Inescapable Pt. 02 of 02

Naturally, we were the sexiest girls there. We never lacked for partners and every man around was watching us. Some of the other girls got pretty bitchy but we were having a blast. And we had no need of money; guys argued over who would pay for our drinks, not quite coming to blows.

Then Diana got kicked out. She'd taken a guy to the men's room. And taken him, in the men's room. 'Taken' was precisely the right word. He'd gotten a blowjob, but not exactly the way you'd picture. She'd lifted him up and held him against the wall so his dick was at a convenient height to suck on. Rocked his world. However, the action was a little too dramatic for the bouncers to ignore, what with his head peeking over the top of the stall.

We left with her, of course, several guys following us out the door as though they were tethered to us. A brief discussion wound up with three guys driving us back to our motel. And then, well, you can imagine we didn't fall asleep for rather a long while. Diana had some Viagra in her purse.

I woke up to the sound of Anong moaning.

I opened my eyes. My guy was still out. I lay on one of the beds. Diana was on a couch, still asleep, very snuggly with her gent. I turned my head; Anong had her legs wrapped around her man's hips and was getting gently plowed. I eased myself from the grip of my guy and joined them. I threw my hips over Anong's face and kissed her partner passionately. Threesomes always got men hot.

Within a few minutes, the others woke up. My guy came after me, but I stayed with Anong's beau. I wound up sucking him off, and my guy fucked me from behind, a classic spit roast. Anong went off to help Diana with her fellow, a large and strapping buck.

Eventually we sent the boys on their way, and got cleaned up and dressed. We'd worked up a substantial appetite, of course, so we went down to hit the buffet. I grabbed a bunch of smoked salmon - always loved that stuff - along with various carbs for energy. We didn't have to be back to Gerry's until the evening, so I was sure we could get in at least one more sexual escapade before we drove back.

I noticed Anong over by the sweets area. She had the same idea; she was picking up a guy for an after-breakfast treat. I grinned, getting ready to do the same myself... and then I felt a surge of adrenaline. I recognized the guy she was hitting on. One of Novinski's enforcers.

My eyes darted about. By one of the exits to the buffet, I saw another thug. I didn't know the guy hanging out by the other exit I could see, but he was of the same type.

I had switched to full-on 'emergency strategy mode', analyzing the situation and evaluating contingencies. They wouldn't just be following us; this had to be an attempted abduction. They wouldn't want to do anything in public if they could help it. If they realized we'd made them, though, they might well escalate.

I put on a fake smile and touched Diana's wrist. She turned from gathering a high-protein breakfast, and I said in a quiet voice, "Hostiles. Covering exits. We need to bug out."

Her eyes widened, then narrowed. I watched her repeat my assessment. Then she put on her own fake smile and nodded. "Get Anong over here. Stay behind me if anything goes down."

I did a little wave, caught Anong's attention. Come here, I motioned. Right now! my expression said.

She gave me a puzzled, slightly annoyed look. I'm having fun! Unfortunately, the guy saw it and sharply glanced at me.

Maybe I'd lost some poker face as Marci; in any case he decided to make his move. He grabbed Anong's wrist and commenced dragging her to an exit. He waved at us, and the other guys moved in our direction, closing in.

Diana and I both made a beeline toward Anong, who was still indignant rather than scared. But we were intercepted by two toughs, who got in our way and said, "You're coming with..."

That's as far as they got. Diana moved fast. She blurred. Suddenly one guy was curled up and puking, and the other was half-conscious on the floor with a dislocated - and, I think, broken - jaw. She whirled, and before I knew what was going on she'd shoved me off my feet behind a table.

I shot up to my knees, hearing a struggle; another guy was flat on his back. Diana was locked with a fourth goon; her hands gripped his forearms as he strained to grapple with her.

No, one hand held a gun. My heart rate had just enough time to shift to an even higher gear before Diana squeezed that arm and the guy yelled. The gun dropped from a limp hand. An instant later her knee rocketed into his gut and sank inches deep.

He collapsed, helpless and semi-conscious. She kicked the gun across the tile and under a buffet table, then spun and dashed in my direction. I had just managed to stand up. She got a grip under my shoulder and more or less carried me, at speed, after Anong.

I heard alarms screeching as we turned a corner. An emergency exit was open onto blinding daylight. Diana brought me to rest against the wall next to the door, and peeked around the jamb. I heard a gunshot and she jerked her head back fast. Tires squealed outside.

Diana peeked out again, and cursed. Then the casino's security arrived. I watched her visibly consider fighting them too... but she powered down and cooperated.

It took a couple hours to sort out. Four injured men, guns, etc. A review of their security footage cleared us and led to the thugs getting arrested for assault and attempted kidnapping. But it was half an hour before we could even call Gerry to let him know what happened. And then we had to answer endless police questions about the successful kidnapping of Anong.

Once released, we flew down the highway at way past the speed limit and were back at Gerry's in barely an hour. Then we waited. For them to call, or visit, or anything. But there was nothing, for hours. I knew how to get in touch; the only thing keeping me from doing it was that Novinski would see it as weakness. It would put all the other girls at risk.

At more risk. Goddammit.

The mood wasn't as festive as usual on the floor that evening. Everyone knew about Anong and, fetish or no, that's going to impair any human being's erotic inclinations. Everybody liked her.

Diana and I stayed in Gerry's office, waiting. Then there was a scream outside. Chris raced in carrying a red and brown bundle. Diana screamed too, but I just got icy once I realized it was Anong. They'd cut her - everywhere - and dropped her off in the parking lot. Her face looked like raw meat. Her thumbs were gone.

I spent a couple hours holding Anong in her room as she trembled and cried. She was fully healed - all hail the ring - but those motherfuckers had put her through hell. She'd been brought to Novinski, who looked her over and told them to tie her up. Later they pulled her out of closet, attacked her, and left her bleeding in a car trunk lined with plastic. She passed out somewhere on the ride from blood loss. They hadn't even interrogated her, figuring a whore wouldn't know anything important.

She was quiet for a long time. I thought maybe she'd fallen asleep, but then she turned in my arms and looked at me. "Did you really work for that asshole?"

"He hired me," I said, reluctantly.

"Did you know what he was like?" It wasn't precisely an accusation, but I knew our friendship was on the line.

"Yes," I admitted. "But I didn't think anybody in the business was better." Before she could break in, I said, "If you don't believe in magic Gerry seems too good to be true."

She closed her mouth and considered that. "It was still a dick move."

I wasn't forgiven, but I wasn't dead to her yet. I decided to play my hole card.

"I got that a lot. I picked a bad job for someone with my name."

She looked at me quizzically. At least I was distracting her from recent events.

"Before I was Marci, I was Richard Bordreaux."

Even if it was at my expense, I was glad to hear her laugh. "Holy shit! You were actually a private Dick?!"

I looked sheepish and said, "I always hated that joke."

We sat silently for a while. Very softly, she asked, "Are they coming back?"

"Probably." I could feel my face harden. "I've got some surprises in mind for them, though."

She did fall asleep shortly after that, seeming less troubled. I slipped out, carefully. Then I marched down the hall toward the stairs.

I was angry in ways I'd never experienced before. I'd never made any really deep friendships. An only child growing up, I'd never had a sister before - but Anong felt like one now.

And Novinski had hurt her. He'd had two of his goons mutilate her. For life, so far as they knew. Treating her like a thing, like a scrap of paper to write a message on. He'd threatened this whole family. Which I realized I cared about, a lot.

I'd show him what a whore's feelings were worth.

I burst into Gerry's office. He was in a deep conference with Chris and Duane. He looked up at me and his face went wooden. I wasn't surprised; if he was reading my mind it wouldn't be a fun experience.

Without preamble, I pointed at the ring and said, "I need to know exactly what that thing can do. What's its range, anyway? I've seen you don't need line-of-sight."

The meeting was about to begin. Following my advice, Gerry had utterly refused to leave home ground, and after a brief back-and-forth Novinski had agreed to come to Gerry's Place. He was sure he had nothing to fear, anyway. An attack there would start a war, and further involve law enforcement. He'd even brought his son Denis along, as I'd hoped. On-the-job extortion training, you might say.

His bodyguards weren't convinced. In fact, they were acting a little intimidated - his security chief most of all. They had the background to perceive something of how physically dangerous Gerry's Guys were. On top of Diana wrecking four of their mates singlehandedly. Especially when neither Duane nor Murtaugh were bothering to conceal their displeasure. Hostility filled the room.

Novinski seemed more annoyed than unnerved, unfortunately. Several of us were watching from a room down the hall, over a camera. Diana, me, Collette, and Chris. Anong didn't feel up to it.

Zeke, and a nervous but game Ben, were handling regular security out on the main floor. They were ready to respond to Novinski's group if anything went down, though.

Within fifty feet, Gerry could get advice from Collette and me by reading our minds. That didn't cost much magic. Which was fortunate, because the ring was dangerously low. He hadn't budgeted on transforming me and healing September and hiring a new security recruit in the same month as Halloween, plus an Emperor's Room engagement, plus a security retirement party, and Chloe leaving.

Novinski got right to it. "I am your new partner. You will take on manager. My man. He will run books. You will keep fifty percent of profits. We will have use of the girls. Put some of them in our facilities. I will need to speak to your sources, make sure they understand new arrangement."

He was playing up his accent and Russian lack of copulas. Suggesting a brutal, gang-leader vibe. I knew in reality he could speak English rather well.

"That will not be happening, Vadim." Gerry sounded just like I'd hoped, stern and assured.

Novinski sat up straighter, inhaling, but Gerry didn't give him a chance to break in. "You should have taken the hint when your spies failed. They've been dealt with, of course."

A small laptop sat on his desk. He turned it to face the Russians. Novinski's eyes narrowed as he took in the video that played on the screen. Everyone else's eyes widened, or looked away.

The screen showed me in bondage gear - male me, though starved, skinny, and ill-shaved - getting fucked in the ass, my boner wobbling in the air. When the guy fucking me came, so did I. You couldn't fake the pleasure in my eyes. We'd had a couple hours to set that up. Gerry had changed me back physically, but left the fetish in place. That had been my suggestion; it would aid the verisimilitude, and conserve limited magic energy for later.

But that was our cue. "All right, then. I'm up," I said. My voice sounded weird and low to my ears. Chris grabbed me and flipped me over his shoulder - casually, like a dad playing with a toddler. All of Gerry's guards looked strong... and were actually much, much stronger than they looked.

He walked down the hall and came into the office as the video wrapped up, throwing me on the floor in front of them. Novinski's eyebrows flicked up, briefly - surprised I was still alive.

I had on different leathers, leg chains, and handcuffs, but was still mostly naked. I felt extra naked without my long hair. I cowered, sitting on the floor, and said, "Novinski. Oh, God, get the fuck out of here! You got no clue how bad you fucked up!"

"Silence," Gerry said, mildly. In the back of my head, I thought maybe he sounded too much like a movie villain, but I immediately shut up and pulled my knees up to my chest, softly keening in fear.

"You have stumbled into something beyond you," Gerry noted. "Perhaps Semyon should have been notified, but this is above even his need-to-know."

Novinski had been building up to an explosion, but as soon as Gerry mentioned 'Semyon' he took on a very neutral aspect. Some of the former KGB had gone into politics, some had gone into business, some had gone into crime, some were still in intelligence in the FSB. A Russian human trafficker was guaranteed to have intelligence-related contacts; Gerry had plucked the name out of his thoughts. I'd pinned a lot of hopes on that.

"My real manager didn't want to disrupt things too much, but you failed to display any wisdom. We get valuable information here; men from all over the world. Businessmen, diplomats, Saudi princes." He frowned at Novinski, and said, with authority, "Leave now, stay away, never speak about any of this to anyone, and you will live. Do anything else, and you will simply vanish."

Novinski blinked. He looked at me, then at Gerry. Then he said, "Bullshit."

He shook his head once. "If they want lawyers and rag-heads, I can do it. You bluff, badly. You have nice girls, decent muscle. No more." He almost laughed. "I am killer. You are just bank teller."

Gerry looked no more than mildly irritated. I was proud of him. "I told him you were stupid. Go home. Set your guards. If you are still there tomorrow morning, then you can tell me you're a 'killer'."

Novinski bolted upright in anger... and got very still. Duane, Chris, and Murtaugh all had pistols pointing right at him. Drawn faster than I could even follow, in an eyeblink, like a magic trick. Their expressions were totally without mercy, or even concern. His bodyguards had barely begun to react; they froze, uncertain.

I moaned again, and curled into a fetal position, just to enhance the effect.

For the first time, Novinski actually seemed taken aback. Gerry stood up, placed his hands on the desk. "Leave now, or your son dies too."

Novinski shot a look at Denis, then appeared to relax. "I go. But I come back tomorrow with manager." He turned and opened the door - not quite fast enough to trigger an attack, just fast enough to be a challenge.

"No, you won't," Gerry said. The rest of them filed out. Duane and Murtaugh put their guns away and followed them. Closely.

Once the guys returned and reported the invaders had left, Chris undid my restraints. Diana and Collette joined us in the office.

Gerry looked at me. "You were right. Denis would like to take over, but isn't planning to move for at least a few more years." All the anxiety he'd been masking came out. He shook in reaction. "I was hoping he'd back down."

Collette spread her hands wide. "I know, but this is better. He would try again, and might catch us by surprise. You got everything?"

Gerry was already nodding. "From him, his son, and his bodyguards. Locations, passwords, all of it."

I took a deep breath. "Then we move tonight. Let's hear the layout."

The Russians' place was outside of the city, in the foothills of the mountains. They wanted to be isolated, which worked just as well for us. Plus, because they expected trouble, they'd cleared out any noncombatants.

It was funny, in a way. In all my years, I'd never come close to a situation so much like a Hollywood movie. The big bad boss, barricaded in his manor, guards patrolling. A handful of good guys, assaulting.

Reality did intrude, somewhat. The 'manor' was just a nice McMansion, not a multi-acre estate. He only had about ten guards, instead of dozens. Some of them were probably ex-military, and several carried automatic weapons, but it wasn't like infiltrating the Pentagon or anything.

Like movie heroes, we had good intel. Gerry could tell us where the outlying guards would be. Unlike the movies, Gerry was also our best weapon. It looked incredibly stupid, but Chris carried him piggyback.

They jogged around the perimeter of the place, quietly, and Gerry zapped the guards with the ring, from fifty feet out. Putting people to sleep took hardly any juice. They never even heard anything. One second they were awake, the next they were out. Like a switch. Took about a minute and a half. The guards had radios but only checked in every ten minutes.

Once that was done, the guys sprinted for the house along one of the few blind angles (a pair of the now-sleeping guards had covered that approach), carrying Gerry. One lap around the outside of the house, and everyone on the ground floor was zonked. It was a big-enough place, but how many homes have you been in where you can get more than fifty feet from every outside wall?

The back door wasn't locked - to let guards back and forth - so they simply stepped in, and did a quick walkabout on the ground floor. Now the people in the basement and upstairs were taken out, too. From start to finish, under four minutes.

Once things were secure, they called me in from the van we'd parked down the road. As I stepped through the door - still getting used to walking with narrow hips again - Chris, Zeke, and Murtaugh were gathering everyone up and zip-tying hands and feet together. Duane was busy wiping all the security footage and records from tonight, using their own passwords.

"You got them all?"

Gerry smiled in relief. He really wasn't the action-hero type. "Nobody saw anything. They'll all wake up with bad headaches tomorrow morning. Like a drug hangover."

I smiled. Another Hollywood-ism I'd never seen before, the perfectly executed plan. Of course, that was more likely when you had actual magic on your side.

They might as well have been hit by ghosts. The entire estate taken down without a shot fired, without any alarm being raised, and zero traces left behind? When they were explicitly told to expect an attack? That was beyond even organized crime. It took a nation-state to pull off a hit like that, and in reality even they fucked up from time to time.

It'd put the fear of God into them. Especially Denis, at least for a while. He'd be busy taking over his father's operation anyway. No solution is permanent, but this would buy Gerry's Place a couple years breathing room, most likely.

Anong wasn't a fan of violence. She had pleaded that no one else get hurt. As Chris carried a limp Novinski out the door, however, I savored a different class of incipient revenge. I'd talked things over with Gerry and Collette, and we'd pooled our creativity. She liked the proposal we'd come up with.