Journey of Rick Heiden Ch. 12

"I don't see any harm in trying something new," he said. "Usually, people see me and automatically think I would want to fuck them, and I do gravitate toward that because I enjoy it so much. Let's see how big you end up and I'll decide if the time comes."

He flipped me over and returned the favor by stuffing his face into my ass, picking up where he left off the night before. That day, David spent most of the time between meals with his cock in my ass. David makes a lot of noise when he cums, and our bed creaked off and on for hours. I had little doubt that Aiden heard us, but he said absolutely nothing.

We ate third meal in our room, but we finally joined Aiden for the next in the afternoon. The storm slowed but would continue well into the night.

After we had eaten fourth meal, the three of us sat down to discuss the situation.

"Okay," said David, "let's go back over what we think we know and how we know it. It might give us something we hadn't realized before." Aiden and I agreed.

"In the interest of ensuring that we remain on the same page," I said. "I should say that I had no part of the early portion of what happened. Could you fill me in, please?"

"Good point, Rick," said David, "and in the same vein, I had no part of the very beginning either. My involvement began when they brought Amaré to Facility3. Aiden, how far back does your involvement go?"

"They involved me when they brought Cadmar to Facility3," Aiden said. "Katheryn came to the lab, with the digital scans for us to study and provide some input, but she wouldn't let us see Cadmar's body."

"Why would she do that?" I asked.

"That's Katheryn," Aiden said, "she did that sort of thing. She had a habit of unexplained changes."

"So, when did you contact the Americans?" David asked. "Who did you contact?"

"I did that about two days after Cadmar arrived," said Aiden. "In my defense, at the time we got the scans, the government didn't consider them secret, just a curiosity. I contacted some of the people we all know that control the United States, the lair of the Dominionists, C Street House. They initially didn't believe me, but later, they called back and gave me a phone number to send the files, Senator Jackson Scott's number, as we now know. I texted him a low-resolution copy of the scans with an offer to sell the originals. They asked me about their origin. I told them they were from the body of a man who died. That's all. At most, I figured they would pay me what I asked for the full set and contact the British government wanting in on it. Unfortunately, they wanted the whole body for themselves. I told them I couldn't get them the body, so they sent Theo who coerced me."

"I wonder when Katheryn contacted them," I said.

"I don't know," said Aiden, "They acted like they didn't know about the body, so I think I was first."

"Katheryn implied she bugged us," I said, "but I don't think I believe her. So, did Katheryn bug us? Surely, she couldn't have done that on her own."

"I've given that a great deal of thought," Aiden said, "and as someone who has an MScs in telecommunications, in my personal, educated opinion, the government bugged you. I have monitored, who I suspect is the British government, on such actions in London for years. When my computer intercepted the transmissions, they looked the same as all the others. They made no frequency or algorithmic encoding changes."

"Alright," David said, "let's accept your expert opinion on that. From this point, let us only make questions and proposals that use that as a fixed point. Where does that take us? If the government bugged us, then they know everything they heard while and where they bugged us. What else does it mean?"

"Katheryn lied," I said. "She implied she bugged us, but she didn't. If she saw us screwing on the video, as she intimated, then doesn't that mean she knows that the government bugged us? Unless- Aiden, could she intercept the surveillance as you did?"

"She wouldn't know how," he said, "and she doesn't have the equipment to do it."

"What conversations did you hear, Aiden?" David asked. "Let's start with the night they kidnapped Rick. We already know about the video, and we know you heard the conversations in the penthouse. We had gone to Rick's flat just once. I remember you mentioned it before, so I must assume you heard that conversation."

"I believe I did," Aiden said, "I think you talked about work and then left to get Amanda." He paused a moment to think. "I just realized something. I took what I heard over the surveillance at face value; I didn't think of it as a timeline. But I heard no conversation between the penthouse and Rick's flat, or from the flat to the Royal Albert. However, I did get the conversation in the car with Amanda. At that point, I had tricked my way into your penthouse to turn off their equipment."

"Oh shit." I looked at David. "Amanda bugged the car."

"I can't believe she did that."

"I apologize for waiting so long to turn off their equipment," Aiden said. "I should have at least said something to you much earlier."

"That's okay, Aiden," I said. "We're a team now, and you're our friend."

Aiden looked at his feet for a moment. "Historically, having friends doesn't happen to me."

"Then you have one more thing to get used to," David said.

"Hold on," I said, "how did you hear us while away from your equipment at home?"

"Oh," Aiden said. "That's the brilliant bit. I constructed a computer that can scan the signals until it finds something. It then decodes it, holds it in storage, and calls me on my mobile to let me listen or watch in real-time."

"That's amazing," I said, "and, no doubt, quite illegal."

"What, and bugging people isn't?" Aiden asked.

"I agree with Aiden," David said. "The government only creates legalities for you and me, not for themselves. They like to pretend they're staying within the law, and often put up an excellent show to demonstrate that, but when it suits their purpose, a government will place themselves above the law. People have caught them too often to believe otherwise."

As the conversation continued, we had a bit of debate as to whether Katheryn had turned traitor or not. It all seemed to hinge on whether she told the Americans about Amanda's daughter, or if they already knew about her. David had swung around believing Katheryn remained loyal to the British, while Aiden said she turned traitor. Mostly, I think he preferred to believe that of her. I suggested that both versions had merit, but I questioned whether it mattered.

"Wouldn't it tell us where to find the body?" Aiden asked. "If she turned traitor, then the Americans have it, but if she stayed loyal, we would find him on Old Blighty, so it matters enormously. It strains credulity to believe they knew about Helen coincidentally at the same time all this went on. I think she's a traitor."

"Regardless," I said, "I hope you both think we should search closer to the portal before we go traipsing off to America."

As the storm continued to pass late in the afternoon, we asked Aiden how the party went the night before. He said he had never experienced anything like it. They held the parties far down the left arm of the city at a massive, three-story house. He understood that no one lived there. They built it specifically for parties like the one he attended. It sat at the top of the slope near the side of the mountain. It had a passage in the basement that led to several giant-sized rooms carved into the rock that had thick, towering columns, holding up ceiling braces. Also, he told us that, at some point, Magnar vanished for about an hour.

"Did you meet anyone?" I asked.

"Sure, several people," Aiden said.

"Probably shouldn't ask for details, Rick." David smiled.

"Would you go to another one?" I asked Aiden.

"Occasionally," he said. "I don't see any harm."

"How does it make you feel about the community?" David asked.

"I feel closer," he said.

David nodded. "That's their purpose."