Chapter 14: I Spice With My Little Eyes

I'd arranged to meet up with the Kalinin and his son in the conference room at the Prep Centre. I got there a little early and bumped into Harry as I walked in. "How's your new PA," I asked. "Has she worked out what's going on yet?"

"Oh, I think so," said Harry. "In fact I was just about to pop in to see her, if you wanted to have a look."

"Yeah, sure," I said, "I've got a while and I haven't really seen too much of the Prep Centre side of things."

"She's in here," said Harry unlocking a door.

Sarah was curled up on the floor in one corner of the cell, chained by her neck collar to a ring in the wall. She looked up with a scowl as we came in.

"She seems to have lost some of her sunny disposition," I said.

"I don't want to see you. Go away. I've got nothing to say. Leave me alone why don't you?" Sarah said.

Harry looked disappointed. He unlocked a small cabinet to one side of the room. I saw it contained an array of straps, chains, and flogger. Harry took a ball gag from the cabinet and advanced on Sarah with it. "This conversation is going to be a little one sided, I'd like you to listen and not interrupt,"

"I won't be gagged, I won't, I won't," she shook her head as Harry went towards her. He ignored her objections and grabbed a hank of her red hair and twisted. As she yelped in pain he pushed the ball in place, jerked the strap tight and clicked the locking catch shut. He let go her hair and she sank back down on her heels, reaching up to tug ineffectually at the strap that held the gag in place. She gave a muffled groan of frustration.

"There," said Harry. "Now perhaps you'll listen. You've had an easy ride of it here, so far." A muffled grunt of disbelief answered him. "Because you aren't being sold, or at least you're not being sold yet, you've not been raped and you've barely been beaten except when you've been particularly difficult. All that is because I am keen for you to take up the role for which I originally interviewed you. Now it seems to me you have a choice at this point. Either you can accept my job offer," Sarah grunted and shook her head. "As I was saying, either you can accept my job offer or we can put you into the pool of girls for resale." This time she shook her head vigorously. "I can offer you a situation in which you will remain here and be treated well. I am sure you can imagine how it will be if you are sold — I cannot be responsible for where you will end up and to what use you might be put. I am sure that your talent for dancing will attract a certain sort of buyer but apart from that who knows." Sarah gave a whimper of despair. "Now, I'm going to give you one last chance to decide."

As he said this another girl appeared carrying a tray containing a heap of ropes of different thicknesses. "We have a buyer coming to our next auction who is particularly interested to acquire a red headed slave for his collection: he's particularly keen on elaborate bondage and he's asked for a few pictures of potential acquisitions. We'll give you a chance to show if you're suited to this sort of thing." He turned to the girl with the ropes. "See what you can do with her," he said. "She should be fairly supple, most dancers are. Don't hold back - I know our prospective buyer won't."

I left Sarah, Harry and the girl to go in search of the Kalinin.

The Kalinin and his son were sitting on the couch in our conference room. Clegg had come in with them as well. "I am surprised that you have solved this problem so quickly," the Kalinin said.

"Well, your highness, I'll wait until you have seen what I propose before making any claim," I replied. Clegg smiled. "I'd like to show you a short video and then we can discuss next steps, if that is acceptable."

"Video?" queried the Kalinin.

"Yes, your highness. I wanted to make sure we were going down the right track."

"Very well," he answered, "continue."

I pressed the button the closed the conference room curtains and dimmed the lights. The video projector flickered and burst into life with the Clegg Enterprises logo. Out of the speakers came the sound of U2's "Even Better Than The Real Thing..." It faded down and the video began with All Spice hammering out "Say You'll Be There". Close ups of the five girls were inter-cut with black and white photos of the real Spice Girls as they were then and as they are now. It was interesting watching the Kalinin's son — he'd obviously never thought about the fact that the pictures of the chicks he'd been beating off to were all taken seven years ago. He was definitely attracted by the idea of All Spice who look more like what he'd been getting off on than the girls who were in the real band do now. Plus the All Spice 'Ginger' was in her more pneumatic style which also got approval. The U2 track faded up again. Next up was a Nicola Roberts look-alike that we found. She's got a pretty good voice too and if anything her hair was redder than the real Nicola's — least ways that's how it looked in the video. Same went for the 'Nicole Kidman' who thought we were looking for a stand in for some advertising work. I could see that the son was getting pretty keen. The U2 track faded down. The video moved on to a series of short clips from some recruitment auditions. The girls had thought we were setting up for the opening of a new Hooters in London. Each had a girl sitting in as chair saying, "Hi, I'm Jo (or Jenny, or Marcy or whatever) and I really want to be a Hooters Girl. Pick me, why don't you?" Then she pulls off her top, gives the camera a good shot of her boobs, pulls on a Hooters t-shirt, steps out of their skirt or jeans and into a pair of the famous orange shorts before walking up and down to show how the outfit looks on them. There were six of them all well stacked, of course, and blondes or redheads.

By the end of it the Kalinin's son was practically dribbling. The Kalinin beamed with approval at me. He turned to the distracted youth. "Well, my son, he said. It is traditional for your father to provide the first women for your harem. You can make your choice from those."

"Choose, father?" the son responded. "I do not need to choose, I shall be able to satisfy them all." I was pleased by the son's response, reckoning the value of an order for thirteen pickups.

His father, however, was less than happy. "Son," he said, a harem is like a garden. You should not plant all the beds at once. At first it is best to begin with a plot that can be easily cultivated, then as experience grows, it is possible to tend a larger area. I suggest that you start with three."

"But father, your own harem in Kushtia had over fifteen wives."

"Yes, son, but that took me many years."

"But father,..." the son began.

"I wonder if I might suggest a compromise," I said, concerned that the entire exercise was about to dissolve into a family argument.

The Kalinin held up his hand to silence his son. "Please do," he said.

"Perhaps if we were to proceed initially by acquiring the group All Spice for your son. It seems that, although they are five, they will be easily managed as they are used to being together Because of their youth they will soon become adapted to your son and his ways. From our side it would be very difficult to acquire less than the entire group and it hardly seems sensible to split up the set once acquired. I would think, also that the group provides a good selection of women as a starting point for a harem with a range of different looks and characters. It will provide the Prince with a good selection of types with which to develop his skills and tastes further."

The son looked sceptical at the reduction in his ambitions as did the father, concerned at this increase in his planned commitment. "Five is still more than I had considered," he said.

The Prince however, evidently saw that this was as good a deal as he was likely to get. "Oh father, please," he said. "They will look well together in the harem dress. The one called Posh has a haughty look that I long to tame. Emma has a sweetness that will be so good to corrupt. The two Melanies will be a source of constant amusement."