Chapter 43

The alarm sounded, waking Rob and causing Elaina to moan in her sleep. She was still on top of him, although he had fallen out of her during the night. She groaned and lifted her head to look at him bleary eyed.

"Good morning," she said, smacking her lips. She rolled off and stood up.

"Ow, ouch!" she whined, pulling at the front of her panties. "All your stuff leaked out of me and glued my panties to my hair!"

Trying to keep a straight face, Rob said, "Nothing like a dose of reality to take the edge off a fantasy."

She gave him a glare as she hobbled off to the shower. He heard one more "Ouch!" as she took a shower with the panties on to loosen them from her pubic fur. Looking down at himself, he noted that the panties must have contained the mess because he wasn't that bad. He decided teasing her about it would be counterproductive, so he simply went about getting ready for the day.

When a wet and clean Elaina returned to the room, he kissed her and went to take his own shower. He could tell by her glower she wasn't going to do that again for a while.

She must have forgiven him, or at least didn't blame him, because breakfast was on the table when he came out.

"What's on for tonight?" she asked over her tea.

"I've got a private lesson with Archer tonight," he replied, glad that she'd asked. He'd forgotten before she reminded him. He got up and brought out his gym bag, packed in anticipation of his next lesson.

"Mmm, that's right. How do you think that's going to go?"

"I have no idea," he said, spacing out his words. "He seemed really interested in what I could do. He told me he'd seen men like me before and he wants to train me to use it. We'll see how that goes."

Elaina nodded her agreement, taking a thoughtful sip of her tea.

Rob finished his breakfast and headed out, giving Elaina a kiss and wishing her a good day. She returned his kiss and told him to have fun later. She looked at the new windows, noting the bright sunlight, and said she would probably stay in and read. He smiled and kissed her brow and left.

Rob saw Dawn at lunch, and, as she had warned, she wasn't able to stay, telling him she was involved in a business lunch meeting. She gave Rob a warm kiss and asked him to share it with Elaina when he got home, then she left hurriedly, her tagalong following behind.

Rob asked Deidra to make his lunch to go, and he headed back to the office early. When he got back, he was glad he did. Headquarters had staged a surprise visit and the office was in an uproar. He stowed his lunch in his desk and then showed the VIPs what they came to see. By the time it was over, he felt as though he'd been put through the wringer, but they left happy with what they found.

"What brought that on?" he asked Bob when the visit was over.

"Our numbers have been rising," Bob responded. "They wanted to see what we were up to and see if we've been padding the numbers." He wiped his brow. "It's a good thing you came back when you did. They were beginning to doubt I had filled your position."

They commiserated over the misguided ivory-tower mentality that had inspired the visit, and then they got back to work settling their respective groups down.

The visit had thrown off the day's schedule and Rob was feeling the pressure. He decided at four thirty that he needed to be ready for class before he actually got there, so he went into his office and put on his uniform. He carefully folded his work clothes and stowed them in his gym bag with his shoes, slipping on the soft rubber-soled slippers he'd been required to get for wearing at the dojo. He stepped out of his office and a hush fell over the floor.

Unnoticed by him, the endurance workouts his instructor had given him, along with the kata and his normal workout, had been adding bulk to his muscles, and his appearance was very fit now. Added to that was the fact that, although they were loose on his legs, the workout pants were snug on his waist and hips, outlining his trim waist and tight butt. The drab green tank top had also become snug as his muscles filled out, and it fit him like a second skin now. Combined with the unconscious way he strutted when dressed for class, he presented a very fit, virile young man in his prime.

"Well, my goodness, young man," Marge said, speaking for the crowd. "Where have you been all my life?" Mutters of agreement and appreciation ran through the floor.

Jessica walked up to him and squeezed a bicep. She whispered in his ear, "You almost make me want to switch teams, you hunk you." His eyebrows rose: not many people knew of her orientation, and Rob hadn't been one of them.

He leaned in and whispered back, "Sorry, sweetie. I'm spoken for."

Jessica tipped back her head and roared with laughter, causing others to laugh as well, even if they didn't know why. Everyone started talking at once. Several women, and a couple of men, came over to see Rob up close, and Bob came out the office to investigate the hubbub.

Shaking his head when he saw Rob, he said, "Hasn't there been enough disruption today? What do you think you're doing now?"

"Comic relief?" Rob offered, causing everyone to laugh. Bob joined the laughter and told him to just get on with it. The day ended with everyone in a good mood.

At the end, Brenda walked up to Rob.

"So, what's all this then?" she asked pointedly.

"I'm taking a self-defense class and I'm going to be late tonight. I thought it was a good idea to get ready early. Apparently I was wrong," he answered with some embarrassment.

"No, it wasn't a bad idea. We needed something to take our minds off the visit. It worked out for the better," she assured him.

Rob grabbed his bag and ran down the stairs, avoiding the crowd at the elevator. Once at street level, he was able to capture a taxi, his outfit hidden beneath his cloak.

"Where to, Mac?" the cabbie asked, a cigar stub hanging from his mouth.

"Archer Dojo, downtown," Rob told him. "I'm late, so if you could hurry..."

"Boy, you gotta have 'nads to go to that place," the cabbie commented.

"Why would you say that?" Rob asked curiously.

"Had a cousin try that place once. Said the guy was tougher than nails. You fuck up, he makes you run laps until you drop, then makes you crawl the rest'a the way."

"That hasn't been my experience," Rob replied. "Although I think I pissed him off once."

"Yeah? Whatcha do?"

"I broke a punching bag."

"You broke a punching bag," the cabbie said flatly, moving the unlit cigar around his mouth. Rob nodded. "Yeah, right."

The rest of the ride was quiet.

Rob hustled into the studio and stored his bag in his locker. He went to the dojo first, but there was nobody there and the lights were down low. Frowning and looking around, he walked to the office. There he found Archer sitting at his computer using some sort of accounting program.

Without turning around, he said, "Have a seat, Rob. I'll be with you in a minute."

Rob took a seat, impressed that Archer knew he was there without looking. Archer closed down the program and turned around to face Rob. He saw the look on Rob's face and chuckled.

"My monitor's older, and the glass screen glares. I have it turned a little to the side, and it let's me see people coming in by the reflection off the glass."

Rob's face must have fallen because Archer laughed again. "All the masters have tricks like that, it's just they don't usually show you what's behind the curtain. I think it's better to pass on things like that so others can learn from it."

He slapped his knees and sat back. "Okay, let's talk about you. But first I have a confession to make."

"A confession?" Rob asked bewildered. Archer nodded his head.

"I wasn't entirely truthful with you the other night. There weren't others I knew ... there was only one. And I wasn't the teacher, I was the pupil. I met him over in the Middle East when I was posted as an asset for the Israelis during the October War. I was a young soldier, full of piss and vinegar, when I got my ass handed to me by a couple of yahoos on a tear. He found me in the alley, beaten and bloody, and he asked me if I wanted to learn how to fight. I told him I was a soldier and already knew how to fight and he laughed at me, telling me the evidence suggested otherwise.

"So, during my off-duty time, I would go to his dojo, although he didn't call it that. He called it his home. I was stationed there for six months, five months past the end of the war. During that time he told me about the well inside that he thought some men could tap. He demonstrated it one day, and let me tell you, I was terrified. He punched a hole through a side of beef like it was nothing. What really got me was his eyes. They were normally a dark blue, nearly violet, but when he hit that carcass? His eyes were blazing with a bright blue light.

"Tell me, Rob: Can your eyes do that?"

Rob watched him carefully, trying to gauge how much he could trust him. Archer looked back at him without guile. Rob decided he could and spun up. He saw by the way Archer's eyes widened that they were now in fact glowing.

"Brightest gold, like a tiger in the night," Archer said in a hushed voice. Rob spun down and saw the shadows fade away.

"Well then," Archer said, regaining his composure. "Let me tell you what he told me, and we'll see what you can do with that.

"The first thing he told me was how to find the well. I obviously never did, but that didn't stopped me from trying. The next thing he told me was to conserve the well. Don't just tap in and pour out everything you got on one blow. He said you need to tap and release, holding the well for as long as it takes and then letting go. He said if you stayed tapped in, you wasted the energy and you burned out quick.