Prologue

Tanya Harding was in Saint Petersburg on one of her regular trips to Russia on behalf of Bill Corcoran. Because of the sensitivity of this communication, she was delighted to have a satellite phone with her. To ensure privacy, she went to a park with a bubbling fountain at its center to place her call. From her training at the KGB's Sparrow School she knew it was an ideal location. First, she was in the open so it was impossible for anyone to get close enough to hear her without her knowledge. Second, the white noise from the bubbling fountain would ruin any potential effort to monitor her conversation from a distance using a shotgun mike.

She activated her unit and hit a speed-dial number. Moments later, it was answered.

"Hi, Tanya. What's new?" Bill Corcoran asked.

Before getting to the reason for her call, Tanya asked, "How's Caitie? And how's baby Andy?"

"They're both great, but somehow I don't think that's the reason for the call. And remember, sweetie, it may be about ten in the morning over there, but — dammit! — it's only three in the morning here. So... ?"

Tanya just giggled, "Sorry about that." Then her voice changed and she sounded serious. "Boss, I know I'm looking for young women in their late teens or early twenties to bring over to the States, but could you consider a couple of younger girls?"

"I could consider anything, and you know it. But how much younger, and why?"

"About 14," she replied and then paused. Seeming to change the subject, she continued, "You know that for years going way back in the old régime, the state operated training schools for — among others — ballet dancers and gymnasts?"

"Yeah, I guess I knew that. So... ?"

"So that was then and this is now. For the most part the schools are still in place, but the funding isn't. So the schools have had to revert to ... rather unorthodox means to raise money..."

"Like... ?" Bill prompted.

"Like the situation I'm facing right now," Tanya blurted. "These two kids are untouched virgins — and I mean untouched! They're both going to be sold into slavery after their cherries are auctioned off."

At this point the beautiful woman was close to tears as she continued, "Bill, I can identify with it. It's very close to what happened to me."

Thousands of miles away, Bill Corcoran's eyes widened. An outsider would have heard nothing of significance in what she had said, but he had. That had been the first time ever that Tanya had called him Bill. When they were alone, he was always Master; when others were present, it was Boss or something similar. Moreover, he knew Tanya well enough to be able to hear both the personal concern and the tension in her voice. "Tell me about it."

"In gymnastics and ballet, the situations are similar. What they both want are girls about five feet tall or less with boyish figures to say the very least. As in flat-chested, and I mean flat!" Then she giggled and added, "Aside from their age, they're both very much what you're looking for. It's strange, really. They're not sisters — I don't think — but they're close enough in appearance to pass for identical twins. They're blue-eyed, golden-haired blondes about five feet nine or a bit more.

"I'm not certain, but I think they've been in the state program since they were about three years old. If their parents are living, no one now knows who they are or where they might be. The girls certainly do not. At any rate, five-nine is much too tall, and they have tits, although they're still developing. The fact of the matter is they remind me of young Caities. They're both built very much on her streamlined model.

"And they're athletic as all hell. The school where they've been raised is a bit odd. Normally the schools are specialized, and this one is too. But in this case, the school has two specialties: gymnastics and ballet. For some reason, the Powers That Be could never make up their minds with these two, so they've gone both ways right up to the present.

"And they're drop-dead gorgeous, if you haven't figured that one out yet." Tanya's voice finally did crack and Bill Corcoran could hear her tears as she pleaded, "We've got to save them! Please?"

"Names?"

"Tatiana and Natasha," she giggled, partially from the question but also from relief. "Do you think you could stand another Tanya?"

"Look at the bright side," Bill teased. "She has to be better than the Tatiana we already know." Then his voice became serious and he asked, "What about the girls? Would they be interested?"

His response was greeted with sardonic laughter. "Get serious, Boss! Any girl over here would give her right arm to get to the States. So you want me to get them?"

"Do it!" Then he paused for a moment, thinking. "Tanya, things are a bit hectic here with baby Andy. How do you think the girls would like it at our horse farm in Lexington, Kentucky? Do they ride, by any chance?"

Tanya considered his question. Then she replied, "I heard that the Queen made a comment to her daughter, Anne, regarding Anna and Maria. The first time they ever got on the back of a horse they looked like they had been riding from birth. As I've heard the story, the Queen said something to the effect that European nobility had been on horseback for hundreds of years, so maybe it got into the genes. And, Heaven knows, Anna and Maria are noble!

"Well, the fact of the matter is I get the same sort of feeling with Tanya and Tasha. Like they're Russian nobility from way, way back. Is that strange, or what? But in answer to your question, I would bet my last dime that they're both able to ride."

"Okay. That settles that," Bill Corcoran responded. "I wonder..." he mused.

"Wonder what?"

"Well, we've now got King of Bluegrass, Satan's son from Satana. And, like Satan, he appears to be a one-rider horse. But we haven't found that one rider yet. So I was just wondering... ?"

"I sure can't make any promises, but you know that Caitie and her grandmother, the Duchess, are like twins. And Tanya and Tasha could easily pass as Caitie's younger sisters, so ... I mean ... Duchess Marion is the only one who can ride Satan—"

"Not so!" Bill interrupted. "Caitie and Queen Karla were both welcomed on his back by Satan ... Not to the extent of his mistress, Marion, of course, but still..."

"And they're all golden-haired blondes, too," Tanya added. "So maybe..."

Bill cut it off. "There will be a G-550 standing by with two flight crews. They'll be ready to go whenever you are, and will take the girls straight to Lexington, Kentucky ... That's real horse country!"

Tatiana ended the call and returned to her hotel. There she had the finest suite in the finest hotel in Russia's former capital city. It took only a few minutes to make two phone calls, one to the school and another to Security Services. Then she snapped her fingers and placed a third call to Land's End.

A few days later she was at the lobby entrance where a Mercedes was waiting for her. The car's driver was behind the wheel, while another burly man was holding the door open for her. When she got in, the man got into the car beside the driver and off they went. A glance through the rear window revealed another similar car with four armed men trailing. For a very wealthy woman Saint Petersburg was not the safest city in the world. And Tanya Harding just reeked of great wealth.

As the two-car caravan neared the school the trailing car passed and took the lead. It was all she could do to control a smile when she saw the four guards with their weapons now drawn standing in a ring around the position where her car would stop. Her car had not completely stopped rolling when the guard in the front seat was out of the car and holding the door open for her.

The arrangements were unfolding perfectly for her mission. The armed guards reinforced the impression that she was a senior representative of the Russian Mafia. It was exactly the intended impression.

By this time her car's driver had raced up the steps and was holding the main door open for her. He and his companion were leap-frogging one another. Now it was the second who led the way to the school director's office.

I wonder if we're overdoing it, bigtime? she wondered. Answering her own question, Naah. It's impossible to overdo it when dealing with petty bureaucrats.

Utterly ignoring the secretary whose eyes were as big as saucers as she watched the armed office invasion unfold, the driver barged into the director's private office without even bothering to knock. "Miss Tatiana is here to see you," he declared. "Are the little whores ready?"

Tanya had been in position to see the director from the moment his door had banged open. A kaleidoscope of emotions ran across is face, starting with shock and indignation and ending with bug-eyed fear. "Y ... yes!" he stammered and then shouted out to his secretary to have Tatiana and Natasha brought to his office immediately. Moments later, the two very frightened girls appeared.

Tanya looked at them coldly and ordered, "Strip! Everything! Now!"

The two young girls were shaking, but did as she ordered. About a minute later, the two were standing naked in the office in the presence of one woman and three men.

Tanya's heart went out to the terrified girls, but she had a rôle she had to play. Carefully she examined both girls and found that they were as advertised: both were blue-eyed, golden-haired beauties. They were tall and very slender although very muscular from both ballet and gymnastics. After ordering the girls to spread their legs wide, she had them grip their hands behind their heads and then proceeded to slide a finger up their vaginas. Incredibly, in spite of their years of gymnastics, both hymens were still intact.

"As agreed," she commented to no one in particular. Then to the director she said, "Ten thousand, American? That was the price for each?"

The director was frightened out of his skull. All he was capable of doing was what he did do: He just rapidly nodded his head.

Tanya Harding nodded to one of her companions who produced an attaché case that he placed on the director's desk, casually dumping a stack of papers on the floor in the process. She unlocked the case and deposited two stacks of 100 hundred-dollar bills on the desk. "Do you wish to count them?" she demanded haughtily.

"N ... no," the director stammered.

"Good!" Tanya declared. Then to the two girls she uttered a single word: "Out!"

One of them motioned toward their clothes on the floor and gave Tanya a pleading look.

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