Chapter 12

Somewhere in Ohio

Vivian solemnly descended the stairway to the catacombs. When she reached the bottom closet, she said to Shawn. "Remove all your clothes and jewelry. Nothing is allowed in these rooms. We will remain here until the ceremony. I need to warn you, all rooms except this entry hallway are bugged for sound, and all portions of this area are monitored by hidden cameras."

Shawn and Vivian undressed and took off all jewelry. When Shawn hesitated to remover her earrings, Vivian asked, "What is the problem? I said all jewelry was to come off."

"I was thinking that Brother Bill might let me keep these on because it would remind us of my Billy and another friend we have in heaven. Let me keep them until we can get a decision one way or another?"

'Oh shit, ' thought Vivian. 'I don't want to screw this up any more, or that bitch Martha will take over my position permanently.' She said, "Let's let Brother Bill make that decision. I guess it would be OK to keep them on for now. I have never had this situation come up in the past."

Shawn breathed a sigh of relief and thought, 'Boy, I just got past that one.' She said, "Oh thank you, Vivian. You are such a good and caring woman." Shawn kissed Vivian on the lips. "Thank you."

Things were not going so swimmingly in the command center.

"God damn, son of a bitch!" screamed Paul. "Jack, get your ass over here this minute. I have a critical job for you."

"What happened?" asked a worried Cindy. "Why can't we hear anything?"

Paul said, "They just went underground. We were working on the problem when this came up. We have a temporary fix, but we have to put a transponder somewhere in the basement with a wire leading above ground. The earring emitter and receiver are not powerful enough to send out of a hole in the ground. We have to have something that will boost the signal to an above ground antenna."

Jack came in the door of the command center. "You have the booster?"

"Here, Jack." Paul handed Jack a small box about the size of a pack of cigarettes. We need to put the box somewhere in the basement and have the antenna sticking out of an open window."

"Won't they see this," asked TC.

Paul reached to the top of his head and pulled out a single hair. "Would you be able to see this if you did not know it was there?

"No."

"Well, that is about the size of the antenna we are going to use. We have more trouble losing the thing than we do with people finding it." Then he said to himself, "I'm gonna have to stop this demonstration before I become bald. Anybody else comes up with this objection supplies the hair."

Jack looked at the box. "Do I have to orient it in any direction?"

"No, just as long as the antenna is out the window, everything else will work. You have 20 feet of a very strong antenna to work with. Only a foot has to be above ground. That should give you some help."

"Give me 5 minutes."

"You've got 2. We have to keep track of Shawn in that place. She is trusting us with her life. Oh, by the way, be careful of the security system. If you set it off, they will know we are here."

"Any other words of wisdom, little cricket?" cracked Jack.

"Yes, don't bet on the daily double at the race track."

The feeling Shawn had was not really panic. It was more of a sense of loss. She could not hear the support she was getting from the com center, and she was sure they could not hear her. She was on her own. Well, she had been here before. She could do it again.

She slowed her steps as if she were looking at the paintings on the walls and hoping she would have enough time to figure out an alternate plan of action. She knew that TC would not let anything happen to her, and she had a good feeling about the rest of the team. Boy if her old friends could see her now. The old Johnny Rivers song, 'Secret Agent Man, ' kept running through her head and she had to concentrate to keep from humming it as she walked to her destiny.

She tried to slow Vivian down also, "These are so beautiful. Where did they come from?"

"Most were left to the ministry through people's wills. Others were bought as investments. Our best guess is that there is over 30 million dollars in art throughout the catacombs. That is one reason the temperature and humidity is so stringently controlled down here. It is also the official reason for the security cameras."

"What's the real reason?"

"All of our ceremonies are recorded on tape. If we wish, we can watch either a religious ceremony or an orgy, depending on your point of view at any time."

"That's interesting?"

"Don't get me wrong, Shawn. This is really an important part of our group. Distracters, however, would call our initiation an orgy. It is something entirely different. They would also call our group a cult. We are not a cult. We are just fighting evil in a different way.

"Do you see the difference?" continued Vivian.

"I think I do."

Suddenly a voice came into her ear, "Shawn, we can hear you. If you can hear us, say something about my Billy."

"You know my Billy was always talking about how people in the main stream religions were always trying to hurt God's work to protect their own positions."

Paul's voice came into her ear. "If I wasn't afraid of TC and Hobo, I would fall madly in love with you. You are doing great!"

Shawn didn't notice the smile over her face, but Vivian did. "You really did love your Billy, didn't you?"

Shawn just realized what she had done. "Yes," she recovered, "every time I think of him I smile. Sometimes I laugh too. I even talk to him at times. I know it sounds crazy, but I still love him and I do what he tells me."

"Come on, Shawn, I want you to meet Rhonda."

Rhonda had heard the women come in the room and had quickly returned to her room/cell before she was caught. She knelt in the corner with her back to the door. Vivian removed the key from around her neck and opened the door to Rhonda's room.

"Rhonda, I am sorry to disturb you from your meditation, but I would like you to meet Shawn."

Rhonda stood and slowly turned to the two women. "How do you do?" she asked as she extended her hand. "I am Rhonda."

Vivian took both women's hands. "Let me explain what will be happening tonight. We have changed the ceremony. We will have a Formal High Mass at midnight. This mass requires three women. One woman will represent purity and goodness. Rhonda, because you are a virgin, you will be that woman.

"The second woman will represent redemption. She will be a sinner with a repentant heart. The purity will perform acts of pleasure on the repentant sinner, and bring her into the light of the group. Shawn, you will be the repentant sinner. I do not think we could have cast these two parts better. You are both so beautiful.

"I pray that the third woman is a miscast. The third woman will be the unrepentant sinner with a heart of stone. After you have brought joy and fulfillment to the repentant sinner, you and the repentant sinner will try to convince the unrepentant sinner to come to the light. She will not. After the attempt to bring the sinner to the light fails, the inner circle will punish the woman and cast her out of the group.

"Since there is no good match for this, I will be representing the evil. I will not actually be thrown out, but I will be beaten. The ceremony will be true for you two. After the circle throws out the evil one, the group will share the goodness and the humility through the acts of love and love making."

Shawn asked, "Did you get that?"

In Shawn's ear Jamie answered, "Yes. You make sure you let us know when you want out of there."

Vivian had a strange look on her face. "What did you just say?"

'Oh shit, ' thought Shawn. She said, "I asked if you got that. What I mean is why are you going to get beaten. Is that what you meant when you said a nonbeliever would call this an orgy?"

"That is a strange way to put it."

"I'm sorry, it is something I picked up on the streets in Columbia. My Billy almost had me broken of all the slang when he died."

Vivian seemed mollified. "Yes, dear, that is what I meant. I must be symbolically beaten in order for the evil to be taken out of the group so that when they share their seed with you, it will be in goodness, because the evil has been bled out in the beating. Now, after the complete circle enjoys your goodness and repentance, you will clean each other with your tongues. The idea is to make sure that you both share the essence of each member of the group in as many ways as possible."

Rhonda walked to the bar, took three glasses and filled them with the sacramental wine. As she handed the wine to the other two women she said, "We must drink to our good fortune in being able to serve God." She thought, 'And may he have mercy on my soul."

Vivian looked at the wine for a long moment. 'Should I? What the hell?' she thought. She chugged the wine in one drink and held out her glass for a refill.

Outside Akron

Rosa was starting to come back to consciousness when the phone rang.

"Mr. Bob, I'll get it," Rosa said as she struggled to get to her feet.

Michele gently pushed Rosa back to the couch. "No, Rosa. Let Bob get it. You just lay here and rest."

"Brown residence," answered Bob. "Yes, we will have the money by tomorrow night. Is my daughter OK?... No, we did not call the FBI or the police... You are in control here. We do what you tell us to do. Just remember, unless we have proof that my daughter is OK, you don't get a red penny... So, you will call us tomorrow with the proof and directions for the drop off. Ok, I'll be ready... Why do you want Paul to drop off the money, I am Sally's father. Paul is just giving up the money... I need to talk to my brother about that. We will have it settled by the time you call with instructions."

"That was interesting," commented Mitchell. "Did I understand that they want Paul to deliver the money?"

"That's about the size of it. Let's hope that after tonight, we don't have to worry about it."

Bob went back into the den where the communication link was set up. They were able to hear everything that the command center did, and communicate back to the center.

"Paul?" asked Bob. "Got a minute?"

"Sure, Bob," came Paul's voice from the speaker. "What's up?"

"We just got a call from the kidnappers. For some reason, they want you to make the money drop. They were quite insistent."

"How did they word that demand," came Jamie's voice.

"They said that they wanted Paul Brown to make the drop because they had some unfinished business to take care of."

Jamie said, "Oh, shit. I wonder what Burton is up to?"

Somewhere in Ohio

Shawn felt the temperature in her body beginning to rise as sweat beads formed on her brows. "Vivian, what is in that wine? I am really getting hot in here."

"So am I," added Rhonda. "I need to..." Rhonda stopped speaking as her mouth found Shawn's. Rhonda's lust took control of her as she embraced Shawn and pulled her to her. Shawn found that she did not have a lot of resistance either, as she responded to Rhonda's kiss. The women sank to their knees in the soft carpet, and began to explore each other's bodies.

Vivian leaned back against one wall, and fingered herself as the two women moved to her side. Rhonda moved Vivian's hands away, and lowered her mouth to Vivian's clit. Shawn twisted Vivian's torso around Rhonda's head so that she was flat on her back. Shawn then framed Vivian's face with her legs and lowered he cunt to Vivian's mouth.

Vivian greedily lapped at Shawn's pussy as Shawn's hands roamed over the other two women. Shawn saw that Rhonda's needs were not being addressed as things were. She pushed Rhonda's head away from Vivian and pulled Vivian to her side. She then motioned Rhonda to form a triangle with her body and go back to work on Vivian.

Now, all three women were on their sides and all three clits were being attended to. Vivian moved her finger into Shawn's pussy, and then moved the lubricated digit to Shawn's ass. Shawn could see the pleasure in this and did the same to Rhonda. Rhonda in turn did the same to Vivian.

The group in the com center was trying to figure out what the moans and cries from the speakers meant. As one person looked at the next, TC asked, "Are they doing what I think they're doing?"

"Yeah, sounds like Shawn is taking advantage of the fringe benefits of the job," quipped Jim. "It sounds like the porno movies Helen and I used to rent before we had kids."

Jamie looked at Jim. "James, you can be a real asshole sometimes! That fringe benefit crack deserves an apology to Shawn and everyone working on this case."