Hollow Pleasure Ch. 11

Danni wasn't sure how she felt, but she knew she wanted to believe them. And though it sounded utterly ridiculous, it also seemed entirely possible. She remembered the change in Tina and Lucy's behavior— their drop in grades, they way they began to dress like sluts. All of it seemed less like they were doing it of their own free will, and more like they were acting out the fantasies of a man with a perverted imagination and a high libido.

Eventually she sighed. "Well it's nice to know I'm not the only one dealing with this stuff."

"One of us, one of us," Ethan chanted with a dry tone of voice.

"How does something like that happen?" Danni said. "Mind controlling people?"

Galloway could only shrug. "We're not ruling out some sort of paranormal entity is at play."

Danni folded her arms around her slim body and looked nervous.

Ethan climbed from his chair, and despite the effort to put on his crutches, he retrieved her a blanket and wrapped her in it. Galloway smiled at the sweet gesture.

"The fact is," Ethan said, bringing the conversation back around, "A ghost didn't make me and my mother do... the things we did." He reddened.

"You're right," Galloway said. "There's a very tangible force at work here." Her eyes flicked up to the ceiling. Upstairs, they could hear the soft creaking as someone walked around on the old wooden floor boards.

"That guy is a fuckin' creep," Ethan scowled.

"We'll deal with him," Galloway promised.

"What did you and your boss talk about?" Ethan was now curious.

Galloway smirked. "Remember yesterday when those punks took all my gear?"

Ethan nodded.

"Halley wants her guns back."

"How's she going to get them back?"

Galloway shrugged in that calm cool way that her face often reflected. "I think we'll know for sure when we go upstairs tomorrow."

"You're going to just ask him?" Ethan looked shocked.

Galloway smiled. "Nope."

***

"This is a shitty idea. This is a shitty idea. This is soooo cool, but it's a shitty idea," Ethan was muttering over and over again. He was pacing Galloway's kitchen awkwardly with his crutches. Galloway and Danni sat at the table, watching him. Galloway's expression was suppressed amusement. Danni's face reflected Ethan's.

Once Galloway had told them her plan, both of them had paled.

As if it had heard them, outside, the setting sun had brought with it a chilly howling wind. It shook the Connelly House and made the unsettled boards in the little apartment creak and pop.

A few minutes ago, the curtains in the living room had started moving on their own (entirely from the breeze whipping up). Of course, Danni and Ethan had been super jumpy. "Is it the ghost?" they asked.

"For the love of god," Galloway sighed, "Not everything is a ghost. Old houses are very drafty. Especially when the windows are original."

Their jumpiness both amused Kate Galloway, and exhausted her.

She watched as Ethan paced and repeated his mantra. Finally she asked. "Are you finished?"

"Huh?" He looked up, then glanced at his dinner plate. "Yes. I'm done," he said, then resumed his pacing and muttering.

"I'm not your damn mother," Galloway shot back. "I meant are you done freaking out?"

"Oh. No, I'm not. Because it's a shitty idea."

"Yeah, I got that. What else ya got? And while we're at it, clear your own damn plate. This is my house, you slob!" They looked at each other for a long time, then they both burst out into a fit of sputtering giggles.

Danni didn't understand these two. How the hell were they so jovial? "So the only thing that we have to do is get Rob out of his apartment?" Danni was skeptical.

Ethan shook his head. "Easier said than done. Getting the king to leave his ivory tower? Good luck with that."

"Have faith, young one," Galloway said. "We'll figure something out. Halley and her team will do the heavy lifting from there."

"And do what, exactly?" Danni asked.

"She and her technician will review his computers. They want the camera footage that'll help them chase down my stolen equipment. They'll also study this computer of Rob's, and find evidence to implicate him in all this bullshit that's going on here."

"All without a warrant," Ethan shook his head.

"It wouldn't be the first time Halley has done this," Galloway commented.

"What if he comes back while they're still in there?" Danni asked.

"They'll force his hand if necessary, make him confess, make him show them how he does it. And if that doesn't work, they'll destroy his computer and neutralize the threat if necessary."

"'Neutralize?' What does that mean?" Danni asked.

"Make him not a threat anymore. One way or the other." Galloway's response was cold and unsympathetic. "It's a solid plan. The tricky part is just getting him the hell away from that computer while we enter. That's the real threat."

"Can we do it?"

Galloway grinned. "Trust me."

"Oh god, we're fucked," Ethan remarked.

***

Danni and Ethan slept at Galloway's place. It wasn't a big apartment, but it was intimate and cozy. The three of them slept in the living room. Galloway felt like it would have been rude to give anyone the bed, so Ethan and Danni took the couches, and Galloway cozied up on the floor with pillows and blankets. It reminded all of them of the sleepovers they'd have as kids.

The next morning met them with nervous energy at what was to come.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I slept like shit," Danni said with a yawn.

"Personally I think this is a crappy idea," Ethan said. "I mean, the history of movies is littered with this type of thing. 'The 'Burbs', 'Rear Window', 'Psycho'. It never ends well for the person snooping."

"So why are you here then?" Galloway asked, pulling on a pair of fatigue pants and her boots. She was unabashed about dressing in front of her guests. Ethan had already seen her completely nude, and Danni... it was nothing the girl hadn't seen before.

Ethan shrugged. "Morbid curiosity. You're kind of a wildcard, so I want to see how this goes down."

Galloway playfully cocked her eyebrow. "If you really don't want to be here, I suppose you could go home and fuck your mother some more."

Ethan reddened and frowned. Even though he told both Galloway and Danni, it was still embarrassing.

Galloway must have read his expression. "I'm sorry, are we not at the point where we can laugh about this yet?" There was that smart ass tone of hers.

"Too soon, Galloway. Too soon," Ethan said. Despite this, they both snickered. Danni looked at them like they were crazy.

Eventually Halley Hargrove arrived with her investigative assistant Alex (the kid with the ponytail who had assisted them with research the previous day), along with two men dressed like commandos— military fatigues, boots, vests, and caps. They were dressed like Galloway during her training. Halley was similarly attired, in boots and equipment. She introduced the men as Officers Alvarado and York. They were part of Graver's tactical division

They nodded at Galloway. "Boys," she replied. And they regarded Ethan and Danni with curious interest.

Halley unpacked a few things on the kitchen table. Small plastic cases filled with shiny metal instruments that could have been dental tools. "For an old building, these locks are pretty new and up-to-date," she explained. "This could be a good teaching moment," Halley handed them off to Galloway and walked her through how to use them. Danni and Ethan watched as Halley narrated the finer points of lock picking. "The hard part is not letting the thrill of what you're doing make you lose focus," Halley stood back as Galloway managed to pick the lock on her home several times, over and over again, under her direction.

"I think I got it down, thanks Hellfire."

"Don't mention it. Ah, I remember my first time breaking into a house without a warrant. I had to climb through a second story window." Halley smiled to herself. Then she snapped out of it. "Alright, if everyone is done dicking around, let's get this show on the road."

***

The initial pretext that they had planned to lure Rob out of his apartment was a moot point. Nobody seemed to be home. Officer Alvarado went up the fire escape and checked the windows of both third floor apartment units.

"No sign of movement," he reported over the radio.

Officer York, and Techie Alex sat on the top floor landing and ran a fiber optic camera beneath the door, snaking it around for a while. "Looks clear, boss," he said to Halley.

Halley shrugged. "Just made our jobs a lot easier."

Galloway stood by with Danni and Ethan on the top landing, watching tensely as Halley fiddled with the lock picks. Her nose was nearly touching the brass knob. Her nimble fingers worked the lock picks, feeling for the tumblers.

"Nervous?" Halley asked, not looking up. Her face was calm and determined. She wasn't blinking.

"You know we are," Ethan answered for them.

"Well hold it together, because you're distracting me." She twisted one of the picks, but the lock didn't give.

"I don't think this guy is going to be gone long," Galloway said, glancing down the stairwell.

"You may be right."

In fact, she most likely was. Rob didn't leave the house often, and when he did, it was for short periods of time-- to be expected from a shut-in.

Finally the lock clicked and the door gave way.

"Holy shit," Danni said. She hadn't been expecting them to actually succeed.

"We're in. Your services will no longer be required," Halley said.

"Do you need me to be the lookout? You know, in case he comes back we can warn you?"

Halley shook her head. "Get the kids out of here. They don't need to be accessories to this. And you should bail too," she told Galloway. "If my team gets caught, we're strangers to this guy. If you get caught, he knows who you are. And alas, you're tied to me, so I'm responsible for you. It's just less messy. Get the hell out of here. We'll call you when it's done."

Galloway, Danni, and Ethan retreated down the stairs, slightly dejected at having been left out, but also slightly relieved.

When they were out of earshot, Danni remarked, "Man, she is surprisingly chill about this."

"Looks are misleading. Halley is definitely the coolest boss I've ever had," Galloway admitted. "She's not the stoic bitch that she first comes across as. She's actually very laid back."

"Think they'll put a stop to all of this?" Ethan asked.

"If anyone could, it's Halley."

***

3A

Halley and her team stepped over the threshold into apartment 3A. It was dead silent within. "Keep your weapons holstered," she cautioned the two officers in the group.

They checked each room. It didn't take long, it wasn't a big apartment. "Clear," York called from the bedroom. "Clear," Alvarado echoed from the bathroom. Otherwise, there was nobody.

Halley kept her mouth set in a tight line as she looked around. But despite her outward appearance, her heart was pounding. She didn't make this sort of thing a regular practice. In actuality, Halley was a very hands-off type of personality. She had spent the majority of her twenties as a field investigator, which mostly entailed surveillance. That meant that she was a shadow and nothing more. If she had interactions with people, got out of her vehicle or made her presence known, it was a rarity. And she preferred to keep it that way. But for Kate Galloway, Halley would make an exception. Despite their banter, she liked Galloway. Galloway was sort of a spunkier version of herself, and if it wasn't for the fact that she was still in training, Halley would have no problem delegating situations like this to her.

Rob's solitary lifestyle could best be described as 'bachelor who never outgrew the video gaming nerd phase of a college boy.' His furniture was cheap and mismatched. His entertainment system would make the most socially outcast teenage boys drool with envy-- huge speakers, an even bigger TV, and shelves arranged with every generation of video gaming platform that had existed. She even spotted a few collectibles and action figures posed on the shelves.

All of it was layered with seasonal Halloween decorations, lights, and fake cotton spider webs.

York called her into the bedroom, and Halley startled at some of the findings. Women's clothes were strewn about. Not just clothes, but costumes. They were almost all sexual by nature and ranged across a multitude of fetishes. Nurses uniforms, school girl skirts, cheerleader uniforms, and even a few superhero costumes. Halley spotted conventional lingerie, and the less savory leather corsets, and thigh high boots. Likewise, sex toys littered the floor.

York nudged her and pointed to the bed. Ropes on the headboard. Was it part of a consensual sex game? Or something more sinister?

"We're not here for this," she said at last. They left the bedroom and moved onto the turret.

Technician Alex was already down on his knees in front of what looked like a very elaborate computer array. He was inspecting wires beneath it all.

Halley took in her surroundings. A camera was set up on a tri-pod, aimed at the walkway up to the front of the building.

Beside it, was a dry erase board. She spotted a lot of crude notes, most of it written in shorthand. Little made sense to her. But there was a very distinct schedule drawn up.

Halley looked it over. There were names-- all nicknames-- with numbers and letters and times written up. She noted entries like:

5:00AM: Morning sex and breakfast with CUTIE 3B.

Must check status of SKINNY and BAD WIFEY 1B.

5:45AM: Send MOMMA BIRD 2A to work.

TINY TIM has a job??? Follow up with this!

6:49AM: WILD CHERRY 2B leaves for training.

Get into her apartment somehow!

9:00AM: Progress report from CURLS and UDDERS 1A.

3:30PM: WILD CHERRY 2B comes home, hangs out with TINY TIM 2A

5:20PM: MOMMA BIRD 2A comes home.

7:30PM: SQUEAKY 1A has her nightly call with her brother.

(Don't forget this time, moron!)

8:00PM: Fun with CUTIE 3B

It was a schedule. It seemed that Rob was keeping tabs on everyone, like Jimmy Stewart from Rear Window. And it seemed that Rob had given everyone a cute little nickname.

It wasn't terribly difficult for Halley to decipher who he was talking about. Tiny Tim was a reference to Ethan, given his crutches. Squeaky was Danni, thanks to that high pitched voice of hers. And Wild Cherry... despite how creepy it was, she was rather amused by that little nickname. It was clearly a reference to her hair color. Halley would have to remember that the next time Galloway called her 'Hellfire'.

"Ma'am, there's a problem." Alex called from beneath the desk.

"What?"

"If this is the computer," Alex said, thoroughly inspecting it, "Where the fuck is the keyboard?"

"What do you mean?" She frowned.

"Galloway said he walks around with a wireless keyboard and types his commands on that."

"Right."

"So it's not here. He took it with him."

"Maybe he did it to protect himself, like locking the door when you leave the house," Halley suggested. "Did you bring one of your own so you can tap in?"

"I did, but that's not the problem," Alex said. He pointed to the monitor. A word document was open and words were appearing seemingly out of nowhere across the screen.

Halley leaned forward and read them as they appeared. It was a story. And it was describing Halley and the three members of her team. "Oh shit," she said as it dawned on her. She glanced at her technician. "We're made," she was resigned.

***

Rob knew he was being surveillanced. He'd been on high alert ever since last night when he'd spotted Ethan, Galloway, and Danni all go into Galloway's apartment and not come back out. They were up to something. Call it a gut instinct, but Rob decided it best to lay low. And what better place than Chris and TJ's empty apartment?

They were gone and hadn't come back, and again, part of him suspected they wouldn't be. Rob had been too careless for too long. He set up camp with him and Kelsey down on the first floor, and from there, they waited and watched. Likewise, he kept Tina and Lucy on guard as well.

He supposed he could have taken control of Ethan, Danni, or Galloway (or all three) and found out what he wanted to know. But the fact was, he didn't know who they talked to outside of these four walls. He thought it best to keep his head down and wait.

Then this morning, when those four officers showed up, he knew. They were dressed like Galloway— tactical gear, boots, and weapons. They were a part of her unit. And they appeared to be led by a rather attractive woman with a serious face, and a playful swoop of brown hair hanging over one eye. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

He'd waited until they had done exactly what he expected them to— they raided his apartment. They were either investigating his lechery, or they were interested in the powers granted to him by his computer. Either way, it didn't matter.

Now that they were in his home, it was time to make his move. When he found them, they were all frozen in place.

Rob had seen to it that they couldn't move. Only their eyes flicked in his direction as he stepped into his attic apartment. They were aware... just temporarily paralyzed. "Are you always in the habit of breaking and entering without a warrant?" Rob asked them, approaching the woman who had led the unit.

She didn't respond to him, only glaring behind her swoop of hair. One by one he approached each member of the team. There was a big Hispanic officer with a chiseled face. Rob retrieved his dog tags from beneath his shirt. "Alvarado," he read aloud. There was a thick stocky officer with short strawberry blonde hair. "York." The techie was a dweeb with a goatee, glasses, and a hipster ponytail. Rob found his ID and read off the name "Alex".

Last, he stopped in front of the woman. He smirked, and reached down the front of her shirt, groping. He could see her glaring fire and fury at him from behind those eyes. "No tags?" He asked. His hand slipped beneath her sports bra and cupped one of her tits. "Just gotta be thorough," he gave her nipple a pinch.

He continued to feel around, and eventually was drawn in by her full juicy ass. He gave it a proper squeeze before emptying out her pockets, finally producing a badge and ID. "Hargrove, Halley," he read. "Two H's. Like Peter Parker. Very cute," he gave her an approving glance. "It gives you personality."

He walked in a slow circle looking her up and down, giving her body a little poke here, a little nudge there. He felt the curve of her ass beneath her uniform pants, and the swell of her breasts. He noted the engagement ring on her finger. "You're cute," he commented. "I'll bet it broke some hearts in the department when someone put this rock on your finger. A few secret crushes had to cope, I'll bet."

His expression thoughtful as he looked her over.

"So naturally, since you're here, I can't let you go." He paused and thought about it. "Well... I suppose I could. I could just wipe your memory or make you think you didn't find anything. I'm not really sure how it works. But... where's the fun in that?" He smiled. It was a cold smile.

Rob retrieved his wireless keyboard and held it in front of her face. "So you came here to see what I can do with this, right? How about a demonstration?" He typed a few lines, and suddenly every person in the room lifted their right leg up in unison, like perfect soldiers. Rob typed again, and they all put their feet down.

"To be honest with you," he said, "Even I'm not sure how the hell this happened. One day I dug my old computer out of my storage unit, and started writing stories... I had a pretty serious crush on my neighbor across the hall. And me, being the lonely dude that I am, wrote out a little sexual fantasy story about her, just for myself, you know? Pretty harmless stuff. Next thing I know, there's this knock on my door, and boom. She's doing literally everything I typed out. Crazy, right?"