Chapter 1: Nora

Nora Clark slapped her clock to silence it's buzzing alarm. She groaned, picked it up and brought it close to her eyes. Three o'clock. P.M. She hated these "early" work days.

Nora tossed it onto the bedside table where it landed with a loud clatter. Neither the alarm nor it's crash woke Ben. He lay on his stomach, snoozing away, a t-shirt above the waist and buck naked below. Nora was tempted to wake him up with a smack. Why should he sleep when she couldn't? But she decided it wasn't worth the trouble (though it would be fun).

Dressed for Nora today meant sneakers, jeans, t-shirt and her hoodie with "The New School" printed on the front in big block letters. By the time she was ready to leave, Ben had turned over on his back and was snoring loudly. His cock was erect and bobbing a bit like a tower in an earthquake. Nora surrendered to her mischievous side. She gave his member a painful slap and ran. Ben started to howl. Nora snickered her way down the apartment building stairway as Ben yelled bloody murder after her.

Nora arrived at the street corner and waited. Her ride was late and she hated that. She hated it not for any inconvenience but because it gave her time to think about her relationship with Ben. He was just the last in her parade of losers. The first month with him had been pretty exciting—he was the lead singer of a band and that was hot. Things had cooled off for her once that novelty had worn off. It was boring lying on her back and spreading her legs while he mounted and fucked her. Sex with him had become a chore. Listening to Uncle Charlie reminisce about the war for the umpteenth time was more exiciting.

It was not just Ben. Her previous partners were about as dull. The best years of her sexual life were passing away and she had had as much excitement as when she read Plato's "Republic" in philosophy class. She was becoming desperate for something different, even something depraved. She had flirted with the idea of begging Ben to do a three-way, maybe even a four-way, just to break the bedroom sexual monotony. She should just leave him but inertia was in the way. Would it be so hard too to find someone else? She wasn't bad looking. She had kind of a child-like face with blonde hair. The unfortunate part of her body was that she was wide. Not that she was fat, she was broad and waist-less. Her figure was as a rectangular block.

Finally a Mini Cooper came into view, slowed and abruptly stopped at the corner, causing the driver in the car behind it to lean on his horn. A woman with wavy neck-length chestnut hair leaned out of the Mini and waved her middle finger in response. Nora rolled her eyes and got into the Mini. After she was in the car, the driver hit the accelerator. The wheels squealed and the car narrowly beat the light turning red.

"You're late, Nick." Nora told the driver.

"Had to get gas." The driver responded gruffly.

"You know, the only people who drive in New York City are rich people and assholes, You're not rich, so what does that mean?" Nora grumbled.

"I'm a private investigator, Nora. Part of the job is tailing people. I can't tail people without a car."

"You could use a cab, Nick. Works in the movies." Nora retorted.

"Whatever. My name is Nicki. Stop calling me Nick."

"Aw, why?"

"Because I don't want clients thinking I'm gay that's why. They already guess it because I'm a female private detective."

"Is that so bad?"

"Yeah, it's bad. Most of my clients are men and they hire me because a female private dick is hot. They think I'm gay and it ruins the ambiance."

"That's so retarded. What could be cooler than a couple of detectives called 'Nick and Nora'? If we use our last names, we're Smith and Clark. Sounds like an accounting firm. How can that be good for business?"

Nicki Smith snorted disdainfully. Realizing she had lost the argument, Nora changed the discussion.

"So how's Frank?" She asked.

"We broke up."

"Oh, why? He was so nice."

"Because he was so nice."

"That's a problem?"

"Yeah, it's a problem. He was really annoying. He kept asking about my needs. Hell, whenever we were doing it, every minute he wants to know how I'm feeling."

"Doesn't sound so bad." Nora said, thinking of Ben.

"Yeah, well, I just needed him to take charge once and while."

"You broke the nose of the last guy you dated who tried to take charge."

Nicki humphed.

"Your problem is that you don't know what you want."

Nicki humphed again. Oh, she knew what she wanted. She wanted to lose control. She wanted to lose control to someone else. Most of her life she had been in control. She was always taking responsibility, always making the hard decisions for herself and for others. When her dad died in her teens, she had to step up, grow up fast and help her mom keep the family afloat. Since she had to pay for college, she had to stay disciplined while she studied for her criminal justice degree during the day and worked a few jobs at night. Even though times had changed, being a woman at the police academy wasn't easy. She worked extra hard to prove herself even better than her male classmates. She worked extra hard to prove herself responsible for a tough mentor when she went into private investigations and now that she was in business for herself. She had to exude competence to get clients and make the tough calls to solve cases. For just once in her life, she wanted someone else to make all of the decisions and to take command. She really wanted someone to do that in the bedroom. Her attempts to do that had ended badly so far. Most guys took her request for domination as an invitation for a blow job. Not that she was averse to that but she wanted some incentive to get there. She wanted to feel like putty in someone's hands not a nail getting hammered down. She wanted something like that movie Secretary with the dude from Boston Legal and that girl that played Batman's girlfriend in Dark Knight.

Nora's voice interrupted Nicki's thoughts. "Are you listening to me?" Nora asked with annoyance.

Of course, Nicki had tuned her out a while ago but she avoided having to fess up to that by noting they had arrived at their destination. "Look, we're here!" She said, pointing to a a block of brownstone row houses. The neighborhood was made up of elegant turn of the century high class homes. It had fallen on hard times decades ago but was in the early stages of gentrification. By all appearances, the block Nicki had pointed out was uninhabited. The windows were blacked out obscuring any chance of seeing inside. Wads of restaurant fliers clogged the door handles.

Nora looked skeptically at the buildings. "Gosh, who's the client?."

"Damon Reiker. Investor, entrepeneur, philanthropist and rich as hell. He's even made money after the market tanked." Nicki answered as she reached into the back of the car to pick up a file that was lying on the back seat.

"No shit?" Nora blurted.

"No shit." Nicki said as she opened the folder and thumbed her way through its contents. "Mr. Reiker thinks his wife might be cheating on him. Here she is. Her name is Cassandra, Casi for short." Nicki took out a photo of a woman and handed it to Nora. The woman had wavy mid-length platinum hair with bangs, intended to draw attention from a wide forehead. She had a button nose and a sharp chin. The beaming smile she wore, anchored between rosy apple cheeks was like a streak of white lightning. Her grin was so captivating that even a heart made of stone could not possibly hope to stand against it. In fact, Nicki and Nora lingered silently over the photo for a while until Nora broke the quiet.

"Reiker is an old son-of-a-bitch. She must be the trophy wife. Reiker really gets the best that money can by."

Nora noticed Nicki was still staring at the photo.

"You stare at that any more and I am going to think you're gay."

Nicki humphed. She shook her head and turned the picture over. Something about Casi Reikert turned her on and it annoyed her to think that anyone else might find this out, especially Nora because she would never let Nicki hear the end of it.

Nora laughed. "She is pretty hot. I'd do her." She teased.

Nicki scowled and then returned to her description of the case.

"One weekend every month, Casi takes out $10,000 from her bank account and comes here. She tells her husband it's a spa, but he and no one else he knows has ever heard of it, making him suspicious."

"You've already checked the place out?"

"Yeah, the block was bought up by a corporation a few years ago. They gutted the houses and joined them. Can't find anything on the corporate owner other than it pays its property taxes. However, whatever goes on in there, they have some pretty high class clientele. Here are some pictures I've taken of people going in.

Nicki flipped through her file to show a picture she had taken.

"Hey!"Nora cried. "I voted for her."

Nicki showed her another.

"Hey! I love his movies!"

Nicki showed one more.

"Hey, I've downloaded all his band's songs! That's some spa."

"If it IS a spa. Spas usually don't keep quiet about being able to draw these kind of customers. Everyone going in there keeps a low profile. They all go in in sunglasses, trench coats and jeans, totally incognito."

"So you want me to get you in there?"

"Yeah, this looks like the best place to get in." Nicki showed Nora a few pictures of a door with a small console near the handle and a camera overhead. "It's an entrance down in an alley. I haven't seen it ever been used. It could be a secondary service entrance."

"Hmmm." Nora mused. "They got an SecureLock 3000. That is top of the line. Took me a couple of weeks to hack it. Got a clear approach to the door too. I can get a feed loop marker on that camera no problem so they'll see the same five seconds over and over without ever knowing it.

Nicki smiled. "Great! Let's get this done. Casi is in there now. If this place is a spa, we'll just get a few pictures. If it isn't, we'll get a few more pictures."

"Um, aren't you afraid we'll get caught? A place like that has to have some serious security."

"You've seen how the people dress who go in there. We shouldn't stand out and if we do, we should have enough of a chance to get a disguise that will buy us some time."

"I sure hope you're right." Nora said as she picked up her backpack

Nicki smiled as she grabbed her own satchel bag and they left the car.

Nicki directed Nora into the alley at the end of which was the door that was in the photo. The two edged along a wall until they got underneath the camera. Nicki gave Nora a lift up so she could place a small disc on it. She counted to five and then stepped down.

"Ok, the only thing they'll see is the same five seconds of nothing repeating over and over." Nora said as she opened her back pack. She pulled out some equipment that she used to pry of the electronic lock's casing. Next, she took a hand held computer and used some wires which she connected to the lock's exposed circuity. She tapped furiously at buttons for a few minutes until there was a click and the door swung slightly ajar.

"There you go." Nora said, smiling proudly as she shoved her equipment back into her bag.

"Great!" Nicki said pulling out a flashlight to scan the darkness that lay beyond the door.

The two went inside.

"Looks like a caterer's store room." Nicki mused as her light fell over stacked tables and chairs, open boxes of table cloth and napkins and cutlery. Nora spied something else that caught her attention and went to the other side of the room.

"What kind of caterer has this?" She said, reaching into a box and pulling out a vibrator.

Nicki swept her flashlight across the room where Nora had gone. There the contents was much different. It looked like they had stumbled into a sex shop.

Nora murmured, "Wow, this is some kind of spa."

Nicki grumbled. "There's a door." She turned the handle and opened it into plushly carpeted hallway painted in burgundy red and lined with garish bronze lamps. The two found a pace to hid their bags. Nicki waved Nora to follow her outside. They carefully moved down the hall and deeper into the building. Just as they were about to reach an intersection, two woman turned the corner and nearly walked into them. Nicki and Nora's jaws dropped. The two could have walked out of a high class porn movie or men's magazine spread. Their figures were a man's wet dream--huge firm breasts, incredibly narrow waists, long slender limbs and hair so blonde it was blinding. Nicki and Nora had a full view of the bodies of both women because instead of being dressed, they wore the outline of dress. White cuffs with gold cufflinks were wrapped around their wrists and white lapeled collars with black bow-ties adorned their necks. They walked in high narrow heeled shoes.

Nicki and Nora froze speechless from the unexpected encounter with the nearly nude pair.

"Savor the pleasure." The two women giggled in unison. They swept passed the flabbergasted pair and continued down the hall, their hips swaying in unison.

"Yeah, this IS some kind of spa." Nora said, still dumbfounded as the two walked away.

Nicki waved Nora on, heading down a hall toward the sound of electronica music and crowd sounds. At the end of the hall they found a wide open great hall with multiple tiered balconies along its sides. The music bathed a large crowd scattered massed in the center of the room in various stages of dress and undress. Men and women were preoccupied with activities ranging from conversational intercourse to physical intercourse.

Nicki pulled Nora away and they headed back to the storeroom.

"Hey, like what gives!?" Nora complained.

"Looks like I am going to need a disguise after all." Nicki replied as she turned on the storeroom light and sought out some "appropriate" clothing. After some scrounging amongst some fetish gear, she found what she was looking for. She stripped down to her underwear, handing her clothes to Nora, and put on a slinky black dress and some heels.

"You stay here." Nicki ordered. "I'll try to find Casi Reikert and get some pictures."

"Aw no way!" Nora complained. "And me miss out on all the fun?"

"I need you here to make sure we have an exit. If this place goes into some lockdown mode, you might have to hack the lock again. Remember, we're here for business, not pleasure. Pics of Casi fooling around will make us both a lot of money."

"Spoilsport."

"Just stay here and keep out of trouble. I have my cell phone on vibrate. If it looks like we have been discovered, give me a call and I'll get back here and we'll go."

"Ok." Nora said glumly.

Nicki patted her on the head, turned off the light and walked quickly back to the great hall.

Nora sat dejectedly in the darkness for the while. "Oh screw this!" She decided. "What's the harm in just looking. Plus, if anything does go wrong, I'm more likely to find out about it out there than here." She convinced herself.

With careful steps, Nora retraced her path to the great hall. She stood in the entryway watching the many scenes of the satiation of desire play out before her. Her eyes wandered across the forms that were locked together, the tall and muscular, the voluptuous and slender, figures ranging from the delicate to the powerful. She drank in all the caressing, grinding, kissing, licking, and biting. She saw sexual acrobatics she couldn't believe any human body was capable of. It all filled her with inexpressible longing. These were the type of experiences she had always wanted. What she wouldn't give to dive right in. Her discretion forbade doing more than just looking. She was on a job and she had to back Nicki up.

"Sub or dom!?" A harsh voice bellowed behind her.

Nora tried not to jump and turned slowly around. Behind her was a tall woman, taller still thanks to her stiletto heels of many inches. Her exquisite form encased in a skintight latex body suit of shiny black. The only ornamentation on her suit were bracelets and collar that held menacing pointed studs. Her face above the jaw was concealed by a cowl down the center of which ran a series of more of those sharp studs. The woman's deep brown eyes sparkled menacingly and her red lips were curled in a sneer.