South of Eden, North of Hell

Now through cryptic notes, Adam and Maria reached out to John and met him in his back yard late one night. Per Maria's insistence, John had had the area sweep for listening devices and all the lights were turned off. With music playing, to mask their voices, they told their story.

John listened to the convoluted tale. Their confession gave him a great deal of concern.

Probing deeper, he asked Maria what kind of ties Sam had to the drug cartels.

She thought he was a small time operator, used by the drug lords, and allowed to skim off some of the profits but it was an 'arms length' operation. He did not know them and they didn't really care about him, as long as he ran a safe operation and made them money.

"What about the bodies?" "What are the connections to organized crime?"

Maria thought for the most part he was just a delivery boy for the mob. Bodies were brought in from all around the country and Sam controlled the crematorium through a front company in New Jersey. However, she was certain that he had killed a few, probably with Howards's help, whenever he felt his operation was threatened. Sam was becoming more and more paranoid however. She thought everyone he knew was at risk now, particularly herself and Adam, as they knew a lot but didn't contribute much of anything to the operation, beyond making the fuck flicks, but anyone could do that. Eve was still his favorite girl, though he was letting more and more of his friends fuck her, something Maria said could go on for several years before he would put her out to pasture like he did her.

As for Di, she was Howard's wife. There had been some bad blood between Howard and Sam after Di moved in with Sam. It wasn't until Di convinced Sam to finance a brothel that Howard wanted, that they made peace. Now Howard helped Sam keep ahead of the law and in return Di managed the brothel, hiring the Madam and finding the women to staff the place. She was also the one to turn their porn watching habit into a profitable business.

"Tri-Sum, what was that all about," John questioned.

Adam said it was about sexual liberation but Maria said it was much more than that. It is a mixture of Eastern beliefs and the Occult. Maria believed Di had the power to evoke a temporary spell over people and was sure Di had put one on her when they first met, then introduced her to Tri-Sum which led her to becoming Sam's mistress. Looking back on how Eve behaved in the early days, Maria believed Sandra and Di had put one on Eve too. They get you hooked with sexual gratification but the longer you study it the more it becomes about power and control.

Since Di learned about Tri-Sum, she has her 'girls' get trained through the first level. That is where you learn to surrender and tune into the amoral, erotic, pleasures of sex. It was a brilliant business decision, making Howard a lot of money, as he caters only to high end clients. It also keeps Di in good favor with Sam, as she feeds women like Eve to him, keeping him and his friends stocked with sexually liberated women.

But there was more, for Maria had witnessed Sandra levitate a very heavy table down a flight of stairs into the basement, where they performed rituals on it. Just walking past it, she had seen candles spontaneously light and flicker as a cold breeze blew in from nowhere. It was scary.

As for Sandra and Brian, they had more recently taken their business to the London financial district, where they were said to be doing very very well.

Then there was the sugar-leaf, what was that?

Maria had used it for several years. She didn't know what it was but from her experience it interfered with her ability to make rational decisions and had made her susceptible to suggestions from people in authority. As addicted as it was, she was forced to quit using it when she became allergic to it.

John knew between drug lords, organized crime, and the legal system, keeping everyone alive after getting into such a mess was iffy at best. He could understand why Maria had stayed this long, as escaping from this vendetta rich environment was difficult at best. Adam wasn't a poster boy of virtue either with his sexual exploits. Then there was Eve, actively participating in the illegal activities; even now that she knew what was going on. She was enjoying the momentary benefits as well as 'willingly' sleeping with the enemy and his friends. Her situation looked dire and John wondered if she wanted out.

An emotional tearful Adam pleaded with John to save Eve as well.

John asked for a couple of weeks to think things over. With no 'high profile' targets to bring down, prosecutors would be only to happy to advance their careers by putting behind bars, murders, rapist, pimps, drug runners, all bundled in the sleazy world of illicit sex. It would play well on the nightly news.

With racing hearts, Adam and Maria snuck back into the house. They made love so Maria would have some 'proof' she was following orders. Maybe it was the adrenalin, but they actually had some 'aurora' going on, making their 'mandatory' sex very delightful, to say the least. What started as a 'quickie' became a lover's feast.

FREEDOM

A week later, Di got a call from Howard. He had seen a confidential investigative police report which linked their brothel to a drug operation. He said they were still very early in the investigation so they didn't have any names and he didn't know how they learned about the brothel or drew such a link, as the brothel never had any drug involvement and kept a very low profile. He was clearly worried though and Di said she would tell Sam.

Sam was clearly upset too. "That dam whore house was Howard's idea and he should have known better than to get involved." After stewing for a while, Sam told Di to get her idiot husband over to the house that evening so they could figure out what to do.

Sam already knew what to do however. The only link between him and those whores was Di and Howard. Break that link and he was off the hook. He called Maria, instructing her to take everyone out to his favorite Italian restaurant that evening. "It was a big thank you meal," he told her, "so don't hold back on the food or drink. Oh, and be sure to have Eve and Adam come too. One more thing, don't get home before ten or I'll think you didn't appreciate the gift."

When Howard arrived, Di suggested they close the place down for a while. Howard wanted to just move it to another part of the city. Sam combined the two suggestions, telling them to shut it down until they could find a new location. Satisfied they had found a solution; Sam poured them some drinks and lit a cigar. The drug worked faster than he anticipated, their hearts stopping not long after they dozed off. Wrestling their bodies into the trunk of Howard's car, he broke protocol and drove straight to the funeral home. From there he drove to the seeder part of town, parking the car near a bus stop. Leaving Howard's car there with the key in it, he took buses until he could find a cab to take him home.

With Di gone, Sam figured he would move Eve into her place. He didn't know if she had any business sense but thought he could get Adam to help her. But then, maybe he should just get rid of Adam and Maria while he was at it. A clean start was sounding good and a canoe accident in the canal would do just the trick.

With that problem solved, Sam then started to fret about what the police might find in Howard's house once they went looking for him. It was early morning and Sam was on the road again, headed this time to Howard's house. He wished he had kept Howards keys but the back door window broke easily enough. It was a big older house, with an upstairs and downstairs. Looking for any evidence that might link the two of them was going to be hard, with so many hiding places and so little time. In the DVD player, he found the latest sex video that Di must have given him of Maria and Adam. On Howard's computer, Sam did find his name in a contact list but most alarming, he found raw footage of Eve and himself. In the basement were boxes of records, taxes and who knew what else.

Sam was glad he had come but now what to do about it. In the garage were Howard's boat and another car. Taking a gas can, Sam drenched the boxes in the basement. Siphoning gas from the car and boat, he drenched the basement walls and stairs before doing the same upstairs and on the main level.

Seeing the gas stove in the kitchen, he got a wrench and disconnected the gas pipe, letting the gas escape into the room. When the fire got big enough, he figured, the house would explode too. He went through the house one more time examining his handwork. The house stunk of gas, so much so it was making him ill. In the basement, something caught his eye in a dark corner. He flicked on a light. There was a judgment day flash as the little spark from the light switch set things in motion.

The massive fire and resulting explosion was so great that they did not find the body for six days. The fire department had all it could do to keep the neighboring house from catching on fire and let Howards burn to the ground as they protected them. The fire marshal said it was an obvious case of arson. The police report said the body was burned beyond recognition but they were sure it was Howard because he never reported to work again. John helped with the investigation but they could never determine a solid motive. There was however, a tantalizing clue found in Howard's work desk. A sketchy report talked about a brothel and a drug operation but since there were no details, some wonder if Howard was on to something and the criminal element found out and took him out.

The fiery explosion of Howard's house was front page news. Maria went looking for Sam and Di. When she couldn't find them and when they didn't show up the next day either, Maria rented a Rider truck, grabbed hordes of cash and all the drugs, along with her stuff and whatever else she thought she could use, then disappeared. Maria warned the other house keepers and gardener, that their lives were in peril; so they abandoned the place too, fearing for their own safety.

The house sat empty for the better part of a year. John bought it at a Tax auction and immediately set about cleaning it up and redoing its landscaping. He found numerous sex videos involving Eve with a diversity of lovers in a variety of situations. Adam didn't know half of what his wife had been doing. Adams affairs were well documented too, though much more mundane by comparison. John destroyed them all, never bringing the subject up with anyone.

Adam and Eve separated for a while. It took them time to clear their minds from all the wild living they had experienced and for the toxic drugs to clear out of Eve's body.

Adam received a letter from Maria. The postmark was from Argentina. A picture showed her sipping tea by a villa overlooking the ocean. She thanked him for all the 'good times,' framing those words with pubic hair. She promised him a good life, if he would come and join her.

Eventually Adam and Eve got their heads together and they worked on rebuilding their marriage, trading the highs and thrills of infatuation and loveless sex, for the joys of intimate love.

When Eve became pregnant she was delighted but worried too. Having aborted the baby conceived by David, she feared losing another one. With a drug free body and a good diet, Carol helped her kept fit, with a beautiful baby to show for it.

The Godferys helped Adam and Eve landscape their lot, making it a little paradise in its own right. Now instead of being south of Eden, they were in the middle of it, with hell having been recreated too.

With a fresh start, the past slowly faded, the future looked bright and the present was a delight to live. Adam and Eve were at peace once again, never missing an opportunity to kiss when they heard the DJ on the radio say, "It's half past kissing time, time to kiss again."