Tai Anne Roper 2

by Nicole Sutter

FOR MATURE READERS ONLY

Chapter 14 - "187-PC"

Kunta Kintare drove Paige's big ass black Expedition right into the front yard of Fashion Extremes and parked it.

Fashion Xtremes was a two story, white clapboard Victorian on Leavenworth, in the middle of an eclectic little neighborhood of coffee houses, antique shops and chiropractor clinics set on SF's Russian Hill.

The sign in front of the shop said it all; FASHION XTREMES: LEATHER - LATEX - BONDAGE & BDSM. Your one stop shop for all things deviant, owned and operated by Taffy Chu.

The bell over the front door ding-a-linged as she entered. Kenny the salesclerk was ringing up a leatherman from the Castro who was buying a leather body sling for $149.95.

"Now you're sure this'll take 300 pounds?" he was asking.

"Its gauranteed up to 400 pounds actually," Kenny replied.

"Kewl!" the leatherman signed his VISA slip and went away a happy man.

"Hiya, Kunta!" Kenny said, coming around the counter for a squeeze and a kiss.

"Hey, Ken-chan. Is Taff and Tai still about?"

"Hmmm... they're in the back somewhere."

Kunta playfully slapped Kenny's bottom and went through the various rooms looking for them. One room resembled the dressing room for The Matrix Reloaded with wall to wall PVC trenchcoats and pants and shirts. Another room was sextoys, everything from racks and X-frames to thumbcuffs and nipple rings.

In a room dedicated to latex, pleather and shiny black, Kunta found a girl wearing pleather pants looking at herself in the mirror.

"And who are you?" Kunta asked.

"Tess Stuart. And you?"

"Kunta Kintare, you Jeb's daughter?"

"Ah-huh. You work for Paige Torne, right? Wow, love dem muscles! Awesome!"

"Thanks." Kunta flexed for her. "Seen Tai and Taff about?"

"Yeah, they were making moonie faces at each other for like an hour, so I finally tole 'em to take one of the fitting rooms before one of them exploded."

"Thanks. Nice pants."

Kunta headed for the fitting rooms in the back. Tiny little cubicles barely big enough to try on a pair of leather pants. Kunta heard moans coming from behind one closed door and forced it open.

"Hey!" Tai Anne Roper and Taffy Chu were in a pretzel like contortion sitting on a bench with arms and legs splayed this way and that. They were mostly naked, except for a glimmer of leather and latex here and there.

"Gaaaawd. You two look delectable as hell." Kunta bent down and kissed them both. "I'd join you, but I think a wall would pop..."

"Ummm... we're almost... done." Tai wheezed as Taffy suckled her breasts and gently nibbled, while Tai worked her fingers into the rubbered folds of Taffy's cunt.

"Damnation." Kunta closed the door to the fitting room, aware that she was about to flood her panties. She pushed her long dreadlocks out of her face and took a deep breath. As the groans and thumps against the wall got louder.

A few minutes later, Tai and Taffy came out, zipping and pulling their clothes back on. Tai still had her biker leathers while Taffy wore a red latex minidress and bitch boots.

"So, Tess," Taffy said, still pulling her dress over her butt. "Finally decided on the purple pleather?"

"Ah-huh." Tess said. "I think I'll go ahead and wear it out." She got her purse out, but Tai got her debit card out first.

"Nope, my treat."

"Aw... Tai! Thanks!"

While Taffy was ringing up the sale, Kunta came up to Tai. "By the by... Paige wants you back at The Brickyard es muy pronto."

"What now?"

"Don't know, I think she's hot to do some glam shots while that Nawa Shibari sensei is still in town."

"Well, hell!" Tai groused. "I promised Mama-san I'd help her down at her office, and then I also promised Kate Stewart I'd help her lug some wine over from Sonoma..."

***

Paige Torne walked the dark, subterranean passages below The Brickyard to where Kira McElroy was waiting.

"Found the perfect spot for Tai's new home," Kira said. She unlocked the door and they both entered a rather institutional room with spongy rubber walls and a nice selection of strait jackets and leg hobbles.

"Purrrfect!!" Paige husked.

"How long you gonna keep the lil bromby down here?" Kira asked.

"Only when she's not making videos or photo sets," Paige said. "Of course her nights will be spent with me." Paige looked at Kira. "Who else knows of this place?"

"Jus' you 'n me, boss."

"Good, lets keep it that way." Paige looked at her watch. "Were the hell is that girl?"

***

Yoshiko Katsuhara Roper grunted into her ballgag as another orgasm swept over her. She was tied in a tight spread eagle on her bed in her living quarters adjacent to her office.

"Lovely, Yoshi... just lovely." Glenna Jane Roper said, licking her lips as she crawled up to lay beside her wyfe. "Sometimes even a couple of old 'marrieds' need some quality time, eh?"

"Fmmmph hmmmph dummmph!"

"Of course, dear." Glenna unstrapped the ballgag and popped it out of her mouth. "You were saying?"

"I was saying, dearest," Yoshiko said. "That it is not fair to continue to treat our Tai Anne like she is a convicted prisoner, that we can scoop up and take away whenever we like."

"Oh fudgecicles!" Glenna Jane retorted. "We are her parents, and we have every right to be protective of her. Besides, I have a feeling that the life she'll be living with Shakira will be most... exciting."

"But it won't be her choice!" Yoshiko replied. "She's 19 now. We let her move to Los Angeles and live her own life for almost a year..."

"And I felt fine about that as long as she was living with Iwana... who kept her... disciplined. As well as restrained a a good deal of the time." Glenna Jane got up from the bed and pulled her kaftan on. "But now she's living here in San Francisco, in thrall of this Paige woman... making bondage videos."

"And who's fault is that?" Yoshiko said. "We both raised Tai Anne in a certain way... her love of rope and bondage comes naturally to her, because she was raised with it all her life."

"Just another reason she needs to be protected."

"But, Janie..."

"Hush, dear." Glenna Jane replaced the ballgag back into Yoshiko's mouth and made sure it was secure. She then walked across the room and opened to door into the office area, where Shakira still waited.

Shakira looked up at her. "Perhaps if you called, Mama Jane?"

"No, that would only make her hinky. Besides, she's always late," Glenna replied. "If we're patient, she'll walk right into our trap." She looked at her watch and sighed. "Where is that daughter of mine?"

***

Mother Grace sat at her desk, quietly going over the daily demerits of her girls in her comfortable office. Outside she could hear the wind surging through her vinyards and the sounds of an energetic softball game going on.

She also heard the muted sobbing of the new girl, Missy Kelham. 18 years old and the daughter of a Hollywood producer. A pretty girl wh had been denied nothing her whole life.

Missy was sobbing from the hard spanking she had just gotten --her first in her entire life, but not her last-- courtesy of Mother Grace. She was still trying to come to grips with the fact that her parents had sent her to this awful place three weeks after her 18th birthday.

Mother Grace glanced over to her. The rosy glow of her pert bottom could be seen from across the room, while her hands twisted about behind her back in leather restraints.

Sometimes the loss of freedom was the hardest thing for the new girls to get through their heads. That all the legalities in the world don't mean squat next to the reality of steel bars and buckled leather.

Her phone rang. Mother Grace picked up, noticing Missy was stealing a glance her way, she was still chewing on her first ballgag. Mother Grace snapped her fingers and Missy's gaze went back to the corner.

"Convent for Sequestered Girls," Mother Grace said. "How can I help you?"

"You actually answer the phone that way?"

"All the time. How can I help you?"

"My name is Katherine Stuart, Jeb Stuart's wife."

"Ah yes! I keep getting these promises from him that he's gonna bring in a new girl named Tai Anne Roper, only to get blown off..."

"Well now its my turn. I will be bringing her in today... for sure."

"Promises, promises. Who are you to her?"

"A friend. Like my husband."

"Ah-huh. But a little more pragmatic than hubby, I see. Why does Tai need a stay with us?" Mother Grace leaned back in her chair and took off her glasses. She was a tough, yet handsome black woman in her fifties or so, with a little gray in her dreadlocks.

"Because she's a danger to herself and everyone who comes within 20 feet of her."

"And you care about her?"

"Of course. Why else would I be doing this?"

"Depends on how often your husband comes within 20 feet of her."

Kate opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out.

Mother Grace's low chuckle could be heard over the phone. "Bring her in, Kate. There's always room at this inn."

Kate hung up the phone and glanced at her watch. Where the heck was that girl?

***

"Kitten?" Taffy purred into Tai's ear.

"Yeah?"

"Why doncha just blow off all those responsibilities and things you should do, and just spend the rest of the day with me?"

Tai Anne Roper turned and stroked Taffy's spikey black hair. They were sitting together behind the counter of Fashion Xtremes, Taff was straddling Tai's lap. "You tempt me."

Taffy licked her lips. "Always."

"What would we do today?"

Taffy smiled and whispered into her ear, "First I would get you into black rubber... like you should be, and keep you in it forever."

Tai groaned.

"Then we would try out some of the new things that I just got in... sextoys... straps... prongs..."

"Taff, yer killin' me!"

"They we'd order in some dinner... it would be vegan for you, kitten. From now on. And then... upstairs to my bed, where I would keep you bound forever."

They kissed.

"I love you, Taff..." Tai wept.

"You love everybody, kitten," Taffy replied sadly. "You love me, you love Paige, you love Iwana, you love Kunta..." she sighed. "And you're sincere in that love. So all that's left is for whoever loves you most to kidnap you, and make you their slave."

"Do you love me most?"

Taffy ignored the question. "I think I would... modify you, so that your beauty was unique to only me," Taffy replied. "A buzzcut. Lotsa rings and clamps. And tattoos all over."

Tai hugged her tightly, which is when her cellphone chirped.

"Dammit." She clicked on. "Who the hell is this?"

"Nice to hear your voice too, Tai," Matt McClintock replied. "We need to talk."

***

Tai found a quiet corner of the the shoppe, a sun-drenched corner with a corner window overlooking Leavenworth.

"Okay, Mr. McClintock, wassup?" Tai asked.

"Do we really need the formality, Tai?" His voice was rich and easy. And yes, sexy. "I've only known you for what? Five days? But we've been though alot together."

Indeed. Last Friday he had hired her to find her missing daughter Jessica. On Saturday he had wooed her and she had fallen in love with him. That night he proposed marriage to her.

And then she had been taken prisoner by Paige and found out from Jessica herself that Matt McClintock liked to diddle with synthetic pheremones. Better lovin' thru chemistry. All that she had felt for him had only been her body playing tricks on her.

"Tai?"

"I'm here." she said.

"I need to talk to you about my daughter. You're the only one I can trust now."

"What about your toadie, Will Tanner-Hyde?"

"Oh, did Jeb tell you about our meeting in my office? He's still with me, but he's quite useless now that Jessica is off with her mother... God knows where."

"That's tough, losing your daughter and your best lab rat like that."

"Dammit, you know what Jessica means to me, Tai! For chrissakes, that's why I'm calling you! I have some files and alot of intel on my wife and her plans for Jessica. Medical records and such. I want to give then to you, so that you can send them on to Jeb Stuart or even Paige Torne."

"Kewl, FedEx 'em over."

"No... I need to see you in person. Today, right now."

"Lemme guess, a deserted cellblock of Alcatraz? The top of Coit Tower?"

I'm on my yacht, anchored in the bay just off Angel Island."

"You want me to jetski out there?"

"No dear. You remember my security, Hansel and Gretel? They'll meet you at the Golden Gate Yacht Club, just off Marina Green. They'll have a speedy little runabout that will take you right out to meet me. We do our biz and then take you right back."

"Why can't you take that lil' runabout into The City and meet me at Fisherman's Wharf for some crablegs and a beer?"

"Because my life is in danger," McClintock replied. "The people who wanted Jessica now see me as a liability because of what I know."

"You mean Weskler?"

"Yes."

"Look, why don't you just go to the police? Or even the Feds? Come clean with this whole mess."

McClintock laughed. "Gaaawd, Tai Anne. You really are an amusingly innocent little girl! Sure, I have money and juice. But Weskler has more money and more juice than I do. That means the cops and the Federales can't help me. Now, you wanna do this my way or not?"

"I want someone to come with me."

"No deal, its you alone. Your contact can wait at the Yacht Club. You can keep in contact with them on your cell."

Tai mulled over her options.

"Well?"

"I'm thinking about it. Last time we met, I got abducted by Arabs."

"That was not my doing."

"Hmmmm..."

"Com'n, Tai!" McClintock said. "Why are you still here in SF? To help Jessica, right? Well, here's your chance."

"Fine, I'll meet your people there in one hour," Tai said. "And plenty of my people are going to know about this too, McClintock."

"Deal. See you then."

He hung up. Tai Anne sighed and squinted out the window.

***

I don't like this at all!" Taffy said.

"On a scale of one to ten, I'm in the double-digit negative numbers," Kunta Kintare said. "I'm calling Paige."

"I think you should call my dad!" Tess Stuart said.

Tai Anne Roper rolled her eyes. "Look, if you call Paige or Jeb or whoever... they'll just stop me from doing this. And that puts the stops on the best chance we're gonna get of rescuing Jessica."

Kunta looked at her. "So what do you want to do?"

"You take me down there and wait for me, if I don't contact you, call the cops."

Kunta shook her head. "Mistress Paige is going to go to town on my butt for doing this!"

"What should I do?" Tess asked.

"Go on to your classes." Tai tweaked her nose. "And don't worry. I'm a professional."

Kunta and Taffy looked at each other and snickered.

***

The Marina District was a quiet area of Mediterranean Revival architecture and tony little rowhouses overlooking the bay, all tucked in between the Presidio and old Fort Mason, with a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Built on sand, the neighboorhood had been leveled and then burned to ashes by the '89 quake.

Thirteen years later and it was like none of that had ever happened. The houses had all been rebuilt, and joggers still ran along Marina Green.

Kunta Kintare parked the black Expedition at the public jetty to the small craft harbor next to Marina Green.
Sailboats and powered boats of all types were docked in hundreds of slips.

"You sure about this?" she asked.

"Com'n, Kunta," Tai said. "What could possibly go wrong?"

Tai zipped up the front of her red and white biker leathers and buckled the collar, walking down the steps to the jetty. Kunta watched her, keeping the motor running while pulling a nickled Colt .45 automatic out of her purse. She jacked the slide, set the safety and slipped it under her right leg.

Tai spotted her old friends Hansel and Gretel standing on the dock by the yacht club, waiting for her. They were Matt McClintock's personal security and muscle. A teutonic twosome that were all tanned muscles, blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Guten tag, fraulein!" Hansel said. "Gud to see you again."

"Ya ya!" Gretal said vit a smile. They both wore California casual. Green polo shirts with the McClintock Industriies logo on the pocket, Docker khakis and Doc Martens.

"Hey, guys!" Tai said. "Wanna frisk me like before?"

"Vat vill not be neccessary!" Gretel replied.

"Oh damn," Tai said. "I kinda liked that part where Hansel picked me up and let me dangle while you checked to see if I had any weapons hidden in my hooters."

Hansel and Gretel looked at each other and back to her.

"Thats a joke," Tai said. "Let's boogie."

They led her to a powerful Gastron cigarette boat with two inboard turbo-charged engines. Tai hopped in, humming the tune to Gilligan's Island.

A beat later, the sleek, yellow racing boat was clear of the dock, and once it reached the bay. Hansel opened it up full throttle.

Kunta Kintare watched the boat grow smaller and smaller, squinting into the afternoon sun. She got back into the parked Expedition and decided that she should go ahead call Paige anyway and let her know what was happening.

There was a tapping on the sideglass. Kunta turned and saw a young Asian woman smiling up at her from the sidewalk. She was cute and dressed in a black blazer and skirt and was waving a San Francisco tourist map at her.

"Ano..." the girl asked as Kunta powered down the sidewindow. "Can you please to tell me where is Fishlerman's Wharf?"

"Sure, honey." Kunta said as the girl hopped up onto the Expedition's running board. "First you head over to Fort Mason and..."

That's when Michiko Kazikama neatly jabbed Kunta's neck with a hypodermic needle attached to a long glass syringe.
The needle went in right at her jawline, and Kunta gurgled as the tranquilizer was injected right into an artery.

"That's a good girl!" Michiko giggled. She retracted the needle and slipped the syringe back into its spring-loaded holster strapped to her forearm. Kunta's eyes rolled to the back of her head and she slumped forward.

Michiko opened the door to the SUV wide enough to gently push Kunta down to one side and to set the shifter to neutral. Then she twisted the steering wheel hard right and turned off the ignition.

She slammed the door shut and hopped down to the sidewalk. Already, a Jerri-dan flatbed truck had pulled up adjacent to the Expedition and was lowering its ramp. Two young Japanese got out to hook up the Expedition.

Two minutes later, the Expedition and Kunta Kintare were both gone. Michiko smiled and dropped the tourist map into a trash can and walked back to her car.

***

In the spacious main salon aboard his yacht, Matt McClintock straightened the picture of his daughter Jessica sitting on his teakwood desk. "This is really all... quite unfortunate."

"Right, good work, Michiko!" Will Tanner-Hyde clicked off his cellphone. "We've just acquired Ms. Kintare."

"And what of Tai Anne Roper?"

"She's on her way." Tanner-Hyde smirked. "It's really quite a turnabout... I had you involve Ms. Roper in this charade in the first place because I thought she would muddy up the waters for the opposition... which she did quite well, I must say. But now she has outlived her usefulness."

McClintock watched as Tanner-Hyde --with leather gloved hands-- checked the magazine on a stainless steel Beretta 92-F pistol with a silencer attached.

McClintock poured himself a stiff shot of bourbon. "She's such a pretty girl. tho. What a waste."

"Nonsense." Tanne-Hyde worked the Beretta's slide. "In this case, I'm simply killing two birds with one stone.

McClintock choked on his bourbon. "Huh?"

***

Tai Anne Roper leaned back into the sun, letting the wind blow through her hair. It was a beautiful, sunny day, with The City and her skyscrapers receding behind her, while the deep green of the Marin headlands were before her. She could also see Alcatraz Island off to her right.

There was a fair amount of shipping traffic in the bay this afternoon. Mostly small pleasure craft, but also a few frighters and a cruise ship coming through the Golden Gate.

It took only five minutes or so at very high speed for the cigarette boat to make it to Matt McClintock's yacht.

The Ponce de Leon was a custom made 160 footer, which meant that it was an independent, sea-going manor house. It could be in Honolulu in two days and New Zealand in seven. It was ultra-modern, all steel and black glass, with a enough gadgets onboard to circumnavigate the globe blindfolded.

The Glastron cigarette boat pulled up to a ladder on the port side and docked. Hansel went first, followed by Tai and then Gretel.

"I'll be on the bridge," Gretel said to Tai. "Mitter McClintock is through that door in the main salon."

"Thanks." Tai took a deep breath and headed down a corridor. She had some history with Matt McClintock, not all of it nice. He had hired her to find his daughter, but she had found out later it had been a ruse, perpatrated by one of his toadies named Will Tanner-Hyde.

"Hello?" She stepped into tha main salon, which was all teakwood paneling, oriental rugs and expensive furniture.

She found the body of Matt McClintock sprawled out in a chair next to his teakwood desk. He was wearing a casual Armani blazer and pants and a white linen shirt with a euro collar. He had taken three shots at close range to the chest --blood stained the front of his shirt-- and two shots to the face, with his brains blown out all over the paneled wall behind him.

Sitting on the desk was a still cocked, stainless Beretta pistol with a silencer attached.

"'All the king's horses and all the king's men'," Tai whispered.

"Well said, Tai!"

Tai gasped as she felt a trank dart smack her deep in her leathered right hinder. She turned and saw a handsome man with long brown hair and cruel eyes. He wore a black, British military sweater and black slacks and held a trank pistol in one hand.

"Will Tanner-Hyde," he bowed slightly to her. "At last we meet."

Tai pulled the trank dart out of her butt with shaking fingers. She could already feel the juice running up her body, numbing up her muscles.

She picked up the Beretta from the desk and staggered to the nearest wall.

"Thank you for putting your fingerprints on the murder weapon," Tanner-Hyde chortled. "Saves me the trouble of doing it after you pass out."

"Mein Gott!" Hansel was suddenly standing beside Tanner-Hyde. "She could shoot us both!"

"Nonsense, she can barely stand," Tanner-Hyde replied. "Much less pull a trigger..."

Tai Anne Roper turned and fired the silencered Beretta three times. One round spiderwebbed a window, the other two struck Tanner-Hyde in the belly and the chest, knocking him back into a bookcase.

Hansel just stood there as the tranked out Tai waivered about and finally hit the carpeted deck. The pistol went off one more time, catching Hansel high in the left leg. He yelped in pain and hit the deck last.

For a long moment the there was silence in the main salon, then two associates of Tanner-Hyde came rushing in from below deck, both wearing O'Neil thermal scuba wetsuits, minus the flippers and air tanks, but carrying waterproof kit bags.

"You okay, sir?" An associate named Andrew Maitland asked Tanner-Hyde. He was young and spoke with a soft Brit accent.

"Of course not, you idiot," He wheezed. "I've been shot! Ohhhhh, that lil' bitch!"

He groaned and pulled away the sweater he wore to reveal the Kevlar body armour. Even at this range, it had stopped the bullets but not their velocity or impact. It had been like geting hit in the belly and chest with a sledgehammer.

"Vat about me?" Hansel whined. "She shot me in the bloody damned leg!"

"This works for us," Tanner-Hyde replied, wincing as he pulled off his clothes. "Now instead of being knocked out by Roper, you can say that you saw her shoot McClintock and then she shot you!"

Hansel nodded even as he groaned and tried to keep pressure on his pulsing leg wound, which was bleeding all over the oriental rug. Meanwhile, Tanner-Hyde's other associate had stripped out of her scuba suit to reveal herself to be a young woman of roughly Tai Anne Roper's height and general physique, aided by some padding at boobs and ass. She was the Decoy Girl.

Tanner-Hyde slipped on his own scuba suit from the kit bag and zipped up. Decoy Girl and Maitland quickly pulled off Tai's boots and leather jumper, also relieving her of her crop top and panties. Then they started working an insulated, blue neoprene scuba suit up and over her curves. It would cover her from head to foot, with an attached hood, booties and gloves.

The special hell for Tai Anne Roper was that she was stil conscious and aware of her surroudings. just unable to move an inch. She could feel the cool, insulated neoprene sliding over her body and being zippered and buckled up tight.

Black canvas straps with lead weights attached were bound around her ankles and knees and then fitted to her waist, while dual, aluminum air-tanks were strapped to her back in a away that also immobilized her arms, elbows and wrists.

Finally a rubber O-ring was strapped deep into her mouth, and then fitted with the breather element from the air tanks. The thick neoprene hood was zipped over her face and head and then strapped down.

Tanner-Hyde looked at his watch. "Come along, people. While we're young."

Decoy Girl zipped up Tai Anne Roper's leather jumper onto her own body with some difficulty. The pictures of Tai she had studied had helped her color her hair Tai's shade of gloss black, along with hair extensions to make it the right length. She didn't look like Tai at all in the face, but a pair of Ray Bans helped that.

"Ready?" Tanner-Hyde said to his assembled.

Everybody nodded.

They left Hansel bleeding in the main salon, while they gathered up the bound, neoprene form of Tai Anne Roper and carried her down a short flight of stairs to a pressurized diving area on the lowest deck of the yacht. It was perfect for everything from casual snorkeling to deep sea dives.

Decoy Girl opened up the main diving hatch on the hull, revealing the cold, choppy waters of the bay. Tanner-Hyde and Maitland retrieved their flippers and air-tanks and checked each other out.

They then tossed Tai Anne Roper into the bay. She promptly sank like a rock. Tanner-Hyde and his associate checked their wetgear a final time and jumped in after her. Decoy Girl closed the diving hatch and went back to the main salon.

She hurried past a still moaning and bleeding Hansel and went up on deck to where the cigarette boat was still docked.

***

On the Bridge of the Ponce de Leon, Gretel was observing the crew. The captain, navigator and first mate were all at their stations, looking over consoles better suited for the bridge of the starship Enterprise.

Somewhere below decks was a cook and a maid, who had strict orders to stay at their posts.

"Hey, what is she up to?"

Gretel turned at the first mate's query and saw what looked like Tai Anne Roper jumping into the cigarette boat, throwing off the lines and starting up the engines.

"Vas is das?" she muttered as she ran out to the upper deck just as the boat took off, bumping the side of yacht. She and the bridge crew watched the boat jet away, heading in a lazy curve north towards Sausolito and Tiburon.

"Comen ze!" Gretel shouted. The crew followed her to the lower deck and into the main salon, where they found the recent carnage orchestrated by Will Tanner-Hyde.

The crew rushed to the body of their boss, Matt McClintock, while Gretel knealt by Hansel.

"Hansel! Vat happened?!"

He looked at her with pain-racked eyes. "It vas da madchen.... the girl Tai Anne Roper... I saw her shoot Mitter McClintock... und den she shot me!"

"You sure about that?" the captain said, now standing over Hansel.

"Ya..."

Gretel looked at the captain. "Is Mitter McClintock...."

"Dead as a mackrel," he replied. "I'll notify the police. We'd better get back to SF as well."

***

Tanner-Hyde and Maitland swam together, forty feet under the water, carrying the bound, neoprened form of Tai Anne Roper between them. The water was ice cold, but the current in this part of the bay was almost non-existant.

Using a GPS monitor on his wrist, Tanner-Hyde was able to zero in on their cabin cruiser anchored just off Bluff Point in Tiburon, where a diving buoy was bobbing about in the bay.

Tanner-Hyde got aboard first, then hefted Tai into the boat, where she wiggled like a landed fish. Maitland got aboard last.

Will Tanner-Hyde pulled off his mask and breather, allowing himself a smile as he looked about. No curious Coast Guardmen or fisherman about. For once, everything had gone as smooth as silk.

Tanner-Hyde started up the boat and headed for their enclosed slip at the Paradise Cove Marina where the could see to Tai Anne Roper's final destination.

***

It didn't take long for the Captain of the Ponce de Leon to radio the San Francisco Harbor Patrol and tell them everything he knew. They in turn contacted the SFPD Headquarters down on Bryant Street. Six minutes later, the following fax went out...

187-PC - BOLO - 14:22 HOURS

ATTENTION ALL UNITS AND JURISDICTIONS, INCLUDING CHP AND FEDERAL AGENCIES.

THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUAL IS WANTED FOR QUESTIONING IN THE HOMICIDE OF AN AS YET UNNAMED INDIVIDUAL BY THE SAN FRANCISCO POLICE DEPARTMENT.

ROPER, TAI ANNE

FEMALE, ASIAN, APROX 19 YEARS OLD. FIVE FOOT SIX INCHES, 125 POUNDS. BLACK HAIR [LONG] AND BROWN EYES. NO DISTINGUSHING MARKS OR SCARS. LAST SEEN WEARING RED AND WHITE LEATHER JUMPSUIT.

SUSPECT LAST SEEN VICINITY OF ANGEL ISLAND IN STOLEN GLASTRON POWERBOAT, REPORTEDLY HEADED VICINITY OF SAUSALITO/TIBURON.

SUSPECT WANTED FOR 187-PC MURDER COMPLAINT.

SUSPECT IS BELIEVED TO BE ARMED AND EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. APPROACH WITH CAUTION.

IF YOU HAVE INFORMATION RE SUBJECT, CONTACT SAN FRANCISCO POLICE DEPARTMENT, HOMICIDE BUREAU.

END TRANSMIT

***

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