A House Divided - Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven:

The Journey ends for Claire

“The last piece of the puzzle is the easiest to put in but the most difficult to remove!” Claire read, intrigued by the phrase that hung over the main entrance to the complex of both the modern and ancient buildings that made up Fujioka IEC as she neared the main gate. 

Mr. Fujioka was head of a large import/export operation in Kyoto and was suspected of helping DOOM smuggle vital parts, information and people in and out of various countries with his connections.  It was Claire's intention to extract some of that information from him for COIL to help her complete her last piece of the puzzle! His private residence/corporate office was a large modern Pagoda that featured all the usual corporate trappings, fax machines, computers, photocopiers all amid the traditional paper walls, sandalwood floors and art objects it created a startling contrast as you walked along rather like passing between two time periods.
 

"If you will follow me Mr. Fujioka will see you in a short while. My name is Uoko, Mr. Fujioka' s personal assistant, it is my duty to take care of you," she said.

Uoko was clothed in the traditional Geisha costume, as were all the other women Claire passed on her way to her appointment.
 

"Mr. Fujioka seems to have embraced the modern world while maintaining his roots to the past," Claire stated.

"Yes Miss, he is a very traditional man while he completely understands the modern world he firmly believes that the ancient values, techniques and history of our people must be preserved and all the people who work for him share his ideals," Uoko answered.

  "Including you, a modern woman with a Geisha's training," Claire asked.

"Yes, I am a fully trained Geisha as well as a university graduate in business, so I have the benefit of both the modern and the ancient Japan," she answered.

The two twisted and turned the hallways, climbed stairs to the second floor and proceeded down a long hallway to a set of large doors. Uoko opened the doors and motioned Claire inside, the COIL agent walked through and into the large waiting room she barely had time to survey it before being sent sailing across the room by a blow to the back of her neck! Before she could scarcely find her feet Uoko had wrapped her kimono silk waist tie around her neck and pulled tight, several rapid punches to Claire's kidneys took more fight out of her as did Uoko's follow up blows to her neck! All the spy could hear was her guide's high-pitched yells as she reined blows upon her! The Geisha stepped back and with full forced pulled the silk waist tie snapping it and sending a helpless Claire into the air spinning recklessly and crashing hard to the wood floor seconds later! Claire got to her feet and tried to make a fight of it, as her eyes cleared she saw Uoko slip out of her kimono revealing a splendidly toned body clad in a one piece body suit! Claire could see that every curve of this woman was sharpened to a fine point! Uoko didn't let her opponent clear her mind and take back any advantage she had earned, she attacked again, and Claire's weak counters were useless! The Geisha took, grabbed and twisted her arm as she delivered lethal strikes with her legs to Claire's stomach, before flipping her into the air and depositing her hard again on the unforgiving floor!

The COIL agent noticed the tattoo on the inside of the Geisha's thigh and it’s answered escaped into the room.

            "Poison Geisha Clan!"

"Yes, Miss, as I said before I'm a fully trained Geisha, including the deadly arts of the Geisha. As Mr. Fujioka's personal assistant is my duty and pleasure to protect him, you are a threat and Mr. Fujioka requested I take care of you, fatally!  How was graciously left to me! A Geisha is trained in many pleasing arts, song, dance, conversation among others; one of my personal favourites is flower arranging, which leads me back to you and your fate," Uoko seductively stated.

  The Geisha grabbed Claire's arms and pulled up forcing the battered agent to rise with the force to her feet. Several loud shoots filled the empty reception room again as the Geisha's lethal legs delivered their damage once more to the spy's body in rapid secession from the knees to the chest! Claire felt Uoko's arms and legs interweave into hers and in seconds the Geisha had her immobilised!

  "You are now my flower and I will arrange you into my body with a technique called The Folding Flower, an arrangement from which you will never escape!" Uoko stated softly.

 A gentle turn and bend of her body collapsed the two downward, the Folding Flower completely immobilised its victim, Claire's arms and legs enmeshed in Uoko's body would slowly be drawn upward, arching her body until the force broke her back, she was totally defenceless in the hold!

Uoko squirreled her torso every few minutes drawing Claire tighter into the Folding Flower; each gentle quiver told her she was being taken deeper into Geisha's web of death! The Poison Geisha kept up the gentle unrelenting pressure each shudder of her body rippled through Claire as she felt herself losing the battle as small whispers of pain started to course about her body! Uoko began to arch the agent upward in the hold, the steady march to death had begun as the Geisha's hand's slipped underneath Claire's chin and locked together, escape improbable before was impossible now! The Poison Geisha took her time, Claire was the bigger and stronger of the two, Uoko didn't need to drive hard into Claire, she had her and that was not the Geisha way, soft and gentle would finish the COIL agent just as effectively besides the art of the Geisha must be preserved. Her assassin continued to fold the flower that was Claire Baxter slowly and gently over time as Claire furiously resisted against her capture all the while the Geisha pursued her gentle death application around her helpless target!

Uoko's forearms had moved so much around Claire's upper body that she could now wrap her arms around her victim' s head and seal them tight in her constricting embrace. Claire's body arching ever upward was now racked in constant pain and endless deadly pressure as she fought to survive! The Poison Geisha's body was twitching in shorter intervals as death crept closer for Claire, no matter how hard she resisted Uoko just waited patiently for her to expend her vital energy and then gave her a tender pull, over time she would finish the spy! The Poison Geisha contemplated her ensnared victim' s face now showing the signs of pain she was experiencing as she convulsed again about Claire who continued to struggle in defiant opposition despite the impossibility of the situation as Uoko quivered her again!

Sealed in the body of this very deadly woman, her lethal ancient art succeeding wonderfully Claire was near the end, pain was everywhere for her as the Poison Geisha's body now squirreled her even tighter and higher as it began to convulse almost endlessly about her, only minutes were left to the COIL agent! Claire's hands and feet were now arched so far they could touch each other.

 "Good!" she thought, "My chance for freedom!"

 Slowly she reached for the heel of her shoe and escape from Uoko's clutches, carefully she slid open the heel covering and pulled out her weapon, as she reached further backward the Poison Geisha tightened her in response. Uoko intent upon the endgame was completely unaware of Claire's plan; her only concern was her imminent death! Carefully removing a bottle from the hollow heel of her shoe Claire gingerly removed the top and moved it into position as she fought the Poison Geisha's hold to distract her enough to allow the spy to gently roll the ball of the container up and down Uoko's calf several times then she turned all her attention and efforts to resisting until the drug was absorbed!

It took effect slowly at first but then came on in intensity despite the Geisha's battle to fight it! Claire was free of her seconds later. She rolled on to her back, flattening it against the floor to ease the pain and restore some of her strength. She turned her head after a brief interlude to gaze at Uoko, who starred back but completely unable to move, while Claire was now feeling better as she twisted around, retrieved the bottle and cap and replace it in the heel of her shoe. Moving into the Geisha' s field of vision Claire smiled and said.

            “A little poison for the Poison Geisha! I didn't think you'd have a good reaction to my perfume, at least not without the antidote that’s in my other heel. The scent is as you can tell highly dangerous to the touch! I'd love to stay and finish what we started, but I'm sure we'll meet again when we're both feeling better! It would not be honourable of me to finish you now, not without the chance of you defending yourself. I do however need to borrow your kimono, slippers and wig to make my escape, I'm sure you won't mind," Claire said smiling.

Her head down the disguised Geisha moved purposefully back along the hallways that lead to the entrance before slipping unnoticed into the washroom, removing the purloined clothes and exiting once again as Claire Baxter.  She passed through security and out of the immediate, so hoped, reach of Mr. Fujioka before reaching into her purse, turning around and stopping her digital camera poised at the main gate.

“They say a picture is worth a thousand words let’s see if 18 words are worth a picture?” she queried with a quick snap and a smile as she again was on her way.

Kyoto was a wonderful mix of the traditional and modern Japan, the city in a sense was the crossroads between the meeting of Eastern and Western cultures, luckily the Western culture had failed to totally dominate and destroy its older cousin.  The spy could look out over this from her hotel suites expansive balcony which she did letting the ambience of the scene embed itself in her mind before she had to return to her laptop and the assignment a few much too short minutes later.

Claire opened the program and loaded the picture she’d taken earlier removing all the peripheral background so she was left with only the words on the screen.  The mouse flew back and forth from the toolbar to the picture as the spy worked and worked on the image until slowly it revealed its hidden secret to her.

“There’s where you’ve been hiding!  At least part of you has anyway!  The last piece is still missing but I suspect I can locate it as well.” Claire said in a self-satisfied way.

  The CAD program (Computer Aided Design) had taken the digital picture cut and spliced it into pieces then rearranged, overlaid and spliced them together using a complex series of algorithms and matrices to form what she was now starring at a diagram from a circuit board with one corner part missing.  The spy let the CAM program (Computer Aided Manufacture) do the next part of reverse engineering the missing piece of the board by using the known piece as the reference point and building the missing part using those limitations and givens it provided.  Once it had the design she’d reverse engineer the design to see what word or as more likely the case, phrase it would generate.  Unfortunately, coming full circle would take most of the rest of the day and part of the night.

“The hurry up and wait axiom on full display!” she said.  Setting down the computer on the coffee table she reached out for her book.  She stretched out on the chesterfield intent on enjoying the temporary down time technology had fortuitously provided her.

* * * * * * * * * * *

“So Miss Baxter proved more resourceful than you had anticipated!  Perhaps I need to hire a more resourceful Geisha?” Mr. Fujioka said as he stared at her.  “I brought the fly into the web and my spider let her escape!” he thundered.

Uoko said nothing she just looked him square in the eye, hers revealing nothing about her present state or thoughts until she chose to.

“Now I have to send my men to search Kyoto for her all because of your incompetence,” he screamed across his desk at her.

“Miss Baxter’s location is already known!” the Geisha said with a slight smile before continuing.  “During our encounter I managed to plant a small tracker on her before she escaped!  At the present time she is in her hotel room which several of our clan have under surveillance.  When she leaves we will follow and finish her in our own unique way!”

“How can you be sure of this?  She might just get in a taxi and go the airport!  What would you do then?” he sniffed at her.

“We would adjust to the situation should that happen!” she countered.  “But Miss Baxter is not scheduled to leave the hotel until 2 more days, she having confirmed her intention to stay with the manager and he having relayed this to me less than an hour ago.”

“It would appear you are not a complete failure in this operation,” he offered sarcastically.

“Thank you sir,” she answered graciously knowing it would make him inwardly more angry that she had supposedly missed his meaning.  “It also appears that our COIL agent has a passion for jewellery and asked the manager if he could recommend a boutique in the city.  Again, I have made arrangements for a second meeting for Miss Baxter with one of my clan and meeting that will wrap up this unfortunate incident in our favour!” she answered this time letting the smile show before bowing then exiting the room.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Her clothes and manner indicated she was a high-class woman with money to spend if she so desired and the sales woman greeted her as such.

“Good day Madam!  Can I help you with anything?” asked an attractively dressed woman in her middle twenties.

“Yes please I’d like to look a some pearls if I may?” Claire answered.

“Yes Madam!  Strands, wrist or earrings?”

            “Let’s start with strands,” Claire answered as the woman led her to a private booth reserved for special customers with exquisite tastes and the pocket book to match, who also valued their privacy.  

She held the chair for the spy, excused herself and returned with a thin felt covered box designed for holding strands of pearls and a table mirror for Claire to view herself in.  She opened the box for Claire to view the 10 strands of pearls, both white and black within.  Although rarer the black pearls held no interest for the spy as her tastes ran completely to the white variety.  Claire picked up a strand, examined it for colour and size uniformity before setting it against the skin of her open neck whereupon the saleswoman gently removed it from her hand, opened the clasp and slipped them in place.

“A very lovely strand, no trace of blemishes on any of the pearls and they look beautiful on you Miss.”

Claire set them aside and tried on several others but still preferred the first set as the woman removed the box and herself for a few minutes before returning once more with a new box for Claire to peruse.  She tried on several, didn’t like them and then moved to smaller more elegant strands for evening.

“Another excellent choice Miss!  One of our finest strands complete with a platinum clasp to secure them in place!” she said as she fingered her broach giving it a slight turn.  

 The saleswoman smiled across the table her fingers poised on her broach as Claire studied the pearls in the mirror.  She touched the stone once and Claire felt a sharp prick in her neck, she removed the needle just as her head fell forward hitting the table and she passed out!

* * * * * * * * * * *
            Claire came awake with a burst and was on her feet in seconds!  Her eyes mapped the surroundings in seconds searching for a way out!  The room had four windows, one on each wall, Claire raced for the closest and peered out, then to the others in succession all opened but the drop was precipitous at best, at least two stories, over 30 feet straight down!  She tried the door, it to was locked, she was trapped for the moment and she knew exactly where is she was trapped, inside the compound of Fujioka IEC in one of the Pagoda’s!

 “The good news is your still alive Claire!” she said under her breath.  The bad news was she didn’t know for how much longer!  “We’re back to hurry up and wait,” she thought taking a seat on the floor and getting into the Lotus Position.  “If I have to wait I might as well calm my mind and body,” she said as her eyes closed.

 The spy heard the soft footsteps in the hall longer before the door opened and was on her feet long before the door opened.

“You must be a friend of Uoko’s come to settle the score!” Claire smiled.  “I hope you’re a little better than she was!” the spy added smartly.

            “My name Aki.  Uoko thought I would be better suited to administer your death.  She however sends her regrets that she cannot be here to watch you die Miss!”

 “How very polite of her and you,” Claire retorted.

 “The Poison Geisha, like all Geisha like formality in all we do!  We do however have exceptions and this is one of them.  Would you be so co-operative as to remove your clothes and the various trinkets you’re wearing she I can begin your execution!” the Geisha said politely as she set down the elaborately carved box she had been carrying.

 Claire kicked of her shoes and smiled.  “Those are free the rest you’ll have to earn!” the challenge clearly in her voice.

 The Geisha smiled and took up the challenge as she undid her Kimono and luridly began to slip it off!  She let it fall from her body to her feet before she kicked to through the air towards Claire.  The spy swept her hand out and knocked it aside bringing Aki, who had momentarily disappeared from view back into her presence, only the picture had changed!  The Geisha had removed the two large crossed hairpins from her head; her beautiful black hair cascaded half way down her chest making her even more alluring than before.

            Aki smiled and brought one pin to her mouth and blew!  The dart embedded in Claire’s neck, followed by several more to her legs.  Aki dropped the weapon, smiling sinisterly as she approached the teetering spy and delicately removed the darts tossing them away causally before applying and arm lock and tossing the spy over hip to the floor!

 “Blowfish poison Miss, a short term paralysing agent when administer in small doses, not enough to kill, but just enough to aid me in your death.  The first step is as I said removing your clothes along with any weapons you may have,” Aki said she began very carefully to undress the lethargic woman, taking great care to neatly fold and place each article of clothing and respective accessory.  The Poison Geisha opened the box she’d been brought in with her and removed a small ornately jewel encrusted vile.

 “Step two Miss is the preparation of your body.  This vile contains an ancient Geisha mixture of oils and spices to make your body slippery to the touch and heavenly to the senses.” 

The woman dripped a little on Claire’s stomach and each breast watching it fall down the sides into the valley and then wind down her chest to pool together with the other puddle!  She gently rubbed it in a little before rolling Claire over on her stomach and entwining her legs with those of her paralysed foe.  The Geisha cupped her hands under Claire’s chin and tenderly rocked backward until the spy was arched and slightly suspended lengthways over her body.

“Application of the oil must be done thoroughly for it to be effective Miss,” Aki purred, clearly enjoying the sensual nature of the encounter. 

 Her hands coated in the oil slid over Claire’s arched frame from her hips to her neck and arms.  Aki massaged her victim slowly working the oil deeply into the pours, in places using just one or two fingers as she pressed into the spy’s soft skin.

 “You have a lovely body Miss, but deceptively deadly, I can feel the coiled springs of your muscles concealed just below the surface, pity they are useless to you at the moment?  I should imagine you’d love to give them a workout around me!”

 Aki took her time on the suspended agent until her top half was coated to her satisfaction.  Claire was lowered back, rolled over and released.  Aki secured her once more, in a different position and poured more oil down Claire’s raised legs watching churn down her calves and course up her thighs until the two rivers met at her bush.

            “You have such long lovely and I’m very sure lethal legs Miss!  If only you could move them I suspect I’d never escape you,” the Poison Geisha said as she swept and caressed her hands down Claire’s legs.
            Claire willed her body to attack her tormentor but the Blowfish poison had her solidly in its grip and she was reduced to watching her captor and wishing.  The Geisha worked it between her toes, her hands sliding along her arch in a slithering motion down the underside of her feet and onto her calves as Aki’s fingers splayed to spread to oil.  She soothed one thigh at a time, her feather touch and soft skills arousing the stiff spy as she went.  The sensuous application reached her bush as Aki used two and sometimes only one finger to carefully work the potion into Claire until she was completely coated.  The Geisha smiled as she placed her charge softly on the sandalwood floor once more retreating to the box to replace the vile.  She closed the lid, picked it up and moved it and herself to just above the head of the prostrate spy, and then she opened it again.

 “We have come to the final step Miss.  Your love of pearls is most ironic given the situation you will soon find yourself in!” Aki smiled down on her as she picked up Claire’s hand by the index finger encircling it at the base and securing the small clasp on the end of a strand of pearls! 

 A few intricate movements later and the Geisha began to coil the strand around and up the spy’s arm!  Aki worked slowly and carefully pulling the COIL agent’s free arm above her head to join the other as the Poison Geisha secured her hands together and worked down the arm.

 Aki tilted her up at the waist and worked the first loop around her chest at the shoulders before once again securing the agent in her body and returning her to the small arch.  A delicate and increasingly complex weave of the strand began wreathing the spy’s naked upper body as Aki slipped and twirled the strand about Claire crossing them over between her thighs as she went until she was surrounded completely!  The Poison Geisha blanketed each individual leg securing the final loop and clasping it around one of Claire’s toes.  Aki scanned her handiwork and smiled!  From shoulders down Claire hand been wrapped in a single strand of pearls.

 “An most luxuriant and painful seductive death awaits you within the confines of the Dragon’s Teeth, Miss!  It has been said that nothing feels as good to a woman than pearls next to her skin.  You will soon be able to experience than many times over, but with a deadly twist!  When I activate the strand it will begin to slip and move around your body eventually drawing inward over time and constricting you in fatal embrace.  However, the nature of your entanglement allows the strand to slip and slid over your erogenous zones stimulating them to the point of orgasm.  A wonderful pleasure when taken in moderation but when it’s repeated over and over again, exhausting and eventually torturous painful.  After a while you’ll be begging for the stimulation to end, but it will continue even as the strands draws itself ever tighter against your exhausted and stiff body until you succumb Miss!” Aki hissed.  The Geisha activated the strand, picked up the box and clothes and left the room leaving the COIL agent to her private pleasures and pain.

 The poison wore off quickly after Aki left just as Claire had suspected it would.  She strained her naked body against the pearls, turning and writhing with all she had but Aki’s knot held fast to her.  She arched her body off the floor vainly trying to free her entombed form from its snare but again she was foiled and fell back down defeated.  She lay still for a few minutes feeling the pearls begin to slide against her body as she began to squirm involuntarily to them.  Her soft pink nipples stimulated by the undulations of the sliding spheres became hard in minutes as the strand seized them in a crevice between two of the white orbs and rocked them back and forth.  The strands between her legs tracked over her lips firing her loins with passion!  She became wet and excited giving the pearls moisture and lubrication to apply their sexual bite even more!  Claire and bent trying to escape the pleasing pressure they exerted, but every position was futile as the attack came from all angles upon her.  She exploded a few seconds later; moaning in pleasure as her body capitulated to her lover and rocked back and forth for joy in its embrace.

 The white snake turned around her more giving her glamorous aftershocks that weaken her more until she regained control and felt the tightness creep into her body.  The pearls were building her up again even as she recovered from the first orgasm they induced another on her their touch impossible to resist!  She screamed and wiggled her body in delight as they worked on her, Claire helpless in her lover’s hold!

            Everywhere the string of pleasure turned about her increasingly aroused and taut frame spinning about her with lethal passion.  She desperately tried to focus her mind on escape and away from the stimulus of the trap as she moved her body rhythmically to match the motion of the pearls hoping it would help her evade the pleasuring assault.  Her steady undulations and tilting worked for a short time until the strand pulled her tighter in its hold cutting of her hopes, she was satiated once more, her body too eager to accept the deadly joy of the pearls!

 The spy worked fruitlessly to escape Aki’s trap but each strength draining orgasm brought her closer to defeat as her master continued to revolve about her seeking her bodily delights!  It took longer to bring her to climax each time giving her time to fight but each time she came it weakened her more than the last!  She was hot, gluey and spent after her eighth and nearly finished the pearls wet from her body sheened in the light their lustre glowing as they danced around her!

            “No more, please no more!” the entangled spy begged as they turned around her again the pain starting to creep into her very tender body. 

 The strand constricted slowly about her as it moved, twisting its loving hold deeper into her with each pull giving her body more of its now painful touches.  The spy could no longer battle her killer, the pearls secured her tighter until she was still in their expensive coils and stiffened painfully still.

 Claire’s breathing became laboured as the strand cinched her chest, she tried to control her breathing but soon found it hopeless, her head tilted back an she arched up on her neck opening her airway a little more, trying to by herself a few more minutes of life.  She was pulled back straight soon and crushed even more in the death trap; her body numb from the hips down!  Her head fell to one side in a defeated fashion ready to give in when she spotted them!

 The beaded spy turned over and over as she rolled towards them seizing them in her exposed fingers!  Delicately and quickly she inserted one into each hand and began to work them in circles.  Pain shot through her entire body as the motion took effect and she began to tighten the pearly snake even more around her!  Flexing and writhing her encased form frantically she battled the pain and again the growing pleasure of the pearls as they built her to her ultimate climax, her death!  Claire worked frantically as the orgasm began to surface like a volcano building inside her ready to flow to the surface.

 “Another turn Claire and another! Concentration on freedom! That’s good, now another and and aah, aah!” she lost control and the volcano exploded its lava pouring over her searing her to the bone! 

Claire’s head flew back rocking from side to side her body twitching beneath the strand, straining to the siren call of the pearls her delighted body adjusting to maximise the intensity against it.  It finally ended, the pleasure subsided and she returned to the here and now regrettably, but Claire was at last free of the Dragon’s Teeth!

 She worked her hands free and then her arms undoing Aki’s handiwork slowly as that was all she could manage.  Next she unwound the constrictor from her torso her tender nipples at last free of their tormentors grip, finally she slithered her legs and hips out of their loving bind allowing herself a smile as she pulled free.  Aki’s hairpins had proven just the catalyst to break the clasp on the strand!

 “I’ll have to personally thank her some other time,” Claire thought as she wobbled to her feet, escape paramount in her mind along with one other thing.  The spy coiled the strand up and moved to the window attached it and lowered herself down silently into the night!  A quick snap of the line unlatched her temporary rope whereupon the spy began wrapping it strategically about her naked form before sipping into the darkness.

 Aki opened the door expecting to find the dead body of the woman she’d left entangled so many hours ago instead so found a note spelled in pearls waiting for her:

                                                                          YOU LOOSE AGAIN
            “Not for long Miss!” she smiled.
            The cab ride back to her hotel was to say the least interesting!  She’d never paid for a cab ride with pearls before, but it proved an easy method, just three pearls.  She danced through the lobby, got her key and was in her room closing the door on the myriad of stares to a sigh of relief.

 “A dangerous, but profitable encounter Claire!” she said as she surveyed her cache of pearls about her body.  “And Aki was right about the pearls next to your skin.”

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Claire was looking forward to going home tomorrow, her mission, against impossible odds had been a complete success and following her report she was looking forward to a much-needed rest on some tropical beach.  “For the present however, a sauna will suffice,” she said to herself as she removed the last of her clothes, placed them in the locker, wrapped a towel around herself and headed to the sauna.  Japanese saunas were designed much differently than their European counterparts.  Instead of a central element in the room to act as the heat and steam source, with the application of water to it, Japanese sauna’s had grates in the floor each about one foot wide by four feet long out of which the heat and steam rose.  The users controlled their environment via two dials on the floor next to each grate, one for temperature the other for the amount of humidity or steam you wanted to eject from the vents.  The benches also differed in that they were about the same size as the grates in the floor, vented and movable so that a person could place one over a vent and lie on it for maximum benefit if so desired.

The spy closed the door behind her, she had hoped given the time off day that she would have the room to herself, however it was not to be, two other women looked up upon her entry.  One woman was Claire thought about 35, 5 feet 4 or so, the rest she couldn’t tell until seconds later when she turned her back to the spy and slipped off her towel.  Her lustrous hair was pinned up, the water vapour from the steam clinging to it in dewdrops.  Her back was magnificent, spare and muscled in just the right places as it v’d down to her slim waist.  Her ass was small and firm and beautifully rounded.   Her legs gracefully descended from full round taut thighs down to delicately sculpted calves and finely to a pair of ultra slim ankles.  She reclined on a bench and took no notice of Claire.

 The other woman was taller by a few inches and in her mid twenties.  Her body was extremely wispy and willowy thin yet stunning attractive each curve more dangerous than the one before.  Her hair was bobbed and short cut in an appealing way that added to the total package.  Her long thin legs were made to allure and capture all that fell under their gaze and she used them well as Claire watched her move about the room until she found a bench she liked.  The woman reclined much like a tense spring uncoils to a resting state, her body displayed in full glory.

Claire undid her towel, folded it carefully and placed it under her head as she reclined on a bench and adjusted the controls.   She wanted every pour and crevice of her body to absorb the aroma and steam, to open them up and let the magic of the herbs and the cleansing rejuvenating power of the vapour seep into her.  She tilted back on the bench, stretching out her legs, leaving a slight bend in them, just enough to display her leg and thigh muscles under the surface giving her long legs even more contours for the eye could follow.  A small tilt to her spine arched her body gingerly off the bench her breasts responding their full roundness displayed in perfect symmetry. The steam and the heat quickly did their magic; soon the COIL agent was dotted as tiny water droplets began to form on her skin.  Soon the droplets burst and ran down and along her body in rushing rivers.  Tiny dew drops danced on the tips of her erect nipples, wavering from side to side, clinging to her in desperation before finally cascading down the sides off her tit’s some running off the sides of her body, others forming a small pool in the shade of her two boob’s before spilling down her stomach and into her soft moist bush.  Her slightly raised calf dripped moisture as gravity pulled it reluctantly from her to the floor.  Claire hands slowly caressed her body, smoothing the perspiration about her until her body glowed.  She relaxed and returned to her previous prone position on the bench.

 Claire decided she’d had enough after 30 minutes.  In once motion she was up, on her feet with the towel wrapped around her, the last fold just tucked into place as she made her way to the door, swung it open to face Uoko!  A punch to the stomach and spinning jump kick coupled with the Geisha’s trademark “hiya’s” sent Claire flying back into the sauna!

“You’d didn’t think you’d escape our clan so easily did you Miss Baxter?”  the Poison Geisha smiled as the other two women seized Claire.

 Claire reacted quickly bouncing up on the balls of her feet she used the two Geisha’s holding her as leverage, a backwards somersault landed her behind them before they had time to react!  The COIL agent gave them each a sharp kick to the back of the knee, knocking their legs out from under them.  As they feel she quickly banged their respective heads into one another, the blow sending them temporarily dazed to the floor on their hands and knees.  She kicked the smaller of the two women hard in the sides even as she vaulted up on the others back using it as a springboard to launch her attack at Uoko with a flying scissors her naked body stretched catlike in the air.  She missed, as Uoko nimbly side stepped the blow, landed and immediately spun a high roundhouse kick that narrowly missed, the Geisha feeling the rush of air in her ear!  The Poison Geisha dodged and weaved avoiding and blocking all of her assailant’s kicks and punches with skilful grace.  Claire came again with high spinning kick that Uoko was ready for, her towel was off her body in one second and around Claire’s ankle in the next!  The Geisha drew back and pulled Claire down to the floor in a splits position and hammered kicks to the inside of her thighs as the spy winced in pain from the blows until she fell over on her side.  Uoko’s naked body pointed in dots of perspiration circled Claire carefully stalking her wounded but still dangerous prey.  The Poison Geisha’s body erect and poised, from her small compact firm round breasts, to her flat lean stomach down to her shapely and deadly beautiful legs, she waited for Claire who fought to her feet, blocked a screaming kick from her opponent and countered with a stinging spinning fist to the woman’s head that send Uoko backward.

The Geisha wiped her stung mouth with her hand and smiled.  “Your death will be slow and painful Miss Baxter you cannot last much longer, not against all of us at once!”

 Claire saw out of the corner of her eye that the two other women had recovered as they moved to encircle the beleaguered agent.  “How will you do against three trained Geisha’s I wonder?” Uoko smirked.

 The Geisha’s slowed circled and tightened the distance between themselves and Claire, who moved and darted quickly trying without success to get them to bunch together.  The short Poison Geisha with the pinned hair struck first, a fleeting punch that Claire blocked easily, but not the kick to the back of the head from the tall woman that landed flush.  Claire bounced forward from the momentum off balance and into a series of punches from Uoko, who then drove her elbow into Claire’s sternum.  The small woman rapped a sharp shot to the kidneys, before applying a Judo lock and harshly flipping Claire to the Bamboo floor where the tall Geisha used her long legs to apply an arm bar.  Claire couldn’t break the hold, before, that is, they broke her!  The tall Geisha crashed kick after kick into her chest while the other two took what was left out of her legs with the series of surgical strikes with their hands.  They left her in a painful heap while they made preparations for her death.

 “There you are!” Uoko said as the door opened and fourth Geisha entered the steamy room.  “Bring Miss Baxter over here and we’ll begin her execution!” 

 The fourth Geisha helped the tall one drag Claire to the indicated spot and stretch her out as each woman positioned herself beside a limb.  Uoko knelt down above Claire’s head lifting it up and gently resting it on her thighs as she brushed away Claire’s wet hair from her face. 

“The slowest death imaginable now awaits you Miss Baxter, pain you cannot believe will invade your body over the long seemingly endless hours ahead.  Soon you will feel and experience all the Poison Geisha can inflict through our techniques and we have chosen the most insidiously deadly one we know for you.  It’s called the Geisha’s Raised Lantern!  No need to explain it any further we’ll just let you experience it!”

 Uoko moved away and took up her position on one of Claire’s arms; the short Geisha had her other, the remaining two, the tall woman and the late arrival had her legs.  All four women worked one of their legs into Claire’s limbs, bending and locking it about hers until movement unless at the Geisha’s command was impossible.  The Geisha’s free limbs were positioned to leverage Claire’s body off the floor.  The four naked women tensed their bodies and brought Claire slightly off the floor as Uoko reached and turned the steam knob on!  Claire having been secured over a steam vent in the floor now felt the moisture all around her as the true nature of her predicament began to crystallise in her mind.  They were going to steam and bend her to death, the steam doing the double damage of weakening and loosening her muscles to allow increased stretching of her body!

Claire resisted flexing and shifting her suspended torso with furious gyrations while the steam poured around and over her coating her bronzed body in its relaxing vapour.  The Geisha’s shifted minutely adjusting to her bids for freedom; Claire was rearranged subtly, but not much as Uoko again adjusted the steam knob slightly up. 

She danced her torso in the hold; they content to let her struggle helplessly in their grip knowing she couldn’t escape.   The steam seized and clung to every part of her as it worked its way into her body sought out and weakened her will to resist.

 Her entangled lubricated body sweltered over the vent pinned in place by the foursome of lissom women.  Claire’s body was now totally sheened in moisture; her curvaceous form still fighting for freedom her attentive muscles still responding to her commands to fight.  The delicate exquisite moves of the Poison Geisha’s countered all she offered, for every wild thrust or twist she offered their picturesque counter stopped her.  Their soft yet expertly sculpted bodies countering her every move neutralising anything she tried.  The spy thrashed her form incessantly, corkscrewing it to escape her entwinement from the lethal ladies; all her sinuous beauty pushed to the surface as her pliant form rippled in defiance to their administrations around her.  Uoko smiled as she watched the spy battle against the Geisha’s Raised Lantern. Impossible to escape and delicious to apply it was so erotic in nature, the touch, the cling, the heat, the friction of the victims struggling body against yours and it only got more erotic as time passed, for both parties.

 Claire oscillated in the hold refusing to submit, her glossed body unyielding in battle, her flaming encapsulated form frantic to free itself from the insidious death closing in on her from all sides.  Each Geisha could feel every fibre of her in the lock they had about her.  Feel her pulse, her temperature, her futile machinations to free herself, the muscles pulling and searching for a way out of the death trap and each woman adjusted her prey accordingly.  The lovely slow turn of a thin ankle or the imperceptible bending of a toe took away their victims freedom.  Slowly over time each Geisha would work her deadly magic binding her victim with her mystical body as it cast a spell Claire couldn’t hope to break.

            Claire could feel her body weakening, she willed it on for several more minutes, one final arching thrust upward, her hips tilting and twisting in an orgasmic attempt at emancipation failed.  She obstinately held them up as long as was possible, the tiny motions of her pelvic thrusts signalling the end as her hips sank back down, her body exhausted, torrid and defeated.  The Geisha’s took their queue from her body in theirs and moved again, slowly and incrementally.  The boiling spy felt one of each of her toes slip into one of each of the women’s who held her legs that was all.  Over time each Geisha’s toe slipped into one of hers just like the tumblers on a lock, until Claire was captured, a small delicate twist over time sealed them to her assassins.  The Poison Geisha’s left her to steam at a low elevation all through the procedure, the vaporous snake deadly in its encoilment of her.  It’s hot particles wrapping around her, drawing tight and slowing massaging her muscles to ineffectiveness, its victory total and final.  The sultry envelopment was only surpassed by the slink of the women as they pushed themselves deeper into her, their command of her body masterful in application.  Her patina'd body could do nothing more except feel their soft smooth skin creep and twist against hers.

 Claire lay above the vent for how long, she couldn’t tell any more, the Poison Geisha’s content to let her simmer in the hold.  Her body almost glowed to the eye, it seemed to light up the room as it burnished in her sweat.  Liquid poured off her still erect nipples ran down in body in rivers and crashed to the floor, her head had fallen limp and back wards from the steambath as water poured off her onto the floor replaced by more fluid that burbled to the surface of her scorching skin.  She knew she had no escape from the hold, she’d known it from the start, but had refused to admit it to herself, now she had too!  As if her body refused to reconcile with her mind it gave a few last shakes, scattering sweat in the air, her firm taut breasts jiggling in motion before finally succumbing.  Uoko smiled, she recognised the shudder of defeat, the woman was theirs at last.

 The Geisha’s moved once more, again as always in small steps taking Claire with them as she was arched up lightly in their bodies as Uoko turned the steam controls up a little. 

 “Little by little you will be raised up my dear, hopeless to battle us and once the lantern is raised to its peak you will beg for death as you scream to be released from our ever curling embrace of you!  Feel the steam search you out, coat you in its shroud of body relaxing death, feel it cling to you, envelop and give you over to us!  Your gorgeous body is coated in its mask, you cannot dislodge it or us, while it covers your skin, we probe deeper to truly seize you!” Uoko and the steam hissed together to Claire.

            The Geisha’s too were slick from the heat, but out of its direct effects they didn’t suffer, unlike their prisoner who melted in her combined encasement.  They moved again, probing and securing deeper into her body pushing her up a little more.  The two with her legs were working their free leg around her back, pushing up as they went.  She knew they planned to circle behind her ass cross over her leg and close around the thigh at her pussy.  The two women at the top were working to secure themselves around her shoulders in much the same fashion; their feet would finish up resting on either side of her head, fusing it in place.  She had no idea how long she’d been ensnared or how long it would last, but she was sure it would be slow and painful as was the way with Asian spies, especially women, long exotic death was their forte.

 The soft caress of the Geisha women’s skin moved against her again as they snaked and slipped their feminine death about her as endless as the column of vapour they destroyed her resistance.  Claire felt their toes creep across her ass and upper back, wispy touches of ethereal death as they broke the layer of moisture clinging to her momentarily before sinking in until their next probe. 

“The steam hisses about you and opens you up to our poisonous touch as we pry you open, but the silent snakes are the most dangerous predators of all wouldn’t you concur Miss Baxter!”  Uoko smiled sinisterly. 

 She could have finished Claire by herself in any number of holds, perhaps a Japanese Salamander or a Suspended Pagoda, they would have been more intimate, but given Claire’s rather resourceful ways she thought this the most likely to succeed.

 The Geishas’ feet slithered around her bush as her top half felt their legs’ slip under her shoulders as she arched up again a little amount feeling the increased seem from the vent as she went.  She was and had been for some time completely docile in their trap, her body flaccid in theirs.  Slowly as always, the Geisha’s legs folded into place and gently pressed against her, the tender trap consuming her.  More time passed for the beleaguered spy as she baked in the steam, her body bent but not yet hurting, that would come, she knew in time.  The four naked Geisha’s their bodies gleaming moved her up in the Lantern by shimming toward each other, their weakened golden plaything bent more.  Uoko turned the steam up full, the blast of moist hot air crashing into Claire with a vengeance that felt as if she was literally going to burn up.

 “Not yet Miss Baxter, your death is still painfully far away,” Uoko soothed.

 Pain found Claire and sunk itself in, as deep as the women were into her.  The steam pried her open more, her rag doll body useless to resist her captors. The spy’s rubbery liquid body glistened above then, droplets from her crashing into the women.  The Poison Geisha’s moved closer, their choreographed death hold inching closer to breaking the supple agent they held.   More time, more small motions until Claire moaned in pain, then more small steps until the moans turned to screams!  Uoko smiled, they had her at the breaking point, COIL’s deadliest agent was finished in their embrace, helpless, her lithe body suspended in their hanging death. The Geisha’s moved one more time; just a slight adjustment to renewed screams from Claire and smiles all around.

“Now Miss Baxter comes the most insidious part of the Geisha’s Lantern.  You get to hear us bring one another to orgasm, when we do our collective shudder of pleasure will snap you apart.  Raising a Geisha’s Lantern is a colloquialism for having an orgasm,” Uoko said with a serpent’s voice.

 Uoko and the other Geisha who held Claire’s arm touched each other.  Uoko tenderly swirling her hand on the woman’s nipple while partner found Uoko’s nipple with her mouth.  The two in the back due to the nature of their entanglement of Claire had ended up in a 69 position as their tongues probed inward.  Claire had maybe a minute or two left.  She knew from experience, body holds heighten the sexual senses and orgasm would come fast and be incredible, thus ensuring a painful death.  She hung their in the eerie silence and waited, her body bathed in hot sticky vapours, contorted to the breaking point, moaning and begging for death to be quick.  Slowing low moans and shorting breath from the Geisha’s became audible, death was near and she was powerless to escape, these four beautiful and lethally pliant women had won, their ancient Eastern skills had sprung a trap she was unable to break free off.   Her screams and the steam hiss filled the room, she felt one of the women who had her legs start to vibrate in joy then go still.

 Claire’s legs fell out of the hold seconds later and crashed to the floor, unable to move she lay on her side and watched the situation unfold, her mind not complete sure of what she was seeing take place.  One of the women, who had held her feet sprang up cartwheeled over her, seized the arm of the small Geisha and pulled her to her feet.  In seconds the cartwheeling Geisha had strategically wrapped herself around the other and tensed, she uncoiled seconds later and let the small Geisha fall to the floor in a heap.  A quick kick send Uoko back several feet and away from Claire.

 “Obviously you’re not one of us, so just who are you my dear,” Uoko said as she stood up.

 The woman said nothing but started to advance on the Poison Geisha tensed for a fight.

 “I think you’d be better served helping Miss Baxter escape this room before she expires.  She’s had a very long day and just a little more may kill her.  Of course if you’re willing to take that chance come and get me!”  Uoko smiled.

 The woman backed down and Uoko quickly grabbed a towel and darted for the door, her escape made good.

            The Geisha tenderly picked Claire up in a firemen’s carry and left the room.  She laid Claire on a bench placing a carefully folded towel under her head before gently releasing her to its softness and a small respite.   She returned quickly with a bottle of much desired water and several more towels.  The Geisha wiped her face took another towel and softly caressed Claire’s soaking up the dampness, soothing and stroking her cheek as she blew cool air upon it.

 “Its over Claire, your safe, here drink” she whispered holding the bottle to her lips as Claire drank greedily.  The agent smiled and opened her eyes, they being greeted by a warm smile back.

 “I can’t believe its you!  How did you ever..”

“Shh.  Yes it’s me Maoko.  When you hide from your enemy sometimes the best place to hide is amongst them.  I’ve been inside the Poison Geisha Clan for several months, worming my way into their confidence, gaining their trust all the while working against them.  I heard about you several days ago from another Geisha I tried to get in on the kill to save you but was denied, that was until last night!  The fourth Geisha never made it out of my bedchamber last night and I took her place.  I’m sorry I had to go so far with the charade, but I needed to be close to strike and this was the only way to even out the odds,” Maoko said as she continued to stroke Claire’s hot face.

            “What happened during the last moments?  How did you free me?”

Maoko smiled.  “With the only other weapon besides my body I could conceal, waterproof clear lipstick.  Quick acting, completely deadly, but I had to get close enough to apply it.  The other woman succumbed to my Praying Mantis, again, fast and lethally effective.  Now lay still and be quite so I can tend to you,” Maoko admonished with kindness.
 

 Claire’s body recovered quickly and soon the two COIL agents and former classmates were able to leave.  Claire delayed her departure for several days to spend a little time with her friend, a commodity she didn’t have a lot of.  In their line a work friends tended to get fewer and enemies longer as time past, both had their share of the longer list and now they could both add the Poison Geisha Clan to their respective dance cards and both knew they’d pursue them to the death.

            The flight back to London was long and uneventful, just the way she liked it, sleep filled her time instead of movies.  With a porter in tow Claire made her way to the exit and a cab ride to COIL HQ.
  “Please hail a cab for me, I’ll be right back,” she said to the porter as she grabbed her briefcase and headed for the washroom. 

 She closed the door to the stall quickly, placed her briefcase on the back of the toilet, toggled the combination into place and opened the secret small lead lined compartment.  Claire place her right foot on the closed seat and drew her skirt up, her deadly legs grew more dangerous as she secured the thigh holster with her small Beretta in place.

 Just as she’d suspected Sir Richard du Roy was so anxious to see her that see didn’t have to go through any of the rigorous security screening that usually took place.  She entered the inner sanctum, as the agents called it, of COIL Headquarters, without any trouble, just as had been planned.  She entered the outer office of Sir Richard and smiled at his assistant, a pretty young woman.

 “Sir Richard is expecting you Miss Baxter.  Please go right in,” the young woman said.

 Claire turned the latch and entered into a large office at least 20 by 20 feet.  Cherry Wood panels covered all the walls.  Floor to ceiling bookcases ran along the entire length of the wall behind Sir Richard’s desk an old library ladder was in once corner to reach the higher up books.  The wall to her left was covered in paintings of absolutely wonderfully quality but no strategic value with regard to day to operations of COIL.  It contrasted with the wall to the right, which was covered in operational maps detailing current agent locations and statuses.  A furtive glance over her shoulder revealed more operational cartography.  She advanced quickly and silently; she was nearly at his desk before her looked up.

 “Good to see you looking so well Claire.  Please sit down,” he said.  Claire smiled, folded herself into the leather wing back chair, crossing her right leg over her left in the process.  “I don’t want to keep you any longer than need be, I’m sure you’re very tired after a long flight so to that can I have the last piece of the chip design.”

            Claire snaked her hand down her leg, catching Sir Richard lurching up on his chair to watch out of the corner of her eye, she slowed her hand in a teasing manner.  Mesmerised he watched her turn open the point of her heel and extract the piece of paper, before closing the compartment and just for his benefit slithering her hand up her leg and into her lap once more.

 “Here you are,” she offered as the paper passed into his hand from her outstretched arm.
 
            “Excellent!  You’ve certainly done well and earned yourself a well deserved vacation Claire!”

The phrase tick-tocked inside her head for just a second until the tumblers fell into place.  The spy reached up her thigh, extracted the gun and fired, the noise resounding off the walls as the bullet imbedded itself in the spine of a book behind Sir Richard.  Claire, her face blank, contemplated the moment, she seemed aware of her actions, but not alarmed by them, as if this was all preordained and as it should be.

 Sir Richard shocked as he appeared to be lunged for her arm none the less, but missed.  The door to the office flew open, Claire fired one more shot at Sir Richard before she felt the ice cold steel blue nose of a revolver touch the back of her neck!

 “Release your hold on the gun Claire! One finger only!” came the voice of Paige Worthington, Sir Richard’s Executive Administrator.

 Claire hesitated.  Paige pushed the end of the gun deeper into her neck re-emphasising her statement.  The COIL agent capitulated and Paige recovered her weapon as Claire shook with rage, relief and disappointment all of it aimed at Sir Richard.

 “Have Miss Baxter taken away for interrogation Sir Richard screamed at the top of his voice, the echo heard all the way done the hallway which Catherine Wycliffe was running up, the last note of his agitated yell fading as she came into his office.

            “You were supposed to miss!” Paige said sternly as she handed Claire’s gun to Catherine.
            “So I was,” Claire answered smartly.  “When I didn’t I decided to see if I couldn’t miss twice and you know I couldn’t”
            Sir Richard lay slumped in his chair a bullet hole in each of his shoulders and a blank look on his face his mind racing for answers.
            “Is everything secure at this end?” Claire asked ignoring for the moment the man in the chair.  They both silently nodded.

 Like a maddened top she whirled back on Sir Richard and launched in to him.

 “You!” she started to swear and then decided against it.  Claire stiffened her hands to her sides, gained control and began again.  “Your little plan didn’t quite work out the way you anticipated it to.  Did it!  You’re just lucky I didn’t blow your fucking head off when I had the chance!”

 “Claire!” Catherine said in alarm seeing the agent start to shake with anger.

 Claire ignored her, calm wasn’t going to work, this was personal, all the way!

  “You thought you had it all worked out.  Get all the pieces to the puzzle and have me as well.  Make me look like a traitor and you the hero, I die and you continue on as a DOOM mole moving your female agent pawns around for sacrifice.  I swear that if they gave me that gun back I’d put 8 more holes in you!  One for each of the agents you double-crossed and sent to their deaths!

 Some people pace when they rant others use wild hand gestures, Claire, her hands firmly griping the arms of his chair bored her eyes into his, hers black with malice and venom, his white with pain and fear.

 “You nearly succeed in killing me so many times!  But you didn’t and along the way I made a few friends,” she glanced back at Paige her eyes warm for a second before returning blazing hot to Sir Richard’s. 

“One found the truth and helped me decode it, the other helped create and implement a plan to catch you! That call from Azeema on your private palm Sir Richard was the beginning of my plan and what you thought was the furthering of yours!  Did it ever occur to you that maybe your trusted DOOM colleague had in fact been subjected to her own mind altering device and that everything she told you was exactly what Paige and I implanted in her!  I can see by the look on your face that it didn’t or is that just the pained look from losing blood the way you are!  Well lose some more!” she said driving a fist into his left shoulder.

            “Claire be careful please!” Catherine interceded.
            “Screw that!” and gave his other shoulder a punch.  “Paige was never a DOOM agent, but she is a very good actress, good enough to fool you and I suspect will someday soon make a very good COIL agent. She and I went back for the headpiece making it look like she’d played along with me for her employer, even to the point of knocking me out to show Azeema she was loyal to her.  The woman bought the ruse and placed me in the chair ready for reprogramming, the very reprogramming she called you about.  With Azeema and her daughter’s attention focused in triumph on me they didn’t notice Paige slip the dart gun disguised in my mascara tube from between her breasts and fire.  From there Paige’s Computer Science Degree went to work as we reprogrammed both the woman.”
            “Then you know what happened, you bastard, when Azeema called you.  Paige put an embedded feedback trace protocol on the connection copied it all to her Palm and we had a duplicate complete with addresses and all the data your Palm contained.  Then at Azeema’s behest Paige came to work for you, already having your trust because of her recommendation.  We counted on that!  The data from the Palm could only be enhanced by what you told her first hand!  She carefully built a small team of trusted COIL agents and employees from the two I told her she could trust, Catherine and Grace Pak and they worked to find out who was loyal and who wasn’t and this morning we put our plan into action!  How did we do?”

 “Complete success on the ones we could reach, the others we couldn’t reach are out in the cold.  Most likely gone to DOOM,” Paige said.

 “Then that just leaves you Sir Richard and me,” Claire said sinisterly as she grabbed a fist full of hair and yanked it back to expose his neck, her free hand forming into a knife blade ready to crack his windpipe.

            “That’s far enough Agent Baxter,” Catherine demanded as she stepped forward and took Claire’s raised hand in hers by the wrist.  If it had been anybody else Claire would have driven them half way across the room, but not Catherine, she had been one of Claire’s trainers and teachers, much of what Claire was as a spy was the result of her teaching.  The agent hesitated for a second then relaxed allowing her hand to be lowered.  “He’s needed for further interrogation,” she said calmly as she let her former pupil’s hand go.

 The medical team arrived and patched him up temporarily before wheeling him past the three women.  Claire stiffened her arm against the stretcher stopping it dead in place before fixing her eyes again on the traitor. 

“You’re alive only because I love and respect Catherine and she’s right we need you alive.  But the minute we don’t!” she said pressing her thumbs into each of his wounded shoulders.  “You’ll wish I killed you!”  Claire left it at that, turned away to face Catherine and Paige her face a mixture of relief, surprise, happiness and grief.  Catherine swept forward, collected Claire’s head in arms and held her tight.  The two embraced silently for some time, Catherine’s hands gently patting her back like a mother soothing a hurt child encouraging her to let go of the hurt which the spy did slowly and then with a rush as tears watered Catherine’s shoulders. 

 “All those women, my friends!” was all she said again and again.  She let it all go composed herself and turned to Paige.

            Paige was a fragment of her former self.  Claire looked from head to toe at her; the transformation was truly incredible!  Gone was all the excess weight and the poorly fitting clothes to cover it up.  Her figure was defined and seductive, the kind men love to hold against them and run their hands over.  Paige’s legs displayed wonderfully in her heels, thin ankles, full round calves and just a tease of thigh.  Her hair had been cut and coloured to perfection, setting off her soft Hellenic face.  Claire beamed at her with pride before the two embraced.  She knew she’d had picked a winner and Paige came through like she knew she would, an experienced agent couldn’t have done better.

 “I need to get back to my desk and help co-ordinate matters for a while,” she said excusing herself.  Claire watched her disappear.

 “She’s really something Claire!  I’ve been training her privately and well you see the result that’s not the same young woman that came here many weeks ago.  She’s going to make an excellent agent some day!  Strange how she resembles Sharon in so many ways isn’t it?” Catherine said with am ironic turn of her tongue.

            Claire just smiled. 

 “If she turns out to be even half the agent that woman was COIL’s got a winner, but I suspect she’s going to turn out even better than any of us could hope for!” Claire added.  “Anyway here’s my entire mission report excluding today’s events.  I’ll have that for you tomorrow, for now I just want to go home and rest.”

            “Take your time with the report Claire I’m recalling all the women agents for a meeting next week.  I’ll send you the details later,” Catherine said in an unsure voice.
            “Is there something else I need to know.  You don’t sound like yourself,” Claire quizzed

 “No, nothing, just the excitement and shock of it all today I’m sure.  It’s been a long time since I was a field agent you know.”

 Claire let it drop, said goodbye and left the office stopping to say her farewell’s to a bewildered Paige who once Claire was out of sight raced around her desk and into the office.  “You didn’t tell her!  Did you?” she demanded.

            “I couldn’t,” was all Catherine said as she walked past Paige head down out of the office.

 Claire opened the door to her flat with a heavy push sweeping the accumulated mail across the floor.  She collapsed on the sofa, kicked off her heels and smiled as she gazed upon the scattered mail nearby.  Regrettably a while later she pulled her body off its comfortable perch and began to pick up her mail absentmindedly sorting it for later.  She found one in particular she wanted to open and did.

            “No please no!” she screamed and fell to the floor.

THE END