Chapter 1: Acquisition

“The precautions I take are simply for security purposes. You can surely understand my need for privacy,” said the distinguished looking man in his late forties. He was tall and had a slim but muscular frame. “You may call me Mister Joseph.”

The second man, several years younger and of average height and build, raised an eyebrow at this. Upon his arrival at the airport, he had been met by another man of about his own age, dressed in a blue pin-striped suit, who had walked up to him and announced he was the driver. Considering that he had not been expecting anybody, the driver’s immediate recognition of him had shown an enviable depth of preparation. His bags had been taken and loaded into the trunk of a limousine, which proved to have black glass windows and a black divider between the front and the rear. As soon as the door had been shut, the locks had been electronically closed, and proved unable to open until the limousine stopped two hours later. He had no idea where he was, simply a maximum of two hours from his destination, perhaps over a hundred miles or perhaps only five miles. He had no way of knowing.

“That’s understandable. My name is...”

“Your name is immaterial. For simplicity’s sake, you will be known as Mister Robert. I know who your employer is, and what he wishes to obtain. You are prepared to wire the money to the designated account, when directed?” said Joseph.

Robert replied, “Yes, although I argued rather strenuously with my boss about this. The fee you want is simply ludicrous! My God, the man could get a dozen hookers to stay on and play this game for years!”

“That is the reason you are the employee, and he is the employer. He understands the difference,” answered Joseph coldly. “Any fool can hire a woman; how many can own one? The first rents a body, the second owns a soul.”

“Whatever,” said an inwardly enraged Robert. “So, what now?”

“You are here merely to report to your employer as to the efficacy of my methods, nothing more. Once assured of that, you will make your payment, and will be removed from the loop. You will have no more contact with me. Your employer will contact me directly concerning his selection choices. Then, after procurement and training, the woman will be delivered to the location requested. Is this understood?”

Robert nodded. “A bit of a pig in a poke, wouldn’t you say?”

“No, I wouldn’t. Your employer understood my methods and agreed to them. They are not debatable. It is only because I know of him and his potential for future investment that I have allowed somebody not a principal to observe my system,” said Joseph.

“Fine,” acceded Robert.

“One final thing. If either you or your employer ever attempt to discover this location or my identity, you will be eliminated. I am not the only individual in this organization, and my associates would be unhappy should something happen to me. I know your employer’s resources - they will be meaningless in this. Is this understood clearly?” concluded Joseph.

“Perfectly. I have no intention of delving any deeper into this than I absolutely must,” said a disgusted Robert.

“Excellent. Come with me. My trial acquisition is below.”

Joseph opened a door in the basement and led Robert inside. The lighting was quite dim. A single well upholstered chair sat in the small room, and along one wall was a small control panel of sorts. A long window looked out into a larger room. Robert moved toward the window and stared at what was beyond.

The other room was quite a bit larger, twenty feet across, of an octagonal shape, and the walls were mirrored. Even the window through which he was staring was partially silvered, a one-way mirror. The floor of the chamber was a white, plastic cushion, much like a gymnastics mat, only it covered the entire floor, sloping towards a central point, which had a small grate. The ceiling had several strange protuberances, one of which was a rolled-up garden hose, and another of which was a pulley system. Attached to the pulley was a cable, connected to a pair of short chains. A loudspeaker could be made out, as well as several floodlamps.

What was attached to the chains interested Robert more than anything else. Each chain ended in a padded cuff. The cuffs were attached to the wrists of a young girl, her hair a curious mixture of black and blonde, laying on the floor asleep. She was dressed in pants and a pullover top, but her feet were bare, and her ankles were held by similar cuffs to the floor.

“My God! That’s why you asked what kind of woman I preferred! Is she for...?”

Joseph interrupted. “Remember, no names. No, I have another commission, and it amused me to procure a woman as per your interests. This one will be used around the house and then sold off later. Your employer will specify his tastes directly to me.”

Robert turned back to look at the woman on the other side of the mirror. “How did you get her, and when?”

“My methods are my own. You may learn something during my initial interview with her, which will be momentarily. Otherwise, please do not ask.” Joseph went to the control panel on the wall and flipped a switch. Instantly, a piercing shriek, ululating like an overly loud police siren, sounded in the room. Instantly, the young woman was awake, struggling in her bonds and trying to cover her ears. Fortunately for the two men, Joseph only kept the sound on for a couple of minutes, then turned it off entirely. He flipped another switch and microphones in the ceiling of the room picked up the voice of the young woman, crying to be released. Turning back to Robert, he said, “You can hear everything going on in the room. Do not touch anything whatsoever. Simply sit down and watch and listen. All right?”

Robert simply nodded, his eyes intent on the hapless bound victim. He completely missed his host putting a remote control in his pocket, along with a large sheath knife and a cattle prod stun wand.

Joseph left the control room and went a few feet down the hall, then stepped into a very small and dark room. Closing the door behind him, he unlatched another door and stepped into the mirrored room, quickly closing the disguised entrance behind him. The girl turned on the floor and stared at him wildly. “Joey! Get me out of here! What is going on? Joey, answer me!” she screamed.

Joseph simply walked around her, perusing his latest capture. Her procurement had been comically simple. Identification of potential captures was by far the most difficult part of the process. Capture was typically much easier. In this case, he had simply called the girl at the office she was a secretary at and told her that he was a headhunter with a legal services firm. Would she meet him for dinner to discuss a potential job offering? There were no strings attached, and he was prepared to offer a considerable bonus simply for talking to him and hearing the offer.

He was completely unsurprised when she accepted. They almost always did. They met at a small restaurant across town from where she worked and had a couple of drinks before sitting down to dinner. While she washed up, he slipped a small vial of chloral hydrate from his pocket and poured it into her drink. By the time dinner had arrived, she had passed out onto the table. Throwing some cash onto the table, he had apologized for his companion’s behavior to the waiter, saying she had drunk too much, then had picked her up and carried her from the restaurant. He had placed her in the back of a van and strapped her down and blindfolded and gagged her. Fishing her car keys from her purse, he had tossed them to an associate. “You know which one and what to do?” he asked.