The Commander Ch. 08

"Oh God!" Jocelyn burped out in horror, holding her mouth.

"No," Jason pressed on, "were still not at the nightmare. The bad dude has to finish the job, or he's dead himself. So he comes back, but this time there's police, guards, whatever all around Jocelyn and Jet here. He can't get close enough to do the job the right way, so he uses a car bomb, a cheap rocket propelled grenade, or maybe he torches the whole building -- whatever -- he kills both Jocelyn and Jet along with everyone who gets in the way."

Jocelyn stood up. "I have to go!" she breathed in a panic. Jason sat there motionless.

"Please sit down, Jocelyn," Jason said calmly.

"No, I have to go." Jocelyn was shaking. "I am so fucking stupid," she said mostly to herself.

Now Fiona stood up. "Jocelyn, what are you talking about?"

"I thought I was running away, but I brought them here. Don't you get it? You're going to die because of me."

"No one is going to die," assured Jason, but Jocelyn wasn't listening.

Jocelyn went to open the door, but it was locked. Jason has done this once or twice before.

"I have to go, NOW!" Jocelyn was panicking. Her breath was rapid and shallow. Her pupils were wide, and her eyes scanned side to side. She steadied herself on her chair for balance. Her pale forehead and face beaded with cold sweat. Jocelyn was going into shock.

I reached for one of the empty garbage pails and held it at chest level in front of her. Ten seconds later Jocelyn grabbed both edges of the plastic trash bin and emptied her breakfast into the pail with a single heave.

Jason reached into a drawer and brought out two clean cloth napkins -- one dry and one damp. He handed them to me. I waited with the pail in position until I thought the barfing was over, then I handed Jocelyn the damp napkin, and she wiped her mouth. Thankfully, nothing splashed on her clothing.

I put the vomit pail in the corner. Instantly the door opened, a lady came in with an empty pail, lifted the vomit pail, put the clean pail in the original location, and left with Jocelyn's breakfast, closing the locked door behind her.

"Jocelyn," Fiona "you're my sister, we'll work ..."

"I'M NOT YOUR FUCKING SISTER," Jocelyn was shrieking. "MY WHOLE LIFE YOU HAVE BEEN GOOD TO ME AND I HAVE BEEN A WORTHLESS WHORE."

"Oh Jocelyn," Fiona welled up with the pain she empathized for her twin sister. "That's not true."

"I STOLE ALL YOUR BOYFRIENDS. I RUINED YOUR LIFE. AND WHEN YOU FINALLY GET YOU SHIT TOGETHER, I KILL YOU."

Fiona never thought she would hear those words in this lifetime. Fiona rushed to Jocelyn and took her tightly in her arms. They were both sobbing, each for a hundred different reasons.

Jocelyn wasn't shrieking anymore, but she was still bawling. "Just let me go home and die."

"No no no no no no no no no" Fiona wept in reply, still holding Jocelyn tightly.

Jason waited a few minutes until he thought he could get their attention. "Ladies," he offered, "could we sit down please, and we will take all of this morning to explain why no one is going to die." Fiona and Jocelyn stood in their embrace for a few more minutes. Jason knew better than to repeat himself.

At last Jocelyn pulled away from Fiona, but she still held Fiona's arms tightly, and looked directly into Fiona's eyes. She spoke sternly in a trembling voice. "You promise -- you fucking promise me -- you do every last fucking thing this man says."

"I promise. I really do," Fiona attested, trying to contain her tears.

"You too, Energizer Bunny," she said, looking to me. Even in her most emotionally compromised state, Jocelyn found a way to inject some humor.

"I promise," I said honestly.

I realized there was no better way to convince Fiona to accept Jason's advice than what just happened. I doubt Jason uses this approach with everyone, but he probably sized up Fiona's and Jocelyn's twin bond in an instant, and knew exactly how to play it. Jason, as always, was brilliantly perceptive.

Fiona and Jocelyn took their seats. I gave Jocelyn the dry towel, which she used to pat her face. Jason offered a dry towel to Fiona, who took it to dry her own eyes.

"Jocelyn, Fiona," Jason continued after the recomposed themselves, "I'm sorry if I upset you. I hope you appreciate one of my jobs is to make you fully aware of the scope and nature of the danger you both now face. Sometimes it takes a bit of a shock therapy to help people understand the gravity of the situation." The girls nodded quietly. "Understanding your own risks is one of the most important factors in ensuring your safety. We will spend a lot more time discussing those risks in more detail, but I promise you those sessions will be less dramatic that what you just went through."

"Good!" Fiona laughed, still with tears in her eyes.

"Okay," Jason concluded. "You have been through quite a bit just now. I am going to introduce you to Karen Bruno. She will be your case lead. Karen will start by taking you to our recovery room. You will be able to relax, lie down if you need to, for as long as you want. You can get some water, coffee, tea, or juice. There is a powder room there where you can freshen up. And then when you feel ready, Karen will walk you through all the details you will need to cover today." Jason looked at his watch. "We should have you out of here by lunch time."

Jason looked at all of us, and then asked "Do you have any questions?" The girls shook their heads no vacantly. I said no.

Jason stood. The door opened and a compact, hardened, five-foot six woman in her mid-thirties stepped through. This was a different woman than the one who replaced Jocelyn's bucket. She pulled her jet-black hair into a short pony tail. She was pretty, maybe more accurately handsome, with a slightly squared jaw. Her pale blue eyes looked older, sadder than the rest of her face. She wore a blue sweater vest over a tan shirt and dark pants. I guessed she was former Secret Service or FBI. I knew for certain her current salary was more than double whatever she made in a promising public service law enforcement career. I also assumed she had watched and listened to our entire conversation.

She stepped in, and shook Jocelyn's hand first. "Hi Jocelyn, I'm Karen Bruno." Jocelyn replied hello. Karen stepped past me and next shook Fiona's hand. "Fiona, I'm pleased to meet you. I'm Karen Bruno."

Karen shook my hand last. I beat her to the punch line. "Hi Karen. Call me Jet." Karen smiled a professional smile. There was nothing warm or affectionate in it. She was one hundred percent business. Already I liked her.

"If you will follow me, please," Karen gestured us out of the room.

"Actually," Jason said, "Jet, if you don't mind, can you stay behind, and you and I can sort out the business details." I nodded as I watched Karen lead Fiona and Jocelyn out the meeting room door. Karen closed the door behind her.

"Mr. Terrance," Jason asked when we were alone, "I have to ask. Have you been in the security business before?" Jason, as always, was brilliantly perceptive.

"No." I didn't know if I was lying or not with that answer -- it's complicated when you come from two separate people. "Don and I shared stories. Nothing improper, you understand," I added to make sure Jason knew Don didn't tell inappropriate secrets. "I also did my homework before I came here."

"I'm not saying this to be rude or disrespectful, Mr. Terrance, but I don't believe you. The way you comport yourself, your comfort -- I would even say familiarity -- with the dynamics of our discussion this morning. Nothing surprised you. Your anticipation of Jocelyn's stomach upset. I watched you size up Karen just now, and yes, she was Secret Service. You seemed to know where I was going with this interview even before we all sat down.

"You have to know I did background checks on all three of you. None of you ever served in the forces or law enforcement. You have never worked, taught, or done research in security, and yet you have shown remarkable insights and ease for a layperson who has Googled his way to this meeting.

"I am telling you this, Mr. Terrance, because I cannot -- I do not -- protect people who lie to me." Jason fixed his eyes on mine and didn't let go.

"I pick things up quickly," I offered weakly.

"Mr. Terrance, please don't insult me." He stopped talking. He was waiting for me to speak next.

"Well I'm not hiring you to protect me, so I guess we'll just have to leave it where it is," I finally said. I knew that was bullshit, and I knew Jason knew I knew it. I was throwing the gauntlet down. I was counting on this case being too interesting and lucrative for Jason to pass it up.

Jason looked at me for a long time in silence. "Very well," he at last spoke. "There is something significant you are not telling me. The way I see it, you're not primary, and I don't see how this affects my job except by making it easier. But I have to tell you, your secret is a possible risk I can't manage." Jason paused. "I rarely do this, but I am adding a drop clause to our contract -- that's non-negotiable." Jason was introducing a special clause in our contract that permits his company to fire us as his clients if my refusal to tell him about my past compromises his company's ability to protect us. Jason was saying it's either that, or there's the door.

"I understand," I replied.

"Somehow I thought you would," he observed as he stood up. "I'm going to take you over to Harold, who will review the financial and contractual details with you. You can meet up with Jocelyn and Fiona after that." I was left wondering -- how many times can I get away with my worlds colliding?

"Okay," I agreed as I stood up. This time the door was unlocked, and Jason led me through a maze of hallways to find Harold. It took me half an hour to sign the forms and authorize the use of an escrow account for payment. With that done, I joined Fiona and Jocelyn, who had used almost the same half hour to recompose themselves. They had just sat down with Karen Bruno to go through the initial paperwork authorizing M.B. Security Services to do all the things it needed to do to protect their lives. Karen had two assistants working with her to speed things along, but as Jason predicted, it took until about noon to get through everything.

"I need your cell phone," Karen told me as I joined Fiona and Jocelyn. I surrendered it to her, and she asked one of her assistants to run it over to her technician. Fiona explained Karen had also taken hers. Jason, of course, already confiscated Jocelyn's phone. The assistant returned after a minute, and continued helping Karen.

At one point, Karen asked me if I had considered moving, and I explained coincidentally we had just started thinking about that. She said that was a good idea -- we should consider it sooner rather than later, and to involve M.B. Securities, who can register the title with a shell company, but I still retain ownership, so that we become even more difficult to find. I could see the wheels turning in Fiona's mind, following our earlier discussions about a new condo.

The next issue was associates and friends. Before any planned parties or gatherings at our place, M.B. Securities had to run a background check on all invitees. They needed a minimum of three days advance notice with names and complete addresses, including apartment numbers and zip codes. Fiona and Jocelyn looked at each other, presumably thinking about the upcoming dungeon party.

The list of things we processed is too long to review here, but a few highlights included:

1. M.B. Security had already rented a car for me in the short term, and would lease cars for all of us in the long term, all in the company's name so an ownership trace cannot lead to us. My BMW was to remain at M.B. Security when we drove away today. They would hold on to our cars for us, or they would sell them for us -- our choice.

2. M.B. Security would come to the condo on Thursday and carry out extensive upgrades on the physical security and monitoring systems. Thursday was the first possible day available.

3. We were to go to the condo today at 2 PM -- someone would meet us there, and they would escort us to our condo where we would pack some bags, and then go to a pair of hotel rooms already rented under M.B. Security's name until Thursday, then we can return to our condo with the upgraded security.

4. Just before we left for the day, Karen gave Fiona, Jocelyn, and me Samsung Galaxy S4 phones and Samsung laptops. She explained they are preconfigured with new email accounts and phone numbers. The technician had already transferred most of the contacts from Fiona's and my old phones over to the new Samsung S4s. Karen and Jason's coordinates were already programmed in to our new phones. All use of these new phones and computers were monitored by M.B. Security. Jocelyn was forbidden to email, call, or text anyone in San Antonio, or anyone remotely connected to her ex-husband. If we tampered with the phones, or used them unwisely, Karen would know.

When we left at noon in our rental car, we were tired and hungry. The girls were cranky -- they had an emotionally draining interview with Jason, and Jocelyn didn't have the benefit of her breakfast. We went out for lunch, and discussed our next steps.

Condo shopping suddenly became a high priority.

The girls needed the names and addresses of all the dungeon party guests by the next day so Karen could clear them this week. Fiona said she would contact Nicole when we go home at 2 PM -- she didn't have Nicole's email address in her new Samsung laptop.

Fiona asked if we should drop the skydiving course. I suggested we finish the ground school -- we had one more class the following day -- and then we would decide if we want to continue with our first jump -- Fiona agreed. And then it occurred to me -- we completely forgot to tell Karen Bruno about the skydiving class.

Fiona used her new Galaxy S4 to send an email to Karen explaining about our skydiving class, and that the next and final ground school lesson was tomorrow afternoon, which included an actual flight, although we would not jump. Karen's swift reply was this was not allowed -- she did not have enough time to vet the school. I found the instructor's number in my new cell phone, so I called him, explained there was a family emergency, and we could not make it to tomorrow's class. He told me there would be another series of classes in about two months -- we could pick up our missed class then at no extra charge.

At two we met Charles outside our condo, a man who had M.B. Security credentials. We went up to the condo together. We packed our suitcases, and Fiona got Nicole's email address and the email addresses of her invitees.

At three we drove the rental car to the Marriott, where we had two adjoining suites. We were on the lam.

The three of us spent the remainder of the week condo shopping. Fiona was able to send the names and addresses of all the dungeon party guests to Karen Tuesday night.

The security upgrades took longer than expected, so we moved back into our condo on Friday morning, and received a two hour technical briefing on how to use the new security system. Karen Bruno was also there. Karen berated us on the importance of following the rules, and that she would know within seconds if we had not.

We went out condo shopping again. By the end of the week Fiona and I had narrowed it down to three locations. We felt a little oversaturated from condo shopping, so we agreed to take a break over the weekend and see if we could make a decision next week.

On Friday afternoon, Karen Bruno sent an email to Fiona -- one guy failed the background check, and he was not permitted to attend the party -- Karen didn't say why. Everyone else was okay. It was too late to find a replacement, so Fiona and Jocelyn decided to go ahead with six guests to make nine people instead of ten. It was a person on Nicole's list, so Fiona had to email Nicole and ask her to delicately un-invite him without being able to explain why -- it was very awkward.

The girls spent Saturday shopping and preparing for the dungeon party. Later, as Fiona, Jocelyn, and I were preparing food in the kitchen, I asked them how the party would work. They explained the rules to me.

Everyone would split randomly into two groups: masters and slaves. Then they would randomly pair masters to slaves. They would make sure there would be no boy-on-boy pairing, which they didn't think would go over well. Masters would get to dress/undress their slaves any way they wanted and they would put whatever bondage hardware they want on their slaves, and could do whatever they want to their slaves, within the agreed rules.

Half way through the night, everyone would switch -- all the slaves would become masters, and all masters would become slaves. They would randomly pair up the masters to slaves again, and start all over. Everyone would be a slave once and everyone would be a master once.

I suggested one change to that rule. When people are tied up in a defenceless situation, it seemed important to have one person who made sure nothing went wrong -- to make sure no one overstepped the boundaries. As we had an odd number of people anyway, pulling one person out would restore the bodies to an even number. I volunteered to be that person.

"That's a good idea, Jet," Fiona offered, "but won't that mean you won't have any fun?"

"Oh, in addition to making sure everything was okay, I was thinking I could be a roving participant," I offered. The girls saw right through my clever little idea. But after a while, Jocelyn said she liked it -- after the Spankies incident, she considered having me always untied was a good idea. Plus, she mentioned, I would probably be the only Energizer Bunny there -- I might as well rove.

Fiona said that, with one guy already uninvited, my roving would take two guys out of the rotation, guaranteeing one girl-on-girl in each pairing. She and Jocelyn were fine with that, and they knew Nicole was okay.

I asked what were the rules that everyone had to follow. They were: no hurting anyone, always fuck with a condom, no anal (unless everyone agrees), and stop when people say stop.

I suggested one change. Instead of "stop", I suggested we could use colors: "green" means I am fine and continue; "yellow" means I am at my limit -- continue but don't make it any more intense; and "red" means stop. Obviously, "stop" also means stop. The girls liked that variation.

Finally, I suggested we remove the gags and mouth rings from the available hardware, as that prevents slaves from being able to say stop. The girls said they had already thought of that.

I debated whether to pursue my next topic. I decided to give it a try, hoping I was not about to sink the entire party by forcing Fiona to revisit some unwelcome memories.

"Fiona," I started, "you know I am looking forward to this party, especially now with my role as roving Energizer Bunny."

"But?" Fiona said for me, anticipating there was a downside to that thought.

"At the risk of being a buzz kill, I am wondering why you are doing this at all. I know you must have discussed this with Jocelyn -- about that incident with you and me that I am ashamed ever happened." I paused, looking for concern or hurt in Fiona's eyes, but I saw none. "I am just surprised that, after your raw outburst several weeks ago in the storage room, you would even consider going through with this."

"You're right," Fiona said, "I have discussed this a lot with Jocelyn. I wasn't convinced at first, and to be honest, I'm still not one hundred percent sure, but Jocelyn has this crazy idea that that I can use party this as a way to get past those memories." Fiona exchanged a meaningful glance with Jocelyn. There was much more to it than that, but that's all she was willing to share right now.