Chapter 22: The Home Invasion and the Aftermath

Ed dropped in on Armand. "Boss, I don't think I should fuck this woman."

Armand eyed him. "Why?"

"If she gets a look at me, there will be problems, later."

"You're not squicked, are you?"

"Nah. Hell, Boss, if I was put off by a little recreational violence, I'd be long gone. It's just the complications. If you turn her loose some time and let ALL the boys dick her, I'll be in line with the rest -- but until then, I'll hold off."

"Sensible," Armand nodded. "Witherspoon provided me three people, so we're not hampered in any way. But I want you to go in with the first group, and the third to come in later, in order to confuse Sharon as to numbers, understood?"

"Sure, Boss."

"Okay. It won't hurt you to be a couple of minutes early. Do you have everything you need?"

"Yeah, it's not that much, really. Damned computer is the worst of it."

Armand chuckled. "Computer literacy won't hurt you." Ed shrugged agreement, and got out of there.

Running the laundry pointed up the lack of water fairly quickly; Sharon knew things were broken before Nora left. She was still trying to figure out whether it was worthwhile to try to get the plumber on a Sunday when a knock sounded at the door. Peering through the peep, she picked up a couple of guys in dungarees. She put the chain on and opened the door. "Yes?"

"Plumbers." There were two guys on the step in ball caps and dungarees, with name tags. Somebody else was coming up the walk with a couple of buckets, obviously from the van out front. She glanced at the black guy, but the two on the step were glaring at the third guy who was coming up the walk, head down. The white guy said, "Mr. Wilson sent us."

"Oh." Apparently, there were benefits to surveillance, after all. Sharon undid the chain and stepped back. The first guy stepped past, digging in a black felt bag -- and then all Hell broke loose! Hands grabbed her from behind, and the black felt bag went over Sharon's head. Struggling turned out to be both useless and painful; two men were MORE than enough to overpower her. One held her in place while the other quickly constrained her hands behind her; attempts to kick one of them got her a good hard slap through the bag, while an attempt to scream brought a punch in the stomach that lost her her air supply. At that point, things got quiet, for a moment...

Actually, the place was a hive of activity. Ed stood by, frowning at the casual violence, but it WAS in the scenario. The white guy held up his hand to acknowledge the criticism, while the black unlimbered a laptop and brought it out of hibernation. Ed watched this, then fished his out, and the black operative helped him get set up, too, while his colleague laid out various things that would be used to bind and abuse Sharon. The white guy, who they'd agreed to call Mike (that wasn't his name) motioned to Ed that it was time to head upstairs as the third operative, a younger, blond guy, came through the door and closed it. Ed nodded and headed upstairs with his stuff -- he'd come back down for the laptop in a second, which would give him another look in...

Sharon started getting air into her lungs again, and moved from curling in agony to struggling feebly. Wow! That punch hurt! What were these people here for? Maybe it was one of Armand's little games -- well, THIS wasn't any way to get her to move in with him! Wait until she got going on HIM next time!

At that point, more immediate concerns came to the fore; 'Mike' started tugging off her slacks! Still blinded by the bag, Sharon tried to fight back, but the men could see, and she couldn't. The black guy -- 'Lou' -- started giving 'Mike' gestured positioning directions based upon instructions coming over the laptop's IM client, as Armand started tuning everyone's positions for optimum video capture. When they were done, 'Lou' rotated the laptop so they could see it, then put his foot in Sharon's stomach -- none too gently -- to hold her in place while 'Mike' wrestled her slacks off.

The flip-flops Sharon had been wearing were long gone; 'Mike' stood up and directed 'Lou' into position for a melodramatic ripping away of her panties.

Armand, running things from his mansion via IM, chuckled. The pair were good; they were keeping their faces out of the picture, but keeping Sharon well-centered, while maintaining the action and believability.

"What do you want?" Sharon asked querulously. Despite the removal of her clothing below the waist, SURELY this couldn't be just about rape... The ripping away of her panties and the quiet chuckles that accompanied it had caused a gasp of shock, but she was still having problems believing that anyone would single her out for a purely sexual attack...

"Quiet, Slut!" 'Ted', the blond operative, rasped, while 'Mike' swatted her on her stomach, which had been exposed during the wrestling match, "Speak when you're spoken to!"

"Why don' we jus' slit her throat an' be done wit' it?" 'Lou' asked. Ed, coming back downstairs, caught 'Mike' grinning as he held up his finger to his lips. Ed knew what was up, instantly; 'Lou' and he had spoken at length, and 'Lou' was apparently English, educated at Oxford -- the gutter- black accent was pure misdirection.

'Ted' took up the 'explanation': "You like fucking dead bitches? If the Boss just wanted her dead, we could have used a rifle! This cunt belongs to Wilson, and the Boss wants a point made! Besides, when I stick my dick down her throat, I want her to gag, not just have the thing poke out the hole..."

"Awright, awright..."

Sharon went from JUST fear to stone cold terror! They planned to kill her! Oh, God! She sucked in air to scream...

... And took another punch in the stomach, while 'Ted' roared, "Shut UP, bitch!" 'Mike' pulled her curled body into a more or less vertical position, sitting up and 'Lou' opened a case and extracted an odd-looking pair of goggles. When Sharon apparently had her oxygen supply back, 'Ted' announced, "All right, Slut, this is how it's gonna go. We're gonna take off the bag and fit you with some goggles that will allow you to see a bit of this and that, in certain directions. This is for our benefit -- we want you to be able to see to fuck. If you keep your eyes where they're supposed to be, you might survive the afternoon -- but if you fuck around and get a look at one of us, we'll gut you and leave you to die, slow. Understand?"

Sharon opened her mouth to speak -- and took a slap. "A nod will do. Speak when you're told to. You can moan and groan a bit, while we're having fun, but keep it down... Oh, and we own Wilson's cameras for the afternoon, so we're capturing this for posterity. If you're lucky, and survive, maybe your old man will play the video for you -- if not, it'll make an excellent snuff flick..." Sharon didn't know what a 'snuff flick' was, and didn't want to; she nodded. Her 'home training' with Armand kept her from getting too stupid; she knew better than to disbelieve someone who had her under his physical control, or to make useless struggles. "Okay, here we go... look down, and stay that way until the goggles are on." 'Ted' lifted the hood, and 'Lou' fitted Sharon with the goggles from behind.

The goggles were odd, kind of a bifocal. If Sharon looked down, she could see pretty clearly, but there was a transition to a total blur before the mid area of the lenses was reached, so that over most of the area of the lens, nothing could be made out clearly. In addition, there was a gradual silvering that dimmed light, making the lenses virtually opaque at the tops. It was amazing how much the combination screwed up the eyes; basically, they were driven to the bottom of the lenses, as nowhere else was comfortable. "Okay," 'Ted' announced, "We're gonna take off the binders, and you're gonna shuck out of the rest of your clothes, like a good slut -- but first, an object lesson..." He took an ordinary mini-maglite and shined it at the goggles.

Sharon went immediately, searingly blind; the light, reflected by the silvering multiple times, was shockingly painful. "Aaaaahhhh!"

"Do as you're told, Slut! And DON'T touch the goggles, if you want to live!" 'Ted' barked.

Lou released the wrist restraints, and Sharon ALMOST reflexively reached for the goggles. 'Lou' grabbed a handful of her blouse and shook her by it. "Get outta this!"

Ed sighed. He'd like to watch this, but he had work upstairs... He waved to 'Mike' and headed up. Maybe he'd get done in time for the finish...

Sharon was in 'totally docile' mode -- nothing else would do, apparently. She got out of her blouse and bra without fanfare, 'Ted' snatching them away as soon as they were clear. Her dazzled retinas registered nothing at all. 'Lou' dragged her to a carefully placed straight chair, while 'Ted' on her other side, ordered, "Sit!" In a menacing tone, he continued, "So, you're Wilson's main slut, huh? You can answer questions, Slut, if you keep it low."

"I'm... his ex-wife..."

"Ex, huh? Rumor says there's more to it than that. Rumor says you work for him, and that he still fucks you, regularly. When's the last time you fucked him?"

"Uuuh..." 'Ted' grabbed Sharon's left breast and squeezed. "Aaaaaahh! W-wednesday!"

'Ted' nodded to 'Lou', who reached around from behind and crushed her right breast. "Liar! You were at his place yesterday!"

"Uuuuuuhhhh! W-we didn't have sex! Just lunch!"

"Pretty cozy for an ex-wife..." 'Ted' glanced up at the laptop, where the instant messenger said one word -- 'Time'. 'Mike', also watching, nodded and swiped everything off the coffee table. "Get up, Slut." 'Ted' grabbed her wrist and jerked her from the chair, but 'Lou' took charge of her at that point, guiding her to the table. At that point, there was a gestured discussion wherein 'Mike' made suggestions for table positioning and Armand replied by IM. Finally, they moved a chair and rotated the table forty-five degrees, which gave the cameras a head-on, a tail-on, and a side view, all offset a bit to keep the men themselves from obscuring the action. Sharon, still seeing spots, caught hints of movement and sounds, but couldn't figure out exactly what they were up to. 'Lou' had a wrist in each big hand, though, so she didn't attempt to go anywhere. There were three of them and one of her, blind -- all she could do was cooperate and hope to survive.

'Lou' let go of one wrist and pushed her to her knees, then forced her flat across the coffee table with a hand on her neck. 'Mike', faced with a question that couldn't be properly gestured, went to the keyboard and typed 'Where?'

'Ass' was the reply. 'Mike' shrugged and unzipped his coverall.

Meanwhile, 'Ted' kept Sharon's attention with questions. "You work for him, right? What do you know about his west-coast distribution network?"

"N-nothing."

"Don't be coy. It'll hurt you." He slid a hand between where her breasts mashed against the table. Sharon, instinctively, raised up a bit, and he slid the hand to the right, collecting a handful of left breast. Sharon's realization that she'd screwed up came only an instant before the crushing pain began. She started a scream, but 'Ted' terminated it with a slap that rocked her head. Tears poured. The pain! Oh, God, the pain! "Now, tell me what I want to know!"

"Oh, God, ogodogod -- I only do charity work!"

"Right!" 'Ted' let 'Mike' handle things; 'Lou' moved to his left (Sharon felt a shift in his grip on her neck) and 'Mike' knelt up and began pushing his cock against her cringing asshole.

"Aaaauuuuggghhhh! Noooooooo!" Sharon wailed, as what felt like a telephone pole pressed itself irresistibly against her sphincter.

"So start talking!"

"I don't draw a paycheck, or anything! I only see him every couple of weeks! I just find places where he can make charitable contributions for taxes!" Sharon wailed.

Sharon's bunghole was losing the fight. There were a couple of reasons for this, the primary one being experience. Sharon's experience with anal sex -- even dry anal sex -- was fairly lengthy; she knew instinctively what to do about it and reacted more or less without thought. 'Mike' popped through after a fairly short struggle, and began sawing back and forth, hawking and spitting at the point where his cock was being crushed by her ring to add a bit of lubrication. A fuck like this always felt like all of the hairs on your dick were being pulled out...

"So you don't know anything about his business? I doubt that..."

"Ow! Ow! Oooohhhh! N-not a lot! I get told... Aah! Business plans, so... Ouch! Charity contributions can help lubricate things..." God! Sharon was wishing for lubrication!

"Bribes," 'Ted' grunted.

"Uuhh! Maybe! But it's -- ugh! -- not direct! Nothing goes straight into someone's pocket! Aah! Armand gets the charitable contribution and the politician involved gets the benefit of a pet project moving forward... Uuhh! Usually, Armand gets something HE wants, too -- a building permit, or something..."

Nodding was a waste of time; Sharon could see "Ted's" shoes, and that was it at this point. Her vision was picking up, but her head was down and the goggles were impeding vision in every direction except toward the floor. 'Ted' grunted, "So getting you to talk is a waste of time -- might as well use your mouth for something else..." He nodded to 'Lou', who released her neck so he could shuck out of his dungarees. 'Ted' readied a foot to place on her neck, but Sharon merely rose up on her elbows, hanging her head and concentrating on the violation of her ass. Experience with Armand made this less unpleasant than it would have been to an anal virgin; Sharon was adapting rapidly, which made things easier on both of them. Moments later, the next phase began; a hand reached under her chin and pulled her head up. Suddenly, her vision was filled by the sight of a big, black cock. "Suck, bitch!" 'Lou' hissed.

Almost two decades of submissive experience betrayed her; she opened her mouth, and he began jamming it in. Sharon began to suspect that the goggles magnified where they allowed vision, since the cock certainly didn't seem to be remarkably bigger in her mouth. The truth was that her perceptions were somewhat distorted; 'Lou' wasn't a 'black superman', but was healthily-sized, coming in at about eight inches -- which wasn't appreciably different than Armand. In fact, of the three of them, 'Mike' was the largest; the cock he was sawing in and out of Sharon's rectum topped nine inches. 'Lou' went straight for a gag fuck, though, deliberately rushing Sharon, poking his cock down her throat. Sharon tried to keep up, but 'Lou' was taking no prisoners and she began to retch. 'Lou' waited until she was certain to vomit, then hooked a trash can over with his foot. "Puke, bitch!" Sharon obliged him -- she really didn't have any choice! She heaved into the can again and again before she managed to regain control. "Good," 'Lou' grunted. "Save us trouble later."

While Sharon scrubbed at her mouth weakly with one hand, 'Ted' noisily dashed up the stairs. The effort was deliberate -- he wanted Sharon to remember someone going up. "How's it going?" he asked Ed.

"Okay. Paint won't be dry by the time we pull out."

"How long, you figure?"

"I want another half-hour, but can probably do it in fifteen minutes." Ed related.

"We'll try to give you twenty-two."

"Where are you?" Ed asked.

"Been messing with her head," 'Ted' replied. "Pretty soon, we'll shift to making her enjoy it." Ed nodded and went back to painting.

When 'Ted' got back downstairs, 'Lou' was shoving a glass of water in Sharon's hand. "Drink, bitch. I might want to stick my tongue down your neck while I fuck you." Sharon took it in shaky hands, managing to just barely get it to her lips in spite of the steady pounding her ass was taking from 'Mike'. She swallowed a bit, and spat out a bit before 'Lou' took back the glass. "Now you ain't got nothin' to heave, take the cock, bitch!" 'Lou' again presented his meat, and somehow, Sharon managed to take it in, despite her upset stomach. The hand behind her head and the one under her chin were pretty persuasive -- besides, the fight was leached out of her completely; vomiting left her as weak as a kitten. "You gonna take it all, bitch. Keep it comin'." Sharon was awash; 'Mike' had been pounding her ass for several minutes, so she was beyond pain. The cock 'Lou' was pushing into her mouth was now familiar, and the demands it was making of her were not unexpected. Sharon started drifting toward something -- Oh, God! -- resembling pleasure...

Something was calling, a state of mind where pain and humiliation would cause her to yield herself, a state that begat pleasure. All she needed was a trigger...

'Ted' decided that Ed was just going to have to operate in the time allotted. "Roll her on her back." 'Lou' stepped back, and 'Mike' bent over her, reaching under her armpits to lever her up and rotate the pair of them as a system. 'Lou' caught him, bracing him until he was lying on the coffee table lengthwise, Sharon's ass still impaled on his cock.

'Lou' covered Sharon's eyes. "Goggles gonna be worthless in this position..."

"All she's gonna see is your balls, Man," 'Ted' chided.

'Lou' grunted, and dropped Sharon's head over Mike's shoulder. "Open up, slut!" Sharon found herself with a mouthful of cock -- again! This time, with her head back, 'Lou' went deeper than ever -- but it seemed to be less of a problem...

'Ted' provided the spark that set Sharon off, lifting her legs and sliding his cock into her, surprised that she wasn't dry. Sharon wasn't surprised -- after all, Armand had trained her to relish such things. This... This was pleasure. The cock in her ass wasn't moving much, and she was used to it, anyway. She was giddy from trying to breathe around the black man's cock, but it wasn't awful, or anything -- and now she had a cock where cocks belonged... 'Ted' was deliberately doing his job, making sure that he bashed her clitoris with every stroke, and now Sharon was in a fine, submissive frenzy of humiliation and acquiescence. She was a cum dumpster -- it was her new role in life... She would take the cum from each of these, and any others that happened to be there... The black drove his thick black cock into her mouth, his heavy balls slapping against the goggles and forcing his heavy scent into her nostrils. The young guy drove his cock into her pussy, bashing her clit with his pubic bone, and the older guy kept managing to get short strokes in her ass with his big cock... Sharon felt the wave coming, lifting her...

'Ted' took her hips and started moving her. 'Mike' got his hands under her so she wasn't rubbing his skin off and the pair of them drove her back and forth, getting them both a stroke. 'Lou' backed off, not driving so deep -- the whole thing just didn't synchronize adequately for him. "Suck the head, bitch -- I'll wait on these guys, and then I'll try to put a baby in you!" Sharon did as she was told; in her current frame of mind, there wasn't any choice, anyway... 'Lou' laughed, and started mauling her already rock-hard nipples. "You lovin' this shit, ain't you, slut?"

'Mike' came first. He'd been at it the longest, and when 'Ted' initiated the new stroke, he could feel the other man's cock through the membranes separating Sharon's pussy and her ass. "Gonna get it!" he grunted, and started spewing into Sharon's colon.

That did it -- Sharon went off, gurgling around 'Lou', "Hrrrgh! Hrrrgh! Hrrrgh!" Her hips jumped and her legs thrashed while her pussy and her ass milked their intruders, extending the climax 'Mike' was enjoying. 'Ted' rode through it; when 'Mike' let Sharon back down on his chest, he started really pounding, looking for his own cum, now that Sharon had hers.

Sharon beat him, however; now that the door was open, she was a wild woman! She couldn't see anything but the black guy's balls, so she closed her eyes, enhancing her other senses and bring the work 'Ted' was doing into sharper focus. She started moaning around the cock in her mouth, adding to the pleasure 'Lou' was getting. There was a roaring in her ears, and sparks before her eyes, and it looked like she was going to cum AGAIN... She actually reached up and grabbed the black's hips, forcing him deeper to get more guilty pain/pleasure as the sparks escalated to a full-fledged fireworks display!

'Ted' let her have it, pounding her three more strokes while she hunched and pulsed before burying himself in her and pouring gout after gout into her.

In a moment, all was quiet; 'Ted' climbed off and came around to Sharon's head. 'Lou' backed off obligingly and 'Ted' ordered, "Clean me off!" Sharon started sucking, but it didn't last long; 'Mike' surged, rolling her over and climbing off, while 'Lou' circled around to the business end.

Sharon found herself back on her hands and knees, not certain how she got there. She didn't get any time to worry about it, though, as 'Ted' presented his gooey cock again and grunted, "Finish up, slut!" The goggles fixed it so that 'Ted', below the waist, was all that she could see -- but she could feel hands on her hips -- and in a moment, a cock nosing between her labia. She was going nowhere, so, it did no good to resist. This time, though, she didn't try to engulf the thing, as whoever was behind her set up a pounding pace. Instead, she licked and sucked at the shaft and pubes, vacuuming 'Ted' while steadying herself with a hand on his hip.

'Lou' was going like a house afire, and talking trash in his faked gutter accent, which provided Sharon the necessary clue to who he was, "Gonna fill your slut cunt with MY cum, too! Get your ass pregnant -- make you spend nine months wonderin' what color kid is gonna pop out! You can sit around sweatin' bullets, but I KNOW! Little bastard's gonna be black, an' he gonna be fuckin' his slut mama at twelve!" Well, if you're gonna rape a woman, you might as well indulge yourself with a little fantasy, he reflected.

Sharon took the abuse in the spirit it was given; she'd been on the Pill forever, but it was easy to get sucked into the whole impregnation fantasy. At this point, she wasn't evaluating things any too objectively, anyway. Instead, what flickered through her mind was 'Oh, Gawd, Armand's gonna KILL me!' But she was going to cum again, and with her luck, it'd be just in time for her womb to suck black spend through her cervix like a milkshake through a soda straw.

'Mike distracted her at this point, by popping 'Ted' on the shoulder. 'Ted' took a look at the problem, grinned, and backed off. Sharon hadn't exactly been prepared for anal sex, and 'Mike' had plowed deep; as a result, he was a mess! "Clean THIS!" he grunted, shoving a shit- smeared dick in her face.

Sharon took a look and her stomach churned, but 'Mike' wasn't taking 'No' for an answer. After a second's hesitation got her a slap, Sharon opened up and took the mess in, distractedly thankful that she'd already emptied her stomach. She found that she couldn't comfortably get at the base -- was this one bigger? -- but that wasn't safe, anyway, with the black man plowing away in her pussy, throwing her forward with every stroke. Sharon was backing to meet him, more to keep from being pushed off the table than anything else -- but it was good, very good... "Ease up!" 'Mike' complained, "Bitch can't work!" He was kind of angry, in that he'd been trying to minimize talk, but 'Lou' was going nuts in there...

'Lou' grinned and backed off. "Might as well make it last." He popped Sharon on the ass. "After all, this ain't rape, is it, Slut? Can't rape the willing. Bitch gonna cum again in a minute..."

Sharon worked diligently at her disgusting task, trying to close her ears to the taunts. The worst thing about them was their ring of truth! She'd already cum twice, and number three was just around the corner, held off by the awful thing she had to do with her mouth and her black tormentor's slowdown. On the other hand, the humiliation of her task, the foul comments, and the slaps that were beginning to rain on her ass were building a bubble in her that when released would be HUGE. Recognition of this fact brought another masochistic flash...

'Ted' nudged 'Mike'. "How was the ass?"

"Good." Mike contented himself with the monosyllable.

"Stick it in her ass!" 'Ted' urged 'Lou'.

"Messy in there," 'Lou' replied. " 'Sides, I promised the bitch a bastard." He slapped Sharon on the ass. "Didn't I, Slut?" Sharon nodded distractedly, and went back to cleaning 'Mike' up, suctioning glop from his pubic hairs. It was nasty, awful -- but it was hers, she knew. And if another cock invaded her ass, she'd have to do it again. Better to let the black man have his way...

"You done?" Ted asked, a minute later. 'Mike' took a look at progress, shrugged, and nodded. "I want to try her throat."

This kind of went by Sharon. She'd have agreed that she was done, if asked; the cock had started tasting like a cock -- instead of shit on a stick -- a bit back... All she knew was that the cock she'd been cleaning withdrew and an earlier one replaced it. Well, it was clean, except for the goo that drizzled from the tip. Armand's did that... Her mind drifted -- conscious thought was really beyond her. There was a cock in front of her, and one pounding her from behind -- that was her universe. Add the occasional swat on the ass...

"Hey, I don't want to have to fuck around while you get yours!" 'Lou' complained.

"Let's roll her over again, then. She'll be more stable for both of us!" 'Ted' suggested.

"Awright." 'Lou' backed off, and 'Ted' pushed her over, without warning. Sharon, who hadn't really heard what they were planning was taken totally by surprise, going flat on her back on the floor and losing her breath. The men took advantage of her inability to react to pick her up by the knees and shoulders and plop her back onto the coffee table on her back with her head hanging over the edge. By the time she could pay attention to her surroundings again, she was watching a cock go past on the way to her mouth. Below, someone was slapping at her legs -- the black guy? Get your knees up, bitch! Hold 'em!" Sharon did as she was told, and a cock plowed into her vagina.

"Suck, you stupid cunt!" 'Ted' roared, pushing his cock into her lips. Sharon did as she was told, more or less automatically. She knew how to suck a cock -- or, more correctly, to give a mouth-fuck, because that's really what it was -- from long practice with Armand; instinct took over and she tightened her lips and sucked enough to get her cheeks in to give the man more to work with while buffering her teeth. 'Ted' used her as a receptacle, sliding his pulsing meat in and out, looking for that perfect stroke.

Meanwhile, 'Lou' was going to town, pounding hard, slamming his pubic bone into Sharon's clit once a second while his shaft worked her 'G' spot. This was it -- 'Lou' realized he only had a moment, so he started taunting her again, "Here it comes, slut. I'm gonna shoot my juice in there with my buddy's, and you'll have to wonder 'til my bastard pops out which of us did ya! THEN you'll know -- and it'll be too late! You take good care of the little shit, now! Remember me when he's chewin' these!" 'Lou' dropped his head and bit the Hell out of Sharon's left nipple -- almost drawing blood. Sharon screamed and surged -- and came, hugely, the pain a trigger of the pleasurable backlash. That brought 'Lou' off -- he slammed her twice more, against the friction of her pulsing vagina and blasted semen into her.

Sharon lost control of her body; parts of it were moving frantically, and parts weren't moving at all -- nothing was under any kind of control. Her mind was awash with the pleasure that had erupted in the wake of the incredible pain. One of the places that failed to keep up was her mouth -- 'Ted' pulled his cock out and slapped her, harshly, to regain her attention. "Suck, bitch!" Sharon tried, but it was HARD -- things just weren't working that well...

'Mike' tapped 'Lou' on the shoulder jerked his head toward the stairs, and tapped his watch. Time was getting away from them. 'Lou' nodded. "Gimme that duct tape willya?" 'Mike' tossed it at him and headed for the stairs to check on Ed.

Ed was sitting on the third stair, watching things through the railing and wiping a paint brush. "Some show," he murmured.

"Yeah," 'Mike' agreed quietly. "I've been on this detail longer than I care to remember, and now I'll likely be posted elsewhere for a while. But it's quite an ending..."

"A 'climax', so to speak?" Ed grinned. He rose to go collect his buckets.

'Mike' followed. "Yeah. Watching her has been pretty dull -- outside of episodes with your boss in his office, she wouldn't even touch herself before this week. Who'd've seen THIS coming?"

Ed looked around, satisfied. Painting and plastering hadn't taken THAT long, fortunately. The holes had paint over wet stuff, but it'd hold, if it wasn't screwed with too much. He'd run a hair dryer over it momentarily, but he REALLY didn't have time to do things right. To mess with Sharon's head, Armand had had him go around three or four places and use a brad to poke a neat hole in the plaster, theoretically simulating a new installation. The whole idea was to foster paranoia, apparently... The pair picked up Ed's work buckets and descended the stairs.