The Big Catch

Author's note: This has been part of Literotica's inofficial Tag Team Competition and was written by Zeb_Carter and me. Zeb was so kind and allowed me to keep the story, but I need to make it abundantly clear that without him, the story would only be half as good. Thank you!

Story Note: This story takes place in an alternate reality, where there are no STD's, no AIDS and where sex is a joyful and happy experience. The authors have also taken literary license with some transportation destinations.

Outside, it was oppressively hot. The old air conditioning unit fought valiantly to keep the office of JJ Courier Service hospitable. Janet Cameron and Jason Schroeder were both in the office. This wasn't unusual when they had just finished a job. They were co-owners, managers and the sole employees of JJ Courier Service. Their motto, "You have it, we move it." Concise and to the point, just as they hoped their service would be

Jason sat with his big feet up on his desk. He was holding a Guns and Ammo magazine in his large hands, yet was gazing over the magazine at his partner Janet who he affectionately called Jay. They had only been in business together a short time. Reaching to his right hip, he adjusted the SiG 226 that rested there in its quick draw tactical holster. Janet really didn't like him wearing it in the office, but he had grown so used to having its weight on his hip he felt naked without it. Serving your country in a war zone forms such habits. Jason, during times of inactivity, always found himself enthralled by his pretty partner. Her auburn hair, cut in a cute bob, streaked with red highlights, fit her delicate features just perfectly. Her bright blue eyes always held his attention any time they turned their gaze toward him.

Janet was squinting at her computer monitor as she read the latest news on the new mega processor that a Japanese manufacturer had just announced. She smiled when she found that it wouldn't be ready for market for another five years. She knew her ex-employer had a similar processor ready for release in the next year, in which she was heavily invested. Having graduated MIT with honors, she had worked at several firms that were looking to utilize her skills with computers and microcircuits. She, on the other hand, was looking for something different in her life. She met Jason at a company mixer. He worked in security after leaving the military when the US troops pulled out of Afghanistan. They hit it off. Just friends for now and eventually they started talking about starting their own business.

Neither one of them knew exactly what they would like do. Then Janet saw an ad in the paper. It said that a courier service was for sale due to the death of the owner. Jason looked into it and they decided to buy it. They renamed it and started to solicit customers. At first they took everything they could. Most of the time they were just a messenger service stand-in, criss-crossing New York with documents and such from one company to another. It paid well enough, but jobs like that held no adventure.

She could feel Jason's eyes on her, but she was comfortable enough with him to ignore him for the moment. He was a hunk, six feet tall, broad-shouldered and fit. His light shirt fit so tight, she could see the six-pack he sported. Yet he was also her business partner and she wasn't quite sure if she was anything to him. Given the proper circumstances, she thought, she might find herself in his bed to both their enjoyment.

"Jason, can I ask you a question?" Janet asked looking up at him.

"Sure sweets, anything you want," Jason replied glibly while pretending to read his magazine.

"Are you really reading that or are you just using it as a shield to sneak a peek at my tits?"

"What? Of course I'm reading it," Jason said in mock annoyance.

"Then why is it upside down?"

Looking at the magazine in his hand, Jason threw it down on his desk and grunted. Janet laughed as she went back to her computer screen. Teasing Jason was just too much fun. The phone rang and she picked it up.

"JJ Courier Service, you have it, we move it," Janet said. "How may I help you?"

"Is Jay Jay there?" the voice at the other end asked.

"Speaking."

"Huh, I thought Jay Jay was a man?"

"Nope, I'm her," Janet said contritely.

"Fine. I have a job for you. Meet me at my shop in twenty minutes. 33 Central Park West. Scarletti Jewelers. Forth floor."

"Got it. See you in twenty minutes," Janet said and hung up.

"Job?" Jason asked.

"Yep. A jeweler up on Central Park West."

"Classy."

"That's what I thought."

The two gathered their things and headed out. It would take them twenty minutes to get there from the Lower East Side. Out on Avenue C they grabbed a cab. Neither of them owned a car, so far they had been fine using taxi cabs within the city. For longer distances they rented a car. Traffic was thick but they made it on time. Janet paid the cabbie and they left the car.

"So, today you're Jay Jay, eh?" Jason asked with a playful grin when the cab drove off.

Janet tucked her purse away and nodded.

"Last time it was you. Those secretaries were all over you when we picked up the documents from that consulting firm. High time for me to have some fun," she replied.

"Sure, knock yourself out. Leaves me some time to grab a bite. If anything comes up, just yell," Jason said, eyeing a nearby hot-dog stand.

"Great, Be back in ten or so," Janet said, entering the building.

She found the door to the jewelry store locked. Knocking, Janet waited impatiently. A man, tall, dark olive skin, black wavy hair, rushed from behind the counter at the back. He held keys in his hand and fumbled a little as he fit one in the lock on the door.

"Jay Jay," he asked opening the door wide.

"I am," Janet said raising an eyebrow to his astonished look.

"Ah, I wasn't...come in, please," he said standing aside to let her pass.

Waiting for him to lock the door, Janet looked around the small shop. It was elegant and glass cases lined the walls. They were filled with what appeared to be fine jewelry. Diamond rings on the right, diamond and gold bracelets on the left and all manner of necklaces along the back wall. All expensive looking, all giving Janet goose bumps. After all what woman didn't like diamonds and gold?

"Miss Jay Jay..."

"Just Jay will do, Mister Scarletti," Janet told him.

"Jay, please follow me," he said, stepping behind the case at the back of the shop. She followed, watching and observing. A trait Jason had taught her.

They went through a door to a back room set up as a work area. One door lead to god-knows-where. On a bench along the wall was an elegant wooden box made of burl wood and stained a dark cherry. The top stood open, a beautiful gem encrusted necklace was displayed on a satin cushion.

"This is the necklace I need you to get to San Francisco. You have six days."

"No problem, a flight to San Fran should take but six hours or so..."

"No, no air travel."

"Huh?" Janet grunted.

"As you can see there are three pieces of amber on the necklace. Each of them is from the Jurassic period. Each has a series of small bubbles of air from that period. It is believed that if the necklace was to rise ten thousand feet above sea level the pressure in the bubbles could fracture the amber resulting in a catastrophic loss of value."

"I see. Then how do we get it..."

"I have booked you passage on a train out of Penn Station." Scarletti handed her an envelope. "The train leaves at six tonight. I have you in a double berth, it was the only thing available."

"I see. Good as I will have my security chief traveling with me. Can never be too careful."

"Magnifico. Now if you would wait out in the display area while I get the package ready?"

"Of course." Janet turned and left the work area. Scarletti closed and locked the door behind her. Janet used the time to look closer at some of the displayed pieces. Scarletti's work looked clean and classy. The rings and bracelets conveyed an air of luxury without being overly gaudy, the sign of true craftsmanship.

Suddenly, something thumped loudly behind the door, followed by indistinct grunting. Janet slid towards the door and knocked.

"Mr. Scarletti? Are you all right in there?"

The noises stopped and she could hear Scarletti call back "Si, si, I'll be with you in a moment!"

Now on edge, Janet strained her ears, but she couldn't hear anything from the other side of the door. Somewhere in the shop, Janet heard another door slam shut.

A few minutes later, Mister Scarletti came out. His hair was disheveled and he looked pale and fidgety. The package was a metal briefcase just a little larger than the wooden box Janet had seen on the work bench.

"This is it. There is GPS tracker in the case, so the Countess can keep track of her property."

"Countess?"

"The Countess De Laurentis of Abajur, the owner of the necklace. I was commissioned to repair the clasp after it snapped during the Countess' visit with the President here in New York last week."

"I understand," she said, taking the case from Scarletti.

"Here is the GPS code. This will let you track the package if the need arises." Scarletti handed her a slip of paper. On it were scrawled a set of numbers.

"Of course. We'll see that this gets delivered to...where?"

"The Countess herself or the Museum. It's all explained in the instructions in the envelope with your ticket."

"Right. Now just to check..." Janet said as she reached for the locks. Scarletti, with an alarmed look on his face, grabbed at her hands and pulled them away.

"No, no, don't open it. Well you can't really. It's locked and sealed. Only I and the Countess have the code needed to open the case without..."

"Without what?"

"...causing damage to the necklace."

"I see. No, I don't see."

"Just don't open the case, it would be very bad for whoever did."

"Hell, why not. Okay, no opening of the case. Anything else?"

"You have six days." Scarletti said as he ushered Janet out of the shop.

"About our fee?" she asked, in the open door.

"The Countess will pay..."

"For a job like this, two people, six days, twenty thousand plus expenses should do it."

"The Countess will pay you when you deliver the necklace to her. Twenty thousand is a little low, I'm sure that Milady will pay that amount and your expenses out of petty cash." Scarletti pushed her out of his shop. He slammed the door shut behind her and locked it, then she heard his body slump against the inside. What the hell was going on here?

"Great, six days, train trip, Countess, Museum, no problem," Janet muttered as she left the building. God she hoped they weren't getting in over their heads. And what had happened with Scarletti while he was in his workshop? He went from gracious solicitor to a bundle of nerves in a flash.

Once in a cab with Jason, she explained the job. He listened while polishing off the last bit of his dog, nodding and grunting at what she was telling him. She then opened the envelope. Inside was a ticket, a hand written note and another envelope with two thousand dollars in cash.

"So no airplanes?" he quipped.

"Right, no airplanes. Trains," Janet said holding up a ticket. "We'll have to get you a ticket at the station." She said, waving a Benjamin in his face.

"Right. A little sketchy, but it shouldn't be that difficult. As long as our travel plans aren't public knowledge we should be fine. Okay, back to the office, grab our go bags, then off to the train station."

"That's the way I figured it."

Janet led the way, dragging her suitcase behind her, through the maze that was Penn Station, Jason close on her tail, his eyes ever watchful. Not only did Janet have her luggage, she also carried the biggest purse Jason had ever seen and the metal briefcase with the necklace inside. Jason cared his go bag slung over his left shoulder leaving his hands free, just in case. The station was crowded. Jason really disliked crowds. A hold over from his time in the military serving in Afghanistan, where crowds were avoided, when possible. Crowds hid bad guys. Jason disliked bad guys.

Janet made her way to the big board. The big board listed all the trains and their respective arrival and departure platforms. Scanning the list quickly, she picked out their train.

"There we are," she said to Jason. "The 49 Lakeshore Limited. "New York, Boston, Albany then on to Chicago. Almost as quick as flying, only nineteen hours of complete boredom."

"Where?" He had yet to find the train in question. "Nineteen hours? In a room with you? Oh my god in heaven."

"Follow me," Janet said, disgusted.

"With pleasure," Jason said smiling, knowing he had got to her.

"And don't stare at my ass, you have a job to do."

"I know my job. It's watching you. That also happens to include your ass. Tough luck, Jay," he said, almost managing to keep a straight face.

Janet just shrugged and headed toward their platform, wiggling her butt as she went. Jason smiled as he followed. She had a cute ass and her tight jeans only complemented it. He then looked away as the tiny hairs on the back of his neck stood up. His head swiveled as he looked behind him, to his right, then to his left. He saw nothing, but could swear they were being followed by someone in the crowd. Over the years he spent in Afghanistan, he had developed a sixth sense and knew when trouble was about to close in on him. Sure, over the years he had had a lot of false alarms, but those that weren't had not only saved him, but also the men in his unit.

It took them a little while to finally get to their platform. The conductor helped Janet into the train, leaving Jason on his own. He smiled a wicked smile as he followed them down the corridor of the car to their stateroom.

"Here we are miss, 221, your stateroom. The dining car is two cars up, the observation car is five back. There is also a business center, where there is an active WiFi. We are connected via satellite to the internet. Enjoy your trip." He hurried away to help other passengers.

"My, don't you rate," Jason chided. "He didn't even look twice at me."

"He wasn't supposed to. You should be invisible. Now close the door," Janet told him.

The two looked around the small room. Two berths lowered from the wall on the right. To the left was a door that led to the bathroom they shared with the stateroom next door. They had a window, the shade was drawn.

"Well, you get the bottom bunk," Janet said.

"Why do I get the bottom?" Jason retorted.

"Because I'm not having two hundred plus pounds hanging over me as this train bounces down the tracks."

"I don't weight two hundred plus, I'm a svelte one ninety-five."

"Fine, I don't want what amounts to an extra ninety-three pounds above me."

"You weigh one hundred and two pounds?" Jason asked, looking her up and down. "You sure?"

"Listen. Rule thirteen."

"Rule thirteen? What the hell is that?"

"Rule thirteen, once a man knows the age or weight of a lady he should never try to discuss it with her," Janet patiently explained to him. The look on her face told Jason not to pursue the matter any further.

"Do you have more rules I should be aware of?"

"Rule eleven, never ask about the rules."

"Then how do I learn these rules?"

"I will teach them to you as we go along. Up until now you didn't need to know since you've played along just fine. I really don't have that many, but one you should know right off the bat is rule seven, a lady is always right."

"And why isn't that number one?"

"I will put aside rule eleven for the time being. It's not number one because there are six that are more important."

"I see. I guess. I too have rules. I just haven't numbered them. Maybe I should and we can compare rules one day."

"Maybe you should. Now I'm hungry, do you think the dining car is open yet?"

"I think we should stay here until the train pulls out."

"Good idea. I have a hunch this isn't the easy job it's made out to be."

"What makes you think that," Jason asked.

"Scarletti acted strange when he explained the job to me. He was agitated the whole time and nearly freaked out when he gave me the package."

"Hm. Fishy. Maybe we should have checked his credentials before taking the job. And don't call me crazy, but I think we're being followed," Jason said moving to the door and turning the knob to lock it.

"Well, then, what do we do now?"

"We finish the job. " Jason frowned as he turned back looking at Janet. "What else can we do, until we know what the fuck is going on?"

"Our job," Janet said softly.

The two were thrown together as the train started to move. They were face to face, bodies pressed together tightly. Instinctively, Jason's arms wrapped around Janet holding her so they both weren't thrown to the floor. Janet's arms came up to encircle Jason's shoulders.

"Cozy, isn't it?" Janet joked, her crystal blue eyes sparkling as she pressed her tits into his powerful chest.

"It is," Jason replied. His emerald green eyes scanned her face intently.

The pair could feel the train pick up speed as it exited the station. For the longest time they just stared into each other's eyes, not speaking a word, but communicating volumes.

"Well, if you're still hungry, I think the dining car may be open now," Jason said, raising his eyebrows and tearing his eyes from Janet's with a great force of will.

"Yes. Yes, I am." Janet unwound her arms from Jason's shoulders slowly. She really didn't want to leave his reassuring embrace.

With Jason carrying the metal briefcase they left their stateroom and went to the dining car. It was just opening as they arrived. There were three couples ahead of them for seating. Thanks to the efficient crew, they were seated within minutes of entering. Jason kept the case between him and the wall.

They had a nice dinner. Jason had the steak and baked potato, while Janet had the chicken with asparagus. Both had wine with dinner. When they were finished they wandered down to the observation car. It was actually three cars in a row, the last one being the bar. The two sat at a window table, case between Jason's feet. They ordered their preferred drinks, Jason a martini and Janet a white wine, and looked out the window. The suburbs of New York flashed past, the evening sun painting the cityscape a warm golden glow reflecting off numerous windows and glass facades, turning the usual dirt and grey into a sparkling piece of jewelry.

"This is pretty," Janet said.

"From here, yes it is," Jason replied. "But if you look close enough, you can see the dirt and decay, entropy I believe they call it, happening right before your eyes."

"Always the dark side with you?"

"Jay, if you had seen what I saw, your vision would be slanted too."

"Yet you seem to be such a happy go lucky guy," Janet quipped.

"I know, strange isn't it?" Jason looked at her with his head tilted to one side a big grin on his handsome face.

"It is." Janet shot back.

"I knew when to quit. I got out of the war alive and I'm eternally grateful for that. Makes you appreciate the small things too," Jason said, looking into her eyes. Janet smiled back.

They spent another hour in the bar car talking, bantering really. Then returned to their stateroom. The door to the bathroom was locked and they could hear someone singing as the shower ran.

"Damn," Janet said. "I'll be right back."

She slithered out the door leaving Jason staring. She was back a few minutes later. Jason just looked at her.

"Had to pee and brush my teeth."

Nodding, Jason went into the now vacant bathroom. Closing the door he took care of his business. He locked the door on his way out.