Chapter 19

Laura parked at the rear loading dock where Marty, Norm and Nat were waiting to collect the guns and ammo. “That is more than 25 Glocks, boys.” Marty said when he looked in the bus. “Whatever extra the Company sent, it better be chambered for 10mm, cause that’s all we got.”

“Piper, you can watch if you want, but we have to check the inventory and inspect the early Christmas presents.” Norm smiled, “If I were you, I’d get a bowl of Miss Marsha’s shrimp curry. It is to die for.”

“Meaning you will kill me if we don’t stay out of your hair until you get done.” I grinned back, “I really love a good shrimp curry. Call me when you’re ready.”

“See! He can take a hint.” Norm laughed. “Smarter than the average Level 9.”

Amy asked, “Are all of you bad boys in the basement where we can keep an eye on you?”

“Smitty and Freddie are trying to figure out how your backstop works. Bullets just drop dead with no ricochet. The slabs get hot enough to glow, but don’t soften. Nat answered. “Whatever, it is strange stuff. Mike is upstairs, stuffing his face. Send him down if you can stay out of reach. Hammer is an eating machine.”

Caralyn pushed the cases closer to the door. The three picked up the boxes and went to the elevator. We waited for the empty car to come back.

Laura, Nell, Emma and Belinda were quiet the whole time. They had not spoken since Columbus Circle. Gasps, chuckles, moans and other such sounds replaced words until Laura finally cracked. The women dissolved in laughter.

“I would not believe a word of this if anyone else told me.” Belinda guffawed, “But you people had three of us naked less than two hours ago, so obviously this is pure gospel.”

“We have pictures to prove it.” Amy giggled, “We are quite persuasive and we never lie. You should know that by now.”

“You guys are either devious, clairvoyant geniuses or just totally, foaming-at-the-mouth, insane. You know that, don’t you?” Emma said, “But you don’t lie.”

“We are deviant, cute geniuses who are just crazy enough to win.” Anne said. “With the exception of Mr. Allyn, we like being girls. But that’s just fine. He likes us being girls, too.”

“Then he’ll like the videos I made in the dance studio.” Ellie crowed. “When my big sister said we have pictures, she meant more than just our shock and awe attack on the gentle sensibilities of New York. We tape dance practice for review and critique. Blender gives good lessons.”

“You, my dear Belinda, lost what little covering the girls let you have on a stupid sucker bet.” Laura chuckled, “And these mad little demons have it on tape. But you did look good teaching nude martial arts, damn good! Maybe the little imps are on to something.”

“On to something, my ass!” Belinda saw the humor finally. “Since my sterling reputation is at stake, if you must post my tits on the Internet, call it ‘Seals Gone Bad’, make it a pay per view site and charge a fucking fortune. These boobs don’t work free.”

“No way the team guys are seeing my boobs. Two are gay and the other four are married with kids and don’t need the distraction. I want them to cover my ass, not stare at it.” Emma swore. “But I stood there and let Piper play with my tits through the sprayed on leotard while he asked me if I ever sparred naked like it happened every day!”

“Body language doesn’t lie. And you liked it, too.” Blender said. “But not as much as Bullet.”

“Excuse me. My body was speechless and on autopilot at the time.”

“Who’s this “Bullet’ who likes Piper playing with her boobs more than Cat, not that I knew Cat liked anyone feeling her up?” Laura asked.

“That would be Nell. The Anime Cartoon and the Hindu Cajun mesmerized her into coming to practice stark naked, straight out of the shower. Don’t worry, they were naked, too.” Emma said, “Then they inspected and adopted her like a cute puppy from the stray puppy pound.”

“Eve named her ‘Bullet’ because her nipples were as hard as steel jacketed .45 cal bullets and invited Piper to see for himself.” Belinda remembered vividly, “Being the diligent guy he is, Mark pinched both at the same time. Nell came instantly and would have collapsed on the floor if the Cartoon hadn’t held her up.”

“So Nell enjoyed Piper’s attention more than Cat, but I think it was a close call.” Belle quizzed, “ A very close call. Right, Emma?”

“Close? A few more seconds and it would have been a tie.”

“I’m right here people. Surprisingly enough, I did enjoy it a hell of a lot.” Nell admitted, “Now I know what other girls are talking about.”

“That was your first orgasm, Nell? You poor girl!” Ellie was astonished.

“No, not the first, silly, just the best because, like Eve found out so shockingly, I am a good girl still. It snuck up on me all of a sudden and I damn near passed out from a mere touch.”

“We know the feeling, Bullet. Look who did the touching. Good gets better real fast.” Patty responded. “Now tell the rest.”

“I’ve had all my shots and I’m mostly housebroken, so if Caralyn will feed me regular and someone will take me for walks a few times a day, I’m ready to be adopted.”

I glanced at my girls and got a whole lot of nods. “OK with me. Lord knows we have room. Will your stuff fit in a small pick-up truck or do we need to hire one of the team’s SUVs?”

“The SUV is RIA community property now, Mark, both SUVs, the bus, potentially your load of mystery guns. Everything we had before is yours, mine or belongs to your team or mine.”

“Are you going to use the Bat Cave?”

The elevator arrived and we went up to the fourth floor.

“Not only will we use the Bat Cave, our budget will reimburse us for the rent and your services, at double the rates you quoted. Rent is $3000.00; services are $2500.00 per month. Research is blended into services and we need two hard lines. I have a check, but no name on the payee line. No deferred payment. Talk to me.”

“Laura, I’ll get back to you.” I took my partners aside.

“Anne, Beth, Carol, frankly I think the name Baker-Allyn Research and Resource Agency, BARARA, is awkward and clunky. If folks call us anything, it will be ‘Barbara’. I have an alternate name you may like or hate.”

“Barbara sucks. Whatcha’ got in mind?” Anne smiled. “You have good ideas.”

“How about, ‘Allyn Intermedia Research/Baker Resources Agency’?”

I counted to two before the triplets fell out. “We love it. Do it now! Text it to Mr. Gonzales this minute.” Beth screamed. “I see the logo. Two roundish ovals, a half oval width apart, connected by a short bar at the bottom, ‘Allyn Intermedia Research’ inside the oval, following the lower curve on the left and ‘Baker Resources Agency’ in the same position on the right. Centered in each oval above the script is a stylized iris and pupil.”

Carol was thumbing a text message to Alfred, requesting trademark rights and describing the logo. “I asked him to list ‘Allyn Intermedia Research/Baker Resources Agency’ as a ‘doing business as’ name. Now we tell the bank.”

Back to Laura, “Make it payable to ‘Allyn Intermedia Research/Baker Resources Agency’.”

She didn’t catch on right away. “Good choice. You can separate services that way. The other name was kind of clunky, if descriptive and formal sounding.”

The elevator stopped and Hammer passed us at the door. “Hi, Mobsterettes. I hear you brought new toys. I like new toys almost as much as I like Miss Marsha’s curry. You’re in for a treat. Get something to eat and we’ll meet at the range.”

“Geez! Did you leave any, Mike?” Nell asked. “Will we have to call for delivery?”

“Nobody leaves the table hungry while I’m in the kitchen.” Marsha Terrell shouted from inside. “You folks grab a bowl. There’s plenty.” She was that rare human, an Afro-Pakistani from Belize, convinced she was a Georgia Soul Food Queen reincarnated.

One taste and I wouldn’t care if she called herself Empress of the Universe.

Andy called and wanted to push op the meeting to 8:00 AM. “I already talked to Mr. Gonzales. He can be there by 8:30. Say the word.”

“Eager much? OK with me. Early is good. See you then. We have it all packed and labeled.” I laughed, “Now that I’ve retired, life is busier than ever.”

Over the next hour, I chatted with various Bright Stars and Ten Penny women about the coming threats, our readiness and the new business rolling in. The girls disappeared with the other Stars in groups and pairs, carving nefarious plots in marble.

They really managed to finalize the sample assortment.

Size ranges: for sample sets:

XS: 4’11” to 5’1” B or C cups (Anne and Jenny)

S: 5’3” to 5’5” A to B- cups (Jean and Diane)

M: 5’7” to 5’9” B+ to C+ cups (Eve and Caralyn or short girls with big tits)

Individual sample set assortment: Set ‘D’: Half-Sheer White Panties, Solid Pastel Pink Skirt, and Half-Sheer Pastel Pink Crop-top, intended for Regular Girls.

Set ‘D+’: Half-Sheer Silver Panties, Half-Sheer White Skirt, and Half-Sheer Silver Crop-top, intended for Very Shy or Eager Girls.

Set ‘S’: Cellophane Silver Panties, Solid White Skirt, and Solid Pastel Pink Crop-top, intended for Single Office Girls.

Set ‘M’: No Panties, Solid White Skirt, and Half-Sheer Strong Pink Crop-top intended for Moms.

Special: Cellophane Silver Panties, Half-Sheer Pastel Pink Skirt, and Half-Sheer Silver Crop-top, intended for Academy girls at Lincoln Center.

Broach distribution: Sets ‘D+’ and ‘S’ get silver-on-white pins. Set ‘D’ gets white-on-silver pins. Set ‘M’ gets white-on-white pins.

Linh and June would deliver 50 Special sets and 20 ‘S’ sets for the girls to take to Lincoln Center for the photo accomplice schoolgirls and any singles falling into their web. Nettie Doyle was adamant we take 30 each of sets ‘D’ and ‘D+’, since word would spread among the girls.

Miranda and Marsha assured me it was no more than a few hours work. The sets would be at our door by 8:00, Tuesday morning.

I suggested they carry 30 or so ‘M’s for any Academy Moms who show up with their daughters. “We might oil the fingers for more signatures on releases and ‘permission to post’ forms. The photo blog could go live pre-populated with actual fans.”

“We have plenty sets ready to go even as we speak, Mark.” Rose laughed. “We designed the intimate underthings with string ties. Effectively, we cut 40, ready-to-wear, pairs of one-piece panties in a minute. The ties are just a thin extension of the waist and lay perfectly flat when tied.”

“Unless that’s all she’s wearing. Then the bows flutter cutely in the wind.” Melanie Mbuto, the Nigerian with firm “D’ encased in a solid strong pink halter-top pointed out. “The fabric has just enough elasticity to fit girly curves snugish.”

“It ain’t rocket surgery.” Nettie snickered, “Actually it is, but we got it covered.” Nettie was a taller version of Ellie with a classically Irish look. How she fell into Sun’s clutches after being orphaned in Shannon was a mystery for another day.

Laura touched her ear and called for all the girls who had zero experience to head for the basement. “Narf and Bear want to go over safety first.” Emma went to tell Nell to send the ones in the sewing room to scoot down. Not needed on the range, she stayed there.

Cat and Bullet used the time to have Abigail, Miranda and Marsha make up custom fitted ‘S’ and ‘Special’ sets plus tailored solid strong blue cocktail dresses. None of the Ten Penny people knew the power of pink and the extra strength of the silver.

Blender went below with the McGees, Tanners, Caralyn, Max, Sam, Eve and Diane. The others would brush up later when real target practice began.

Belinda asked Rose and Yolanda to listen out front and in the alley. “We need to know if the sound carries outside. Mark’s nice friends sent silencers we can use if we have to, but we won’t use them in a stand up fight.”

We got lucky. Rose heard nothing out front and YoBeau could hear a little if the elevator doors were open.

Over the next hour I could not have been more proud of my girls. Everyone could hit center mass at forty feet; Caralyn and the twins handled an M-16 like they were born to it. The Bakers wanted combat knives, preferring the personal touch.

The seasoned veterans were very happy. They were really good instructors, no doubt, but the girls were exceptional students. Marty, Smitty and Freddie found out the hard way.

The Bakers were at the firing line, concentrating on the targets. Belinda and Laura had been telling the guys how good the little office workers were at close in fighting. Omitting the fine details, Belle was laughing about Blender and Cat losing the bet.

Freddie thought it would be hilarious to grab them from behind and see if they could handle real trained men. “When their clips are empty, we’ll grab them from behind.”

Laura got serious, “Don’t do it, guys. The Bakers are for real in a fair fight. You will not like them if they are caught off guard. I have a bad feeling they will not hold back. This will not end well for you.”

“This will not be funny.” Belinda said, “Well, we might be laughing, but you won’t. You’re making the same mistake I made.”

They brushed off the warning. Freddie at 6’7”, Smitty at 6’3” and Marty at 6’1”, should have listened. The tiny girls, collectively more than four feet shorter than the guys, were ejecting the empty magazines when the men roughly gripped their shoulders, attempting to spin them around. Anne, Beth and Carol spun even faster, dropped low enough to pistol whip the attackers’ balls, released the guns, snatched the Seals’ k-bars, and jumped straight up.

The shocked men found themselves in a headlock with a tiny blonde holding a knife at their throats. “Stop! Release!” I shouted in my dojo voice before it was too late. “Do you yield?”

Freddie whispered, ‘yes.”

“And?” I demanded. “Make them believe it.” Then watched the triplets look daggers at the three commandoes.

Both Marty and Smitty answered for themselves. The girls relaxed and slipped to the floor. Carol handed Marty his knife by the handle. “Thank you, Mark.” To Bear, “That was close, mister, closer than you can know. Do not ever do that again. Ever! If you want to commit suicide, shoot yourself. Don’t use us.”

Beth was pissed and put Freddie’s blade on the table. “I do not like surprises. You could have died, you dumb ass. And damn near did. Be glad Mark shouted, I was on auto response and would not have stopped. If you’re going to carry a knife, take better care of it.”

“We were taught to ask for forgiveness after dealing with the threat.” Anne hissed, throwing Smitty’s knife to the floor. “You think Nat would accept an apology if your head was in a separate body bag? Don’t even pretend to be that threat. It. Is. Not. Funny. Got it?”

While the Ten Penny contingent looked on, shocked at the ferocity of the fight, my darling Demon Triplets retrieved their Glocks and calmly began to reload the magazines, backs turned to the guys.

“Attention, K-Bar shoppers. Clean-up on aisle five.” Patty announced. “That’s how to manage an office.”

Norm seemed embarrassed for his teammates. Mike was on the verge of breaking into mutinous laughter.

The elevator made a noise and broke the spell. “It’s getting late, folks. Do guys think we should clean the weps and police the brass? Nettie made the canvas tactical bags a while ago.” Emma called out as she strolled in. She noticed the stunned expressions, the Bakers ignoring the others and then looked at the three men’s very red faces. “Shit, Belle. You didn’t warn the Three Stooges?”

“I told them not to try it, that they would not like the result.” Laura said, barely audible, “Even I had no idea how fucking dangerous those girls are and I know who trained them.”

Coder, glad his Kevlar vest had a crotch strap, “Just who in the name of all that is holy trained these ninjas?”

Norm answered first. “Smitty, your memory is better than that. See the attitude? If these ‘office girls’ weren’t tutored by that damned phantom Chuck Collins, I’ll eat my hat.”

“Cat, it wouldn’t have mattered if Belle had warned us or not. The end result would not be different, just take longer.” Spex admitted, “That was close.”

Coder agreed immediately. “No shit! I think it’s time to clean up and count our blessings. I’m not too crazy about surprises, either.” All Marty could manage to do was nod.

Hammer finally cracked. “Boys” he cackled, “The signs are there: instant reaction, total commitment, nothing but deathblows, lethal strike, a bad attitude and deadly sarcasm at the end. How many times did Chuck beat us to a pulp, make fun of our bruises and then buy the next round? We got better, the bad guys got dead.” He laughed even harder. “You’ll get more careful with experience.”

“Yeah.” Smitty said, “And experience is what you get ten seconds after you need it.”

“Of course you couldn’t know all that until you were pushing up daisies. Clearly, these little waifs really paid attention. They are his masterpiece.” Mike saluted the Triplets and bowed dramatically. “I loves me some Mobsterettes.”

Hammer did exactly what needed to be done. He reknit the team by taking the sting away with a laugh. “Nobody ever got humiliated to death so don’t sweat the crushing defeats, boys. Chuck Norris, Batman and King Kong would be counting their balls, too. Belle leads this mad bunch of misfits because she is hard to scare. Capt. Belkin knew about Collins and they scared the crap out of her. Yeah, she could have thrown you three tough guys a clue instead of making it a teaching moment, but where’s the fun in that?”

“Don’t be so sure about the ‘death by humiliation’, Mike. That suicide by Carol comment was pretty harsh.” Norm smiled. “Marty’s still reeling.”

“Thanks for the comforting words, Hammer. It’s like I’m listening to my sainted mother. She always told me not to beat up little girls. Turns out she was right. I can’t beat up little girls. Ladies, I’m sorry I tried that stunt on a teammate. It was in poor taste, showed disrespect and was just plain bad form.” Bear found his voice. “I sure as hell am glad we’re on your side. Fighting wild-eyed terrorists and irrational lunatics with you will be a walk in the park.”

“You bastards would put ‘Death By Beth’ on my tombstone, too.” Freddie chuckled. “Nat would cremate the body and put Smitty’s fat head in a big jar of formaldehyde on the mantle.”

Max giggled. “You got the epitaph all wrong, Spex. You get:

“There once was a Seal named Freddie Who thought himself rough and ready. But Beth took his knife And death replaced life. At least his condition is steady.”

“That ain’t funny, Max.” Anne sighed, “What makes people try to beat us up? Shouldn’t we be concentrating on punching out the bad guys?”

“How’s this? I got more:

“Normally smart to a fault, Miss Anne he figured to halt. Not looking so witty Our poor Mr. Smitty His head, in a jar, in the vault.”

“OK, Max, that was good.” Anne admitted, “What you got for the others? Six more and we’ll have a mini-anthology.”

Laura, not wanting Belinda and Emma subjected to Max’s limericks, interrupted the exchange. “Save the poetry slam for later. We’ll clean the Glocks and straighten up down here. Piper’s girls should load up and get back to Amsterdam Avenue. Freddie gets to drive”

“Works for me. I have a web search to complete and evaluate. We still have posters to print, ads to layout and the website to upload tonight.” I said. “We have to load Andy out early and sign a bale of paperwork before ZCS is no more. Andy will be there at 8:00 AM; Linh is bringing some stuff at the same time. Albert arrives at 8:30 with those very bales.”

“You need to rest up for retired life, Piper. Don’t forget Chandler’s Row and the Bat Cave, revolution in the streets and the destruction of the social paradigm.” Belinda hooted. “Come to think of it, we need our rest, too. You’re tiring!”

“Speaking of revolution in the streets, what’s up with the hardware from Hill House? How hot are the weapons?” Norm asked.

“Not sure how to answer that right now. The US Army has them listed as ‘on hand’ at the depot in Maryland, so assume they are too hot to handle until perceptions change.” I grinned, “I’ll keep you posted if reality takes a U-turn.”

“I’ll send Cat and Bullet with an SUV to watch over the girls at Lincoln Center to see how it goes.” Laura decided. “The rest of us will scope Wednesday’s sites in case you kick the hornet’s nest early.”

We got ourselves organized, loaded and home in a reasonable time, reasonable for us anyway. Freddie had to stop twice for nighttime cityscape shots of the skyline from Central Park and once each at Radio City Music Hall and the Beacon Theater.

Back and unloaded at Amsterdam, the girls got busy with the website and poster production. I insisted on final approval for every picture used for either. “Concentrate on the catalogue pictures and the pricing for the site, ladies. The website has to be up and running before you go out tomorrow. I have the commerce and shopping side ready to plug in. The domain and hosting is reserved. Picture posting is tested and functional.”

“Shouldn’t we have some posters out by Tuesday night before we saturate the town with samples?” Carol asked.

“Maybe a few a block away from the distro points. Construction barriers, taped to lampposts and places where we won’t get busted for defacing property. I’d prefer a guerilla attack with small 8x10s on walls with dozens of others.” I smiled, “There are places recognized as informal public bulletin boards all over the place. Call the Roadies and tell them we will pay $10.00/hour for any idle garage bands to paper the town. We want the people who get their un-advertised counter-culture secret updates to see us. Ask the Bright Stars to post the big ones early in the morning Wednesday closer to the actual action.”

Karen piped up. “That avoids early retaliation and gets free publicity from social media. We slip out after dark Wednesday in the SUVs and put more large ones near the Thursday locations. Maybe some will last until rush hour. Be assured most will be collected by morning and be posted in bedrooms and clubhouses.”

They got to it and I checked the search results. I was not very surprised at the information. An hour’s worth of connecting the dots revealed a nasty web of rot. Tracing the weapons stash was key.