Ed
Ed took a few breaths to calm himself down. Despite being locked in the basement, he was still in control of the situation. Whoever had trapped him in there just didn't know it yet. After ten minutes, the door finally opened, and Ed was happy to see the blank face of the pretty female cop staring back. With one Kollar watch on Roger while he enjoyed himself with his family, Ed only had one Kollar watch left. He had figured it was better to use it on the cop to keep her under his control in case anyone tried to check in on her. His instinctshad been correct.
Knocked out on the floor in the kitchen was his wife Kendra's pesky lawyer, Mr. Collins, no doubt doing his own investigation. He had probably broken in and tried to free the cop who had played along until it was an appropriate moment to strike. And now Ed had yet another problem to deal with. The lawyer knew too much, and Ed didn't want to waste another watch on him. The problem had escalated to a point where there was only one solution. The only way everyone was going to stay quiet about everything was to have everyone under his control. And the sexy cop was going to help make that happen.
Ultimately, it was Ed's goal to let his trophies go back to their lives, albeit with some control still held by him to use when he desired. Whenever he wanted a blowjob at work, he could schedule a meeting with his boss, and she'd be on her knees beside her desk giving him head. If he wanted a quick threesome, he could go over to his boss's house and Olivia and her daughter Megan would be at his beck and call. What a life that would be.
But for now, Ed wasn't going to be sour about the situation he was in. In fact, he was going to make the most of it. Thanks to the Decor camera, he didn't need control devices to keep everyone frozen. What was a man to do with a bunch of frozen beauties?
Melody
The cop stood at attention, unable to move but fully aware of everything that was going on. After she had been forced to subdue Mr. Collins, the man controlling her, Ed, had placed her in a girl's bedroom and left her for quite some time. She couldn't do anything about it because of whatever device he had placed on her. Sadly, Mr. Collins had been right. The Kollar devices were extremely dangerous in the wrong hands. She regretted not taking him seriously enough.
After what felt like forever, the man and his fake wife joined her in the room. Judging by the photos around the house, his fake wife had to be his daughter. The thought was unsettling to Melody and further proved the dangerous nature of the devices. When she got free, it would be her mission to take down the corporation.
"Well, I guess I should thank you for not letting the lawyer get away. That would have been an unfortunate complication." Ed said. He hit a button on his phone and Melody's mouth loosened while her body remained rigid at attention.
"You need to let me go right now." Melody said.
"I'm afraid I can't do that. I do apologize that you got roped into this, but we're all going to have to deal with the consequences of that."
"You won't get away with this. I will get free and I will arrest you, you sick..."
With a tap on his phone, Melody's mouth stopped talking and formed a smile. Ed smiled back.
"Now that's more like it. Since I do have you in my possession, I might as well take advantage of your own influence." Ed said and pointed at her badge. "That kind of power is hard to muster with technology. But then again, if you have enough technology, maybe not so much."
Melody wondered what his plan was. Steal more devices? Then he could continue to capture people or control them, including herself. She had to think of a plan to escape, or she'd be stuck as his slave forever, doing whatever he wanted inside and outside of the law.
"Once I get ready, we shall make our first move. Then I will have everything I need." Ed said.
Ed and his daughter left Melody standing and waiting like a doll. Whatever his plan was, she'd have no choice but to carry it out for now. But if she got a chance to escape, then she'd do everything in her power to take it.
Ellie
Ellie sat up from the floor and looked around.
"What happened?" Ellie asked.
"I don't know, I pulled the ring off of your finger and then you passed out. So, then I unfroze Nikki. Her face went blank and she wandered off." Mac said, sounding overwhelmed.
"What do you mean 'wandered off'?" Ellie said. She stood up.
"I don't know, she just walked out of the house. I was concerned about you so I couldn't really go after her."
Ellie calmed herself down. She had forgotten that she had been collapsed on the floor at that point. Mac had done what any boyfriend would do by staying with her.
"Where the heck would she go?" Mac asked.
Ellie noted the ring on the counter.
"Niki was wearing a ring like that too. Maybe whoever put them on us called us back or something."
"Well, it would be great if we knew who that was." Mac said.
Ellie thought about her past few days, trying to narrow down where the ring came from.
"Oh my gosh. The weed guy." Ellie said, excited that she had a lead. "Roger brought us to this weird guy, I think his daughter goes to our school, but anyway, he was really weird, and I swear something was off that day. And it wasn't the weed."
"Well, if that's all we've got, then let's go check it out." Mac said.
Ellie nodded and the two headed off to investigate the source of the rings and to look for her missing twin.
Ed
Wearing a slick suit and looking like a million bucks, Ed opened the truck of his car and let Melody out. Her smile never faded as she followed his instructions.
"Sorry about that. Couldn't have you drawing suspicion by sitting up front." Ed said.
Not that Melody could do anything about it. Ed pulled out his phone and started his programing, giving the cop back some of her faculties, but limiting what she could do and how she would handle situations. When it was all said and done, the program was set so that Melody was basically Ed's personal cop.
"All right, this should be fun." Ed said.
**
Alex
"Where the hell is my phone charger?" Alex said out loud, frustrated that the one bad habit he had was routinely misplacing his phone charger.
Between looking for his phone charger and the knocking on the main IT door, it was looking like one of those days where everything was programmed to get on his nerves. Beyond the problems that Alex dealt with over the phone, it was rare that he had any visitors. But the excessive knocking disrupted his concentration and he remembered why he hated dealing with people in person.
"Yes, yes, I'm coming." Alex said as he stroked his long beard.
He opened the door and one of the IT assistants, Beth, looked discomforted.
"What can I do for you, Beth?"
"Umm, there's two cops here to talk to someone in charge." Beth said.
"Two cops?"
A man in a suit and an officer in uniform moved into view from the side. The man with the suit looked extremely important and full of confidence. Alex hated dealing with law enforcement, especially at a place like Kollar Tech where he wasn't sure if half of the stuff that they worked on was legal.
"Umm, what can I do for you officers?" Alex said.
"Do you mind if we come in?" the man asked.
"Sure." Alex said. But he stopped in his tracks. "But I'm going to have to see your ID to verify your identity. We are a very private company with lots of tech in the works. Can't have that getting out to the competition."
"Or you can't have that getting out to the police." the man said. "Look we know what you do here, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't waste my time. You think I want to come here and harass you? How the hell do you think I got up here without clearance?"
"I get that, sir, but it is company policy and what you're doing right now is social engineering 101. So again, ID or I'll have to call the station to verify you."
The man turned to his officer.
"Arrest him."
Before Alex could react, the female officer had him pinned against the wall inside. He saw Beth make a run for it, but the man with the suit ran after her. Whoever these people were, they were definitely not cops and now they had access to a lot of secrets and worst of all, to a lot of dangerous tech. Alex stopped fighting the deceptively strong cop and decided to wait until he heard their demands. Maybe there was a chance to get out of the situation unscathed.
**
Ellie
"This is the house." Ellie said.
Mac and Ellie stared at the cookie-cutter exterior from the sidewalk. There wasn't anything that looked off and there was no sign of Niki.
"So, I guess we go knock?" Mac suggested.
Ellie took the lead and marched up the front steps with Mac in tow. After knocking, the pair waited, but there was no answer.
"Maybe no one is home." Mac said.
"Well then, let's snoop around."
The door opened, catching Ellie and Mac by surprise. A girl Ellie's age smiled sweetly at them.
"Can I help you?" the girl asked.
"Umm..." Ellie's tongue was tied as she tried to remember the girl's name. She had been in a few classes with the girl and had seen her with Roger at parties, but Ellie had never really spoken to her.
"We're looking for...well... she looks like her." Mac said awkwardly. "They're twins."