Guardian Program Ch 19

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Guardian Program Ch 19

A novel by R.C.PeterGabriel, all rights reserved.

Hal's voice told me it was four o'clock, so I knew it was time to wake Sam. I shook her gently and stroked her back. "Hey Sam, time to wake up."

She came awake without the need of a second shake and lifted her head to look at me with her post-coitus grin still on her face.

"Mmm, that was nice. May I kiss you?"

"Yes, you may," I replied, enjoying her eagerness, as she pulled herself up my body.

"Thank you," she sighed, cupping my face and giving me a gentle kiss.

"We need to go clean up. After we've showered and dressed, I'll tell you all about one of my aliases. Then you have a couple of phone calls to make."

We gathered our discarded clothes and headed upstairs. I gave her the choice of cleaning up in her room, or with me in mine. Her grin flashed like the sun, just before she ran off ahead of me into the master suite. When I caught up to her, she was already naked with the water running in the shower.

We washed each other very thoroughly but ended up making love against the shower wall, and again in the closet while trying to get dressed.

I decided it didn't matter if we were clean and we got dressed with the smell of sex on our skin.

Back in my office, I pointed to one of the screens on my wall-o-business, with the heading of Urutora Fon. "The call I was on when Julie came to my office was from Tokyo.

"You may be interested to know that a Mr. Robert Smith, from San Francisco, is a single, twenty-eight-year-old, Caucasian, who spends the majority of his time overseas. I think you might like him, because he looks a lot like me, and has a very similar personality.

"Anyway, he's the sole owner of Urutora Fon Corporation, based in Tokyo, Japan. His company is a new up-and-coming cell phone provider, which unfortunately suffered a fire a few hours ago in its largest warehouse. No one was injured, and the fire was put out quickly, but the warehouse was old and used water as a suppression system. Because of that two million phones were affected.

"Damage is probably limited to the packaging only because the phones themselves are water resistant to seventy-five meters. However, the heat may have affected some of the stock, and every phone has to be re-tested and repackaged, at the very least.

"The stock and the warehouse were insured, and because no one was injured, the whole thing is just an inconvenience, but it will slow down distribution in the region significantly.

"The reason I'm telling you this is that you're going to have to be able to tell your boss that you've gleaned something from me this week, and because of the fire, it would be logical that you found out about this alias. You could even tell them you found out because you overheard me speaking Japanese, or ... I could come up with another reason if you want."

"So, you're telling me all this, to protect my job? I wasn't even sure you'd want me to go back to it."

"You said you enjoyed it. I told you I didn't want a mindless slave. Yes, I want to take care of you, but that doesn't mean you have to quit your job if you don't want to."

"Is that the only reason you told me? I don't need you to tell me about your businesses if I don't go back."

"Well actually Sam, you talk in your sleep."

She covered her mouth and sucked in a breath while blushing. I was given a profound sense of Deja-Vu and had to grin at her, making her blush harder still.

"You want to tell your parents about us. Don't you?"

Her eyes rounded and her jaw dropped for a few seconds, then her smile returned. "Yes, Sir. I do."

I stood smiling at her while she searched my face for several moments, then looked at the monitor on the wall and then down at her hand. She was obviously thinking about her latest dream. The one I had to be referring to her talking about. She had been telling her parents that I had proposed. When she looked back up to meet my eyes she had an expression of pure hope on her face.

I nodded once, and she launched herself at me. Arms flying around my neck and legs around my waist. Her squeal of joy was cut short as her mouth found mine.

I held her tight as we feasted from each other's mouths, while she made quiet mewling noises.

When we finally broke the kiss, I reminded her, "You know, our marriage wouldn't be legal in the States, but if the wisest man in history had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, I guess I have a little room to take an extra wife or two.

"Besides, you need a reason to wear that ring around your parents."

Suddenly Sam's eyes rolled back in her head as her back bowed, her legs gripped me tighter, and she shuddered. I almost panicked thinking something was wrong with her. Then she lifted her head back up to me, eyes still having trouble focusing, and a grin spreading on her lips.

"Did you just ...?" I asked.

Sam nodded. "Oh yes. Are you mad?" We both laughed as I shook my head no.

Several minutes later, after we finished kissing again, I asked if she would like me to give her some privacy to call her parents.

"Why, don't you bug all your phones anyway?"

"Technically no, but I give both Toni and Jessie, complete privacy whenever they want. It's simple courtesy and respect. I offer the same to you."

She reached up and cupped my face. "Robert, I love you. I don't want a single second of privacy." Then her brow furrowed. "But, can I make a request?"

"Sure Baby, what is it."

She took on a pleading expression. "Can we tell them in person?"

I thought about it for a few minutes. The whole time her expression slipped from pleading with hope to pleading with worry. I was chastising myself. What was I thinking? I knew more about her than most people knew after months of dating, and she had been studying me for years, but I had only laid eyes on her a few weeks ago. How could I be so drawn to her in such a short time? I never should have offered to marry her, without talking to Toni first.

I felt in my heart that Toni would understand, and maybe even approve, but she had seemed down and this move could really hurt. Or I could be wrong and Toni could be truly and completely livid to the point of divorce. I didn't want to lose Toni and would have to talk to her before I made it official.

I gave Sam a light kiss, then set her on the edge of my desk and sat down, her expression slipping a little more toward pain.

"I need to show you something first," I explained gently. "Then I need you to think about whether or not you still want to be espoused to someone as fucked up as I am. Committing to being my sub, even for life as you claim, isn't the same as purposely marrying someone you know will abuse you and enjoy it.

"If after you see some of my darker secrets; you don't want to run screaming down one of the tunnels; and if you can wait a few weeks for me to talk this through with Toni; and because I have a lot going on business-wise, then the answer is yes."

"May I?" Sam asked, motioning to my lap, while a tear rolled down her cheek. When I nodded, she slid off the desk and into my lap.

When she spoke again, I could tell she was talking around a lump in her throat.

"Thank you. That means more to me than I can say. I could tell you were acting impulsively, and I'm sorry that I was greedy enough to accept under the circumstances. If you want to take it back I'll understand."

I shook my head and started kissing and wiping away her tears. "No, Sam.

I don't want to take it back. I just need some time to allow the other people in my life the opportunity to come to terms with it, in their own way and time."

"I hope they love you as much as I do."

"They do, but you might not after dinner."

"I doubt that I could ever not love you this much."

"We shall see. Anyway, it's almost two on the east coast. Do you want to call your boss, or wait until tomorrow?"

"Mr. Iverhouse? I forgot you two know each other."

Momentarily confused, and then very concerned, I asked. "Did he tell you, that he knew me?"

"No, I saw you talking to him in the hangar the day you met me."

I turned my chair to face the other side of the horseshoe-style desk, where my main computer screen was surrounded by four others.

"Hal, display facial images of everyone in the hangar the day the Guardian Program readers were indoctrinated.

"Sam, point out your boss to me."

When she did, I sighed. "Blank screens, Hal." I stared at the dark screens for a few moments. Mr. Henderson would soon find out that deception was not a healthy practice.

"Is something wrong?"

"No. Let's forget about him for now. We haven't eaten since breakfast, and I'm sure you're hungry."

I led her to where my garage door would be in Poison.

Here, the door opened to my other private elevator. After descending, it opened to a hall, leading to a small foyer, behind a security door that opened into the park.

We walked slowly across the park, watching several joggers run past. We paused briefly to watch a very heated basketball game, then continued toward the only night spot in the Underdark.

We almost made it to the door when a small group of kids ran up.

"You're Mr. Smith, right?" Asked the boy in the middle, who had just been pushed forward by two of his companions.

"Yes, Bobby, I'm Mr. Smith," I responded, as they all started arguing about an apparent bet. I waited a moment until I had a grasp of its parameters.

"Boys, I agree that Bobby lost the bet because I knew his name, but I also know the rest of your names, and I know the names of your parents too. If I think really hard, I might remember your teacher's name as well, so making him do your homework, is not going to happen.

"Bobby, you lost, so you can do one chore belonging to each of your friends. As for the rest of you, cheating is definitely something that I do not approve of. You will go to Mr. Moore and explain that you were attempting to cheat. You will accept whatever punishment he sees fit. Do I make myself clear?"

A discordant collection of 'Yes, Sir' and 'Okay's followed, as the dejected group turned to leave.

"See what you did Bobby you got us all in trouble," berated the largest of the group, and pushed him for emphasis.

"Dane Fugleberg!" I yelled. "I will not tolerate bullying of any kind! Do you understand me?"

Without realizing what I was doing, I strode forward to tower over the boy. Sam had to touch my arm before I noticed that I had entered into an attack posture.

Dane was trembling so badly, that I thought he would wet himself.

After taking a cleansing breath, I apologized. "I'm sorry Dane, I didn't mean to frighten you. However, what you did was just as bad. I'll be notifying your parents.

Now it's getting late and you should be doing homework. Get home all of you."

I forced myself to turn away and resume our walk.

Sam walked on in silence, watching and waiting for me to give her a signal. I knew she wanted to comfort me but didn't know how so I held my arm out and she tucked herself in against my side.

I glanced down just in time to see her smirk at the hanging sign, declaring our destination as the 'Poison Mushroom', Est: 00110010 00110000 00110001 00110000. The graphic was of a cartoonish pixilated toadstool.

"Nice," was all she said, but the glint in her eye, let me know she understood the subtleties, even if she couldn't read the binary. She had managed to pull my mood back up from the gutter, with one simple word.

"Thank you," I said, as I held the door for her. The Poison Mushroom was styled after the typical American college town bar. With exposed heavy natural beams, heavily polished oak paneling and tables, a dart board, pool tables, and a dozen TVs showing either world news or sports. It also had two halls leading off to other types of enjoyment.

The place was crowded, filled with laughter and storytelling. Everyone always seemed to be having a good time there, even if I usually felt like an outsider.

I pretended not to notice when a group of servers blushed and giggled as they spotted me. One trotted over to greet me, completely ignoring Sam, who was now scowling.

Her Irish brogue was as cheerful as her smile. "Ah, aren't ye a pleasant sight? Did you come to carry me off? I promise to struggle just a wee bit."

"Cliona, your husband probably wouldn't like that very much," I pointed out but closed the gap between us and brushed a lock of her fiery red hair with the back of my finger, more to tease Sam than to flirt with the waitress.

"Oh, he's a baldy, that one is."

"Could you just get us a couple of your house burgers, and chips to go, please?" I asked and pulled Sam up close to my side. Cliona glanced at Sam, then looked her up and down appraisingly. She smiled and skipped off behind the bar to enter our order.

I led Sam to the left and down a short hall. We exited into a waiting area near a hostess stand for our restaurant. "Good evening Mr. Smith, will you be dining?" asked a frazzled young woman.

"No, Christine, just showing Ms. Thornton around. You look stressed, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, just busy. It seems something is going on in the electronics labs, and none of the workers have eaten at home for three days now. Just a little tired, I guess."

"Well, we won't bother you." Turning, I led Sam back the way we came and then continued on past to the other side. When I opened the door at the end of a much longer hall, we could hear the thumping of heavy bass. I closed the first door and opened the next, only to be assaulted by a concert-level sound system.

Sam's face lit up, as she took in the dance club. A little over a hundred of the workers were working off the stress of the day dancing. I don't dance much but acquiesced to Sam's obvious desire to do just that.

I felt awkward, at first, but soon found myself enjoying the physicality of it, and began to lose myself in the heavy rhythm.

Sam, however, needed no worm up and had instantly become one with the music. Soon we were both fighting the urge to strip down and have sex right on the dance floor, so I led us back toward the bar before I acted on the impulse.

"Not bad, for a computer geek," quipped Sam. "At least once you let loose. You should get out more."

"I don't have time to get out more," I replied, as we entered the bar.

Cliona spotted us immediately. She grabbed a pair of sacks from the bar and flounced up to us with them behind her back. "You sure you and your mot, doesn't want to curk? I be really good at the Aussie kiss."

"I'll keep that in mind. Maybe next time." Smiling, I held out my hand for our dinner.

"I tossed in a couple of cold ones for yah, in case you stop for a picnic." She winked at me and handed over the sacks. "I'll be wait'n for next time, see'n as ye promised me."

"Thank you, Cliona, but I didn't promise you. I remember saying maybe," I corrected with a grin, and led Sam back 'outside'. I was content to watch Sam, rubberneck, as we walked back to our quarters.

She noticed the lights had dimmed and I explained that starting at nineteen hundred the white lights dimmed every ten minutes until only a few lights along the walks were left, but that the dim ultraviolet lights stayed on all the time.

"Why did you introduce me as Ms. Thornton?"

I looked her in the eye, then leaned over and kissed her gently. "Because, you're no longer single, and you haven't taken my name yet."

"Oh, Robert," she swooned, and we ended up necking until a soft chime broke the spell. "What was that?" She asked.

"One minute before eight. Just a warning to get a flashlight if you feel you need it." I explained and continued our journey home. When the last of the white lights popped off at eight, the ultra-violets cast an eerie kind of moon glow to the landscape.

Sam looked around, then up. "Wow, if you don't look right at them they look like stars, but they certainly add to the alien feel." She looked around more as we walked in silence for a few moments.

"So, what was all that about with ... Cliona?"

I chuckled. "Nothing much, she was just offering to party with us. She's quite comfortable on both sides of the fence," I added, while watching Sam's expression slide from surprise, to a light blush, then to a smile and a full-on blush.

"My, my, Ms. Thornton. Perhaps I should have accepted her offer."

She was unable to meet my eye for several minutes, and it didn't seem to me, that she was going to be forthcoming, so I came out and asked her.

"Why so embarrassed? You know you have to be honest with me if I'm to make you as happy as possible."

She still couldn't meet my eye, but she slowly opened up.

"I was a college thespian as you already know. I was cast in a stage adaptation of 'Cruising'. The plot was similar to the movie, except that all the gender roles were reversed, and were far more risqué. I had auditioned for one of the supporting roles, but the director, cast me in Al Pacino's part, as the cop 'Julie Burns'. I had to go undercover into S&M dens and Leather bars to track down a killer who had been chopping up women.

"Anyway, there were several nude scenes and when I didn't seem natural enough in my 'lesbian' persona, the director convinced us to have sex, so that we could get into the part."

Her blush had been fading, but it returned as she continued. "We ... um, practiced ... a lot, I guess ... anyway when we felt we were comfortable enough, the director started having us do it on stage during rehearsals. Let's just say he had us doing things we hadn't practiced before.

"I ended up having my first bondage experience on stage with several of the cast and the director." The last was spoken very quickly while peeking up at me to gauge my reaction.

We had reached my elevator, so we entered and rode it to the top.

"So, that was the part you were playing when you were recruited?" I asked and she nodded meekly while biting her lip.

"We will certainly be exploring that side of you. But, right now we eat."

After finishing, I led her to the 'foyer' and flipped a light switch next to the doors. I then pivoted the cross beam off of the heavy iron-clad double doors.

Sam smirked at me as I pulled one of the doors slowly aside, accompanied by groaning hinges, to expose torch-lit stone stairs curving downward into the mountain's core.

I grabbed her arm and started pulling her down the stairs. "This way, wench!" I commanded with a grin, then slid my hand down to hers.

"As much as I would love to explore your disclosures, I need you to read a few things, and I have a lot of research to do. I just found out someone has been deceiving me, and I need to know to what extent. He ... well, quite a few people are going to be very upset if I find out what I think I will."

"Sam searched my face for signs that I might be upset with her. Not seeing anything, she pondered as we continued downward.

"Cliona, couldn't have upset you, and I'm sure it wasn't the kids, so it has to be Jim Iverhouse."

"No. A man named Henderson. Nothing to worry about," I replied as we passed a cell roughly cut from the wall. Its decomposed occupant looked to have passed about eight weeks earlier and was still chained to the wall.

"That isn't real, is it?"

I pulled her on past so she couldn't get too good a look at the body. "Piss me off, and you'll find out," I warned with a deadpan expression, unfortunately, I couldn't hold it for more than about twenty seconds or so and winked at her. Her rounded eyes relaxed after that.

"Of course, I wouldn't leave someone to die in that cage. It would stink too much. If I wanted to starve someone to death, I would use the oubliette." Of course, I was teasing about that too, but she couldn't know if I was serious or not.