The Finchley Flasher Ch. 03

"This isn't over, Edmund," Ariel said, spitting out a huge glob of cum from her mouth. "It isn't over yet."

Edmund had to laugh at the sight of the pathetic creature, covered from head to toe in little Billy's salty spunk. The woman who had unsuccessfully tried to kill him was still making threats, even in defeat.

"And you, Marie" she continued. "You're going to pay dearly for your treachery. I promise you that!"

"I wouldn't go making any promises you can't keep," Marie replied with scorn. "You and your band of traitors are finished. It's over Ariel."

Edmund told the other men to keep the crowd of women in one area of the room and gave the loaded pistol to George.

"I don't want to hurt anyone," Edmund told the big Irishman. "But if they get out of hand, fire a few shots into the air. That should keep them in line until we figure out what to do with them."

"You needn't worry about that, Edmund," Marie said. "Holly and the other Sisters are waiting outside to take them all into custody. And Jenny is with them."

"Jenny is here?" he cried.

"Alive and well and with her aunt too!"

The former Flasher of Finchley wanted to jump for joy at that moment, but he suddenly felt overwhelmingly tired. It was as if the air in his immediate vicinity had become rarefied, making it difficult to breathe. He had the odd sensation that the room was starting to contract; his focus narrowing to the point where all the people and objects within his field of vision seemed to move rapidly away from him at lightening speed.

All around him people were dropping like flies or were fighting in vain to keep their equilibrium. Billy, George, Harry, Tiger—all of them looked as if they were going to pass out any second, and suddenly they did. He felt Marie's hands grasp at his arm, trying to keep him from falling. He heard a faint scream and looked up to see Fay and Kay collapse unceremoniously onto the floor at the same moment in one big heap. Others headed toward the exits, but they took a few steps only to find themselves teetering to and fro moments before ending up on the floor.

Directly in front of him a teary-eyed Ariel was struggling to breathe as she crawled on hands and knees toward the closest exit. She only got halfway there before passing out. Marge, Doris, Greta, the guards...everyone was succumbing to the mysterious malady. Only Marie seemed impervious to the phenomenon. He reached out to her in desperation, feeling his breathing become shallow. And then he felt his legs give way underneath him. For a moment he sensed his body was in freefall. The pistol hit the ground seconds before he did, and then he lost consciousness.

************

It would be a long and arduous task sorting out the vagaries of Ariel's schismatic mind, but it was a task that Holly could not avoid. She clearly did not relish having to deal with it, especially since all she really wanted to do was to lock the woman, along with her accomplices, in a mental institution for the rest of their lives. But Sisterhood protocol demanded that Ariel receive a fair trial by her peers, and there was literally nothing she could do to change that fact.

For the meantime, the traitorous madwoman would be kept in confinement at Sisterhood headquarters in Paris along with all of her top conspirators. They would remain in custody until they could be tried, and that could take weeks. Her followers had been given a chance to either accept Holly as their leader or to be excommunicated from the Order. Almost all chose to swear allegiance to Holly rather than be ostracized. Those few that had remained steadfast to Ariel were forever barred from the Sisterhood with no chance of redemption.

Holly's plan to rescue Edmund and the other men had worked fabulously—far better than even she had anticipated. Considering Ariel's vast experience in the art of espionage and the vast resources she had in personnel and materiel, her accomplishment was even more impressive. Marie had been the key.

Unbeknownst to Ariel, whose arrogance and hubris would not allow her to entertain the fact that any individual or entity could ever prove superior to the resources she had at her command, great technological advances had been made in the physical sciences by several of the Sisters working in those fields. One advance had been made in the development of a neural neutralizing gas that, unlike other modern sleep-inducing compounds such as Fluothane and Neothyl, was not toxic, even in large amounts, and recovery time was usually less than a few hours, leaving no permanent physical damage. This sleep-inducing agent had been used to incapacitate Ariel and everyone else in the warehouse and had proven to be a great success.

Another technological advance had come in the way of a tiny, subdermal, radio-frequency device that could be implanted in the arm or hand (or, as in Marie's case, in the base of the neck), which had a touch sensitive capacity allowing instant two-way communication. This device was used by Marie to communicate with Holly during the entire week Edmund had been kept prisoner. It had worked like a charm, fooling even the ultra-vigilant Ariel and leaving her completely ignorant as to what was transpiring in her midst. The other idea, albeit a mundane but precautionary one, was supplied by Marie, who thought it wise to substitute blank rounds in the guard's weapons. It had been a prescient move: Edmund had his life to thank for it.

By virtue of her exemplary actions, Holly elevated Marie's status within the Sisterhood to that of First Order of Sisters, placing her within the ranks of the uppermost echelons of Sisterhood society. It was a richly deserved honor heartily approved by all—especially by Jenny, who could not thank Marie enough for helping to save Edmund's life. Even after Edmund had told Jenny about his sexual tryst with Marie, how he was coerced to have sex with her in order to save his life and those of the other men, she did not chastise him. She knew that he had also been under the influence of the EJAX drug and that there was probably very little he could do to stop himself. She also knew that Marie had to play her part or risk everything if she had been discovered of being a spy. All she cared about was that he was alive and unharmed.

After Ariel and her accomplices had been safely flown out of the country to Paris under the supervision of both Justine and Estelle, and an entourage of Holly's most highest-ranking officials, the most pressing concern was what to do about Edmund and the eleven other men who were suffering the pervasive and devastating effects of the EJAX drug. There was no doubt that treatment would have to begin immediately if the men were ever to enjoy a normal, healthy sexual life.

Glad to be rid of Ariel for the time being, and curious about the fate of these men, Holly had decided to remain in Manhattan with Felicia and Janet. She had heard about Christiana's plans to implement a certain type of treatment to help rid the men of the pernicious effects of the EJAX drug and was curious to know how the doctor was going to achieve this goal. She also wanted to learn more about Jenny, who had now become very attached to her. As she had no pressing business waiting for her back in LA, she felt it would be in her best interests to foster the newfound friendship with the young, beautiful, and highly intelligent English girl. When Jenny learned that Holly was planning to remain in New York, she was thrilled.

"I am so happy that you decided to stay," she said to Holly over dinner one night as the two women sat in opulent surroundings belonging to one of Manhattan's most prestigious restaurants.

"I wanted to get to know you a little better," Holly replied. "That's why I asked the others not to come to dinner tonight. I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all. I was looking forward to spending some time alone with you as well."

Holly smiled. "I hear you and Edmund have been inseparable the past few days. I can't say that I blame you. He's a terribly handsome man. But I was afraid I wouldn't be able to pry you two loose."

This time it was Jenny's turn to smile. "I know. We're like two lovebirds, aren't we?"

"I can't say that I blame you, Holly. If I had a man like that..."

"Well, it was all the anxiety too, you know? The stress of not knowing whether he was alive or dead."

"Of course. I totally understand."

The two women momentarily paused in their conversation to take a bite of their food.

Soft piano music played in the background, providing a melodious counterpoint to the low, constant drone of people's voices that echoed off the marble walls and hardwood floors of the restaurant's luxurious surroundings. Jenny was not used to such opulence or the exotic and highly priced food that appeared on the menu, half of whose names she couldn't even pronounce. In the end she opted for the most innocuous meal she could find: flounder almondine.

"You know, Holly, you really didn't have to spend all this money just to take me out to eat."

"The Sisterhood is picking up the tab on this one," Holly replied genially. "I'm not that rich."

"So you don't make of habit of indulging in this kind of cuisine?"

"Not at these prices!" she laughed. "As I said, I'm not rich. I only suggested this place because I wanted our first meeting to be something special."

Jenny was glad to find that she and Holly had yet another thing in common: they were both practical and frugal in their tastes, yet not to the degree that they would deny themselves the finer pleasures that life had to offer, even if only partaken of on an infrequent basis.

"I can't thank you enough for all you've done for Edmund and me."

Holly was just about to take a bite of her food but instead put the fork down gently onto her plate, a thin slice of veal attached to the tip of its tongs. "Listen, Jenny. I don't want you to think ill of me. But I must tell you that, saving Edmund from Ariel—as important as it was—was not the primary reason I came here. I came here to save the world from Ariel. I hope you understand that."

"I do understand, Holly. I know she had to be stopped."

"At all costs," Holly stated flatly. "I didn't want to see Edmund hurt, anymore than I wanted to see any of those other men hurt. But my main concern was always Ariel. If she had somehow managed to gain control of the Sisterhood then she would have also gained access to all of the vital technological and scientific information kept under lock and key at our world headquarters in Paris. If she had succeeded, if she had shared and distributed this information to her network of operatives, it would have been the death knell for all of us—and for the world."

Jenny sat in silence for a few moments absorbing the content of these words.

In the short time she had known Holly, she had come to learn that the stunning blonde minced no words when it came to expressing herself. She admired Holly's seemingly innate desire to always abide by the truth, no matter how difficult it might be for her to express or for others to accept. This compulsion toward complete honesty was something she had come to admire about her.

"My aunt tells me that you have a little girl," Jenny said, raising her glass to her lips.

"Yes. Her name is Angelique, after my deceased cousin."

"That's a beautiful name. How old is she?"

"She'll be a year old next month."

"And your husband?"

"We're divorced. The marriage only lasted a little over a year."

"What happened, if I may ask?"

"Mr. Craig Lundquist," she began with a note of nostalgia. "A nice guy. Kind. Funny. But it was our political views that drove us apart. He thinks it's the conservatives who are going to save this country. I don't. And I don't think the liberals are going to save it either."

"What do you think?"

She paused for a moment and then looked Jenny straight in the eye. "I think the entire system needs to be destroyed and reconstructed from the bottom up. The oligarchs that rule this country are turning it into a graveyard."

Jenny understood exactly what she meant. Her aunt had often told her how terribly hierarchical and stratified British society had become over the centuries with its rigid and uncompromising class structure—a society in which the "royals" perennially looked down upon the "commoners" as if their elitist rule had been divinely ordained by God to the eternal detriment of their lesser brethren. England still reeked with the stench of Feudalism and slavish adherence to the antiquated and obsolete stricture of the divine right of kings.

Holly, for her part, having seen the financial and moral decay of her own country over the past several years due to the criminal activities of the government, Wall Street, the banks, and the multinational corporations, which were responsible for creating the greatest divide between the rich and poor of any industrialized nation, knew that true change would never come from the ballot box because both Republicans and Democrats represented two heads attached to the same body—a decaying body politic kept in perpetual servitude to its corporate masters. The interests of the electorate didn't even factor into the equation.

"From what your aunt tells me, you would make a perfect candidate for the Sisterhood," Holly said, switching topics.

"That's something I really haven't thought all that much about recently."

"Of course. You've had your mind on Edmund. But you should think about it. The Sisterhood is always ready to welcome someone like you into its ranks."

"Someone like me?"

"Yes. Someone with your high degree of intelligence, moral fiber...all that wonderful stuff."

"I don't know," Jenny replied looking down at her plate. "I'm not like my mother. I'm too independent-minded to belong to any group."

Holly chuckled softly. "You're mother is one of the most fiercely independent women I know. The Sisterhood doesn't place boundaries upon you, Jenny; it expands them. Your mother realized that long ago. That's why she joined us. I hope you will do the same."

For the next hour and a half the two women talked about many things—their careers, their relationships with men, their likes and dislikes, their dreams for the future—but ultimately the specter of the Sisterhood was always lurking just beneath the surface.

"The people of this country," Holly said, elaborating upon what she had hinted at previously, "are slowly waking up to the fact that they are living under a delusion and have been for the past hundred years or more. But it goes beyond that. The entire world is in serious trouble. We stand at a precipice and what we do now will determine whether we will live in a world ruled by freedom and truth or by evil and eternal servitude. That's why I am fighting so hard to keep the Sisterhood intact. We can't afford to have women like Ariel causing dissolution among our ranks. We can't fight against this male-dominated, patriarchal, death-oriented system using their methods of violence and coercion, like Ariel advocated. We need to work within the system to bring about change. The people of the world must unite to defeat the tyrants. And the Sisterhood must lead the charge. It's the only way."

By the time they left the restaurant, Jenny had forgotten about how utterly delicious her high-priced meal had been. All she could think about was the future—her future with Edmund.

"I realize how important your crusade is to you," she told Holly. "But right now all that matters to me is to make Edmund well again."

Holly took Jenny's arm in hers as they walked down the street. It was a dark and rainy day but neither woman would let the bleakness of the weather dull their spirits.

"And he will be made well again, Jenny. Christiana will see to that."

"Are you going to come to the clinic next week to see him get treated?"

"I plan to but I'm not sure what days I'll be available. I do have other appointments to keep now that I'm in the city."

"But you will try."

"I'll be there, Jenny."

They walked a little further and stopped to admire some women's shoes that were prominently displayed in a store window.

"When Edmund is back to full health, will you promise me one thing?"

"What's that?"

"That you will seriously consider joining our Order."

Jenny looked up at the ominous black clouds moving swiftly over the tops of the skyscrapers above her—the silent harbingers of a far more devastating storm of man-made origins that she knew was coming. She also knew that the future, if there was to be one, would demand that all good people, from the best and brightest to the most humble and self-effacing, would have to join in common purpose to save the world from total destruction. Her mother had warned her only just recently that a new world war was upon them. This World War III would be the final conflagration; the blasphemous epitome of man's hatred and ignorance turned inward upon itself. But Jenny realized that it was more than that. If this war did happen, it would be the result of the failure of humanity to acknowledge once and for all that we are all part of a greater cosmic unity, uniting all living things in an inseparable bond whose interconnectivity, however slightly misaligned, would adversely affect the entire organism. And maybe this time, the damage would be beyond repair.

She suddenly came to a halt, forcing Holly to stop in her tracks. She looked into the large, blue-violet eyes of the Elizabeth Taylor look-alike and squeezed her hand tightly.

"I promise," she said.

************

The Swensen Sex Research Center, founded by Dr. Christiana Swensen and her colleague Dr. Rebecca Hellstrom, was located in midtown Manhattan on West 45th St. and Park Avenue. The sole purpose for its existence was to treat both male and female sexual dysfunction, and although modest in terms of its size and staff, it had become one of the most famous medical clinics in the entire world, mostly due to the celebrity status of its founding member.

The clinic had been built a few years after the success of EJAX-472 had provided Christiana with enough capital to establish a medical facility outside Sweden. The decision to build a clinic on foreign soil had often occupied her thoughts, since many of her colleagues and medical companies she dealt with were based in the US. It therefore made perfect sense to her to be able to offer Americans the same superior medical treatment that both Sweden, and Europe in general, had enjoyed for many years previously.

After an initial consultation with some of her medical staff, it was decided that Rebecca would make the trip to America to assist Christiana with the treatment of Edmund Kent. After her colleague arrived a few days following Edmund's return, Christiana began assembling a team of medical professionals that would form the nucleus of her specialized group. At this time offers were made to the eleven other men to who had been injected with the unstable EJAX derivative, but not one of them agreed to be treated. Christiana had warned them that there could be severe setbacks unless they were diagnosed and treated but her pleas fell on deaf ears. She believed that Edmund himself might have declined treatment if it had not been for Jenny's insistence that he comply. He felt that since he was not currently experiencing any ill side effects that he could afford to wait. But as time would prove, he was dead wrong.

In addition to Christiana's handpicked team, she decided to employ the help of several other women who had a lot of experience in dealing with men on a purely sexual basis. These women included Felicia, Janet, and Alice herself, with Christiana and Rebecca acting as team leaders. At first Jenny felt a bit uncomfortable about having her aunt involved in such a sexually charged environment that would put her on such an intimate basis with Edmund. And she wasn't sure if Edmund would be comfortable with her being there either. But she felt it best not to object to the idea until Christiana had a chance to put her plan into operation.