Chapter 85

Catarina stirred first to the sound of birds singing their morning song. John and Sheila’s warm bodies snuggled to her side.

Aware that it might be her last time with them, she set about waking them, using her warm mouth and fingers between them to initiate their response. She was well rewarded for her actions.

Some two hours later, they broke camp. Policing the area first. They personally had scattered nothing, but they packed up some cans and garbage that some teenagers had left. John left a note of thanks on the owners gate with another fifty dollars in it.

He had made his final instructions to Catarina as they broke camp. She had been complacent when he had her insert the locator suppository that Howdy had supplied her. She carried a capsule that would serve the same purpose for her sister. She would hide it in her mouth when she met Sergei. John had her practice talking with it tucked in her cheek. If she got the chance, she would try to pass it to her sister with instructions to swallow it. John made her swallow her own, besides the protection of the suppository. Each contained a powerful chemical battery. Once a special signal was received, they would emit a burst of apparently random noise, several times an hour. To all but the most sophisticated computer analysis, it would alternately appear as characteristic noise of either an appliance, or a car ignition. Once initiated, they would last seventy-two hours.

His instructions to Theresa and Sally had been to take similar precautions. Sally and Jean were to remain on the actresses estate and Theresa in her apartment until Kevin came to take her to the silo.

John had reasoned that Sergei, if he suspected a double cross, or that he had lost Catarina, would try to get at him personally. The most effective way to do that, was to get at the ones he loved. Those at the silo were fairly secure, but not totally. Their biggest protection came from the fact that Sergei thought it was a real biological or chemical weapons lab. Had it been, security would have been very tight and fortifications very hard to penetrate. Thus, those outside; Theresa or Sally, as the others were all at the silo.

John didn’t like it a damn bit, but his precautions were the best he could do in the situation he was in. He would be very happy when it was all over with and he could go back to the relative normalcy of living with... —what was shaping up to be— a dozen women. The absurdity of the thought was downright humorous, if John had been in a humorous mood.

His stoic attitude when he was preparing to go meet Nick, was nothing like he felt at the moment. Nick had been an untrained, ignorant asshole. Sergei was a very well trained, very well educated asshole. He forced himself to keep his mood light for Catarina’s sake. Sheila knew him better than that. She fought to keep her own resultant pensiveness hidden.

Catarina seemed calm as they took the drive out of the valley. The compact once again hitched to its carrier.

John passed through the center of the small community, past a large, shallow pond that served as the public park and swimming hole for the kids and then past the general store gas station and out of town. After a few miles of highway bordered by farms, he came to the main highway. Traffic was much heavier, it now being the weekend. Lines of utility vehicles towing fishing boats passed by on the way to the Deer Creek reservoir loading ramp.

When a gap appeared John gunned the big engine and swung into the traffic stream, heading down Provo canyon.

A short while later he passed by the cut off of the other road they might have taken the previous evening. He shivered thinking of taking the motor home over the Alpine loop. Lots of hard hairpins and narrow road. They could have made it as far as Sundance ski resort. The rest of the way it was not uncommon for compact cars to have to pull over to let another pass from the other direction.

With the traffic, the drive down the canyon was slow, but hair raising. Smaller cars trying to zip around slower traffic, gaining one car lengths position in life and making knuckles white on both sides of the highway. The respectable sized Provo river paralleling their journey.

When he reached Bridal Veil falls he pulled over out of traffic. For one reason to share its splendor with both Sheila and Catarina. A long thin cascade of water, many hundreds of feet high.

He checked his laptop and then turned to Catarina.

“This is the last chance we will have before we’re bound to be monitored. I just wanted to show you how much I’ve come to care for you in the short while we’ve been together.” he said.

She smiled at him and moved into his arms. Their kiss lasted a long, long time. Followed by Sheila’s, which lasted even longer.

Shaky, but content, Catarina reached for a seat when she was finally released.

“Okay, that ... said. Any questions?” John asked.

“No, I think I’ve got it all.” Catarina said.

“Well, best of luck to you. Remember, a lot of good people are behind you. Both physically, and in our hearts. I love you very much.” John said.

“And I as well.” Sheila added.

“And I love you both, more than I ever loved anybody before. No matter how it works out, I will always treasure these few days.” Catarina said, tears forming.

“Well, enough of the mushy stuff, let’s get’er did.” John said, returning to the drivers seat.

Sergei ate a leisurely breakfast an aide had brought him, making certain that Bianca ate some. She was moody and depressed. That would change soon enough.

“Why do you keep me like this?” she managed to ask.

“Like what?” Sergei asked, taking a bite of a bagel.

“Drugged up.” she said.

Sergei followed his bite with a sip of coffee before answering.

“I’m quite certain you remember what it was like when I couldn’t find any for you.” he said.

Bianca kind of shivered and nodded. Her body already beginning to crave more of the drug.

“How long will this last?” she asked.

“Just a short time longer. I have been arranging for a cure for you. Our scientists have found a blocking agent that alleviates the withdrawal symptoms. It was too experimental to use on you before. But cheer up. You will get to see your sister today.” Sergei said.

Bianca looked up at him sharply.

“Catarina is here?”

Sergei nodded, but said: “She will be soon. She arranged to meet me this afternoon.”

“And what have you got her doing for you?” Bianca asked suspiciously.

“Why, nothing. In fact in the past week, she has been having a lovely time. Traveling with a rich man and beautiful woman, making love to her hearts content.” Sergei said, innocently.

“Who?” she asked.

“You would remember him. From the tapes we all had so much fun to.” Sergei chuckled.

Bianca shivered.

“The man you call cowboy?” she asked.

“I told you not to call him that. His name is John. John Stevens.” Sergei replied.

“And the woman?” she asked.

“Sheila Jacobs. The big breasted older blonde from the tapes.” he said.

Bianca looked at him with more than suspicion. She well knew he was up to something. He always was.

“What is she really doing with them?” she asked.

“Just as I said. Would you like to hear a tape of one of their love sessions. I found it quite erotic ... in fact. The very thought of it makes me want a little something to start the day off right with.” Sergei said, opening his robe.

Bianca looked at him in revulsion.

“I am really not in the mood, Sergei.” she said, bravely, knowing what was to come.

“Oh, but I think you are. It is so little a price to pay, is it not?” he said, producing the last suppository for her gaze.

The look in her eyes changed subtlety, and Sergei knew she was his. A slave to his every whim.

She dropped her eyes to the table, sighing. Tears forming in her eyes as she sank to her knees before him.

“That’s my girl.” he half moaned.

Later, she was complacent when he led her back to the bed.

He used her to his heart’s content. Keeping the suppository in sight, but out of her grasp. He knew her in every way. Enjoying her anguished whimpers of pain. Only when she was beyond caring did he flip her over and teasingly insert the suppository. Indulging himself as he kneaded and played with her cheeks while it dissolved.

After a time she kind of giggled. Sergei rolled her over.

Her eyes were glazed and distant. Then came his real fun. He took her roughly for a time, squeezing her breasts hard. Undoubtedly leaving bruises. He brought himself to the edge, and then he changed. Using her to practice his mind trick. Making long slow strokes for almost an hour. Had she been able to feel or care, she might even have enjoyed that part. When he was dripping sweat all over her, he changed again. Driving hard and fast for another twenty minutes before he began slamming viciously into her. This lasted fully another five minutes. Finally he groaned and shuddered atop her. She was beyond noticing. Sergei collapsed upon her and stayed that way.

“I will never let you go.” he said to himself.

Bianca was oblivious to his words.

As John crested the ridge at the point of the mountain coming into the Salt Lake Valley from the South his laptop beeped once. The women looked at him and he moved his finger to his lips. They nodded.

“Hey shit head. Wake up, we’re rolling.” said the first agent.

“You acquired signal?” asked the second agent, groggily.

“Yeah, from the South. Must have been camped in one of those spots we didn’t think they would go to.” said the first.

“Wasn’t any place up there for them to camp at, except the Sundance parking lot And we checked it. You saw that god awful road heading out of it. I was lucky to get turned around in a car.” said the second, pulling his pants on.