To fully understand what is happening here, I suggest you first read "Houston Ch. 01: The Problem."
Many thanks to those who offered comments and constructive criticism on my previous stories. For those who want to say this or that would never happen, remember this is my universe, a place where nearly anything can, and often does, happen. At least on paper...
Please refer to my profile for more on my personal policy regarding comments, feedback, follows, etc. (And yes, I DO moderate comments) And please remember, this is a work of fiction, not a docu-drama...
End of "Houston Ch. 01: The Problem"
"There's a lot about me you don't know," he said. "And it's about time you did. You think that lasagna is still good?"
"Yeah," she said. "It's just staying warm in the oven."
"Good," he said. "Why don't we have some lasagna and I'll tell you a little story."
"Does this mean you forgive me?" she asked.
"We'll see," he said, standing up. "Care to join me for dinner?" he asked, extending his hand. She smiled, took his hand and stood up.
...
And now, "Houston Ch. 02: The Intervention"
Houston sat in silence and listened as her husband, John, told her his story - the one he had kept hidden for the last five years or so. She barely touched her lasagna as he told her about his childhood as Herman Muenster, his time in the service, including two combat tours overseas.
He, on the other hand, wolfed down his food as he talked about how he was recruited to join an outfit called "Alpha Sector," a government intelligence-gathering agency that she had never heard of before. He explained the reason for his name change and assured her that it was all legal and above-board.
"But you don't look like a secret agent type of person," she said quietly. He chuckled.
"What, you think we're all supposed to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger or the latest guy playing James Bond?" he asked.
"Well, that's what I thought," she said. He laughed again.
"Trust me, you've been watching way too many movies," he said. "The last thing the Company wants is someone who stands out in a crowd. The more nondescript and average, the better. And no, I don't wear tuxedos and frolic in ritzy casinos in Monaco or anything like that. Hell, most of my work is really rather boring. All I do is collect information. That's it. I bring it back and others do the hard analysis. Most of the time, I don't even know what the case is all about."
"What about what happened with Greg?" she asked. "Did they train you to do that?" He nodded his head.
"Yeah, most of it," he said. "I already had some martial arts training, so they just built on what I already knew. Fortunately, I don't have to use it very often, but it's nice to know I can defend myself if I have to."
"What belt do you have?" she asked. "Greg said he has a 5th degree black belt."
"Mine is leather," he said with a smile.
"Leather?" she asked. "I never heard of that one."
"That's what the tag said, anyway," he told her, showing her his work belt.
"You brat," she said with a smile, slapping his arm in jest. Her face turned serious after a few moments. "What's going to happen now? To us?" He stopped chewing for a moment and thought before answering.
"That depends on you, I guess," he told her. "Tomorrow morning, we're going to see my boss. If you think I'm a hard-ass, wait till you meet him."
"What time do we have to be there?" she asked.
"He said 7:00 am sharp, which means we'd better get there at 6:45," he said. "Regis hates to be kept waiting. And since it takes about an hour or so to get there, we need to be out of the house at 5:30. So we probably should get to bed a bit early." She took his hand in hers.
"I'm serious, John, I never meant to hurt you," she said.
"Well, you did," he said. "And it's going to take a lot of work to deal with that. Trust me, the only reason you're still here is that you never got a chance to go through with what you planned to do. I just want to know why. What in God's name ever possessed you to think I'd want something like that? This didn't come about overnight. How long did they work on you?"
"A little more than a couple months, total," she said. "But the big push came about in the last couple weeks. Greg and the other girls showed me some stories online that made it sound like every guy loves that kind of thing. They kept pushing, making it sound like it was so wonderful. At first, I told them no, but they kept pushing. Then I spoke to the head of that team, and she made it sound like it was the best thing to happen to her marriage."
"But you never spoke directly to the spouses yourself," he said. "So you really don't know if they were telling you the truth. Worse yet, you never spoke to me about any of this. I just can't believe you were gullible enough to fall for this."
"They told me not to tell you," she said. "They were just going to spring it on you. That's what Greg was going to do tonight."
"Yeah, well, that didn't work out too well for him, did it?" John asked.
"No, it didn't," she said quietly.
"You said earlier that they threatened to do something if I didn't go along with their plan," he said. "What, exactly, did they threaten to do?"
"I was told they would send the enforcers after you," she said.
"Enforcers?" John asked. "What is that?"
"It's the firm's private security force," she said. "Greg was the one responsible for them. They provide security for the executives and their support staff."
"I see," he told her. "And I take it they're all former military?" She nodded her head.
"Yeah," she said. "They're basically hired gorillas. Big, mean, ugly, you name it. Just thinking about them scares me."
"Which means they're not going to be very happy about what happened to their boss," John said.
"Probably not," she said.
"Did they tell you what, specifically, might happen to me?" he asked her.
"They suggested you might have an accident, or the brakes on your car might malfunction, or that you may get mugged," she said. "They said a lot of bad things could very easily happen to you."
"I see," he said. "Well, we'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen, won't we?"
"It would kill me if anything happened to you," she said.
"It'll be okay," he said in an attempt to ease her fears. In truth, John was just as concerned, but he didn't want to let her know. "Why don't we go to bed now and deal with this tomorrow?" She smiled.
"Okay," she said. "I'll take care of the dishes." He watched as she stood up to clear the table. While she put everything away, he double-checked the security on the house to make sure everything was good for the night. Then he went into his office and opened his gun safe, pulling out a .45 caliber handgun. He made sure the magazine was loaded to capacity and placed it in his nightstand where he could get to it easily.
Then he went upstairs and prepared to go to bed. He remembered what Regis had told him: "... Let her fuck your brains out tonight..." He intended to do just that. He laid in bed and watched as his wife slipped under the covers, naked. He loved he way she felt against him, and instantly got hard. She smiled as she took him in her hands.
"I see this still works," she said, before taking him in her mouth. He loved the feeling of his cock in her mouth and let her suck him off to completion. She got him hard again and climbed on top of him, taking his erection between her legs. He let her ride him until he exploded inside her and held her as her own orgasm swept over her.
"I love you so much," she said. "You're the only man I've ever had and the only man I ever will have. I hope you believe me."
"Of course," he said. He didn't want to think about the other option at that point. They held each other close and slept soundly.
They woke up early the next morning and got ready to leave. John took a quick shower and shaved as Houston went downstairs to make coffee. She came back up and took a shower as he got dressed. He went downstairs and double-checked the security system and made sure everything was set. If anyone did try to get in the house, it would be captured on his video surveillance system.
He poured a cup of coffee for each of them and warmed up a couple of breakfast rolls for the road. By that time, Houston was downstairs and ready to leave. They grabbed their coffee and rolls and headed out. Houston had no idea where her husband's office was, and was shocked when they pulled into what looked like a salvage yard in the middle of nowhere.
"You work in a junk yard?" she asked, surprised. He smiled as he responded.
"Not everything is as it seems," he said, pulling up to what looked like a portable toilet. She looked at him, even more confused.
"Oh please, don't tell me you work in a porta-potty," she said. He laughed and turned the car off.
"Remember what I just said," he told her. "By the way, give me your cell phone." She took it out of her purse and handed it to him. He opened it up and after a few swipes of his fingers, handed it back to her. "I nearly screwed up big time," he told her. "I disabled the tracking software they put on your phone. Hopefully, they won't be able to track us here."
"They were tracking me?" she asked.
"Yep," he said. "C'mon, get out. Regis is waiting for us." She got out and watched as he walked to the portable toilet and unlocked the door. He opened the door and motioned for her to enter. She stepped inside and looked around as he joined her.
"At least it doesn't smell in here," she said. He smiled and locked the door from the inside. Soon, they felt the tiny room begin to descend. That's when she realized they were in an elevator. They descended for quite some time before the elevator stopped and the door automatically opened.
John motioned for her to step out first and as she did, a security guard in a green camouflage uniform stepped up to her and demanded to see her identification. She pulled out her driver's license and handed it to him. He scanned the code and looked at his screen for a second, then held a device to her eye.
"Stand still," he said, as a red light scanned her retina. He looked at his screen for a moment before nodding his head. He repeated the procedure with John. "Go ahead. Alpha One is waiting for both of you," he said. John motioned for Houston to follow him as he walked down a long empty corridor. When they got to the end, another door slid open and they passed through.
They stood in a large marble foyer with an emblem on the floor. "Alpha Sector," it read. "The First Line of Defense," the caption read. On one wall, she saw, "Our enemies never sleep. Neither do we." John motioned for her to join him on the large round emblem. As she did so, the emblem seemed to descend and they found themselves in another large room, this one filled with monitors and people talking quietly into microphones.
As they looked, a large man with a scarred face, an eye patch and a flat-top haircut walked toward them.
"Regis Carlisle," he said as he extended a hand to Houston. "Everyone here calls me 'Alpha One,' but you can call me Mr. Carlisle or Regis. You must be Houston. Good to meet you."
"I am," she said. "Good to meet you as well."
"That's an interesting name for a woman - Houston," he said.
"My parents named me that because they said that's where I was conceived," she said. He nodded his head.
