"This is unacceptable, completely unacceptable," Matthew Priestly thundered at the three men seated before him. "With all the resources at your command, the fact that you cannot locate those women is ridiculous. If they go public with their information, then all we have worked for will go up in smoke."
Chief of Police Smollett spoke first "I put out an APB on them as soon as you contacted me. They were spotted by one of our patrol units, but they escaped. No one has seen them since."
"They're probably halfway across the state by now," Sheriff Colfax grumbled. We don't dare bring the Highway Patrol in on this either. They'll ask too many questions and we really don't have anything to charge them with ... yet."
"What about that detective you had arrested, Matthew?" City Manager Reuben McCarthy said. "Were you able to get any information from him?"
"He lawyered up, posted bond and disappeared," Chief Smollett interjected. "We could only hold him on a charge of trespassing anyhow. There was no way we could tie him directly to the cameras or the equipment in the van as there were no fingerprints and all serial numbers had been removed. The van's registered to his secretary and she's skipped town. We're at a dead end," he said disgustedly.
"Be that as it may," Priestly replied, "The fact remains that our control of this city is based on concurrence with our beliefs, a desire for respectability and fear. If we are held up to ridicule, all we have worked for comes crashing down; furthermore, we may very well be facing charges in a state or federal court. We must find those women and destroy that evidence they have on us. If unorthodox methods are required to do so, then so be it."
"What exactly do you mean by unorthodox?" Sheriff Colfax said, his eyes narrowing.
"I leave that to your imaginations, gentlemen," Priestly said with a grin.
***
"Will you look at that place," Keri said in awe as she and Veronica reached the end of a long, unpaved driveway in the latter's Corvette and saw a huge two story house constructed of wood and glass resembling a hunting lodge. They parked before a sweeping front deck and the vehicles following lined up next to them.
Equally amazed, Susan, Brittany and the others sat for a moment looking at what they thought would be a modest cabin, and then everyone got out of their vehicles, climbed the steps to the deck, Veronica and Keri in the lead, and approached the front door. Veronica tried several keys on the ring she'd been given until she found one that fit the lock, opened the door and they went in.
A large room filled with rustic furniture dominated by a massive flagstone fireplace flanked by vast expanses of wood framed glass greeted their eyes. As they explored further, they found a fully equipped kitchen, a dining room and a master bedroom suite with bath on the first floor and four bedrooms and two bathrooms on the second floor. There was an even larger deck at the rear of the house with a sweeping view of the lake and several outbuildings.
Conversing excitedly between themselves, the women unloaded their clothing, food and other supplies in short order, stored them away and sat together in the great room to unwind from their long drive.
"This place is amazing," Brittany said as she and Teri snuggled together in a large wooden arm chair, its cushions upholstered in a muted plaid fabric.
"I certainly didn't expect anything like this," Leslie said as she and Susan lay together on a wood framed sofa upholstered in the same plaid fabric, "I expected some little fishing cabin where we'd be sleeping on cots."
"I've seen pictures of this place in Cindi's office," Veronica said, her head in Keri's lap as they reclined on a bearskin rug before the fireplace. "She and her friends have parties here a lot. I bet there's been some wild stuff gone on here."
"Sounds like our kinda place, right babe?" Susan said playfully, squeezing Leslie's full breast.
"Migawd, woman, you're insatiable," Leslie replied in mock annoyance, and then giggling as her breast was squeezed again. "Let's at least have something to eat before we start fucking, I'm starved."
Connie didn't join in the banter; rather she stood alone staring out the window at the shimmering waters of the lake wishing Janice had come with them. She already missed her terribly and felt like a fifth wheel among the happy couples.
"Hey Connie, c'mon in the kitchen, were gonna get something to eat."
Hearing Teri's voice, Connie turned away from the window to join the others when her heel caught the edge of one of the many crocheted area rugs spread on the planked pine floor. She stumbled and the rug peeled back revealing the faint outline of a trap door cut into the floor. Curious, she looked closer and saw a brass plate at one end with a key hole in the middle.
"Ronnie," she called, "Bring the keys, I've found something."
Veronica tried one key, then another until the lock clicked and the door hissed open revealing a flight of stairs descending into darkness.
"Oooo, it's a dungeon, I bet," Keri said excitedly, "Cindi must be into S&M. I wanna see." Before anyone could stop her she trotted down the stairs as lights winked on illuminating the room below. "What do you see, hon?" Veronica called.
"Aw, just a bunch of chairs and a table," Keri replied, a note of disappointment in her voice, "And a bunch of gym lockers, oh wow, come look at this."
When the others descended the stairway they saw a grouping of gray metal chairs grouped around a gray metal table with tall gray lockers lining the walls. The one Keri had opened contained three pump riot shotguns hung neatly from a rack with boxes of ammunition stacked below them. Opening other lockers revealed a variety of other weaponry including pistols, rifles, knives and lances. There were other lockers filled with MRE's and a variety of pre-processed foods as campers might use. Sealed jugs of water were in other lockers along with first aid supplies and one piece Camo coveralls folded and stacked neatly with matching thick soled boots.
"Man, looks like somebody's ready for the zombie apocalypse," Brittany said gingerly holding a 9mm automatic pistol, "Dad used to have one of these. He let us shoot it too."
"Who else here knows how to handle a gun?" Connie asked. Veronica, Keri and Susan raised their hands; Leslie and Teri looked at each other and shrugged. "Tomorrow morning you two are gonna learn how," she continued, "We'll set up some targets facing the lake and familiarize ourselves with these weapons."
"Is this really necessary?" Susan said, "I mean we're just gonna hide out here for a while until the heats off and we can expose the Legion for the hypocrites they are."
"I don't think you realize that you've stepped in shit up to your ankles," Connie replied. "When the likes of the Chief of Police and who knows who else in the community is tied to the Legion, you know you're up against some heavy hitters. The last thing they want is to have their cover blown and lose control of Hillsdale and Gainsborough County. A rat's at its most dangerous when cornered and that's where we've got 'em."
"You mean they might try to kill us?" Leslie said, horrified.
"They want those snaps and recording's and they want 'em bad. They'd just say you resisted arrest, so yeah," Connie drawled, "We need to be ready for anything up here."
"Right now, I'm hungry," Susan said, breaking the tension. They all laughed, and then trooped upstairs to fix something to eat.
