Chapter 13

It turned out to be a long night.

David and Lenny showed up and ate dinner with them. Everyone except Joan was there -- she'd had a dinner meeting. After eating, they started to discuss the issue at hand.

"Should we adjourn somewhere?" asked David.

"Not unless you're uncomfortable here," replied Ken. "Everyone should be on the same page, so if we stay here, I won't have to go explaining it all over again."

"Okay," said David.

Thus began the discussion. David was livid when he discovered the condition that Gary's store had been left in. So was everyone else, and everyone except David and Lenny offered to help him move his stuff tomorrow. David apologized, but said that he wanted to set the case against the precinct into motion. Lenny mentioned that he had commitments as well, and couldn't make it until later in the day.

Ken was of two minds about how to proceed. He wanted some way to keep those people off his back, but he didn't want to get into a battle with the police. In general, there was nothing wrong with most cops, but from things that David had said earlier, he wondered what the deal was with this particular precinct. The only thing that David said was that they had more than their share of complaints, but everyone always clammed up when something happened. And even when it appeared that they would get nailed on something, somehow, they seemed to slip out of it. He was eager to go after them on this one and Ken was inclined to agree. Still...

"If it looks like we can get a clean kill, so to speak, then I'm all for it. I don't want to get involved in a protracted battle though. We're moving Gary out of the line of fire, and hopefully that'll take care of the problem."

David wasn't too happy about that, but figured that half a loaf was better than none. They piled into Ken's X5 and went to the shop, digital camera and video camera in hand, to document what had been done. Ken joked that they should call the police, but David didn't laugh.

"You don't want them back here," he said. "There'd be too much opportunity to, shall we say, find evidence that might have been missed earlier. In fact, if I were you, I'd try to find some way to get a dog in here. Who knows what might have been left behind?"

Gary gave a short, sharp laugh and said, "No problem with that. I know someone who can help."

Pulling out his cell phone, he made a quick call while Ken and David went around cleaning up. A few minutes later, the store doorbell rang.

"Yo, Knife," smiled Gary, opening the door. "How's it hanging?"

"Great, man," replied the huge biker, stepping into the shop. "What the hell is going on, anyway?"

He had a large, bright-eyed German shepherd with him.

Gary gave him a quick rundown of what had happened, and Knife began running the dog through his paces.

"What," asked Ken, "is he doing with a drug-sniffing dog?"

"Knife has a soft spot for dogs. He found out through a friend that the cops were gonna put this one down, so he managed to get hold of it. They think it's dead, because you can be sure that the cops don't want a drug-sniffer in the hands of a bunch of bikers."

"But why were they going to get rid of it?" asked David. "I mean, it doesn't seem like they'd kill it just because it couldn't sniff out dope."

"Oh, that wasn't the problem. They were pretty upset about putting it down, because it was an awesome sniffer. But it seems that there was a basic incompatibility between ol' Chomper and his owners," replied Gary with a grin.

"And that was?" asked Ken.

Gary's grin grew even wider. "He doesn't like uniforms. So he attacked any cop that came near him. Apparently, it didn't start that way, but over time, Chomper just started to go after them. They had to let him go, and naturally they didn't want a cop-hating, drug-sniffing shepherd on the streets."

There was a lot of laughter which was interrupted by the dog alerting on something. Quickly, everyone rushed to the back to see what had been found.

Knife was holding the barking dog back from one of Annette's desk drawers. When they opened the drawer, nothing was found, but further searching uncovered a plastic bag full of white power taped under it.

"How cliché," drawled Ken. Despite his comment, he was not amused. "Can you see if there's any more floating around?"

No one had actually touched the bag. Ken found a pair of rubber gloves and carefully removed the bag, which he put in a larger plastic trash bag that Gary handed him. He could tell the other man was just keeping it together. This was bullshit, plain and simple. Chomper found another small bag inside a closet, and they put it with the first one. Knife had the dog re-run his search, and this time everything came up clean.

"So, what's all this shit, Gary?" asked Knife. "We heard they raided your place, saying it was some kind of illegal sex club."

Gary filled him in, and Knife listened with narrowed eyes.

"Sound's like those pukes. They're in someone's pocket, for sure, and most people don't cross 'em twice. If you gotta place to go, I'd say git," said the man.

Gary explained that was what Ken had offered, and Knife nodded.

"I could have some of the boys help, if you want. You got a lot of stuff here."

"That'd be cool," replied Gary. "We're gonna be here tomorrow around noon to start moving everything out."

They shook hands, then Knife asked Gary what he was going to do with the bags.

"Flush 'em," he said.

"Why don't you give them to me?" suggested Knife. "I'm sure I know someone who knows someone who could find out what's really in them."

Gary shrugged and handed over the bag.

"Hey, Knife," said Ken as the man was getting ready to leave, "looks like we owe ya one."

"I'll keep a tab," replied the man with a smile.

"Well, you could do that, or..." Ken lowered his voice for a moment and murmured something to Knife.

"You're shittin' me!" Knife exclaimed when Ken stepped back.

"You know I wouldn't do that," said Ken. "You think you guys would be up for it?"

"Fuckin' right! Just the guys?"

"Oh, no," smiled Ken. "Girls too, if they're so inclined."

Knife left with a big, big smile on his face. When Gary asked what Ken had been talking about, Ken told him. Gary laughed and agreed that it was an appropriate payback.

Once they were home, David collected Lenny, who'd apparently spent the evening talking with Joan and drooling over Eric, and they left. Everyone else hit the sack. It would be a long day tomorrow.

When Ken and Gary showed up at the shop with the truck, it was about twelve thirty. They were rather surprised by the number of people who were waiting. In addition to the household, Joan, Sandy, Eric's father, Ellen and Kim were there. There was also about a half-dozen bikers from the bar, including Knife, waiting.

Introductions were made all around, and Gary began to carefully direct the packing of the store merchandise. While it was clear he wasn't very happy, and neither was Annette, the somewhat jovial atmosphere made things easier for him. People were sympathetic, but made sure to tell him that they'd be recommending his work to anyone they thought would buy it. In fact, several of of the smaller items never got packed, since people were buying them as they saw them.

"Hell," quipped Gary, "I oughta close up shop more often. I might sell more stuff."

About that time, Tina came wandering up. Her sister was wearing a metal collar, and Tina had the leash in her hand.

"Master Ken, look what I found," she smiled. "Can I play with her?"

Ken sighed. "Not now, dear, we have a lot of work to do."

Tina pouted, but unclipped the leash from her sister's collar. They giggled, then scooted over to grab more boxes to load them. Quite a sight, the two of them. Neither was wearing a whole lot, and there were many eyes on them. In fact, none of the Circle women were wearing much, and they definitely had the attention of the six bikers.

"Ain't they a little young to be playin' around like that," asked Knife as he wandered up.

"Did you know they are sisters?" asked Ken.

Knife's eyes got big.

"No, fucking way."

"Yup," smiled Ken. "And they love to share all sorts of things."

"You're kidding," said the man, his voice a little fainter.

"Nope," said Ken, his smile growing. "You should see all the interesting positions that Arianwen can be folded into. She's quite flexible.'

Knife swallowed and looked at the two teens. Ken didn't need any special gifts to see what was going through his mind.

"Master," said Jane, walking up. "Is it okay that I bought that collar for Ari? She looks really good in it." She paused thoughtfully, then said, "Maybe we should get one for Tina, too."

"Jane," said Ken, "this is Knife. Knife, I'd like you to meet my wife, Jane."

Tearing his eyes from the teens did not reduce the visual splendor he was seeing. Jane was dressed in a skimpy halter top, through which it was easy to see her pierced nipples, since the cloth was so thin. She also wore short cut-offs with socks and sneakers. Her long, tan legs and flat stomach was very much on display. She was sleek and muscular without being bulky, and it went without saying that she had Knife's attention.

"Hey, nice to meet you," said Knife. Then, what Ken said registered, and he said, "Wait, this is your wife?"

"Yup."

"The..."

"This is something we should discuss later," said Ken, cutting him off.

"Uh, yeah. Right."

"Master, is there something I should know about?" asked Jane, her blue eyes innocent and wide. She really was getting that look down.

"No, slave, there is not," said Ken.

"I'm sorry, Master," said Jane with a half-smile. "Will you be whipping your slave now?"

"You're such a slut," smiled Ken.

"Yes, Sir, of course, Sir. But I'm your slut," she replied. "Does that mean you'll beat me now?" she continued hopefully.

"No, you little brat! Now, scoot." said Ken.

Sighing melodramatically, she left. "Yes, Master."

"You don't really whip her, do you? I mean, I know that Annette and Gary are way into the BDSM thing, but..."

"Well, I certainly don't whip her as often as she'd like me to," grinned Ken.

Knife just shook his head and went looking for some boxes to pack. Packing went pretty fast, even with all the grab-ass going on between Circle folks. All in all it was a lot of fun, although Ken did have to ask Tina to stop teasing one of the bikers.

"Tina, sweet, please don't do that," he said quietly.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Well, for one thing, we're trying to get work done here. For another, if you have sex with him, he might get a little pissed when he finds out you're fifteen."

She sighed. "Yeah, you're right. This kind of sucks, though."

"I know," said Ken. "But if the police just 'happen' to show up or have someone watching the place, we don't need any underage entanglements. Right now, since the shop is closed, I don't think they can nail us for letting you and Ari in here. But let's not get too out of hand."

She nodded and went back to work.

"I see Tina's fitting in real well," said Ellen, walking up.

"That's the truth. She's very much like her sister," said Ken. "Actually, in some respects, she's a lot more like Jane."

"Likes it rough, does she?"

"Yup. She's an interesting girl. You remember her first night, don't you?"

"Oh, yeah. I'd love to pair her with Kim for an evening," smiled Ellen.

"Ask her," replied Ken. "I really doubt she'll turn you down. By the way, how was your vacation?"

Ellen and Kim had decided to go hiking in the Sierra Nevadas for the last two weeks. They were avid hikers and usually enjoyed their time away from the office immensely.

"It was nice," replied Ellen in a somewhat non-committal tone of voice.

"Nice?" asked Ken. "Two weeks hiking in the mountains, and all you can say is that it was nice?"

Ellen smiled. "You're right. Usually, it's more than nice. But this time... we were a little distracted."

"Oh?"

"We spent a lot of our time talking about what's going on at the mansion. Which," she chuckled, "usually lead to other things." Ellen sighed with a smile, and glanced over at her sub, who caught the look and grinned back. "We talked about the fact that we still have no idea who created the monetary setup at the mansion."

Ken wondered if he should ask Lea about that. Although, how much interest could a Goddess have in investing money? Of course, she had arranged for him to win the lottery, so she couldn't be too disconnected...

"We also talked about getting married," said Ellen, as her smile dimmed.

"I imagine that might create some complications," Ken replied.

"Yes. To say that it's fucked up would be an understatement." Ellen hesitated. "Ken, could I talk to you for a second. In private?"

He nodded and they moved over to a quiet corner of the room.

"You're a Priest, right?"

Ken blinked. "Well, yes, I suppose. But I'm not an ordained minister or anything. I couldn't marry you two and make it legal, if that's what you were thinking."

"We'll handle the legal thing ourselves," said Ellen. "It's all a bunch of bullshit anyway. From what I recall, the Constitution doesn't say a thing about who can marry whom. The bullshit that our so-called leader is spouting has more to do with paying back his political debts to a bunch of bigoted assholes than anything else."

Ken understood what she was talking about. Hate speech was hate speech, no matter who was spouting it, and he was sure Ellen had had more than her fair share directed at her. Certainly, those in power thought it was okay to say nasty things about those who lived a different lifestyle than they did -- all in the name of morality and family, of course. He was sorry that his friends were caught up in that shit, though. Come to think of it, there was little doubt that if what he was doing was found out, he'd be in a lot of trouble, as well.

"Anyway," she said, crossing her arms and looking down, "we were wondering if maybe you would marry us. In the Garden."

Naturally, this was not something that Ken had given thought to. But he should have. As a Priest, he had responsibilities. He'd been concentrating on the responsibilities he had as Lea's Avatar and forgetting that he was a Priest as well. On the other hand, what would happen if he, as Lea's High Priest, married two people? Would the fact that he was Her Avatar have repercussions for the married couple?