Chapter 25: Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

“So what do you have to say about the numbers?” Alice asked, looking up from her salad.

Jake finished chewing a bite of steak. He was eating with Alice in the conference room at Diana’s. Financial reports for July were lying around the table. He and Alice had been reviewing them when their lunch had arrived.

“It’s about what I expected. I was disappointed that June and July numbers were down until I realized that the year-on-year numbers were up modestly. That continues the trend.”

“Summer vacations tend to take our customers away,” Alice said. “Past performance suggests that they’ll be back in September.”

“All in all the numbers show that you and Diana have a steady hand on operations. I expected the improvement in the bottom line from cutting food and beverage costs, even with the expense of hiring the new chef and promoting his new menu. Make a note to award a $4000 bonus to the manager and $2000 each to her assistant and the executive chef.”

“Noted, and thank you. And what did you think about the new girls?”

“That was quite a crop of prospects waiting for me this morning. It was hard to test out all four. Thanks for the boost so that I could do the last one.”

“You’re welcome. I noticed that they were pleased with the auditions. I watched closely to see how you boosted their sexual responses. Connie was quite surprised to learn that her tits are an erogenous zone.”

“With breasts like hers, it seems only fair that they bring her as much pleasure as they do the men who will pay to see them. Where did you find her?”

“At Tom Thumb.”

“Really? I wouldn’t have guessed that the grocery store was a good recruiting ground.”

“I picked up Penny at the same time. They’re roommates. Actually, grocery stores are good places to go hunting because I have plenty of time to scan the shoppers while they are moving through the aisles or waiting in the checkout line.”

“How about the others?”

“Sheryl was on the treadmill at the fitness center on campus. Holly was window-shopping at the mall. Now that I can read people, it’s almost ridiculously simple to find women who are well suited for this work. I just keep an eye out for women who really like men and really enjoy sex. I chat them up a little to filter out the women with moral objections. The results are what you saw up there.” She smiled. “Holly seemed to have an especially memorable time.”

“It was quite a surprise to find myself in bed with a sub. Who would have thought that you would bring me a submissive woman two days after I was turned into a dom. I should thank you for that.”

“Holly should thank me for it. But the truth is I didn’t know that was going to happen.”

“Neither did Holly. It was strange. I didn’t plan to dominate her. It’s just that every time I did something the least bit aggressive, she would respond. Before I knew it, I’d tied her wrists together with my belt.”

“She’s going to be very disappointed if you don’t come by occasionally and give her a workout.”

“We’ll see. I have two subs at home already, and a third if you count my sub’s sub. How close are we to being fully staffed?”

“Today’s four bring us up to 56 women in house. Diana wants 70 on the schedule. She also wants 20 escorts. I brought in three in the last week to bring the current number to 11.”

“Wow.”

“Of course, the more really high-quality women we have, the greater the demand will become. By the time we get to 70, customer demand will probably force us to hire ten more.”

“And since the bonus for recruiting new talent is $5000, you’ll make out quite well this month.”

“Better than you think. I’ve got four more women lined up. I just didn’t want to overload you this morning.”

“I’m glad you work for me. I like having you here, although not as much as I like to have you come home to me at the end of the day.”

“Aren’t you a sweet talker? It’s too bad that you’ve worn yourself out on the new girls. I’d have been glad to drag you up to one of the rooms and take out my bonus in trade. Speaking of new girls, when should I schedule the audition for the next four?”

“I have to wonder if we still need to do that. I trust your judgment and you’ll be able to give them treatments yourself soon.”

“I could do it, but I’m not sure it’s a good idea. This way they know who the boss is and that they need to please him. It starts them off with the right attitude.”

“Nah. You’re hiring good people. Their attitude will be fine. I’ve got a bunch of women that I love back home. I’d rather give my attention to them.”

“I would also point out, boss, that I didn’t recognize Holly’s predilection. We’ll be able to charge a lot more for her when I shop her to the men who value that kind of thing.”

“Next time you’ll know to check. You don’t need me.”

“If you insist, Jake.” She wiped her mouth with her napkin. “I have an idea to increase traffic.”

“What’s that?”

“We go to the better hotels and install controls in the front desk staff, the bell boys, and the concierges to guide their better-heeled customers here when they are interested in companionship.”

Jake raised his eyebrows. “It wouldn’t generate a lot of repeat business, but it does tap a market that we’re not drawing on now. It would probably also require us to increase our staffing some to handle the increase in short-notice and walk-in traffic.”

“That’s why I thought of it. Now that we are improving our staffing situation, we can handle the new business. But it could cause other problems.”

“What’s that?”

“The next critical resource after we’ve hired sufficient talent is having enough rooms. We already have insufficient beds on Friday nights and all day Saturdays. We should consider expanding. Maybe adding another wing.”

“Wow. You don’t lack for ambition.”

“Thanks, Jake. And while we’re considering an expansion, I have another idea.”

“Yes?”

“Remember when I told Mona that we were like a social club?”

“Uh-huh.”

“We could offer services in that direction. We could expand the kitchen, add a dining room, another media room or two, a library, Internet access, fax machines. We could sell memberships. It would increase the food and beverage revenue. And having clients here socializing would increase the usage of the brothel services.”

“Very interesting. I have the money to expand, but I should resolve the conflict with the Council before doing that. Not that that issue is going to remain unresolved for long. Flesh out your proposal with some cost estimates. Talk to Mark Harrison. He’ll be able to give you ballpark numbers. Then tell Diana about your ideas. Tell her that we’ve been talking about it and that I want her thoughts, too. We’ll arrange a meeting in a week or two.”

“Jake, is this run-in with the Council going to work out okay?”

“I can’t deny that we are at risk. But then again, so is anyone who riles up a mind reader. Look at what happened to my father, Tommy Cox, and his mother.”

“I notice that those are people that you took care of, not people that came after you.”

“True, but it does show how dangerous a mind reader can be. At least they aren’t coming at us unaware. They made the mistake of giving us the chance to take precautions.”

“And if they send someone after you, the numbers are ten-to-one in our favor.”

“That’s right,” he said, standing. “Plus we have one other advantage.”

“What’s that?”

“These guys are arrogant. They are used to winning. They are used to getting their way. They won’t see me as anything other than a minor problem. They will assume that an inexperienced 14 year-old is no match for them.”

Jake bent down and kissed her.

“Thanks for the briefing and for lunch. Schedule me one last time to audition the new girls. We’ll use it as a training session for you so that you can sex them up in the future. Would you arrange for Shannon to come as well? She should learn, too.”

Jake shifted his shoulders, settling the body armor vest into a comfortable position under his suit coat.

When he stepped out of the conference room into the reception area, Boris and Leanne were just coming in. Jake read them and found that they had been watching TV in the media room, listening in on his meeting with Alice.

It’s nice when your bodyguards are mind readers. There’s no waiting around when it’s time to go.

“It’s what bodyguards do,” Boris said, leading them toward the front door. “Jake, I want you and Leanne to wait inside. I’m going to get the car and bring it around front. Wait for me to come back for you. Then I’ll lead the way and Leanne will flank you. The threat, if there is one, would likely be a gunman in the trees or in a car. Keep your eyes open while we are in motion.”

Jake and Leanne stopped in the entryway. Boris walked out the front door.

“So you’re going to give up screwing the new whores?” Leanne asked, smiling.

“You have no shame,” Jake said. “Didn’t your mother ever teach you it’s rude to listen in on other people’s conversations?”

“Not when I’m keeping tabs on you,” she said.

“I think I’ve said it before. I’d much rather be with you than some strange woman I barely know. The sex is much better, to say nothing of the conversation.”

“I know you are devoted to us, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like to see the evidence from time to time.” She patted Jake’s cheek. “Now shut up. I’m going to scan the area.”

Jake stroked her back lightly while she did. He took the opportunity to do one last scan of the people in the building. There were only a few customers at that hour and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. When he sensed Boris approaching the door, he sent one last surge of affection to Alice in the manager’s office.

Boris opened the front door. “No messing around out there,” he said. “Eyes sharp. Walk quickly. Follow me.”

He stepped out onto the porch and strode purposefully toward the car, his eyes scanning the grounds methodically. Jake and Leanne followed quickly. Boris had the back door open and waiting. He took Jake’s arm and pushed him none too gently into the car. He and Leanne got in front. Boris drove quickly away.

“I talked to Diana’s top security guy,” Boris said once they were out of the vicinity. “I instructed him to install infrared cameras covering the approaches to the building. He knows to get the best. It’s going to cost you a lot of money.”

“You sure do like to spend my money lately,” Jake said.

“The more money I spend, the safer you are. Believe me, I have no trouble sleeping at night.” He looked over his shoulder as he changed lanes. “The video recorders I want are on backorder. I had to arrange overnight shipping from the manufacturer. It cost a bunch, but they’ll be delivered to the lake house tomorrow. I’ve got a technician coming by in the afternoon to hook everything up. By evening we’ll know if they’re watching us.”

“Good. Thanks, Boris.”

“I also got word from my office while you were meeting with Alice. The computer lab tech has the lab set up. The forensic engineer is ready to evaluate the compact disk. They’re waiting for us.”

Boris’s office was only a few miles from Diana’s. They were there in less than ten minutes. Boris double-parked on the street near the front door.

“Hold on a minute,” he said. “I’ll scan around the front of the car from nine o’clock to three o’clock. Leanne, you scan around behind the car, three o’clock back to nine. Jake, make sure no surprises are waiting for us in the building.”

All three reported all-clear after a few seconds. Boris came around to Jake’s door, pulled it open, grabbed Jake’s arm, and pulled him quickly into the building. Leanne was tight against Jake’s other side.

That was efficiently done, Boris sent after he had tossed his keys to an employee and told him to park the car. He led Jake and Leanne down a corridor. We’ll do it that way at each stop. The idea is to get Jake out of the line of sniper fire as quickly as possible.

That’s fine, Jake sent, but if you guys are going to shield me like that, you need to have body armor, too.

I agree, Boris sent. I’ll arrange it.

Boris brought them to a door labeled Computer Lab. Inside was a large room with workbenches on one wall and computer equipment set up on tables in the middle. A tall, slender man in a suit was sitting at a laptop, obviously waiting for them to arrive. He stood when they came in.

“Jake, this is Dennis Wolfe,” Boris said. “We use him for our forensic engineering needs.”

Wolfe took a quick but thorough look at Leanne. He raised an eyebrow when he saw Jake but then became all business.

“I understand you have some network software you’ve been asked to use and you want to make sure that it contains no surprises.”

Jake handed him the disk, still in its paper sleeve.

Wolfe pulled out the paper with the login instructions, read it over, and set it aside. He took the disk and slid it into a desktop computer.

As Wolfe peered into the monitor, Jake installed a control in him that made him ignore talk of telepathy. A second control ensured that he wouldn’t talk about anything he learned.

“We’ve got an isolated network setup here,” Wolfe said as he put his hands on the keyboard and began to type. “My laptop is hardened against hacking. It will function as a network analyzer, collecting all the data the desktop machine sends and receives. We start by looking for conventional threats. I’m running a virus scan now.”

He typed some more and then turned back to the other three.

“Let me ask some questions while the virus scan runs,” Wolfe said. “Tell me what you think this software will do.”

“It’s supposed to be teleconferencing software that allows me to talk with members of a club I’m thinking of joining.”

“Your hardware requirements include a downlink speed of at least seven megabits per second and an uplink of three megabits. The asymmetry is curious. It could mean that the packets are routed to a central server, rather than communicating peer-to-peer.”

The desktop computer beeped and Wolfe turned back to it.

“No viruses,” he said. “Give me a minute to examine the contents of the disk.”

Taking the mouse he navigated quickly through the directory structure.

“Standard installation program,” he said. “There’s a large number of data and program files but no system software. There’s nothing to do but run the installer and see what gets put onto the target machine.”

He clicked the installer and let it run.

“Nothing installed into the system,” he said when the installation was finished and he had looked the file system over. “I’m going to fire it up. The router is disconnected from the rest of the network at the moment, so nothing will get to the outside world. It should, however, be telling to watch it try.” He rolled his chair to the laptop. “I’ll start the capture on this machine.” He rolled back to the desktop computer. “And let’s kick off the teleconferencing program.”

Wolfe started the program and watched both computers.

“The desktop computer is asking for personal information,” he announced, “and also trying to establish a connection to a remote machine using TCP.”

He peered closely at the laptop and wrote down a number. Then he rolled to a computer across the room.

“I’ve got the IP address of the remote machine your software is trying to contact. Let me see what I can find out about it.”

He typed for a few moments.

“Look at this,” he said after a brief pause. “This is the domain registration information for the remote site. The domain is owned by Miller Partners. The domain owner’s address is in New York City. Manhattan, it looks like. It also shows the contact information for the person who runs the site.” He went back to the desktop machine running the teleconferencing software. “Let me look at the files that have been installed. Maybe I can discover something useful.”

Jake watched as he scanned through each of the files.

“No, nothing,” he said after several minutes. “I’m going to put some dummy information into this startup screen and see what there is to see.”

He spent a few minutes typing and then exploring the program.

“Look at this screen,” he said finally. “You can see how if there were entries in the directory you would be able to select one or several of them and click on this button to initiate a teleconferencing session.

“There is also functionality for secure email, instant messaging, and what looks like a dedicated web browser.” He turned to Jake and Boris. “That’s about all I can do without letting the software loose on the Internet.”

“Should I?” Jake asked Boris.

“I don’t see why not,” he said. “You planned on talking to them anyway.”

“I suppose,” Jake said. “I’ll need to decide what to say. At the very least I have to tell them whether I’m willing to move to Oklahoma.”

Wolfe interrupted. “I’m going to remove and then reinstall the software. Then whatever you do, it will be as though from scratch. Just like it would have been on your own computer at home.” He handed Jake a headset. “When you run the program you’ll have both audio and video. Sit directly in front of the computer to be centered in the frame.”

“Uh, thanks,” Jake said.

We need to prep you for the call, Boris sent. You have to either agree to go to Oklahoma or stall. You can’t just say no.

“Okay, it’s ready for you,” Wolfe said and rolled his chair from the desktop computer to the laptop. “I’ll be monitoring the packet sniffer.”

Jake sat down. The program was waiting for Jake to enter personal information. He typed in his address, and phone number. He figured that the Council had them already so it wouldn’t do any harm. He clicked on the okay button and a window appeared, saying the program was downloading the user directory.

“Lots of incoming packets,” Wolfe said. “So far the program is talking only to that server in Manhattan.”

After a minute a new window appeared with a list of names and a button labeled “Start comm session.”

“You two should probably stand aside if you don’t want to be seen by the camera,” Wolfe said to Boris and Leanne. “Remember, anything you say can be heard at the other end.”

They took seats near Wolfe.

Jake looked over the list of names. Each entry consisted of a name and a city.

“Here’s one helpful thing,” Jake said. “It looks like we’ve got a list of everybody in the organization, including addresses and phone numbers.”

He scrolled through the list until he found Wilson Greenlee.

“Here goes,” Jake said and started the session. A few seconds later a window appeared with the image of an extremely attractive middle-aged woman.

“This is Philadelphia,” she said. “How may I help you?”

Greenlee, Jake guessed, recycled sex slaves to work as servants as his father had. In fact, this might be one of the slaves his father had prepared.

“I’m Jake Fielding of, uh, Oklahoma City. May I speak to Wilson Greenlee, please.”

“Lord Greenlee is occupied.”

“When can I reach him?”

“Lord Greenlee is not available except in urgent cases. I will inform him of your call. He may or may not choose to return it. If you have routine business, I can have a member of his staff contact you.”

“I have a reply to an order from the Council.”

“Why would you need to reply? The Council will assume your compliance.”

Jake ran his hand over his mouth and chin. What was with these people? Was their control over the other mind readers so firm that no one ever questioned their orders?

“It’s not that simple. Issues have come up with this one.”

She frowned. “This is most irregular. I will forward your request higher up in the staff. Please, remain available.”

The window closed before Jake could say anything.

“Crap!” Jake said. “That didn’t get me anything.”

“Keep your game face on,” Boris said. “We can use the time to plot how to get more information from them.”

They talked for several minutes, throwing ideas back and forth. Then the computer sounded a chime. A window appeared announcing an incoming call. Jake clicked on a button and a new window opened. It showed a middle-aged man.

“How can I help you?”

“My name is Jake Fielding. What is your position?”

“I am the chief of staff for Lord Greenlee.”

“How large is the staff?”

“I am told that you are questioning your orders.”

“No, that’s not what I said.”

“The report from your indoctrination is that you refused to accept your transfer order.”

“It was sudden. I needed a day to think about it. I do not refuse the order. I do, however, want to find out if there is any flexibility.”

“Why would there be flexibility? You have been given your new territory and adequate time to move there.”

“I’m not sure I would call the time adequate. I’m in school here. I have business interests here. I have a family that I am responsible for. Your deadline may be impossible to meet.”

“It is not my deadline. It is the Council’s deadline. If you have to leave things behind when you move, then you must. No other telepath has been allowed to disregard the deadline of their transfer order.”

Jake sighed. “Tell me about the staff.”

“What do you mean?”

“For instance, I have been ordered to send a report to the staff. Who on the staff? What other things do you do? Who do I talk to when I need something?”

“Lord Greenlee’s staff is not here to help you. You were given our mailing address. Just mail your report here. Or fax it. Or email it. We’ll take it from there. If you have something to say, contact us using this software and talk to the staff member who answers. That is all you need to know.” He glared at Jake. “Is there anything else you need?”

“No, I can see that I’ll get no assistance and no cooperation from you.”

The window closed.

“Arrogant bastard!” Leanne said.

“You gave it a good try, Jake,” Boris said, “but it sounded like he was determined from the outset to stonewall you.”

“I wonder if it was just me or if they treat all mind readers that way.”

“I do, too,” Boris said.

“There is something you should know about the teleconferencing software,” Wolfe said.

“What’s that?” Boris asked.

“I watched both times as you established sessions with the site in Philadelphia.”

“Was there a problem?” Boris asked.

“Not with Philadelphia. The problem is that the software was sending a second stream of data to another machine.”

“What other machine?” Jake asked.

“The destination address was a computer on the same subnet as the one in Manhattan, the one that supplied the directory entries. I was looking at the packets. They contain dense binary data being sent at the rate of about two kilobytes every second.”

“What does that mean?”

“That’s how much throughput is needed for low fidelity audio. My guess is that the software lets those guys in Manhattan eavesdrop on your teleconferencing sessions.”

“Can you stop it?” Boris asked.

“Sure. Many routers can filter packets based on address or protocol. But it wouldn’t do any good.”

“Why not?” Jake asked.

“You communicate with people who use the same software. Right?” Wolfe asked.

“Right,” Jake said.

“We can stop your computer from sending your audio to Manhattan but the remote machine, the other guy you are talking to, will still be sending the audio from his end. You can’t have a private conversation unless you have the other guy filter out his audio stream, too.”

Jake floated on his back, looking at the sky above. It looked like a thunderstorm was brewing in the southwest. They were going to have to get out of the pool soon. He went back to looking at Julie’s mind, comparing her limbic system to Carol’s. What was it that prevented Julie’s mind from obsessing about sex when she wasn’t aroused?

Following up on Jan’s insight about the relationships between arousal, fear and inhibitions had proved to be incredibly involved. He focused on the fear circuits. There were so many signal flows, some straight forward, some that were too complex to grasp — positive feedback, negative feedback, streams that he could not even begin to characterize. The interconnections were staggering.

In frustration, Jake changed tacks. He looked over at Julie who was lying on a towel along the edge of the pool. He sent her a mild sensation of arousal. She breathed deeply and wriggled her body. Jake saw an increase in the activity of several brain regions. He looked closely at her right orbitofrontal cortex, an area known to motivate people to have sex. He stroked through the water until he was floating next to Julie. He reached out to touch her lightly, increasing his acuity.

Julie, I heard someone call you a slut yesterday.

Her head jerked toward him. “Who said that?”

Jake ignored her outburst, focusing on the changes in the orbitofrontal cortex. Nothing. There was no increase in inhibition in that region at all.

“Damn it, Jake. That’s the third time you’ve yanked my chain today. What do you think you’re doing?”

A clap of thunder startled them. Jake looked off toward a large bank of dark clouds. The squall was moving toward them fast. He waded to the shallow end and climbed out of the pool.

“Let’s go in, ladies,” he called out to Julie and Carol. “That storm is going to be on us soon.”

Jake replayed his memory of the teleconference to the war council after dinner.

“I don’t like it at all,” Ellen said. “It’s like they’ve already condemned Jake.”

“Maybe, or maybe they are always that way with mind readers,” Jake said. “They’ve been trying to intimidate and bully me from the very beginning.”

“We need to know which one it is,” Kara said.

“I agree,” Boris said. “It would allow us to focus our precautions, but it’s not critical. We just have to be prepared either way.”

“Prepared how?” Jan asked.

“We already have a protocol for protecting Jake as he goes about his business. We have to assume that the Council will launch some kind of attack. It could be anything from some minor disciplinary action up to an assassination attempt. The only thing we know is that whatever they do, it may originate from Miami. We need to learn what they have planned. I’m going to go to Miami and listen in on this Oliver Wise and his household.”

“You’re going to be a heck of a mind reader, Boris,” Jake said, “but you can’t go up against an experienced mind reader yet. You’re not yet fully proficient at hearing thoughts, and you’ve just started to work on your mind-control skills.”

“I agree. I’ll take one of the first-wave women with me to do the dirty work. We’ll leave first thing in the morning.”

“Wouldn’t it be better if I went?” Jake asked.

“I’d appreciate having your skills, Jake. You are obviously the most experienced telepath, especially when it comes to offensive capabilities, but not this time. If they learn that a known mind reader has gone to another telepath’s territory, that would just provoke them further, and at the worst possible time. We might just as well declare open war. Normally the chance of detection would be slight, but your profile is too high at the moment. They could have someone outside the house watching you right now.”

“Besides,” Jan said, “you are the head of the family, the CEO of Jake, Inc., and the commanding general of the Army of Jake. We need you here to lead.”

“Am I watching my wings get clipped right before my very eyes?”

“It’s one of the burdens of leadership,” Boris said. “For the good of everybody, you have to fulfill the requirements of your role. You cannot take unnecessary risks. Nor can you shirk your other duties just to go off and have adventures.”

“That’s right, Bilbo,” Jan said with a smile.

“What’s that?” Boris said.

“Huh?” Jake said.

“Never mind,” she said, “but I know what Santa’s going to bring you both for Christmas.”

“So who are you going to take with you?” Jake asked turning back to Boris.

“My first preference would be Jan, but I know she’s got family obligations.”