The Coffee Shop Pt. 05

"You can't handle the truth. Sir." The Sergeant said clearly and coldly.

"Try me, Sergeant," I taunted him. I was getting a bit tired of being told by the Sergeant that I could not handle whatever it was that he was hinting about.

The Sergeant took a long deep breath and let it out slowly as if he were preparing to launch himself in to battle. "Andy is a very handsome man. He's everything I've been looking for in a man. I would love to have him hold me in his arms and hold me close. I'd like to do my best to please him and serve him. Just the thought of him holding me in those big muscular arms of his, makes me feel warm all over, sir. I'd love for him to take care of me, and then I could take care of him, sir."

"And then there is you, sir. You, with your hypnosis skills are able to make me feel so good. To make me feel controlled and to enjoy serving you. What you do with me and to me is amazing, sir. But you're not Andy, sir. You're not my type. Andy is a man's man, a he-man. You are nice enough to look at but you don't look very strong. You don't have much of a physical presence, sir. You could never pin me to the mat and pretend to have your way with me, sir. You turn me off, sir."

"This pot of tea is a perfect example of what I mean. A real man would have offered a round of stiff drinks, or maybe made coffee for us and not something weak like tea. If you were English I could understand it, but you're supposed to be a guy not a girl."

"It's not fair sir. Andy is what I've wanted for so long, and he's stuck with a girly-man like you, sir. I just don't get it. Why can't I have him?" The Sergeant glared at me after he finished speaking as if he was getting ready to challenge me to fight for who got to partner with Andy.

I thought I had heard everything, but this took me completely by surprise. I stared at Sergeant unable to come up with a reply. The Sergeant glared more intently at me. He seemed angered by my lack of a response.

A burst of laughter from Andy killed the tension in the room. "Sergeant, you couldn't be more off base about Paul if you tried. He's far more of a man than I am, or I could ever hope to be. I have seen such strength in him, mixed with his endless and deep compassion, that at times I am in awe of him. He has great power and authority over those guys he hypnotizes, yet he always treats them with great respect and dignity. I won't embarrass him further by waxing on about his many virtues. I will say that I am lucky to have him for my husband and I damn well know it. Physical strength and ability are not the true measure of a man, Sergeant. Paul taught me this truth. " Andy looked over at me and sent me one of his killer sexy smiles.

I blushed, again. Not because of his smile, but because of his words. Nervously I sipped my tea. The warmth of it in my belly was reassuring. Inside though I was secretly thrilled at those words of praise and admiration from Andy. I had not realized until that moment that what I wanted most from Andy was his respect. It seemed I had earned it, in spades.

Andy picked up one of the mugs of tea, added a teaspoon of sugar to it and a squirt of lemon juice. He sat back and slowly sipped the tea, a contented satisfied smile on his face.

"I just don't get you, sirs" the Sergeant said as he looked at me and then at Andy. He ignored the mug of tea I had poured for him.

"Paul and I are married, Sergeant. While I am flattered by your opinion of me, you should know that you hold no interest for me whatsoever. I held you and gave you reassurance just now, because you needed it. I would have done the same for any fellow RCMP constable, and in fact I have done so. Do not misinterpret compassion and caring for something more. There is nothing more between us. If by my actions tonight I lead you to believe that, then it was my fault and I offer my most sincerely apology." Andy spoke calmly and evenly.

The Sergeant looked at Andy for a few moments before he spoke. "I don't want your freakin' apology, sir. I want you, sir!"

"What you want, Sergeant, is a man like me. not me in particular. I'm an RCMP constable and you are a Marine. We could never be together. I won't give up being an RCMP constable any more than you would give up being a Marine, Sergeant," Andy said with a knowing look on his face.

"How do you know that, sir?" The Sergeant snapped back at Andy.

"The many ribbons on your uniform shirt tell me that you serve the Corps before anything or anyone else. You are married to the Corps, Sergeant. Your career and your fellow Marines mean more to you than your own life. That is as it should be. Don't waste all that you have to give on someone who could never give back to you, what you truly deserve, Sergeant." Andy said in that same knowing voice.

"It's still not fair, sir," the Sergeant said with a pout.

"Life is very rarely fair, Sergeant," I interjected. The Sergeant glared at me. My comments, true as they might be, were not welcome, it seemed.

"Now drink your tea and think about what Andy has told you, Sergeant," I told him firmly.

"Sir, yes, sir," the Sergeant responded. He sighed and then he picked up his mug of tea and sipped it as he focused his gaze at some object across the room.

The evening was coming to an close. I could feel it. Perhaps if Andy had not made an appearance the Sergeant and I could have had a bit more fun. Any such chance of that happening had just disappeared. While I am sure that Andy would not have minded, I am also sure that he would have wanted to participate and that would have caused more problems with the Sergeant.

"Would you like to call it a night, Sergeant?" I ask after we had all finished our tea.

"I guess so, sir," the Sergeant said.

"I hope you had a good time all in all," I told him. "Pencil dick."

There was barely enough time for the surprise to register on the Sergeant's face before his eyes closed, his head dropped down and he slipped back into his hypnotic trance. He slumped against Andy's left side. There was a small smile on the Sergeant's face which showed he liked being in hypnosis and he also liked leaning against Andy.

"The words pencil dick no longer will cause you to enter into a hypnotic state, Sergeant. When you wake up in a few moments you will be your normal self in every way, and remember everything that happened to you tonight. Zero. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Wide awake Sergeant. Wide Awake!" I said to him.

The Sergeant sat up straight, raised his head and opened his eyes. He lifted up his arms and stretched them as he let out a huge yawn.

"You're all set to go, Sergeant," I said.

"Sir, yes, sir," the Sergeant replied. He stood up and picked up his uniform hat which had been resting on the far end table the entire evening. He walked swiftly to the front door of the apartment. I stood up and followed him. It was good to see that Marine butt in action, as it were, one last time, especially as the Sergeant had not removed his wallet from his right back pocket.. Andy was right next to me as we walked. The Sergeant opened the door, turned and faced me. "Sir, thank you for an interesting evening, sir," he said.

"Thank you for your service, Sergeant," I told him.

He nodded his head at me walked out of the apartment and closed the door behind him.

I locked the door and turned around to face Andy.

"So why did you remove the trigger, Paul? He never asked you to," Andy said.

"It is very unlikely that I will ever encounter him, much less work with him again. It seemed best to tie up any potential loose ends. It also removes any reason he might have to come back here again. He's enamoured of you, Andy, which could be a problem," I answered.

"I suppose you're right, Paul. Did you notice that he never commented on what I told him?" Andy said.

"Yes, I did notice that. I think he'll need some time to work things out in his mind. Did I mention that he was part of the test with the Council of Coins this afternoon?" I said.

"No, you never did mention that until just now. I can see why you decided to send him on his way. For all you know he could be heading to the Council right now to give them a report on you and what happened tonight," Andy said thoughtfully.

"Actually, that possibility had not occurred to me. I took what he said tonight at face value. When I touched his mind, I didn't feel anything amiss. I wasn't looking too closely either though," I said half to myself.

"Come on. Let's not waste the rest of the evening," Andy said as he grabbed hold of my right hand with his left hand and tugged at me. "We have some serious snuggling and cuddling to do tonight. Unless you have something else you'd rather do?"

"Well, I did want to watch that movie, but I suppose I could do that some other night," I said jokingly.

"You'd better if you know what's good for you, buster," Andy said with a grin. He pulled me towards him and in a single fluid motion, pulled me up off my feet and draped me over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes.

I laughed as Andy turned about and headed in the general direction of the living room and the sofa. Less than 30 second later he lowered me gently onto the middle of the sofa and sat down next to me on my right side. I turned my head and smiled at him. He leaned over and snuggled down close and tight to me, resting his handsome head on my right shoulder. His arms found their way about my torso. Somehow my arms were encircling Andy's torso. We pulled each other close and sighed as one.

Three hours later, after a quick snack, we headed off to the spare bedroom. We shed our clothes and slipped under the covers. We held each other close and fell asleep in each others' arms. I'm too much of a cowboy gentleman to provide any details as what other activities may or may not have occurred between the time we slipped under the covers and when we fell asleep.

(Some things, dear reader, you will never know.)

The next morning I was nearly killed, in my own apartment.

Chapter 15 And So The Journey Begins

The morning started in the usual way. The two of us got up when the alarm clock went off, showered and had breakfast. Andy headed off to tidy up his bedroom and mine while I straightened up the living room and dining room. House work is no fun, but it's less of a chore when you have someone to help out. I've learned never to wrestle Andy to see who does the vacuuming. While it is a fun way to decide, I always wind up losing, since Andy is so much stronger than I am. A few times when Andy has volunteered to do the vacuuming, I have been treated to the sight of him walking about the apartment working the vacuum cleaner, occasionally bending over or squatting down. Don't ask me how he does it, but Andy manages to make vacuuming an erotic experience. The doorbell was a welcome interruption to my housecleaning efforts.

I shut off the vacuum cleaner. I walked up to the door and looked out through the peephole. I was surprised to see a city police officer standing on the other side. It was not Steve Stokes, but some other young handsome policeman. He was dressed normally and carrying a clipboard. He had a very stern almost determined look on his face. I open the door.

"Hello officer," I said pleasantly.

"Good morning, sir," the policeman said. "Are you Paul Walton?"

"Yes, I am Paul Walton," I answered.

"Could I come in please, sir? I need to speak with you regarding an urgent and somewhat confidential police matter. You would not want to discuss it in the hall, believe me," the officer said in a bland business like tone of voice.

"Come in, then officer," I said as I stood aside and let the policeman walk in to the apartment. I closed the door, and watched the officer as he walked into the living room. He had a nice body and a kind of beefy butt. I quickly diverted my attention back to the office's head as he turned about. "What is all this about, officer?" I asked as I walked up to him, after closing and locking the apartment door.

"The documents on this clipboard will explain everything, sir," the officer said as he handed over the clipboard to me. "I'll give you a bit of privacy, sir." The officers turned about and stepped a few paces away from me, keeping his back towards me.

I looked down at the clipboard, puzzled. The top sheet had the word 'private' typed across it on a forty-five degree angle, and the top sheet appeared to be taped to the other sheets with a small red tab of tape. This was most odd. As I pulled the tape free, it suddenly struck me as odd that the officer had not told me his name. I lifted up the top sheet and what I read confused me even more. All that was written was the word 'payback'.

"What the heck is this all about?" I asked as I lifted my head up. In the same instant I felt that creepy crawly feeling run across my forehead. I instantly began to gather my mental powers as I erected a mental shield.

I looked up to see the police officer standing in front of me, his weapon drawn and pointed directly at me. I was taken completely by surprise. In between the shock that startled me, came the thought that my mental shield wouldn't do me much good. It could not stop a bullet. I had only a fraction of a second in which to act. I could not take control of the police officer directly, since I could not establish eye contact with him. In an act of desperation, I projected the tightest most powerful compulsion field I could imagine The field contained two words. Two simple words: You're blind. (Okay, so technically that is three words, but let us not quibble, dear reader. It takes away from the story.) Fear can be an amazingly effective motivator.

The police officer took careful aim at me, while I desperately tried to dive for cover. The great thing about compulsion fields is that once you have targeted your subject, you don't need to maintain eye contact or even keep your eyes open to keep the field going. It does require continuous concentration though to keep pouring power into the compulsion field. I dropped to a crouch and ran for the nearby living room chair. I'm sure you've heard that people say that in a crisis or an accident everything seems to slow down. Well, it's true. Time seemed to slow down. I felt like I was running in quicksand. I kept expecting to feel bullets tearing into my body. When I finally reached the safety of the living room chair, I felt like I had just run a mile. I didn't think I could move another inch, I just knew that I had to.

I kept my head down low and got ready to move again the second I heard a shot come anywhere near me. That might not have been the wised course of action, but I figured a moving target was harder to hit than a stationary one. I waited, wondering what was taking so long. The police officer had not fired a shot. I kept my thoughts on the compulsion field. It was the only thread of hope I had, so I clung to it desperately.

"What the fuck did you do to me? I'm blind!" Screamed the police officer, breaking the stone cold silence that had descended on the room. Never had I heard a man sound so angry and scared at the same time. It chilled my blood.

Well, that explained why I had not heard any shots. That is, if the police officer wasn't faking. It could be a trick. Maybe he was trying to get me to come out of hiding so he could get a clear shot at me. Whatever the reason for his actions, I was certain he did not have a lot of time to finish what he'd started. Murderers don't hang around waiting for the police to pick them up, even if the murderer is a police officer. I tried to control my panicked breathing as I fought to maintain my focus while also trying to reason out the situation. Slowly it dawned on me that the police officer probably wasn't faking. I had not said anything to him, only thought at him. Logically then, the compulsion field had to have taken effect. I had not heard anything more from the police officer for what seemed like several minutes. I took a few more breaths as I got ready to take a quick peek. I dared not call out as that would mark my position.

"You can come out now, Paul. It's safe," Andy called out to me.

Andy? In my panic I had forgotten that he was in the apartment. He must have heard the police officer cry out and come in to the living room to investigate. But maybe that too was a trap. Maybe the police officer had his gun trained on Andy and was threatening him, so that Andy would call out to me. I was so scared that I didn't want to move for fear I would be wrong.

"Paul, on my honor as an RCMP constable it's safe," Andy called out in a soothing voice.

That did it. In all the years I had known Andy, he had never lied to me when he invoked his honor as an RCMP constable. Now I knew that it was safe. Still I crept around the back of the living room chair and peeked out carefully.

Andy stood there towering over me, even if he was a good six feet away. He had a lopsided grin on his face as he looked down at me. I guessed that I must have looked pretty darn silly right about then, probably something akin to a rabbit peering out of his hole. Quickly Andy wiped the grin from his face and held out his right hand to me. I got up slowly and looked about the room. The police officer was lying on his back, on the floor next to Andy. The police officer looked unconscious and also appear to have his hands behind his back. He did not look very comfortable. I slowly walked over to Andy.

"Thanks," I said quietly. "Uh, what happened?" I asked looking up at Andy's face.

"I took him down from behind with that RCMP choke hold I learned. Afterwards I cuffed him with his own handcuffs. He'll be out for another ten to fifteen minutes. Now just what in the name of Sam Hill is going on in here?" Andy asked, all trace of levity gone from his face and voice.

"I don't have a fucking clue, Andy. One minute he was handing me a clipboard with some papers to read and when I turned looked up a few seconds later he was pointing his gun at me. If it hadn't been for that danger sense of mine, he probably would have shot me," I answered. I don't normally curse when I talk, but these were unusual circumstances, to say the least.

"What about him screaming out that he was blind?" Andy asked.

"Oh, yeah. I threw a compulsion field around him to blind him. It's all I could think of at the time. I guess it worked," I answered.

"But we still don't know why he tried to kill you, Paul," Andy said in a stern no nonsense tone.

"If you're asking me to do what I think you're asking," I said hesitantly.

"I don't see as you have another choice, Paul. We need to know. When he wakes up he's not going to be a happy camper. You'd better act fast. You haven't much time," Andy pointed out.

"You're right," I said with a sigh. "But that doesn't mean I have to like doing this, violating this police officer's mental privacy."

"Better you violate his mental privacy, then you let him take another shot at you, Paul," Andy said coolly. He was driving the point home, and none too kindly. (Sometimes, dear reader, I need a swift kick in the butt to do what is necessary.)

I sighed a second time and then knelt beside the unconscious policeman, so that I was just behind his head. I placed both hands on his head to get a good firm physical contact. I closed my eyes and firmly sent in my mental probes. Since he was unconscious there would be no mental barriers, which would made the task easier. The downside is that I would not have his conscious mind to act as a guide to locate the information I was seeking. The human mind is complex and vast. This could take a while.

It took a lot less than a microsecond. The man's mind was fully exposed to my mental probes. There were two powerful compulsions that dominated his subconscious mind to the exclusion of everything else. The first compulsion was to kill Paul Walton. The second compulsion was to kill himself. This police officer had been turned into the perfect assassin. I couldn't see any way to get anything more out of him. Every time I tried to read past the compulsions, they somehow blocked my efforts.