Consequences Pt. 13B

"So, do you plan to stay with this firm?" he probed.

"I would like to explore the world but I am afraid I'm stuck in my ways."

"What about if someone came along and offered you a more exciting job?"

"I don't suppose anyone would do that for someone like me," she replied resignedly.

This of course made David more determined, but he needed to sense where she would fit best so continued chatting about property generally and what she liked to do with herself.

As they expected, the land was a lovely wooded area with aspects onto the river and was going to be a devil's own task to obtain any kind of permission to build, David was thinking that if he got permission just for a Retreat home he would be surprised. He turned to Jenny for input, "What do you think?" She didn't answer for a while, just humming to herself and referring to a map, so he left her to it, to see how she thought. She walked along the road frontage then searched out ways into the wood, even took a few photos with her phone. Then she came back to him, "Mr Thurlow, I think that if we are clever about it."

David noted the 'we,'

She was continuing, "there ought to be something that could be done" and she went on to relate her thinking. Jane, Nina, and Emma came over to listen to her and when she had finished David looked at each one of them receiving a smile and a nod; even Emma which threw him for a moment. So he said, "Jenny, would you like a new adventure and see America while you're at it, maybe a little beyond?"

Her eyes sparkled but she replied, "You're playing with me Mr Thurlow."

David turned to Jane who gave him a private nod, then she put her arm around Jenny and led her away.

Emma said, "That's a bit ruthless of you David trying to snatch her away for a dream."

"No dream, she's perfect and she'll have the time of her life if she allows herself, isn't that so Nina?"

Nina didn't have to answer, her very demeanour said it all, she was confident and sassy and having a ball.

David left Nina to explain how Jenny's life might change and did some thinking about her ideas, 'this one would have to go slow. He was stretching resources very thin, he needed to speak to his father about setting up peripatetic management teams to move around the country, training and utilising local labour and skills to carry out the development work. Hopefully Andrew would join them soon but he was becoming very aware that success can create its own problems. He decided then to slow down where there was no financial pressure to make a start. As he walked he made the call and his Dad as always was a pillar of support and very supportive of the peripatetic team idea. He was glad to have the opportunity to promote some of his most talented men but at the same time worried about sourcing replacements. And he thought not everyone would want to travel..

David moved on to the sticky subject of the unknown land portfolio and the body, his father went very quiet. "I don't know what to say Son, I'm baffled, I'll speak to your Mum and we'll see if we can't remember something that might help, would you like me to speak to your gran?"

"Would you? That would be very helpful right now, I am standing at this moment in a wooded area on the edge of a National Park and as far as I can work out we now own it."

"Do you mean Blackstone?"

"Why yes, what made it come to your mind?"

"I have this vague memory of my father getting uptight and bad mouthing some politician or other because he couldn't build there. I bet the old bastard thought he was giving you nothing worth having."

"Well, that may yet be the case, but to be honest I am worried about burying ourselves under too much work so we'll take our time with these. Epping is held up because of the body and I've allowed the University to let their students sharpen their skills on the project, you may see something in the news about it, they are still trying to identify the body."

"I wonder," said his Dad, then "Ohh nothing, just a stray thought, if I think of anything helpful I'll let you know."

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David's next port of call was Tanias project near New York; he knew that Emma wouldn't be allowed on that site regardless of signing the non-disclosure. He collared Nina and explained his problem, after some thought she suggested that she take her down to Baltimore, dropping Jane and David in New York on the way. Meanwhile Jenny had garnered some devilment from somewhere and told her bosses that she was tendering her resignation and would be taking the holidays she was owed immediately as part of her notice. Her boss was so astounded by her bravado that he made no attempt to argue or even ask about the missing files for NDP Holdings but their first stop was getting the whole thing photocopied and dropping off originals back to the office. David gave them his office address for anything arising in the future.

Jenny had an epiphany then and decided to work one more day, or maybe two, so that she could do another search of the files now that she had a better idea of what she was looking for. Then on David's insistence she was to taxi to the airport then catch a plane to New York where they would arrange to have her picked up. She started to say she would catch a train but Jane was already on the phone making the arrangements and as she heard the words 'First Class' mentioned, the surprise stopped her in mid-sentence. Jane being Jane arranged that Jenny had time to pack up all her stuff for an uncertain period and the whole lot be collected for onward transport to Baltimore once she was sure and settled. Finishing everything with a flourish, David and the others could only look at Jane with admiration, he with an evil eye that promised he would make her scream with pleasure on the way back, which made her whole body flush with anticipation.

When they boarded the plane Honor was waiting for them as requested, she took one look at Emma and her irises enlarged and her demeanour became very flirty. Emma was taken aback by the attention which was not the type of idol worship she was used to, so that in turn she watched the other woman closely, her inner self confused. Jane, David. and Nina ignored it, thinking thankfully that it might distract her for a while. David and Jane departed at New York leaving Nina to escort Emma and Nina onward and then bring the plane back. Jane was immediately on the phone prompting all and sundry at home about their incoming visitors, Nina planned to take them in via the hotel so the arrival should be interesting to say the least.

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Jill and Olivia had become an odd pairing. After their eventful start in Texas, Jill found herself not unpleasantly keeping Olivia's needs under control and as a result the work went fast and efficiently. The baby seemed settled and happy and the nurse reported no issues whatsoever.

Back in the Baltimore Retreat, Olivia actually felt comfortable in company with the others. If David had known he would have started worrying, so instead Ana was doing the worrying for him, but then Jenny's expected arrival gave her something else to worry about.

Thus since arriving back, Ana had resolved the new arrangement with her previous employer which seemed to be working out but Zoe had proved an enigma, Ana felt Zoe wanted her 'cake and eat it' as the saying goes. She was trying to hang on to Ana but at the same time liked the idea of an unrestricted open relationship. Ana wasn't sure she was happy about Zoe's thinking, she was feeling used as a route to wider experiences and was fast becoming ready to drop the relationship. So the expectation of Jenny arriving would be a welcome diversion as she had been asked to take her under her wing.. ***********************************************************************************************

Nina's work was cut out, Emma wanted it all and she was trying he best to restrict her to the minimum, they had no reason to trust Emma anymore than the last reporter who had invaded their sanctum, everybody had been warned but slips were bound to occur so Nina went to talk to Honor while she was on stand-by waiting for the call from David. She approached by asking a favour as she didn't have time to show Emma all that she should, citing another meet she had regarding the unknown body. She was basically asking Honor to try keeping Emma away from anything that the reporter might put a negative slant on. Honor didn't seem bothered one way or another, warning that she might have to leave at short notice, "Do what you can with her then, but please keep her away for a while," suggested Nina as she turned to go, she didn't see the little smile on Honor's lips.

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David and Jane had a long and useful meeting with Tania and Christina at New York Retreat during which they discussed all the sites in plan and the stage of progress, then they discussed the bunch of sites being given by an unknown donor and the mystery of the body, finally the progress with sponsorship and how that could extend into other fields associated with the development work and subsequent business establishment. Together they kicked around ideas for identifying the kind of people they wanted to support and how they might be attracted.

Arriving back on his aircraft David sensed an atmosphere he couldn't quite put his finger on but he couldn't be bothered to wonder why Emma was there. It had been a long tiring day and having greeted Emma he and Jane went through to the bed, leaving Jenny who had now caught up with them, to make herself at home anywhere she felt comfortable.

"Whoa" Emma tried to stop him, "I haven't come all this way not to chat."

"You haven't?" David responded looking her straight in the face.

Then he continued "I've been in a private meeting with my co-sponsors discussing the future of the Retreat program and the future for more and wider ranging sponsorship of under-privileged young women. That will have to do. I am afraid because I'm dog tired." He turned out the light and within minutes they were fast asleep.

David and Jane didn't bother to get up when the plane landed, Honor came in and told them but also said that there were no other flight orders. David and Jane cuddled up, made love and went back to sleep. In the morning, they rose quickly, briefly refreshed themselves, disembarked the plane and went straight to the nursery where he had a quick discussion with the nurse before indulging in some time with the little ones who had been fast asleep much to their mum's relief. In the dining room everyone looked at everyone else with the unspoken question, where is he, before Ana said, "You know where he will be, in the Nursery."

The few visitors looked bemused including Honor, Jenny and Emma.

Jane came in and put them out of their misery, she understood that some are looking forward to seeing David. "He won't be long," she said, "he just wanted to check all was well in the nursery before he came through."

When he finally joined them in the kitchen Bree quipped, "A bit late getting up aren't we?"

"You know me Bree once I'm up I don't come down easy."

"It's been so long since we saw you get up we've all forgotten," she came back.

David thought he was doing ok so far, this was one of his favourite times. "Well who's first to find out then or maybe it should be you all?"

"Hark at him," put in Nina. "Thinks he is a stud."

"It's been so long since I saw one I wouldn't know what a stud looks like" suggested Ruth.

Now he knew he was on a loser. "Harsh, so harsh, you all are," was all he could reply.

"Ohh poor David, he's not up to it obviously," added Jo who was being unusually cheeky for her.

Jane decided it was time to change the subject. "Who is going to be here Sunday if we can convince David to stop still for a few days?"

There was a lot of noise so she reversed the question and there were no abstainers. "Great," she said then turning to their visitors, "I'm afraid Sundays are only open to members, we'll talk to you privately later about the membership, but I am afraid it's restricted."

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Baltimore Retreat

For the next month, there was much going on and little time for anything else, no one was unhappy it seemed to Jane, they were just enthralled in what they were doing. Emma went back to reporting with her story still to be finished as she hoped, but had a habit of turning up from time to time, Honor was often around when she was but the jury was still out on that one.

Ana had been showing Jenny how they worked and the role each of them played. It was fun because the woman seemed like a sponge ready to absorb everything. So then she found herself teaching her about make-up, clothing, and personal presentation. Jenny couldn't stop thanking her, which was all Ana needed right now. Jenny had flourished in her new lifestyle and was now the first judge on potential sites coming in and then rushing off to check the most promising ones before calling on David, Ana, or Olivia.

David found himself turning more and more to Sofia for advice now that she had taken a full year's sabbatical to make up her mind about the future. Andrew did turn up but Sophia made sure their relationship was fun but not stifling and after spending time getting up to speed with Ruth, he was soon off to all the sites getting to know them then coming back with suggestions on the various stages. If Ruth wasn't around, he was also advising on potential for new development and finding it very rewarding.

The friendship between Ana, Sophia and Elle remained strong but they were finding it difficult to be available at the same time to head off to new adventures, they tried to make up for it by ensuring they meet up regularly at the Watering Hole and David promised them a new adventure soon in other states; they hadn't yet visited in the west and south west. One thing that David did discuss with Sophia was a potential new role where she sat in as observer and advisor on anything where they were making representations that might have legal ramifications. At the moment she was having a ball filling in wherever and whenever she could and there was no shortage of takers. She was in no hurry to change but thought there might be scope to mix both in the future, for now she was having a great working holiday.

Going into the month after, David felt that he was beginning to see the wood for the trees and arranged a meeting of all those involved with the funding or in leading roles of the development program. They considered again in light of experience so far, what the criteria should be for suitable targets and what type of developments might prove best to fund both the Retreats and a return on the development investment. Tania and Christina talked about a next step of providing defence for women at real risk, they talked about finding a way to allow women to secretly contact them then extract them safely and secretly. David wondered if Sofia might want to lead the project because many of the possible options might need experienced legal advice, aside from that he thought she might like something of her own to get her teeth into while still being free to adventure. He also played with the idea of consulting Emma on how the press could be involved in getting the information out to such women without tipping off potentially violent husbands.

He decided to involve his adventure team plus Jane, Honor, Jill, Olivia and Jenny in the process and they would report to Tania and Christina with recommendations. First he called them together which was a task in itself and worriedly he invited Emma along. He started by reinforcing how secret the meeting was and the reason each was invited. Having already consulted with Sofia he knew he was on safe ground with her, she was happy to advise and pull together proposals, it was quite possibly an exciting prospect. As to Honor, he invited her to advise about flying people out of locations secretly and quickly and what kind of aircraft might be needed. Jenny, he wanted to listen really so that she understood the requirements for possible safe houses. Elle, he wanted for her energy and ideas if not for her input on distributing information, Jane and Ana for their intelligence and experience as well as their various skills that would ensure that the process really happened. He would have liked to have involved more of his 'crew' but was worried that it might get bogged down so decided to take ideas from this meeting to meetings at Reserves. His invitation to Olivia was, he knew, questionable, he needed to involve Jill because she would be brokering deals and if Olivia was in a normal mood her incite could be invaluable.

Eventually Emma couldn't help but ask, "but why am I here?" To which he replied, "because you know enough about what we are trying to achieve to think about how to get the story out there to the right people. You may even think of a way we could put some kind of cover story together that lets the world know that something like this exists without giving away important information, whilst at the same time we are issuing information under the radar of the male population generally.

Emma looked pensive, "You're using me aren't you?"

"I guess we are all using each other, it all comes down to whether you care or not."

Everyone looked at her pointedly.

"I wasn't refusing, I just wanted to make sure I got it straight."

"Aren't you here to get the story you've been after from the beginning?"

"I suppose but not in the same way I did at the beginning, I'm hoping that something will fall in my lap and this may be it but I also enjoy the whole vibe of this place, it's a welcome change from the world outside, but don't tell anyone I said that!" she finished with a laugh.

Most of those present would never entirely trust Emma but for the moment they were satisfied that that would do. So for the first hour of the meeting they came up with the pitfalls, problems, and difficulties that would need to be resolved before they could take the next step. Then they brainstormed possible answers, and likewise questions that might need further investigation. A lot revolved around the legitimacy of some elements of an extraction process and the need for protection for both the victim and those involved with the 'lift'. They also discussed changes of identity including physical changes to the person such as hairstyle and clothing. David decided to ask his friendly local detective for advice and then Aleesha's firm. The question was whether they should set up a team or involve a third party company who might already have everything they needed.

End of Consequences 13B

©2023 Bacchant2

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Main Characters

David: A successful Architect who wants to start a family, they start to play teasing games to spice up their life but it gets out of hand. Parents: James (Jim) and Ann

Olivia: David's wife and business partner, a successful designer working in tandem with her husband. Highly sexual woman who begins to find her inner desires taking control of her normal good sense. Inadvertently gathers 'lost' women around her that David calls her 'harem'.

Jane : David's first girlfriend who hurt him badly. The first to join the home after her husband proved to be a slimeball.