"This is delish! More please!"
A chained and half-naked Tai Anne Roper opened her mouth and accepted another huge tiger prawn in masala sauce from Jessica McClintock.
"MMmmMmmMMmmm..." Tai licked her chops. "That hits the spot! Where did this come from anyway?"
"One of the girls from the kitchen came down to see if anybody wanted leftovers," Jessica replied, eating one herself. She had put her clothes back on, but after dinner she had every intent on taking them off again.
"You still haven't told me the whole story, Jessica," Tai said. "I know what makes your Dad and your Mom special... they spent fifteen years screwing around with their genetic codes trying to beat the aging process... and they succeeded."
"So they did," Jessica replied. "But think about it. If you spend fifteen years playing around with the building blocks of life, you should be able to create something." She indicated herself. "Wah-la! Here I am."
"So they did pass along something to you genetically!" Tai said. She accepted another tiger prawn.
"Well, not so you could tell at first," Jessica said. "After I was born, my Dad ran every medical test imaginable on me. I was disgustingly normal! Growing up, I caught the measles and the chicken pox and had to use an inhaler until I was seven. I also needed glasses! Despite the best efforts of my rich and famous --and beautiful-- parents, I was a fat, geeky little girl."
"But then..."
"But then when I turned thirteen, things started to... happen." Jessica licked her lips. "My skin cleared up, I got into sports and found I could outrun and outplay any other girl. My boobs took off and my tummy shrank and suddenly... I was beautiful."
"Lemme guess, more tests?"
"For a year I was poked and prodded at my Dad's research lab in Colorado. But again, nothing. I was just a healthy girl. So, they graciously allowed me to go on with my life. Pretty soon, I was ready for college. I chose McCloud University up near Berkeley. It was a small, liberal arts girls school. It's what I wanted."
"Go on."
"In my freshman year, I had an ordinary medical exam, It noted that I still had my tonsils and adenoids. I said that was impossible! I'd had my tonsils out when I was ten! I remembered because a few months later I had to have my appendix out. So they double checked. Guess what?"
"Your tonsils had grown back, along with your appendix."
"Yuppers." Jessica sighed. "The doctor who saw me went to a friend of his who's a --excuse me, was-- a professor of Biology at McCloud. Dr. Kevin Hedison. I told him the whole story. Dr. Hedison used to be in genetic engineering himself before he had what he called, 'a crisis of ethics'. He ran another battery of tests on me. That's when I finally learned the truth about myself."
"Which is?" Tai realized her heart was hammering in her chest.
"Ever hear of stem cells?"
Tai felt her eyebrows crawl up her forehead as her eyes widened.
"Oh my God."
Jessica nodded. That's when the huge wooden door to the dungeon suddenly creaked open, and Paige Torne and Kira McElroy rushed in.
"Jessica! Don't say another fucking word to her!" Paige shouted.
"Its... alright, dammit!" Jessica struggled as Kira pulled her up and twisted her hands behind her back. Jessica felt the cold bite of handcuffs on her wrists.
"Tai!" she shouted as they hustled her out the door. "I'm a healer! I can cure diseases! I can stop suffering! I can... mmmppphh!"
That's when Kira placed her hand over Jessica's mouth and took her away, leaving Paige and Tai alone.
"Well, that's quite a story!" Tai said.
"Your galpal Iwana just tortured Taffy and Kunta and made them spill their guts to her," Paige growled. "Now she's abducted Taffy and is threatening to go to the press if I don't trade you for Taffy."
"That's not what I want," Tai said. "I want to help Jessica, dammit! Let me go and I promise to help you. I'll even talk to Iwana if you want! I'll get Taffy back myself!"
"Iwana Binder doesn't strike me as a woman who listens to many people, not even you, darlen'," Paige said. "I have to go now, but I'll give you that chance to talk to her. Until then, you're staying right here!"
Paige took the torch with her as she slammed and locked the door to Tai's dungeon, then locked the door to the anteroom beyond.
Chained and alone in total darkness, Tai pulled at her chains. She had never felt more helpless in her life.
Well, except for that time she spent a month in a strait jacket down in that Mexican jail... but that was another story.
***
Fifteen minutes later Kira's green Subaru Outback pulled up to Taffy's Fashion X-tremez on Leavenworth. Instead of looking for a parking spot, she just jumped the curb and plowed through the front yard.
Kira and Paige got out and ran up the steps. Paige had changed into jeans, a sweater and a leather jacket. She carried a .380 Belgian Browning pistol in one hand, keeping it low and concealed at her side.
Kira wore her khakis and carried a crowbar, in case they had to force the door. It was locked, but Paige found the spare key in the flower pot on the stoop.
She opened the door. the lights were on, everything in the first room looked normal, and the burglar alarm had not been set.
"Kunta!" Paige shouted. "It's me, Paige!"
Silence, except for a faraway frantic humming from the room off to the left. Paige was scared to look, but moved anyway.
In the next room they found Kunta Kintare. She was still locked in the wooden pillory, naked except for a wide leather crotch strap that held in a buzzing vibrator. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she hmmphed into a leather harness gag.
Her hips were rolling like they had a mind of their own and there was a puddle of her girljuice on the floor. She squawled like a baby as another unwanted orgasm took her for a ride.
"Sweet jeezus," Paige muttered. She and Kira attacked the locks and buckles and soon had Kunta on the floor. She was sobbing into Paige's shoulder as Kira removed the huge, buzzing intruder from within her.
"Mizzz...trezzzz, I have faaaaailed you!" Kunta sobbed. "That bitch... she made me tell her everything I knew. She knows about you! And Jessica! I couldn't help myself!"
"Hush now, darlen'," Paige whispered. "It wasn't your fault." She looked at Kira. "Find her clothes and lets get outta here."
Paige sighed as she continued to hold onto the sobbing Kunta. At times like this she wished she had stayed in Oklahoma City and gone to beautician school like Ma had wanted her to.
***
Meanwhile, Jeb Stuart and Drew Thrasher were back at his listening post in the deserted office building across from The Brickyard.
After making it to Dino's garage without incident, Jeb had managed to switch out his Swiss cheesed Pathfinder for a mid-eighties, tan Mercedes four-door sedan. An utterly ordinary car with none of the bullet resistant perks of his other vehicle.
Jeb wasn't really surprised that Iwana Binder hadn't made it back yet. He wasn't too sure he would ever see her again. He sent his two 'Market Street Irregulars' off for the night and settled down in front of his computer to see if he had missed anything.
"Well?" Drew asked as she sat next to him with a hot cup of tea and a sandwich.
"Hmmmm... nada." It was irritating as hell, actually. None of the little tricks he had used to infiltrate other surveillance systems seemed to be working. "I did get some headshots of people coming and going tonight.
I'm setting up a still gallery to see if any ring a bell with you."
"Right."
Just then a small alarm sounded. Jeb switched the feed and got a pic of Iwana riding up the elevator towards their floor. She seemed to be lugging a heavy leather bag and was dressed a little more provocatively in Skintight leather and latex. Hubba hubba.
"Ms. Binder I presume?" Drew asked dryly.
"Oh yeah."
"You know, Jebediah," Drew said. "All this 'black box' intel is all well and good, but none of this helps me with a story that I can report on the air."
"I know. You need sources."
"I need to tell my editor that I did more than listen in on bloody illegal wiretaps!"
Jeb shrugged. "Maybe somebody will show up who's feeling chatty. One can never can tell."
The elevator dinged on their floor and Iwana Binder soon joined them.
"Iwana Binder of the LAPD," Jeb said by way of introduction. "Drew Thrasher of the BBC."
"Pleased to meet you," Drew shook hands with her, noticing Iwana was almost out of breath as she hefted the leather bag onto the table.
"What's... in there?" Jeb asked. Whatever was in there was moving.
"Mah ticket to mah sistahgrrl!" Iwana said proudly. She pulled off her leather jacket, revealing her muscles, her gun and her latexed breasts. She unzipped the leather bag and revealed a sweating, crying, strait jacketed and gagged Taffy Chu.
"Good Lord!" Drew gasped.
"Ummm... Iwana..." Jeb began.
"Now don't neither of you whitebreads freak on me now!" Iwana warned as she picked Taffy up and dumped her into a chair before them. "This be Taffy Chu. She runs a fetish store on Leavenworth. She be a friend of Jessica McClintock's. Last week, Jessica came to her with a story that she hadda run away from her father and start a new life. Taffy here steers her to another friend of hers named Paige Torne, who is the true owner and operator of The Brickyard. Paige agrees to give her a new identity. Jessica disappears. Enter mah sistahgrrl. Daddy hires her to find Jessica. She gets too close to Paige's operation, so Paige has Taffy here lure sistahgrrl to The Brickyard and kidnap her. End of story!"
Iwana took a deep breath. Taffy hummed nonsense and shook her head.
"Well, that's certainly illuminating," Jeb said. So much for black box intel.
"Why does Jessica need to run from her father?" Drew asked while still looking over the latex bound Ms. Chu.
"Jessica is what's known as transgenetic. That means that all the genetic experiments Daddy 'n Momma did on themselves all them years affected their daughter in a big way," Iwana said.
"A big way, how?" Drew asked.
"Cutting to the chase, Jessica's blood is loaded with stem cells. And not just the puri-potent type that researchers are wantin' to sift thru fetuses for. But a type of stem cell called omni-potent. That means..."
"Jesus Christ," Drew whispered.
"Just about," Iwana replied.
"I knew I should've brushed up on my basic biology," Jeb said. "Somebody want to explain all this to me? Slowly?"
"Right," Drew said. "Puri-potent stem cells are the... blueprints if you will, that tell your DNA --the building blocks of life-- what to make."
"I'm with you so far," Jeb said.
"The goal of current stem cell research, is to take harvested puri-potent stem cells, 'blueprint' them for a particular function, and inject them into somebody who needs that particular function," Drew said. "For instance, stem cells blueprinted for heart tissue would create new, living heart tissue in somebody with heart disease. Or perhaps create a new pancreas that would cure somebody's diabetes."
"But Jessica has these... omni-potent cells," Jeb said. "What does that mean?"
"It means that her stem cells are hardwired to cure whatevah the hell ails ya!" Iwana said. "They don't have to blueprinted. Just give a unit of Jessica's whole blood to anybody and they are cured!"
"What about different blood types?" Jeb asked.
"Jessica is a Universal donor," Iwana said. "Also, while whoever takes her blood is cured, the stem cells don't replicate inside the host body. But the cure is permanent."
"That makes dear Jessica 'The Golden Goose'," Drew said. "One of a kind and irreplaceable."
"That's the main secret," Iwana said. "Jessica is the sole creator of these stem cells. And whatever formula made her that way... is now lost forevah. She is indeed one of a kind."
"I'm beginning to see why her father wants her back," Jeb said. "And why Joseph Weskler wants her as well."
"If this gets out, every rich old fart in the world will want her!" Drew replied. She looked at Taffy Chu. "And you got all of this information out of her?"
"Her 'n anuther girl," Iwana replied.
"And they just told you all of this out of the goodness of their hearts?"
"Shit no! Ah hadda work it outta them!" Iwana said. "Both were lyin' bitches! Ah switched back 'n forth and slowly got the truth outta them."
"You didn't... torture them did you?" Drew asked.
"Depends on how you wanna define 'torture'."
Iwana shrugged. "Ah just tied 'em up and whipped their asses till they both broke. Then played one off'n the other til I gots the truth."
"Oy vey," Drew held her head in her hands.
"I take it your editor won't go for this as source material?" Jeb asked innocently.
"Oh shut up," Drew growled. "I hope you realise that now on top of everything else, we are both party to a kidnapping?"
"You two ain't party t' nuthin'!" Iwana rolled her eyes. "By mornin' Ah'll have chinadoll here back with her friends, and sistahgrrl back in mah arms where she belongs."
"You're going to trade Tai for Ms. Chu?" Jeb said. He mulled that one over. "Damn. That's a good idea!"
"Gonna work too," Iwana said. "Tomorrow Ah sends Paige Torne a package via courier tellin' her where to meet me. Then it's a simple trade 'n ' Hasta la vista!'"
"You just going to blow town with Tai?" Jeb asked. "Forget about Jessica?"
Iwana sniffed. "Ah'll worry 'bout that once Ah gets sistahgrrl back." She looked at Jeb. "Also, Ah was hopin' you would help me out. Make sure Ah don't get screwed over."
"It will be my pleasure," Jeb grinned. "Where's this trade going to happen?"
"Uh-uh, you just meet me at 9am tomorrow at the corner of Jefferson and Powell, 'n make sure you have everything you need over your shoulder or on your back. No vehicles."
"Jefferson and Powell?" Jeb smiled. "That's Fisherman's Wharf, and also suspiciously close to... the Alcatraz Ferry?"
Iwana smirked. "Ah ain't sayin'."
"What about me?" Drew asked.
"Ah trust Jeb here. If'n he trusts you, that be fine with me," Iwana said.
"And what about..." Jeb nodded at Taffy Chu.
"Ah'll keep ahold of chinadoll," Iwana said. With surprising ease she picked her up and placed her back into the leather bag. Taffy's wide-eyed humming grew distant as she zipped the bag up. "Til mornin'."
"I have a safehouse in The City," Jeb offered.
"So do Ah."
"Want to tell me where? Just in case?" Jeb asked. "Your call."
Iwana paused. She reminded Drew of a chessmaster weighing her next move in the final six moves of a game.
She nodded. "Room 216 of the North Beach Motorlodge on Vallejo."
"Got it," Jeb said. "I'll begin a rundown on this Paige Thorne. If I get anything solid I'll let you know."
"According to both 'o these bitches, this Paige is a real goody-goody," Iwana said. "Helps people all over the world to make a fresh start... Someone like that, Ah don't wanna hurt. Ah just want mah sistahgrrl back."
"I know." Jeb replied. Iwana grinned and hefted her leather sack full of Taffy Chu back over her shoulder and headed for the elevator.
A few minutes later, Drew watched on the video feed as Iwana Binder left the parking garage in her Ford pickup.
"What now?" she asked Jeb.
"See if I can get anything on the mysterious
Paige Torne," Jeb replied. "If she's for real then she's damned good! I've been in the spygame for years and have never heard of her."
Drew nodded. "I have some sources overseas I can call, but I need some privacy. Do you mind?"
"Not at all," Jeb said. "This whole area is free of listening devices. Be my guest."
Drew Thrasher walked off into the darkness, finding a quiet corner. She took out her Nokia cellphone and pressed in a number.
"Hello?" A woman's voice answered on the first ring.
Drew smiled. "Hullo, Paige?"
***
Traffic was light on this chilly Sunday night. Driving northeast on Market, Iwana Binder passed a slow moving MUNI rail trolley. A black and white SFPD cruiser going the opposite direction ignored her.
She looked at her watch. She was just going to give Paige Torne a buzz when Taffy Chu's phone chirped.
She clicked on. "You're late."
"Had another call," Paige replied. "Here's your 'sistahgrrl'."
Iwana pulled over to the curb as she heard a waver of static and then a familiar voice.
"Iwana?" It was Tai Anne Roper.
"Sistahgrrl! How you be?"
"I'm fine, They're taking... um, good care of me."
"They better."
"Iwana listen, this isn't necessary! I've talked with --ahem-- 'The McGuffin' and I want to stay here and help!"
"Sorry, sistahgrrl, but that ain't in the cards," Iwana said. "We'll talk out our plans after I gets you back where you belong. Now lemme talk to blondie."
"Yes?" Paige's voice.
"Package arrives at 8 am tomorrow. Follow the instructions or else." Iwana clicked off.
***
Paige sighed as she put away her cellphone. She was alone with Tai Anne Roper, who was still chained up in her dungeon cell.
"Your friend has a lot to answer for," Paige growled. "For what she did to Taffy... and Kunta."
Tai looked up at her and found herself laughing. "Paige, I like you. I truly do. So allow me to say --with the utmost honesty-- that messing with Iwana Binder is one of the more stupid courses of action that any person can take." She raised her chained wrists. "Now, you wanna unlock these things?"
"Why?" Paige smirked. "You aren't going anywhere."
"Paige, wait!" Tai shouted as she started for the door.
"Yes?"
"I, ummmm... really need to use the bathroom."
"I'll have someone put down some fresh straw," Paige said. "Goodnight, brat."
And with that she again grabbed up the single torch in the room and slammed the heavy door behind her, once again leaving a chained Tai Anne Roper in the dark.
"Straw?" Tai asked the darkness. "Oh... ick!"
Chapter Twenty-Two