Chapter 11

Monday morning--Tylea and Lee.

"Making a good commercial pizza," said Deuce as he clicked his laser pointer to the PowerPoint presentation on the conference room screen, "is really dependent on three basic things: taste, the ability to be consistent, and profitability. A pizza has to taste good to the majority of people who try it, and you, as a pizza chef--along with all of your employees--have to be able to reproduce that same pizza with almost boring consistency. You also need to be able to do this within a reasonable price range, taking into account food cost and labor. Figuring out your own special and distinct pizza recipe has to take all of these variables into account."

Deuce went on proudly to describe to the young 'interns' how the dough was the starting point when it comes to pizza. The dough is the basis for all of the company's other recipes in any pizza business, even so-called dessert pizzas, so Pizza Grande had needed to find one that its demographic liked and that would match its distinct pizza style. Thick crust, thin crust, hand-tossed, Chicago-style deep dish, or whole wheat, each recipe has a unique consistency and flavor and demands different uses. Then he moved on to talk about pizza sauce.

"Then we had to look at basic sauce recipes and decide where we wanted to go with our flavor. There are traditional Italian sauces, U.S.-peculiar sauces, sweet sauces, mild sauces, sauces with spice, and chunky sauces. None of them is wrong--it's all really a matter of flavor choice. We needed to test them all out and pick one that our test customers voted that they could very well enjoy eating as often as every day.

"We tested pizzas to determine the optimum quantities of each ingredient that we would be putting on each pizza. We counted the pepperonis, measured the vegetables, and used ladles or 'spoodles'--that's what we call the spoon ladles--to measure the sauce for each pizza.

"Then we did a cost breakdown for each topping, each ladle of sauce, and each ounce of dough. We figured out the average cost of a large pepperoni pizza--that is the most common order here in the northeast--and it serves as a good baseline to begin the cost breakdown.

"We simulated the training on a crowd of volunteers. Family and friends came in handy for this exercise as well. We took total amateurs and taught them to make a basic pizza using our recipes and our techniques. We saw how long it took them to learn to make a consistently acceptable pie. Using notes from these sessions, we changed our recipe or teaching style as much as we needed; even our overall training program.

"We then held taste tests with a variety of people. We took some to local fire halls and police stations, as well as barber shops and hairdressers. We gave some to local schools and connected with PTA groups and Scout troops and supplied their meetings. We made the conditions for their receiving free pizzas conditional upon their giving us honest feedback and suggestions for improvement.

"Finally, we adjusted your recipes and training methods until we had a pizza that was tasty and easy to make, while still coming in under the cost-price point that we had set for our company. When we had found this overall business recipe, we were ready to set up and open for business.

"By the way, this was completely independent of the special delivery services that were added a couple of years later. After all, we had to prove that we had a profitable business model with a legitimate pizza business so that we could get the capital to invest in this in a big way. The Pussy-Grams came later."

They all exited the large people carrier that Melinda had hired to take them downtown to one of the Pizza Grande production and delivery facilities. They were all hustled inside and introduced to the local manager, who appeared to be on a first-name basis with Deuce. 'Good casual work and business model, ' thought Lee. 'Keeps it sort of like family this way.'

Once inside, the manager gave them all sort of an abbreviated briefing similar to what Deuce had shown them that morning. Then he gave them a tour of the facility, a safety briefing, long kitchen aprons, orders to wash their hands, head coverings, and smiling directions to get them busy in the pizza-making business.

"Guys and Gals," Melinda told them late in the morning just before they took a break for lunch--it was pizza, of course--"We are giving you a crash course in the basics of our business today. Everyone who is involved in Pizza Grande does this--even those folks who now work at the computer screens in the Operations Center did this when they first came on board, and they are required to do it at least twice annually. We don't want anyone to get too cocky and forget what our basic business is all about."

After lunch, they were taken out back and shown the special items that supplemented a typical pizza delivery kit provided to most delivery people and their vehicles. Naturally, the car was equipped with a basic GPS. And, there were Velcro strips attached to the upholstery inside to help hold the insulated pizza carriers in place within the vehicle. This was evidently to keep them from sliding off and having the toppings stuck to the tops and sides of the boxes or from being tossed around during the motion of the vehicle while in transit.

This vehicle also had some 'extras, ' such as pepper spray dispensers, a Taser (with refill cartridges), and a digital camera equipped for full motion video as well as still shots. Jeanie took over the narration here.

"Because of our 'special' deliveries, the vehicles need to be stocked with some items to allow for better security for our Delivery Talent Associate, as we call the Associate who will be providing the services associated with the Pussy-Gram deliveries. The Delivery Security Associate will be the partner in the team who accompanies the Delivery Talent Associate to the place agreed upon for delivery, and will escort her or him to and from.

"With the exception of the private moments involved with the ... uh ... delivery, the Delivery Security Associate will always be in the presence of the Delivery Talent Associate. There is just too much weirdness out there in the world and we do not want any of our Associates to end up as crime statistics just for a specialized sex romp or fantasy."

Monday evening--Brooke and Jeremy.

Back at the house in the gated community outside of Montpelier, everyone piled out of the limos and went to their respective rooms within the spacious residence. Security monitors verified quietly that the place was secure and that their privacy was still being kept safe as well.

Derek had brought up the subject on the ride to the house of unwinding in the huge workout area in the basement of the residence after getting back. Now, after changing, almost everyone was planning on engaging in some sort of physical exercise activity--except for Peggy, who was busy on her laptop.

Brooke had been the first one down and sat atop one of the two Life Cycle stationary bikes. To her right sat an elliptical cross-trainer and a treadmill. Next to her on the left was the twin to the one she was riding and next to that was a Stair Master. Mirrors filled the wall to her left.

On the opposite end of the room was a rack of free weights and two horizontal weight benches--one with a bar support. Next to that was a combination chair by Nautilus that facilitated shoulder and chest exercises as well as leg extensions and calf raises. A workout mat filled the thirty-by-thirty-foot space in the middle.

Tommy joined Brooke about two minutes into the warm-up portion of her routine. She had chosen a specific setting on the cycle that would put her into resistance mimicking several increasingly difficult hills, followed by a two-minute cool-down, during her planned forty-five-minute 'ride.' Tommy put his water bottle into a receptacle between the handle bars, tuned his iPod, and was just about to place the ear buds in his ears and begin his own 'ride.'

Derek came in and moved over to the free weight stand. He picked up a somewhat light twenty-kilogram plate and began to move it around in various directions and bend and straighten to a set rhythm, loosening up his muscles before taking on the heavy weights for a real workout.

Right then, both Tommy and Brooke saw Melanie walk in with, and slightly behind, Mr. Kitagami. Both wore martial arts gi uniforms. Melanie's was plain white, while Mr. Kitagami's was gray, with several patches sewn into the sleeves at the shoulder and along the back. Melanie wore a blue belt, while Mr. Kitagami wore a black belt with three silver metallic tokens of some sort affixed. They began to loosen up, talking softly to one another all the while.

Jeremy and Joyce strolled by, on the way out the basement door just outside the workout room that led to the back of the house. Joyce called out that they were going to use the walking and running trail that had been built for, and was maintained exclusively for the residents of, the gated community and they would be back within an hour.

Brooke was beginning to encounter her first 'hill' when Melanie and Mr. Kitagami moved to the center of the mat and stood side-by-side with Melanie standing to his left. At a word from Mr. Kitagami, the two martial artists began a synchronized set of movements that was graceful to behold. They turned, punched the air, held positions, moved agonizingly slowly for a short while, then burst with sudden motion, then kicked, and kept moving in precise tandem.

Brooke was so fascinated that she did not realize that ten minutes had passed and that she was into her third 'hill' until she began to feel the exercise burn of hard-working muscles in her thighs and hips. She came back to reality long enough to reach for her water bottle and take a sip as she saw the LED indicator before her show another much more stressful 'hill' approaching in her routine. She glanced to her left and saw that Tommy Onagawa was barely sweating and was looking down at the display on his cycle as his head bobbed to the rhythm of whatever song was on his iPod at that moment.

Approximately forty minutes later, Brooke finished her 'ride' and stretched and walked around the edge of the mat while she listened to Melanie and Mr. Kitagami talk as they worked out. Evidently, Melanie had been a student of Taekwondo for a couple of years, while Mr. Kitagami was somewhat of an expert in another variation of what Americans would lump under the general heading of 'Kung Fu, ' with decades of experience. Melanie would throw a punch and hold it, while Mr. Kitagami would move around her and correct a position or a muscle group gently.

When they moved to snap kicks, Melanie performed what to Brooke was a beautiful and obviously potentially deadly kick. Brooke was surprised when Mr. Kitagami shook his head and admonished Melanie with, "No, no, no. You are too exposed like that. Here!"

Kitagami moved in front of her and under her outstretched leg while Melanie balanced on her other. He suddenly snapped a sharp and vicious kick directly into Melanie's pussy, causing her to collapse with a surprised cry. She lay on the mat on her side while covering her groin with both hands. After all, a blow in that spot for a woman can be almost as excruciatingly painful as a blow to a man's testicles. Her face registered surprise, pain, and anger concurrently.

"Why ... why did you do that instead of just telling me? That really hurt," Melanie said a bit loudly, and with an effort to catch her breath. Obviously the man had kicked her hard enough to knock her breath out slightly and she was making a concerted effort to return to her normal breathing pattern. Kitagami simply bowed slightly and smiled.

"Even though snap kicks are offensive in nature, you must always defend at the same time in the event that your opponent is as quick as you are, or even quicker. Here, let me show you."

Melanie stood and reluctantly moved into a ready stance; she was still in a bit of pain and was frowning to show her displeasure at the previous encounter. Kitagami instructed her to perform the snap kick in slow motion. As she kicked with her right leg out, Kitagami gently pulled her left arm down to extend fully into a defensive position between her legs, thus protecting from the effects of a retaliatory kick while she was extended. He told her to hold that arm in place with a fist at the end. He then positioned her right arm with a fist outstretched, locked, and extended parallel and fully over her extended right leg as far as her hip.

"This is for balance and to protect in the event that his retaliatory strike is from the top down on your exposed hip. A good blow while you are extended could dislocate your hip," the obviously very knowledgeable Japanese man said.

Tommy Onagawa came up behind Brooke and touched her shoulder gently. "Hey, would you like to shower up together before dinner?"

Brooke surprised herself by not being offended at this blatant sexual invitation made in front of others. Later, she would realize that such occurrences did not seem to faze her anymore. Irina Mirkova's sexual immersion techniques for Brooke and her fellow initiates into the Sigma Lambda Tau Society had evidently accomplished one more of their intended purposes. Brooke was not as easily embarrassed by intimate conversations held in public, or even other sexually-specific public displays of affection--or even skin and private body parts--as she would have been only eight or nine months earlier.

"Sure," Brooke told Tommy as she tossed the towel she had been using into the workout room's laundry bin. The domestic staff on contract to care for all those in the house would take care of it in the same way that they took care of the bedding daily. "But, please, let's hold off on taking it too far right now. I want to be ready to go as soon as everyone else is cleaned up and dressed. I am really hungry after today's busy schedule and after that physical workout."

Tommy smiled and led her away to the stairs, holding her hand in his as they went.

Dinner that evening was at a nice, intimate restaurant in town. They chose American fare for the meal this evening and everyone went lightly on the consumption of wine or other drinks before the meal. Afterward, Mr. Kitagami, Melanie, Peggy, and Derek chose to return to the house in one limo; Tommy, Brooke, Jeremy, and Joyce wanted to spend a couple of more hours on the town, maybe finding some dancing and enjoying pleasant conversation.

As the older couples were returning to the house to retire for the evening, they did not notice the gray sedan following the limo about four cars back. The younger couples also did not realize that they were being followed by a dark blue Buick crossover as their limo drove them to a nice club in town.

Carson Newman had had his team of surveillance specialists split up; one team followed Kitagami and Cornwall and their companions, while the other team was to focus in on Joyce Duncan and the young man with her; along with Onagawa and the young woman in his company this evening.

The reports coming in the next day, and delivered to Cal Swinford, reflected the minor frustration of the team following Kitagami and Cornwall when they had to stop outside the gated community. They also indicated that they would attempt to infiltrate the neighborhood by other means on Tuesday--Wednesday at the latest.

The team following Onagawa and Duncan and their partners reported on a nice night on the town with dancing, a little drinking, and what appeared to be some intimate conversation. The team was also thwarted by the security arrangements upon the return of the younger couples to the gated community where their leased house was situated.

Newman was not worried; nor was Cal, his client. This had happened before while he had been coordinating efforts like this in the past. He had confidence in his people to get any available dirt on the Japanese team and Peggy Cornwall's team, as Cal Swinford was paying him very well to do.

Monday evening--Catherine and Jay.

That evening, after the Eastern Empire Pictures principals had departed the premises for their early evening business dinner and meeting, the four Sigma Lambda Tau members met up for their evening meal, coming straight from the last shooting session. They had all just sat down at the table after filling their plates from the continuous buffet. They had all gotten soft drinks, even though no one would have objected to their visiting the open bar.