THE SUIT: Part 2
By
LJ
"So," Ellie panted as she heaved, and two hundred pounds came off the
bar of the weight bench with surprising ease as she began to lift the
weight in rapid reps. "Thomas A. Simmons, a low-level programmer for the
local 911 service corps takes a call from his own wife, who is being
attacked.
"Only the response is too late to save her, or his teenage daughter, so
the guy snaps, and starts a killing spree of his own to vent his own
rage and frustration.
"He'll end in a psych ward for sure.
"Then I suppose one of your now patented behavior modules will have him
back in public service in a few months?" she asked as she hit his
fiftieth rep before she put the bar with the heavy weights back in place
without a spotter.
"More than likely," Sara agreed as Ellie rose to wipe her face with the
offered towel while she logged her progress. "While he did perform
criminal acts, he did so while caught deeply up in a psychotic break
that kept his normal life completely separate, and actually unaware of
what he was doing. The behavioral therapy will help him, but it'll take
a lot longer to heal his internal injuries even with regenerative
surgeries.
"According to my estimates, your foot hit him with over five hundred
pounds of pressure per square inch. He's lucky he survived long enough
for the paramedics to get him on life support."
"I still don't understand this crap," Ellie frowned at the scientist who
remained prim as ever as she oversaw her exercise session. "I mean, I
can see how the short you told me about might have messed up the
operating systems in this outfit, but how did I do.....what I did?"
"I honestly don't know. Your unconscious control of the nannite's
programs shouldn't have allowed you to boost your own natural strength
like that. You certainly shouldn't have been able to almost put your
foot through that man's chest.
"Even if he did deserve it," she added grimly.
"Shame, doctor," Ellie grinned. "I thought you were one of those
professional women that accepted some men just are not responsible for
their actions."
"You've confused me with someone else," she glowered. "Besides the fact,
it's hard to be professional, or objective, when my niece is still
comatose, and relying on life support just to keep her alive."
"I can understand," she said grimly as the doctor continued to study the
master remote.
"I'm surprised you are so understanding.
"Especially when this...mishap may have stuck you in this prototype
bodysuit for life."
"Well, crying about it won't do any good. Besides, oddly enough, while I
rationally know that I should be upset, something else keeps me feeling
this is....I don't know the word. It just feels....like I should accept
what is inevitable anyway."
"So you've said at your last psych evaluation. Which is why you are
still in my care. Your captain felt you might be in denial, or something
of that nature."
"Yeah, like I'm supposed to trust his expertise in psychology. And your
opinion, doctor," Ellie asked as she stood up, rolled her shoulders,
stretching her surprisingly toned, and sweating body as she padded
barefoot over to the treadmill.
"First off, I'd say you're in amazing condition, mentally, and
physically, considering what you went through that night. And I am not
just referring to your traumatic experience with Mr. Simmons.
"The surge that reprogrammed the nannites still operating inside you
have by now dumped a lot of neural-links, and redundant wetware directly
into your own mind and body. I still haven't figured out half of what
it's doing to you, but I can tell you that so far it's vastly exceeding
any of my original design specs, or theoretical applications."
"You guys aren't planning on dissecting me for it's secrets, are you,"
she shuddered suddenly as she looked up from programming the treadmill.
"Of course not," Sara laughed a little nervously as she came over to see
what Ellie had set for herself on the treadmill before logging it in the
portable file she was carrying.
"Do you always push yourself like this," she asked the paradoxical
creature before her as she read the reading called for a five mile run
at ten miles per hour.
"Always. And actually, I've cut back since I'm technically in a smaller,
less familiar body. Although, even I was surprised at how well I handled
that weight just then," she said as she began to run faster and faster
as the machine warmed up. "I was strong before, but never that strong.
And my endurance seems....I don't know....amped."
"And you run barefoot?"
"It's better for the arches. Read that somewhere," she grinned as she
started panting as she brought her arms up and close to her sides as she
ran in perfect form as the treadmill reached its programmed max speed.
"And you've had no additional episodes of uncontrollable, ah, desire?"
"C'mon, doc," she grinned. "You've had me wired for two weeks now. You
know more about that than I do.
"And frankly, it's starting to bug me, if you know what I mean?"
"I can imagine," she smiled. "Still, I doubt you really want to
experience a...ah, relapse."
"I'm just glad those apes didn't sell copies of that surveillance tape.
Though I have to admit, I'm still waiting for copies to surface."
"I doubt your captain, or the lawyers would allow that. It is still part
of the evidence in Simmons's trial."
"Right," she panted. "All seven hours of it. I still can't believe I
went crazy like that. The first time I watched that tape I would have
thought I had been slipped X3 if you hadn't already told me what had
happened."
"I doubt even that party drug of choice would have kept you going for so
long, sergeant," she told her.
"Just plain Ellie Sands just now, doc. You heard the board. Until,
and/or if you clear me, I'm just a little girl now.
"Well, maybe not so little," she mugged as she slowed as the machine
slowed, and hefted her taut breasts that had swelled that bizarre night
even as she came to a stop on the treadmill. "Thank God for athletic
support advances, huh?"
"I've never been much of an athlete, Ellie," she chose the more informal
address again.
"So, how am I doing?"
"How are you doing? You've done what even a strong man would have
considered a two hour workout in less than twenty minutes, and your
breathing is virtually normal, your pulse, and all your vitals show
you've barely even strained yourself, and if I had to guess, you could
in all probability give a few professional athletes some serious
competition just now."
"Really," she grinned. "I guess I could always try out for the
Olympics," she grinned insolently.
"Considering how they frown on drugs, narcos, or cybernetic
enhancements, I doubt you would get past them if they knew you were a
nano-enhanced biological organism."
"A....what," Ellie frowned.
"It's my theory. My only one at this point. Recall I said the linking
nannites somehow infused you with the base programming? I think they
also gave you an innate ability to alter, or amplify certain biological
functions within their purview.
"As strength. You mentioned only thinking of breaking free back in the
apartment that night, and the nannites responded by boosting your
strength rather phenomenally. If I'm right, and I've seen little to
disprove me these past few weeks, then you may be able to affect
superficial, or even physiological changes just by....willing them."
"Then....couldn't I will myself to be male again?"
"Unfortunately, I'm not sure that's possible. You may not have noticed
it, but you're becoming more and more genuinely female. Not just
feminine, but female. And it's progressing exponentially with each day.
Which most definitely exceeds all our theoretical parameters, and leaves
us guessing from square one.
"Our last exam scan indicated your testes have already receded, and have
been regenerated into true ovaries that are pumping out a great deal of
estrogen into your system just now. That likely accounts for some of
your....relaxed feelings as your body literally synchs up with the
behavior mods already downloaded into your brain.
"Along with that, your vaginal sheath is definitely open, and you now
have a rudimentary womb forming behind your cervix."
"But....my dick," Ellie asked blushing at the use of the word.
"To be blunt, any superfluous organic matter caught in the suit's matrix
would be converted by the nannites into mass, or energy needed for the
conversion of the suit into a genuine epidermis. I suspect you haven't
noticed because your marathon sex play that night had your mind all but
shut down as your sex drive completely took over.
"Frankly, if you had had your womb and ovaries then, theoretically,
you'd probably already be pregnant by now."
"Wonderful," she groaned. "So, I'm definitely not a James any longer, am
I?"
"I thought you weren't that upset over that fact," She asked as Ellie
wiped sweat from her brow again, and headed for the showers.
"That's just it. I'm not. Actually, I think I'm upset that I'm not more
upset that I'm.....a woman. Does that make any sense?"
"Perfectly. Which is why I refused to let them reprogram your mind the
way they wanted when all this first came out at the close of your
investigation, and subsequent inquest."
"Wh-What," Ellie asked, turning to stare back at her as the water poured
over her body as she gave herself a moment to enjoy the feel of the
fluid warmth. "Wait one damn minute," she growled. "What does that
mean?"
"I'm not supposed to say anything, but the company director is putting a
lot of pressure on us to use the new mods to reprogram your mind so
that....so that you don't remember any of your past.
"I'm not sure if he's worried about security, law suits, or what. I only
know he wants you neutralized until you can be studied more extensively.
"His word."
"Remind that asshole that I'm still a cop on the city payroll, and cops
just don't vanish."
"I know, Ellie. The thing is, in the eyes of the world you aren't a nine
year vet any longer. Not superficially, and that is still how the real
world works.
"You know it, and I know it."
"Yeah," she sighed as she turned off the water. "I take it I'm not
supposed to be hearing this little tidbit though?"
"No. I'm risking my own job telling you this, but....I just don't trust
the director on this. He's been known to 'rehab' certain women as
strippers and escorts for the social clubs if they piss him off, to be
blunt. Lately, I've been upsetting him a lot. The only reason I'm not a
complete bimbo doing lap dances, or working in some social club, is
because I also have a lot of important connections, and I represent a
small fortune from a few of my own patents that he doesn't want to lose.
"Not to mention most of my research is....."
Ellie grinned as Sara tapped her head.
"Smart."
"I learned a long time ago how easy it is to hack computers. The best
system you have can be cracked in seconds by the right person. No one
can hack a brain yet, though. Wipe it, and rewire it, yeah. But they
can't read it.
"And that keeps me safe."
"But not me," she asked as she grabbed a towel and quickly dried her
body in ruthlessly efficient fashion.
"I'm afraid not."
"So, how do I get out of this glorified day camp," she asked as she
carelessly pulled on a fresh set of the women's sweats she had been
given to work out while in the lab's 'care.' She had a small room that
was more prison cell than not, but the fact was, she could walk out
anytime she wanted. She just hadn't bothered telling them what else she
had found she could do. Not yet. And now she was glad she hadn't.
"I don't know," Sara told her honestly. They monitor everything but the
toilets, and the showers," she gestured. "Mostly because none of these
areas have windows, so you can't get in or out of here. Frankly, I've
been trying to think of a way to get you out, but....."
"So, there's no video in here," she asked as she turned to toss her
towel aside after drying her hair.
"No."
"Still, you can still walk right out of here anytime without anyone
stopping you?"
"Well, yes," she nodded, "But....."
Her jaw dropped as Ellie suddenly aged more than ten years, and her body
became a perfect duplicate of her own right down to her own darker brown
hair that was usually worn in a tightly braided bun. "Think you could
sneak me in some extra clothes? It'd take timing, but we could get me
out by having you come in, hide out a bit, and then come back out after
I was gone."
"That might just work," she smirked. "But I have a better idea."
"What?"
"I have an idea, but we can't talk here," she said as they ventured back
into the exercise room. "Wait here, I'll be right back."
"I's telling you, I's bout had it with this place," the heavyset black
woman with the huge breasts barely contained by her jumpsuit with the
company logo on it. "One more skinny wannabe pinches me tats, an' b'God
I'ms gonna start chopping things off.
"An' I's ain't talking fingers," she wagged a fat finger in front of a
sniggering guard as she waddled past him.
The man swatted her wide backside, laughing as he told her, "Go home,
and sleep it off, Darla," the guard told her. "You know you love the
attention."
She glanced back at him with a snort as her wide nostrils flared, and
she cursed him fluently.
"I don't know why you tolerate that old cow," the younger security guard
spat.
"You think those young college kids are going to do the shit work Darla
does, Ben," the older man snorted. "She has been cleaning this lab since
it was built, and every week since she started, she threatens to quit.
"Fact is, what pisses her off most is when some moron cops a feel, and
doesn't finish the job. That's one very sexual woman. Used do dance down
at Silver Lace when she was younger."
"Her?"
The balding guard chuckled. "Trust me. When she was younger, she could
stop traffic, and hearts. Time catches us all, though. You'll find out."
Darla left the gates, waddled out to catch the city transport as they
spoke, and Ben shook his head. "Then why didn't she catch some sugar
daddy," he sniggered.
"Don't let Darla fool you, Ben. She's got more money than either of us
will every see, and has buried three rich husbands. And she's still as
hot as she ever was in the sack," Sam grinned with a wag of his brows.
"Oh, God. You're not saying you....?"
"I told you. That woman is hot. You pinch a tit, or slap her ass, you
better come through with something more in a closet, or a restroom, or
you'll have that woman in a piss-poor mood for the rest of the day.
"Someone obviously teased the old gal, and...."
"Old gal is right. How could you....?"
"You still don't get it. That woman can still fuck you raw, and leave
you wanting more. She's got one very well-trained cootch, and she may be
big, but get that ugly rag off her, and she can still tent your shorts,"
Sam laughed as Dr, Elliot came in, scowling at their crude talk.
Dr. Eurilyn's usual lab partner was a real prude, but the genius, rich
genius some said, didn't seem to mind working with the old biddy who
looked more like a walking crow than a real woman. The obviously dyed
hair didn't help, nor did the way she kept it in a severe bun as the
gaunt woman walked as if she strapped a steel bar to her back.
"Now that one," Sam murmured as the woman checked in, and walked past
them. He gave an eloquent shudder, and Ben didn't need translation.
Darla Teales entered her apartment, and stopped to stare into her own
twin's face.
"Hot, damn, I's do still look good, don't I's," the large, black woman
demanded of the younger brunette sipping tea beside her.
"Doc," the Darla that had just entered the apartment grinned, her smile
splitting her black face. "It worked perfectly," she grinned. "I worked
all day in Darla's place," she winked at the Darla lounging in a peach
gown that looked almost tent-like about her huge curves. "No one had a
doubt I's me all day."
"How many times I's get fucked, gorgeous? Names and places. We don'
wanna slip up when I's go in tomorrow."
The faux Darla chuckled as she waddled over to a chair, and began
slimming down even as she did. "Actually, the rumor is they're expecting
some big wigs in tomorrow. So I...that is, you were worked pretty hard
all day. Not much time for anything else at all.
"I did have to blow that fat director," she grimaced. "But the rest of
the day 'we' only got a lot of pats, pinches, and promises."
"I's sure hopes you let them know how pissed 'we' was," Darla snorted.
"Loud, and often," she grinned, now looking comical as she slimmed down
to a dark-skinned twenty-year old African beauty as she absently fondled
her still large, ample breasts. "Just like the training mod you
provided. It worked perfectly.
"I really owe you, Darla," Ellie told her as she sank into her chair,
grinning at the other two women as the work clothes now tented her
slimmer, more curvaceous figure as her hair lengthened though it stayed
crow's wing black.
"No problem, sweetie," Darla grinned as Ellie now looked very much like
one of her friends from a club that had moved west recently. "And you
can p'rtend at be Evie fo' a while, and no one be th' wiser. Gives us
time to figure out where to hides you for a longer spell.
"Right, Doc?"
"Sure," Dr. Eurilyn agreed as she smirked at Ellie, now Evie, who was
grimacing at her clothes that now literally swam on her. "Meantime, I'd
better get out of here. It might look a little odd if I started hanging
out with you two just when Ellie managed to pull a disappearing act."
"Right, which is why I suggested you have a day off to visit your niece,
or....whatever," the new Evie told her as she sat up, and looked at her
more seriously. "If you have to get in touch with me, just send messages
through Darla. Don't try contacting me yourself.
"It would be too dangerous."
"For both of us," Sara agreed. "Be careful, Evie. G-T still has eyes
everywhere. One slip, and we all go down."
"Don't worry, doc," she smiled sweetly as she stood with one hand on the
door. "I'm used to being undercover. Remember?"
"Right."
"Don' fret, doctor," Darla grinned. "I's be takin' care of this slut
till we can hides her even better."
"Thanks, Darla. We really owe you," Sara said as she left, closing the
door securely behind her.
"You betcha," Darla grinned, and eyed the new Evie. "And now I's gonna
collect a bit."
"Uhm, what do you mean," Evie asked as she eyed the bigger woman's
sudden shark-like gaze.
"Well, I telled ya that Evie, my Evie, had to take off west kind of
sudden."
"Yes," she nodded.
"That left her job wide open, but she owed two weeks notice, and you's
gonna fill in for her so she can collects her last check.
"The deal is, you gets to keeps any tips fer y'self at the end o' the
two weeks."
"Just where did Evie work," Ellie frowned.
Darla grinned, and crooked her finger. "Jus' you follow me, little girl,
and I's gon' get you ready.
"You starts in two hours."
"But I can't even dance," she protested.
"Trust me," Darla grinned, not letting her see the three special
programs she had ready to load into her still operational remote
behavioral control she held in one big hand at her side.
Two hours later, the new Evie was swinging around a pole on a stage in
nothing more than bells attached to her nipple shields, and a very
immodest thong. It figures Evie was a stripper, Ellie, now Evie had
grimaced at the start. She sashayed out onto the stage, hips swinging,
with her now cast off, if exaggerated cowgirl costume barely covering
her still ample curves Darla had her fill out just right until she
looked perfect.
In the time she spent dressing in the mostly exhibitionistic clothing
Evie had left behind, Darla plugged in each of the three programs,
giving her new apprentice a complete knowledge of seductive, and erotic
dance, a full background in club etiquette, and just importantly, a
working knowledge of sex from the viewpoint of a bisexual, working girl.
Not that she realized it at the time, as Darla worked it so her new
knowledge would filter in as needed, over a gradual period, so as not to
alarm her. By the time she finished, Ellie was going to be Evie, and she
wouldn't remember anything except how good it felt to be screwed by any
willing gender, and dance in front of these screaming morons willing to
throw good money at the chocolate-skinned Amazon who was now grinding
her barely covered, hairless puss into the pole as she bent over,
grinning back at the crowd as she demonstrated her flexibility.
Ian Harris came into the club even as she was straightening up, smiling
at the man who gestured her over to his end of the stage so he could
stuff a bill into the smiling dancer's thong, and rubbing hat moist,
pliant sex briefly before letting her go.
"You did good work," Darla was told by the portly, balding man in a
rumpled suit.
"What you expect," she snorted. "I's been breaking in gals for years,
even before they made it child's play with those little brain-popping
chips you science boys comes up with," she snickered. "You just shows me
you appreciates my assistance."
"You know you have my utmost appreciation for all you do for me, and
Gen-Tech," Ian Harris, the director of the research lab smirked as he
pulled a thick envelope from his suit to slide across the table to her.
Darla smiled as she took the envelope, and stuffed it deep into her
massive cleavage. She knew by now she could trust Ian not to short her.
Not when he valued her post at the lab as a mole that could learn
anything about anyone. Which was proven yet again when that goody-goody
Eurilyn had come to her for help in sneaking that little freak out of
the isolation lab.
"So, how long before the slut looses all memory of her past?"
"In about three days, the behavioral progs starts taking dominance, and
then she will finds those new memories will be all that she can recalls.
By day four, she ain't gon' be nothing, or nobody but Evie for real."
"Good. Let me know how it goes, and if you need anything else to keep
the deception going.
"I'll play along, and keep the search going, so that whiny little slut
Eurilyn doesn't catch on."
"No prob, Ian.
"So, how did she do when she sucked you off today," Darla grinned.
"She wasn't bad, but she obviously didn't have your skill, or
experience," Ian chuckled.
"Ain't many do, Mr. Harris," Darla cackled.
"I just wish I could do that uppity bitch over, too. But I need her
brain, and the profits she generates," he sighed.
"So, just fine-tune her a little. Make her loyal to you, if nothing
else, and teach her what loyalty means. If'n you knows what I's mean,"
she grinned.
"I wish I could, Darla," he sighed. "But she's the one brain in the
company you can't touch. I don't dare tamper with her, not knowing what
precautions the bitch has likely taken.
"I hear someone tried something like that with her up north, and the
upshot of it was she shut the place down before she left."
"Too bad. Still, you could manipulate her the old way," Darla grinned.
"She's pretty obsessed with Evie there. I's thinking maybe she be more
cooperative if you holds her over her head.
"After the little slut is one-hundred percent programmed," she grinned
as the waitress walked over to deliver the ordered drinks Ian had
requested as he entered.
"Of course," Ian smirked. "That will make controlling her all the easier
after I acquire the patent rights on her shape-shifting ass. Just think
of what the government boys would pay for a spy that could
become...anyone."
Darla shrugged. "Don't care 'bout no gov'ments, so long as I's gets
paid," she reminded him.
She glanced up where Evie was now shaking her firm, round ass in a man's
face at the edge of the stage as the big, black patron leered at that
fine, fuckable bottom, and she knew, just knew, Evie was gonna soon be
doing her first real lap dance.
She would love to be in the room when Danny let her sink down on top his
fat, twelve inch log, and sprayed her full of his baby-making juice.
Danny had knocked up more sluts in the city than most anyone else
realized. He was a breeding machine, and just about every dancer she
knew had at least one little bastard running around that had his DNA.
Not that it mattered.
Evie, Darla knew, was destined for the social clubs. She knew Ian's ways
well enough. She'd be wearing a service collar, and popping out babies
for the adoption market even as she spread those skinny thighs for all
comers for the rest of her life.
She wasn't the first girl she had tailored for the director's needs, and
their mutual profits. She wouldn't be the last.
"Looks like Evie gonna gets her first child right off the bat," she
sniggered as she came off the stage to let the next dancer take her
place with Danny right beside her, grinning as he led the black stripper
Evie had become toward the hall where the back rooms were open for lap
dances.
And in this club, the no-touching rule was not only a joke. It was
completely ignored.
"It will be interesting to see what a child would inherit from her
peculiar genetics," Ian smirked. "Does Billee Dee still tape the
action?"
"'Course," Darla snorted. "Vid sales are part of the profits that keep
me fat and sassy," she smirked.
"Ah, so this is one of your clubs?"
"Naturally. You thinks I's gonna let someones else profit off this child
when I's puttin' in all this hard work to makes her such a fine piece of
ass?"
"I had to wonder.
"Anyway," Ian smiled, rising from his table after finishing his drink.
"Send me a vid of her performance tonight. In public, and in the private
rooms.
"I'd stay for the encore, but unfortunately, I have to keep up the image
of searching for our, ah, missing prototype," he smiled thinly.
"Whatever," Darla drawled, and gestured for another drink herself. She'd
give the little slut time, and then go to Billee Dee's office, and see
how the new stripper was handling private lap dancing with a real stud.
Wouldn't she be surprised to learn that not only was she not on birth
control, but there was no other Evie? That she was the only Evie in the
county, and she had just signed on with an exclusive contract to work
when, and how Darla saw fit. This one, the old stripper grinned, was
going to be a lot of fun. A lot of fun.
Ian grinned as he watched the footage of Evie's fine, brown ass dancing
around that thick, hard pole with no rubber covering it as she slowly
ground her liquid cunt back and forth along the swollen head. When she
finally accepted the massive, plantlike head into hr tight, rubbery
hole, it looked as if her labia were stretching wider than possible as
she slid down that thick pole until she was grinding her belly against
the tall, muscular man who made her look like a dwarf with his height
and musculature.
Then she was moving again, riding that thick, hard meat she likely
didn't realize was going to knock her up before she got away from him.
For the supposed birth control implant Darla had acquired for her was
actually a fertility enhancer that would guarantee her first mounting
would prove productive. That the child would be under an open adoption
contract by law thanks to fine print in Evie's own contract would ensure
he got the first look at the kid, and its potential even as he continued
to study the morphing bitch from afar.
He had been astonished when Darla revealed that talent, and he thought
of the possibilities at once. The problem was, he didn't know for
certain they could duplicate the accident that had turned their
camouflage bodysuit into a genuine bio-weapon if properly enhanced, and
utilized by better minds than the stupid cop that had been so easily
duped.
When she rode that big man's cock, there was no denying she was into it,
and really wanted him in her new orifice. Even after Danny groaned after
nearly ten minutes of laying back and letting her milk him with her new
body, he wasn't finished. Not even when he had filled her so full of his
cum it pooled beneath them on the leather couch.
He dropped her to the floor on all fours, and planted himself right back
in his favorite hole, hard as ever, and took her again for another
fifteen minutes before he filled her womb so full she could very well
end up with triplets, or something. And still he kept fucking her, and
he was just the first. That newly made slut danced like a pro, and
fucked anyone that put cash in her hand when they entered the private
rooms. And she did it all night long until the club finally closed.
Four days, hell. That bitch had to have overdosed on that neural implant
Darla had given her, because she was a one-woman orgy. She hadn't seen
anyone that hot since that set of twins he harvested from personnel, and
sold to a porn director for a percentage of their gross. Best business
decision he had ever made, next to making Darla his spy.
He watched the rest of the vid the old whore had brought in for him that
morning, and told him she had not even stopped after the club closed.
She had gone out with a few of the other girls, and not come back in
till even later. There was no doubt, the overfed cow had sniggered with
that dreadful chortle of hers, that Ellie was already gone, and Evie was
all that was left. She still wanted to give the implants time to fully
set in her mind, though. Besides, the girl was pure gravy at the club.
They had done a banner night with her.
She was waiting to see how she did tonight.
So was he.
Meanwhile, he had the commissioner on his ass, as well as the mayor, and
even his Pentagon contacts were wondering just what the scuttlebutt was
on the new bio-camouflage they had heard about from the press, of all
things.
Well, he would keep that uppity bitch Eurilyn on the project, and have
her ascertain if the suit could replicate the same 'accident' or not,
just for safety's sake. Of course, he wouldn't tell he that he wanted it
to happen. If he knew it was possible, he could pull her, then, and have
someone more amenable to his views carry on the actual research to
develop the potentially protfitable new weapon.
All that humanitarian crap looked good in the press, but he wanted
profits. Not glowing press releases, and banal accolades.
He wanted the secret to that cop's power he felt was now neutralized
thanks to his silent partner.
Darla came in on the ninth night since she had deceived Evie into
becoming what she was becoming. The young, black slut was just reaching
for a denim jacket, clad in a short denim skirt with ankle boots, and a
bright green tee pulled over her braless melons.
"You's not ready for work?" she asked.
"This is my day off, Dar," the girl winked insolently. "I thought I'd go
check out the other clubs. Sort of scope the competition," she grinned.
"Maybe see how they stack up," she giggled as she thrust out her own
chest.
"Oh, right. Well, don't forget to...."
"I'm way past the concerned mom speech thingee, Dar," Evie snorted as
she snatched up her small, black purse she tucked into her jacket
pocket, and then took her keys from the ring near the door before
opening the door. "Don't wait up, I'll probably be out late," she
giggled again, and was gone just that quick.
"She is definitely ours," Darla smirked.
She waited until she climbed into the back seat of the nondescript sedan
before she closed her eyes, and her face rippled as she began to change
almost instantly as the car pulled out away from the curb where she had
loped down the sidewalk to climb into the vehicle waiting on her three
blocks from Darla's apartment.
She paid no attention to the three occupants in the car until her dark
hair turned golden blonde, her caricature of a figure turned coltish,
and she looked even younger than ever. More a teenager than an adult,
with a body built for sin and vice.
Her eyes opened, now a soft blue rather than dark black, and she smiled
at the woman sitting in the back seat with her. "The cow bought it," she
told Dr. Eurilyn. "So, how's it been going on your end?"
"Just as I thought. Dr. Harris is sounding out the possibilities of
replicating your....accident, and selling the results as a potential
espionage weapon to the brass in DC."
"We also found no less than thirty online bids for your service collar,
and over fifty more for your first child," Mike said from behind the
wheel of the sedan that now carried them away from the uptown area where
Darla had 'retired.'
"Yeah," Allen agreed. "And we're not talking chump change, sarge," he
told him. "We're talking six figures. And higher.
"Not to mention your vid sales have gone off the charts. You're a pretty
hot commodity out there right now. Real prime stock."
"So, it's going to make a real splash when I disappear," the transformed
detective remarked.
"Very loud, very wet," Allen agreed. "But this definitely confirms that
Darla Teales is our underground vice lord we've been sniffing out all
this time.
"All we have to do is prove she knew exactly what she was doing....."
"My contract," the restored Ellie said as she pulled the thick paper out
of her denim jacket where she had stashed it after hacking Darla's PC to
print a hardcopy. "Trust me, it's nothing but indentured slavery. And
hardly any more ethical than it is legal.
"To a scared, homeless girl, though, it probably seems real enough to
keep them in line. And locked into a life they never should have
entered.
"Considering there is no mention of vid rights, or shared percentages,
or reproductive options, I'd say that qualifies as theft by omission, as
well."
"I couldn't believe it when you said Darla was a suspect," Sara told her
sadly. "And yet you still took the risk....?"
"No risk, doc," Ellie said. "First off, we both know that remote don't
work so well anymore unless I want it to work now. Plus," she grinned.
"I took the battery pack out and stuck it back in backwards before I
ever let her use it," she smirked. "I never got anything from that
remote except a laugh."
"Then how did you know....?"
She chuckled as Sara blushed furiously, and Ellie told her with a
straight face, "Doc, you don't work over five years in vice without
learning a few things."
"Oh," she murmured.
"So, do we have enough for the warrants now," Allen asked his partners.
"We do," Mike told them, coincidentally having a law degree of his own.
"We're on our way to Judge Nelson's now. I want him to sign the warrants
before anyone in that shady little operation even gets a clue we're
coming."
"This is going to impact Gen-Tech, too," Ellie told her. "You realize
that, don't you," she asked as she looked at the doctor who was
underdressed tonight to look more casual to avoid anyone's immediately
recognizing her.
"I guessed as much when you linked Dr. Harris to Darla's schemes. And
vice-versa.
"I already had Nelly, ah, Dr. Elliot," she reminded them of her lab
assistant, "Purge all our hard drives, and close down the labs. There is
nothing left of our work except what is in our heads now. Even the extra
data-prog for the new bio-suits are gone.
"Nothing is left for those bastards to profit by now, unless they do
learn to read minds anytime soon."
"Whoa, doc," Allen grinned. "I think we're definitely rubbing off on you
there."
"I suppose it can't hurt to see a bit more of the real world,
considering I seldom see how life outside the lab is impacted by the
discoveries we scientists might make."
"It's not the scientists that screw up the world," Ellie told her. "It's
the Harris' that decide how to apply those discoveries."
"Preaching to the choir here, sarge," Mike agreed.
"Yep. Without a doubt.
"So, do we get to smack the fat man around," Allen asked with a
suspicious gleam in his hazel eyes.
"Let's just take care of Ms. Teale's illegal vice ring first,
gentlemen," Ellie suggested. "Then we take down Harris, considering that
according to the records I managed to.....acquire, he's instrumental in
sending a lot of innocents her way for the flimsiest of excuses."
"And all this time I thought he was just being spiteful when he
'rehabbed' those women," Sara sighed.
Then she stared at Ellie, and gasped. "Oh, but you're not going to get
into trouble over this, are you? I mean, legally, you signed a contract,
and....."
"Evie Johnson doesn't exist, doc. Besides, I figured out that my prints
change as easily as my hair," she told her. "Evie is just a phantom.
Like Ellie, or anyone else I choose to become.
"Inside, I'm still James Drake......
"Okay, Jamie Drake, I guess," she sighed when all three glanced her way
with a variety of expressions. "And she is still a city cop. And Captain
Douglas will be the first to tell you that my.....new look does not
negate my position with the force.
"He just felt playing along with Harris would get us where we couldn't
ordinarily go. He guessed it might even pay off, since we knew Darla
worked part time there, and we had been looking for hard evidence on her
for years without success."
"And boy, ah, girl, did it pay off," Allen grinned as Mike stopped the
car in front of the large, gated estate where two armed guards met them
before they could even get out.
"Detectives Mike Parker, Allen Harding, and Jamie Drake to see the
judge," he said, holding out his own badge.
"Who's the fourth member of your party, sir," one of the guards asked as
he noted Sara didn't hold up a badge as the other three did when his
flashlight played over her features.
"Dr. Sara Eurilyn, material witness, and renowned scientist," Jamie told
him.
"All right, Parker. Make it quick. The judge is a man that likes to get
to bed early," the senior sentry told him after turning from the radio
he had been speaking into after identifying the guests.
"It won't take five minutes, mister," Allen grinned. "We can talk fast,"
he winked at the man.
"Do you ever act your age," Mike groaned as they pulled through the now
open gate.
"But I was," Allen protested, and Sara grinned at the byplay as she
remembered her informative evening with the young detective in the van
while staking out Ellie Sands' apartment.
"I was afraid of that," Mike groaned. "Just let us do the talking."
"So, do I whistle, or hum background music for you then?"
"You zip it," Jamie popped him in the back of the head as they pulled up
in front of the judge's impressive manor.
"Jeez, what is it with you? That time of the month."
Whatever Jamie said was lost in the slamming of the doors as Sara
climbed out of her own side of the car. A sidelong glance told her Jamie
put on a few years to make herself look more professional. she looked
closer to her true age now, but still had that youthful innocence about
her that belied her grim profession.
"Open that mouth, and I'll have the cap assign you to sting details
busting trannies on Laramie for the next six months," Jamie warned him
as they approached the door. "In drag."
Allen's expression was eloquent.
"Police," came the shout even as the hard knock echoed through the room
as Darla looked up from her favorite comedy, a glass of wine in one
hand, a cigarillo spiked with hash in the other.
"Shit," she huffed, pinching the end of the cigarillo, and then
swallowing it whole before washing it down with the wine. "Jus' minute,"
she hollered as she levered herself up from her chair.
"That stupid bitch better nots have gotten herself busted," she grumbled
as she headed for the door, removing the four locks, and the half inch
chain from the reinforced frame.
"Yessir, officer," she asked, putting on her best smile as she looked at
the four big officers in dark blue uniforms that stood behind the burly,
dark-haired cop in a wrinkled suit with a crew cut, and eyes that looked
meaner than a snakes.
"Darla Teales," the man demanded, flashing his badge.
"Yessir," she nodded, eyeing the badge suspiciously. "Wha's this all
abouts?"
"Ma'am, you're under arrest for violating sections nine-b, fourteen-34,
35, and 36 of the vice laws, among other things.
"Henry," he nodded at one of the uniformed men. "Take her in.
"Jake, you and Douglas are with me," he said as he pushed through the
door into Darla's aparntment.
"Now, jus' waits one damn minute, boy," Darla shrieked even as Henry
grabbed one hand, spun her around, and pinned her against the heavy door
she had installed for security. "I gots rights. I knows I do."
"Yes, ma'am," the uniformed Henry drawled as he snapped the flexi-cuff
around the woman's thick wrists. "You have the right to remain silent.
You have the right to an attorney, and you have the right to be dragged
out of here unconscious if you fuck with me.
"Now, come along, if you don't mind, because I don't think I could
afford the chiropractor's bill if I had to drag you."
"You's gots no rights to talk t'me like that," Darla hissed as Henry's
partner helped him shove the woman into the hall, and toward the
elevator.
"Nice woman," Douglas, a younger officer with boyish features smirked.
"You detectives get to meet the best crowds."
"Ain't it the truth," Jake, a grizzled officer almost as old as Mike
snorted. "So, what are we looking for here, Mike?"
"I want her computers, any disks, files, or hidden data chips she might
have. In short, anything that might tie her to the vice ring we just
took down at her central club."
"Gotcha," Douglas said, and headed for the bedroom.
"Whoa, rookie," Jake stopped him. "You start with the living area. I'll
do the bedroom. You're too young for what's probably in there."
Mike chuckled. "I think we're probably all too young for what that crazy
bitch was into, Jake," he told his longtime friend.
Jake chuckled his agreement as they went to work.
"I don't knows what you's talkin' about," Darla huffed as she sat on two
chairs pushed together in the small interrogation room.
On the other side of the table sat a lean, balding man with brown eyes
so cold they seemed to cut right into her. He was dressed in an
innocuous white shirt, and slacks, with an ID badge dangling from his
sagging breast pocket. The badge named him as Bill Douglas.
"No," he asked, and threw down the copy of Evie's contract. "How about
unlawful contracts for a start, Ms. Teales?
"And you should know, we've already dragged in Bill Dalton, aka Billee
Dee, and he's singing like a canary. Quite the racket you had going
here," he said curtly as he dropped a spread sheet on top of the
contract.
"Even if the courts don't nail you for illegal vice and social
violations, I can guarantee the treasury is going to very interested in
your offshore accounts where your undeclared income is setting.
Undeclared, untaxed income.
"You know how they feel about tax evasion these days, Ms. Teales."
Darla grimaced, and glanced away from those disturbing eyes, and then
forced a smile as she looked back up at the man, trying to see just
another guy with a dick in front of her. "Listen, handsome, can'ts we
makes us a deal? I mean, I's gots lots of cash, and....."
"Attempting to bribe an officer of the state, too, Ms. Teales," he
chided her. "That's almost as low as what you tried to do to my
undercover officer."
"What officer? I's never seen no cops. I know cops," she insisted, "An'
I's never seens a single one. I sho' never recruited none."
"Sgt. Drake," Bill Douglas turned to the two-way glass. "Would you step
in here moment?"
Darla frowned as she watched the door, and after a moment, when it
opened, she stared in confusion at the fussy brunette who looked more
like a housewife in those slacks, and a faded, yellow blouse.
"Sgt. Drake, I believe you've met Ms. Teales?"
"Unfortunately," came the husky voice that Darla still didn't recognize.
"Hey, what is this shit," Darla protested. "I's never seen you before,"
she told the two.
"No," the other cop asked less than innocently as her features started
to blur oddly.
"How about now," Ellie asked as the young bbrunette she knew from Gen-
Tech stood before her.
Darla's dark eyes bulged as she stared at the cop, and frowned. "Tha's
not right," she hissed.
"Maybe this will ring a bell," Ellie asked in a voice as cold as the
other cop's brown eyes.
Even as she spoke, she turned into Evie before her eyes. Dark hair, dark
eyes, dark skin. Even her blouse now strained to hold Evie's proud
curves. Only the girl wasn't acting like herself. Not the self that
Darla knew.
"You....? We....We gotta deal," she tried to sputter.
"We....have nothing," the cold voice drawled as the young, black teen
became the fussy frump again. "We have you on no less than nineteen
violations of the social welfare and vice regulations, Darla.
"But we might just make a deal.
"If you give us Ian Harris.
"On a platter."
"I's won't have to goes t' jail," she asked hopefully.
"It's not that sweet a deal," the captain drawled. "But we might just
shave some time off, if you cooperate."
Darla grimaced again. On her pudgy face, it didn't make her look any
better. "How much," she asked despondently.
"Depends on how well you work out, and what we get. We might even forget
the offshore accounts if you give us enough," Bill added.
"Jus' names it, cop," she sighed in resignation. "I's a gal that knows
when she's beat."
"First, start writing," he said, sliding an LCD data screen across the
table to her. "I want everything. In detail.
"Especially when, and how you started working for Harris. As well as
what you've done for him."
"Every detail," the female chameleon stressed when she glanced her way.
"That includes all the victims you two recruited, and sold into slavery.
As well as where they are now."
Darla nodded mutely, then looked up at Drake again. "I's gotta know.
How'd you beats m'mod progs. I only uses the bests. No one ever beats
them. How....."
"Trade secret, Dar," she drawled. "Now, get to work," she ordered her as
she left the room, followed by Bill.
"You really going to let her offshore accounts slide," she asked with a
scowl as they closed the door behind them, glancing in at her via the
two-way glass. She was already working on her confession, tapping out
the details that would hopefully help bring down Harris, and his sick
plans.
"Are you kidding," Bill glowered. "She's going to be begging if she ever
gets out of prison once we're finished. The feds aren't likely to leave
a dime in her name once they start rolling up the tax fees, not to
mention the remunerations for the victims we recover."
"Hopefully we can find them all, but....."
"Yeah, I know," Bill sighed. "In a case like this, it's hard to find all
of them. Especially after a certain period of time."
"Overseas auctions don't help," Jamie drawled, now using that as her
name. Even her official ID had already been changed to reflect her new
gender. It helped that she could make herself look more like her own age
when she needed to do so, but she had already found out that unless she
concentrated on it, she tended to lapse back into the younger Ellie
persona. Especially when she went to sleep.
Something else Darla had not noticed.
"True. With her confession, we should have more than enough to arrest
Harris, even with all his contacts.
"You want to serve the warrant?"
"You know damn well I do," she smiled more like her old self.
"And, cap," she added as she turned to head toward her waiting partners.
"Thanks for letting me roll with this one."
"I'm just glad you came out of it all right."
"Yeah," she said with a laugh, looking down at her borrowed clothes that
didn't do much for her appearance. "I'm just peachy."
Bill chuckled, waving him off as the transformed sergeant said something
about shopping in mostly four-letter terms as he walked off. He then
turned back to the interrogation room, put on his game face once more,
and went inside to hammer the last nail in the bitch's coffin.
Ian Harris looked up when his door opened, frowning when he saw it Dr.
Eurlyn who stood there.
"You're taking a hell of a chance coming back in here after what you
pulled," he blustered as he closed the folder on the few fragments of
information left after she and her assistant had literally closed up
shop and disappeared three days ago without a word.
He had been taking flack from the brass he had promised a new weapon,
and his contacts were demanding to know what he was trying to pull when
he couldn't come up with a viable prototype. It didn't help that Darla
and Evie had both disappeared, and everywhere he turned, he was getting
the cold shoulder of late.
"I wanted to be here when Sgt. Drake talked to you," she said, holding
the door for someone behind her.
"Sgt....Drake? Who the hell is that," the portly man demanded. "And
where the hell is my camo-suit? Gen-Tech backed that research, bitch,
and we demand......"
"Well, now I'm rather hurt," a shapely brunette in a severely tailored
business suit and slack drawled as she stepped in behind Sara.
"Didn't you even bother to read the reports on the project's outcome,"
Sara asked, shaking her head at him as the two women approached his
desk.
Ian frowned, then stared at the woman next to the doctor. "Ellie," he
frowned.
"I prefer Jamie, Dr. Harris. As in Sgt. Jamie Drake, city detective."
"This is impossible," he frowned, reaching for a drawer even as he
spoke.
"Don't do anything stupid, doctor," Jamie growled, her older features
making her look far more formidable as she pulled aside her dark navy
jacket to put a hand on her pistol.
"I'm not," Ian said, sweating heavily as he pulled the drawer open. "I
was just getting.....
"This," he spat as he pulled out a bio-link remote, and pressed a
button.
"And that is for what....exactly," the detective asked with a smirk as
nothing happened.
"You...? This can't be happening. You're designed to...."
"I'm not a machine, doctor," she sneered, reaching over to pull the
remote from his pudgy hand, and snapping it half with disturbing ease as
Sara's brows rose at her display.
"I'm a police officer. And you, sir, are under arrest for so many bad
things I cannot even name them all just now," she told him as she pulled
out a warrant, and slapped it down on the desk in front of him.
"You can't arrest me," Ian shook his head in denial.
"Sure I can," Jamie smiled curtly. "It works like this.
"Dr. Ian Harris, you are under arrest for all the nasty, bad things you
have done, and have been planning on doing.
"List to be divulged later, because I'm in a hurry.
"You have the right to remain silent.....Ah, heck, you know your rights.
Someone like you just has to have heard them lots of times before.
"Boys," she turned to shout behind her.
"Boys," the lean, blonde detective scowled as he came into the room with
an older man built like a bull. "Did she just call us boys?"
"You are a boy. Shut up, and cuff the perp," Mike growled as he walked
over to the doctor's work station, and started pulling out files.
"Hey! You can't touch those. That's classified information....."
"Sure we can," Allen told him. "We're cops. We can't read, so it won't
hurt anything if we just collect all the nice, shiny things for other
people to read."
"You're interfering with national security," Ian howled as the younger
man deftly cuffed him, and walked him toward the door where his own
security men stood looking owlishly at him. Four uniformed officers
waiting behind them.
"Don't worry," Allen told him. "We do it all the time," he claimed as he
passed the man off to the other officers.
"All right, Dr. Eurilyn," Jamie nodded to her. "This is your show now.
"Find out what he was hiding," she asked her as they went to Harris'
desk, and opened his private computer files.
Mike, meanwhile, continued to sift the files, and data chips that were
in suspiciously marked cases, adding them to a growing pile of things he
would be taking back to the police lab for examination.
"You think he really kept his personal records here," Sara asked her as
she used her security code, recently raised by a very embarrassed
general from the capitol, to override Harris' security codes. "He
couldn't be that.....
"Okay, maybe he is," she said, shaking her head as they opened a private
file simply called personal investments.
"Bingo," Jamie growled as he stood at her side, reading the list of
victims, their sale price, and their current location according to Ian
Harris' private codes for value and beauty.
"I cannot believe....."
"Believe it, doc," Mike told her as he walked over to her, holding a
data chip. "This is the real world. Unfortunately, it's pretty ugly.
"But I have a question. Does G-T have any Arab investors?"
"Not that I know of," she told him with a frown as he held out the chip.
"Then why is this labeled in Arabic?"
She took the data chip, slipped it into the computer, and booted up the
program.
"Ohmigod," she rasped as they all paused to look at the contents of the
file. "Even he couldn't be stupid enough to sell this to terrorists,"
she rasped."
"Ahhh, what is this," Allen asked.
"Fusion technology," Jamie said grimly. "Unlimited energy. Very big,
very dangerous in the wrong hands."
"We have to call DC again," Mike rasped.
"Any indications of whether or not it's been sold yet," Jamie asked.
"I....I can't tell from this file. This is just....blueprints for the
fusion reactor, and basic fuel applications. But if he labeled it in
Arabic....?"
She paused and looked up at Jamie. "How did you know what it was," she
asked him. "Do you read Arabic?"
"Of course not," Jamie sputtered. "I just recognized the design,
and....."
"You recognized the design of a highly classified, experimental fusion
generator," Sara asked her, gaping at her now.
"I'm almost afraid to ask, but....do you have a background in
theoretical physics, or.....?"
Jamie frowned as she shook her head. "Now that you mention it," she
murmured, glancing at her partners as if for help. "No.
"I....don't really know how I knew that. I just did."
"I suggest we keep that fact to ourselves," Sara told her.
"No problem," Jamie nodded, a little disturbed that she should be able
to recognize something obviously far beyond his experience.
"So, did the sarge suddenly get super-smart, too," Allen asked inanely.
No one chided him this time.
"We have to get this back to the precinct," Mike spoke up. "All of it.
"Then we'd better brief the captain, and get the right federal dogs on
this trail. This is way over our heads."
"I agree," Sara told them, logging off the file, and then downloading
the personal files for the detectives.
"Let's box this stuff up, guys," Jamie told them as she added the disks
to the mound of evidence they were collecting. "It looks like we'll be
doing overtime on this one after all."
"Hey, long as they pay us for it, who cares," Allen grinned as he
labeled one of the folders he dropped a computer disk into afterward.
"Let's just make sure we get it all, and get it right. I don't want this
clown getting off on a technicality," Mike told him.
"None of us do," Jamie told him. "So let's just make sure we get the job
done right the first time."
None of them argued with that.
It was much later before Mike pulled up in front of Jamie's apartment
late, and they both hesitated a moment as the sedan idled in front of
the old brownstone that was virtually an antique in the newly remodeled
city still being rebuilt after the civil unrest of the past decade.
"You okay, sarge," he asked as Jamie sat in the seat staring at his
apartment window on the second floor.
"You cannot imagine how sick I am of hearing that particular question,"
she sighed. "But what I'm wondering, is.....Did I leave that light on
when I left, or is someone in my apartment that shouldn't be there," she
asked as she stared up at the diffused light that spilled out around the
lowered shades.
"Should I call backup," Mike asked as Jamie climbed out of his car.
"No. It may be just be the landlord, or.....?"
"Someone who noticed you haven't been home in a while," Mike suggested
as he got out of the car with her, and pulled his own gun.
"I'm not helpless, Mike," she grumbled as she walked toward the front
steps, still wearing her pistol on her hip out of habit though she had
not drawn it.
"Never thought you were, sarge," Mike smiled thinly. "But only an idiot
walks blindly into danger."
"Thanks," Jamie smiled sardonically as they went up the steps together.
A few minutes later, they approached her door, and Jamie started to put
the key into the door. "It's already unlocked," she frowned. "And I know
I always lock my door."
Mike nodded, and she drew her gun, too, as they slowly opened the door.
They saw no one in the living room of his small apartment, and quickly
cleared the room, and started toward the hall even as voices came from
the kitchenette on the far side of the apartment. They eased back toward
the kitchenette, and Jamie gestured as she pressed against the wall, and
glanced into the next room.
His groan was telling as Mike hissed, "What is it? Bangers? Or....?"
"Worse," Jamie rasped, leaning against the wall as she closed her eyes.
"It's my mother."
Mike gaped as he noted one of the voices in the next room was definitely
female.
"Your mother," he almost laughed. Then he looked at Jamie again, and
sobered. "Oh. Your mother," he said as he realized no one had let the
sarge's secret out beyond a few trusted companions on the force, and of
course, Gen-Tech.
"This is going to be bad," Jamie predicted as she holstered her pistol
with a weary sigh.
"I'm sure she'll understand," Mike told her.
"I thought I heard voices," a short, man with thinning brown hair in a
cheap suit grinned as he came out of the kitchen to stare at them. "Who
are you? Do you know my brother-in-law?"
"Brother-in-law," Mike frowned.
"Mike, this is Pete Carter. My.....Dawn's husband," Jamie told him.
"Right," Mike nodded, having met Jamie's sister before, but not her
husband, as she had only recently married.
"Do I know you," Pete asked suspiciously. "Say, who are you, anyway, and
what are you going in James' apartment?"
"I'd like to ask the same of you," Jamie grumbled, noting the silence
from the kitchen. A moment later, two women came out to stand with Pete,
staring at them.
"Who the devil are you," the graying brunette demanded as she came in to
glare at them.
"You know Mike Parker, mama," the willowy woman in her late twenties
smiled as she stood beside her husband.
"Is something wrong, Mike," she turned to ask him. "Is that why you're
here?"
"Did something happen to James," Penelope Drake demanded of the
detective, completely ignoring the young brunette at his side.
"You could say that," Jamie told her softly.
"And you are," Pete asked her with just a bit too much interest for her,
or Dawn, who elbowed him.
"Actually," Jamie grimaced as she glanced at Mike. "I'm......James."
Mike was the only one who hadn't froze, gaping at her as if she were
mad.
"Just what kind of joke is this," Penelope demanded, staring at her as
if she had heard the punch line to a joke she had not found funny.
"It's no joke, mother," she told him. "I'm James. Or I was. Well, I
still am, inside. It's just.....
"Well there was this accident....."
"Some accident," Pete drawled as he eyed her with obvious admiration for
the shapely brunette before him.
"Hey," Dawn elbowed him again. "I'm right here, Pete."
Jamie glared at him, not that amused, and then turned back to his
mother. "It's a long story, mother, but the truth is, I am James."
"This I gotta hear," Pete snickered,
"Shut up, Pete," Dawn ordered her husband with another elbow.
"Yes, please do," Penelope Drake said as she shot him a cool glance.
"And you," she demanded of Jamie. "You'd better make this good, because
I simply cannot see how my son could become something like.....like
you," she snorted in contempt.
Jamie looked down at her professional clothes she thought looked good
enough for her, and sighed. "Okay, let's all sit down, and get
comfortable, mother," she suggested. "This is going to take a lot of
explaining."
The phone answered on the fifth ring.
"Speak," came the curt response on the other side.
"This is Dr. Harris," Ian rasped in a low whisper over the line,
painfully conscious of the guards standing just a few feet away as he
made his single call. "I need your services."
"In regard to what matter," the somber tone asked in the same curt
manner.
"Project Chameleon is rogue. I want it....terminated. Do you
understand?"
"Perfectly. Consider the rogue neutralized." the speaker replied in the
same manner, exhibiting no real emotion at all in his voice.
"On a personal note," Ian added after a second thought.
"Yes," the man asked, sounding impatient now.
"I want Chameleon's creator dealt with as well. I will, of course,
finance the additional venture."
"Understood."
The line went dead without any further comment.
"All right, Harris," the guard growled irritably as Ian hung up the
phone, trying not to smirk with satisfaction. "Back to your cell. You
can chat with your lawyer when he gets here."
Ian had not called a lawyer. He had called a special number once given
to him years ago by an overseas contact. The man would get anything done
for a price. Being a practical man, Ian had set up the special account
he would use to pay the assassin at the same time. He believed in being
prepared.
Whatever happened now, nothing would save that bitch, or the freak cop
she had created. Nothing at all.
TO BE CONTINUED..............