Chapter 13: Profit and Loss

“What was the nature of your trip to Colombia, sir?” The customs agent at the Miami International Airport checked Jon’s passport carefully.

“Business.” Jon answered. “I was hired for a one-year contract in management at a beach resort.”

“Thank you. Welcome back to the United States.” The stamp went on his passport and he walked through the gate waiting for Joni.

They made their way to the domestic terminal and said goodbye to Mike. Eddie had invited him to stay with him and his family in Cambridge. Mike was anxious to get meet some of his professors at M.I.T. so he was leaving the family here and catching a flight to Boston. Joni was teary eyed as they saw him to his gate and was issuing him orders to call when his plane landed and leaving a message if she was still on a plane. She wanted to make sure he was eating right.

Joni issued a slightly unusual request for a mother seeing her 15-year-old kid off to college. She reminded him to wear condoms since he would now be around girls that were not on birth control or screened for STD’s. She had no illusions about her son having sex at such a young age other mothers may have if they were sending their son away from home for the first time at such a young age. Had any stranger overheard this advice they may have questioned Joni’s parenting skills.

They would have also question Jon and Joni’s sanity to allow their beautiful 17-year-old daughters to fly on their own to La Guardia where they planned to live on their own in an apartment in Manhattan. When the girls understood how much money they earned in one year, they arranged to share a Park Avenue luxury apartment. They were offered a modeling job by one of Anne DiCarlo’s contacts in New York with an attractive retainer. Their parents, of course believed this was just a modeling job and they had no inkling of the full extent of the job assignment.

The girls hugged their brother goodbye and told him their place had plenty of room and an easy enough trip for him to make weekend visits in between his studies. Jon caught a comment from Mike to the girls he thought was curious. “I know you can do amazing things, but be careful.” Tears were shed as Mike boarded the plane. Mike knew what their parents did not.

Pam and Tammy were on their plane and Jon and Joni were suddenly empty nesters. They were on their way to meet up with their friends and new neighbors Anthony and Vicky Johnson. Anthony said the lake houses he found for sale on Deep Creek Lake, Maryland was in an area that always was his dream location to retire. They had the money to do that now and when they approached the Clarks about moving in next door, it didn’t take much convincing. The places were in a beautiful location on a bluff in the mountains and overlooking the lake with a staircase down to a boathouse. The Johnson’s left a couple days before them so they insisted on picking them up at the Pittsburgh Airport. They said it was just a two-hour drive and they couldn’t wait. Jon planned on spending a lot of time fishing with Anthony. There was really nothing to take them back to Wisconsin now. They still wanted the change of season but the panhandle of Maryland was not quite as bitter as northern Wisconsin. The transfer company would precede their arrival with the furniture from their old house. They looked forward to the activity of settling in to take their minds off of the recovery they all had to do.

After moving in, they found themselves spending a lot of time in swim wear enjoying their pool decks overlooking the lake. After a while they decided the swim wear was optional and it just seemed so natural to hang out at the pool naked, even the times Zoe, Mike or the twins came to visit. No one thought twice about it. On some evenings with a few glasses of wine, things between them went further. Discussion turned to some of their experiences on the island. One evening when it was just the four of them at Jon and Joni’s pool and much alcohol had been consumed, Vicky and Joni started to talk about the fact they had each experienced the other husband’s cock. Vicky suggested “Maybe we should try it again under less stressful circumstances.” Joni was drunk enough to nod in agreement and the couples did a reenactment of their side by side 69 they had their first day on the island. That started an almost weekly foursome all of them enjoyed.

Tim and Ellen Lobert opened their dream fitness studio in West Beverly Hills that quickly became a favorite of many local celebrities. They left the island with the least amount of money compared to the others since they were not subject to as many guest encounters and they didn’t have teenagers that racked up handsome premiums like the other families. They were still pleasantly surprised at the payoff that far exceeded the half million originally promised.

They also found their business received surprise visits and ringing endorsements from a number of celebrities seemingly out of nowhere. Their studio became so famous overnight they had to limit membership. They could have opened more locations but they decided higher membership fees and smaller clientele kept them exclusive and allowed them a less hectic lifestyle to enjoy the fruits of success.

None of the former slaves discussed their time of servitude on the island. Before leaving and being told their new net worth, they were treated to a video synopsis of their most humiliating experiences on the island. Ramona Hamilton made it abundantly clear that if any word leaked to anyone of their experiences the edited video would be released to family and friends. They even made a DVD of the edited video and insisted they take it home as a remembrance. Between the carrot of DeVille’s largesse and the stick of public humiliation, everyone understood why the horrible conditions of the one-year contract were never revealed by prior victims. As contracted employees, they were even supervised in their posting their thoughts on what a great company Deville Resort was to work for on sites like Glassdoor.com.

Mary Brubaker had similar success as the Loberts in opening her own restaurant in New Orleans. She and Henry were able to afford to purchase a prime location on Magazine Street with cash. Her place received an amazing amount of publicity the first week they opened and several celebrity chefs visited and gave rave reviews of her innovative cuisine. They received a write up in Bon Appetit magazine and were even featured on the Food Network. Even the reclusive Chef Jacques Picard made an appearance and rare endorsement.

The resort also pointed her to a local therapist to help her with some PTSD issues she had after the incident with the basketball players. DeVille even paid for the therapy. It turned out the therapist was a contracted slave of the resort a couple years prior to Mary being there.

When the therapist made that known to Mary, she arranged for sessions with Carrie as well since she was concerned about the potential trauma this may have caused her and considered it a blessing to have someone that understood the degree of depravity to which her kids were exposed.

After several conversations with Carrie, the therapist assured her that her daughter had reconciled her experiences on the island remarkably well. She added she adjusted to them better than Mary did, who still was having some nightmares. The therapist was somewhat concerned that Carrie’s sexual maturity that far exceeded any of her peers could be problematic and required some monitoring. She didn’t go so far as to say Carrie was a nymphomaniac but she said she had to counsel her on restraint. She wanted to continue to meet with Carrie to ensure she understood the need to develop long term and stable relationships outside of normal sexual activity. Carrie never revealed to her parent’s nor to her therapist what she knew about the bargain Marcie made with DeVille and the existence of the covert squad that was formed.

After returning home Marcie reconnected with Dag. Even though he was considerably older than Marcie, Mary and Henry were not about to stand in the way of their daughter’s happiness, especially after what she experienced in the last year. She was 19 now and there was no way they could stop her from moving to Oslo to be with him. He was a wealthy, unmarried industrialist and despite the age difference, they seemed happy and very much in love.

Ben had no idea how to get hold of Zoe after she left the island. The resort management refused to give him any information as to her whereabouts and he was heartbroken. He decided he was just kidding himself. Why would a beautiful 19-year-old be interested in a 32-year-old nerd like him? It was just that their connection seemed so real on the island, but it was probably just an illusion created by the fact she had to be nice to him and was ordered to pretend to care. He felt like such a gullible idiot.

A week after giving up, she called! “Ben, its Zoe. I hope you don’t mind but I have been looking for some way to get hold of you and finally found your contact information in the DC area.”

“Zoe, my God! You don’t know how hard I have tried to find out what happened to you. The resort refused to give me any information. Where are you?”

“I am just a few hours away in western Maryland with my parents. I was wondering if we could meet somewhere to talk.”

“Of course! Can I come to you? How soon can I meet you? Can I see you today?” He realized how desperate and stupid his babbling must sound to her but he couldn’t help himself. He didn’t want to lose her again.

“I can come to you. Tell me where I can meet you tomorrow afternoon.”

The Berlin nightclub was blaring techno beats that shook one’s bones. Gregori Cermak was checking out the young teen with the dyed spiked hair and nose ring. She had those skin tight pants that looked like they were painted on. She was wearing a men’s suit jacket she probably picked up from a second-hand store and underneath wore nothing but a black bra that showed off a very tight body with a dagger and barb wire tattoo on her stomach cementing her deliberate bad girl look. Her pout she displayed as she swayed to the beat of the music was compelling.

He made his way from his table to her side of the room and mimicked her dance moves while in front of her while her eyes were still closed. When she opened her eyes and noticed him, she gave him cool smile on one side of her mouth. She reached out and wrapped her arms around his shoulders and neck and moved closer while she gyrated her crotch on his thigh. He reached around and put his hands on her butt cheeks helping her make contact with his leg.

He leaned his face in for a kiss and she grabbed his head and gently gnawed on his lower lip. She pulled back and laughed at him teasingly. He reached in his jacket pocket and pulled his bag of ecstasy and shook it so she could see. Her eyes brightened and she shook her head ‘yes’. He pulled one out and pressed it to her hand which she immediately swallowed. She had no idea his ecstasy was a blend of MDMA and Rohypnol. As they continued to gyrate together over the loud music, she began to lean on him heavily. He signaled to his bodyguards and they helped him steer the semi-conscious girl to the exit.

Once they were out in the alley behind the club, they maneuvered the helpless girl over some crates and even helped Gregori to pull her skin tight pants off. It was a practiced move they had done dozens of times at this club. The things you do when you bodyguard the boss’s son. Gregori started to fuck the unconscious teenager doggie style as she laid over the box. “Go back inside and get me another drink. I’ll be back in after I’m done. I might want to try this sweet ass too.”

The bodyguards made their way back to their reserved table. Their biggest threat at this point was if the girl woke up and realized she had been violated and made her way back in the club. They would be prepared to escort her back out and ensure she did not return even if accompanied by a brother or boyfriend which sometimes happened.

After thirty minutes passed and Gregori didn’t return they walked out to the alley. It was empty! They searched around the crates for any clues as to what happened. Melting in the puddle near the crate where she was being fucked was the tablet she had cleverly palmed. One of the bodyguards looked to the other. “We are truly fucked!”

While the bodyguards were arguing over who got the pleasure of telling the boss his son was gone, Bennie drove the car with Gregori Cermak locked in the trunk. “Did you have to let the guy screw you before you knocked him out? I promised your mom I would get you back in one piece.”

Jill had removed her nose ring and wig and was naked from the waist down as she was slipping jeans on in place of the skin tight leggings the goons ruined when they pulled them off her. “I’m still in one piece, so promises made, promises kept. I had to wait until he sent the men back in to the bar. At least he didn’t get a chance to pummel my ass like he planned. I’ll save that for you, baby.” She smirked teasingly at the 30 something Japanese man. “I’m sure my mom won’t care if she shared you with me.”

“That’s enough.” Bennie chuckled. “You know you scare the shit out of me. How did you know how to reel him in like that? That was the quickest I ever saw a fish take the bait.”

“I read the police reports of the other victims and checked their social media posts. He has a type and he couldn’t help himself.” She removed her colored contact lenses and the prosthetic in her mouth that altered her basic facial shape. She was rubbing nail polish remover over the very obvious temporary tattoo. Anyone reviewing the security footage from the club would never have associated her with the girl that Gregori dragged out to the alley.

Bennie handed her a mobile. “Go ahead and call the contact and say we are on our way. They are paying a lot for this delivery, so I’m sure they will be glad to hear their package is secure.”

“Do you know what is going to happen to him?”

“No and I don’t want to know. I imagine he is some kind of leverage over his father but that’s not our problem. We are just to make the delivery and get back to the states.”

Jill picked up the burner phone. “Package secure. Delivery in 10 minutes. Get the garage door open. We don’t want to have to ring the doorbell, so you fuckers better be ready.”

They still had to get to the airfield and they would be the only ones on the plane back to Seattle. She thought she might be able to use the trip to convince him to fuck her and see if she could compare notes with mom. Bennie moved to Seattle after she and her mom left the island. She was proud of Debra for coming out of her shell and having a relationship with a younger man that started while they were still on the island. At the same time, she just had that urge to borrow mom’s car keys and take it for a spin. After what they had been though, she was pretty sure mom would get a kick out of it.

Marcie was blindfolded and tied on her back with her head hanging off of the bench. The dungeon was outfitted with high quality speakers that were blasting a song from popular singer in Norway named Aurora. Marci could feel the drum beat of the song which she thought was appropriately named “Giving in to the Love”. That is exactly what she was doing with Dag.

With the music thrumming in the room, she could not hear where he was and the anticipation was killing her. Then suddenly his finger ran over her lips. She kissed it. The back of his hands ran down her body and his fingernails brushed the sides of her breasts. His hands continued down and he parted her labia and he breathed on her spread clitoris as his cock brushed her cheek. She tried and failed to capture it in her mouth as he moved to the side and teased her nipples with kisses and his fingers entered her and hit all the right spots to bring her to a peak.

He straddled her and rubbed his cock over her breasts as he placed his hands behind her head and lifted so her mouth could try and capture his cock again. She was able to kiss the head and taste his pre-cum which let her know he was as on edge as she was. He again pulled away and now she begged. “Please let me suck you. I want to taste you.”

He moved off her and again stood at her head. This time he lined her mouth up with her neck and pushed into her mouth and throat. He kissed his way down her body and buried his face in her pussy. He moved again and another track turned to softer music “Runaway”. The hesitating beat was matched with his hands on her body as he fucked her to the varying rhythm. It was like he was playing the music on her body. At the crescendo he removed her blindfold and kissed her deeply. He released her hands and she ran her hand behind his shaved head and pulled him even deeper into the kiss.

Dag no longer had a need for the island. He found his princess, his slave, his soulmate in beautiful Marcie. She gave herself complexly to him and him to her. She confided in the purpose behind the island. She had no secrets from him. She told him what she had to agree to become in order to protect her family. She did two missions and had killed a man in Istanbul before the end of the contract. Now her family was free of DeVille, she and the others continued to do missions because they saw they were righting injustices but that did not forgive the year that was stolen and the indignities suffered. She told him of the innocence that was stolen from her sister and the trauma suffered by her mother and others. Before she came to him, Dag just believed the island was a fantasy fulfilled by the willing. Certainly, he knew Marcie was willing with him but he had no idea that was the exception. She also told him the threat they held over them of the scandalous videos that could ruin their lives and why he could not say anything.

After she was returned to him and they committed to one another, he asked her to stop the missions. She said it was the one thing she could not promise him until their objective was met. He agreed to provide her the resources to meet her goal in order to end it and have her stay safe with him forever. He helped her plan a way to do this as safely as possible and in a manner that extracted the best outcome for good while eradicating the evil of it.

“They took advantage of you. I never knew they were doing it until after I left. All the things you told me while we were in bed, they listened and used it to steal your ideas and research. That is how your software innovations ended up in the hands of the Israelis and South Koreans. I am so sorry Ben. If I had known they were doing that, I would have warned you.”

Ben was stunned. It explained so much. This is how the DARPA project he was working on got coopted. DoD even suspected him and others on the project of leaking the information to Israel. It was only after he was able to account for all his financial assets to prove he took no money from foreign governments that Homeland Security raised the cloud of suspicion. They swept all the facilities for listening devices and found nothing. Now it turned out he was the source after all. He quit the DARPA project after that, disillusioned with working for government agencies. His second commercial start up was doing well and he concentrated on some of the AI he was incorporating into consumer gaming that was a big seller because it learned and adapted to the player’s style to make each encounter more of a challenge and fresh.

“I don’t blame you, Zoe. I blame myself for being so stupid.” He gripped her hand on the table. “I’m just glad we found each other again. You have no idea how hard I tried to track you down. I just assumed you wouldn’t want anything to do with me in the real world.”

“Ben, why would you think that? You were the best thing that happened to me in the last year. You have no idea the terrible things I had to do as a slave. If I tell you, you will have to swear to not tell anyone else. They could ruin my life.”

“I want to know. I may not be able to keep government secrets but I will promise to keep yours.”

And she spent the rest of the day telling him how they were all ensnared. He was shocked at the depraved things others made her do and she told him the stories of what happened to others. Finally, she told him of the real purpose of the island and the missions.

At the end he sat digesting everything she told him. “That’s why I hesitated to contact you. You deserve someone that hasn’t spent a year being a prostitute for perverts of all sorts. Someone that has a regular life and not someone that joins covert secret missions and uses sex to trap or kill people, regardless of the fact they are horrible people in their own right. Most of all I was ashamed of what they stole from you and the fact that I unwittingly helped them do it. But I knew I had to let you know the truth.”

“Zoe, I was the one thinking I didn’t deserve you. I care for you deeply and I’m glad you told me all of this. You are 19 and I’m 32. You are so young and beautiful you can have any man you could set your sights on. As strange as it seems, no one could love you like I do.”

“Ben, I don’t care about the age difference. You don’t know it but you kept me sane that horrible year. If you can really love me after all I told you, how could I ever say no to you?”

He kissed her and they went back to his place. A day later she called her folks and told them she was staying and she would be picking up some things. She wanted them to meet Ben when she came up to get them. They raised no objection and offered their loving support. Anthony and Vicky both said they would be idiots to object to her having a normal relationship no matter what his age was after what she went through in the last year and they were looking forward to meeting Ben.

Mike set up the program to tap the various bank accounts for an amount just under their daily withdrawal limits so no alarm bells would sound. Pam and Tammy had given him account numbers to over a dozen offshore bank accounts owned by the now deceased Viktor Jovanovic. They included accounts in the Caymans, Andorra, Malta, Switzerland, Luxembourg and oddly enough Pierre, North Dakota. The programs transferred the moneys into another Cayman account he established, split the amounts and sent them through several other accounts owned by shell corporations, until they were consolidated again into their account in Oslo where it was needed for their operation. The daily harvest was hundreds of thousands of Euros. He had been tapping the accounts now for over two months and he did not expect the lowest value account to bottom out for another month.

It turned out Zivko Jovanovic was very chatty as to the location of account numbers when he was threatened with the removal of his manhood by Hae-Won’s katana. Not that it did him any good in the long run.

Brian Hartwick didn’t understand what was happening. “How the hell do we have no power? What the fuck is going on?” He was yelling at technicians that were checking and rechecking everything they could but were getting no answer. The resort generated all its own electricity and had an Uninterruptible Power Supply or UPS that could keep operations up in the event of a power grid interruption. They planned for this and conducted occasional drills to test the UPS and there had never been a problem. They planned for power problems. They were on a tropical island subject to tropical storms and hurricanes for Christ sakes. But there was no storm tonight. Why did their grid go down? Why wasn’t the UPS kicking in? It made no sense.

Suddenly the fans in the ventilation ducts kicked on but the lights were still out in central control. That also made no sense. Suddenly he felt woozy. He saw the other staff were falling to the floor. The ventilation system. They were being gassed. Just as he thought that he lost consciousness.

Brian woke in the administrative offices with Louis DeVille, Ramona Hamilton, Jacques Picard and Dr. Sears. All of them were naked and all of them had on collars. At the other end of the table sat Pam Clark, Marcie Brubaker, Gi Choi, Zoe Johnson and Jill Pembrook. “What the hell?” His foggy mind was having a hard time processing what he was seeing. The others were starting to stir and were just as confused.

“I suggest all of you grab a seat and clear the cobwebs. We have much to discuss.” Pam said as she pointed to her neck.

It took sometime for Louis to register her action but he saw all his administrative staff were wearing slave collars. He reached up to feel the band around his own neck. “How?”

Brian started toward the teens. “Fuck you, you can’t...” He dropped to the floor in spasms.

“Oopsy. I think I accidentally gave him the level 3 shock. I guess I need a bit more practice at these menus.” Jill smiled at the others and shrugged her shoulders. “I guess we won’t be talking to slave Brian for a while.”

“You should make sure you ask your question properly, Louis. You should have said ‘How, ma’am?’. You don’t mind if we call you by your slave name, do you?” Marcie flipped through several pages on the tablet she held.

Charles Sears and Ramona Hamilton looked terrified as they watched their partner writhe on the floor in pain. Jacques, on the other hand, leaned against the wall looking amused.

“To answer your question, we are now in charge of the entire island. Zoe’s boyfriend was very upset with you. He found out you used him to compromise his DARPA project and was all to eager to use his talents to hack your security and infrastructure systems.” Marcie leaned back in what was formerly Louis’ chair at the head of the table. “My good friend has generously provided us with considerable resources to basically invade your little island.” Marcie didn’t think it necessary to mention the mercenaries Dag acquired to secure the airfield, port and security check points between the island zones. Those forces remained in place with no losses. There were only a few of the DeVille security forces that offered any resistance. There were few lethal weapons on the island and control was maintained largely through electronic means which were disabled.

Gi stood and pulled up the screen in the conference room. “Let’s bring you up to speed on what you missed while you were out. The former slaves you had here have been gathered in the auditorium. They are being given the option of returning home, which most are taking, or staying to help. Those leaving have been sworn to secrecy. We explained the reason we needed absolute secrecy and they were sympathetic and agreed. But as a guarantee we also warned them about the compromising videos saying we would hate to use them but we would if anyone decides to go to reporters or authorities. We believe that will ensure no word of what happened here gets out. They were told also that you would honor the financial commitments of your contracts prorated for their time on the island with a six-month minimum payout. Most were happy to move their families out of this hell and get home. Some of the slaves have opted to stay and help us with our plans to see justice served.”

“The current guests on the island have been told a deadly tropical disease has been detected and have been locked down in their bungalows for their own protection. We have staff providing them with food and other needs dressed in PPE to complete the illusion we are dealing with an infection. After all, we are in the tropics. New diseases seem to pop up every so often. Currently we have a team, led by Pam’s brother, reviewing guest activities for their current and past visits. It’s a sort of tribunal. If we find their visits have been benign, we will be escorting them off the island and they will be reimbursed for their unused portion of their reservation.”

“If, on the other hand, we find their actions were sadistic and highly abusive, we will keep them retained on the island for fair judgement which could be financial blackmail, ransom, punishment or some combination of the above.”

“Your staff have all participated in the debasement of families for years with the full knowledge of what they were doing. They did this for the money you paid them and some even participated in that debasement. They have automatically been deemed guilty by association. They are all currently collared and locked down.”

“Guest reservations are being contacted. Those guest tapes you have here are being reviewed by our tribunal. As with current guests on the island, first time visitors and kinder guests will be told of the infection found and their reservations will be suspended and reimbursed until further notice. Other guest reservations will be kept and we will await their arrival.”

Pam stood. “We have created a governing counsel of former slaves of which the five of us are the current governing body for now.”

The import of what Marcie, Pam and Gi said sunk in to Louis. He was smart enough to know he did not hold a strong bargaining position but he wanted to find out if he had anything to salvage out of this situation. “I understand ... ma’ams and sir. Could I know what happens now? What are your demands?”

“What happens to you, Louis, is that you become a prisoner in the prison you built. To the outside world, you will remain in charge and you will do our bidding. The debts we just discussed will be paid out of the billions you have, which will not even make a dent in your wealth. The maintenance of the island and the Colombian payoffs will also be financed with your accounts. You will be making all your offshore accounts available to us.” Marcie stood at the head of the table as she laid this out.