Spy Games

Note to publisher: This story includes italics and centering.

***

Spy Games

Chapter 26

I planned to remain in Atlanta for the rest of the day and drive back to Merryville the following morning. Not that I wanted to do any more shopping or see the sights. I was hoping to spend the afternoon and all of the night in bed... with Janis... and maybe also get some much-needed shuteye.

The Ball Busting Bitch's text nixed that idea.

* You and your team have an appointment with Control at 8:00 tomorrow morning in Merryville. Text me the location of an easily secured location meeting room. *

"Does this mean we finally get to meet the big boss?" Flanagan asked after I read him the text.

"Doubtful. It's probably just another video conference with his face blocked and his voice disguised. When we get there, I bet we meet some geek with a video camera and secure com link."

"But why now. We've done over a hundred missions and always got debriefed by our handler."

"Maybe he's tired of getting secondhand information," I guessed. "Maybe he's lost faith in the BBB and wants a firsthand account of what we've been up to the last few months. Hell, he might even want to give us a commendation."

"Right now, I'd trade a gold medal for a bottle of Jack and a comfortable bed."

We checked out of the motel and loaded up for the long drive back to Merryville. Janis, the Russian girls and I led the way in the van. Flanagan and Sixty-nine followed in the SUV.

Janis didn't say much for the first couple of hours. Which was one of the many things I admired about the lady. Unlike many women (and men) she didn't have an annoying need to fill every waking second with superfluous conversation. But in this case, she was exceptionally quiet. Which again, didn't concern me. The woman had just seen what Flanagan, Sixty-nine and I really did for a living.

Reading about someone getting killed in the newspaper is a lot different than witnessing people you know and trust gun down three men.

She was obviously against white slavery two days ago but seeing five girls she considered friends tied up and gagged in the back of a rental truck made it personal.

The twenty-four hour a day news cycle certainly made her aware of the occasional plane crash. Knowing in advance that one was going to happen was an altogether different experience.

Janis had a lot to think about and -- while I never claimed to be a mind reader -- I suspected she was reconsidering her relationship with me. I wouldn't have been a bit surprised if, after we got back to Merryville, she politely said, "it's been fun" and suggested we go our separate ways. The more I thought about it, the more I realized we had no alternative.

I was a spy. I would always be a spy. Janis was a small-town realtor. Just like my brief love affair with Amanda, there was no scenario that allowed Janis and I to have a long-term relationship.

We had just crossed the Georgia / Tennessee border. The Russian girls had talked themselves out and were sleeping when Janis turned to me with the look of a woman who had made a major decision.

"Am I part of your team?" she asked.

"What team are you talking about?"

"The text from your boss. She said, 'you and your team have a meeting with Control tomorrow morning'. Am I invited to that meeting?"

"I doubt it. Most people that work for him have never seen his face. I'm guessing all we'll see is a video feed anyway. But if Control really is coming to Merryville, I can almost guarantee he won't let a civilian know who he is."

"Would you at least ask?"

"I will, but why? What do you have to gain from talking to Control?"

"The man is taking my soul mate away from me. I want to put a face to the name so I can transfer my anger from you to him."

***

I woke the next morning to the pleasant sensation of two small hands gently stroking my morning woody.

"Does this mean you're no longer mad at me," I asked my busty blonde bedmate.

"Are you still leaving me?" Janis asked.

"I'm afraid so."

"Then I'm still mad at you."

"You have an interesting way of showing it."

"I'm only mad at your brain. The rest of you still makes me happy. Now shut up while Johnny and I have a little talk."

I was about to ask who the hell Johnny was when Janis slipped under the bedsheets and licked the length of my erection.

"You named my dick?"

"Don't listen to him Johnny. He's just jealous because I love you more than him."

Her tongue made another circuit and then she French kissed my cockhead, letting the tip of her tongue delve into my tiny slit.

"Oh Johnny, if only you could talk. Imagine the stories you could tell, the places you have been. Tell me Johnny, how many times has your little cock heart been broken? How many girls has he introduced you to, only to pull you out, cover you up and never let you see her again?"

She slipped her warm, wet lips around my alter ego and let him slide an inch or two into her mouth before pulling away.

"If you stay with me, I'll never break your heart. Live with me and I will never turn you down."

Her next attempt brought my cock to the entrance of her throat. I let out a soft moan as she bobbed up and down, trying go deeper... but it wasn't going to happen. So, she pulled back, gave my cock one last kiss and continued her charade.

"I'm sorry Johnny. You're too big for my throat, but I have another place I know you'll enjoy even more."

Janis shrugged the sheets to the bottom of the bed and kissed her way up to my chest. Raising to a kneeling position, she positioned her leaky lady lips over my equally well lubricated lance and slowly impaled herself to the hilt.

"This is your home, Johnny. This is where you are destined to spend the rest of your days. Feel the warmth of my pussy. Enjoy how she massages your cares away. Sense the love she has for you."

With her hands pressed against my chest for support, her boobs swaying tantalizing in front of me; Janis slowly and methodically fucked every inch of my cock until the inevitable approached.

"Can you feel it, Johnny. Can you feel my pussy getting tighter, clutching at your girth?

"Look at my tits. Look at my rock-hard nipples. Do you smell my arousal? Do you smell my woman scent permeate the room?

"I'm going to cum, Johnny. I'm going to cum and I'm begging you to cum with me. Shoot your sperm up my pussy and into my womb? Do what you were put on this earth to do.

"Please Johnny. Please cum with me."

I did. I came so hard I half expected to see streams of white squirt out of her nose, ears and mouth. I held her in my arms as she shivered through several aftershocks from her 8.0 Richter quake.

"Who am I?" I asked when she finally got control of her body.

"You are Mark Seiman, the man that I love."

"Are you still mad at me?"

"I never was. Now get your ass out of bed and meet me in the shower. We don't want to be late for our date with your boss."

***

2404 Surrender Court was one of the first Merryville houses I bought and was the logical choice for our meeting with Control. The home was miles off the beaten path, the nearest neighbor was over a mile away, and it still retained some of the original owner's furniture. I texted the address to the BBB the previous night, assuming Control's entourage would take care of security.

With the Russian girls safely stashed in a house on the other side of town, Janis drove the four members of "my team" up the tree lined, private drive which led to the mini mansion.

The Company presence was obvious. Two large SUVs were parked far enough up the drive to not be seen from the road but still a good hundred yards from the house. One of the SUV's blocked our path forward and -- when we pulled up to it -- the second SUV pulled behind us and blocked our exit.

"Shit," Flanagan said, "they've set up roadblocks out of blast range from the house. You know what that means."

"Control is here in person?" I asked.

"Yep. That's my guess."

Two men climbed out of each SUV and crouched behind what I imagined were armored doors with weapons leveled in our direction.

"Please get out of the vehicle," one of them said.

We complied.

"Agent Alpha, approach."

Knowing the drill, I walked towards the lead SUV, stopped ten feet from them and took off my sunglasses. Using a camera mounted to his weapon, he snapped my picture and, after a few seconds pause, turned to his partner and said:

"Facial recognition of Alpha confirmed."

Flanagan and Sixty-nine went through the same drill and were also identified as good guys. Which left Janis standing alone by the van.

"Who's the blonde?" one of the stone-faced security men asked.

"Her name is Janis Moorehead. I'll vouch for her."

"She's not on the list."

"I was told to bring my team. She's part of the team."

The guard had a brief discussion with someone over his com link. After saying, "but she's not on the list," three separate times, he finally returned his attention to me.

"She's clear. Follow me." He gave me a look of annoyance and led us toward the house.

Janis quickly caught up with me as we walked up the drive. "You obviously didn't ask if I could be here. Was that your version of not asking permission but begging forgiveness?"

"You're not in the meeting yet. But at least they aren't going to make you wait in the van."

Janis gave me an exaggerated eye roll and then turned to Sixty-nine.

"You better keep an eye on your boyfriend. The first time I was here, Flanagan handcuffed me to the bed, had his way with me while pretending to be Mark, and then spanked my bare bottom for speeding."

"Sounds like our normal Saturday night," Sixty-nine said.

"Yeah, he always was quite the romantic bastard," I added.

"And still am," Flanagan said as he gave Sixty-nine a quick slap on the ass.

The guard led us through the front door and to the formal living room where we were met by an attractive woman who I guessed was in her early thirties.

"Thank you for coming," she said as she shook my hand. "I've heard stories about the exploits of Agents Alpha and Foxtrot. It is an honor to finally meet you. And you Agent Sixty-nine, from what I've heard from your handler, you are an up-and-coming star. Please make yourselves comfortable. There are refreshments on the table.

"If you don't mind, I would like to borrow Miss Moorehead for a few minutes before the meeting starts."

As pleasant as the woman was, I noticed she didn't introduce herself and the first thing on her agenda was to remove Janis from the room. Before they could get Janis alone, I stepped up to one of the guards, stared him directly in the eyes and said:

"Are you familiar with what Foxtrot and I do for a living?"

"I've heard the rumors."

"I am placing Miss Moorehead in your care. She will not be strip searched. She will not be interrogated. If any harm comes to her, Foxtrot and I will give you an up close and personal demonstration of what we are capable of. Do you understand what I just said?"

"Yes sir. I will guard her as if my life depends on it."

"Well-chosen words." I handed him the 9 mm pistol I had surreptitiously lifted from his holster and took a seat in the living room.

Five minutes turned into ten, and then a half hour. Not what I would call a "few minutes".

"What do you think?" I asked Flanagan.

"Either Janis is charming the pants off of Control or we're going to have to kill a shit load of our own people to get her back."

"Let's give it another five minutes and then go exploring."

We were seconds from my arbitrary deadline when I heard two women laughing as they descended the stairs. One I readily identified as Janis and the other...

No fucking way. It can't be

.

When they walked into the living room together, I was so shocked I was momentarily paralyzed.

"Hello my young prince. I've been looking forward to this moment for fifteen years."

It was Mrs. Bancroft. My mentor. My surrogate parent. My first lover.

"Does this mean?" I stammered.

"Yes dear. I am Control. I took up the position right after I kicked you out of the nest. Now get your butt over here and give me a proper welcome."

I blasted out of the chair as if I had just pulled ejection seat handles and was soon in her arms. Having never expected to see Mrs. B again, the sight of her brought back a sea of emotions that I couldn't contain. Our hug lasted far longer than appropriate for a business meeting with my boss's boss, but I didn't give a damn and our startled audience wasn't about to complain.

When we finally broke our embrace not only were Mrs. Bancroft's and my eyes full of tears, but Janis' beaming face was also streaked with rivulets of emotion.

"Am I allowed to introduce you to my friends?" I asked.

"Yes, but give me a minute," Mrs. B said and then turned towards her security detail.

"Leave us please and close the door behind you."

"We were told to never let you out of our sight," the chief guard complained.

"I appreciate your loyalty, but the man who gave that order works for me. I feel safer now than I have in years. You will do as I say, or I will find a more pragmatic security detail."

They obviously didn't like it but were good soldiers and followed orders.

"You too Harriet," she said to the lady who first greeted us. "And no listening at the door."

She too seemed reticent to leave her boss with ne'er-do-well field agents, but obediently complied. Once the five of us were alone I started around the room.

"Mrs. B, I know you recruited him, but I don't think you two have ever met. This Neanderthal I brought with me is Agent Foxtrot, more commonly known as Officer Flanagan in Merryville. The young lady hiding in the corner is Agent Sixty-nine and you've already met Janis Moorehead.

"Team, meet Mrs. Bancroft. I might have brought up her name a couple of times in the past."

"Yeah, like at least twice a day for the last fifteen years," Flanagan said. "I know it's probably not the right time to ask, but where do you hide the halo and angel wings. According to Alpha, you sit at the right hand of God."

Mrs. B chuckled at Flanagan's impertinence and then got right to the point.

"As happy as I am to meet you all, I'm afraid this is not a social visit. My purpose here is to explain why we brought you to Merryville and to brief you on your next mission."

"Uh, Mrs. B," I interrupted. "If we're going to talk shop, do you think it wise to keep Janis in the room. For her safety, we shouldn't involve her in this any further than required."

"Do you think I've gone senile in my old age? I've just spent the better part of an hour with Miss Moorehead and, I must say, it was the most enjoyable, uplifting conversation I've had since you left me. I can see why you've fallen in love with her just as I know why she is so fond of you. Trust me, I will do everything in my power to protect your princess from harm, which is why I insist she hear what I have to say. Now pay attention and don't interrupt until I'm finished.

"Thanks to the intelligence you obtained from Alek Popov's safe, plus the hard work of Company agents worldwide, we now know the Russian and Chinese tactical plan for Merryville and their long-term strategy to subdue our entire country."

Yep, that made everybody sit up and take notice.

"First off, Merryville is not in danger. At least not for the short term. Yes, a host of foreign agents are headed this way, but they are not armed with bombs or deadly toxins. Their weapon is electronic espionage. I'm not talking about them stealing US military secrets, although they are doing a fine job of it. What concerns me even more is their ever-increasing expertise in industrial espionage.

"The rumor that they will use the Merryville auto plant to build autonomous cars is true. They will claim that these cars are the result of Chinese and Russian funded technology. But the truth is that these self-driving vehicles incorporate the best and latest design ideas of every major American and Western European auto maker. It is like they took the most talented engineers from Tesla, Ford, General Motors, BMW, and Mercedes and made a brand-new company. No, they didn't kidnap or bribe those engineers, they lifted the information directly out of the cyber world.

"And they didn't stop there. They also electronically raped the brains of every high-tech company on the planet, be it Google, Apple, SpaceX or a ten person start up in Argentina. Our enemies have abandoned the notion of hard work and innovation. They've given up trying to build a better smart phone, search engine or rocket motor. Now I'm not saying they don't have competent scientists in China or Russia, but why spend money on basic research when they can have it handed to them?"

"I know you said not to interrupt," I said. "But since we know they're doing this, isn't there anything we can do to stop them?"

"Completely stop them? No." Mrs. Bancroft said. "Despite all our best efforts, there are too many back doors to data bases. Too many mid-level engineers willing to take a bribe. Too many people who don't follow security protocols."

"So, what can we do?"

"We make it easier for them. We let them set up shop in our country... right here in Merryville, Tennessee. We help them build their autonomous cars, knowing full well that they are going to turn them into mobile espionage hubs. Every car that comes off the assembly line will report directly back to the Merryville plant.

"The Chinese and Russian engineers living here will know exactly where every car is every second of every day. At first glance, that doesn't sound like much of a threat, until you realize that everybody in that car will be carrying a smart phone, probably some kind of tablet and maybe a laptop or two... all of which will be synced to the car's integral broadband network.

"They will have full access to our phone calls, text messages, e-mails and social media accounts. The data on our hard drives and supposedly secure cloud storage accounts will be at their disposal. If one of these cars is parked in your garage, it will hear everything you say around Alexa and see everything your security cameras see.

"In short, if this car of theirs is as successful as we think it will be, in five years, the Chinese and Russians will have full access to every aspect of our lives."

Mrs. B stopped talking, walked over to the refreshment table, and poured herself a cup of tea.

The four of us, all in a state of shock, followed her with our eyes but remained silent. When she calmly sat back in her chair and it appeared her story was over, three sets of bewildered eyes turned their gaze from Mrs. B's to mine. It looked like I was elected to speak for the team.

"That's it?" I asked my mentor. "We're giving up? We're letting them take over the country?"

"What choice do we have?" she countered. "I've spent my entire career trying to guard our country's secrets, striving to protect our freedom, and yet all of my efforts seem to be in vain. The Chinese are literally stealing our economy out from under us. The Russians are meddling in our politics. It's only a matter of time before we are nothing but their puppets, willingly doing their work for them and buying whatever they wish to sell us.

"Unless..." she continued. "Unless we can find a way to beat them at their own game.

"While the Chinese and Russians are working together on this project, they still don't trust each other. That's why the cars will be made here, a neutral location under the joint supervision of both parties. And more importantly, all of the data that comes from their cars will be sent directly to Merryville before it is forwarded to Moscow and Beijing. They want to ensure that agents from both countries have access to the same information.