That news alone hadn't been enough to coax Karim away from his beautiful Mediterranean villa, but the tone in the voices of his men had been. He couldn't be seen as lax when his men were worried. They hadn't found a trace of their comrades, not even bodies to bury, and that was troubling. Karim only gave lip service to religion and only then when he absolutely had to, but he knew The Law. Those men should have been buried days ago, and even though his men ran drugs some of them were rather devout. Karim knew that he couldn't find the bodies, but he had ways of finding who did this attack. Perhaps revenge would satisfy his men. There was even a chance Karim could retrieve the items that had been stolen.
"Sir, the GPS is working just as we were told it would" the technician respectfully informed Karim.
He gave a curt nod. "When the Americans make an instrument of war, you can wager all you own that it will function properly", Karim deadpanned and looked at the screen. He couldn't decipher most of it, since his English was spotty.
"The main artifact has been taken to America. To the city of Chicago", the technician said. "If the person bothers to look, they will find the GPS device in the hollow of the tablet."
"Monitor the item and tell me at once if it moves." Karim gave the man's shoulder a squeeze before walking away. Karim didn't know much about electronics. He'd grown up in the steep mountains and jagged valleys of his ancient homeland shooting and killing Russians with their own weapons. He'd use the lessons he'd learned the hard way to win this battle too. All he needed was a name, and he knew exactly who to hire to find it.
Morgen Stern stood looking over Doctor Jeff Long's shoulder while he prepared X-417 to be placed in a tank of bubbling liquid. The oxygen rich solution would aid her healing. X-411 had already done a turn inside it, as had X-424 some weeks earlier. "She's not too broken to fix is she?", Morgen asked, trying to sound unconcerned, but he'd hate to have put some irreparable scars on X-417's beautifully smooth skin.
"Don't you mean did you break my Femme?", Benny asked from the side of the lab.
"Yes, that", Morgen replied.
Dr. Long smiled. "No, gentlemen, X-417
will be 100 percent
soon." That is what both Morgen and Benny wanted to hear. Doctor Long
was actually relieved at the distraction of working to heal X-411 and
X-417. It took his mind off of his large work load. Right now Jeff was
trying to turn a group of men into Series 4 super soldiers, working to
get the Series 5 upgrade finished, while also keeping his side project
of fixing X-424 a secret from Benny. That last activity was the most
stressful. Jeff wasn't sure how Benny would react once X-424 was
repaired, but in truth he hadn't thought that far ahead. Jeff looked to
his right and saw X-424 standing near the lab doorway with her arms
crossed across her breasts. The look on her face was unreadable, but
Jeff had learned to look into X-424's brown eyes for hints to what she
was thinking. Jeff could easily tell that her malfunctioning mind was
focused on him.
X-424 would have been amused. Jeff flattered himself far too much. She was thinking about X-417 and how injured she gotten during her last mission. X-417 couldn't feel sorry for herself so X-424 felt sorry in her stead. It seemed that Morgen Stern cared about X-417's well being on some level. He sure didn't love X-417, which spoke well for the German. X-424 couldn't understand how in the world Benny had fallen in love with a Femme, but being the object of Benny's desires had its benefits, like having free run of the entire compound. X-424 needed to speak with Morgen and to do that she had to be close. When he stepped away from Benny to make a phone call she saw her opportunity.
The nervous hesitation was a welcomed feeling as X-424 walked over to Morgen. He hung up his call and looked to X-424. "May I ask you a question, Mr. Stern?"
He slid his cell phone into his suit pocket and after a few seconds said, "Okay."
"I know that you have the power take over a person, to make them do as you will", X-424 began then looked up to meet Morgen's eyes. When he didn't say anything she kept going. "I've been thinking about that recently, and it seems to me that in order for you to control a person, you must first be able to detect the will or consciousness of your targeted person."
Morgen was impressed. "That's true. Is that what you wanted to know?"
"Half of it", X-424 said quickly, hoping that he didn't end the conversation. He watched as emotion came to her normally impassive face. "I saw you use your power on X-416 when the more powerful strength serum made her go wild, and you used your power on me back at that hotel when we first met so…", X-424 paused and stalled. The words were hard to spit out, like her tongue had grown thick and heavy in the last moments. She had to let out a breath. Her heart was racing and the background noise of her programming made it hard for X-424 to think, but she had too much riding on this to stop. Her entire life depended on what Morgen Stern said next, whether he realized it or not.
"So… was there any difference between
me and the others?"
"The other Femmes you mean?"
X-424's throat knotted and her skin
grew cold. She could only manage a nod.
Morgen sighed and looked at Benny and
Jeff before turning back to X-424's suddenly sweaty face. "There is",
Morgen answered simply. Those two words made X-424's legs go weak.
"Did you feel something when you
controlled me… do I have some
willpower inside me?", she pressed hoping for an answer that made
tomorrow worth waiting for.
"The other day I searched inside
X-417's mind, searched hard, and I found nothing. But you, I don't even
have to search. I can feel you right now. Your willpower is quite
strong."
"Are you being truthful?", X-424 asked again, barely able to believe Morgen's words. It was too good to be true. He had to be fooling with the stupid Femme who dared ask the great Morgen Stern a stupid question. He was a big important man and she was nothing but Benny's plaything, but when she looked up to Morgen's face she knew better than to give in to her doubts.
"I wouldn't lie to you. Lying is like
placing a bet. It should
always be done on purpose and only after careful study", he said with a
smirk.
X-424 wiped at her eyes to keep tears
from rolling down her cheeks. Morgen had no idea how important his
words were. "Please don't tell Benny what we spoke
about, Mr. Stern."
"I won't, but now I've got a request for you", Morgen said and all traces of that smirk faded.
"Anything, Mr. Stern", X-424 replied. Only one person ever requested things from X-424, everyone else ordered them. It felt great to have a man like Morgen Stern treating her like a human.
"I'm not stupid", Morgen began in a tone that got X-424's attention in a way her programming never had. "You didn't ask me this question in a vacuum. You have something planned and whatever it is, I need it not to affect me or my business."
"Mr. Stern, there is no way I have the ability to affect you or your business."
"Wrong. Benny's madly in love with
you. I don't think the man has ever truly loved a woman before, so this
is new to him. In your capacity as his first love, your influence is enormous. Very soon he's going to be very important to me
and to my business. Now I answered what you asked me without strings,
freely. I would hope that I don't live to regret that."
"Never. I give my word", X-424 replied
earnestly.
Morgen laughed. "The word of a Femme. This day gets better by the moment." He turned away from X-424 and went back to Benny and Jeff.
Jeff saw X-424 leave the lab after speaking to Morgen. They'd had their backs turned so he hadn't been able to see anything about the conversation, but it didn't matter. Jeff felt better now that she was gone. She made him nervous, with good reason. After checking X-417's vitals one more time, Jeff looked up from his monitor to see Benny and Morgen leaving the lab too.
"I need to talk to you about something", Morgen said as they started down the hall towards Benny's apartment.
"I'm all ears", Benny replied, wondering what in the world Morgen wanted now.
"You're good with computers. I need you to do a little snooping."
"Snooping for what?"
"Not a what… a who. I have a list of people who work for the Syndicate, but since the fall of Syndicate Council, that list is next to useless. There is one man who's come to my attention who has some dirt that he's trying to cover. I want it uncovered."
Benny sighed. "Don't you have people for that?"
"Of course I do", Morgen began. "They're working on the other names. You and, I'm afraid, only you have the skills needed to find information on this particular target. Look, you helped your friend Malcolm, now you can help me."
Benny rubbed his chin. "I'm not sure we're friends."
"Business arrangements don't require friendships."
"Very true", Benny allowed. "You do understand that I haven't done any serious security circumventing in years, right?"
Benny had been a hacker back in the days when the internet was like the wild west. Benny had hacked anything and everything that could be hacked. He'd been one of the pioneers at writing packet grabbing software. The scene had moved on in the years that Benny had been locked up in prison. If he'd loved computers a little more and raping young women a little less, Benny could have been a hacker icon. Instead only the really old heads remembered his call sign.
"You're dipping your toes into the water. You've already set up online scams to make this organization money, but that's small potatoes as they say. It's time to get back in with the big boys."
Benny knew that Morgen was simply stroking his ego. The only problem was that it was working. "I don't have the sort of equipment it would take for serious hacking. I need to have lots of power and yet be able to stay invisible. I can do that, but not with the computers and networking equipment I currently have."
"Done. Order whatever you want, the money's at your disposal. Spend what you need and waste nothing", Morgen gave Benny the terms.
Benny nodded and the agreement was sealed between the two of them. "So who is this mystery person?"
"The man's name is William Granger."
Benny choked. "The CIA guy?"
"You've heard of him?", Morgen was surprised.
"Once I got into the international criminal underground business, I thought it best to get to know the opposition and the competition."
Morgen grinned. "Everyone says you're smart. Crazy as hell, but very smart."
"All true", Benny said and grinned too. He indeed was crazy, but he was doing so much better now that he had to work to remember how crazy he'd been in the past. "So you want me to hack the CIA? That would take an army."
"Not the CIA directly. I want information about Granger himself. He's mixed up with some non-government actors and having some info on him might strengthen my hand if I need to draw a trump card. Can you do it?"
Benny shrugged. "I can try my best."
Morgen nodded. "I'll take that", he said and started towards the exit. He knew that whatever Benny ordered would be extremely expensive, but money only existed to be spent so the price, whatever it turned out to be, didn't trouble him. Morgen's mind shifted as he drove his rented Mercedes-Benz into Atlanta. He had to service a debt that money alone couldn't repay.
LaShaunta Turner snatched the top off her bottle and guzzled almost all the flavored water in it before taking a breath. She wiped her mouth then finished off the rest. Sweat poured down her forehead, but LaShaunta wasn't nearly finished with her workout. She looked up to the top of Bobby Dodd Stadium and had a moment of self doubt. The top looked a thousand miles away with a million steps in between. LaShaunta smiled and sprinted up taking every single step. She high stepped, driving her knees up to her chest with each blurred repetition. For a split second when the toes of her shoes landed her muscles froze to reveal a vision of complete athletic perfection with each muscle group clearly separated and bulging next to their bulging neighbors. LaShaunta's ass was a muscular orb that neither gravity nor her quick pace could ruin. She kept her abs extra tight as she continued to pump her legs as quickly as she could.
She kept her eyes on the prize even if sweat fell down to gather in her luscious lashes as she came near the top of the stadium. She took one look at her feet to keep her steps true and ended up admiring the deep split and anatomy chart definition of her quads. She grinned at the sight, but not because her muscles were beautiful, which they were, but because those muscles made her run faster. All of her muscles helped her run faster, that's why she wanted them, that's why LaShaunta worked her body so hard.
Sweat stung her eyes as the pain increased to levels that would have caused most people to quit. LaShaunta wasn't an ordinary athlete. She was an exceptional one. Her lungs burned, and her quads were on the verge of cramping. Her legs still rose and fell with robotic precision though. She wouldn't allow anything to keep her from completing each rep exactly the way she intended. At the top, LaShaunta took about a second and a half to look out at the skyline of her hometown before turning around and running back down the way she'd come.
With the powerful thickness of her legs and the sleek explosiveness of the rest of her body, people only needed one guess to get that LaShaunta ran track. She had the body of the ultimate sprinter. Her muscles were capable of producing huge sums of power allowing LaShaunta to run at her full speed for more than 400m. LaShaunta was a pretty good 100m girl, but she shined at the full lap race. Back when she used to compete, LaShaunta had run all the sprint races at one time or another, but those days were finished. LaShaunta wasn't sure if she'd compete in her favorite sport ever again. She couldn't be upset though. She'd created this bad situation herself, and she'd always been taught about consequences.
None of those thoughts were rolling through LaShaunta's mind as she reached the bottom and grabbed her last jug of water. Her muscles twitched from lactic shock as she poured the water down her throat. LaShaunta walked around the lower bowl as she allowed her body to cool off in the January sun. She wasn't alone in the stadium. There were some maintenance guys and some members of the Tech football team there too. They couldn't keep from watching the girl with the awesome body and iron will going through her workout. Her body was so curvy and hard that it was unreal with her almost cartoonish curves, from her strong shoulders and full breasts, to her small hard waist to her tear educing hips that were balanced by her thighs and calves. From head to toe, LaShaunta was an example of form and function mixed without compromise.
After taking a full lap around the bottom of the track, LaShaunta put her bottles back in the bag and grabbed a towel to wipe her face. She stuffed the towel back in the bag then gingerly put the strap over her shoulders. Every muscle was so weak now. Her bag, which weighed about ten pounds, felt like it weighed a hundred. A couple of football players followed LaShaunta with their eyes until she went into the women's restroom back in the concourse. Both guys individually decided to talk to the track star beauty. They milled around the concourse for nearly twenty minutes before deciding that they must have missed her. They had no idea that LaShaunta had gone home the moment the door had closed. She was in the shower when those guys finally gave up their search and went back to their own training.
It took a couple of hours for Morgen to reach the upscale Ansley Park neighborhood just north of downtown Atlanta. He traveled the area's winding streets to find his destination. LaShaunta's family home was an understated white and gray. The front door was flanked by two evergreen trees that still had the Christmas lights up and would for another two days. Morgen didn't pull into the drive instead parking on the street. He didn't get two steps before he looked towards the side of the house and saw Mr. Turner getting out of his 7 series BMW.
Richard Turner had never been much of an athlete and had always had a bit of a paunch even in his younger days. For years he'd settled for too many late night fast food meals so he could keep working. His wife, Darlene, had pretty much broken him from that bad habit though. He still worked hard and sometimes worked late, but that went with his position as one of the most respected men in the insurance industry. He was on the short list to become CEO when the current executive finally rode off into the sunset. All in all Rich Turner couldn't have come up with a complaint to voice about his life. He had a wonderful loving wife, great kids, and a great job that he enjoyed.
Rich sighed when he looked towards the street and saw Morgen. The handsome German buttoned his jacket as he walked closer. The father of three managed not to roll his eyes at Morgen's approach. If there was one small quibble with his life, it would be LaShaunta's continued association with people like Morgen Stern. He didn't know Morgen's true business and he had no idea how LaShaunta fit into it. To hear either one of them tell it, Morgen was simply an old friend.
Rich knew better. It all had something to do with the trading of LaShaunta's very lucrative power. Morgen and the Broker had helped Darlene and LaShaunta in years past, but their money was no longer needed. Rich made more than enough to provide for his entire family. He'd made soft suggestions to LaShaunta to stop allowing the Broker to trade her power like a commodity. In the end it had taken some tragedies committed with her power for her to see things Rich's way. The Broker no longer traded LaShaunta's power, but unfortunately LaShaunta hadn't cut these shady characters from her life.
"Good afternoon Mr. Turner", Morgen said with a smile as he made it to the driveway.
"Hello", Rich said with mock indifference.
"Is LaShaunta home?", Morgen asked. Rich nodded admitting that he was powerless to keep his daughter from going off with Morgen. LaShaunta was an adult, and she'd made her own choices for several years now, some good, some less so.
Morgen didn't need his powers to know that Rich wasn't happy with his presence. He wanted to explain that LaShaunta had saved his life, and he only wanted to take his daughter out to lunch. LaShaunta didn't want her parents involved in any of that, so Morgen kept his mouth shut. He knocked, and LaShaunta answered the door.
"Grab your stuff. Let me take you out to some place nice."
LaShaunta put a hand on one of those flowing hips. "Are you trying to make up for ruining my dress?"
"Amongst other things", Morgen said and LaShaunta's expression hardened. "Oh come on Shaunie, don't give me a hard time. I've got a reservation set up at that restaurant in Bologna that you like so much."
That got her ears perked up. Without a word she turned and rushed up the stairs. Her still sore leg muscles once again flexed to show their lush thickness as she took these stairs three at a time. She stayed in her room a little less than ten minutes before returning wearing a completely different outfit. LaShaunta had traveled the world more than enough to know that a girl didn't go to diner in Italy wearing throw-around clothes. "Okay, I'm ready." Instead of walking towards his car, Morgen walked into the Turner's front door and shut it behind him. Rich sighed when he heard the door knob catch, because he knew LaShaunta was already gone to Italy, where it was diner time. Rich knew that LaShaunta knew how to take care of herself, and he trusted that Morgen would do everything in his power to keep LaShaunta safe. It still didn't mean that Rich had to like the guy.
A few heads turned when Morgen and LaShaunta walked into the swank restaurant in Bologna's ancient city center. The waiter was impressed even thought he didn't show it when both Morgen and LaShaunta ordered in very good Italian while they conducted their conversation in English.
"So how is it?", Morgen asked after a time.
LaShaunta smiled. "You know how it is. It's always terrific."
"I've got something else you might think is terrific", Morgen said then stopped to take an envelope from his pocket. He handed it across the table.
"This is a letter from the NCAA." LaShaunta's voice was accompanied with a sharp inhale.
Morgen managed to sound offhand as he said, "The Broker told me your plans for the upcoming year, and I thought that getting you reinstated to compete was the least I could do."
LaShaunta wasn't even going to ask how Morgen had managed to pull off this miracle. She couldn't hide her happiness. A big smile spread quickly across her pretty young face. "I'd come across this table and hug you now, but the people in here would probably get the wrong idea."
Morgen laughed. "Look around Shaunie. They already have the wrong idea."
Just like any other business, pushing drugs on the weak minded took planning. Governments frowned on those who addicted their citizens to poison, and only good information kept the drug barons ahead of the law. For Karim, his information came from many sources, but his most reliable one was a German who Karim had met nearly fifteen years earlier. The man seemed to represent everything that was wrong with Western society, but he was dammed good at what he did. Now all Karim had to do was wade through all the proxies to talk to the man directly.
LaShaunta was still glowing from her reinstatement when Morgen's phone buzzed. She could tell from his face that he wasn't expecting a call. He didn't recognize the number, but he excused himself from the table and walked towards the back of the restaurant. LaShaunta watched him go wondering who it could have been on the other end. She wasn't going to worry herself though and took another forkful of the wonderful bavette and ragú.
"Good to hear from you Karim. It has been a long time."
"It has. We both know that I tend to call you when I am in dire need of your skills." Karim went on to explain what had happened to his facility in Tbilisi. "I am not interested in you retrieving my stolen property, but I want you to find out who did this to me."
"Consider it done my friend", Morgen said and hung up. Karim wasn't one for small talk. Morgen walked back to the table as if the phone conversation had been nothing. LaShaunta wanted to ask, but decided against it. If he wanted to tell her he would. In truth, Morgen's plate was rather full already and now Karim had dumped more problems onto it. Morgen knew the right person to talk to though, and luckily enough for him he lived nearby.
After dinner Morgen and LaShaunta headed towards the lounge. "Would you mind waiting for a few short minutes. I have to talk to someone nearby."
LaShaunta sighed and put her hand to a hip. "Please stop being cryptic. You want to talk to Pierre."
Morgen laughed. "Sometimes I forget."
"I'll walk with you. I hate to travel on a full stomach." The air was cool but wonderful in an early January sort of way. LaShaunta buttoned her jacket and put her hands in her pockets as they walked down the narrow streets. She didn't say anything about how she was becoming worried for Morgen. It wasn't like him to forget that it had been Pierre who'd first taken LaShaunta to that restaurant when she'd been twelve years old. To her Pierre been a nice, harmless middle aged guy, but he was anything but that. He'd been a French intelligence agent until he'd been caught red handed handing over documents to the East Germans. After a stint in prison and virtual exile, Pierre had ended up in Bologna living in a modest apartment above a group of shops. None of his neighbors suspected Pierre of being anything other than a stuffy bachelor.
Morgen rang the bell and waited for the intercom to crackle. "Let me in you old dog", Morgen said in German accented French that Pierre recognized right off. Upstairs it was easy to see that Pierre lived alone. There were no homey touches that a woman would have added the place. It was very neat and tidy, but every time she walked inside, LaShaunta saw something else that she would have changed.
"It was wonderful to see you again young lady. You get prettier every time I lay eyes on you", Pierre said before he even bothered to look in Morgen's direction.
"You have a few more years to talk to me like that before you become a complete lecher", LaShaunta replied with a smile.
Pierre's laugh was always full of joy and mirth. Not even prison could take that away from him. He held out his hand for Morgen to shake. "Sometimes I dread when you darken my doorstep, Morgen. But if you continue to bring LaShaunta along I will allow it."
"I bring a paying job", Morgen said.
Pierre twisted his mouth. "Who's paying?"
"Karim Azimi." Pierre nodded and motioned for the two guests to follow. They walked past his living room and the dining room to what looked like a closet. The door hinges looked like the door should have opened out and to the right, but Pierre put his hand against the knob and turned it counterclockwise and held it. There were a series of clicks and hums before he let the knob spin back. Then with a bit of a tug Pierre swung open the entire seven foot section of wall. Behind the modest trappings of this apartment were the nerve center of Pierre's operation. There were dozens of computers hooked to the internet in a dozen different ways. Each had a different configuration and isp. He wasn't a computer expert, but his sons were and they worked for the old man earning hefty pay.
LaShaunta walked in the back as they stepped into this hidden space. It was a little over the top for her, but Pierre was an old school spy and couldn't resist the flash. It had taken a fortune to design and build this space in secret, hiring many different contractors to do little jobs to keep any one person from knowing the project. It had taken quite some time too, but it helped that Pierre owned this building and both of its flanking neighbors.
"So what do you want to know?", Pierre asked as he sat at his desk. It was full of papers and folders.
"I need to know who robbed one of Karim's places in Tbilisi just before New Years. It was a well planned job and the thieves knew exactly what they wanted." Morgen went on to explain the details. Pierre didn't write any notes. He kept them in his head.
"If all you need is a name, then have a seat. This should be quick", Pierre said and lifted a secure phone. Morgen and LaShaunta went back to the living room and sat on the sofa while Pierre worked. Morgen switched on the television to catch the second half of AC Milan against Parma. Morgen knew that LaShaunta wasn't the biggest soccer fan, but she loved competition and was soon into the match. Milan scored a goal just as Pierre walked back into the room holding a folder with only a couple of sheets of paper inside it.
"Does the name Damteni mean anything to you?"
Morgen turned down the volume and shook his head. "I can't say that it does."
"It's Georgian for attacker or charger or something. The man who uses that moniker is very shadowy. It is rumored that his people hit Karim. And a couple of days later some of Damteni's people hit a gang hangout in Chicago."
"Was the Chicago hit like the one in Tbilisi?"
"Couldn't be more different. The one in America probably used enhanced people whereas the one in Tbilisi probably didn't."
Morgen rubbed his chin while he thought. "Do you think the two acts were related?"
Pierre sighed before he replied, "I can't know for sure. All I can say is that this Damteni fellow is hardcore and well funded. I wish I knew more about him." Morgen read through the very short folder then handed it back. Pierre put it on his desk and closed the wall. "You know my son might be able to glean more information for us. I would call him over here, but it might be better if we go to him. He lives right down the street."
Morgen looked at LaShaunta who just shrugged. She wasn't ready to go back home yet. Back in Atlanta she'd have just substituted a futbol game for a football game. Either way staying with Morgen would probably be more interesting.
Pierre's oldest son Alain lived in a luxury apartment that was night and day from his father's place. Alain loved to sample some of northern Italy's finest ladies and he couldn't do that in a dump like his father's. He was careful to hide his sources of income though, very few of which were legal. Morgen knew of Alain's computer skills and could have used him to get information on Billy Granger. It would have been cheaper too, but Morgen only trusted Pierre and his sons to a point. That point didn't include keeping secrets about targeting a CIA deputy director. Pierre pushed the button next to the door and waited a few moments. "Who is it?", Alain asked in Italian.
"Are you busy tonight, son?", Pierre replied and heard the tail end of a laugh from his son.
"You caught me on a bad night. I'm completely alone." Alain pushed the button and the group went up the stairs.
Across the courtyard a man cursed under his breath. "Target has visitors", he whispered into his microphone. The order came for the group to stand by. "Copy that. We wait until they leave."
"So you bring me work", Alain said after wrapping his rather buff body in a robe. LaShaunta eyed Alain just as he'd eyed her. Neither had met the other, but they were too professional to chat while business was going on. After another couple of glances, LaShaunta sauntered away and Alain got to work.
His computer set up was much more conventional than his father's on first glance, but a closer look showed how seriously Alain took security. He sat down at a table and inserted a brand new drive into a specially built bay before getting to work finding any information in any database about a person who called himself Damteni.
LaShaunta walked slowly around Alain's apartment not looking at anything in particular. She just didn't want to stand around and watch Alain's fingers type away on the keyboard like Morgen and Pierre were doing. They were born intelligence collectors. They lived for it. LaShaunta was more on the paramilitary side of intel work, but as she got older the specter of danger enticed her less and less. Of course that didn't seem to matter on this night. The only action she might or might not get would be with Alain. LaShaunta didn't practice free love, but boredom sometimes made a girl do things she otherwise wouldn't. She smiled to herself and kept walking.
It didn't take too much looking to realize that sometimes an apple fell very far from a tree. Alain had style, taste, and just the right amount of flare. She caught a glimpse of Alain's bedroom and smiled. She wondered how many young ladies had been in there.
Alain worked intently on the computer, but he stole some glances at the pretty American. He'd been with lots of girls over the years, and for at least one night he'd truly loved each and every one of them. In all his years on the prowl for beauty, he'd never been with anyone like LaShaunta. Everything about her was different. Her look was exotic from head to toe, from her long braided hair to the soft features of her pretty face to that body. Everywhere he looked there were curves, exaggerated curves that were backed with muscle. She excited Alain so much that eventually had to stop looking completely. She was so hot that she knocked his train of thought completely off the tracks.
Down below in the courtyard the
lookout was getting impatient. "You think that's his girlfriend for
this evening?"
"Maybe?", his partner allowed. "She's hot enough, but what in
the hell were the other two guys there for?" The lookout raised his
eyebrows a couple of times and his partner had to bite his lip not to
laugh. "With his father? That's fuckin' sick."
"Pipe down!", a voice came over the radio.
Two hours later, LaShaunta and Morgen were sipping vintage port and playing cards while Pierre and Alain were digging up more information. "So tell me about the girl", Alain said in a low voice to his father who stood over his shoulder.
"I met her first when she was just a child. She often traveled with Morgen.
"Do they…"
"Of course not", Pierre responded loudly enough for both Morgen and LaShaunta to hear, but neither paid any attention. "That girl is about the closest thing to a child as Morgen's ever going to have."
"Child eh? So do you think he'd get upset if I were to make her feel like a proper woman should?"
Pierre chuckled. "The first thing you'll learn is that LaShaunta is her own woman."
The lookout heard his radio crackle before the commander spoke. "The Italians are getting suspicious of our command truck and if they call to see if the utility company has a truck out here they'll find out that they don't." The guys at the tip of the spear knew what this meant. There was a pause and then a sigh. "Proceed with your mission", the commander ordered and people started moving at once.
Alain and Pierre joined Morgen and LaShaunta near the table. The card game stopped and all eyes turned to Alain. "The name Damteni first surfaced in 1924", Alain read from the notes he'd typed into his brand new Nokia 770. "After the Bolsheviks took power in Georgia a man going by that title helped many families escape from beneath the communists' thumb. Some settled in other parts of the Caucuses but most went to the United States, settling in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The name comes up again in declassified intel records from the late 40's and early 50's. There is a large gap and the name reappears in the 1980's. This time the Damteni is running weapons and providing ready-made armies to any petty dictator and warlord who needed some extra guns.
"This Damteni is very careful and very inconspicuous. I was able to ascertain that he sometimes travels under a Georgian passport issued under the name Giorgi Sigua. We all know that's an alias."
"Or maybe not", Pierre spoke up. "We already know that Damteni isn't an actual name. Perhaps this Giorgi whatever is his real name."
Alain shook his head. "That name doesn't have a history until about 1993. Before that, the last person with that name died as an infant sixty years ago."
Morgen tipped his port and sat back against the sofa. "We don't know much, but I have enough to tell Karim." He finished off the wine and stood up. LaShaunta got to her feet a beat later. "We'll be in touch guys." Morgen and Pierre started towards the door together while LaShaunta finished the last of her wine. It was too good to leave behind. That's when Alain stepped up to her.
"Why don't you stay a while", he said in the most interested offhand manner.
LaShaunta smiled a little and faced him. His gaze swept up her body from bottom to top until finally their eyes met. "I can show you the best time if you permit me", he continued.
LaShaunta grabbed the end of his robe belt and gave it enough of a tug for him to feel. "I bet you would. I have to go though." She dropped the belt and started for the door. Alain leaned against the wall watching this woman's ass and hips in her tight pants. His blood was definitely up now. He'd never seen an ass like that in all his life, like a bubble blown by God. The natural sway of her hips was hypnotic. Alain had seen enough women try to impress him to know that LaShaunta wasn't doing that. Even her walk was alluring. He wondered how she'd be in bed.
LaShaunta stopped suddenly when she reached the door and turned to Alain in time to see him staring at her. She grinned and so did he. "I've got to leave, doesn't mean I won't ever find my way back", she teased.
"Don't be long. My life's empty without you in it", Alain replied quite convincingly. LaShaunta blew him a kiss and walked out to the hall.
"You shouldn't torment that boy", Morgen chided with a smile as they made it to the stairwell.
Pierre laughed. "So I'm a letch, but Alain is man meat?"
LaShaunta patted Pierre on the cheek. "Morgen always said you were smart." The group shared a laugh as they came to the first landing, then suddenly there was a loud boom. The lights flickered then went out throwing the three people on the stairs into darkness. Pierre tripped on a stair and fell against LaShaunta. She pitched forward with his weight and momentum forcing her down. She extended her arms hoping to find something solid. Her awesome thighs flexed through their lingering fatigue and slowed the fall to near a stop before her hands even reached the wall to stop it completely. Pierre got his balance and stood up straight. No one even had a chance ask a question before they heard glass breaking. There were hisses followed by the bang of flash grenades detonating.
"Alain!", Pierre screamed and scrambled back up the stairs.
"Wait!", Morgen tried to stop Pierre and grabbed the man's sleeve, but the concerned father pulled from his grasp. Pierre stomped up the stairs and was two steps from his son's door when he heard a single pistol shot that was immediately answered with automatic carbine fire.
"No Alain don't!", Pierre screamed and tried to turn the doorknob. It was locked. Pierre screamed and growled in frustration before battering his shoulder against the locked door. After his second try Morgen reached him again. "GET OFF ME MORGEN!!!", Pierre screamed in French.
"Back the hell up!", Morgen screamed in return and pushed Pierre out of the way. The German took a step back and kicked the door with all his might. It flew open and for a split second Morgen saw all this play's actors. Cushion stuffing and plaster floated all over the room, which was lit only by the gunfire and the crescent moon.
There were two people in tactical battle dress near the broken ballistic windows. Two more stood in the middle of Alain's kitchen pouring gunfire towards the master bedroom while another was at Alain's computer table with a knapsack stuffing everything that could possibly fit inside it. Alain had to be in the bedroom firing back at his attackers. Off to Morgen's left, Pierre thought he saw everything too, and didn't take time to realize that he hadn't.
Pierre rushed into the apartment
shouting his son's name. He
didn't know that one man had been hit by the opening door and even now
was stepping from behind it. There was another attacker who'd been
standing right next to the door. Pierre
made it three steps before a rifle butt to the back sent to the ground
face first. "It's the father", a dismissive voice said over the radio
link. He wasn't supposed to be a threat, just a washed up man looking
out for his
son. They didn't know that Pierre hadn't let all of his skills erode.
He pushed himself up and attacked the man who'd hit him in the back. Even with a bruised scapula his attack was vicious and effective. A kick to the knee put the trained soldier on the ground. Pierre's next blow was to the man's relatively unprotected neck. By that point the soldier knew that he was in trouble, but he couldn't react fast enough. Pierre pulled the gun from the man's breast holster before kicking the attacker in the pit of his stomach. These people were about to kill his son. He'd die before he let anything happen to Alain. He pulled the trigger, the bullet slamming into the man's body armor. He cursed through the pain and fell to the floor hurt but alive.
From the doorway Morgen realized that Pierre was going all in on his attempt to save his son. Normally he'd have stood and watched Pierre get killed and only later lament the loss of a good intelligence operative, but Morgen hadn't been normal since he'd watched Alphonse DeBraya kill his son. Morgen had been affected by that in ways that he couldn't begin identify. Pierre wasn't a very sentimental man. No thing matter to him very much, but watching this middle aged man attack soldiers with automatic weapons armed with only rage and a pistol Morgen felt stirred to action. He rushed into the room and attacked the figure just emerging from behind the door.
Morgen's hand to hand skills were good when compared to most people, but after a missed punch and a blocked kick, Morgen realized that these people were better trained than he. This attacker jumped into Morgen, sending a rising knee to his chest. The blow knocked Morgen against an end table. Vases, flowers, water, and dirt spilled down on him. His head hit the floor and some glass pricked his hands. This attacker was no longer playing around. There were too many obstacles in the room now. He decided to remove one. He pointed his weapon at Morgen's chest and pulled the trigger.
It takes one third, of one one/thousandth of one second for a bullet to leave the barrel of an M4 carbine. The gasses expand and leave the barrel first, followed by a tongue of fire. The projectile follows, shrouded in that deadly halo towards its target. This bullet was half an inch from reaching the end of the barrel when suddenly a hand pushed it. The muzzle moved only a fraction of a degree. It was enough. LaShaunta was visibly relieved when the bullet zipped over Morgen's left shoulder and hit the wall behind him. It was fortunate for Morgen that she'd decided to save his life before the shooter had even pulled the trigger, not even thought moved as fast as a rifle shot.
Morgen rolled towards the middle of the room to help Pierre while LaShaunta yelled and jumped the attacker. He tried to swing his gun back around, but LaShaunta was inside his arc. She drove her shoulder into his midsection and immediately wrapped her arms around his torso. Her quads and hamstrings flexed to cement hardness, her calves too. Those beautiful glutes crumpled inward like an imploding star, delivering all their power to the jump. LaShaunta's arms were no less impressive than her lower half. The fibers of her biceps looked like stretched piano wire. She powered this grown man and all of his gear high into the air, higher even than this fit man could have jumped on his own. The two hung in the air, in a combative embrace as LaShaunta twisted. She was in complete control even as the soldier tried to turn around to break his fall. LaShaunta tightened her grip and kept him right where she wanted. The landing rocked LaShaunta all the way to her teeth, but the guy in her arms fared far worse, but he still had fight in him though. LaShaunta sat on his chest with her knees pressing his arms to the marble floor. He tried to lift the young woman off with pure strength, but he quickly realized that her legs were much stronger than his arms.
LaShaunta flexed those deadly legs and the man wheezed as she compressed his ribs with just her inner thigh muscles. She knew she had to take care of this guy quickly, so she stretched her body towards the ceiling before she crashed down to deliver an elbow strike that nearly fractured the man's skull. He went stiff beneath her, knocked out completely.
LaShaunta turned towards the bedroom when she heard a man scream. A bullet pierced Pierre's side. He stumbled to the left, but not before returning fire. More gunfire put more holes in Pierre. Morgen was close, but close enough.
"NOOOO!!!!", Alain yelled at the top of his lungs and came rushing out of his bedroom firing pistols in both hands. To Morgen's surprise no one fired at him. The attackers took cover as Alain ran to help his father stand up. Pierre was wounded, but alive and fighting. Morgen smiled at the momentary lull. It was all he needed. Morgen slipped closer to the wall and focused. The adrenaline made it hard, but Morgen knew how to use his power very well. Suddenly one attacker turned and punched his partner in the head. Then another attacker punched and kicked a nearby comrade. Soon all the attackers had thrown down their guns and a melee erupted. These men were already filled with the violence of the moment and rather try to suppress that violence, Morgen just redirected it.
LaShaunta grinned and stood up over her conquered foe. She had a passing thought of arming herself, but she didn't figure to be in this room much longer. She teleported next to Morgen. "Ok, let's get them and get the hell out of here", she said quickly.
"Couldn't agree more", Morgen replied with equal emotion. He looked across the apartment to see Alain helping his father to his feet. Pierre was injured, but still in the fight. LaShaunta would have teleported she and Morgen to Alain, but she knew that even a split second break in his mind control would force him to start all over with these men, so she ported alone. Alain was shocked when LaShaunta suddenly appeared next to him. Pierre was less so. He hadn't known exactly what made this young woman special enough to travel around with Morgen all over the world, but he knew it had to be something. LaShaunta put her hand on Alain's shoulder and looked back towards Morgen when a fast moving dark shape cut through the moon light. "Look out!", she yelled at the last second before the shape crashed into Morgen and sent him reeling. His grip on the attackers weakened and instead of fighting one another they just stood looking.
LaShaunta teleported back across the room to stand behind this mysterious attacker, but then the dark shape moved. LaShaunta lost track of it and couldn't move away when she saw a fist coming her way. It hit her unprepared stomach like a bison's charge. Only her iron hard abdominals kept her from having internal injuries. The young track star bounced twice against the marble floor and ended up in a heap beneath a broken window. The attacker seemed genuinely surprised when LaShaunta managed to get to all fours. She dry heaved as her meal from earlier wanted come back up. LaShaunta looked up to see the person coming towards her.
The figure wasn't much more than five feet tall and looked almost that wide. The uniform fit oddly over a blocky frame. The weapons were real enough. There was a pistol on the person's hip and some flash grenades hanging from the belt. They weren't used though. LaShaunta still had the gun in her hand and knew that she could have tried to squeeze off a shot, but she thought she'd have been too slow. She was right. The figure moved with cat like quickness. It drew its leg back to blast a kick to LaShaunta's already smarting abs. If a punch had hurt that bad, LaShaunta had no intentions of feeling a kick. The kick was already on its way when LaShaunta disappeared. The kick went through anyway and the figure almost lost balance.
This new attacker looked confused after LaShaunta disappeared. That confusion didn't last long though. Alain and his father ran into the bedroom and closed the door behind them. This attacker knew that they might try and make an escape through the bedroom window, but there were people down there if they tried, so attention turned back to Morgen who still had the others under his control.
He clawed his way to a sitting position against an over turned table. His vision was blurry, but this figure took up his entire field of view. Morgen took some of his power away from the others and focused and slammed his power into this person's brain. Once inside Morgen gathered his strength and solidified his control over the will just like he did with everyone else. The figure stood still. Morgen let out a sigh and stood up. He brushed some dirt off his ruined suit, so he didn't see this punch coming. He just felt it. While in very good shape, Morgen's abs were nowhere near as hard as LaShaunta's. He puked immediately, sending dinner splashing all across the marble. The figure came closer and looked down at a helpless and confused Morgen. He couldn't understand why his power hadn't worked when it felt like it should have. The figure raised a foot to stomp Morgen, but didn't get a chance.
LaShaunta attacked from the shadows, her body working with assembly line precision. LaShaunta's flying kick hit the masked figure in the center of the forehead sending the five foot tall attacker reeling. LaShaunta pressed her advantage, spinning in a tight arc, building incredible speed before extending her muscled leg. This kick impact the strange figure's stomach. There was a sharp exhale and grunt after the impact, but LaShaunta was the one who frowned. She felt as if her foot had kicked a redwood. The person on the receiving end of a kick that hard should have been puking out their spleen. LaShaunta's brain didn't really understand intimidation so she just attacked harder.
She threw a flurry of punches and kicks. The opponent blocked a couple, but LaShaunta's hands were so damned fast that most got through and landed cleanly. LaShaunta landed three hard right crosses in a row then sent a rising knee to the chin. LaShaunta had to duck a surprisingly well aimed hook. LaShaunta let the punch sail over her shoulder. She almost cracked a smile before delivering a blistering kick that put this attacker down hard. The attacker slid along the floor just like LaShaunta had done earlier.
Instead of running to finish this attacker off, LaShaunta ported. She was already in position before the attacker even stopped sliding. LaShaunta drew her leg back and screamed as she drove this kick forward. She could not have possibly pushed her body any harder. She was moments away from connecting when two smallish hands caught the kick. To LaShaunta's amazement all her power and momentum was absorbed by this person's arms. The sleeves filled up by what had to be flexing muscles, and then the hands started to twist. LaShaunta knew her ankle wouldn't have survived intact. Before she felt the first stab of pain, LaShaunta disappeared.
Morgen saw the fight from across the room. He focused all of his power on this one attacker, hoping to overwhelm them. For a moment all the other attackers regained control of themselves because Morgen knew he had to stop this one. It didn't work. The figure kept coming forward, then to Morgen's surprise a young, very girly voice said in English, "I feel you in my head." She paused to catch her breath. LaShaunta's attack had done some damage. "Your little trick works on my friends, but it won't work on me so you might as well surrender!" Her words got angrier as she went along. Morgen felt his back was against the wall in more ways than one. Suddenly LaShaunta appeared next to him. The woman slowed her approach, readying herself for another bout with LaShaunta.
"Are we gonna cut our losses?", LaShaunta asked Morgen who was weighing his options quickly.
"I've got one more idea", he said.
With LaShaunta standing next to Morgen, the woman changed plans and went to the bedroom to find her real target, Alain. She kicked the bedroom door open and looked quickly to see if any windows were open or broken. With no evidence of a window escape, she inched into the room, carefully looking for the gun barrel that might end her life. She turned towards the door when some of her fellow attackers came in. Maybe that blond guy had released his control over them, and gone with that disappearing girl. She was wrong.
"The target and his father came into this room", she said and turned away to check behind the bed so she didn't see six fists all converge to hit her at the same time. Her own comrades wrestled her to the ground punching and kicking the entire time. LaShaunta smiled. For whatever reason Morgen's gift didn't affect this woman, but it affected all the others. He was going to continue this fight by proxy.
"Come on guys!", the woman screamed and her friends ignored her. "You have to fight him!" The punches and kicks kept coming. Her mouth filled with blood and the accumulation of relentless blows started to take their toll. She curled into a ball and put her hands up to protect her face.
"Alain mentioned that he had a state of the art safe room. The door's in the bedroom", Morgen said in a faraway tone.
"Okay, I'll find my way in. Keep these guys busy."
"Be careful", Morgen warned then took LaShaunta by the arm. "We want to save Pierre and Alain but if the situation worsens, we might have to leave them. Do you understand?"
"Completely", LaShaunta said and teleported into the guest bedroom. She used a well practiced eye to guess the layout of the safe room hidden behind the wall. With her guess in mind, she teleported only to find herself in the middle of a solid steel pillar. She quickly ported herself back to the guest bedroom, shaking. Going into something solid was always terrifying even after all these years, but she was unhurt. Whenever she teleported to someplace she couldn't see, she kept herself in a phase shifted state. That little skill had saved her life more times than she could count. She could have taken another guess to find the inside of the safe room, but thought better of it. She ported to the master bedroom instead where the six men were still pounding the woman on the ground. LaShaunta ignored the pummeling and looked quickly to see how to get into Alain's safe room.
Morgen had moved into the master bedroom's doorway to keep an eye on what was going on. He was surprised to see LaShaunta appear. He wanted her to stay away from that woman, but he guessed he had it under control. Morgen didn't allow the men to let up even when he heard sobs coming from the woman on the ground. He didn't know that she wasn't crying tears of pain though.
"Come on guys stop!", the woman's voice pleaded. "We're going to fail the mission!", she tried and the flurry of punches and kicks nearly stopped. These guys were highly trained and highly motivated. These were hard minds to control, but Morgen was up to the challenge. The pause in the beat down didn't last long. Morgen strengthened his hold on the men. Once again the punches came with a dizzying fury.
"I told you to STOPPP!!!", the woman finally screamed at the top of her lungs. She growled and six grown men were thrown fifteen feet in every direction. They bounced off the wall and slid to the floor. The woman stood up. Morgen and LaShaunta looked to see the fuming woman standing in the moonlight. Inside the safe room Alain gasped when he saw who had been after him. Her uniform was ripped to shreds where the men had beaten and attacked her. With the flimsy clothes out of the way, the woman's true power was revealed. Even LaShaunta swallowed a lump.
The woman had short, but not buzzed, brown hair, dark eyes with a few freckles on her nose and cheeks. She was cute in a girl in math class kind of way, but the cuteness took a back door to anger at the moment. Even with all its anger her face gave no hints whatsoever to what her body looked like. Beneath that young face was a seething, pulsing mass of muscle stacked on muscle, stacked on bone and sinew. There couldn't have been any fat on her at all. Her muscles were so striated that her skin had texture like corduroy. With her uniform blouse ripped the bra beneath was visible, but what it supported LaShaunta couldn't have said. This woman's cleavage was inches thick, but made of pure muscle on both sides. The craggy canyon her pectorals created looked like it could have amputated limbs. Beneath her pecs, actually in their overhanging shadows, her abs looked like big cobblestones had been slightly misaligned then stuffed under paper thin skin. They pulsed in and out like a separate living organism. Her midsection had more muscle than some people had on their entire bodies. Her waist was thick with muscle as was her hips. It was all balanced by her colossal legs. Her cargo style pants had torn when she'd thrown off one of her friends who'd been holding them. Her quads needed an area code of their own. Veins crisscrossed the surface of those quads like streets in Bologna's old city. Her knee was daintily sandwiched between the ominous bulging of her quad heads and the living granite pillars that were her calves. Her muscles looked perpetually flexed even as she stood relaxed, until she actually did flex that was.
Still under Morgen's control, two men recovered from the toss and attacked. One threw a punch towards the woman's head which she dodged and the other hit her in the center of her stomach. The woman didn't bother to flex her abs because if she had, her friend's hand would have snapped into a dozen pieces. Instead she took the pain of the blow then quickly forced him into the crook of her elbow. She did the same with the other man, then she squeezed and everybody got to see a the birth of a mountain range.
The wave of flexing started at her traps, which thickened like dough in an oven, growing upward and outward. Her deltoids rose to match her gigantic peaking biceps. The men in her arms kicked and fought against the squeeze but they might as well have been trying to hold tectonic plates apart. They choked and coughed and spit dribbled from their quivering lips as she choked both men to unconsciousness. She let them fall to the floor and no sooner had they fallen than three more men were getting up.
The woman leveled her gaze at Morgen. "Stop using them against me!", she yelled and slammed her fists to her thighs in frustration. The resulting thump shook the floor. "If you make me hurt my friends anymore I swear that I will fucking KILL YOU!!!" She started towards Morgen who backed away and sent the three men at her. She shrieked at having to fight her guys again. She disappeared behind the much taller men, not willing to actually attack them back. She picked one guy out and grabbed his head. She pulled it to her chest and pressed his face against her unyielding chest muscles. She didn't have to flex her chest hard to keep his mouth and nose against her skin, which was good because flexing her muscles really hard would have hurt him and she didn't want to do that. She kept him at just the right amount of tension even as the others beat her.
LaShaunta found the door to the safe room and quickly gauged the size of the room. In less than a second she was inside. She got lucky again, as this room was a bit smaller than even she'd realized. Alain and his father were crowded against each other. "What in the hell!", Alain exclaimed when LaShaunta appear right behind him. Pierre wasn't too surprised. He'd long suspected that there was something special about this young lady.
LaShaunta got her bearings quickly, she always did. Alain had several monitors inside the cramped room that looked out over his entire apartment and the streets below. There were more soldiers at the front door pretending to work on a street lamp. There was a vehicle idling in the alley behind the apartment building, and a group of out of place men standing about a block away.
"I don't know who you pissed off", LaShaunta began and looked at the camera feed, "but they are well financed and fucking determined. Take my hand so we can go", she said and held out her hand. Alain was already touching his father so all he had to do was touch LaShaunta. He started to grab her hand, but pulled it back when he saw the man LaShaunta had knocked out a few minutes earlier stirring. "We can't go back to the living room", Alain said nervously. The man got to his feet and rubbed his head.
"What!?!", LaShaunta screamed in the very small room. "I can take you anywhere! Hurry up! I can… oh shit never mind." She disappeared. She didn't have time to explain. Alain saw her reappear on his screen just as the soldier was raising his gun.
LaShaunta kicked the still dazed soldier right between his legs and he fell to his knees. Morgen turned to see what the commotion was, and the muscle bound woman saw her chance. With a growl she threw the three men off of her jumped towards Morgen.
"Behind you!", LaShaunta screamed, but this time it was too late. A blow to the back of Morgen's head put him down. His grip on the men went away. The woman reached down with one arm and lifted Morgen off the ground by his jacket. Two guys were recovered enough to grab their guns and train them on LaShaunta. She backed up to the kitchen island with her hands up.
"Don't hurt him", she pleaded.
"Why shouldn't I?", the woman, who looked to be about LaShaunta's age asked. "He sure as hell had my guys hurt me."
"Who the hell are you all?", LaShaunta asked while looking at the growing number of angry faces. One of the soldiers lowered his carbine, reached to his sleeve and pulled up a velcro flap that revealed a blacked out American flag. "Oh shit, I didn't know!", LaShaunta exclaimed in full honesty.
"We don't normally announce our presence to suspected terrorists", the soldier who seemed to be in command said.
"Wait! Hold on a minute! I'm no terrorist. Me and my friend were just visiting. We know Pierre, Alain's father."
"He's a known traitor to his country. Maybe you and he are in cahoots."
LaShaunta shook her head causing her long braids to fly around. "Never. I just met Alain today, and I don't know what business he's in. I just wanted to help Pierre help his son, that's all."
"Who's this guy?", the strong woman asked and shook Morgen like he was a doll.
"I've known him since I was a kid. He just wanted to take me out to dinner because I helped him with a problem last week. That's why we're in Italy in the first place."
"What about his special power?", the leader asked.
"Yeah he has one, and you guys know that they exist because of her", LaShaunta said and motioned towards the strong woman. "Those muscles aren't normal, and neither is resisting Morgen's power. Y'all've already seen what I do, and since I'm still here talking you already know that I'm trying to cooperate. If I'd known that you guys were Americans I never would fought in the first place."
"So if you want to be so helpful, where is our target?", the leader asked.
"Give me back my friend and I'll tell you", LaShaunta offered boldly.
The leader crossed his arms across his chest. "Who says you can bargain with us? I might arrest you and haul your ass to a camp to see if you really are a terrorist."
LaShaunta looked to the woman. "Tell them that I can't be arrested or held." The woman sheepishly nodded. "I'm here because I want my friend." Morgen started to stir.
"If he tries to take our minds over again I'll kill him!", the leader exclaimed.
LaShaunta jumped forward causing fingers to tighten on the triggers. "Let me take him!"
"Where the fuck is our target!", the leader yelled back.
LaShaunta felt like time slowed to a crawl. She'd never betrayed anyone in her life, but she exhaled and said, "Alain and his father are in a safe room. The door's in the master bedroom closet."
"How do I know you won't just teleport in there and retrieve them before we can get inside?", the woman asked.
Feeling defeated, LaShaunta could hardly meet her gaze. "Because I just want my friend. Like I said, I'd never met Alain before tonight, and I'm not willing to risk anything else to help him. I really do hope you get Pierre some medical attention. He's a nice old guy."
The leader nodded. The woman looked at Morgen and frowned. Instead of just dropping him she threw him across the room towards LaShaunta in the kitchen. He was helpless as he traveled near the ceiling before starting towards the hard marble floor. LaShaunta moved towards him. The onlookers wondered if she was strong enough to catch a nearly 200 pound man out of the air. LaShaunta wasn't even thinking about trying. She raised her hand as Morgen flew over and touched his leg. He disappeared. Then LaShaunta stood up straight. Her muscles flexed in anticipation as Morgen reappeared draped across her shoulders. LaShaunta shifted him a little to get balance. She stood up straight with all that weight on her though, and her muscles looked able to hold more. She looked up at a camera and mouthed, "I'm sorry", before she disappeared.
Alain cursed the fact that he'd ever met that woman, but he knew that what she'd done had only sped up the inevitable. He couldn't use his escape hatches because he was sure the entire building was surrounded. He felt like a rabbit in a trap.
The Special Operations team leader ordered his men to check for booby traps. The woman in the torn uniform went back to gathering the computer equipment from Alain's table. "And Carlton next time take your weapon", the leader said while looking at her carbine lying across a chair back. She shrugged at her mistake and went back to work.
About two minutes later the rest of the team reported that they couldn't find any traps set up. "It's solid construction, sir", one of the men reported. "Looks like concrete sandwiched between steel plates… like a vault. The top and bottom might be weak points, but there's no way to know. Only thing I know for sure is that we don't have a damn thing to breach the sides we can reach."
"Damn it!", the leader cursed and tried to negotiate for Alain to open the door. There had to be an intercom system set up, but Alain was having none of it. Seconds after the latest negotiation attempt, the sounds of police sirens started coming through the broken windows. The leader knew that it would be a huge embarrassment for the US government if he and his team were caught here. He was a second away from declaring the mission a failure. Just then the only female member on the team tapped the leader on the shoulder.
"Let me give it a try, sir."
He frowned. "You're strong Carlton, but strong enough to do this?"
She shrugged, causing her traps expand again. "The room's not that big. We won't know until I try, sir."
"Okay, back up guys. Let Norma get to work."
Norma didn't waste any time getting to it. She took a deep calming breath then punched the wall. Her fists flew through the plaster like it was wet paper, but her hands didn't go in very far. The entire structure rang like an out of tune bell when her fists hit the steel safe room. "Ouch!", Norma yelled and pulled her hands out of the wall shaking them. She popped her fingers then reached back through the holes. She felt along the steel wall until finally she smiled broadly. She wrapped her fingers through the same anchor points the crane had used when the saferoom had been installed. "Got them", she said. No one had any idea what she was doing, until the entire building rumbled.
Norma didn't close her eyes on purpose, the grimace of pain did it for her. She didn't rip the rest of her uniform to shreds, her muscle just exploded it. Thick slabs of jagged, serrated muscles was thrust up from the depths of Norma's power packed body. Big bloated muscle grew from every angle as if a mad cartoonist had gone to work on her body, drawing muscles where none had ever existed on a person before. Her lats and shoulders and traps expanded as if being filled from an invisible pump. She just kept swelling larger and larger before everyone's eyes, and for every bit of growth her definition doubled. He pectorals were unbelievable in their rock hardness insane definition. Veins didn't so much as burst to the surface of her skin, it was as if the flex obliterated her skin. Nothing at all could have stood in the way of this flex and nothing in the world could have contained Norma's continuing growth.
Plaster and dust fell from high on the walls and cracks appeared like a mad spider's webs. The building groaned so loudly that even people down the street heard it. Still Norma pulled. She was half again as big as she was relaxed. Norma walked around as cut as a bodybuilder before a show, but that level of definition was quickly becoming a joke as the sounds of grating metal started assaulting the soldier's ears.
Norma let out a breath as hot as a steam whistle before filling her lungs and digging in. Her boots broke through the marble and even cracked the concrete floor beneath. The top of the building started to lean towards Norma and the structure vibrated along with her muscles. The flat screen television in the living room thirty feet away fell over. Water pipes in the bathroom ruptured as the walls leaned in off of true plumb. Supports beneath Norma's feet began to buckle, but still she pulled and still she flexed harder, harder and impossibly bigger. Norma took another breath and this time let it out in a scream. She knew what she had to do. She began to curl her arms. Both biceps didn't waist time joining the orgy of muscle. They'd been hard and big, but as the building started to rumble like it was in the middle of an earthquake, Norma's arms detonated with atomic bomb power, rising by four and five and six inches in the space of a heart beat. The full bellied muscle gleamed in the moonlight and was otherworldly in his thickness.
Fingers went to triggers when they thought they heard a rifle shot followed by another and another. They realized quickly that those were bolts set into steel or concrete to hold the safe room in place. Norma bit her lip and growled even louder as her arms continued to curl a weight that she'd never before even attempted to move. Her arms moved higher by an inch and her biceps thickened by three. Two more bolts shattered and this time the top nut of one of the bolts landed by one of Norma's team members. He bent down and picked up the inch and a quarter nut and shook his head. "Fuck me", he breathe and showed the other men what Norma was doing. Those bolts were massive and four more broke in quick succession.
Inside the safe room Alain was wishing that LaShaunta would come back. He and his injured father were being thrown around. The computers and monitors and guns inside the room were sloshing from side to side. Only one monitor stated fixed to its mount and the camera feed on that monitor showed Norma in all her glory, flexing her body to new levels each and every second. Alain had bought the strongest safe room in the world. It had been delivered by helicopter and anchored to the very foundations of the building. All that money and all that effort had been for nothing. It was being defeated by one woman's arms.
Norma's bicep peaks were nearly on a level with her wrists and she could have gotten them to grow even bigger, but the safe room was high enough. She took a couple of breaths, readying her muscles for their next challenge, which they eagerly accepted.
Norma put one foot behind the other and pulled backwards. Her thighs quivered as they blasted out so fast that it looked like her skin couldn't contain them. Her hamstrings were an anatomical army, marching along the back of the legs. Her ass clenched into the tightest densest knot of ragged muscle known to man. And her back started to get wider and wider and wider as her scream grew louder. Her shoulders and lats grew so wide that even Norma's thickly muscled waist looked small. The floor sagged beneath her feet and the marble tiles turned to dust as she took a step back. The wall in front of her completely gave way, showering Norma in plaster and huge chunks of wall. Everything bounced off of her body. None of it was nearly hard enough to dent her flexing muscles. Norma's sweating hulking body moved like a freight train now, and for the first time the men saw her burden.
Blue gray steel emerged from the massive hole in the wall as Norma's muscles finally stopped flexing bigger. She was almost as wide as the safe room itself. I was built just like a vault. It was a steel tube about seven feet long and four feet wide. Norma squinted her eyes when she felt new resistance. It had to be more bolts she knew, but they were running out of time. These bolts couldn't slow her down. She threw her head back until it rested between her mammoth traps and screamed at the top of her lungs. Alain inside the safe room had to cover his ears, but he didn't take his eyes off the monitor. What he saw was awesome in the way a volcanic explosion or a nuclear detonation was awesome. He just saw power on display in its rawest form.
The cords on Norma's neck were bigger
than some women's arms and the
striations on her pecs were only exceeded by those on slicing across
her growing enormous biceps. They grew again as Norma pulled with all
of might. They grew by full inches, obliterating their previous size.
She was a muscle making engine and it seemed like nothing would ever
stop her.
No one saw the back wall of the building being pulled inward. That wall was made out of special forged steel beams that helped support the weight of the safe room. Norma's muscles caused that entire wall of steel to buckle. The structure was on the verge of collapse. Norma wasn't so lost in her muscle orgy to forget her fellow soldiers. She was half a second away from asking them to leave the building when suddenly the structure rang like a gong. When three bolts broke all at once it sounded like a bomb had gone off.
Norma felt the safe room slide almost a foot when those bolts finally surrendered to her might. All her teeth showed as she pulled the safe room out of its hidden hole a little more. The tiles still shattered under her boots, and sweat still cascaded down her swollen muscles, but Norma had won. She loved flexing her muscles and feeling her strength grow. She'd never gotten her muscles nearly this pumped before, but she didn't have time to revel in these feelings. There was still a mission to accomplish.
Norma's fingers almost wouldn't open when she let go of the hoist hooks. Her head slumped against the dirty but cool steel. Her enormous chest rose and fell rapidly as she caught her breath. Her face was almost purple and her veins throbbed with each rapid beat of her heart. She was more muscular than any of her fellow soldiers had ever seen her. This wasn't the first time they'd seen her naked and engorged with muscle though. The first time she'd had to lift an ambulance and she'd flexed out of uniform, which was why she had an extra in her bag. She was too tired to put it on at the moment though.
The other solders climbed on top of the safe room and found a hatch. Alain grabbed a pistol ready to fight to the death, but an explosion caused a sheet of white to blind his eyes and a sound so loud his seemed like his ears would ring forever. Two men jumped into the safe room and the battle was over. Less than forty seconds later the team of Americans carried their prisoner down the steps and threw him into a van. Pierre they left at the foot of the steps. Norma jumped into the back of the same van while three of her other team got into another vehicle. The cops arrived fifteen seconds too late. They were left with lots of questions that would never be answered.
Ten minutes later Morgen was awake and in Atlanta, at his hotel with an icepack on his head. He sat shirtless with his ruined suit on the floor next to him. The bruises on his skin were angry looking and showed more than LaShaunta's but they hers were no less painful. She'd hit that muscle woman a hundred times and no it felt like those blows had backfired. Her hands and arms hurt so badly that she could hardly hold the cup of hot tea in her hands. She grimaced and curled up in the chair opposite Morgen's. "How do you feel?", she asked.
"The spinning's just about gone", he replied without looking up. He'd been staring at the same spot on the carpet since he'd sat down.
"Morgen", LaShaunta began then sighed. "I've taken you places all over the world, but until this week I'd never had to save your life. Not once. Now I've done it twice in just a few days. This is getting ridiculous. Do you know what I think?"
"No, Shaunie, I don't."
"I think you're in some heavy shit and you should get out before nothing on Earth will save you. Whoever or whatever you're mixed up with is going to get you killed!"
LaShaunta wasn't sure what she expected from Morgen right then. One of his little grins, or maybe for him to tell her that she was exaggerating, but she didn't expect Morgen to say, "It's too late. There's no way out of this except to finish."
LaShaunta took a breath and looked Morgen in his eyes. "Then I deserve an explanation. I've risked my life too!"
Morgen sat up and put the ice on the table. "Okay. What do you want to know?"
"Everything!", LaShaunta exclaimed.
"Why are you a part of any of this?"
Morgen nodded slowly. "For me it started with some information I received from the widow of a spy the Broker had planted in Jason Mallster's network. The info I got I took to a scientist who found out that it was a small piece of some extraordinary formula. Alphonse DeBraya told me that it was part of something called, the Great Recipe. No, don't laugh, Shaunie. Let me explain what it does then you'll understand why people will kill for it."
to be continued....
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