Special thanks to a reader who came up with the nightmare scenario and to Spirit02 for his editing.
~~~
A year had passed since the confrontation with Esmeralda, the Mistress of the Ring of Truth; she had been handily defeated and put into servitude by John Smith, Master of the Ring of Power. Although his power continued to grow, so too did his wisdom. He found himself only occasionally yielding to the foolishness of youth. And with his ever-growing legion of agents he was no longer being threatened, so he set his vast resources upon trying to find the remaining two rings and their masters/mistresses.
His agent corps had doubled in size and was still growing, as too was his strength, which was growing exponentially. He dispatched his agents throughout the world, with instructions to keep a low profile but to watch and report. Discipline was never an issue, but a handful of agents seemed to get a little overzealous and too enthusiastic from time to time, which required one of his lieutenants to investigate and instruct. That duty usually fell upon Chance, Dennis or Elizabeth.
The most important of John's rules is to do nothing to draw attention to yourself or your actions. And although this was preached over and over in the indoctrination classes, every so often new agents made the mistake of being too visible with their mind control ability, allowing it to be witnessed. One common blunder was attempting to seduce the partner, mate or lover while their partner was in the same room. Occasionally, rookie agents might have their target do something so out of character that a friend or acquaintance may question it, such as having the person strip naked in front of a group, or perform oral ministrations in public.
This was usually due to laziness on the agent's part: how hard would it be to have them meet in another room? This type of error in judgment usually had the offending agent pulled from the field and reevaluated. These incidents were rare, but dangerous, and were taken very seriously.
John Smith's net worth was now by all accounts a billion dollars. Reading minds made making smart investments simple. He opened an office in Mountain View where his administration staff kept track of his many philanthropic projects and managed his money and the day-to-day operations of his agents. Although they were like independent contractors rather than employees, he kept files and such for tax purposes.
Dinah Cohen left her law firm and became an employee of
John Smith Enterprises (JSE)
. Her job was to make sure that all legal matters were anticipated and dealt with; if she had time she could work a few cases of her own, but JSE would always come first.
April Martin was the CEO of JSE. Although it kept her very busy, she made time to work on her PhD and would be defending her dissertation in the fall. Dinah still kept her distance and the two rarely spoke, even by phone.
April had been spending the last couple weeks with her mom and sleeping in the guest room as her old bedroom had been taken over by her mother's two wards, Linda and Esme. They were the two bimbofied former mistresses who had accepted their new roles and become good producers. They too kept their distance; Candace seemed to have taken to ruling the bimbos John had converted. April wondered if it had anything to do with her maternal instincts or simply her need to be in charge.
It was then that April began to have the nightmares. At first it was just a few sleepless nights, then troublesome dreams that she never remembered. John was reluctant to coax her to remember them, and didn't want to mess around in her head more than was necessary, worried that he'd caused the harm.
John began traveling extensively and was gone for days at a time. Finding the last two masters or mistresses of the rings was becoming an obsession, April had told him. She may be right, John admitted. April decided that she'd rather spend time with her mother than stay in the big mansion alone.
In that same year Chance took his high school basketball team to the state championships where they won their division. The coach remained in the shadows insisting that it was his athlete's concentration, discipline, and dedication to their sport that made the difference. His starting five were all seniors and were going to good colleges with excellent basketball programs. He would have to start all over again next year with new starters; Chance was looking forward to the challenge.
~~~
It was a long bus ride from Oakland to Los Angeles; the bus schedule said that it would take more than ten hours. Greyhound Bus Lines at one time was the only way to travel. At least, that was what their advertising campaigns used to tout, "Go Greyhound and leave the driving to us." That was then.
Today, it is the preferred mode of travel for the people who are afraid of flying, but mostly for those that can't afford to fly. Translation; mostly the poor use this mode of transportation. Those afraid of flying drive or hire limos.
The driver of bus 357 was a no nonsense guy named Gus. He was large white man who looked like he could have made a good living as a hitman for the syndicate, and one look from him kept anyone thinking of hijinks in line. A skinny black kid seemed to have his head on a swivel as he watched anyone and everyone board and take their seats on the clean well-worn bus. It was three quarters full. The clientele were mostly black and Latino, but there were also several Asians, a few Middle Eastern types, a couple of Indians or Pakistanis, and a handful of Caucasians.
As the bus began its journey and the passengers relaxed in their seats he began to read the thoughts of everyone on board. Many were headed south in search of a better life while others were traveling to visit friends and family. As the bus traveled down Interstate 5 towards Los Angeles its passengers amused themselves with video games, texting on their phones, snapping pictures and posting them on Facebook, reading, or sleeping.
There was so much uncertainty in many of their plans, he noted. Most were barely making it, despite being honest and hardworking; others simply lacked the opportunity and the education. A few were simply lazy and looking for an easy way out. For those who thought that way he went into their minds looking for something to motivate them. Once found, he easily changed their thinking and suddenly they were ambitious and imagining ways they could help themselves get ahead honestly.
All would find that the meager amount of cash they had in their wallets and purses had miraculously doubled. And for others with job interviews pending, he implanted them with code phrases which when spoken would activate in the interviewers' minds to regard them more favorably, not assuring them the job, but increasing their chances by as much as eighty percent.