settled back on the bed and adjusted his earpiece. If, for some reason, Karen’s overseer was recording the call, Tony could always bribe him to edit the content. The asshole owed Tony a couple of huge favors, after all. “And speaking of illusions, are you up for a little game, or do you need to call it a night now?”
“It’s only seven. I haven’t needed to call it a night this early in...well, ever.” The line snapped, and for a moment, Tony could see her, ghost-like, before him, curled up in a generic hotel arm chair with her feet tucked under her, eyes narrowing in suspicion. “A game?”
The image faded when she spoke. Tony smiled. “Why don’t we pretend you’re just a normal woman away on a business trip? You didn’t send the girl because you’re not a telepath. Instead, you asked me to go out to dinner and then come home, take a shower, and slip into something nice.”
She sounded confused. “All right.” Then she seemed to understand. She dropped her voice to a throaty purr. “So what are you wearing, baby?”
“The boxers you gave me for Christmas.”
He could almost see the progression of her thoughts. Christmas. Boxers. Green. Silk.
He helped them along with a ghost-like image of his own: him on the bed, teasing himself through the silk.
Her breath hitched. “Hold on, baby. Let me get my hands-free.”
“They won’t be free for long.”
She snorted. He heard her fumble with her phone, and then she was back, her voice a little more distance and doll-like over her hands free set. “So you’re in bed?”
“Spread out in the middle.”
“Greedy.”
“That’s right. You comfortable?”
“Except for a slight problem with the heat, yes.”
Tony chuckled.
“Are you comfortable?” she asked.
“We seem to have the same problem with the heat.”
“Mmmm. Yours better not be a sticky heat yet, baby. It’s not polite to leave a girl hanging.”
“Then why do you keep pestering me for a swing?”
“So I can leave you hanging.”
“Greedy.”
She laughed, and it sent a warm jolt of pleasure through him. Tony reached down to stroke himself slowly through the silk.
“No worse than you,” Karen said. “You really touching yourself?”
“Yes.” He sent her another quick image. Long distance influence was not one of his strengths, even with the added boost from their company phones. He’d have to pace himself.
“You don’t sound like you’re having fun. Let me hear you baby, please?”
“Maybe I want to hear you beg some more.”
She gave him a tiny whimper. “Mmmm, please, baby? I’m picturing you there in the middle of the bed, stroking yourself.” She let out a pleased little sigh. “Am I right, baby? You got your hand around your cock, running it up and down in long, lazy strokes, like you’ve got all night? Ooooh, and you’re running your thumb along the head, getting yourself all nice and slick.”
Fuck. Tony rid himself of the boxers. He was now.
She moaned. “Come on, baby, let me hear you. Please? I’m getting so wet picturing you, but it’s not enough. I want to soak my panties for you. Would you like that?”
Tony bit back a groan. “Yes.”
Karen didn’t bite back anything. She moaned, almost loud enough to make him wince. “Please, baby? I’ve got two fingers in me, and it’s not enough. I need you. Please?”
“Since you beg so nicely.” Tony closed his eyes and let Karen hear him.
“That’s it, my silver-tongued panther boi.”
His whole world became Karen’s voice in his ear and his hand on his cock. It seemed to be under Karen’s thrall, stroking his cock to her specifications. All he could do was moan.
Moan and picture Karen squirming on her hotel bed, legs spread wide for him. She thrust her fingers in and out of her cunt in time to his own stroking. Her other hand played with her nipple rings. She bent her head and licked at one of her breasts, tugging at the ring with her teeth.
Karen looked up at him and winked, then arched her hips to finger her ass. She always looked hot trying to keep her rhythm when she was close.
And speaking of close, he was. He thrust up into his hand, saying something—he didn’t know what—to Karen.
“I’m close too, baby. Want to come for you. Oh, god. Come so hard for you.”
“Yeah.” His mind snapped back to coherency. She had tranced him! Sneaky little minx.
“You’ll let me then? Oh, please! I need to, baby.”
Fuck, that note of desperation in her voice was hot! But, one sneaky trick deserved another. “Not yet, my gift-wrapped peppermint minx.”
She gasped, and then all Tony could hear was her panting.
He sent her back the image of her fingering her cunt and her ass. “Tell me how it feels.”
“Good. But toys feel better. Deeper.”
He adjusted the image to include her favorite toys. She gasped again, and her panting took on a harsh, clipped edge. “Better?” he asked.
“Much.”
He listened to her for another minute, keeping himself erect but safely away from the point of release. He wanted to hear Karin, not his minx, when he came. “Come now.”
His gift-wrapped peppermint minx was quiet and came in strangled gasps. It was much more satisfying witnessing it in person, but Tony still enjoyed her long-distance performance.
“Now, forget you came.” He released her from the trance. Karen was back, moaning and pleading for him to let her come because she needed it and was so close for him, and please, wouldn’t he let her?
Tony held out as long as he could. “Yeah. Come for me.”
She did. An image of her popped back into his mind. She arched, every muscle tight, then slumped back with a dazed, goofy smile. Strands of her chestnut hair clung to her face and neck. She still worked her cunt, slowly trailing off until she was lazily stroking the folds of her inner lips.
His own come was warm on his stomach. He trailed his fingers through it. Image Karen withdrew her fingers from her cunt and sucked them clean. If she were here, she’d come to straddle his legs next and lean down to lick him clean, nibbling at his softening cock and his stomach, then moving up to tease his nipples. She’d make a game out of it and see how long it would take him to harden again and then for him to tell her to stop being such a fucking tease.
Over the phone, Karen caught her breath. He felt the first phantom nibble and closed his eyes to immerse himself in the sensations. He could almost feel the tickle of her hair as she leaned over him. She hummed. He felt it just above his navel.
“That was nice, baby. Thank you.”
Tony smiled and kept his eyes closed so he could imagine himself in her hotel room. “It’s almost a pity this is your last field assignment.”
“Hmm. Well, maybe we can play this game again sometime.”
“I don’t know. You cheated.”
“I prefer to think of it as enhancing your enjoyment.”
“Ah, well, in that case, maybe we can play this game again sometime. Dibs on the business trip.”
She giggled. “Greedy.”
“Yes, well, I learned from you.”
He heard Karen stretch. It sounded like a good one, and apparently really good stretches were contagious, like yawns.
And apparently he made that observation out loud, because they both laughed and then fell into a comfortable silence. He should say good bye before they both drifted off, but hearing Karen’s soft breath in his ear was like being with her.
“Baby?”
Tony reached for her, eyes snapping open when his hand fell on her pillow. Whoops. “Hmmm?”
“This is what I should have done for you. I’m sorry.”
Oh, the girl. “It’s all right. Though you better hope her restructuring doesn’t pop up on the audit list.” He yawned. “Just because you’re my wife doesn’t mean I’ll take it easy on you. I’ll need you to thoroughly justify requisitioning her for such an unorthodox use. The audit may take days and involve a full scan of your mind.”
When Karen didn’t answer right away, he thought he may have gone too far. Then she said slyly, “I think I’m going to need your help preparing for an upcoming audit, baby. You know how those internal auditors are. Such sticklers for detail.”
“And no sense of fun.”
“None whatsoever. So I need some advice on proper documentation and acceptable justifications for unorthodox requisitions. Oh, and some pointers on tittyfucking. This one bastard of an auditor always docks me on that.”
“I believe that particular auditor has no complaints about your skill, just your timing. I suggest saving all references to tittyfucking until after the audit is complete.”
“See? No sense of fun.”
“Well, I’ll see what I can do to loosen him up.”
“Mmmm. Two anniversary presents. You spoil me.”
“As you’ll spoil the auditor, no doubt.”
“A girl’s gotta do what it takes to keep her job.” She sighed. “And speaking of my job...”
“You need to get a good night’s sleep so you’ll be in top form in case you’re needed tomorrow.”
“Mmmhmm.”
“Well, at least I know you won’t have a problem falling asleep.”
“If I wake up in the morning with my hands still between my legs, you’re going to pay when I get back.”
“Promises, promises.” He laughed. “Good night.”
Karen murmured a sleepy farewell and then disconnected. Tony held the image of her nestled against his side for a moment before taking out his earpiece and setting it and his phone on the nightstand. The last bits of quasi-trance fuzziness faded, so he couldn’t pretend he was anywhere but alone in his bed. He rolled over so he wasn’t facing Karen’s side of the bed.
Not an ideal anniversary. But, Tony figured, as he started to drift off to a vision of Karen fingering herself in her sleep, not an entirely bad one. He thought of the girl, back with his keeper, and of Thornton, still chilly with anger, and of himself, full of constructed memories, and made the effort to push everything but Karen out of his mind.