Member 13231

I did the moving now, reaching my hand down to play with her clitoris as I rammed into her from behind. Kerri started to groan, then let out another squeal to mark her second orgasm. I kept going, back and forth, until I shot my load inside of her. "Thank you Keenee," I whispered in her ear.

"You are so welcome, Jack," Kerri gasped as her body shuddered against me.

We spent the afternoon apart from each other. I reassembled my crusher in an area I claimed for my workshop, while they cleaned up

the mess we had made the previous night. Roberta came in while I was testing the crusher with some cans I had retrieved from the recycling bin. "It is a very ingenious design," she admitted. "Why make it hand-powered?"

"Why not? If I make it electric powered, it would be practically worthless in the green sense. The design is sound the way it is, you can burn calories while you recycle, exercise while being green."

"Sounds like a marketing pitch," Roberta commented.

"Maybe it could be," I shrugged. "Not something that can be sold for every home, the cost of shipping the units would raise the cost beyond consumer level. If we could cast the parts from scrap steel or other metals, it would make mass-production feasible."

"Hold onto that thought, please," Roberta left the room. She returned a few minutes later with a laptop computer. "Just one thing before I switch this on, Jack, do you want to sell the idea to the company?"

"Sell, no. Give, yes."

"They won't do it like that, Jack, and you know it," Roberta set the laptop on a table near me, and opened it up. When the top was facing me, I saw it glitter. "What kind of laptop is that?"

"A KDZ model. Nice lid, isn't it?"

"It looks like some sort of solar cell," I knelt in front of the table to examine it. "Does it work off of room light?"

"Not as well as it would under regular sunlight," Roberta replied. "The cells not only convert solar power, they store it."

"Like a battery?"

"Without the battery. There are micro-thin aluminum plates

underneath the cells, what was it called?"

"A capacitor," I nodded. "I was under the impression that capacitors were for short-term storage, maybe whomever designed that cell came up with a better way to do it. Should I make a presentation?"

"That's why I brought it down. I'll make the notes afterwards, including your pitch."

"All right." I made a presentation of the crusher, adding several things that I had not thought of before into the mix. I gave a probable target audience for the crusher, places where there were numerous cans to be disposed of. As I looked at the lid of the laptop, I had another idea. Automated collection centers could be made a profitable reality with a solar-powered motor to run the crusher. I ended with a bow, and Roberta clapped.

"Did you think it was that good?"

"Sure, and you pitched it like a pro," Roberta nodded. "It would help if they had technical specifications to go with it."

"The original drawings, I wouldn't call them blueprints, are in my notebooks. Maybe somebody with some CAD experience could convert them over to digital."

"I can do that," Roberta hit a few keys on the laptop and closed it. "I know AutoCad."

"Really? Maybe you could teach me how to use it."

"Why?"

"Because I just had another idea, Bobbi."

(Break)

Monday morning, I took over the operation of SI Scrap, LLC, North Wavecrest Division. Over the next five days, Hal showed me everything that I would be expected to do as manager of the yard. Friday evening, a smiling courier entered my office with Roberta, and dropped off a package. Roberta eagerly opened the package, reading the enclosed letter aloud to me.

The head of Scarlett Industries had accepted my idea, and once I signed the rights to the idea over to them, I could cash the enclosed hundred-thousand dollar check. Depending on how my ideas for marketing the device panned out, I could expect more checks.

Roberta, Kerri, and I spent the weekend celebrating, mostly in bed. I didn't mind celebrating with them at all, in fact I enjoyed every minute of it. Monday morning came too soon, and when I walked into the office that morning, I knew I was where I wanted to be.

Every free minute I had that week was spent learning how to use the CAD program. Once I finally got the gist of it, I started putting my idea into the computer. The following Wednesday afternoon, I had just finished a meeting with a scrap collector we contracted with, and I opened up the CAD program to start working on it again. The screen went blue, then to black. "Roberta?" I called out.

"Yes," Roberta came strutting into my office.

"What do you make of that?" I pointed to my screen, which was flashing a line of gibberish through the center.

"I don't know," Roberta started tapping keys, trying to get the computer to respond. "It looks like a virus, did you back everything up?"

"Sure did," I indicated the DVD RW disc on my desk.

Roberta reached down and shut the computer off. She turned it back on, and it booted up normally. A virus scan later, she tried to reopen my project, and the screen started flashing again. At that moment, the door to my office burst in, a pair of women in black body armor came walking in.

What happened next totally surprised me, Robert pulled a gun out of god-knows-where and pointed it at the woman. "Get out," she ordered.

One of the women who was now in my office was equally quick in pulling her weapon. "Disarm yourself, Miss Hill," she ordered.

Roberta wasn't listening. "You are not supposed to be here. The agreement says that the club will not interfere in the operations of its members."

The first woman in body armor reached out and pushed her partner's weapon down. "Put it away, she's pregnant."

"Who are you?" I finally found my voice.

"I am Lynn," the woman replied. "And you need to come with us, Mister Greene."

"Why?"

"That is not a question I can answer."

"Until you can answer it, get out. I'm calling Robson," Roberta said.

"Go ahead," Lynn shrugged. "She will merely confirm our orders."

"I thought Robson was a man," I looked at Roberta, she was lowering her gun.

"She's not," Roberta tucked her gun back under her blouse.

"You're pregnant?" I asked Roberta.

"I just confirmed it this morning. You're not mad, are you?"

"Not at all," I took her hand.

"This is all very sweet," Lynn waved toward the door. "But we must be going."

"Where are we going?" I stood up, still clutching Roberta's hand.

"We are going to Los Angeles," Lynn said. "Bring the backup copy of your design, there shouldn't be any remnant of the design in Wavecrest."

"Let's go then," I picked up the jewel case which held the backup of my design.

"You first, Mister Greene," Lynn said.

Roberta and I walked outside, to be greeted by more women in black body armor and five of the ominous-looking black Suburbans. "We are going to stop and get Kerri, aren't we?" I asked.

"Chances are, she's already here," Roberta snickered.

Lynn pointed to the third Suburban in the line, evidently meaning that was our ride. I pulled the door open, and Kerri was already sitting on the opposite side. Roberta handed over her gun to the woman walking behind us and got inside. "When did you start packing heat?" I asked after I had joined her.

"I always carry," Roberta admitted. The truck lurched forward in a squeal of rubber, pushing us back in the seat.

"Probably why you won't let me take your clothes off when we are outside the house," I said. "Who are these people?"

"They're club security," Kerri said.

The woman in the passenger seat turned around. "He isn't cleared for that information."

"Oh shut up," Kerri snapped. "I knew you were coming, Julie called to give me a heads-up this morning. That means Jack has been invited, and we're going to meet the wizard."

"Of Oz?" I asked.

"Something like that," Roberta smiled. "Why didn't you call me?"

"The convoy stopped in front of the house two minutes after I got off the phone with Jules," Kerri replied.

"Oh."

A thousand things were going through my mind. Where were we going? What had I been invited to? And what would happen if I said no? The convoy stopped at a traffic signal. "Let me out," I said.

"We cannot do that," the driver said.

"Then I'll get out," I flipped the latch and pulled on the handle. The door only opened a crack, like it was stuck on something.

"Let him out," Kerri ordered.

"Our orders are to deliver the three of you safely to Los Angeles," the driver said.

"Have you forgotten the base principle of the club?" Kerri retorted. "No force allowed except in the defense of a member. You are taking Jack by force. He doesn't want to go."

The passenger sighed, and hit a switch I could not see. My door flew open so fast I had to use the handle to steady myself. "I can assume that you are not coming," I said.

Roberta shook her head. "I'm sorry Jack, I was here long before I ever met you."

"Good bye," I closed the door. The traffic light changed to green, and the convoy sped off down the road. I went to the berm and started my walk back to the plant. Three hours later, I climbed into my car and drove the rest of the way home. Twilight had fallen, and I was tired of debating what I was going to do now.

I had taken a shower and was flipping through the channels on the television when the doorbell rang. I pulled on a pair of shorts and went downstairs to see who the club had sent. The odds said Julie, she was Scarlett's troubleshooter, after all. Another name on my list was Robson Scarlett, whoever she was. I pulled open the door, none of the above, Kyle Andrews was not on my list.

"I'm Kyle Andrews," Kyle extended his hand.

"Jack Greene," I shook his hand. He held onto my hand a little longer than a friendly handshake would be. He finally let it go, shaking his head. "Won't you come in, Mister Andrews?"

"That won't do any good, you've already made up your mind," Kyle shrugged. "Sorry to have bothered you, Jack." He turned around and walked back down the path.

I watched him vanish into the night with some confusion. I closed the door and went back upstairs to my bedroom. Sleep claimed me earlier than it usually did, mostly because there was nobody there to keep me awake.

The next morning, I went to the yard to find the gates closed and locked. A sign on the gate told me what I had already suspected, Scarlett Industries had closed the yard down. As I was getting ready to turn the car around, Julie's car stopped beside me, effectively blocking my exit. Julie was at my door in a flash. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"That is a question I should be asking you, Julie," I snapped. "You just couldn't stop testing, could you?"

"Yesterday wasn't a test, that was the brass ring you passed up. We were trying to get the club to extend us an addendum so that we could add you, and they wanted you on your own merits."

"What in the world are you talking about, Julie?"

"Let's go some place where we can talk, Jack," Julie said.

"You lead, I'll follow."

"No, you come with me, you're not getting out of my sight again, Jack," Julie pulled my door open. "Please."

A minute later, we were speeding down the road with Julie behind the wheel. "You keep going like this, you're going to blow the engine, Julie."

"If I blow this one up, I'll just steal yours," Julie grit her teeth as she took a turn rated for forty-five miles per hour at seventy, maybe a little more. I kept a wary eye on the mirrors, fearful that a cop would make an appearance before we left the city.

Fifteen minutes later, we were on a winding country road, going through a forest. I didn't want to disrupt Julie's concentration, the car felt like she was continually on the edge of losing control. Finally, she down shifted, then let the clutch go. The engine pitch changed to a really high whine, and Julie threw the wheel to the left, pulling onto a dirt road I had not even seen.

"Where are we going?" I asked as the speedometer dropped below forty.

"Safe house. There are people looking for you now, and not all of them are as concerned about your well-being as I am."

"What?"

"Let's get inside, and I'll tell you everything, Jack." Julie stopped us in front of a ramshackle-looking house.

"Doesn't look like much of a safe house," I commented as I got out of the car.

"Looks can be deceiving," Julie was already around the car and going up the stairs.

The inside of the house looked as ramshackle as the outside, except for the door that Julie went to. Rather than trying to turn the knob, she put her hand on one of the door panels and pushed on it. "What would have happened if you would have grabbed the knob?"

"A hundred thousand volts," Julie started down the stairs that were the only thing in this room.

When we finally got to the bottom, I regretted my safe house comment. We were in a cavern carved out underneath the house, the limestone looked like it had been cut by laser. "How far down are we?"

"Seventy-five feet, just enough for the limestone to mask our body heat signatures in case we are being tracked from orbit." Julie led us into a building set into the limestone wall. The inside of the building was a shock to me, where the cavern had been spartan, the building looked rather homey.

"Why the elaborate décor?" I plopped down on a very comfortable-looking couch.

"One of the advantages of being in a club run mostly by women, is being comfortable everywhere," Julie sat down beside me. "If a man

designed this, it would be steel tables and chairs, a bright light in the face to facilitate the interrogation."

"Is this an interrogation?"

"No, I was just trying to give you the imagery," Julie reached out for my hand. "You can't go back now, Jack."

"To what?"

"A normal life. The system that you designed won't permit that."

"I was just trying to design a solar-powered furnace, one that could melt steel for recycling," I took her hand. "That would hardly qualify as a blip in the great scheme of things."

"You don't know what a furor you caused with just the base schematic of your furnace," Julie chuckled. "Let me start from the beginning, okay?"

"That would be nice."

"Roberta sent your crusher design through the normal channels. A very good design, by the way."

"Thanks."

"What we didn't know until Monday was that your computer was tagged by a Chinese intelligence agent operating inside of Scarlett Industries. The club started noticing an internet-based attack against the server your new design was stored on, and we know they got part of it before the club cut them off."

"By who?"

"The club says China, but I'm not really sure I believe them," Julie squeezed my hand. "From what I hear, Chinese agents arrived at your house five minutes after you left, you got lucky."

"Good thing we took your car," I chuckled. "Why is my furnace so important?"

"It was the stepped design that you used for it, which allows stage-by-stage reclamation of metals. A simulation suggests that you could put a car in there, and your furnace would separate everything out with ninety-percent efficiency."

"Except for any polymers used in the construction. Those could burn off, creating problems for the atmosphere," I pointed out.

"That part is being worked on," Julie assured me.

"You going to tell me about the club now?"

Julie shook her head. "Not now. You have to meet with Anna and Dave before I can tell you anything."

"Tell me something, Julie."

"Within reason."

"Are you Robson Scarlett?"

"Peridot Robson Scarlett is my stepmother," Julie replied. "That's another story, but I am second in line for the top chair at Scarlett Industries."

I started to put the pieces together. "This club of yours is run by women who wield power. Female captains of industry, of which there are few, but their numbers are growing, have grouped together around an environmental agenda. You plan to change the world, but you need technology, money, and power to do so. Is part of that agenda to put a woman president in the White House?"

"You're very good, Jack," Julie nodded. "However, the answer to your question is no. A repeat of the Ferraro disaster would cripple us."

"Technology, specifically green technology would help further your agenda, but recycling isn't enough. I'm willing to bet your technology includes cheap solar power for everybody, and something else."

"Keep going," Julie squeezed my hand.

"Your car." I thought it over in my mind. "I don't remember the G6 coming with a full manual transmission as an option, and it has a different feel to it. There is more weight in the front end than a standard G6, which means you put some kind of aftermarket hybridization kit in there."

"You are two for two, any other venturing you want to do?"

"I'm not sure about the drug that you gave me, and where that fits into the plan. Roberta did seem kind of surprised that she came up pregnant, but that isn't a bad thing."

"Good to hear, because Kerri is pregnant too. How they ended up pregnant is another matter, a problem that we should be able to solve

if you consent to let a doctor from the club examine you."

"I'd like to find out whether or not that drug is doing me any harm," I nodded. What else was there? Kyle Andrews' mysterious appearance, and Julie's mysterious bar of soap. "Witchcraft," I blurted out.

"Pardon me?"

"It's the color you keep wearing, that erotic purple, and that soap you gave me, you're using witchcraft."

"A very nice color, isn't it?" Julie tugged at her blouse for emphasis. "I didn't do anything to break your spirit, just to lure you to me."

"Why that color?"

"Because I have it on good authority that this color is your pure attractor, you respond to it on a subconscious level."

"Good thing my pure attractor wasn't lime green," I teased.

"Then I would have worn lime green, any color to catch your eye, Jack."

"I should be upset with you."

"Some of the things I have done do stretch your trust boundary, I'll admit. But we had to be sure that we could trust you, Jack, I had to be sure."

"Are you sure now?"

"Yes."

"What's next for us?"

"What is next?" Julie didn't seem to be asking that of me, she was directing that comment to the room around us.

A door opened at the far end of the room, Kyle Andrews and an older woman coming through it. The woman approached the couch Julie and I were sitting on, and I stood up to greet her. "Jack Greene."

"I'm Anna Forrester, General, US Army, Retired. Welcome to the club, Jack."