A Long Time from Home Pt. 02 Ch. 01

"Ukraine?"

I nodded. "Yes... Any chance you know them?"

She chuckled. "Well, there's always a chance, but I doubt it. There are more than ten thousand women in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and they might not even be Army. They could just as easily be Navy or Air Force, so the chance for running into someone I know is small. Not to mention, that I don't know any ex-military women who had disappeared."

"Good point, but most of them wouldn't be listed as disappeared anyway... Just as having travelled to another country to work." I explained. "That's the story that was typically used, exactly to avoid the women to be listed as disappeared."

"Kinda clever." Mumbled Petra.

"Yeah. Parker and Curtis were by any means merciless assholes, but they were quite intelligent."

She nodded. "I guess so, but on the bright side, that gives us enough people to rescue the kids."

"It does." I answered as I laid an arm around her and dragged her closer, as always enjoying the feeling of her body against mine.

Her near perfect breasts were temptingly close and my hand wandered to them almost of their own. She gasped, as I fondled them gently and then smiled when she felt the effect it had on my dick.

"I love it when you do that." She said and kissed my neck with soft lips.

"So do I." Catching her nipple between two fingers, I squeezed it, causing her to shiver. "Let's go to bed."

*********************************

Meeting a few victims

Late July 2000, Costa Rica

I woke early the next morning and after the usual toilet routines, I walked into the garden to relax in the morning sun but feeling restless, I settled on doing forms instead.

An integral element in any martial arts I have ever encountered, forms is a pattern of movements and techniques that can be practiced alone, with the goal of making the techniques so natural that the martial artist can do them without thinking.

Having had more than a thousand years to train, I had mastered them a long time ago and now they were more a sort of moving meditation, where I moved without thinking about it, allowing me to relax mentally and get some exercise at the same time.

Feeling the presence of somebody else near me, I turned my head and saw a woman standing half-way down the terrace, watching me as she stood there silently. Of medium height, she was a good-looking mix between Asian and European influences, with long light brown hair, a hint of slanted eyes and full lips, and I recognized her from the pictures in Parkers files as Shelly Ocampo, one of the female Mentats, Parker had gotten his hands on.

According to Parkers file on her, she was from the Philippines, had some telepathic abilities and was able to detect the use of Mental powers. Much to Parker's frustration, she had resisted his attempt to make her totally devoted to him, but he did manage to get into bed with her, despite the fact that she was mostly into women. Satisfied that he eventually could have a child with her, Parker had left it at that and used the loyalty codex on her, before he travelled to Spain along with Curtis, leaving Shelly in Costa Rica.

She had been fortunate that the loyalty codex worked, because Parkers notes stated, that if the gentle version of the Loyalty codex didn't take, she would have been turned into a doll for breeding like the rest of the women.

"I guess you're the new boss?" Shelly said in accented English as soon as she discovered me looking at her.

"That will depend on how you define 'boss'." I said quietly as I watched her. There was a tension in her, like a coiled spring. "But yes, right now I'm in charge."

Unschooled as she was, I could feel the mental energy building in her, making me sigh as I issued a command and added mental energy to it. "Don't try that."

There was a gasp as the build-up of mental energy fizzled.

"Thank you, Miss Ocampo."

A moment later, she sighed. "What happens now?"

"That depends on what you want." I said and gestured at the garden chair. "So, take a seat and tell me about your dreams for the future."

She didn't move. "No need. I just want to go back to the Philippines, get my old job back and live my life as before."

I looked at her, while recalling information from my memory. According to Parkers file, Shelly had worked as a saleswoman in a jewellery store, but a gambling debt had caused her to borrow money from criminals and when she couldn't pay them back and refused to rob the jewellery store where she worked, they had simply kidnapped and sold her to cover their expenses.

However, I could feel that the story about her wanting to go back was a lie, or at least not exactly what she really wanted.

Reaching out with my mind, I discretely probed her mind-shield, which was so feeble it might as well not be there. Even the first mind-shield Cyra and Zena had created had been better.

Penetrating it undetected required almost not effort at all and a moment later information started to flow into me. Shelly did not want to return to the Philippines, since she still owed the criminal organization money. She was terrified of her psychic abilities, as she had very limited control and had spent a good deal of her adult life thinking that she was going insane, since she heard voices in her head. She also didn't expect me to send her home and had only mentioned it to get a better deal, if that was possible.

"I'll need a few weeks to get everything in order." I said, "Then you can go back to Manila. Getting your job and old life back will be up to you."

Surprise was almost painted on her face. "You'll let me go?!"

"Yes." I answered with a nod. "To be honest, I don't need you for anything I can think of."

"B-b-but I'm a Psychic like you!"

"Not even close." I said with a snort. "You're unschooled, easily detectable and doesn't have a mindshield worth mentioning, which makes you more of a liability than an asset. You'll require a whole lot of training, before you can be of any use, which again will take a lot of time and effort on my behalf and I'm not sure it's worth it."

There was silence for a moment, before I heard Petra's voice say, "Be nice, Ivan. You promised us that." as she walked into the garden behind Shelly, who quickly turned around to see who the newcomer was.

The Ukrainian flashed a smile at Shelly. "Relax, honey. I'm on your side. Ivan promised to take care of anybody we found here and I'm going to hold him to that."

Since she had turned around, I couldn't see her face, but I could easily feel the spike of lust emanating from her as she looked at Petra.

That was understandable. Dressed in a light blue T-shirt that showed off the shape of her magnificent breasts, and shorts that displayed her tanned and well-shaped long legs, she looked just as sexy as she normally did.

Petra was still looking at Shelly. "I'm Petra. Nice to meet you, Shelly."

"N-n-nice to meet you too." Stammered Shelly.

Petra nodded to her and looked at me. "Can you train her?"

"If she has the ability, psychic powers are like any other skill," I said with a shrug. "So yes, it can be trained... if she wants to be trained that is."

Shelly Ocampo whirled around to look at me with a furious expression on her face. "Of course, I want to be trained, you... "

Petra took a quick step forward and lightly tapped her on the shoulder, interrupting her. "Easy n.."

There was a sudden raise in mental energy from Shelly as she instinctively lashed out mentally at Petra, but the weak mental attack bounced harmlessly off the Ukrainians mind shield and I was suddenly very glad, that I had used an Ars Mentalis trick on the five women I had liberated in Malaga.

Called Adamant Mind, it was a technique that allowed a Mentat to take control of a person's mind-shield and temporary strengthen it a lot. It also made it extremely difficult for the target to use mental powers, but as neither of the women had any, that mattered little. Since it wasn't permanent, I would have to repeat the process every three or four months, but for Riya, Ayanna, Esther, Delina and Petra, it was like a gift from Goddesses themselves, as it gave them a sense of security they haven't had, since Parker and Curtis had started working on them.

The only draw-back of the Adamant Mind, was it negated my ability to sense their emotions unless I was touching them, but that was a small price to pay for their security and peace of mind.

Petra must have felt the mental attack because she drew a gun so fast that it almost looked like it just appeared in her hand. For a heartbeat I wondered where she gotten the gun but realized that the security force was quite well equipped, and Petra must have gotten it from them. Compared to the guns I had seen so far, this was one was fairly small, but I imagined that it must seem huge when you were looking right down the barrel of it, like Shelly Ocampo did.

There was silence for a few heartbeats before Petra smiled her usual charming smile, but her voice was cold when she calmly said. "Sorry, honey, that isn't gonna work, and don't ever try that again. Ever."

Shelly nodded silently.

"It's also a problem." I said, causing both women to look at me as Petra holstered her gun behind her back again. "You have a quite a temper, Shelly, and the most important factor in using mental powers is self-control. That's another thing we need to train." I paused for a moment as I thought it over and then continued. "Look, I can train your abilities, give you a job and offer you some protection, but in return I need your loyalty. I don't want to train you, only to have you turn around and use your abilities on us."

Shelly opened her mouth and it looked like she was going to give me a smart-ass reply, but then she sighed. "I guess that makes sense." She paused for moment, before she continued. "But don't expect me to jump into bed with you! I don't know what the hell he did, but I don't want it."

Petra laughed a throaty laugh, causing the Filipina to look at her. "What?"

The laugh turned into a smile. "Sorry, Shelly, but even if you wanted to get into bed with Ivan here, you would have to draw a number and get in line." She walked past Shelly to get over to me and gave me a long soft kiss, before looking at the Asian again. "I guess you're lesbian, right?"

Stunned, Shelly shook her head in denial.

"Yes, you are." Said Petra calmly. "Most heterosexual finds Ivan extremely hot... me included." She saw the look I gave her and sent me a grin. "What? Unlike you, I didn't promise to be nice!"

With a smile, I poked her in the side. "If I have to be nice, so do you."

Petra rolled her eyes and looked over at Shelly. "Sorry. That wasn't fair of me." She paused. "True, but not fair."

The Filipina looked from Petra to me and then back to Petra again, blurting. "You're not mind controlled!"

"Not enough." I mumbled, causing Petra to elbow me, before she said. "Only for loyalty and in all fairness to Ivan, he didn't do it and it was an emergency situation."

Shelly shook her head slightly and changed the subject. "When can we start the training?"

"When you're more relaxed." I answered. "You're way too tense right now and that affect your self-control."

"Well, you try being confined this place for months!" She shot back as her temper flared again.

"Good point." I admitted. "So, the first thing I want you to do is to take a vacation at a resort here in Costa Rica. Get some massage, go shopping, see the countryside, get laid or whatever you need to do to relax. I'll pay the vacation and give you some money to use. After that, you'll get a salary just like everybody else."

"Really?"

"Yes. You need to relax and if being here drives you crazy, getting away for a while will do you good." I looked at Petra. "Could you go help her find a place to stay for a relaxing vacation?" Mentally I added "< Preferably not too far away >"

"No problem." She said verbally and walked over to Shelly. "Come... let's go look at some places."

They left, and I was alone in the garden again. Or almost alone, because out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Rang Su-Yun, one of the North Korean security guards walking towards me, doubt and insecurity written all over her pretty face, and it seemed like my morning of relaxation was over before it had really begun.

Su-Yun stopped a few meters away and bowed deeply. "Sorry to disturb you, Mr. Ivan."

Her English was slow, and she seemed to search for the correct words, so I switched to Korean as I answered, hoping that the difference between North Korean and the South Korean I had learned from Karen in Malaga was minimal.

"You do not disturb, Rang Su-Yun."

She looked surprised for a few heartbeats, but then said, "Thank you." and walked nearer, making me realize how short she was. I doubted she was much more than 145 cm (4'9") tall.

"You said to tell you if we had any friends or relatives in the same situation." She said in a Korean that was close enough to the one I had learned to be understandable.

I nodded, waiting for her to continue, which she did by handing me a written note containing eight names. "These are my sisters."

Glancing at the note, I saw at least five different surnames, meaning that these women weren't her blood relatives. "Could you please explain the different names?"

Su-Yun nodded and started talking.

Apparently, the North Korean regime had a collection of groups called Gippeumjo, which translated into Pleasure Groups. Consisting of good-looking young women, the purpose of these groups was to entertain and sexually please high-ranking members of the regime. Selected shortly after puberty, the members of the Gippeumjo underwent a rigorous training in singing, dancing, massage, and sex, before they were put into service.

Connected to each group were specially trained female soldiers who acted as bodyguards for the rest and Su-Yun had been one of those.

The group had been together for almost four years, before they had been drugged and captured by Chinese traffickers a couple of years ago, while touring near the border. Soon after the capture, Su-Yun and Li-Na had been sold to Parker, while the rest of the captured women went elsewhere.

As she told her story, I understood why she had called them sisters as they had been together for a long time and through many different situations, and when she was finished, I said. "I shall do my best to find your sisters, Rang Su-Yun. I cannot promise anything, but I will do my best."

She thanked me and left as quietly as she come, while I added yet another item to the rapidly growing list of things I had to fix.

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Delina, Riya, Esther and Ayanna arrived just in time for lunch, having spent most of the morning shopping for practical clothes and shoes in Limon, the harbour city where Dream Weaver was docked. The summer dresses and matching shoes they had worn on the yacht was nice, but not really suited for spending time on a former ranch like Villa Bonita. At least not if they wanted to do anything else than swimming in the sea or relaxing in the villa.

Not that I minded looking at them in swimsuits, as all of them fulfilled the criteria's Parker had set for his combined bodyguard and sex-slave group, being beautiful, tall, slim, and fit, with large breasts and long legs. The major difference between them were their personality, county of origin and skin colour.

Delina was a tech specialist, originally from Gambia in West Africa and had the golden, dark-brown skin tones so often seen there, while Riya and Ayanna had a slightly skin tone, being from what was now known as Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Riya was a medic and a helicopter pilot, while Ayanna had been in the Airforce. Then there was Esther, a Persian looking teacher from Israel, who had been in the Israeli border police as a sniper. Last, but certainly not least, there was Petra, a fair skinned Ukrainian who had been a Military Police educated bodyguard and later had functioned as an assistant to an officer, due to her good leadership skills.

All in all, they were an impressive collective of beauty, brains, and skills. Just about everything I loved in a woman, though I had only shared pleasure with Petra and Delina so far. When I had liberated them in Malaga, I had been forced to activate the Loyalty Codex Parker had placed on them, and I simply refused to take advantage of it to get them to share pleasure with me.

If they came to me of their own free will, I wouldn't say no, but I had never mind-controlled someone into bed with me and I had no intension of changing that now.

"Oh, Ivan... there're horses here. Can we go riding?" asked Petra while we were all having lunch at the large table on the shaded terrace. "I need to do something."

"Sure." I said with a nod. "I have some stuff I need to look at, but that doesn't mean the six of you have to sit around being bored."

At my insistence, Shelly had joined us at the table, and she looked a little stunned by the sheer beauty of the other five women as she was sending glances around the table.

"Can I go too?" She asked hopefully, which caused Petra to look questioningly at me.

"Yes... hmmm... Take one of the security guards along. I have no idea how safe this area is."

Petra nodded. "Will do. Can we have weapons here? I feel a lot more secure with a gun on me."

"Ask the security guards about that, but as long as it can be done legally, I don't mind." I smiled at her. "And besides, why do you ask? You already have one."

"Yeah, but I realized I forgot to check if it was legal." She smiled innocently and gestured at the rest of the ex-military women. "And I might not be the only one, who wants a weapon."

Delina, Esther and Ayanna nodded, while Riya shrugged her shoulder. "As long as you guys have weapons, I don't need one. As a medic, I didn't get much training with guns... or with horses for that matter."

"No worries." Said Petra. "Riding a horse is not that difficult. At least not when only taking it for a ride to the beach. I'll teach you."

"Me as well, please." Added Esther and a moment later Ayanna asked the same.

Before she could answer, I said. "Petra, you already talked with Jobe and the rest, so take care of that... and if you need help with the teaching, ask one of the staff."

She nodded with a smile.

After lunch, most of the women walked away to prepare for the riding trip, but Esther stayed behind. "Mr. Ivan, do you have something I can do here? I'm getting restless."

Before joining the Israeli Border Patrol, Esther had been educated as a teacher, so after thinking it over, I nodded. "Yes. As long as you're willing to work with the kids we're here to save."

"I would love that." Esther said without hesitation and then tilted her head. "I thought you were going to send them home."

"I am, but unfortunately, it's not that simple, so we might have to make a kind of Children's Home here." I said and explained that some of the children didn't have a home to return to, while other had been sold by their family or somebody close to their family. Sending them back there, would either get them killed or sold again. Even those who did have a home to return to, needed time to be mentally healed and they too needed somewhere to stay.

Esther paled and fastened her grey eyes on me. "If you give me a chance, I will take care of it. Those kids deserve a new and better home... not to mention teaching and everything else."

I thought it over for a few heartbeats, but then nodded. "You'll need to make a plan and I want it in writing along with a list of what you need to make it happen. I'll find a place and the money for it all."

"How much are you willing to spend?"

"As long as you don't go wild, don't worry about money." I said with a shrug. "Parker and Curtis earned a lot of money trafficking people and I would like to see some of it put to good use as soon as I have access to it."