Skin Deep: The Dance - Chapter 5 free porn video

Chapter 5 A Special Dedication Erin and Shelly dressed and left for Hershey, PA. Shelly wanted to say good-bye to William since she hadn't gotten to say good-night to him the night before. Michelle explained that William was leaving for Europe very soon and couldn't stop packing or he might miss his shuttle. That held little water with the little girl. She was clever in an innocent way and had resolved it in her mind that William didn't have to stop packing, she could just go up to his room and give him a kiss and a hug good-bye. Michelle was afraid this was going to turn into a scene with Shelly; she was becoming insistent and refused to go unless she had the chance to kiss her brother good- bye. It wasn't lost on Michelle that none of them had gotten the chance to kiss William good-bye and she couldn't help feeling a small jealous twang at the idea that something else had been taken from her without her consent. Erin, on the other hand, was simply waiting in the wings, silent and smiling, her butt parked on the arm of the sofa in front of the VID. She wore white UFS Snow Camos and her metal-coated boots, padlocks and all. Erin just watched as her parents tried to explain something that could never be explained away to a four-year-old child. "I want Billy!" Shelly demanded. Her arms were crossed and she had a pout on her face that would have shamed Shirley Temple, had she survived the crude and sloppy cryogen-hibernation process. Erin suddenly spoke up from the other side of the room. She was not looking at the three arguing, she was looking at her timepiece, and fortunately for her parents, Shelly had no concept of time. She was not aware of the argument that for all the time they had wasted telling her no, she could have been up and back again six times. "Shelly, we're going to miss the chocolate-making demonstration and the free samples if you don't hurry." Erin said in a matter of fact voice. "Huh?" Shelly asked in total confusion. "Free sweet stuff!" Erin said with a grin. "Mom, Dad..." Shelly said. "Tell William I love him. I have to go get some sweet stuff." she said with a very serious look on her face. She turned and walked to Erin, took her hand and said. "Let's go." She tugged Erin off the couch and Erin looked behind her at her parents as she hit the stair well; shrugged and grinned and was gone with great clomping foot falls as her boots trod down the stairs. Saturday was then divided into separate chores for each Michelle and Gary. Since Gary would have looked a bit ridiculous shopping with a sixteen-year-old girl for clothes for said girl, Michelle was assigned that particular task and didn't object. Especially when she heard that Gary's first stop would be the Fenton's Townhouse. Michelle and the girl now known as Beth whet shopping for clothes that would fit better than her mother's clothing. Pants, shoes, skirts, tops and the like were all purchased. The volume of clothes purchased was overwhelming and very depressing. Beth could only think, Even if I wear everything only once, it will take me two months to wear it all. How long do they think am I going to be like this? She remained quiet however and suffered in painful silence. When they got home, Michelle went about the task of removing William's clothes from his room and replacing them with those they had purchased that afternoon. It was almost as hard for Michelle to do this as it had been for Beth to try each outfit and watch as the mountain of clothing grew and grew. With each arm load of clothes she took to the guest room closest the media room, the more it felt like she had buried and elegized her son and now had begun with the formalities of the healing process. First, clear out the memories. All Beth could do was watch as one more piece of the person she still felt herself vanquished. Gary's attempt to search the Fenton home failed. He could not break in during the middle of the day. There was no discernable way in. In his youth he may have been reckless but he had only broken into a building once. It had proved to be an ill-fated adventure that had never been repeated. Gray was simply not the cat-burglar type. He checked the doors and both front and HOV bay doors were locked. The Brown stone windows sat high, almost one story above the sidewalk and could not be reached without an obvious attempt at climbing the wall. This was compounded by the fact that he and the Fentons were well known in the neighborhood. He could not think of a reason that would have pacified the neighbors as to a reason why he needed to break into Jason's home. Worse, strangers passing by would have called Police Services. He didn't want those guys involved under any circumstances. Gary's concern about being discovered as he entered the house finally got the best of him and he failed to even make an attempt to get in. Michelle would understand. When Gary returned after practicing what he would tell her for an hour and explained to her in his well- rehearsed form, she had not understood. Gary explained to Michelle the degree of difficulty in gaining entry to the Fenton Brownstone and expected sympathy. What he got instead was guilt; disappointment and a pouting wife who wanted him to go back a try again. "Try at night Gary." Gary explained that even if he tried this at night, he would have to turn on the lights attracting attention. "So let them think that Jason and Carrie are home. What do we care?" Michelle argued. The conversation was dragging deep into the afternoon and Gary was having a hard time getting Michelle to see logic. "If no one sees them arrive, if no one sees them come home and the lights just mysteriously come on, what would you do?" "I'd mind my own business." Michelle insisted. "Yeah, well others might call the police. Then what?" Gary countered. It was a weak lash back but in his faltering logic, he had to have a defense. The last thing they needed was undue attention. If the police came what would he tell them? The NewsVID would have a field day with the idea that Gary had been caught breaking and entering. Even if he had said he was just checking up on his old friend, everyone would find that his choice to brake in rather than call Police Services and have them check was suspicious. How long would they be able to hide William's problem them? Michelle wrestled with fruitless idea after fruitless idea, tossing them up like clay pigeons only to have Gary nimbly shoot them out of the sky. She exhausted her wellspring of ideas as well as herself by the time evening came around. It was clear that if William had any reasonable chance of getting out of this mess by the end of the weekend, then that chance lay in Jason's house. They would have to figure out a way to get in there in the morning. Perhaps Sunday would be the best day. Most of the city's population worked on Sunday, but it was still, traditionally a somewhat lazier day for most. There might be a chance of finding a way in then without so much risk of being noticed. That night Shelly was introduced to Beth. The older girl was not into her roll. Even with the addition of jeans and a T-shirt, she felt exposed, as the shape of her body was now clear under the tighter fitting clothes. Beth continually pulled on her shirt trying to make it baggy, to reduce what she called the 'cling factor'. Something, as William, she could clearly remember admiring in other girls, but now it was clear she was deeply troubled with. Shelly insisted that their new guest play tea with her; and was aghast when Beth admitted that she didn't know how. She had never played tea party before. After dinner, Shelly took her hand and maneuvered her toward the stairs. Michelle came up next to her and whispered, "Be careful, no letting on. We have to be careful." "Mom..." she started to say but the look on Michelle's face indicated the first slip. It crushed Michelle to do it but she had to if for no other reason than the preservation of the rest of the family. "God!" Beth whispered in tortured anguish. "Aunt Michelle." She said sarcastically. "Do I have to play tea party?" she pleaded back in a whisper. "Erin has practice tonight. It will help us to keep Shelly busy while we figure something out here. Be a sport and humor her." Beth exhaled with resignation and allowed her self to be lead away to the young girl's room. Gary had only one more idea on tracking Jason locally. It was, to say the least, a long shot. It seemed that their first impressions were correct. Jason had fled, if so Jason would not return to work, but on the outside chance he was only hiding locally until he could what, get paid, employee assistance from a sympathetic friend at work? He would, if he needed something from the office, he could get a coworker to help. That may have already have happened. Since he could not have been in two places at once, he would not be able to test this theory until Sunday. Gary and in fact most of the working world no longer knew of the five day workweek. That had gone the way of the Dodo back when Russia and Canada had invaded the United States back in 2046 and again in a brief attempt to regain lost lands in 2061 that failed beyond measure. These days, most folks worked seven days a week just keep their heads above water. Only the truly prosperous business, the smaller successful businesses could afford to let their employees have two days off consistently. It was this one fact that gave Gary hope that if Jason would return; he might do it when the people he knew were coming to work in the morning. And he explained this to Michelle who agreed, if there was a chance to get to him it should be explored. The mornings were still cold before the sun got up. Gary had left well before sunrise and settled his HOV down on a side street to wait and watch. Gary remained huddled inside the frigid HOV rubbing his hands together trying to do his best to keep the circulation going and stay warm. Outside the HOV, people were pouring through the security gates at the Horizon Preservatives facility. Gary had seen this place a number of times before, past it on the way to work nearly everyday. Why then had he never noticed that there were no vehicles parked in the lot behind the fence? Everyone was walking into the building; and security was tight (much tighter than he would have expected for a food processing and chemical preservative manufacturer.) A mass of people where huddled around the guard station while two guards, one on either side checked ID's and allowed workers in. Once, shortly after he had arrived there was one person that tried go gain entry but apparently hadn't passed scrutiny. Instead of being turned away, however, he was seized; taken inside the compound, presumably to wait for the police to come and arrest him. To Gary, it seemed like the man, who appeared to be young but ragged and homely, hadn't been causing a real disturbance, just trying to sneak in to the facility. Why arrest him? But he supposed that industrial espionage had no real boundaries. He himself had two young men arrested in the past for stealing and selling recipes he had toiled long and hard to develop and promote. As a businessman he could understand the corporate pressure to be unique. As a citizen and an observer, though, it did seem to him to be a bit harsh. As he sat, he dwelled on the issues his family faced. The very idea that he may have lost his son caused a rage to boil in him so hot and so deep that smashed the dash board of the HOV with his fist sending off a gale of internal alarms and warning bells and sirens that took five minutes to shut off. When they were all off he sat and mourned his son. He told himself that he was not really gone but even when he had tried to comfort Michelle all those years ago he was busy falling in love with her. Was this not a clear indication that he believed that Mike was gone, lost and replaced by the woman he had been falling in love with the whole time? If so, why would his perception be different now? He just couldn't convince himself that the person lurking below that pretty face was Mike, even though he knew it to be true it was hard to see until she started talking about the things that they had both gone through. Mike had accidentally become the girl of his dreams; and he, Gary, had tried as increasingly painful as it became with passing minute he spent with her he had tried to put her back as Mike. And God help him, each time it failed he was happier and happier that the options seemed to be running out for Mike. In that time when they were at opposite ends of life just after the patch code transmitter failed to restore Mike to normal, his heart broke, mended and broke a million times over to think that he had found her lost her and gotten her back only to have her turn against him. He began to drink heavily so badly in fact that it wasn't until a few years later that he confessed that he had been arrested twice in that six month period for drunk and disorderly down at the College Knights. It had been his mother and her contacts that had kept Gary out of court and out of jail. She had come back to him, and he was made whole again. Now his family, the thing he treasured most in this world was being torn apart by the same thing that had formed it. He couldn't curse the damned things and he couldn't bless them. He had selfishly entertained the idea that it might have been better for everyone if he had simply gotten killed during one of his silly stunts way back when. Back when Mike was still trying to get him to put his feet on a more stable path. Why my son? How many times can a family be plagued? It wasn't really a plague was it? Gary guessed that depending on your frame of mind it could be considered many things, karma, and punishment for your sins, dumb blind misfortune or even simply the roll of the dice. He knew that Michelle had tried any number of things to escape from her skin and finally decided that this was the was the judgment that fate had dealt and her she was going to have to play it out. She finally accepted that she was stuck as many before her had become and came to terms with who she was now! How had she done this he wondered? William didn't have anything like that. In fact if you put this situation under a microscope, there was simply no correlation at all to what Michelle had gone through. She had been wrong when she felt she had a friend to help her through it. He had been so much more. He had been and emotional crutch for her, he had been her council and confidant. Most importantly he had become her lover and security blanket. How could either of them be a tenth of that for William or rather Beth now. You could see the girl cringe when the name was spoken, as if she were about to be hit by an abusive lover. It hurt him nearly as much as it hurt her to hear it. The resignation in her face that she was stuck in a form she despised was devastating to her. Although Michelle hid it well, Gary could see that the way the young girl viewed herself was disturbing to her mother. He could tell there were things that she wanted to tell her. Ways she felt she could comfort her until a resolution was found to this problem. But she dared not revel herself. There was really no telling how the children would take such news, or if they could keep it a secret. The last people to find out about it had been Gary's parents. After they died, Gary and Michelle decided they would let no one else out side of those who had been there in on the secret. Of the original six there were Gary and Michelle, Norman who was killed in a HOV accident a few years ago. Much to his credit, he had never spoken a word about it. There was Frank and Kit and there was Rodney. Rodney was as much of a mystery as Mike had been. He too had disappeared a few weeks after everything had happened. Gary, Michelle, Kit and Frank paid close and nervous attention to the news but he was never reported missing to the Police Services or anyone else for that matter as far as anyone could tell. He was just gone. In the wake of the sensational disappearance of Mike Vello, the misplacing of a small time hood was an anticlimax to most NewsVID Services. Even at those times when Michelle felt she would tell her own mother, reveal herself to her last living family member she would withdraw and hide from the issue. She was Michelle Shipley now. She would be for the rest of her life. She no longer had a choice even if a choice were presented. It would only complicate matters to let in another wild card that couldn't be monitored or controlled. The greatest worry was how Rose would have reacted. She could be a stern woman, once she set her feet on a path there was very little that someone else could do to talk her out of her decided course of actions. If she decided to turn Michelle in to the authorities then the fear was that there would be little they could do to convince her otherwise. Rose had a nasty habit of reacting to her gut rather than following her heart. So now, much to her heartache, Michelle had been forced to leave her mother out of the family circle. Gary rubbed a hand over his face and tried to think what do next if Jason didn't show for work. This was harder than what he and Michelle had been through. They had known where the transmitter was. This was a complete blind alley; there was no way to see what was going to come racing out at you until it too late. Jason had just up and taken off. That took resources. That told Gary he probably had everything he needed with him. The hope of Jason returning to work with something so large looming over his head was certainly nothing more than a pipe- dream, but he had to be sure. Then Gary's eye caught the image of a man, a man of about Jason's height and build skulking up the sidewalk behind the HOV in its rearview VIDs. In Gary's opinion, the guy was working hard to avoid being seen. Just as the man got to the door of Gary's HOV, Gary leaped out and knocked the man down. The gentleman went sprawled over the sidewalk and into an alley cut out between what had once been one building. Gary raced into the darkened space after Jason. "OK, Asshole... Get up!" "What the hell do you think you're doing knocking me down." Someone answered back out of the dark. The man's face was hidden by the shadows but the voice made it clear that this was not Jason Fenton. "Oh shit!" Gary breathed. "Oh shit indeed!" replied the voice. There was a hint of an Eastern European accent to it, Russian perhaps or Polish. "Aw buddy, I'm sorry. I didn't mean...." "You are implying that headlong rush and assault was an accident? Next you will try to tell me you simply lost control of your arm and legs and they were the ones that knocked me to the pavement?" "No. No, I'm not going tell you that." Gary admitted, "What I did was deliberate. But..." "Some honesty from such a brutal man..." "As I was saying..." "My good man, I'm not really interested in what you were saying. You have subdued me, destroyed an expensive suit of clothes and ruined my day. What could you say that I might be interested in listening to?" "I'll pay for the suit." Gary said as he stepped into the alley to lend a hand to the gentleman trying to get up off of the dirty concrete pavement of the alley. The man that lay there withdrew angrily from Gary when he extended his hand for assistance leaving Gary feeling funny and small. "Please, don't waste your time with offers you couldn't possibly fulfill. This suit costs more than most people make..." the man trailed off. He had gotten up and now saw Gary in full light. The man could now see that Gary may have, indeed, understand how much the man's suit may cost. The man that had knocked him down was wearing one almost like his. Gary began to try to justify his irrational behavior. It seemed important at the time. "I thought you were some guy that ... abused my niece." Gary lied. When it was out he was sorry he had offered any information at all. The guy in the shadows froze. It seemed Gary had struck a nerve. "Oh," said the man in a strangled voice. "I'm... I'm very sorry. At least I understand why you were so upset now anyway." "No, I'm sorry I should have found out for sure that you were the man I was looking for first." "Good thing you didn't have an Ftazor!" the man laughed. "Yeah... ah good thing." Gary didn't see any humor in the statement. He had considered getting one from one of his many contacts in the city. The man reached out his hand to Gary. Gary looked at it for a second and then took it. "The name's Terrence Michales. I understand about young girls. I had a daughter once. No hard feelings, OK?" "Had?" Gary asked and winced. He was again sorry he had not thought before speaking. He wanted desperately to take the question back. "Hey look, I'm sorry. I had no business prying." "No, that's OK, really. She's dead, she and my wife. So I live for my work now. Look I'm sorry about your niece. I hope you find the guy..." A moment of clarity came to him. He looked from Gary to the preservatives plant and back at Gary again. "You're staking out the factory. He works there?" Flustered, Gary understood he had exposed himself or at least part of his method of operation. Now what? He thought. He told the truth and hoped to leave it at that. "Yeah he does, or did." "I work with those people. I'm a..." Michales paused for only a second but it was enough to send up a warning flare to Gary. "...Chemical engineer. I'm not supposed to do this," Michales reached into his coat and pulled out a business card and a pen and prepared to write, "but if you give me his name I'll do some snooping for you. If we have a guy like that in the factory, I'd rather get in trouble than see him get away with child abuse." Gary was taken a bit off guard by the offer. After all, he had just knocked the guy to the ground and possibly ruined what looked like a very nice suite but in this light it was hard to tell. Not to mention that he didn't want to raise the alarm that his niece was really his son. That could lead to even worse consequences. Gary thought for a second and carefully gauged his response. "I'm sure he's run. I've checked his house and he hasn't been back all weekend. I think I'll just let the police handle it." He said and tried shake the man's hand but the conversation was not over. Not for Michales anyway. "If your niece said she was abused, then letting the professionals sort it out is probably the best way. The police have can be very persuasive." Gary nodded; "Yes, I agree. Again, I'm sorry about your suit. If leave me your card..." at those words the card Michales had been prepared to write on vanished back inside his coat. "...I could have a new suit sent to you anywhere you wish." Gary finished, not wanting to draw attention to the man's obvious attempt to hide something. Gary wandered what it could be. Not his name the man had volunteered that. It was now obvious but unspoken by both men that they were involved in an elaborate dance. Both understood as they tangoed about the issue that the other knew the steps to this dance. They could not hide that the other understood what they were doing but they could not speak of it out loud. It was a forbidden dance, meant for only these two to experience. Michales didn't shake Gary's out-reached hand nor did he put his business card there either. Instead he pressed for the identity of the man who Gary felt was responsible for this alleged abuse. "You still have not given me a name. If you go to the police, then they will come here to look. If they don't, then I'll know you were looking for something else. Espionage is a dangerous thing my friend. Ease my concerns and give me a name." Gary was reeling from what the man had just said to him. He had actually just been threatened. Now, it was very clear to him. He had gone to far. The only thing he could think of was William and Michelle and what would happen if any one started looking around before they could set their plans in motion. If someone discovered that things weren't in place now and looked later, there would be no hiding. Gary decided to give him the name. He would go home and have an ID made for Beth and do his best to place William in Germany. That would mean changing school records for now and then trying to come up with the other necessary paper work that actually pointed to his being in Europe. "The name of the man I'm looking for is Jason Fenton. He's a neighbor of mine and... Hey, are you alright?" Gary watched as the man appeared to weaken, his face, which had been flush with color, was going pale and Gary could see that the man was trying to wet his lips, as if his mouth had gone completely dry. Michales had not expected this gentleman to know anyone in the gates of the facility. Michales was prepared to simply go look the name up in the HR files once he got in. But, Michales had not only known someone but he had known one of his friends. It not only lent credence to the man's claim but it possibly meant that an unstable element had to now be factored into the security equation at the facility. That aspect scared Michales very much. Now that he had confirmed that this man did exist and the victim's uncle was intent on finding Fenton, Michales now had to find a way to keep this man from employing the police after all. He could not allow that. "I'm fine, it's simply the thought of someone at our facility possibly guilty of this. I have heard a name like this Jason Fenton in the office." Michales raked his hand through his hair and added, "I can check and see where he is. If I find him then I will make sure I know where you can find him. Then the two of us can determine if there's a reasonable possibility that he did what you claim. I'll need your VID address." This time the card and pen were back and ready to write. Gary was grateful that it seemed that the police were no longer in the forefront of this man's plans for action. He didn't completely understand why, but somehow, knowing someone within the walls of the protected facility only a block from where they were standing had taken away this man's Royal Flush and replaced the cards he had been holding with a hand he could do nothing with. Gary gave the address to the man. "Yes, of course. MGShipley@131HarborTrace." "The 'M', is that your wife's initial?" "I want to keep this matter between us for now. Is that agreeable?" Gary said, trying to divert undue attention from any other portion of family. The man could find out on his own if he wanted. That didn't mean Gary had to volunteer the information! "If you mean strictly between us, then yes. Let's not ruin a man's reputation with rumor and innuendo until we both feel confident that he has wronged you niece." Michales said. "Yes, it would be wrong to let others outside our party for now. That is fodder for rumor." Gary added. He played along fully aware that there was an unspoken element of fear that both men were feeling. He knew why he was afraid; he could not for the life of him understand why Michales should act so. "You are wise. I will call and speak only to you. I will offer what I can, but I'm counting your confidence in this matter. Beyond this man's reputation, there is the reputation of the company I work for as well. It could mean the loss of many jobs if... if it were learned that we had a child abuse suspect working unwatched within our gates." "We wouldn't want that either would we?" Gary said. This time it was Michales that stuck out his hand. Gary watched it for a moment and then decided it was the best offer he could make considering how badly he had blundered and almost got his family involved in something that could have been disastrous. Once more, the end had not yet been written to this particular deed. It may still come home to remove a cheek or two from his backside. Gary went home feeling nervous. He had screwed up badly all he could do was hope that this man wanted to protect his business as much as he seemed to want to. It was the only ace Gary held -*- Gary was already huddling in the cold Pennsylvania morning outside the so-called preservatives factory when Michelle woke to find a note from Gary. Usually, when he got up, when he stirred she felt it. It was not that he disturbed her sleep, but more that she simply wanted to be awake when he woke. Gary was much the same way. Each was given a few minutes private time in the morning to brush one's teeth or do morning bathroom things, as Michelle liked to put it. Each, however, usually followed the other in to the world of the waking. Gary had eluded her this morning and she couldn't keep the pang of being just slightly annoyed that she had missed him from her heart. She started by walking toward the bathroom and saw a scrap of paper with writing on it lying on her dressing table, which was next to the door of the bathroom. She stopped and picked it up and quickly read the note. My Angel, I have one more idea. It's a long shot so don't get your hopes up. I'll tell you about it when I get back. I shouldn't be too long, maybe home later afternoon at the latest; unless of course something pans out, though this doesn't feel real promising. Back home soon. Love you, G. He hadn't told her what the idea was. That made her anxious. She did her 'bathroom thing' and dressed, light blue cotton shorts and a light, navy top. She had a pair of deck shoes she wore on the weekends because they were comfortable. She found them, slipped them on and made her way to the kitchen. When she got there Beth was up, had made coffee and was seated, slumped in one of the bar chairs sipping coffee. "Where are your sisters?" Michelle asked. She did not catch the slip. "My cousins you mean, don't you Aunt Michelle?" the tone was snide and hateful. Michelle blushed, "Yes, that's right. I'm sorry." Michelle waited for an answer but she got none. "Well?" "Well what?" asked the girl. "Where are your cousins?" Michelle asked, as she got closer. She grabbed a cup and poured a bit of coffee for herself. "They left. Something about Philadelphia today, I dunno." Beth said as she sulked. "Then why did you make me ask again? That wasn't very nice." "I'm not feeling very nice." She shot at Michelle. "And because I wanted to hear you say it. I wanted to see if it came as easy for you as you think it does for me?" Beth cried. Michelle thought about scolding the girl when Beth leapt from counter and began a rant. "This is turning out to be a prison for me. No matter what we do we're thwarted. Dad couldn't get into Carrie's place. No one can figure this freaking thing out? How long do these things last?" Beth started tugging on her hair. As hard as it was for her to watch as her child futilely struggled with a thing that not really there, her first Michelle thought she would just let her get it out of her system. She understood the panic these things can inspire. When Michelle saw a trickle of blood about the girls hairline however she raced to intercede. The girl was grunting as she now yanked on her hair. She raked her nails over her neck with an anguished cry and trickles of blood began to pop up on her pale skin. "Honey, stop!" Michelle shouted as she ran to the girl. Beth was ready for her, however. She backed out of the way with a crazed look in her eye. "NO MOTHER! I can get it off. I know how to get it off. Watch...." Beth reached for knife that had been left out on the counter from the night before. "BETH! God NOOOOOOO!" Michelle was filled with horror as Beth got to the knife before she could. In her attempt to get there first, Michelle tripped over the stool Beth had been sitting in and fell, her hands flailing for the knife and striking Beth's wrist hard. Beth spun around and the knife flew from her hand and back into the kitchen area where it clanked about the stainless steel appliances. Beth's feet had caught on her nightgown and robe as she had tried to avoid her mother's blow at the knife. She twisted around in an awkward position, her legs were twisted and she fell backward in a heap not far from her mother. "William..." Michelle cried. "William!" "Oh God!" wailed the girl. She was to Michelle's right and Michelle got to her knees and knee-walked the short distance to her child. "Are you hurt?" Michelle demanded to know. She franticly searched the girl's body for signs of injury but found none. The whole time Beth just moaned. "William, you mustn't ever do that. Don't hurt yourself. We might not be able to get this off of you. Are you listening to me William?" "That's not my name any more, remember." Beth said pathetically hiding her face from her mother. "It will always be your name honey. Oh God." She hugged the girl in a painful sort of attempt to comfort her. She understood now what Gary had seen all those years ago. She knew how hard it must have been for him to try to keep her sane and still see his best friend under the body she had been locked into. "William will always be your name." She repeated. "We can't let certain people know that right now." "Why?" Beth demanded. "Because of what they would do to you if the thought you were really using a SKIN, hon. we have too keep it a secret. But you will always be William. You will always be the little life that I helped bring into this world and I will always be your mother." The child wept bitter tears. She had needed to hear these words. She had felt so alone in all this. It had been as if her parents had discarded their son in favor of a new daughter. They were just too willing to cast him aside and give him the name Beth and buy women's clothes for her and make her play tea-party. Now, to hear her mother, William's mother recognize him, credit his existence and embrace him, it was a sound like no other. They had not forgotten him. They had not buried him. He was not dead! "I'm sorry. I get a little crazy living as this girl sometimes." She looked up at Michelle. "I don't think I could have really cut myself." "You did a fine job with your nails." Beth touched herself on the neck; she could feel the painful whelps they had left there. They felt a bit slimy because she had broken the skin. "God, I did that?" "I think I can cover it. It's not that bad really. A little anti-inflammatory medication, we'll wash it up good and a bit of make up and you'll never see it. It will have healed in a day or two anyway... your skin is so delicate. You really didn't do a lot of damage." The girl smiled a soft smile. "Thanks... Aunt Michelle." Michelle shook her head. "No. When no one's around I use William and you can use Mom. OK?" So many memories were flooding back now. She remembered how strange it had been with only Gary and herself along in his parent's home, the two of them had still been using the name Michelle. You would have thought they could drop the pretense. She had certainly wanted to, but she had agreed that in the sake of not fucking up someplace else, they would stick to the script. After a while, it sounded more than natural. By the next morning she couldn't even think of herself as anyone else but Michelle. Michelle was surprised when the girl shook her head no. "We can't do that. You or I will screw up and that will just make things more complicated. It may amount to nothing. We can explain away almost anything and make it believable. I know that. But there's that one tenth of one percent." Beth stopped and shook her head. "What would they do with me ... Aunt Michelle?" Michelle couldn't believe what she had just listened to. It was almost exactly the same logic she had been forced to realize. And why not, was it not just as much truth today? If you used a SKIN, you simply didn't want people to find out. The price was just way too stiff. "I don't know honey. It wouldn't be good. It would be a lot worse than where you are right now." The girl nodded. "So my name is Beth." "Yes Beth." Michelle answered. "And being a girl isn't really so bad is it Aunt Michelle?" "No, it's not that bad once you get used to it." Michelle answered. Michelle helped the girl to her feet. "Are we OK?" Michelle asked. "I don't know about we, but I'm ready to get pro-active here. I just wish Uncle Gary had been able to get into that house" she said, sounding greatly disappointed. A distant memory came to Michelle, a memory of walking Jessie and Bo Jangles, a young William with her as they walked the dogs through the park. Why had she had Bo Jangles though? Mr. Bo Jangles had been the Fenton's dog. Jessie had been Michelle's, he had been a Christmas gift from Gary on their first Christmas together. She hadn't thought about Jessie in some time now. It had been painful for her to have Gary put the dog down. That had been only three years ago. This memory was a strange one. Why think of both dogs now? She remembered that she used to walk Bo when Becky and Jay and Carrie went on vacation. They did the same for her. She had given a passcode key to Becky and she had one that she kept meaning to give back but never had. "Oh My GOD!" Michelle squealed. "I know how to get into Carrie's house." "What are you talking about?" Beth wanted to know. Michelle took Beth by the shoulders, brought her Beth's face to hers and said. "I have a key to Becky Fenton's house. She gave it to me! Oh hell," Michelle waive off the memory. "A long time ago. I still have it." She said that last part like in a whisper, as if saying it too loud might make the key dematerialize. "Don't pull my chain on this. You really have the key?" Beth asked, not wanting to get to hopeful but unable to keep from getting excited. "I saw it just last week." She said proudly. "I was actually going to throw it away." Then she put her index finger on her chin and said in a foreboding tone. "I hope I didn't throw it way." "Mother!" cried Beth. It was Michelle's turn to over look the slip. "I have it. It's in the bureau up stairs in the first guest room, in an envelope labeled 'Becky'. Go get dressed and get the key, we'll go together." "Yessssssss!" Cried the girl. -*- Terrence Michales was shaking badly by the time he got to his office. He passed Brenda Wilson, his administrative assistant; barked, "I don't want to be disturbed" and slammed the door to his office. Brenda regarded the door and said, "Too late." Inside, Terrence grabbed a bottle of Polish vodka and downed a huge swig of the warm, oily liquid. It burned like hell going down but within seconds the perspective of the day came into clearer focus. Terrence sat as his desk and started the process of trying to reason this thing out. He pulled out is ID card and pulled it through the slot in his VID. "Records for Jason Scott Fenton please." On the screen before him rolled out the corporate records for Jason. These records included Human Resources entries, payroll, security checkpoint passages, programming VID time and even time spent working directly with Terrence. There was the entry last Friday for his work on the blackboard. Before that was an entry for numerous checkpoint entries and exits, thousands of them in fact, all to various parts of the compound. Seeing nothing extraordinary, the man Michales had been accosted by this morning was probably a liar. Why then, would this man have to gain by lying about something like this? It was too confusing. Well, he could always check Michales asked, "Public CITREG, Resident MGShipley at 131 Harbor Trace. The VID began displaying records and public knowledge on Gary Allen Shipley. The fact that he was married, three children, and successful owner of a chain of restaurants, here was something interesting. He had once been a suspect in a missing person's case. Terrence remembered that one well. It had been a young local hero. He couldn't remember the name though. Mikal or Mica or something like that. This man had been his best friend. Vello... Yes... that had been it Mike Vello; same name as the girl that had been driving the Low Altitude HOV that had been involved with his wife's accident. He was about to pull up the information on his wife when his eye caught something on the minimized screen of Jason's records. It was an entry to the disposal facility down stairs. "Oh no..." He whispered. But it was there. Michales killed the CITREG screen and probed deeper. There was another one and another one... so many. The entries were piling up fast. He checked the dates as they went past, 2105... 2100... 2097... 2090... good God, fifteen years worth. He quickly pulled up the security address. "Security, Jamieson speaking. Oh... Ah Mr. Michales. Yes what can I do for you?" "We have a breach." Was all he said. "I'm not showing..." Jamieson said "It's one of ours." Terrence corrected. "Shit! Where is he? How do you know?" The man asked worriedly. "Look at this." Michales said. He touched the screen and sent the data he was looking at to the man who was looking at him. "Yeah, programmer. He needs access to ... Holy SHIT!" "Yep." "Oh my God... He... Crap! Look at this! How many?" "Let me ask you something." Michales inquired of Jamieson. "Yeah, go ahead." "What happened to the guy that lost that shipment of sixty thousand back in '82?" Michales asked. "Oh Shit!" "I'd get a couple of men out there if I were you." Michales finished before disconnecting. -*- In Michelle's mind it didn't matter that she had been there when William melted down. It wasn't enough that she had been able to prevent him from hurting himself and the making the SKIN permanent or worse accidentally killing himself in the process. It was time to get that thing off of him. She knew only to well that mental health wasn't something that you necessarily were able to control when you suddenly changed genders involuntarily. The two crossed the park, taking almost the identical route William had taken on his way over to Carry's house Friday. For Beth it was an eerie journey. She kept remembering how the sun had beaten on a face she no long had. Her mother had covered the scratches on her chest and neck and now they barely showed. Looking at them had proved one thing to her. William wasn't under there. No, he wasn't under there at all, only tissue, blood and the organs of a female. If she had cut herself open all that would have spilled out would have been lungs, a liver a eight miles of intestinal tissue. An autopsy would have shown a sixteen or seventeen-year -old girl who had died of self-inflicted wounds. Until this point, she had been unwilling to give up her identity as William. In her mind she felt that all she needed was to just step out of this costume and everything would be all right. She was more trapped than she had imagined and she now understood, in some small way, why her parents seemed so confused on what to do and how to get their son back. They crossed the vehicle-free street, spanned the lawn and mounted the stairs to the front door. Michelle thought briefly about going in the back but decided that the best way to avoid looking conspicuous was to do things as inconspicuously as possible. She inserted her passkey card and pulled down on it. The VID at the right of the door sprung into life. "Hi Michelle!" Becky Fenton announced. Beth recoiled from the visage of Mrs. Fenton in horror and clutched at her mother's arm. Michelle was equally surprised at the announcement and gasped in surprise at the sound of her name. The message was an old one obviously; Michelle remembered parts of it as she watched. "Thanks for taking care of Bo for us. We'll be back on Sunday. Say hi to Gary and Erin and William for us." Michelle thought, This was before Shelly, God Am I getting that old? You wouldn't know it. "Oh yeah," the VID Becky continued. "I left Bo's medicine on the counter. Just empty a capsule into his food; he'll never know it's there. Thanks again girlfriend. We'll do lunch Monday after we get home." They never got the chance to do lunch though. Becky had died that Sunday, the night they got back; before going to bed, she had some sort of brain hemorrhage. The kind of surprise that makes one realize how fragile life truly is. At least they had that weekend. That's something. Michelle thought, feeling pity for the whole Fenton family, despite what Jay had tried to do to William. "Mom, let's go in. I can't watch this anymore." Michelle nodded but said nothing; She pushed the door open, disconnecting the VID transmission. Inside the place was dark and silent. Here are there was a scattering of clothes. A few things that looked like processors on the floor, DIGISTILS scattered about. Michelle moved down the hall and looked from one room to the other. The two were met by silence. To the left was Carrie's room. Except for the clothes strewn everywhere, an obvious sign of a frantic attempt to pack what they could in a hurry and get out, things were the same as they had been that night. The bed where she had been born was still unmade. His clothes weren't here only because Carrie had tossed them out the window in a fit of rage. On the right was Jay's room, in much the same state. The concentration of processors had been getting thicker here and Michelle bent and picked on up from the floor. It was a cash chip. There were so many of them lying about. Michelle wondered, if they had gotten most of what they had to the HOV with them, then Gary had been right. They had the resources to stay gone indefinitely if they needed. The atmosphere of the dwelling was almost haunted. That feeling was reinforced by the specter of Becky still standing guard at the door welcome friends and strangers alike to a house where no one lived. Michelle took one last look at the cash chip in her and discarded it. He was keeping these someplace and it stood to reason that if she followed the ever widening trail of the things then she might find where the hiding place of the transmitter might be. The trail seemed to lead into the bedroom on opposite side of the hall from the one Beth indicated as Carrie's room. This room was dark. Michelle knew it to be the one that Jay and Becky had shared but gone was the spirit and light that Becky had once brought to this living space. The shades were drawn and appeared to have been that way for sometime. The bed had been made but the place was dusty and the signs of neglect were everywhere. Everywhere she looked there were scraps of paper, cobwebs and other signs that, although neat, the room was not clean and the heart that lived here did not care about the state of the room. Michelle found what she was looking for just inside what looked to be the walk-in closet for Jay's clothing. A portion of carpet had been pulled back reveling a space under the floor. Michelle crouched to peer into it and found a clue of cash chips, papers and other things. She rummaged around in the void eventually getting on her hands and knees to for a better view, stirring the contents with one hand; feeling for that damned box. It wasn't there. OK, that doesn't mean it's not here. It just means it wasn't there. She thought. She had gotten into the house when Gary couldn't. That had to mean that the fates were finally on her side. Why else would she have remembered the key? "Anything?" peeped a small timid voice from behind her. "Not yet. But we just started looking. It's here someplace. It has to be." Michelle assured her. She got up and brushed the chips that had stuck to her knees. She vanished into the dark closet. Beth could hear her trying to reach the shelves on top. "Damn." Michelle called out once. Michelle emerged from the closet looking discouraged. "Too short to reach." She admitted. "And it's dark in there." Michelle looked around for something to stand on but found nothing. "Maybe if you just turn on the light to see..." "Hon, if I turn on the lights in an abandoned house, then I want to make sure I can see what I'm looking for. I don't care if it is light outside, if I'm going to risk this, then I want to see everything up there and not have to risk doing this twice." Her mother's thoughts made sense. They could take their time now couldn't they? If they had to, they could search the entire house. Why call attention to the fact someone was in here unless you had to? "What are you looking for now? Maybe I can help." Beth asked. "A stool or a small step-ladder or something I can use to get up higher on those shelves." Beth remembered that Carrie had a small fabric-covered footstool in her room. Beth ran off to get it and brought it back in. "Will this work?" Michelle took it and placed it in the closet. She then turned on the light and looked around. Everything was in plain view now. She looked at Beth and smiled. "Perfect! I could play basketball with this thing." Beth giggled at the idea of her mother playing basketball. "What?" Michelle asked. "Nothing." Beth said dismissing her with a wave of her hand. "You don't think I can play basketball do you?" Michelle asked with a note of bewilderment in her voice. "No, of course I do..." Beth was on the verge of breaking up completely. Michelle, pleased that child was in better spirits continued to search but played off the good feeling at the same time. "You do not. You know, I was once an athlete." She had to be careful here. Don't get too specific, she warned herself. "What did you ever play?" Now the doubt in the child's voice was evident. "I'll have you know that I used to play baseball and basketball, oh doubtful one." Michelle announced with not only with pride but a nostalgic tone that seemed almost a bit sad. "Organized?" Beth asked. Now she had her. She could not answer yes even though that was the true answer. It was common knowledge that Michelle was an orphan, legally anyway. It was also common knowledge that she had supposedly spent most of her teen years on the streets living on what most of society called 'the fringe'. "No, you know I didn't go to school..." Michelle stopped short. Beth had heard it too, a noise coming from the area of the front of the house. They both listened. It came again, the unmistakable sound of the front door rattling. Beth turned to the woman on the stool in the closet and squeaked. "Mom?" -*- Michelle and Beth had been in the Fenton home for about twenty minutes when the men in the black HOV gently set the machine down on the curb on Trimbolt Ave. Side of Roth Park. They sat and allowed the witnesses that had seen them land clear the area or move on to other activities. It was a trained behavior. Never exit a vehicle immediately when not necessary. It helps you to blend in. Nondescript clothing was also the order of the day; black. Imagine yourself giving a description of two people wearing the same thing, same haircut, and same general build. When you've given the description for the first man, you've finished for the second as well. Just by virtue of this one aspect the information the police were getting in descriptions and details were reduced by half. One could also never really be sure of how many agents were actually at the scene; could be two; could be twenty. After giving the steadily increasing number of morning pedestrians enough time to move on or find other distractions to occupy them the two men exited the vehicle and moved north along Trimbolt and right on to the Fenton property. One man pulled a computerized passkey card from his lapel pocket and drove it into the slot where Michelle had not long before. To the agents' dismay, the locking system shorted out on contact. "Son of bitch knew we were coming." One said flatly to the other. Thing 1 looked around and watched those that might be watching them while Thing 2 jiggled the handle of the door. "It's jammed." Said Thing 2. Thing 1's intelligent and well-formulated response to this fundamental problem was, "Fuck!" -*- Michelle stepped of the footstool and rushed to Beth, clamping her hand over the child's mouth. She didn't know whom it could be trying to get in, it was probably burglars most likely, but she didn't intended on sticking around and finding out. They had to get out of the house. Michelle stuck her head through the doorway of Jason's bedroom and looked down the hall. Beth's mouth was still clamped behind her hand. She looked down toward the way they had come in. At that moment, glass erupted from the one of the side panels that stood sentry to the door and she almost cried out in surprise. The door was hidden behind an alcove only just hidden. She did see the sleeve of a black coat with the cuff of a white starched shirt reach in. Attached to the very end of that sleeve was a huge meat hook of a hand. Those are not burglars! She thought She pulled her head back in the doorway. She raced to the widow on the other side of the room and peek out between the drapes intent on making a quick retreat out the back window. There, however, across the street sat a black GI Shop vehicle. Inside, Michelle could just make out two shadowy figures dressed in similar clothes. They were trapped. She went to the doorway, taking Beth by the hand, she held one finger up to her lips and Beth nodded that she understood. Michelle had seconds to consider what to do and how it should be done. She slipped out into the hall and raced quietly down it. Beth's left hand clutched in her right. She was silently grateful she had worn her old deck shoes today. They helped pad her down the hall without making a sound. They slipped into the bathroom together. Michelle slowly, quietly, closed the door, watching through the narrowing crack for when the man that broke in might turn the corner. He did just as the door was slipping closed. Michelle reached up and pressed the "Locked" button on the keypad. She breathed a sigh of relief but they were now on borrowed time. They could hide here only so long. They had to get out on the street and across the park without being seen. She mentally kicked herself for getting Beth into this. She should have done this herself. She should have told Gary about the key before attempting this. One thing was certain. If the transmitter was here, meat- hook-man was going to find it and take it back to where ever these things are born. She breathed heavily but tried to keep it quiet, her back braced against the door. On the floor was a rope and in the corner, the pipe that Beth had told her about, the one she'd been tied to waiting to be killed. Now she was trapped in here again only it had been her own mother that had brought her to this place. Perhaps this was meant... "No!" she whispered. She shook of the idea of fate and Karma. If her son had been destined to die in this room then he'd be dead. "You fit through that window?" she asked. "That's how I got out the last time. But it's a steep drop. Almost a whole story." Beth said. "I'm game if you are." Michelle whispered. Outside she could hear the footfalls of not one but two men, heavy and lumbering on the hard wood floor." Beth scrambled up and out the window. She could hear her land on the asphalt of the alley outside. Michelle started out; Beth was pressed against the wall of the alley directly below her. She was looking out at the Trimbolt exit of the alley and there were two more agents waiting for someone to use the alley as an escape route. Michelle thought about calling Gary on her wrist VID and decided that involving him would give them a face that was too close to the family. She needed someone to create a diversion but someone she could trust. She pressed Kit's address on her WristVID and immediately there was Kit's smiling middle-aged face, as smooth as ever in his style. "The Goddess calls." He announced. "Shush!' she said adjusting the volume on her WristVID. "Where are you?" She knew that Gary had asked him to look after the store for the weekend until they could figure out a way to get William out of this female SKIN. "Not far from your place. I was on my way in to the Washington Street store Gary asked me..." "Yeah, I know. I was hoping you were close. Kit, I'm in trouble. I need a favor." Kit had only remembered seeing her this desperate once before. It broke his heart to see so much fear in her eyes. Kit's face got deeply serious. He set his face close to the VID screen and said. "Well, you're not going to be in trouble for long. Tell me what you want and where you need it and I'm all over it." -*- Thing 1 and Thing 2 crept into to the Fenton's foyer, FTazors drawn. One crept in and went right, the other left. Thing 2 just missed the bathroom door silently latching shut. The exercise would changed to an entirely different operation had either one known there were people in the brownstone, rather than suspect the place was empty. Each one advanced into pre-determined and well-rehearsed areas of responsibility Thing 1 had the living room, den, media room and kitchen. Thing 2 had the dining room, three bedrooms and two baths. It didn't take Thing 2 to make sure that no one was in either of the two forward bedrooms. He closed and secured each bedroom from the outside to make sure that anyone hiding in the third bedroom couldn't used the adjoining bathroom at the end of the hall to transfer to an already secure bedroom and possibly surprise them or worse, escape. He came to the third bedroom and peered in his FTazor out in front of him pointed automatically in the direction he was looking. He scanned the room and entered. It appeared to be used for storage. Boxes and bags of things piled on unused furniture. The room was secure. He turned back to the hall and locked the door from the out side. Next Thing 2 turned his attention to the bathroom door. -*- Inside Michelle heard the footsteps of one man walk closer as the other seemed to walk in the direction of the living area of the house. "KIT!" she whispered frantically in to her WristVID. In the image behind him she could see Kit's HOV and out the window she could see her building of flats pass by as Kit brought his HOV into some sort of sweeping dive, "Where are you?" she pleaded. "I'm there now, hold on to your hats, ladies. I think this is going to piss them off a whole lot. Be ready to get the hell out of there." Michelle watched the door as the footfalls stopped outside the door. The handle began to jiggle, gently at first, then harder. "Carl," the man shouted, "unsecured room. Back me up partner." Oh shit, they're coming in. These were Michelle's last thoughts before all hell broke loose. -*- The collision was not massive but it was noisy. In her brief conversation with Kit, Michelle told him only that she was in trouble and it seemed to be Shop agents. It was all Kit needed to know. It had been fortunate that Gary had called him to work at the main store. It meant that Kit had to cross town to get there, passing the Shipley home on his way. She had described the house from the outside and how she and the agents had gotten in; not what she had been looking for or why. When Kit saw the HOV parked at the corner it couldn't have been any other than that of the agents. If it wasn't, when the police got there, he would simply point out the brownstone and draw their attention to the broken window next to the door. Either way, it should buy Michelle enough time to get out if the police didn't find her inside too. To make sure there was no monkey business. Kit called the police prior with image off and claimed to be a bystander that told them it looked like someone was flying erratically in the area. Kit brought his HOV down in a great sweeping arch. To the bystander, he might appear as if he was trying to land on Trimbolt. But as he got closer, it appeared he did not have complete control of his HOV. The thing lurched left, the left again and almost had a direct line of sight on Trimbolt when it snapped right and dove right for the agency vehicle. When his HOV struck the agency HOV the alarms that went off was amazing. Instantly two men, dressed head to toe in black, white shirts and black ties came charging from a neighboring alley. Kit's HOV struck the agency HOV on the rear left quarter panel and pulled it out into the street. Kit's HOV stopped with a jolt, spun from the rear; end around end and landed on it's side, the jets shutting off automatically when not in vertical lift position when in proximity to the deck. The agents grabbed him and pulled him from his HOV just as the police arrived on the scene. There seemed to be confusion on the agent's part. They had not expected this nor were they prepared to handle the sudden explosion of witnesses that had gathered. Shop owners, pedestrians, mothers with babies and business men on their way to work all gathered around to see what had happened. One officer walked up looked at the crash site and asked, "Did any one see what happened?" Kit, still in the hand of the shop agents, pointed behind him with his thumb and said, "Yeah, these two guys did. They helped me out of my HOV." Kit then turned to the first clone and stuck out his hand. Thing 1 looked stupidly at Kit's out stretched hand, slowly took it and allowed Kit to pump it up and down once then again as he thanked the man, "Thanks buddy, thanks." He repeated the act with Thing 2 as Thing 1 and Thing 2 looked at each other with dull bewilderment. -*- Michelle eased herself down into the alley. She and Beth took refuge behind a huge dumpster and waited for Kit to come to the rescue. Then there was a crash, a terrific noise combined with an array of alarms that surprised both women. Then the agents at the opening to the alley were gone, running in the direction of the noise. Michelle noticed that Thing 2 had gained entry to the bathroom and had stuck his head out the window to see what the commotion was about. "Crap!" he muttered and she could hear him call, "Carl, we have a problem." as he withdrew his head back into the Fenton home. Michelle took Beth by the hand and dashed to the mouth of the alleyway. With her head poked part of the way around the corner, she saw Thing 1 and Thing 2 exit the Fenton's via the front door. They looked around and saw the confusion down the street. Thing 1 talked into what Michelle assumed was a WristVID but couldn't tell for sure from her vantage point. She assumed some message went out to the agents watching the rear of the building. Confirming her suspicion, she noticed, high above, the other black agency HOV she had seen out back lift and take to the HOVway system above. The police must have seen Thing 1 and Thing 2 standing there because she heard