The mother of Jessica McClintock, acclaimed actress and fitness guru Fiona Jacklin sat quietly in a padded reclining chair that was set up in the middle of her suite at the Mark Hopkins Hotel. Her three personal assistants; Ebony, Ivory and Jade were working on her face.
As she felt the fleshy, latex appliances being glued to her skin, she once again thought of the magnificent irony of this ritual that had become an everyday part of her life.
Other women applied makeup to look more youthful... she had to wear makeup just to look... human. She could just imagine what would happen if she appeared at the opening of her next movie as she really was...
"Eyes wider, Mistress," Jade asked as she carefully placed the colored contacts over her eyes. Besides bringing back her original eye color, the tinting allowed her to see in normal light.
She blinked as she rose from the chair and looked at herself in the mirror as Ebony adjusted the light in the room.
Yes, there was Fiona Jacklin once more. As she looked on her recent appearance on Oprah, discussing her new motivational book 10 Ways to a Better Me!!! or as she appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno plugging her new blockbuster movie My Lunch with Stalin.
This was the Fiona Jacklin the world knew. Still a beautiful and successful actress in her late fifties. A role model for women the world over to stay fit and strong and take charge of their lives...
Sometimes, Fiona envied that woman. And sometimes --no, most times-- she would sell her soul to really be that woman.
Which is why she now needed her daughter.
She took a sip of iced mineral water and wondered for the umpteenth time where the hell Fiendly was.
***
Jeb Stuart walked out of the bedroom where Drew Thrasher and Tai Anne Roper were being uncinched and unzipped by Gwen Sweet. Yukari Mei Awai was watching the prisoners while Michelle Qwan was dividing her time between watching the front door and the cuffed Wenche, who was sitting in a chair trying to look innocent.
A cellphone on the coffee table --that Jeb did not recognize-- suddenly trilled the opening bars to 'Rule, Britannia'.
"Whose is that?" Jeb asked.
"Got it off The Wenche when I frisked her," Qwan replied.
Jeb picked it up and clicked on. "Hello?"
"Hullo!" Jeb recognized Fiendly's voice right away. "May I speak to Fannikins please?"
Jeb looked over at her and smiled. "Sorry, she's a bit tied up right now."
"Hmmm... and who might this be?"
"Jeb Stuart."
"Ah, yes! Stuart, old boy! You're that young bloke from the CIA... I think we had dinner in Rangoon a few years back."
"Try a snake-ka-bob stand in Macau a year ago," Jeb replied. "Now let's cut to the chase. Paige Torne says Jessica is missing and Drew says you have her."
Driving north on the upper deck of the James Lick Freeway in his Lincoln Towncar, Fiendly glanced over at Jessica, who was in the passenger seat bopping to a tune on her midi-CD player with earphones plugged in tight.
"Indeed I do."
"So I propose a swap," Jeb said. "Your Wenche for Jessica."
"Simple as that, eh?"
"Doesn't get much simpler."
No deal, Stuart," Fiendly replied. "Besides, what's a goody-goody like you going to do with The Wenche?"
"For starters, I'll find out from Interpol which of about a dozen countries want to put her in prison for life," Jeb said. "Then I'll find out which one had the most squalid correctional facilities and take her there myself." He thought for a long second. "I think it's Uzbekistan...."
Fiendly took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Do what you will with her, Stuart. I am not trading Jessica and my payday for The Wenche."
"I thought you loved her, Fiendly," Stuart said, looking at The Wenche, who stared back at him from her chair.
"You... misread... our relationship, old boy," Fiendly replied. "Besides, one way or the other I will get The Wenche back... after all, she is my property!"
"Your call," Jeb said. "Mind if I ask who you're selling Jessica to?"
"I'll tell you who I am not selling her to," Fiendly said. "She is not going either to Weskler or her father..."
"Who then?"
"You'll find out soon," Fiendly replied. "Now before I take my leave, could I please talk to The Wenche, for one last time?"
Jeb considered this, then he put the phone to The Wenche's ear.
"Hullo, you fiend," The Wenche said hoarsely.
"I'll be waiting for you tonight at rendevous Charlie," Fiendly said quickly. "Don't keep me waiting long... Wenche!"
He hung up. Jeb put the cell back to his ear and then clicked off his end.
"Jeb, we need to see you!" Sweet called from the bedroom.
"Right there," Jeb replied. He looked at Qwan. "Where's Langley and his crew?"
"Evidentally they stopped for coffee," Qwan replied.
Jeb nodded and hurried into the bedroom, where Drew Thrasher and Tai Anne Roper now sat on the bed in red silk hotel robes, minus the fetish gear, chains and straps.
"Yes?"
"It's Tai," Sweet said softly.
Jeb sat down next to her and gently touched her chin to bring her eyes to face him.
Her eyes were wide and dilated, great brown marbles with almost no white showing. She looked at Jeb uncomprehendingly.
"What happened to her?" Jeb whispered.
"It was The Wenche!" Drew said. "She used... some kind of... electro-shock device on Tai Anne."
Jeb brushed back her long black hair and saw the slight burns on either side of her forehead. "What kind of device?"
"I dunno," Drew said. "Looked like the type of ECT machine the East German Stasi used to use during the Cold War... that damned Fiendly must've gotten it at some Eastern Bloc fire sale..."
"Should we call the paramedics?" Sweet asked.
"No," Drew said. "Her heart rate is fine... all vitals appear normal. Its what's in her head that scares me. I think The Wenche also juiced her with some kind of synthetic LSD."
"And where were you when all this was happening, Drew?" Jeb asked, recalling Drew's "double-agent" game.
Drew glared at Jeb. "I was fucking tied up, Jebediah! And I did everything I could for her! I allowed myself to... to..." Drew sobbed, "to be used so that I could save Tai Anne!"
Jeb stood up, feeling lightheaded as rage and sorrow collided in his head. "I... apologize, Drew. I... I know you did all you could."
"Look, give us some privacy, okay?" Drew said, speaking to both Sweet and Jeb. "Let me talk to her."
Sweet nodded. "I'll find you guys some clothes."
"And I'll just have a little talk with The Wenche," Jeb said.
***
Jeb strode back into the living room like a man with a purpose. He went to where Fannikins Wenche was sitting and stood her up, looking at the hinged cuffs on her wrists.
"Michelle, do you have the keys to these things?"
"Yeah." Qwan looked at Jeb.
"Gimme."
Qwan tossed the keys to Jeb who snatched them from the air. He unlocked the cuffs from The Wenche's wrists.
"What's your game now, Stuart?" The Wenche said warily as she rubbed her wrists.
"No game," Jeb replied. "I just found out what you did to Drew and Tai Anne. And I don't hit people when they're cuffed and helpless."
"And what makes you think I'll even fight you?" The Wenche asked. An instant later she kicked Jeb in the balls.
Jeb went down to one knee with a grunt. It wasn't the first ime he had been kicked there, but it wasn't an experience that improved with age.
The Wenche cackled as she turned in a circle, watching Qwan swing her machine pistol to bear on her.
"No, Michelle!" Jeb croaked. "This is my call!"
The Wenche gave Qwan the finger and then threw an expert spin kick right at Jeb's face.
Jeb caught her booted foot and held onto it. He rose to both feet, causing her to hop on one foot as he kicked her right between the legs as hard as he could.
The Wenche screamed. Women were pretty sensitive down there too. He then twisted her foot and flipped her bellydown onto the carpet. She hit the floor hard, with most of the impact catching her face and breasts.
Jeb yanked her to her feet and slammed her into a wall hard enough to crack the plaster. Then as she turned he drove his fist right into her breadbasket with all his might.
The Wenche went pale and fell to her hands and knees, she vomited on the carpet.
Qwan walked over to Jeb. "Feel better?"
Jeb was taking deep breaths. "Getting there." He looked at Qwan. "Cuff and gag this bitch. Please."
He staggered off to the bathroom. Qwan picked up her handcuffs and wondered if there was a ballgag somewhere about.
***
"Here, I found these on the floor of the closet," Sweet said as she entered the bedroom again with an armload of the clothes and boots Tai and Drew had been wearing when they first got to the suite early this afternoon.
"Thank you," Drew said softly. "Now please, leave us alone."
Sweet nodded and closed the door behind her.
Drew sighed and separated the clothes on the bed. The tight leather pants and latex top that Tai had given her this morning, and Tai's own shiny black cycle leathers.
"Here, get dressed," Drew ordered her.
Tai Anne nodded and pulled off the silk robe. Drew did the same, and together the two women pulled and tugged on their clothes. Drew tried not to let her eyes linger on Tai's naked body.
"Tai, cinch me up." Drew turned her back to Tai and sucked in her gut as Tai pulled the laces at the back of Drew's black leather pants.
At last they were dressed. Drew looked over Tai in her shiny leathers and adjusted a strap here and a buckle there.
"Drew?" Tai said.
"Yes, darling?"
"I'm... here." She shook her head. "All the pieces aren't in place yet, but I am here."
"I know." Drew kissed her and led her out into the living room.
Langley and three of his CIA commandos had just arrived, all wearing trenchcoats that were supposed to hide their modified M4 SOCOM carbines. Two of them were shaking down Abbas and Fahd while Langley was talking shop with Jeb and Qwan.
"Not a bad day's work!" Langley was saying. "Three more fingers of the Fist of Allah out of action, two prisoners to interrogate and the two hostages safe and sound!" He grinned. "By the by, Jeb. I liked the way you put the bad guy 'on ice' so to speak!"
"We're still missing one bad guy," Jeb reminded him.
"I know," Langley said. "Gamal the Camel... a real badass. He's the one who walked away after taking a couple of your bullets this afternoon. But don't worry, my boys have already swept every floor of this hotel and all the parking levels. He is long gone!"
"So where are the police and SWAT teams?" Sweet asked. "With a badass on the lose, don't you want a little more security bringing in these two?" She indicated Abbas and Fahd.
"Local cops bring reporters and cameras," Langley said. "And I want these two assholes cooling their heels in a concrete box in Guantanamo before word gets out we even have 'em!"
"Hey, who did nail these two?" One of Langley's crew said as they led Abbas and Fahd out into he living room. "Whoever did it just copped a clean 100K tax free!"
The Wenche hummed and hawed into her newly applied ballgag.
"Qwan and Awai got 'em," Jeb said.
"Make sure half goes to the ICPO," Qwan said. "The other half to the RCMP Widows and Orphans Fund."
The Wenche screamed and stomped her feet.
"What's she going on about?" Langley asked.
"Who knows?" Jeb replied. He pointed at the bound Wenche. "Oh, and I'll be taking her with me."
Langley shrugged. "Works for me."
Drew walked up to Jeb. "Have you heard any news about Jessica?"
"Only bad, I'm afraid," he replied. "Fiendly has her already. Hell, I even talked to him on his cell and offered to trade The Wenche for her. No deal."
"Dammit," Drew muttered. "Any idea who he's handing her over to?"
"He claims he's not giving her to either her father or Weskler," Jeb said. "You know of anybody else who's in the market for one slighty used Jessica?"
"Only one person," Drew replied. "And I hope to hell I'm wrong!"
***
Once more, Fiendly parked his car in front of the Mark Hopkins hotel and got the valet to park it while he opened the door for the fair Jessica and led her up the steps and through the lobby.
On the elevator ride up to the 18th floor, she looked at him.
"Do I know this person?" she asked. "The one who'll be watching over me?"
"I believe you're acquainted," Fiendly replied with a smile.
They walked the deserted corridor to one of the suites. Fiendly opened the door without knocking and beckened for Jessica to enter.
He noticed there was no sign of the Amazonian guards, the room temperature was normal and the lighting was decent.
"Hello, dear."
Jessica McClintock caught her breath as she turned and saw her famous mother, Fiona Jacklin, standing not twenty feet away.
"Moooomieeeee!!!" she squealed and ran to her, enveloping her in a hug as she cried into her shoulder.
"There, there." Fiona comforted her. "Everything's going to be alright! Mommy's gonna look after you and make sure you stay safe and sound from now on!"
She looked over her daughter's shoulder and nodded at Fiendly. Then, still holding onto her, she led Jessica away into one of the living rooms.
"Dr. Fiendly?" It was Ivory, the ice-cold, Nordic blonde, who was standing by the desk that held the faithful laptop that held the key to all of Fiendly's riches.
He walked over to her and looked down at the screen while she tapped in a password and then 'Enter'. He thought her perfume smelled marvelous.
"It's done," she said. A simple spark of magic across the world wide web, and a transfer of an impossible sum of money was now in Fiendly's hands.
"So it is." Fiendly looked at her. "A pleasure doing business with you."
He let himself out and was soon in the elevator heading down.
How Strange, Fiendly thought. All of his life he had been striving for abject material wealth, and now that he had it, all he could think about was The Wenche.
"Damn," he said to himself. "I do love her."
But he also had faith in her. She was a cunning bitch... and if opportunity knocked she would take the chance.
"Hurry back to me, Fannikins," Fiendly said, even as the elevator doors opened and he strode quickly through the lobby.
***
"So what's the dealio?" Sweet asked.
"Me and my crew will go first," Langley said. "We'll take the captured hostiles with us." He looked at Jeb. "Wait five minutes and take the same elevator down to LL2, which is where we parked near your Suburban. We'll be gone, but I'll leave two of my boyos by the elevator as an escort."
"What about this place?" Jeb asked.
"I'll have SFPD seal it off later," Langley said. "It's up to them if they want to pursue charges on Fiendly or Wenche." He looked at Abbas and Fahd. "I got what I came for!"
"I want to go with you," Qwan said. "There are outstanding Canadian warrants on Abbas..."
"Sorry, Inspector, but this was never an ICPO op," Langley said. "Abbas and Fahd are now US Federal prisoners."
Qwan walked over to Abbas. Both he and Fahd had been frisked and strip searched for any explosives or commo devices. Both now wore baggy orange coveralls and enough handcuffs, shackles and chains to impress Houdini.
"Do you remember me?" Qwan asked Abbas.
He looked at her with dark, hooded eyes. "I have never seen you before in my life."
Qwan's own face was an unreadable mask. She looked at Langley. "Get them out of my sight."
"You heard the lady!" Langley said. A moment later, Abbas and Fahd were out the door and gone along with Langley and his crew.
"You could've done him," Sweet said to her. "Nobody would've said a thing. No one would know."
"I would know," Qwan answered.
***
Tai Anne Roper stood by the plate glass window looking out over The City. It was evening, but there were still lights on over at the Transamerica Tower, and she could watch the headlights and red tail lights of traffic moving along Columbus Avenue, past Chinatown and up between the urban slopes of Russian and Telegraph Hills.
"Tai?"
She turned. It was Jeb.
"Here, found these." He handed over the possessions that Fiendly had taken off her. A wallet, keys, cellphone...
"Thanks," she said tonelessly.
Damn, Jeb thought. She looked like the same confident, spunky leathergrrl he had always known. But something was missing.
"I'm sorry I didn't get her sooner, Tai," Jeb said.
"Not your fault," she said. She looked at the keys in her hand. "I remember... that, somebody... took my motorcycle, and that its here? Somewhere..."
"I'll find it tomorrow, and get it back to you," Jeb said. "Right now I want you to stay close to Drew. We're going back to The Brickyard. Okay?"
"Yeah, I like it there." Tai swayed suddenly, holding onto the glass for support.
Jeb moved in close. "What's wrong?"
"Can't remember... things," Tai said softly. "Everything's broken..."
"Listen to me, Tai Anne," Drew said as she joined them. "I've interviewed scads of political prisoners who've all had the same treatment as you --sometimes much worse-- and in almost all the cases, the memory loss was short term... give it a few days. You'll be back, right as rain!"
Jeb watched as she hugged Drew and wept into her shoulder.
He turned away and looked at The Wenche, who was now standing up, still wearing her short skirt of Italian leather, matching boots and white spandex top. She was also handcuffed behind her back at wrists and elbows and gagged with a nice big, black rubber ball that was strapped in tight.
She hummed at Jeb as he passed her.
"Okay, crew, let's go!" Qwan said. "It's time to check out of this dump!"
***
They made a strange sight as they made their way down the long white corridor. Jeb Stuart was in the lead, followed closely by Gwen Sweet, who was holding a bound and gagged Fannikins Wenche by one arm. Then came Tai Anne Roper and Drew Thrasher with Yukari Mei Awai keeping an eye on them, and Michelle Qwan acting as rear guard.
An elderly Japanese couple dressed to the nines was waiting at the elevators. They took one look at the group approaching and stepped back as the elevator doors opened.
"Domo Arigato!" Yukari said, bowing and smiling at them as everybody got on board.
"Down please!" Jeb said. Yukari nodded and activated the fire key that would ignore other calls and take them straight down 49 floors to LL2 where they were parked.
"Well that was fun!" Sweet said. "Does this mean I can get on with my life?"
Jeb shrugged. He knew she was talking about going home to her husband, just like he wanted nothing more than to see his wife and girls back at his house. "Better give it a few days. See if this Gamal heads back to the Middle East."
"Shit!" Sweet muttered.
The indicator above their heads showed the floors passing... 22... 21... 20...
"What about you, Inspector?" Yukari asked Qwan.
"Back to Vancouver for me," Qwan replied. "I just hate to go home emptyhanded."
15... 14... 13...
The Wenche whined into her gag.
10... 9... 8...
Qwan's cellphone vibrated against her hip. She clicked on the earbud. "Yes?"
She frowned and clicked off.
6... 5... 4...
"Who was it?" Jeb asked.
"Don't know, just got a burst of static." She looked at her cellphone's digital screen. "Caller ID says it was Langley."
2... 1... LL1...
Qwan and Jeb locked eyes.
"Everybody get down to the sides of the elevator!!!" Jeb shouted. He and Qwan shoved everybody else to their knees and against the side walls as the elevator went ding and the doors opened onto a scene from hell.
The underground parking level they had arrived at was in flames from several burning cars, while the automatic vent fans were trying to keep the smoke to a breathable level. The fire sprinklers had all been activated, which meant a torrential downpour was filling this parking level.
And if that wasn't enough, Jeb quickly recognized the chatter of automatic weapons fire filling and echoing about the level. He risked a glance outside and saw three of Langley's crew lying dead on the pavement.
There were several screams from inside the elevator as bullets peppered the interior, ricocheted off the parted doors and strafed the middle of the floor. For now the occupants were safe, but they couldn't stay hunkered down in the middle of this firefight for very much longer.
Yukari was still trying to reset the elevator key when something exploded against the concrete on the other side of the elevator. A steel door was blown off and the control panel blew, sending Yukari flying into Jeb and Sweet.
"We gotta get outta here!" Qwan screamed, even as bullets stitched into the wood paneling over her head. Jeb nodded and pulled his Hk-23 pistol out, taking the time to yank the silencer off. It would only screw up the muzzle velocity, and it was hardly needed now.
Qwan did the same with her trusty HKMP5-k machine pistol, and began firing tight, three round bursts out into the flames.
"Okay!" Jeb shouted to the others. He took a quick look and saw that everbody who had a gun also had it in her hand. "Qwan and I'll cover you! Move out on my signal..."
That's when something flew through the open elevator doors, bounced off the walls and landed on the floor, still spinning about.
Jeb recognized it as a US Army M-26 fragmentation grenade. The pin ring was gone, the lever was cocked and the fuse was hissing away.
He reached for it and nearly got his hand shot off by a long burst of automatic weapons fire that ripped up the floor. The bastards were watching and waiting! Daring them to make a grab for it...
Drew reached for it and screamed as a bullet creased her forearm.
The seven people trapped in the elevator all stared at the grenade, with Jeb trying to remember if the M-26 had a five second or a seven second fuse...
Chapter Forty