A House Divided - Chapter 5

Chapter Five:

Balance of Power

Claire tenderly placed the tips of her fingers on the cool hard base of the shaft and lovingly serpentined them along its length.  To her it seemed as if blue sparks flew from her fingertips to the pole of steels smooth hard surface!  She pulled the shaft gently towards her it almost magically yielding to her touch and delicately kissed it sending a shiver of delight through her as she carefully returned it to its resting position a smile crossing her face as she did! 

“Time to get to work!” 

Her hand closed around the shaft as she slipped it into the stock, with a deft touch she twisted and locked it in place, a sigh escaping with her breath.

The spy reached into the case and pulled out the scope.  Lining up the pins she secured it in place with a smooth motion that ended in a satisfying click indicating the pins had found their mark.  Next the bolt was fitted into place and tested, she was almost ready, just the bullet to go which she placed in the chamber and slammed the breech shut.  Carefully she placed the rifle against the wall and began her assignment.

Time past alternately fast and slow, but it still added up to 3 days and nights and counting.  The heat at this time of year, over 100 degrees every day and not much cooler at night didn’t help matters along either, but she needed this chance so she was prepared to wait it out, no matter what the cost! 

 “I passed Navy Seal Training I can get past this,” she told herself repetitively as the heat of the day baked the small room she occupied turning it into an oven with her as the main course. 

The sun slowly set that third day, Claire willing it to set faster for all the difference it would make to her comfort, but finally it was dark and the street was black except for the one or two streetlights that worked in this run down section of Lisbon.  She wished like hell they’d show up so she could escape her dust filled inferno, but it seemed the fates were against her at the moment.

 “Fortunately moments change regularly,” she thought to herself. 

 Claire switched on the night scope and tested the sight, she knew it would be perfect, as it had been each of the other nights, but she did it anyway.  Satisfied she returned the rifle to its resting-place and took up her night vision binoculars and began her endless scanning of the streetscape below.  This was the real test of dedication to duty, to work for the chance to do nothing, just the opportunity to do it all over again the next night and the next if it came to that.

Around 10pm she started to feel fatigued, she needed a boost.  Reaching into the rifle case her hand emerged holding a needle and a syringe; rolling up her sleeve she injected the stimulant while her brain told her body it was for its own good. 

“Just this once, you can withstand it, its only this one time,” she repeated to herself. 

 She knew it was a lie; she’d inject herself as many times as she had to for this one chance!  Her tiredness went away minutes later, she could feel the veil of drowsiness being pulled back, her mind became clear again as the drug rushed through her veins like an express train giving her body and mind that secure comfortable feeling that she was on top of things once more!

Several hours later the drug kicked in again, not from a needle this time, but of her own making, her adrenaline began to pump, her chance had arrived!  Soft sounds of gravel underfoot in the distance came toward her from the vacant street below.  Claire spotted them in her binoculars while still far away, she placed them carefully and silently on the floor, picked up the rifle, switched on the scope and picked out her target!  She’d done this countless times before, but the experience was always the same, she and the target where the only two people that existed, everything and everyone else fell away.  All sounds, smells, feelings, even the buildings seemed to disappear, she swore she could feel her victims heart beating in synch with hers, her breathing matching theirs, they became twinned for just a few fleeting seconds and then she squeezed the trigger!

It was over in the blink of an eye, but the hit woman always swore she could follow the bullet somehow telepathically guiding along to its destination.  She watched as they traveled closer towards the still far off target each millisecond bringing the object into greater detail and focus.  Soon the whole body was discernable, then only the upper body, then just the head, then only the nose until finally they had arrive at the forehead!  The projectile and Claire entered the skull, ripping and exploding, all colour and light until the journey ended as they exited the brain and embedded in the concrete wall behind, the journey ended.  His head exploded, a painless death, or as it is more commonly put, he never knew what hit him!  The man fell lifeless on the spot, the force of the bullet halting his step in mid footfall, never to reach the ground again!  The top part of what once had been his head littered the surrounding walls and sidewalk with pieces of flesh and bone far too widely dispersed and immeasurable to count mixed with a mosaic of blood painting a surrealistic portrait.  A deep red puddle started to pool around the remainder of his head the fingers draining over the curb in a crimson waterfall before vanishing into the sewer.

His comrades, 3 in all pushed into the shadows, guns at the ready they’re breathing shallow and close to the point of hyperventilation as they waited for orders.  They didn’t need to wait long.  Away down the street a shadow appeared underneath a streetlight with a gun held high over its head, an obvious sign of surrender. 

 “Go and bring that person here!” shouted a tall muscular bald headed man as he stepped into the middle of the street waving with his arm’s to the two other men still clinging within the dark recesses the buildings offered for protection. 

Somewhat reluctantly they left their cloak of invisibility behind and double paced down the street, guns at the ready, just in case.  The bald headed man watched his two guards arrive at the figure and immediately disarm the unknown assassin, slamming the rifle butt into their stomach for good measure. 

 “A wise precaution,” he thought, a smile creasing the corners of his mouth. 

The two guards advanced on his position each with a firm lock on the assassin’s arms whose head still hung low as they tried to recover their wind from the gun butt.

“Is it anybody we know?” said the bald headed man as they came nearer to him. 

 “Believe it or not its some chick!” said one of the guards as they came into the light. 

He grabbed the back of Claire’s hair and pulled her face up into the light so his boss could get a good look. 

 “Never seen her before,” he said in a dismissive tone. 

 “Get rid of her and make it very painful, she has just cost me a great deal of money, prestige and future power!” 

One of the men removed a stiletto from his pocket and released the blade from its resting-place!

  “Perhaps we could have some fun with her before we kill her, she’s got a great body and face to match.  How bout it honey, at least this way you’ll die with a smile on your face!” 

 “You couldn’t make me smile with all the Viagara in the world at your disposal!  But perhaps I can help your boss regain his prestige and power?” 

 “You smart mouthed bitch, you won’t be laughing in a second, not with your throat slit!” said the insulted guard as he brought the knife tight up to Claire’s throat! 

 “Wait, let’s hear what she has to say, starting with your name,” said the bald man. 

 Claire stared at him for a while the long silence finally broken by just two words.

“Claire Baxter.” 

“Now that’s a name I’ve heard of, but how do I know you’re who you say you are?” the bald man mused. 

“You’re Gara, head of DOOM operations for the Iberian Peninsula, age 35, involved in drugs, weapons sales, high tech hardware and software, computer fraud and money laundering for a select few Middle Eastern States.” 

 “Very interesting, but highly ineffective, all that information is common knowledge among the crowd I associate with.  I’m afraid you’ll have to do much better than that if you want to live Miss Baxter, if that is indeed who you really are?” 

 Claire unfazed by the threat continued, she had her audience interested. 

 “Very well, the man I just terminated was a COIL double agent who was about to defect to DOOM, in fact that was what your meeting tonight was all about.  He was going to give you complete knowledge of our operations and agents, I was sent to stop him!” 

Gara glanced back at the body and then back to her. 

“You were exceedingly successful at my expense and I will have to answer for my failure as will you also!” 

“All the information he had was false!  It was designed to lead you and your agents into a COIL trap!” Claire stated. 

 “How can you be certain of this?” Gara asked sceptically, but still curious to find out. 

“Because I gave it to him, to see if he would remain loyal, or as I suspected, turn to DOOM!” Claire answered back. 

“Now you’re thinking why did she just kill him and not me as well, she had the perfect opportunity to take down the kingpin of the entire region, instead she gave herself up without a fight when she had all the advantages in her corner?” Claire said with a steely look about her. 

“It’s dangerous to speculate as to the bosses mind, for you might not like what you’ll find, but in this case you’re right.  Why?”  Gara asked is face betraying no more emotion than hers. 

“There’s no room for traitors, especially ones with false information, but if room could be found, it might as well be for one who has the corrected information, me!”  Claire said staring straight into Gara’s eyes. 

The deafening silence was almost too excruciating in its intensity for either to stand but eventually Gara managed to find words. 

“You mean to say COIL’s best agent wants to defect to DOOM and to me!  Well this is interesting and worth my time!  Bring her along, but watch her, I may yet turn this disaster to my advantage,” Gara said as they started to make their way along the narrow streets. 

The two guards kept a vice grip on her as they twisted and turned along the narrow lanes almost dragging her along at times.  About 30 minutes later they turned a corner and Claire saw Gara’s fortress.

A medium sized medieval brown coloured castle rose out of the scorched earth.  It had four turrets, one at each corner and was comprised of two floors.  A rampart ran along the top connecting all the towers for ease of troop movement and defense.  Claire could see men on sentry duty patrolling back and forth, but unlike their ancestors these men carried AK-47’s instead of bows and arrows or pikes.  If anyone ever managed to get inside it was clear leaving would be another matter entirely, at least alive.  Getting into the inner courtyard without being spotted would have been hard enough without the 10-foot tall high voltage fence that completely, as far as she could tell, encircled the entire grounds.  Claire thought it the modern equivalent of a moat, breaching a moat was easy, this fence would be near impossible!  Guards at the main gate and again at the main door only added to the overkill. 

 “The proverbial fortress!” Claire thought as the big oak main door was opened upon their approach and the entered the castle by way of a small anteroom and then into the large main hall.

The castle except for being modernized with electric lighting and up to date furnishings still retained its original charm.  Stone spiral staircases lead away to other floors, both up and down; various doors dotted the main rooms walls leading to other parts of the castle.  The grand hall was set out as one might expect a large open area with very high vaulted ceilings of massive oak beams that supported the second floor from which hung spectacular chandeliers that illuminated the entire room.   Fine tapestries hung from the walls depicting classical medieval themes and not to be outdone the floor was covered in a rich red carpet.  Gara had his chair/throne situated on an elevated section at the front of the room giving him the look and feel of a true monarch, gazing down on the people who came before him. 

“Delusions of grander, or maybe not!” thought Claire.  “Either way the room has style!” 

 With the two bodyguards still holding her Gara placed himself upon his throne. 

“Now back to you my dear.  How do I know this isn’t all just an elaborate trick on your part?” 

 “You don’t!” said Claire.  “I’ll have to make you believe it and me!” 

 “And just how do you plan to do that since you have killed the only person who could speak against your words?  Without him your statements are hardly convincing!” Gara mused. 

“I’m sure before you met the deceased he gave you a small sample of his information in order to confirm his credibility and peak your curiosity, otherwise you wouldn’t have gone yourself to meet him, you would have sent your flunkies here instead!” Claire said in an annoyed tone as she jerked her head sideways at the guards. 

 “Very good, but all that could have been surmised by even the poorest of detectives, your observations are not confirmation of your intentions!” Gara said smiling. 

 “Then perhaps what I have to say next is!” Claire said smiling back and then began to repeat almost verbatim what the dead agent had told Gara who listened closely but betrayed no emotion whatsoever. 

 “Very good, that is exactly what he did say, but that still proves nothing.  You could have just been testing him to see if he would turn and then kill him as you did.  All he did was repeat what he thought was credible information given to him to pass along, but he decided to do something else with it.  That doesn’t show your intentions to defect at all!” Gara stated logically. 

 “Then why aren’t you dead as well, or better yet instead!  I had the shot and as you can see I don’t miss! You, not him, given the fact that all the information was false would have been my logical target.  Lure you out with what appears to be tantalizingly genuine information and then kill you.  I could always have killed the double agent later.  That plus why did I give myself up to you so easily, when I had all the advantage, either to shoot again or just to melt into the night and disappear.  Finally why did the meeting take place in that part of town, dark, deserted and dangerous?  Because I didn’t want any witnesses to what was going to happen!  All COIL would be able to ascertain is that I killed the double agent. When they hadn’t heard from me they’d assume I’d either been killed in the battle or captured.  No one can prove otherwise!”  Claire finished and waited for Gara’s next volley to her.

 He thought about what she said for several seconds and then asked.

“Why?”

 “I’m offering my services and knowledge about COIL for a price,” Claire said a coy look on her face. 

 “I’m sure you are, but I’m just as sure it won’t be cheap!  How much?” Gara inquired. 

 “The information you can have for free, the other will cost you one million each!” Claire stated firmly. 

 “And what exactly is that?” Gara said, intrigued as he leaned forward on his throne. 

“One million for each COIL agent I kill for DOOM!  You pick the targets, I’ll do the work, no questions asked!” Claire stated in a very businesslike tone.

 “We can do that for ourselves and at a much cheaper rate!” Gara answered her back sharply. 

“Yes, but tell how many of your people and DOOM’s are you prepared to loose?  That’s even assuming you could find them in the first place and defeat them!  You don’t know each agent’s weakness or vulnerability as I do, and as you are aware I’m very good at doing what I do!” Claire answered.

Gara was interested, she’d answered all of his questions and her story seemed valid.  It all made perfectly logical sense when viewed from a dispassionate angle.  He turned her story over and over in his mind looking for a flaw, he could find none, and still he needed and wanted more proof before he would trust her. 

“You’d sell out all you believe in, your friends, fellow agents, and the cause of your organization and do this as you say just for money!  I find it hard to believe coming from a woman who up until now has been our greatest enemy!  Why the sudden reversal, it can’t just be the money you’d sell yourself out for!” Gara wanted to know. 

 “Can you think of a better reason than money?” was all she offered as way of an answer.

With that answer Gara had heard enough!  He ordered the guards to release her and motioned for one of them to approach.  He whispered in his ear and the man disappeared through one of the many doors. 

 “I believe your words but talk is cheap, as they say actions speak louder than words.  Since you have a lust for money and I have a need to dispel any doubts about you I think I have the perfect solution to both our quandaries!” 

 He clapped his hands and the previously send away guard return along with a woman.

“Claire Baxter I believe you know Miss Gina Perini.”

 The guard took his queue and flung the woman forward to within 10 feet of Claire.  She did indeed know Gina, a COIL agent like herself! 

 “This very beautiful and enticing woman tried to kill me just over a week ago!  Luckily one of my guards interrupted her just before she was able to complete her task, isn’t that right my dear,” Gara said to Gina who said nothing in reply, she just glared at him while alternatively looking to Claire for help. 

 “As you can see Gina isn’t much of a talker, despite our best efforts to make her!” Gara laughed. 

 Claire could see that for herself.  Gina was wearing what was left of that would have been a lovely silk nightgown, it was ripped and torn and covered in dirt, sweat and a little blood.  They’d had a week to work her over and they’d done a pretty good job, but Claire knew Gina would never talk, she was too good for that, she’d die before she gave in!  She still had all the classic beauty Claire remembered, but apparently it wasn’t enough to defeat Gara!  Claire also knew Gina was old for a woman agent, at 43 she was nearing retirement, still an effective agent, but this time not effective enough and this time would be her last!

“It’s simple Claire, kill Gina to prove you’re sincere!” Gara said as a matter of course. 

“What’s he talking about Claire?” Gina clearly confused asked her sister spy. 

“It’s rather simple really, I’ve decided to wise up and sell my services and myself to the highest bidder!  In fact your death will be my first million!” Claire said coldly as she turned to Gara for confirmation regarding the money. 

 Gina could not believe it! Not Claire, that is until she saw the look in her eyes.  The captured spy exploded in rage.

“You bloody traitor! COIL will hunt you down and kill you if I don’t do it first!” Gina screamed. 

 “Even on your best day you’re hardly a match for me old woman!  You should have retired years ago!  Now I’ll just have to do it for you!” Claire taunted and with a leap forward and a spinning back heel kick caught

 Gina on the side of the head with a blow that knocked her to the ground!  Claire knew Gina, damaged as she was, would fight a defensive battle and wait for her to make a mistake, Claire, however didn’t plan to give her any!  As soon as Gina tried to get to her knees Claire connected with an open handed swallow punch that flowed from the top of her extended arm down and into the opponent and up again just like a bird diving and rising in the air.  Two more graceful swallow punches from opposite hands send Gina tumbling around the large red carpet! 

Desperately Gina struggled to her feet and threw a wild punch at Claire that hit only the air.  Claire leaned back and her left leg and fully extended the right straight out from the body at head level and proceeded to blast kicks into Gina’s side from her shoulders to her ankles with a blur that the eye could not follow!  The last kick sailed over Gina’s head, swept down to the carpet as Claire crouched, spun and swept the legs out from under her wounded former comrade who hit the carpet hard on her back! 

 “Come on Gina, put up a better fight, you’re making me look bad in front of my new boss!” Claire teased her with the taunt.

 Claire measured her and delivered several sharp punches to her side before twisting her arm straightening her up and forcing her to look at Gara.  Claire wrapped her arms carefully about Gina’s neck and secured her fingers in place, she raised one knee up into the small of the helpless prey’s back and tensed!  A crack filled the room, Gina’s eyelids fluttered, followed rapidly by the eyeballs rolling back in her head!  Claire relaxed and the limp body of Gina crashed discarded to the carpet. 

 “Very efficient, you’re everything I’ve heard you were!  Your first million how does it feel?” Gara asked. 

“Delicious!” Claire answered hungrily. 

 “I do however have two requests regarding my first victim.  One that the body be flown back to Rome for burial and two she always had a wooden cross with her, I think her mother or someone gave it to her, place it around her neck!”  Claire stated although it really was a question. 

 “Claire I’m surprised, sentimentality from you of all people!  However, may it be as you wish,” Gara said as he waved the two men to remove the body. 

“Take her back to her room, retrieve the cross and make the arrangements to fly the body back to Rome. Also I have no further need of you for the rest of the night,” he said as he smiled at Claire who returned it.  The guards picked up the body and departed leaving Claire and Gara alone as the now former COIL agent advanced slowly up the two stairs towards him!

She passed to his right as slowly trailed her hand up his arm to his neck, her fingers lighting brushing his skin, caressing him as a painter touches their brush to the canvas.  Softly she began to nuzzle the back of his neck and press her moist lips against his skin nipping it here and there to increase his arousal!  As her kisses continued to occupy his neck Claire’s hands trailed down his chest and undid his belt, ever so seductively she slid down the zipper!  They closed around his already engorged and throbbing penis and slowly pumped it in a rhythmic dance!  Claire’s lips and body worked they way around his face until she found his lips with hers, depositing herself in his lap, her legs straddling him until they slowly coiled around his back and locked in place.  Gara’s hands located the frontal zipper to her cat suit and pulled it down until it reached its end just above her belly button.  Claire’s breasts heave outward at their release as Gara slipped his hands inside cupping them and gently massaging until he worked her nipples to erect hardness with his technique!  Cautiously his hands crept up and outward as he worked the suit off her shoulders and free of her arms allowing it to fall discarded as far as her waist!  Gara’s lips enclosed on one of Claire’s nipples, catching it between the bottom of his tongue and lips he began to rock it to and fro.  Claire’s head rolled back and swayed side to side as Gara held her around the waist to support her.  She surged forward to his neck her mouth wide her tongue wild with hunger as she reach down and pulled up on his shirt, removing it with a practiced skill!  Gara reluctantly broke their contact as the shirt came up but resumed his attack on her other nipple a brief second later sending Claire into spasms of delight!  Her hands pumped his manhood several more times, the heat of which she could feel in her palms, until she released him and pulled at his pants!  Gara kicked off his shoes as Claire uncoiled her legs and stood up as the bald man arched his ass off seat as Claire slid off his pants into her waiting arms!  The new DOOM agent smiled, discarded the remnant of clothing and fell to her knees!  Claire’s lips brushed his rock hard erect stem with the delicate touch of butterfly’s wings, it pulsated to her caressing as she closed her mouth around the tip and pushed upward taking him in!

Gara twisted and writhed under her incredible touch, her tongue and lips attacked his senses from every possible angle, as he became more and more frantic for her!  He could feel release coming, so could Claire who slowed downed and calmed him.  In a way he was grateful, he wanted to feel her totally, this could wait for another time, there would be many more!  Claire pushed up on the balls of her feet and slowly drew away holding the tip in her mouth and bathing it in circles with her tongue before releasing and rising a devilish smile upon her face as she did!  Gara understood and pulled the cat suit away from her pre-offered hips.  He stroked her magnificently beautiful body that only minutes ago had been a deadly instrument of death.  Tenderly he worked his kisses up her leg towards her pussy.  Gara was about to press inward with his mouth when Claire, her hands around his neck, pulled upward, a clear sign she didn’t want or need anymore stimulation.  She coiled her legs around him as before and hovered just above his cock tenderly teasing it against her for what seemed to Gara a maddeningly long time before she pushed down impaling herself upon him in a gasp of delight!  Claire rocked her hips and down, working him further into her until she gad him completely encased!  The two danced their tongues together for several minutes, the hunger evident in both of them until Claire subtlety at first but then with increasing frequency began to tilt and rock her hips about him!

Claire lost his mouth; instead she tightened around his waist and pressed her cheek next to his as they clung to each other in a wild frenzy of motion!  Claire could feel and hear his breathing getting shorter with each passing stroke a sure sign he was near, she increased her already rapid thrusting and he came seconds later, his whole body shaking with pleasure as Claire held him tight in her embrace!  She worked her hips frantically, tilting and driving down into Gara, pushing his shaft in and out as she danced about him heightening his orgasm to an incredible levels!  His convulsions thrust him deep into her, with wonderful results, she was getting close!  Gara’s hands slipped around the curves of her tight lovely ass and pulled in and out, up and down, unconsciously her hips fed him the motion her body wanted and he complied, his hands imitating it perfectly!  Gara went faster and faster, with each stroke Claire tensed herself a little tighter around him until she was overcome and exploded in a scream of passion followed by rising moans of joy!  Claire went limp after a bit, but Gara kept up the motion giving her all the pleasure of her orgasm until she finally relaxed her tension about his body and tenderly kissed his neck with passion filled lips while she caught her breath!  They remained there for several minutes, Claire still surrounding him while they nuzzled and kissed until she broke the silence. 

 “I take it you now trust me?” she said between gentle kisses. 

“You’re making it hard not to!” he whispered back.

Gara wanted to go again, but Claire pulled herself off before he could get too far. 

 “I’d love to but I’m exhausted, I haven’t slept in 3 days, I need a shower and some rest, then I can really show you what I’m capable of!” she said with a smile and a lick of her lips. 

 Gara wasn’t too upset.

 “A woman like this is well worth waiting for!” he convinced himself as he pulled on his pants and put his shirt around Claire, took her hand and led her up one of the staircases, down a hall and opened the door to her room.

Claire stepped into an opulently decorated room.  The plaster ceiling was lavishly decorated with paintings of all manner and type, animals, people from classical mythology and all manner of flowers, all done in brilliant colours, it seemed to Claire as if they were almost alive.  A hand carved four-poster king sized bed adorned with fine green silk sheets anchored the room.  Two bedside tables in the style of the Spanish Renaissance each supported a stunning crystal table lamp.  The walls were painted a light sea blue that gave the effect as the moonlight danced upon it of actually being in water; it was magical and mysterious at the same time.  Claire made her way to the bathroom expecting and seeing no less magnificence.  An all marble sunken bath, big enough for two covered one corner; the opposite corner had a shower of the same proportions with jets placed at all angles and height to pelt the body with their warmth.  Claire was sure the two fixtures would get plenty of use between the two of them in the future, her smile conveying this to Gara! 

 “I hope this meets with your approval.  Tomorrow we’ll buy you some new clothes and start to discuss your assignments,” he said as he turned to leave. 

 “It’s not going to be all business I hope?” said Claire as she undid her shirt, removed it and handed it back to him. 

 Seeing her naked body displayed to all its natural advantages got him instantly hard again as he fought down the urge to take her right then and there! 

 “No we’ll work in some playtime!” he said as he walked to the door turned smiled and departed closing it as he left.

Claire stepped into the shower and let the water coat her thirsty body! The soap cleaned away 3 days and nights of dirt, dust and sex, sending it spiralling down the drain.  She washed her hair, rubbed it dry and padded her body free of water before she emerged into the bedroom.  The intense heat of the night almost overwhelmed her, she tried unsuccessfully to open any of the windows in her room, but they were all locked tight.  There appeared to be no air conditioning in the room, as there had been on the main floor, consequently the room was stiflingly hot and humid.  Claire pulled back the silk sheet and fell into bed pulling it up again she felt the coolness of it against her body, she was too tired to care.  The silk contoured her body perfectly; hugging her close outlining her body against the moonlight was she dozed off.

The secure videoconference link confirmed Gara donned his headset and began speaking to the 12 members of DOOM’s inner sanctum, their faces displayed on his screen in 12 separate boxes.  He started in on his long story leaving out no details except the sex they’d shared and closing with his belief she was genuine and would make the perfect counter weapon for them against COIL.  He relayed how he had seen her work first hand on two occasions that night that coupled with her past successes against DOOM would make her another useful tool in their arsenal, maybe even the one that finally tipped the scale completely in their favour!

“You have done well Gara!  We need to discuss this amongst ourselves, please stand by,” said the chairman of the group. 

 His screen and audio link went into standby mode, he saw and heard nothing for more than 10 minutes.  To fill the time he answered a few business e-mails, sent instructions for various operations he had in the works and fantasized about that kind of sex a well-rested Claire Baxter could produce!  He was in the middle of a particularly interesting scenario when the screen became active again forcing him to snap back to attention quickly trying to get rid of his red face!

“The council has decided Gara, terminate her at once!” said the chairman. 

The bald man betrayed no emotion, he didn’t want to tip his hand, he merely asked. 

 “My ask how you came to this decision?” 

“She’s of no value to us, as a field agent she knows little if any of clandestine workings of her employer.  None of the upper level codes, operations or future plans, nothing that could help us totally control them!” 

“What do you mean control, she can help us destroy them, by herself and by training our recruits?” Gara answered this time his voice displaying an edge. 

 “There you see friend you miss the mark on both counts.  She’s a natural, despite all her training, the thing that makes her an excellent agent is within, it can’t be taught to other people, its innate to her.  As for your second remark if we destroy COIL, they will only be replaced by a much more secretive and likely exceptionally more effective organization!  However, if we can infiltrate them we can control how they operate without their being aware of it!  When we have a problem with a part of our organization we simply get COIL to take care of the matter for us!  There little success makes their supporters happy; they think their making progress towards our elimination while in reality we have just rid ourselves of a cancerous growth!  In short we grow stronger, while they grow weaker only they never suspect a thing that is until it’s too late to stop us!  This isn’t a race to the swift Gara; it’s a race to the most cunning!  Miss Baxter’s success, which undoubtedly she would have had as part of DOOM would only serve to work against us and strengthen our opponents, a situation we cannot abide!” said the chairman.

Gara processed the information he’d just been given, in the end it all made perfect sense.  The goals of the organization always came first; he was loyal to DOOM.  She was a valuable commodity, but like so many people in the world she was worth much more dead than alive!  She had taken a chance and lost, now it was time to pay up and Gara would be the collector! 

“I understand, now that I realize what a threat she is to DOOM’s future prosperity as well as my own, the choice is easy!” 

 “I trust we can count on to take care of her?  She hasn’t wormed her way into your heart or any other part of you for that matter to prevent this has she?” the chairman asked. 

 “No, she was merely a plaything for the night!  I’ll handle Miss Baxter right away!” Gara said in a definite tone. 

 “Excellent Gara, in fact why don’t you let her visit your playroom?” the chairman echoed. 

 “That certainly is a possibility, but it may not get that far, I believe I can take care of her right now!”  Gara said as he opened a window on his desktop and entered a numeric code, he clicked OK and closed the box.  “Its taken care off!” 

 “Well done Gara, give us a final report including a picture of her dead body!” the chairman said and terminated the link.

Claire tossed and turned she slept in a fitful delirium because of the heat of the room. Her body was sluggish and her head heavy, her mind was too deep to surface completely, but not deep enough to offer restorative sleep, which she desperately needed.  It was more exhausting than actually being awake, but she couldn’t find the power to battle it and win.  She tossed again until finally her mind pushed through the dense webbing and snapped her awake by issuing a warning to her body, something was preventing it from moving freely!  Claire jerked herself to her knees in the middle of the bed her alarm bell going off until she realized she’d simply tangled the silk sheet about herself in her restlessness.

She reached over with one arm to untangle the twisted sheet from around her other arm, despite several pulls and tugs it would not yield its grip.  Claire’s mind became active again, first with suspicion but then it switched to alarm as she felt then saw the silk sheet move!  MEM’s (micro electrical mechanical systems) her brain told her, tens of millions of them perhaps more, the silk sheet had been coated in them!  Claire’s brain had realized and reacted too late to the warning her body had given her, the MEM’s programming had been activated and they were constricting her as the silk sheet coiled about her!  As quickly as she could the spy rolled of the bed, her escape attempt was too late as the silk snake wreathed about her making her entanglement impossible to strain against which she did anyway with furious resistance!  Claire struggled to her knees as the silk continued to wind about her; she fought from her knees to her feet as the vortex of death manoeuvred about her!  The MEM’s programming was superb, both ends of the sheet attacked her simultaneously and quickly, her lower half, already mostly secured in her fitful sleep twirled further as the silk entwined and looped around her freely!  Each fatal revolution was weakening her further!  The silk twisted upon itself, slipping under and over other securely placed coils stiffening and anchoring her until she was hopelessly knotted into the bind unable to escape!  The spy’s upper half faired no better, her left arm was fixed behind her neck and secured in a silky knot as the other end of the lethal constriction screwed itself around her shoulders and chest!  The whirl of the enclosing net was impossible to combat with only one free arm; the MEM’s had complete liberty to attack her body at will!  It took many minutes for the silk constrictor to complete its task, the sinuous corkscrewing of her trapped form was devastating in its completeness when it ended and the tightening of its victim began!  Claire had no entrancing dance with which to delay or hypnotize her captor as the entwining green death helixed itself about her naked increasing desperate perspiring form; it felt voluptuous to the touch, but deadly all the same!  Her years of experience kept her breathing to a minimum as the rest of her body fought the battle as her chest and shoulders flexed outward and rotated to battle the pulverizing inward crush being applied from all angles!  Her deadly beautiful legs strained in defiance, her muscles corded in agony yet the bind grew deeper about them each second!

Her weakened body was no match, she wiggled and twisted fruitlessly as the silk snake administered its envelopment further, Claire was soaked from the struggled as was the sheet, but its clear silicon coating prevented her sweat from penetrating to the chips and short circuiting them.  Claire’s labour’s were in vain, the silk death drew ever inward meshing her into a labyrinth of artificial coils!  She was pulled taut and upright minutes later, the silk intertwining is entrapping death, injecting pain into the spy’s upright frozen form!  It had all of her except for one arm and its curling embrace was weakening its resistance, soon it would wound helpless as well!

The heat terminated her fight for position, her muscles finally cramped and knotted after a long holdout to an inevitable foe.  She fell sideways at first, knocking off and smashing the bedside table all over the terracotta floor, covering it in shards of broken glass, she then slide sideways and collapsed stiff unto the bed.  Instantly Claire was wrapped in another sheet that closed about her in seconds sealing her in a cocoon as it folded around her!  The exhausted spy couldn’t fight the first silk sheet and now she was enshrouded in another of equality deadly ability!  The sheet welded to her like a second skin and then began its own squeezing pressure as it contracted around her!  “They really mean business this time!” she thought.  The two-fold compression was almost unbearable, within a handful of minutes the never-ending roundabout interweaving of the first silky constrictor, its circular death active under the veil of her cocoon had pushed her close to the limit of endurance!  Each squirm of her despairing body, alive with passion to escape, only gave the MEM’s more advantage, their microcircuits all linked processed the data her sticky, sultry body fed it and reacted in action around her!

The packaged spy had only a few minutes of movement left, a few minutes to fight and perhaps live!  Enveloped, as she was her body heat already dangerously high from many minutes of frantic futile twisting for escape, in the extreme heat the air was stifling.  Her lungs under a constant crush needed fresh air to take up the battle again as did her muscles, all of which were corded tight and cramped into inactivity.  She turned and twisted and willed her body to the edge of the bed as the enwrapping death continued to turn against her in rapid progress!    Claire felt her one ankle slip over top of the other as the silk death trap worked its encoilment deeper; the shroud pulled inward locking her legs together and putting and end to their resistance!  The swath of death had her, the stronger half, her free arm finally gave out and was snaked into coils of immobility in seconds with the last part of the silken cocoon enfolding into place to complete her capture totally!

The mantle of death had her taut form as they continued to process all the feedback Claire’s suffocating body gave them!  She lay still in their machine grip, desperate not to move at all but it was impossible, as she knew, tens millions of tiny censors in constant contact with her defeated spiralled body worked together.  Tiny microscopic pulls and twisted turned her deeper each second!  Her strained athletic body hugged perfectly by the silky death trap, every curve, contour and undulation of her displayed under a blanket of continual motion!

“Endure the pain you’re about to receive Claire, stay conscious and remain active!” she said to herself as she rolled of the bed and unto the tiled floor. 

 A kaleidoscope of colours went off inside Claire’s head as muffled screams were emitted from the inside the cocoon, whose rapid inward movement about her body was felt everywhere by her!  She battled to keep from passing out; her screaming was constant now!  She came close to the brink of unconsciousness once, one more little step, her body willed and begged her to take it, but her mind refused to let go! 

 “You’re a stubborn young lady!” her mind recalled a voice strangely amidst all the pain, Claire knew the voice and it comforted her. 

 “It’s either going to get you killed or keep you alive, train it to be the latter and you’ll be almost unbeatable!”  Sharon had always said. 

It was that thought and hope she reached for now!  Claire summoned everything she had for her one last try, all her reserves were just about spent, she dredged up the last precious drops from the bottom of her reservoir and fed them to her body.  She cleared and ordered her mind, blocked out the pain and exploded her mummified form about the floor as she rolled, writhed, twisted, wiggled and squirreled herself as long and a little while longer than she thought she could endure!  The sheets long ago soaked in her perspiration were coated anew in a glistening sheen, the physical evidence of her effort!

She waited and hoped, she’d know in a minute or two, if she had that long!  The coiled silk snake slipped her tighter again and again; her breathing grew dangerously shallow and short.  The shroud followed the lead of the snake and embraced her tighter as well!  She waited for the next turn or two, they would finish her, she could sense it, feel it, she’d been here before, she knew her limits and she’d reached them!  A small tentative turn came and then stopped, the wreath about her did nothing, for several minutes she waited, no more pressure!  Claire could feel her legs again, her mind cleared her face relaxed under the cocoon, hastily the entangle agent rolled out of any away from the enshrouding silk sheet.  The coils of the silk sheet were worked loose easily, Claire kicked her feet and lower legs free and staggered to her feet balancing herself against the wall until the feeling came back partially to her legs.  She uncoiled the smooth constrictor in rings from around her grateful body drinking in the stale humid air with joy!  The shattered glass had broke the silicon sealer around the MEM’s allowing her body moisture to seep in and finally short circuit the programmed killer! 

 “That was close! Too close!” What the hell is going on!” Claire said as she slammed the door closed and her way to Gara’s room.

The door flew open with a bang; Gara jumped up from his desk in alarm a gun in his hand! 

 “Your MEM’s didn’t finish me!  Besides this way you get to do it face to face, you’ve got the gun and here I am!” Claire said spreading her arms out at her side in a theatrical gesture. 

 “What the hell are you talking about, I gave no order to kill you!” he said in mock surprise.  “We had a council meeting tonight and they're all excited to have you!  At least that’s what they told me!” 

 “Darling you’re not a very good liar, if only you were a little bit better at it, or I wasn’t so experienced at detecting it I just might believe you and I really do want to!  But you’re still holding that gun and keeping your distance instead of holding me!  We’ll here I am, unarmed, kill me now, I’m woman enough the question is are you man enough!” Claire said the challenge clearly defined in her voice. 

 Gara put down the gun and stepped out from behind his desk taking several steps away from Claire before positioning himself at the ready.  “I’ve thrown away my life, my career, my friends, I killed for you!  I’m as good as dead when COIL catches up with me, so I’ve got nothing to lose!  You however have everything to lose and I intend to make you pay, slowly and painfully just as I will have to for the choice I’ve made!” Claire stated with malice, regret and pain in a slightly quavery voice.

She walked toward Gara her body tensing for engagement with each step and then she was gone!  Gara walked back to his desk sat down, put his hand on the mouse and resumed working. 

 “Enjoy my playroom!” he said under his breath, paused and then added for his own selfish loss.  “What a waste, she was good!” a smile playing across his lips.

The disappearing spy had fallen through a weight-activated trap door and into an enclosed downward spiralling tube of Plexiglas!  Claire tried to brace her hands and feet against the walls of the narrow confine but she could get no purchase.  The entire container was coated in a lubricant that made friction impossible, she was at gravity’s mercy and had no option but to await whatever fate befell her at the end of the ride!  The incline receded and slowed her motion the bottom was in sight; Claire slid out of the tube and unto her feet much like a child does when they arrive at the bottom of a slide.  She glanced around and then down and sighed. 

“Naked again Claire, you’ve got to get COIL to increase your clothing allowance!” she said to herself sarcastically in an effort to ease her mind. 

 She was tired, hungry and worn out having just narrowly escaped with her life she was not anywhere near her best and she knew nowhere near safe ground!  All these troubles added up, she was apt to make mistakes in this condition and she didn’t need to be reminded that any error no matter how slight could and would most likely prove to be fatal!  Claire, like all condemned people had been sent to the castle dungeon, undoubtedly modified for modern use by Gara. 

 “There must be another way in and out of this place, all I have to do is find it before something or someone finds me!  You’re still alive Claire, you’ve got a chance!” she told herself as she started forward.

It was no cooler in the dungeon that it had been in her room.  She walked along a narrow stone corridor the walls a patchwork of mildew and dampness coupled with the constant drip of water.  The tunnel was illuminated by a series of incandescent bulbs spaced every 20 feet of so just above her head giving a bad mix of light and shadow.  Claire traversed carefully stepping cautiously each time keenly aware that a trap may just be one step away.  The corridor twisted and turned for a good deal of time before she turned a sharp corner and came to an archway opening into a large forbidding room which she entered slowly knowing full well she could expect something unpleasant!  Discarded wooden packing crates some stacked two and three high were tossed about the room.  Some stones on the walls and floor protruded outward and upward respectively in a variety of shapes, pointed, rounded and some indented.  Claire walked over to one such stone on the nearest wall and examined it.  The unmistakable acrid smell and colour of blood coated the stone!

  “Are you my new playmate?” Claire wheeled around in a flash towards the direction of the voice.  “I do hope you last longer than my last, she didn’t want to play after a while.  She said I played too rough so I tried to make it up to her and be her friend again by giving her a hug.  She just screamed and said I was hugging too hard, funny they all say that and then they don’t want to play anymore!  I guess its hard to play when your backs broken though!”

Claire looked across the room at her new playmate, a woman she could only accurately describe as a Nubian Amazon Warrior, carved out of ebony and brought to life with a body of granite!  She processed the most muscular yet feminine body Claire had ever seen.  Her long hair was braided into tiny individual ropes adorned with beads at various places within the braid, the many separate braids where held together into one large braided rope that encircled the others.  She had a very beautiful face and a completely killer body, literally, all of it meant for Claire!  The sinewy arms and shoulders flowed muscles in waves, as one rose the other fell and vice versa, all in perfect symmetry.   One muscle completed the other, perfected it and added its strength and beauty to the total effect!  Her stomach rippled as it descended to her hips her whole upper body a perfect V shaped package!  Her ultra thin waste and hips so delicate in nature masked their true fatality of being!  Her long attractive legs were heavily muscled and dense, her thighs a swirl of concentrated mass that bulged outward with rippling awareness!  Her calves were corded coiled snakes of fury ready to strike supported upon a pair of incredibly slim ankles.  Claire observed all this a few scant seconds before she disappeared from view only to reappear and strike seconds later!

Claire felt the rush of wind too late to react as the Nubian came at her through a grand series of front flips that caught her in an inverted standing head scissor!  The ebony warrior circled and locked her arms around Claire’s legs and pushed up with her body to secure her position.  The muscle woman held Claire fast around the neck, first by her ankles and then as she pushed up her legs slithered further about Claire’s neck until her calves had coiled securely in place and her feet slipped across each other and locked her crushing embrace about Claire!  She ran her hands over the Nubians coiled legs the granite hard surface however resisted her probes and pinches, she could not find a weak spot to dig her nails into and break the hold with a nerve or muscle pinch!  Claire attacked her hips, waist and stomach all met with equal failure, her skilled use of muscle and nerve manipulation was useless, the warrior’s body was a tensed barrier she could not penetrate!  The Nubians magnificent ass rose up and down as she tightened her column of death, working the fight out of her victim with each squeeze! 

The spy could feel her legs starting to give out, if she was toppled in the scissors hold she would never escape, one quick twist of the ebony woman’s hips would break her neck!  Claire edged her body clockwise a little at a time until she had the position she wanted she had been scissored near a stack of packing crates and into these she fell forward.  Her location had been perfect; the small of the Nubians back fell precisely on the edge of one of the boxes, now Claire had all the leverage!  The Amazon still applied the death scissors about her in an as yet unyielding embrace as Claire leaned into her adversary putting tremendous pressure on her back!  The Nubian pumped her legs tighter, Claire used her opponent’s motion to push harder into her back, slowly the woman was forced to relinquish the death scissors as her back could take no more!  Like quicksilver she rolled away from Claire delivering several fierce blows to her back with the point of her elbow before the spy instinctively rolled over and caught several more in the stomach and chest that doubted her over!  Grabbed by the hair and pulled to her feet the Amazon began reining a steady diet of blows that Claire tried to block with no measure of success, the Nubian had the deadly combination of speed, power and skill!  Claire was left virtually defenceless from the onslaught and her opponent took full advantage locking her powerful arms about Claire’s back, hoisting her into a bear hug!  Squeeze after squeeze undid the spy in the Amazons embrace as Claire weakened quickly in the fatal arms; such power was impossible to battle!  As she hung limp in the embrace Claire fought the pain and disorientation to try and break free as her nails probed the ebony woman’s neck!  She brushed aside Claire’s probing and pushing nails; they could not breach the sinuous neck of the woman!  Still she tried all the positions she knew until finally her arms gave out and collapsed in the middle of a probe and she could not revive to take up the battle again such was the effectiveness of the Nubians crush!

The warrior woman walked Claire’s limp body to an open space nearby and deposited her damaged opponent on the floor, placing her back across an upright curved stone.  The Nubian balanced her weight on Claire’s elevated body and began to rock back and forth!  Claire moaned in pain, refusing to scream, as she longed to do, as the muscle woman methodically attacked her back again!  After 10 excruciating minutes her back was weakened further, but still not near the breaking point, yet, but most of the fight had been taken out of her, with still more torture to endure!  Smiling a deadly smile the woman slid off Claire and kicked her hard to the ribs rolling her off the stone and onto the floor flat on her stomach!  Soft hands fitted and intertwined under her chin and pulled up securing Claire in her Nubian camel clutch!  Minute by minute the spy was raised up in her prison helpless to defend herself as her damaged back received more stress, but not as much as her adversary thought she was delivering, Claire’s yoga flexibility was superior, masking what should have been permanent injury to her body!

The totally one sided battle changed again as the muscle woman adjusted herself about Claire and pulled backward rocking her entangled prey into a bow and arrow as she suspended the entwined spy directly above her!  Claire again was helpless as gravity and the siren pull of the warrior woman arched her back to extreme pain!  Her naked pliable sweltering body jewelled in perspiration tried frenetically to twitch itself free!  The Nubians lethal legs countered her twisting torso as they rippled and tensed Claire back upright in her trap!  The ebony warriors arms trailed up her ensnared opponents as she dragged Claire deeper into the hold finally snaking around her neck and tightening the hold to a new level and getting the screams of pain from Claire she had been denied earlier!  Now it was the spy’s turn to experience a nerve pinch as the ebony muscle woman sunk her nails into Claire who exploded in pain as she lost complete control and tweezed endlessly under the masterful skill of her deadly foe!  The elevated spy had been a guest of the Nubian’s bow and arrow for over 20 minutes, now she endured another 10 fatal minutes with the nerve lock applied unable to mount even the smallest of defensive measures!  It was an endless death, with seemingly no finale in site for the trapped agent, her breathing was shallow and desperate, screaming was impossible, and her back was on fire and near the breaking point! 

 Suddenly Claire her mind numb and dulled with pain fell free of the bow and arrow and into another classic wrestling hold as the Nubian applied her Anaconda around the spy!  Muscled legs encircled around Claire’s hips and wrapped around her locking tight together just below the knees, her arms slipped around Claire’s head melded together pushing the spy’s arms straight out 90 degrees from her body on either side ending any effectiveness they made have had!  Quick crushing power welded the two together as the warrior sealed the hold and overwhelmed her!  Claire’s sheathed body was crazy for any freedom it could find as the Nubian worked her wreath of death inward giving her none!  The ebony femme fatale pinched inward her compression forcing her playmates breathing ever shallower as Claire did what little she could to resist with her beaten body!  It was not enough as the Nubian had her way about her victim, coiling into Claire with ease, reducing her oxygen further and again getting the screams and moans of pain she desired from her prey!  The ebony warrior crushed another 10 minutes to remove any sting her opponent may have been hiding and then released the rag doll named Claire for yet more damage to come!

Claire somehow managed to grope her way to her hands and knees; she still had some resistance to the Nubians venomous attacks!  Calmly the woman inserted one of her legs between Claire’s and fell backwards rolling the spy over and onto her free knee as her arm clamped around the spy’s head!  Claire twisted desperately as the woman brought her knee up into her back as short sharp punches bombarded her stomach!  She was trapped for what seemed and eternity in the grip until she was freed, dragged to her feet by her hair and sent flying across the floor by a spinning heel kick crashing into several packing crates! 

 “Time to die my little playmate!  Oh so slowly and excruciating painfully in my head scissors while I break the rest of you slowly in two!”  She bent over Claire to pick her up saying. “Any last words, before that is, their just screams!” 

“Yes.” said Claire weakly. “Catch!” as she flung sawdust from the crate into the eyes of her playmate! 

Despite her incredible pain Claire lunged for her foe’s eyes clamped around them and rubbed in the material with fury before the soreness overtook her and she fell to the floor on her stomach with the Nubian stumbling around flailing about to clean her eyes!  Claire wobbled to her hands and knees with the Amazon right beside her still battling to clear her vision.  The spy cocked her leg parallel to her body and fired kicking out the back of the Nubians knee sending her crashing to the stone floor her arms at her sides partially blocking the fall!  Before she could react the ebony warrior felt one of the spy’s hot wet leg clamp around her neck tighten, twist and roll her to her advantage!  Claire came to rest on her back with the ebony woman caught in her hold!  The spy had one leg wrapped around her neck bent and tensed and held by her hand while the her other leg had secured around her foes ankles was locked and held by her other hand!  Claire had struck with the quickness and deadly killing power of a cobra, she had too if the hold wasn’t pulled taut immediately the person could escape!  But with it tensed the pain was all the brain could focus on and the body could not convince it to break free, such was the warrior woman’s predicament!
The Nubians splendid physique bulged in refusal to the hold as Claire could see and feel, but slowly she had to succumb to the pressure!  She wiggled and shimmied her body continuously stalemating Claire’s attempts at drawing her upward and inward with her skills and pure strength!  It took Claire untold minutes to move her an inch or so her damaged back pressed flat against the stone floor for pain relief and extra support!  The Nubian refused the pressure Claire exerted and several times pushed the hold back to its starting point, each time the spy tenaciously refusing to let her escape, her own legs straining in defiance as she cinched her grip on the woman deeper and pulled! 

Adrenaline is the greatest drug available to a person and both women were manufacturing it in overtime to aid in their respective struggles, but the reservoir would not last forever for one of them!  The muscle woman knew her strength alone would not allow her to escape the trap she was in; she needed to use her soft skills as well!  Slowly she danced her torso in a wave with a gentle rocking motion that increased in intensity and frequency in an attempt to dislodge Claire’s encoiled leg from around her neck.  Claire matched the escape dance rhythm perfectly moulding her movements to that off her encased prey permitting her to work the hold deeper with each wave!  The spy’s damaged back and body started to feel the strain of her prey’s resistance, it seemed like hours she’d had the ebony woman snared and still she was battling her death lock with savage fury!  Claire began to push down with her hips and pull up with her legs every few minutes for extra power, in took many tries but slowly she started to contract her opponent who bent up and in upon herself!  The spy battling tremendous pain in her back arched it off the stone floor and undulated her hips up and down several times as she coiled the Nubian to her death in increments!  The trapped woman her body flexed in mutinous refusal pushed back a little her muscle’s defiant chiselling her entwined form in granite! 

 Claire rose up again and again off her back rocking side to side up and down forcing the Nubian into a more helpless position as she poured all her energy into finishing her!  Eventually the Amazons great strength could not overcome her bind she was bent so far back on herself her feet and hands were near to touching each other, any leverage she had was gone!  Claire her back awash in pain rose one final time as she willed it off the floor and rolled her body and her trapped prey over!  She pushed up on her hands fully extending and locking her arms straight the Nubian now just barely touching the floor with her stomach!  Claire tensed her legs inward with a quick snap, one, twice, three times before she heard the crack!  The spy unlocked and lowered her arms but held the hold for a minute or two longer and then released her victim!  The Amazon’s back was broken, but she was still alive, just for the moment!  Claire snaked her legs around the woman’s head and slithered her thighs into position about her neck, crossing her ankles she locked the hold and slowly tensed her muscles inward!  A quick rotation of her hips and then relaxation, the Nubian was dead!

There was only one door out of the place and Claire clearly hurt and weak beyond anything she’d ever experienced dragged and crawled her way toward it.   It seemed like an eternity until she arrived and seized the handle and pulled herself, by sheer force of will, to her feet.  With great effort she turned the handle, opened the door and continued her journey to hopefully freedom in the not too distance future!

The hallway she found herself in was narrow, only about 2 and a half feet across and even more poorly lit than the previous one.  Claire dug her hands into the wall above her head to hold herself up; she could barely feel her body at all, as she dragged her feet forward.  She thought she could see a dim shaft of light off in the distance, but she couldn’t be sure, her mind was too overcome with pain to be sure of anything.  The walls pushed in against her until she contacted them on both sides as she willed herself along, the narrow manoeuvring room lending some much-needed support to her weary form.  Then just as suddenly the corridor open up into a small circular room about 6 feet in circumference.  The lighting was just as bad here, Claire thought see saw motion out of the corner of her eye, but when she turned it was gone.  A light breeze, like the touch of a feather fell upon her wrists and ankles, only there was no place for it to originate from that she could tell. She clung to the wall for support, her senses were overloaded and playing tricks on her, she was starting to hallucinate; she needed to keep searching for freedom.  She lumbered several steps then fell to the hard cold floor directly into the centre of the small circular opening; the feather touch she felt was the application of silk webbing from the larvae of the Giant Tiger Moth around her ankles and wrists!  The spy strained her wrists and tensed her ankles working against the sticky silk trap and making progress when the creature spun more threads about her slender ankles securing then helplessly before climbing up her back towards her hands that she was demonically trying to free before it arrived!  Her entire body tingled as the multi-legged creature traversed about her torso, across the back of her neck and down her left arm.  Her straining failed to break the bounds in time, a quick spray from its spinnerets ensured she wouldn’t do so ever! 

The predator departed her body and climbed the stone wall quickly disappearing from sight as the weakened spy twisted and flexed arms and legs hoping against hope to snap the gluey filaments apart, she only had a few minutes left before escape would be impossible!  Claire pulled and pried at the strands, it stretched a little, but she didn’t have the strength to pull free!  Desperation increased her frenzied activities as she rolled onto her back and saw the creature descending from above on a thick silk line it was spinning!  The sticky fibre was quickly secured around her wrists and cemented into place with a series of new filaments!  Claire pushed her weary form to the limit trying to extricate her entangled limbs as the creature ascended up the thread.  The spy twisted and wiggled her body in savage thrusts ignoring the pain from her previous battles but not the effects it had done to her!  She didn’t have any power left to call to her bidding; she’d been badly worked over and felt half-dead and this creature intended to complete the other half!  She was still methodically working her lithe form when her body was snapped vertical and she hung by her hands, her feet dangling several inches off the floor!  The insect worked its way down the threat, her body and to the floor sealing her ankles to the floor with a fresh coating of silk!  Claire was trapped all that remained was to finish the job and her, so it could feed later!

The webbed spy corkscrewed and buzzed her body in fury straining with all she had to pull free of the silky bind!  Wishfully she tried to pull her legs up, first from the knees and then with a stomach crunch, her back screaming at her too stop and refusing to cooperate!  She was held tight the silk's grip of sticky fibres far stronger and resilient than she was!  Instinct told the creature to let its stuck prey exhausted itself and then finish it off, it kept one leg on the tension line feeling the vibrations of its squirming prey to know when its defenceless victim had spent its energy and the attack could begin!  The fastened spy writhed a long time in her confinement until eventually spent and dotted in points of moisture she could go on no longer and went still, the larvae let go of the tension line and began its work!  Claire watched her head hung in exhaustion and defeat to drained to offer anymore deficient flexes and defy her fate!  Unlike a spider the Tiger Moth larvae has two sets of silk producing glands, one for manufacturing single lines and the other for spraying streams of silk.  It had trapped its prey with lines, but the spray worked better for enshrouding larger prey, such as Claire!  Jets of wet silk paste cascaded onto her lower legs, as it cooled it dried into complex adhesive strands and patterns around her, it was incredibly thin and translucent, almost invisible unless caught in the exact light!  With evolutionary practiced skill it sprayed, moved, sprayed, slowly working its way up her legs and body sealing her into its net with each discharge! 

 Claire could feel her many legged adversary pinprick her skin for a hold before it webbed her then moved on to and as yet untouched area of her helpless body.  The trapped fly twisted and wiggled her supple body again as her strength came back, the creature however never stopped or waited as it did before, nothing would deter it now, if the victim hadn’t escaped its trap by now it never would!  Claire was completed covered in webbing within several hours as an almost invisible net of silk strands, flexible enough to allow her to bend her enwrapped form in almost any direction or position, but impossible to break free of!  The creature disappeared up the trap line to let its work cool and harden.  Claire battled to the end taking advantage of its absence to repeat her failed contortions towards freedom!

The spy felt the tension line vibrate as her foe returned to begin the application of a second coat about her!  The creature worked in reverse order this time, down her body, cascading its sealing embrace and enshrouding her a little more as she weakly strained against it.  The second application of the silk took only about one hour as it cemented her into a gauzy cocoon from which images blurred in the increasing dimming light, she was slowly being sealed in!  As the second coat cooled and hardened Claire’s body made a final assault on the cocoon, it led nowhere, she knew she was trapped, finished, she could see no escape, instead she hung still to conserve her energy and oxygen.  The creature return flowing a third coat about her cutting off the light and plunging her into total darkness!  I final special coating sealed the cocoon air tight, the creature left to rest, it would return later to feed!

The heat was excruciating inside her death shroud; the humidity from her glistening body made the air heavy and increasing impossible to breathe!  She couldn’t move a muscle the cocoon had cooled and contracted tight against her immobilizing her in the trap!  Claire hadn’t the strength to summon for one last try at escape instead her battered weak body slipped into unconsciousness another victim of the Tiger Moth!

The light came shinning in on Claire, warm delicious light followed by the sweetest air she’d ever tasted, her eyes so long abandoned to the light softly focused, before long a smile crossed her lips. 

 “I thought I’d never see you again!”

  “It took me a little longer than I expected, people kept getting in my way!  Here grab my hand!” 

 Claire was pulled out of her cocoon and hoisted into a fireman’s carry, she was still much too weak and dazed to walk, but before she passed out again she saw the Tiger Moth larvae lying dead on the floor an enormous hunting knife piercing it straight through. 

 “Nasty things those, don’t worry I know a secret way out, were safe!” and then she feel asleep.

Barcelona was just the ticket for both of them, far enough away from Lisbon and their past and an excellent place to recuperate.  The sea air and food did wonders to restore Claire’s back to health, as did the special chiropractic treatments and Shiatsu massages she had twice a day, she was back to her old self within 4 or 5 days.  They strolled the boardwalk daily taking in the sea air and their favourite café for a mid day espresso.

  “Here’s to retirement!” Claire said, holding aloft her espresso cup.  “May it be long and enjoyable!” 

“Gratzie!” Gina said as she clinked her cup to Claire’s.  “I filed my report this morning, for us both, of what happened, my last official act as a COIL agent!” Gina said with a pronounced smile. 

 Growing more serious she continued.

 “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you Claire I was as good as dead!” 

“So was I if you hadn’t come along to save me, but that’s what we have each other for in the end isn’t it!  The truth was I never knew you were there at all!  My plan was simple, eliminate a traitor and make it look as if I was defecting, seduce Gara into believing it, gain his confidence, find the location of the piece of the computer chip, then kill him and make my escape!  It all worked out in the end, but in a roundabout way, you being one of the roundabouts!  When you were brought in I had to change my plan right then and there!  You were in bad shape and we never would have made it had we tried to run.  I had no choice but to continue to play my role, even to the point of fighting you!  That said however, it didn’t preclude me from having a card or two up my sleeve, so to speak!  You certainly seemed to believe I was defecting!” 

 “You’re performance was excellent and I am ashamed to admit I did believe you had switched sides!” Gina said looking still ashamed. 

 “Your reaction was key if the altered plan was to succeed and I knew I could count on that fiery Italian temper to boil over!”  Claire said her face breaking into a disarming smile. 

 “My arm lock around your neck and brace in your back appeared to snap your neck when in reality all it did was induce a temporary deep coma to allow your body to rest and recover.  You just looked dead to everybody else and why should they see or think anything different they’d heard what they thought was the snap of your neck, which it was, just not of the fatal variety!  It was just enough to shift a vertebra out of place and against a nerve ending causing all the visual clues of a broken neck and a true deathlike simulation.  Once in the coma your body would relax and over a period of many hours the vertebra would shift back and you would awake.  I requested that Gara place the lovely and deadly wooden cross with you so that when you awoke you’d have an arsenal at your disposal!  I knew you’d figure out the deception I played, after all who knew about that cross besides me, and realize I wasn’t a traitor!” 

 “It came in quite useful, all used all 4 points, knife, wire, poison darts and lipstick in my search for you and Gara,” Gina said with satisfaction. 

 “How did you kill him?” Claire asked in a curious way. 

 “As slowly and as painfully as I could!  I needed information about you and your mission!  I had to make him talk, it took a while, but he did, then I completed my mission and set out to find you hoping I wasn’t too late!”  Gina said.

Gina paused for a second, and then her face grew very serious before she continued.

 “Why was I sent to kill a man you were sent to get something from?  I know I’ve only been an agent for more than 20 years but don’t those two objectives clash a little too much for you!” Gina said, and then drew the only conclusion she could. 

“ Either you or I or both of us were set up!  Gara seemed to know my every move, my methods, and my abilities!  I had him Claire, you know me I don’t miss, but he knew everything! 

Claire said nothing, she didn’t have too, her silence said it for her, instead she studied her espresso cup avoiding Gina’s eyes! 

“You meant that remark about me retiring too late didn’t you!  But before you answer that I want to know if you told anybody in COIL the details of how you planned to complete your mission like I did?”  Gina had read Claire completely wrong on the issue at hand, mistaking Claire’s silence for her colleagues failing skills when in fact Claire was wrestling with an uncomfortable creeping paranoia! 

 “No to both questions!” Claire’s deflated voice said. 

 She’d been feeling a large weight about her for a while; lately it had been growing!  At first she put it down to paranoia, just part of the job, but with Gina’s statement and her admission the weight had grown and smashed her carefully constructed house of cards. 

“I believe you are correct, I can’t explain it any other way.  I’ve been thinking about Jasmine as well and it occurred to me all I really know is that she’s dead.  I don’t know the circumstances of her death, I can’t find any out, all I know is that she was killed in Bangkok, a place I’m to visit soon!  I’m a little embarrassed about my next question but I’m going to ask you all the same,” Claire said pinked face.

 Her friend knew the question and said it for her.

 “Why didn’t DOOM want you?  You’re the best agent we have and your acquisition would have given them a tremendous advantage over us.” Gina answered smiling into Claire’s eyes. 

 “Thank-you!” Claire said giving her friends hand a squeeze.

 “We’re not playing a game anymore Claire, the game is playing us!  I don’t know where the lines are drawn now and who’s on whose side and I’m not going to be a pawn for anyone, that’s why I quit!” Gina stated. 

 “Is that the only reason?  How did you know it was time to quit?”  Claire inquired. 

 “For me and its just for me I’m speaking, one was my age, at 43 I’m still young, but old for this game as a woman field agent, however unfair that maybe!  I can’t do all the things as well as I need to or could do at one time, but I still want to.  That’s a gap I can’t afford to live or die with!”  Gina paused the started to speak again then stopped. 

“Go on!” Claire urged. “Let me hear it!”  Gina fixed her eyes to Claire’s. 

“When the trap becomes more alluring than the prize and you’ll step into it just for the challenge of trying to defeat it!” 

 “I don’t understand?” said Claire falsely.

  Gina cocked her head slightly and smiled. 

 “Tell me feeling a snake coiling about you as you struggle to escape it or battling your way out of some diabolical death trap isn’t a turn on for you Claire.  But when you start to wish for those challenges even actively seeking them out knowing full well that you may die in the attempt, then you know its time!  Your problem Claire is you love this job more than anything else, you’re too good at it and if you left it you’ve got nothing to replace it with that you’d love anywhere near as much!” 

 Claire said nothing again as the cup commanded her full attention once more. 

 “What are you going to do now that you’re a woman of leisure?”  Claire asked. 

 “Go back to Rome and take up the profession I originally trained for.” 

 Claire eyes danced in a tell me fashion that begged Gina wordlessly to continue. 

 “I was a young designer of ladies lingerie before COIL recruited me, I plan to start up my own design house.” 

 “I always wondered why you had such terrifically sexy nightgowns and boudoir clothes, I’m afraid I lost the only piece you gave me!” Claire said hopefully. 

“Not to worry for you I’ll create a special Claire Baxter collection loaded with special features for the working woman!” Gina said with a laugh. 

 “Oh, look at the time we have to leave my flight’s in several hours.” Gina added.

After a warm hug Claire watched Gina disappear down the Jetway and then into the horizon as her plane trailed out of sight.  Her next stop was Ankara, she knew now COIL security had been compromised, she lacked the hard evidence, but she knew all the same!  It was now a battle not just to stay alive and complete the initial mission, but also to discover the moles within her own organization and expose them before they finished her!  But whom could she trust?  She needed to keep her friends close and her enemies, on both sides, even closer.  That just made the game more exhilarating to play!  She could hardly wait!

THE END