Harry Bosch and Annie Waler in L. A.

Warning!... Scat, the story ends in a scat scene. I know this will cause conniptions for a lot of readers, but I tried everything I could think of to avoid it, and couldn't come up with a way, not without leaving a major loose end dangling. So, if you are of a delicate nature, late in the story you will see a line break of 5 stars (*****), and this will be the signal to bail.

Harry Bosch is sitting in his living room, gazing out a large picture window into a canyon below. It looks as if the whole front of the house is being held up by a few old telephone poles that are about to snap off any minute and cause the house to hurtle into the abyss. With him is his partner, Jerry Edgar. An LP record is spinning on the stereo, pumping out alto sax jazz music.

"You and this fucking Art Pepper Galaxy shit," says Jerry. "It's not even his best stuff."

"I like it," says Bosch.

Jerry says, "I ought to get you some really good shit to listen to, some Muddy Waters or Jimmy Reed, something that'll get the juices flowing."

While the two men argue over musical matters, Annie Walker, a highly regarded CIA operative, is in bed with Maddie Bosch, Harry's 21-year-old daughter, in Maddie's bedroom, making love. Maddie is straddling Annie's face grinding her cunt hard onto Annie's mouth, Annie's tongue plowing deep inside of her. "Lick it, you, lick my fucking cunt," she implores her. When the mood strikes her, she moves a few inches higher and offers her asshole to Annie's mouth and she licks and sucks that even harder. But after several minutes of this, Annie pushes Maddie's ass hard up into the air and deftly moves her face out of the way so when Maddie plops down again it's onto the bed, first on her ass and then on her back. Annie swings her leg over her body into a 69 position, and now both women begin licking each other's pussy. Annie licks her finger and slides it into Maddie's asshole as she tongue-fucks her cunt. Maddie circles her tongue all around Annie's cunt lips bathing her face in her juices. Both women feel like they're climbing a mountain of pleasure and sensation, each step more thrilling than the last, and with the top in sight; a few more steps and they reach the top, only to cascade down the other side in orgasmic bliss.

Bosch's phone rings. "Bosch here."

It's Auggie, Annie's CIA handler. "Harry, it's Auggie. Is Annie there. She's not picking up her damn phone."

"Yeah, she's here. Don't know whether she can talk right now."

"Shit. This is important. Who's she with, Maddie or Jerry? Or both?"

"Let me see if I can get her." Harry goes over to Maddie's door, knocks, and yells through it. "Hey, Annie. It's the blind guy. Needs to talk to you."

Annie says something in French, then Russian, and finally Swedish. "Speak English, doll. Can't understand a fucking word."

"Tell Auggie I'll call him in two minutes." She turns her phone on, throws a dress on over her head, and sits back on the bed to give Maddie a hug and a kiss. "You were fucking incredible, as usual," she tells her, then stands up and leaves the room.

She calls Auggie. Auggie says, "There's something big brewing. Joan needs to see you right away, and she wants you to bring Harry with you. His boss has probably been in touch with him already." She relates the news to Harry and they leave.

A few minutes later Maddie comes out of her bedroom wearing a skimpy black camisole and nothing else and walks into the living room.

"Oh," she says when she sees Jerry. "You're still here."

"Yeah, turn off that fucking stereo, okay?"

"Not an Art Pepper fan, I guess."

"Yeah, right," he mumbles. "I suppose you like it?"

"It makes my dad happy to say I do, but I'll take Billy Strings any day. Know him?" She straddles Jerry's lap as she says this.

"No." She kisses him hard on the lips, pushing her tits into his body.

"Touch my tits, Jerry." Then, "Mmmm, that's it. Harder."

Jerry's tongue is plowing into her mouth like a steam piston and she's rubbing her naked pussy all over his lap.

"Shit, you're a hot cunt!" he says, cupping her ass in his hand.

"Thought you knew that already, Jerry. Come fuck me with that hard cock of yours."

He scoops her up by her ass, her legs scissored around his waist, and carries her to her bed. He throws her on it and tells her to take the cami off while he quickly strips off his own clothes. He's finally naked and lays down on top of her, kissing her on her face and then her tits.

"I can taste and smell Annie all over you," he says, licking her skin wildly.

"Good," she says. "Fuck the two of us then at the same time." He reaches for her legs and spreads them wide apart and back over her head, opening her pussy to him. He pushes his cock into her wet cunt until their pelvic bones collide.

"Shit," he groans. "You're so fucking wet," and he pumps his raging cock in and out of her. She scrapes her nails across his back as she pulls him into her, arching her pussy up to meet his every thrust. Both are floating off into another dimension as the pleasure builds in their loins. A wall inside of her begins to crumble and through the gap pours her climax, sweeping her along. She can feel Jerry about to erupt.

"Come in my mouth," she orders him. "I want your cock in my mouth, your cum there." He pulls out of her and she quickly sits up and grabs for his cock and shoves it in her mouth. She sucks hard on it, using her hands to coax his release. He spurts a half-dozen times, filling her mouth with his seed. She dribbles it out onto his cock and rubs it all over her face, then licks his rod all the way down to his balls and back again. They both collapse onto the bed and roll into each other.

Annie and Bosch drive to a derelict building behind a hotdog stand on La Brea Blvd, a secret CIA sub-command center for operations in southern California and the South Pacific. Joan Campbell is there and ushers them into an office space.

"It looks like the operation should come to a head tomorrow evening. The arms transfer will take place during a party at the Hotel Dormaine. Annie, you're going to pose as a cocktail waitress with the serving crew, mixing with the guests, serving drinks, keeping a close eye on what's going on. Once Kaplan arrives with his entourage, you'll try to get as close to him as possible, really ingratiate yourself with him, try to make him feel like you're his private servant. Harry, you're on security detail monitoring things and keeping an eye on Annie." Then to Annie she says, "Go see Auggie. He's got your final instructions and stuff you'll need."

"Hey, Annie," Auggie says as she walks into the room he's occupying, filled with computer screens. "It's good to see you, you're looking great, I see; watch those boxes over there, I should see that they're looked after, but you should be able to see your way through the mess and see fit to come here and look me in the eye and see if what I have for you will allow you to see this operation through to the end."

"Ha, ha," Annie says. "You and your blind person jokes."

"I was trying for the record with that one. Think I made it?"

"I don't know, I'll have to look into it and see," she says.

"I love that perfume you're wearing," he says. "Smells a lot like Soiree avec Maddie, a very pleasant scent indeed. How is she, by the way?"

"Wonderful, of course."

"A few more details would be nice. It's been a couple of days now since I've been able to use my blind guy schtick to attract some beauty and take her to bed with me."

"Sorry, you're not drooling enough. So, what do you have for me, Auggie?"

"Well, here's your serving outfit, it should show your legs off nicely. Now, very important. You'll notice the buttons on the blouse are smaller than usual. See this second button? Inside that button is a receiver. It's pretty powerful and should pick up all conversation within ten feet or so."

"Joan said something about getting very tight with Kaplan. Suppose that means the blouse has to go at some point?"

"Let's hope that doesn't have to happen, but if it does, the button is sewn on with just a few threads; pull it off and swallow it. They're so technically sophisticated now that it will still do its job inside of you, though at a shorter distance, maybe five feet. Nature will take its course and get rid of it for you later."

Meanwhile, Bosch is still with Joan. They talk about matters regarding the next day's operation, but then become less formal.

"It's been a while since we worked together in Iraq, hasn't it, Harry," she says.

"Yeah," says Harry. "I was always impressed with the good intel you gave us. Among other things."

"What other things?" she asks, a very slight smile forming.

"Well, if I have to remind you..."

"Not remind me, Harry, more like just share the memories. I haven't forgotten anything." And she moves closer to him.

"Those three days we were holed up in a bunker outside of Fallujah," he mentions, "I still have dreams about that."

"Good dreams, I hope?" Joan's moved very close to him now, her face only inches from his. "Tell me some of what you dream, Harry."

He turns from her and walks to the door, locks it, and closes the blinds on the glass partition separating the office from the rest of the building. "Why don't I show you," he says.

He returns to her and kisses her, lowering the zipper on the back of her dress at the same time. After the garment has cascaded to the floor, he motions her over to a couch near the wall. She removes her bra and panties as he strips his own clothes off. He sits down and pulls her on top of his lap, her legs straddling him. She offers her tits to him and he sucks them greedily. She reaches for his cock and strokes it, feeling it expand in her hand. He lifts her by her ass, and tells her to put his cock inside of her. His cock slides in, her wetness engulfing him. She moans as his cock pounds into her. She keeps herself balanced on him by throwing her arms around his head, freeing up both his hands to caress her tits. He moves a hand under her ass and inserts a finger into her asshole, doubling her pleasure.

"Fuck me, Harry, and then fuck me in the ass like in Iraq; I want you in my ass."

For several more minutes he slides his cock in and out of her cunt, and then he moves her onto her stomach on the couch. He pulls her up onto her knees, her tits sprawled on the couch, and circles his tongue all around her rosebud making it wet and slippery before thrusting it inside. He spits on it to make it super juicy and then straightening up puts his cock to her anus. He pushes into her, his cock sliding through the rubbery sphincter and deep inside of her. She is breathing hard now, pushing her ass back to meet his invasion, her fingers clawing at the couch. Soon she takes one of her hands and touches her pussy with it, pushing a finger, and then another one, inside massaging her clit. With the noise they're making it's surprising no one outside has tried breaking the door down yet. But with the fire enflaming her ass from Harry's cock and her fingers dancing on her clit, it isn't long before she hits her climax, with Harry emptying his cock deep inside her ass shortly after.

She sprawls flat onto her stomach on the couch with Harry lying on top of her.

"Hmmm," Joan purrs. "That was nice, Harry, really nice. One of the few fond memories I have of that place."

"Is that why you specifically asked for me for this operation? Spark old memories?"

"Is there anything wrong with that? But, no, Harry, that wasn't the only reason. I want the best people I know on this operation, and you're one of them, even though you work for the LAPD and not the CIA. I had to pull a couple of strings to get you, but it was worth it."

"Thanks," Harry says.

"I wish you had come with us after leaving the army; the CIA would've been lucky to have you, and I would've liked that a lot."

"I wanted to plant myself in good old American soil after the army; I was tired of overseas assignments." By now they were dressed again.

"It looks like you've got good CIA people working for you, too," says Harry. "Annie is a tough little cookie, a real firecracker. My daughter is nuts about her, as is my partner, though neither for anything having to do with the CIA. Even the blind guy seems all right."

"Auggie's the glue that keeps things together most of the time."

"So who is this Kaplan guy?" asks Bosch after a pause.

"Hollister Kaplan," says Joan. "He's an old gun runner working in Latin America, though for a while now he's been off our radar. A while ago we were tipped off by a Mossad operative that he had resurfaced and was planning a deal with North Korea to smuggle in high-tech nuclear materiel for their development program. It was coming up from Lima through L.A. before going overseas. We want to stop it here."

"How much are we looking at? Truckloads?"

"Nope, actually all of what they've got fits into two suitcases. It seems these days the smaller the package, the more lethal the contents."

The next day all those involved in the operation assemble at the luxurious Hotel Dormaine. Annie is in her rather skimpy cocktail waitress outfit, her beautiful legs on full display. Bosch is sashaying around the premises, along with Jerry and two other plainclothes officers, all connected to each other via earpieces. There are no uniformed police officers about, of course. Auggie is back at headquarters with Joan ready to monitor everything on his computer. Kaplan is hosting a party, a rather large gathering in one of the hotel's ballrooms, and guests are beginning to arrive. Joan thinks the party is a distraction for the major order of business that will go down somewhere else in the hotel.

Annie makes a number of rounds of the ballroom holding a tray of drinks. At one point Jerry approaches her to talk with her, but she cuts him off abruptly. Bosch goes up to him a bit later and tells him to keep his goddam pecker in his pants and don't fuck up the operation. He tells Bosch to relax, "I've got a date with Maddie later anyway, so go fuck yourself."

Finally, Kaplan arrives with a small entourage of three women, all gorgeous, naturally. Annie immediately zeros in on him, offering him a drink, and talking to him. He is fluent in Spanish, but his native language is Portuguese, and that's what Annie uses for conversation. He's instantly impressed, and is so happy to find someone conversant in his favorite language that he wants her to stay close. She tells him she's got to mingle, it's her job, or she'll get fired, and he replies that she needn't worry about the maldito trabalho (damn job), he'll give her five times as much money if she stays close. She smiles at him and stands very close to him. "Perto assim?" (close like this) she asks him, smiling coyly. "Sim, isso e perfeito" (yes, that's perfect), he replies and grins. And it was perfect for her, too, because the receiver should have no trouble hearing everything now.

Kaplan talks to several people, in English or Spanish, sometimes telling her to wait where she is so he can talk privately. She makes sure to stay within ten feet of him, though, at least most of the time. Soon Annie notices a certain restlessness among the three women in his entourage, as if they are about to leave. Kaplan then asks her if she would like to join him and the women in a more intimate setting and party together, just the five of them. He tells her he will give her $1,000 per hour for all the time she stays, which he imagines might be all night. He makes it very clear that it will involve sex (only a moron wouldn't have been able to figure that out), perhaps of a very kinky nature, and that it would include him and the three women but that's all. (He doesn't want her to think she is going to be gang-banged by a room full of maniacs.)

Kaplan looks to be about 40 years old, well built, and handsome enough. To indicate to him that she wasn't just born yesterday, she asks about the money: how does she know he's going to pay her after the proceedings are over? Unlike some men, who might have just socked her in the jaw at that point, he understands her position and comprehends her concern, even appreciates her display of self-interest. He says he'll give her $5000 up front, the rest, if there's more, when she leaves. She starts to think that if Kaplan wasn't mixed up in this awful nuclear deal with North Korea, he might not be such a bad guy after all. She agrees, of course, and makes a quick scan of the room looking for Harry to signal him she's about to go off with Kaplan. She eyes him, makes her signal, and sees him shake his head no, indicating they have not gotten any information that would help them locate the suitcases. The receiver is still a vital tool.

They all go to an elevator, get on, and begin ascending to an upper floor. Since intimate relations are soon to commence the women all introduce themselves to Annie. Since the women only speak Spanish, that's what they all speak now. While the women talk, Kaplan moves away and makes a phone call. Annie has a feeling it's an important one.

They enter a large suite on the tenth floor. The suite is sub-divided into several rooms, one being an oversized bathroom with a large Jacuzzi/sunken bath in the center of it. The women are instructed to take their clothes off in the bedroom and hang them in the closet. As Annie takes her blouse off, she yanks the second button off and swallows it. When everyone is naked they come back into the bathroom and assemble in the tub. Annie thinks they're all going to take a bath together, but the women begin to pee on one another. Annie is pulled into the middle and everyone takes aim at her, soon drenching her. She hasn't done anything like this since college, and is finding it most enjoyable and sexy. The women are very affectionate with each other, rubbing their bodies together, kissing one another, hands everywhere, which only intensifies the pleasure.

Soon they are joined by Kaplan who stands on the edge of the bath and has the women all gather close together in front of him. He begins to pee on them, some of the women squealing with delight. He must've been saving up for a very long time because he seems to go on forever. The women are wallowing around on the bottom of the bath, licking the piss off each other's tits, dribbling it from their mouths, licking each other's pussy. Kaplan finally finishes peeing and is about to step into the bath, when a fully dressed man comes into the room, goes up to him, and says something to him, almost in a whisper. He hardly looks at the naked, pee-drenched women, and they hardly pay any attention to him. But Annie pays close attention and from the angle he's standing at, can read his lips. Along with a bunch of other things, she sees him say Habitacion 247 (Room 247). Convinced this must be vital information, and not sure whether her ingested receiver gets it, she turns away from the others for a second and says out loud Room 247 down towards her stomach.

Whether it's the acoustics of the room or just freak timing, but just as she says it, the room grows almost silent, and what she utters is heard clearly by all. Shit, Annie thinks. Kaplan stares at her and steps into the bath. The other women scurry out of the bath like rats fleeing a burning building, and Annie backs away from the advancing Kaplan, though she runs out of free space quickly. She tries climbing out of the bath, but Kaplan grabs her and pulls her back in. He throws her down into the pooled pee at the bottom of the bath, and she splashes around trying to get away from him. He grabs her by her sopping wet hair and drags her through the piss to the other end of the bath where it's slightly deeper. He smacks her across the face a few times and forces it under the pee. He holds her there as she flails away trying to raise her head and breathe again; then he pulls her head out and immediately pushes it back under again. Piss is flying all over the bathroom from their struggling.