A Itten's Tail

The past week had been surprisingly uneventful. Maybe I had just been a bit on edge, but finding out someone was trying to kill you might explain that. My girls had taken the news far easier than I had. Having Katherine and Scarlett next to me at all times probably helped with that part, especially after they joined the Aikido lesson on Monday night.

Having bodyguards was a lot different from what I expected. Katherine or Scarlett was always with me, but they weren't tense or guarded. They just sat beside me or walked along with me and chatted or enjoyed the fresh air. Even as relaxed as they looked, I could see them watching everything around us in anticipation of an attack.

Julien showing up on Thursday calmed them down a bit, but I think that was due to the fact there were now ten people in my house who were eager to kick the crap out of the people hunting me if they showed up. It was an interesting weekend, but nothing out of the ordinary for my house these days.

Today was the day I was worried about. I had just finished my physical therapy session and we were getting ready to leave the hospital. The girls seemed downright eager, leaving me to be the one worrying. My own safety wasn't a concern. I knew the three of them would do whatever they had to do to keep me safe, and that was what had me worried. I didn't want any of them getting hurt either.

I swear Scarlett could read my mind, because she looked over and smiled. "Master, you need to relax a bit. Katherine and I have planned this out to reduce the chance of anyone getting hurt. All you need to do is put your arm around Mandy and enjoy your walk. Just follow her lead if she tries to move you. Believe me; we won't be taking any chances we don't have to take."

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Alright, I can't say I like this plan, but I trust that you know what you're doing. Is there anything you need me to do?"

"Relax and act naturally," Scarlet replied with a slight grin. "Really, that is all we need you to do. Walk and enjoy the sights, chat with Mandy and I as if it were a normal day. Katherine will be about ten meters in front of us, watching for anything suspicious, and will signal me if she sees anything. What she sees will dictate how she signals me and how we proceed, but you don't need to worry about that part. I know you want to help, but please just follow Mandy's lead and let us take care of this for you."

I nodded and took a moment to kiss the girls and remind them to be safe before Katherine walked out of the building. We followed at a slower pace until she was where Scarlett wanted her before speeding up a bit. Our pace was a bit slower than average, but it was easy to understand why the girls set this pace. Katherine wasn't in front of us just to keep an eye out. She was also our distraction. The girls could elevate walking to an art form, and every step she took oozed sex appeal. Any red blooded male would be too busy watching her body to notice the close eye she was keeping on her surroundings.

Between watching her ass under that dress and Mandy discussing the current market trends for my stock portfolio, it was almost possible to forget the danger we were in. We were just past the half way mark when Mandy slowed down and let Scarlet move ahead of us. That was all the warning I had before the man stepped out of the alleyway holding a knife.

"Gimme your wallet!"

The Russian accent was so think I could barely understand him, but his confusion as he saw Scarlett between us gave me a moment to look him over. At almost two meters tall and around a hundred-twenty kilos, he looked like the kind of guy you would want on your rugby team. The homemade knife was almost laughable if not for the size. It looked like one of those support bars from a folding table with duct tape wrapped around one end to make a handle and it had been filed down to make an edge.

He took a step towards Scarlett, brandishing the knife. "Out of the way lady, my business is with the old man."

The thick Russian falling from Scarlett's lips shocked me, but turned him white. I heard him growl something at her in Russian as Mandy pulled me out of the way and he charged. Scarlett was still smiling as she sidestepped and started to move past his body, grabbing the wrist on his knife hand in the process. There was a loud thump as she followed through, flipping him onto his back and stripping the knife away.

Mandy was still pulling me back as he got up and rushed Scarlett again. I couldn't even see what happened when Scarlett sidestepped again, but I saw him hit the ground screaming in pain and I felt Mandy wince. He got up slower and there was murder in his eyes when he looked at Scarlett.

"You might want to sit back down and wait for the police. I intentionally dislocated your shoulder that time so you could feel some of the pain you put my Master though, but I have no problem infliction far more damage on you if you come at me again." She wasn't even breathing hard, and the little smile never left her face.

I winced in sympathy as he stepped in and tried to kick her. She spun out of the way, grabbing his leg as it came up and stepping in front of his other leg before pushing into his back to trip him. There was a sickening crunch and another scream as his knee bent in a way nature never intended before he hit the ground face first.

"You really should have listened, but I'm not surprised you didn't." She glanced over at Katherine and nodded before shifting back to Russian again. I glanced over to see Katherine already on the phone with the police, and by the time I looked back, our attacker looked like he had seen a ghost.

Scarlett walked back to me, put her arm loosely around my shoulder and kissed me. "She's on the phone with the police, right? My Italian isn't good enough to tell."

"She is," I responded quietly, assuming she didn't want our attacker to hear by how softly she was speaking. I doubt he would have heard us anyway over the noise he was making. "I'm curious what you said that has him looking so scared though. I didn't even know you spoke Russian."

"I wasn't trying to hide it, Master." I could sense a bit of tension before she continued. "Can I just say I was born in Russia and leave it at that? I will tell you if you really want to know more, but I don't like talking about my life before I became a pet. Telling you what has him so scared would also require me to tell you some of those things about my past."

"Relax love; I've always believed a woman should be allowed her secrets. I was just curious," I replied. "Of course, as your Master, I'll have to spank you for withholding information."

She smiled again before leaning in to kiss me. "Thank you Master, but can you hold off on that spanking until after you're healed? I want to be able to properly thank you for correcting my bad behavior and I would be worried about hurting your shoulder right now."

"I think we can put it off until I come to visit the island. My shoulder will still be weak, but I should have the mobility back at least." I glanced back to where our attacker was still whimpering on the ground. "Now we just have to deal with the police. I imagine they are going to insist on protective custody for me now."

"You won't have to worry about that," she said as she glanced back over her shoulder. "Our friend here has a lovely little story to tell the police if he wants to survive prison. He's going to confess to the kidnapping, extortion and attempted murder, because he wanted revenge. You see, his girlfriend dumped him after she returned from her vacation. Apparently you were such an amazing lover that she left him and returned to Fakahina so she can be there when you visit."

"Umm, that also makes it conveniently impossible for the police to interview her," I chuckled. "I should stick to the lovers I have in the future though. We don't want anymore irate ex boyfriends gunning for me."

"I think that would be for the best, Master. We will all work extra hard to keep you satisfied," she purred. "Of course, if you do want some new pussy on occasion, there are quite a few of the ponies you haven't sampled yet. They are all quite pretty, and they love having one of their Masters play with them. Master Julien takes one of them out for a ride at least once a week now."

"I will keep that in mind, although I can barely keep up with the lovers I have now," I said as I rolled my eyes. "I guess the story will be believable enough though, considering how many lovers I do have. I'm not sure how you pulled this off, but I won't ask."

She nodded in thanks before turning back to keep an eye on our attacker. I really didn't think it was necessary. With his left shoulder dislocated, and his right knee either dislocated or broken, he wasn't going anywhere under his own power. I was still a bit shocked how easily she took him down. Scarlett wasn't small by any stretch of the imagination, but the comparison would be like Ari standing next to me. It was kind of amusing when I remembered Ari could probably take me down just as easily if she wanted.

I could hear sirens in the distance and saw Katherine was still on the phone with the dispatchers. It made sense I suppose, considering the attacker was the one laying on the ground. They probably wanted to make it easier for the police to identify the victims.

"Scarlett, the police will probably be a bit on edge when they arrive, so no sudden movements. I would hate to see you get through the attack unscathed just to get injured by the police." She glanced back and nodded before returning her attention to the man lying on the ground. I couldn't imagine he would try anything at this point, but she seemed determined to make sure he didn't move.

The police were as bad as I expected, pulling their weapons and covering everyone until the lieutenant verified Katherine was the one on with their dispatch and we were with her. They had the girls rejoin me as they moved in on our attacker. They quickly discovered how badly injured he was and called for an ambulance as the lieutenant walked over to us.

"I hope you'll excuse us being a bit cautious when we arrived, but it was an odd looking scene. We don't get many random muggings, at least not where the victims fight back and take down the mugger. Katherine gave the dispatcher a fairly thorough run down of what happened, but would you mind going over it again for me." He pulled out a notepad as he looked over our group. "We will of course need official statements from each of you, but I would like a general idea of what happened, as I didn't listen to the dispatchers call yet."

"Of course, but I don't believe this was a random mugging attempt. You may want to have one of your men contact detective Sanpori and tell him you have a suspect in custody that attacked Alonso Frame, as I believe this is related to the case he's investigating. There was an attempt on my life about a month ago, and I believe this attack is related to that incident." I paused for a moment as the lieutenant turned and yelled for one of his men to contact the detective. "As for what happened, and why I believe that, he completely ignored Katherine, who was walking alone ten meters ahead of us, choosing to attack a group of three people instead. He stepped out of the alleyway, demanding money and brandishing a homemade knife."

I looked over the four of us and shook my head. "I freely admit I look like the easiest target, but if he were just looking for a quick buck, snatching her bag and running would have been the obvious choice. The girls saw him come around the corner and Mandy pulled me back as Scarlett stepped forward, disarmed him, and then disabled him when he kept trying to attack her."

The lieutenant looked at Scarlett in disbelief. "You took down an armed man, and did that much damage to him, bare handed?"

"Scarlett doesn't speak much Italian," Katherine offered. "Taking down someone with a knife really isn't a problem though. Our Aikido master is ranked as a hachidan, and her skill level is almost on par with his, although she has turned down the opportunity to test further than yondan ranking. We are staying with Alonso as his bodyguards."

It wasn't the whole truth, but it was enough that it wouldn't be questioned. He looked over at Scarlett, "American?"

"No, but I speak English, if that's why you're asking," she replied. "You might want to have your officers check under that dumpster. I tossed the knife that direction after I disarmed him."

He turned and yelled at one of the other officers to check for the weapon before looking at Scarlett again. "So, you were the one he actually attacked. Can you walk me though what happened?"

"It wasn't much honestly, but I can take you through it. I don't speak much Italian, but I recognized the Russian accent when he was talking and Russian is my native tongue, so I told him to stand down because I didn't want to hurt him. When he attacked, I used a basic tanto tori maneuver to take the knife and then I tossed it out of reach," she explained. "He bounced back up and tried to take a swing at me, so I grabbed his wrist and went into an arm lock take down. He twisted, landing on his shoulder, and I believe he dislocated it when he hit. He got up again and tried to kick me, so I caught his leg and attempted a front trip. I knew it was a risky maneuver, but I really wasn't in a position I could do anything else without putting myself at risk. I'm not really used to having an opponent that much larger than I am, so it threw me off a bit, and I think I broke his knee because he was heavier than I anticipated."

He looked Scarlett over and nodded. "I can see how that would be possible, but you're not in any trouble. He was attacking you, but I will need to ask if either of you is licensed as a bodyguard. Even if you're not acting in an official job capacity, the paperwork gets more complex if you are."

"It's not required in our country," Katherine replied. "We don't actually do this professionally, but a friend needed our help and we do have the training. The only paperwork we have is our passports, if you need to see those."

He nodded and said he would need identification from all of us for the reports. As he collected our ids, another officer came over and the ambulance arrived. "Sir, detective Sanpori is on his way down. I gave him a quick rundown, and he requested a pair of officers on the suspect until he is moved into the prison infirmary."

"Alright, you and your partner can follow the ambulance in. I don't think he is going anywhere with his leg in that condition, but if the detective thinks it's related to an ongoing investigation, it's his call. Have the others finish up gathering any evidence from the scene, and I'll take care of the witness statements while I wait for the detective."

I could see the lieutenant relaxing as he talked with the officer. Despite his words, I knew he had been looking on us as potential suspects as well. My request for them to contact Detective Sanpori and his confirmation that there was an open case related to my attack had cleared his mind. The fact that Sanpori only investigated potential capital crimes had locked me in as a victim and cleared any concerns he may have had.

The lieutenant was surprisingly efficient and had most of our statements taken by the time Detective Sanpori arrived. I found out that his saving Scarlett's statement for last was by design, simply so the detective could go over it with her because she was the one who was attacked.

"Did anyone else hear that part," the detective asked. Scarlett had just told him that the attacker had growled something about killing me himself since those other fools failed.

"Sorry, I don't speak any Russian," I replied as Katherine and Mandy just shook their heads. "Italian, English, and a little Korean, since one of my lovers taught me a few phrases, but no Russian."

"Damn, I was hoping someone could substantiate that," he sighed. "All I have him on so far is an attempted mugging and weapons charge. Knowing he said it might help trip him up in questioning, but I can't use it unless he incriminates himself. Even without that, I think your assessment is correct. If he was just looking for a quick score, the bag Katherine is carrying would have looked like an easier target."

Detective Sanpori sighed and shook his head again as he flipped through the reports. "I think we have everything we need from the four of you for now. Were you ladies going to be staying in town for a while if I need to follow up on this?"

"Of course, this may not be the only attack, so we will be around for a couple more weeks," Katherine replied. "Alonso had discussed taking a trip to Fakahina once he finished the first part of his physical therapy, so we will be staying at least until then. Depending on what your investigation reveals, we will decide if we need to return with him after that."

"I'm not sure we are going to have much luck unless we can get him to confess," he explained. "I've been contacted by the Philadelphia police, looking for Signorina De Luca's parents. It seems her siblings were found a week ago, being held hostage. They identified two of the men who kidnapped them from the mug books, but both the known suspects were found dead a few days later. I know you girls probably don't know anything about that, but I think your attacker was part of that group."

I could see how closely he was watching Scarlett, who gave a barely noticeable nod, and he grinned. "I think it would be a good idea to get a mug shot of your attacker added to our books and have Vivianna's siblings go through them, just to cover our bases. If they can identify him, I will have a lot more to work with. They may have been kidnapped in America, but they are Italian citizens on a student visa, so we could get INTERPOL involved and prosecute him here, if he was involved."

He saw our faint smiles and nodded. "Yes, I think that might be our best choice. I imagine you would like to get back to enjoying your day though, can I have one of the officers give you a lift somewhere?"

I shook my head and gestured past him. "My cook was going to pick us up at the little coffee shop down the street, but I'm guessing she saw the commotion as she was driving by. You actually parked right behind her."

He glanced back and nodded. "I won't keep you any longer. We'll be in touch if we have any updates or further questions for you."

I could see the Lieutenant wanted to say something as we walked away but Detective Sanpori stopped him. "Forget you heard that last part of the conversation, because officially it never happened. You saw their passports. Trust me; taking one of them in for questioning is a minefield you don't want to step in."

I hadn't even been aware of it before I saw their passports, but it made sense. The girls rarely left the island without Julien, and when he traveled, he could do so as the head of his country, making it a diplomatic mission. Their passports reflected that status.

Zara had gotten out of the car as we walked up and I could see the worry in her eyes fade as we got closer. As soon as we were in the car, she smiled over at me. "None of you seem to have any injuries, so I'm guessing someone had their day ruined?"

"You could say that," I chuckled. "I don't think his injuries were quite as accidental as Scarlett made them out to be in her police report, but I don't think they will question it much. This guy actually made Scarlett look small."

I heard Scarlett snort and looked back. "Size was all he had, Master. He was one of those guys who depended on his muscle to get him though life and he had no training at all. I admit I took him down harder than I had to, but he tried to kill you. He deserves to suffer a bit, since I did arrange for him to live."