Bloodhounds

[BOFH666]

Part One

The year is 2010 and the city of London is drowning, dragged down by its own corruption. Multi-national corporations dominate the skyline in steel and glass office buildings, high paying jobs attracting the best and the brightest. The same best and brightest who go out at night and seek whatever pleasures, whatever release they can from their normal lives, who fuel the underworld that forms the very foundation of this place, providing the perfect cover for far larger crimes.

20 years ago the British government saw this problem coming, the police force simply couldn't keep up with a population that was growing increasingly restless and ever more cunning in ways to evade detection. As new legislation to protect the interests of the companies was introduced the police were stretched to the breaking point. Which is where I come in.

Project GE003 was its formal name, I suppose if nothing else it shows it was a British project, no dramatic codename just a simple task number. The idea was simple enough, to genetically engineer a superior example of the human race, preconditioned to maintain law and order. They would be faster, stronger and smarter than any 'normal' person, with endurance far beyond anything seen before. In short, a perfect law enforcement officer. Except something went wrong.

There were thirty of us in the test batch, grown in a lab and put through an extensive training and education program designed to equip us with all the mental and physical tools and preparation we would need for the job that lay before us. Twenty of us never completed that program. Two were lost during training, physical defects causing them to simply fold up in mid-exercise. The other eighteen all committed suicide within the same year, no-one knows why.

Of the ten that remained, four washed out, unable to perform to the required specifications. The rest of us were put to work, two of us in London, the rest moving from city to city throughout the country. Except I'm the only one in London now, the other was killed about a month ago, caught in the cross-fire of a turf war, gunned down for no reason. I suppose that's not such an uncommon thing in this town anymore.

All of us that 'graduated' from the project are hunters, stalking the rooftops and alleyways at night for anything out of the ordinary. We're not that different to everyone else, certainly to look at us you wouldn't think we were anything special. But appearances can be deceptive. We can run as fast as an Olympic 100 meter sprinter, only we don't get tired, our bodies being able to sustain that pace for well over an hour. Our muscle strength is enhanced, as is our co-ordination. Add some of the best technology the world has to offer, all concealed behind a heat-masking full-length coat and we certainly earned our reputation. A reputation that caused the street gangs to name us within a week of our deployment. We're not simply members of Project GE003 anymore, to the people we hunt we're known as bloodhounds.

It was a typical night in London, rain cascading from the heavens at such a rate it actually cut visibility like a fog hanging over the city. Not that it bothered the nocturnal elements of the place though, they were out in full force, the sound of gunfire ringing out at intermittent intervals from distant alleys signaling the presence of another body to be found and tagged by the regular patrols. But I couldn't do anything about that tonight, I had more urgent business to take care of.

About two weeks ago people had started disappearing off the streets. Granted that wasn't such an odd occurrence but what was strange was that none of them had turned up again, either alive or dead. Worse there seemed to be a pattern, all of them were young, pretty, single women snatched within a two mile wide area in the heart of the city. So far we had twelve such cases, two of them belonging to fairly wealthy families and the absence of either a body or ransom note meant we had nothing to go on.

For the last three nights I'd been stalking the area where they'd been taken, keeping to the rooftops and staying out of sight. There were four single bars in the area and they seemed the logical place to start looking. Directly below me was a grey van, seemingly abandoned but somehow it still had all its wheels and running gear attached. Given that the odds of that happening in this town were approximately zero I figured it was worth a closer look.

Flicking my night vision goggles down I switched over to infra-red and sure enough there were three shapes dimly visible through the metal, one in the drivers seat, the other two crouched down by the back doors. Glancing up I saw a woman walking down the street towards the van who, from this distance anyway, seemed to match the usual description of those taken. As she drew level with the van the back doors were flung open and within the space of a second she'd been pulled inside and the van was in motion.

I didn't dare try to stop them while they were moving. There was a good chance that doing so could hurt the kidnapped girl, and besides I needed to know where they were taking her. I pulled out my pistol and fired a transmitter onto the back bumper of the van, its signal pulse instantly appearing in my goggles as I started to chase after them. Whoever they were, they were smart. They were driving carefully, slowly so as not to attract attention and it would probably have worked if I hadn't been right there when they'd taken her.

“This is special unit one, in pursuit of kidnap victim. Victim is young female, vehicle is a Ford Transit, registration plate KY53 UBY” I dictated under my breath, the throat microphone clipped to my shirt making sure the message was relayed back to control.

“Copy special one, do you require back-up?” came the reply.

“Negative, repeat negative. No-one gets close to them for now, I don't want to scare them.”

“Copy, we're standing by.”

“Copy control, special one out.”

It took about twenty minutes before the van pulled into a garage under an abandoned office block which wasn't really a huge surprise. There were hundreds of the damn things around and they made perfect hiding places for the less desirable elements of society. I paused, checking the building out from the opposite rooftop, confirming that there were no heat spots that could indicate habitation. After about five minutes a room suddenly blossomed with heat, as the three men dragged the franticly thrashing girl in and shut the door behind them. The blackout curtains did a hell of a job of hiding any trace of them from view, without the thermal view I wouldn't have know they were there at all.

“Control, this is special one, vehicle has stopped at 24 Parsons Street, request back-up no closer than a mile.”

“Copy special one, back-up is on route, eta ten minutes.”

“Copy control. Special one, out.”

Secure in the knowledge that the place would soon be surrounded I decided to get a closer look at what was going on. The street was a narrow one and I could make the jump to the other building without having to resort to any equipment. Once there I made my way silently down the fire escape until I was directly alongside the window. Making sure that my coat was covering my entire body so as to remove any chance of someone picking me up on a heat scan I edged my head around the corner of the window, the blackout curtains working in my favor now as they stopped anyone inside the room from knowing just how much trouble they were in. What I saw confused the hell out of me.

The girl had been stripped and was strapped to a metal X frame, hanging upside down. Below her what looked for all the world like a six foot long bed of feathers was undulating across her bare flesh in waves. Imagine a Mexican wave at a football game, scale it down and replace the fans with feathers and you'd replicate the sight perfectly. Whatever it was doing, it was having an effect on the poor victim, she was screaming, her face distorted as her mouth stretched wider than seemed possible. I couldn't hear what she was saying, they must have soundproofed the room for the occasion, but I got the general gist of it just fine.

What was odd was the men were simply standing around and watching. There seemed to be no attempt at interrogation going on, just a general interest in watching her suffer. I'd seen enough though.

“Control, special one requesting status of back-up.”

“Special one this is control, back-up is on route eta ten minutes.”

“What's the holdup control?”

“They've had to take a different route to avoid a fire fight on Oxford street special one, orders are to wait until they're in position before moving in.”

I looked back through the window, back at the girl writhing against her bonds as her body was assaulted by those maddening feathers.

“Control, negative copy on last transmission, victim is being tortured, beginning breach.”

“Negative special one, hold pos<crk>” I didn't need to hear the rest. If they wanted to disown me after this, let them, but there was no way I was going to stand back and watch this going on in front of me.

I took a breath, scanned the room and pulled my pistol out. A quick step back to the edge of the fire escape then a quick burst forward through the window. I landed on my feet and saw one of them bringing a gun around. Almost without thinking I brought my own pistol up and dropped him with a double tap that was definitely on target. Turning, I saw another diving headfirst for his own gun and a quick shot into his shoulder, and another into his knee made sure he stayed down. The third hadn't waited though and was coming straight at me with a long, curved knife.

I moved my wrist and a straight blade slide out from the holster strapped to my right forearm. There was a clang as I met his thrust with my own blade, my left arm coming up and grasping the wrist of his knife arm. I squeezed hard and he dropped the blade almost immediately. Pivoting I planted my right hand on his chest and gave one quick lift, throwing him into the far wall, back first and upside down. He slid to the floor, out cold.

I moved quickly to the rack and as I couldn't immediately see an off switch, simply cut the power cord with my wrist blade, thankful that the blade itself was made from a ceramic mix rather than a more normal steel construction. I checked the rack and found a simple lock mechanism that controlled the angle of the frame. Swinging the X-frame around so that the girl was facing the ceiling I cut her bonds and passed her my coat for modesty. She was still in shock, and I guided her over to a large armchair, the only other piece of furniture in the room, and turned back to the guy I'd shot in the shoulder.

“I'm gonna ask this once, I suggest you give me a straight answer. What were you doing with this girl, and on whose orders?”

The man wheezed on the floor for a moment as he tried to catch his breath. “Fuck you, I want my lawyer!”

“You know, as last words go, those really weren't the best you could have come up with” I said, reaching down and picking him up by the jacket, one hand locked around his throat as I moved back to the window and out onto the fire escape until the thug was dangling over a six floor drop to the street below.

“Wait! Wait, okay, pull me in and I'll tell you everything. Everything!” he screamed, as he felt my grip loosen. I yanked him back, throwing him down so that his feet were back in the room while his body and head lay on the fire escape.

“All I know is that we're paid to grab certain people, we're, we're told who to take, bring 'em here and strap 'em into that thing, hit that green button and let it work. It, it, it takes about an hour and then we take 'em down, put them back in the van and leave it here. We walk, come back tomorrow and pick the van up again, wait a day or two then get given another name. That's it, I swear!”

“Why don't I believe you?”

“No! No, I promise that's all I know, really.

“Well, it answers part one. Now what about part two? Who hired you for this?”

“I don't know, we just get given the job by our boss.”

“Who is?”

“The Dragon, okay? The Dragon. Lives up in Camden.”

“Really? Last I checked he lived in Edgware, I presume you mean he works from Camden?”

“Yeah, yeah. That's all I know, please, please don't hurt me, okay?”

I paused, then chopped down, hard, at the point where the neck meets the shoulder. The man fell to the ground, out cold, just as the regular police force burst through the door.

I waited on the roof, and after a few minutes heard footsteps coming up the fire escape. The rather large figure of Detective Williams rose into view and I gestured to an air conditioner unit next to me. He sat down and paused for a moment as he tried to regain his breath.

“So special unit one, do you have any idea how much trouble you've caused tonight? Ignoring a direct order, breaching without authorization, endangering the public and yourself, violating at least eight procedures...”

“Skip it Tim, you've seen that place, what they were doing. You'd have done exactly the same thing.”

“Yeah you're probably right, except if I'd tried that I'd have been dead before the glass hit the floor. Smoke?”

“No, thanks anyway but those things'll kill you just as sure as a bullet. ”

“Hey, the way you're going Snake you're gonna eat a bullet way before you'd have to worry about cancer.”

“Let me decide that, and cut it out with the Snake Plissken references, okay? It was funny the first ten times, get one of those script writers at the mayors office to come up with some new material or something. Any luck with the girl?”

“No, she doesn't know anything, other than seeming to consider you an angel or something. Oh, I left your coat on the fire escape, I presume you'll pick it up on your way out?”

“Thanks. I presume no-one showed up for the van?”

“Right, although one of our guys did pick up on something interesting going over the information that guy with the two bullet holes volunteered. Figure they were taking anything from three to five days to grab a girl, lie low and reset, they could only have taken five of 'em at the most, and we've got twelve missing, thirteen if you count this one.”

“Which means there's more than one group doing this, probably at least three, maybe four. Question is, why?”

“And there, I'm afraid, I have no answers whatsoever, not even a half-baked theory.”

“Great. I suppose that means you want me on the hunt again tonight?”

“If you're good to go, yes. You're going to go have a word with the Lizard?”

“Dragon, and yes.”

“Dragon, Lizard, whatever, just be careful okay? You're not invincible you know.”

“Trust me, I'm very much aware of that fact, though if you could not broadcast it to the whole of London I'd appreciate it.”

“Sorry. Good luck, and stay in touch with control this time.”

“Right.” I said as I dropped down to the ledge outside the window, grabbed my coat and then down again to street level. Ducking into a nearby alley I paused for a moment to get my bearings then headed off. Camden was a good four miles away, and I needed to make good time so for now at least I'd stick to the streets. As I ran I tried to work out what the hell was happening. Why on Earth was someone kidnapping all these women just to tickle them? Where did they go when the vans got picked up? And just what was going to be waiting for me in Camden?

 

[BOFH666]

Continued

Part 2

A straight run through the city would have taken me about ten minutes, but would have been far too conspicuous. Instead I stuck to the alleys, ducking in and out of the shadows as best I could. I wasn't worried about running into any major trouble, but right then I couldn't afford even a slight chance of getting hurt. The more convoluted route almost tripled the time it took to reach the Dragon's headquarters but at least it made sure I got there undetected. Once again I took to the rooftops, checking out the target for any signs of security.

The building had at one time been a row of Victorian town houses but had since been converted into a single block of narrow corridors and a warren of rooms and hidden passageways designed to hold up any force that tried to take the place. A quick glance at the roof was all I needed to know that going in that way was a one-way ticket to alerting every guard in the place. The man may not be the biggest or brightest shark in the sea but even the smallest of gangs were posting lookouts on the roofs these days. Their absence here pointed out the presence of bobby traps as well as a large neon sign. The street in front of me was a good twenty foot across, too far to jump and I was sure that whatever surprises waited on top of that building were also in place on the ones to either side.

Stepping back from the edge I reached into my coat and pulled out both my pistol and a thin metal pole, about thirty centimeters long. Removing the clip from the pistol and emptying the chamber I slid the pole into the barrel of the gun and put a special clip back into the hand grip. Taking aim I picked a point about six foot under below the roof and fired. The pole shot from the barrel and I heard the faint clink of metal meeting brick as the pole embedded itself in the wall. It was a simple enough design, a small explosive charge in the front of the pole detonated on impact to make a small hole in the target, and a fraction of a second later a second charge drove a ring of spikes outward into the edge of the hole. Coupled with the thinnest wire I'd ever seen it made one hell of a useful grappling hook, and was going to be made standard issue to the army within a few months.

Quickly I moved back to the edge and fired a second shot from the pistol, this time aimed at a point just behind the raised parapet of the roof. The back end of the pole was fired out of the gun and repeated the same anchoring trick the front had done, providing a solid base for the line that ran between them. Swapping back to a clip of normal ammunition I flipped a small metal clasp over my fingers and gripped the wire, making sure the wire itself was running straight and true over the metal runner. I'd seen what happened if you tried to slide down one of these using flesh and even covered in gloves it wasn't something you ever wanted to do, at least not if you liked having a full set of fingers.

A deep breath, a quick drop and a few seconds of suspense as I waited for someone to spot me sliding over the street, then I hit the wall on the target building. Hanging from the wire I checked around quickly for any signs that a guard had spotted me, but I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. I edged over to my right, checking through the window for any sign of life. When nothing came up on either night vision or thermal I flicked the knife out of its wrist holster and gently popped the lock on the window, sliding through and letting it close gently behind me, leaving no trace I was ever there.

Looking around I realized this wasn't what I'd been expecting. Instead of a normal room, this seemed to be some sort of private viewing area, a large glass window at one area covered with blackout curtains, several armchairs arranged in front of it along with a set of speakers that had to be hooked up to whatever lay beyond. Moving quickly I went over to the Window and could just make out a single heat source on the other side, probably quite a way from the glass judging by the faintness of the reading. Moving to one side I eased the curtain back and slid forward until I could see through the glass.

With the curtain gone I could see a shape outlined in shades of green and red, hanging from a dark blue X frame of what I assumed was some sort of metal, barely picking up enough residual heat from the victim to show up against the background. I could make out enough detail to know that whoever it was was female, and started looking for a way to get in and out of that room quickly, if I could grab her before anyone came in we could be out before anyone knew there was a problem.

Too late. Lights blazed out from beyond the glass and I ducked back down, scanning the room to see if anyone was coming in, but no, this seemed to just be a check on the girl. I risked another look through the glass and realized that any sort of quick entry and exit strategy wasn't going to work. The walls were made of steel, and judging by the size of the bolts holding them together had to be at least a foot thick. The glass looked to be bulletproof and I could now make out the hair-fine lines of the wire mesh running through it, there was no way I was going to break through that, not without coming out the other side as sushi anyway. There was only one way into that room that I could see, and that was currently being guarded by a couple of typical street thugs, though these at least looked like they had enough intelligence to know which way round a key went without having to try it twice.

My eyes were drawn to the victim on the rack, and I realized the machine was the same as the one I'd seen at Parsons Street, down to the color of the feathers waiting beneath it. The young woman strapped to it hung loosely in her bonds, eyes closed as her body twitched seemingly uncontrollably. She was striking, blond, tall and pretty and I recognized her as one of the first victims to be taken. My mind provided the name almost as soon as I saw her face, Rachel Larkin, one of the two taken whose families had some serious financial clout behind them who were just waiting for a ransom demand. Suddenly two figures entered through the open door, one was easy enough, six foot and a bit tall, dressed all in black and walking with the aid of a thin cane The Dragon was one of the more noticeable of the city's criminal leaders, and that was probably going to be the reason he didn't get much higher than her already was. The other newcomer though stopped me cold.

I'd never seen her before, I remember every face I've ever seen and I couldn't place hers, yet I knew her somehow. Almost as tall as The Dragon with long flame red hair and wearing a blood red jumpsuit she'd have been the center of attention at any club in the country, but something about her was calling me, something that definitely wasn't anything to do with her looks. She stood in front of their victim and I could see her asking what looked like three questions, but the glass was so thick it was cutting out all sounds from the room. I saw Rachel shake her head to each question in a show of defiance, but it was obvious even from here that she was worn out, exhausted and close to breaking. The woman reached out and touched a button on the control panel, causing the frame to rotate downwards, moving Rachel ever closer to the waiting feathers beneath her.

As the rack tilted she didn't seem to even notice the movement, her head hanging limply forward, letting the restraints carry her body weight without protest. The instant the feathers hit her skin however she became a thing possessed, thrashing her head and moving every way she could to try and avoid the contact of those torturous little points. But it was a futile effort, she simply didn't have anywhere to go, held tight to the frame and able to move only an inch or two in any direction. Her head came back, looking straight up at the window, her eyes closed, mouth open wide in a combination of laugh and scream.

Unconsciously my hands were flexing, and there was a slight click as the knife slid down into place. I found myself unable to take my gaze from the scene before me, and without realizing it had moved into position to hurl myself through the glass. Just in time I came to my senses and with a tremendous effort that left me physically shaking managed to rip my eyes off the scene and sink back to the floor, eyes closed as I tried to calm myself down. What the hell was wrong with me? I'd seen far worse than this during my short time prowling through this city, and yet here I was ready to get myself killed over, over what? It wasn't pleasant to watch, and I'm sure it was hell for the victim but she wasn't in any immediate physical danger, so why was I willing to disregard my training and all common sense for the second time that night to save her immediately?

I paused, reluctant to look at this again, but I really had no choice. Carefully I eased myself back into position just in time to see the red head press a second button on the console and hold it down. The feathers paused and Rachel was asked another question. For a long moment she hung motionless, then one quick, violent shake of the head. The red head laughed, lent down and whispered something to the poor girl then stood up and released the button. Immediately the feathers started up again, and the rack moved down, until the victim was completely surrounded by them. The Dragon moved forward and tapped the red head on the shoulder, then motioned back up towards the window as they left the room.

They had to be coming in here to watch this display! I moved fast, heading back into the shadows behind the door, knife out and ready, checked the pistol and waited. There was a click and the door swung open, the woman walking through first followed by the tapping of the cane as The Dragon entered. As the door swung shut I darted forward, locking my left arm around his throat, the right moving forward to cut off any chance the man had of breathing. In the second or two it took for the situation to sink in it was already too late, as I felt him start to panic, gasping for air. Once I was sure he was winded enough not to try anything stupid I relaxed my grip and addressed the woman.

“Over there, against the wall, facing me. Do it now or he's dead.”

She simply smiled and walked over to the wall, resting her hands flat against it, seemingly totally at east with the situation. I quickly switched my grip on the Dragon, pulling his arms behind him and tying his wrists together with a pair of zip cuffs. A quick check revealed a Glock 40 pistol tucked into a shoulder holster under that black jacket, and a knife of similar design to mine, only steel rather than the far more expensive and fragile ceramic blade, on his left arm. I pulled the clip from the gun and stored it in my coat along with the blade, throwing the gun itself into a corner.

“Now” I said, a firm grip on the Dragon's arms as I pulled him in front of me, “we're going to walk right out of that door, down the hall and get the girl. Then we're all going to go downstairs, take a car and pay a visit to the nearest police station. Got it?”

“You, you're crazy!” gasped the Dragon, still trying to get air through his bruised throat. “I've got over 50 guys in this building, there's no way you're getting out of here in anything other than a body bag.”

“Even if they've got to shoot through you?”

The Dragon fell silent for a moment, then: “Tell you what, take the girl, leave us here and I'll let you walk out of here.”

“No chance, something big is going on, and you know exactly what it is. You could tell me know, but somehow I'd be happier getting the details somewhere a little more friendly. Now move!” So saying I shoved him hard into the wall, wrenched the door open and shoved him out into the corridor, pistol in my left hand pointing over his shoulder, the right hand with the knife held ready for an attack from behind. No guards were around, I guess they really weren't expecting trouble from this direction after all. I motioned to the woman and she calmly walked out and moved a couple of steps in front of the Dragon as we walked down the corridor.

Thirty steps took us to a cross corridor and as we came round the corner I dropped the two guards I'd seen earlier. This was going to be hard enough without having two armed thugs at my back to worry about. The woman walked calmly up to the door and keyed in a combination on the pad beside it. The door swung open silently and I moved up, positioning the Dragon in the doorway facing out, myself tucked in behind him so that I could see out into the corridor but still use him as a shield if need be. The laughter immediately washed over us and I glanced back to see Rachel entombed in feathers, every muscle straining for escape as she fought the sensations being forced upon her. Without being told the red head walked over to the console and hit a large blue button, causing the rack to move upwards and swing upright. The woman moved forward and released Rachel's restraints, passing her a light green jumpsuit that looked like it would offer little warmth or comfort other than preserving her modesty. Still it was better than nothing.

I saw Rachel look up at me, and knew we didn't have time for the long version of the explanation. “Miss, I'm a police office, we're going to get you out of here but you've got to come with me now, understand?”

Rachel trembled and looked like she was ready to collapse, but somehow managed to stay on her feet as she nodded. “Who, who are you?” she asked, her voice little more than a croaked whisper.

“Ever heard of the bloodhounds?” I asked. Her eyes went wide and she nodded, moving forward to stand behind me, drawing a deep breath.

“I thought so.” came a voice from behind me. I spun to find the red head looking at me intensely, as if cataloging a rare book or antique. “You're one of the 03 series aren't you?”

“Yes.” I replied, somewhat surprised by the quick identification as our codename wasn't widely known. “Why, and how do you know...”

“Oh, I know more about you than you'd guess, how is that scar on your back, training accident with a sai wasn't it?”

“What? How could you possibly”

“Ah, as much as I'd love to catch up on old times, I think you're just about out of time my dear. You see pressing that blue button sends an alert to the guard station and as no-one's checked in you're about to have a lot of company. Another time perhaps?”

I heard booted feet in the corridor outside and knew she was right. “Count on it.” I snapped, throwing the Dragon out and to the left, grabbing Rachel's hand and dragging her out to the right. We raced around the corner and down the corridor, heading for what looked like the entry to a stairwell. I hit the door hard and it swung open to a large thud sound. Someone must have been standing guard behind it and I slashed around the wooden frame with the knife at what I thought was chest hight. I felt the blade hit something and kept right on running. Rachel was right behind me as we raced down the stairs, she had to be flying on fear and adrenaline right now but all she had to do was stay upright for another minute or two.

I barreled through the door out of the stairwell and threw myself to the ground. Overhead I heard the sharp crack of gunfire as the two guards who'd been standing either side of the door reacted a half second too slowly. Two thuds from my right showed who had been the better shot and I pivoted quickly to drop the two on the left. Scrambling back up to my feet I pulled the steel blade I'd taken from the Dragon inside my coat and threw it down the corridor, shorting the control box on the doors separating us from the outside world.

We sprinted together down the narrow corridor as I tried to check both in front and behind at the same time. We were within ten feet of freedom when two guards burst through the stairwell door behind us at the same time as two more appeared from a guard station in front of the main door. The two in front I dropped immediately, but there was no way I was going to outdraw four people and the two behind managed to get a shot off each before I managed to drop them. The first flew off overhead and took out a strip light, showering glass down into the corridor. The second was far better aimed and hit me straight in the back, the impact throwing me to the ground as my body armor absorbed the brunt of the shot.

Gasping I staggered back to my feet, put on a burst of speed and shoved my way through the main doors. A quick check showed no-one in immediate view and I holstered the pistol in one motion, turned and swept Rachel off her feet and into my arms before charging down the road. I ducked into an alley just in time, as a sniper bullet hit the wall not an inch from my head as I concentrated on putting as much distance between us and them as possible, taking routes they couldn't possibly follow in cars or on bikes. I ran on, finally arriving at the police station the first girl had been taken to not two hours earlier. Passing Rachel over to the medical team I sank wearily into a chair, wincing as I felt the now tender area on my back where that bullet had hit.

 

[BOFH666]

Continued

I shrugged off the coat and unclipped the body armor, the hole in the back obviously made by a pretty hefty round. The bullet itself had become dislodged during the run but the armor would be sent down to the lab to have the usual tests run on it for stopping power, effectiveness and damage. I closed my eyes and wasn't surprised when I heard someone drop into the chair next to me.

“You know, for a superhero you look like shit man.” Detective Williams said.

“I never said I was a superhero and you know it, shoot me and I'll go down like anyone else.”

“That's your problem, no sense of humor about anything. It's all work with you, never take time out to smell the roses.”

“It's been a long night, get to the point.”

“Well, in one night you've saved two very pretty young women from whoever kidnapped 'em and showed one of our resident big shots you can enter his place like a damn ghost, that's gotta count for something, right?”

“It would if we had clue number one about where to go from here. There's still, what, eleven left to find? And there's no way I'm going to get close enough to the Dragon again to ask him, not while he's at home anyway.”

“Tell you what, we'll set up a couple of trails on the guy tomorrow, keep an eye on what he's doing, where he goes, who he calls, the usual. You go home and rest up and tomorrow night we'll take the next bite of this elephant. ”

“Huh, you've got a way with words, you know that? Sounds good to me though, just find me something to work with tomorrow.” I got up and started to head out when a thought struck me and I turned back. “Tim, do me a favour, see if you can keep track of a woman that I saw there tonight as well would you?”

“What's she look like?”

“Here, take the image capture off my recorder” I said, throwing him the memory card from my vision goggles. “Just be careful with it okay, I want that back in one piece tomorrow.”

“God, I drop one of these things in my coffee and you'll never let me forget it will you? Oh, before I forget why exactly are we following her rather than one of the other members of the goon squad?”

“I don't think she was one of his regular staff, something felt, I don't know, different about her. Hell, she didn't panic with a gun to her head, and I got the distinct impression she wanted me left alive for some reason. Just follow her, you'll know the reason when you find it.”

“Great, a mystery. I hate mysteries, you know that.”

“Yeah, well solve this one for me and I'll make sure to tell you when your surprise party is, okay?”

“Fair enough, go, get out of here, you look dead on your feet.”

I didn't answer, just turned and headed back out onto the street. Something about this whole thing didn't add up, but right now my mind just wasn't up to working it out. Tim was right, I really was tired and heading off to sleep for a while seemed like a damn good idea.

Home, such as it was, was a couple of rooms hidden deep in an abandoned school about a mile from the police station. It was simply too dangerous for me to live anywhere near other people, if the location became common knowledge innocent people could get caught in the shooting. This way I had somewhere secure to fall back to when I needed it, but somewhere I could easily abandon if the need arose. I threw my coat into the corner, it would need to have the bullet hole repaired before that particular one could be used again to ensure it could cover my heat profile properly. I threw myself down on the bed, as usual still fully dressed including body armor. Sleep rose up to greet me almost immediately and as I fell into its embrace I saw the face of my mystery woman floating in front of me...


Part 3

I was exhausted, strapped spreadeagled to a frame, staring at the ceiling. My breath came in painful gasps, muscles twitching randomly as I struggled to regain some composure. I started to blackout, only to be jolted back by an electric shock delivered through the metal that held me. A voice was speaking but I couldn't make out the words, everything was jumbled and faint. Through it all I could make out the intent of the unseen speaker, a demand, a promise of release if I only submitted to them. I shook my head slowly, lacking the strength to talk. There was a dull click from the rack and it started to swing downwards, pivoting around so I was facing the ground. As it did so a field of metal points slid into my view, an occasional spark flying between two of them as they discharged. The rack locked into place and started to lower me down. The first points touched my body and electricity coursed through my body, a blanket of pain settling over me as I screamed....

And woke up on the floor of my bedroom, the usually neat room looking like a tornado had ripped through it, the bed lying in pieces against the wall. I looked around franticly for whoever had done this, and it took a second or two to realize that in fact there was no-one else there. The only conclusion I could reach was that I'd torn the place apart, but I could remember none of it, only a dream that seemed more real than anything I'd ever experienced, the memory of it fresh in my mind. I decided that more sleep probably wasn't going to happen and I'd be better off back on the streets.

I headed for the shower, needing to do something, anything, to ease my mind. As I stood under the steaming water jets I closed my eyes, luxuriating in the feel of the liquid sliding over my body. Suddenly my eyes snapped open as a realization shot through me, the rack I'd seen in my dream, if that's what it was, was identical to that the two victims I'd rescued had been on, or as near as made no difference. I concentrated for a long moment, trying to recall the exact layout of those racks and match them with what my mind had presented me with. The designs were certainly close, maybe a few detail changes to the machine but nothing significant, with the obvious exception of the electric probes being replaced by feathers.

I tried to think, was this even possible, was my mind simply overlaying what I'd seen the previous night over some long forgotten memory? Of course it was possible, but it didn't feel like that, this seemed familiar in a way that I didn't think any fantasy could be. But what the hell was the connection between them, and why was I remembering this now when I never had before? It could be the machines themselves setting it off, but I didn't honestly think it was, it had to be something else. I wasn't getting any closer to an answer though and there was work to do. Outside the last light of day was slipping over the horizon as I stepped outside. I took a deep breath, clearing my mind for whatever the night held, whatever secrets the dream held would have to wait for now.

The rooftop run to the police station was one of my favorites, almost a perfect training course and I took the opportunity to stretch myself, working out the residual jitters from the events of the past twenty four hours. When I arrived I found Detective Williams sitting on the roof in one of two camping chairs, staring out over the city, obviously waiting for me. I looped round the building, approaching from behind him through a forest of air conditioners and radio masts, jumping up silently onto an exhaust vent before dropping down into the seat next to him.

“Jesus!” he yelled. “What have I told you about not doing that! I do not need to die of a heart attack at the tender age of 35, okay?”

“Then learn to keep your eyes and ears open. We got anything?”

“Yeah, a lot but most of it's a dead end or worse. Your pal the Dragon hasn't set foot outside his place since last night, but there's been a hell of a lot of people going in. Street gangs for the most part, look like the sort that'll carry a gun for peanuts and are only really any good as bullet catchers.”

“Well that rules out a return visit for a while then. What else?”

“Umm, let's see” Tim said, reaching down for a thick folder tucked under his seat. “Oh, we picked up that woman of yours, been a very popular assignment keeping tabs on her. Left the building about ten in the morning, dressed 'respectably' according to this, I think they mean business suit. Went down to Oxford Street, shopped in a couple of the more up-market places, grabbed a coffee, nothing special.”

“You sure about that?” I asked, something didn't sound right, I just couldn't quite put my finger on it. “Where'd she end up?”

“Back where she started if you believe that, hell if I didn't know better I'd say she was just the squeeze of the month and that's all she wrote. ”

“No, no way. She was the one running things there, at least as far as Rachel went and that's way beyond what Dragon would let one of his pets do. Any gaps in that coverage?”

“Yeah, one. We know where she went but not what she did there. Place up on Tottenham Court Road, one of the more, shall we say, kinky night spots. We've thought it might be one of Dragon's front's before now, but never been able to prove it. I've got a team running background on the building but I don't think they're holding anyone there, it's too public for that sort of thing and every entry point is covered by cameras that we've got access to. If they took anyone in there against their will, we'd have seen it by now.”

“Damn, I was so sure... Anything on the victims yet?”

“The one you pulled out of Parson's Street is basically nobody. Pretty enough and not dumb but little money and works as a 'fashion consultant' which pretty much works out as store assistant but up market. The other though is interesting. She's the sixth one to work for one of the big boys down in Docklands, they've all got more or less the same profile too. All of them are young for their roles, work at a pretty damn high level of access and know a lot about the security measures and computer systems that are used down there. The problem is according to her they never even tried to extract that information from her, just told her she was there to suffer and threw her on that machine.”

“That doesn't make any sense, this is way too well planned for this to be some weird sex game. Besides we know Dragon doesn't go in for the hands-off approach, so what's really going on?”

“Damned if I know, all we've got is two rescued girls, a vague pattern and a complete lack of interest from the bad guys in doing anything to conform to that pattern. If...” Tim was interrupted by the door to the roof opening and one of the analyst team stepping through with a folder clutched tightly in one arm. They passed it over without a word, gave me a quick glance and retreated back into the safety of the building. Tim immediately started flicking through the file.

“Let's see, case history on that club on TCR, couple of minor incidents due to drunken behavior, last one about three years ago. A handful of fines for anti-social conduct, well that's normal enough. Hey, hang on a minute, have a look at this” he said, passing the folder over to me as he editorialized what he'd just read.

“Looks like the drug teams have been working it, seemed to think it was a major distribution point. Damn, they kept that one quiet, should have come to me I could have told them it was a waste of time.” I was quickly skimming through the file as he spoke, flicking through to the end of the history portion.

“Tim, I think you'd better see this.” I said, passing the file back with a finger pointing to the relevant text.

“What the hell, 'Authorised Undercover Op' my ass. No-one cleared that through here. When was this, three days ago?”

“Gets worse I'm afraid, have a look at the details.”

“Two officers sent in plain clothes, no transmitters, well that's normal enough. One man one woman acting as a couple interested in the fetish scene, initial contact went fine. Oh shit. The woman hasn't been seen since, the man they found on the underground track. Follow-up on hold pending investigation into the incident. Look, this makes no sense, none.”

“Why?” I asked, well aware that Tim had the advantage over me in pretty much everything relating to the heartbeat of this city.

“Because there's no way, no way at all, that place is a drugs depot. It hasn't got the right connections and we've got surveillance all over that area. Besides which, since when did Dragon go into the drug trade on the sort of scale they're talking about here? Wait, who developed this intel in the first place? DOI09, what the hell is that?”

“Department of the Interior, customs division.” I replied “normally a damn reliable source of information but looks like they got it wrong on this one. Wonder why?”

“I'll put a request in for the original analysis but it'll take a while to come through. Looks like the club's our best bet though.”

“How do you want to play this?” I asked, well aware that this sort of op was something far more suited to Tim's area of expertise than mine.

“It's open every night and I believe it's just a general admittance ticket. You up for a quick trip cross town?”

“Of course, but you know I'm not trained for this right?”

“Hey, dressed like that you should fit right in. Now listen, stick to our problem first and foremost, get whatever you can out of that place and leave without causing a fuss. If you get a chance to find out what happened to that cop then fine, but that's gotta be secondary tonight, you got it?”

“Yeah, I got it. Do me a favor and have one of your guys pull her file for me would you? Never hurts to have all the info you can get your hands on.”

“Sure, it'll take five minutes or so, I'll meet you out front as soon as I've booked a car out. That okay with you?”

“Fine, I'm going to have to leave the hardware somewhere though, okay to drop in the car?”

“I'll get one with a lock box. Five minutes, out front, try not to freak out any of my officers on the way down would you?”

As we drove across town I skimmed the file on the missing cop, making sure to memorize the face just in case. Tim had also brought along the files on the rest of the kidnapped women and I double checked those as well. My memory is, for all practical purposes, photographic but I'd learned long ago never to rely on it if I had the chance to double check a fact, or in this case, a face. We pulled up in a small side street and I got out as quickly as I could without drawing too much attention. The unmarked car pulled away as Tim went to join the surveillance team a few hundred yards down the road and I walked around the corner to the front door of the club.

Getting inside was easy enough, Tim had been on the money when he said it was a general admittance ticket, £50 at the door and I was inside. The familiar tingle of a weapons sensor passed over me as I walked down the short hall way and I could see the slight join in the wall that gave away the position of a guard post behind a false panel. The doors at the end swung open and as I stepped inside the main room it was all I could do to carry on walking.

I'd been expecting a normal club, dark and dingy, low rent with a couple of bright, yet soft lights hung over a worn stage. What I saw however was almost the exact opposite. It was dark, but there was the impression that this was only to highlight the attractions rather than distract from a particularly suspect carpet. The room itself was cavernous, the celling a good twenty foot from the floor and more like a sports hall than a club in size. Music pounded through hidden speakers, a mix of metal and dance that sharpened the atmosphere to a razor's edge. Scattered throughout the club were pools of light, almost blinding in their brightness when contrasted to the blackness that surrounded them. Each light shone on a different exhibit and the patrons were moving between them like a living tide. I made my way over to the nearest light, trying to hang back and stay in the shadows as much as I could without attracting too much attention in the process.

The light shone down on a large circular tank, about eight feet in diameter and made of a transparent plastic. In the middle of the tank was a naked young women, stretched out spreadeagled and tied securely at the wrists, waist, thighs and ankles. A thin, transparent barrier seemed to flow around her body, leaving a consistent gap of about four inches between her skin and the barrier itself. Between the barrier and the edge of the tank a pack of cats sat and stared through the barrier at the helpless body, occasionally licking their mouths as if in anticipation.

The woman was shaking in her bonds, her eyes wide in horror as she struggled to watch the cats as they stared unblinkingly at her. A second light suddenly flicked on, illuminating an old-fashioned bullseye target above and beyond the tank, maybe fifteen feet from the front of the tank. As I watched a man stepped forward from the crowd and pushed a credit card into a slot next to the tank. A soft hiss was heard as a cover lifted on a small box perched on top of a pedestal by the slot and three aluminum balls shone in the reflection of the lights. The man picked the first one up, aimed and let fly. It flew about a foot over the target and a soft thud from the blackness suggested some sort of screen set up to catch wayward shots. The second shot missed high as well, but by the barest fraction of an inch and the third landed square in the centre of the target.

 

[BOFH666]

Continued

Immediately I felt a slight tingle pass through my body as a sound suppression field activated, just in time to allow those watching to hear the horrified “NO!” from the victim. The barrier sunk down into the floor of the tank and the cats walked quickly and eagerly forward to their new treat. As soon as they reached her they started to lick any bit of skin they could get their eager tongues to, obviously lapping up something that had been previously applied to the poor girl's body. She screamed with laughter as the cats licked what had to be almost all of her ticklish spots at once. There were two at each armpit, another four or five clustered around her ribs and hips, and at least eight fighting over the prime spots at her feet. She thrashed in her bonds, but there was just no way she was going to be able to move enough to make a difference, whoever had secured her had really known what they were doing.

I could feel myself start to shake with the desire, no the need to free this woman from her torture, and quickly turned away, heading over to another display. For all I knew she had volunteered to be on show, and the fact of the matter was she wasn't what I was here for.

The next display reminded me of one of those educational attractions certain theme parks installed, only twisted into something far darker and more menacing. Two women were dressed in workout clothes from feet to waist, though they were naked above that, and were strapped into what looked for all the world like exercise bikes, although most exercise bikes didn't come with a long metal pole rising from behind the seat with a set of wrist restraints dangling from them. The restraints were pulled tight enough to stretch the girls out slightly and pull their skin taut over their ribs and armpits. Alongside them were two large arms that moved slowly up and down, from ribs to wrists, each arm ending in a myriad of feathers that were slowly spinning.

As I arrived the girls were already laughing, their heads swinging from side to side as they each tried to pedal harder. After watching the display for a few seconds I realised that the arms must be connected to the other woman's bike, the faster they pedaled the faster the feathers turned against the other woman's flesh, the more they were tickled and the less likely they would be able to increase their own pedaling in revenge.

I'd obviously joined the show quite late in the proceedings as both women were a mess, tears running down their face as they struggled to catch their breath, each desperate to make the other stop pedaling. Suddenly one of them shrieked and jerked as the feathers managed to find a particularly sensitive spot on her right side just below her breast and her feet flew out of the pedals. Immediately an assistant moved in and secured her ankled to a fixed bar behind the pedals and untied her opponent who was handed a small black feather. Grinning evily at her vanquished opponent she walked forward, her intentions clear as she approached the exposed belly of the loser. Once again I found myself perched on the edge of control and forced myself to move away as behind me I heard a scream as feather touched flesh.

The next exhibit was clearly set up as an audience participation event and I found myself drawn to it. Three women were suspended from spreader bars in front of a large black wall about six foot long and tall enough to hide everything but the chains that held the victims off the ground. It was the wall itself that seemed to call to me though. Up close it wasn't solid but seemed to be made of hundreds of thousands of small, blunt pins. The side closest to the women seemed to be vibrating, each individual pinhead moving so fast it seemed to blur. The other side, where the audience crowded for their chance to torment the captives was still and looked slightly softer somehow.

As I watched the men and women gathered around the wall pressed their hands into it, pushing the pins out on the victims side in the shape of their palms and fingers, grinning as they felt resistance from the supple flesh and heard the frantic laughter as the vibrations shot through the helpless bodies. I reached forward, one finger touching the wall gently followed by my whole hand. Something shot through me, a feeling of immense pleasure passing over my body. No wonder this was such a popular pastime, this side of the wall was a nerve screen, tapping directly into the pleasure centres of the mind to reward those that tickled the captives. Fearing the effects of even a short exposure to such a feeling I started pulling my hand back, only for a burst of light to explode behind my eyes leaving a bright afterglow dancing in my vision, a vague shape outlined there that didn't seem to fit with what was in front of me.

I moved back quickly, shaking my head to try and clear it. Watching others move away from the wall no-one else seemed to have the same reaction and I fought to remember exactly what I'd seen. Suddenly the lights in the club went out and I spun around, looking for the trouble I was sure was heading for me. It took me a moment to realise that the reason for the sudden darkness was a previously unlit dark mass in the centre of the room was now glowing as a dull red light spread over it. A blood red cover was pulled aside, revealing a torture frame that seemed to have been designed for a giant.

It was a square frame, with a circular track inside the square on which was mounted a seemingly endless array of feathers, brushes, vibrators and anything else that could tickle a victim. I couldn't work out the scale of the thing though, the circle had to be at least eight foot across, far too large to reach out and touch a victim suspended in the centre, the instruments would snarl on themselves if they tried to do that anyway. Not that I could see any way for any of them to move inwards. A single spotlight stabbed down to illuminate the frame in a harsh white light, and with a slight shudder the it split in two and hinged outwards like the jaws of a giant beast waiting to devour a sacrifice.

The light dimmed and went out, replaced by a set of four dark blue spots from the floor that raced upwards and settled on the ceiling. A low rumble spread through the club as the ceiling split in two, leaving a hole about ten foot square above the frame. The rumble increased as the lights dimmed down towards blackness and a huge wheel slowly descended from its hiding place. Supported by a large strut on either side like a giant bicycle wheel, it moved slowly but smoothly downwards, the long trip to the floor seeming to take forever. Finally there was a click that echoed throughout the now silent club as the wheel locked into place. The lights went out, then that single white spot shot out, illuminating a woman strapped to the side of the wheel, stretched out, naked and helpless. My heart missed a beat as I recognised her as the missing cop!

Her eyes were wide and flicking around the club, looking for a way out, for some way to get away. Her hair was matted together and her body shock seemingly uncontrollably as she lay against the wheel, her eyes taking in the instruments hanging from the frame in front of her. A second spotlight shone down on the stage, and into it walked the lady I'd seen running things the previous night. As I watched she stepped up to the microphone and launched into a speech.

“Ladies and gentleman, can I assume that you are enjoying yourselves tonight?” The crowd roared its approval.

“While I know some of you may not want to believe it, the powers that be seem to be taking exception to our perfectly legal pastime.” A general round of boos and hisses rang out at that. “Why, just three days ago we caught two agents of the law in here, trying to plant evidence that would have got us shut down as some sort of drugs warehouse.” Anger now, clear and loud from the crowd.

“And so my friends I present to you the Law.” Here a gesture at the captive policewoman, clearly terrified at what was going on. “For the last two nights we have been confirming that what we have told you tonight is true, and now it is time to send a message to those responsible for this act of aggression, this act of war.” The crowd were really getting fired up now as the framework started to close over the wheel behind the speaker.

“Tonight, we present a very special attraction as this collaborator, this despicable creature receives her punishment. Some of you have seen the wheel before, but tonight we present a very different application. Tonight this woman will be tickled to the edge of madness....” the crowd were in a frenzy now, shouting encouragement to this mesmerizing woman as the frame locked into place “.....and then she will be pushed over that edge.” The crowd screamed their approval and the wheel started to turn.

It was a slow rotation, maybe a complete circle every minute but it meant that every single weapon mounted to that framework touched that exposed body as it was moved past them. The laugher that exploded from her body was like nothing I'd ever heard, shrill, high pitched and with desperation ripping through it like a knife blade. As the wheel turned and the tickling increased the laughter seemed to increase in volume until I was convinced it had to be a recording as no human body should be able to make that sort of sound. But, as the wheel completed it's first revolution I realised I was wrong, and one look at her eyes made up my mind.

I walked forward to the leading edge of the crowd and looked up at the spectacle in front of me, evaluating the frame and wheel. The wheel itself looked pretty damn strong, with girders reinforcing the arms that held it all the way up to the ceiling and an enormous metal plate welded over the connecting mechanism, but the frame looked like normal steel and not particularly sturdy. A glance at the control panel showed a simple enough arrangement, a green button to start the mechanism and a red button to stop it. I forced myself to wait until her body was back on top of the wheel again and dove forward, past the two guards to the controls and punched the red button. From behind me I heard the woman yell “Kill him!” and I spun, bringing my right foot up as I did so to catch the nearest guard square in the head with a picture perfect kick. Grabbing his gun from his hand I landed hard on my side, brought the gun up and dropped the other guard with a single shot to the head.

At the sound of the gunshot the confident attitude of the crowd dissolved and they started stampeding for the exits. Satisfied that I wouldn't catch an innocent in a crossfire, and that Tim would soon know there was trouble and to bring the cavalry I turned my attention back to the matter in hand. I climbed the frame to about the halfway point and then slipped between the steel girders. Putting my back up against one half of the frame, my feet against the other I pushed with everything I had. Gradually the frame split apart until there was a four foot gap at the top, more than enough to get the victim out. I clambered up and dropped down, quickly untying the rope that held her to the wheel. Whatever training the police had given her, it was obviously working, as she scrambled up to her knees, still trembling and gasping for breath as I pulled myself up to the top of the frame before reaching down and yanking her after me.

From behind me I heard the double doors slam open and a single pair of boots pound into the club. Not stopping to look I scooped her up in my arms and jumped down to the ground. As I landed, my right foot hit something wet and slippery and I felt my leg fold under me. I let her down as gently as I could and once again the training took over as she rolled under the bulk of the frame and wheel for cover. I went the other way, wanting to draw any potential fire away from her and testing the leg. It could support me, but I wasn't going to be doing anything too energetic for a while.

Looking round I saw one man, presumably the guard from the hidden post in the entrance corridor bringing his pistol up towards me. I moved right, then dove left, trying to protect my leg as best I could. His first and second shots went were he was expecting me to be, and I made damn sure he never got time for a third. I got back to my feet and looked around, only to see my mystery woman standing by a back door and grinning at me. She waved and slipped out of the club as the front doors burst open to cries of 'Police!'. I made my decision and ran as fast as I could towards the back of the club. As I reached the door I heard my backup enter the main room and took the time to point to where the victim was hiding before heading through the door.

I found myself in an alley and saw my target getting into a large black BMW at the far end. The car was facing me and I realised that the only way out of here was through me. The car jerked forward as the driver pushed the accelerator all the way to the floor, clearly intending to turn me into roadkill. I stood my ground and tried to concentrate on my timing. Just as I could see the whites of the drivers eyes through the windscreen I jumped upwards, twisting as I did so to land face down on the roof, hands scrabbling for some sort of purchase on the slick metal. Somehow I found a handhold and gripped as hard as I could as the car swung out onto the main road doing at least forty miles per hour.

Suddenly the metal underneath me seemed to explode upwards, something huge and hard hitting me in the chest and tearing me loose from my grip on the car. I flew off the roof and had barely a second to see the motorbike I was heading towards before I hit the rider.

I landed in a heap on the ground and stayed there for a second as I tried to catch my breath and checking nothing was broken. Groaning I got to my feet, a quick glance all I needed to know that the bike rider I'd hit was dead. I saw the BMW turning right at the end of the road and reached down for the still running bike. I'd managed to avoid the machine itself and it seemed to be in good condition. Yanking it upright I swung a leg over and headed off after the escaping BMW.

For the first few streets I was going on glances of the car, trusting to luck more than anything else as I dove in and out of traffic, gaining little by little on the speeding car. The problem was that while the bike was faster and could fit through gaps they couldn't the car could simply barge other road users out of the way. Still by the time we reached the river I was barely fifty yards behind and closing faster now. Suddenly the car swung hard right and tapped the rear of a Ford Transit van, slewing it round and into the line of cars alongside it. In less than a second there was a perfect roadblock ahead of me, and there was no way through.

Leaning the bike hard over to the right I ran alongside the impromptu roadblock and shot down one of the back roads that littered this part of London. A few more twists and turns had me in an alley so tight sparks were flying from both ends of the handlebars as I tried not to breathe so as not to move the bike. I came out the other end touching seventy and saw the BMW on the bridge, heading towards one of the dockside ports. Swearing under my breath I wound the throttle back to the stop as I tried to close the distance, but it was too late. By the time I got there the car had disappeared, lost in the maze of warehouses covering that area. The only saving grace was there was only one way in or out of there, and that was the road I was currently rolling down.

I pulled the bike up and slipped it into the shadows, pocketing the key in case I needed it later. As the adrenaline wore off I felt the faint buzz on the back of my neck that meant someone was using the implanted organic tracking beacon to zero in on me. A quick glance at the complex before me was all I needed to know that if I was ever going to find my target in that lot, I was going to need some help, and I settled back to wait for the cavalry.

 

[BOFH666]

Continued

Part 4

It took about twenty minutes for a small fleet of cop cars to turn up, all running silent, blues and sirens switched off as they pulled up across the road, forming a very effective roadblock. I hadn't been idle while I was waiting and had managed to check most of the outlying buildings for any signs of life. That left a group of four long, low factories in the centre of the yard as possible targets. A young lieutenant passed me over a bundle containing my usual equipment, and I felt a strange sense of relief pass through me as I strapped the knife back to my arm, and secured the shoulder holster under my jacket. I guess it had been so long since I'd been without a weapon for any length of time I never felt fully dressed without one. Another officer passed broke out the first aid kit and quickly wrapped a regen pad around my knee, followed by a splint. It wouldn't eliminate the injury, but it should mean I could move more or less as normal, though any sustained running would still be a definite no-no.

A quick thermal scan of the buildings showed me all I needed to know. All bar one were stone cold, the fourth was showing two definite heat signatures, one had to be the engine of the getaway car, still cooling in an underground garage. The second was blurring and moving slightly as I watched, probably two or three people having a brief meeting as they tried to figure a way out of their current predicament. Not that I intended to give them the chance, the image of the police woman from the club seemed to float in front of my eyes, her face turning into those of the known kidnap victims. No, this ended here.

There was no way the police could approach that building without being seen, and besides I wanted this one all to myself. Something about that woman tore at my mind, a feeling that she was something, someone important but how, or why, I had no idea. Still, it didn't matter, right now I had a job to do, time to get on with it.

Making an approach to the building on foot would have proved damn near impossible, too much open ground to cover and no obvious point of entry. Fortunately I wasn't limited to that option. Moving quickly I found a decent vantage point on the opposite rooftop and took aim with a grapple dart. A brief tink noise was the only sign they had a visitor as I swung over to the fire escape and made my way to the roof, and judging by the lack of response they hadn't noticed.

Getting inside the building proved surprisingly easy. It wasn't in a good state of repair, which proved fortunate as I eased a metal grill out of the roof, not even needing to remove the bolts as they had long rusted through. I guessed this wasn't a regular meeting place as I swung down into a crawl space in the roof, as a thick layer of dust covered the wooden beams. I paused for a moment, switching back to a thermal view as voices filtered along to me from the far end of the building. Back to night vision and I started moving silently towards the source of the conversation.

It took me about ninety seconds to get close enough to hear them clearly, and what I heard made me pause for a moment. There wasn't any way out of here, at least not one that didn't involve dealing with me or the police at some point in the proceedings, and any information might prove vital in locating the victims. I spread my weight along the beams and concentrated on the voices.

One I recognised immediately as the women from Dragon's, the other though barely sounded human. An odd, high pitched voice with a low, rumbling counterpoint made it impossible to tell if the speaker was male or female, and imparted an odd sense of menace to that voice that made me shiver for an instant.

“You were told not to expose yourself to undue attention” that strange voice said, a definite air of menace infused with the words.

“Hey” the woman snapped back, seemingly unimpressed by the unknown speaker “it was your men who took those police officers captive against my instructions. If it hadn't been for that, there would have never been a police presence at my club tonight!”

“The police? Police don't worry me, it's the bloodhound on your tail that worries me my dear. You of all people should know how annoyingly persistent they are.”

What did he mean by that I wondered. Had this woman run into one of us before and somehow gotten away? I made a mental note to check recent case histories once I got back to the station.

“Well, that's why you hired me as your insurance policy wasn't it? Don't worry, if and when he shows up here we've got a little surprise waiting. I trust you agreed to the extra security I sent?”

“Yes, yes, it's in place as discussed, now what about the packages?”

Packages? Why did these people always insist on referring to their victims by such absurd abstract names I wondered, could they just not face the fact that what they were doing had an impact on normal, innocent people, or had they just seen one too many spy movies?

“Of course, all twelve have been processed through stage one and should be in place for stage two by now. You're confident your people can handle this, it is rather a delicate matter after all?”

“We've been through this, your part in this is finished, for now at least. Once we're finished with them they're all yours, those that survive anyway, but you'll have to wait. Besides, it was you that recommenced a new face for this stage.”

A sigh from the woman, rather theatrical from the sound of it, reached me. “Yes, I know, and it is far more effective this way. Still, it's a shame, it's so much more entertaining than simply breaking them.”

“Maybe this will ease your mind, doctor. Ten million has been transferred to your account, the rest to follow when we complete. Now, if you will excuse me, I believe we've overstayed our welcome here.”

I'd heard all I needed to, and pulled my pistol, pausing only to check it had a full clip before gathering my legs under me and jumping straight up off the beams and kick down as hard as I could in the confined space. The neglected wood shattered under me and I dropped the ten feet to the floor, the splint wrapped around my knee doing its job and letting me move as if nothing was wrong, landing crouched, the gun covering the woman in front of me perfectly. I pivoted right slightly and caught a glimpse of something shining from a side door at about head height. A glimpse was all I got though as a steel door, obviously a later addition to the run-down building slammed into place. I rushed over, keeping the pistol trained on the woman as I gave the door an experimental shove but there was no way I was going to get it open without a few pounds of plastic explosives.

I grabbed the handcuffs from a pouch on my right leg and moved quickly over to the woman. Smiling she said nothing, just held her hands out in front of her. I grabbed her wrists and forced them behind her back, knowing better than to ever let a prisoner have their hands in front of them while bound. They could cause far too much trouble that way and it wasn't worth the grief.

“Alright, I've chased you over half of London, been shot at, had my mind permanently damaged by some of the things I saw in your club and been hurled into traffic. You can safely assume that I am not in a good mood right now. I really suggest you co-operate as I'm in no mood for any shit tonight. Got it?”

She simply kept smiling at me, turned and started to walk slowly towards the stairs. I fell back a couple of foot, bringing the gun up and kept it leveled at the back of her head. Something about this felt wrong, she was far too calm and self-confident and that surprise she'd mentioned kept ringing alarm bells in the back of my brain. I switched quickly to thermals but couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. She kept walking until she was about ten feet from the stairs and then stumbled left into the wall. I reached out quickly to hold her up, not willing to give her a chance to try anything.

The next thing I knew something had hit my gun hand hard enough to knock the pistol fifty feet down the corridor and damn near crack the bones. A second shot hit my ribs and not even the body armor could absorb that sort of force. I flew sideways into the opposite wall, landing flat and hard, the wind knocked out of me for a second or two. I looked over at where I'd been standing and couldn't believe my eyes.

The wall was gone, scattered in pieces over the corridor. In its place was a mountain of a man, at least six foot six tall, and about the same wide it seemed, a solid wall of muscle as he fixed a predatory grin on me. Without breaking his stare he reached over, grabbed the chain of the handcuffs with one hand and squeezed. There was a snapping noise and the links of the chain dropped from between his fingers like confetti.

“You Gen 3's always were too confident for your own good” the woman said, waiving her now freed hands in front of her like a magicians assistant after a particularly good trick. “Let me introduce you to your, I guess successor would be the right term. Go ahead, say hello.” I struggled back to my feet as the monstrous man crossed the gap between us faster than I'd have believed possible for something that big. He reached down, grabbed me by the front of my body armor and with seemingly no effort threw me a good twenty feet down the corridor. I felt the splint around my leg come apart on impact, my knee folding up as I hit the ground.

“You see,” the woman continued, “we could never manage to quite deliver what we wanted with the gen 3 series. You were the best examples of humanity we could engineer, but it still wasn't good enough.” The creature was walking almost casually towards me as I struggled to my hands and knees. A foot lashed out into my ribs, and I rolled away, clutching my side as I staggered back to my feet.

“Besides there were other problems, mental instability, a lack of consistency in the results between subjects and of course the need to follow normal growth patterns and times. So we shifted to, shall we say, more flexible methods.” I saw the punch coming and ducked around the fist, lashing out with a shot of my own, aiming for the nerve centre under the right arm. My blow struck perfectly and I spun away, trying to get some distance, some room to move.

The woman laughed from her position by the stairs. “A waste of time I'm afraid. The human body really is only a shell for the gen 4's. Every limb and muscle is cybernetically enhanced, a perfect mix of human and machine. You could take out ever nerve centre in his body, and it wouldn't even slow him down. Show him Luke.”

The man, Luke I presumed, darted to my right, his foot arcing around in a short curve that ended on my already damaged knee. The leg just collapsed under me and I fell hard to the ground. Before I could move he was on me again, grabbing my left leg and arm, pulling me up and swinging me like a shot-put around his head, I felt him let go and tried to cover up as I hit the wall. There was so much energy involved that I actually went through the first wall and across the office behind it before bouncing back off the more substantial external wall. I lay in a broken heap on the ground, sprawled face down, blood coming from my mouth and what seemed like a hundred cuts all over my body. Something had snapped and I was having trouble breathing.

One more shot like that and I was done, there was no way I could take this sort of punishment much longer. I stayed on the ground, not waisting the energy to get back to my feet, one last, desperate gamble going through my head. Luke loomed in the doorway, the woman right behind him with a hand touching his left arm, holding him back for a moment.

“Basically, you're obsolete. A shame, you always were the most promising of the gen 3 program, a pity it had to end this way. Luke, end this please.” I heard the footsteps as my executioner approached, forced myself not to react. He reached down and grabbed the back of my head, pulling me up to my knees, fire ripping through me as I had to put weight on the right leg. His left hand wrapped around my throat as he pulled me off my feet, bringing me up to his eye level, wanting to watch me die as he choked me.

With one motion I stabbed forward with my right arm, triggering the knife hidden against my wrist. It flew out, adding a deadly edge to my punch as I drove the blade up under his chin, through the soft tissue of his throat and up into his skull. The grip around my own throat failed as he tried to grab my arm to pull the blade out, but I had no intention of giving him the opportunity. With the blade still buried deep inside him I reached out and grabbed a handful of his shirt, ignoring the pain racing through my body as I gathered everything I had left. With one motion I took two steps to my right and heaved the giant off his feet and through the window, releasing my blade from its sheath as I did so so as to avoid being pulled after him. It was a good four floor drop to the ground, and with all the extra mass of the cybernetics he built speed quickly as he dropped. There was a thud that seemed to shake the ground as he landed, a last spasm from those massive limbs and then he lay still.

Turning quickly I dove full length at the woman who seemed to be staring in shock at what had just happened. She turned to run but it was too late and I hit her around the thighs in a perfect take down. I landed on top of her and felt the hard outline of a pistol dig into my ribs. Reaching down I yanked it out from her waistband and held it to her head, the barrel pressed against her skull none too gently. I didn't trust myself to keep her down though, I was too tired and hurt for that. Keeping the pistol where it was I reached out with my left hand and brought it down in a perfect chop on the side of her neck, rendering her unconscious immediately. I heard the howl of sirens outside as the police raced to the building, alerted by the shattering glass and the fall of the body.

Booted feet pounded the stairs, thinning out slightly as some left to search each floor on the way up. Finally lights flickered on the wall and at least twenty uniformed police officers burst out, sidearms drawn. Detective Williams was in the lead and from the look of horror on his face I guessed I looked about the same as I felt.

“What the fuck happened here?” he asked, genuine concern on his face, a rare sight indeed. “Are you okay? Whose the hulk's big brother outside? And who the hell is this?”

I held up a hand, slowly as my ribs protested each movement. “I'll live, but I could really do with a decent doctor sometime soon. The guy outside is called Luke, should be considered dangerous until proved completley dead but more than that I don't know. And this” here I indicated the woman lying alongside me “just may be the key to this whole thing.”

Detective Williams watched me for a long moment, clearly wondering what the hell to do next. “Okay, that'll do for now. First priority, get both you and your date back to the station, we'll patch you up and see what she knows.”

“No,” I replied “that'll take too long and I don't think we've got the time to spare. Whatever's going on just stepped up a gear and she knows at least some of the details.”

“Well what do you suggest? Whatever she knows we can't just beat it out of her you know, we do have to follow the law or hadn't you noticed we're police officers?”

I paused for a second, thinking quickly. “Okay, bring her along and follow me. We're going to go for a ride”.

“And where exactly are we going?” the Detective asked, visibly annoyed now.

“We're just going to be good civil servants and give her a ride back to her club.” I replied.

 

[BOFH666]

Continued

Part 5

The ride back through London was surprisingly slow, partially because we wanted to give our mystery woman time to wonder what was in store for her, and partially to give me time to get patched up. The police medic, sadly a standard part of even a basic patrol these days, rode with me, working as quickly as she could to stop me leaking. Regen packs were slapped over my ribs and round my legs, solid braces strapped over the top like an extra layer of body armor to keep everything in place. The end result wasn't pretty and it still felt like my body was going to fall apart if I moved to quickly, but I could at least move and that would have to do.

As we pulled up outside the club I told Tim to hold our guest back for a few minutes as I checked out the club myself. I was surprised to see the strength of the guard force that had been left behind, Tim must have pulled some major strings in order to get this sort of response that quickly and I decided not to ask what he'd had to trade in return. They all knew me of course, though most only by sight and reputation, and almost all of them pulled back slightly as I passed. I was well aware of the rumors that flew around the city regarding the bloodhounds, and did my best to encourage them wherever possible. Anything that made the hunted a little more fearful made my job just that little bit easier, but it did have the unfortunate effect of distancing me from those that I worked with. It was a price I'd accepted long before, but it still hurt when it happened.

Walking inside I moved around the main room, avoiding the exhibits as best I could. What I had in mind needed something a little smaller than this place, though I'd improvise if I had to. Now that the lights were on full I could make out the details on the walls that had been hidden in shadow and made my way over to an alcove that had struck me as strangely quiet when I was last here. A quick look showed a tiny panel gap between the edges of the gleaming steel plating and after a couple of heavy swings with a nearby bar stool the door popped open, swinging out into the room slightly.

Inside I was surprised to find what looked for all the world like an airlock. Any seal it may have had was now well and truly gone with the outer door broken open and the inner door opened to a simple push. The sight before me struck me as a masterpiece of design, even as my mind protested at the calculated cruelty on display.

Two shafts of light lit the room, one soft and one so bright as to be almost blinding. The soft one fell on a simple leather chair, high backed and scooped up into armrests like a throne. The other illuminated a device that, despite the light shining on it, seemed to be made entirely of shadow. As I walked closer I realised it was made of a black metal, reflecting light around it in a manner that had to have been designed into it from the beginning.

It was a simple enough design, a simple circle of metal with restraints mounted at the top and bottom and a large hoop just above the halfway point. A closer look showed the restraints and the hoop were all mounted on rollers attached directly to the circle so that they could be moved to position the victim as required. Around the circle was another, slightly larger ring which seemed to be able to rotate independently, hovering on an air field that would let it flip through 360 degrees in any direction. The edge of that ring was lined with something that seemed very familiar and it took me a second or two to place it. It was the same material that covered the push pin wall in the main room.

I spent another couple of minutes checking the room out and figuring out how the various devices worked before heading back outside to the waiting officers. Stepping into the van I gave her a half second to stare and slipped a blindfold over her eyes. While I was perfectly willing to carry this through, if she wanted to confess without forcing me to do it that would be fine by me, and I was hoping the image of an extremely pissed off and bloody officer that she'd recently tried to kill would play on her mind a little.

The officers forced her out of the van and marched her inside the club, slowing their pace as if they were escorting the condemned to the gallows. I was impressed as that wasn't anything I'd asked them to do, and I had to admit it was damn effective. She tried to struggle free but these were the same cops who'd found their fellow officer in this club barely an hour ago and they didn't mind seeing a little payback. They muscled her down the corridor and strapped her into the machine, making sure the restraints were tight against her flesh. They left the circle around her waist open, gave one last check of the restraints and, with a quick nod in my direction, left the room, shutting the heavy, soundproofed door behind them.

I reached over and rolled the blindfold away from her eyes, down her face and stuffed it into her mouth as a temporary, but effective gag. She stiffened as I reached out and shock her head violently as the knife on my wrist popped out. With a couple of quick motions I slashed through her clothes, the slick black cloth dropping to the ground in waves until she was left standing in her underwear, the blood red material contrasting with her pale skin. Under normal circumstances she would have been devastatingly attractive, but I knew her now, had seen a little of what lay beneath that seductive surface and that was more than enough to overcome any feeling of lust she may inspire.

A final slash of the knife removed the gag from her mouth and for a moment I thought she'd break her silence until, with a visible effort she collected her thoughts and stared straight ahead into the blackness. I picked up a remote from the arm of the chair and flipped the light over the machine from it's usual blinding brilliance down to a flickering gray shadow, barely enough to highlight the outline of her body within the machine. The light over the chair went out completely and the room was plunged into darkness.

“I assume you know why you're here, but in case you don't let me explain.” I started, keeping my voice flat, emotionless as I circled slowly around her, keeping to the darkness. “You know where the next link in this chain goes and you are going to tell me, here, tonight. It's up to you how you reveal that information but I guarantee you, one way or the other, I will find out what I want to know.”

She shuddered slightly, almost imperceptibly but it was there nonetheless. Still, with a calm that surprised me she kept staring straight ahead, kept silent.

“The rules are very simple, I ask a question and you will answer it. If you don't supply an answer that I believe, there will be a penalty. However, my patience is wearing a little thin after what I've gone through tonight, so you have three chances. After that I'll find my answers another way and you'll...”

“What?” She snapped, the sneer in her voice clearly audible even if I couldn't see it on her face in the low light. “Kill me? I don't think so, you have to obey the law after all and that would be nothing short of murder.”

I'd been hoping it wouldn't come to this, but I knew there really wasn't another way around it. Taking a deep breath I focused my mind inwards, searching within myself for something I normally kept under a tight rein. I'd felt it before, twice, both times in the midst of a fight and the results had terrified me for months afterward, so much so that I'd forced it down, forced it back and kept it locked away in the back of my mind. Somewhere within me I felt it wake, felt my posture change and my breathing deepen as the beast awoke.

“Obey the law?” I asked, my voice so deep it seemed to rumble off the walls. “You're wrong, I don't obey the law, I serve justice and on that scale I would like nothing better than to turn this wonderful creation of yours on, bury this place under six foot of concrete and leave you to rot.” She was visibly scared now, this was something she hadn't seen before, hadn't been prepared for at suddenly the situation seemed to be spinning far beyond her control. I was almost a spectator in my own mind now, guiding my actions but not completely in control of them anymore. “This is your work, isn't it? Impressive, almost beautiful in it's own way. I wonder what it'll feel like, all those points pressing against you, tormenting your flesh for hours on end...” I was moving again, circling round, letting the tension build. I moved in behind her, pressed my lips to her ear and ran a hand smoothly down her back as I said“... sounds like hell on earth to me my dear.”

She jumped as I touched her and reacted as I'd hoped, angry at my manipulations. “You always did give yourself far too much credit, you think I'd create something like this if I was vulnerable to it? The first thing I did was imprint some simple, unbreakable rules on my mind, on my body. Nothing this machine can do to me can affect me so you may as well give up.”

“We'll see. In the meantime, let's start with a simple question. What's your name?” She stood silent, staring ahead again, defiance radiating off her in almost visible waves now. I was still behind her and stepped forward quickly, bringing my hands up to her exposed armpits and flicked my fingers quickly over her skin. She jumped, and I heard the faintest of laughs escape her lips before she could reassert control over her body. Encouraged I dived in, my fingers moving faster than any normal human could manage, probing and prodding those sensitive hollows with alternating light and heavy touches, never giving her time to adjust to any one sensation before moving on. Within seconds she was heaving within her bonds, body shaking as her head shook from side to side as she fought to keep the laughter in. It was a loosing battle though and it took barely a minute for her to crumble under my attack. Her laughter was almost musical, one of the purest sounds I'd ever heard and just for a moment I wondered what on earth could have happened to twist her into what I'd seen in the warehouse. The moment passed quickly as I concentrated on tickling her for another minute, allowing my hands to wander up her arms as far as her elbows then diving back down to her armpits to continue her punishment.

After two minutes had passed I stopped and walked around her until I was facing her. With three quick slashes I removed her bra, leaving her gasping as the cool air in the chamber caressed her breasts. As soon as that first laugh has escaped her body I'd had a plan in mind, and after that brief session I was reasonably sure it would work.

“That's your first chance, I suggest you not waste another on such a silly question. Now, what...is....your...name?”

“H...Hayley” She gasped, still trying to get her breath back. “My name's Hayley.”

“Good, see that wasn't so hard now was it?” I reached forward and shut the restraint around her waist and touched the activation stud on the side. Immediately it shrunk down until the metal rested tightly, but comfortably, around her body just below her belly button. It proved surprisingly effective at preventing movement and I watched her struggle against it for a moment before continuing.

“Why have you been kidnapping people from around the city?”

“I haven't, I just process them. I have no idea who's been doing the pickups.” She replied.

“Alright, allow me to rephrase the question, what have you been processing them for?”

“To fulfill the requirements of a client of course, what else?”

“You know” I sighed, moving forward until I was standing almost nose to nose with her “I really hate it when people try to be cute with me.”

My hands flew out and for a moment tickled her armpits again, just enough to get her laughing. They then descended south, moving down her sides and over her ribs, long, slow, teasing strokes as I worked on getting a constant stream of laughter from her body. I kept her that way for a minute and then spoke , with some difficulty, over her laughter.

“I must congratulate you on having a very well stocked interrogation room Hayley. I was simply ... amazed at what I found here.” As I spoke I dropped a hand down into a pocket of my coat and pulled out two small plastic tube, one end open, the other closed with what locked like a tiny valve mounted in the end along with a miniature circuit board. Palming one I positioned the other over her left nipple, pressing the open end onto her skin. A slight, constant pressure on the top of the tube pushed it down and with a small hissing sound it started to pump air out of the valve. Within seconds it had formed a perfect vacuum inside the tube, pulling her nipple up to its limit. I repeated the trick on her right breast and flicked each tube with a finger, causing Hayley to wince in pain.

Preparations complete I concentrated on her flat stomach and smooth sides, flicking my hands over her skin far more rapidly now, poking and prodding her ribs over and over, goosing her belly and hooking a finger inside her navel to torment the virgin skin within. She wasn't laughing gently anymore, rather she was howling, the previous musical quality turning from an orchestral symphony to thrash metal as she thrashed within her bonds. The waist restraint held her securely though, at most she could move an inch or two in any direction and then not without a great deal of effort. Her eyes were screwed shut and I could just make out the first tears running down her cheeks as she tried to fight the sensations I was inflicting on her.

I gave her twenty minutes of this treatment, playing her body like a harp, reveling in the sensations I was causing even as the 'normal' part of my mind recoiled in shock at the sheer delight the beast took in inflicting this punishment. Finally, I stopped and stood back, giving Hayley a moment to catch her breath as she hung within her prison.

“What were you processing the victims for?” I asked, once again all business. This time there was no hesitation in her answer.

“The client wan ... wanted them ready to accept suggestion, to be broken and ready to be rebuilt.”

“Good girl” I said, reaching forward. With a gentle flick I removed the vacuum tubes from her body, then brought two long, stiff feathers up to her now erect nipples and decided to start with the right breast. Catching the sensitive flesh between the two feathers I started to gently 'saw' back and forth, immediately causing a sensation halfway between ticklish hell and erotic ecstasy for her. An odd mix of short, sharp laugh and long, draw out moan filled the room and I saw her hips twitch in response to this new stimulus. I gave her about thirty seconds of this treatment, then swept my feathers over her breast in ever widening circles before moving over to the left breast and beginning the process again. For five minutes I repeated the same motions, and by the end the laughter had given way to moans of pleasure as she grew used to the gentle teasing of the feathers and gave in to the other sensations they were causing her.

“There, see what happens when you co-operate?” I asked, putting as much sympathy as I could into my voice while brushing the very tip of the feather over her skin so lightly it barely registered. “Unfortunately, you did break the rules, so that's chance two you've lost.” So saying I reached out and cut her panties away from her body, catching the now soaked material on the flat of the blade as they fell.

“N...no. It didn't, didn't affect me, I'm not, not able to feel torture, you're waisting your time.” Hayley gasped, still trying to catch her breath, but the denial had no weight behind it and I decided that I may as well show her how hollow it seemed.

“Really?” I asked, raising her panties up to her face “This would seem to prove otherwise my dear.” She had no reply to that, she knew I was well aware of what was going on within her own body, and I saw the first flicker of doubt behind her eyes as she realised I may be something far different that she'd first thought.

“I should punish you for lying to me so obviously, but I guess I can cut you a little slack under the circumstances. Now, I've got two questions left for you, this can all be over in just a few minutes if you'll play nice. Question one, who's behind all this?”

“I, I don't know. No, really, I don't know his name, he's always referred to himself as the client. But, but I do know where he spends most of his time when he's in town. The old war museum across the river, that's were we sent all the women that were conditioned as he required.”

I smiled, glad she was now giving up information voluntarily, noticing the rush to avoid any further punishment. But I knew my last question was the one that would stop her dead if anything would. “Which leaves one more thing Hayley, just one more and we can end all this. Why is he doing this?”

“I don't know.” She replied, and from the look on her face I realised she probably didn't. Still, there was something else, something she was trying to keep hidden and without a word I reached forward, slowly this time so she could see what was coming. “NO!” she screamed. “I don't know, I don't, I'm telling you the truth, please, DON'T!”

I paused for a second, seeming to consider her request. Then I reached into a pocket and removed the remote. At the touch of a button the restraints around her ankles started to move round the circle, spreading her legs wide and leaving her completely vulnerable. Without a word I moved behind her and started to run the feathers over her ass, her reaction confirming that this was previously unexplored ticklish territory and that she was extremely sensitive to any touch in that area.

 

[BOFH666]

Continued

With long, graceful, sweeping motions I let the feathers run over her skin, paying close attention to her shrieks and laughs as I did so. As I the speed of my strokes gradually increased, so did the pitch of her laughter until she was hovering on the verge of screaming. Right at that moment I changed tactics and wormed the plumes of the feathers down between her ass cheeks. She howled at the first touch and every muscle in her body seemed to clench as she fought for freedom. It made no difference and I kept up the methodical assault, letting her mind fully register the penalty for disobedience.

After about five minutes I relented and walked slowly round to face her again. She was exhausted and hung limply against her restraints, her chest heaving as she tried to get air back into her lungs. I didn't intend to give her the chance. Reaching down between her legs I caressed her now soaked pussy for a moment, causing a sharp intake of breath as she pushed willingly against my hand. Then, in a movement quick enough to be worthy of Houdini himself I slipped one of the glass tubes over her clit and turned it on. This time though it was running on a slightly different setting, as soon as it established a tight enough vacuum to hold itself in place, it would immediately suck all the air out of the tube, then quickly reverse direction and let the air rush back in. The result was a constant stimulation without ever providing enough direct contact to allow her to find release. She stiffened as the tube went around her, then her eyes went wide in horror as she realised what it was doing. I grinned at her, a grin devoid of humor, all teeth and sharp points, as I saw the dawning realisation that there was at least one item in this room she hadn't prepared herself for.

Putting the feathers aside for the moment I reached out and started to run my hands down her hips and thighs, a fast, rhythmic, poking motion that sent her into hysterics as she spent the last of her strength fighting to find some weakness in her bondage. I kept going, circling her knees and flicking the feathers quickly up and down the back of her thigh, over the backs of her knees and back up again. I took my time on the descent, and in the end made her wait for a good thirty minutes before I sat on the floor, reached out and snapped open the restraints around her right ankle.

By this point she was limp, all energy driven from her by the conflicting needs and desires I'd generated within her, and she couldn't even try to yank her foot away from my grasp. Holding her ankle with my left hand I paused for a second, gathering my strength for this last bit of torture. Then I reached under her foot, placed my fingers on her sole and started goosing every last inch of flesh. My fingers moved so quickly an observer would have seen them blur, every part of my training and skill concentrated on this one task. My fingers whipped down her foot from toes to heel and back in less than a second, it must have felt like she was being tickled by not one but a hundred hands, all overlapping with each other with perfect co-ordination.

She passed beyond laughter, beyond screaming and just hung there with her mouth open, eyes screwed shut as she endured her own personal tickle hell. To add some variety I started using one of the feathers, the plume darting between her toes like a miniature saw, then being reversed to scratch across her soles. After twenty minutes or so I dropped the foot back to the frame of the machine and secured the restraint before switching to the other foot and repeating the process. All in it I spent over an hour tickling her body, all the while the tube attached to he clit providing more erotic stimulation that she'd have believed possible. I finally relented, standing up after securing her left foot in position and switching off the tube, making sure to be careful while removing it. A single touch at this point would be enough to push her over the edge and that was one of my main bargaining chips at the moment.

“One last chance Hayley, and think carefully about your answer. Why is your client having this preparation done to these women?”

It took her a minute to get enough air into her lungs to answer the question and I waited with growing impatience for an answer.

“I, I told you, I don't know.” I moved towards her again and she shrieked. “NO! I swear, I swear I'm telling the truth. But, but I know how to find out.”

“I'm listening” I replied, twirling one of the feathers through my fingers as I waited.

“It's something big, something important enough he wants to make sure it'll get done even if he can't complete it himself. He, he got me to set up a safety net for him.”

“And I'm sure you know how to access this net, right?”

“Yes, they picked three subjects and I gave them instructions on how to plant information in a mind so that not even the person carrying it knows it's there. The girl you took from Dragon was one of them, I never saw the other two. The information can only be retrieved in a very particular way, for safety reasons, any other attempt to remove it, including telling the subject what you're doing, will kill them.”

I suddenly realised I might not want to know the answer to the next question, but knew I had no choice. “So how do I safely retrieve it then?”

She looked up at me, and even in the dim light I could see her smile, taking pleasure in this small victory. “Tickle them until they pass out, then their subconscious mind will take over and you can ask them whatever they want.”

I swore silently in the dark, to say that was going to be a problem was a contender for the understatement of the year award. Annoyed by that superior look on Hayley's face I lent forward and swept the feathers down across her pussy, trapping her clit between them and gently rubbing up and down. Almost immediately Hayley's mouth opened in a silent scream of ecstasy, her eyes rolling back into her head as every muscle tensed and relaxed in waves, the orgasm washing over her until she was utterly spent.

I stepped back, starting the mental preparations to push the beast away, back into its cage until it was needed. There was just one more thing I needed it to do, and I wanted to ensure I could control what was about to happen.

“Thank you, I'll be sure to mention who tipped me off when we take your client down. Now I'd love to believe everything you've told me is the truth, but you've proven that honesty isn't exactly a key part of your character. So I'm going to leave this recorder here....” I said, placing the small audio/video unit down on the chair, attaching the pad to the seat and checking the angle was about right to record what was going on. “... and give you a little encouragement to reveal any little details you might have overlooked.”

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the remote. One key brought the light around the machine back up to full brightness, another started the outer ring slowly rotating. “The officers outside will be monitoring what you say, if you don't convince them you've revealed all you know, well, you better start praying for a miracle because that's the only way you're getting out of here.” The rings surface seemed to bubble slightly as it warped inwards, Hayley's eyes wide with terror as she realised what was about to happen.

“I suspect that all that conditioning you put yourself through isn't going to be much use after what you've just been through. I only wish I could stay, see what this does to you, what you've been doing to your victims. If I were you, I'd start talking.” So saying I opened the door and stepped into the short connecting corridor, the first peals of manic laughter following me out as the door swung shut behind me. I approached the duty officer on my way out “She's in the process of confessing pretty much every illegal act she's done since birth, give her about two hours and let her go.”

“Let her go sir?”

“Yeah, she'd be out in an hour as soon as she got a lawyer anyway. Don't worry, after what she's told me I doubt there's any place in this city she can hide from her former employers. Oh, and could you have someone run the recorder to the station afterward as well, never know what we'll get on that.”

“Of course sir, umm, sir, are you okay?”

I smiled, knowing I still looked like hell and was starting to shake from the psychological impact of what I'd just done. “Nothing I can't handle, though would you mind?” I asked, reaching into the mans' top pocket and fishing out a cigarette and lighter, quickly flicking the lighter open, touching the element to the cigarette and returning the lighter to his pocket in one smooth motion. It wasn't a habit I normally indulged in, but right now I needed the boost.

I stepped outside, mind racing over what I'd just been told, wondering how the hell I was going to get this done, hell, I didn't know if I could get this done. Kidnap three women and put them through hell to get the bad guys, not even knowing if I could believe Hayley's testimony, was that worth the price, was that justice? I looked up at the sky and muttered one word under my breath.

“Damn.”

 

[isabeau]

ok i just read this whole story, although it took me a few days in bits. its terrific. so original and creative. and the main character wow i could fall for him easily. and did he turn out to be quite the tickler. anyway i was wondering, is there anymore to this story? i mean the plot is great which is a plus for me. a mystery within the tickling if you will. is there another part to this story under another name? the details are so well detailed lol. wow i mean this would make a great movie. i envision bruce willis or arnold .

isabeau

 

[BOFH666]

Oh boy, this IS old... let me go dig out the original here...

Right, I think this was done about two years ago and was my first go at doing a 'proper' plot which wasn't just a tickle piece. Frankly I shelved it after getting to this point as there was about as much interest expressed in the plot as seeing Margret Thatcher in a naked romp with Ronald Regan. It's actually a bit cringe-worthy reading back through this for me, really shows that it was one of my earlier efforts Another problem was that after this the story parts would have heavily outweighed the tickling parts. I think I ended up taking a couple of my favourite ideas and transfering them over to "Do Androids Dream Of Electronic Tickles?"

All that being said, my original outline for this does still stand up and it's been a fun one to play with when I'm really bored. The basic plot from this point on becomes a hunt for the other victims and a fair chunk of backstory on the bloodhound program mixed in (as well as beating the tar out of the main character, I've never liked invincible superheroes... ). I really ought to start writing again so who knows, I might very well pick this one up again at some point in the not too distant future...

 

[isabeau]

well thats a darn shame. i loved the plot personally. and also dont blush about it. heck i am a bookworm of sorts, and am rather snobbish about what i read and what i enjoy. if i say its good it is ok??? lolol it has to be well written, make one want to read more, and have a great plot. which yours did. if that makes me dull so be it.

isabeau

 

[snoopy585]

i'm w/isa on this one; it is a shame if you don't continue/finish this great story; i just recently found this forum; or, i surely would've read and responded to this story much sooner!