Chapter 62

Tuesday10/03/06 10:15 AM

Eddie Janak didn't like his office at work. Not that it wasn't a perfectly nice office, plenty of room, comfortable chair, large desk, enough shelves for his needs. He just viewed his job as being out in the field, and the in-between times when a job wasn't in the planning, performance, or debriefing stages ... paperwork. That's what he had, and it wasn't even paperwork he particularly needed to do. His assistant had proven herself more than capable of doing a better job at such things than he'd ever manage – he had no qualms about signing his name to any report or other bit of bureaucratic nonsense she saw fit to put on his desk.
"Carlisle!" he bellowed, bringing his forty-four year old assistant, heavy-set with greying, short, business-like hair, into the office.
"You need to bitch again, Janak," she replied, "or do you actually need me to do something?"
Eddie thanked his lucky stars no one else had seen fit to look past Georgia Carlisle's eccentricities to the superb employee she was. She'd been on the edge of unemployment when he'd agreed to break down and accept an assistant for the office side of his job. It was a match made in HR Heaven – he put up with her blunt and ornery truthfulness, she tolerated his moods, and for many years his habitually hung-over condition. They suited each other, and he wasn't sure what he would do if she retired, or moved on to another position elsewhere.
"Just bitchin' and whinin'," he replied. "I'm tired of bein' in the office-"
"You were tired of that the very first day you were back," she interrupted.
He stared at her, giving her an evil eye that she returned measure for measure.
"Okay, true enough. Any news in the office grapevine about our next assignment?"
"As such, no."
Eddie sighed dejectedly.
"Keep a stiff upper lip, bucko," she continued. "You aren't supposed to know about this, but Fowler is coming down to talk to you this afternoon. Bambi Barbie let it slip that she'd put it on his schedule."
Eddie snickered at Carlisle's nickname for the company's owner's executive assistant. Barbara Hoffnitz played the office politics game by using her sexuality, and sexual favors, to ensconce herself in a position of power within the company. It worked for her where a more ethical method might not – she wasn't too intelligent, but was cunning. Not so cunning as she could keep her mouth shut, but as long as William Fowler III's cock ended up in her mouth on a regular basis, that was an overlookable deficiency in her work skills.
And until he met Antoinette, Eddie had never seen any woman more cosmetically augmented than Ms. Hoffnitz. She, unlike Antoinette, stayed on the 'normal' side ... just barely.
"Any idea why the boss is showing up in my office instead of summoning me to his?"
"You really that simple a son-of-a-bitch, Janak?"
"No ... he's going to tell me something I'm not going to like hearing."
"Good boy. You keep practicing that 'thinking' thing and you'll go far," Carlisle replied, smirking.
"Getta outta here before I fire you..." Eddie growled, barely keeping the smile off his face.
"Go ahead," she said, turning and heading for the coffee pot. "Cut your own throat, see if I care."
*
10/03/06 2:00 PM

William Fowler III was not an imposing man. He looked and dressed like an accountant and it was fortunate for his family's company that he on occasion thought like one as well.
"Eddie, you're in the office too much," he said after they'd exchanged greetings.
"Not my fault, Boss," Eddie replied. "I'm not the one who procures and schedules our assignments. But as you can imagine, I agree with you."
"Good. I've been looking to expand the business for the last six months or so, and it's feasible ... just so long as you and your team can deal with some traveling."
Eddie and his crew had already hopped all over the south and southwest of the country, but generally were home part of the time involved, so he raised an eyebrow.
"Travel where, sir?"
"Got a passport?"
"No sir."
"Get one, you and your whole merry pirate band. Expect to be out of the country for up to a month at a time, although that shouldn't be the case all too often. I'm expecting your trips to take about as much time as any other job you've done for us – two to three weeks at most."
Eddie thought about Tamara and Rachel at the house, with Merry, Annie Beth, Alison, Kim and her kids. A lot of very precious eggs all in one basket. Still, Alison was a very tough protector for those eggs, and the rest of the family was very close.
"I'm not sure my crew is going to be too eager..."
"Yes, Eddie, there's an across the board raise to cover the inconvenience and a per diem while you're traveling."
"But I'm sure they'll come around. How soon do we need to be ready?"
"As soon as you can get your passports."
"Okay, I'll get on it as soon as we're done here," Eddie replied.
Fowler stood. "Then I'll get out of your way." He nodded to Eddie, and left the office.
Eddie had the good sense to wait a few moments before bellowing, "Carlisle, who do we know that can expedite passports?"
"I know a guy, but it'll still be about two weeks. You better get the monkey squad in gear filling out paperwork!" she replied.
"And me too," he murmured under his breath.
"And you too," she called.
*
10/03/06 7:15 PM

"So, as soon as we get our passports, the crew and I'll be out of the country for weeks at a time."
Tamara smiled serenely. "We will all be here when you leave, we will all be here when you return."
"I know, darlin', I know. It's just..."
"It's that Rachel will be here and you're very nervous about leaving us alone," she said, pressing her tiny hand against his mouth. "Don't be. Alison will be here, and should anything look or sound amiss to her, the rest of the family will give us any and all help we'll need."
She gazed up into his eyes. "You know how lucky we are to have the family we do. Don't sell their devotion short by worrying needlessly. We'll be fine."
"How does someone so wise and wonderful fall in love with someone like me?" Eddie asked, pulling her up to him so he could bury his face in her neck.
"Silly man ... we fall in love with you because we're wise and wonderful."

Wednesday10/04/06 2:12 AM

Tamara watched his face as he slept. That night she had relegated Merry and Annie Beth to a spare bedroom. She was the lady of the house, and this was just for her. She waited for the nightmares to come, waited for her Edward's torment to manifest ... and it did. It almost always did. She climbed atop his writhing body and held him, whispering to him of her love, assuring him it would be all right.
It was all going to be okay, she was sure of it. Now they were together and close to their family, nothing too bad could happen to them.
He quieted, and she let herself relax, falling asleep as she did so many nights, lying on top of him.
She fell asleep with her secret bit of knowledge, shared with only three others.
Tamara, Carol, Annie Beth, and Merry were the only ones who knew that Annie Beth and Merry were not on any form of birth control. As her Edward's concubines, she hoped they bore as many children as they wanted. She would love them all as if they were her own.

10/04/06 9:53 AM

Nancy Holzer was having one of the worst days in her life. Well, not really, she reflected. There had been lots of days in prison that had been much worse, but since she was facing a return to that place of much worse days, maybe her first evaluation hadn't been that far off.

She'd known her DEA handlers were going to be upset by her failure to get in with the Grimes family, in hope of making her way into the Philouma organization.

Nancy hadn't guessed how bugfuck crazy it was going to make them.

"Look cunt, I don't give a shit if you have to munch every fuckin' asshole in the whole damn city, you get in with them or we put you right back where we found you!" yelled Agent Harbon.

No matter how cool she tried to play it, Nancy couldn't forget the endless nights with Virgie - who was not only her cellmate, but a big bull dyke with the foulest smelling and tasting pussy Nancy had ever known ... a pussy she was forced to service. The hate shiver brought on by those memories didn't pass through her, it came and stayed.

"I don't think our little rug-muncher wants to go back," Agent Simona said, laughing. "What's the matter, you didn't enjoy your stay in federal custody?"

Nancy sat silent, refusing to dignify the question.

"All right then, since you're of no use to us, I guess it's back to the loving arms of your cellmate ... yeah, we kept your bunk just the way you left it," snarled Harbon.

Nancy tried reason. "Look, sir, if I was your boss, and I told you to go out in the parking lot, flap your wings, and fly away, what would you do?"

"This ain't the same," Harbon spat.

"Yeah it is. This little woman, Carol, she did not like me at all," Nancy continued. "She gave me a thumb's down and that's all there was to it. Even my cousin listens to her like she's got a pipeline to God. There was nothing I could do, and given what you've told me, there's nothing I can do, to change the situation."

The two agents strode out the door, slamming it behind them, leaving her alone in the little house's bedroom, still cuffed to the hard metal chair. At least for the moment it looked like she might not be going back to prison.

Hours later when they returned, she was on the edge of pissing herself.

"Guys, before we get on with it, can I go to the bathroom? I'm dying..."

"No," Simona replied, "I don't think so – not until you give me something we can use. You gotta go that bad, piss yourself. You can clean it up later."

"Okay," Nancy replied, "what else do you want?"

"If you can't get in," Harbon said, "we need something we can use to flip the Grimes, so they'll give us what we need on Philouma."

In spite of her pain, Nancy smiled. "Well, there were a lot of drugs there – nothing more than pot and hallucinogens, but believe me, there was enough of both to get 'em for trafficking..."

10/04/06 11:20 AM

"Eddie," the voice on the phone said, "somebody just tried to get a search warrant issued for your friends' house on Garwood. Judge squashed it, but these assholes are DEA and they're gonna keep trying."

Within seconds of that phone call ending, Eddie was on the phone to the Grimes house.

"Hey Camille. Did Harry tell ya about that CD I wanted to borrow?"

"Uh, yeah..."

"I'll be by to pick it up this evening, prolly about 6:30. Don't worry if you can't find it, I know where he put it."

"Okay," Camille replied.

Camille and the rest of the household staff had all drugs and paraphernalia hidden in Harry's "stoner safe" within a half hour. They'd covered the house twice looking for anything and everything that might be incriminating. While any police would know it was a house full of "sexual deviants", there was little chance they'd find anything anyone could get arrested for.

"God, I was so scared to hear Eddie talking about a CD," Camille sighed.

"Good practice, if nothing else," Dayna rasped. "Glad Harry was smart enough to have this put in." She examined the back of the middle closet in the master bedroom again, knocking and thumping to make sure everything was secure. "All right girls, let's throw the stuff back in the closet."

10/04/06 01:30 PM

Emily de Jesus was not normally a threatening figure, but by the time she was wrapping up a meeting with Robert Banning, Agents Harbon and Simona's supervisor, he would have sworn she was the devil incarnate.

"And finally, a doctor who has a lot of friends in high places and a respected local businessman! Two people you'd need a lot of probable cause to get a warrant on in the first place, and you want to go give your agency a PR nightmare by busting in their door on the word of a convicted felon!"

"Uh, ma'am, a convicted felon who's the cousin of a close family friend of theirs, a guy we suspect has all the wrong kinds of friends."

"I suspect all of us, at one time or another, has had the wrong kind of friends," she replied, trying to calm herself. "The Bureau is working on a case against the major players in this area – the Russians, the Chinese, the Mexicans, and yes, the Philouma crime family – and the Bureau Chief for this entire district is ready to promise you absolutely no cooperation between his people and yours if you continue to stick your nose into this. I for one need a good rapport with the Bureau, I suspect you, or your supervisors, find it useful as well. You're playing a half-assed long shot trying to get someone in on the lowest level of their organizations, threatening a larger investigation that has people in much higher places. Either shut it the hell down or prepare to be buggered by our friends in the Hoover building."

"Are you going to start yelling at me again if I tell you I can't do that?"

"No," she said, taking a very deep breath, "I'm going to ask you why you can't do it."

He looked at her, wincing. "I don't really have a good reason why I can't shut it down, dammit. Other than two of my best people are convinced our attempts to get this Holzer woman in will yield fruit further down the line."

"Fine. Evidently you trust them more than me and the Bureau. That's good. It's good to trust your people. But believe me when I say you're going to get very tired of being ignored by this office and the Bureau."

"How ignored?"

"Who are you and why are you in my office? I'm calling security."

"Okay ... okay ... I get the point. I'll shut them down."

"What are you planning to do with her?" Emily asked. "She appears to have done her best, she just ran into a brick wall."

"We'll be sending her back to jail, just a different facility, lower level of security. She did what she could do." He stood and extended a hand. "I tell you, this Grimes family, they're a clannish bunch."

"So I understand," Emily replied, taking his hand and shaking. "Thank you for cooperating."

"It's all right," Banning said, heading for the door. "You know you owe me a big one down the road, don't you?"

Emily de Jesus hid her relief behind a smile and a nod. "Oh yes, yes I do."

10/04/06 06:05 PM

From one burner cell phone, Emily placed a call to Nick Philouma. From another burner phone, Nick placed a call to Eddie Janak. And that evening, Eddie was in the Grimes home, sweeping the house for bugs.

Finally, "Okay, y'all're clear. Dayna, you been watchin' me. I'm leavin' this equipment here. You sweep this house and the backyard every gawddamn day for bugs, come rain or fuckin' shine. You pay special attention on days when anyone has been in the house that you don't know, like repairmen, contractors, whoever. Eventually, once Margo gets her damn Corral set up, every inch of it's gonna be swept daily. By then you'll have enough security on site for them to take over that chore. You got me?"

"Yes sir," Dayna replied, her head bowed. "It will be done."

Eddie was so worried that he didn't even notice Spyderchylde's deference.

"For now, it's safe to bring the dope outta the safe, but get a little better about not havin' it and the hookahs and pipes spread out all over the place. Try to keep it a little neater, so it's easier to stash should the need arise."

Camille nodded and Eddie looked away, murmuring to himself, "Glad the stuff from the fuckin' party isn't here. Don't know where the fuck we'd put that much stuff. Need to call Minerva, see if she has any ideas."

No one other than Eddie would have found it strange that he referred to Madame Cornelius by her first name, and Eddie himself was far too distracted.

"If the gawddamn cops ever raid this place durin' a fuckin' party, we're all goin' to jail for a long fuckin' time..." he muttered, heading for the master bedroom to check out the safe yet again.

10/04/06 11:40 PM

That night as he lay in bed talking with Tamara, she could see the tension was still eating at him. He'd taught Alison to sweep the house first thing on arriving home, and when Merry and Annie Beth had returned from Rays of Sunshine, he'd sat the whole household down and given them a lecture on security.

"Sir, it's obvious you need to relax," Tamara said, curled up beside him.

"Yeah, but I don't think smokin' a big ol' bowl would exactly soothe me tonight. Came too close today – way too close."

"That wasn't my plan, sir," she said. "Let me go run and check on something, and then I'll help you relieve some stress."

He watched the love of his live run out of the bedroom, naked and glorious, looking so much better than she had the first time they met, and thought again of how lucky he was. Some parts of that luck – the other three women who were somehow his responsibility – he wasn't at all comfortable with, but as long as his little love was still his, everything else could be dealt with.

Moments later, Tamara came back in the room, hopped onto the bed on all fours and crawled up to his head, throwing a leg over his face, settling her cunt close to his lips.

"You, sir, pay attention to this for a while."

He grabbed her thighs and began to worship his love's crotch, licking and nibbling, giving it all his attention.

But even so, when the hard-on bobbing between his legs was positioned and slid into a warm, wet, welcoming pussy, he noticed.

"Who?" he said, drawing back.

"Who isn't important, sir, your attention is wandering," Tamara said, batting him gently on the side of his head.

He returned to loving his fiance, and as legs tightened on either side of his, he knew who was fucking him. Had to be Alison – not skinny enough for Annie Beth, not plump enough for Merry, just hard muscle sheathed in warm flesh. He thought about his fantasy, taking her from behind, hands clinched in her long, beautiful hair, using them like reins, albeit gently, while he watched his cock slam into her firm ass. It had been a passing fancy the first time he ever saw her, something he was quite content knowing would never happen.

And now, there was no reason it shouldn't.

"Sweetheart," he said, pulling back slightly. "Would you mind..."

"Do whatever you want to do, my love," Tamara replied.

A few moments later he was living his fantasy, even better than he had dreamed it as Tamara stood behind him on the bed, holding him, caressing him, whispering things into his ear that he never expected to hear a lover say to him.

"She's beautiful, isn't she, Edward? Fuck her, fuck her 'til she screams, then keep going until she collapses beneath you. Then who do you want to fuck next, sir? Do you want Merry on your cock, bouncing and jiggling, or Annie Beth, beautiful dark skin shining in the light? Or maybe you want little old me? I want to be encased in women's flesh while you fuck me, the creamy center in a submissive sandwich, held in place by their bodies while you pound into me like the beautiful fucking machine you are."

Thursday 10/05/06 05:53 AM

The beginning of the end came suddenly – an early morning phone call from one of Nick's capo's, Dickie Tomassino.

"Nick, I've been talking with some of the others ... we gotta bring this thing to an end, or there ain't gonna be an organization left."

"Well, what do you think we should do?" Nick asked, trying to keep the exultation out of his voice.

"We gotta make a deal, and I don't think anybody's gonna be too damn picky about what kinda deal we make."

"Are you speaking for all my capos?" Nick asked, hardly daring to breathe.

"Yeah ... yeah Boss. We ... we understand why this thing started, and how it started, and you ain't done nothin' but good since you took over ... it's just ... there's too many of them and too few of us. Maybe in another ten years or so, we could get some payback..."

"But you feel that now it's too costly and it needs to end," Nick finished.

"Yeah..." Dickie replied, his answer scarcely louder than a sigh.

"And you're all willing to deal with whatever terms I and our enemies arrive at?"

"Yeah," Dickie said, his voice stronger. "Nobody in the family is gonna like 'em, no matter what they are, but we'll accept 'em."

Friday 10/06/06 06:04 PM

"How the hell does she do that, Big Mama?" Kelly asked, squatting by the bed.

"You don't have to ask me," Margo replied. "You've done it as well."

"Yeah, but only after a lot of work – three times I've managed it. She drops down and swallows it like it ain't nothing at all – and while he's not a porn star, it's definitely not nothing at all."

"Excuse me..." Harry panted, "but could you ... discuss this ... some other time?"

Margo chuckled, enjoying the situation immensely. It was a very small subset of people in the world who could find themselves in her shoes. She and her wife were watching their wife deep throat their husband.

"C'mon Kelly, let's leave these two to it. Besides, I figure we should put together what we're all wearing tonight."

"Yeah. Besides, he deserves it. We've all had our tension bled off tonight. Poor dear deserves no less," Kelly said, getting up and joining Margo in leaving the suite's master bedroom.

Harry could feel Carol's smile around his dick, and even if that hadn't been plain, she was chuckling as well.

"Yeah ... yeah ... it was funny ... but not ... that funny."

She returned her attention to her task, and with the peanut gallery gone, it wasn't long before Harry was moaning as his orgasm shuddered through his body.

Harry had offered Carol's siblings the choice of where their initial introductions would occur, and they'd all agreed by all reports the restaurant in the Hotel at Oldtown, where the Grimes were staying, was superb. Harry had felt a bit guilty that Carol's family was coming to them, but he realized the hotel was as good a neutral ground as any.

At Margo's urging, he'd had the restaurant put them in a private dining room. He didn't like to think just how many ways the meeting could go wrong, and even if it went right ... some of the things they'd be explaining and discussing could very easily disrupt other patrons' dining experiences.

By the time he recovered enough to get up, grab a quick shower, and get dressed, the ladies were ready and sitting in the suite's living room. While they had packed for casual comfortable, his wives all looked exquisite, while he felt he had achieved 'acceptable'. Carol, in particular, was radiant, obviously so happy and proud to be introducing her loves to her family, and vice versa.

Harry hoped and prayed she'd still feel so good by the end of the evening.

"Well, let's get this party started," Margo said.

Together they went down to the hotel bar to wait for Carol's brothers and sister.

"One drink a piece – nothing too strong," Margo said as they took a table with a view of the hotel's main entrance and the restaurant. "We may well end up getting snockered after our guests leave, but let's put our best foot forward."

"Wouldn't that be 'best feet'," Harry quipped.

Margo shot him a look that slowly wiped his cocky grin from his face. He wisely didn't say anything about that look, and how it revealed Margo was very tense.

Carol was hoping against hope her siblings would bring their families, just to get it all over with and out in the open, but she knew better. She didn't even think they'd bring their spouses, and when she saw them enter the hotel lobby, she was proven correct.

Kevin, her oldest brother, looked like Carol and her mother. Dusky complexion, dark brown hair, dark eyes. The intervening years hadn't changed him much, but Carol could tell he was under a lot of stress. She hoped it was just the meeting and not a sign of some deeper problems. His face was tight and if a smile crossed his lips, it was very fast and very temporary.

Kimberley, her sister, took after their father's side of the family. She'd dyed her hair to a more brilliant shade than the dishwater blonde of their father, or their brother Carson, and had put on a few pounds. They looked good on her, and while Kim didn't do much for Carol personally, she knew if her sister was dropped into the middle of a family party with the Grimes, she'd be walking bowlegged when she left. Kim was smiling openly and Carol was happy to see it.

Carson looked so much like their father Carol had to double check to make sure it wasn't him. Age wasn't being kind to him, or maybe it was something else, but his distracted look lifted as he saw Carol clearly, and he was the first to break ranks and run to her.

"Baby sister, how the heck are you?" he asked as he picked her up in a hug and twirled her around.

"Better than I can tell you," she said, holding him tightly.

Kimberley was only a few steps behind, and finally, a minute or so behind her came Kevin. The four of them hugged and kissed and 'ooh'ed and 'aw'ed, then Carol introduced her spouses, waving off all questions until they were safely ensconced in the restaurant.

Interesting looks a-plenty went around the table as drinks were ordered, and appetizers, and finally entrees. After the waiters were gone, the talk was once again delayed, Carol's siblings sharing pictures of their families, and talking about their spouses and children. The meal was a pleasant one, with no mention of the Grimes marriage until after-dinner coffee and dessert had been consumed.

"Finally time to address the elephant in the room," Harry began, but Carol cut him off.

"Sir, let me explain it to them, and we'll see what questions they have afterward."

10/06/06 09:33 PM

Back in their suite at the evening's end, the four spouses were a case study in "not happy".

Margo sat with her back to the suite's "living room", looking out the window at the city below her.

Kelly was staring at the door of the suite, muttering quietly to herself. If anyone had been close enough to hear, her muttering would have revealed itself as a non-stop string of creative profanities.

Harry was in the bedroom, lying with his leg propped up, studying the ceiling and wondering at the propriety of murdering one's future in-laws.

And Carol was in the bathroom, crying, refusing to let anyone comfort her.

The family remained in their separate torments and angers until Harry had had enough. He put on his brace, knowing he'd need it, and stalked out into the living room.

"Enough of this shit," he said, going to the minibar and making himself a drink. "So, tonight turned out within spitting distance of being as bad as we thought it could get. What are we going to do about it?"

"What can we do about it?" Margo said, her voice tight and angry. "Baby Girl effectively shut us down when she said she didn't want us to try and change her sibling's minds. Why," she continued with something close to a chuckle, "it's like she knows we wouldn't be too gentle about it."

"Well, there's the beginning of an idea," Kelly said. "Let's be real gentle about it."

Everything had been going well during the after-dinner conversation until Carol brought up getting together with her siblings' families, only to be told, by all three, that would be impossible at this time. There was a lot of hemming and hawing about the reasons but in the end it boiled down to her brothers not wanting to explain the Grimes relationship to their children, and Kimberly not wanting to inflict her soon-to-be-ex-husband on them. Kimberly's reason they could understand, but the general opinion of Carson and Kevin was they were assholes and needed a good beating. Carol in the end had put a forced smile on her face and gotten her spouses away from her siblings before someone lost their temper. Once back in the suite, she'd made her wishes known to her spouses and headed for the bathroom.

"Look," Kelly said, "Kimberly didn't seem to agree with the other two, that bullshit about explaining things to the kids and I don't know ... I almost got this feeling..."

"What?" Harry said. "That she'd drop to her knees and kiss Margo's ass at the drop of a hat ... any hat ... anywhere?"

Margo shot to her feet and turned around.

"What?"

"And you talk about me being oblivious," Harry chuckled. "Yeah honey, she's ready to widen her experience ... perhaps not for the first time. I mean, c'mon, she is Carol's sister, but yeah, you've got a big ol' in with her, if you choose to use it."

"Use it to do what?" Margo said. "Get laid? In case you've forgotten, that doesn't seem to be a problem in this family."

Kelly went and hugged her wife.

"Carol said we couldn't try to change Kevin and Carlson's minds," she said. "She didn't say anything about Kimberly changing their minds."

"There's not really any time," Margo said. "We're leaving Sunday evening, it's too late to do anything in time for a get-together tomorrow..."

"Honey, I guarantee you, you call Kimberly's number, she'll not only take your call, but be up here panting and begging asap," Harry said. "Seduce her tonight, get her to talk to the asshole twins tomorrow morning. If it works, we can do something tomorrow night, or Sunday morning, hell, Sunday afternoon even. Just get her to make this right for her sister. Hell, if I thought it would help I'd blow her brothers. Thankfully they don't seem to swing that way. Kelly, on the other hand ... she could blow them..."