Chapter 10 SHTF
THE EVERLEIGH
Neck Wallace met Lena at a restaurant for breakfast in Little Rock before they drove to Memphis for Lena's visit to one or more of the gambling and sex boats. Neck and Lena were never exactly close (except physically for a week), but Lena's level of trust in Neck had gone from low to less than zero.
Lena had never been clear in her own mind what she was trying to accomplish with her visit to the FASUG. If she had been forced to explain all the reasons she had undertaken this extremely risky adventure, Lena would have had to say that she came to the FASUG to avoid getting killed by the Reichsbürger in Germany for crashing their CO2 conspiracy, to see Killer, to somehow persuade Killer to leave his life in Wyoming to join her life, to learn facts to write a story or series of stories on sex slavery in the Free American States under God that would win a Pulitzer Prize, or, more likely a Wächterpreis der Tagespresse, and to expose and end human rights abuses that she was sure were happening in the Free States.
Whatever Lena's agenda was, pleasing scheming Neck Wallace was not part of it. Still, she would have to keep on good terms with Neck for a few more days until she made it to the airplane in Memphis and back north to the Social Democratic States of America.
Naturally, Neck wanted Lena to visit the Everleigh sex boat and only the Everleigh. The Everleigh, named after the famous Chicago Madams, was the fanciest boat with the most flashy casino and the largest, most elegant, and most comfortable rooms housing the women who entertained discriminating gentlemen "below deck." The food on the Everleigh was the best; it had many of the prettiest women and all of the best-educated ones. The boat was also the most seaworthy and had the best security.
Prices on the Everleigh were commensurate with all this quality. Two hours with the least-expensive woman on the Everleigh cost at least 5000 FASUG dollars, a large sum for two hours of entertainment even in 2045 Confederate dollars. Customers had to buy at least two hours but could enjoy sophisticated conversation in the lounges and live music above and below deck before and after. The fee and hourly arrangements lessened the wear and tear on the indentured women who generally had to serve only six customers a day.
Lena did not mind touring the Everleigh, but she wanted to see at least the Rising Sun in addition to the Everleigh if possible. Her former colleague at Kultur, Sex and Sport publishing, Angela, was on the Rising Sun, having signed a contract with Neck that went poorly for Angela.
Lena toured the Everleigh dressed much more modestly than usual in order to avoid giving anyone the wrong idea. She confirmed that the Everleigh was clean, elegant and comfortably decadent. Accompanied by Sheriff Bull Hawley, Neck and Captain Ralph Semmes, Lena was allowed "below deck", where she saw what appeared to be happy, stylish women and refined customers. Even allowing for the fact that she had seen a sanitized picture, Lena had to admit that the Everleigh was a far cry from the squalid brothels in Frankfurt, Hamburg and Berlin she had infiltrated as a reporter.
Lena spoke in German with Claudia Andersschiffer, a would-be model who had been on the Everleigh a bit over a year, having lost in Neck's Winnetou duels in May 2044. Lena knew that Claudia, like the rest of the women held in servitude on the boats, was in no position to complain about her situation, given what the boat owners could do to her. Still, Lena had no affirmative reason to disbelieve Andersschiffer's claims that she had never been happier.
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Dressed in a sort of dirndl corset over which her breasts and blond hair flowed and nothing else, Andersschiffer said that she had hoped to win 100,000 Euros in the duels after coming in second in a modeling contest. Andersschiffer said being a full-time sex object was a lot of fun. She said it was certainly better than being an underpaid official working for the Bundesbahn (German railroad) and part-time cocktail waitress at a Hanover Bar, which is how she had made money before becoming an indentured servant in 2044.
Anderschiffer volunteered that her pregnancy, which had resulted in childbirth last June, was not too bad. She was impressed by how quickly the Everleigh diet and health staff had gotten her to work off her baby fat and get her right back to pleasing customers. The new milk pumps that had been developed were pleasurable and had apparently kept her from getting pregnant again for some months despite the fact that she was again seeing at least six men a day.
"One could say that they maximized your output of sex to maximize the boat's profits while complying with the Free States laws against birth control?" Lena suggested.
"I have not thought of it that way," Anderschiffer said.
Lena also spoke with Frenchy von Schlupp, who had only been on the Everleigh since August 2045. Lena did not, of course, come right out and ask Frenchy if she had deliberately lost the July 2045 duels to evade a murder rap in Paris involving the theft of heroin, as Lena believed. Lena asked only if Frenchy believed her life had improved since coming to the boat.
Frenchy somehow sensed that Lena knew of her past, smiled broadly and said that she not only felt that her life was better than before but that she was a much better person and living a much healthier life. When Lena asked if Frenchy thought she would feel the same if she got pregnant, Frenchy said she did not see why not. She had great healthcare on the boat with only the safest non-addictive drugs.
Neck was afraid that Lena talking to Frenchy might lead to embarrassment, given the fact he had not disclosed Frenchy's past when he sold her. He began to pull Lena away when Lena asked if Frenchy thought that all the women on the Everleigh were as happy being there as Frenchy was. Frenchy looked out the window and asked Lena if she did not think the view of the historic Helena skyline was beautiful.
Both Anderschiffer and Frenchy being women who had become indentured due to contracts they made with Neck, Lena asked to talk to women who were on the Everleigh for years or who were there because of a bank foreclosure sale or who were in penal servitude. Captain Semmes said that, regrettably, there was not much time for that, given that they had to put Lena and Neck off the boat on schedule.
Lena complained that she should be allowed to talk privately to at least one woman on the Everleigh who came there the way most of the women did, as indentured servants or in penal servitude. "You know that if you do not let me talk to anyone but the special women who Neck brought here, the cover-up will become my story."
Semmes relented, and Lena was given a half hour with a woman known on the boat as Kathy Simmons but who used to be Mrs. Senator Strum Stennis.
Kathy explained that she was the 26-year-old wife of the then 80-year-old Stennis when a man, John Wilkes, who said he worked for the Confederate government, became her bodyguard at the request of the Senator. When they were alone, Mr. Wilkes flirted much more than would normally be tolerated by a bodyguard, but Kathy did not mind it even when he started making suggestive remarks, including even talk of bondage and other kinds of "kinky stuff."
"Wilkes said that a lot of Little Rock wives married to old power brokers had to have lovers to avoid going crazy. He even introduced me to a woman who was married to the Deputy Chief of Homeland Security, Mrs. Maxwell Klug. She let it be known that the lawmen looked the other way when she or other women married to powerful men did what they needed to do to meet their needs.
"That may have been true as to Mrs. Klug and some others. Apparently, she and her husband have some sort of understanding.
"Anyway, I was soon allowing John to relieve me using his hands and his tongue while I was also engaging in practices that the laws of the Free States don't allow.
"One night, while the Senator was participating in a filibuster, John and I were staying in a Hotel in Vicksburg. John said he had an idea for the evening but that we had to leave town a bit for a cabin he knew of because we could not trust the hotel not to snoop. John suggested that I take a walk out toward the Civil War siege lines, and he would pick me up in his rental car. He told me not to worry and that many of the senators' wives found it necessary to take walks during long sessions.
"I got most of the way to the Mississippi Monument when John pulled up in his car. He grinned and said nothing but unlocked the passenger side door. A few minutes later, he had parked near a dilapidated shed with bullet holes through many places in the tin walls.
"It isn't beautiful, but it's warm enough for this time of year, and there are comfortable places to do what we want,' John said before we kissed passionately. The cabin had a table, a bed with a mattress and a few pillows, two chairs, a lightbulb hanging from the ceiling and not much else. John left the lights on as he helped me out of my brassier and began to swirl his tongue around my left nipple.
"This tryst was short on talk and heavy on action. It was only a few minutes before John was on his back. I realized that I was well crossed the Rubicon, and soon I was a cowgirl on top of him, facing a wall full of bullet holes. I looked down into his grey eyes and did all the motions, building and building to my first orgasm while John sometimes ran his fingers and sometimes his tongue over my breasts, hanging down close to his face when I leaned forward.
"I had a powerful orgasm like I'd not had for years and shouted 'Yes, Yes, Yes,' right until I fell silent. We made love about three times after that before Wilkes drove me back, dropping me off a few blocks from the hotel.
"The following night, we did about the same thing, except this time, John wanted me to try bondage. He had me strip naked, lean over the table with my arms fastened to the front legs of the table and my legs spread and fastened to the other legs of the table. I found the doggie-style sex that followed with my body bound to the table very stimulating, and I had several orgasms before he quickened and came in my pussy.
"I remember perfectly all the details of both nights in the shack because I have often seen the film that was made from cameras peering through the bullet holes. Customers of the Everleigh enjoy watching the film before they have sex with me cowgirl or doggie style.
"I did not like the film so much the first time I saw it. Before that film showing, I was arrested in the shack. Wilkes had come deep inside me and kept pushing long enough for me to have another orgasm before he pulled out and said, 'Here is your prisoner, sheriff.'
"While being served by Wilkes, I had not noticed the Warren County Sheriff and two of his deputies come into the shack and line up behind Wilkes. They all laughed their heads off as I went into shock, screamed and protested against them, first telling me that I was under arrest for adultery and all taking me as Wilkes had done.
