Dealing to a Stranger

"Well, I am sorry I bothered you Mr. Theurer, you have more than answered my questions. It has been a pleasure working with you, I hope we meet again."

"I do too Miss Collett, and please accept mine and my wife's congratulations on your impended marriage to Mr. Stranger. And please pass on my sincerest gratitude for the bonus he gave me, it was very large, I did not look at it till after he had left my office, I think Debra is out shopping for more fur coats, why she needs another is quit beyond me, after all you can only wear one at a time. But he has certainly made her quite happy, and if she is happy, then I am happy also."

"Sam's pretty good at making people happy. I'll make sure and pass that on to him next time I see him, again thank you Sir."

CHAPTER 19

Thursday the 5^th of September

Last month's had been New York City then San Francisco , this postcard was from Seattle.

Friday the 6^th of September, 1 day later

Kim sat in front of her computer checking her e-mails. She answered the few from her friends, deleting the junk. The waiting was wearing her down, this morning's amulet check had been very bright, he was just right here, and had been so for over a month. So close, yet so far. She tabbed into the search field and punched in S O S. The Google search engine said there were 3,391,226 entries, she thought that should give her a hobby while she waited. She cleared the search and entered Samuel Oscar Stranger as a fluke, wishing she could find him. The Google page quickly came back with 6 entries, she started to delete the search and go for her daily run. The first small entry note caught her eye, it said something about Space Operations Services, chairman of the board Samue before cutting off.

Kim quickly clicked on the link.

A smiling Sam stared out of her computer. The page said he was the Chairman of the Board for Space Operations Services. The page said very little about Sam. It said quite a bit about the company having 6 locations in the US and many overseas locations. Russia, India, Pakistan, Turkey, France, Great Briton, Germany, Ecuador, Japan and soon another location in China, Kim had postcards from every one of the locations stuck to her refrigerator with magnets. Space Operations Services dealt mostly with telecommunications and secure data transmission systems, it also boasted that new and exciting systems were under development that would revolutionize the current systems now in use. Sam had told her he was a communications engineer. The home office was located in Baltimore Maryland. It had a contact button for further inquiries. Kim moused to the contact page, it listed the addresses of all the locations, e-mail contacts and phone numbers. She looked at the home office in Baltimore, reached over, picked up her phone and dialed the number listed.

"Space Operation Services how may I direct your call?"

"Mr. Samuel Stranger," Kim said.

"One moment please."

Elton John played 'Rocket Man' softly in her ear, as her heart pounded wildly in her chest.

Space Operations Services, Mr. Stranger's office, may I help you?"

"I am friend of Sam's, I was just wondering if he was in?"

"May I ask who's calling."

"Kimberly Collett in Tunica, Mississippi."

"This is Tilly Levin, Mz. Collett, Mr. Stranger's personal secretary. I'm afraid that Mr. Stranger is out of the office today Mz. Collett. May I take a message and have him contact you as soon as possible?"

"Do you know when he might be returning Mz. Levin?"

"He has been very busy lately, but he always promptly returns my e-mails, would you like for me to leave a message for him to contact you?"

"No, I should be seeing him soon anyway, thank you Mz. Levin."

"It really is no problem Mz. Collett, are you sure you wouldn't like for me to leave him a message?"

"No thank you Mz. Levin, I'll wait till I see him, goodbye." Kim hung up.

And Mz. Levin didn't send a message to Mr. Stranger. Although she did make a noted entry of Kim's call in her ledger.

52.6 miles away from S.O.S.'s main offices

"Did you have time to trace the number?"

The other agent hit the print button and Kim's data started spitting out of the machine.

"Best lead we've had on this guy. I want to know her panties' size, where she buys them and what she had for breakfast everyday for the last six months by the time I get back. I'm walking this up personally to the Boss.

Agent Utesch, related the overheard conversation to Section Chief Sowell explaining that he would have the printed transcript of the conversation on Chief Sowell's desk within the hour along with a complete dossier on Mz. Kimberly Collett of Tunica, Mississippi. Section Chief Sowell called his Boss and explained to him. He listened to the instructions, said Yes Sir, right away Sir and replaced the receiver. "I want a full ten man team, round the clock, put a tap on everything, she better not be able to pee unless we're close enough to wipe, a squad of S.W.A.T. two snipers and a Blackhawk on 24 hour standby. Where the hell is Tunica, Mississippi?"

"Just a few miles south of Memphis, Tennessee, Sir."

"Drop whatever you are doing, get the briefs on her and on my desk ASAP! I think we can finally grab one of the bastards."

"Yes Sir."

"I wanted those other agents in Memphis yesterday, move it!"

Agent Utesch did.

2 hours 12 minutes later

Kim was flying down Highway 61 with the top down heading for work. She wondered if she did the right thing by trying to call Sam at his office.

568.1 miles away, as the crow flies

The C-135 turbo prop loaded with 22 heavily armed men took off, flying towards Memphis, Tennessee. They would be briefed on the operation, by an agent, when they arrived in Memphis.

2 hours and 44 minutes later

Kim was talking to Missy and telling her what she found out about Sam on the internet. Both sort of sighed inwards, now really knowing the all that money wasn't tainted, but earned honestly by hard work and a very, very sharp, if alien mind. They both were pretty happy and made plans to have lunch together around 9:30 PM.

13.8 miles away, as the crow flies

The local Memphis office of the FBI was not happy having to give the NSA agents, but not being told why, 4 of their surveillance cars and two of their vans camouflaged with local company logos. They couldn't really beef when they were told to assist with 15 more of their agents and have them on 24 hour on-call for back-up. After all, the Chief of the Department of Justice had made the request, and he was their Boss. The small, deadly army started moving towards Kim.

CHAPTER 20

Wednesday the 9^th of October

Kim was giving the prepaid credit cards to Missy along with the confirmation codes for large purchases as they walked back from their lunch break. The cards where generic and were made out to a corporation call Starbright Inc. She finished by telling Missy the approximate balances left on each card as they approached the gaming area. She had woke up that morning, her daily amulet check had been the brightest she had ever seen, soon, very soon. She didn't want the Birthday Bunny and Helper Elf to let down the few employees that hadn't received their birthday presents. The employee parking lot looked like a huge, new car, parking lot. Some of the last employees dropped hints to everybody about what kind of car they wished they had. It had made such a difference around the casino. Everybody treated everybody with kindness that bordered on sugary sweetness. Nobody wanted to piss off the Birthday Bunny before they got their new car. Nobody but Birthday Bunny and Helper Elf knew who they really were. It didn't matter if you were one of the trash guys, who all got Mercedes. Or the casino's general manger, who also got a new 850 4 door Mercedes coup, or a customer, you got the super duper, royal treatment at Sam's Town Casino. And besides, there is always next year to look forward too.

8 feet away

Agent D.J. Ivy tried to see what the women passed to each other, but an older lady had walked between them and him, he just couldn't go up and use his sap on her. And, the remote listening device disguised as an eye glass holder, in his front pocket, didn't work worth a damn in the casino with all the machines and the electronic noise from the machines. One of the agents had learned the hard way about carry in a weapon on the first day, the casino had embedded metal detectors in all the entrances for customer security. Two security guards had cornered the agent, he had gotten out of the mess by showing his fake FBI ID and saying he was off-duty and he was sorry for bringing in the handgun, he would return it to the trunk of his car. He now had to sit in the monitoring car in the lot, so as to not draw attention to himself on the facial recognition systems the casino overhead monitors used. At least the two RVs had arrived and the snipers and Special Weapons And Tactical team had two clear lines of fire covering the guest and employee parking lots. Everybody settled in for a nice long surveillance. The room was good, the food buffets were good and he got to gamble free. The agency gave him money to gamble with, they didn't say he couldn't keep the winnings he won. As long as he reported the losses and turned in the proper amount of the distributed allotment each day, he just pocketed his winnings if he had any left over. He figured he was about 850 ahead and was beginning to like playing three card stud. As a plus, the lady he watched was pretty and very easy on the eye, and she had a nice smile and a quick, witty humor. Though at some times she did seemed sort of sad. Of course that didn't matter much to him, if ordered to do so he would kill her before her body could hit the floor. And his embedded earpiece, disguised as a hearing aide, worked just fine inside the casino.

8 minutes later, 3 feet away

"Back for more abuse tonight Dave," Kim asked?

"I feel lucky tonight Kim, deal me some good hands this time, please."

"Don't I always Dave," Kim said back to him? The waitress asked him if he wanted a drink as she passed the table, he just order his usual to her, a coke with a lime twist. Kim started to deal as he placed his bet, he always just played the minimum ante and play bets and he must be a total teetotaler, she had never heard him order anything stronger than a coke. He was cute, but he wasn't even close to a Sam. She had seen the tattoo a couple of times on his arm, "Dave, what's the tat your wearing?" It looked like a curved snake with a knife sticking through it, surrounded by a sort of heart or shield shaped banner. The banner had something written on it, but she couldn't make out what was printed there.

"Just something I got when I was younger and in the Army, Kim. Been meaning to have it removed. If I win enough money, I can afford to have it lazed off." He really should get the Special Forces tattoo removed or start wearing long sleeved shirts, he won 20 dollars on the first hand, maybe he would really use his winnings to have it lasered off. He settled in for a nice shift, chatting with her. He just hoped he wasn't the one that would be assigned to kill her when the time came.

Monday the 14^th of October, 5 days later

Kim was not in a very happy mood since she woke up and checked her amulet that morning. It had been almost unseen in her bedroom's filtered light. She went into the bathroom, closed the door and turned out all the lights, still the glow was very small, about the smallest she had ever seen. He was either all the way on the other side of the Earth or on the moon. Still, there was the two small flashes. She had grabbed the amulet about 5 or 6 times, his pulses of heat hadn't come back. Sometimes they didn't, but at least 99% of the time she got a response from him. She would try later. He had been so close just a day ago, bright flashes, now almost nothing, she was still happy for the two flashes, but she was grumpy because they were so dim, he had too be as far from her as he could get.

She decided to run off her anxiety, she pottied and then pulled off her nightie in her bedroom searching for some clean running togs.

584 meters away and watching her on closed circuit TV

"Damn nice piece of meat there Frank, if they let me do her, I might take her for a ride first. Very good looking, I like the way she shaves her pussy, bald as a baby's ass."

Frank really didn't like Agent Allen Dupree, still he watched the monitor as she undressed and then started dressing for her morning's run. "What was that in the bathroom Allen," he said trying to stop Allen from leering at the woman?

"Whadda ya see," not taking his eyes off the monitor till she had pulled down her running bra, top and up her spandex shorts. "I didn't see nothing but dark."

"Nothing I guess Allen, thought I saw a couple of red flashes, first time she ever used the bathroom with the lights off."

"Our loss, but I have made copies of all the other times, let me know and I'll burn you some, mighty fine hunk of still warm, dead meat. Let Tony know she is going to go for her jog."

Frank did as he was instructed to by the Senior Agent on Site.

Friday the 25^th of October, 11 days later

Kim had almost tried calling Sam's office again, but she knew he wasn't there. The amulet's flashes were still really weak, it was like he was as far from her as he could be. Sam hadn't sent her any pulses for over 2 weeks, or he was so far that her amulet barely responded to his, she tried to tell herself. She knew in her heart that wasn't right, she had felt him when he was in Russia and Japan and in India. She hugged herself in one of the restroom stalls, wiping at a small tear before deciding to go back down a little early. She came out of the employee lounge, thought she saw Dave at one of the buffet tables. Kim started to wave, but he seemed to not see her and turned away. She had seen a lot of him lately, one time he had sort of half-heartily tried to ask her out on a date. She had politely fended him off by saying it was against casino policy to date customers. But, if he wanted to get a job here, it was OK for employees to date. He had told her he already had a job. He hadn't tried to hit on her since. Not that it mattered, Sam had promised her 'soon', and Sam had always keep his promises. She just wished soon were sooner.

13 minutes later

Kim saw him coming, she still smiled at him, but the guy gave her the creeps. She had already told Missy about him twice coming on to her. He didn't seem to want to take no for an answer. She even told him that she had a fiancée, he had responded by asking to see her ring. She had almost flipped out the amulet to wave in his face, but she had resisted the urge to do that. Now, whenever Missy saw the guy at her table, Missy sort of made it obvious that she was listening. And Missy really didn't need a reason to bounce someone out and ban them from Sam's Town. He was a lousy dresser or must come here straight from his job, he sometimes wore a casual shirt, but the same brown or black wingtips and his polyester pants gave him away as a loser. And he almost always did lose as he sat across from her leering at her constantly. He must be going for the Al Pacchino 'Tony Montana' look tonight. Big collared, fake silk shirt, half-buttoned. She put on her best Sam's Town face and welcomed him to her table. She did notice after about 45 minutes of play, when he took a free beer from the waitress he never tipped, that he had a tattoo on his right chest, just like the one her other regular Dave had.

3 feet away

'Yeah baby you are hot', Agent Allen Dupree thought. He had already made sure that he was going to be one of the escort agents when they snatched her and her commie, government secret passing boyfriend. At least that was the reason he had been told was for the stakeout. He just might find a nice dark place on the plane ride back and do her, maybe in front of her commie boyfriend. He had only been told that it was permissible to terminate the two, with extreme prejudice, if they attempted to escape before or after capture. But to do all possible to capture the both of them alive, no orders had been issued about what conditions they needed to be in, just alive. He was going to make sure she got his private interrogation on the plane ride back to Washington, the whole damn flight if possible, and he was lead agent, his word was law. And he knew to try and keep the snatch hush-hush. Once these two were in the bag, they were never going to see the daylight again. That was of course unless the sun was up when they took a round to the back of the head and a deep plunge, weighted, to the bottom of the ocean. He wondered if he could weasel onto the boat and interrogate her some more before capping her. He would make sure the boyfriend stayed alive just long enough to watch him fuck his fiancée. Maybe even take her up the ass too and then fuck her again before killing her, then putting a bullet between his goofy eyes. He wondered what it would feel like to be cumming inside her when he put a bullet in her brain. It made him hard just thinking about doing it to her.

CHAPTER 21

Tuesday the 29^th of October

Sam was right in front her. His eyes glowing a bright blue, his smile filling her heart with happiness. She reached out her arms to him and he came into them. She could feel the warm pulses of his heart beating with hers as they embraced and kissed. He slowly entered her, she moaned with delight, he seemed to have a billion hands, all rubbing, caressing, fondling. She flared in heat as his tempo slowly increased. His heart beats pulsed against hers, she squirmed in ecstasy under him as he moved quicker. His heart beat pulsed, she came as she woke up in her bed alone, in the early morning light. She pulled soaked fingers and a wet hand from between her legs as the amulet around her neck pulsed twice again. Kim wiped her wet hand on her pulled up nightie, grabbed the amulet and sent him back a response. His came back with three quick twin pulses, she sighed and leaned back holding the amulet in her hand, she didn't feel the three, longer twin pulses a pause and three, quick twin pulses, after she had dropped the amulet on the top of her wet nightie. She thought she felt the amulet pulse at her when she showered her morning pleasure off before going out to put on her new running bodyglove. She had bought the full bodysuit when the weather started to cool some. All this missing Sam and pent up sexual energy had to be taken out somehow. That had been the third wet dream she had about Sam this month. But, all the running was doing wonders for her figure, she was in the best shape she had ever been in life. She admired herself in the mirror, slipped on some short, silk shorts for some modesty, the suit looked like it had been spray painted on her body. Maybe she'll leave early for work, stop by the mall and get some really expensive running shoes. She had bummed one of the 5 grand cashier's checks off Missy when she gave her the credit cards. She had walked over to the Resort and had the cashier turn it into chips, played a few games and went to another window to change it back to currency.

The amulet rubbed against her chest under the tight spandex suit, she pulled it from under her suit, she didn't want it banging around as she ran, she took it off and placed it on the dresser. If she had worn it just 30 more seconds, she would have felt three, twin, quick pulses, a pause, three, twin slow pulses, a pause, three, twin quick pulses, but she was already outside warming herself up for the run. She thought she might even try for another mile this morning, Sam was coming SOON!