The sex scenes that I merely mention in this chapter of Spy Games are covered in detail (from Raven's point of view) in Realtor Revenge chapters 7 and 8.
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Spy Games
Chapter 19
We finished phase one of our mission five weeks after our arrival in Merryville. Not only did we purchase nearly all the available parcels of residential real estate in town -- thanks to a small army of Company electronics specialists -- every house we purchased, plus most of the Merryville Inn rooms, had at least one listening device installed and, in many cases, cameras as well. We didn't turn Merryville into the most wired town in America so we could spy on Americans. The bugs were there to observe and document the nefarious words and deeds of the soon to arrive terrorists.
During this first month, thanks to the unwitting help of Raven Hardwood, we also obtained or manufactured sufficient dirt on the local ruling class to ensure the mayor and city council would accept the terms needed for a successful phase two... drawing in the two terrorist organizations by letting them operate tax free for twenty years. I realize that your normal terrorists don't pay taxes, but this group was far from normal.
When most people think of terrorists, they conjure up visions of suicidal young men who are armed to the teeth and willing to die as long as they can take a shit load of Americans with them. The first group of foreigners -- a contingent of nine Chinese engineers -- looked anything but threatening. Not a one of them over the height of five foot ten, they dressed, looked and acted like geeks. Raven and I had dinner with them that first night and, apart from an unfortunate cultural faux pas by Miss Hardwood, it was an enjoyable evening.
The next day was a tour of the now defunct car factory. That was the terrorist's cover story. They were supposedly going to buy the plant and use it to build autonomous electric cars. Not exactly a horrible thing to happen to a town, but what the residents of Merryville didn't understand was that the enterprise let them move a hundred loyal Chinese communist party members into the heartland of America.
Since the mayor was the tour guide for the plant tour, I declined to attend... at least that was the excuse I gave to Raven. Despite what one might think, my reason for not attending the tour was not because the mayor planned to have me killed in the next couple of weeks. I was fairly sure the only person in Merryville that could take me out was Flanagan, and he was firmly on my side. The true reason for my absence was the part I had to play in my three housemates plan to further fuck with Raven's mind.
The latest plot against Raven's sanity came up over dinner a couple of nights before the Chinese arrived. Actually, Miss Moorehead came up with the idea earlier in the week, had already planned it out with her partners in crime and the dinner discussion was their effort to get my approval.
"Absolutely not," was my first response. "It's too risky."
"Wow," Flanagan said. "Did I really hear Agent Alpha, the number one field agent in the Company, the man who routinely volunteers for jobs other agents refuse. Did this real-life Captain American just say that a romantic drive down a scenic road was 'too risky'?"
"You know exactly what I mean," I countered. "If anybody in town sees and recognizes Miss Moorehead, the council may hear of it, realize they've been lied to, and refuse to approve the tax-free offer to the Chinese. If that happens, we've screwed up the entire mission."
"But we won't be in town," Miss Moorehead insisted. "And since the plant is closed, hardly anybody ever uses that road anymore."
"And don't forget that we have real time information on the location of the mayor, city council, and all the local cops," Sixty-nine added. "If anybody besides Raven gets too close to Janis, we'll call it off."
"Suppose we can pull this off?" I asked. "What does it give us? What is the gain to offset the risk?"
"We're trying to convince Raven that Janis is haunting her," Flanagan said.
"Yeah, I know that."
"She's already heard Janis' voice, but the mind knows that the ears can be deceived. Seeing is believing, even if it's just for a second or two."
"You all realize that making Raven believe in ghosts in no way furthers our assigned mission."
All three agreed with head nods.
"And if you're little plan goes south, we may jeopardize the lives of millions of Americans, just to punish Miss Hardwood for what she did to Miss Moorehead."
"So, what's your point?" Flanagan asked.
"I guess I don't have one. Let me know what you need from me."
The basic premise of the plan was dumb ass simple. Give Raven Hardwood a brief glimpse of an alive and well Janis Moorehead so Raven would have to consider the possibility that Janis somehow escaped from the grave. Execution of the plan wasn't quite as easy as one would think. We wanted Miss Hardwood to see Miss Moorehead, but not be able to follow her.
The shuttered car plant was twenty miles outside of town. A four-lane express way, made exclusively for the factory two decades ago, stretched directly from the edge of town to the front gate of what used to be the workplace of fifteen-hundred employees. The only other logical route from town to the plant was a two-lane scenic road that wound through farmland and woods. Either route would have served our purposes, but the privacy of the long and winding road would be the best option.
A half hour after the tour started, we positioned ourselves in one of the many deserted parking lots close to the plant exit. Sixty-nine, Janis and I were in a nondescript SUV with a blood red Mustang convertible parked in the spot next to us... situated so that a car departing the plant would see the SUV but not the convertible. Flanagan, dressed in his official police uniform and driving his cruiser, was parked behind a billboard just outside the plant gates.
Earlier that morning, Sixty-nine and Janis had spent the better part of an hour applying Janis' makeup to give her a ghostly white appearance and undoing her hair... going for the "fresh out of the grave" look. Sixty-nine was touching up Janis' makeup, adding some mascara to make her eyes look sunken and hollow, when my iPad display showed Raven's phone break away from the mayor and head towards the VIP lot.
"It's show time. Last chance to back out," I told Janis. "Are you sure you're up to this?"
"Just try to stop me."
Janis jumped out of the SUV with a gleam that told me how much she needed this. How much she wanted to be doing something... anything to right the wrong that was done to her. It was as if pushing Raven towards the edge of insanity was bringing Miss Moorehead's mental state back towards normal.
After sliding into the driver's seat of the Mustang, she removed her shirt and bra and put them on the floor of the passenger side seat. She was still wearing shorts and shoes but from the viewpoint of a passing car, especially a car as low to the ground as Miss Hardwood's Porsche, it would appear that the driver of the red convertible was completely naked. To make the scene complete, I attached stage prop manacles to her hands and draped the chains over the steering wheel to make it look like she was chained to the car. We tested her Bluetooth earbuds, which were completely concealed by unbrushed blonde locks and, convinced all was in readiness, I leaned down to give her a good luck kiss.
"Wait until we're done," she said as she pulled away. "It's not that I don't want to kiss you, I'm afraid you'll ruin my makeup."
She was right, of course. But it still bothered me.
Janis fired up her Mustang as I got back in the SUV with Sixty-nine.
