Chapter 27

Steve

Oh my, I have to pee very badly. I was able to slip from the pile of bodies to stand in front of the throne for about an hour. Not really, but for a couple of minutes, at least. I was about to shake it off when long arms surrounded me to take my hands away and took hold of me. A recognizable voice said, "I'll do that. As soon as I do the same, let's use the shower real quick. This morning is going to be busy with people leaving."

Long, tall Kathy sat on the pot while I turned on the water and adjusted the temperature. Before we could really get started washing, the door slid open and the smaller Mercy got in with us. Mercy was more direct and pulled my head down for a kiss. Before she let me go, she said, "Fuck us, do it, hurry, I'm in need this morning."

We performed in the usual manner with them leaning against the wall with their rears sticking out in the air for my pleasure. Or would that be for "our" pleasure. While I was pounding away on Kathy, I noticed a red tinge to the water running from her body. When I switched to do Mercy, we had only been at it a few strokes when she said, "Oh darn, I have my period."

That didn't bother either of us about what we were doing, considering where we were at. Kathy had turned also and was touching herself when she raised her fingers. Looked at them and said, "You're not alone, Mercy, I started too."

As we groaned our pleasure, Kathy added, "If we've started, Sue will too." Kathy hugged me as I pulled my reddened pleasure poker from Mercy, "You'll still have Juanita and Mickey for some fun. But darn, we're going to be sailing tomorrow, and I was looking forward to some high seas fun."

Just as we began washing in earnest, the door slipped open again and Sue stepped in. She hugged me while pulling on my satisfied poker, "I need you this morning, Lover. I think I'm going to start my monthlies and you know how horny I get. Do me. Do I need to help you a little after these greedy sluts used you all up?"

Sue's fondling was doing the trick, but of course, playing with the huge mammary playground in front me, didn't hurt either. In seconds, Sue was turned, leaning against the shower wall, moaning as I thrust into her. It always amazes me the way these beauties can milk me so soon after I've already performed. Perform again I did, which caused a red tinged mixture to run down Sue's leg as we washed.

While getting dressed, I noted the time and figured the rest of the world was going to be waiting on us.

Out in the suite's parlor area, Chuck and Dewey looked as if they had just sat down. Both had a cup of coffee and a tall glass full of red stuff. I smiled at the two, "Hey, you guys, hitting the sauce a little early, aren't you?"

Dewey grinned, "Never too early, Grasshopper. I'm training another how to properly begin his day."

I joined the two by making myself a Bloody Mary and also pouring a cup of coffee. As I sat with the other two men, a procession of women began coming from bedrooms. Most of the non-pregnant women wanted one of the morning drinks as well. We were about to run out of glasses before we ran out of booze and mix. Everyone appeared to have what they wanted to wake up with.

A couple of kids came out of their room, naked, ready for the beach. They were sent back to dress as the mom's didn't want the wait staff bringing breakfast to see a bunch of naked kids running around.

As the kids ate, others began coming to our suite as it was the largest. John was trying to get a consensus as to what time the folks wanted to take off this morning. Chuck's women said anytime would be just about as bad as any. They really didn't want to leave. Chuck had to promise them more sailing back home.

Kevin and Susan, Dennis and Marie, and Don and Jan said they were ready any time.

Martin was having coffee, with Glenda sitting beside him, when he said, "Well, we really enjoyed sailing, but my bride and I are homesick. We're packed and ready.

Merlin and Ben were the only two really anxious to leave. Merlin felt as if he needed to get back to his business, and Ben was anticipating the consummation of another one of his big investment deals. John said, "I'll call and tell the pilots to be ready about ten, okay?"

There was a general theme of acceptance and everyone began gathering their bags. Chuck spent a great deal of time talking and comforting his Fruitful Five, knowing that it would be better if they were closer to medical help when they should decide to give birth. Tina said she had already delivered a few babies, but had not been the primary physician. That gave Chuck some comfort to know one of his own could take care of the others if necessary.

Wow, sixteen were leaving us. Seven originally came over with us, but we were picking up eight additional people from the band, the two new smiling women, and four more kids. I think that as soon as both of the Italian women realized they were sailing to the U.S.A. with us, they had permanent smiles on their faces.

Mac and Lorna came to the room to say their goodbyes to us as well as to their grandkids who had been staying with all of ours. They said their reservations were for nine thirty, so they needed to leave now. All of their grandchildren gave them hugs, along with most of our kids. That had to make the older couple feel they were loved.

A little later, attendants came to the door to carry luggage out to Ed's bus. Chuck and Lisa gave their women kisses and they were walked out to the bus with tears in their eyes. At the last minute, Maria decided she needed to go with Chuck's five, so she hurriedly packed with Chuck and Lisa by her side. She was telling them she felt the girls might need her to take care of them. That was originally her job, and she felt she wouldn't be doing it if she was to stay.

Oh well, there goes another.

It didn't seem to be that much later that Chuck, Lisa, the band, and all of the kids were ready to go to Cannes for practice before the show. Ed was already back from the airport trip, so all of us adults got ready and accompanied the kids. The only missing member of the party was Dewey, who was still messing with his casino/resort problems.

We watched the kids practice and warm up for the show. I know I was still amazed that Chuck and Lisa had brought the kids along this far. I knew that Bonita had pushed her brothers and sisters to learn the guitar, and for some to learn and practice the piano, but what we were listening to was professional grade, at least to my ear.

The reception room was empty when the band and kids got there, but they didn't have time for much of a snack before the doors were unlocked and a whole new set of movie stars and celebrities came swarming in with their pseudo backstage passes. The only thing backstage was the free food and drinks before and after the show.

The concert was really good today. It seemed to go on forever and when they finally shut down and began putting their equipment away, I checked my watch to see that it was almost nine. Almost five hours up on stage. None of the band or the kids seemed worse for wear. They were tired, but excitedly tired.

The band people separated the equipment they wanted to take with them on the boat and told the roadies to take it out to the boat and set it up in the music area of the big salon again. They made arrangements to meet Chuck out there to let them in.

On the way back to the bus, two of Chuck's ever present security people took him off to the side and spoke with him for a lengthy period of time. Lisa had been with him and came to the bus. She announced, "Chuck has been asked to do something, and I'm going along for moral support. We'll see you back at the room later. Would someone let the roadies in the boat so they can deliver and set the instruments up?"

I watched as the two got into a big Mercedes and took off, going fast. They seemed to be heading back toward Nice. If those weird security people needed Chuck and Lisa, I just knew it was for more than making up a foursome for bridge. I said a silent prayer that they would be okay.

Chuck

I was dozing in bed, knowing it was time to get up, but wishing for another five minutes of sleep. Something was spinning around in my head that had the hair on the back of my neck standing tall. My senses were tingling, telling me something was up.

Lisa nudged me and after a gentle kiss, said softly, "Me too, let's get up."

Shoot, I didn't mean to let her in and worry her.

The two of us took a quick shower, knowing this morning, and possibly the whole day, was going to be busy. As soon as we were ready for the day, the other ladies began waking, showering, and packing. The only five not packing were Maria, Taiying, Sing, Julie, and Gina. My Funny Five were all acting like blondes trying to make up their mind what flavor of milk shake they wanted. They couldn't get their clothes in the suitcases. It didn't help when I made the observation, "Heck, you guys brought back a huge pile of clothes from your shopping trips. Either leave some for us to take on the boat or order some big suitcases."

You could tell they didn't care for my comments. Tiani even said, "It's your fault, you know; you gave us that card and told us to get anything we wanted. You didn't set a limit. We didn't even get everything we wanted, but we did get a lot." She was grinning when she did her climbing demonstration to hug me around the neck, kissing me, "You're so good to us and good for us. Hurry home, we're going to miss you and Lisa." She looked around and added, "Maria, Julie, Taiying, Sing, and of course, Gina too. Anyway, hurry home."

The whole time the girls were getting ready to leave, I still had that sense of anticipation that something was up. Before we went to the show, I strapped my backup onto my stalk. Better to be safe than sorry. As Lisa and I were preparing to leave the room, Lisa handed me a corduroy sport coat along with my clip on holster and regular gun. She said, "I'm just as spooked as you are. I don't know whether listening to you has me this way, but I'm anticipating something. Sure hope it doesn't have anything to do with the families.

Just as everyone was about to leave, Maria said she had to go home with the Frivolous Five. Lisa and Maria rushed into the room and packed her suitcase. Maria came to me, kissed me, and said, "The girls are going to need me. They brought me to you to take care of them, and I need to go with them to do that. I love all of them and need to do that, to take care of them. Please hurry home to us."

That was a quick change of heart. I suppose she did feel obligated to the girls, since they were the ones that brought her into our home, and if you thought about it, into our private life as well.

The rest of the morning was spent in preparing to go, and finally going to Cannes for practice and the show. The kids were getting excited as they loved performing. What a bunch of applause and attention hounds.

Our music was special today, and we kept adding in the music we had kicked out for the new stuff we learned. The end result was a five hour concert. All of us were tired, but we were all pleased with the way we sounded. It had been fun and it is really exciting to play well. When the music is right and tight, everyone feels it and plays that much better. Jack even commented that this was one of the best live performances he's heard. He had it all recorded, of course.

Lisa and I were about to get on the bus to return to Nice, when two of the security people called me aside. Lisa went with me, of course, and when one of the security guys began getting rude to her, I touched him on the arm and said, "She's attached. Wherever I go, she follows, get used to it; now, what do you need."

Another suit got out of a big Mercedes and came to us. I recognized him, but couldn't place the name. He said, "We have a problem your service said you could handle. We have a situation similar to what you had in Mobile. The government doesn't care about the prostitution, or even the drugs so much, but they have discovered a large slave trading group that needs to be stopped. The French have a large contingent that needs to be led and you have the experience. Will you? Will you lead us?"

I looked at Lisa and she cocked her head with a slight nod. I could hear her say, "It's up to you, but I'm good for it if they are slavers."

Looking at the new suit, I asked, "Any kids involved, or all teens and up?"

He looked almost morose, "Yeah, almost all kids. The Bratva has been kidnapping them and transporting them to near here. They are mostly shipping them to the Arab countries, with a few going to South Africa, and a few to South America. We need to put a stop to it and put these people out of business."

I asked, "If I do this, no names. I don't want either of our names associated with this. Take all the credit personally, or give it to someone deserving, but not us. If you leak our names to anyone, I will personally hunt you down and make you pay. Got me?"

The guy was smiling and nodding, "Your Secret Service boss said you would be like this. No names, anything else?"

I said, "Yeah, take us back to the boat real quick so we can get some work clothes on, along with our armor vests and equipment."

The man said, "We want you to wear our clothes. They are black camouflage with face covers. We'll go for your equipment, but you need to dress like us. Some of the people we are confronting wear your camouflage uniforms."

Lisa went to tell the folks on the bus that we were leaving. While she was gone, I made a quick call. The other end answered, "Giovanni."

I said hurriedly, "Gio, this is Chuck Johnson. I'm going to ask you an important question and you must answer me honestly."

"Ask me, Chuck Johnson."

"Gio, are you involved in any kind of slave trade stuff in Nice?"

Gio answered quickly, "I do not sell people. We have street women and women who visit hotels, but we do not make them work for us or harm them. I hate that. Do you need help?"

"Thanks, Gio, I appreciate you being straight with me. Do you know anything about some Russian gangsters in Nice?"

He said, "Oh no, Chuck, they are very mean and dangerous. They will kill you as soon as look at you. Don't mess with them; don't get involved with them in any way. If they come to our areas, we don't ask them to leave; we ship them away unable to hurt anyone again, ever. Listen to me, don't mess with them."

"Okay, Gio, I will call you again soon. Gina and Gio and your grandkids send their love."

I heard the man's breath catch when I said that, and soon the line went dead.

When Lisa and I got into the Mercedes, we realized it was a limousine with a big back seat and two seats facing the back. There was already a man in black camouflage obviously wearing armor sitting facing back and another in the front. The driver looked to have on just a plain black T-shirt and jeans. The suit sat in the other seat facing back with a grim look on his face.

I asked the man, "Am I going to have a language problem?"

He said, "No, Jacques, here," he pointed to the man facing me, "And Pierre up front, will be with you the whole time. They will make sure your directions are followed." He opened a briefcase and handed me a map, another enlarged map, and a stack of 8X10 photos. "This is where the operation is. They don't appear to be at attention or on guard very much. We know they usually have guards out from their places of business, but we've been watching them for over a month and can't find any out guards."

I showed one of the photos to Lisa, "Looks just like the last one, doesn't it, except no casino, just a barge made into a hotel of sorts." I looked up at the suit, "Where are the kids held?"

The suit said, "We captured a man and hid him away while we questioned him. We used some of your techniques to have him, what you say, spill the beans. He told us the children are held in the lower deck area of the barge until they are shipped to who the highest bidder is. We've been able to hack their website and watch the auctions. It is sickening and we have been able to stop a few deliveries, but not all. As soon as we have disabled the apparatus here, we will be notifying the countries where the kids are shipped as to who has bought child slaves. The KGB said they are working on the case and will strike back in Russia when we take this place down."

I told the suit, "If they have the same weapons and manpower present as they had in Mobile, we will need to hit the target from land and water at the same time. In one case, we dropped men from helicopters. That was effective too."

The suit said, "We have helicopters and men trained to come down from them. What else do we need?"

"How about from the water, you will need an equally large force to come from the opposite side. You'll also need some recovery boats, as there will be many who will jump overboard to escape. If you want to catch them all, you need to be ready."

We arrived at the yacht club where Jacques accompanied Lisa and me to the boat. We pulled our equipment cases and came back to the salon where we had left our chaperone. The man was marveling at the luxury before him.

In the car, on our way, I asked the suit, "Can we get all of the team leaders together so I can explain the best way to do this. We must be in sync when this goes down or someone will get hurt. Someone usually gets hurt anyway, but let's try to protect your people as best as possible."

That's when I had a thought, "If you are State Department, what are you doing with this?"

The man looked at Jacques and said, "We are a part of the American CIA who work with the State Department and whatever host country we are in. I was originally from Nice, so I am enjoying visiting here."

In perfect English with a New England accent, Jacques said, "Most Americans just call me Jack. The French name is reserved for here."

I looked at Lisa and told her, "You know I don't like working with the CIA." I looked back at the suit, "I'll do this since there are kids involved, but I don't like to be misled. My people know I don't want to work for the CIA, and I won't. I'll make an exception for this."

I thought about it for a second and asked, "Why is the CIA involved in this? Why not the French police or their high security team?"

Jack answered for them, "These people are part of the group you helped take down in Mobile and we've found out they have operations in San Diego, San Francisco, and a new one in Elizabeth, New Jersey. This is a huge group of very dangerous people our government wants eliminated. This group is too big to snipe at, as they would just go underground for a while. We have to eliminate the entire group to make sure the operation here is out of business."

The suit had made several calls, and when we pulled into a big warehouse, he said, "I have all of the team leaders here. Use them as you see fit to keep as many as possible from harm."

I asked, "How far is it to the target? I'd like to see it firsthand before I set the final strategy."

The suit replied, "I'll have the group leader who has been observing the operation take you. He knows the terrain and how to get in and out without being spotted."

Outside of the car I was met by about a dozen men and two women all dressed in the black camouflage fatigues, their face covers pulled under their necks. After the first introductions, I said, "Whoever is the group leader; you and I are going for a quick look at the target. To be safe, we should have a detail go with us for backup. I know these people we are going to confront, and they are smart and ruthless."

I spoke to Lisa, "Stay here and give these people a brief description of what happened in Mobile the last time, and what dangers there might be. I shouldn't be gone long."

Lisa was skeptical, but did as I asked. The group leader, five more heavily armed men, and I went out another door of the warehouse and walked between buildings through the darkness. When we slowed at a fire ladder that led to the roof, the group leader began climbing up. I indicated for two men to remain below to guard our exit.

Once up on the flat roof of the building, the group leader had us down on our hands and knees crawling toward the front edge of the roof. There were scupper holes in the wall that let water on the roof run out into guttering. The holes were big enough that we had a great view of the big barge, or in this case two barges joined together with a structure built across the width of both. The good news was the structure was only two stories, but the bad news was that it was so big. Knowing the Bratva, I could just imagine how many ruthless guards there must be on the boat. The guards were not the only problem, as even the businessmen in the group were equally as dangerous.

I searched the area thoroughly. Next, I took a long look at each of the buildings flanking the building we were occupying to see if I could see any outer guard. I saw no one, nothing. This was unusual for these people, as they were usually set up to observe their entire perimeter. We had to sneak up on guards the last time, but here, I really only saw one man walking around the deck, outside the structure.

While we were lying there, a door opened on a cupola, or stairwell doghouse, that went below. A guard stood by the door smoking a cigarette. The walking guard came around and stopped to talk to the smoker and lit up as well. Too bad we weren't in position to strike at that moment as both of their night vision would have been affected by the flare of their lighter. I asked the group leader, "How often does the guy come out of that stairwell to have a smoke?"