Nickles and Dimes Ch. 04

The Middle of Nowhere

Unaware of the activities of their wives and of Sandy's daughters, Rick and Sandy were waiting quietly in a dark corner of a short alley. Not far away a train whistle announced its approach to an unprotected crossing. There were many such crossings here. With few people and lots of farmland this isolated community was pretty much left alone.

A lone figure came toward them walking in the middle of the alley. The figure walked with confidence. There was no crime in Kismet, KS. A dark alley was nothing to worry about.

The train whistle had stopped. All that could be heard was the rumble and rattle as hundreds of empty freight cars passed through the town. The figure passed Rick. He waited. The occasional stone skittered as he walked on. When he was abreast of Sandy, Sandy took a step forward without leaving the safety of the shadows. Just loudly enough to be heard over the rattle of the freight he said, "Stop there. My partner is behind you. Don't do anything foolish." Light from a distant security light glinted off the gun he waved menacingly.

The figure was now identifiable as a man in his fifties. His hair had grayed early. His face had wrinkled from too much sun. He was dressed in jeans, boots, and a Stetson. He stopped. Carefully he turned his head to look back. "I'm here," Rick made himself known.

"Fuck you," the man spat at them.

"Drop the bag and put your hands behind your back," Sandy instructed.

The figure did as he was told and Rick secured his hands with zip ties. He covered the hands with large mittens. Next came the hood which was fastened at the neck.

Rick picked up the bag while Sandy said quietly, "You're getting in a car. Be cooperative and you'll survive."

The man got in the car with Sandy's assistance. He would ride in the front seat. Rick picked up the bag and got in the back. Quickly he worked a gag through the hood and into the mouth of their captive. As he worked Sandy got the car underway.

They followed a two lane, macadam road west for some miles turning onto a dirt road which they followed to a spot they had selected as "the middle of nowhere". Here they stopped. The air was redolent with the odor of farm fields and the sounds of crickets. The starry sky provided the only light.

"I'm going to take off your boots," Sandy told the man as he opened the passenger door. Rick pressed his gun to the man's neck. The man sat quietly as his boots were removed. Sandy took the boots and walked up the road, then several hundred yards into the field of soybeans where he left them.

"Here are your instructions. Listen carefully," Sandy said. When we leave you, you will be facing east. I've wrapped a small heating device around the zip tie on your wrists. It will melt the zip tie on your hands. It will take several minutes to heat. If you move, you risk dislodging the battery and thus defeating the heater. So when we leave stand perfectly still holding your hands as far apart as you can so they don't get burned.

"When your hands are free, crawl to the north about fifty yards. There you'll find a knife on the road. Use it to cut the ties off your ankles and the ties holding your gag in place. Then walk east into the field several hundred yards where you'll find your boots. At that point you're ready to head home. You may know the road you're on, but if you don't, you're a mile or so south of US 54."

Rick helped the man stand on the shoulder of the narrow road, removed the mittens, and attached the thermal device. He then got in and leaned back. Mission accomplished.

He and Sandy drove in silence for the first hour. "Want to count it," Sandy asked.

"Let's wait. I did check to see that it was packed with cash." Quiet returned. Next stop was Colorado Springs.

Sandy would sell the car a day or so later and the two of them would pick up their trucks heading on west to deliver their loads.

They would spend the time visiting the rodeo museum, traveling to Pike's Peak, and generally relaxing. They had no worry that the high volume producer of quality weed would report theft of the paltry thousands they had taken.

Dinner at Golini's

The drive to Fort Dodge was uneventful as drives in Iowa usually are. The corn was high obscuring anything on the side of the road. The towns were uninteresting and Patty's mind was on what lay ahead. What would happen tonight and tomorrow night? Would Sandy be mad?

In her puzzled state she blindly followed her Garmin until the voice announced, "You have arrived at your destination." And so she had. A cheerful two story home. White, with dark green trim and a picket fence, it looked so ordinary. She parked and walked slowly to the front door. She noticed that her heart had begun to pound. Once inside the house there would be no turning back.

At the door she took a deep breath. She raised her hand and closed her eyes. Though she didn't feel her finger push the button, she heard the doorbell. She felt faint. The doorbell would let Janet know she was here. Momentarily after that the door would open. With one step after another she had committed herself. She gasped slightly as suddenly the door opened.

A beaming Janet appeared and immediately gathered Patty in her arms. "How wonderful to see you," she gushed pulling Patty into a home done in early American. Patty felt the strain drain away as she returned the hug. The children would be at school and Ilysa at work. It was just the two of them.

Janet showed her to the guest room. Like the rest of the house it was light and airy. Windows were open to the balmy, if not a bit warm, air of the afternoon. Janet bustled getting Patty set in the room with the large bed and boring antique replicas. A pastel blue covered the walls. White curtains with light blue birds fluttered in the breeze.

Janet had brought in Patty's overnight bag which she set in the middle of the room. "Come, let's sit on the deck for a few minutes before the kids get home. This is Hayden's day for band practice. Danielle is at soccer practice. A friend will bring them home. Come, sit." She all but dragged Patty to the deck where she had prepared a light snack to accompany the Chardonnay she had set in an acrylic wine chiller.

"I'm nervous." Patty blurted it out after her first taste of the wine. She looked directly at Janet and then looked away.

Janet was not taken back. "It would be strange if you weren't," she said without surprise. "We're glad to have your company and I promise you we won't do anything that doesn't feel right. Ilysa is at a meeting right now. She said she'd come over after she gets out. The three of us are just going to have a good time." She quieted and took a sip of the cool Chardonnay gazing into the back yard.

The yard, a bright green lawn edged with seasonal flowers, was calming for Patty who took another of a succession of deep breaths. She raised and drained the glass.

Smiling, Janet refilled it.

The second glass of the Chardonnay was quieting Patty's nerves when Ilysa arrived. Patty was hardly prepared. Ilysa came around back without knocking at the front door. She carried a dainty portfolio. Without prologue she climbed the two steps to the deck, said hi to Janet and gave Patty a hug. "Nice to see you again," she said with genuine warmth. She sat heavily dropping the portfolio to the deck. She held her hand out. There was no mistaking its purpose. Janet handed her a glass of wine. "Thanks."

"You look bushed," Janet remarked.

"You look beautiful," Patty gushed before she knew she was going to say it. She'd been intimidated when Ilysa was at her home, but to see her dressed in a suit having come from a business meeting, she felt like a mousy housewife.

Ilysa looked at Patty and blinked. "Why, thank you. That is the nicest thing I've heard all day." She took a sip of wine, then rose and removed her jacket.

Beautiful, thought Patty, my god she looks like a model. Tall with a Swedish, come hither air about her. Blond hair, perfectly done, wearing a professional suit with a skirt edging toward too short she was even more intimidating than in her bikini. She must make it difficult for a customer to say no, Patty thought. Once her jacket was off, Patty could see that Ilysa's translucent blouse revealed a lacy bra underneath. If she took off her jacket in a meeting, surely the men in the meeting would be overwhelmed.

But she looked tired.

"Bad day," Janet ventured.

"I made the sale, but they really made me work for it. In all honesty I think they just wanted to keep me in the room to ogle me. They couldn't take their eyes off me." She set her wine down and bounced her breasts with her hands to make her point. "Finally, I said, 'It's kind of warm in here. Do you mind if I take off my jacket?' Well, they were already in shirt sleeves, you know, polo shirts. No, of course they didn't mind. I should have just gone ahead and taken off my blouse. You know, I just never really get used to it being so open. Oh, well. I unbuttoned a button here," She demonstrated, "when I had my back to them hanging up my jacket on a coat rack in the room. Another ten minutes of gawking and I had a contract." She closed her eyes and leaned back. "Really feels good out here. When do we eat?"

A moment of silence. She opened her eyes, threw down the remainder of the wine and held her glass out. When it was full, she leaned back closing her eyes again.

"We have reservations at Golini's at eight. I'll drive so we don't get our hair all blown about in your convertible.

"Fine by me," Ilysa responded.

"Did you bring your portfolio to sell us something," Janet asked mildly.

Ilysa chuckled, "Ah, glad you mentioned it. I just wanted to show Patty the new brochures for the business." She lifted the portfolio from the deck. From it she produced several full color tri-fold brochures. Using these she began a description of how they were positioning the business and what it was that clients liked about Guaranteed Transport that was making so much money for all of them.

The wine and the description of how she was helping build the business brought her back to life. At five thirty Hayden and Danielle showed up on the deck launching themselves into the snacks while greeting their guest.

"Do we have a sitter tonight," Hayden asked.

"I don't think you'll need one. We'll go over to Ilysa's after dinner so we won't be far away if you need us. You just have to promise to get your homework done and to get to bed on time, but I think you can do that without a sitter." The girls agreed.

"What are we going to eat," Danielle asked. "Can we have pizza?"

"Sure. I'll leave you money."

Grabbing hands full of snacks, the girls dashed away to attack their homework. Quiet returned.

"I'd forgotten what it was like to have the young ones around," Patty commented spurring stories of children and childhood which lasted until Janet said, "You want to freshen up for dinner?"

Feeling sheepish Patty looked at the two stylish women. "I'm not going to look as good as you two," she said rising, but I do want to change."

"Ilysa and I had intended to change. Ilysa is going to run back to her apartment. We'll pick her up there. It's only about a mile or so away."

Ilysa jumped up. "How about slacks and a casual top?" She drained her wine glass and looked at the bottle on the table. It contained several ounces, not enough for a glass. "You guys got a head start on me." She grabbed the bottle, tipped it up, and drained it. "Ah," she said. "Just wanted to demonstrate what a proper lady you're having dinner with."

The laughter relieved much of the pressure Patty had been feeling. She made her way upstairs to her room.

Twenty minutes later she returned downstairs to find Janet changed and carrying the tray of snacks from the deck. Glad to have something to do, she trailed Janet bringing the glasses and empty wine bottle. The two chatted as the crackers and cheese were put up and glasses stacked in the dishwasher.

"You and I are stuck, you know," Janet said. "Ilysa would look good in a burlap sack and we need all the help we can get. The fun thing, though, is that Ilysa doesn't seem to realize how beautiful she is. She's always embarrassed when men make over her, especially when it's our men."

"She said something about . . . . Well, you know, Sandy and Rick . . . ," Patty ventured.

"You mean that the two of them fuck her every chance they get?" Janet laughed. "I would have thought that would be a problem, but it doesn't seem to be. If we're all open about it, it doesn't seem to change things. Rick still loves me. Sandy still loves you. And they both get to fuck a woman that they'd never dream of being able to get in bed in this life. As long as no one's sneaking around, where's the harm?" She smiled winningly looking at Patty. "And you and I get to have lots of fun, too. I don't know about you, but I love it."

"I'm still trying to get used to it." Patty sat her hands in her lap, head down.

"If you don't like it, don't do it, but what's not to like?"

"Come on, let's go get her." She stopped, turned and whispered so the children wouldn't hear, "I call her Ilysa of the Big Tits." They both laughed. "Sometimes I call her other things, too, but she really is a dear."

They drove to Ilysa's and were surprised to find her standing outside the apartment building. She jumped in the back seat. "Come on, let's go, I'm starving!"

They arrived at Golini's just after eight to find their table waiting. "Nice to see you again, ladies," the maître d' said obviously pleased to see them. "And you have a friend with you."

"Yes," Janet responded flattered at the attention. "This is Patty, my husband's partner's wife. She came up from Des Moines for a couple of days."

"Pleased to have you visit us," the maître d' bowed slightly toward Patty. "Right this way."

The table was secluded and dimly lit. The maître d' seated Patty, then went to Janet. As she allowed herself to be seated she felt Ilysa's stare. "Four? Steve?"

Janet met her eyes. Patty was confused. The maître d' stood behind Ilysa waiting to seat her. She was rigid. "Yes. Please sit. He'll be along anytime." Janet was enigmatic.

Ilysa took an obvious deep breath and allowed herself to be seated. The maître d' bustled around the table doing nothing except to make a show of his attentiveness. Ilysa smiled at him warmly, tugged almost imperceptibly at the front of her low cut blouse, and leaned slightly forward. She wore a bra she had purchased at Naughty Nicole's which she had selected specifically because it tended to please the waiters at Golini's.

The maître d' had moved taking a position behind her. Even as he stared down at Ilysa's cleavage, he said in his Italian accent, "Luigi will be here shortly. He asked specifically to be permitted to serve you."

When he had gone, Janet turned to Ilysa. "You're so sweet. I'll bet he'll carry that hard on all night. He and Luigi," Janet said to Ilysa with a low chuckle.

With a sigh Ilysa said, "I've got 'em and they love to look. You know, they're really sweet to us and it certainly doesn't impair the service."

"You wearing that 'almost ain't there' push up thing you got the other day at Naughty Nicole's?"

"Yeah. You can just about see 'too much' depending on how I'm sitting."

She grinned and sat back just as a voice from behind her said in a thick Italian accent, "Ladies, how nice to see you!" Luigi set flutes of champagne in front of them. "This is for you with our compliments." He bowed, then, noting the empty chair, "I shall bring another. Will she be here soon?"

"Don't bother, Luigi," Ilysa said hastily. "It's a he. And he's a beer drinking cop who's just incredibly fortunate that he got invited at all."

"Ah, I see," Luigi noted taking on her tone of disdain. "Just let me know and I'll throw him out, even if he is a cop. Your meal here should be nothing but pleasure."

"Thanks. We'll get back to you when we need to have him thrown out," Janet assured him. Patty still looked confused.

Janet raised her glass. "To a wonderful evening." As they set them down, Steve was shown to the table.

"Good evening," he said smiling and sitting across from Ilysa. He allowed his gaze to rest only seconds on the contents of the Naughty Nicole bra. Quickly he turned to Patty. "You must be Patty. How nice to meet you." He nodded in her direction.

Her eyes tried to take in what had just sat down. He was fairly dark, kind of tall, sturdy. All male. She thought she could feel the testosterone. She couldn't help but wonder if he was carrying a gun. And his eyes were so sexy as they all but undressed her.

"Nice to meet you, as well." She got the words out, but just barely. He continued looking at her, speaking to her, ignoring Ilysa. Ignoring Ilysa with her tits on display. Well, she thought, she could show a bit more of hers, but she didn't want to tug on her blouse with him looking. She was flustered. The champagne flute wobbled as she took it. In one gulp she finished it. She was going to tell him how Luigi had provided them compliments of the establishment and how well they were being treated, but as she stumbled with the words she could see Ilysa staring at Steve.

Ilysa stood abruptly, went around the table and, taking hold of Steve's shoulder said, "You and I need to go the ladies room." His face showed the surprise, but he rose and allowed Ilysa to steer him.

Patty could see across the restaurant and down a short hallway a doorway to what appeared to be a restroom. Ilysa opened the door. Once opened the pink light and décor made it clear that this was indeed the ladies room. She pushed Steve inside. "My goodness," Patty exclaimed under her breath to Janet, "What is that all about?"

"Those two have their moments. They'll get everything straight. Don't worry."

Inside the ladies room Ilysa unfastened her slacks. Lowering them and her panties, she sat. Unselfconsciously she lectured Steve. "She is a nice lady and not at all used to your kind of shenanigans. I could tell she was really taken by you. She'll follow you like a puppy, strip naked, and spread her legs, but if you hurt her, I'll make sure that thing never gets hard again."

Steve took a deep breath, then raised his hands. "I promise. I don't expect you to forget and I certainly don't expect you to forgive, but I'll be very careful not to hurt her." With his hands held in a position of surrender, the weapon in his shoulder holster was clearly visible under his jacket.

She stood and locked him in a stare which he tried to avoid. He unzipped and reached for the toilet seat. She stopped him. "Yours is next door." She zipped him up taking liberties as she did, then pointed. He left while she washed her hands and mussed with her hair.

Patty was watching as the door opened. Steve exited and went into the men's room. Moments later Ilysa stepped out smiling. She waited in the short hallway until Steve reappeared. She took his arm in a very familiar fashion and returned to the table still smiling. They sat.

A bottle of craft beer from Exile brewery was sitting at Steve's place. Gratefully he hefted it draining about half. "Are you drinking wine this evening," he said to Ilysa, smiling.

"I'd lots rather be drinking that beer, but sitting as much as I do during the day, I'm avoiding anything that might put on weight." Her smile seemed to say that everything was all right now. "I certainly don't want these things," she raised her breasts with both hands, "to get any bigger."

"Certainly not," Steve replied as Janet and Patty caught their breath.

Her barbs having been expended, the remainder of the meal went well. While not limiting her alcoholic intake, Ilysa did avoid dessert.

Steve pulled out his wallet, but Ilysa brushed aside the implication that he might pay saying, "This is on Guaranteed Transport, producing from her bra a gold credit card. Steve followed her every move.