Chapter 1

Victor Jones relaxed in his mansion - his by inheritance anyway. It had taken time and patience to get here and he was going to make the most of it. He smiled as he thought of his poor brother and sister-in-law and of their unfortunate accident that night, the mechanic that had loosened the brakes did a good job, it was a pity that he also met with an accident.

That had left him with their 9 year-old brat of a daughter, he had to play the nice uncle to, well he had heard of people who specialised in these problems, and after paying out a bit of money he was put in touch with a go-between, who arranged for her abduction, the poor saps didn't know that they were going to be hunted down, for the murdering bastards that they were.

Except - he had to laugh at this, this time they were innocent - well not quite, they had kidnapped the bitch, earlier than he'd expected, but he was able to cover this up, he had to dirty his hands and killed those two interfering snitches that his brother had assigned to his niece, and then there was that trailer trash bitch that he found, she was almost Melody's twin, except for the face, but that didn't matter, not after he'd smashed it in and cut her fingers and toes so that they couldn't take the finger prints, and then he'd dumped her into that piranha pond of his neighbours.

He'd had some problems with the kidnappers, but using one of the companies - a computer software firm - he'd managed to track the sucker down, but when the cops raided the place it was so clean they'd given up. Strange that, he pondered, they should have found something.

It was a few days later when the bombshell fell, he got a message from a small west country place, Ropeville the name was (strange name, thought he'd heard of it before), the cops there reported that the kidnapper had been killed in their town and wanted him to see if he could identify the corpse, he didn't really want to, if the stupid idiot got into a fire fight with cops then that was his look-out, but he had to play the part of the grieving uncle.

It was while he was making arrangements for the trip that he realised where he'd heard the town's name before, his relations had come from that town — strange that the kidnapper ended up there, he also remembered that was where the software house was established, the one where the Melody worm originated, his name for the virus he'd had injected onto the internet, any piece of information of his niece, or her parents, was systematically wiped, as if it had never existed, soon nobody would remember his brother's name, lost forever, it was so sad, he thought with a smile on his lips.

He rung the bell for the maid to attend to him, she was a twenty year old blonde he'd taken up with recently, he found that as a bed-warmer she was exciting, and since he'd found that bondage book he'd roped her into his fun, so to speak, and since he'd brought that ball-gag she didn't have any choice in the matter.

She came meekly into the room, she didn't look at him as he approached her, she'd learnt not to! He had taught her that after the second day, he smiled at the memory, she was a natural submissive, just the type he liked, they'd take anything you threw at them without a murmur.

"Now Christine, I want to have a bit of fun before I retire to bed, I will see you upstairs with the riding crop, and don't forget to put on the gag first, then the arm and leg bands, when I get up there I want to find you secured to the bedpost, arms behind your back and your knees by your head, understand slut!" He snarled at her, she quivered and gave a meek.

"Yes, master, but master I have to lock the front door and check that the other doors are secure, the butler told me to do that first!" she told him.

He snarled at her again, "Well slut, you should have made sure of that before you came into this room, this will mean extra tonight, understand." He was already aware of the butler's instructions - he'd issued them himself, and she wasn't to know when he'd be going to bed anyway, this was an earlier time than normal, again something he'd planned.

She gulped audibly and then said, "Yes sir, I'll be as quick as I can be." He reached out and grabbed her by the chin, holding it tightly

"Make sure you are slut! I'll be upstairs in five minutes, and you'd better be ready by then." He told her knowing that she'd never be there in time, the house was quite large, and took at least 10 minutes to run around. He sauntered up the stairs and went into his bedroom, she was in the midst of removing her clothes, and he went up behind her and started to tear them off from her.

"You stupid cow," He said, "You're not even ready, you're going to really get it now!" he said to her, he placed a collar onto her neck, making sure that the spikes were pointing inwards and that the D-rings were clear, he attached cuffs to her ankles and wrists and threw her onto the bed, the ball-gag he left off.

As her neck hit the bed the spikes (not large spikes just a centimetre up), dug into it causing her to gasp out in pain, he smacked her on her ass,

"Quiet girl, that's nothing, you wait until I really get to work on you!" He was feeling especially nasty tonight, no doubt the word about that kidnapper had done it, he wanted to be the one to whack the bastard, just so he'd never be able to squeal on who hired him in the first place, but from the messages he'd received the idiot was shot dead by the police there without talking, still it would have been nice to know what he had done with the bitch, maybe he'd sold her to some brothel, to be a fluff girl, he smiled at the thought of his brother's precious daughter being made to clean the cocks of a stranger before he stuck it to a whore, or maybe she's making a long line of porno films, well one thing was certain, she was out of his hands now.

Talking about hands! He took the maids hand and clipped them to her collar by the D-rings and then pulled her legs up and attached them to clips on the bedstead so that her body was now framed by her legs, he reached through to her elbow and brought them forward so that they were resting on her legs, this force the collar forward as well, the studs biting into her neck causing her more pain, gods she was flexible, he thought as he went to get the riding crop, he was going to enjoy this.

Stephanie was in pain, she was given this assignment to assess Melody's safety but the girl had been taken before she'd arrive so now she was looking for the truth behind the kidnapping of Melody Jones, and from the way Victor Jones was behaving she was sure that he had been behind it.

There was nothing written down but his computer files were still active and showing the location of the kidnapper, what she hadn't counted on was the SOB being a sadist, but as another part of her commented, he wasn't even good at being that, a brief comment here is needed - as part of her conditioning Stephanie was a programmed being, she could call up a number of personalities to 'take over' her body, one was a trained killer (and had been used on several occasions), another one was a 'pain slut' able to take over the body when the circumstances where extreme, 'pain slut' was capable of absorbing high amounts of punishment, and to block out the pain from the rest of the body's occupants, but at yet she hadn't been called to action.

Stephanie was aware that the more noise she made the greater the effect of Victor, she suspected that he was impotent under normal circumstances, and this was the only way he'd found to excite him. The analytical part of her mind commented, this made her smile inside, outside she was crying over the pain.

But Victor didn't care how she felt; she was his property to do with as he wanted. And in this position she was available where-ever he wanted, yes life was good, he threw down the crop looking at the defenceless female spread out beneath him, he entered her roughly as befitted her station, and quickly rutted himself on her, he doesn't care about her pleasure only his, at times he wishes he had lived during the plantation days, then he'd really be in his element, but then you can't have everything he mused.

He untied her feet from the bedstead and made her lie on the floor; just in case he wanted to use her again later during the night, as he slept he didn't notice a small voice speaking

"You are powerful, nobody can touch you, you will go to Ropeville and prove to them that you had nothing to do with the kidnapping of Melody, they can't touch you, nobody can touch you, you are powerful, you are in control of yourself, you are above all people??" and so it went on, it was a CD playing on a continuous loop activated by Stephanie in order to ensure that Victor Jones went to Ropeville to face his accuser, for unknown to Victor his sister-in-law was a resident of Ropeville, and by declaring war on her family he'd declared war on Ropeville, and they were determined to win.

Commander Evans was annoyed, he had been ordered to extract a child and her kidnapper from their location and bring them to Ropeville, he understood the need to rescue the girl, but why did he have to get the kidnapper out as well? There were times when orders didn't seem to make sense, plus he was slightly out of sorts as his two main 'pressure valves' Mavis and Foundling were still away, he heard that Foundling was now at some school in Spain, and that Mavis was doing some sort of security work there as well - keeping an eye on the girl, he hoped - Mavis had also taken some of his own people which meant that they were short staffed anyway.

Then the blasted courts went and placed the perpetrator into the girls' school as a goddamn teacher, had the world gone to pot? He made it a point to assign an officer to keep an eye on the man, 'Mr. Purple' what sort of name was that! And from the reports he decided to talk to him.

His feeling about the man surprised him, he had admitted that he was an abductor, but that he'd been falsely accused of murder - kidnapping and rape he could stand but not murder, what type of twisted person was he dealing with, but then the man had told him that as he was supposed to be a teacher then that is what he would be, and the reports showed that, yes that was what he was doing, following the school curriculum, which was strange in itself, but then even Foundlings teacher, Mistress Vicki, who was absent, was known as a flagellant - she was also at that blasted school but at their Swiss base.

Evans shook his head, he knew the situation here was strange, but since he'd taken the post as Police Commander he hadn't caused any waves, but he was the only male in the police force, and the women here were up to date with the latest techniques, he'd trusted the backup team to pull 'Mr. Purple' and the girl Melody Jones, out before the local law enforcement team raided the house, the team had managed to clear all incriminating evidence, including the computer files long before anyone thought to check the place, so there were no clues there. The computer experts had gone over the files pulled and said the evidence on the disks would have convicted the man without problem. So why did the town fathers want him as a teacher? The evidence of the girl, Melody, was one of capture and imprisonment, with fear being a factor, but then the whole lot had caved in, the man stopped the charade and released the girl, and then called for help, Elizabeth had routed the call to the police station and then the order came down to pull them both out. Evans shook his head again, he was thinking in circles, and that never solved a thing.

Now he had the girl's uncle arriving in the next few days, and again the orders from up high was to treat him like royalty, until further orders, a team of investigators were assigned to the case, they reported to him, but he suspected that they also had other orders, he confided to Betty, the wife of the local banker, that if this Victor Jones was behind Melody's kidnapping, then he could be the murderer of the three people, the housekeeper, the butler and the unknown child, and here he was supposed to welcome him with open arms.

He remembered what she said, "I wouldn't worry about the open arms, just make sure your guns are loaded!" She also told him that some experts had gone to the software house owned by Victor Jones, and found out that the worm infecting their system had come from there, but luckily there was an antidote ready for release, the data wasn't removed just encrypted, it was designed for military use, but orders had come to test it out on any keywords like Melody Jones, John Jones or Samantha Jones.

When asked why they'd gone ahead they said 'When it comes from that high up, you just say yes sir and run it' but it seems that the anti-worm wasn't know to anyone except those at the plant, they just didn't have permission to release it yet, and the only person with the authority is Victor Jones, so they need him before they can use the computer system.

So here he was getting ready to receive a murderer, and the person responsible for creating chaos in the worlds computer systems, and that person was to have no idea that everyone was gunning for him, Evans looked in the mirror in his office and straighten his tie, well if he was to do this he'd be in the correct uniform, he glanced at his Superbowl ring in the mirror, sometimes he sigh and wonder why he ever gave up the game.

Victor Jones arose from his sleep, he was slightly worried. He was sure that he'd heard voices in the night, but when he questioned the frightened maid she denied hearing anything, but then a god would hear thing above the normal range of men and lowly being such as a simple maid. He considered conjuring his clothes but decided that it would be beneath him to do that, he amused himself by ordering his maid to dress him, since her arms were still attached to the collar around her neck, finally after several attempt he was ready to meet the world and accept it's praises, he released the woman from her bondage and told her to prepare breakfast for him.

Stephanie was worried, Victor was acting strange, well stranger than normal, he seemed to have heard the repeated message and it had affected him, she needed to contact base and warn them, but the butler wouldn't let her have time off to recover, it seems that Victor wanted her next to him, as a handmaiden. He had decreed that he would be travelling to Ropeville, to see how his brother's people were getting on, but he'd decided that the section there should be closed down and the group dispersed among the other offices around the country. The change of scenery would do them all good, he'd said. Stephanie didn't believe him, she had to get the message out, but at the moment she couldn't see how - her collar was now back on and she was chained to his chair, pen in hand ready to write whatever he said 'to keep for prosperity' he said. But Stephanie knew that he had finally gone completely mad.

The town council had decided to spare no expense for Victor's Jones's visit; the computer company he now owned was one of the largest in Ropeville County and, apart from the specialists, was the largest employer of the town's population, in ancillary functions, it was located in the technical area of the town near the interstate slip road and by the airfield, although not many people travelled into the town, normally driving straight past for the main pleasure sites of Las Vegas.

The plane carrying Victor was on time and taxied to the awaiting crowd, the stairway was driven up to the door, which opened to reveal Victor Jones, who stepped from the plane like Moses parting the Red Sea. The sight of Stephanie behind him was a relief to several people watching, she had missed the last scheduled contacts, the collar around her neck was a surprise, and when the sharp-shooter reported that her arms were attached to the belt she was wearing, the surprise was being replaced by anger.

Stephanie was trying to signal that there were problems, but with the way her manacled wrists were restrained all she could do was to move her fingers, she was trying to signal in Morse code, hoping that the watchers would see and realise what was happening. All the time in the plane Victor had kept her tied to a bar whilst he tried to practice throwing thunder bolts from his fingers, and wondering why it didn't work. - She managed to convince him that it was his good side not wanting to blow a hole in the side of the plane and killing the pilots; he believed her and commented that they should have thanked him for his restraint.

Luckily for Stephanie her gesticulations were observed, but the observer couldn't make out what was being sent, this was something that they hadn't really trained for, all she could report was that Stephanie was agitated, and her hands seemed to be suffering from St. Vitas dance. The word was passed that she had to be separated from Victor at the earliest opportunity.

The mayor stepped forward and the band went quiet.

"Mr. Jones, it is with great pleasure that I welcome you to Ropeville. We are happy that you have decided to grace us with your presence." He said, "And I would like to present you with the keys to the town." He offered a large metal object which looked like a key to a giant's house, which Victor took from him.

"Thank you," Said Victor, who was looking around the crowd of people attending his arrival, as his eyes scanned the them he thought he saw Melody, a quick glance, he tried to focus on her, but she wasn't there, must have been a trick of the light, he returned his attention to the Mayor. "I must say I didn't expect so many people to be here, you must have heard about me I suppose."

The Mayor was slightly confused by this but recovered enough to laugh, "Well of course," he said, and thereby compounding Victor's delusion by adding, "It's a great honour that you do us by visiting."

Victor smiled and said, "Yes, it is isn't it." He thought about wiping the man and his stupid grin out with a wave of his hand, but decided against it, he wanted people to consider him a kind god, not a vengeful one. He allowed them to take him to his limousine, he looked around for his handmaiden Stephanie, but she wasn't to be seen, he asked about her but was told that he was too important to travel with company, which was something to which he agreed, they were so nice here, they knew how to treat such a personage as himself, he sat in the car and allowed himself to be driven off.

Stephanie was quickly moved away from the throng of people and found herself in another car; being driven quickly away, also in the car was a young girl, who Stephanie recognised from pictures at Victor's home.