A-Cup Angst Ch. 07

"Thank you," said Jamie.

"May I," he said, indicating a nearby chair. Before anyone answered, he set the chair at one of their tables and sat down. "Those are very pretty guns. May I hold one in my hand, please?"

Each of them wore a brace of .45 caliber handguns in warded holsters, strapped to their hips. As long as they weren't completely naked, the guns' holsters were enchanted to make them completely unnoticeable. The holsters enchantments didn't work around Nova's magic proof skin so it didn't wear one. If this man could perceive the guns, than he was a very heavy hitter. The girls were close to panicking now, and Jamie gave Nova a stern look he knew it would interpret as a ban on any action. "What do you mean," Jamie asked.

"The Colt .45 M1911A1 pistols you have strapped to your hips," the Brazilian said and extended his hand, palm up, towards Jamie, "may I hold one, please?" Jamie looked deep into the man's eyes and focused all of his attention on his mind. He could sense no malice or aggression. At last, he unbuttoned his holster, drew his sidearm and dropped the magazine. He laid the gun on the man's palm. The man smiled and said, "Ah, yes, that's the stuff. I haven't held one of these in my hand since I was a teenager." He gripped the gun and looked down its sights. Jamie's eyes darted all around the bar. No one noticed a gun being openly handled in their midst. "My great grandfather was a smoking snake." He twirled the gun and worked the safety. "He fought in Italy in the great war and got one of these from an american officer as thank you for saving his life." The man's smile faded as he said, "And now my cousin has inherited it." He muttered a few brazilian curses and then flipped the gun over and handed it back to Jamie.

Jamie took the gun, still surprised that no one noticed it and engaged the safety. He put the magazine back in it and holstered it away. Only then did he perceive the subtle charm magic the man had woven. It was directed at casual observers and made them disregard the man's dealings. Jamie's analysis of the spell was interrupted by the man saying, "I am Luis, I work for the supernatural authorities and I have been sent here to fine you for using charm magic against an innocent bystander."

The girls looked about ready to explode by now and would do so at the slightest hint by Jamie. He was already tired of the kill/ignore relationship he had with Section and he was a bit dumbfounded by the Brazilian's magic, so he decided that he would definitely not instigate any trouble here. If he could walk away from trouble here by paying a fine, he'd pay it. He raised his hands and smiled. "We apologize," he said. "We merely wanted to ensure that-"

"That your jet gets fixed properly and on time," Luis said. He waved his hand dismissively. "We are no longer offended by american arrogance. You Americans think you're the only competent people in the world and that the American Way is the only way. Or the highway, yes?" When nobody reacted to his comment, he said, "Anyway, we have decided to fine you, Ms. Vandergarde, 40.000$ for using charm magic on the airport personnel." Luis then presented them with a paper he drew out of his shirt pocket. It unfolded on its own and projected into the air above it a hologram with Rose's fake name and the names of the technicians she had charmed, the time and location of the charm, and the monetary fine. All of their fake names were listed as accomplices. Jamie was somewhat relieved to see that the Brazilians, for all of their super powers of magical detection and perception, couldn't see past the phony identities they traveled under.

Jamie nodded and Rose said, "I'd be glad to pay the fine immediately. What account number-" She stopped as the hologram projected a rotating seal that featured a burning bird streaking across a night sky with the Sun, setting or rising, in the distance. Next to the seal, an account number appeared.

Jamie typed on his cellphone under the table and Nova's microphones picked up the noise of thumb against button and it deciphered that he had typed, "novapayit". The gynoid calculated that he had meant for funds to be transferred from Mr. Julius' account to this one and it did so.

The hologram projected big green letters and Luis smiled. "I am sorry if I scared you," he said, "but you must not use magic on anyone while you are in Brazil. Unless they want you to, of course." He stood up and nodded. "Goodbye!" He left, whistling a low tune. The hologram blinked out of existence and Jamie had Nova read the paper under it. It was an ordinary receipt for cleaning supplies and a candy bar, but in Brazilian.

The girls visibly relaxed as the man walked out of their line of sight. Soon, Jamie, Rose and Sandra couldn't even sense him. "I thought you were going to fucking kill him," Helena said, fanning her face with her hands. "Like you would have done back home."

"Yeah, well, we're not back home, are we," he said. "I don't want to be in trouble with the authorities wherever I go. He came here and slapped us with a fine for using charm magic. Back home, Section sent a shapeshifter to take your mom away for less! Besides, this guy was weird. He could see our guns and then he asks to handle one, but they really believe us to be who we claim to be?"

"Maybe they know about our true identities," Sandra said. "Maybe they just listed the identities we came here under as, like, a matter of legal formality?"

"Or maybe they want us to think we could do anything here and get away with it," Rose said. "It could be a test of our morals."

"Never mind," Jamie said. "While we're here, we'll behave. That's an order. Now, let's, uh, go to this restaurant Nova says is highly recommended and then we'll go back to the airport and see if the jet is finished already. Ok?"

They got up and walked along the city streets to the restaurant. It wasn't very far and their rental cars were parked halfway there, already. Helena walked next to Jamie. After a few minutes, she said, "Are you ready to talk?"

"About what?"

"About your behavior of late. About sending me flying through a door." Jamie scoffed. "What the hell is going on inside that head of yours, Jamie?"

"Nothing," he said. "Let it go."

"Is it nothing, or is there something to let go of? Pick a story and stick with it!"

Jamie wheeled on her and brought her to an abrupt halt. "Want another flying lesson?!"

Helena looked down and swallowed. "Jamie, I only want," she said.

"I told you to leave me alone!" He stormed off towards their destination, leaving her to blink back her tears. Dinner was a quiet affair. The place was ringing out with raucous laughter from a large party of guests and it gave them an excuse to sit and eat in silence. At the airport, they spent the time until the plane was fixed in three groups. Jamie, Rose and Sandra were talking about their continuing efforts to put as much magic as they can into the flying machine. Nova was instructing Sonya on how to perform the landing at Lagos, and the third group consisted of Helena, standing by the window and blankly looking out at the gathering dusk.

Finally, their jet was fixed, fully fueled and ready to take them to Lagos. They took off and napped on board while Nova flew them to their destination. It was early morning by the time they landed there. They caught all the personnel at the clinic at the same time. Most fought back. Few surrendered and were questioned. They revealed no new information. All were snuffed. The gang was back at the airport in less than three hours.

"What now, Jamie," Sandra asked.

Jamie shrugged. "We have a week before finals," he said. "You girls worked very hard all semester. You deserve to go back home and ace them. Hell, I'll even try and get some passing grades on my own. So let's go home. These fuckers are finished. I'm finished with them. Nova, file a flight plan... File a flight plan for somewhere in Europe. Somewhere fancy, where they have fashion weeks and the like. I'm taking my girls shopping before we go back to the States."

Rose, Sandra and Sonya jumped up and down in delight. They cheered and then peppered Nova with suggestions. Helena stood next to Jamie. "Are you ready to talk now," she asked. Jamie folded his arms across his chest and mutely looked out at the runway. "You've been drinking beer and such since before you were fifteen, Jamie," she shook her head, "but I've never seen you get drunk before the other night." She turned around, pressed up against the glass window and tried to occupy his line of sight. "You haven't touched a single one of us, ever since we left for Nassau. You talked about joining the Mile High club for a week, and you've yet to do it."

"I'll fuck you all as soon as we're airborne," he said flatly and turned away. He walked over to a newsstand and began browsing the various publications. Helena grimaced and shook her head to herself.

Jamie was true to his word. As soon as they reached cruising altitude, he pulled his hard cock out of his pants and reclined his seat. The girls took their turns riding him to a mutual orgasm, thus earning membership for each of them. Rose was still riding him while Helena was catching her breath. She leaned over to Sandra and whispered, "There's something wrong with Jamie."

Sandra glanced at her in alarm and then turned all of her attention to Jamie. "What do you mean?!"

"Shhh," Helena said and pulled her back around, "keep your voice down. I mean that there is something going on inside his head. Something we should stop. He isn't hard on his own, right now, is he? He is using magic to get hard and stay hard. I need you to remove his dog tags and read his mood. Do it now, while Rose's pussy is distracting him."

Sandra gave her an offended look and then leaned over to Jamie's seat. She paused while Rose shrieked out her orgasm, and then said, "Jamie, Helena just asked me to remove your jewelry."

Jamie grunted as he emptied his balls into Rose's shuddering pussy. They enjoyed their mutual orgasm until it faded away. His dick got soft and Rose got up to sit down in her own seat. She started to probe her pussy with her fingers and fed herself the juices and cum she found there. "Thank you," Jamie said to Sandra and waved her off.

She sat back in her seat and fastened her seatbelt. Off Helena's offended look, she shrugged and said, "What? Man ordered not to remove the dog tags." A brief silence descended on the occupants of the plane. It was interrupted by Rose peering over Sonya's seat and commenting on the pretty outfits in the fashion magazine she was browsing. Soon, the girls were deep in talking about the threads they were going to buy. Helena noted with displeasure that Jamie wasn't annoyed by their chatter.

Bellini ran out of the spa, slapping himself wildly, as if he was trying to extinguish flames on his clothing. He stopped at the sidewalk and cocked his head this way and that. He seemed to listen intently at something. His mother trotted out of the building after him, going as fast as her stubby legs could carry her. He suddenly started to merrily skip down the road, whistling a tune and waving his arms in the air as if he was conducting an invisible orchestra.

Sven and M'bata exited the spa, replacing the police tape over the door. "What do you think," Sven asked.

"I think we're in trouble," M'bata said. "The m.o. doesn't match the first attack in the U.S. Here, they used fireballs instead of swords. And you said you could definitely feel residual enchantments on the bullets the medical examiner dug out?" Sven nodded, solemnly. "One shot, right in the forehead, with an enchanted bullet. You can't magically propel an enchanted bullet. I don't know how they managed to shoot everyone right in the head like that. Nobody was holding still for execution. Everyone died on their feet, fighting. This is troubling. Very troubling. This gang that's trying to push us out must have access to some special ops soldiers."

Sven cursed in Swedish and M'bata turned to him. He held up his tablet. "The papers in Guatemala just broke the news. Our collection clinic there has been eradicated."

M'bata sighed in displeasure. "Still nobody answering the phone in Lagos?"

Sven shook his head no. "I checked with them yesterday and they said they had doubled up on their security. I even had to authorize funds for the extra mercenaries."

"Damn it," muttered M'bata.

"Well, at least we know for a fact that neither Khaled or Ivan were questioned," Sven said and glanced at the retreating bulk of Mamma Bellini. "They died fighting. Our organization is safe. There's no way for these people to find our other clinics."

"Safe," M'bata asked, incredulous. "We have just been shown to be vulnerable, Sven. We are not safe. There is blood in the water and soon, the sharks will smell it and come to feast. If we want our business to proceed, we must find those that did this and make them suffer terribly before we finish them. We must send a message that we are not to be trifled with. Everyone must go back to fearing us, or else our whole operation, every aspect of our business, will come tumbling down." He sighed heavily. "I thought our entire operation safe. I thought our U.S. clinic would be the last place anybody would ever find out about.

"The Americans don't use readers, they use just The Suit. I was sure that place would be the last one standing, if anything ever went wrong. And it was the first one hit. The same way they found these four places, they will find the rest, mark my words!" M'bata shook his head. "None of this makes sense. Why did they wait to hit this place? They found the jewelry and left it all. Why didn't they keep the doctor? Bellini read that he was the only one interrogated and they snapped his neck. If this gang wants to replace our operation, then why kill the cash cow?"

"Maybe they already have their own clinics in place and just want to take out the competition," Sven offered.

"That is the most likely theory," M'bata said, nodding. He screwed up his features in a grimace of displeasure. "Everyone that matters can tell by now that we are hit hard. The time for discretion is over. Send word to every reader, psychic, seer and clairvoyant we've ever heard of, regardless of our relationship with them. Tell them all that we are paying big money for any and all info on this new organization, particularly their own clinics."

"M'bata," Sven said, "that means admitting that we are in the dark about-"

M'bata seized his tablet and held it up in front of his face. "This is admission! This already says to everyone that we are hit and helpless! Everyone is thinking if we are ripe for the taking! They ask themselves when to strike and where. The time for appearances is over! We are long overdue to strike back and strike fear into the hearts of all those that would take what is ours!" M'bata took a calming breath and let it out slowly. "There must be someone, somewhere, who knows about this new organization and is willing to give information for money." He threw the tablet in the air and disintegrated it with a spell and a raging snarl.

Sven put his hand on M'bata's shoulder. "I'll clear the funds with the head office and spread the word about the bounty."

"Thank you," M'bata said, after he calmed down. "Anyway, on to Lagos! I want to investigate a fresh crime scene. You can go back home to your family. I doubt there's anything new to be found in Lagos or Guatemala, but I must go and do my due diligence. You can go home."

Sven snorted in response. "Visit my family, at a time like this? Head office might decide my family is too big of a distraction, so no thanks. I'll settle for Skype! I'm coming with you. I just have to go collect the Bellinis, first. You take the car and go to the airport, make our traveling arrangements. We'll meet you there."

"All right," M'bata said. "Oh, and give Saga and the girls my love when you do Skype."

Hidden on a tree in the distance, a camera with a high powered lens followed the car as it drove off. Agent Cassandra Ainsworth of the Commonwealth Supernatural Security Service operated the camera remotely from a sailboat in the marina. She dialed a number on her satellite phone and patiently waited for an answer. She spoke the security password, when prompted, and waited for her handler to pick up. "Sir," she said, "It's Ainsworth."

"Ah, Cassie, good to hear from you," he said.

"I have an update on the situation," she said. "They sent Sven Magnusson and M'bata Jonathan to investigate the assault. They were in the presence of an elderly lady and a young man, I'm still working to identify them. Anyway, I've successfully read their lips. They're going to Lagos to investigate an attack on their facility there. I also read them mentioning Guatemala. They gesticulated wildly and obscured their mouths often, but the rest of what they said seemed like just frustration at being attacked."

Her handler was silent for a moment and then said, "Good work, Cassie. Pack it up and return to base."

"Sir?"

"The courier isn't going to come, now is he? And these two are not going to come back there, either. Your job was to sit on the site and spot any arrivals and you did excellent work. You have nothing more to do. Come home."

"Sir," she said, "I've passed my field training and I can follow-"

"You are to do no such thing," her handler said, firmly. "M'bata Jonathan has killed half a dozen of our agents already and you are not, repeat, not to follow him! Your orders are to come home. This mission is over. Am I understood?"

"Yes, sir," she said.

"Good." Her handler ended the call and she sat mutely at her desk. She ran a hand through her long, straight, blonde hair and idly began to twirl a lock of it. She toyed with the idea of following the bad guys, in spite of orders and the danger, but common sense prevailed, in the end. Finally, she started to square away all of her gear. She had originally been there with a group of agents and their mission was to observe the clinic in order to determine all of its connections. A group of young people waltzed in and destroyed it, sending her comrades home and leaving her to gaze at the crime scene for hours on end. She finished packing in short order and then huffed. They had better give her an exciting assignment when she came home. She was only twenty two and she found most of her assignments dreary.

The sound of music came to her ears. A throbbing beat, followed by feminine shouts of joy. She stood on the tips of her toes and gazed out the porthole. There was a party on one of the other boats. She grinned and stripped down to her bikini. She had spent too much time just sitting there and watching a camera feed. It was time to go get herself some strange.

Jamie came out of his final and started to make his way across the quad, towards the parking lot. Seemingly every student of the University was there at that moment. He was reasonably sure that he would get a passing final grade in this subject, but the rest of his finals were in dire peril. He had trouble studying. Whatever he did, the dead eyes of those girls haunted him. His concentration always faltered and allowed his mind to wander to the matter of the dead girls. He was even toying with the idea of finding their families and going to see them, maybe bring some closure to them. Then he faced the fact that he had absolutely nothing to tell them. How could he ever express the sorrow and regret he was feeling? Searching his heart, he felt that he could not find the courage to face a grief stricken mother and tell her he could have saved her daughter, but hadn't bothered to think of it.

He tilted his head this way and that, rubbing his neck. He let out a great, frustrated sigh. He wasn't sleeping very well, of late. He couldn't wrap his head around what the casters in Nassau did. When he killed people, he killed them because they were evil fucks that had every intention of snuffing more innocent people. He couldn't picture even the slightest bit of what must have been going through those casters' minds to allow them to just snuff out those girls. "Fucking evil fucks," he thought to himself. The only thing that kept him going was the fact that he had eradicated them. Sure, there were some fat cats that had ordered the whole thing and they were still out there, somewhere, but Jamie had no way of finding them. Nova could find no trace of them online, not even the slightest of clues.