It was after one am, and the crowd in Club 28 hadn't broken up yet, in fact, two new faces had joined the festivities. Lil Dike and her partner Crescent Moon of the SFPD.
Drew Thrasher and Jeb Stuart sat with Paige Torne at a small table, contemplating their drinks while thinking over what Paige had just told them regarding her little chat with Jessica McClintock and Fiona Jacklin.
"I have no idea what kind of game she's playing at," Drew said. "Or if she's even sincere in her love for her daughter."
"I'll nose around her life a bit," Jeb said. "Find out which attorneys she used to get the investigation stopped. I'll also check on her ex-husbands since she divorced Matt McClintock."
"Actually, McClintock might be of some help in this matter," Drew said. "He probably doesn't want his daughter with Fiona any more than she wants her with him."
"Excuse me, Paige," Tai Anne Roper asked. "Can I see you... alone?"
Paige looked up at her and then turned her blue eyes to Jeb and Drew. "I"ll get back to you on this. Meanwhile, do what you can do."
They both nodded and ambled over to the bar for another setup of drinks. Tai sat down beside Paige.
"I heard about Jessica," Tai said. "And I want to help. I'm not going back too LA, and I'm not giving up on this case until I do what I came here to do... which is find Jessica McClintock."
Paige chuckled. "Don't you think you've done enough, brat?"
"I did my job," Tai replied angrily. "If you had come clean with me instead of taking me hostage, things might have gone differently." She leaned forward. "Beside, I wasn't the one who let a mole infiltrate her organization and let him just walk out with the girl you were alledgedly protecting."
Paige raised her martini glass to her. "Touche."
"Sorry. I didn't mean that."
"Sure you did. And you're right. I fucked up bigtime." Paige sipped her drink. "Now all I can do is pick up the pieces and start over."
"Then let me help."
"And how can you help me?"
"I'm a good investigator, after all I tracked Jessica to you in less than 12 hours." Tai grinned. "And I already know most of the people connected to the case. I can help you find her."
"There's just one problem, darlen'..." Paige reached into her small purse and retrieved a pair of shiny, hinged handcuffs. She reached forward and snapped one steel bracelet around Tai's left wrist, then got up and quickly twisted both of Tai's hands behind her back to lock up the other wrist. "...you have an unfortunate habit of getting... restrained."
Tai shifted in her seat, testing her cuffs. "Well..."
"Do the math, babe," Paige said, sitting back down. "Since you arrived in SF, you have spent more time in heavy restraints --and usually with a big rubber ball in your mouth-- then you have actually being free to do your j-o-b!"
Tai sniffled. "I don't think that's a very fair assessment of my job performance."
"And when you do get hooked up, there's this... rippling effect that spells disaster for anybody else around you!" Paige said. "Because of you, Jeb went after me, Iwana went after Taffy and Kunta, which led to me taking Iwana... while you and Drew were abducted by the Fist of Allah only to rescued and then abducted by Fiendly and Wenche!"
Paige took a deep breath. "And then we got so busy saving you and Drew, we let that asshole Grackel walk out with Jessica!"
"Oh, like that's my fault now!" Tai said.
Paige rolled her eyes. "Look, brat, cut to the chase. What do you want?"
Tai took a deep breath. "I... I want to stay here in San Francisco and work for you."
"To help me find Jessica?"
"That... plus whatever other cases you wanted me to work. You have others who'll be coming through here looking for a new life... I can help them."
"Yeah... help them get abducted," Paige muttered. "And I guess you're expecting me to pay you a nice fat salary so you can have a tony little apartment on Nob Hill..."
"Actually I could live here at The Brickyard," Tai said. "And as for money... I think I'm already making alot of that... as the star of my own bondage website."
Paige's eyes narrowed. "You mean you'll let me keep up your website, and let me keep selling your DVDs and videos?"
"As long as I get the same precentage of profits as any other girl working for you gets," Tai said.
Paige swirled around the jalopeno stuffed olive at the bottom of her martini glass.
"You know that if you keep that website up, you'll have to do more videos... more photo sessions."
"I know."
"A lot more."
"I know."
"And since you've started out with your real name... you're gonna be known far and wide as Tai Anne Roper... Bondage Model!"
"So? That should be the perfect cover for working and living here," Tai replied.
"So what does your Mom think of all this?" Paige asked. "This has already caused her some major league grief in her life."
"Mama-san says that I am of age... and can make my own decisions. She also says that she thinks you are... an honorable woman, and that you will look out for me while I am here."
Paige smiled. "Well. darlen... I'm sure gonna try." She arched over and kissed Tai on the lips. "You got yourself a deal."
"You ladies done yet?"
Paige and Tai looked up to see a tall and leathered Iwana Binder standing over them both.
"What about you, Iwana?" Paige said. "You staying too?"
"Ah gots me a j-o-b already," Iwana said. "And Ah gotta be back in LA tomorrow to work the fo' to midnight shift." She stroked Tai's head. "That leaves me one night with mah sistahgrrl."
"I'll let Kira show you the guestrooms," Paige said. "Here, you might need this."
She flipped the handcuff key into the air, Iwana neatly caught it in her fist.
Knowing it was useless to argue, Tai let herself by pulled out of her seat and be lead by Iwana towards the door. She stopped by the table occupied by Yoshiko Katsuhara Roper.
"Mama-san..." Tai began.
"Enjoy yourself tonight, daughter," Yoshiko said quietly. "I will be staying in San Francisco for a few weeks. I expect to see you tomorrow afternoon at my office to help me get it tidied up for my patients. Hai?"
"Hai, Mama-san," Tai called as Iwana pushed her out the door.
"Hey, Iwana!" Paige called. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"
***
A few minutes later, Paige got up, still with the wobbles. She swayed as she walked over to where Drew and Jeb were still talking.
"You two staying the night?"
"I am," Drew said. "I have an 8 am flight back to London, so I'll be leaving early as hell."
"I'm outta here," Jeb said. "Gonna pick up the wife and kids and let them spend the rest of the night in their own beds... in their own house."
"Good for you," Paige said. "Before you go, I wanted to ask you something..."
"What?"
"You want a job?" Paige asked. "I need a new security chief and someone to sweep our phones and computer lines for taps. The last guy... didn't work out so good."
"Sorry, Paige," Jeb said. "But I'm not really a 'company' man. But, I will come in and help you get this mess straightened out."
"Thanks."
Jeb turned to Drew. "I probably won't be seeing you again... before you leave tommorrow."
"Yeah," Drew said. "I am sorry... about everything."
"Hell, Drew," Jeb said. "You know I can't stay mad at you."
He kissed her on the lips and then strode out of Club 28.
Paige hugged Drew. "Meet me in the kitchen at six and I'll cook us a good breakfast. I think I still remember how to make kippers."
"You're on."
Paige kissed her and went over to the table where Kunta Kintare and Taffy Chu were quietly talking.
"Okaaaaaay... da boss is getting ready to hit the hay, and she ain't going alone!" Paige announced to them.
Kunta and Taffy looked at each other and then back to Paige.
"So?" Taffy asked. "You feel like eating Chinese, or munching on dark chocolate?"
Paige simply pulled them up by their ears and led them both out the door and down the corridor to her private room.
Drew sat at the bar, trying to decide whether to stay up all night and sleep on the plane, or try to get a few hours sleep and take the flight as one of George Romero's walking dead.
"Hello, Ms. Thrasher."
Drew turned and saw that Shakira was sitting next to her, like she had just materialized out of thin air. She was wearing a light blue sari and the mark of the talika on her forehead.
"Hello, Shakira," Drew said. "I've... heard a lot about you."
She nodded and looked at Drew with those intense, deep brown eyes.
"I... won't tell anybody what I saw," she said. "Ever."
"I know you won't," Shakira replied.
"When I was in India a couple of years ago," Drew began, "I heard about the Pakistanis letting the Taliban sneak over the border to desecrate the Holy shrines of the Hindu."
"Yes, a very bad time it was."
"But there was talk... about a shrine to the Goddess Kali that could never be touched," Drew continued. "Once, the Taliban sent over a thirty man squad to kill all the disciples and blow up this statue of the Kali-Ma. They were never seen or heard from again."
"There is lots of talk in that sad part of the world," Shakira said. "Most of it is... wishful thinking. But some of it is true."
"I am glad of that," Drew replied.
Shakira removed a thin chain from around her neck that held a small pendent. "Here, this is yours."
Drew examined it. A small, handcarved representation of the Goddess Kali, made of silver, with glowing ruby eyes.
"She's beautiful."
"And terrible," Shakira said. "And now, she will protect you... always and forever."
Shakira gently kissed Drew and walked out.
***
Iwana Binder hoped this decadent lttle guestroom was soundproof as she screamed her way through her first intense orgasm of the night.
"Oh gaaaaawd, sistahgrrl..." Iwana keened as she reached under the satin sheets and pulled Tai up from her place between her legs, over her flat belly and between her large breasts so that they were face to face. "You still have the fastest tongue in the west!"
Tai smiled and licked her lips. "And you're always good to the last drop."
They kissed.
"Any chance of me getting my hands back?" Tai asked politely. Her wrists were still cuffed behind her back.
"What you think?"
"MMmmmmm... you know, you seemed very... bushy, down there just now."
"Get used to it, babe." Iwana kissed her and started moving her downstairs again for another session.
***
Elsewhere in The Brickyard, three women were lying together on a huge, four postered bed in a rough triangle of love and lust. A tall, busty blonde, a petite Asian and a black woman of amazonian porportions.
"That was... nice." Paige said.
"Hmmmm..." Taffy said, licking her fingers.
"Oh yeah," Kunta murmured. She looked at Paige. "You aren't serious about keeping Tai on as a member of this crew, are you?"
Paige chuckled. "I just couldn't help myself... the girl is just too..."
"Delicious," Taffy whispered.
"Yes. Exactly," Paige said.
"I'm not denying the girl is one juicy morsel," Kunta said. "But do we really need her walking into every trap... and getting kidnapped by every bad guy she happens upon?"
"Yeah," Taffy added.
"I seem to remember you two getting into a big jackpot the other night," Paige replied. "Captured, tied and tortured by Iwana until you both gave up my name and the location of Jessica..."
The two others squirmed uncomfortably.
"Just leave Tai Anne Roper to me," Paige said. "I'll see to it that her little stint as the newest bondagette for Slave Labour Productions becomes a full time job." She looked at Kunta and Taffy. "Now, are we ready for round two?"
***
Tuesday morning.
Jeb Stuart and his wife slept in, having not gotten home from his family's safehouse in the Sierras until after 4am. When they did wake up, they made love with a gentleness that only a long-married couple could achieve.
The Stuarts owned a lovely clapboard rowhouse just south of Golden Gate Park in the Sunset District. Jeb looked out the window and saw that it was foggy and threatening rain,
Later, the made it downstairs to find that their oldest daughter had already made breakfast for their twin girls. Sort of.
"Cap'n Crunch on toast?" Kate Stuart asked incrediously.
"Like, don't frrreak, Momster," Jeb's oldest said. "I have it all they time and they like so totally gobbled it up!" She looked at her Dad. "I am skipping school today, right?"
Jeb kissed the twin ten year olds; he was dressed in khakis, a white shirt and a leather bomber jacket. "Sure. You've earned it."
"Grrrrrrreat! Illl be over in the park. Bye!"
The two parents watched their barely 18-year-old daughter grab her skateboard and take off, her baggy jeans flapping in the wind.
Jeb noticed that the small TV by the breakfast nook was turned on with the sound off, and was tuned to a morning show showing live video of the First Interstate Center, which was still surrounded by cop cars.
Jeb got the remote and turned up the sound.
"...with still no word on any casulties," the Asian anchorbabe wearing a trenchcoat was saying. "However, we did confirm that this was a joint operation between the CIA, the FBI and the San Francisco Police Department.
"Meanwhile Department of Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge said in Washington this morning that this operation was --and I quote-- 'a shining example of the type of interdepartmental cooperation needed in post 9/11 America'. Back to you, Dan!"
Jeb turned off the TV. "All the news that fits," he observed.
"I see your Agency buddies are in full spin cycle," Mrs. Stuart observed as she removed the plates of sugary cereal from her daughters. "You want some breakfast?"
"Nope, still have a few loose ends to tie up." He kissed his wife. "I'll be back in a little while."
"Ummm... And I've got four days of rehearsals to catch up on."
"I hear ya." He headed for the door.
"Be careful out there," she called.
"Ah'll be bah-k!" Jeb replied in his best da-Ahnold voice.
***
Jeb drove across town in the Agency Suburban to his friend Dino's garage near Pac Bell Park in China Basin, where he picked up his refurbished Nissan Pathfinder. He left the Suburban there, along with Dino's bill on the front seat.
From there he went to San Francisco General Hospital, located in the Potrero Hill District. His first stop was Langley's private room.
"I screwed the pooch, Jeb," Langley said. He was lying in bed with his arm in a sling.
"Bullshit, I wouldn't have run that op any differently than you did." Jeb replied as he picked over Langley's uneaten breakfast.
"Then how come five of my guys got capped and your six walked out with two minor GS wounds?"
Jeb shrugged.
"Fact is, I'm getting to old for the spygame," Langley said.
"You're only 42 years old," Jeb replied. "Most of the guys who played James Bond were older than you."
"Ah, Fuck it. I'm pulling the pin," Langley said. "Maybe my three ex-wives will finally band together and hunt me down when the alimony checks start bouncing."
"Well, there's always the lucrative and challenging world of private security," Jeb said. "Maybe you can become a mall cop down at Ghiradelli Square and catch shoplifters leaving Tower Records."
"Ha ha."
"Or... I did hear that Paige Torne is looking for a new security honcho after the last one ran off with the damsel she was protecting."
"The blonde babe I met yesterday?" Langley asked.
"Yup."
"Hmmmm." Langley considered his options. "Do you know if she's into guys?"
***
Jeb's next stop was Gwen Sweet's private room, where he heard the sound of women laughing even before he opened the door.
He walked in on Gwen Sweet lying in her bed with her leg elevated, while Iwana Binder and Tai Anne Roper fed her doughnuts and a huge mocha latte from Starbucks.
He noticed both Tai and Iwana had probably gotten dressed at The Brickyard. Tai was in a pair of tight, black leather hiphuggers with a wide leather belt, black turtleneck sweater and a tightly cinched black leather vest. Polished, black leather knee boots finished her off.
Iwana was in shiny black, stretch leather pants and a zippered, black latex muscle shirt that looked spraypainted over her breasts. She wore ankle boots, and her shoulder holstered Colt Python was back in place, as was the LAPD badge on her belt.
"Ladies," Jeb said, trying not to stare as he snagged a jelly doughnut from the box. "How are things?"
"I'm in here for a few more days," Sweet replied. "You called it last night, partner. Bullet missed the bone and the arteries. Four weeks of desk duty and I'm mobile again!"
"I got up today and found out that Drew had left without saying goodbye!" Tai complained. "You know anything about that?"
"I know she needs some time," Jeb replied. "Let it go at that."
Tai nodded.
"Y'know, sistahblue," Iwana said. "It's too damn bad you couldn't get a 'Jessica Cocktail' like me 'n Kunta got. You'd be out kickin' yore heels already."
Sweet shrugged. "With all due respect to Wondergrrl, I prefer to heal up the old fashioned way." She smiled at Iwana. "Altho I do like what it did for your hair!"
Iwana laughed. Her awesome afro was now at a 1973 era Zenith of Style.
"And Tai, are you really going to stay in town and work for Paige?" Sweet asked.
"You sound suprised," Tai answered.
Sweet grinned. "It's your life, slick. I just don't want to roll up on a multiple homicide one day and find your sweet ass splattered all over the sidewalk."
As they all laughed, Jeb and Iwana looked at each other.
"Hey, partner!" Sweet looked at Jeb. "Guess what some suit from the US Attorney's office delivered to me early this morning... Christ, at first I thought I was being arrested!"
She opened an envelope on her bedside table and handed the contents to Jeb. It was a US Government cashier's check for $50,000.
"Uncle Sam can be prompt when he wants to be," Jeb replied. It was the reward money for capping a member of the Fist of Allah. Jeb had gotten a similar early delivery to the tune of $100,000. It almost made him feel better about his ruined Armani...
"Damn! Makes me wish Ah'd capped one of 'dem assholes!" Iwana said.
"What're you going to do with the money?" Jeb asked, handing it back to her.
"Pay off the mortgage on our house... get my husband to add on to his business like he's always wanted," Sweet replied.
"Where is your husband?" Jeb said. "I wanted to meet him."
"He's on his way in from the safehouse that the department set up for him."
"And... I guess you're going back to the SFPD once you heal up."
"Where else would I go?"
"I was kinda hoping you'd work for me," Jeb said. "I'm always needing someone to chase down leads and do the legwork... It'll pay better than the force."
Sweet grinned. "Thanks... but I think you know the answer."
"Sistahblue is like me, Jeb," Iwana said. "She'll bleed PD blue til the day she dies!"
"Why don't you offer that job to Tai?" Sweet asked.
"I have."
"Sorry," Tai replied. "But it'd be like working for my dad or something."
"Oh, thank you very much!" Jeb exclaimed.
"You know what I mean!" Tai's face went red. "Jiminy Crickets! You get me out of jams all the time... You've saved my butt three times in the last four days..."
"So? Why not work for me and make it official?"
"I dunno," Tai shrugged. "Fish gotta swim..."
"And birds gotta fly," Iwana said, shaking her head. "And you are surely a bird, sistahgrrl!"
***
The three friends said their goodbyes to Gwen Sweet and walked together out to the packed parking lot of SF General. The skies were still grey, but so far no rain.
Jeb walked between the two women clad in tight leathers. He watched as an orderly wheeling an elderly man in a wheelchair almost ran him into a paramedic rig as he kept his eyes glued on Iwana's shiny butt.
"How'd you two get here?" Jeb asked.
"I found my motorcycle parked in front of The Brickyard today," Tai answered. "Thanks, Jebster!"
He shrugged.
"Sistahgrrl offered to take me over to that motel in North Beach t' pick up mah stuff and get mah truck," Iwana said.
They arrived at Jeb's parked Pathfinder.
"So, I guess I'll be seeing you around," Tai said to him. "Maybe we can do lunch!"
Jeb looked at her. Tai realized she was stuck between the Pathfinder and a parked van, sandwiched between Jeb and Iwana, who were both looking at her.
"What?"
"Tai, remember me telling you about that convent for sequestered girls up in the wine country?"
"Yeah... something about leathernuns with whips and chains..."
"No leather, and no whips," Jeb said. "But discipline is maintained. And you'll be safe there."
Tai looked at Iwana.
"It's fo' the best, sistahgrrl," she said. "It'll only be fo' a year or so... an' Ah'll visit you."
"W-what about Mama-san... and Mama Jane?"
"Ah talked t' Mama-san last night 'bout this," Iwana said. "She has her doubts... but not as many as lettin' you run around lose in San Fran bein' a bondage model fo' Paige!"
"Hands behind your back, Tai." A set of handcuffs appeared in Jeb's hands. "Please don't make this any harder than it already is."
Tai Anne Roper looked at Jeb, turned and looked at Iwana, and then crossed her arms under her breasts. "No."
"No?!" Iwana looked at Tai like she had just grown elf ears. "Whachoo mean by 'no', sistahgrrl?"
"I mean... No, I'm not going to do it!" Tai replied. "You two wanna make me do it, fine! But I'm gonna fight you both tooth and nail, and I promise you both are gonna be bloodied and hurting!" Tai took a deep breath. "And I'm gonna be screaming and hollering the whole time! You think you can abduct me out of a crowded parking lot in the middle of the day? Just try it!"
Tai stood there with her jaw set, daring them to make a move on her.
Jeb looked at Iwana. "Guess that's it."
"Yup."
Jeb put the handcuffs away. "When Iwana ran this plan by your Mama-san, she gave her a conditional okay, but only if you willingly gave up to us without a fight."
"If you refused... or even took off runnin', the deal was off," Iwana said.
Tai looked at them both. "And that's supposed to make me feel better? That two of the people I love and trust most in this world want to... send me away and rob me of a year of my life?"
"I still think it would be the best thing for you, Tai," Jeb said. "But Yoshiko is right. It has to be your choice. Your decision."
"Don't be mad at us, sistahgrrl," Iwana said. "Truth is we both love you... and sometimes --hell, most of the times-- you worry the everlovin' shit outta us! Always gettin' in one jackpot after anutter..."
"I know..." Tai muttered.
"But in the end, it's your life," Jeb said. "And no one can live it but you."
Tai nodded.
"Now get outta here before I change my mind," Jeb growled. "Oh, and if you want, drop by the house tonight for dinner... around sevenish. The wife and the kids want to meet you."
Tai reached over and kissed Jeb on the cheek. "Seeya."
Jeb looked at Iwana. "Have a safe trip back to LA. And be careful working those streets, Sergeant Binder."
"Same back 'atcha." Iwana hugged Jeb and then the two women headed over to where Tai had parked her bike.
The two women walked hand in hand, skintight leatherwear gleaming, tight round hinders flexing...
Behind them, a man watching those butts rearended an SUV pulling out of a parking space with his Lexus.
Jeb chuckled. Tai Anne Roper living and working in San Francisco... he had a feeling that life was going to be interesting to say the least.
***
It was a long ride up to North Beach. Tai took Van Ness north, all the way across town, her red Honda Superhawk dodging and weaving through the mid-morning traffic, taking the upslopes with ease and almost going airborne as she topped Nob Hill, then it was down and back up the steep slope of Russian Hill. Iwana held on tight to her sistahgrrl and whooped with each jump.
At the North Beach Motorlodge on Vallejo, Iwana policed up her belongings from Room 216, while Tai settled the bill with the manager, Mr. Poon.
"So glad to see you again!" Mr. Poon said to her. "And Sergeant Binder as well!" He paused and thought about it. "First Ms. McClintock disappears from her room... then you take it and disappear... then Sergeant Binder takes it and she is arrested... then you come back and then nobody shows up for a whole day! Had me very worried! So did you ever find the missing girl you came here for?"
"Still working on that one," Tai said. She handed Poon two crisp Benjamins from her McClintock stash. "Thanks for looking out for Iwana."
"My pleasure!" Poon pocketed the cash. "Sorry to see you go!"
"I'll be around," Tai replied.
***
Iwana had everything packed up in her Ford F-350 Big-Ass truck and was watching Tai as she walked across the parking lot to her.
"Ah'm sorely tempted t' load yore bike in the back of mah truck, strap it down tight, then load you in the back of cab, and strap you down tight, and take you home with me where you belong," Iwana said.
Tai groaned and moved in close for a tight hug and some serious liplock.
"Mah sistahgrrl," Iwana whispered. "I love you."
"I love you, Iwana," Tai whispered back. She looked up at her. "But all my life... I've either been my mothers' daughter, or your sistahgrrl. I need to be... me."
"Birds gotta fly," Iwana said. "So go stretch yore wings, sistahgrrl. And know Ah'll always be there for you."
Another deep kiss.
Iwana hopped up into the cab of her truck. "Gotta work straight through Saturday... might come up Sunday an' visit fo' a couple days."
"I'll cry if you don't," Tai said.
"Seeya then." Iwana slipped on her wraparound Oakley shades, hoping Tai wouldn't see her tears and turned over the big Triton V-8. She burned rubber making the turn out onto Vallejo.
Tai Anne Roper straddled her bike and slipped on her helmet. This was an ending, but it was also a beginning.
And she did have a purpose to this beginning. To find Jessica McClintock and give her the same chance she had been given. Come hell or high water.
Tai revved her bike and chirped the tires as she took off, out of the parking lot and onto the streets. It occured to her that in her four days here in San Francisco, she hadn't had a chance to go sightseeing yet. Not with everybody intent on keeping her bound and gagged every five minutes.
A light rain was finally falling, but Tai took no notice of it, she sped through the streets with no idea where she was headed, only that she was going to make good time getting there.
Tai Anne Roper was finally free.
***
"Ohhhhhhhh.... gaaaaaawd, you FIEND!!!"
Fannikins Wenche was straddling Dr. Fiendly's hips, riding him hard as she felt his hardness moving deep inside of her.
Fiendly was also behind the wheel of their new Shelby Mustang, doing 125 mph down a deserted stretch of a Nevada desert highway. He was trying to keep the ponycar on the road as he kissed his Wenche and let her piston up and down on top of him.
"You bloody glorious WENCHE!" he shouted.
"Arrrrrgh... gonna cum for yuuuuuuhhhh..."
As they both orgasmed the resounding blat of an airhorn filled their ears. Fiendly screamed as he swerved the Mustang back to their side of the road, as an 18-wheel propane tanker roared past, barely missing them.
"What a rush!" The Wenche said as she slipped back over to the passenger seat, being careful not to impale herself on the shifter.
"Indeed!" Fiendly drove with one hand while he adjusted and zipped up his pants. "Could I have a spot of tea, Wenche?"
"Of course!" The Wenche handed him a plastic bottle of Liptons they had gotten at a convenience store outside of Elko. "Where are we anyway?"
"Hmmm... just shy of Utah I believe."
"Bollocks!" The Wenche hissed. "What a dreary state! Are you sure there's no way to avoid it?"
"Not unless you want to visit Idaho and Montana..."
"Ugh... forget I said a thing."
After leaving San Francisco they had stopped over in Oakland where Grackel's Mustang had gotten a new paint job --candy apple red with double white racing stripes-- along with new license plates and VIN. From there they had continued to drive east through the night and into the morning.
Fannikins Wenche spread her legs over her side of the dashboard and wiped her dripping cunt with a moist towelette. "Hmmm... I say, girl-girl stuff is okay, but nothing clears the decks like a little hetero-nookie!"
"Indeed!" Fiendly looked over at her. The Wenche was wearing a too short, tan leather miniskirt, a matching leather triangle top that barely contained her booblies and cowboy boots she had gotten during their stop in Reno.
The Wenche cranked down her window to let the wind blow through her hair. "I wonder what's going to happen when --or if-- Grackel climbs out of whatever landfill he's in, and finds out that you've cyber-raided his Caymans account of every cent he had?"
"He should have a few choice words... for both of us!" Fiendly replied. "Not that he'll ever find us!"
The Wenche looked at Fiendly. "And where will we find ourselves, Sir?"
"Where ever we want to be," Fiendly replied. "We've talked about what we would do when we finally had enough money. Our own castle in Ireland... A whole island to ourselves in the Caribbean... or the South Pacific if you prefer! We have all the money in the world, my dear! We can go where ever we want and do whatever we please!"
"But Fiendly," The Wenche asked. "What's the good of having all the money in the world, if you don't possess that which you desire the most?"
"And what do you desire the most, you Wenche?" Fiendly asked, even though he already knew the answer.
"Tai Anne Roper," The Wenche replied. "As my slave... for life."
"And what about me?"
"Oh, she'll be yours too --share and share alike, as I always like to say-- but you could have that which you desire most in the world as well... Drew Thrasher."
"Hmmph! I imagine Drew is halfway back to England by now."
"True," The Wenche answered. "But if something happened to sweet Tai Anne, don't you think darling Drew would soon come running?"
Dr. Fiendly thought that one over.
"It's totally up to you, Sir," The Wenche said, as she leaned back in her bucket seat and stared at the desolate, rocky landscape.
"After all, you're in the driver's seat."
They passed a sign that welcomed them to Utah and told then to buckle up for safety.
"Hold on, Wenche!" Fiendly shouted as he stomped the brake and and cut the wheel hard left, putting the Shelby Mustang into a textbook bootleggers turn that Burt Reynolds would've approved of.
He floored the accelerator and squealed away in a cloud of burnt rubber, heading back west.
Fannikins Wenche reached over and kissed Fiendly.
"Ah... who the hell needs early retirement anyway?" Fiendly groused.
"Don't feel too bad," The Wenche said. "Why do you think God invented sequels?"
Fiendly shook his head. The Wenche!
***
The End