A Long Time from Home Pt. 02 Ch. 04

Author's notes:

This is the continuation of A Long Time from Home and if you haven't read that, I advise you to do so. The series is self-edited, so any mistakes are mine, though I now have a proofreader, that can catch missing words ect. Thanks to Jessejames932006 for doing that.

Some of the chapters will take place in the ancient past and while I have done a lot of research for that, there might be small errors here and there. If you think you found such an error in the story, please double check to be sure that you're correct and then PM me about it, so I can fix it. :)

Due to its length, I placed ALTFH under the 'Novels and Novellas' section, but as you can see, ALTFH II is placed in the 'Sci-fi and Fantasy' section, which fits it better due to the elements of magic that's in it. At least in my opinion :)

My RL is quite busy at the moment, so I'm afraid that the chapters will come a little slower than I had originally hoped. There's nothing I can really do about that, except hope that you have patience with me.

Anyway, have fun and while you're at it, please rate the chapter and leave a comment :)

I have stated that I would upload chapters of 'Into the Chaos' (my Star Wars: The Old Republic story) every other time and that is still the case.

About the notation:

Mental communication is denoted by a < and ends with a >, so a mental communication will look like this: "< Who are you? >"

Some warnings:

This is erotic action adventure, meaning that there will be both sex and violence, but I don't mix the two.

This story is posted on the Literotica website and the author does not give permission for it to be reposted or reprinted anywhere else without consent.

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Chapter 4 -- Executing the plan

Early August, Costa Rica

Jaguars

Since I had Parker's memory, his other estate on the pacific side held no surprises and I spent most of the time there transferring the loyalty of the staff to me. Fortunately, they all had the same Mind Control as the security force at Villa Bonita, which made the transfer easier.

To my surprise, the security force at Villa Blanca mostly came from the same countries as the rest, consisting of two Pakistani, two Danes, two Romanian, a Philippina and two from Ukraine. Then again, few countries allowed females in their armed forces, and since Parker had insisted on using former female soldiers as bodyguards, that limited the number of places those women could come from. Parker's personal taste in women could also be clearly detected, as they were markedly better looking than most of the women from Curtis's estate.

However, limited or not, I still needed to find a way to get those women home again or, if they wished otherwise, an alternative that would enable them to live a normal life. Fortunately, Parker's mind-control and loyalty codex on the bodyguards was a lot less heavy-handed than the brute-force approach Curtis had used, and there was a good chance, that most of them could live a relatively normal life, once I had lifted some of the restrictions Parker had placed on them.

Removing the mind-control entirely was a much bigger problem and something I couldn't do without causing serious mental damage to the victim. At least not at the moment, as I needed time to study both the victims and Parker's memory about the subject, so it would simply have to wait. With that in mind, I had lessened the restrictions Parker had placed on his female guards, and had the most experienced soldiers transferred to Villa Bonita, so they could help liberate the rest of the kids.

Like with the security force at Villa Bonita, I had also asked if they wanted to return home. The answer I got was predictable. Like Ayanna, none of the Pakistani women dared to return home as non-virgins. The Romanian, Philipino and Ukranian women all wanted to go home to their families. The rest had chosen on a personal preference, resulting in one of the Danes, Grete Sørensen, and one of the Russians, Zlata, choosing to go home, along with Vidula, one of the Sri Lankan women.

All in all, fourteen out of the twenty-six-person large security force wanted to go home, leaving me with twelve guards, once I had figured out a way to do it, that wouldn't bring me any trouble. However, as that wasn't going to happen before the kids had been liberated, we did have a substantial force to use for it.

While Petra and the security force scouted the place where the kids were held, I had concentrated on the four girls from Curtis' house. As with any other healing, the progress would be a long one, and while Ars Mentalis could speed up the process by quite a lot, the girls still needed something physical to do so they wouldn't be bored out of their minds.

In Curtis' dungeon, the entertainment had mostly consisted of books and TV, but I wanted them to be physically tired so they would sleep better and persuaded them to help get the hotel ready.

First pictures were taken of every room in the main building, enabling Esther, Ayanna and Riya to order new carpets, curtains and other items in a similar style to the old ones.

Then the four girls and I removed everything made of cloth from the house and while they made sure that it was burned on a large fire, I cleaned everything at least twice, starting with peeling some lemons and cutting the skin in smaller pieces, putting the slices in several jars along with a cupful of the natron salt and placed one jar in each room as I went through them.

That way the baking soda could absorb the rotten smell and replace it with a citrus one. It did help a lot on the odour, and I followed by using Ars Mentalis to clean the whole house, which sounds easy, but as I had to sterilize each room individually, it was quite taxing and gave me a splitting headache, so I ended up spreading that work out over several days.

On the bright side, it removed most of the smell and after yet another day, I split the four girls into two pairs, so that Christina Becker and Jade Wilde were one team, while the other pair consisted of Anna Weber and Ida Vogt. Armed with the remedies that Frank Astaphan delivered along with a cleaning mix of natron salt, vinegar, salt, and Tea Tree oil, we scrubbed all the rooms physically, trying to remove the last faint odour of rotten meat from the building, with the girls doing the smaller rooms on the second floor, while I scrubbed the larger rooms downstairs.

Scrubbing was hard work, but there was a Hi-fi system in the house and loudspeakers in every room, so we had music as we worked, and people seemed to like it. Personally, I enjoyed it tremendously. It was a relief to have something physical to do besides training Martial Arts after all the thinking and planning I had been doing, and after we had given the house a second scrubbing, the stench was gone, replaced with the fresh smell of lemon.

Another thing I enjoyed tremendously was the ride from Villa Bonita to the hotel estate. Since the two estates were right next to each other, I could ride a horse from one estate to another. It took about an hour, but it was a nice relaxing ride and much better than sitting in a car.

After some riding lessons from Petra and Delina, the four girls enjoyed the ride as well, and caring for the horses also had a positive effect on them, helping their mood almost as much as the mind-healing sessions we had every other evening.

All the work and physical activity had the effect that I had hoped for, as the four girls were tired to the bone in the evenings, making them fall asleep almost as soon as they went to bed, though I did use an Ars Mentalis trick to prevent them from having nightmares.

I also made sure that everything was on a schedule, never leaving them in doubt of what was expected of them and when. Most imprisoned people were kept to a rigid timetable, as it followed the change of guards, and in my experience the concept of having freedom had to be slowly reintroduced to them to avoid confusion and insecurities.

The effect of lots of uninterrupted sleep, sun, plenty of physical activities and healthy food was clear to see, as the girls' mood steadily improved, allowing their personalities to shine through the hurt and emotional pain, helped by Ars Mentalis, that was speeding the healing process up a lot.

I was giving the floor in the hall a last cleaning when the sound of somebody knocking on wood cut through the music and I turned towards the door, where a nicely dressed middle-aged woman with dark hair and light brown skin was standing, looking at me with her brown eyes.

I smiled and walked to the Hi-fi system to lower the volume of the music. "Hello?"

There was an uncertainty in her voice as she smiled and said, "Sorry for interrupting your work, but do you happen to know where I can find Mr. Emilian?"

I almost laughed, but then realized that being young and dressed only in shorts while doing hard labour would make most people assume that I was some kind of hired help. "Yes... That's me. Can I help you?"

For a moment, she was speechless, but then she nodded. "I'm Nova Salas from the National Child Protection Agency and I'm here to inspect the facilities."

Gabriella Delgado had warned me that an official representative would come along to inspect the new boarding school, so I wasn't really surprised about that. "Ah... Welcome, Miss Salas. Give me a moment to put my shirt on, then I'll take you on the tour."

"Thank you." She paused and then added. "I do hope you haven't planned on keeping your pet here when there are kids around... I might add that it's illegal to have panthers or jaguars as pets here in Costa Rica, but I assume you have a permit for that."

Taking my shirt from the back of a chair, I turned to look at her. "What pet?"

"The panther sleeping on the sofa outside the entrance."

"Miss Solas, I don't have pets, much less a panther." I told her calmly and walked past her to look at the sofa on the terrace. Just as she had said, a big black cat was draped over the sofa, looking like it was asleep.

To my surprise, it was the Panther from Villa Bonita. The two estates might be next to each other, but there was still a substantial distance between them, and it must have followed us all the way.

I chuckled. "Oh, that one. She just showed up. I guess she likes the company."

Miss Solas looked at me like I was slightly insane and took a few steps away from the big cat. "Are you serious? Is it really wild?"

"Well, that depends on what you mean by 'wild'. If you mean 'untamed', you're right, but if you mean dangerous, you're wrong." I thought for a moment. "Unless you point a rifle at her, that is. At some point, she must have learned that rifles are dangerous because she gets really grumpy when someone has a rifle and if it's pointed at her, she will either try to flee or attack."

As I was talking the panther opened her eyes and stretched lazily, looking at us.

"Sorry to disturb your sleep, old girl." I told the panther and scratched her head between her ears.

She tilted her head in response, clearly liking it. "But you're making our guest uncomfortable, so you need to go hunting now." I projected a need to leave into the big cat and with another yawn that displayed an impressive set of teeth, it jumped down from the sofa and strolled away, looking like it owned the place.

Looking back at Miss Solas, I discovered that she was looking at me with wide eyes. "How did you do that?"

"Cats like me for some reason." I shrugged. "I never had a problem with them, no matter what their size is."

She was silent for a moment, but then asked, "What about lions and tigers? Ever meet some of those?"

"Sure. Same response." Since she was clearly thinking about something, I added. "Why do you ask?"

That made her smile, which lit up her face. "My sister, Lola works at a jaguar rescue centre not far from here and they're having trouble with a wounded jaguar that was brought in yesterday. It goes crazy at the mere sight of a human." She tilted her head a bit as she looked at me. "Do you think you could help?"

"I don't know, but I'm willing to try."

"Thank you."

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For the next hour, I showed Miss Salas around on the estate, telling her about the plans and how it, according to Esther, was going to be run. Due to the need for secrecy, the version she got was slightly edited, leaving out anything about kidnapped or abused children, but aside from that, I kept it as truthful as possible.

To my relief, Nova Salas was nodding and smiling most of the time, and when we had finished the tour, she said. "Senor Ivan, I have to tell you, that when I was asked to inspect this compound, I had my doubts, but I must confess that this has exceeded my wildest expectations. Once you have hired the required staff, I'll come back to have a chat with the, but so far I'll happily endorse this."

"Thank you."

"No, thank you." She said with a smile. "I've seen several projects that were just made to get the government subsidy and they were two steps short of horrible."

"There's a government subsidy for orphanages?"

"Yes." Nova Salas said, sounding surprised. "You didn't know?"

"No. It's not factored into the budget." I said with a shrug.

"I know and it puzzled me when I saw it."

"You'll have to ask Gabriella Delgado about it. She's the one handling the finances and I'm sure there's a reason for omitting the government subsidy." I thought for a moment. "What's the downside of receiving that government subsidy?"

"Oh, they're under much stricter supervision than the ones that're strictly privately founded." Said Salas. "Not in regard to the children's welfare, but certainly when it comes to the curriculum taught in the school." She tilted her head. "Which reminds me... The curriculum I received looked well thought out and I applaud you for that."

"Thank you, but that is not my doing. The praise goes entirely to Miss Esther Gul. She's a teacher by profession and in charge of the teaching part."

"I'll look forward to talking with her at some point." Salas said with a smile and paused before she said, "We seem to be done here, so I have to ask if you have time to see the jaguar we were talking about earlier?"

"Certainly. Give me a moment to change into pants and boots, and we can go."

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The Jaguar Rescue Center proved to be less than half an hour away by car, so I called Halima Jobe and had her meet me there with a car, so she could drive me home afterwards, and left the four girls in the capable hands of the guards, while Nova Sala and I went to look at the wounded jaguar.

"So, how does this rescue center work?" I asked Salas while on the way. "Do they have a lot of jaguars there?"

That made Nova Salas laugh. "That was what I thought at first as well, but the reality is somewhat different. There're few jaguars left, so the center mainly deals with ill, injured and orphaned monkeys, birds, sloths and snakes." She sent me a smile. "That being said, they have a competent staff of veterinarians and care takers, that can handle most problems with the animals that're brought to them."

"Well, you clearly like the place." I told her with a smile of my own, causing her to nod, as she said. "Hugo Alférez, the founder of the center, is married to my sister and I have spent a good amount of time there. They do a lot of good work."

Since I had no idea what that work was, I asked about it and Nova Salas was more than happy to tell me how the center received animals in need of help from both private people and official organizations such as the police and fire brigade. Those animals were then nursed back to health and in most cases reintroduced to their native habitats, while a few would stay at the center for the rest of their lives. That had created a zoo of a sort with the animals that had to stay and as the zoo was open for visitors, at least some of the cost of running the center came from entrance fees from the tourists.

The explanation and my questions took most of the trip and she had just finished talking when she pulled up in front of what looked like a large local farm and parked the car under a large sign with the words 'Alférez Jaguar Rescue Center' written over a logo featuring a jaguar.

There were plenty of tourists walking around looking at animals, while larger groups of visitors were getting guided tours of the many enclosures, but Nova Salas led us away from all that and into the back of the compound, where the newly arrived animals were kept.

"Could you please wait here for a moment? I need to talk with Hugo."

"Sure." I said and leaned against a fence as she disappeared into a building. It was an interesting place, as the area around me was filled with enclosures with a wide variety of plants and animals, leaving no shortage of things to look at, and I was admiring a colourful bird, when I suddenly became aware of a presence right next to me.

Looking down, I discovered a large cat sitting on the ground next to me. About a meter long from the tip of its nose to the end of the tail, it looked somewhat like a small jaguar, but the yellow coat with black spots had a different colour scheme, the ears were rounder, the eyes larger and, in my opinion, it looked prettier than the jaguar.

"Oh, hi there, beautiful." I chuckled and slowly squatted beside it. The cat did lean away for a few heartbeats, but curiosity took over and a moment later it was sniffing my hand, finding it agreeable enough to give it a few licks, followed by it bunting my hand with its head, purring happily while it did so.

I scratched its head, making it purr louder.

"What're you doing up in the middle of the day?" I asked it softly, judging it to be a night hunter due to the size of its eyes. "You should be sleeping now."

"Her name is Princesa." A man's voice said. "And she usually gets a snack at this time of day."

I looked up and saw Nova Salas standing next to a grey-haired man some meters away, both were looking at me. The man with surprise in his face, while Nova looked satisfied. "See, Hugo. I told you."

He nodded shortly at her words and walked closer, causing the cat to stop bunting my hand and sit up, looking dignified as cats tend to do. "Princesa is usually very shy, so excuse me for being surprised by her reaction to you. I'm Hugo Alférez, by the way."

I stood slowly and took the offered hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Ivan Emilian."

He smiled. "Yes, Mrs. Salas told me that... and that you're a cat-whisperer."

That made me raise my eyebrows in surprise. "I'm afraid I don't know that expression."

The smile on his face grew wider. "Oh sorry. It means that you have a strong affinity for cats."

"Ahh. Yes."

"Good. Mrs. Salas told me that she had persuaded you to take a look at the wounded jaguar" He gestured down the pathway between the enclosures. "It's this way. We managed to stitch the wounds where the poacher had shot her, but when the sedation wore off, we tried to put her in a smaller cage for easier handling. That didn't work as she panicked and was hurting herself, so we placed her in a bigger enclosure." He grimaced as he started to walk. "Usually Doctor Alonso, our cat specialist, would tend to it, but she's in Barcelona for a conference and won't be back before the weekend."

Having no idea what to say to that, I just nodded and followed him down the path, until we arrived at a larger enclosure, where four of the staff-members were taking photos.

Hugo politely asked them to leave and turned to me. "We don't get Jaguars that often, so it has become a photo opportunity."

I looked into the enclosure. It wasn't as densely packed with plants as many of the other enclosures I had seen and the Jaguar was clearly visible, laying under some plants, looking like it was sleeping.