Hunter sat in Roy's office and sipped on his bourbon. It was a little early in the day for liquor, but Hunter was still getting back on Nevada time. Roy was in his usual chair behind the desk and swirled the ice and liquor in his glass. He normally did not drink at nine in the morning either, unless it was a mimosa or a nice porter, but was being social with his friend. Hunter was back from catching another runaway slave and was finishing telling Roy the story.
"The thing is," Hunter declared, "nearly all the slaves who run away just do it for the extra attention. Slaves want to be slaves, they do not want their freedom and would not know what to do with it if they had it. If their owners would just treat their slaves correctly, I wouldn't have to do as much work."
"What do you mean 'correctly'?" Roy was young but made it a point of not thinking he knew everything. If Hunter was going to impart another pearl of wisdom, Roy was eager to take it.
"Every slave is a little different," Hunter explained. "They want different things out of their servitude. Some want more brutality, they want to be beaten and whipped. Some want the sex, and as much sex as possible as often as possible. Others just want the attention, they want to be so desired that nothing will stop their owners from having them. For most slaves, it is some combination of the above. Frankly, if I could figure it out completely I might actually get a slave. I just wish the owners who had slaves would make a little effort to figure out their slaves before they run away and I have to go to South-freaking-Carolina to bring one back."
"Come on Hunter," Roy said with a smile, "you love it. You get to hunt people and fuck beautiful women. You want them to run away just so you can catch them."
Hunter tried to frown, but broke into a smile and laughed. "You're right, Roy. Chasing bail jumpers is fun, too, but the sex at the end is missing. Catching a cute little slave and fucking the hell out of her is much better than dragging some stinky meth head back to Vegas to stand trial for car theft."
"So how was this one?" Roy asked.
"You mean the sex?" Hunter smiled.
"Yeah, you told me about the pursuit, how did the sex go?"
"Nice, very nice," Hunter grinned remembering it. "As a rule, they usually don't run away again. This one might, she really loved it rough. I'm not sure her owner is up to the challenge. He may need to bring in a crew to gang bang her once a week."
"The right owner for the right slave is a challenge," Roy said with a knowing grin.
"Roy, you either got lucky with Elaine or you did enough research to find the perfect slave for you," Hunter pointed at Roy. "What you want from a slave and what she wants as a slave seem to be in almost perfect harmony. Although, it could just be that she would be a perfect slave for any owner and you just got her first."
"Could be. We may find out soon enough," Roy said ruefully.
Hunter turned serious and asked Roy. "How are your problems with the Association?"
"Not good," Roy frowned. "My work taking out Mark's operation is going to keep me out of any long term trouble, but there are immediate problems that they may take me to task on."
"That's too bad, but you know how they are. They are sticklers for rules and they have lots and lots of rules. Were you even aware of the ones you broke?"
"Vaguely. The general ones I knew well but figured the penalty was minor. The special addendum was buried in one of their yearly updates. The last update was 463 pages and it's not like they have a decent index or summary, either. I think that they try to make it obscure and difficult. The fact that Amanda contested it caught me off guard; I thought everything was cool with her."
"That's too bad, Roy. Is there anything I can do to help?" Hunter asked.
"In the big picture? No," Roy answered with an exasperated sigh. "I've got Greg looking it all over as a lawyer but the big problem is that I am guilty of everything of which they are accusing me."
"How about offering to take down the Canadian end of Mark's operations?" Hunter asked. "I'd love to get in on that." What Hunter knew of the fate of some of the slaves Mark had sold sickened him and he was not a squeamish man.
"Maybe," Roy shrugged. "That could keep me in good standing and get a reward later, but Elaine is the sticking point right now and they usually toe the line on rules for individual claims on slaves. The whole Association is built upon secure property rights and all the rules that go with that."
"Well, you know you've got me and the team if you head north," Hunter said.
"Thanks, Hunter," Roy answered sincerely, "I appreciate that."
"As long as it goes better than our last trip to Canada," Hunter said with a wink and they both laughed.
"Greg and I are meeting with the Association people handling this case tonight," Roy said. "We are doing it here and I would like to have Elaine out of their immediate grasp. Don't let anyone take her until you hear from me first. Do you have everything lined up for tonight?"