Chapter 18

The Tuesday after the meeting with Kyra and the Texas Rangers, Matt was meeting with his leadership team.

Matt brought the Meeting to order. “Tony, how are things going with the web site?”

“Very well. The signups for both submissives and dominants are continuing to grow for the cover BDSM dating site. There have even been a few confirmed match ups. Both Vito Blanco and Jack Travis signed up for the e-store. Both have spread the word and there already eighteen subscriptions in total. I’ll let Matilda address the sales. There has also been another spontaneous sign up to the slave pits. Interestingly, one of my staff.”

“Who?”

“Melany Abbitt. I knew she was submissive, even back when we worked for Mr Alkaev, but I had no idea she went that far. If possible, I want her for my signing bonus.”

“Done. Anything else?”

“Yes, we’ve built an inventory management app for you specifically. I need to install it on your company lap top. It will let you monitor what units are for sale, what units are sold, the current red-flagged units and units in the kennels, particularly units waiting on programming before delivery.”

“My office after this meeting. Is that it?”

“One more thing, My team is starting to bounce around ideas for re-doing the kennel lock controls. I’ll let you know when we have a solid design to propose.”

“Matilda, we have sales already?”

“Yes. Four units sold, two sales pending, plus Tony’s signing bonus, and mine. Jack Travis bought Coral, and a Latina woman, as a birthday present for his son. Vito bought the African-American woman he had focused on during the demo. You need to take a look at the details for the Latina woman Jack bought, there’s some pretty interesting irony there.”

“Tony already mentioned his signing bonus. What about Yours?”

“A student at the University of Houston, caught up in your recruitment sweep at the mall. He’s, a law student. He will be more useful to me if he completes his education, so I want to be careful with his pickup.”

“Why do a pickup at all then. We can arrange for the two of us to meet him somewhere off campus and handle his programming right there, then send him back to class. Or you can take him home, have your way with him and send him back to school the next morning.”

“I like that idea.”

“Pick a day and time you like and work with Sam and the call center crew to have him pinged and make the arrangements.”

“I think next week after Thanks Giving, probably Tuesday, when you are in the office. I’ll make the arrangements with Sam.”

“Anything else?”

“No.”

“Ted, how’s security?”

“No more problems. Tony rigged up something for me that will sound an alarm if any of the security cameras pick up the pixelation anomaly from the active camouflage power armor.”

“That will be useful.”

“I talked to the guy I know who does the armored shutters again and I have more information. He needs to increase production. He bought enough equipment to double his production, but he miscalculated how much space he needed vs how much space he has and he doesn’t have enough space to set the new equipment up so it’s usable. After spending the money on the fabrication equipment, he’s running tight on cash flow and can’t afford a bigger facility. He did say he’s willing in principle to trade an equity share, the value of our order and putting us at the top of the queue in exchange for funding to acquire a larger space.”

“Put Matilda in contact with him and she find out how much he needs and how much equity he’ll give me and we’ll go from there.”

“I’ll see to it.”

“Sam?”

“The four sold units are in the kennel. Mostly we’ve been pulling in the units that need photographs on the weekends but there are three in the kennels now to get pictures today, then we’ll put them back. We should be able to finish the current batch needing photographs this weekend.”

“Good. Anything else?”

“I talked to Louise about the thing last Friday. She knew something about what was going on in Zoom’s head and it’s not good. He has strong suspicions about what we are doing in this warehouse that are too close for comfort. She says he knows you’d never be prosecuted and he’s not happy about it. She also says he’s freaked over what you did to Zip. She doesn’t know why, but me being there was key to him not loosing it. What does she mean about you never getting prosecuted?”

“Okay, so no one else is in the dark, the weekend before last, I had a big gathering of my friends at my ranch. Everyone’s gotten hooked up, two couples within the group, the rest with outsiders, including Sam with my friend Louise. One of my other friends, has a girlfriend who is an animal spark with a permanent anthropomorphic transformation.

“My friend’s family, the one who has the animal spark girlfriend, has been raising her and trying to educate her, but they’ve kept her isolated. I’m trying to get them to change that. But among other things, she needs ID and a birth certificate. I found out that there is a way to get her legitimate ID and birth certificate, but it required having her examined by the Texas Rangers meta-human squad and a state judge.

“For reasons I won’t go into, that was set up to happen at my ranch last Friday. Ranger Thunderbird, the head of the meta-human squad showed up with a telepath, a state judge and Zoom. Nobody said so, but I got the impression that Zoom hadn’t been invited. He got in my face and talked trash, but backed down.”

Matilda laughed. “Amusing but it doesn’t explain you not getting prosecuted.”

Matt nodded. “You caught that. Okay, this doesn’t leave this room. I have heard from a reliable source that the federal government and most state governments have realized that persons with innate mind control are impossible to successfully prosecute. Think about it. I could use my power to order a jury to acquit. For this reason, they generally won’t bother. There is one caveat to this. The feds will move to assassinate any mind controller even suspected of messing with the government itself.”

Sam laughed. “Okay. That actually makes sense.”

“So, Sam, you are the only one on the leadership team who hasn’t exercised the signing bonus.”

“Louise talked to me about that too. She’s almost ready for her first experience on the dominant side. Neither of us want to take that step with my signing bonus. Our relationship is developing and I see it lasting. She’s open to it, but we want our relationship to be further along first.”

“No problem. Just let me know when you are ready. Does anyone else have any other issues to raise?”

No one did.

“Okay, meeting adjourned. Sam, could you have Melany Abbitt brought to my office?”

Matt and Tony walked over to Matt’s office.

Matt gestured for Tony to sit at Matt’s desk and Tony installed the application he had mentioned in the meeting.

Tony got up and Matt sat behind his desk. Tony walked him through the basic features of the application.

Matt brought up the record for Melany Abbitt. He studied it for a minute and then looked at Tony. “Did you actually look at Melany’s profile in detail or just note that she had signed up?”

“I just noted that she signed up. Why?”

“Under relationships she listed you as an unrequited love and she entered 4 fantasies. Two of them involve you specifically.” Matt moved over and turned his lap top so Tony could look at it.

“Well, damn. And today isn’t even my birthday.”

Sam brought Melany into Matt’s office. Matt was sitting behind his desk. Tony was sitting in one of two chairs in front of Matt’s desk.

Matt pointed at the empty chair. “Have a seat Melany. Do you know why you are here?”

Melany sat in the empty chair. “Um ... not exactly...”

Matt turned his laptop around so Melany could see the screen. “This ring any bells? Are you serious about it, or were you just playing around in the database?”

“I’m serious about it Sir. I had asked Mr Alkaev to put me up for sale. He refused, because I was too good at my job.”

Matt stopped time and whispered the carrot script in Melany’s ear, specifying Tony as her owner. He restarted time. “I have a deal with all of my leadership team. They each get one unit of product at no charge.”

“Oh! I ... um...” Melany looked around, then she smiled. “Tony?”

“Yes, Tony. Tony, I don’t want to have to deal with problems from you rubbing this in the rest of your team’s faces. Now take her to your own office and have some fun.”

Tony stood up. “Yes boss. Melany, come along.”

Tony and Melony walked out of Matt’s office.

Matt opened the inventory app again. He looked at the sold units. There were 5 sold units. Coral, Isabel Cardoso, Tiyah Joliff, Mika Himura, and Cohen MacBay. Coral, Isabel, Tiyah and Mika were all in the kennel.

Matt guessed that Cohen was Matilda’s bonus selection. He opened Cohen’s profile and confirmed that Cohen was Matilda’s bonus selection. Matt checked through the details. She put in two extra commands.

Get an erection immediately on the command ‘up willy’.

Lose erection immediately if given the command ‘down willy’.

Matt closed Cohen’s profile and opened Isabel Cardoso’s profile. Matilda had said that Jack Travis bought Coral and a Latina. That had to be Isabel, and it was.

He looked through Isabel’s profile. She was a teacher at an elite secular private high school. Her fantasies included fantasies about being dominated by a student, a particular student with a familiar last name, Bert Travis.

Matt scrolled down to the buyer info and delivery instructions. Sure enough, Isabel was being purchased as a birthday gift for Jack Travis’s 16 year old son, Bert Travis. Carrot script, no extras.

He closed Isabel’s profile and opened Coral’s profile. Her buyer and owner was Jack Travis. Carrot script, no extras.

Matt opened Tiyah Joliff’s profile. The pictures were of the black female that Vito had focused on for the demo. She was a US born child of Jamaican immigrants. Vito was the buyer.

Vito wanted a couple of extra commands that Matt would have to clean up a bit. He wanted Tiyah to be bisexual and aggressive/dominant with other females owned by Vito while being deferential towards ‘free women’.

Finally, Matt opened Mika Himura’s profile. Age, 20. Third generation descendant of Japanese immigrants. Nothing terribly interesting in her fantasies vs the rest of the product pool. Buyer is The Armorer.

Matt reached for his desk phone and dialed Matilda’s office.

“What do you need boss.”

“You could have mentioned in the meeting that one of the sales was for The Armorer.”

“Sure, but where’s the fun in that. He showed up here again last Wednesday while you were still in class. Ted confirmed his identity from his earlier visit and his deal with you on the weapons in exchange for one slave. Tony set him up with an ID for the on-line store and a one shot only 100% discount.”

“Given the extra weapons for Kyra and Megan, I’d consider offering a second unit.”

“Sam mentioned the extra weapons. I anticipated your reaction and made that offer myself. He wasn’t interested. Anything else boss?”

“Not right now.”

Matt disconnected.

He dialed the phone for the desk in the kennels and asked that Coral and Isabel to be brought to his office together.

Lilith entered Matt’s office with Coral and Isabel in tow.

Matt stood and pointed to the seats in front of his desk. “Have a seat ladies. Lilith, please wait outside my office. This will only take a few minutes.”

Lilith nodded. “Yes sir.” She stepped back out into the hall and closed the door to Matt’s office.

Coral and Isabel sat down.

Matt sat down.

Coral said. “We’ve been sold. I presume we are here for final programming. I don’t get why you have us here together.”

“The two of you have the same buyer.”

“So, we will have the same owner?”

“No. Isabel is a birthday present.”

Isabel shook her head. “I don’t get why I am here at all. Why am I cooperating?”

Matt smiled. “Mind control. I am a Spark. As a secondary effect of my power I can do a form of mind control that is basically auditory subliminal messaging backed with supernatural power. I use a prepared script to get people who have sexual fantasies about mind control or enslavement and are not currently in a relationship to sign up with my web site. You remember signing up, the contract you signed, don’t you?”

“That was a lark. That contract can’t be legal.”

“It wasn’t. No, the contract isn’t legal. You’ll treat it as binding anyway. I know Coral’s situation. She won’t miss her jobs, and her employers probably won’t miss her. What about you, you have a descent job. What’s your situation?”

“I’m currently on leave for a family emergency. I presume I’ll have to resign.”

“That will be up to you new owner, once you have been delivered. Though even if he lets you keep your job, you may not be able to trust him not to make you do something that will get you fired.”

“He would let me keep my job but then get me fired? Why?”

“Not deliberately. Self control on his part might be an issue. Your new owner is one of your students.”

“One of my students? You said I was a birthday present. The only one of my students with a birthday coming up soon is ... Oh! We were bought by State Senator Travis. I ... Oh God...” Isabel blushed.

Coral laughed. “A State Senator! Cool! How much did he pay?”

Matt replied. “This is a retail operation. Standard price is a quarter million. Enough chit chat time to take care of business.”

Matt froze time. He realized that doing them both sitting next to each other and different owners could be a problem. He stood up and considered things. Coral looked a bit lighter.

Matt pulled back Coral’s chair. He picked her up, then carried her to the play room and read the carrot script to her with owner Jack Travis.

He went back to his office and read the carrot script to Isabel with owner Bert Travis.

He carried Coral back to the office and put her back in her chair. Then he restarted time.

Carol looked around, realizing that her chair had been moved back. “What just happened.”

Matt Smiled. “Never mind.”

Matt stood and walked over to his office door.

He opened the door and spoke to Lilith. “Take these two back to the kennel, their programming is done. Then bring up Tiyah Joliff’”

“Yes sir.”

Matt repeated the process with Tiyah, though he didn’t spend any time chatting with her.

Then he had Mika Himura brought to his office and took care of her programming.

Monday December 02: Virginia Matriarchy HQ.

The Matriarch was in session with her council

The Matriarch brought the Meeting to order. “I want progress reports all around. Fortuna, we’ll start with you. How are our fundraising efforts going?”

“Donations are up fifteen percent. We have nearly replaced our financial losses from the Texas disaster.”

The Matriarch nodded. “That’s good. Renenet, how are the rest of our finances?”

“Going well my Lady. Our Investments are doing well and the Endowment fund balance is up eight percent over the start of the year.”

“Very good. Bast, how is recruiting going?

“As well as can be expected. Recruitment is up fifty percent, and in terms of warm bodies, we have nearly fully replaced our Texas losses in terms of warm bodies. However, we lost some experienced agents with specialized skill sets that will be harder and take longer to replace. There are a few recruits with potential in those areas, but they are too young and inexperienced. We have also picked up a few new sparks, including a young witch/sorceress.”

The Matriarch nodded. “I see, that is good news. Machina, where are the projects you have been working on?”

“We finished deciphering the documents stolen from the Texas Rangers Meta-Human squad. I’ll let Delphi speak to what was in them, except to note that there was one piece of useful information on Mr Murphy. Apparently he emits chroniton radiation even when he isn’t actively using his powers.”

“How is that useful?”

“I should be able to create a detector. Lay them around the perimeter of the compound and inside the buildings. We will be able to detect his presence, Hopefully soon enough for our people to activate defensive measures.”

“Okay, that is useful, what else?”

“Tech division has begun working on a design for a suit of heavy power armor. We are at least a month away from fabricating a complete working prototype though. We have a prototype for an auditory isolation helmet for our troops / agents. It will block all external sound, but agents will be able to communicate via radio. We will be able to begin production fabrication in two weeks.”

“Will the helmet be easy for someone else to remove?”

“Short of causing severe damage to the helmet and possibly the user, no. It will be two solid pieces with a hole for the neck. The two haves lock together internally, and it can be unlocked using a control on the helmet’s HUD. To open it from the outside will require a specialized tool. Only the tech division and the medical corps will have access to this tool.”

The Matriarch nodded. “Make the chroniton detector your top priority. Delphi, what is the status of our investigations into Mr Murphy?”

“The files we obtained from the Texas Rangers were their files on known Sparks in Texas. Most of it was of no particular value. The information they have on Mr Murphy backs our speculations on the nature of his power and his mind control. The important and useful bits are a psychological evaluation of Mr Murphy by an FBI profiler, and a fairly precise timeline on the discovery of his powers. He discovered his powers less than a week before he encountered the Jade Dragon. I’ve sent a detail report to you, Athena and Isis on this and other information we have gathered.”

“I want your impressions of the psych profile.”

“It meshes with the information we already had. Mr Murphy is not a hero, he is an anti-vilian. He has a strongly developed sense of morals, but they don’t mesh completely with what society teaches. He won’t hesitate to bend or break the law when he doesn’t agree with it. He has few friends, but he is intensely loyal to them.”

“What else have we been able to find?”

“We don’t want to approach Mr. Murphy too closely. However, we expanded our investigation into a broader look at his friends, family and associates. We resumed surveillance on the warehouse but are being more careful with it, as they found one observation blind after the attack.”

“Do we know what he’s doing at that warehouse?”

“We believe he’s setting up a slave trading operation.”

“Why?”

“Maks Alkaev has been seen coming and going from the warehouse. Also, a number of people working at the warehouse have been identified as employees of Mr. Alkaev.”

“Why would Maks Alkaev be helping Mr. Murphy?”

“We don’t know, but we suspect Mr Murphy has used his power on Mr Alkaev.”

“What about Mr Murphy’s family?”

“Father, Ryan Murphy, ex US Marine Corps officer, served in Force Recon. Ryan Murphy was an orphan, father unknown, birth mother’s identity is unknown. As an infant, Ryan was the sole survivor of a traffic accident that killed his mother and the other driver. He was adopted by the Murphys. They are outwardly farmers, but have significant wealth from investments. After retiring from the Marines, Ryan Murphy moved to the Houston, Texas area and joined the Harris County Sheriff’s Department. He was killed in the line of duty a few years ago. We suspect that Ryan Murphy was not Matthew Murphy’s biological father.”

“What makes you think that Ryan Murphy wasn’t Matthew Murphy’s biological father?”

“Iris Murphy is of Greek origin. Ryan Murphy met her while serving in Europe. Iris Murphy had run away from her family. We tracked her clan down. They are one of several families suspected of running controlled inbreeding programs because they claim to carry a divine Spark. However, that family is not well respected in the larger Community of Sparks because of the Spark they claim to carry and the fact that they had never produced an active Spark before.”

“Now I’m curious, what spark is it that Iris’ Murphy’s family claims to carry?”

“Chronos, primordial god of eternal time from Greek mythology, father of the Titans.”

“Now that is an interesting coincidence.”

“Yes it is. In addition to his Mother, Matthew Murphy has two sisters, one older, one younger. The younger Sister is still in high school and is living with their mother. The older Sister is a nurse and has an apartment in Houston. We sent a telepath to try to get a read on the younger Sister and the Mother. The Telepath could not read the Sister and backed off when she realized that the younger sister was also a Spark.”

“Do we know anything about the younger Sister’s powers?”

“No. We didn’t think it worth the risk to try and force her to reveal her powers.”

“What about the Mother?”

“Not an active Spark, but definitely Touched. We pulled back the Telepath before she got a read on the Mother as by that point we had the Texas Rangers files decoded and we don’t think there is anything to learn from the Mother that is worth the risk.”

“The older Sister?”

“Also, not a Spark, but definitely Touched.”

“His friends?”

“He runs with a group he hooked up with in school before high school but after his family came back to the States. There are eight of them including Mr. Murphy, five young men, three women, all highly intelligent. They got stuck with the appellation Nerd Pack, and they ran with it. We have names for the members of the nerd pack but don’t yet have detailed profiles on all of them.”

The Matriarch nodded. “I’ll get the rest from your report. Athena, what is the status of sniper training?”

“We have assembled a training program. We have selected two experienced agents to act as trainers. We have around 60 trainees to start with, roughly evenly split between current agents and new recruits. One of the new recruits selected for the program is very interesting.”

“Oh? Tell me about this interesting new recruit.”

“She’s a spark. A gift with ranged weapons, though not as strong as what Artemis had, but she has an affinity for firearms.”

“That will be useful for the sniper project. Tell me more about the training program.”

“It will start with basic marksmanship at one hundred yards. That will run for four weeks and end with a qualifier round. Those that fail to meet the minimum qualification will be eliminated. If the entire group qualifies, the entire group will advance. This course of training will be repeated at two hundred yards. Those that qualify at two hundred yards will be introduced to the use of a rifle scope and purpose built sniper rifles. They will then move up to training at five hundred yards for another four weeks. At the end of the five hundred yard training they will be put through a shooting competition at five hundred yards. The women with the 10 best scores will be taken out to an abandoned oil rig we have selected and start training at one thousand yards.”

“Where will the shorter range training take place?”

“We have purchased an old quarry property that already has a rifle range on it. The quarry is still dry and will give us enough space for range training at up to five hundred yards.”

“What about noise or someone spotting activity at the range?”

“The nearest neighbors are active quarries, industrial facilities, and farms. The previous owner was a now defunct gun club and as far as the state and local governments are concerned, the new owner is reviving the gun club. All the needed legal paperwork is in place.”

“How soon can you begin training?”

“We are moving a bunch of RVs on to the site to house the trainees and staff and rebuilding the range, we should be able to start training as soon as two or three weeks.”

“Excellent. Isis, any word on the Russian mercenary group?”

“We’ve identified their agent and have made contact. They are actually available now. We are currently engaged in negotiations through their agent.”

“What ever they want, the money isn’t an issue.”

“Money isn’t the sticking point. They aren’t going to take operational direction from us and they expect us to arrange to have them smuggled into the US and back out after. That gives us more direct involvement in the attack than I would like, for not having operational control.”

“I would be willing to take the risks of that. Do we have the means to get them in and out?”

Machina nodded. “We have some aircraft that I’ve been retrofitting with the stealth tech from the stealth armor suits. Including a couple of small jets that would be large enough for their team and capable of a trans Atlantic or polar flight from the US to Russia.”

The Matriarch turned back to Isis. “How soon?”

“If I can wrap up the negotiations in the next day or two, we can have them in the US as soon as a week from now.”

“Get it done.”

Matt arrived at the warehouse on Tuesday and was meeting with his leadership team.

“Let’s go around the table. Tony, how’s the redesign of the kennel lock controls going?”

“We can upgrade the kennel locks from their current simple short range radio systems to full WiFi controllers for less than thirty dollars per kennel. Throw in a couple of WiFi Routers for the warehouse and a bit of coding to add controls for the locks to the product management systems.”

“How long will it take?”

“Around a week, give or take a few days depending on how long it takes to get the hardware.”

“Do it. Ted, any progress on the armored shutters?”

“I put him in contact with Matilda. She’s been negotiating with him.”

Matilda nodded. “The final estimate, including replacing the overhead rolling doors to the warehouse section was just under a million dollars. If he can set up all his new equipment, he can triple his production. There’s a facility available with not only the space he needs now, but room for growth, but the current owner wants four million and moving all his equipment won’t be cheap. He wants five million for our order, moving us to the top of the queue and ten percent equity.”

“Does he have a decent plan for the move?”

“He intends to move all the new equipment and get it set up and in production at the new facility before shutting down the existing facility and moving the older equipment.”

“Is it worth it? And how soon do we get our order if we do this?”

“That’s basically a forty million valuation on his company. Most of that value is in the patents for how he armors his product, and he’s constantly tinkering with improvements. With the increased production he’s easily worth that much.”

“Get a deal for me to sign. Send me the documentation on the deal, and I’ll contact my trust attorney to make arrangements for the financing. Anything else?”

“I have benefits contracts that need your signature. We pinged Cohen yesterday and he responded. I’ve arranged for the two of us to meet him for lunch today at a small cafe style restaurant just of the University of Houston campus. We’ll follow the pickup confirmation protocol and I’ll stop by your office when we need to leave with confirmation number cards.”

“I’m fine with that.”

“Sam, You have anything?”

“Not today.”

“Okay, meeting adjourned.”

Matt was in his office, reviewing the inventory and sales. The two pending sales from last week had completed. Those units were scheduled for pick up on Friday and Saturday. There were no new sales.

Matt found link on his dashboard app for a summary report on the dating site and slave store. He checked that. There were several new sign ups for the on-line store.

There was a knock on Matt’s office door.

“Enter”.

Matilda walked in. “It’s time to leave to meet Cohen for lunch. I have the confirmation number cards.”

“Okay, lets go.”

They walked out and went to their own vehicles. Matt followed Matilda to the meeting point.

Matt and Matilda walked into the cafe. Matt looked around. He spotted Cohen MacBay sitting in a booth in the back.

Matt walked up to the booth where Cohen was sitting. “Hello. I’m Matthew Murphy, and this is Matilda Victorsson. We’re from Chronos Enterprises.”

Cohen looked up from his coffee. “Hi. Why isn’t my pick up following the normal procedure?”

Matilda pulled the confirmation cards out of her purse and put them on the table in front of Cohen. She sat down in the booth across from Cohen and moved over to give Matt room to sit down.

Matt sat down in the booth. “We’ll answer any questions you have in a few minutes. First you need to call in to the product support line to confirm your pick up. You will use the numbers on those cards to confirm that we are your pickup.”

Cohen pulled out his cell phone and dialed the product support number. He worked his way through the call and when he was finished he looked up. “Okay, now what?”