Heaven & Earth

"You got me there. If Mitsamura drank, I'd probably have a beer with him, although something tells me he'd be a real quiet drunk."

"Ha."

Rocket-top kept its bathrooms spotless, there was no graffiti on the walls and the blue cakes in the bottom of the urinals were fresh, and at first glance, the hand-towels were clean. To encourage customers to dine-in, their sites were clean and the servers pleasing to the eyes. He took a detour on his way back, stopping to look over the pies on display.

"Excuse me, miss." He said, turning around. She looked up and folded the paper in half, then set it aside. Her skirt still rode high on her leg but she made no effort to adjust it.

"Can I help you?" She said and cast one last look around for whoever it was Jinro assumed she was waiting for.

"My name is Jinro," He said, smiling the harmless smile he had practiced in the mirror. "And I hope you don't mind me saying this, but I think there's something wrong with your suit-jacket."

"What about it?" She said, sounding bothered. Her features were severe and angular and her hair fell over her face. She swept it away at regular intervals.

"I love Neotek," Jinro started. "But do you realize that they conduct extensive product testing on live cats, dogs, and rabbits?"

"I didn't know that," She said, sounding as if she did but hadn't expected anyone else to. "So what am I supposed to do about it?"

"You don't like kittens? You don't like bunnies? That's inhuman."

"Of course I do." She said.

"Then we'll have to get you out of that as soon as possible and give it a proper burial," Jinro said, his setup complete. "Who makes your under-things?"

"Creep."

"I'm just kidding," Jinro said and laughed. "You're a real sport, I'd say that you're the least uptight person I've met today. So what's your name?"

"Helen." She said, softening somewhat, she looked partially confused and more than a little irritated.

"You're not with Neotek are you?" Jinro said. She shook her head and turned her ankle toward him. There was a logo-tattoo on it, the eight-pointed sunburst of AgraCon. A barcode was inked beneath it, guaranteeing her a lifetime discount on their products. "What are you doing later?"

"Excuse me?"

"I have reservations tonight and my date cancelled. I'd hate to lose them. Do you want to go?"

***

Chapter Six

Jinro, still damp from a shower, dropped the towel wrapped around his waist and sat down on his couch. He leaned forward and shot a look into the bathroom. Helen was still in there, drying her hair. He picked up the remote and turned on the Mariachi, flipping rapidly up through the channels. He paused briefly on the car-wreck channel and watched a rescue crew putting the cutter to work on the frame of a mangled German sedan. He got to "When airliners go down" in time to see a burning Airbus super-jumbo AXL slam into the ground; Cairo, 2009, rebel fanatics with an ex-Russian heat-seeker. It was nothing he hadn't seen before, certainly nothing like the WTC building demolition, he'd been in high-school then, gawking at a TV in southern Texas.

"What the fuck is this?" He muttered and lifted the remote. The fireball filling the screen disappeared as the screen went dark.

"What did you say?" Helen said as she padded into the TV room, naked except for a towel wrapped around her head.

"I'm getting tired of this reality-TV shit," Jinro said and tossed the remote onto the coffee table. "What if I'm trying to forget about reality, I thought TV was about escaping from reality and here they are trying to force it down my throat."

"Do you have anything to drink?" Helen said, posturing in front of him. Her breasts had not yet developed the sag of age and her dark nipples stood out on each perfect mound like Hershey's Kisses. "I could really go for some wine right now."

"Check the fridge," Jinro said, waving her toward the kitchen. When she came back she set two full glasses down on the table. "I'll talk a beer if there's one in there."

"You're so old-fashioned. I hope you didn't invite me over here to watch TV," She said with her hands on her hips. "Do you know how hard it is to get time off from that place? You have to file two-weeks ahead if you want to take a personal day."

"That's what sick days are for." Jinro said as his face split into a lecherous grin. There was nothing to be done about sick minds.

"What are you smiling about?" Helen said and folded her arms over her chest, hiding the wonders he'd been ogling.

"I thought you'd never ask, but hmm, where to start?" Jinro said and opened his legs. "You've got great lips. I want to feel them on me. I want head."

"You're not even gonna try and get me drunk, there's a first." She said, smiling as she stepped forward between his legs and dropped to her knees.

"I'm told I really know how to make the ladies feel special," Jinro said. "Besides, if you need alcohol to get laid, in this day and age, there's gotta be something wrong with you... not that I'd worry."

"What are you talking about?"

"I am so serious. When I looked at you I said to myself... self, you should get to know this girl. I'm telling you, I'll bet all the guys and half the girls in that place wanted to walk out of there with you. You want special, I got your special. There should be astronauts lining up to donate genetic material to you instead of some humble inspector. When I saw you, that was the first time I ever felt thankful to be born a man."

"That's sweet." She said and curled one hand around his erection, cupping his ball-sack in the other. He lit a cigarette as Helen lowered her head into his lap, groaning as her tongue made contact. He put his hand on the back of her head as she bobbed up and down and scrunched her damp hair between his fingers. By the time he finished his smoke, he had had enough.

"Stop, just stop." Jinro said, grabbing a handful of hair to prevent her from continuing. Helen looked up at him with confusion in her brown eyes.

"What's wrong?" She said as he sighed. "Didn't you like it?"

"Look, you have to do more than just put your mouth over the top and move your hand up and down," Jinro said. "If I wanted a hand-job I could do it myself."

"Then why don't you, asshole." She said and angrily got to her feet. A flush had started in her cheeks and was working downward into her chest.

"Don't get mad about it," Jinro said. "Look, I'm not pissed at you, I'm pissed at the teacher who showed you how to play the jade flute. Sit down, have some wine, it would be a shame for it to go to waste."

"I think I should go home," Helen said and stood up, then pulled on her panties. "It was a mistake for me to come over here."

"Well, there's the door, but I really think it'll be a mistake for you go now," Jinro said and threw up his hands. "Come on, I know you've got other talents to work with. If you leave now, the fun stops now. I don't know what you do back in the arco, but I've been there, it seems pretty boring."

Helen slowly smiled and shook her head.

"Like you can't imagine," She said and sat down beside him. She wiped her mouth and reached for a glass. "I'm sorry, I can get pretty worked up sometimes."

"I'm counting on it," Jinro said. "So how much do you trust me?"

"I don't even know you," She said and raised her glass to her lips. "The shower was fun but don't think that I'd trust you for a second."

"Let me rephrase that," Jinro said and toyed with her hair. "Do I look like someone who would jeopardize his career?"

"You're slick, I'll give you that, Jinro Kume," Helen said. "But, no, nothing I've seen so far tells me that you're stupid."

"Thanks, just keep that in mind for later."

Helen was on her back, hands over her head, handcuffed to the bedframe. She tested her strength against the restraints and said, "I heard you cops were seriously sick fucks."

Jinro slid the keys to the handcuffs onto the nightstand. He got out of the bed and knelt to remove his "toolbox" from beneath it.

"I see we understand each other." Jinro said as he opened the top, removing a roll of silver duct tape, once he'd torn off a six inch strip, he climbed back onto the bed, leaving the toolbox out.

"What are you going to do with that?"

Jinro pinched her nose gently between thumb and fore-finger. When she opened her mouth to gasp for breath, he smiled and stuffed her wadded up panties in, clamping his hand over to make sure she didn't spit them out. Her lips were sealed with duct tape.

"There... properly buried," Jinro said as Helen writhed and rubbed her legs together. Her sex-juice was already creating a damp spot on the fitted-sheet. "Don't make too much noise either, the neighbors get testy."

Helen's eyes were locked onto his, her nostils blown wide open as her chest heaved, sucking in air.

"I told you it was gonna be an event," Jinro said and watched her eyes widen as he opened the bottom drawer in the nightstand and took out a toy. The first one he picked up was a feather duster. "So what's it like working for AgraCon?"

Helen shook her head. Jinro smiled as he ran the duster along her side starting at the hip. She closed her eyes and smiled as the feathers brushed past her tits. Her lips quivered slightly as the duster went over her armpit and along the sensitive undersides of her arm.

"One of your kind made me a job-offer once. Now that I see what kind of women AgraCon attracts, I beginning to reconsider." Jinro said and set the duster aside. Reaching over into his tool-chest, he removed a fur mitten.

"Roll over onto your stomach," Jinro said. The handcuffs rattled as she complied, her hands crossed over her head. "You know what dolphins are, right?"

"Mmm-hmm." She said, her voice half-muffled by the pillow her face was mashed into. He swept her hair out of her face so he could look into her eyes.

"They say that when dolphins feel the touch of human skin it sends them into ecstasy," Jinro said. "Their skin is so smooth, our hands are so rough, the texture of our skin feels wonderful to them."

She gasped as he ran the mitten over the smooth curve of her buttocks.

"Now you know how the dolphins feel," Jinro said and chuckled. "Don't you wish you had a pelt like this?"

Helen moaned softly while Jinro gave her a rub down with the mitten. Once she'd been worked from head to foot, he eased her onto her back again. He tossed set the mitten onto the nightstand and got to his feet, circling the room, lighting the pillar candles he found in scattered candle-holders.

Jinro set a cone of incense to smoldering and said, "So is this all the world outside your office building is to you? An amusement park?"

Helen gazed him in silence as he continued. "So what's wrong with the men you got in the arco. Do AgraCon men talk shop while they fuck? I'll bet they do."

He examined her from the foot of the bed before walking around to the side. His eyes dropped back to the open box, scanning for something new to use. Helen's eyes got wide when she saw it.

"I'm guessing you're wondering what this is for," Jinro said as he lifted the toy like a scepter and smiled. "From the looks of you, my sweet-darling, I'm going to have no trouble getting my satisfaction."

As an afterthought he removed two packaged alcohol pads. He tore them open and, while he used them to wipe down the length of the latex shaft and head, said, "And I would truly not like to be the one preventing you from getting yours. This way If you finish first. I can take as long as I like."

Helen gave a tiny squeak of surprise when he crawled onto the bed and settled next to her.

"Say hello to my little friend," Jinro said in a mock-Italian accent and twisted the base to set the toy humming. "The Vibroking Dominator... ten inches long, made of latex gel, accommodates two D batteries. The shaft is capped with a nobby, tulip-bulp tip. It has two settings: one for vibration," He paused to demonstrated the first setting before continuing, "And the other makes the head spin at three-hundred RPM's. I call it the 'ten second' setting 'cause that's about how long you'll last."

She closed her eyes as he laid the vibrating tip against her cheek. Jinro smiled as her mouth came open. It continued its track downward, settling between her mounds of tit-flesh. The more Helen squirmed, the more aroused he became, and soon was entirely turgid.

"You can't have anything like this in your company tower now matter how high you build it toward heaven," Jinro said. She arched her back as he rubbed the vibrating tip around a nipple. "Because this is something that only deviants enjoy, isn't it? What's wrong? Aren't toys company approved?"

He worked one, then the other. The nub pressed into her skin as he traced a line downward and said, "But you got a taste for it... you liked it, and now you have to look for it outside the arco where noone is watching."

Jinro rubbed the Dominator down, rubbing it against the inside of her thighs, provoking more peals of rapture. "Or is it that you feel guilty? You've always been prettier and more successful than everyone else. How's it feel when to get soiled by some piece of street trash who you presume is beneath you?"

Helen clamped her legs together, trapping the Dominator between them, beginning to respond independently to the stimulus he was providing. The wet spot beneath her buttocks was beginning to spread.

She moaned as he pressed the Dominator against her sex and then gently slid it inside her, holding it there. Helen moaned as she opened around it, the she canted her hips and began to vigorously impale herself. When she reached a special rhythm, Jinro removed the Vibroking and killed the power, then said, "I'm sure you've paid your dues."

"What the hell did you do that for?" Helen demanded as she glared at him. Her chest heaved from her exertions. Jinro checked his watch, his internal massage had gone on for fifteen minutes before he decided enough was enough. "You bastard, I was so close."

"I know, that's why I stopped," Jinro said and set the Dominator aside. "Now what do you want me to do? It's still so early."

"Fuck me." Helen said.

"I'm sorry, what?" Jinro said, raising a hand to his ear.

"Fuck me." She said, louder.

Jinro opened the top drawer of the nightstand and took out a handcuff key. He smiled and dangled it in front of her eyes, watching her face contort into a look of frustrated vexation. "So now after all that fun, you just want to fornicate now? How disappointing."

He squeezed one of her breasts, tweaked the nipple, then lifted the key to cuffs. Helen sat up and rubbed her wrists once they fell open, working the circulation back into her arms.

"You, shit, that was your worst mistake," Helen said angrily and straddled him, pinning his arms down with hers. Her tit-flesh dangled in his face as she stared down at him. The hungry look in her eyes was gone, replaced by something feral. She reached between his legs and guided him into her. "Now it's my turn."

***

Jinro extricated himself from Helen's embrace despite her protests, donned a robe, and padded into the kitchen. He muted the speaker on the wall unit and removed the handset when the caller ID came up. He took a toothpick out of the open pack beside the spice rack, frowning when a familiar face appeared.

"Hey, uh, Inspector Kume."

Jinro spit out the toothpick he chewed on and sat forward. He activated the view-camera, picked up the handset and said, "This better be good, Richie."

"Same price?" Richie said. The money he got for his tips was useful but Jinro knew the actual reason why Richie squeaked. It made him feel like a big man. He turned away from the frame camera in the public booth and checked behind him. He looked scared.

"Yeah, sure, twenty, right?"

"Sure, you cheap, redneck, cop, son-of-a-bitch," Richie started into a rant. He wore the panicked mask of a freaked out 'stim zombie; red rimmed eyes, profuse sweating, rapid breathing. "There's a real bad vibe going around Little Beijing tonight, man. People in the lo-rents around here have been talking. I heard about a guy wandering around Flushing the last few nights. Everybody knows everybody in that part of town, or at least they did, but noone knew him."

"Uh-huh, transients move through midtown all the time. The chamber of commerce has been bitching about it, but so what, it was the worst neighborhood in the fucking city."

A vein began throbbing in Richie's forehead as he put his hands up to the camera. He pointed at the darkness.

"The cities got other bad neighborhood, Inspector Kume. There's something out there and I'm not the only one who can feel it."

"Richie, have you been sniffing paint again? If you got all high and gave me a call just to cheer my night up, I'm gonna find you and bust your head in."

"You mark my words, Jinro. This isn't over, not by a long shot. There's gonna be more. If the Rippers had been there they would've shook his ass down."

"Richie, try and chill a little," Jinro said as he opened the refrigerator and removed a plastic jug of iced tea. He took a glass out of the cabinet and started filling it. A bag of pre-cut lemons sat in the waist level crisper. "Who told you this?"

"Some guys I know, they used to live there, the only reason they're still alive is because they were playing World Cup All-Stars on the game box at my place."

Jinro opened his flip-pad and jotted down notes as Richie spoke. The big-little man looked to be on the verge of tears as the paranoia in him began to show through.

"Are they still there now?"

Richie shook his head. "They got the fuck out of town. They got armed men outside the entrance to my lo-rent, just to keep strangers out. Noone gets in that doesn't have someone to vouch for them."

"How am I supposed to know what to look for if I don't even have a description?"

"He... looked... like... a... vagrant." Richie said insistently, using his hands for emphasis. "They said he was talking to himself."

"There are a hundred new vagrants in this city every week and you want me to look for one? Come on."

"This ones for free. Do what you want with it." Richie said and reached forward to cut the transmission before Jinro could stop him.

Jinro returned the handset to the vid-phone and cogitated while he filled a second glass for his guest. He added replaced the lemons and added a packet of sweeter to each, stirring each to mini-whirlpools.

The face of the night sergeant appeared when the call went through. He was young, and straightened somewhat when Jinro's ID came up.

"I just got a call that there might be some whacko in Little Beijing tonight. Put a few extra units on alert and have 'em start rousting the transient pool. Tell them to detain any of them that are talking to themselves. We want to talk to him about what happened in Flushing."

The night sergeant shook his head at the absurdness of the request and said, "Mobile Patrol's gonna love this one."

***

1200 dead. Jinro read the headline of the New York Tribune hardcopy as it slid out of the kiosk on the counter next to the Kwik & Go checkout. It was a convenient source for people who preferred information delivered the old fashioned way, growing fewer and few as the digital age climbed toward an unseen pinnacle. NY Tribune.com-averaged 15, 000, 000 hits per day and spread their cultivated print across 7 continents.

"I've got a question for you, Walter." Jinro said and dug for change in his pocket while the Chinese counter attendant rang up his 2-liter bottle of Maple-Leaf spring water. "You're a married man, I got some things I been thinking about."

"Sure, anything, you know that." Walter said and laid down a five in municipal script to pay for his own.

"What's more old-fashioned, do you smack your girl around if she gives you grief or put her on a pedestal?"