My thanks to Randi for the invitation and to Literotica for being here for us. And thanks to Randi for her editing. NOTE: Although a certain amount of research has been undertaken, I make no guarantee as to the accuracy of any technical or legal points in this story. Which is fictional, of course! I hope you will enjoy this and every other Magical Mystery Tour story.
It sometimes seemed to Greg Baker that much of his life was a mystery, or that his life had often been touched by mysterious coincidences or mysterious events.
He hadn't expected to do well at school, but, mysteriously, he had. He hadn't expected to continue with his educational success at the local college, but, again, rather mysteriously, everything had fallen into place and he had received his PhD during his 25th year.
He wasn't the youngest ever PhD graduate, he seemed to recall some poor child prodigy had beaten him by 12 years or so, but he was more than happy with his PhD at age 25.
He was also mystified, yet very happy, that he had met (or rather, re-met, it's a little complicated) and married the blonde and utterly gorgeous Tawny Mason when he went to work for the largest employer in their rather modest city, Augmented Future Sciences, which was a major player in the world of computer software.
Actually, they had sort of known each other since junior high and throughout high school. Although they'd been friendly when they saw each other, they'd never actually been close or best friends.
During that time Tawny had dated fellow student, Scott O'Shea. In fact, they were still dating when they entered the first year at the local college. It was rumoured that he had popped the question, and that she had accepted and then, suddenly and mysteriously, Scott O'Shea had joined the Marines and left town, never to return.
Tawny was heartbroken, and for a while her grades slipped, but with the help of her friends and some of her tutors, she pulled through. The topic of Scott O'Shea was still not open for discussion. It was almost as if he had never existed.
Tawny did not date anyone, at least not seriously, during the rest of her time at college, and whilst she wasn't a party animal, she knew how to have a (reasonably) good time.
When she entered the world of work and commenced her employment at Augmented Future Sciences, this was when she met (or sort of re-met, it's still somewhat complicated) and fell in love with Greg Baker. It was a mutual attraction, if the truth was told.
"Greg and Tawny, Tawny and Greg. Mrs. Tawny Baker, Mrs. Greg Baker," she mused to herself on their way to their honeymoon in the San Francisco Bay area. She loved her marriage to her handsome smart young husband, whom she also loved. As many people will acknowledge, loving marriage as a concept and loving one's spouse are two entirely different matters.
She did love her husband and their marriage, until she didn't, but that was to be 10 years down the line.
They'd decided not to have children straight away, although to be honest, that had been mostly down to Tawny who had said: "Greg, I want to have children with you, but not just yet. Let's enjoy ourselves and explore ourselves as husband and wife and also establish ourselves in our careers first, okay?"
"After all," she added, "It's not like it is as bad as it was in the olden days; birth is now no longer as risky as it was in even our parents' generation, and the average age of new moms is rising year-on-year, so we've really got no hurry, have we?"
Although he was a little disappointed, Greg acquiesced to her suggestion. After all, he ruminated, "It was her body and there would always be enough time later."
Really? Not really, but there was no way for Greg to have known at that point.
Career-wise things were progressing well for Greg. Good things were still coming his way in that mysterious way things kept happening for him. He was in the right place at the right time and was unexpectedly, as least unexpectedly to Greg, perhaps he had self-confidence issues, thrust into the role of the project director of a team that was developing some truly high end and revolutionary award-winning SAAS packages.
As for Tawny, her career within Augmented Future Sciences was also progressing well; she was the Personal Assistant to Hal Smith, who was the director of another development team. Lest any wrong ideas spring to mind, Tawny had also been a maid of honour to Hal and his boyfriend, Jeremy, when they tied the knot.
Whilst Greg had a youthful female Personal Assistant, she, Donna, was living with her older female lover, so Greg was not tempted, either. Not that he would be, as Greg was a good guy, a real straight arrow, too. Was he also a bit naïve and gullible? Perhaps so.
It was during the latter part of the tenth year of their marriage that, had Greg been able to spot them, there were signs that not all was well with his marriage to Tawny. As had been pointed out previously, Greg was somewhat naïve and perhaps a little gullible. Besides which, Tawny was being smart, and she wasn't cheating on Greg. Well, not as such. Not exactly, that is to say.
They lived in a large house on well-to-do Castle Oak Road, amidst several dozen similar homes. They had only been built for a few years and were homes for the up-and-coming executives who were ready to make their mark on corporate America.
All at once, Tawny began being very solicitous of Greg. Although their sex life had entered a seasonal doldrums, she was always getting Greg snacks and drinks and so forth. "Greg, honey, is there anything I can get you? Greg, honey, are you feeling okay? Greg, honey, I made you your favourite dinner, Greg, honey, I cleaned your dress shoes, Greg honey I..." well, the picture is clear, even though to Greg's chagrin, there was still little or no sex.
Greg was both pleased and somewhat bemused by her attentiveness as it reminded him of an old 1950s advert when a doting wife was depicted as having her smug looking husband's pipe and slippers ready for him when he returned from work each evening.
There seemed to be about Tawny, something on which he couldn't quite put his finger. It was as if she was bursting to tell him something, but couldn't quite broach the subject. The over-solicitousness lasted for approximately a month until one day they were both sat in the lounge drinking tea when their doorbell rang. Greg glanced at the clock, frowning in puzzlement. "It's almost ten o'clock," he said. "Were you expecting anyone, Tawny?"
"No," replied Tawny, depicting an attitude of nonchalant, studied calm. "I can't imagine who it might be. Are you going to answer it?"
Greg went into the hallway of their house to answer the door.
As he opened the door he had half expected some religious types pushing their religion, but was met with three large heavily armed figures in black military assault clothing, wearing face masks.
As they crashed through the door, he was punched in the guts and propelled into the lounge. Tawny gave a theatrical gasp as Greg was thrown to the floor.
The leader of the trio grabbed Tawny, and made to pull her toward the door, but Greg suddenly leapt from the ground with a roar, lunging at the armed man. For his trouble, Greg had the side of his head struck with the barrel of the automatic pistol that the man was holding. Before Greg could react to the sudden pain he crumpled to the ground as the butt of the pistol was smashed downward in a vicious strike to his head.
As he lay on the floor he felt a kick to his side and he began to slide toward unconsciousness, his last conscious thought being: "I've failed my Tawny." He was aware of a jumble of sounds and feelings, but he was unable to process them as he faded out.
He became cognizant of his surroundings as he awoke. "Shit! That was a horrible dream," he thought. As his eyes opened he realised that he was not in bed at home with his wife, Tawny, and that he was in a hospital bed. That there had been no horrible dream.
He shouted in blind panic and suddenly a nurse appeared at his bedside. "Please, Mr Baker! Be calm! You have received a severe head injury, and you must be careful! A police detective wants to speak with you, I'll go and get her, and I'll tell your doctor you are awake."
A few minutes later the nurse returned with a man wearing scrubs and a dark haired, attractive woman a few years younger than Greg. She was wearing a slightly crumpled business suit. Greg presumed, correctly, that she was the detective.
The Doctor took charge of the situation. "Hello, Mr Baker, Greg. I am Doctor Mathis, I am a neurologist. You have received a couple of hard knocks to your head and a nasty kick to your side. Luckily, scans show your spleen was not damaged, but you do have a fractured skull. Our x-rays and brain scan show it as a minor closed linear fracture, which will not require treatment, as such, save for some pain medications.
"I understand a police car and an ambulance was called to your property at about 11.30PM last night, you were brought into our ER at just before midnight. It's now 9AM, the next morning.
"You have concussion and your side will be sore for a couple of days from the kick you were given. We'll aim to keep you in hospital for a couple of days, just to monitor your situation. Do you have any questions for me?"
Greg shook his head, an instinctive response that he instantly regretted. "No, sir, but thank you for what you have done for me."
He looked toward the female, who addressed him: "Hello, Mr Baker. Do you mind if I call you Greg? My name is Detective Kathy Stewart, I'm with the Police Department Major Crime Unit. Amongst other matters, we deal with cases that involve kidnapping. I'll keep things brief as you have only just come round. It's now 9AM; you were subject to a home invasion and knocked unconscious.
"Due to an anonymous call to 911 at 11.15PM last night, a patrol car was directed to proceed to your home and you were found unconscious in your lounge in a pool of blood; the front door was wide open.
"There was no sign of your wife, although a sealed envelope was found on the sofa in the room addressed to a Mr Karl Viennese, regarding the kidnapping of his wife, Sadie Viennese. As your wife is called Tawny Baker we are presuming that your wife was kidnapped in error. We have sent out a BOLO and an APB on your wife. We'll get her back. That's a promise.
"Can you describe the men who attacked you?"
Greg frowned in concentration. "There were three of them. They were all of about six foot in height, well-built, they were all dressed in black military style gear, plus they were all masked. The one who was the leader, I guess, he punched me in the guts, hit me with his gun a couple times, then he kicked me. That's all I know. Do you have any idea who did this to Tawny and me?"
She shook her head. "No. We are going to start door-to-door interviews in your neighbourhood to see if any of your neighbours saw anything. These often lead to useful outcomes.
"Incidentally, do you and your wife know anyone by the name of Viennese?" He frowned in concentration before he replied: "No. Total mystery, to me. We know nobody of that name."
She quizzed him as to whether or not they had any enemies who would be possible suspects involved in kidnapping his wife?
