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Click here"Now Hathaway, let's discuss your 'Rain Day' funds and what information you've been holding back from Baphomet. Talk away. This poison is an excellent muscle relaxant that focuses on the extremities, leaving your core and head relatively functional. How painful your final moments on this Earth are is totally dependent on how truthful you are.
"You have no idea what secrets I've already ferretted out, I am well versed in a variety of torture techniques and I have all night to work on you," Rogers laid out the situation. Half an hour later, Rogers left the Costa Real Suites. The drive to the private airstrip was an hour long, so he was able to give Portia a great many details on her next assignment.
Principal Characters
Vance (Vardan) 'V' Vardanyan - A stocky, six foot tall, 240 lbs., 33 year old former Navy Medic who grew up in Las Vegas before serving for 12 years with the Seals and then 3 more in the field with the CIA
Dabney Curtiss - Attractive 26 year old Las Vegas prostitute who idolized Vance 15 years ago when he befriended her like an older brother while dating her much older sister in HS.
Georgianna 'G' Norquist - Attractive 40 year old blonde, former trophy wife of Lloyd Pharris, currently being harassed by him for divorcing him..
Lloyd Pharris - Powerful corrupt lawyer, former husband of Giorgianna, currently a member of The Lords of Vice (as Baphomet Vice Lord of Envy who runs criminal corruption in Las Vegas); he employed Vance as a pool boy during Vance's last 2 years of HS.
Detective Lieutenant Trixie Crowe 'TC' Buchannan (LVMPD Internal Affairs Bureau [IAB] - A compulsively hardworking, honest police woman perceived as a classic over-achieving misanthrope, who is blocked by her managers from investigating serious corruption in the police force.
Detective Sgt. Soledad Moreno (LVMPD Robbery/Homicide - Homicide) - Hispanic female, detective who is only close friend of TC Buchan.
Reagan Cho, daughter and intended successor for Circe , Vice Lady of Lust - Tall, fit, dark tanned skin Asian-American. Long black hair and black-rimmed glasses. Very serious and intense most of the time; taut in mind and body, but has a witty sense of humor about her when in good company. If she has a flaw, it is her willingness to let less gifted people know she is smarter than they are.
The Vice Lords are:
Circe - The Lady of Lust who controlled all forms of the sex trade including phone-sex operations, brothels, escort service, gentlemen's clubs and street prostitution.
Sycorax - The Gluttonous Lady who controlled trade in the exotic from importing endangered animals, non-human blood sports rings, human trafficking and slavery. If a sex group involved enslaved people, it was her purview, not Circe's.
Archimago - The Lord of Greed who controlled all gambling-related matters. He watched the casinos and dealt with any criminals muscling in. All illegal betting, such as the extensive underground human blood-sports matches, was also his domain.
Jareth - The Lord of Sloth controlled the homeless, panhandling and non-violent street crime. Jareth may have seemed weak compared to the others, except all the runaways, homeless and street criminals gave him eyes and ears all over the city.
Thulsa Doom - The Lord of Rage controlled all major arms deals and professional murders in the Vice Lords' domain. Gang violence was okay. If it crossed the line into hurting the tourist industry, he would make an example of the perpetrators with extreme prejudice.
Baphomet - The Lord of Envy handled the political/governmental side of things as the corruptor. Anyone could control an entry level civil servant, including beat cops. Once a person became a manager-equivalent in any municipal, or state governmental office, they fell into Baphomet's exclusive domain. (In the LVMPD that meant lieutenants on up.) If another Vice Lord, wanted something done about legal issues, they paid Baphomet to make the problem go away.
Xaltotun - The Lord of Pride who kept everyone working together and took tribute from the other six. Currently unoccupied position. He adjudicated disputes, handled the over-all banking and money-laundering operations, and coordinated efforts against foreign interlopers if they became too much for one of the others to combat.
- COMMENTS
Anonymousalmost 5 years agoYou are one of the best writers I've read on this site & I've read a bunch. Excellent story-telling; well plotted, with plenty of tongue in cheek humor. Love it!!
FinalStandalmost 7 years agoAuthorHehehehe ...
I've already put out there how Homeland Security takes a terribly dim view of CIA (and military) personnel 'sanctioning' anybody on US soil. Vance understands that and REALLY, REALLY wanted to retire from that lifestyle to take up the 'sedate' lifestyle of a paramedic. Why does no one believe that? ;)
Ebb Tide is more a story about how powerful people deal with minor annoyances. Circe, when she runs across Vance, decides to listen to her professional advice and let him be. Baphomet, against professional advice, decides to squash Vance ... and that is the core of the story. Had he just let go of Georgiana ... but he refuses to for no better reason than sadistic revenge.
While Vance might make a 'decent' Xaltotun, I have another candidate in mind. This person is better because they are 'known' to all the major players plus they are known to all of Xaltotun's lieutenants as well. Vance plans to help this person rise to become the next Xaltotun while he becomes that person's chief lieutenant. Moreover, by the end of 4B, he has three Vice Lords who would look favorably upon this 'suggestion' as they either respect his judgment, or owe him 'Big Time'. A fourth Vice Lord could be brought around as this candidate solves some key problems the Vice Lords are facing. One is going to HATE it and one Vance has to kill anyway so ...
Vance's biggest issue is he has never wanted to be a leader. He is good at doing his job and likes being part of a team with a designated mission, but leading people is something he has avoided all of his life. Look back on his life ~ everything he has done, he has done as a highly competent subordinate - part of a team. When forced to act independently, he screws up (usually emotionally).
I hope this helps,
James aka FinalStand
JC_The_Continueralmost 7 years agoI'm just saying, after it all ends, the vice lords have been knocked off their peg's with a few being knocked out of the game altogether for being overly ambitious/killing off the original Xaltotun... V is the next successor?
lets see, highly smart, well connected outside their influences so they cant control him, he can hit at their influences, as we've already seen, and was hired 2 months ago, the same time he left the CIA and Xaltotun "expired".
circles within circles within circles, it's rather like Mr Stand to achieve something of that deviancy hehe
JC
p.s. food for thought Mr Stand?
arrowglassalmost 9 years agoAnother fan looking forward to reading on!!!!!
FinalStandalmost 9 years agoAuthorI broke up Ebb Tide into two sub-chapters. Since I was already at 21,000 words and I hadn't even gotten to the second encounters. 4A has been sent to the editors tonight. I hope 4B will be out before too long. After all, I've now finished two chapters in separate storylines in just two days. Things are looking up!
