Chapter 17

Maddie’s head snapped around at the familiar voice. It was her brother, Jason, but a different version of Jason. He looked older somehow, more muscular, especially as the green blazer he sported was too small. He had beard stubble. Never in her life had she ever thought that Jason would actually need a shave.

He leaned over, tapped the notebook and said, “Act like we’re talking about this. We think you’re being watched.”

As Maddie turned her attention back to the binder, circumstances and events snapped into place in her mind. “The women who arrived after I was kidnapped back at the inn,” Maddie said thoughtfully, “tracked me here in hopes of retrieving me ahead of the swap. You’re here because you’re my brother and I trust you. In case it might help, you’ve been hyper-exposed to the charm. Did they shove it up your ... no, only an idiot would think they’d do that. It must be under your skin somewhere. If you got my message to stay home, it was too late. You were already in Vegas.” As she spoke, Jason slid onto the barstool next to hers. When she stopped, he merely sat there looking at her. “Am I right?” she prompted.

“Sorry,” said Jason. “I was just waiting for you to tell me how the story ended.”

Maddie smiled down at the binder. She was afraid if she laughed she might start crying. “Okay, smartass, how does it go? And uh ... it’s wonderful to see you.” she said, glancing up from the binder long enough to give him her warmest smile.

“Hey ... me too.” He flipped a page in the binder and said, “Yes, the charm is under the skin of my thigh ... and I’m, like, supercharged. And except for about a thousand details, you nailed the bare bones of the rest of it. I guess the end depends on if you want to get out of here or not. Nice dress by the way.”

“Thanks,” said Maddie. “And I take you’re not too subtle hint that I might be enjoying this life too much.” Any uncertainty about what she had to do left her. She had to get them both to safety. “If you have a secure method to get us out of here, I’d love to hear it. You’re right about me being followed. Followed by people who don’t want me to leave here. Very dangerous people I want to emphasize.” She didn’t want to say anything about being killed.

“Cool,” said Jason. “At first we thought I’d simply say ‘hi, how’s it going, ‘ and then we’d go downstairs, get in a car and drive off into the sunset. But that seems to be out of the question.”

“Really,” Maddie said in agreement.

“So the next plan is pretty cut and dried,” Jason said. “This swap thing is almost set up. We simply go through with it. Now you know that you don’t have to fear being turned over to some strangers, or fear leaving the charm behind. We have a replica of it to give in trade. Car ... sunset ... done deal.”

“Not so cut and dried,” Maddie said. “These guys have someone who can detect the charm. I think they’re a step ahead of you on the replica front.”

“Wow,” said Jason. “My people didn’t think of that. It makes sense of course. Your guys got to us before the ladies did. But they, meaning the ladies, figured that was because one or more of them was being followed. And a little detective work would have led them, your guys, to you. I mean it’s not like the manager and owner of the Riddick Inn didn’t have an entire team of workers ready to leap into action every time you lifted a finger. I mean those two were creaming in their underwear in the hopes that you might smile at them. They...”

“I get the picture,” Maddie said. “I could have been a little less conspicuous. So is there a plan B or maybe that should be plan C?”

“More like plan H. H for helicopter. We make a run for the roof and hop into a chopper,” Jason said. “Or maybe it really is plan C, because it’s the coolest plan of them all.”

“So how long to set that up?” Maddie asked.

“It has to be now. By tomorrow your guys will probably begin moving you into place for the swap,” he said. “First though, I have to get somewhere I can call Sandy, she’s in charge of our great escape. Then we have to get to the roof without your followers being aware. Impossible to tell who’s watching you in this crowd. Or maybe I should say it’s impossible to tell which one of the guys gawking at you in that dress is a follower.”

“Yeah, well, let’s turn that to our advantage,” Maddie said. “I’ll take your arm and let’s walk up the stairs into the demonstrator. If anyone’s paying attention, maybe they’ll think I’ve picked you to fool around with. You should try to look like a sex addled young male. Oh wait ... that’s the way you usually look, isn’t it?”

“Ha ha,” Jason said. He flipped the binder closed and stepped back so Maddie could slip off the stool. She put her hand in the crook of his elbow and they made their way up the curving staircase. There were still salespeople and prospects in the apartment, but this late into the party there were also a few couples tucked into corners dry-humping or making out with serious intent.

Maddie stopped in front of the library door. The stanchion and sign were still there. She opened the door, looked to see that it was still unoccupied and then entered. The room was just as she’d left it; one of the desk lamps still shown on the place where the hidden door should be.

She wanted to lock the room’s main door behind them, but there was no lock or deadbolt. “Find a chair or something to wedge under this knob,” she told Jason.

“I hate to question your plan,” he said as he took one of a pair of substantial wooden chairs that sat on either side of the desk and rammed it under the doorknob, “but barricading ourselves in here doesn’t seem all that productive.” He turned to see Maddie peering intently at the wall and tapping at it here and there with her knuckles. “And you’re about to tell me there’s another way out.”

“There’s a door here somewhere,” she said.

“A hidden door leading to a helicopter escape. This is getting cooler by the second,” Jason said as he walked up behind his sister. “Is there a button? Do we pull out a certain book? Pull on a candlestick?”

“I think you mean candle sconce,” Maddie said. “While I look, why don’t you make that call?”

Jason pulled out his phone and frowned at the display. “Lousy signal strength for such a fancy place,” he muttered as he moved the phone in first one direction and then the other. “Hey,” he said when the connection was made. “Looks like it’ll have to be the helicopter. No, it’s not for grins and giggles. Maddie said they have someone who can detect the charm, so using the replica at the exchange is out and she agrees about the followers.”

“Tell them we’ll probably have to take the stairs up to the roof,” Maddie said.

“What? You’re kidding? No not you,” Jason said. “Look, we’ll meet on the roof. You may have to wait on us. Okay. Okay. Bye.” He joined Maddie. “Any luck?”

“The secret latch may not be all that secret,” she said. Her fingers had found a small gap in one of the decorative strips. She pulled on it, there was a click and the door swung open. They stepped into a small room, bare except for a couple of desert landscapes hung on the wall opposite a pair of elevator doors. There was another click as the door to the library closed behind them.

“How did you know about this?” asked Jason.

“It’s a long story,” she said as she pushed the up button for the elevator. “Prepare to look lost and embarrassed in case there’s someone on there looking for us.”

“Lost would be easy at this point,” Jason said.

The elevator doors opened on an empty car. Maddie held the door open as she looked at the control panel inside. Like the others she’d seen in the Gold Stack, this panel had the plastic sheet over the buttons for the upper floors. She ran her fingers under the plastic and pushed the button for the top floor. The indicator light did not come on. She tried some of the other buttons, but none lit except for the one for the floor immediately above.

“Onward and upward ... one floor,” said Maddie as she released the door.

“What if it’s another private floor and we can’t get in?” Jason asked.

Maddie gestured at the panel. “There are other floors below us.”

“In the end I suppose we could fall back on our allies ... dazed and confused.” A second passed. “And sex addled,” he added.

“There you go,” said Maddie. The car slid smoothly to a stop and opened on a richly appointed, but otherwise ordinary hotel corridor. “We should have known that not all the floors would be immense apartments,” Maddie said as they exited the car.

“Still private though,” Jason said, pointing to the keypad needed to access the elevator.

“The stairwell should be this way,” Maddie said. She stepped smartly down the hallway and Jason hustled to catch up.

Forty feet away a door opened and a woman stepped out. She was speaking into a cellphone. “Two PM in the club room at the Brandywine. That sounds about perfect. I ... uh...” Her voice faltered as she saw Jason and Maddie approaching. She put her head down and said something about looking at a floorplan.

When they were within twenty feet Jason said in a whisper, “I know that woman.” As they were about to pass, he threw up his hand. “Hi...”

Maddie pirouetted around Jason’s back. She grabbed the woman’s wrist with her left hand and snatched the phone with her right. She deftly flipped the phone around and thumbed off the call. She tossed the phone to Jason who seemed only dimly aware that he had caught it.

“Wait, that’s one of the women I’ve been working with,” said Jason. “Janet. Yeah she’s the one ... Hey, are you zapping her?” He glanced up and down the corridor.

“I recognized her by her voice,” said Maddie. “She told me her name was Susan and she’s definitely affiliated with my kidnappers. And yes, I’m giving her a pretty good jolt.”

Susan staggered and threw her hand against the wall for support. Her back arched until her prominent breasts were nearly pointed at the ceiling. Her body trembled in orgasm as she took desperate gulps of air.

Maddie was angry and more apprehensive about what they were doing than she’d like Jason to know. She zapped Susan-Janet with nothing but dominance in mind. She had stunned Mme. Marchand. She had won over April Meadows with the equivalent of a warm invitation. This woman, she was practically beating over the head with a baseball bat. Realizing what she was doing, Maddie abruptly shut off her power. She had to steady Susan-Janet against the wall so the woman wouldn’t collapse.

“Was that your room?” Maddie asked, tilting her head in the direction from which Susan-Janet had come.

“Yes,” the woman said in a dreamy voice.

“Is there anyone in there?” Maddie asked.

“No.”

“Do you expect anyone to be there shortly?” Jason asked.

Susan-Janet turned her head as if she was only now seeing Jason. “You’re even more handsome than I remember,” she said. She turned her adoring gaze back to Maddie. “No, we should be all alone,” she said seductively.

“Is the person on the other end of that call going to be alarmed that it ended?” Maddie asked.

“No, my dearest Maddie,” she said. “The cell and Wi-Fi connections this high in the building are atrocious. It has something to do with the trick windows they use. Cell calls are dropped all the time.”

A minute later they were all standing in a suite of rooms. It made Maddie’s place look like a hole in the wall. “After the swap,” said Susan-Janet when she saw Maddie looking around, “or I guess that would be the non-swap, you’ll be moved into a place as nice as this ... probably nicer if you insist.”

“How many people are following me?” Maddie snapped.

“I’m supposed to believe that only a couple of men are keeping an eye on you,” Susan-Janet said. “But I have a friend close to Finn. He said that there may be as many as twenty men either watching you or watching the watchers.”

“Watching the watchers?” Maddie said.

“In case you turned one of the men following you. Someone in the second tier would take him out of play,” Susan-Janet said.

“And who’s Finn?” Maddie asked.

“Finn is the man who interviewed you,” she said. “I take it he didn’t introduce himself.”

“No,” said Maddie. “Was he the one wearing a hat? Doing all the talking?”

Janet-Susan chuckled and said, “Yes, Finn loves his hats and sunglasses.”

Jason spoke up. “What’s your real name? Are you the one who told this Finn where Maddie was so they could snatch her? And how can we trust anything you say? You obviously betrayed the women who thought you were on their team.”

“My name is Janet Elizabeth Hennesy” she said. “Susan is a code name, or working name if you like. And there never was a team to betray. Everyone did as Marie Smathers directed as individuals.” She turned to Maddie with an adoring gaze and said, “Now, you can order me about as you wish.”

“It still doesn’t feel right,” said Jason. “No one else who knew Smathers has gone rogue like this.”

Maddie raised an inquiring eyebrow.

“Your handsome brother has met only a fraction of Queen Marie’s women,” Janet said. “But the real answer to his concerns is literally under his nose.” Both women turned to look at Jason.

Jason wiped his finger across his upper lip. “What?” he said.

“DNA, my darling Jason, DNA,” Janet said. “Because you share so much DNA with your sister, your exposure to the charm has changed you. I can’t believe by how much, but I’m sure that’s the answer.”

“So you’re saying that you’re related to Marie Smathers?” asked Maddie.

“Yes,” said Janet. “I am or was her first cousin ... many times removed of course. Somehow our shared DNA left me with the ability, when I’m dead drunk unfortunately, to sense the charm and people who have interacted with it.”

“And the loyalty issue?” prompted Maddie.

Janet shrugged. “It never came up. Don’t get me wrong. I loved the body, the health and the unbelievable orgasms Cousin Marie gave me, but I never felt compelled to grovel at her feet like the other women. Oh I did my share of groveling so that I wouldn’t look out of place, but I didn’t feel compelled. I kept the way I felt about my dear cousin to myself.” She stepped closer to Maddie and stroked her arm. “I now know how those women felt about Marie. I will grovel. I will worship you, Maddie Parton. I want to have your cock. With your youth ... your vitality, I bet your cock is like hot velvety steel that never tires.”

Maddie put her forefinger on the woman’s chest and pushed her back an arm’s length. Maddie had hoped that her cock wouldn’t put in an appearance given the circumstances. But she had zapped Janet too thoroughly. She could feel the stirrings in her groin. In an effort to head it off she said, “Who is Finn and how does he know about the charm?” When Janet took a deep breath and looked upward in thought, Maddie added, “Make it a condensed version.”

“Right,” said Janet. “The man you met tonight is Eamon Finn. Let me go back to his grandfather, Seamus, first. Seamus was a well-known researcher for magazines and newspapers a generation before the Internet. Marie Smathers sent a woman called Dorothy Wells to seduce and to hire Seamus to discover the history of the charm. This was in the early fifties. Dorothy and Seamus genuinely fell in love and spent twenty years or so scouring the world for the bits and pieces of data they could find on the charm. Seamus sent regular reports back to Queen Marie and those reports eventually became the basis for “The Book of Power.” That’s sort of the handbook on the charm.

“They had one child, Edward, who became a teacher and novelist. He and his wife lived quite well because of Edward’s inheritance from Seamus. Queen Marie had paid him a small fortune for his work. Edward had one son, our Eamon. Eamon was a senior at Yale during the events of nine-eleven. When CIA recruiters showed up on campus looking to expand their ranks, he applied and was accepted. Eventually, he was assigned to Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Eamon was more of a paper shuffling analyst than a spy. He was amazed at the amount of money being spread around by the agency. To him, the war against terror seemed to be populated by profiteers who wrapped themselves in the flag, talked of their noble sacrifices and then triple-billed the American taxpayer for already grossly overpriced supplies.

“Anyway, after a long tour of duty, Eamon came home to find that an unscrupulous investor had lost the family fortune in the recession. His parents were hardly destitute but they had to cut expenses. One of those expenses was the lease on a storage space where Grandfather Seamus’ things had been stored for years. Eamon went there to empty the place and close the lease. There, he found a file cabinet full of the notes and journals Seamus had written in his travels while investigating the charm.

“Eamon put his analytical skills, and maybe some CIA resources to good use, and figured out who Marie Smathers was and also my name as her only living relative, not to mention the existence of the charm itself. He approached me and we had a long talk about the charm. He could be a real charmer when he wanted to be ... no pun intended. In the end, I went to Queen Marie about his scheme to examine the charm and her semen for medical research. She turned me down flat and forbade me to mention it again when I pressed the case.

“At that point, Marie was beyond elderly and her health was failing. I told Eamon to be patient and that I could find the charm, or at least the new owner, once the Queen had passed. He took a job with a mercenary firm in the meantime. Marie lingered on for a couple of years and when she died the charm duly disappeared. I called Eamon to say the charm was missing. He returned, a much more bitter and harder man than before, but a well-connected man. With me at his side, we were able to put together a group of backers to finance this operation.”

Janet shrugged massively. “I’m sure you can surmise the rest.” She approached Maddie and went to her knees. “Please, my Queen, allow me to relieve you. It would be an honor.”

Maddie looked down past the unlikely sight of a massive hard-on bulge in a cocktail dress to see Janet’s pleading eyes. “Jason,” she said, “would you give us girls some alone time?”

Jason simply smiled and crossed his arms across his chest. “Oh, I think I’ll stay and watch,” he said.

Maddie shot him a look to let him know she didn’t appreciate his annoying brother act. She sighed and said to Janet’s upturned face, “Okay, go to it.”

Janet lifted Maddie’s skirt as if she was a priestess unveiling a priceless religious relic. “Oh my,” she said as the thick base came into view. Her eyes widened as more and more of the shaft came was revealed. She had to waddle forward on her knees in order to get close enough to lift Maddie’s skirt fully over the head of her quivering cock. “It’s unbelievable ... it’s magnificent,” she said in awe. Maddie’s panties were frilly boyshorts that matched her dress. They had been rolled up and pushed to the top of her thighs as Maddie’s cock had grown. Her dick shivered and clear, hot pre-cum surged out of her cock-slit and bathed the head.

“Ohhh,” Janet gasped. Her hands shot forward and grasped Maddie’s cock before the pre-cum could flow any farther. Eagerly, she licked and slurped at the continuing flow of clear liquid.

“Mmm, that’s nice ... yessss.” Maddie sighed as Janet’s lips and tongue danced over the distended head of her cock. She glanced at Jason only to see his cock jutting from the front of his pants. He had both hands flying up and down his cock-shaft. Maddie caught his eye. She pointed at herself and then Janet. Then she pointed at Jason and made the universal gesture of jacking off by moving her hand up and down, fingers circled, all the while shaking her head in shame. Jason lifted his hand and gave her the universal gesture of ‘fuck you’ by lifting his middle finger in her direction.

Maddie smiled and turned her mind back to the feelings Janet was generating in her cock. Her lips and tongue swirled around Maddie’s distended cock-head. This is crazy, Maddie thought. We don’t have time for this. But the pressure between her legs was not to be denied. She had thought that she had the zapping business under control, but clearly she lost that control when under emotional stress. She needed practice ... lots of practice and tons of orgasms. She giggled. That would be for the future, for the now she suddenly wanted to do something for Jason.

“Stand up,” she ordered Janet, “and spread your legs.”

“Yes, my Queen,” Janet said. “Are you going to fuck me?” She sounded like a child anticipating a toy she really, really, really wanted.

“No, but I don’t have the only gigantic cock in the room,” Maddie said.

Jason didn’t need a written invitation. His cock bobbed and weaved as he moved behind Janet and lifted the hem of her skirt onto her back. He fingered aside the thin piece of underwear that lay in his way and eased the head of his monster dick into Janet’s pussy. “Mmm, nice ... very nice ... talk about hot and wet...” he said with a blissful look on his face.

This is depraved, thought Maddie. A brother and sister sharing a sex partner at the same time. How often did that happen? It probably happened more than she wanted to know and illegally to boot. Still, here and now, it was very sexy. Regrets could wait. Jason shoved Janet’s body forward with each thrust. That forced her lips over Maddie’s cock-head.

Maddie looked at Jason, but he was staring at the ceiling with a look of rapture on his face. She felt a pang of jealousy. He was getting the full sensations of a hot pussy surrounding his dick, while she had to make do with little more than licks and kisses. She began to thrust in time with Jason, forcing Susan to take more of her cock-head. Susan held onto Maddie’s shaft with both hands. She seemed desperate to not choke on the beautiful teen’s hard-on, but she was more than eager to bring on the immense rush of cum that would be hers alone.

Maddie’s cock exploded in the woman’s mouth causing her cheeks to bulge like a cartoon character. Susan struggled to down huge gulps of hot cum, but Maddie’s second blast overfilled her mouth and gushed onto the carpet. Susan fought to keep every drop of cum. It covered her face and her hair. It filled her bosom and coated her dress. Unfortunately for Jason, she had completely pulled away from the big cock ravaging her pussy. He was left to beat his meat on his own. When he came, only four thin strings of cum sprang from his cock. They landed on and disappeared into the ocean of cream Maddie had produced.

When the euphoria of her orgasm passed, Maddie strided through Susan’s bedroom and into her bathroom. She took a deep breath and looked in the mirror. Her cheeks were flush and her hair was messy from where she’d tossed her head about. She swept her hair off her face and said to her reflection, “You need to get this stuff under control. We can’t go around over zapping everybody because we’re upset. Learning control under duress is key. Susan seems to know a lot of the charm’s history, maybe she could teach us.” Her reflection shrugged and made a wry smile. “Too bad we don’t have the time right now.”

She voided her bladder, rearranged her underwear into a more comfortable state and washed her hands. Grabbing a thick towel from its rack she joined Susan and Jason. Susan was on her knees. She was busy scooping Maddie’s cum off various parts of her body and licking it off her fingers. She tossed the towel in Susan’s direction saying, “Stand up and clean yourself off.”

Jason was slumped in a chair. He was gazing blankly at the floor. “You okay?” she asked.

“Fine,” he said, looking up.

“You look tired, and when you came, that was a pathetic load of cum,” she said.

‘First of all,” he said indignantly as he stood, “I had a lot of sex this morning ... a lot. And second, I can’t believe you were looking.”

Maddie shrugged. “Okay then, you’re fine ... I just happened to notice.” She turned to see Susan wipe cum from her hair onto the towel, and then she promptly licked the towel. “That’s not what I meant ... oh never mind,” said Maddie. “Susan, listen to me carefully. Jason and I are going back to the party. I want you to immediately rinse away all of my liquid evidence.” Susan looked crestfallen, but she nodded. Then I want you to go out just as you’d planned. Make sure you’re not being followed and then get the hell away from the resort. Find a motel or something and then call... ?” She looked at Jason.

“Uh, Beverly ... I guess,” he said.

“Call Beverly and tell her that I said you need to be hidden and protected. Do you think you can do that without leaving a trail? Without being caught by Finn and company?”

Susan looked perplexed, but considered the question. “Yes, Finn gave me plenty of ready cash, but if I run, then he will be suspicious as hell and I won’t be available to help you here.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Maddie said. “Consider that an order or an imperial decree or whatever it takes. Just do as I said.”

Susan looked as if she’d been slapped. She mumbled, “Yes, My Queen.”

Maddie patted a dry spot on the woman’s back. “Get with Beverly. I look forward to having you suck my dick many times in the future.”

“Thank you, My Queen,” Susan said with eyes about to spill over with tears of appreciation.

“Let’s go,” Maddie said to Jason.

Once Susan’s door was firmly closed and they had moved away from it, Jason said, “We’re going back to the party?”

“Of course not,” Maddie said. “I wouldn’t deprive you of your helicopter ride.”

“So you said that just to throw her off?” he said. “I thought you thought you had her completely won over.”

Maddie sighed. “Look, I don’t have this charm stuff all figured out yet. Yes, I’m sure I won her over. It was her getting all weepy eyed at the thought of giving me a blow-job that really convinced me. Or maybe I’m wrong. Do you tear up at the thought of sucking a guy off?”

“Ha,” said Jason. “One thing the charm hasn’t given you is the capacity for witty insults.”

They paused under the exit sign to the stairs. The sign’s industrial look contrasted horribly with the hallway’s expensive décor. Maddie pushed open the door. “We need to move along,” she said. “I can’t believe we stopped long enough to have sex.”

“I’d argue that we, plural, didn’t make that decision, but I guess I’d better save my breath,” he said glancing up the stairs.

Maddie began to climb. The treads were metal with safety-yellow edges and a raised diamond pattern for traction. She glanced upward between the handrails, but she couldn’t get any perspective on the height; the view dissolved into a gray and black blur. They went up a flight to a landing, made a one-eighty and climbed another flight to the next story. The stairs were easily wide enough to walk two abreast, but Jason elected to stay a couple of steps behind. Maddie set a fast and yet what she felt was a sustainable pace; it didn’t seem wise to try and sprint their way to the top.

Maddie found that she plenty of time to worry during their climb. How long until her watchers discovered that she wasn’t at the party or the apartment above it? Would they assume she had picked up a boy toy at the party and was screwing his brains out behind the suddenly locked door of the library? Would they use the private elevator to access the library? How long would that take? Would they assume she’d gone down that elevator, presumably to some obscure exit from the hotel? Did they have the key or code to operate the elevators in the upper floors? Or would they simply come streaking up the stairs? How long until that happened? Maddie shook her head. Now she was allowing her mind to run in circles.

“Maddie,” Jason gasped from behind her.

She turned to see sweat running down her brothers face. He was taking deep, ragged breaths. “Okay?” she asked.

He grinned sickly at her. “I’m afraid the charm didn’t give me the aerobics package you seem to have.”

She nodded and tried to give him an encouraging smile. “I guess not,” she said. “Here, you take the lead. Just set the best pace you can.” She stood aside and Jason trudged past, using the guardrail to pull himself along.

Maddie followed. Her gut went from worry about Jason to frustration at how slowly they were moving and then back again. Her ears strained to pick up any sound of pursuit. They covered five stories at a snail’s pace, and then Jason stopped at one of the mid-story landings. He turned to her, his hand on his chest, eyes pleading and slumped over the guardrail.

“Jason!” Maddie cried in alarm and rushed to his side. “What’s wrong?” Jason didn’t respond. His breathing was rapid, shallow and ragged. His eyes were only half open, and he did nothing when Maddie shook his shoulder and urgently called his name several times.

Maddie’s heart and mind raced with indecision. What the hell was she supposed to do? Her instinct was to call for help. Earlier, she had seen Jason put his phone in the inner pocket of his blazer. She fished it out and brought the screen to life. “Shit,” she muttered. There was not the least sign of a signal. She wouldn’t be calling anyone from this spot.