The Coffee Shop Pt. 04

Almost as if the thump of his butt on the floor had been a signal, Todd's arms flopped down to his sides, from where his arms had been hanging up and slightly behind him. With a small thud, his hands came to rest on top of his thighs. Todd let out yet another 'ah' of pleasure as his hands slid down from his thighs on to the carpeted floor. His arms dangled loosely from his shoulders, like two very big overcooked pieces of spaghetti. His head, which had been resting comfortably on his chest dipped down even lower as Todd started to topple forward. It seemed as if Todd's head had become too heavy for him to hold up any longer. I watched with sweet satisfaction as Todd's torso continued to fall forward in slow motion. (Oh to have had a camera just then! Something, so that I could have recorded that moment!) As his torso toppled forward, it started to tilt to the right. I watched in utter fascination as Todd's body keeled over onto his right side. His right shoulder hit the carpeted floor with a muffled thud, followed a half a second later with the much softer sound of his head hitting the floor. Todd lay there in front of the living room chair, in a crumpled heap, lying on his right side. If it were not for the satisfied smile on his face, I might have thought that Todd had collapsed due to illness or for some other reason. As it was, I was fairly certain that Todd was very deeply hypnotized.

"What have you done?" Andy asked me in a quiet whisper.

"Not now, Andy," I shushed him, waving him to be silent. "I have work to do."

I carefully placed the glass I was still holding on the living room table, as I slowly stood up. I quickly made my way over to where Todd lay in front of the living room chair. I place my finger onto Todd's forehead and sent out my most delicate mental probe. I couldn't help but smile as I discovered that Todd's shields were completely nonexistent. I scanned his mind deeper and deeper looking for any of the signs that he was gifted. I found nothing. His shield appeared to have been one of the natural ones that negative emotions can generate. In Todd's case, his natural mistrust of other people served to create an effective shield. It wasn't an exceptionally powerful shield, but it was effective. It was gone now, though. Todd's mind was completely open to me. I hesitated for a few seconds. A part of me did not want to do what I knew had to be done.

Mental scanning, or telepathy as it is sometime referred to, was a much faster form of communication than speaking. My particular brand of telepathy was limited to physical contact. If I was not in physical contact with a person I could not read their minds. Oh, I could control people from a distance, and give them commands, but in order to do that I have to had made direct eye contact. I don't know why my super hypnosis power worked this way, it just did. I didn't make the rules, I just abided by them. I could make a person follow my verbal commands, once I'd achieved that first second or two of eye contact. A second or two is all I needed to implant my mental controls. Mental scanning, though, that required physical contact.

A long time ago, I heard someone say, or maybe I read it in a book somewhere, the phrase "A man's mind is his last refuge of privacy." My telepathy removed this refuge, and that is why I was often hesitant about scanning another person's mind. A simple surface scan was one thing, but a deep probing scan was another. A surface scan could detect emotions and indicate if someone was lying. A deep mental probe was completely different. When I scanned a person deeply enough, it was like reading a book with a very comprehensive index and table of contents. I could quickly locate any information that I wanted. There were no secrets, if I pushed my probes deeply enough. Of course if the person in question had the same gift as I did, they could shield their minds and their secrets, for a while anyway. Every person has their own secrets that they keep hidden down in the deep dark recesses of their minds. It was always unsettling to say the least, coming across these secret thoughts. This was one of the reasons why I don't like deeply scanning someone's mind. The other reason was somewhat more personal. I considered this aspect of my powers to be a form of mental rape. It made me uncomfortable to violate another person's secrets, whatever the reason. Even blackmail.

I paused for a moment or two as I considered the options open to me. The first option was to not scan Todd's mind any further, and to not implant any controls into his mind. This would not be of much help to me or Andy. We would be right back to where we were before I'd started the induction. Andy would be left to make a choice between the publication of those photographs, or changing his testimony (lying in court). I didn't much like that option for reasons too numerous to mention. The second option was to continue on with the deep scan of Todd's mind in an attempt to retrieve enough information to discover a way out of this nightmare. This meant that I would have to swallow my pride and bend my precious ethics a bit. There was a part of me that actually enjoyed the snooping around in another person's mind, that a deep scan provides. I didn't like facing that dark part of my soul In actual fact, I feared it. But that was the choice facing me. Do nothing, or dip into that dark black part of my soul. Tough choice!

I took a deep breath and steeled myself for the unpleasant task I was about to undertake. I kept my mental probe focused on obtaining information about the blackmail phonographs that Todd had acquired. I didn't need to know the reasons for the blackmail. All I was looking for was information to help me find a way out of this situation. At least that is what I kept telling myself as I sorted through Todd's mind. I kept having to drag my mental nose out of things that were not related to Andy and this evening's blackmail attempt. Finally, after several long minutes of searching I managed to piece together the story. It made my skin craw. (Even thinking about it now, makes my skin crawl.) Before I stood up and broke my mental connection with Todd, I implanted a few simple but very powerful commands and controls. First and foremost was that Todd would obey me completely whenever I hypnotized him. He would agree to and enjoy anything and everything that I had him do while he was hypnotized. (Yes, that left a very broad spectrum command, but I needed to keep as many of my options open as I could. I was not sure exactly how this evening was going to turn out.) Second, whenever he heard me say the trigger phrase "catfish in a suit", he would return to this deep state of hypnosis and obedience. Third, when he was not hypnotized he would be himself in every respect. As for his memory of this session and any future sessions, I would adjust his memories as necessary. I had that ability, and I fully intended to use it.

"Todd, pick yourself up off of the floor and straighten your suit," I directed him as I stood up and stepped away from him. Todd open his eyes and jumped up from the floor as if he had been shot out of a cannon. Quickly he looked down at himself and began pulling his suit jacket down around his pants. It took him only a few seconds to fix his suit jacket and to check that his tie was still tucked inside of his suit jacket. He looked over at me, but did not say anything.

"That's better, Todd," I complimented him. He beamed with pride at a job well done. "Now, sit down in the chair, close your eyes and relax. Remain that way, relaxed, comfortable and at peace until I call for you."

Todd turned to his left to find the chair that he had been sitting in. Once he located it, he walked over to it and sat down promptly. As soon as he was sitting comfortably with his hands resting in his lap, his body wilted like some water starved plant in the hot noon day sun. His eyes closed and his head dropped down as he followed my instructions. I knew that I didn't have to concern myself with Todd for the next little while. I turned away from him and looked over at Andy.

Andy had not moved an inch since I'd started the induction. Andy's face was calm. No, stony would be a better word. It was clear that he wasn't pleased at what I had just done. This wasn't the place to talk about it though. I walked over to where he was standing and taking him by the arm, I lead Andy into the kitchen. It was far enough away that if we talked quietly, we'd have all the privacy we'd need. We had a lot to talk about.



Chapter 9. Tied, Tarnished, and Totally Trashed.

Andy sat down at the kitchen table with me, but he sat opposite me, instead of beside me, continuing to stare at me with that cold stony expression on his face.

"What? What's wrong?" I asked him with a sigh. I was genuinely puzzled by his reaction. I wasn't expecting him to be upset with me. I would have thought he'd have felt relief more than anger or whatever it was that he was feeling.

"Was it really necessary to play with Todd like that, Paul?" Andy asked me, the displeasure in his tone abundantly apparent.

"What do you mean, love?" I asked Andy, perplexed at his reaction to my induction of Todd.

"Dragging out the induction as you did," Andy said with a disapproving frown set on those sexy lips of his. "You could have made it quick and fast, like you did that first time with Chuck back in your apartment. Why the charade with the ice cubes in the glass? Why the long drawn out process of hypnotizing Todd? Why didn't you just zap him with your powers? You've always told me you could zap anybody in just a second or two."

"Todd's not just anybody, Andy," I said, offering an explanation. "He has a natural mental shield that I had to circumvent. If I had applied my powers directly to break through his

shield it would have been painful for him, and I saw no reason to inflict any unnecessary pain on him."

"Oh, I see," Andy said quietly, but his tone indicated that he remained unconvinced. "I still don't like you putting him under without his permission, though. You always told me that you never used your powers on someone without their permission first, unless you had no choice."

"What about that incident with the three cowboys, Andy?" I asked him as I felt my temper start to heat up. "You didn't seem to upset when I told you about that."

"Well, you really didn't have much of a choice then. It was three against one after all," Andy admitted. "You were only protecting yourself, then. This is different."

"How so?" I asked, wondering what Andy's point was.

"Well, no one asked you to interfere, Paul," Andy told me coldly.

I looked at him, not quite sure I had heard him correctly. "Excuse me?" I asked, not believing what I'd just heard. "Did I hear you right?"

"Yes, you heard me correctly," Andy said. "This was my problem to solve, and I don't appreciate you taking over like you just did. You never even gave me the chance to decide what it was that I was going to do."

I stared at Andy like I'd never seen him before. I couldn't believe what I was hearing! His nose was out of joint because I'd stepped in and taken over. After what I had just gone through in my search of Todd's mind, I wasn't exactly in the most charitable of moods. Here I was trying to do everything in my power to get us out of this mess, and Mr. RCMP Constable here was upset because I hadn't asked his permission first!

"You arrogant son of a bitch!" I exclaimed in a hushed voice as I jumped to my feet, letting my rage out in one furious burst. "This wasn't just your problem! It was our problem! I'm in this just as deep as you are, you know! It was my bare backside, in those photographs, just as much as yours!" I stopped as I suddenly found myself at a loss for words. I stood there, my chest heaving, as I tried to catch my breath and calm down.

"Are you finished?" Andy asked coldly, as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. Clearly my tirade wasn't making any impression on him.

"Not just yet," I said as I banked the fire of my temper and let go of my anger. As I began speaking again, it was in a much calmer tone of voice. "How can you think for one minute, that I would stand idly by, while some low life scum like Todd, puts you into such a difficult position? If I could help in any way, don't you know by now that I'd do it? Andy, I'd do anything for you. I'd help you in any way that I can." I held up my left hand and shoved my wedding band right in front of his face. "Did you think I didn't take those words seriously, dear heart?" I asked him dropping my voice to mere whisper. "I couldn't bear the thought of you having to make such a choice, dearest. I saw the agony on your face when Todd knew he had you cornered. It was too much for me. I had to do something, and so I did."

I gazed directly into those dark brown eyes of Andy's the entire time that I spoke to him. His eyes remained hard cold and unflinching. He didn't seem to believe me. I didn't seem to be reaching him. I didn't know what else to say to him.

"You're not alone, you know, " I said to him as I sat back down and softly touched his right cheek with my left hand. "You're never alone, dear heart. We're in this together, and together we will find a way to clean up this mess that we're in. I have no regrets from yesterday or last night. I'm not sorry for what I just did to Todd. I'd do again in a heartbeat, if it meant protecting you. It's taken me years, far too many years, to find someone like you and have you come into my life. No one, least of all a guy trying to blackmail us, is going to make me give you up. I'm in it for the long haul. We will find a way out of this, dear heart."

Andy gazed down at me, and then a miracle happened. I saw that warm soft glow come back into his dark brown eyes. In less than a second, Andy was looking at me with those soft warm doe brown eyes of his, that glowed with that special look that I knew was just for me.

"You're right," Andy said softly as he covered my left hand with his big strong right hand. "We are in this together. I'm sorry, Paul. It's just so hard sometimes. I'm so used to keeping my job secret from civilians, that I couldn't help but have a natural aversion to you interfering in police business as it were. It's silly and childish, I suppose. I should have trusted you more, and known that you had something in mind. I'm sorry, Texas."

I smiled at Andy as I heard him call me by his pet name for me. "It's okay, dear heart," I assured him. "We're both under a lot of strain right now. We're not exactly thinking clearly. I'm sorry for blowing up at you like that. You couldn't know what I just went through with Todd."

"What do you mean?" Andy asked, as he looked at my quizzically.

"Well, in addition to hypnotizing him and implanting a few controls, I also searched Todd's mind for information about the blackmail attempt," I said hesitantly. "It's not something that I normally do, and I do not like doing it, but it was necessary. If we're going to figure out a way out of this mess, we need all the information we can get."

"You read his mind?" Andy asked me. Now it was his turn not to believe what he was hearing.

"In a word, 'yes'," I admitted. "I don't like doing that, though, because sometimes I see things in a person's mind that I'd rather not see." I turned away from Andy at that moment as I tried to keep my composure. I failed. The images of what I'd seen in Todd's mind were still fresh in my mind, and I was having a hard time dealing with them and putting them aside. I clenched my right hand in a knuckle white fist as I tried to control the rage and anger than threatened to surge out of me again.

"What is it, Paul? What's wrong?" Andy asked me softly as he squeezed my left hand with his right hand, trying to give me strength.

"It's what I saw in Todd's mind," I blurted out. "He never intended to let you off of the hook. He was going to use those photographs to get you do anything he wanted. There were images of him humiliating you in front of his friends. Making you crawl around and bark like a dog while in your dress uniform. And there was more."

At that point my voice cracked and I couldn't talk. All I could do was shake with suppressed rage as the images flooded through my mind again. I couldn't believe I was telling Andy any of this. There was no reason to burden him with it, but I couldn't seem to stop myself. Andy squeezed my hand offering me silent reassurance and courage.

"He he was going to have you and I perform in front of his friends as well," I finally managed to get the words out. "Sexually. That is the one image in Todd's mind that haunts me. Todd's one heartless and mean son of a bitch. All I want to do right now is to beat his face with my fists until it's nothing but a bloody pulp! I'm so fucking angry at him right now, I don't know what to do!"

"I'll hold him down for you, if you like," Andy said softly. "But considering his current state of mind, I don't think that would be necessary."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," I agreed, as I finally got myself back under control. "He's pretty docile and obedient right now. I guess that is what scares me. It would be so easy to go too far right now. Todd wouldn't object to anything I had him do. I nearly had that happen with Chuck. Promise me that you'll keep me on a short leash, okay love?"

"I left my dog collar and leash at home, but I'll do my best," Andy said as he chuckled at me. "Now how about you fill me in on the important information regarding these blackmail photographs. I'm sure that if we put our heads together we can come up with something."

"Well love, here's the story," I said as I began speaking to Andy. His attention was focused completely on me as I spoke. He was letting every word sink into his mind. "The photographs were taking by a photographer, using a digital camera. The photographer passed the camera onto Todd. To insure that the photographer could not download the digital images or make any copies of his own, the camera was sealed and marked. Once Todd had the camera he came here on Sunday afternoon while we were gone. Todd has a key to this house. Todd went to the locked bedroom and used the computer in there to download the images from the camera to the computer and to print them off. No one else has seen the prints. Todd has the digital clip from the camera locked up in the safe in his office. As for Todd's client, he hasn't seen the prints either. All Todd told him was that the necessary leverage had been obtained."

"Very interesting," Andy said as he thought over what I'd just told him. "It seems that we're in luck. But there are a couple of questions that are still unanswered.. First, who was the photographer and how do we deal with him? Second and more important to me, is how did Todd manage to obtain the keys to this house? Was the owner of the house, a man who I thought was my friend, in on this as well?"

I could see the pain in Andy's eyes as he considered the possibility that his long time friend had been involved in this failed blackmail scheme. "The photographer's name is Jeremy Bromwell," I said as I answered Andy's question. "He's not really important. I obtained a clear image of him from Todd's mind. I'm sure I can pay him a short visit sometime later this week, and adjust his memories of last night's events. It should be a simple matter to blur his memory so that he can't see our faces. Hence he won't be able to identify us."

"You can do that?" Andy asked me, disbelievingly . "You can change someone's memory?"

"Yes, don't you remember that afternoon in my apartment with you, me and Chuck?" I asked him.

"Oh, yeah," Andy said as he smiled sheepishly at me. "I'd forgotten about that. Sorry. What about my friend? Was he in on this?"