Chapter 1: Breakfast at Atomix’s

“People always act like selling your soul is a huge deal. I have never once needed it for anything.” ... Achmed the camel trader

“Good morning Mister Butterfield, my name is Hector Toreze. At the moment I am one of the guidance chancellors at UAB where your lovely young niece Jesse is presently going to college. A charming young woman in her prime to be sure.” The tall rather rotund middle aged balding man that seated himself at the dinning table before Alexander Butterfield introduced himself. At the moment they were in Atomix’s in New York City, having breakfast, at least Alexander was having breakfast.

“Do I know you?” Alexander asked the man, not bothering to look up from cutting his breakfast sausage, or make eye contact with the man.

“Not really Alexander, but I know you, and that’s what is important. I am also the man your here to meet. Mister Raymond Nordman was kind enough to set this meeting up. He gave me this to give to you by way of introduction.” The man handed Alexander a folded letter with a red wax seal across the table which Alexander took. Then breaking the seal with the unused butter knife on the table, he unfolded it, and then read it out loud.

“Listen to what he has to say my friend, trust them Alex, they can deliver what they promise ... money is only good for what it can buy at our age my friend, signed Your Friend, Raymond Nordman.” Having read it out loud he folded it back up and pocketed it.

“So I’m supposed to listen to you now?” Alexander asked skeptically with a raised eyebrow, making eye contact with the strange man this time.

“We ... the group I’m associated with at this time anyway ... let us say we are in the position to grant wishes Mister Butterfield. Mister Nordman is a very satisfied client, and hearing your somewhat sad tale of young jilted lover at the Hunting Lodge last week he brought your case to our attention. As I understand it you met one Norma Rose Baudelaire the last year of high school, at a school get-together. Your all boys school partied with her all girls school. I even understand that you and her were secretly engaged to be married when you came back on Spring Break from NYU the next year. It was quite a shock I understand to find out that she had met your younger brother Daniel who was her same age and fallen madly in love with him, and you found your own family planning their wedding when you got home from college.” The strange man paused to take a drink of water from Alexander’s unused water glass setting on the dinning table in front of him.

“I guess it was my fault as much as hers, it was me that wanted to keep it secret until I was settled in at college and then until we were married damn it. I knew she wanted to get married right away. In a manner of speaking she seemed to be in love with love, I would guess.” Alexander growled at the stranger seated before him.

“So you kept your mouth shut and suffered in silence, acting like the “Bigger Man” in the affair, “suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” in silence until you got drunk at the Hunting Lodge last week and wept in your beer to your friend Raymond. Of course you also secretly planned a campaign to woo her away from your younger brother ... after all, all you needed was time ... after all, you were the better man, and you would prove it to her ... to them ... to the world.” Once again the stranger paused.

“I was damn it, I was better at everything than my poor soft little brother. All I needed was time damn it ... time to prove it.” Alexander ground out.

“But you never got the time, well not with Norma Rose anyway, did you Alexander? Fate has her ways of wrecking all our well laid plans doesn’t she Alexander, ha, ha, ha...” Alexander broke in on the stranger.

“Hell no, she got pregnant almost immediately with Jesse, and died in childbirth, of complications. Damn quack doctors killed her I’ll always say! I did have some small revenge latter on that quack doctor though. Little brother Daniel became a useless drunk really living on Mom and Dad’s suffrage after that. I went on to conquer a large part of Wall Street and the business world as you seem to know. Norma Rose Baudelaire was the only girl ... woman I ever really wanted and she died, after that there was only work for me.” Alexander lapsed back into sullen silence at that.

“Ah, but now we arrive at our part in all of this Mister Butterfield. According to Raymond Nordman, you recently met your young niece Jesse in person. According to him you went on and on about her, saying it was like meeting Norma Rose’s ghost. How she looked like her, acted like her, talked like her, even walked like your unrequited long lost love Norma Rose.” Again the stranger paused.

“So what damn it.” Alexander huffed indignantly out while still eating.

“So Alex ... can I call you Alex? This was at the Hunting Lodge Alex. The most private, the most exclusive, the most expensive legal whorehouse in Nevada. A whorehouse you actually own a part interest in, as well as a full membership.” Another pause by Hector.

“So what? It’s a damn good investment, and always shows a good return, unlike some of my other investments, ha, ha. Hell, I even get to deduct the expense of the occasional ... roll in the hay ... as a business meeting expense on my taxes. I’ve finished a lot of my bigger deals there. You know the old axon; “What’s done in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas”, it’s a man’s world ... well it used to be anyway, but now even the Hunting Lodge has had to bring in male strippers, and male prostitutes, to satisfy some of our wealthier female clientele now. We find that lesbians ... I’m not going to call one a Bull Dike as some other members do ... can be as ruthless and demanding as any male, and now they have so called constitutional rights, ha, ha. I personally have found it doesn’t pay to discriminate, ha, ha, ha.” Alex laughed, but it was a bitter laugh this time.

“So what Mister Butterfield? So we know about your little “Role Playing” adventures at the Hunting Lodge Alex...” Alex almost lunged over the the dinning table before he controlled himself and sank back down heavily in his chair.

“As I said asshole, “What’s done in Las Vegas stays in Vas Vegas”, “Role Playing” isn’t illegal damn it. So now I can have a girl ... a whore, dress up like Norma Rose and fuck her silly any time I want. I can even have her tell me how much better I am than that asshole little brother of mine. How she wished she had married me instead of that looser. That’s the benefit of having more money than you can ever hope to spend, ha, ha, ha.” Alex laughed.

“That’s all well and good Alex when she was calling herself Norma Rose, but now I hear she is calling herself Jesse when you and her...”Role Play” now. Isn’t that your niece’s name Alex?...” Once again Alex almost lost control.

“So what if it is? It’s not incest. It’s still just a whore “Role Playing” for a client.” Alex answered back sullenly.

“So what? So what if we could grant you your wish Alex? That’s what my group does Alex. We grant wishes. We can make your “Role Playing” fantasy real Alex. What if we could give you Jesse. Not some bimbo hooker dressed up to look like Norma Rose, or now Jesse. We can’t bring back the dead Norma Rose, but we can give you Jesse, her daughter, who will love you, hell she’ll worship you like a veritable god. Think about it Alex she’s at the same age you lost Norma Rose to that loser little brother of yours.” Hector ... this stranger sitting before Alex proposed ... then paused to let his words sink in.

“But that would be incest...” Alex whispered just loud enough for Hector to hear.

“Hey, Alex incest gets a bum rap today. Sure notably the Russian Imperial Romanov family a couple of centuries ago gave inbreeding and incest a bad name. The blue blooded royalty of Europe managed to create several very nasty diseases like hemophilia, and syphilis by-the-way, diseases that got passed down the blood lines of several other European Royal familles, even the British Royal family. Then in the late 1930’s the Eugenicists people came along, and believed, and even preached, that all disease, disability, and “undesirable” human traits could be “bred out” of the human race. After the atrocities of Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler in the name of “eugenics”, eugenics got an even worse name.” The stranger paused to take a drink of water before going on.

“The bottom line today Alex is with the standard noninvasive tests readily available to any competent OB/GYN, obstetrics and gynecology, no deformed, or diseased child should ever be born today. Every child born might not be a perfect super baby as envisioned by the Eugenicists people, but it would be normal,,.” He paused then went on when Alex didn’t say anything.

“Of course that’s being awful presumptuous of me Alex I have to admit, you may not even want children ... we do encourage our clients to be responsible pet owners ... spray and nutter whenever possible, ha, ha, ha. The medical procedure, a simple surgical “snip and tuck”, is quite effective at preventing pregnancy, and it can always be reversed on her latter if the client changes their mind about her having his children. Of course there are IUD’s, pills, and implants, too of course.” Hector went on.

“It would still be incest, she’s my brother’s child...” This time Hector interrupted Alex.

“Sorry to interrupt Alex, but actually lovely Jesse is not your brother’s daughter...” Alex started to object before Hector over talked him.

“Jesse is your daughter Alex.” Hector told him simply.

“How can that even be possible...” Alex mumbled to himself in shock.

“Neither me, nor the Group frankly, can explain the dynamics of your family 20 years ago Alex. If you don’t know we surly can’t tell you at this late date, and poor Norma Rose, God rest her soul, is certainly in no position to explain, but DNA doesn’t lie, and DNA proves she’s your daughter.” Hector matter of factly told Alex, then he went on. “Of course I personally could make a wild guess that you went off to college and forgot about her ... never answered your mail, and in her desperation when she found herself ... what’s that old quaint expression ... Oh Yes, “knocked up”, and pregnant, she most likely turned to your younger brother for help, ha, ha, ha.”

“My studies were important, I didn’t have time to read her love letter dribble.” Alex alibied to the stranger sitting across the table from him.

“They might have told you she was pregnant with your child, ha, ha, ha.” Hector laughed.

“What is done is done, no recriminations, there’s no going back. How much would this ... would this ... would this whatever it is cost, if I was interested mind you?” Alex finally asked when he recovered.

“Ever heard the quaint French expression, “l’argent que l’argent ne peut pas acheter”, or translated, “the money that money can’t buy”, Alex, ha, ha, ha.” Hector laughed making quotation marks in the air.

“Not really, I pay for what I want, and own it outright ... again how much?” Alex almost shouted across the table this time.

“Nothing Alex, absolutely nothing Alex. It doesn’t work that way. We’re not buying you Alex, we’re buying your soul, ha, ha, ha. You’ll be joining the Group. Someday, someday soon somebody will come to you and ask you for a favor. You’ll know him, or her, is from the Group, or he’ll identify himself, or herself, as from the Group, and you’ll do whatever he, or she, asks. We, the Group, guarantee that it is something you can easily do without ruining yourself in the process Alex.” Hector told him.

“And if I don’t ... if I don’t want to do this ... this favor ... if I don’t want to be obligated to your Group like this?” Alex asked with a raised eyebrow.

“What God giveth, God can taketh away just as easily Alex. I guess I could be crass, even vulgar about it, and say you only rent it, you don’t own it, ha, ha, ha. That’s just the way it is Alex, ha, ha, ha.” Hector told Alex and laughed.

“What? Is she some kind of collateral on my debt to this,,, this the Group?” Alex questioned.

“We have found that souls stay bought this way, The dictionary’s definition of collateral is, “something pledged as security for repayment of a debt, to be forfeited in the event of a default”, so yes, your daughter Jesse just became collateral.”

“I’ll have to think about it Hector.” Alex told him.

“Take your time Alex, we don’t want to rush you into anything you can’t live with latter. This is a heavy commitment. Talk to Mister Nordman, he’s your sponsor now. When your ready tell him your decision, and we’ll set up another appointment.” With that Hector ... still a stranger, got up and walked out of the busy restaurant. Only then did Alex realize that throughout the entire conversation, even with his wild outbursts, and gestures, no waiter, or management representative, had ever approached their table. No fellow dinner had ever even so much as looked over at their table. It was surreal ... it was like they had existed in an invisible bubble, isolated from the real world, for the entire conversation. How was that even possible Alex asked himself?

“We hang the petty theves and appoint the great ones to public office.” Aesop

“How did the conversation with Alexander Butterfield go Hector?” The man on the other end of the phone, whom Hector had never personally met, asked Hector half an hour latter.

“Much as we expected Sir. He didn’t appear overly shocked at all that we could offer to turn his niece ... his daughter actually ... into his, what amounts to, a sex slave Sir. Never brought up the ethics, or the illegality, of what I was suggesting. It was as if he was already aware that the technology and drugs were out there being used.” Hector reported.

“Loose lips sink ships Hector, always remember that Hector, loose lips sink ships. In the circles he runs in somebody might be talking out of school, but that is not your problem, you did well Hector. Time will tell, time will tell about Mister Butterfield. Are you ready for your next assignment.” The voice on the other end of the phone asked.

“Yes, Sir.” Hector answered back.

“Your next assignment is a 26 year old promising young male scientist, a certified genuine genius of sorts Hector. He has just made a breakthrough discovery in his lab Hector that’s under wraps at the moment. It looks as if this breakthrough of his will lead to many others our science people speculate, and we, the Group anyway, wish to control the release of these new discoveries in the marketplace. We don’t want to stop them, as some of our more unscrupulous competitors do, we just want to control when they are released. Our problem is the young scientist himself is an idealist Hector that believes in sharing his knowledge freely with the world. We need some control over him, for his own good, because he’s already upset people in his own company with his cavalier attitude toward their money, ha, ha.” The man on the phone laughed and paused before going on.

“We’ve investigated, and know from our investigation he’s rather socially awkward, and somewhat introverted after his studies, too much time in the ivory towers of academia, and that damn lab of his, and not enough time out in the real world, ha, ha. You will be offering him his older sister Hector, whom we know he has a crush on. In fact, ha, ha, we have discovered his stash of hypno porn movies on his computer. He may not be so ... so ... worldly as Mister Butterfield Hector. He might even ill advisedly try to be the hero in one of his fictions and actually try to save his older sister from our evil dastardly sinister clutches, ha, ha, ha.” The voice on the other end of the phone line laughed then paused before continuing again.

“What young Mister Scott is completely unaware of Hector, is in our investigation of how best to corrupt and control young Mister Scott, we discovered his older sister could easily become our perfect tool. Once again it is Eve that will tempt poor Adam to partake of the apple, or maybe I should say, it’s temptress Delilah who learns Samson’s secret. It was quite easy to ... to ... to reshape the fantasies his older sister already had to suit our needs Hector, ha, ha.”

“It was quite easy to get into her stash of hypno porn on her computer, and in the Cloud too, Hector, ha, ha. We found she “Role Plays” too Hector, the faceless Master she seeks to give herself to in her dreams, and in her darker sexual fantasies, just became her younger brother. Well I admit it did require a light dose of a certain drug, and some hypnotherapy, that she is completely unaware of, but the deed is done. The dilemma our young hero now faces is does he become the Master she needs, or allow us the evil villain in the plot to take absolute control her, ha, ha, ha.” The voice on the phone went on.

“So be gentle with him Hector, he’s still a virgin you know, ha, ha, ha. Maybe this older sister of his ... this modern day Delilah ... can control him where we can’t, ha, ha, ha. “ The voice laughed once more and hung up.

“People sell their soul in such small quantities - a seemingly trivial compromise here, a rationalization of a minor evil there - that they don’t realize what they’re doing until it is too late, and they find their soul all gone.” ... Mike Klepper

“So they own you Ray?” Alex demanded of his friend Raymond Nordman at his LA office the next day.

“It’s not like that at all Alex. These people, whoever THEY are actually, that run the Group are ... are ... are like magicians ... or should I say Mephistopheles the Devil himself Alex. They seem to know the price of your very soul. Me and you are at the top of our game on Wall Street and the business world, but you’ll meet lawyers, judges, business owners ... whatever the Group needs it always seems to get.” Raymond was telling Alex

“But what do they ask in return Ray?” Alex questioned.

“My first favor was I got a call from George, my CPA and lawyer, who’s also my sponsor, while I was sitting in my private jet on the air strip at Charles de Gaulle, in Paris, France, waiting to take off for New York. I was told, by George, to hold for another passenger. About that time a blue Sûreté nationale police car pulled up with it’s lights flashing, and siren going. Two uniformed officers jumped out with what was clearly a woman between them Alex. Do you remember the pictures of Jackey O...” Alex broke in.

“You mean Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.” Alex laughed.

“You know who I mean. You remember how she was always covered from head to toe. The tall black leather boots, the heavy buttoned up and belted trench coat with it’s large collar turned up to her chin, the large sunglasses covering her eyes, and the black veil completely covering her head and face. Well this woman was dressed the same way, I wasn’t even sure it was a woman Alex. The officers motioned me to come down the steps, and I did. At that point I noticed that she was handcuffed to one of the officers. After I identified myself her cuff was transferred to my left wrist. I was told there would be someone named Nick at the other end to pick her up.” Ray paused to drink his scotch, then went on.

“I was worried about passports, customs, and immigration, among other things, but when we got to JFK we were rolled right into one of the bigger almost empty aircraft hangers off to the side of the airport. A long black Mercedes-Benz stretch limo was waiting there for us, so I got off the jet with my attached passenger who had never said a word the entire flight which was 8 hours. This tall monster that was standing by the door of the limo stepped forward with a handcuff key to take her, but I pulled her back behind me.” Ray went on. with his story after he took another drink of his scotch.

“I was told to deliver the package to a specific person are you that person.” I told the obvious bodyguard/muscle/goon.

“I’m Mister Minette’s personal bodyguard joker, and you’ll give her to me voluntarily, or I’ll just rip your fucking arm off and take her anyway dipshit. That’s Mister Minette’s personal property capish moron.” At that point he reached out, grabbed my hand, and pulled me forward with one massive arm, and reached around me for the package with the other arm. I was getting ready to fight, even if I was somewhat handicapped at the moment, but I needn’t have worried. Little Miss Innocence’s left hand came out of her very large trench coat pocket with a large flat black stun gun, and soon me and Tiny Tim were both dancing to a tune of 86 million volts of electricity coursing through our bodies.”