Buckner regarded Janet and Victoria with an odd, almost careful expression in his office, the first time they'd been there. He sat behind his desk, they in chairs on the other side while Vernon and Bull conversed in low tones at the back of the room.
"Final job, ladies." he eventually said. "I saved this one for last, and for good reason. Now, as before, don't worry because it's not dangerous at all, in fact, you'll have support on this one. However, this one might be a little difficult for you two just the same, only for different reasons. But, judging by your performance so far, I have to believe you can get this done for me, regardless."
"We'll do our best, Mr. Buckner.", Janet said, a little concerned at his apparent concern.
"No.", Victoria politely corrected her. "Not our best, we'll do it. Last job, baby, then we go home, right?"
"Yes.", Janet had to agree, Victoria's attitude in the matter having gotten them this far. "Right."
"Now I've gone and spooked you." Buckner said, smiling at Janet.
She shrugged with her own smile, a little more relaxed at seeing his and admitted that maybe he did.
"Okay, look." he said, pausing as if to put his thoughts together before continuing. "It's like this: You ladies, being the class acts that you are, never ask me for any details I don't provide, which means you're trustworthy and that you trust me. That's great and it's a big thing here, because I'll tell you,... Have you ever done a wrong thing for the right reason?"
Victoria nodded, unsurprised when Janet didn't.
"Well, that's kind of what this is. On this job, when the going gets tough and you start to think what you're bound to think, just remember it's a wrong for a right and that even I had second thoughts about this, but,... it wasn't completely under my control and it's not as if any of them deserve any sympathies. Stupid, arrogant bastard, he's just lucky he gets to li- Yeah, sooo,... Well, like I say, nobody is going to be hurt at all and you two are a big asset of mine to make sure I can put this behind me. You understand?"
Both women nodded, quite serious now.
"You'll be taking what you call 'the potion' along on this one. I suggest you each have a little, yourselves. Vernon and Bull will run security while you two run the show, but overall, Victoria, I think this one is yours."
"Yes, Mr. Buckner."
He called the two afore mentioned, well dressed thugs to the front of the room, then smiled re-assuringly at the two women and asked, "Remember Dr. McNeer? Well, this time it's actually warranted, no matter how distasteful."
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Eighteen year old Skyler Keeping opened the front door at almost a quarter to nine that evening to a quite unexpected and delightful surprise. Two women stood on the doorstep of his parent's upscale home, a blonde and a brunette. Both of them were very pretty, the blonde with glasses, the brunette with her hair done up and smiling confidently, like her friend.
They appeared to be business women of some sort, judging by the black business suits they wore that accentuated their curves, especially the blonde's chest, and featured short, tight skirts, stockings and a lot of cleavage.
"Hello, Sir", the brunette said warmly, almost excitedly, quickly glancing him over. "My name is Vivian and this is my friend, Jenna. We've been showing people in your neighborhood the latest in household dust elimination systems, the
Accuparticle,
with its revolutionary new vortex sucking action that literally traps ninety-nine point nine percent of all those nasty dust and pollen particles from your god given air. Did you know that
every
American has a right to breathe good, clean air in his or her home, Sir? Would now be a good time for us to demonstrate our product?"
Of course it would be. He nodded, backing up and opening the door further for them. 'Vivian' instructed 'Jenna' to go get the 'unit' before stepping inside. After a quick glance around, she unbuttoned the front of her blazer and fanned herself. Skyler's eyes were riveted to the little she allowed him to see of the black, see through bra she wore underneath as she looked towards the ceiling, fanning her neck and the top of her chest.
"Whew! Sir, I do hate to trouble you, but I wonder if I could have a drink of water?"
" ... D-uh, yeah. Yeah! I'll be right back!" he said as she looked at the growing situation in his pants and smiled warmly again.
He turned, embarrassed by this despite daring to hope at what that look may have meant, and walked quickly to the back of the house, leaving his guest to step back to the door and wave her hand. Moments later, 'Jenna' returned, followed in by a group of eight men dressed like they were planning a golf outing, even equipped with golf bags and clubs. Four of them moved quickly and quietly up the nearby staircase to the second level while the other four fanned out over the ground level, 'Jenna' closing the door behind them and locking it.
Skyler was quite surprised, for the second time that day and not so delightfully this time, to be escorted back to his own front room by a man who looked faintly like Mike Weir. Especially since Weir carried a golf club, rather than a pistol.
He had actually gotten two glasses of water before being intercepted by the golfer and came to a stop, wide eyed and frozen in front of Vivian, aka Victoria Sharpe, and Jenna, aka Janet Fulton with the cold glasses in his hands. Victoria leaned forward and took them from him, passing one to Janet.
"Thank you, Sir. And how kind of you to think of Jenna, too."
He had nothing to say to this, but the sight of his parents and two older sisters being hustled down the stairs would have silenced him anyway. With their hands cuffed in front of them, they were being herded by three more golfers to the lower level where he, now that his hands were free of the glasses, was also being cuffed.
Victoria drank half her glass down, actually quite thankful in the heat, plus the flush of her nerves. She wished Janet would drink hers and stop looking at her like she shouldn't be.
"Baby, your manners."
Janet silently cursed herself, recovering her composure quickly and not stammering, "Pardon me, Sir. Of course, thank you for the nice, refreshing glass of water."
It was well that Victoria had done that, Janet knew, as William Keeping joined their group along with the others. He was looking wildly around, red faced and outraged, but obviously afraid as sweat ran from his short, graying hair into his sun tanned face. He looked in shape for his age, late forties, Janet guessed, and wore white casual slacks with a sky blue, button up shirt, yellow sweater on his shoulders and tied by the sleeves over his chest, looking somewhat like his captors.
"What in god damned hell is going on!?" he demanded, charging his eyes around and about the group, pausing at the two strange, sexy women, then moving on to the men again.
His wife, Ellen Keeping, stood stock still, wide eyed and obviously scared stiff. She looked somewhere around five years younger than her husband with natural good looks, giving the overall impression of a woman from Janet's set. She even wore the predictable, long, navy blue shorts with the smart white blouse. Her golden brown hair and green eyes were surely the envy of all the women in the PTA and Janet herself was quite certain that Martha Stewart and Oprah reigned in her life and home.
To Janet, it all suddenly seemed so 'supermarket'. Maybe things wouldn't be quite the same when they got back home.
Ellen's oldest daughter, Star, was twenty two and, taking after her father's side, was softer of curves than her thinner, younger sister. Her hair was longer and noticeably darker than her mother's, but with the same green eyes.
Tamara was twenty and blonde. Her build spoke of athletics and nobody on her girl's baseball team would dare say she was anything but.
Just then, both young women and their brother were saying nothing, quite naturally following their mother's example while Mr. Keeping harshly demanded answers.
"If it's our belongings you're after, than take them and go, but you'll never get away with it! Who's in charge here?!"
Victoria looked into her glass, trying to gather the nerve for what came next. She vaguely considered Keepings' own nerve, demanding like he was in this situation, looking around to all the men with guns while they, unarmed women, drank cold water from glasses. The annoyingly loud jackass couldn't even imagine that she and Janet could be in charge, rather than one of their men.
"I said, who-!"
"(ahem!)"
Victoria was still looking into her drink when Keeping's eyes snapped to her. She finished her water and set the empty glass on a nearby hutch, beheld him thoughtfully, then answered.
"That would be me. My name is Vivian and this is my good friend, Jenna. And before you start yelling at me, I want to make it clear that I'm not in the mood to put up with that. In fact, I'm in no mood to put up with much of anything from any of you, so know right now that if I get any flack, Willy gets hurt a little. More flack, Willy gets hurt a little more. You see where that goes."
She paused, taking a deep breath, then letting it out in a rush, the action seeming to purge some animosity.
"But there's absolutely no need for any foolishness, because we're not planning on hurting you. You see?" she asked, slowly adopting her 'party girl' attitude. So! Let's all just relax a little, take a deeeeep breath and-"
"Just tell me what you want!" Keeping snapped harshly. "And then go away!"
Victoria looked at him, still smiling for the party, and replied, "I already told you what I want. Your cooperation. Please try to pay attention, Willy, and I wouldn't keep on interrupting me if I were you, because that could get you hurt, too."
Keeping bristled visibly at her reference to him, rather than using his proper name.
"But you must want something!"
"Right now, I want you to be quiet." Victoria said, her 'party girl' slipping ever so slightly.
Victoria then nodded to Bull, the man holding Willy, who then ushered him to his living room set, his family being herded behind in the same manner.
At the same time, one man went to guard the front door, another to the kitchen to cover the back door and garage entrance. Yet another sat at the top of the stairs, while each floor was routinely guarded and patrolled by two more men who went around disabling any forms of communication from the house. Three men remained, along with Victoria and Janet, to ensure the family's desired co-operation.
"Jenna, why don't you get us all a round?" Victoria suggested. "Ladies, try to calm down, alright? It won't help to blow your own neurons while you just sit there. ... Would it help if I promised you that we're all going to get along just fine? ... No? Well, I suppose I can't blame you, but we will. Have a stiff drink and calm down a little until then, though."
Janet was trying to calm herself as she measured out the potion differently for each of them and for she and Victoria as well. Victoria had very much moved into this, alright and, in Janet's mind, it went to prove the long term effects of the potion along with how she felt her own excitement daring to burst free in her chest as she mixed the drinks.
"I get it! Milton sent you, didn't he!?" Keeping assumed, suddenly angrier than before. "Well, you can go back right now and tell that small-time, plodding jackass, cocksucker that I don't scare that easy! I know he doesn't have what it takes, cause he has no guts and his portfolio shows it! You tell him-"
"Willy!" Victoria called out, shaking her head with a huge, tolerant smile. "No more shouting, okay? Really, you shouldn't even concern yourself with those things anyway, because I have no more idea
why
I'm here than you do, so it doesn't even matter, does it? Now, just sit tight and don't be a pain in my ass, okay?"
The drinks came around two at a time, Janet serving them up underneath her practiced, polite smile. She even looked apologetically at them all and managed to express reassurance to each one as she handed them their specifically mixed drinks.
