The Unreal Factor 3 – The WHAT to the Rescue?

They already disliked Mondays. Most of the assignments happened during weekends, so if anything went wrong with the girls or with their clients (in that order)…

A business rival trying to publically shame a client? They had stopped counting those.

A client (or a girl) having some sort of medical problem during a session? Them too.

A family emergency (or the unexpected visit of a relative) that led to some unwanted exposure and lots and lots of covering up acts?

Oh, please…

And there were those more rare occasions in which they had serious stuff to deal with.

But never, NEVER, had they ended up bound and gagged in Kathleen’s office thanks to a weekend situation! She didn’t know about her sister, but from now on…

…She was going to start to HATE Mondays!

Fun thing was, her jaw wasn’t sore.

She knew she had been KOed with… a punch?... being delivered there, so she was expecting some pain when she awoke in her current situation (how she hated being tied up and gagged!), but that was not the case. Her jaw was alright given the circumstances.

At her left Andrea was more curious than scared.

The 19 year old (not very tall or busty but really… entrancing) redhead was the only one in the room whose bonds had to be ‘improvised’ by their (FORMER!) client. She had brought cuffs, scarves and rope with her for the owners of the ‘Desires, Inc.’ and one secretary, after all the meeting was going to happen at 8PM, and the whole building was supposed to be deserted, and having found two she improvised with all of their own stockings (save for the gag, at least that) over Andrea’s limbs!!!

Although it was obviously a very tight job, Andrea wasn’t in pain (actually she looked lovely, but as a real damsel in distress, it was not one of her fantasies!). Still…

‘Ahwe uwhu owkhee?’

‘No talking, or I’ll really have to actually gag you all...’ – said London as she sat in Kathleen’s chair behind Kathleen’s desk, with her Sofia in her lap!

Andrea just nodded at her question, and then she felt a bump in her right shoulder.

Kathleen, the last of the row of three captive women sitting on the floor, with their backs against the wall right at the corner that was both away from the office’s door and the window, and she was furious with her?

‘Swoope iiihtt!’

‘Ladies, that goes for the both of you. In five minutes, or even less, you will all be able to speak and move again. I am just checking what this talented girl…’ – And she looked at the bound captive on her lap – ‘…already managed to find about me and those who helped me. Fortunately for you all, she knows a lot about me and very little about them. So in five minutes we will talk, and if you want to never ever see me again after I explain some stuff to you… So be it. But I will have to explain a few things…’

‘A few things?’ she would have to explain everything or…

‘…Even if I had to strip you naked and place you both in ultra-tight hogties with the stuff, Sofia already told me Ms. Faith, you use on both her and Andrea!’

She blushed, Andrea tried to say something unpublishable (aiming it at Sofia) and her sister, even gagged and all, had such an irritating expression in her face!

‘Will you behave, girls?’ – she asked to all of them while looking straight at her.

All four captives nodded. So the strip of red tape over Sofia’s lips (that she had put back before she talked to her captives) was now dangling (again) from her right cheek, and they were still talking about whatever was showing in the screen of the notebook (Sofia’s) in front of them. Occasionally, London Craven did type a thing or two or used her finger to move the arrow in the screen, but for the next forty-five minutes…

And then it was over.

She helped Sofia to stand, uncuffed and untied her and even removed the wide strip of tape. Next they were helping Kathleen (London) and Andrea (Sofia) to lie on their belly so both women could be untied (and uncuffed in Kathleen’s case).

As her sister and Andrea stood up massaging their wrists, she turned her attention to her and helped her to stand up. There was… resignation?... in her eyes?

‘I hope you understand that I did not have any other option. It was either this or… well… you know that fantasy you helped to happen to me and two of my friends?’

‘Last May, with ‘Paige’ and ‘Olivia’?’

Sofia, always the professional, was even using the aliases that had been used by their clients that weekend! (Not that it would NOT prevent her to receive a stern lecture!!!)

OUCH!!!

‘Sorry, I know that you are quite a ‘Miss Houdini’, so I decided to not take any chance with you… Hold on… That knot is always a bitch to be undone… As for you Sofia, bingo! I was ‘Jenna’ (three successful women, all over 50, pretending to be girls in a pajama party…) and we were watching some TV and eating popcorn when, suddenly four gorgeous masked girls (none older than 22) in skintight latex black outfits burst into ‘Paige’’s home and kidnapped us at gunpoint, and for the weekend… they were merciless with me… I mean, us!!... before the ransom was paid.’

And she was showing dreamy eyes now…

It was really hard to believe that she was such a submissive after she had took both sisters down with… karate punches? Muay thai ones? Whatever… Before she grabbed the secretaries and tied them all up. But she was one. There was the proof in her eyes!

‘So? Are you saying that if you had NOT done what you did…?’

‘Exactly, Ms. Faith… well, the torments they would inflict on you would be deprivation of freedom and, if you were really stubborn…, movement and speech. But aside that…’

‘For how long?’ – Asked Kathleen with a poorly convincing brave voice.

‘As long as they saw fit to make sure you all understand that Friday never happened.’

Both Andrea and Sofia grabbed her right arm. She placed her right hand over Andrea’s left cheek and the left one over Sofia’s right cheek and, with the best reassuring tone she could have now, she tried to encourage them while saying that everything was going to be alright. If she could only believe in that…

‘The security team I had on alert for any emergency?’

She just grabbed her by the hand and they walked to Kathleen’s desk, where she turned the notebook around and there it was. Part of the live feed of the security cameras of the building where the headquarters of ‘Desires, Inc.’ was located, showing the two night watchmen, the five ex-military dudes (and one dudette) she had on hold in two different locations in the building, and the two watchwomen at the security room (that were supposed to coordinate the efforts of all the others from there)…

Stripped of their uniforms, the dudette was naked?, and lying hogtied on the floor!

A quick command from her fingers and their replacements… all women?... appeared in ‘their’ places. And both women’s eyes just bulged!

Two downstairs at the entrance hall, two in the security room, three in that room in the 3^rd floor and… two in the middle of the process of binding and gagging Autumn?

The naturally buxom blonde girl was furiously fighting her captors somewhere by the garage’s stairs, but her crossed ankles were already bound, her arms had rope enough around them to trap her whole body, her cheeks were bulging (with what looked like the tip of a sock emerging from her mouth) and still… what a fighter she was!

And the phone on the desk just rang. It was one of the women trussing Autumn up?

London grabbed it and simply said ‘Care to explain?’, while Kathleen approached the duo, and receiving a quick explanation that, apparently, satisfied her…

‘She… she wanted to be a witness in my favor… with you two.’

The look of extreme disapproval in Kathleen’s face was probably matching her own!

‘I’ll deal with it…’ – and turning back to whoever she was talking to – ‘I wanna talk to her, now. (…) No, no buts… (...) NO BUTS!!! (...) Autumn? Dear girl... dear foolish girl... I am alright. I told you that I was going to deal with it... Didn’t I? So, please, stop annoying them. I have NO control whatsoever over them. None, zilch, nada! However I can ask, and just ask, them to deliver you back to my home… as long as you behave.’

That explained where she had spent the previous day! Or did it…?

‘One of the men who took her last Friday, the one with green eyes, she knew him…’

‘She knew him?’

But, by the look in her eyes, it was obvious that London wasn’t going to talk about it…

‘So she…?’

‘She knew where my house is located, so she dropped by yesterday, we got out for… (?) I will get there… And when we got back she could not stop thanking me! We didn’t have sex or a session or whatever, we spent the day talking and watching movies and stuff, and she kept thanking me over and over again… I swear that, when I got a picture of how those men were found about five hours ago, I gave her a copy and she thanked me again and again and again and... THEN I finally indulged myself and kissed her… and she left. I swear that I thought that I would never see her again.’ – Kathleen’s face was more of uncertainness than anything – ‘Girl scout’s honor word!’

And she even stroke a pose!

(And because she was the oldest woman inside the office it was even more ridiculous!)

In the screen, Autumn had stopped fighting her captors, who took their time finishing her bonds! Next they carried her to a car, her own car, opened the trunk and placed her inside it, more rope followed and then one of the girls entered the car…

‘She…?’

‘…Is going to spend how long is it needed for me to answer your questions about Friday, and my relationship with those people, severely bound, like mummy-roped bound, and effectively gagged and under the guard of the dame who’s at the wheel…’

‘Has… any… of our clients, regular or new ones, tried to contact us this past hour and a half we spent as your prisoners?’ – She said trying to hide her fear.

‘Hold on…’ – And London grabbed the phone and repeated the question.

‘Mr. **** ****** from Hong Kong is going to be in the US in a week and wanted ‘the usual’ delivered at his hotel room. Mrs. ***** ********** booked Lauren and Dione for her husband’s birthday in a couple of weeks, and lastly ***** ****** wants three blond girls and three black ones for a ‘Amazons War fantasy’ in a month…’

Great! One of their best Chinese clients and the woman who had been allowing her husband’s ‘Playboy’s bunnies’ kidnapper’ sexless fantasies for the past ten years, plus a semi-regular client! Of all the luck! They would need to triple check those assignments!

Kathleen was already by her side, holding her hand as she had always did…

‘Care to give us some privacy?’

She nodded, but grabbed the notebook and left the office with it in her hands, and just telling Andrea and Sofia to follow her. Their secretaries looked at them with tear filled eyes, but they just nodded (Kathleen also mouthed ‘everything will be fine’ to them).

Somehow the girls managed to get a hold of themselves and followed London.

They didn’t even bothered to check the phones or their smartphones, so they first hugged each other, and then talked for about twenty minutes.

Only then, they were ready to call her back to the office. As usual, they had agreed that Kathleen would do all talking unless Faith had to intervene. As the older woman took a seat, both sisters tried to understand the enigma in front of them, whose first act was to show them how Andrea and Sofia were faring right now.

They were sleeping peacefully in the large waiting room of Kathleen’s office, both girls were not exactly tall and the row of seats was comfortable (just barely tough) for them to lie over for a while. She had even provided pillows for both!

Relieved of that worry (for the moment), they looked at their client/captoress…

London Craven…

Born in XX/XX/1955 in a nice family in XX. Girl scout, great grades, lots of friends… all that disappeared in 1972, when her parents had her committed to a mental institution to have her treated of her ‘devious sexual desires’ (lesbianism, and masochism?), from which she escaped less than three months later? She went off the radar for the rest of the decade, only to reappear in this state in 1980. She made the right investments and deals and, when she retired (two years ago), her net worth was 117 million dollars.

She had been a client of ‘Desires, Inc.’ since the beginning, the 5^th client to book a girl for a fantasy, and when she finally decided to move back to her home state (a little over a year ago) she became one of the few faithful clients that kept booking their girls, even having to pay for the travel and other expenses due to the distance… instead of simply hiring those tramps from ‘Damsel, Inc.’ or those serial movie queens wannabes!

Nothing had happened out of ordinary. Her fantasies usually made her call two or three girls at once (her record were seven girls!), plus the ‘handler’, and so far she had been described by the girls they had sent to her, at worst, as a ‘lovely nutty grandma’.

And then ‘Friday’ had happened…

She had booked Autumn (20 years old Californian blonde girl, for the ninth time in a row?), Felysha (23 years old Georgian black girl) and Connie (21 years old local blonde girl). Tamyra (38 years old former policewoman from Detroit) went along as their ‘handler’ (whose job is to provide transportation, accommodations and everything else for the girls). They travelled Thursday evening, had a good dinner at her expenses and a quick photo shoot (a couple of helpless captives in their undies poses) before bedtime.

Morning came and…

‘…and so Felysha and Connie ‘rescued’ poor Autumn from my evil grasps, stripped me naked, spanked and hogtied me. My ‘Wicked Heiresses Kidnap and Rescue’ fantasy would, eventually, demand that they wore fetishistically revealing black leather & latex & lace outfits as they tormented/punished me, but for the moment Felysha and Connie were wearing very kinky (both white) sets of underwear and Autumn was naked, and they were all ticking me mercilessly as I squirmed on that table…’

‘And that was happening?’

‘In my dungeon. I have, as you know, a very large basement and part of it was properly redecorated to look like a modern day… Spanish Inquisition ‘workplace’. Well…, not as gory, ugly and horrible as the real deal, but you get my point…’

‘And Tamyra? Where was she?’

‘Upstairs, enjoying my 55” TV and the basketball games I had TiVoed for her…’

Both sisters made quite a face!

‘You have assigned her to handle the girls I book since I moved back to my home… state. And I do care about all my guests, including those I am paying to be with me. So in the first time, she made me buy some pay-per-view stuff. Next thing I know I have the ultra-plus-gold package of my cable TV provider… I like sports too, and movies…’

‘But she had access to what was happening at the basement?’

‘Of course! She had a tablet, giving her access to the cameras and monitors of my security system, that she checked every five minutes or so… (…)? It was TiVoed stuff! She could pause every now and then, take a quick peek to whatever ‘pervertiness’ was happening under her feet and get back to her game…’

Well… true. ‘Handlers’ weren’t supposed to be peeping toms, but still… That wasn’t very professional from Tamyra’s part… or was it? They would discuss it later…

‘And suddenly the (hidden) siren was calling us all. Something had happened upstairs and Tamyra was coming down. The girls turned off their ‘wicked revenge mode’ and freed me as Tamyra was entering the dungeon, with my cellphone in her hands. It had a single message in its screen. ‘Xerxes is on the move’. I immediately called the session off, told Tamyra to have the girls (and herself) at the airport ASAP and ran to my room. Tamyra told the girls to go to their rooms, put on some clothes and prepare for the trip back here while she went after me. I told her the truth just as I am telling you now.

Once there was this guy whom I will call ‘Darius’ who tried to pin on me some stuff he was doing, I proved my innocence and his guilt and because of that he died a decade later in prison (although my participation in the whole melee was never made public). A few weeks after I moved I learned that his son (whom I will call ‘Xerxes’) was planning to hit me, hard, through a very elaborated ruse that could cost me half my net worth. So I developed a counterstrategy and waited. I was sure that he was going to make his move today, hence the fact that I booked the girls for Thursday night to Saturday morning. No one but me, and Mariska (the PI who had sent me message), were supposed to deal with ‘Xerxes’ because, I thought, he was going to try a ‘clean’ strike against me…’

‘There was no indication…?’

‘That he knew about Mariska’s investigation? None.’

‘So you got ready to leave your home…?’

‘You have to understand a thing… Some of my fantasies… The ponies stuff? Well, they demand a lot of privacy! So I live a bit away from town, in a very big estate. Turns out that if I want to go from my estate to the airport, I turn left when I leave the front gate of my estate, and if I want to go to town, except the North/Northeastern side of it, I turn right… So I told Tamyra to turn left, kissed each girl goodbye (Tamyra do loves her husband) and told them to call me as soon as they arrived at the airport. I spent five minutes trying to reach Mariska and nothing, but I reasoned that she was staking Xerxes out so… I went to my car, got behind the wheels and drove to Mariska’s office. I parked my car, entered the building and, as I was leaving the elevator, I got two messages. One from Mariska and the other from Tamyra. These messages here…’

The first message had a B&W picture of a mid-thirties white woman stark naked and apparently hogtied inside a closed space (a car’s trunk). The hogtie was not an extreme one, but whoever had bound her hadn’t spared the rope (which had been used to gag her too)! The second message had a picture which showed Tamyra, Autumn, Felysha and Connie tied on and to one legged barstool inside some kind of metallic container. They still wore their jeans trousers, but their T-shirts & jackets were gone…

Tamyra had a black eye, while the girls looked so scared!

The only words in both messages were ‘Go to the bitch’s office’.

‘And you went there?’

‘What else could I do? I went there ready to meet ‘Xerxes’, instead there was this all dressed in white chick, from her boots to her hat, and she was pointing a gun at me. She gave me the order to strip, completely, and to allow myself to be tied up. I did it and thirty minutes later, she cinched the last knot… She had kind of melded me to a sturdy chair that somebody else (it was too big and too heavy for such a frail girl to do it alone) had brought there. There rope covering almost the entirety of both my legs, both arms and armrests they were attached to now and my torso was almost gone under all that crisp white rope. But as she was about to gag me I asked if she was intended to make me stay past 01 PM. She laughed and said that I was going to spend the whole day like that while all my assets became smoke. And then I said: ‘And what about my friend who’s waiting for me to try her latest experiment in Sicilian cuisine?’… And she went with ‘What friend?’, and then I told her about… Barbara…’

‘Barbara? We know that her name is Carolynn DeSilva!’

‘No you don’t know that. Carolynn DeSilva is the owner of my state’s representative of a franchise of restaurants called ‘The Secret Hideout’, and she’s my ‘twin sister’. We are not blood related, but we were born at the same hospital within less than six hours apart. We grew up in different neighborhoods and ended up meeting, and briefly loving each other, in the 70’s. While we couldn’t be a couple, we could still be lifelong friends and that’s what we became. And that’s all you know about her, right?’

No! Carolynn DeSilva had been sent, by her father, to the very same institution London had been sent to a month earlier. That was how they had met, and like London herself there were no paper trail whatsoever of Carolynn from 1973 to 1980. But while London became a stock broker (or whatever), Carolynn chose a darker path. She was arrested for industrial espionage in 1982, and was still the suspect of a few other cases to this day. She pleaded guilty of minor charges and served seven years and, save for a weird incident in 1999, something about a botched kidnap attempt at her ‘Secret Hideout’, she had kept a clean record ever since she opened the restaurant in 1990…

And moments before they had been put to sleep and then tied up by London, Sofia had told her that she had found out a very weird thing about Carolynn!

‘Right… I must have made a mistake… right Faith? Her name was… Barbara then?’

‘Yes. I explained everything to the ‘White Queen’, from how I had met her three days earlier to how she was probably in her own kitchen, in her private quarters in the back of the restaurant, preparing whatever surprise she was preparing to me… The girl gagged me with just a big balled up dirty sock and called her boss, who was observing us thanks to a camera I had seen behind the girl, aimed solely at me. He told her to ungag me and make me a few questions (my friend’s name, her phone number, address and such) and I answered everything. The gag went back in… Yuck!!!... and he checked everything and ordered the girl to make me call her and cancel our meeting. But, it’s obvious isn’t it?, Barbara was not expecting me for lunch…’

‘And you are not going to tell us who she is or how she…’

‘They would never kill you because of that, but until they could be sure that you would not betray their trust… you’d be gone…’

‘And you were part of that gang…?’

For a moment, London seemed to be surprised with Faith’s words. Next, she realized something, and smiled. Next, she chuckled… and finally she laughed heartily!

‘I know what movie you saw girl… and what a lame one it was!’

‘What? What’s going on?’ – asked her sister.

‘Back in 1978/1979, a Russ Meyer-wannabe decided to make a movie about American Ninja… girls! A ruthless and depraved bunch of black clad ninja babes, who spent more time naked or half-naked than wearing their ninja outfits and robbing and killing people, they were replaced by male acrobats on those scenes… What was its name again?’

Kathleen was looking at her in such a way!

‘Would it be ‘Killer Ninja Girls’?’

Now the two older women were looking perplexed at the younger one.

‘You know that once I met Cheri Caffaro… Ginger McAllister?... And, more or less, because of that I have a collection of sleazy & sexploitation movies from the 60’s to the 90’s. I know that no one ever released it in DVD, but I had it in a VHS copy and made a DVD out of it. Now guess who was the house lady who gets killed by the gang of lusty ninjas at around the 45 minutes mark?’ – Her sister told them.

‘Two things, it was released in DVD as an extra of ‘Beyond the Bikini Beach II’, because that awful bitch who was the star of ‘KNG’ was one of the bikini models seeking revenge on that one, and I had my neck ‘broken’ by the 50 minutes mark…’ – started London, who then dropped the bomb – ‘…And with that, you hit jackpot!’

She looked at Kathleen, who looked back with the same dumbfounded expression.

‘Excuse me?’ – They both said in unison.

‘Of course there were guys involved in that stuff last ‘Friday’! Of course, there are guys involved in this operation (why do they have to use military-like terms?) right now. But you can only see women, black clad women!, replacing your security crew. And you can bet anything you want that, when you talk with each and every single one of them, the people they replaced will tell you that their attackers were all women!’

‘Just like in ‘Killer Ninja Girls’?’ – asked Kathleen, and she didn’t even to nod.

Just looking at her face they knew the answer!

‘But… WHY?’

‘Because… Barbara and I were part of the cast of that movie! I know, I know… it is a silly idea. Still, believe me, whatever investigation you girls intend to launch to confirm if I am being honest with you about ‘Friday’, or about today’s events, will go nowhere. And if you go to the police or FBI, they will go nowhere as well, and when they learn that their two main and only suspects were part of the cast of a sleazy soft-core movie with a plot, or the excuse for one, that depicts a situation remarkably similar to what they are being accused of having done? (…) With NO evidence whatsoever pointing in any direction? You’ll get lucky if you they don’t try to make you pay for their waste of time! And, besides… that was the same strategy we used with ‘Darius’…’

‘?’

‘Girls… 1986!’ – And for a moment she pretended that she was Bruce Buffer! – On this corner we have… a Christian guy who is a devout best buddy with the top of the tops televangelists! Not to mention the governor, the senators and (they say) a couple of Justices at the SCOTUS… In that corner over there, lights please so we can all see how pathetic she is!, we have a woman, who may or may not have been cured of her rampant lesbianism, and who was in the cast of a ‘R’-rated movie with tons of girls baring their breasts!, and who happens to have not a single proof against the good guy we all know and trust... I was F****D!!!! Big time!!! The press was going to tear me apart!!!’

‘And… you…’

‘You know damn well that Barbara was doing time in that year. And I… I visited her and told her everything, everylittlething! Halfway my deposition to her, I realize that she got weirdly interested in my yada-yada about the technical terms of how much sh***d I am! After I am done she says: ‘Talk to no one about this conversation and come back in a week’. And three days later I am visited in my own home by… (…)? Forget it, you gals don’t deserve to be in that much trouble. Suffice to say is that the guy had some money invested in the scam ‘Darius’ was going to blame me for. He had two accountants with him that made me dozens of questions, and I explained this, and that, that too, oh and don’t forget about that! And when they were finished they said to him: ‘Sir, it looks like you are about to lose… five million dollars at the very least!’… In any other circumstance that would be my death sentence! Instead, he looked at me and said: ‘Don’t leave town and get yourself a fancy dress, you are my guest for a party I am going to attend in a couple of days’, and then they all left.’

‘And you?’

‘What else could I do? I got a beautiful red dress, two nights later there was a limo in front of my house, I got in and, when I realized it, I was at a huge party that a totally legit person was giving for a totally legit reason… and half the state’s big names (in the crime hierarchy) were there to hear me telling them how they were about to lose big!’

‘But… why did they let… Darius live after that?’

‘Because I reasoned with them that there was a way with which I could turn the tables on him, there was a way were they could get their money back (and then some) and have Darius blamed for everything! (…)? Don’t worry, there is not a single picture or paper that could prove anything that I am saying to you. You have nothing to fear from learning what I am telling because, to put it simple, the truth is so weird about the whole thing that you gals risk to be exposed to extreme ridicule if you try to tell it to the world! And because of that, you are both safe… Do you want to know how we did it?’

‘Ehrmm… No. (…) But… you used… ‘ninja girls’? It worked?’

‘Yes!!! I confess that the idea of using the ‘ninja girls’ in our ‘counterplot’ wasn’t mine. I found it quite idiotic! But it worked! Boy it worked! Five years later I got this VHS… it was sent by mail with a fake address as the ‘sender’, and had the recording of Darius’ interrogatory when they arrested him. He kept saying… ‘But you must believe in me! She (guess who?) did it! She was with… these ninja girls…’, to the point that even his own lawyers got exasperated with his defense! I almost felt pity for him…’

‘So, you decided to use the same strategy of nearly thirty years ago?’

‘I decided nothing! It was Barbara!!! I don’t know how she did it! I don’t know who is really behind ‘Friday’ and now! I also don’t know who is the boss of those ninja babes and the men who took down this building and whom rescued Autumn, Felysha, Connie and Tamyra!!!! And I really really really don’t want to know that!’

‘And (…) you don’t even have any suspicion at all?’

‘Of course I do… I know who was about to lose money (and how much) back in ’86, half the list is dead but those gentlemen tend to be grateful for life for this type of thing and so are their families and friends. And… I think that they kept an eye on ‘Xerxes’… I mean… Barbara gets in touch with them and, less than three hour later… I mean… I spent three hours tied to that chair, under lame and lamer attempts of that pathetic girl to scare & shame me, and suddenly the door burst open, some guys point their weird looking guns at the girl and shoot, and she’s hit with two or three darts. For the last time that awfully horrible gag is removed from my mouth, they give water as the girl is stripped and bound, and her clothes are given to another who, in spite of having a face with nothing in common with the now slumbered and gagged ‘white dame’, has a good body resemblance with her. A phone is put in my ear and, within a minute, I give them everything that I can including the most important, the location of the files of Mariska about ‘Xerxes’ and his plans, well, the ones about leaving me penniless…’

‘Come again?’

‘Of course, when they kidnapped Mariska, ‘Xerxes’’ goons destroyed her computer (with a sledgehammer as it seemed) and made a mess of her paper files. But there are these wonderful little things nowadays called ‘pen drives’… As a form of ‘secret back-up’, Mariska had every single file about her current and past cases copied in a bunch of 32 and 64 GB pen drives that she hid in three different places (one at her home and the other two inside the office), but I won’t tell you where… So my ‘rescuers’ provided a clean and fresh gag for me, the white dame’s ‘body double’ took her position…’

‘I am sorry, but how they could do it?’

‘Since you brought up Hollywood movies to my deposition to you… Guess!’

Oh... the nerve of that woman!

And, as usual when movies were involved, Kathleen got the answer first.

‘The first ‘Speed’? The trick they use to make Dennis Hopper not see them trying to escape that bus at the airport? But… is that workable?’

‘Of course it is! Hidden cameras, at least of the kind ‘Xerxes’ used, are not that big in protecting their transmission! They recorded nearly twenty minutes of myself in a most static fashion, and the ‘white dame’ wasn’t moving much either, before they stormed that office! Sure, they could have set me free right away, or loosened my bonds a bit. But I wasn’t in pain… I spent hours suspended last month in case you have forgotten!... and until we knew where they were keeping the girls, Tamyra and Mariska, all of them, I could pretend to still be under ‘Xerxes’’s thumb. Another hour passed until they got what they wanted. I still don’t know what was in Mariska’s pen drives… or what they knew previously about Xerxes plans… But, PLEASE! I would NEVER ever put any of the girls’ lives at stake if I knew that he was going to get that low!’

‘That low???’

That struck bad at London’s resolve. She had stood up after the reinforced ‘please!’, and now she was looking at them with uncertainty and uneasiness…

She sighed, sat back in her chair and confessed what they had been fearing the most.

‘Part of the conditions for my financial debacle could only be done today, hence the fact that I was extremely surprised when Tamyra showed my phone that morning. But… He… the little *************, ********* and *********!!, wanted to add a weekend of utter and total shame and grievance… through Autumn, Felysha and Connie… You don’t… YOU DON’T!! Sit back!... You don’t want to know what was in his diary…’

‘He kept… a diary?’ – She asked as she pushed Kathleen back to her seat.

‘Sure, why not? I am smart, really smart, really smart indeed! I know that the old hag is going to try to be prepared against me. Hah! Fat chance for a woman! Look! Over there! There goes the P.I. she hired to track me down! Okay, time to use my strategy to fool that **** so she will report wrong facts to the hag!!! For one thing I know is that my… our rescuers knew in advance about the cabin where they sent Mariska to, with a couple of guys to watch over her. And I also know that sometime between my phone call and their invasion of Mariska’s office they raided ‘Xerxes’ secret address, they also raided his apartment and found nothing but that place was totally bare and deserted! And in the other one they found the diary. At first they did not believed their luck since, they thought, ‘Xerxes’ couldn’t be so egomaniac and stupid to write down his plans against me without using any code, any at all, and using a good calligraphy…’

‘But he did that?’

‘Yes! He did everything right. The money he used for the whole thing? From the lonely bank account of his daddy that the Feds did not found. Was there any paper trail leading back to him? No, he paid many people to use their names and IDs to buy the cabin, and his secret apartment, the cars and the place where he stashed the girls and Tamyra. He made all his men buy, with cash, everything that was going to be used against me and the others in dozens of shops around the state, none at the capitol where I live. From the boots wore by the ‘white dame’ to the bullets in his goons’ guns… it took him half a month to get it all! (…) And then he spoilt it all by leaving the diary by his nightstand!’

‘And… about his plans towards the girls and Tamyra?’

‘You really don’t want to know… really don’t!’

They stayed silent for a couple of minutes, and then she resumed.

‘Mariska was the first to be rescued. Her captors had put her on a bare mattress and were playing cards when ‘the rescuers’ showed up. Since they were playing to see who would rape her first, the women among ‘the rescuers’ beat them quite harshly, while Mariska had her wounds and sore limbs tended to, and then they gave Mariska a bat… The problem was the location of the captivity of the others. A junkyard in the middle of nothing. They had the place surrounded, but they could see that there were dozens of places where they could have hid Autumn and the others, that those guys were more professional and better armed than the ones that had been in charge of Mariska, but the worst part was that, somehow, they got a thermal image of what was supposedly the office trailer of the junkyard. No image of anyone sitting/lying down while apparently bound or restrained. That was a good thermographic camera, but they couldn’t simply roam it around the junkyard (to find in which car or cars where the captives) without being noticed… The odds weren’t really good. So they decided a different approach.

It was a junkyard and it was closed with a big sign of ‘Condemned’ at the two entrances of the place. Still, the guys couldn’t use masks just in case somebody showed up, unlikely as it might have been. They took pictures of all the men they could and tried to identify them. As a friend used to say in such occasions… ‘Tutti buona genti’! ‘All nice fellows’… (That was sarcasm)… Still… The original idea was that those who were identified as having strong family ties would have their families visited… I objected! I knew that there was almost nothing that I could say or do to change my rescuers’ course of actions if they had already decided it. But they hadn’t, they were considering the options at the moment, so I gave them another…’

‘Which was?’

‘Bribery. I know that, in at least two cases, they had to send a couple of pictures of this or that relative of the guy, taken second just before in broad daylight and in public spaces back in town, as a way to ‘convince’ the guy to accept my 9,5K offer. 500 dollars more and the IRS would be notified, so… Of the fourteen men in the junkyard, nine had their pictures taken and six got bribed and/or coerced. That’s why Felysha and Connie got rescued first. ‘Our’ goons knew in which junks’ trunks they had been put, about a mile away from each other, and they managed to went to those specific parts of that maze of carcasses of cars and other stuff, open a trunk, grab a girl and place a phone by her ear so she could hear my voice while they ran away from the place. In one case, Connie’s, the three guys that had rescued her wanted their money first before they handed her to us. So I had to walk to the pile of junk…’

‘Hold on a second, when exactly you were freed from the chair?’

‘About an hour earlier, around noon. They rescued Mariska at the same time that ‘Xerxes’’ secret place was raided, and as soon as they had enough reasons to believe that the diary was legit, and they had the address of the junkyard!!!, a call was made and I was en route to the junkyard less than five minutes later… I arrived there and less than ten minutes here comes a BIG guy with Felysha’s body dangling from his left shoulder, and a couple of tall guys flanking them. He gave her to us, I don’t know who was the nurse that took care of her right away, I made the transfers and they left… but nine minutes later… I honestly hope that at least one of those greedy idiots dares to return to my home state!... One thing is to have somebody you care for under the power of a mad person, another is to have a professional involved, and another, very different, is to have three ****** idiots demanding cash in non-sequential 20 dollar bills!’

‘So it’s true?’

‘Connie talked about it? And you didn’t believed in her word?’

‘We did not asked her a thing! She and the others are at a clinic whose owner…’

‘Arendal, ‘Valley of the Eagles’ in Old Norse… because Petra Hauge is really proud of her ancestry… Autumn told me where was the place where you sent them…’

‘YOU WILL NOT MEET THEM… ESPECIALLY CONNIE!!!’

While her sister was trying to push her back to her chair, London just sighed.

‘I know… I know that is my fault, DAMMIT!’ – And she struck the desk in between them with such a fury that, for a moment, both sister thought that at least a mark or dent would be left on the flat surface. Maybe, if she was thirty/forty years younger, it could have been possible for London to break the desk in two. But she was 60 going on 61…

It hurt a lot… She nearly broke her own hand and Kathleen had to spray something on it before she bandaged it. After a few minutes of silence, London spoke.

‘So… I get that Connie has been having nightmares?’

‘Yes, she woke up screaming the night Faith spent in the clinic. Tamyra was with her husband, Autumn was surprisingly holding on and even convinced Felysha to allow her to sleep in the same room, in another bed. Petra wasn’t thrilled about letting any of them see or be with us, given whatever reason she might have for that, but Connie has no living relatives so… Faith was the one that held her after she woke up, and she explained why she had had… the nightmare that made her wake up.’

‘I see… (Shit!)… Well, after the most enervating negotiation I ever had with anyone, they finally agreed to accept the transfer, plus all the cash on hand that the rescuers had with themselves… less than a hundred bucks. So it was time for Connie to be removed from the place, and off she went. I stayed at an improvised operations’ HQ while the guys and gals went after Autumn and Tamyra. Tamyra was quickly found since they had put her inside a van near the hammer mill, and from where I was to the offices of the place there was but one path which passed by the side of the hammer mill. They cut Tamyra’s bonds, gave her a blanket and one of them was told to escort her to us, all the others zeroed on the offices trailer. By this time, however, the ‘lead goon’ had realized that something was amiss, made a few calls and realized that he had less than half of his men with him. So he decided to grab Autumn as his own human shield and leave the place, he had already been paid half in advance (and it was a lot of money!)…’

‘But what about the woman that was with him? I spoke with Tamyra about an hour before you arrived; she gave me a quick summarization of their ordeal… And according to her the guy, a bearded redhead dude that barely spoke, had basically a mean gal that was his sidekick, bed companion and spokesperson…’

‘And…?’

‘And according to Tamyra she took a… special… interest in Autumn!’

‘Well, that’s true. Tough not in the way you may be thinking. Do you remember that foreign girl who used to work for you a couple of years ago. Irina something? Brunette, great legs, small bust and a strong Slavic accent?’

‘Yes… wait a moment, isn’t she…’

‘Autumn’s roommate? What is going on between the two of them… It is Irina, right?’

‘Irene, she legally changed her name to its English form.’

‘Irene then, whatever is going on between Irene and the girl… I don’t know. But I know that she did took an interest with Autumn, to the point she was the one that untied her from the barstool… did Tamyra told you about them? They had been welded inside a container, probably because he wanted to make me believe that his hideout was somewhere by the river or shipping company… something like that. In any case, they arrived at the junkyard, were tied to the stools, pictures were taken, they were untied and then told to strip. Although there were wolf whistles and the likes, ‘Xerxes’ was not in the mood, yet, to allow any kind of ‘liberties’ with them… I was supposed to be present when it happened… So they were all sent to the trunks ‘Xerxes’ had assigned them to spend the evening inside, I don’t know why he personally chose those trunks of those cars on those piles of junk… The girl… let’s call her ‘Babe’… ‘Babe’ and another guy took Autumn to the spot assigned to her, and ‘Babe’ tied up Autumn inside the trunk but removed the gag, I suppose that she made the goon believe that she had sexual interests towards Autumn, but in reality she was interested in asking stuff about Irene when they were alone. According to Autumn, after I booked them three, about a month ago, ‘Xerxes’ found out who they were and ordered her and a guy to take pictures of the ‘trio of baits’. And when the guy showed her the pictures he had taken of ‘the blondie and her roomie’… She made a ton of questions like ‘Where did you met her?’, ‘What do you think of her?’ and the weirdest one: ‘Does she still cries in her sleep?’…’

‘She knew Irene?’

‘Yes… But… I’ll get there in a moment. The point is that this woman DID NOT molest Autumn in any way you may be thinking of… And after like thirty minutes she was finally satisfied with Autumn’s answers, so the tape gag was back over Autumn’s lips, a little checking on the knots and the lid was closed. Fast forward a few hours later and there she is, realizing that something is waaaaay wrong with the job she is working in. And she sees her lover trying to sneak out of it… without her!!! But the guy decided that he was not going to be seen by the few men that were still around, protecting the office trailer, so he went through the back, which would force him to make a quite a wide detour. She? ‘I think I am going to grope that bimbo a little more…’ and went in a beeline to where Autumn had been hid at a fast pace!

So after they took down every single other member of the goon squad, they found Autumn still tied up and gagged, but now standing up, as she is being shielded by ‘Babe’, who’s pointing two guns at the guy who is in his turn pointing a Magnum .45 at her while yelling her some orders. And then they realized that they were surrounded, by both sides of the spot in that maze-like place they now stood, by heavily armed men and women! ‘Babe’ surrendered and now all guns were aimed at the guy, who sweated a river before kneeling on the ground while holding his gun by the barrel with his arms reaching high.

He was tased (like the others I had not bribed) right away, but when they aimed the taser at ‘Babe’, Autumn (still gagged and being untied at the moment) got very agitated. The gag was promptly removed and she pleaded that we let ‘Babe’ walk… which we did after we took all her guns. A dame did the search and found another gun, five blades and two brass knuckles (!!!)… But a deal is a deal and she was escorted to her car, which was also searched (no guns were found), and good riddance! Or so I thought…’

‘And ‘Xerxes’?’

London sighed hard and puffed harder and clenched her fists before answering.

‘All this time? You wanna know what he was doing while their men either were bribed into betraying him or were captured? The worthless pathetic ******* excuse of a worm was making popcorn! Popcorn cup after popcorn cup! He was watching what he thought was the live feed of his father’s scourge’s ordeal, and enjoying it the fullest! He… he had almost completely forgot about Autumn and the others! Nothing else mattered!’

‘And what did you do with the *******???!!!’ – she heard her usually polite sister ask as both women stood up. London stood up too before answering in a teasing tone.

‘I opened the door, got in as he, with the corner of his eyes that were like glued to the screen, just took a glance at me and started saying ‘I said that I don’t want to be…’ and then the recognition of who was entering the trailer kicked in, and he kept looking at me, standing by the door, and at the image an overly bound and gagged captive in the screen. ‘H-h-how?’ he stuttered. And I said ‘It pays to be friends with the Killer Ninja Girls…’, and that drove him off the edge! He went berserk that very moment, jumping from the rocky chair he was sitting on, eyes filled with rage and even foaming at the mouth! He crossed the few yards between us with two or three steps…’

And she reached behind her back at waist level, and when her right hand was back…

‘Straight to this little guy’s maximum charge…’ – she said as she showed them a taser.

‘Yessss!!!!’ – Kathleen said before she realized what she had done…

‘And then..?’ – she asked after trying (and failing miserably) to compose herself.

‘Kat… Ms. Kathleen, you’re human and there’s no reason to feel ashamed or whatever for what you just did. It’s okay to feel like that… As for your question. Well, the plan was to give as many broken bones as possible to all the goons, after every single incriminating evidence was taken with ‘Xerxes’, and then call the police. I suppose that they did just that. I don’t know what actually happened since as soon as he fell at my feet, twitching and moaning and everything else, I left the trailer and was in the car that drove both Tamyra and Autumn (both had been already sedated) to the airport. That’s when I got in contact with you guys and told you that… ehrr… how can I put it?’

‘Highly edited and abridged version of the facts?’ – she tried to mock while bearing a face that showed that obviously that was not her mood at the moment.

‘I told you that they had been targeted as bait by a business rival…’

‘But not the extension of their ordeal, their rescue or anything else!’

‘True…’

And they fell in silence for about five minutes, pondering what to ask and to answer.

‘What have you done with ‘Xerxes’?’

‘What I was intending to do all along… I have set… ‘Countermeasures’ that I would have put in motion today as soon as he put his plans in action. The fact that I am here in this city and he is still back in my home city, and that he set things in motion Friday, means nothing. We… they collected enough evidence to have him convicted of five charges of kidnapping, dozens of other serious crimes and even a few financial ones… So after a weekend that I don’t know a thing about how he spent it… he was forced to act as if nothing had happened. The whole day, according to an email I received around 7:10 PM, he spent locked and under guard (through cameras and a couple of new personal assistants) in his own apartment. His broker called him and he acted as nothing was happening, no matter how much the guy on the other side of the line yelled at him that he was going to lose big if he did not do a thing! But, if he moved an inch toward his financial safety… so he stayed put. By the time the closing bell rang at Wall Street he had lost three quarters of his money, and I had quite the day in that matter…’

‘He is not going to pay for what he did?’

‘He already did… The whole debacle is going to be investigated by the authorities. He is the guy that tried to f**k Wall Street big time, just like his father did thirty years ago! Cue the ‘the apple doesn’t fall...’ line. And he did it so in an inept way…’

‘But…?’ – Kathleen started to say but she raised her hand and her sister stopped.

‘And you know that because…?’

‘Please, Faith and Kathleen, you two are too dumb stupid too-smart-for-your-own-good lovely girls! You know exactly why I know he is toast!’

‘You… you are… the investment manager of the people who helped you ‘Friday’?’

‘No, Faith… Well, I am more like their own ‘Dr. Hosack’…’

‘Who?’ – She asked.

‘Alexander Hamilton’s doctor. The one that was with him at the duel with Burr…’

‘Thank you Kathleen. The point is that when the duel happened, there were laws against it in both New York and New Jersey. So both Hamilton and Burr knew that they were breaking the law, and made everything they could so their seconds and everyone else involved in the duel would not be accused of breaking the law too. Plausible deniability at its best. Of course Dr. Hosack knew that Hamilton was going to duel Burr, but all that he did was take a ride in Hamilton’s boat (at an ungodly hour) when he decided to go to New Jersey ‘visit’ the spot where one of his sons had died dueling a couple of years earlier, and stayed behind, ‘enjoying the Hudson River’s views’, while Hamilton and his seconds went to the duel’s place… Hypocrite as it sounds… it worked.’

‘So… you…?’

‘I have a couple of friends… Barbara, who keep asking me for tips about investments even after I retired. I do manage my own money and only my own money. But, ever since I was beginning, shortly after I had their help in 1986, Barbara kept asking for a little help. To whom she passed my ‘tips’ and ‘insights’… Is not my problem… But I wasn’t the only one going to lose big if ‘Xerxes’ had his day today… they would too!’

‘And… And what about this Babe and Irene… you really made it look like you had a thing to say about them… Is Irene alright?’

‘Yes… Look, when the jet got into the hangar…’

‘And where did you find a jet to bring them back here?’ – Kathleen asked, but London only smiled and shook her head. That was part of the things that Sofia was supposed to take a deeper look into… could it be possible that…?

‘Can’t tell you that, honestly… I can’t. But the jet got into the hangar, you and your doctor friends were there… things were still being discovered by them so I really couldn’t tell you much… and then you swore that you would me make talk today and left. So I got myself a ride to my old apartment, I still have some friends and business in this town so I will keep it forever, probably. I got myself some pills to sleep and woke up feeling miserable. I… still don’t know how I managed to spend the day until 5 PM, but that’s when the doorbell rang and I got a visit who told me everything they had found out about ‘Xerxes’ and his plans. I really wanted to kill him slowly, but after a while, my visit made me realize that this is the best way… To expose him and his crimes would mean to expose the girls to all sort of judgments from all sorts of ‘better-than-thou’ losers, expose you and your clients and… it was unnecessary. He was going to pay, both literally and figuratively, and today was just the first day of it…’

‘And…?’

‘I had trouble having a dinner and sleeping that night. And Sunday morning I get a call from the doorman. ‘There’s a young woman here frantically wanting to see you’, so I took a look and it was Autumn. I told the doorman to let her up, but he claimed that she wanted me to get down to the entrance hall… So I put on some clothes and went there. As it turns out… she knew the ‘guy with the green eyes’ and wanted to thank me. The doctors and nurses wanted her to stay the whole Sunday but she was not having any of it, she was going to meet me and signed all the forms the doctors gave her to sign so they could wash their hands about her… And when she was in the cab she remembered about the weird interest Babe had about her roommate. So what should she do? Go to her building or go to mine? She then remembered that she had no money to pay the cab…

At that point, I looked at the doorman but he said that, as soon as it became obvious that I was going to meet Autumn, he had paid the hack (and put it in my tab)… So we went up and she tried half a dozen times to get in touch with Irene. Nothing. I grabbed my gun and we went there. Door open, signs that a hurricane had just passed through it… and Irene sleeping on her bed; bound, gagged and blindfolded rather lightly with strips of white cloth. If we hadn’t awakened her while we were freeing her of those bonds, she would not need more than five minutes to do that on her own… Oh… By the way, Babe’s name is Cleo. According to Irene, she was a friend that she made in her short try at Albany after she left your agency. A good & kinky friend.

She was actually cool about having been restrained before they slept after playing some MMORPG ‘til 4:00 AM, something about a bet and the fact that Cleo was taller, stronger and a very sore loser… Anyway, Cleo showed up after lunch the day before and asked her if she could stay for the day, her flight had been cancelled… blah-blah-blah… they chatted for hours. Cleo made the dinner, they played a medieval fantasy game, Irene won and Cleo chased her through the apartment, bound and gagged and spanked her lightly because she had ‘dared to win!’. Irene was surprised when she saw what had happened to the apartment, and then she got pale and ran to a bookshelf. Can you believe that among three to four dozens of books written in Cyrillic there was this fake one?’

‘Hollow and more like a box disguised as a book than a book?’

‘Exactly. She cursed, swore, and said a whole lot of things that I don’t need to have it translated to me, before she practically fell on her knees before me and begged my help. She didn’t go into details, but part of the reason that she had to leave Albany was that she was supposed to guard a memory card inside that book. She got paid enough to start a new life ‘back where she belonged’, and would get paid even more when she got the phone call that told her to deliver the memory card back to its owner’s hand… And now that ****** Cleo had stolen the card! And she was doomed! And she had to leave town! A little above one hour later, we were at the railway station. I had 12K with me back in my apartment, so we went there, I gave her the money and now I had two gorgeous girls wanting to thank me rather effusively… But I practically shoved her and her bags inside my car, into the station and inside her cabin and we left as the train left the platform. And after a good brunch downtown, I spent the rest of the day with Autumn.’

‘And… about this stunt…?’

‘I had to talk to you about ‘Friday’, they knew that. And they also knew that you have a whole ‘crisis-management team’ that deserves some respect from their part. Plus, they wanted to know what you gals could have realized on your own about ‘Friday’…’

‘And when can we have our building and our lives back?’ – She asked.

‘About…’ – and she raised her left arm as high as she could. A signal. One moment later, the door opened and a hooded woman wearing a security uniform entered their office room carrying one big pink suitcase in each hand and a paper bag. She placed the suitcases on the desk, removed her gloves so she could unlock the suitcases, cleaned her fingerprints before putting her gloves back, and opened them revealing a lot of money, millions!, and then she got a call, gave London the paper bag and left – ‘…now?’

‘What’s this? Are you trying to bribe us?’

‘Hardly. But the fact is that you won’t be able to sue him without exposing yourselves and everybody that works and worked for you, and your clients. Still, a monetary compensation was in demand. Connie is going to need help, Felysha and Tamyra and Autumn are not far behind. Bills will have to be paid… why not with his money?’

‘His… ‘Xerxes’, right? You mean ‘Xerxes’? Right?’

‘Yes, Ms. Kathleen… Well, technically speaking that is. This is part of all the money I profited just today as his ‘investments’ tanked badly… His loss, my gains. And I don’t want a single dime of it. Give this…’ – And she pointed at the suitcase on her left – ‘…as ‘hush money’ for all the security crew that had to be neutralized today, to Sofia and Andrea for their ordeals and to you both as well. Burn, bury or use, I don’t care what you’ll do with it, but it’s yours now. And this…’ – and she pointed at the other pink suitcase – ‘…is for Autumn, Connie, Felysha and Tamyra. Split it all in the way you feel like you should. If you feel like you or any of them deserves more, and you are free to determinate how much more, just give me a call… Anything else?’

‘We want to talk to Autumn.’

‘Give me a night to put some sense into that fool’s brain… You can make any question you want to her, but not today, ok? Tomorrow at 9?’

‘Here?’

‘Of course.’

And they stood up. Kathleen decided to politely offer her hand to London, and got a bear hug that startled both sisters. And London whispered something in her ear…

She got a bear hug too, and London’s words for her were ‘I am sorry that this old mess of mine made me act in such a way. I was hoping that I could have more of those delightful hours you and your girls gave me. I will love those hours I spent with them thanks to you until the day I die, so thank you! But they won’t gonna happen anymore, right? So I wish a good and wonderful life for the both of you and all of your girls. And if you ever (!) find yourself in a hell hole, do not hesitate to call me to get you out of it!’

And, like her sister had done, she bent over so the smaller woman could kiss her front.

‘Sure… and I am sorry that we cannot have you as one of our clients anymore. I really am. But, it’s not about the secrets you have and we are not allowed to look into them… It’s about, it’s about… Oh hell… It IS about your secrets and your… your other side!’

‘I know… and I am sorry about it. And I am sorry that…’

‘You will have to tie us up so you and your ‘ninja girls’ and their male counterparts can leave this building… that’s what the bag is for, right?’

‘As usual Kathleen…’ – She put her right hand inside the bag and when she showed it to them, it was holding a roll of moss green tape – ‘…you catch it fast!’

‘Will we have to wait for Sofia or Andrea to wake up?’

‘I am afraid that I had to use a powerful drug with them, they will wake up tomorrow morning feeling very well so do not worry about it, by that time you will know more about this whole case to know, for sure, if you really want to learn what Sofia managed to find out about me and the ‘KNG’… I will leave some scissors down the hallway, in front of the elevators. You will have to worm your way to there…’

‘Fine! Get going!’ – She said before she turned her back to London and offered her crossed wrists to the older woman, who harrumphed before answering…

‘But… first… you’ll have to strip down to your bra and panties…’

‘WHAT???!!!’

‘It was not my idea, nor Barbara’s… but that was part of my deal with them so I could talk to you unsupervised. The cameras were on, but the sound was off… all this time.’

She looked at Kathleen, and then at the spots where, she knew, the hidden cameras had been placed. Next she sighed heavily and yelled ‘Whoever you are, you’re a pervert!’…

And she gave him/her/them the finger. Both of them. And tried to ignore the faces of the other women in the room as she started to unbutton her blouse… and stopped.

‘That stuff about more money…’ – she started.

‘All true, I will keep my gains of today in a side account. That money isn’t ‘mine’…’

‘Can you make Autumn bring another suitcase with her, tomorrow morning?’

‘So you will pay for all the security improvements, to prevent such a situation like now to ever happen again, with that money? ‘My’ money?’ – London asked with a smile in her face. She nodded, and London closed the short distance between them faster than she could believe that it was possible, and gave her quite the kiss!

‘Could you please stop making me regret my actions and decisions more than I already am, you silly girl? Now I will have to punch something before going to sleep!’

Blushing, which caused Kathleen to snort a little, Faith resumed her undressing…

It took London eighteen minutes to render the ability of the sisters to move to worming and wriggling, they were fine albeit unable to raise their arms or separate their legs, and she really gagged and blindfolded them to boost! A slight pat on each woman’s top of the head and she was gone. They threw muffled ‘angry curses’ at her, tried to have a conversation for a while, and then started to move…

While Faith somehow ended up in a storage closet with her head covered with a bucket, unwittingly creating a private joke among the sisters that she would be reminded of probably ‘til the day she died, Kathleen found the scissors about half an hour later. She freed her sister, chuckling all along, and they went to work right away.

It took another thirty minutes to have every ‘special security’ member untied and freed, next they searched the building. Nothing had been stolen, save for the video/audio and phone records of the past four hours. Three of the ‘special security’ team, including the head of all security matters at ‘Desires, Inc.’, Crystal McAllister, offered their resignations. However, the sisters did not accept.

Next they paid all the ‘hush money’ they would end up needing. Crystal (an early 50’s Manchester gal with quite the shady past, but totally trustworthy) spent the night checking all the flaws and insufficiencies in the building’ security that, per her analysis, had caused her to fail, and then she elaborated new protocols (and saw what equipment available for sale was better for those). She had a complete report (with a really huge budget for ‘equipment and enhancement’ attached to it) by 7:00 AM.

Sofia awoke by 8:15, and by 8:17 she was on the phone with Faith who ordered her to go back to their bed and sleep some more. Unable to do so, Sofia turned on her notebook and checked more of the weird stuff about ‘The Secret Hideout’ she had found out the day before. Half the girls working in the five restaurants she had checked had been ‘committed’ to be cured of their homosexuality, and a third had rap sheets!

There was something in there…

But then she remembered the long talk she had had with London, as she pretended to check something in… her notebook! London hadn’t take her notebook with her!

Just like she said she wouldn’t…

She turned off her notebook and tried to get some sleep… It was up to Faith, if her mistress wanted to know everything that she had found out about London and ‘The Secret Hideout’ she was going to tell her, if she didn’t she would forget everything…

Realizing that she would not be able to sleep for the next hours, Sofia grabbed a book and decided to guard Andrea, who was by her right side in that extra-large bed, until the crazy little thing awoke. They had a lot to talk about what they had been through…

At 9 AM, punctually, Autumn was admitted inside Kathleen’s office.

She was carrying two pink suitcases with her! Which was good, given the amount of money they would need to implement Crystal’s ideas…

She was fine, more than fine, and only broke down when they told her that they knew about ‘the man with green eyes’ (or Carl Dennis LaBride).

All they had to do was check the rap sheets of the men found bruised and beaten inside the junkyard by the police. Five wanted men and two fugitives, and all the others were more than just ‘no good’ folks found naked and smashed up? The press had loved it!

They checked the only two guys that had green eyes of the whole lot, crossed some data, and found out that he had been the disgustingly violent burglar that had invaded her family’s home when she was nine… Kathleen had to hold her for a while, but after that, the conversation (not interrogation!) went fine.

Autumn gave a more complete statement about Cleo (and Irene), London, and presented her letter of resignation to the sisters afterwards. Faith had almost to shove Autumn’ share of the money into her bag for her to accept the money! Only two months later, the sisters would learn that she had moved into London’s home that same day.

By noon they had a better view at how much money they would have lost if ‘Xerxes’, or Preston Carter Maywheather II, had been successful in his plans. They were among those who had received (and followed to the letter) London’s ‘tips’…

For the next months, they could not help but feel like drowning in schadenfreude every time they heard about the federal cases against him, and every week there was a ‘new development’ (followed by a new accusation) being discovered! He got thirty years, and every single cent he ever had confiscated, for his ‘scam’.

Faith was home by 6 PM, and, before Sofia could say or do anything, she forever forbid the girl to even try to learn anything about ‘Friday’ and who had rescued Tamyra and the girls for them. Next, she had a long conversation with Sofia and Andrea, way past dinner and almost reaching midnight. The ‘normal’ (i.e. highly fetishistic) routine was back on full the next morning, but for that night they just slept.

Felysha and Connie left ‘Desires, Inc.’ as soon as the doctors allowed them to go back to their homes, although Felysha regularly dropped by and visited many of friends who still worked there (it took four years to Connie gather enough courage to do that). Both girls used their share to pay for their college and apartment (they ended up living together for a few years). Their shrinks’ bills were paid by ‘Desires, Inc.’.

Tamyra had two months of wonderful vacations with her husband, a few sessions with a shrink and then she practically demanded to be allowed to return to her job. She took all the classes Crystal told her to, and soon became the best ‘handler’ of the agency.

The clients of ‘Desires, Inc.’ took a while to adapt to the stricter security protocols, but since Crystal (that half of them either wanted to dominate or be dominated by for a whole weekend) was around to explain how she, on a whim, had pretended to be a big blackmailer that had heard just rumors about ‘Desires, Inc.’, and tried to (and managed to) have access to their clients’ list after ‘months of patient work’, they got used to them (and increased their own cyber security with her ‘tips’). Nothing happened in the three assignments booked while they were prisoners of London and her friends/clients.

In the end, ‘Desires, Inc.’ lost one of their best clients, a trio of models and had their security improved by force, but they managed to cope with it.

Especially after Kathleen (along with her eternal husband-to-be) and Faith (with Sofia and Andrea) used their share of the money to have incredible vacations for four years…

FIVE MONTHS AFTER THAT FRIDAY

‘Wait!’

‘What now, Taylor?’

‘One last thing… Why exactly did the Mistress have the movie made anyway? I mean, she actually exposed herself really bad with it, right?’

‘None at all…’ – London said as she gently placed the balled up sock inside Taylor’s mouth. She took her time smothering the strips of tape over the youngest member of the ‘veterans’, while all the ‘rookies & sophomores looked at the older woman who would share their ‘fate’ for that night with a lot of satisfaction… she had been the ‘drill sergeant’ of most of them (and the others knew the stories about her).

After Carolynn had managed to get a remastered version of ‘Killer Ninja Girls’ in Blue-Ray (it would only be available in the market in a year or two!), she contacted as many old friends (and retired agents) she could remember of.

And then all the current field agents of that section that were on leave, or had no job assigned to them for the moment, decided to crash at the projection.

So refreshments had to be made, plus popcorn and other snacks too; and while she was in the kitchen with London, Autum and Veronica preparing it all; a simple bet between the one current agent (or rookies & sophomores) and one retired (or veterans) evolved somehow into a bet between both groups.

Just like London and Carolynn had anticipated… Autumn made her best puppy eyes, but Veronica just patted her left shoulder, grabbed her by the hand and they left the kitchen heading towards the guestroom London and Autumn were staying. London called for a little help from the guest and the party crashers, and was informed of her role in the bet as she just supervised the transport of the drinks and foods.

On one side stood Kamala Masinda (48), Marie Blanche (52) and London Craven (61). On the other Jessie Smythe (19), Lyla Korr (21) and Prudence Pattison (27).

The best knife throwers of both lots.

They went to the basement of Carolynn’s house (behind ‘The Secret Hideout’), not the basement!, and held a competition of skills. The prize? Those who lost would be the maids (for the movie session) of those who won. Both groups were evenly numbered (22 women in total) so there’d be a private maid for every member of the winning side…, and the veterans won. And to add insult to injury, the ‘uniforms’ that they would have to use (and where did Carolynn had found them?) were very kinky…

Revealing micro black string bikinis, short white aprons, white caps and cuffs that were just for show, and coils of red rope, rolls of red tape and red scarves.

Recently retired Taylor Collins (48) and her best buddy, and field agent for another branch of the organization, Heloise Newton (25) managed to arrive as all the veterans had just picked their maids after they returned to the saloon in their ‘uniforms’, and that’s when Heloise remembered Taylor of an old bet…

Taylor tried to resist but picked her ‘uniform’ and went to change her clothes, making tons of questions about the movie and how many (then current) agents appeared in it…

The answer startled almost all the women under 50…

Save for the (very bad) actresses that played the ninja girls and their Japanese sensei (a Vietnamese actually!), and a few non-speaking roles, all the 37 women that appeared on screen were or had been agents at the time of the production of the movie?

How come?

‘Oh, stop teasing us!’ – said Heloise, who was enjoying a leave due to her broken arm, so all she could do was watch Taylor being reduced to the level of restraining that all the other younger women in that big saloon had been subjected to, which was provided by London and Carolynn (and could such a fat woman move so quickly and even graciously?), instead of doing it herself (a pity!).

After they were done, Taylor (like all the younger women minus Heloise) was still able to hold a tray at waist level and take short steps… And nothing else!

‘Well, for all we know. Miss Himiko came to the U.S. in 1940, somehow she survived the war, met her wife and drove all the from San Francisco to New York doing what she was best, establishing a good reputation. But since the beginning she was worried about hiding her actions. All her WWII crimes were pinned on a man that didn’t even existed! ‘Rupert Mendelsson’! She started taking pupils in 1946 or 47, and created her own ninja clan, of which we all are very proud members of, while operating with aliases like ‘Roy Batson’, ‘Ava Sheffield’ and ‘Madam Qi’ ‘til she started using frontwomen like Thelma Sanlans, Judy Storm and Katrina Walcott. By the end of the 70’s, there were stories about this job having been pulled by ‘black clad girls’, that one having been fooled by a gang of ‘bikini girls’, ‘Have you heard about that gang of babes the feds are looking for?’… ‘People’, nasty fellas, were getting too close for comfort. And she developed a three-way plan. ‘One’ was to make a lot of money in a single heist (one of our biggest ever!), ‘Two’ was to spread as many stories (real or not) about failed jobs made by gang of girls/women in the news. Some still call it the ‘Girls Gang Crime Summer of 78’. The third was this great awful movie which we are about to watch…’

‘The flick?’

‘Let me repeat, girl, the heist she spent a couple of years planning was her biggest yet, and there were many nasty guys (and that one lady) on both sides of the law about this close, this close!, to have a reason to take a ‘closer look’ at her chain of restaurants with a fancy atmosphere… So she decided to discredit, in advance, any idea that anyone could have about seriously going after… a gang of ninja girls! Terry…’ – And she pointed at the 65 years old woman in the most elegant dress of them all – ‘…even spent time on parole for her ‘lame stunt’. Ellie?’ – Now it was time for the oldest woman in the room (nearly 80!) to stand up – ‘If you take a look at the archives of a few Arizonian newspapers of the border area, you may find her exploits as the ‘head’ of the ‘Bunnies Gang’… in the comedy section!

We spent six months gathering the final data for the heist, and making everybody start to really think that ‘gang of felon girls = big joke!’… But there had to be a cherry on top of it all, right? As you may know… I am a good liar. Carolynn, Tara, all of us are because we trained to that. But, honestly, if you put a camera in front of me and I have NOT to worry about not convincing anyone about anything… like acting… we are such lame actresses! Get ready to laugh a lot behind those gags, ladies! If they were giving Razzies at the time, we would have taken all! She paid some bribes, made a few treats and within two weeks after being cut and edited, ‘Killer Ninja Girls’ was in the drive-ins of the San Francisco Area, in a month there wasn’t a place in the West Coast where it wasn’t being shown in at least one theater! One the most successful soft-core movies of the 70’s! And one of the worst! And when those same ninja girls of the screen robbed a few millions of the right and wrong people… who could believe the few witnesses that we were who we were? No one!’

‘A campaign of misinformation?’

‘Perfectly executed! Like that recent affair with London showed, we even had a suitable discrediting ‘weapon’ on hand for other cases…’ – said Terry.

‘Don’t make me remember it…’ – And suddenly all eyes were aimed at London as the lights were suddenly back on… Bitches! – ‘Do I need to remind you we are supposed to be watching a movie?’ – All the gagged and ungagged faces shook their heads – ‘…Oh, alright… Does the DVD have any extra, Carolynn?’

‘A short interview with Dylan Garrison, when he confessed that he was the ‘Alan Smithee’ that directed ‘KNG’ and the theatrical trailer…’

‘I will tell you about 1986 and this recent mess, but anyone that wants details will get gagged! Or have her gag reinforced! And when I am done, lights out! And while you watch the trailer and the interview. I’ll go check on Autumn… No buts!’

‘You really fell for her… hard, as it seems...’

‘Got a problem with that, Marilyn? (…) Anyway, the Mistress’ wife died in January, and in May the Mistress disbanded the organization. Those who wanted to stay active and use what she had taught them could do that, those who didn’t want it could do that too. I was in charge of the cleansing of all money of the organization, as well as of the retirement funds… Most of the girls that wanted ‘out’ asked me to look for new investments, ‘fresh new start’ and all that, and that’s when I met that slime ball…’

All in all, at least in that part of her deposition to the Calhoun sisters she hadn’t lied.

She had been visited by three of the most powerful men in the state, and the idea of using the movie she had taken part of as the ‘decoy’ (which was in fact the most important part of the plan) hadn’t been nor hers nor Carolynn’s…

All the rest had been a big fat lie…

And, somehow, she managed to finish her honest tale in less than one hour.

By then all the popcorn, refreshments and snacks had been devoured by the guests and their maids (who were ungagged for that, obviously), so Carolynn decided to make new ones (she saw the trailer in 1986 and the posthumous interview in 1998). Somebody decided that the maids needed ‘fresh gags’ as well, and three veterans went to look for a ‘good supply’ of scarves, and London went to check on her… Housemate?

Ward? Protégé? Whatever…

Given the fact that Veronica six inches taller than Autumn, had fifty pounds more in muscles alone and was (officially speaking) Carolynn’s bodyguard (and had have all the training needed for that), she was expecting to see her guarding a well restrained blonde for her. Instead, there was just a note over their bed ‘I am helping her, not the other way around’ in Autumn’s calligraphy. And it was true…

She even had to help Autumn in finishing to buckle the last notches of the ultra-tight fitting mermaid-in-a-straightjacket fantasy (?), how did they call it anyway (and where could she buy one for Autumn?)?, the muscle-bound giantess now wore!

Just a quick check to see if she wasn’t in pain or had her blood circulation or respiration impaired, nope, and they were out. Both women chuckled as they heard her trying to thank them both with that huge black hard rubber ball mostly inside her mouth.

‘You certainly know some interesting people…’

‘Carolynn has ‘moods’, at one moment girls like you are her favored, in the next she wants them with little above legal anorexia, and in the next one…’

‘Girls like Veronica… yup, interesting people indeed!’

‘Do you regret…?’ – London started but Autumn wasn’t going to hear it, again. The taller woman stopped, ‘shoved’ her (gently) against the wall with the tip of her fingers and placed both hands against it, with London’s head in the middle of them…

‘Could you please, please!!!!, stop with that? I don’t regret having to lie the why I did to Ms. Faith and Ms. Kat, or Connie and Felysha and Tamyra! You saved our lives! And Cleo’s! And you found a suitable excuse for all the stuff you did! So if I had to lie…’

‘But Irene had to move out of town…’

‘Irina! Her name is Irina! She’s already going to change it back to its true form! And she had a crappy job anyway… The one you provided for her, at ‘The Secret Hideout’ in Ottawa, is much much better! And if she hadn’t been sent there she would not have met Cybele! And we would not have a wedding to attend next month!’

‘Well, true, but what about Cleo?’

‘What about her?’ – said an increasingly exasperated Autumn.

‘I kind of had an agent infiltrated in Preston’s gang of goons that you knew as my friend, and something else since you and her spent a night sharing a bed as my captives (what a shock it might have been to you to see her that day!)… and it amounted to…’

‘No one but Preston and that red bearded creep knew that they were going to act Friday! YOU told me that! Were you lying to me? Were you?’ – London timidly shook her head, and Autumn relaxed – ‘So… Ms. ‘I-am-so-sorry’… stop doing that! She did her best to keep an eye on all of us while pretending to be… wolfing me and Connie! And she took a bullet from that creep! Protecting me! And YOU and… and…’

‘Jing, her name is Jing… ‘Mariska Cheng’ is an alias based on that Olivia…’

‘You and Jing beat the crap out of him because of that, I read that the police believes that whoever did him used iron bars! But it was you and Jing, because of me, right?’

‘Yes… But, still… because of what you saw and heard that day, and that weekend, you had to be removed from your old life! And now you are…’

‘Under the loving care, incredibly delicious dominance, very occasional submission to my own whims and brand of it, undeniable helpful hand with my studies at the college (that you are paying) and all the protection that a wonderful crazy old…’

‘Watch it!’ – London said as she cut her short and placed the tip of her left index finger over the blonde’s lips. Smiling, Autumn continued…

‘Ehrr, …crazy old killer ninja girl can give to sweet little me?’

And they heard a chuckle… She was getting old, or the girl was that good. Maybe both.

It was Madison, Ellie’s granddaughter, a promising cadet… Both, most likely.

‘Yes?’

‘Well, you took your time with Veronica, and grandma told me to warn you that she and all the veterans will jump on you and force you to wear that revealing ‘maid’ uniform if you dare to keep them waiting any longer! So…’

‘Alright, alright… But can you do me a favor?’

‘Carolynn already told me to ‘punish’ this grinning blonde for not being able to prepare Veronica for her ‘in due time’, which caused your delay… Now please go, they were telling a ‘maid’ to go fetch the bikini, apron and such… They are really going to do it!’

‘Let them try!’

London left the pair of grinning younger women stomping her feet, and Autumn turned to one of her ‘new’ best friends with inquisitive eyes. Madison just grabbed her hand and they started walking side by side in the direction of London’s room.

‘Was that Friday the mess she wants me to believe it was with all her guilt?’

‘More or less. The kidnappings were unexpected, but the rest went as we had planned… after we made the proper adaptations. She kinda freaked out when she saw the picture of you and the others… Carolynn almost took the reins of the whole thing!’

‘So she’s…’

‘London has a reputation of a control freak, only when it comes to the operations that is. If a thing does not happen as she planned or anticipated, and there are innocent victims because of that… In 2003, or was it 2002? Anyway, there were three buddies that tried the same thing that Preston did, on a much smaller scale. She was going to be slashed in a few millions. But, since she has been our financial manager since 1978, and every lady’s pension and retirement plans pass through her fingers… Like just now all she had to do was say: ‘I need a little help here’, and the whole restaurant (plus some agents from other franchises) was ready to obey her orders!

But, while one of the losers was really smart and only wanted to make ONE white collar crime, he had the reputation of a bossy guy (even to his friends), his pals called him a ‘wussy’ and decided to ensure that she would obey their whims… and kidnapped two co-eds that were working at her firm as interns! I once talked to the dames that posed as her new secretaries/bodyguards at the meeting where she, supposedly, would crush their dreams. She blew the ‘boss’ attitude and then, unexpectedly, one of the guys shows a picture of the co-eds inside a closet (Hands above their heads, handcuffed and making company to many unused hangers, cleave-gagged with their own ties and with their skirts down, exposing their panties), and London turned red in front of everybody. And the fat dude, chuckling, said that it was better for the girls that she obeyed their orders right away…’

‘Poor sucker… how it went?’

‘One knuckle punch with the right hand in his Adam’s apple, the sole of her left feet in the middle of his big fat belly and her elbow hammering the top of his head. 10 seconds or even less! One of her secretaries almost shrieked, but one of the secretaries quickly grabbed her and handgagged her, the other losers were livid. The one that had nothing to do with the kidnapping was speechless, but she knew him well and aimed her rage solely at the other kidnapper. They were inside a closet of his ex-brother-in-law’s house (he still had a spare key), and the person was enjoying some vacations and would only return there three or four days later! She was among those who rescued the girls less than one hour later, the three losers ended up losing way much more than the original amount she had planned them to lose. But… the co-eds’ ordeal was not in her plans…’

‘(…)?’

‘Well… she paid their college, and a brand new car (they had been kidnapped while waiting for the bus to take them to their job), for starters!’

They had arrived, Autumn opened the door and, as she started to remove her clothes…

‘Don’t worry… we are having lots of fun, she’s being way more helpful than she could and should be… a little help? (…) Thank you… I don’t know where we will go from here, but that’s between me and her, and you are definitely not the first one to come to me wanting to give me a ‘tip’ as how unwise it would be to break her heart!’

‘That’s not the way you should speak with who is going to truss you up about… now…’

Damn, she was gorgeously beautiful! But as of now… hands off!

According to her grandma (and other veterans), deep down London was the kind of gal that would feel guilty of anything that wasn’t even her fault till her dying breath! But, if her previous experiences with the ‘victims of her incompetence’ were of any utility…

By December she would be able to try to grab the now stripping blonde girl for her.

She really was going to try it… Pity on those who stood in her way!

‘Should I know what you are thinking about me?’

‘Turn around, now!’ – She said while not even trying to hide her blush.

Wearing only a classy set of lacy grey panties and… just the panties now, Autumn turned her back to Madison and offered her crossed wrists to her friend. Sassy girl…

‘Where does she keeps it? The ammo to truss you up?’

‘That drawer over there, it’s a bit messy on purpose… (‘Ammo’)?’

‘So she can pick at whim whatever she will use on you?’ – Autumn nodded without turning her head to Madison, who got amazed at the chaos (and variety of restraining stuff) she saw in the large drawer – ‘Well, the movie lasts for 75/80 minutes, and there’s the goodbyes, maybe the untying, maybe, and cheers and such… I take that she’s going to enter through that door in about two hours… and I still will be preparing you for her!’

‘Promises… promises… All I am hearing are empty promises…’

First thing first, gag her! But with what? There were so many options!

Something big, enormous, that’s for sure! Let’s… see…

The End

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